Biggest losers of 2008: TAXPAYERS

Blame Bush if that’s your thing – but don’t expect spending restraint when pebo takes office – and don’t rewrite housing history as the NYT  attempted to do.

Who got the money?

Bear Stearns – $236 million plus a $30bn line of credit

Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae –guaranteed $100 bn

AIG – $61bn plus $37.8 bn a short time later

Auto Industry – Sept $630 bn –spending bill

TARP- $700 bn

Citigroup- $306 bn

Chrysler/GM – $13.4 bn plus $3bn more if needed

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The Fed has lent $1.5 trillion to banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., through programs such as its discount window, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility. Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event that a loan payment isn’t made.

The Fed made the loans under 11 programs in response to the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The total doesn’t include an additional $700 billion approved by Congress in a bailout package.

The “fair and balanced” (ahem) NYT rewrote history when they blamed Bush for the housing bubble – but it started long before in the Carter administration with the CRA. The Clinton administration relaxed the rules even more and banks were held accountable, not for their fiscal responsibility but for their “numbers.” In effect, they were forced to lend to less than creditworthy customers.

The Community Reinvestment Act or CRA was made during the hard times of the Carter Administration. It was meant to reduce the need to purchase houses. However, in the Clinton regime the lending standards of CRA were lowered further.

In the revised version of the act, the lenders were told that proof of income, source of down payment and credit history of a person would no longer be required for qualifying criteria. Boston Federal Reserve made sure that the banks end up giving loans to people with poor credit records.

http://www.encyclocentral.com/27401-Community_Reinvestment_Act_1995_Clinton_Regime_Lowers_Lending_Standards.html

Democrats in Congress resisted fixing Fannie and Freddie in 2004 - In fact, some got downright indignant and hostile.

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Who did Fannie and Freddie like the best?

–Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

Name	Office	State	Party	Grand Total	Total from PACs	Total from Individuals
Dodd, Christopher	S	CT	D	$165,400	$48,500	$116,900
Obama, Barack	S	IL	D	$126,349	$6,000	$120,349
Kerry, John	S	MA	D	$111,000	$2,000	$109,000
Bennett, Robert F	S	UT	R	$107,999	$71,499	$36,500
Bachus, Spencer	H	AL	R	$103,300	$70,500	$32,800
Blunt, Roy	H	MO	R	$96,950	$78,500	$18,450
Kanjorski, Paul E	H	PA	D	$96,000	$57,500	$38,500

Not the President Lincoln he knew?

Linking the Lincoln legacy to Obama makes no sense to some people – but politicians are fond of influencing the constituency by using these suggestive tactics like retracing Lincoln’s train route to the White House and using the Bible Lincoln used for the oath of office.  A commemorative coin?

Obama will use the Lincoln Bible when he takes the oath of office.

How did Lincoln perform in office and how will Obama perform?

Obama hasn’t performed one single act as president yet.  As Owens says, “it is always easier to be president when you’re not.”

“Mackubin Thomas Owens addresses the mainstream media’s comparisons of Barack Obama with Abraham Lincoln. The comparisons are manifestations of the media’s infatuation with Obama. Not surprisingly, Owens finds the comparisons to be wanting.

Here Owens pauses to elaborate the comparison by reference to the Peace Democrats then and now:

During the Civil War, the so-called Peace Democrats or “Copperheads” actively interfered with recruiting and encouraged desertion. Indeed, they generated so much opposition to conscription that the Army was forced to divert resources from the battlefield to the hotbeds of Copperhead activity in order to maintain order. Many Copperheads actively supported the Confederate cause, materially as well as rhetorically.

As president, Bush confronted Democratic opponents of the Iraq war who echoed the rhetoric of the Copperheads. The latter described Lincoln as a bloodthirsty tyrant, trampling the rights of Southerners and Northerners alike. Today’s Copperheads described Bush as the world’s worst terrorist, comparable to Hitler. But the actions of the Copperheads of today went far beyond unpleasant words. Antiwar Democrats’ expressions about “supporting the troops” rang hollow in light of Democratic efforts to hamstring the ability of the United States to achieve its objectives in Iraq until the success of the surge took the issue off the table.

