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The real science of the irrefutable fact of evolution can aid society. Creationism, on the other hand, produces no results and is no benefit to society.
Computational Biochemist Uncovers A Molecular Clue To Evolution
ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2008) — A Florida State University researcher who uses high-powered computers to map the workings of proteins has uncovered a mechanism that gives scientists a better understanding of how evolution occurs at the molecular level.
Such an understanding eventually could lead to the development of new and more effective antiparasitic drugs.
Wei Yang is an assistant professor in FSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a faculty member in the university’s Institute of molecular biophysics. Working with colleagues from FSU, Duke University and Brandeis University, he recently produced remarkable computer models of an enzyme that carries the unwieldy name of inosine monophosphate dehrydrogenase, or IMPDH for short. IMPDH is responsible for initiating certain metabolic processes in DNA and RNA, enabling the biological system to reproduce quickly.
More at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080910120953.htm
Quote of the Day –
“We call ourselves “public servants” but I’ll tell you this: We as public servants must set an example for the rest of the nation. It is hypocritical for the public official to admonish and exhort the people to uphold the common good if we are derelict in upholding the common good. More is required — More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.
If we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If — If we as public officials propose, we must produce. If we say to the American people, “It is time for you to be sacrificial” — sacrifice. If the public official says that, we [public officials] must be the first to give. We must be. And again, if we make mistakes, we must be willing to admit them. We have to do that,”
– Barbara Jordan, 1976.
From Karl Peterjohns webpage:
The Rest of the Story
Friends,
On October 9 Wichita Chamber of Commerce president Bryan Derreberry issued a statement on behalf of the chamber’s political action committee endorsing the two tax ‘n spend Democrats running for the Sedgwick County Commission. Both Democrats as elected officials have raised property taxes at the county or municipal level.
My opponent, Goddard Mayor Marcey Gregory, presided over a special meeting of the Goddard city council August 11, only a few days after the primary, where she and her city council enacted a 16.6 percent tax hike as well as a massive increase in city spending.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Here’s more of what has NOT been reported about the political jihad the chamber is throwing at my campaign.
October 7 the Wichita Eagle was told by Harvey Sorenson, the head of the chamber’s PAC, that this organization would spend a “$100,000,” or “…as much as necessary,” to defeat Karl Peterjohn. That was excluded from the front page article in the October 8 Wichita Eagle. The chamber and its PAC now want to buy at least one county commissioner.
What was also excluded from the Eagle’s news reports was the fact that until last year, I had served on the Wichita Independent Business Association board of directors. I have always been a strong supporter of economic growth and free market economics.
I have served as an advocate for property tax relief for business and individuals at the Kansas statehouse since 1993. I helped get legislation enacted that eliminated the infamous business personal property (paper clip) tax in the 1990’s as well as pro-business tax relief going back at least 15 years! This included the largest tax cut in Kansas history that had a number of pro business provisions. I also fought efforts to raise business franchise taxes as well as new business taxes on software.
The October 8 Eagle article contained the claim that I opposed the zoo. The eagle knew but neglected to report that the my family has had a family membership at the Wichita Zoo since 2003. Why was this information excluded?
On October 2 I debated my opponent, Goddard Mayor Marcey Gregory, at Prof. Mel Kahn’s political science class at Wichita State University. Wichita Eagle reporter Deb Gruver wrote an article that appeared in the October 3 paper that indicated that both of us were concerned about county property taxes.
The rest of the story is that Mayor Gregory told the audience at this event that she had raised property taxes this year in Goddard. Why was this tax hike revelation excluded from this story?
This should have been part of the article since it contradicted the other comments that Gregory had stated about raising property taxes. This was not a small tax hike either. Gregory and her city council approved a 2.3 mill or 16.6% property tax hike! Spending is soaring as a result of this too!
Do you want your county property taxes to go up 16.6%? If you do, you now know which candidate the chamber wants you to vote for on November 4.
I have repeatedly pointed out the importance of the aircraft industry in this community. One of the handouts I have used in this campaign is a spreadsheet containing the employment data from the largest employers in this community. In 2007 the five major aircraft firms employed almost 32,000 people. This spreadsheet contains data compiled by the Wichita Business Journal’s Book of Lists from 1992 to 2007. This spreadsheet will soon be posted at KarlPeterjohn.com.
“I know how important the aircraft industry is to our community. The five major aircraft firms are by far the largest employer not only in our community but also statewide. I have worked long and hard to improve the tax and fiscal climate for all Kansas businesses and this effort would certainly include the key aircraft companies.
I am very disappointed that the chamber and several aircraft executives have decided to criticize my positions requiring voter approval of tax hikes in light of the fact that my opponent helped raised Goddard city property taxes 16.6 percent, or over 2.3 mills, in August. High property taxes are a large problem for businesses in our community and I want to work to provide more fiscal certainty, limit tax growth, and take the steps to make this community more economically competitive. I also realize the importance of a well trained work force and that was one of the reasons I ran for the Wichita school board.”
The reason I provided this data was to show the rapid growth in government jobs during that 16 year time period with the county percentage growth the most rapid among all governmental units. The aircraft firms seemed to be more interested in how additional tax funds could be provided to the Wichita Area Technical College. At one meeting that was held at Cessna, the chair of the WATC board, Jim Walters was present. Jim wears two hats since beside his role at WATC he also is a senior Vice President at Cessna Aircraft.
Cessna is an important part of this story in another way. In 2006, Cessna President Jack Pelton spoke in front of the county commission advocating higher property taxes to pay for a variety of county spending hikes. One of the county spending programs was the $54 million for the Wichita Area Technical College.
A large number of citizens opposed this property tax hike at the county’s public hearing. This included myself and I presented roughly 2,000 signatures from other citizens opposing this tax hike that Kansas Taxpayers Network had collected. The county commission voted 5 to 0 to approve this sizable tax hike. This approximately 8 percent (approximately 2.5 mill) property tax hike was understated since this hike was expanded by soaring property appraisals too. Total appraisals increased at least 6 percent if my memory is correct too.
Now we need to bring this back to the November 2008 election.
I am hearing second hand reports that the lie is being spread by my critics that “I want all taxes to go to zero,” and “Peterjohn opposes all government spending.” These are so ludicrous that in a sensible era they would not be worth refuting. However, we do not live in a sensible era.
I have repeatedly urged government officials not to “freeze spending,” or “roll back spending” but to try and make our community’s (as well as our state’s) fiscal climate more competitive by building upon our comparative advantages and by limiting spending growth. I have tried to get spending growth by government limited to half the rate of the growth in tax revenues. County spending is soaring and will top $400 million for the first time with the budget the commissioners approved last summer. Twelve years ago the county budget topped $200 million for the first time.
The number of county employees has almost doubled between 1992 and 2007. We can’t tax ourselves rich or spend ourselves wealthy. Governments need fiscal discipline. That is why I have also advocated budget transparency (I also advocated this at the state level and a Kansas statute enacting this has been approved) as well as providing a regular breakdown of appraisal increases between new construction and simple revaluations on existing properties. These points might seem mundane and technical, but both would provide a way for expanding accountability and performance of county government in Sedgwick County.
This is not the end of “The Rest of the Story.” I am sure that more points will be added in the few weeks remaining between today and November 4.
McCain had to set his supporters straight yesterday.They’ve gone crazy. The only thing he’s got left is the bizarre base.
These republicans are frightened to death of an Obama presidency. They’re the republicans that truly believe that Obama is a terrorist, a Muslim, not an American, or that he’s the Antichrist.
“The McCain campaign is throwing red meat to the most unhinged segment of our society. This country has a history of assassination.”
John McCain on Friday moved to calm rising anger among his supporters at rival Barack Obama, calling him a decent man and at one point taking the microphone away from a woman who’d called Obama an Arab.
Their anger apparently still at flash point, McCain’s supporters then booed him for his conciliatory words about Obama.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/53791.html
So if Obama wins, do we have a civil war on our hands? Will the hard core right wing accept the will of the people?
As I’ve said before, the republicans own the guns.
XXX is expressing the counterpoint, I guess, to the idea that there would be race riots if Obama lost.
Both are pointless fear mongering ideas. Oh, IMHO.
Karl Peterjohn says:
“I have always been a strong supporter of economic growth and free market economics.”
In other words, he is behind Bush and McCain 1000%.
“I have always been a strong supporter of economic growth and free market economics.”
———-
Only a socialist would think that is a bad thing.
Karl Peterjohn asks:
Do you want your county property taxes to go up 16.6%?
So on a $100,000 home your tax would go up $16,600 per year? Karl Peterjohn needs to tell the truth.
I was going to vote for him until his flaming untruthful rhetoric got the best of him. Don’t elect another lying Bush Republican!
The “free market economics” of Bush/McCain that’s failing so miserably worldwide? THAT “free market economics”?
My “best education”
CAMPAIGN 2008: How did Barack Obama’s community-organizer training with the radical IAF organization shape him as a leader?
William Dembski and Edward Sisson
On the seventh anniversary of 9/11 last month, Barack Obama told an audience at Columbia University that his best education came not from Columbia (where he earned his bachelor’s degree) but afterwards, when he became a community organizer in Chicago. Obama intended no offense to his alma mater (and none was taken). But his remark raises the question just why he thinks the lessons of community organizing exceed the lessons of an Ivy League education.
The “community organizer” training Obama received in the mid-1980s, and that he continues to praise today as central to how he will govern if elected president, came from the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). As John Judis remarked in the New Republic (“Creation Myth: What Barack Obama Won’t Tell You about His Community Organizing Past,” Sept. 10, 2008): “Obama the politician is a direct descendant of Obama the [IAF] organizer—that he has carried the practices and principles of community organizing into his campaign, and would carry them into the White House as well.”
The Obama candidacy is therefore an effort to elect the first-ever IAF-trained organizer into the presidency. But what does that mean? The IAF is a national organization founded in Chicago by radical activist Saul Alinsky and shaped, after Alinsky’s death in 1972, by Ed Chambers, who set up a training program to vastly increase the number of organizers.
The word “radical” is much overused, but in the IAF’s case it fits. “Radical” means, “getting to the root,” and Alinsky wanted to get to the root of, and indeed uproot, America’s cultural values and political system. Thus Alinsky’s famous dedication to his book Rules for Radicals:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.
Alinsky, who had no apparent commitment to any Biblical religion, was here a bit tongue-in-cheek. But even if his invocation of Lucifer is symbolic, it matters: Symbols convey power, as does the destruction of powerful symbols.
To understand the IAF and its guiding vision during the years that Obama received his “best education,” there’s no better source than Jim Rooney’s Organizing the South Bronx, a study sponsored and published by the State University of New York. This scholarly book examines the IAF’s nationwide “community organizer” planning and training program of the mid-to-late 1980s—the program Obama learned and that he still praises today—using the its activities among churches in the South Bronx as an example of the IAF’s approach to community organizing.
William Ayers, the unrepentant 1960s Weather Underground terrorist bomber and contemporary Obama associate, who to this day allows himself to be photographed while trampling on an American flag, praised Rooney’s work on the back cover: “This is an outstanding book—well-written, clearly organized, engaging, interesting, important.”
Rooney attended an IAF training session in July 1989, and he details what the standard IAF training included in the years that Barack Obama became an IAF organizer (1985 and 1986). Organizing the South Bronx reveals that the goals and strategies of Obama’s IAF include:
“IAF leaders are brazenly explicit about their appetite for power.” (p. 222)
“Once you have power, you can afford to be nice.” (p. 226)
“To wean [churches] from fulfilling traditional expectations.” (p. 223)
“To energize [a pastor the IAF wanted to recruit], the first thing they did at those meetings was to begin conspicuously with a prayer.” (p. 99)
“You need diverse sources of funds, so that if [one church in an IAF-inspired coalition] want[s] to pull out our money, fine, we still have Episcopal money; if they want to pull out, then we’ve got Lutheran money. Plus, the fact that over three years we have put over $150,000 of our own money in the bank. So they can all take a big flying [expletive], I don’t care.” (p. 232)
“There is no nice way to bring about change. All change comes through pressure and threats.” (p. 226)
“Increase militancy by polarizing the situation, by identifying the enemy, and by developing the situation in terms of good guys and bad guys.” (p. 89)
“It is absolutely essential to select a ripe target [a person] and build animosity toward him or her.” (p. 228)
“A target has to be selected and mercilessly zeroed in on.” (p. 228)
The person selected is to be “targeted as a stock villain, a lackey of the corrupt political establishment.” (p. 228)
When a target has “become too shopworn to continue to light up anyone’s emotional switchboard,” it is necessary to choose new people to target “as action lightning rods.” (p. 228)
“All IAF organizers take huge delight in planning the drama of confronting authorities. Perhaps it is their ecclesiastical backgrounds, with its loving attention to rituals and ceremonies, but clearly their enthusiasm for the details and rich symbolism of staged events is irrepressible.” (p. 85)
[New York Mayor Koch:] “I had the feeling I was in some Nuremberg stadium. There was a military band. There were more than 1,000 people, chanting. There were thumping standards on the floor. It was like mass hysteria and very militant.” (p. 86) [Do we not see here a model for Obama’s Greek-columned, fireworks-enhanced stadium acceptance speech?]
(Editor’s Note: Edward Sisson, one of the coauthors of this article, has posted a personal video about the IAF training program and its threat to traditional Christian churches on YouTube.)
IAF organizers like Obama were thus trained to target individuals for hate and denunciation, to exploit the organizational benefits of having enemies, and to pursue “justice” by creating conflict and confrontation. Personal targeting and scapegoating became a central organizing principle for IAF-trained community organizers, instigated by Alinsky’s lieutenant and successor Ed Chambers. Rooney makes clear that the IAF is brutally cynical about the constant need for fresh victims. Obama’s IAF thus made it official policy that political opponents were to be turned into personal enemies (or “ripe targets”).
We are presently seeing this “politics of vilification” by members of the Left in their targeted hate against Sarah Palin, who is a personal victim of IAF-style programs that build animosity against their political opponents. This method that the IAF employs is profoundly wrong morally. Barack Obama, an IAF community organizer, has not spoken of a single fault with the IAF.
William A. Dembski heads the Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Edward Sisson is a Washington D.C.–based attorney.
Copyright © 2008 WORLD Magazine
Published October 10, 2008
“So on a $100,000 home your tax would go up $16,600 per year? Karl Peterjohn needs to tell the truth.”
Wow!!!! You pay $100,000 in property tax. What kind of home do you own?
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:21 am | Permalink
Karl Peterjohn asks:
Do you want your county property taxes to go up 16.6%?
So on a $100,000 home your tax would go up $16,600 per year? Karl Peterjohn needs to tell the truth.
========================================
What an idiot.
The taxes would go up based on the assessment of the taxes, not straight value of the home.
So if you home was taxed at $1200.00/year for a $100,000 home, the tax increase would be $192.20/year.
So Regular believes that asking a question (which he clarified by answering) makes me an idiot. Typical flaming Republican.
Maggotpuke- The real science of the irrefutable fact of evolution can aid society.
——————————————–
Perhaps if it was an “irrefutable fact.”
*yawn*
……………………….
“Another problem with evolution that continues to worsen is that it remains incapable of explaining how anything could evolve that doesn’t make biological sense when incomplete. The wings of birds are the classic example: what good is half of one?”
#
mxyzptlk
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:43 am | Permalink
So Regular believes that asking a question (which he clarified by answering) makes me an idiot. Typical flaming Republican.
—————————-
No, only stupid questions…
Reminds me of the question:
“What color is red?”
duh!
#
biased1
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:46 am | Permalink
Maggotpuke- The real science of the irrefutable fact of evolution can aid society.
——————————————–
Perhaps if it was an “irrefutable fact.”
*yawn*
……………………….
“Another problem with evolution that continues to worsen is that it remains incapable of explaining how anything could evolve that doesn’t make biological sense when incomplete. The wings of birds are the classic example: what good is half of one?”
—————————
Not too bad for barbeque. :)
#
outlander
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:13 am | Permalink
XXX is expressing the counterpoint, I guess, to the idea that there would be race riots if Obama lost.
Both are pointless fear mongering ideas. Oh, IMHO.
________________________________________________
I haven’t heard of any blacks shouting “kill McCain”, or “bomb McCain”.
On the other hand….
mxyzptlk Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:43 am | Permalink
“So Regular believes that asking a question (which he clarified by answering) makes me an idiot. Typical flaming Republican.”
Your question mxyzptlk WAS idiotic. Why must Regular or any of us Suffer such fools?
Read about Obama and his Acorn ties here:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10112008/postopinion/editorials/bams_vote_fraud_buddies_133144.htm
XXX
The question arises again.
Are you a liar or just ignorant of fact.
Your tin foil hat website that accuses McCain of torching the Forrestal is so obviously wrong that it’s amusing that you bought into it. I thought you were brighter than that.
Liar,
or ignorant.(gullible?)
Which is it?
Rush had a good segment yesterday when talking about Carville saying there would (should?) be rioting in the streets if obama should lose.
When do the REST OF US get to riot?
Those of us who pay our bills.
Those of us who don’t buy a house we can’t afford.
Those of us who foot the bill for every social experiment the Dems bring down the pike.
Those of us who are not regularly arrested and add to the cost of the courts, prisons, parole, probation.
Those of us who DON’T start smoking crack and other drugs (BECAUSE there is a white CIA agent there with a gun to our heads FORCING us to smoke it.)
Those of us who aren’t third or fourth generation of dropping out a kid at 15 to continue the cycle of public assistance.
Those of us who didn’t drop out of school at 15 or 16 because we would much rather stay at home and play our video games and smoke MJ. And then start collecting welfare, SSI and food stamps at 18.
Those of us who are productive members of society instead of adding to the downfall of society.
Those of us who follow the laws and take responsibility for our actions.
Those of us who pay the billions poured into a failed public school system and yet we need to pay more because kids are still failing and dropping out, somehow the billions just isn’t enough.
ALL of this is taken away from us by a guvment who is more concerned with “rewarding” or “bailing out” these kind of persons.
But are we allowed to riot over these actions taken against us, NO, we are expected to just go right on working and footing the bill and paying the tax increases that allow the guvment to just keep right on the way it is going and be the America Obama and William Ayers dream of.
Why must Regular or any of us Suffer such fools?
