Maybe the Bailout Should Have Happened Some Time Ago

I found this letter written 9 years ago. Seems like our current financial mess started around this time:

By STEVEN A. HOLMES Published: September 30, 1999 In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stockholders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called sub-prime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called sub_prime market.''Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the sub-prime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallis on a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

M.O.A.B.-----FAIL!!!

It's official now, 227 NAY, 206 YEA, 1 Not Voting. The House version of the bailout bill has failed as representatives heard the unmistakable sound of unemployment coming 'round the bend in about 40 days if they voted for it. The debate now moves to the Senate where my Senator, Richard Shelby, will be the big voice in opposition. Do us proud Dick!

The bill failed and guess what? The sky hasn't fallen. I haven't heard of any traders throwing themselves out of buildings. And as far as I know, there are no dogs and cats living together. The DOW is down only 4.89% so far. The world isn't ending people. And don't let the MSM tell you it is.

M.O.A.B.

Over at Michelle Malkin, she's doing regular updates as the House debates the M.O.A.B.(Mother of all Bailouts). According to her, what was 3 pages on Thursday, has now swollen to 43 pages. What in the world do you think that means? Earmarks, no doubt.

She's also got the most comprehensive collection of articles and analysis of the MOAB I have seen. If you want to know what in the heck is going on, head on over and check it out.

Who's to blame?

I found this video production over on Boortz. It's a fast moving but very clear indictment of who is really to blame for this whole financial mess. It turns out, the Obamessiah's finger prints are all over it. It's about 10 minutes long and you may need to use the pause button as it moves kind of fast but, watch it and then recommend it to everybody you know who votes.



If you were under any illusions as to whose side the media are on in this election, this should pretty much clear that up for you. Barack Obama is at the center of this thing, yet nobody's willing to say it. Unbelievable!

A few thoughts on the bailout......er, buyout

-Newt Gingrich has steadfastly opposed the bailout, correctly pointing out that to centralize the power of $700billion into the hands of one political appointee, who is professionally conflicted and who is demanding it so stridently, is simply un-American. Now, Newt is reluctantly on board.....I'm not sure what to make of that.

-Given that Treasurey Sec. Henry Paulson came from Wall Street and in 4 months will return to his job on Wall Street, how can we fork over any money at all to him to give to his friends there? He's been screetching from the rooftops like Chicken Little about how the apocalypse will happen if we don't give him, and him alone, $700billion. I'm sorry, it just doesn't pass the smell test.

-Apparently all the earmarks for corrupt liberal orgainizations like ACORN that Pelosi and Reid tried to sneak in, have been stripped from the original bailout bill. That's good.

-Why aren't Chris Dodd and Barney Frank being investigated on corruption charges? They both received huge cash donations from Freddie and Fannie at the same time John McCain first rang the alarm bell, then they blocked Congress from taking the very actions that would have prevented this collapse. Am I the only one who sees this obvious conflict of interest?

-The bill is now being called a "buy out" rather than a "bail out" because there's a remote possibility that the taxpayer could actually make money on this "investment". Here's the wafer-thin reasoning: at-risk mortgages are practically worthless right now so the taxpayers will be getting them at bargain-basement prices. Then when the market corrects in a few months or years after the bailout, those homes will be sold or auctioned off at what will certainly be much higher prices, reaping huge profits for the taxpayer. That'll be great if we taxpayers receive a big fat check as a dividend on our investment, but let's see a show of hands of those who think that's how it'll work? That's 1.....2.....ok, none. Right you are. With democrats in control of Congress, there's no way they'll give us our money back. They'll tell us that they know better how to spend that windfall profit than we do, then they'll blow it on vote-buying schemes.

-The one thing I'm glad they included is the limit on CEO compensation if that company gets even a penny of taxpayer money.

-The MSM is absolutely refusing to point the finger of blame at democrats where it belongs. They'd rather blame Bush, it's what they do.

-Finally, is this just the beginning of private companies who've made stupid decisions, demanding taxpayer money to help them out of financial jams?

What's the dealio?

I was talking with a friend last night about the debate and he asked me if there was a clearing-house website exposing inaccuracies and lies that candidates tell so the regular voters can know the truth, ostensibly without political bias.

So I did some checking and the best one I can find is FactCheck.org. They usually correct the "mistakes" candidates make pretty soon after they make them, so the public knows what's what. You should go there regularly and keep tabs on the b.s. you're being fed.

GO YOU HAIRY DOGS!!! SIC 'EM!!!

Where have you gone, Ronald Reagan?

Who's being looked after with this absurd bailout bill? Well, let's see. For starters, lazy, worthless slobs who took out mortgages they knew they couldn't afford to repay. Also, rich, fat-cat bankers who aren't paying any price AT ALL for being incompetent at lending, democrat congressmen who legislatively prevented Bush, McCain, Greenspan, and other republicans from reeling in the out-of-control mortgage market, U.S. auto companies who are now little more than labor-union benefits providers, former students who've elected not to get jobs so they can pay back their loans, credit-card companies who've issued credit to bums, derelicts, and degenerates who clearly don't have the self discipline to use them wisely, government regulators who allowed Fannie and Freddie to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to congressional banking-committee democrats like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, who set lending policy for those institutions, yet never questioned that oturageously criminal conflict of interest.

My question is, who is looking out for me? Who's looking out for the families who save money, who don't spend irrationally, who don't live above their means, who stay employed in crap jobs in order to privide for their families' healthcare and kids' educations and futures, who wear last year's clothes and rejoice at not having car payments, who've gotten educated, never took drugs or committed crimes, who got married and had kids that they calculated could be afforded...in that order, who pay whatever absurdly unfair taxes the government demands from them, and who don't ask other Americans for bail-outs? Who is looking out for them? Is it Harry Reid? Nancy Pelosi? Barney Frank? George Bush? Barack Obama? the MSM? My banker? No, it's none of them. They are looking out for their own asses and sometimes each others' asses if they've gotten a campaign donation that's large enough to earn it. No, if you are a diligent, nose-to-the-grindstone, disciplined, law-abiding American, nobody is looking out for you. You are on your own. And that would be fine, if our government weren't about to bend us over and loot close to a trillion dollars from us, in order to hand it over to the list of degenerates and criminals in the paragraph above.

