Write Your Senator. NOW!
The Senate will vote on Socialism for Billionaires II tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. TELL YOUR SENATOR TO VOTE NO!
One-third of the Senate is up for re-election this year. Make sure they all know that a vote for the bailout is a vote for unemployment.
I’ve written Senators Bond and McCaskill. You need to let yours know that you like 485-point Dow advances, and you don’t want Congress screwing up our bull market.
Socialism is no way to run a democracy. Tell your Senator NO!
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Update on St. Louis Area Prosecutors for Obama
I received a comment to my post on St. Louis area prosecutors targeting anti-Obama speech. I’ll post, here, the comment and my reponse. I hope the commenter, Bill, is on the up-and-up.
I’m an old high school friend of (St. Louis Circuit Attorney) Jennifer Joyce. Watching that initial KMOV report was like a punch in the gut. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I talked to her on the phone today to try and get her side of the story.
She was very upset at the report. She insisted that she never said or implied that they would ‘target’ anyone or look into any violations of ethics codes and doesn’t know where that line originated. She had zero interest in pursuing any legal action against anyone for any political statements or ads and acknowledged that those kinds of issues wouldn’t involve her office anyway. As far as she was concerned her role would’ve been a typical ‘rapid response’ kind of thing.
She asked KMOV to release the entire unedited footage on their website and they refused. She was reluctant to seem too confrontational with the press that had ‘wronged’ her. (It occured to me after the phone call that this was kind of odd, given that she was so committed to getting the truth out there) In the past, she had considered bringing her own camera/recorder to press events but, again, considered it too accusatory. She said the one bright spot to all this was that now she felt she had ‘carte blanche’ to insist on her own recording devices.
For my part, I explained how the report looked to the rest of us and how, even without the ‘targeting’ language, it looked entirely inappropriate to have two prosecutors standing side by side on behalf of a candidate. I’m still upset about this but she’s shown honor and integrity for as long as I’ve known her and I wanted to try and get her side out there.
My reply:
Thanks for the update. The reason I was kind of mild (for me) on the subject was that I know a lot of good police officers, city and county, who praise both Joyce and McCulloch. (And I think I went to DuBourg with Jennifer’s brother.)
I’ll take your word, for now, as the truth. I have the greatest respect for our law enforcement folk, including our prosecutors. What disturbed me about this story was the fact that it damaged Joyce’s and McCulloch’s credibility as law enforcement officers–something we cannot afford.
Please pass along to Jennifer my sincere hopes that this matter is cleared up in her favor and that Republicans have nothing to fear in criticizing Barack Obama. While I’m a Republican and a conservative, I have no desire to hurt her reputation if she’s done nothing to deserve my vituperations.
I post this, not out of fear of harassment, but out of my hope that the KMOV report was simple media sensationalism or advocacy. I want to think that lawyers who give up big bucks in private practice to protect us from the dregs of society are noble and upstanding, regardless of party. If my commenter’s statements are factual, then I apologize to Jennifer Joyce for any insult to her character my original post created.
It’s Late and I’m Bored
so this will be my only post–a series of thoughts on the day.
Financial Armageddon
In case you were too busy with your normal life and missed it, the financial armageddon promised/threatened by President Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Hank Paulson, and every other power freak on the planet failed to materialize. The Dow ended up 485 points, erasing well over half of yesterday’s losses.
Before Congress does something stupid, let’s just see what happens if we, the people, are left to our own devices–the way the founders planned it and the way it worked for 150 years before do-gooder morons fucked everything up.
Obama and Franklin Raines
I can’t believe the punk has balls to strut around blaming Republicans for the bribes he took to help Fannie Mae bring us to the bring of the financial crisis that I don’t trust politicians to rescue us from. But he has them, swinging in the wind like bull preparing to enter the ring.
He’ll get his.
Michael Savage Grows On You
You have to listen to this. Michael Savage on the financial crisis. Great wisdom hear. Listen and thank me later. (the spiritual site of the downturn)
Nite nite.
Grand Jury Subpoenas Frannie, Freddie
In the turmoil over the Socialist Reverse-Redistribution Act of 2008, you might have missed the news that a federal grand jury has subpoenaed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The subpoena seeks documents relating to accounting, disclosure and corporate governance matters dating back to January 2007, Freddie Mac said in a statement.