Because we suffer you, the Bushco 26%’ers.
Regular- What an idiot.
The taxes would go up based on the assessment of the taxes, not straight value of the home.
So if you home was taxed at $1200.00/year for a $100,000 home, the tax increase would be $192.20/year.
———————————————–
This is typical fear mongering. Just throw out some huge “percentage” and don’t back it up any further. And it isn’t a Left thing or a right thing. It’s used by ALL types of groups. Drives me nuts. So while xyz’s response WAS idiotic, it was probably shared by plenty-o-plenty of people.
So xyz, next time you hear that the violent crime rate went up 50% for the month of july, before you panic, find out 50% “what?”
If there was 100 violent crimes last month and 150 this month, that WOULD be fairly significant.
but if there was 4 last month, and 6 this month, not so.
To use your example Regular, taxes would actually raise about .7%? Is that about right? That doesn’t sound too SCARY. So thats the number we’ll use to push for the increase.(typical)
hey xyz, did you know that a .01 cent sales tax is about a 19% tax increase?
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes believable” is soo true here. People are blaming Bush for the current economic meltdown when the FACTS show it had its roots in the Clinton administration.
Bill Clinton (as written about in September 1999 New York Times) pushed for relaxing mortgage loan rules so low income people (who couldn’t afford it anyway) could buy houses. His buddy, and current Obama adivsor Mr. Raines, implemented these disastrous policies as head of FannieMae.
the New York Times warned that a bailout..much larger than the savings and loan mess, would result. and, it has happened.
Libs want to close their eyes and minds to the facts because it is so much easier to lie and blame others for what their hero did.
Sad…that political bias overcomes ability to think raionally.
typo: rationally
From The New York Times Sept. 1999
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
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 15 markets — 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 stock holders 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 subprime 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 the 1990’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 subprime market.”
Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime 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 Wallison 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.”
complete story at url below:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
From the NYT article:
“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.”
Soap On. Soap off. Soap On. Soap Off.
Rinse and repeat.
Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, a Carter-era law that purported to prevent “redlining” – denying mortgages to black borrowers – by pressuring banks to make home loans in “low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.” Under the act, banks were to be graded on their attentiveness to the “credit needs” of “predominantly minority neighborhoods.” The higher a bank’s rating, the more likely that regulators would say yes when the bank sought to open a new branch or undertake a merger or acquisition.
1995: The Clinton Administration’s regulatory revisions with an effective starting date of January 31, 1995 were credited with substantially increasing the number and aggregate amount of loans to small businesses and to low- and moderate-income borrowers for home loans. Part of the increase in home loans was due to increased efficiency and the genesis of lenders, like Countrywide, that do not mitigate loan risk with savings deposits as do traditional banks using the new subprime authorization. This is known as the secondary market for mortgage loans.
1. Bill Clinton says the Congress’s 1999 decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and Clinton’s signing of the Bill was NOT a mistake, and did NOT lead to the current crisis.
Who do you believe, Clinton or Obama?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122282635048992995.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
In BusinessWeek.com, Maria Bartiromo reports that she asked the former President last week whether he regretted signing that legislation. Mr. Clinton’s reply: “No, because it wasn’t a complete deregulation at all. We still have heavy regulations and insurance on bank deposits, requirements on banks for capital and for disclosure. I thought at the time that it might lead to more stable investments and a reduced pressure on Wall Street to produce quarterly profits that were always bigger than the previous quarter.
“But I have really thought about this a lot. I don’t see that signing that bill had anything to do with the current crisis. Indeed, one of the things that has helped stabilize the current situation as much as it has is the purchase of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, which was much smoother than it would have been if I hadn’t signed that bill.”
One of the writers of that legislation was then-Senator Phil Gramm, who is now advising John McCain, and who Mr. Obama described last week as “the architect in the United States Senate of the deregulatory steps that helped cause this mess.” Ms. Bartiromo asked Mr. Clinton if he felt Mr. Gramm had sold him “a bill of goods”?
Mr. Clinton: “Not on this bill I don’t think he did. You know, Phil Gramm and I disagreed on a lot of things, but he can’t possibly be wrong about everything. On the Glass-Steagall thing, like I said, if you could demonstrate to me that it was a mistake, I’d be glad to look at the evidence.
“But I can’t blame [the Republicans]. This wasn’t something they forced me into. I really believed that given the level of oversight of banks and their ability to have more patient capital, if you made it possible for [commercial banks] to go into the investment banking business as Continental European investment banks could always do, that it might give us a more stable source of long-term investment.”
2003: the Bush Administration recommended what the NY Times called “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.” This change was to move governmental supervision of two of the primary agents guaranteeing subprime loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under a new agency created within the Department of the Treasury. However, it did not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enabled them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. The changes were generally opposed along Party lines and eventually failed to happen. Representative Barney Frank(D-MA) claimed of the thrifts “These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) added “I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing.”
‘’These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,’’ said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ‘’The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.’’
NEW YORK TIMES
September 11, 2003
New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
”There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,” Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.
Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.
The administration’s proposal, which was endorsed in large part today by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. Nor would it remove the companies’ exemptions from taxes and antifraud provisions of federal securities laws.
The proposal is the opening act in one of the biggest and most significant lobbying battles of the Congressional session.
After the hearing, Representative Michael G. Oxley, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced their intention to draft legislation based on the administration’s proposal. Industry executives said Congress could complete action on legislation before leaving for recess in the fall.
”The current regulator does not have the tools, or the mandate, to adequately regulate these enterprises,” Mr. Oxley said at the hearing. ”We have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting practices went largely unnoticed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight,” the independent agency that now regulates the companies.
”These irregularities, which have been going on for several years, should have been detected earlier by the regulator,” he added.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was created by Congress in 1992 after the bailout of the savings and loan industry and concerns about regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities or hold them in their own portfolios.
At the time, the companies and their allies beat back efforts for tougher oversight by the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve. Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. This year, however, the chances of passing legislation to tighten the oversight are better than in the past.
Reflecting the changing political climate, both Fannie Mae and its leading rivals applauded the administration’s package. The support from Fannie Mae came after a round of discussions between it and the administration and assurances from the Treasury that it would not seek to change the company’s mission.
After those assurances, Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae’s chief executive, endorsed the shift of regulatory oversight to the Treasury Department, as well as other elements of the plan.
”We welcome the administration’s approach outlined today,” Mr. Raines said. The company opposes some smaller elements of the package, like one that eliminates the authority of the president to appoint 5 of the company’s 18 board members.
Company executives said that the company preferred having the president select some directors. The company is also likely to lobby against the efforts that give regulators too much authority to approve its products.
Freddie Mac, whose accounting is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a United States attorney in Virginia, issued a statement calling the administration plan a ”responsible proposal.”
The stocks of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell while the prices of their bonds generally rose. Shares of Freddie Mac fell $2.04, or 3.7 percent, to $53.40, while Fannie Mae was down $1.62, or 2.4 percent, to $66.74. The price of a Fannie Mae bond due in March 2013 rose to 97.337 from 96.525.Its yield fell to 4.726 percent from 4.835 percent on Tuesday.
Fannie Mae, which was previously known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, which was the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, have been criticized by rivals for exerting too much influence over their regulators.
”The regulator has not only been outmanned, it has been outlobbied,” said Representative Richard H. Baker, the Louisiana Republican who has proposed legislation similar to the administration proposal and who leads a subcommittee that oversees the companies. ”Being underfunded does not explain how a glowing report of Freddie’s operations was released only hours before the managerial upheaval that followed. This is not world-class regulatory work.”
Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.
Yup, it was TOO MUCH Government regulation that FORCED Banks & Mortgage Companies to make high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford it.
Government said give people houses, whether they can afford it or not.
GOVERNMENT REGULATION caused this problem!
And when Bush called for reforms to Fannie & Freddie and more oversight, the DEMOCRATS OPPOSED IT!
This Financial Crisis is CLEARLY a Democrat Caused Problem.
And now….Obama the 2nd Highest Recipient of Freddie Mac CASH, all of a sudden says BUSH is the problem and that too little Government Regulation caused this problem.
Obama IS A: L I A R
Wax on. Wax off.
Lie, and blame Republicans.
Wax on. Wax off.
Rinse and repeat the truth.
Wax on. Wax off.
Lie, and blame Republicans.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122290574391296381.html
What They Said About Fan and Fred
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 10, 2003:
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there’s a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . .
AP
Clockwise from top left: Sen. Thomas Carper, Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Robert Bennett, Rep. Maxine Waters, Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Charles Schumer.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), speaking to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez:
Secretary Martinez, if it ain’t broke, why do you want to fix it? Have the GSEs [government-sponsored enterprises] ever missed their housing goals?
* * *
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003:
Rep. Frank: I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing. . . .
* * *
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 25, 2003:
Rep. Gregory Meeks, (D., N.Y.): . . . I am just pissed off at Ofheo [Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight] because if it wasn’t for you I don’t think that we would be here in the first place.
Fannie Mayhem: A History
A compendium of The Wall Street Journal’s recent editorial coverage of Fannie and Freddie.
And Freddie Mac, who on its own, you know, came out front and indicated it is wrong, and now the problem that we have and that we are faced with is maybe some individuals who wanted to do away with GSEs in the first place, you have given them an excuse to try to have this forum so that we can talk about it and maybe change the direction and the mission of what the GSEs had, which they have done a tremendous job. . .
Ofheo Director Armando Falcon Jr.: Congressman, Ofheo did not improperly apply accounting rules; Freddie Mac did. Ofheo did not try to manage earnings improperly; Freddie Mac did. So this isn’t about the agency’s engagement in improper conduct, it is about Freddie Mac. Let me just correct the record on that. . . . I have been asking for these additional authorities for four years now. I have been asking for additional resources, the independent appropriations assessment powers.
Brian Carney of the Editorial Board on the hearings Congresspeople don’t want to remember. (Oct. 2)
This is not a matter of the agency engaging in any misconduct. . . .
Rep. Waters: However, I have sat through nearly a dozen hearings where, frankly, we were trying to fix something that wasn’t broke. Housing is the economic engine of our economy, and in no community does this engine need to work more than in mine. With last week’s hurricane and the drain on the economy from the war in Iraq, we should do no harm to these GSEs. We should be enhancing regulation, not making fundamental change.
Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines. Everything in the 1992 act has worked just fine. In fact, the GSEs have exceeded their housing goals. . . .
Rep. Frank: Let me ask [George] Gould and [Franklin] Raines on behalf of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, do you feel that over the past years you have been substantially under-regulated?
Mr. Raines?
Mr. Raines: No, sir.
Mr. Frank: Mr. Gould?
Mr. Gould: No, sir. . . .
Mr. Frank: OK. Then I am not entirely sure why we are here. . . .
Rep. Frank: I believe there has been more alarm raised about potential unsafety and unsoundness than, in fact, exists.
* * *
Senate Banking Committee, Oct. 16, 2003:
Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.): And my worry is that we’re using the recent safety and soundness concerns, particularly with Freddie, and with a poor regulator, as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie’s mission. And I don’t think there is any doubt that there are some in the administration who don’t believe in Fannie and Freddie altogether, say let the private sector do it. That would be sort of an ideological position.
Mr. Raines: But more importantly, banks are in a far more risky business than we are.
* * *
Senate Banking Committee, Feb. 24-25, 2004:
Sen. Thomas Carper (D., Del.): What is the wrong that we’re trying to right here? What is the potential harm that we’re trying to avert?
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: Well, I think that that is a very good question, senator.
What we’re trying to avert is we have in our financial system right now two very large and growing financial institutions which are very effective and are essentially capable of gaining market shares in a very major market to a large extent as a consequence of what is perceived to be a subsidy that prevents the markets from adjusting appropriately, prevents competition and the normal adjustment processes that we see on a day-by-day basis from functioning in a way that creates stability. . . . And so what we have is a structure here in which a very rapidly growing organization, holding assets and financing them by subsidized debt, is growing in a manner which really does not in and of itself contribute to either home ownership or necessarily liquidity or other aspects of the financial markets. . . .
Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.): [T]he federal government has [an] ambiguous relationship with the GSEs. And how do we actually get rid of that ambiguity is a complicated, tricky thing. I don’t know how we do it.
I mean, you’ve alluded to it a little bit, but how do we define the relationship? It’s important, is it not?
Mr. Greenspan: Yes. Of all the issues that have been discussed today, I think that is the most difficult one. Because you cannot have, in a rational government or a rational society, two fundamentally different views as to what will happen under a certain event. Because it invites crisis, and it invites instability. . .
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.): I, just briefly will say, Mr. Chairman, obviously, like most of us here, this is one of the great success stories of all time. And we don’t want to lose sight of that and [what] has been pointed out by all of our witnesses here, obviously, the 70% of Americans who own their own homes today, in no small measure, due because of the work that’s been done here. And that shouldn’t be lost in this debate and discussion. . . .
* * *
Senate Banking Committee, April 6, 2005:
Sen. Schumer: I’ll lay my marker down right now, Mr. Chairman. I think Fannie and Freddie need some changes, but I don’t think they need dramatic restructuring in terms of their mission, in terms of their role in the secondary mortgage market, et cetera. Change some of the accounting and regulatory issues, yes, but don’t undo Fannie and Freddie.
* * *
Senate Banking Committee, June 15, 2006:
Sen. Robert Bennett (R., Utah): I think we do need a strong regulator. I think we do need a piece of legislation. But I think we do need also to be careful that we don’t overreact.
I know the press, particularly, keeps saying this is another Enron, which it clearly is not. Fannie Mae has taken its lumps. Fannie Mae is paying a very large fine. Fannie Mae is under a very, very strong microscope, which it needs to be. . . . So let’s not do nothing, and at the same time, let’s not overreact. . .
Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.): I think a lot of people are being opportunistic, . . . throwing out the baby with the bathwater, saying, “Let’s dramatically restructure Fannie and Freddie,” when that is not what’s called for as a result of what’s happened here. . . .
>
>
Here it comes
>
>
>
Wait for it,,,,
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>
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OHHH NO! HERE IT IS!!!!!
>
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Sen. Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.): Mr. Chairman, what we’re dealing with is an astounding failure of management and board responsibility, driven clearly by self interest and greed. And when we reference this issue in the context of — the best we can say is, “It’s no Enron.” Now, that’s a hell of a high standard.
Say, when is this DEMOCRAT Congress gonna call for HEARINGS to INVESTIGATE the cause of the Financial Crisis?
NEVER.
The Democrats have to cover-up their own actions which caused the Financial Crisis!
Bring on the Hearings!!!!
But Max…it is soooo much easier to ignore history, deny the facts and just blame the current administration.
Facts do not matter to the shills.
MaxGrobnik
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink
Say, when is this DEMOCRAT Congress gonna call for HEARINGS to INVESTIGATE the cause of the Financial Crisis?
———————————————–
I knew the second Nancy called for “bipartisanship” the demorats were a$$ deep in this mess and there wasn’t going to be hearing one.
Only AFTER the election.
If the One gets to the white house, how many “pardons” do you see in the “first 100 days.”
Vegas probably has a line……..
Does the liberal tape recording start off with, “You are getting very sleepy……”?
Studies in Boston and Atlanta conducted during the 1990s showed foreclosures by subprime lenders tripling, while foreclosures by other lenders remained steady or declined. A similar study in Chicago, which began at an earlier date, showed an even more dramatic increase. [ See Subprime Foreclosures: the Smoking Gun of Predatory Lending? Policy Development and Research Information Service http://www.huduser.org/index.html
During the 1990s the practice of “risk based’ pricing increased. Banks began charging higher than normal interest rates to certain borrowers deemed to have lower than average credit worthiness. This practice was justified on the grounds that it opened home ownership to those who would not otherwise qualify for mortgages. However, by their nature, subprime loans carry a higher risk of default because they impose an additional financial burden on those who are in many cases least able to afford it. Further, subprime loans have become an arena for outright fraud and abuse. Cases of “redlining” have been documented where whole neighborhoods, usually poor or minority, are deemed to be substandard credit risks, forcing residents with otherwise excellent credit to pay subprime interest rates.
One of the most flagrant offenders is CitiGroup, headed by Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary Robert Rubin. In March the Federal Trade Commission charged CitiGroup with deliberately “steering” and “misleading” borrowers into accepting predatory loans.
Biased1 after days away the rhetoric never changes. The republicans did it! The neocons made us do it! The fundies will ruin the nation! And on and on and on.. The left mantra. They deserve the ‘One’ and when he bombs and we are paying double digit interest again and we have businesses failing and shutting their doors and unemployment in the double digits – I know – it will be because the rightwingnuts left us this mess.
Dims are truely the party of idiots. The more things ‘change’ the more they stay the same.
Bring on that change.
“Say, when is this DEMOCRAT Congress gonna call for HEARINGS to INVESTIGATE the cause of the Financial Crisis?”
Well aren’t the democrats still a little busy investigating the Bush White House? Someone once posted a listing of allll the “investigations” the demcoratic lead congress were conducting. Wish I had that.
Becuase Congress was so busy conducting investigations they failed to pass any of the 26 appropriation acts FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW.
Remember demcorats during the midterm elections campaigning about throwing out those DO NOTHING republicans which had failed to pass legislation?
The primary duty/responsibility of Congress – and they failed to do their jobs.
If there were you or me: WE WOULD BE FIRED!!!
Did the brainwashing take place between my earlier post and now?
Need to replant the truth:
2003: the Bush Administration tried to regulate:
’These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,’’ said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ‘’The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.’’
But AmWay remember this is the party of those who think that a state trooper who drinks on the job has dalliances in the back of his trooper car, tases a 10 year old boy deserves to keep his job.
Watch how quickly that investigation is dropped the day after the elections. Dims can not really investigate anything because they have those big blinders on and are easily duped and that is ok. Because afterall they are dims.
I am beginning to think that maybe as a country we deserve the prez we seem to be electing. After four years of the Messiah as Louis Farrakan calls him we will be begging for a conservative in the White House.
The investigation of Palin was a state of Alaska matter and was begun LONG before McCain foolishly tapped her for VP.
Palin is a crook. McCain is incompetent.
Uh..bj? The bipartisan committee said Palin did nothing illegal. Where do you get ‘crook’ out of doing NOTHING illegal?
They also concluded that she abused her office there Raptor.