Notice the tag I chose for most of the recent posts on the financial crisis...."culture of curruption". We're being royally screwed by our own government. We're being punished for keeping our noses clean and staying out of trouble. Tell me, where's the incentive to live a disciplined, thoughtfully considered life using wise decision making and self-control when not doing those things bears no punishment or negative consequences of any kind? Where's the incentive?

Eeeeeeew!!!

So by now you've heard of PETA's ridiculous demand that morons Ben and Jerry use actual human breast milk instead of cow's milk for their overpriced ice-cream. According to PETA, milking cows is harmful and degrading for the cows somehow. But the objectification of women by harvesting thier breast-milk is OK? I swear, calling PETA a bunch of idiots is an insult to idiots.

So, with that in mind, I thought we'd help them out by naming some possible new flavors.

-Udderly Delicious Vanilla
-Casamba Cream Surprise
-Caramel From The Cans
-Cha-Cha Cherry
-Chilled Chesticles Cherry
-Knockers Neopolitan

That's all I've got. See what you can come up with in the comments thread.

A mockery of a sham of a travesty of a sham!

Was it just me, or did George Bush basically blame the stupidity of the American people for the financial crisis last night? He said people had gotten into mortgages they couldn't afford, they took out loans they couldn't repay, they thought their homes would continue to increase in value, etc. He never mentioned the Clintons, starting in 1992, using the threat of justice department investigation to force banks to hand out home loans to people who wrote down on their application, food stamps, unemployment checks, and welfare checks as income.

What he did last night was blame the crisis on the American people as a way of justifying to us why we should not grumble when he takes away $700billion from us, just for starters, to rescue other Americans from their own mistakes.

Next up, $25billion this year and next, to the big three auto companies who are so sluggish under the weight of union contracts that they can't compete with more nimble Japanese car makers. Then after that, we'll pony up $150billion to the FDIC to prop up local banks so they'll be immune to their own awful financial decisions. Following that will come the credit card companies who must be saved because after all, it's the American consumer who ran up so much debt that it couldn't pay back. Close on the heels of the banks will come the Gulf Coast insurance companies who can't afford to insure the national treasure communities like New Orleans and Galveston(he said sarcastically) from bad weather. Who'll be next? Hollywood because nobody wants to go see the crap they trot out as entertainment? Fast food, because people are eating more healthy and they can't afford to stay in business, because after all, the American people have a vested interest in protecting those valuable fast-food jobs? And that's not the end of it. Once the housing prices reverse and start to rise as they surely will, the government stands to make a small fortune on home sales. Do you think the American people will get that money back in the form of rebate checks or lowered taxes? Not a snowball's chance in hell! Whatever party controls the House when that happens, will spend that money before it's even collected.

Somebody tell me where it all ends. Where does the nationalization of our financial system end?

I almost forgot, a virtual cookie to the one who names the movie loosely referenced in the title of this post.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

In case you are sitting around every night watching the news and wondering, how did our mortgage industry get so screwed up, Ann Coulter's column this week explains it all. Sure WallStreet greed played a role, as did everybody's hope that the housing bubble would continue, but there's a singular underlying cause that gave rise to the rest of it.

At least democrats are honest socialists

You want to know just how far the republican party has departed from the philosophy of economic conservatism under George Bush, look no further than the 2008 republican party platform. Lee over at Right-Thinking absolutely nailed it. The platform clearly states:

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all. We encourage potential buyers to work in concert with the lending community to educate themselves about the responsibilities of purchasing a home, condo, or land.

If you are represented by a republican in Congress or the Senate, you should rub his nose in this statement like you rub a dog's nose in his own steaming pile of crap. Then tell him a vote for this bailout bill equals a lost vote by you for him in his next re-election. That's exactly what I did today.

Just say "NO" to socialism

Over at Michelle Malkin, she has a great post about a movement to kill this disastrous bailout bill while it's in its infancy. Over the weekend, apparently democrats snuck in additional bailouts for credit cards, car loans, and school loans. These aren't bailouts for you, they will essentially hand over cash money, taken from you in taxes, to the crooks who created this mess through greed and arrogance. And now we hear that the FBI is investigating all the CEO's for possible fraud. Where does this insanity end? Don't let Paulson and Bernanke, both Wall Street insiders, scare you into thinking this is a good idea. There is no guarantee it will do anything for the economy. There is no guarantee that the economy won't do fine without it. $700billion of taxpayer cash is an awfully big gamble to be so uncertain of the outcome. The Obamessiah is onboard for sure, and J.Mac is apparently testing the political electoral winds before he decides. If this utter disaster of a bill gets passed and then signed by Bush, we will have essentially become a socialist state just like France.

I cannot stress this strongly enough.....CALL OR E-MAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES RIGHT NOW AND TELL THEM TO VOTE "H#LL NO" ON THIS BAILOUT.

News that's not really news

Ending years of rumor, speculation, and conjecture, today, American Idol contestant and C-lister Clay Aiken clawed his way out of the dustbin of Hollywood obscurity by announcing that he's gay.

In other shocking news, NASA announced recently that the sky is blue, the Navy announced that the ocean is wet, yet Barack Obama continues to deny that he's really a subversive socialist.

A limerick for Clay:

There once was a singer name Clay
Who came out of the closet as gay
To revive his career
But he's no pioneer
'Cause Manilow ownes that cliche'

So Aiken admits his impurity
To escape from celeb obscurity
But here's the real thing,
He can't really sing
So success may not be a surety

Who cares if you're gay or you're straight?
You can see Clay with your date
He appears every night
Much to travelers' delight
At La Quinta just off Exit 8

If you dare, feel free to write one of your own in the comments thread. It's not as easy as it looks.

Why This Why Now.....

The new United States dollar coin is now in circulation. It is a shiny gold coin depicting George Washington and the Statue of Liberty. It does, however, have a very unique distinction. It is the first US coin minted without the words "In God We Trust". To many people this will be overlooked and not even thought about, but I will try my best to refuse to take any as change, etc. , because I feel this is a step, further towards the decline of this once proud nation. Washington was a Deist, but apparently attended church services with Martha regularly. Historians argue if he were a Christian, but none argue that he and the rest of our founding fathers understood that this country was formed because of religious persecution, and by holding to those values, God prominently played apart in their lives, and in their directions for living.