They should go back to 2000.
Government Never Solved a Democrat Mess
As the Wall Street crowd howls, Americans should thank the 228 Republicans and Democrats who voted against the most socialist piece of legislation offered since Hillary Clinton’s failed attempt to nationalize medicine.
Make the Banks Fix It
I am familiar with several financial services companies. These outfits are demanding price concessions to help them get through the current mess. “Hey, we fucked up the economy–why don’t you guys fix it for us?”
Bankers are the dumbest lot of people on the planet, next to Democrats in Congress. Wachovia’s Ken Thompson bought a troubled sub-prime mortgage lender in 2006 after the last sub-prime mortgage company he’d bought was failing. Genius.
Every real business person knows how to deal when a large number of customers are struggling–help them.
The banks (as required by Congress directly through legislation and indirectly through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) made a bunch of loans they knew would fail in order to prop up their balance sheets. Paper profits–and wholly fraudulent. Thank Sarbanes and Oxley.
Anyway, the banks can still fix themselves and their delinquent borrowers by writing new, standard, 30-year fixed loans at an appropriate interest rate. That’s all they have to do.
Yes, they’ll lose out-year paper profits. They were never going to collect those, anyway. Had the economy kept up, the borrowers would have refinanced before the rate adjustments or balloons. No one was going to pay $5,000 a month on $250,000 loan. No one. Never.
So recast the loans, take one, final write down (which would probably be a write-up at this point), and move on. You could have done this two years ago, you idiot bankers, but you were too damn greedy and stupid. For your stupidity you should be chained naked to the bumper of a 1963 Chevy pickup and dragged slowly through the streets of Wichita, Kansas.
If the government wants to help the banks do this right thing through insurance, I’m all for it.
The World Won’t End Because of the “Credit Crisis”
Everyone involved in this “rescue plan” is a professional salesman. They all know the importance of creating a sense of urgency. “You know, another couple saw this house this morning, and they’re coming back at 4:00 to sign a contract.” Horseshit. Even if a couple really did say they’d be back, every sales professional knows that buyers are liars.
The world will not end because democracy worked today. The world is better off because democracy prevailed over emotional tyranny. Nor will we fall into Great Depression II. Nor will you be unable to get a car loan. Nor will McDonald’s go out of business, as Shepard Smith was saying tonight on Fox News.
Credit markets are currently “frozen” because the lenders are smart enough to wait until Uncle Sam (meaning you and I) assume the risk for bad loans. Why would I lend you money today on your promise to repay if I can lend you more money tomorrow on the government’s promise to repay? I wouldn’t. I’d wait until Congress passes the rescue plan. When Congress says, “take a hike,” the people who make money lending money will start lending money again. And if they can’t, others will get into the market. IT’S THE WAY CAPITALISM WORKS.
Today the stock market fell 7 percent., In 1987, it fell 22 percent in one day. IGNORE THE HYSTERIA ABOUT LARGEST ONE-DAY POINT DROP. Seven hundred points in a day was a big deal in 1987. It’s not today. Don’t believe me? What if your boss offered you a 7 percent raise . . . based on your 1987 salary? For me, that would be about $100 a month. Give me 3 percent on this year’s salary, any day.
(As of 10:16 p.m. CDT, Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P Future are UP)
Democrats–and Democrats Alone–Caused the Financial Mess
In 2005, John McCain proposed an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to curb abuses by its Democrat executives. Democrats blocked the bill using parliamentary maneuvers. From McCain’s endorsement:
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
Barack Obama, already amassing a fortune in contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives, did nothing to advance this needed reform. He could have stood up to the all-time champion of Freddie/Fannie fund-taking, Chris Dodd, but Obama failed to lead. He followed the party line, helped his friends Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines, and let this current crisis evolve.
UPDATE: Watch Democrats PRAISING the leadership of Fannie Mae crook-in-chief Franklin Raines on Conservablogs.
John McCain warned us of the current mess we’re in and offered a solution to prevent or minimize the damage. Obama took money to make sure the problem happened.
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