I’m disappointed for you Raptor. You’re slipping.
I know you do not want to lose. Will we see how badly you want your side to win?
Palin was a poor choice. In his fist, most important duty, John McCain failed very badly.
NINJA LOANS: no income no job no assets, loans were made to “help” people without assets buy a home. Congress endorsed this. After Clinton loosened mortgage lending responsibilities (e.g. not requiring documentation to support income/expenses) the race was on to provide more inovative loans to low income or bad credit risk borrowers.
Traditionally, lenders wished to know something of the borrowers’ background—their jobs, their wealth and soforth. In an age of perennially rising home prices, and the lacked government regulation, these tedious details could be dispensed with. “Low doc” and “no doc” loans have proliferated. One mortgage provider, HCL Finance, advertises itself as the “home of the ‘no doc’ loan.” Among the products listed on its Web site was the NINJA loan
“What we have here is a failure of common sense. Bankers shouldn’t make — or be allowed to make — mortgage loans that require no money down and no documentation of income to people who won’t be able to afford the monthly payments if interest rates rise, house prices fall or the roof springs a leak. It’s not a whole lot more complicated than that.”
Steven Pearlstein at washingtonpost.com.
“Messiah as Louis Farrakan calls him”
Did he really? I’d like to read that link. My prove interesting. Thanx.
“BlueJay
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink
The investigation of Palin..”
Damn it JR! Can’t you wait for the bleeding heart Eagle editors to post the daily Palin Thread?
Have you no posting etiquette?
No patience to follow the blogging rules of order?
“violated the public trust” Raptor.
You let that sink in. REALLY think on it.
Sarah Palin was entrusted by the people of Alaska.
She USED that honor and office to get in the middle of her sister’s divorce and custody fight.
If she slips SO easily into abuse of power, what other abuses of office might she be tempted to explore?
We know that she has decidedly NOT mainstream views on any number of matters. If given a pass and allowed THIS transgression, she will only be emboldened to do it again.
This is conservative thinking 101. And here am I a reformed conservative turned progressive having to teach it?
the Farrakhan video is on youtube..here is one link to it:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=77539
JR you are being very “greedy” by posting about Palin on the Open Thread.
The Open Thread is the ONLY place for anyone with an opinion or viewpoint on the DEMOCRATIC Candidates to post an opposing view, or negative view.
Those with views contrary to the WE Blog Eagle have only this venue on the Kansas blog to post.
Have you no sense of fairness? Remember your Fairness Doctrine?
So you are either uncultured on the proper place for posting, or you are a BLOG HOG.
To avoid confusion and chaos, could you please get your shi- together?
“am I a reformed conservative turned progressive”
JR/JM/BLUEJAY, there is nothing reformed about you. You were born to a bleeding heart whiny family, and have remained a socialist democrat your entire financially destituted life.
In a pigs eye.
I think your beef is with okobserver there “American way”.
Bringing Palin here?
Word up if you are taking her on.
Wear ankle protection!
Attack of the NINJA’s
No Income and No Job or Assets.
Written by: Carmen Multhauf,ABR,ASR,GHS,GRI,SHS,SRES
- Aug 31, 2008 3:33:00 PM
“With the push to increase homeownership, ARM’s began to mutate into Option ARM’s and Hybrid ARM’s. These loans allowed borrowers to qualify at lower payments, and, in the process, they increased the pool of buyers. In some cases, the starting payments were below even the initial interest amount, creating negative amortization in which unpaid interest is added to principal balance. The peak volume of ARM’s and the sharply decreased underwriting standards occurred in late 2005 and 2006. As it became easier to qualify for loans and payments became (artificially) low, property values increased. Borrowers competed in bidding up property prices. As prices ballooned, speculators entered the market and “flipping” became a household word. Some homeowners became speculators, using their homes as ATM machines, pulling out equity and fueling the consumer/retail markets, or using equity to buy second homes or investment properties.
Decreased underwriting standards have been reflected in “no-doc” or “low-doc” loans, where the borrowers “stated” their income without verification. Those loans may have a place for the self-employed or those who cannot document their true income (we highlight the word “true”). However, during the housing frenzy these loans came to be called “liar loans,” as 3.2 million borrowers used them for home purchases. It is precisely these mutant loans that we call NINJA loans, as they were often associated with No Income and No Job or Assets. According to NAR, 70.5% of all sub-prime loans originated after 2005, and they constitute 40.5% of foreclosures.
One of the terms of these loans is that at the end of two years, or when an increasing loan principal exceeds 115% of the original loan amount, the loans will re-set to generally higher interest rates and often dramatically increased payment amounts, which for some owners has been far above their ability to pay. These alternative mortgages fueled the real estate boom, but the boom was dependent on the continuing escalation of property values. If instead, property values began to decline, a decline now compounded by negative amortization causing loan amounts to exceed equity, borrowers would find that their properties could not be refinanced or sold. Pre-payment penalties added to the problem. This is exactly what happened when the housing bubble burst.
So, where are we today? By 2005 these loans started resetting. Borrowers who had low “teaser” payments were faced with making fully indexed payments based on increased interest rates. At the top of the market, borrowers were able to sell or refinance their homes, but soon housing values were in decline. Many sellers then found that they owed more than the market value of their homes. They discovered that they could not refinance into fixed-rate products, and that lenders were not yet willing to consider loan modifications to lower the resetting interest rates. Adding to the complication, many loans had been bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and sold, so there was no “lender” to renegotiate with.
Foreclosures became a reality. At the beginning of 2007 (note that this is two years after the peak of ARM loans), foreclosures were 5.4% of resale activity. By the second quarter of 2008, that figure had increased to 40%. Even more alarming is the data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which indicates that the volume of resets will reach $80 billion in the second half of 2008—up from $55.5 billion in the first half of the year. If loans cannot be modified to assist borrowers, and home values are below loan amounts, we will see many more short sales, foreclosures, and deeply discounted REO’s.
For neighbors of properties in default, there is often a ripple effect, as they see their property values also lowered. Declining property values are even influencing decisions of some solvent property owners, borrowers who could make payments but choose to default on their loans and walk away from properties when they find that their loan balances exceed their home values. Some lenders refer to this as “jingle mail” where the borrower just sends the keys in an envelope with a good-bye note.
It is now apparent that the underlying causes of the housing bubble were low interest rates, lax underwriting standards, and the speculative fever that continued until the rapid increases in valuations become unsustainable. According to Robert Shiller in his book “Irrational Exuberance,” the end of the real estate boom was predictable when median prices reached six to nine times the median income. Over the past decade, the national average of housing values rose 88% (higher in California) according to Robert Brown, professor of economics at California State University.
The current downturn is having a broad effect on society. Some minority and first-time buyers are losing their homes, and even the often-meager assets they once held. But the effect is much broader. For example, many Boomers who relied on home equity as a retirement vehicle are seeing their wealth reduced. The credit crisis that has developed is making recovery difficult. Would-be buyers of distress properties are often unable to get loans, and job creation has been slowed as the credit shortage spreads to business entities. The full impact of the housing and credit crises is yet to be determined, but the effects on the generational and ethnic mix of Americans will clearly be substantial.”
Under your skin huh “Am way”?
Looks like Paulie and a few others are going to have to do another 180, dizzy yet?
“While a number of questioners expressed concerns about Obama, one woman went further. “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him. He’s an Arab,” she said, echoing a false assertion that has crept into some right-wing Internet blogs.
McCain shook his head in disagreement and cut her off, grabbing the microphone back. “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man, (a) citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues,” he said.
On Monday, Palin had told a joint rally with McCain in Florida: “I am just so fearful that (Obama) is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.”
“FEAR MONGERING”
Critics say that line was especially pointed because of its potential subtext. Obama, 47, would be the first black president and his background, including part of a childhood spent in Indonesia, is different from that of most Americans.
He has accused the Republicans of fear-mongering.
The attacks by McCain and Palin have failed to stop a gradual increase in Obama’s lead in polls as he focused on policies to cope with the international financial crisis.
A Newsweek poll published on Friday gave Obama an 11-point lead over McCain at 52-41 percent. A month ago this poll had the two candidates tied at 46 percent. Other polls in the most contested states have also shown a swing toward Obama.
When I saw Peterjohn made mention of St. Ronnie in his flyer, I knew that this is a person the county can not afford to get at the helm.
We’ve had our fill of con world, time to take it back.
Have to repost this after the koolaid and tape recording affects:
CNN: ACORN fraud and ties to Obama
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/10/10/cnn-acorn-fraud-and-ties-to-obama/
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/10/griffin.acorn.elex.fraud.cnn?iref=videosearch
OBAMA=ACORN ACORN=OBAMA OBAMA=ACORN ACORN=OBAMA
And now! New from KT Records (aka Washington Times)
The SMOKING GUN!
(taa daaah!)
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The tie between “The One” Obama and ACORN
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EXTRA EXTRA!
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READ ALL ABOUT IT! EXTRA EXTRA~!
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Obama camp downplays payments to ACORN
Friday, October 10, 2008
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign distanced itself Thursday from its $800,000 payment linked to the liberal ACORN organization, which is under investigation in several states where it is suspected of filing fraudulent voter registrations.
Federal Election Commission reports show ACORN-affiliated Citizens Services Inc. got $832,598 from the Obama campaign for get-out-the-vote work during the primaries. But those payments stopped in May and the Obama campaign says they should not be an election issue.
Still, the contributions to Citizens Services draw the Obama campaign closer to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, and the growing voter-fraud scandal that this week spread to the battleground state of Ohio.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/10/10/ldt.tucker.acorn.under.fire.cnn?iref=videosearch
Start impeachment hearings now! Why wait for the inauguration? It will take years to get it through the democrats controlled house and senate. Republicans not up for reelection should begin now. Get the paperwork flowing. Throw the rascal out!!!
This will come back to haunt democrats every bit as much as the “stolen election” by Bush has.
OBAMA=ACORN ACORN=OBAMA OBAMA=ACORN ACORN=OBAMA
Heckler
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:12 am | Permalink
XXX
The question arises again.
__________________________________________________
The answer is neither.
Nitwit
This could prove interesting…
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQmszDq4LOiRMcYNSaUdrmvTcB2AD93O8N500
Obama fundraiser, convicted of fraud, spills beans
By MIKE ROBINSON – 5 hours ago
CHICAGO (AP) — Jailed political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer who helped launch Barack Obama on his political career, is whispering secrets to federal prosecutors about corruption in Illinois and the political fallout could be explosive.
Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration faces multiple federal investigations over how it handed out jobs and money with advice from Rezko, is considered the most vulnerable.
Rezko also was friendly with Obama — offering him a job when he finished law school, funding his earliest political campaigns and purchasing a lot next to his house.
#
MaxGrobnik
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink
Say, when is this DEMOCRAT Congress gonna call for HEARINGS to INVESTIGATE the cause of the Financial Crisis?
NEVER.
The Democrats have to cover-up their own actions which caused the Financial Crisis!
Bring on the Hearings!!!!
________________________________________________
The American people believe by a margin of 2 to 1 that republicans caused the current financial crisis.
You republicans caused it; you own it.
XOX- The American people believe by a margin of 2 to 1 that republicans caused the current financial crisis.
—————————————————-
They probably do.
And by a margin of 6 to 1 those very same people don’t vote.
Gotta link for your great opinion of the American People XXX?
Or just a guess?
I suppose most American People didn’t believe 9/11 could happen either, but they were wrong.
McCain sure knows how to throw a BBQ. Probably should avoid that sort of thing on an aircraft carrier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIWeq2DL_N4
Question of the Moment
When did Rove’s hatchet men do greater damage to John McCain?
In 2000 or 2008?
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XXX
Posted October 11, 2008 at 11:45 am | Permalink
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MaxGrobnik
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:12 am | Permalink
Say, when is this DEMOCRAT Congress gonna call for HEARINGS to INVESTIGATE the cause of the Financial Crisis?
NEVER.
The Democrats have to cover-up their own actions which caused the Financial Crisis!
Bring on the Hearings!!!!
________________________________________________
The American people believe by a margin of 2 to 1 that republicans caused the current financial crisis.
You republicans caused it; you own it.
———————–
Where was this survey done?
Links?
Or was that yet another XXX, “pull a statistic out of my ass comment?”
Looks like these tactics are the very SIMILAR ones being used by the Reich Wing, to SMEAR Obama….
“It is absolutely essential to select a ripe target [a person] and build animosity toward him or her.” (p. 228)
“A target has to be selected and mercilessly zeroed in on.” (p. 228)
The person selected is to be “targeted as a stock villain, a lackey of the corrupt political establishment.” (p. 228)
These are the alleged tactics used by Saul Alinsky… who, by the way, DIED when Obama was about 11 years old….
XXX is just being a turd, he doesn’t care if he posts lies and made up stats.
So, put him on ignore…
He’s not worth the bother.
This shows what happens when the kool aide drinkers get too much!! And no, it aint funny either!! Pretty damned SAD!!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3be_1222409488
“McCain was confronted by Forrestal fire survivors with his role in starting the Forrestal fire during his 2000 presidential campaign, particularly in South Carolina. McCain was visibly shaken by the encounter with the survivors”
http://www.artdish.com/ubbcgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000508
The American people might believe 2 to 1 that the Republicans caused the current economic crisis. Does that prove it true? No, that only proves the Democratic spin machine is very effective.
If 2 to 1 Americans believed the moon was made of green cheese, would that make it true? Of course not.
X..your statement does not prove a thing except how people are misinformed. The FACTS are clear.. as proven by the NYTIMES in September 1999. You cannot ignore that or hide behind belief polls.
The PERFECT job for Regular >>>>
Work in a movie theater…. He is a truly GREAT projector…. Regular and Max could run their own theater…. and take turns being the projector!! ROFL!!!
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Chas
Posted October 11, 2008 at 11:57 am | Permalink
The PERFECT job for Regular >>>>
Work in a movie theater…. He is a truly GREAT projector…. Regular and Max could run their own theater…. and take turns being the projector!! ROFL!!!
————————
I did work in a movie theater for a short time, when I was about 15. My job was to replace the magnesium fuses on one of the dual projectors, so it wouldn’t burn out during the showing.
That, and look for the “cue spot” to change projectors, so people wouldn’t get that black screen.
Oh yeah, rewind the reels and put them back in the reel cases.
XXX
Posted October 11, 2008 at 11:45 am | Permalink
The American people believe by a margin of 2 to 1 tha……”
By a 39% to 20% margin, American adults believe that the broadcast networks deliver news with a bias in favor of liberals.
“McCain displayed little of Hope’s valor. Although he would soon regale The New York Times with tales of the heroism of the brave enlisted men who “stayed to help the pilots fight the fire,” McCain took no part in dousing the flames himself. After going belowdecks and briefly helping sailors who were frantically trying to unload bombs from an elevator to the flight deck, McCain retreated to the safety of the “ready room,” where off-duty pilots spent their noncombat hours talking trash and playing poker. There, McCain watched the conflagration unfold on the room’s closed-circuit television — bearing distant witness to the valiant self-sacrifice of others who died trying to save the ship, pushing jets into the sea to keep their bombs from exploding on deck.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain/page/4
“More than 70 percent of voters say the health of the economy depends on the success of entrepreneurs, and a full 80 percent want to see the government use its resources to actively encourage entrepreneurship in America.”
Obama will tax the small business owners to death.
(CNN) — No, hell has not frozen over, but a Buckley is backing a Democrat for president.
Christopher Buckley, the son of the late conservative icon William F. Buckley, said Friday he’s decided to back Barack Obama’s White House bid, the first time in his life he will vote Democrat.
“It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup [sic] are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance,” Buckley, a columnist for the conservative National Review, wrote on the Web site The Daily Beast Friday.
Buckley, who praised McCain in a New York Times Op-Ed earlier this year and defended the Arizona senator’s conservative credentials against wary talk-radio hosts, said McCain is no longer the “real” and “unconventional” man he once admired.
“This campaign has changed John McCain,” Buckley wrote. “It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget ‘by the end of my first term.’ Who, really, believes that?
A majority of people (56 percent) trust small-business owners to guide the economy, compared with only 14 percent who trust members of Congress.
While more than 60 percent of people surveyed support the federal government increasing its regulation of the market, more than a third think Congress is in danger of creating too much regulation as it reacts to this crisis.
Obama will tax the small business owners to death.
Only a tinhat sissy boy McCain follower would believe that.
Fully 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles, according to the latest FOX News poll. Though belief in God has remained at about the same level, belief in the devil has increased slightly over the last few years — from 63 percent in 1997 to 71 percent today.
This makes it all true.
shows that about a third of Americans believe in ghosts (34 percent) and an equal number in UFOs (34 percent), and about a quarter accept things like astrology (search) (29 percent), reincarnation (search) (25 percent) and witches (24 percent).
But none of the above are true.
Women are more likely than men to believe in almost all topics asked about in the poll, including 12 percentage points more likely to believe in miracles and eight points more likely to trust there is a heaven. The one significant exception is UFOs, with 39 percent of men compared to 30 percent of women saying they accept the existence of unidentified flying objects.
Even allowing for women’s 12%, my earlier post on UFO’s is the same. Not True.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they believe in God (by eight percentage points), in heaven (by 10 points), in hell (by 15 points), and considerably more likely to believe in the devil (by 17 points). Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they believe in reincarnation (by 14 percentage points), in astrology (by 14 points), in ghosts (by eight points) and UFOs (by five points)
SO, in conclusion, truth is based upon your political party.
Overall, most Americans think religion plays too small a role in people’s lives today (69 percent), with only 15 percent saying it plays too large a role and seven percent saying “about right.”
Wow! Even liberals are religious!!!
Guess the truth hurts.
Here’s another interesting one. The majority of us believe we DID come from salamanders:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm
(But if you take women and minorities out of the count, the salamanders loose.)
Riddle me this: Obama is going to create NEW jobs by taxing the businesses which employ them.
So how is taking money away from business owners going to encourage them to hire more people and pay them more?
“Cut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families with a tax cut of $500 for workers or $1,000 for working couples. ”
But 40% of Americans pay NO federal income tax.
So how does THAT work?
Will those who pay NO Taxes get even more back
(500 or 1000)?
So the plan is to take MORE from those making $250K and giving it to those making less?