Washington, upon becoming President spoke the following prayer for America:

"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the Unites States in thy holy protection; that thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to the government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of this country. And finally that thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. grant our supplication, we beseech thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord ---Amen"

On top of the monument honoring this fine man, a man of christian value and principles are the words "Laus Deo". These 2 words say it all... "Praise be to God".

Why the change? and why are we on the path away from the initial intent of our founding fathers?

Take action against the Paulson plan....now!

Over at US News and World Report James Pethokoukis reports on a conversation he had with former Speaker Newt Gingrich who is a strident critic of the Henry Paulson plan to shove this country toward socialism by handing over a check for $700billion to the corrupt derelicts who created this mess. Here are Gingrich's 5 main points about this disaster of a plan....

1) He called it a "stupid plan" that looks like it had been designed by autocrat Vladimir Putin. He also said it will be a "nightmare" to implement and full of corruption.

2) He said the Paulson Plan would be a "dead loser" on Election Day that will "break against anyone who votes for it." It will hurt even worse with the 2010 election once Americans see what a drag it is on the economy when implemented.

3) He recently chatted with economic historian Alan Meltzer who advocated doing nothing rather than implanting the Paulson Plan. Meltzer apparently joked to Gingrich that this was about the third time he had seen Wall Street scream "the apocalypse was nigh" only to have the economy keep right on chugging along.

4) Gingrich thinks that if the Paulson Plan isn't passed by this weekend, it is dead and the White House better have a Plan B, economic-growth package ready. Right now, he still thinks it has an 80 percent chance of passage, partly because of Paulson's apocalyptic tone that if a bill isn't passed, "the whole world will end on Tuesday."

5) He advises McCain to play the maverick and come out against the Paulson Plan. Then it will be the Obama-Bush plan.

Gingrich is spot on with this. He sees how anti-free-market, anti-capitalist, anti-American, and corrupt this deal is going to be.

I got an e-mail from regular reader David today urging me and others to write our Congressmen and Senators demanding that they stop and consider what they are about to do.....and then vote against it. I would urge you to do the same.

ADDENDUM: It just occurred to me that many of you may not know by whom you are represented in Washington, so how can you write a letter if you don't have that info? First of all, shame on you for not knowing your representatives' names. It's telling how many Americans can name the judges and contestants on American Idol but haven't a clue who speaks for them in DC. But then what would you expect from a generation of people educated in dreadful government schools, the sole purpose of which is to make sure you graduate as dumb as possible and therefore easily led around by the nose by corrupt, self-serving politicians.

So, if you get half as mad at your representatives about the Paulson plan as I hope you are at me right about now, you'll be interested in writing a letter to your congressmen and senators. You can go to this web site and get their names and mailing addresses.

India, still a third-world country

We constantly hear from the media about how India and China are the two fastest growing economies in the world but, given that they rely heavily on foreign investment, how far can they climb when stuff like this happens?

Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.

Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian-headquartered manufacturer of car parts, died of severe head wounds on Monday afternoon after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said.

The incident, in Greater Noida, just outside the Indian capital, followed a long-running dispute between the factory's management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts.

If corporations can't count on the rule of law in India, who'll be willing to build factories, banks, and depressing tech-support centers for goods sold to Americans? What are personnel and capital investment worth when an angry mob can destroy either or both with impunity? India has a long way to climb to convince the rest of the modern industrialized world that they aren't barbaric savages when the mood strikes them.

A little fart never hurt anybody

Despite the utter ridiculousness of global warming, some scientists continue to cling to it, regardless of how preposterous their latest warnings are and how stupid it makes them look.....

Global warming could rapidly accelerate as millions of tons of methane escape from beneath the Arctic seabed, scientists warned today.

Huge deposits of the greenhouse gas - 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide - are rising to the surface as the Arctic region heats up, according to preliminary findings.

Researchers found massive stores of sub-sea methane in several areas across thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf and observed the gas bubbling up from the sea floor through 'chimneys', according to newspaper reports.

So, where did all this arctic methane gas come from? Either it's part of the natural cycle of life on Earth and therefore completely unalterable by man, or there were millions of arctic cows farting themselves into extinction during the Precambrian Age or something, and this is the only evidence of their existence. I sort of think it's naturally occurring.

It is amazing to me that wild-eyed, environmental zealots who call themselves scientists continue to hammer home the global warming meme, despite a decade of global cooling, record low temperatures around the globe, and the complete lack of any, any evidence to support their argument.

See, even the cows know they can't be blamed for something that doesn't exist.

Kervorkianed

OK, honey, if you are reading this, please make note that this is not, I repeat not how I'd like to go....

An elderly Australian woman who stabbed her ailing husband with a kitchen knife in a nursing home said she couldn't stand seeing him suffer.

Anastasia Nestorowycz, 76, stabbed her 82-year-old husband in the stomach then stabbed herself in the bathroom of his nursing home unit in Thornbury, Victoria.>

What, she never considered a morphine drip OD, sleeping pills, ketamine, or any number of less painful ways of dying? She could have at least finished the job, but they both survived. Stabbed him with a kitchen knife.....man, that's cold!

Reader comments

Frequent TRR commenter and my personal critic, Capt. America made a reference to Adam Smith in a recent thread about economics, conservatism, and Atlas Shrugged. He is correct in noting that everybody references Ayn Rand when talking about individualism as it applies to the market place but, forgets that it was Adam Smith, the father of modern market economics, who first fleshed out the notion that people acting in their own self-interests, within a framework of social and moral obligations, lead to economic prosperity and well-being for all. No doubt, Ayn Rand was heavily influenced by Smith's treatise on economics entitled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, or The Wealth of Nations for short. In this work Smith uses the invisible hand metaphore to describe how an individual acting greedily in his own self-interests will, coincidentally and without intention, benefit the whole of society by increasing it's wealth as he increases his own. Here's the money quote from ...Nations that explains that idea...

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."

If you didn't know any better, you would have sworn you had read that in an Atlas Shrugged passage.