Isn’t it just like the liberals to rewrite history???  Read the rest of this excellent post at http://www.powerlineblog.com/

If you still support the Franklin mint coin of Lincoln/Obama – just Google.

Need some traffic for your website?  Visit Alpha Inventions and learn how it’s done.

No warm fuzzies for the new year

Christmas is almost here – Oh yes we know Jesus wasn’t born near Winter Solstice and we know there’s too much commercialism associated with this sacred celebration – but I guess those of us who claim Christianity as our faith hoped the limited money supply (for taxpayers) would bring some sober thought into the arena -  Deliberate thoughts of our Christian faith and why we hold it close – not just warm fuzzies that dissipate the next day.

Ah, but anti-faith is on the rise; at least anti-Christian faith. The intellectual elitists seem to be far more comfortable with putting their faith in man…and it’s their choice.

Christmas Spending

Unlike AIG, the Auto Industry, UAW, and other bailouts, I’m not spending money I don’t have. It would be foolish to break my budget and buy presents with money I don’t actually have.

Not to worry though, if the stimulus package goes through you’ll get some money–it might be foreign borrowed money for all I know–but you’ll get something.

What I know from the economists I subscribe to, is that we as a nation are deeply in debt-more so than has been publicly acknowledged…and the bailouts haven’t come to an end yet. The auto industry will blow through their money in a few months, and they’ll be back.

Individual states and cities are jumping through hoops trying to balance their budgets.  When Joe the Plumber discovered “sharing the wealth” philosophy, he probably didn’t think it meant the taxpayers would be the ones doing the sharing.

So instead of warm fuzzy feelings for a new year, I look for a very difficult 2009.

I  look for hope too –but not for utopia on earth and certainly not from a mere man.

I approach the Christmas season in a solemn mood but also with discovery of something deeper and more meaningful than my simple existence.  As I move closer to that day, I have the assurance that in every circumstance, God is in control and orchestrates all things.

Joyous  Christmas!

To all others -enjoy your holiday in accordance with your belief.

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Journalism or hooliganism? A sign of the times

Our newspaper journalists (loose term) tell you what they want you to know as long as it fits their agenda – those gushing, tingling, and enthralled  Obama publicists, cheerleaders and anti-American sentimentalists….

You won’t see this in NYT – so I figured I would add this information to give the flavor of what one Iraqi said about the shoe-throwing incident involving our President, –the current President –you know Bush, not the immaculate (raised from Chicago slime) president-elect.

From the Kurdish Media: By Dr Sabah Salih, Dec 17
Crossing the line between journalism and hooliganism

“…Evidently that day, and not for the first or last times, journalism was understood to be, not intervention through language on behalf of truth, but a crude form of cheerleading.

Sadly, twenty-eight years later, a great many Arab journalist continue to behave in a similar fashion, bringing disgrace not just to themselves but also to the profession they attach their names to. Last Sunday’s shoe-throwing incident involving President Bush in Baghdad helps us understand why such crudeness persists.

There has always been a coarse side to Iraqi culture, made much coarser by decades of tyranny under Saddam. Saddam essentially erased the life of the mind. Under his watch, public language was transformed into a gruesome instrument for demeaning and demonizing all opponents. Overtime, that language became as brutal and as vulgar as the regime’s other means and methods. Argument, persuasion, debate, and respect for words were replaced with denunciations, crude name-calling, wild accusations, and bombastic statements. Language use became like combat: the enemy was to be subjected to a ferocious linguistic attack until he would be left speechless. Next came the more gruesome part: the person’s head would be shaven, part of his ears would be cut off, in some cases part of the tongue as well; the poor fellow would then be paraded in public, kicked and spat at repeatedly.”

Gateway Pundit said

Don’t expect the US media to report on the enraged Iraqi voices speaking out against the Bush attacker. It doesn’t fit in with their lectures and jokes against America and Bush.

The US media thinks assaulting the Republican President is a joke. I can’t imagine they’d think it was so funny if Bambi got smacked in the face with a shoe.