That’s really going to solve the nations debt problem.
Better sell your stocks now!
“The typical middle class family will receive well over $1,000 in tax relief under the Obama plan, and will pay tax rates that are 20% lower than they faced under President Reagan. ”
Why Reagan? Why does the Obama camp have to go back so far? Does this inflate the percentage to make it sound good?
Why not compare it to something REALISTIC like under Bush? (you know, what they are paying today)
“Obama’s plan will cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan”
That’s going to be a neat trick:
Lower federal revenues
Increase federal spending (new spending programs of 800 billion)
And pay off the 10 trillion
Hey libs! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.
Pull a rabbit out of where?
Another Obama Riddle. The Obama tax plan provides a tax cut for those making $75,000 (combined income).
What happens to those who are above the Obama middle class, but below the filthy rich?
Those with income of
$75,001 to $249,000
“American_Way
Posted October 11, 2008 at 12:32 pm | Permalink
“Obama’s plan will cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan”
That’s going to be a neat trick:
Lower federal revenues
Increase federal spending (new spending programs of 800 billion)
And pay off the 10 trillion
Hey libs! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.”
Kind of silly isn’t it?
Regardless of who is elected, Congress will have to raise taxes. Obama and McCain can promise all the want now about no new taxes, but in six months someone is going to have to pay the bills. That someone is you and me whether we like it or not.
I would not put much faith in either candidate’s promises to lower or not raise taxes. Realistically, there is no way we will avoid a tax cut. We are trillions in debt and things like wars and bailouts keep digging us deeper and deeper down.
I see Obama is going to start a retirement savings account.
It is nice to see democrats:
1) Adopting a Bush initiative
2) Admitting Social Security is going broke
I wonder, since Obama is going to cut federal revenue to lower than the amount under Reagan,
will he cut spending to match the spending rate
of 30 years ago too?
I would advise all bloggers to copy the Obama promises from his web site NOW.
They will likely disappear after 21 Jaunuary, 2009.
Adjusted for inflation?
Senator Obama has clearly stated that no one making under $200,000 a year will see a tax increase in his plans.
So, =concerning “Those with income of $75,001 to $249,000″. You figure it out.
But when polls show Barack Obama 12 points ahead of John S (for Senile) McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term), “polls don’t matter.”
You should be a skater in the Olympics, “American_Way.” I can’t remember when I’ve seen such spinning.
It’s a shame that the people in the townhall debate weren’t given some time to respond.
‘The guy McCain insulted on TV? Here’s what he’s saying…(Now with Poll)‘
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/9/173349/097/963/625503
“Remember the moment during the Town Hall debate, when McCain fielded a question from a young African-American man? Remember how he prefaced the answer by saying “You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this”?
Meet Oliver Clark. Here’s what he’s saying now, in response to this historically-insulting encounter.
Well Senator, I actually did. I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person. I have a bachelor degree in Political Science from Tennessee State, so I try to keep myself up to date with current affairs. I have a Master degree in Legal Studies from Southern Illinois University, a few years in law school, and I am currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration from the University of Memphis.”
I’ve been thinking that McCain’s a bigot and that pretty much proves it.
Oliver Clark is significantly more educated that McCain/Palin combined but McCain assumes because of his appearance that he was ignorant.
Archie Bunker, meet your soulmate John McCain.
DavidB
Posted October 11, 2008 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
Senator Obama has clearly stated that no one making under $200,000 a year will see a tax increase in his plans.
=================================
Wrong!
Obama will let the Bush Tax cuts expire and they will be at the very high rate they were during the Clinton years.
Semantics yes, it’s still a loss of income for the average wage earner.
And that is not needed at this time with the economic downturn.
“cosmos_originally” notes –
“You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this.”
I’d forgotten that moment.
Talk about patronizing. Talk about being out of touch.
Oliver Clark was open-minded enough to be an undecided voter in the audience of the presidential debate and John S (for Senile) McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) just had another “I know how…” moment.
“I know how to get bin Laden.”
“I know how to solve the economic crisis.”
“I know how to win wars.”
“I know how to vet a running mate…”
Well, that last one, not so much.
“Obama will let the Bush Tax cuts expire and they will be at the very high rate they were during the Clinton years.”
While this is not factually, entirely accurate, I’ll allow it.
Then I will ask Americans, “Are you better off NOW than you were 8 years ago?”
The answer is of course, no.
And you’re off message Jimmuh. McCain doesn’t want to talk about the economy. HE’s busy trying to figure what setting of hatred and fear is acceptable for him and his supporters. His supporters are on high and he’s needing to dial them back a notch.
“Obama favors allowing the tax cuts to expire as scheduled ” …
but you leave out: “for Americans earning more than $250,000 a year.”
voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/06/mccain_vs_obama_on_taxes.html
The negro senator from Illinois wants to raise your taxes by letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
No doubt the kommie socialist Osama Obama will need all your money he can get for his trillion dollar tax spending increase.
Shame on you Regular — small minded fearful little man ———– what you hate you fear and — must be hard for you to see a man of color so much wiser and accomplished than you could ever hope to be
try being a man — and stop your hate and fear filled racism
anyone who quotes daily kos and yet condemns rush is nothing but a hypocrite. They are both extreme to the point of fantasy.
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Indie
Posted October 11, 2008 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
Shame on you Regular — small minded fearful little man ———– what you hate you fear and — must be hard for you to see a man of color so much wiser and accomplished than you could ever hope to be
try being a man — and stop your hate and fear filled racism
—————————
Stop shaving your balls.
Obama admits he’s a Muslim in an interview, twice.
http://skew.dailyskew.com/2008/09/obama-admits-hes-muslim-mccain-ahead-in.html
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 1:38 pm | Permalink
The negro senator from Illinois wants to raise your taxes by letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
No doubt the kommie socialist Osama Obama will need all your money he can get for his trillion dollar tax spending increase.
=======================================================
The rantings of a racist neo-con using lies and innuendo to avoid reality.
Raptor posted October 11, 2008 at 1:50 pm
“anyone who quotes daily kos and yet condemns rush is nothing but a hypocrite. They are both extreme to the point of fantasy.”
———–
What McCain said on a nationally televised debate is not a “point of fantasy”.
Oliver Clark is not a “point of fantasy”.
Both are realities. Deal with it.
What happens to that guy that he posts some stuff, seems more or less rational… then poof, all of a sudden he is rabid and insulting???
Maybe now that mental health care is to be paid for like other illnesses, thanks to Senator Obama’s insistence, may he can find a way to fell better.
I loved the part of the debate when McCain rails “Let’s give EVERYBODY a tax cut.”
I thought of that guy in the hearings that pocketed half a billion dollars before his firm went down the tubes…. Yeah, he deserves a friggin tax cut! Whaaaa.
He may hire additional pool boys….
We need tax cuts for industries build the foundations of new, smarter, greener technologies that we can export to the rest of the world…
That’s what Senator Obama – the “Negro One” puts on the table.
kommie socialist negro Osama Obama – what a piece of work!
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 1:58 pm | Permalink
Obama admits he’s a Muslim in an interview, twice.
http://skew.dailyskew.com/2008/09/obama-admits-hes-muslim-mccain-ahead-in.html
========================================================
Dat’s rite, boy, en dem taliwhaker muslims is gonna gitcha!!!
“a decent, family man … a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States… we will be respectful and admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.. negro kommie socialist” ….
I am sure he meant to say…
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 1:52 pm | Permalink
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Indie
Posted October 11, 2008 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
Shame on you Regular — small minded fearful little man ———– what you hate you fear and — must be hard for you to see a man of color so much wiser and accomplished than you could ever hope to be
try being a man — and stop your hate and fear filled racism
—————————
Stop shaving your balls.
======================================================
O, hell, Indie, keep on shaving and send the pubes to regular; he needs them to stuff his pillow (wink, wink).
At a McCain event, Pastor Conrad of the Evangelical Free Church read an invocation that included the following: “I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you will guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and election day.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/more-mixed-mess.html
OBAMA: I want to use a scalpel so that people who need help are getting help and those of us, like myself and Senator McCain, who don’t need help, aren’t getting it.
Praying for someone to win a political race. If God hears such nonsense, what could he think of the plea for intercession? Think He is worried about his “reputation?”
–McCain Letter Demanded 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie–
Sen. John McCain’s 2006 demand for regulatory action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have prevented current financial crisis, as HUMAN EVENTS learned from the letter shown in full text below.
McCain’s letter — signed by nineteen other senators — said that it was “…vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]…operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either…should fail.”
Sen. Obama did not sign the letter, nor did any other Democrat!
McCain writes in the letter dated ‘May 5 2006′:
“With the challenges facing us today (deficits, entitlements, pensions and flood insurance), Congress must ask itself who would actually pay this debt if Fannie or Freddie could not?
And, here’s obama’s letter nailing the coming sub prime crisis in march of 07 to the administration.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/obamas-prescien.html
Awww. is he gonna make me move to Kenya???
So does a 12 point lead qualify for ’sealing the deal’, or ‘closing the deal’, that all the pundits were so concerned about?
lindainks55 posted October 11, 2008 at 2:31 pm
“I would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god—whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah—that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons.”
———–
Of course “people around this world” want Obama to win. They’ve got common sense.
They’ve seen McCain flounder around in the debates. They’ve seen his bipolar flip-flops of attacking and praising Obama. They seen his “ethics reformer” VP pick, who violated ethics laws in Alaska.
About.. McCain Letter Demanding 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie
Did William Frist, Republican Majority Leader, and Republican Dick Shelby do as McCain and company asked, bring that bill to the floor?
The bill could have been voted out of committee – the Republicans controlled the committee 11-9, and they set the agenda.
DavidB posted October 11, 2008 at 3:00 pm
About.. McCain Letter Demanding 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie
Did William Frist, Republican Majority Leader, and Republican Dick Shelby do as McCain and company asked, bring that bill to the floor?
——-
The MCain letter claimed in the 2:43 pm post doesn’t show up in Google.
Linda, that prayer sounds similar to the Prophet Elijah, on Mt. Carmel, doing battle with Ba’al…. Most interesting parallels….
What an stupid prayer during an election….
McCain Letter Demanded 2006 Action on Fannie and Freddie
by Human Events
10/10/2008
“Sen. John McCain’s 2006 demand for regulatory action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could have prevented current financial crisis, as HUMAN EVENTS learned from the letter shown in full text below.
McCain’s letter — signed by nineteen other senators — said that it was “…vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]…operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either…should fail.”
Sen. Obama did not sign the letter, nor did any other Democrat.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28973#continueA
Hey, lying Democrats…look at the link, read the Senate letter, then bold face lie by denying the Democrats aren’t responsible for the the credit crisis as a result of Freddie and Fannie.
And Obama has the very same Freddie and Fannie folks now advising him on economics.
Obama is a joke, a very bad joke.
And there may well be riots after Nov. 4… but it wont be rioters from Obama supporters… The rioters will be all of these no good, Anti-American RACIST PIGS like the ones we see DAILY on this Blog!!
Chas posts,
“He will be ashamed to show his RACIST ASS here after Obama wins”
What are you going to do Chas….you are an ass, and nothing but a complete ass!
BOXLICKER — WHO was in charge of Congress in 2006??? It sure as hell wasnt Democrats!!
McCain couldnt get his REPUBLICAN majority to go along with him on that, now could he???
It couldnt even get out of Committee!! And the Repubs had the Committee majority 11-9…
Had to be the Repubs that kept the bill from getting out of committee…
WHY cant you just accept TRUTH as it happened, instead of spewing your LYING S*IT?
Anybody who can read, and do simply math knows that the Republicans voted AGAINST McCain’s proposal… no matter how GOOD the proposal might have been!!
it is a real letter..
please stop spitting
The letter looks like a vague warning.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/propublica/mccains-letter-warning-ex_b_133781.html
And Boxlock prefers to believe anonymous emails, etc, instead of the facts.
Barack Obama does NOT take advice from Fannie Mae executives
http://fightthesmears.com/articles/21/fannierumor
DavidB — of course its a real letter… it just got no support from McCain’s fellow Republicans…. maybe because he is such a “maverick” — ya think???
No, the Democrats did not sign the letter. But the bill never got out of committee. Maybe it wasn’t a good bill.
This is not so simple as producing one damned letter and receiving a Get Out Of Jail Free Card….
Legislation is hard work.
Here’s Senator Obama’s letter of March 2007 .. including “y loan restructuring, limited forbearance, and other possible workout strategies. I would also urge you to facilitate a serious conversation about the following:
* What standards investors should require of lenders, particularly with regard to verification of income and assets….
Does Senator Obama get one of the cards, too?
noisy damn pissing matches….
link to Senator Obama’s letter.. tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/obamas-year-old-letter-to-bern.php
My gawd!
It’s been twenty hours – and no new Palin Thread.
Are any of the libs having withdrawal symptoms?
DavidB
Posted October 11, 2008 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
Senator Obama has clearly stated that no one making under $200,000 a year will see a tax increase in his plans.
So, =concerning “Those with income of $75,001 to $249,000?. You figure it out.
Damn! I guess that means Obama LIED again!
How the heck is he going to promote more jobs if he is taxing the small business owners to death?
“Salary.com did a survey in 2006 of business owners and CEO’s salaries. The survey shows that the average income is around $233,000.”
So let’s see, Obama will:
1. Take more from business income
2. Require employers pay higher salaries
3. Make em fund healthcare
Gee, if I was a business person that sure would NOT encourage ME to hire any new employees!
“libs” are perfectly able to speak about the topics they choose without being led. Are you having withdrawal? You are the only poster I’ve seen concerned about the need to be led around by a thread topic.
“So, =concerning “Those with income of $75,001 to $249,000?. You figure it out.”
DavidB it is obvious you just simply do not have the answer. You have restated Obama’s tax increases affecting those making over 200K.
So what happens to those between:
$75,001 and
199,999?
I changed my question to meet your Obama tax increase threshold.
But don’t sweat it. It is very clear to all posters you don’t have the answer.
Don’t bother.
Well Linda someone slip a bee up your behind?
That time of the month?
And no, libs are NOT capable of speaking out on topics without being led.
Matter of fact, let’s see each of you post something critical of Obama and his plans.
Bet you can’t do it. You must be fed the tape recording. The sheep call. Drink from the koolaid fountain of liberalism and socialism.
Well libs, how about ACORN?
Anyone want to discuss the stealing of the 2008 election?
Anyone DARE state they are opposed to voter fraud?
Here, let me help: Can’t have a photo ID to vote, because that would eliminate 95% of the fraud. (absentee ballots/motor voters would be required to have ID too).
Boxlock
Posted October 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm | Permalink
Hey, lying Democrats…look at the link, read the Senate letter, then bold face lie by denying the Democrats aren’t responsible for the the credit crisis as a result of Freddie and Fannie.
And Obama has the very same Freddie and Fannie folks now advising him on economics.
______________________________________________
The root of our recent problems is the mortgage crisis. It was caused by
Republican legislation which deregulated the banking and investment
industries. Because of that deregulation, banks and financial institutions
made billions of dollars worth of sub-prime mortgage loans to unqualified
people. Thanks to the Republicans, those mortgages were then traded in bulk
on the stock market and were purchased by brokerage firms and large banks.
The collapse was the result of Republican anti-regulation philosophy that
put consumers at the mercy of large banks and brokerages. Despite his recent
calls for reform, John McCain has always supported broad deregulation of
banks and brokerages. He has always characterized himself as a deregulator
and he has no history prior to the presidential campaign of advocating steps
to tighten standards on investment firms.
______________________________________________
Hey lying Boxlock
Americans believe by a margin of 2 to 1 that the current financial crisis was caused by the republicans. You caused it; you own it.
Americans know what you did.
American_Way
Posted October 11, 2008 at 4:31 pm | Permalink
Well libs, how about ACORN?
_____________________________________________
Hey Amway,
I think ACORN should be disbanded
_______________________________________________
Anyone want to discuss the stealing of the 2008 election?
______________________________________________
I can’t believe that a republican kok-sucker would have the nerve to ask that.
Anyone DARE state they are opposed to voter fraud?
_________________________________________________
Hey Amway,
I think ACORN should be disbanded
Looks like the terrorists are coming out and supporting McCain.
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/10/obama_threat_white_powder.php
Bomb threat, fake anthrax mailed in, death threats, etc. McCain/Palin rallies sounds more like Klan rallies with all the racism and calls for assassination. Lovely party you have there Republicans. Perhaps you guys can start a bonfire with Obama’s books.
Amway, ACORN never engaged in voter fraud. It’s pathetic that you Republicans have to resort to lies, but it’s all you have left now isn’t it?
“Matter of fact, let’s see each of you post something critical of Obama and his plans.”
Sure thing!
I am troubled by Obama’s belief that Republicans have good ideas or can in any way be worked with. As we see from their rallies, Republicans are no more than nasty, racist, hateful goons. Who can work productively with that?
Somebody may beat me to it. I understand Congressman Lewis has called on McCain to dial back his negative campaigning.
Apparently he compared McCains campaign to George Wallace? McCain is reportedly volcanic about it.
I oppose voter fraud.
I also oppose telling someone that $200,000 falls somewhere within the range of $75,001 to $249,000.
If above $200,000 income, probably that lucky person will pay some additional tax, unless they can find a way to hide the income as we KNOW our small business employers often do.
If under $200,000 no increase and perhaps a tax decrease(??)
That is my understanding of the broad outlines.
I am sure you read it in the papers.
McCain’s plan is what?
John Lewis compares John McCain to George Wallace, which McCain calls ‘beyond the pale’
Saturday, October 11, 2008, 04:26 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Name-calling in the 2008 presidential campaign just took a highly serious turn.
This morning, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Atlanta) issued a statement on the recent tone of the John McCain campaign, declaring himself “deeply disturbed.”
lewis1.jpg
Lewis compared Republican rhetoric to violence-spawning talk by George Wallace during the Civil Rights era.
McCain declared the comparison “shocking and beyond the pale.” He called on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to repudiate the statements, and said they were designed to shut down debate in the final 24 days before the Nov. 4 election.
Remember that only two months ago, at the Saddleback Church session, McCain named Lewis as one of the three people he’d consult with should he become president.