In other words, the Idaho potato farmer isn't interested in the slightest in providing my family with delicious potatoes to eat with our steaks. He's interested only in making as much money as possible selling potatoes. Through a long chain of transactions, he and I agree that he wants my money more than his potatoes and I want his potatoes more than I want to keep my money. His singular devotion to the pursuit of profit provides me with potatoes...so both our lives are enriched because of what some people call his greed.

If more people understood what Adam Smith, Ayn Rand, and Capt. America understand, our society would be better off.

Hubris, Greed, and Arrogance should have a downside

So the starting price tag to tax-payers for the AIG bailout is $700billion. It's likely to go much higher, especially when the auto companies, foreign banks, Gulf coastal insurers, etc stick their hands out too. Where does it end? One thing's for sure, there had better be complete 100% transparency and oversight as to where exactly this money goes. If there's even a hint that it might be going toward executive compensation packages then every member of Congress who voted for it should be thrown in jail.

I swear, with every new story I watch or read about this mess, I get more and more furious. I'm almost to the point of thinking that every one of these companies should have been allowed to completely crash and burn. I realize that would mean that a lot of people would lose their homes, investments, savings, etc but, these people had no business buying homes to begin with, their investments should have been more diversified, and their savings should have been in seperate insured accounts.

I don't agree with John McCain that executive salaries should be capped at $400K. That's a market function but, the market should certainly tie compensation with performance, liquidity, stock price etc. The stock-holders can vote that very easily. If the executive doesn't like it, work somewhere else. Then when he drives that company into the ground, nobody will hire him unless he accepts those terms of employment. And these multi-million dollar golden parachutes have to stop. Otherwise where's the downside for these guys when they destroy a company and the wealth of all it's stockholders?

If somebody can convince me that letting Lehman Brothers, Fannie and Freddie, AIG, Detroit Big-3 Auto, Morgan-Stanley, Merrill-Lynch, etc, go under is bad, I'll be glad to listen. Otherwise, let 'em die.

Political corretness makes for strange bedfellows

As with any dangerous public safety job, whether it is military or civilian, there are certain requirements that must be met in order to perform the job adequately. One of those requirements, for instance, is the ability to lift heavy objects if you are say, a weapons loader on airplanes. Another would be general fitness if your job is physically demanding. Another one would be that safety equipment fit properly.....well in DC, not so much. It seems that beards interfere with proper gas-mask operation as they do not seal to the face, but some fire-fighters think that exceptions should be made for religious beards.....

Steven Chasin, a Jew, along with six Muslims and Nazarene Christians, filed suit, charging that they should be accommodated on grounds of religious freedom.

The fire department argues that a beard can interfere with certain gas and oxygen masks that need an airtight seal with one's face to work. The department doesn't want to have firefighters and emergency medical technicians sent into harm's way if there are concerns about the effectiveness of the seals.

When I was in the Air Force, we were not allowed to grow beards or any other type of facial hair that interfered with the proper fitting of gas masks. If these hirsuted guys want to practice their goofy religious habits, don't choose careers for which beards are inappropriate. You can't have them going into to rescue people from burning buildings when their gas-masks don't work properly. Then, they'll need rescuing too.

I wonder if the Jew and the Muslims agreed to call a truce to fight this ordinance. It must be a sign of the apocalypse when Jews and Muslims fight together for a stupid PC reason.

Palin baby-name generator

Everybody's heard the odd names the Palin's gave their kids...Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper. It must be an Alaska thing. Anyway, over at Polit Tsk Tsk Tsk they have a Sarah Palin baby-name gererator. So you type in your first name and find out what you'd be called if you were born into the Palin family. Mine turned out to be Spine Breeder Palin.

What's a spine breeder? Click the link and see what you would be named if Sarah Palin was your mom.

Aaaaaarrrrggh!!!

Avast, ye scurvy bilge rats. Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Whether yur hoisting a flaggon of ale with yur mateys or keel haulin' that four-eyed geek from accounting, take a minute to throw in an aaaaaarrrrrggh for good measure.

Stay classy, Josh

Ungrateful narcissist and general P.O.S., Dallas Mav's Josh Howard, explains why I do not watch the NBA.....



Now, contrast that with Kobe's response when NBC tool Chris Collinsworth questioned the appropriatness of his patriotism.

Seriously, is there anything worse in America that a dumb jock, barely speaking English, who thinks he deserves what he's being given, but doesn't even appreciate the country that afforded him the opportunity to get it?

The Socialization of America

I guess it was the only prudent thing to do when the federal government seized control of AIG, effectively nationalizing the nation's largest insurer, yesterday, rescuing it from bankruptcy. And it was only prudent when it took control of Freddie and Fannie to prop up the mortgage industry. Here we are mocking and criticizing Hugo Chavez for nationalizing all Venezuela's industries and we nationalize part of our insurance industry. I wonder when the federal government will give up control and return it to the investors where it belongs? If Obama and his party of socialism sympathizers get elected, don't expect it to ever return to private hands. And look for more examples of nationalization in the name of "the greater good" in the energy industry, banking industries, and even manufacturing industries. When the federal government seizes control of a sector of the economy, it never, ever relinquishes it.

Congress getting a taste for the power that comes with nationalization is like a pet dog getting a taste for blood after it's first kill. You might as well put it to sleep because it'll never stop killing after that. It's just too bad that many dumb-assed Americans(read democrat core voters) long for a nanny-State that provides for their each and every need from the cradle to the grave. Americans no longer want the independence and freedom that come with being responsible for themselves. They'd rather trade that freedom and independence for security even if it means the government totally controls their lives.

How suicidally awful it must be to wake up every morning, face yourself in the mirror, and see that you are a worthless, whining degenerate who wants depraved, self-serving men in Washington to treat you like a helpless child, feeding you when and what they want you to be fed, housing you when and where they want you to be housed, employing you when and for how much they want you to be employed, consumimg energy at a rate they determine is best for you, and providing healthcare when and if they want you to get better.

This is the path we're on my friends. The nationalization of vast swaths of the American economy....control that politicians are not likely to give back to the private sector where it belongs, once they feel the heady rush of power that comes with weilding that control.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann pokes fun of liberals'(normally hostile to anything remotely associated with God) predictable, election-year attempts to convince normal Americans that they believe in God. Then, they attack who ever their conservative opponent is for actually believing in God. It's a funny read as she nails the liberals for the craven, hypocrites they are. Head on over to HumanEvents and check it out.