Meanwhile, Politico headlines offered: “Obama absolves Emanuel.” Depending on your perspective, Obama has been elevated (or demoted) to the office of high priest –Interesting choice of words by Politico given the present heated conversations about Rick Warren.

Another read from Gateway Pundit

It’s really a pathetic sign for the mainstream media when one of the leading “news” magazines is more liberal than the DNC website.

Nah–it’s a sign of the times–we’ll be force fed the Obama kool aid for years to come…but don’t stop looking for truth.

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Just go away Blagojevich

Yesterday Rod Blagojevich held  a news conference where he vowed to “fight, fight, fight” the charges against him. He hasn’t been formally charged. He says he is “absolutely sure I will be vindicated.”  (illegal wiretaps?)

Why won’t he just go away? He’s raining on Obama’s inaugural parade. No one wants corrupt politics to be the hot topic…MSM did everything possible to shield Obama from this kind of news during the campaign.

Where is the fearless Rahmbo who’s known for his rough and tough character?  Is he being kept under wraps because he “might” be caught on tape talking to Blago about Obama’s “favorite candidate” who is now one of Obama’s advisers.  Did Jarrett know there was a fed problem with the Senate seat, or was her connection to slumlord Tony Rezko a distraction?

Did Rezko hand Blago over to the feds–did Rahm Emanuel? Jesse Jackson Jr?

Why did Fitzpatrick spring the trap early? The meticulous Fitzpatrick said the hurry was to prevent Blago from picking the next US Senator from IL.

Drama in IL politics is nothing new–but we haven’t had this much drama since I’ve lived here–though we may never get the full story. ( Tony Rezko sentencing is postponed once again)

A guess here would be: within the corrupt machine politics in IL, everybody has something on everyone else…if Blago goes down, he won’t go down alone unless there are “higher forces” at work.  Is he the token sacrifice for IL politics?

Democrats had second thoughts about a special election –thinking a Republican might actually win the seat?  What does that say about their well oiled machine?  I’m sure the unions and ACORN could swing enough votes to elect the “favorite.” It’s the Chicago way!

A special election could take several months at a cost of $30 million or more.  What’s a few months more? Obama hasn’t been doing Senate work for at least a couple of years–and voting “present” was his signature vote.

Caroline Kennedy seeks to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate…will her name “buy” the seat?  Will Katie Couric and Charles Gibson treat her with the same disdain they afforded Palin?  –At least we know that answer.

Excellent article from American Thinker:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/is_obama_vulnerable_to_blackma.html

Earth magnetic fields and climate change

Urgent!

Global warming is dangerous! – if you believe Al Gore, Barack Obama, and his new advisers.  IF you offer up a different opinion, you could be called any number of unsavory names…but given that MSM has their own agenda and showed extreme bias and protection toward the left wing agenda, I don’t take their word as the gospel.  Politicians covered up and pushed their own agenda during the past presidential election – I’m not about to believe them without checking information.

Though lefties (though MSM) proclaim that scientists all “agree” about global warming—that simply is not true. The debate lives –unless you’re still willing to believe our politicians are all truthful and above board, it would be beneficial to look at the published data on both sides.

From NASA

Dec. 16, 2008: NASA’s five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth’s magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to “load up” the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.

“At first I didn’t believe it,” says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction.”

The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance.

“The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself,” says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li’s colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says “10²⁷ particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that’s a 1 followed by 27 zeros.

Perhaps the real urgency lies in understanding solar wind forces and its impact on the earth’s magnetic fields.

What does this mean in layman’s terms? I’m not a physicist by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to mean that weather disruptions, global climate changes, and preconceived notions should be reassessed. Tanking the economy with unprecedented climate control spending using old or incomplete data, is probably not the best way to go.

See also http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/12/17/the-co2-temperature-link/

Obama’s choices for science advisors – global warming advocates http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/12/obamas_choices_for_science_adv.html

Mark this date. In a recent speech in Germany, Al Gore said our entire north polar ice cap would disappear in 5 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPCUWWjh0c

No shoes thrown at this Bush speech!