The exchange came even as McCain had turned away Saturday from visceral attacks on his rival to pivot back toward policy differences. See a related article here.
Said Lewis on Saturday:
“What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. [Sarah] Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.
“During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate.
“George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.
“Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.
“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all.
“They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”
Something negative about Obama? Yeah, he isn’t for universal health care and he supports expanding nuclear power and wasting more money in clean coal research.
Now something negative about Palin? She’s a criminal who should be impeached according to the Alaskan Constitution. She would spend $14,000 on rape kits but would spend $50,000 remodeling her office and hired Wasilla’s first city manager despite the town only having 7,000 residents. She came into office with the budget having a surplus and left the small city with a $20 million debt. But she’s a fiscal conservative.
Please, any criticism of Obama’s position and record pales in comparison to Palin’s brief time in office and McCain consistent record of bad decisions.
Tens of thousands of voters illegally removed from voter rolls in battle ground states.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Tens_of_thousands_illegally_blocked_from_1009.html
It’s the only way McCain can win, by cheating. But Republicans don’t care about election fraud, they didn’t care the last two Presidential elections either.
Once upon a time, liberals prided themselves, with considerable reason, as the staunchest defenders of free speech. Union organizers in the 1930s and 1940s made the case that they should have access to employees to speak freely to them, and union leaders like George Meany and Walter Reuther were ardent defenders of the First Amendment.
Today’s liberals seem to be taking their marching orders from other quarters. Specifically, from the college and university campuses where administrators, armed with speech codes, have for years been disciplining and subjecting to sensitivity training any students who dare to utter thoughts that liberals find offensive. The campuses that used to pride themselves as zones of free expression are now the least free part of our society.
Obama supporters who found the campuses congenial and Obama himself, who has chosen to live all his adult life in university communities, seem to find it entirely natural to suppress speech that they don’t like and seem utterly oblivious to claims that this violates the letter and spirit of the First Amendment. In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy, suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight years ahead.
http://townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2008/10/11/the_coming_obama_thugocracy
XXX I have no problemo with organized groups working to register voters. But they should be beyond reproach – top notch and require absolute 100 percent integrity of each voter registered.
I stated months ago (when libs were still at war with each other over Obama/Clinton), that I don’t have a candidate of choice. I will be voting for the lesser evil once again.
But no matter what: I want whomever wins to do so without question of cheating. The outcome must be BEYOND reproach.
Obama isn’t the end of the world for me. The markets and economy are more important to me than any other issue. Under Clinton, the economy and the stock market did grow. I think the pot-smoking, womanizing, red nosed Clinton sucks, but at this point in my life, my investments count more than other factors. Color me selfish. das macht nichts to me.
But what DOES matter, is that a lying, cheating, bunch of brown suits who are so finantical in their beliefs – cheat to win.
Last time, those words nearly tore this nation apart. If the Obama One wins by cheating, imagine the outrage which will be expressed.
Last time, the losers were not NRA members.
For the future of our country, let the vote count be as clean as possible.
And may whichever man win.
Just how do you disband a legal organization of community activists in the freedom loving land of ours??? RE:” I think ACORN should be disbanded”
Do we disband Burger King since hundreds if not thousands of Burger King employees have at one time or another been suspected of short-changing customers, and of leaving out the extra order of fries? WHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!
“I am sure you read it in the papers.” DavidB
Actually, I read 250K on the Obama website.
But if you want to add more taxpayers to the population which Obama plans to sock it to em,
all the better for me.
XXX (liar)
The accounts in those bullchit links of your are ridiculous. And you know it. If you did the most basic of research you’d know that.
Coward too methinks.
Maggotpunk.
I will not add merit to your posted lie. I will merely say you are a liar. The evidence of fraud
is overwhelming. The convictions are undeniable.
If you want to continue to be scroll over material, so be it.
But any discussion on “change” must start with the truth. Otherwise, we continue to argue over who shot JR – and it is meaningless.
IMF says on brink of global meltdown, that will be the bush legacy, even more so than Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081011/bs_nm/us_financial3_4
disband Burger King
No. You convict the SOB’s who commit fraud, you fine them back to the stone ages. You restrict them from operating, until they establish internal controls which alleviate fraud.
You do NOT let those committing criminal fraud – to blame the election offices across the country, for the FRAUDULENT REGISTRATION FORMS YOUR ORGANIZATION TURNED IN – SIGNED.
Maximum count of ACORN convictions or guilty please, based on evidence posted here: 11
Since 2004, ACORN has helped more than 1.7 million low- and moderate-income and minority citizens apply to register to vote.
http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12342
Maximum count of ACORN convictions or guilty pleas, based on evidence posted here: 11
Since 2004, ACORN has helped more than 1.7 million low- and moderate-income and minority citizens apply to register to vote.
http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12342
Democrats are on the verge of making history.
You will install a black democrat man (well half black) in the presidency and win both the senate and the house.
Don’t you want that historical note to be unblemished by the smell of voter fraud?
Let Obama win fair and square.
“Last time, the losers were not NRA members”
Hmmmm that bears some resemblance to a threat!! i hope its not a warning!!
Sorry Amway you are a liar. Or perhaps you are just being stupid. A person falsely filling out a voter registration form is committing registration fraud. Should the Dallas Cowboy football players actually try to vote in Nevada then they’d be committing voter fraud. ACORN committed no crime by flagging these fraudulent forms to the registrar of voters.
If you got your facts from something other than Rush or Faux News then you’d have figured it out. In the mind of a Republican the only crime being committed is that ACORN is registering any voter. Registering people to vote isn’t a crime, it isn’t voter fraud, it is perfectly legal. You just have to deal with the fact you live in a country that practices this democratic process. If you don’t like it then go to Sudan.
#
American_Way
Posted October 11, 2008 at 4:31 pm | Permalink
Well libs, how about ACORN?
Anyone want to discuss the stealing of the 2008 election?
Anyone DARE state they are opposed to voter fraud?
Here, let me help: Can’t have a photo ID to vote, because that would eliminate 95% of the fraud. (absentee ballots/motor voters would be required to have ID too).
=======================================================
. . . and Republicans have their own organization destroying Democrat registrations. Don’t hear much about that, but it’s there. Check out the record of Voters Outreach of America. Check out who runs it. Check out their record in Ohio during the 2004 election. VOA was given $1 million by the Bush brigade for the election. I would like a clean election, with no voter fraud myself, but both sides are going to have to recognize it’s happening on both sides:
Voters Outreach of America (VOA) is a voter registration company run by its President and Treasurer, Aaron James. VOA was accused of fraud aimed at preventing Democrats from voting in the 2004 U.S. elections.
In an October 2004 posting, Josh Marshall pointed out that the description of VOA as a Republican funded or Republican backed organisation was justified as “you’ll note that on this VOA job flyer posted on careerbuilder.com it says ‘Paid for by the Republican National Committee. http://www.gop.com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee’”. (The link to the post on careerbuilder.com is dead and not in the Internet Archive.)
According to Las Vegas, Nevada reporter George Knapp, former VOA employee Eric Russell charged in October 2004 that he had personally witnessed company supervisors destroying hundreds of voter registration forms filled out by Democratic voters. Russell “managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats,” Knapp reported. “We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.” As a result, “hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day.”
The company was also accused of similar voter registration fraud in the state of Oregon.
Earlier that year Max Blumenthal reported that James had been hired by Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates to get petition signatures to get Nader on the ballot. “According to several sources, two of the contractors Sproul hired to oversee petition gathering for No Taxpayer Money For Politicians — Aaron “A.J.” James, who directs Voters’ Outreach of America, and Diane Burns — were also paid by Sproul to get as many signatures as possible for Nader.
LOL: ACORN responds to McCain attack:
“If John McCain thinks that community organizers caused the foreclosure crisis, he knows even less about the economy than previously thought.”
http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnewstt_news=22385&tx_ttnewsbackPid=12346&cHash=b09aaa9156
Fred Barns and Mort Kondracki on Faux Noise Channel’s “Beltway Boys” are blurbling right now.
Fred, especially, is astounding.
Ten minutes in and still no mention of Troopergate.
Bad applications does not voter fraud make.
If you think that kid is going to vote 76 times… well HA HA HA on you. It ain’t gonna happen
DavidB says —-
If above $200,000 income, probably that lucky person will pay some additional tax, —–
Actually, Obama said below $250,0000 —-
Below $250,000 NO tax increases….
Below $200,000 No tax increase, and possibly a decrease….
Below $75,000 Tax cuts….
“Hmmmm that bears some resemblance to a threat!! i hope its not a warning!!”
Not from me personally. Or alone that is. I won’t be the first in the streets. But I feel so strongly about the democracy being a sham if voter fraud is discovered: I will easily be persuaded. It is clear Obama is coming after the guns and the money. That is bound to upset a few apple carts. If anyone should recognize that – I would think it would be you who HATE so much.
Who said a little revolution is required every twenty years or so?
Without a fair vote: Our nation, already suffering an economic disaster will not survive.
AmWay — how many times have you changed residences (and precincts) in the past 20 years??
IF you have, then you are most likely on the voter registration lists in each precinct where you lived and voted… Does that make your registration where you live NOW fraudulent???
No??
I didnt think so!!
American_Way
Posted October 11, 2008 at 4:59 pm | Permalink
“I am sure you read it in the papers.” DavidB
Actually, I read 250K on the Obama website.
But if you want to add more taxpayers to the population which Obama plans to sock it to em,
all the better for me.
“AmWay — how many times have you changed residences (and precincts) in the past 20 years?? ”
Many. I was military remember. I was mailed an absentee ballot from an earlier state of residence. I tore it up.
My children: All grown and gone. All names still appear under my wife’s and mine on the sign in book at our polling place. Absolutely nothing stopping them from voting here and there.
(This was a previous discussion a few months ago. Other Kansas residents posted similiar experiences.)
And these are just the honest people.
And just to make it clear.. that failed Wall Street guy who got paid a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS. no tax cut???
Awwwwwww, this is so unfair!!!!
““Last time, the losers were not NRA members”
Hmmmm that bears some resemblance to a threat!! ”
Yeah that’s kinda the way I read that too.
“McCain/Palin or fight!”?
Some cause, that.
“Not from me personally. Or alone that is. I won’t be the first in the streets. But I feel so strongly about the democracy being a sham if voter fraud is discovered: I will easily be persuaded.”
Yep… definitely a threat…. You better hope Homeland Security doesnt read this Blog… oooops… maybe they DO read this Blog!! shhhhhhhh be vewwy qwiet…..
I am not surprised they are afraid an election can be stolen. They saw it happen eight years ago………. WHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!!!!
Well, I’ve had both barrel’s blazing for long enough here. I’ve circled the wagons, but I seem to be the only one taking fire.
Think I’ll go now and let the blue team duke it out amongst themselves.
Have your history tarnished by voter fraud if you want. I promise you: there are republican die-hards who have lawyers and money, who will challenge the outcome. It will not change anything, but it will sully your reputation.
You know, like the repukes…..
The only ones I’m aware who committed voter fraud are Ann Coulter and Phil Kline. What party do they belong to again?
“Yep… definitely a threat…. You better hope Homeland Security doesnt read this Blog… oooops… maybe they DO read this Blog!! shhhhhhhh be vewwy qwiet…..”
Hopefully, when Obama is installed, your party will restore domestic terrorism to a minor act, and restore the constitution which protects our privacy and rights.
I won’t have to worry about the government ease dropping on me, right?
eaves dropping.
I don’t think we need lectured on fair elections from those who STOLE the election in 2000.
Let our con…friends…not mistake a calmer demeanor for a lack of resolve. And don’t think all of us have forgotten 2000. THAT aint happenin’ again. You can have this election when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
With McCain and Palin calling Obama a terrorist all the time how is McCain supposed to catch Osama Bin Laden when he can’t even catch the “terrorist” Obama in the polls?
By Charles Krauthammer
Washington Post
Friday, October 10, 2008; Page A19
Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue, and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association.
But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate.
McCain has only himself to blame for the bad timing. He should months ago have begun challenging Obama’s associations, before the economic meltdown allowed the Obama campaign (and the mainstream media, which is to say the same thing) to dismiss the charges as an act of desperation by the trailing candidate.
McCain had his chance back in April when the North Carolina Republican Party ran a gubernatorial campaign ad that included the linking of Obama with Jeremiah Wright. The ad was duly denounced by the New York Times and other deep thinkers as racist.
This was patently absurd. Racism is treating people differently and invidiously on the basis of race. Had any white presidential candidate had a close 20-year association with a white preacher overtly spreading race hatred from the pulpit, that candidate would have been not just universally denounced and deemed unfit for office but written out of polite society entirely.
Nonetheless, John McCain in his infinite wisdom, and with his overflowing sense of personal rectitude, joined the braying mob in denouncing that perfectly legitimate ad, saying it had no place in any campaign. In doing so, McCain unilaterally disarmed himself, rendering off-limits Obama’s associations, an issue that even Hillary Clinton addressed more than once.
Obama’s political career was launched with Ayers giving him a fundraiser in his living room. If a Republican candidate had launched his political career at the home of an abortion-clinic bomber — even a repentant one — he would not have been able to run for dogcatcher in Podunk. And Ayers shows no remorse. His only regret is that he “didn’t do enough.”
Why are these associations important? Do I think Obama is as corrupt as Rezko? Or shares Wright’s angry racism or Ayers’s unreconstructed 1960s radicalism?
No. But that does not make these associations irrelevant. They tell us two important things about Obama.
First, his cynicism and ruthlessness. He found these men useful, and use them he did. Would you attend a church whose pastor was spreading racial animosity from the pulpit? Would you even shake hands with — let alone serve on two boards with — an unrepentant terrorist, whether he bombed U.S. military installations or abortion clinics?
Most Americans would not, on the grounds of sheer indecency. Yet Obama did, if not out of conviction then out of expediency. He was a young man on the make, an unknown outsider working his way into Chicago politics. He played the game with everyone, without qualms and with obvious success.
Obama is not the first politician to rise through a corrupt political machine. But he is one of the rare few to then have the audacity to present himself as a transcendent healer, hovering above and bringing redemption to the “old politics” — of the kind he had enthusiastically embraced in Chicago in the service of his own ambition.
Second, and even more disturbing than the cynicism, is the window these associations give on Obama’s core beliefs. He doesn’t share the Rev. Wright’s poisonous views of race nor Ayers’s views, past and present, about the evil that is American society. But Obama clearly did not consider these views beyond the pale. For many years he swam easily and without protest in that fetid pond.
Until now. Today, on the threshold of the presidency, Obama concedes the odiousness of these associations, which is why he has severed them. But for the years in which he sat in Wright’s pews and shared common purpose on boards with Ayers, Obama considered them a legitimate, indeed unremarkable, part of social discourse.
Do you? Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class temperament. But his character remains highly suspect. There is a difference between temperament and character. Equanimity is a virtue. Tolerance of the obscene is not.
letters@charleskrauthammer.com
washingtonpost.com
#
Heckler
Posted October 11, 2008 at 5:01 pm | Permalink
XXX (liar)
The accounts in those bullchit links of your are ridiculous. And you know it. If you did the most basic of research you’d know that.
Coward too methinks.
________________________________________________
My links are as good as any you’ve provided.
You’re mighty brave tossing that coward term around. You would know about being a coward since you’re not talking to my face.
Gutless wimp
Makes no difference if its Mcsame or The Magic Negro who wins,the change, if any, will be barely noticable. There are too many entrenched politicans on both sides who like things just the way they are.
BlueJay
Posted October 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
I don’t think we need lectured on fair elections from those who STOLE the election in 2000.
Let our con…friends…not mistake a calmer demeanor for a lack of resolve. And don’t think all of us have forgotten 2000. THAT aint happenin’ again. You can have this election when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
————————————————–
Mighty big talk
What Do Rich Pay In Taxes?
Never Enough
By LARRY ELDER | Posted Thursday, October 09, 2008 4:30 PM PT
So, what do “the rich” pay in federal income taxes? Nothing, right? That, at least, is what most people think. And Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to raise the top marginal rate for “the rich” — known in some quarters as “job creators.”
A recent poll by Investor’s Business Daily asked, in effect, “What share do you think the rich pay?” Its findings? Most people are completely clueless about the amount the rich actually do pay.
First, the data. The top 5% (those making more than $153,542 — the group whose taxes Obama seeks to raise) pay 60% of all federal income taxes. The rich (aka the top 1% of income earners, those making more than $388,806 a year), according to the IRS, pay 40% of all federal income taxes.
The top 1%’s taxes make up 17% of the federal government’s revenue from all sources, including corporate taxes, excise taxes, social insurance and retirement receipts.
Now, what do people think the rich pay? The IBD/TIPP Poll found that 36% thought the rich contribute 10% or less of all federal income taxes. An additional 15% thought the rich pay between 10% and 20%, while 10% thought the rich’s share is between 20% and 30%. In other words, most people thought the rich pay less — far less — than they actually do. Only 12% of those polled thought the rich pay more than 40%.
Let’s try this another way. A U.S. News & World Report blogger went to the Democratic National Convention in Denver and conducted an informal poll of 24 DNC delegates. He asked them, “What should ‘the rich’ pay in income taxes?”
Half the respondents said “25%”; 25% said “20%”; 12% said “30%”; and another 12% said “35%”. The average DNC delegate wanted the rich to pay 25.6%, which is lower than what the rich pay now — both by share of taxes and by tax rate!
Thirty percent of American voters pay nothing — zero, zip, nada — in federal income taxes. And, not too surprisingly, compared with taxpaying voters they are more likely to support spending that benefits them.
The majority of the 30% who don’t pay federal income taxes agree with Obama’s $65 billion plan to institute taxpayer-funded universal health coverage. But the majority of the 70% who pay federal income taxes are opposed to Obama’s health care plan.
Nontaxpayers support Obama’s plans for increased tax deductions for lower-income Americans, along with higher overall tax rates levied against middle- and upper-income households. The majority of nontaxpayers (57%) also favor raising the individual income-tax rate for those in the highest bracket to 54% from 35%. And the majority (59%) favor raising Social Security taxes by 4% for any individual or business that makes at least $250,000.
Obama calls increasing taxes and giving them to the needy a matter of “neighborliness.” His running mate, Joe Biden, calls it a matter of “patriotism.”