Stupidity respects no borders

Seriously, has Israel solved all it's other problems that it can waste money, time, and forensic technology on this?

PETAH TIKVA, Israel (Reuters) - An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.

The city will use the DNA database it is building to match faeces to a registered dog and identify its owner.

Owners who scoop up their dogs' droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva's streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.

But droppings found underfoot in the street and matched through the DNA database to a registered pet could earn its owner a municipal fine.

Doesn't the American taxpayer fork over billions in aid money to Israel every year? I sure hope this isn't what it's being spent on instead of building more nuclear weapons, buying our fighter planes, and killing Hamas terrorists.

Who's to blame for the financial collapse?

As we all sit helplessly by watching the value of our retirement funds plummet before our eyes, people are wondering, and rightly so, who's to blame. Is it the hubris of arrogant CEO's at Lehman Brothers, Merrill-Lynch, Fannie and Freddie Mac, AIG, and hundreds of smaller regional and local banks? Is it the US government for encouraging risky loans in order to get more money into the economy? Is it the failure of government regulators to properly oversee these lending practices? Or are these failures the result of a perfect storm of arrogance and government meddling?

I know it's painful when it happens but, the market has built-in corrections that punish arrogant CEO's who make bad decisions....the company goes out of business. The problem happened when administrations from Carter through Bush forced mortgage institutions to loan money to completely unqualified people, in attempts to provide affordable housing to deadbeats who had no business borrowing money. When ever the government injects itself into any market, disaster is right around the corner. But from a political standpoint, it's too tempting for craven politicians to not make themselves look magnanimous by being nice to the less fortunate. (By "less fortunate" of course I mean those people who are having to live with the consequences of a lifetime's worth of bad choices....also known as the democrat voting base)

The following things need to happen: 1-get the government out of the mortgage business. Companies who cannot compete without government backing should not exist. 2-regulators should be independent, not members of Congress, otherwise there's the obvious conflict of interest. 3-When banks fail, let them fail, and fail hard and fast. No taxpayer bail-outs 4-it can't be forced but, stock-holders in investment banks should demand reasonable CEO compensation packages tied to performance. No more billion-dollar golden parachutes. As it stands, there's no downside to being reckless for these guys. If the company fails, they either walk away billionaires, or the government uses taxpayer money to prop them up. Why not be reckless?

It looks like the sky is falling but it's not. We'll recover from this as we recover from every bump in the road...as long as we can keep the government from meddling in the process....but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The fall of the British empire continues

Always vigilant, reader David pointed out that Great Britain is plunging headlong toward certain Muslim occupation by adopting Sharia Law in certain cities where unassimilated Muslims insist on practicing their singularly backward religion. As it stands now, in our once great Mother Country, a gang of blood-thirsty, Islamic savages can gang-rape and then stone a girl to death, just because she "asked for it", and not be convicted of any crime, as long as the Sharia court rules that it was justified under Sharia Law.

Then today, we hear that the college at Yorkshire has renamed the traditional Christmas and Easter breaks in a bid to avoid offending students from other religions(read Muslim students).

The college's new calendar shows that both of the traditional holiday periods have now been re-branded as 'end of term breaks'.

From the DailyMail.

Notice that the articles describing the preposterousness of radical Muslims never describes the exact religion that is the basis for their barbaric and ridiculous behavior as being Islam. They're called "Asians" or "other religions" or " ethnic students", but never Muslims.

Islamic Rage Boy predictably agrees with the British, that Sharia Law be adopted as the basis for British society.

Recruiting for the enemy

Next to former Atlanta Braves pitcher, John Rocker, I'm the most politically incorrect person I know, and even I know that this is wrong.....

A public school teacher in Chicago is in trouble and could lose her job after she mentioned the only Muslim student in her class in an anecdote about terrorists, according to local media.

The teacher allegedly used 13-year-old Saleh Choudhary as an example when she described a hypothetical homicide bombing, saying that he would carry explosives on board a plane and blow it up.

Apparently Saleh was subjected to relentless jeers from classmates for the rest of the day. Man, what a stupid teacher! Perversely, the teacher might actually have accomplished the very thing she was trying to prevent....the feelings of marginilization and ostracization that just might drive a resentful Muslim kid into the arms of radical Islamism. Great! Just what we need, more homegrown terrorists.

In defense of price gouging

With the hurricanes pounding the Guld coast regularly, the outraged media always run stories about unscrupulous gas station owners, hardware store proprieters, bottled water dealers, and hoteliers raising prices to take unfair advantage of the victims. But do high prices in a crisis hurt....or help the victims in the long run?

Let's take the example of generators at the hardware stores. HomeDepot and Lowes only stock so many generators, regardless of season. It's a fact, if a natural disaster knocks out power for a week in Florida, they can never meet the demand for generators with available stocks. How then is the demand met? Well obviously somebody has to bring generators in from elsewhere, but how do you get guys in say Kentucky to want to, when they have to pay for travel expenses bring them? Answer: by allowing the local prices to rise on increased demand, you create a profit motive for outsiders to bring generators from Ky to Fla. If prices of generators are f$400 everywhere and fixed in Florida at $400, and it costs $500 to rent and drive a flatbed full of them from Kentucky, why would that guy bother to load up and go to Florida? The same problem with anti-gouging laws applies to bottled water, ply-wood, propane tanks, chain saws, you name it.

Suppose bottled water was $1/bottle. In a disaster situation, a family might buy out the entire store. But if the price rose to $3/bottle, that family would only buy what it absolutely needed and there'd be plenty left for others. Additionally, at $3/bottle, trucks loaded with water would soon flood(pun intended) the area, providing water to everybody and lowering the price through competition.

Price fixing winds up hurting those who are intended to be protected, by insuring that the ones who get there first, get all the resources.

What's that you say? "But Ed, it's evil to take advantage of victims of disaster." Nobody's taking advantage of anybody. The market is insuring that the people who buy generators, or water, or ply-wood only get what they absolutely need and don't buy extras because it's relatively cheap. That leaves more to go around for others. And it invites enterprising entrepreneurs from outside to meet the increased demand. Otherwise, once all the stocks are gone, nobody gets any.