US Troops give Bush a great send-off

The far left MSM and blog-o-sphere are once again salivating and giddy with delight over the story of the Iraqi who threw his shoes at President Bush, but they probably won’t have much to say about the US Troops reception and send-off.  After all, to the far left, stories of our US Troops take second place to anti-American sentiment and GW Bush.

The majority of MSM also didn’t reveal that it was Iraqi journalists that wrestled the disgruntled shoe throwing man to the floor before the security guards could get to him. Interesting – if Saddam was still in power, he might have headed to a death machine feet first- instead of heading to jail.  How things change.

You have to wonder how they’d react if the same was done to president-elect Obama. They’d be crying and spewing vitriol all over the Internet – I mean, isn’t the whole world supposed to love us now?

That was the consensus of a poll taken shortly after Election Day.

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Civil unrest over economy? Congress just got pay raise!

The Congress with the worst ratings in modern history just got a pay raise while US citizens are losing jobs and homes because of the economic crisis… Raise Some Hell

Before the election Congress had an average 17 percent approval rating at RCP and lower by other polls. Their disapproval rating was around 75 percent. How do they come off voting themselves a pay raise?

Just in the third quarter alone, U.S. households lost $647 billion in real estate; $922 billion in stocks; $523 billion in mutual funds; $653 billion in life insurance and pension fund reserves; plus $128 billion in private business interests. http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/deflation-strikes-hard-what-to-do-2-28734

SEC ran a ratings beauty contest it appears instead of actually giving real information on actual ratings.

And now this?

A “strategic shock” could require the nation to use “military force against hostile groups inside the United States.”

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has warned that advanced nations could face civil unrest during distressful economic times

“[S]ocial unrest may happen in many countries – including advanced economies” if the economic crises are not properly dealt with, Strauss-Kahn said. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83977

If they’re serious –why is Congress getting a raise??????

Pastor Rick Warren, controversial?

Rick Warren is controversial?

I don’t see eye to eye with Rick Warren on everything – I’ve read his book. But I wouldn’t call him controversial because he believes in marriage between a man and a woman; many people in the USA believe the  same.  I wouldn’t call him homophobic for his beliefs. But the left wing blog-o-sphere seems is up in arms over his inaugural prayer.

If Warren had gotten up in the pulpit and vilified the USA, then I would be angry.  Lefties had no problem with Jeremiah Wright when he was in the news.

The lefties are difficult to understand. That’s all that needs to be said.

The reaction Wednesday in gay rights circles was universally negative.

“It’s a huge mistake,” said California gay rights activist Rick Jacobs, who chairs the state’s Courage Campaign. “He’s really the wrong person to lead the president into office.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16693_Page2.html

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UPDATE from Newsbusters

Obama’s Other Inaugural Preacher Supports Gay Clergy, Same-sex Marriage

By Ken Shepherd | December 19, 2008 – 13:13  http://newsbusters.org/

While the media are fixated on the ire gay activists are directing at the president-elect for selecting Prop 8 proponent Rick Warren to give the invocation at the Obama inaugural, I’ve noticed little attention given to the fact that the man selected to give the benediction is pretty much the polar opposite of Warren on some key doctrinal matters related to homosexuality.

Special election in IL won’t restore confidence

In DC, you have the lobbyists buying favors, in NY a famous name might buy a US Senate seat, but in Illinois it’s the combine who determines who will get to be the next US Senator now that Blago is out of the picture.

Why waste upwards of $30 million in this economy for a special election to achieve the same result??

The Chicago SunTimes ran a story that said we need a special election to restore confidence.  A special election won’t restore confidence. Anyone who believes that probably doesn’t know much about the political process in Illinois.

“I am prepared to convene the House next Monday to change state law to provide for a special election for the U.S. Senate replacement. I would urge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to take note of this action,” Madigan (Mike Madigan, Illinois speaker of the house) said in a statement released by his Chicago office. “On the question of impeachment, I am prepared to discuss the suggestions of the House Republican leader.”

Round up the unions, ACORN, and other special interest groups and you have a special election.  I’m trying to find out if Daffy Duck  and Bart Simpson plan to contribute to this special election.  I guess it depends on who they know in Illinois.