Yet when it comes to charitable giving, neither Obama (until recently) nor Biden feels sufficiently neighborly or patriotic to donate as much as the average American household: 2% of their adjusted gross income.
Liberal families earn about 6% more than conservative families, yet conservative households donate about 30% more to charity than do liberal households. And conservatives give more than just to their own churches and other houses of worship. Conservatives, especially religious conservatives, give far more money and donate more of their time to nonreligious charitable causes than do liberals — especially secular liberals.
In 2007, President Bush and his wife had an adjusted gross income of $923,807. They paid $221,635 in taxes and donated $165,660 — 18% of their income — to charity. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, in 2007, had a taxable income of $3.04 million. They paid $602,651 in taxes and donated $166,547 — 5.5% of their income — to charity.
Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned between $200,000 and $300,000 a year between 2000 and 2004, and they donated less than 1% to charity. When their income soared to $4.2 million in 2007, their charitable contributions went up to 5%.
Joe and Jill Biden, by contrast, made $319,853 and gave $995 to charity in 2007, or 0.3% of their income. And that was during the year Biden was running for president. Over the past 10 years, the Bidens earned $2,450,042 and gave $3,690 to charity — or 0.1% of their income.
So let’s sum up. The “compassionate” liberals — at least based on charitable giving — show less compassion than “hardhearted” conservatives. The rich pay more in income taxes than people think. Voters, clueless about the facts, want the rich to pay still more.
Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate, Inc
ibdeditorials.com
Free,
There’s a way around that, if the voters want it bad enough. We vote out every incumbent. Then, until there is solid evidence of a meaningful change in the way politicians do business, we, the public keep tabs on our government at all levels, and communicate what we see nationwide, and keep on voting out any incumbent who carries on business as usual until we have a government that functions honestly and competently.
XXX
Ok, I’ll illustrate the lie you keep spreading. Your tinfoil sites say that McCain “wetstarted” his skyhawk causing a big flame out that SOMEHOW caused a Zuni rocket on a F4 “behind” him to fire off and start the fire.
Guess what Genius? There was no F4 behind him or next to him. He was in a row or skyhawks, there was no F4 near him, the only one near was across the flight deck at approx a 90 degree angle to his.
Explain to me how his plane caught the F4 “behind him” on fire when there was no F4 there?
Go watch the video on You Tube, there’s many of them. Also at History Channel.
Gutless Wimp, sheesh, who can’t or won’t back his story up?
Post your link Heckler…
Wingnuts still melting down about ACORN. This is so entertaining I thought I’d throw a few bucks at the good people.If your interested here is the adress,
http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=2584
Jed
Posted October 11, 2008 at 6:10 pm | Permalink
Free,
There’s a way around that, if the voters want it bad enough. We vote out every incumbent. Then, until there is solid evidence of a meaningful change in the way politicians do business, we, the public keep tabs on our government at all levels, and communicate what we see nationwide, and keep on voting out any incumbent who carries on business as usual until we have a government that functions honestly and competently.
I agree with you but I sadly don’t see it happening in our lifetime.
American
Posted October 11, 2008 at 6:04 pm | Permalink
What Do Rich Pay In Taxes?
Never Enough.
—————————————————
I am LITTERALY in tears over how many deaf ears this just fell on.
Jed,
The reason I don’t see it working is there are too many party before country people who vote. And you have to look no further than this blog to see what I mean
Chas
“Post your link Heckler…”
It’s at You Tube. You search for “forrestal”. Ya think XXX can handle that?
Same thing for the History Channel. It’s real easy dude.
Maybe that’s XXX problem, he doesn’t know how to do stuff like that. No wonder he didn’t do any research.
Heckler,
They will see what they want to see in spite of what is actually shown. If Mcain had been at fault one would think that the Navy would have hungf him out to dry.
From what I have have seen here the only thing that matters to them is that they are right and the truth be damned if it makes them wrong.
And when confronted with the facts that discount their version of the truth they resort to name calling andyping in all caps
ANDYPING IN ALL CAPS
Thanks Annie, I’ll send ACORN some bucks too to keep up the good work!
“Mighty big talk”
I don’t post it if I don’t mean it, con.
Once again,socialist,show me where I have ever said I used the word con in connection with myself, and the answer it is evident in my pposts ain’t flying. It’s put up or shut up little man
As mom said: Republicans were in control of Congress from 1994 to 2000 and in total control of Congress and the White House from 2000 to 2006.
And what did they do with that power? Well, let’s see:
1) We are still bogged down in Iraq.
2) Bush is threatening to invade Iran.
3) North Korea got their nuclear weapons.
4) We are still dependent on foreign oil.
5) We owe China 500 billion dollars and counting.
6) Our economy is on the brink of collapsing.
7) Our status of superpower is in question.
8) The respect of our allies is still hurting because of Bush and Cheney’s ‘my way or no way’ attitude.
And the only thing we hear from the Republicans is how bad Obama is?
Please, Republicans, give us a break and stop embarrassing yourselves.
mxyzptlk
Posted October 11, 2008 at 7:23 pm | Permalink
ANDYPING IN ALL CAPS
—————————————————
You are a person of no substance just a mythical person from a comic book
pposts QUIT STUTTERING!
“And the only thing we hear from the Republicans is how bad Obama is?”
—–
Plus a plethora of “special” words to describe anyone who disagrees and most especially those nasty eveeeel libaruls. ;-)
As a myth I am and will be more than you will ever be Freebie.
The son of an admiral is never going to have to face the music. Of course they found no wrong-doing. But there are eye witnesses who say diferent.
Who are they and where is their testimony? I wouls like to read it
mxyzptlk
Posted October 11, 2008 at 7:43 pm | Permalink
As a myth I am and will be more than you will ever be Freebie.
—————————————————-
Freebies that’s all you libs think about
#
XXX
Posted October 11, 2008 at 7:40 pm | Permalink
#
Heckler
Posted October 11, 2008 at 6:47 pm | Permalink
Chas
“Post your link Heckler…”
It’s at You Tube. You search for “forrestal”. Ya think XXX can handle that?
________________________________________________
Heckler, you’ll note that one of my links came from youtube. So it’s just as good as yours.
________________________________________________
Maybe that’s XXX problem, he doesn’t know how to do stuff like that. No wonder he didn’t do any research.
________________________________________________
I do research just like you do. I find stuff that backs my point.
_________________________________________________
The son of an admiral is never going to have to face the music. Of course they found no wrong-doing. But there are eye witnesses who say diferent.
And Heckler,
I notice you’re a real brave man when you’re just a nameless nic on a blog.
————————–
XXX doesn’t even believe a video when it is offered to be shown to him.
Evidently, lying is his main profession now.
Have a drink and see if it improves your spelling there “Freebird”. Con.
I knew you couldn’t answer the questiuon socio boy
Blue Jay,
I know you have appointed your self guardian of all things socialist but when did you appoint your self the guardian of spelling,little man?
spelliing erors bother yu,what a nit piker yu ar
Working on the bone dig little man?
“And Ayers shows no remorse. His only regret is that he “didn’t do enough.”
Once again:
Chicago Magazine reported that “just before the September 11th attacks,” Richard Elrod, a city lawyer injured in the Weathermen’s Chicago “Days of Rage,” received an apology from Ayers and Dohrn for their part in the violence. “[T]hey were remorseful,” Elrod says. “They said, ‘We’re sorry that things turned out this way.’”[18] In the months before Ayers’ memoir was published on September 10, 2001, the author gave numerous interviews with newspaper and magazine writers in which he defended his overall history of radical words and actions. Some of the resulting articles were written just before the September 11 terrorist attacks and appeared immediately after, including one often-noted article in The New York Times, and another in the Chicago Tribune. Numerous observations were made in the media comparing the statements Ayers was making about his own past just as a dramatic new terrorist incident shocked the public.
Much of the controversy about Ayers during the decade since 2000 stems from an interview he gave to The New York Times on the occasion of the memoir’s publication.[19] The reporter quoted him as saying “I don’t regret setting bombs” and “I feel we didn’t do enough”, and, when asked if he would “do it all again” as saying “I don’t want to discount the possibility.”[14] Ayers has not denied the quotes, but he protested the interviewer’s characterizations in a Letter to the Editor published September 15, 2001: “This is not a question of being misunderstood or ‘taken out of context’, but of deliberate distortion.”[20]
In the ensuing years, Ayers has repeatedly avowed that when he said he had “no regrets” and that “we didn’t do enough” he was speaking only in reference to his efforts to stop the United States from waging the Vietnam War, efforts which he has described as “. . . inadequate [as] the war dragged on for a decade.”[21] Ayers has maintained that the two statements were not intended to imply a wish they had set more bombs.[21][22]
The interviewer also quoted some of Ayers’ own criticism of Weatherman in the foreword to the memoir, whereby Ayers reacts to having watched Emile de Antonio’s 1976 documentary film about Weatherman, Underground: “[Ayers] was ‘embarrassed by the arrogance, the solipsism, the absolute certainty that we and we alone knew the way. The rigidity and the narcissism.’ “[14] “We weren’t terrorists,” Ayers told an interviewer for the Chicago Tribune in 2001. “The reason we weren’t terrorists is because we did not commit random acts of terror against people. Terrorism was what was being practiced in the countryside of Vietnam by the United States.”[2]
In a letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune, Ayers wrote, “I condemn all forms of terrorism — individual, group and official”. He also condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in that letter. “Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response.”[23]
IBD/TIPP Poll: Public Appears To Be Clueless On Who Pays What
Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 4:30 PM PT
Barack Obama’s pledge to limit tax hikes to the richest Americans may resonate with the vast majority who don’t fall into that category. But a new IBD/TIPP Poll finds that the public in general has little appreciation for how much of the federal tax burden is already carried by the top earners. While the top 1% — those making over $364,657 — now pay nearly 40% of income taxes, only 17% of those surveyed realized they pay that much. More than two-thirds think the top 1% pay less than 40%, and more than a third think they pay less than 20.
See pie chart below:
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/PollsPopUp.aspx?id=306544979917316
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
BlueJay
Posted October 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
I don’t think we need lectured on fair elections from those who STOLE the election in 2000.
Let our con…friends…not mistake a calmer demeanor for a lack of resolve. And don’t think all of us have forgotten 2000. THAT aint happenin’ again. You can have this election when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
————————————————–
Mighty big talk
———————————————
Please point out to me where I assigned a label to you in this post?
How nice…
The Democratic party and its representatives on this blog have a terrorist, Bill Ayers, carrying their baton.
At least they don’t deny giving terrorists equal footing in society, they openly embrace and admire his terrorist activities.
The bigot raises his ugly head.
“And don’t think all of us have forgotten 2000.”
What happened in 2000?
Top 3 poll “winners”,
‘The guy McCain insulted on TV? Here’s what he’s saying…(Now with Poll) ‘
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/9/173349/097/963/625503
37% 4250 votes, McCain pointing to “That one” (as opposed to Oliver Clark, the other one)
31% 3555 votes, Every goddamn time McCain grinned and said, “My friends…”
14% 1642 votes, McCain assuming Oliver Clark’s ignorance
“Freebies that’s all you libs think about”
I know many libs who probably work a lot harder than you do at being successful and self sufficent, Free.
When you make generalizations like that, it just makes you look ignorant.
In fact MOST of the people I know and take care of who live on “welfare” are conservative in their views. They’re mostly intolerant of immigrants, blacks, gays, and anyone else who doesn’t think like them..and they usually attend church every Sunday like good Christians. Doesn’t exactly fit your sterotype, does it?
The “libs” I hang out with work hard for a living.
ACORN: Not the Face of Change
by Connie Hair
A federal judge last night ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is breaking federal election law by not allowing county elections boards the chance to determine whether new voter registrations are fraudulent. U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith gave Brunner one week to turn the names over to the county boards.
“Her refusal to comply with federal law raises serious concerns about her ability to objectively oversee this election. It’s especially troubling in light of her connection to ACORN and that group’s stunning confession this week of fraudulent registration activity happening right here in Ohio,” Smith said. Brunner is a Democrat and her office had been performing the verifications.
Barack Obama has numerous ties to ACORN, the group under investigation for voter registration fraud in states across the nation. Obama paid one of their subsidiaries, Citizen Services, Inc., $800,000 and misrepresented that payment on his campaign finance disclosures.
Obama served as the executive director for ACORN’s voter registration arm, Project Vote. ACORN has a history of bullying, threats, and intimidation against banks to force them into the risky loans of the sort at the heart of our current financial crisis. Obama also represented ACORN suing the state of Illinois in 1993.
Obama sued Citibank under the Community Reinvestment Act in a typical ACORN-style lawsuit to force the bank to make these risky loans. ACORN filed many of this type of lawsuit alleging racism in all of them.
Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has demanded an end to all federal funding for ACORN. Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has called for a federal investigation of the group.
Yet another radical benefactor of Barack Obama, Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, is caught on tape “ranting against whitey.” From Hannity’s America via YouTube.com, al-Mansour, a radical anti-Semite, anti-white mentor to the Black Panther Party, is reported to have openly solicited donations to fund Barack Obama’s Harvard education. Hannity’s special Obama’s Radical Friends Exposed is available in its entirety on YouTube.com.
The McCain-Palin campaign today released a new television ad titled “Ambition.” The ad highlights Barack Obama’s work with unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and Obama’s “lie[s] about his longstanding relationship and his bad judgment.
Human Events
In a letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune, Ayers wrote, “I condemn all forms of terrorism — individual, group and official”. He also condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in that letter. “Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response.”[23]
————–
Bill Ayers was correct.
“The Democratic party and its representatives on this blog have a terrorist, Bill Ayers, carrying their baton.
At least they don’t deny giving terrorists equal footing in society, they openly embrace and admire his terrorist activities.”
What a load of BS…mabe you didn’t read the above post? The only thing McCain supporters seem to be good at is not letting the facts get in their way when attempting their character assassinations.
Wow. Anybody see this video?
Republics are running S C A R E D, and like deer caught in the headlights they just can’t seem to move their feet out of the sticky muck. Here, for example, is how to lose to Al Franken if you’re Norm Coleman. Yes, that Al Franken, lol. Wow.
“The senator has disclosed every gift he has ever received.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VySnpLoaUrI
Pretty funny stuff going on in Minnesota.
cosmos_originally
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:14 pm | Permalink
In a letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune, Ayers wrote, “I condemn all forms of terrorism — individual, group and official”. He also condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in that letter. “Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response.”[23]
===========================
cosmos is yet another cheerleader for Bill Ayers.
Bill Ayers, who terrorized families with children and caused one family to send their children to school for over 18 months via police car.
Democrats approve of terrorist activities.
“East coast members favored a commitment to violence and challenged commitments of old leaders, Bernadine Dohrn, Bill Ayers and Jeff Jones. By the end of 1976, the Weather Underground would collapse.[42] Within two years, many members turned themselves in after taking advantage of President Gerald Ford’s amnesty for draft dodgers.[6]
Mark Rudd turned himself in to authorities on January 20, 1978. Rudd was fined $4,000 and received two years probation.[6] Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers turned themselves in on December 3, 1980, in New York, with substantial media coverage. Charges were dropped for Ayers. Dohrn received three years probation and a $15,000 fine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_(organization)
“Regular” has threatened to break into offices. He also threatened on more than one occasion to shoot me.
He regular ly melts down and threatens some sort of terror or mayhem that he could release on the blog.
“Regular” is a terrorist.
#
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
cosmos is yet another cheerleader for Bill Ayers.
Bill Ayers, who terrorized families with children and caused one family to send their children to school for over 18 months via police car.
Democrats approve of terrorist activities.
=======================================================
Nobodies approving Ayers past history. It’s a fact that you have nothing else, so you want to condemn Obama for knowing some guy who did bad things when Obama was eight years old. That’s like saying everybody who ever worked with the BTK killer condones killing people. Frikin’ morons.
Bill Ayers and Barack Obama served on the same board for the Woods Foundation, passing out more 100 million dollars on education reforms that didn’t work.
Bill Ayers,Troopergate what petty bullshirt these things are comapared to the problems this country faces.
I don’t think Ayers is a “terrorist” today..he seems to have done well and made positive contributions to society. Should we judge you Reg, for your actions 40 yrs ago? It’s probably a good thing we don’t.
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:30 pm | Permalink
I don’t think Ayers is a “terrorist” today..he seems to have done well and made positive contributions to society. Should we judge you Reg, for your actions 40 yrs ago? It’s probably a good thing we don’t.
==========================
Sure, go ahead and be my guest. I was a law abiding citizen in the Air Force.
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
I doubt you were a perfect person Reg…I’m sure, like all of us, you’ve made your share of mistakes.
#
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:28 pm | Permalink
Bill Ayers and Barack Obama served on the same board for the Woods Foundation, passing out more 100 million dollars on education reforms that didn’t work.
========================================================
And that proves what, that they knew each other? I think everybody knows that by now, don’t you think? So what exactly is your point, that you can google?
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm | Permalink
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
I doubt you were a perfect person Reg…I’m sure, like all of us, you’ve made your share of mistakes.
——————————
No arrests, didn’t even have a traffic ticket, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was never late for duty.
Other than that, 40 years ago was uneventful, other than being very aware of the dismal news of Vietnam and the Bobby Kennedy assassination.
Saying Obama is a terrorist because he worke with Ayers is like saying since I worked with Oswald I am a presidential assain.
I am pretty sure that some,if not all of us, have at some point in our lives dealt with people of questionable character,in the vast majority of cases the unsavory character traits don’t rub off
Good point, Free…a girl I went to high school with is serving life for murder..does that make me a criminal?
Another long time former friend is a drug addict and alcoholic…does that make me a druggie?
As much as I try, I really have no control over other people’s irresponsible behaviors and bad choices.
Another racist Republican caught in the act then, realizing he was being filmed, tried to cover up his blatant Republican racism.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/11/politics/fromtheroad/entry4515246.shtml
Maybe he could join the racists and anti-Semites on this forum. He’d probably have a blast.
#
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:38 pm | Permalink
No arrests, didn’t even have a traffic ticket, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was never late for duty.
Other than that, 40 years ago was uneventful, other than being very aware of the dismal news of Vietnam and the Bobby Kennedy assassination.