The market will efficiently allocate resources every single time if the government doesn't meddle with the system.

Joe Biden is a skin-flint

From Byron York's article over at NationalReview; we see that the Bidens' charitable giving leaves a little to be desired. In 1998, for instance, they raked in $215,432 but gave only $195 in charity. Move up to 2007, when he was thinking of running for President, they made $319,853, but gave only $995 to charity. The giving curve over those 10 years pretty much stayed flat. Over that time, they made $2,450,042, but gave only $3,690. That comes to 0.15% of Adjusted Gross Income. By contrast, most American families give at least 2% of their AGI to charity. The Bidens' who favor huge government give-away programs gave less than 1/10th of what most families give to charity.

You see, liberals love to give away untold amounts of your money but, they're stingy as heck with their own money. These data sum up the liberals' world view in terms of the role of government: that is, it's the government's responsibility to care for everybody in every possible way, and not the responsibility of individuals to care for themselves or each other. And by "government's responsibility" I mean taxpayer responsibility through the government. People like Joe Biden and Barack Obama believe that the government knows best how to allocate funds to the "needy". Never mind that they direct the money they took from you to those who're most likely to vote for them, and most of it is wasted on fraud, waste, and bureaucratic abuse.

Whoopie Goldberg.......plantation bound

If you were under any illusions about how abysmally moronic daytime-TV audiences are.....then you might be a moron too. Let's face it, drug-addled house-wives sitting around in their robes all day, smoking cigarettes and swilling Scotch while watching vacuous TV harpies express their inane ideas, aren't exactly in line for Rhodes Scholarships now are they?

John McCain made an appearance on The View(why, I have no idea) and answered a question about judges, explaining to the half-witted audience that he would appoint strict Constitutionalist judges who interpret laws by keeping true to the original framers intent, and not by legislating from the bench. Here's raving, pseudo-informed racist Whoopi Goldberg's utterly stupid comment to that answer....

"Should I be worried about being a slave, about being returned to slavery because certain things happened in the Constitution that you had to change."

J.Mac actually and stupidly praised her for making a good point. And the retards in the audience applauded and cheered. Seriously, daytime-TV audiences are the women on whose vote even Bill Clinton could always rely, despite the high probability that he was a serial rapist. Half of the studio audience believe, and at least half of the women slouching on the couch at home in an inebriated stupor, probably believe now that if a republican were elected President, there might be a chance of returning all black people to slave status.

And to think, these idiots' votes count just as much as yours.

We are doomed to repeat....

History. If we don't study it we are constantly reminded that it will repeat itself. Okay........


I am under 45 years old; I love the outdoors; I hunt; I am a republican reformer; I have many children; I am the vice presidential selection on the national ticket; I have less than 2 years in the governors office. Who am I?

Figured it out yet???

Are you sure, because I am Teddy Roosevelt. The year is 1900. (By the way, I went to be a pretty good President, if I do say so myself.)

reprised from the source with permission.

NEVER FORGET!!!

If you think American presidential elections are just about taxes, gas prices, and the economy, think again.

Think about it, on whose watch is something like this more likely to happen again, Obama or McCain?

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

This week Ann wrote and supremely satisfying article on how GWB alone, has stood resolute against the terrorist threat, in the face of media liberals' constant sniveling and harping. Despite liberals' dire predictions of another attack, and much to their disappointment, we have not been attacked a single time on Bush's watch since 9/11. Liberals even think it's silly that we still worry about terrorism so much. With all the wit and sarcasm you expect in a Coulter column, she shows how liberals have totally missed the boat on terrorism, and a hint of what's to come for conservatives. If you don't read another column today, head on over to HumanEvents and read this one.

Tale of the tape

Over at Boortz.com Neal has an excellent comparison between McCain/Palin and Obama/Bidan when it comes to spending, taxes, earmarks, etc. Don't let the democrats frame the debate by lying to you about the respective records of McCain and Palin. Read them for yourselves and then decide whose story you believe when it comes to running the country, balancing the budget, cutting taxes, and restricting spending, etc.

Nice going, Neal.

Hippies surprised that Earth survived the Hadron Collider

Well, the Hadron Supercollider was fired up this morning and a stream of protons was accelerated to near light-speed. The stream circled the 27kilometer ring 11,000 times per second. Unemployed hippies the world over feared the worst, screeching that micro-black holes could form and slowly devour the Earth over eons......or conversely, one large stable black hole could form and devour it in 7 minutes.....they're not really sure which.

In our biggest scoop yet, TRR has uncoverd actual scientific artistry which shows exactly what researchers at Hadron expect to happen in a couple of months when they collide two streams of protons traveling in opposite directions near the speed of light.....



Well, something must be done. We just can't have the Earth blowing up. The unemployed hippies are right, this is scientific misconduct and recklessness at it's worst.

Sniveled 36 year old Earl Applebaum, a "student" traveling Europe and staying in hostels, between bong tokes, "Earth blowing up could endanger us all".

Why yes it could Earl, yes it could.

When we left Earl, he was gazing across the room, thoughtfully munching Doritos as he contemplated the existential meaningless of life......or it's possible he was just stoned.

Dear Leader......pushing up daisies soon?

North Korea's kooky, comically bizarre, but brutal dictator Kim Jong Il may have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel......

SEOUL, South Korea - There was no sign of Kim Jong Il at a closely watched parade Tuesday marking the 60th anniversary of North Korea's founding, as a U.S. intelligence report said he may have suffered a stroke.

A U.S. intelligence official said there is reason to believe Kim Jong Il, 66, is sick after he failed to show up at the national celebration. That official and another U.S. source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

"It does appear that Kim Jong-Il has suffered a health setback, potentially a stroke," an official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

We can only hope.

This is the Nork's Dear Leader, waiting patiently for the Devil to finally come take him to hell. I'm sure his dressing for the occasion will be appreciated by the hosts of darkness.

Say it ain't so, Condi

Condolezza Rice disappointingly invoked skin color as a reason to be hired when she recently addressed the Black Colleges and Universities conference.....

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday it was "unacceptable" that there were so few black people like herself in the US diplomatic corps.
"I want to see a Foreign Service that looks as if black Americans are part of this great country," Rice told a gathering of black colleges and universities in Washington.

"I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State," said Rice, the second black person to become secretary of state after her predecessor Colin Powell.

"And, as a matter of fact, I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me, and that's just not acceptable," she added.

Perhaps the black community should start by trying to curb it's youth drug-addiction, gang associations, illegitimate parenthood, shocking high-school drop-out rates, and the absurd idea that any black who speaks a language other than ebonics is trying to be "white". Moreover, how many blacks are enrolled in foreign studies schools to become diplomats? Is "diplomat" really something blacks aspire to become? If Condi is to be believed, there are vast numbers of qualified blacks waiting to become diplomats or serve otherwise in the foreign service but, white administrations refuse to hire them because they're black.

Condi diminishes her own impressive accomplishments by invoking race as a job qualification. And she casts doubts on the qualifications of blacks who DO get hired for their experience, education, and knowledge and not their skin color.

Repent....the end is near

What is it about some humans that compels them to be terrorized by their own imaginations?

The $8B USD Large Hadron Collider will go online next week, becoming the world's most powerful particle accelerator. It promises answer to some of the universe's most elusive questions. Among these is the nature of the legendary Higgs boson, a particle long theorized but never observed, which is thought to determine how much things weigh. The collider is expected to unlock many other mysteries such as the differences between matter and antimatter.

However, despite its great promise, many people worldwide have protested the construction of the particle accelerator, believing it could end the world. Many are fearful that the collider could spawn black holes, which they worry could devour the Earth.

This is the same lunacy that panicked everybody about Y2K, SkyLab falling, and Al Gore winning the 2000 election....no wait, that was justified panic. Anyway, how cool would it be if they actually formed a black hole that swallowed the Earth? How embarrassing! God would be rolling his eyes and going, "What a bunch of idiots!".

Apparently if a stable black hole is formed, some scientists say it could devour the Earth in as little as 7 minutes. Gee, that's a little disappointing. I would have thought it wouldn't take that long. At any rate, I'll be on the edge of my seat when they fire that thing up. What will you do when they tell you France is gone and you now have 6-1/2 minutes to live? I'll probably just enjoy one last beer and watch some SportsCenter.

Cows....global warming culprits

The heinous collection of third-world despots and America-hating dictators called the UN, continues to cling to the preposterous notion that global warming exists, and that cows are contributory to it. Lectures the UN's global warming czar....

People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world's leading authority on global warming has told The Observer

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further.

Seems to me if cow farts contribute to global warming, we should be eating more cows to get rid of them. That said, go out and eat a big steak tonight and do your part to curb harmless green-house gases.

My wife and I dined on delicious prime rib Friday night, that we found on sale at our local Piggly-Wiggly. We couldn't eat it all and threw some away. Tonight, we'll heap extra servings of ground beef into our marinara....you know, just to do our part.

"Disturbing", would be an understatement

I found this video clip over at Van Helsing's site, Moonbattery. It is the funniest clip illutstrating the sheer stupidity of modern environmentalist kooks you'll see all weekend.


http://view.break.com/565864 - Watch more free videos

Since these morons have so much free time that they can wail and moan in the woods, I'd consider hiring them to cut down some of those old-growth trees and rebuild my deck, but then they probably don't believe in hammers and nails because they represent advanced civilization, industrialization, and comfortable life in the modern world....as do deoderant, soap, and jobs, three other things from which stupid, smelly hippies recoil.

IDIOTS!!!!! I swear!

Sarah Palin inspires loathing among tramps in the MSM

This was going to be my take on Sarah Palin's glasses which are flying off the shelves everywhere but, by the time I finished reading this article in The Dish Rag by Elizabeth Snead in the LA Times, it was about something else. Let's see if you can figure out what it is......

The Alaska governor and Republican nominee for vice president has been in the limelight for only a few days. But, according to USA Today, she's already starting an eyewear trend.

The frames are designed by Kazuo Kawasaki, from the 704 series, in 34 gray. They start at $375 but can hit $700, depending on the lenses.

The U.S. distributor of Kawasaki frames told USA Today that calls are already coming in from dealers who want to stock the exact shape and style Palin's wearing.

Let's hope pregnant teenage daughters aren't the next big craze Sarah inspires.

She just can't resist the opportunity to take a personal swipe at Sarah Palin. The MSM just can't stand it that Sarah Palin is wildly popular with pretty much everybody but them. Where was this miserable tramp Elizabeth Snead when Juno was the most popular movie around? It did nothing but convince a generation of teens that unwed pregnancy was cool, acceptable, and no big deal. Where was Snead and her stupid, snarky wit then?

Friday funny

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the US.



Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democrat Party... as they have apparently learned to simply sit and wait for the government to provide for their care and sustenance.

"Well, I shot him again, and I guess that was it,"

Apparently a young couple with children were attacked in a home invasion by two thugs armed with a shotgun. The couple decided that on this particular day, they would not be victims. They struggled with the gunmen and by the time it was over, one was as dead as a door-nail and the other was skulking off somewhere, wounded. And the family walked away.....good for them!

This is what happens when individuals decide to defend themselves, their families, and their property from armed intruders. And individuals defending themselves is what liberal elitists can't tolerate in society. We should all remain unarmed and dependent on the government for our protection, despite the fact that the police are reactionary, they don't prevent crime before it happens.

You can go here and read the whole story. Then if you decide that you don't want to be a victim either, go out and buy a gun for self-defense.

Sarah "Take No Prisoners" Palin

Over at RightWingNews John Hawkins has a Best-of video montage of Sarah Palin's speech last night. If you don't view any other video clip today, go watch this one, and re-experience the excitement of the speech.

With every great line, it was like she was whacking Obama or Biden on the toe with a ball-peen hammer. I loved it!

UPDATE: Is that not the cutest little girl....EVER? Those 6 seconds on air last night of her licking her hand and combing the baby's hair were priceless.

It's Ann Coulter Thursday!

Of course, this week Ann's column is about Sarah Palin, as is every one else's column. She artfully defends McCain's pick for VP with sarcasm and wit, as always, pointing out that when liberals pretend to be against pre-marital sex and women having careers, you know you've hit on a winner. Head on over to HumanEvents and read it for yourself.