===================================================
Gee, Obama was eight at the time. Think he had something to do with Viet Nam and Bobby Kennedy’s assassination? I mean, according to you republicans, Obama had to be part of Ayers weathermen.
“No arrests, didn’t even have a traffic ticket, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was never late for duty.”
Sorry to hear you’ve lead such a boring life, Reg!
All the voter fraud…all ACORN…all Democrats.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny.
Senate letter signed by 20 Republicans warning of the problems inherent with Freddie and Fannie and the very noticeable absence of a single Democrat.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny.
Freddie and Fannie top executives on Obama advisory list.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny
The only other response from the Dims is name calling and spitting along with ad hominem arguments.
Does everyone detect a trend here, a severe flaw in character. That’s not a question, it’s obvious.
Typical lying Dims, esp. Chas the fake preacher.
It’s not the association, it’s the far left ideology that both Obama and Ayers hold. They hold identical ideologies, dirty ‘Chicago style’ politics under their belt and they have implemented those ideologies much to the woe of the poor in Chicago who saw no benefit.
Wow maggot…seems like McCain and Palin are really attracting the losers…sad that’s the class of people who identify with them.
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:48 pm | Permalink
“No arrests, didn’t even have a traffic ticket, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and was never late for duty.”
Sorry to hear you’ve lead such a boring life, Reg!
————————
Was hardly boring…
I don’t know how you were raised, but I was raised to be a responsible adult, not to indulge in vices, not break the law, become involved with your community and serve your country.
Perhaps you are just hoping that some one would share something in common with your sordid past?
According to the radical right, Obama is a non-American Muslim terrorist, who, at the tender age of eight, joined the Weathermen underground at the insistence of Ayers. Hell, he probably supplied the gun that killed John Lennon. Maybe even had a hand in getting Russia to put ICMBs in Cuba. Probably sabotaged three mile island in his spare time.
And you radical righters keep saying he hasn’t done anything . . . shame on you.
What do you mean by “far left ideology”?
What is “far left” about Obama’s ideas on healthcare, the economy, foreign policy, and the war against terror?
Reg, I think it’s time for your evening slap, crap and nap. Your getting cranky.
My “sordid past”? I just I think I probably had more fun than you…maybe that’s why you’re so angry, you never learned how to have any fun.
Most of Obama’s ideology, political speeches and actions are straight out of the Saul Alinksy handbook.
Saul Alinsky was a very far left radical who wrote the ‘Rules for Radicals.’
David Alinsky, Saul Alinsky’s son, recently wrote this:
Saul Alinsky’s son, L. David Alinsky, credits Obama for “learning his lesson well” from the Communist guru.
Indeed, Alinsky Jr. who credits his late father for the success of last week’s Democratic National Convention, may have done something that Obama’s detractors couldn’t: blown the cover on the presidential hopeful’s communist leanings….[I]t was Alinsky who wrote Rules for Radicals, the bible of the far left.
Says Alinsky’s son L. David Alinsky of his father’s influence at the Dem Convention: “ALL the elements were present: the individual stories told by real people of their situation and hardships, the packed-to-the rafters crowd, the crowd’s chanting of key phrases and names, the action on the spot of texting and phoning to show instant support and commitment to jump into the political battle, the rallying selections of music, the setting of the agenda by the power people.”
“The Democratic National Convention had all the elements of the perfectly organized event, Saul Alinsky style, the Communist guru’s son wrote in a letter published yesterday in the Boston Globe. ,,, “Barack Obama’s training in Chicago by the great community organizers is showing its effectiveness,” Alinsky Jr. wrote to the Globe. “It is an amazingly powerful format, and the method of my late father always works to get the message out and get the supporters on board. When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well.
…“As a confirmed atheist, Alinsky believed that the here and now is all there is, and therefore had no qualms about assorted versions of morality in the pursuit of worldly power. He didn’t coddle his radical acolytes or encourage their bourgeois distinctions between good and evil when it came to transferring power from the Haves to the Have Nots.
McCain tussles with Palin over whipping up a mob mentality
With his electoral prospects fading by the day, Senator John McCain has fallen out with his vice-presidential running mate about the direction of his White House campaign.
more at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4926283.ece
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm | Permalink
My “sordid past”? I just I think I probably had more fun than you…maybe that’s why you’re so angry, you never learned how to have any fun.
==================================
I had plenty of fun. Went dancing, fished, hunted, played sports, picnics, amusement parks, rock concerts, ball games, vacations, etc. etc.
You know, normal stuff that everyday, normal people do.
“Kansas values” Regular posted October 11, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I don’t know how you were raised, but I was raised to be a responsible adult, not to indulge in vices, not break the law, become involved with your community and serve your country.
—————-
That’s why Regular spends much of his time posting stupidities, false attacks, lies, and fictional paragraphs here on the WE Blog.
When I was young I went skinny dipping a couple of times when I had to much to drink…that’s about as wild as I ever got.
The Republicans keep on mentioning Ayers as if that’s the top issue concerning America. No wonder the Republicans were blind, deaf and dumb when the economy started to falter. No wonder the Republicans have managed to fail two wars. Unemployment goes up, the value of the dollar goes down, the stock market plummets, a major city is still waiting to be rebuilt, etc. etc. But for some reason the big problem facing America is that Obama was apparently a member of the Weather Underground when he was eight.
Yes, it’s time for the Republicans to step aside and let the grown ups take over.
..I have had my share of speeding tickets.
“Far more so than Obama, McCain is dependent on the goodwill of fellow Republicans. With McCain having opted for public financing, RNC funds are an important part of his advertising budget. Because he’s way behind Obama on McCain-branded field offices and ground operatives, he is depending on assistance from state and local party organizations. Republican enthusiasm lags behind that of Democrats, and so volunteer resources are scarcer; conservative activists will need to decide if they’re going to make phone calls to support McCain or to help save their local Republican Congressman.
The further that McCain falls in the polls, the worse these conflicts become. And it won’t help when the campaign is putting out statements like this one (McCain “blew up” the bailout?) and this one (it’s Obama’s fault that some very small minority of McCain supporters have taken to making violent statements?), which won’t pass the media’s smell test and reek of stress, sleep deprivation, and low morale in Crystal City.”
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/does-mccain-have-cooties.html
—
Looks like John McCain ain’t exactly sportin’ coattails in next month’s election.
Well said, Maggot!
Regular,
I have had a DUI, trafific tickets and I smooke. Guess that makes me sordid. But except for the DUI I feel I have been a pretty responsible person. I served my country,rasied a son who also served and is in training to serve the city of
Wichita as a firefighter, raised a daughter who is a fantastic mother to my grandson and is going to college. But I guess all that doesn’t count since I’ve made some mistakes in the past
I’m going to have to read Saul Alinsky. Maybe have my son read it too.
He sounds like someone I’d like to know better.
“Perhaps you are just hoping that some one would share something in common with your sordid past?”
You nailed it again Reg.
The say misery loves company, and the Dims can’t stand anyone that doesn’t stoop down to their level. They will even try to drag anyone down who’s better character reflects how bad theirs is.
Pretty pathetic, and I’ve never seen a better example of that behavior than right here on We Blog with the DimLibs.
McCain has run a sleazy, hate filled campaign that attracts racists and anti-American zealots who shout how much they want to assassinate Obama. It’s no wonder Republicans such as ex-Michigan governor William Milliken dropped his endorsement of McCain.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-mccain-milliken,0,831405.story
What’s next, the Republicans have already resorted to smashing windows, sending anthrax threats, death threats and racist slogans. I suppose they can continue with burning a cross at the next McCain rally.
I’ll bet Regular is humble too, ya know, about his perfection and status of being better than most ordinary human beings.
“But I guess all that doesn’t count since I’ve made some mistakes in the past”
That’s exactly right if you are still proud of that past, and looked over if you are not.
#
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:04 pm | Permalink
Regular,
I have had a DUI, trafific tickets and I smooke. Guess that makes me sordid. But except for the DUI I feel I have been a pretty responsible person. I served my country,rasied a son who also served and is in training to serve the city of
Wichita as a firefighter, raised a daughter who is a fantastic mother to my grandson and is going to college. But I guess all that doesn’t count since I’ve made some mistakes in the past
————————————-
If you want to commiserate with Mary, that’s fine with me.
I was just answering Mary’s question what I did 40 years ago and if I was ashamed of my past.
But do feel free to jump on the boat without oars.
Interesting link from linda, McCain and Palin are spattin’.
I still think that Obama could nuke that ticket by completely ignoring McCain completely and talking right over his head to Palin directly. I do believe her ambition would have her and McCain fighting even sooner than now.
Palin, wow. George W Bush all over again: the only time either one is smart is when it’s in their own self interest politically. When it comes to benefitting the country as a whole, they’re hapless.
You are so full of BS, Reg…how was the Democratic convention different than any other? With the exception that A LOT of people showed up.
McCain’s crowds seem more and more like a rivival of the KKK.
“revival”
As Reaganomics has led to people losing their jobs and pensions more and more working women as turning to Obama.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122370058766625819.html
Not too long ago Republicans were bragging that Palin was taking all the women votes away from Obama. That was until they found out how utterly awful McCain and Palin are. Somehow Republicans think they can woo these voters by saying Obama was a member of the Weather Underground when he was eight.
If that’s McCain’s most powerful weapon to gain in the polls then stick a fork in McCain, he’s done.
Mary,
You have room in your boat for one more person with a sordid past?
Linda,
That’s an informative column.
Comment from one af McCains’s ex campaign advisors,
‘McCain tussles with Palin over whipping up a mob mentality‘
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4926283.ece
“And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”
#
lindainks55
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:08 pm | Permalink
I’ll bet Regular is humble too, ya know, about his perfection and status of being better than most ordinary human beings.
————————–
Most of the time in public, I seldom speak. Humility was a lesson learned early in life living with and working for people who were more knowledgeable and more experienced than I.
The Libs on this blog act as if having a work ethic including being reliable, having initiative or maintaining social skills is a bad thing.
Pedant, did you read any of the comments at the bottom of that piece? Here are three:
In recent decades we’ve worried about the Russians, Chinese, Koreans. Iranians, Iraqis and of course individual terrorist groups. But none have worried me quite so much as some the attitudes coming to the fore in America during this election.
Get a grip America – you’re an embarrassment to the West
Martin, Manchester, Great Britain
Sarah Palin will polarise American voters to the point where the rest of the world will turn its back On the USA. America’s credibility has been shot on the foot by Bush, she will just skin it and hang whats left over the fireplace.
Udo, Melbourne, Australia
Palin’s behavior is disgraceful. And this is coming from a lifelong Republican.
Mary Green, Scarsdale, New York
“The say misery loves company, and the Dims can’t stand anyone that doesn’t stoop down to their level. They will even try to drag anyone down who’s better character reflects how bad theirs is”
I’d put my character up against your’s anytime, Box.
And, although much of the piece wa interesting, this is a rather “telling” para:
Palin remains far more popular than McCain with the Republican party base. He regularly has to endure the spectacle of members of the audience leaving for their cars when it is his turn to speak at joint rallies.
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:08 pm | Permalink
You are so full of BS, Reg…how was the Democratic convention different than any other? With the exception that A LOT of people showed up.
———————————–
Sorry your reading skills are so poor Mary.
I wrote nothing of the Democratic convention. That was David Alinsky that wrote that.
And Regular I’m not in any way shape or form ashamed of my past,although there are some parts I’m prouder of than others
“Most of the time in public, I seldom speak. Humility was a lesson learned early in life living with and working for people who were more knowledgeable and more experienced than I.”
Then maybe you should be more quiet on this blog. LOL!
Georgia congressman says McCain rallies brings back memories of the racist George Wallace rallies back in the days (or as racist Republicans call it, the good ol’ days).
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1008/John_Lewis_invoking_George_Wallace_says_McCain_and_Palin_playing_with_fire.html
The fact that you cut and pasted that BS says you’re full of BS, Reg…how much more clear can I be?
#
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:14 pm | Permalink
And Regular I’m not in any way shape or form ashamed of my past,although there are some parts I’m prouder of than others
———————————
Never said you were, now did I?
Mary asked a question and I answered it. You chose to project yourself in the middle.
Whatever feelings you are having right now are self-induced.
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:16 pm | Permalink
The fact that you cut and pasted that BS says you’re full of BS, Reg…how much more clear can I be?
—————————
If you’re saying that David Alinsky, son of Saul Alinsky, author of the “Rule for Radicals” which Obama faithfully follows is B.S.; then yes, I agree with you.
The hatred verbalized by McCain’s followers is pretty scary…it does remind me of those who believed in and supported George Wallace.
What proof do you have of Obama’s dedication to Saul Alinsky? Man, you guys are desperate!
You never did answer my question, Reg…what is so radically “far left” in Obama’s ideas on dealing with the major issues?
Linda, I also noted this paragraph:
“However, Palin is no longer helping to attract women and independent voters to the Republican ticket. A poll for Fox News last week showed that while 47% of voters regard the Alaska governor favourably, 42% now have an unfavourable opinion of her.”
That’s the flip side of both Palin’s and Bush’s inability to show us their supposed smarts unless they’re usin’ said smarts to save or promote their own skin politically. The flip side of this is that they’re polarizing to the extreme.
Everybody should note that that’s apparently what the GOP base wants, a return by Palin to the kind of polarized America we’ve endured under George W Bush.
That Palin, she’s Bush redux.
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:19 pm | Permalink
The hatred verbalized by McCain’s followers is pretty scary…it does remind me of those who believed in and supported George Wallace.
==============================
George Wallace, the infamous racist and Democratic Party Governor of Alabama?
That George Wallace is your reference Mary?
…the old south Democrat Mary?
GOOD LINK linda!
Sarahcuda straining at the leash. She and those who love her do not embrace the reality that they are a decided minority in this country.
From linda’s link…
However, Palin is no longer helping to attract women and independent voters to the Republican ticket. A poll for Fox News last week showed that while 47% of voters regard the Alaska governor favourably, 42% now have an unfavourable opinion of her.
WOW and just 5 short weeks ago she was the most popular governor in America? That’s not a slip it’s am implosion.
But Sarah Palin’s comin’ up on NBC in just a little over an hour from now!
Should be fun!
Boxlock
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:08 pm | Permalink
“But I guess all that doesn’t count since I’ve made some mistakes in the past”
That’s exactly right if you are still proud of that past, and looked over if you are not.
—————————————————-
Like I said I’m not exactly proud of that DUI but I’m not going to hide it either.If by telling my story to someone else keeps them from making the same mistake I made then its worth bringing it up.
Obama’s proposals for dealing with the healthcare crisis is so on target. He actually seems to understand and have insight into what the problems are. McCain doesn’t seem to have a clue.
I like Obama’s ideas on foreign policy. And he is right on about the war on terror, one example being how we need to concentrate on Afganistan and Pakistan and catching bin Laden.
And Obama was right about Iraq.
If that’s “far left” then it’s OK with me. He’s the best man for the job.
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:05 pm | Permalink
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
BlueJay
Posted October 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
I don’t think we need lectured on fair elections from those who STOLE the election in 2000.
Let our con…friends…not mistake a calmer demeanor for a lack of resolve. And don’t think all of us have forgotten 2000. THAT aint happenin’ again. You can have this election when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
————————————————–
Mighty big talk
———————————————
Please point out to me where I assigned a label to you in this post?
Guess you you couldnt put up so you shut up
“I’d put my character up against your’s anytime, Box.”
Mary, I can’t say for sure but I really don’t think I would want to get that close or familiar. No offense intended, but I’m not at all impressed with any of the DimLib bloggers spending their wasted lives here. You aren’t actually not included in that gutter group though.
But notice how many of the DimLibs on this blog seem to have, even admit to, a sordid past and admit no remorse either.
Kind of confirms my suspicions.
More from linda’s most excellent link…
“In Wilmington, Palin’s many admirers were in no doubt that she should run for president next time. Nancy Ross, a hairdresser, 45, said if the Republicans lost the election, she would be cheered up by the thought of Palin as the 2012 nominee.
“I would absolutely love her to run in four years’ time. By then most of her kids will be grown,” she said. “I’d like her to run against Hillary [Clinton]. She would squash her. She is a real person and we need people like her in Washington.”
A hairdresser who votes Republican? What an idiot.
Senator Clinton would have/will wipe the floor with Palin. Lil’ Sarah wouldn’t last 2 minutes in a debate with Hillary.
We COULD see some sort of power play on Palin’s part the next few weeks.
The voters she attracts are decidedly not nice people who wouldn’t mind seeing her stick a dagger in McCain’s back.
“the old south Democrat Mary?”
The “old south Democrats” hardly resemble the democratic party today. The Republican ideaology is much more similar.
That’s ‘you actually are not included in that gutter group though.’
In Wilmington, Palin’s many admirers were in no doubt that she should run for president next time. Nancy Ross, a hairdresser, 45, said if the Republicans lost the election, she would be cheered up by the thought of Palin as the 2012 nominee.
She will be nothing more than a footnote in history win or loose
Believe me, Box..I have no desire to get up close and personal either. The people I hang with are of a much higher caliber than any right wing conservative on this blog.
The agitator’s job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the “realization” that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve, and to make such an almighty stink that the dastardly governments and corporations will see imminent “self-interest” in granting whatever it is that will cause the harassment to cease. – Alinsky
In these methods, euphemistically labeled “community organizing,” Obama had a four-year education, which he often says was the best education he ever got anywhere. – Obama
Obama’s words: In theory, community organizing provides a way to merge various strategies for neighborhood empowerment. Organizing begins with the premise that (1) the problems facing inner-city communities do not result from a lack of effective solutions, but from a lack of power to implement these solutions; (2) that the only way for communities to build long-term power is by organizing people and money around a common vision; and (3) that a viable organization can only be achieved if a broadly based indigenous leadership — and not one or two charismatic leaders — can knit together the diverse interests of their local institutions.
From the moment the organizer enters a community he lives, dreams, eats, breathes, sleeps only one thing and that is to build the mass power base of what he calls the army.
ibid…Obama’s Campaign
The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act… – Alinksky
In the beginning the organizer’s first job is to create the issues or problems – Alinsky
Obama’s Campaign speeches based on African-American sing song rhetoric, rather than fact.