Phil Gramm tells it like it is

Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm had this bit of insight for democrat voters.... "If you're not for John McCain, you're economically illiterate"

And man, the libs are upset about it. Why, you ask? Because he's right. Anybody who votes for the Obamessiah thinking that he'll "fix" the economy by taking away more of the earnings of rich people, and snap his fingers and make gas prices low, is an idiot. Obama's socialist, wealth redistribution ideas are proven disasters to otherwise vibrant, dynamic economies...which ours still is, despite the media's incessant caterwauling about how bad it is. Low taxes, both personal and corporate, decreased government spending, and less regulation are what allow economies to boom. But your average dem voter knows nothing of these things....you see he would have had to attend an economics class to learn it, and most of the dem voting base barely got out of dreadful, government high-schools. As long as their check comes each month, they'll vote for whom ever promises it to continue.

It's axiomatic...when you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul's vote. (For those of you who went to government schools, Paul's a democrat who Gramm called illiterate.)

Hello and welcome to the Non-Alaskan part of the world, Mrs. Palin. Glad to have you around. This country needs smart women stepping into leadership positions. Is it better that you are attractive as well? In my book that sure helps, I would rather look and listen to you as a VP than some dreary old white haired button down "Hill" guy, but that's my opinion.

Lets look at the issues:

Your daughter is pregnant. I don't see her as the first 17-year old to give birth, and I haven't seen your parenting guide book on Book Store shelves either. I see a family that has been placed in a unflattering position, and is doing their best to work through it. You are Pro-Life. She will have this child. She and the child's father are planning to get married. Seems like things are moving towards how they should be - a 2 parent family. With the values instilled in them maybe they well turn out to be solid citizens.

Internet comparisons to this incident and John Edwards situation, of which there are many, are all asinine. Edwards cheated on his wife; he broke a marital vow while Elizabeth, his wife, was sick with cancer. He is low and scummy. Bristol, 17 year old daughter of Sarah Palin, had sex with her boyfriend. Not the smartest thing to do, but not the end of the world either. No one was hurt by her acts, no Palin children are suffering through what the Edwards children deal with daily. No hurt "tryster". No tabloid news about "love children" or potential unwanted offspring. In the Palin camp, all is on the table and being dealt with appropriately. Somewhat refreshing not having to get news via the National Enquirer.

Now onto Sarah herself. The Dems will basically leave her be, and unless she stubs her toe, she will remain as such. Gov. Palin has been the Alaskan Governor for about 18 months. That is 18 months more CEO time than Obama and Biden have combined. Prior to her governorship, she was the two term mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Even more time at the helm of a ship, albeit smaller, but still the captain. Also remember that she is running as the mate not the captain. With her experience, she provides an excellent backup plan and will get better as she is on the job.

Her family is wholesome and modest. This helps the GOP ticket avoid the "ultra rich" label. She is concerned about ordinary citizens, as is proven in her various fights for the people of Alaska. She is married to an Yup'ik Eskimo. The elephants now are catering to minority voters. He is a commercial fisherman and an oilfield worker. Both are noble and solid ways to earn a living but are not prone to get one filthy rich. Laborers unite!

Let's look at the biggest concern of all Americans today - Gas Prices. Mrs. Palin has a working relationship with all the big oil companies and will push for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve - something that is way overdue, the talk on moose matings and snail darters will be back burnered for another day. She is an ethical person. She pushed such a bill through the Alaskan legislature recently. The oil companies all respect her for her business stance and the way she has been making them play ball in her state.

This selection actually showed me something that I felt was missing from the Republican side. We now know that some political skill still exists within the GOP. This decision was kept quite until it was made public. This choice was leaked out Friday to the press, thereby limiting the talk shows to a mere mention of Obama's acceptance speech and also stealing away some prime time lime light. Good for you John McCain. A flair I didn't think you possessed.

All in all, a good solid choice for this years election. Sarah Palin should make us all forget Bill's wife, and hopefully is being prepped for the big chair next time around. I may change my stance, but for now, I think she is a solid backup Qb with little baggage and a fresh face. She is also attractive - oh I said that already.

Freeze punk!!!.....now slowly step away from the egg

If you think that teen-age pranks involving vandalism are generally harmless and have no consequences.....think again....

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus teenager who was throwing eggs at cars as part of a late-night prank was fatally shot, police said Sunday.

Police said 16-year-old Garrett Burton was with at least one other teenage boy Saturday in the backyard of a home when someone shot him in the head just before 3 a.m. Police have no suspects.

I hate it for the parents of this kid but, then he was sort of asking for it. I'm not saying that using lethal force to address egg throwing is legal or even warranted, just the same as getting eaten by a crocodile isn't warranted just for wading into his pond but, you're sort of asking for it.

More thoughts on Palin

OK, one last post about the Bristol Palin pregnancy kerfuffle and then we'll move on to other things. Over at RightWingNews John Hawkins offers his 7 top reasons why Sarah Palin was a brilliant choice for VP. Here's my favorite.....

Palin has particular appeal on the Pro-life issue: Palin isn't just pro-life; she talks the talk and walks the walk. She didn't consider aborting her child with Down Syndrome and when her 17 year old daughter became pregnant with a child and decided to keep it, she supported her, which stands in stark opposition to Obama who famously said, "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

There's a hell of a moral contrast there and it's not one that looks good for Obama.

Absolutely right! There is a small sliver of Americans(radical feminist nags), who actually think babies are useless parasites foisted on women by a patriarchal society, who encourage all women to consider aborting them if they think they might be inconvenient, and who cast votes based solely on the abortion issue. The other 95% of Americans don't see it that way. Half of them, or more, may be pro-choice but they don't think any baby is a punishment. John is right, the Obama campaign should stay away from that comparison at all costs.

Credit where credit is due

As you know, I think an Obama presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country, however, Obama the man has always struck me as basically a decent guy....politically misguided, but decent. Turns out I was right....



Obama is right to distance himself and his campaign from these far-left kooks at the DailyKos and the DemocraticUnderground who're saying all kinds of awful things about Bristol Palin and her mistake. I give Obama credit for unequivically denouncing these kinds of personal attacks on the minor children of political opponents. Like I said, he seems like a decent guy, just politically wrong.