Despite Obama’s radical left efforts, the black community faces enormous problems as well. One problem is the not entirely undeserved skepticism organizers face in many communities. To a large degree, Chicago was the birthplace of community organizing, and the urban landscape is littered with the skeletons of previous efforts. Many of the best-intentioned members of the community have bitter memories of such failures and are reluctant to muster up renewed faith in the process.
Bet palin will get skewered on inciting the mobs, or on her getting cited on ethics.
So Reg…are you ever going to answer my question?
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:37 pm | Permalink
Believe me, Box..I have no desire to get up close and personal either. The people I hang with are of a much higher caliber than any right wing conservative on this blog.
————————–
You measure your friends? By what standard, I find that sad.
Ironic the RW has done much to promote Saul Alinsky, bet he’s getting read more than he could ever have dreamed of.
Yeah, right Mary….you know that’s not true.
Most of the DimLibs hanging out here are losers and you know it.
I’ve never seen such a group that aspires to less, and have undoubtedly achieved exactly that.
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:38 pm | Permalink
So Reg…are you ever going to answer my question?
—————————–
Sure, it’s not going to be instantaneous. You wanted me to compile a long list of campaign issues and Obama’s ideology. This will take some time, part of it is already written, just need to format it.
“A poll for Fox News last week showed that while 47% of voters regard the Alaska governor favourably, 42% now have an unfavourable opinion of her.”
Numbers like that in such short notice do not bode well for Palin’s re election as Governor of Alaska.
It’s all or nothing. One throw of the dice for Palin.
No wonder she is straining at the leash and maybe plotting insurrection. Ya think she wants to be home taking care of little Trig the next many years? I’m thinking no.
“Obama’s words: In theory, community organizing provides a way to merge various strategies for neighborhood empowerment. Organizing begins with the premise that (1) the problems facing inner-city communities do not result from a lack of effective solutions, but from a lack of power to implement these solutions; (2) that the only way for communities to build long-term power is by organizing people and money around a common vision; and (3) that a viable organization can only be achieved if a broadly based indigenous leadership — and not one or two charismatic leaders — can knit together the diverse interests of their local institutions.”
It all makes sense…in a democracy the will of the people should prevail…in McCain’s world, the corporate CEOs would continue to contol everything and profit heavily from manipulating the American people.
Two Very Scary Words. . . President Obama
I don’t know about you, but I find two of the scariest words in the English language right to be President Obama. Thinking about this guy and his cronies being in complete charge of our country in less than five months. . .it just sends shivers down my spine. And it’s not just because I’m a conservative republican. Barack Obama could very well bring our country downhill in a hurry – politically, economically and socially.
So why do I find him so frightening as a possible president?
First of all is the cult-like aura surrounding him, which I have never seen the likes of with any other candidate. The media swoons all over him and gives him the “favored candidate” treatment. He can do little wrong in their eyes and is the only one of the four currently running for political office that hasn’t received blistering, intense scrutiny in some form. Some criticism, yes, but nothing like what McCain, Palin and even Biden have received from the media. Few dare to make jokes about him and the liberal media journalists are all fairly decent to him, while at the same time going out of their way to make Sarah Palin look like a pathetic VP choice. It’s almost as if he’s the political equivalent of a pop star, causing some right-wing groups to dub him The Messiah.” And with good reason.
A group of schoolchildren – young kids, not teenagers — recently sung a song composed in Obama’s honor. . .which is eerily reminiscent of the Hitler Youth. Hollywood treats him almost like one of their own. And scariest of all is his endorsement by radicals like Louis Farrakhan, who made statements like, “You are the instrument of change that God intends to use in this country” and “When the Messiah speaks, young people listen.”
The frightening thing about having a candidate that is this popular, is that people will rush to the polls to vote for him simply because he is the one endorsed by most of the bigwigs in this country, not because they stop to think about whether or not he’ll really make a great president. Some may like him because he has a nice smile and makes elaborate, inspiring speeches (that is, as long as he has one written out for him and he has a teleprompter to help him out; otherwise he’s totally at sea.) Others believe that, just because he has a plan for the economy that is different from McCains’ or Bushs’ plans, he must have the right ideas. And many blacks are excited about the possibility of having one of their own in the White House.
I can fully understand why many of these African-Americans would be excited about Barack Obama. However, I hope that they will go beyond thinking, “I’m voting for Obama because he’s black” and start thinking, “Does this guy really represent the values and beliefs that I hold dear?” I’m not voting for McCain and Palin because they are white, like I am, or enthusiastic about Palin because I’m happy to see another woman on the ticket. No, I’m voting for them because they represent the values that I share. If a minority candidate were to hold the same beliefs and convictions that I have, I would happily endorse them too.
And speaking of race, I’m concerned that Obama, if elected, could possibly use the racist label to get his way when people disagree with him. There have already been people who have said, “If you don’t vote for Obama, you’re racist!” And that label has even been thrown at Palin and McCain, when they tried to dig into the Bill Ayres issue. And this was something that had virtually NOTHING to do with a person’s skin color. Think that this tendency will lessen once Obama gets into office? Somehow, I don’t think it will.
Also scary is the questionable associations that Obama has had through the years. We have no idea how that will affect him once he gets into office. Think about his friendship with Bill Ayres, for instance. OK, so maybe Obama WAS just a child when all the bombings went on – but these two have spent too much time together throughout the years for Obama to not be aware of Ayre’s criminal past. Ayre’s terrorist activities have been common knowledge to the American public for some time and he still is VERY unrepentant about them.
Same goes with Jeremiah Wright, who ranted for years against whites and America in general, from a church pulpit, of all places. How could Obama sit in a church pew there for two decades and NOT be affected in some way by all the hate messages that he’s heard from this man? Sure, he’s distanced himself from Wright for now, knowing that it will hurt his campaign – but for all we know, he and Wright could still be buddies and if Obama gets in office, he could very quickly resume that public relationship with his pastor.
And the thought of Obama being commander-in-chief of our armed forces — If you are a military member, that thought should turn the blood in your veins to ice. If Obama is president, the military will be a very low priority to him and he will restrict funding for it. He knows virtually NOTHING about how it operates and has never had any dealings with it whatsoever. And if we ever get into another 9/11 (and heaven help us if we do with Obama and Biden at the helm) Obama will probably waste his time in negotiations with the terrorists instead of going right after them like Bush did after 9/11. Whatever your feelings about Bush are right now, you have to admit that he DID handle 9/11 the right way, and as a result, got the highest approval ratings of his career (which sadly didn’t last very long).
Obama has said that he will meet with the leaders of hostile world nations with no pre-conditions. He wants to completely nuke our nuclear weapons programs. He once said that our troops were “killing innocent civilians and air-raiding villages” while overlooking the GOOD things that our troops have done in Afghanistan. He will try to rely on diplomacy and peace talks to resolve conflicts – and there is a time and a place for these things, but I want a president who will not hesitate to use aggressive force should another nation pose a threat to us. And frankly, I’m not sure Obama would do this.
And do you really think that Obama will help our economy, especially given his skimpy track record? Some people think that he will bring change to America. Oh, he’ll bring change all right – but it won’t be the change you want. He wants to help our economy by raising taxes – and he’ll help us right into another depression. His running mate says that “paying higher taxes is patriotic” – which sounds ominously like a slogan from the mouth of a communist leader, not from the mouth of an American citizen.
Think Obama sounds like a “go-getter” kind of president? Better think again. When the financial crisis began a week ago, who was the one who was willing to temporarily suspend his campaign and actually try to DO something about it? It sure wasn’t Obama. It was John McCain, the war hero, who rose to the helm and proved that he was really willing to follow his own motto of “Country First”. Obama seemed rather clueless and kind of just waited around to see what would happen next. Actually, Obama’s entire political record isn’t very impressive at all, even in comparison to Sarah Palin’s, who has been slammed for not having enough experience. Sarah Palin actually went out and ACCOMPLISHED things. Obama voted “present” 120 times in the Senate, without actually acting on anything. To me, he doesn’t really seem to know how to do anything but make nice-sounding speeches. Perhaps he missed his calling and should be an entertainer instead.
It’s also sad, and a bit scary, that patriotism apparently doesn’t mean anything to Obama. He won’t wear a flag lapel pin or salute the flag unless he’s somehow guilted into it, and he’s overly conscious of offending someone if he does. I want to see a president that truly IS proud of being an American and is not afraid or ashamed to show it. Obviously, I don’t want to see obsessive nationalism of the Hitler-and-Stalin variety, but I DO want to know that my president really loves and cares for America. John McCain, I have no question, does. But I’m not so sure about Barack Obama.
It’s scary too, that Obama does not value all human life equally. He not only supports abortion rights, but has also voted FOUR TIMES against protecting infants who survive botched abortions. He is willing to allow innocent babies to be killed just because their mothers don’t want them, even though these children have done nothing to be deserving of death. Yet he’s concerned that terrorist prisoners are treated humanely – people who have committed horrific crimes against humanity.
The trouble with Barack Obama is that there are just too many unknowns about him. There are some shady spots in his past that he’s not willing to let the media investigate in, and we have no way of nothing if he’ll act a different way once he’s elected president and in total control. I just hope that we don’t have to learn the hard way.
Thinking about the economic crisis and America’s future is scary. Thinking about Barack Obama being in charge during this crucial time is even scarier.
Judgmental, condescending, and smug…but we ain’t seein’ it in Obama. Nosirree, it ain’t Obama.
Who’s the elitist now? Pot meet kettle, name’s Boxlock.
LOL
We’re hearing much more about the ‘Bradley’ effect, starting to make me a little nervous the Repubs are already laying the groundwork for an election steal, so even if the polls have him going into election night 8 pts. ahead, and the exit polls show him winning by a large margin, they’ll come back with the ‘Bradley effect’ even though it’ll be the ‘Diebold effect’.
Mary,
I want to explain something to you.
When I first discovered this blog I came in quite naive, thinking anybody bothering to post ideas was trying to contribute to a higher level societal character.
I have come to the full realization that the DimLibs are trash. Not all Democrats now, I know several, and have family, that are Democrats, but they are still reasonable thinking people, simply a little confused.
Those around here want to pull everyone down into the gutter where they wallow.
I question my sanity for even coming here occasionally while working or surfing the news and the net because of the dirt I pick up just reading their crap.
I have decided there must be a slightly dark side to my idea of entertainment because I like to poke a stick at them every once in awhile and watch them squeal like the pigs they are.
A nation’s underbelly is exposed
This is the week, Joe Biden said, that John McCain decided to take the low road to the White House. A partisan observation, certainly. But true just the same.
With increasing desperation, McCain and his presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, have depicted Barack Obama as a naive, untrustworthy, Manchurian candidate who “pals around with terrorists.”
Irony is not given to Republicans. McCain attacked Obama this week as the cause of the global financial crisis, when it was the Republicans’ sustained effort to remove the bars from the Wall Street zoo that culminated in the current spectacular mess.
more at:
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/516012
“You measure your friends? By what standard, I find that sad.”
You bet…my friends are unselfish, intelligent, thoughtful, non-judgemental, compassionate, giving, and have high moral standards.
The trouble with Barack Obama is that there are just too many unknowns about him.
—————————————————-
The things known and unknown about both candidates should be enough for a thinking person to wonder is this the best this country has to offer for leadership? We need a viable third party to break away from the buisness as usual crowd on both sides. A third party that cares about this country and not what’s in it for me as do the 2 “major” parties.
And proud of it with people like you Pendant.
Its not being “Judgmental, condescending, and smug”, calling trash trash, when that’s exactly what it is. That reality.
JoMarieM…that whole rant is old, old, old.
No one takes it serously and you shouldn’t either.
No one should take JoMarieM seriously.
There’s your problem, Box…you see anyone who disagrees with you as “pigs” and “dimlibs”…you fit right in with McCain’s angry mob. I really feel sorry for all of you. You’re a big part of why the country is so divided against itself.
Sarah Palin’s comin’ up in 30 minutes on NBC!
Should be fun!
#
Mary_Caruso
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:49 pm | Permalink
“You measure your friends? By what standard, I find that sad.”
You bet…my friends are unselfish, intelligent, thoughtful, non-judgemental, compassionate, giving, and have high moral standards.
———————————
It appears that your friends have lower standards, especially with the judgmental part. :)
JoMarieM – put that tinfoil hat on and hide under the bed. Or, better yet, in a cave!
JoMarie?
I get the feeling you are likely scared of your own shadow and jump entertainingly when startled.
Are those your words or did you lift them somewhere and not give proper…uh…credit?
It sucks to be so full of anger and hate. I can’t imagine hating others the way some of you do behind the facade of your patriotism.
Boxlock
Posted October 11, 2008 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
And proud of it with people like you Pendant.
Its not being “Judgmental, condescending, and smug”, calling trash trash, when that’s exactly what it is. That reality.
—
Wow. Judgmental, condescending, smug, AND unable to apologize when you’re wrong.
Congrats, you hit the very same jackpot you love to condemn in Democrats!
LOL
JoMarieM,
Do our scroll wheels a favor, and just post the link to your long irrational rants.
http://neighbors.denverpost.com/blog.php/2008/10/10/two-very-scary-words-president-obama/
Irony is not given to Republicans.
I stole that from an oped piece I read, but decided it made lots of sense.
Mary, are you and hubby doing OK? I’m sorry about your loss.
Reg, I don’t think you know my friends…unless you’re referring to yourself :)
Thnaks for asking, Linda. We’re fine. Life is getting back to normal…it’s been a crazy couple of weeks.
JoMarieM,
Well thought out reasoned opinion for the most part.
Illinois Law already protected such infants. You are being deceived about that. I read the 1975 Illinois abortion law on the Illinois government website – have YOU?????? You are being lied to about this.
But Obama does support a woman’s right to choose.
“But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” – John McCain Associated Press Aug 24, 1999
Who knows what McCain’s position will be tomorrow or the next day.
We know most everything about Senator Obama. Only his opposition falsely creates this “mysterious scary unknown” business.
What we DO KNOW is the current policies are an abject failure and are bringing this country to ruin unless things are turned around. ANd Senator McCain does not represent a change.
Is this Boston Globe story real? I do not believe anything these guys say anymore until I do some independent confirmations. I only find blog quoting blog quoting blog quoting blog.
Even so, Alinsky’s son can say anything he wants with impunity… that don’t make it so…
Regular posted:
Says Alinsky’s son L. David Alinsky of his father’s influence at the Dem Convention: “ALL the elements were present: the individual stories told by real people of their situation and hardships, the packed-to-the rafters crowd, the crowd’s chanting of key phrases and names, the action on the spot of texting and phoning to show instant support and commitment to jump into the political battle, the rallying selections of music, the setting of the agenda by the power people.”
“The Democratic National Convention had all the elements of the perfectly organized event, Saul Alinsky style, the Communist guru’s son wrote in a letter published yesterday in the Boston Globe. ,,, “Barack Obama’s training in Chicago by the great community organizers is showing its effectiveness,” Alinsky Jr. wrote to the Globe. “It is an amazingly powerful format, and the method of my late father always works to get the message out and get the supporters on board. When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well.
=================================================
So because the Alinsky’s son says the democrat national convention had elements of communism in it makes it so? Sounds just like the republican national convention as well. Put them side by side, and there is very little difference between the two. “Key words and phrases”, the rallying selection of music, and, to the republican national conventions discredit, showing 9/11 for the sole purpose of inciting the conventioneers. Communism who?
Another right-wing neo-con moron who can’t see the forest for the neo-con spin.
“First of all is the cult-like aura surrounding him, which I have never seen the likes of with any other candidate.”
I HAVE seen it before in a candidate:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Wanted_for_treason.jpg
I have fear too in regards to Obama … deja vu …
“Well thought out reasoned opinion for the most part.”
You’re kidding right? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, JoMarieM.
“First of all is the cult-like aura surrounding him, which I have never seen the likes of with any other candidate.”
As compared to the angry, lynch mob mentality that surounds McCain?
I’d rather take the enthusiasim
that comes with hope.
#
JMWalker
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm | Permalink
Regular posted:
Says Alinsky’s son L. David Alinsky of his father’s influence at the Dem Convention: “ALL the elements were present: the individual stories told by real people of their situation and hardships, the packed-to-the rafters crowd, the crowd’s chanting of key phrases and names, the action on the spot of texting and phoning to show instant support and commitment to jump into the political battle, the rallying selections of music, the setting of the agenda by the power people.”
“The Democratic National Convention had all the elements of the perfectly organized event, Saul Alinsky style, the Communist guru’s son wrote in a letter published yesterday in the Boston Globe. ,,, “Barack Obama’s training in Chicago by the great community organizers is showing its effectiveness,” Alinsky Jr. wrote to the Globe. “It is an amazingly powerful format, and the method of my late father always works to get the message out and get the supporters on board. When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well.
=================================================
So because the Alinsky’s son says the democrat national convention had elements of communism in it makes it so? Sounds just like the republican national convention as well. Put them side by side, and there is very little difference between the two. “Key words and phrases”, the rallying selection of music, and, to the republican national conventions discredit, showing 9/11 for the sole purpose of inciting the conventioneers. Communism who?
Another right-wing neo-con moron who can’t see the forest for the neo-con spin.
———————————
So explain it, instead of of just calling names.
Oh never mind, I already knew that sort of discourse is beyond your capability.
“There’s your problem, Box…you see anyone who disagrees with you as “pigs” and “dimlibs”…”
There you go again Mary, missing it over and over.
I just said not all Democrats are pigs and DimLibs, but of those on this blog most certainly are, and losers to boot.
For Pete’s Sake…just look and listen to what several of them write here, those like Chas, BJ, Maggot, Monkey, and others et.al….all pigs and losers, and that is just so clear from their posts.
Well, I’m off to read and bed, no use hanging around here any longer or I’ll need another bath, and something to suppress the nightmares these DimLibs can bring on.
That’s it for me..I’m making popcorn for the Palin interview, it should be great comic entertainment.
Good nite, all!
Boy that’s quite a poster, bth.
Wow. Some things just never change, so-called conservatives like Sarah Palin being one of ‘em.
Frank Rich’s column is up on the NY Times website.
It speaks to the toxicity of Republic Party rallies and reminds us that Shrub’s own Director of Homeland Security was concerned enough to extend Secret Service protection to Obama earlier than in any election in history.
We’re learning every day the Republic Party “base” is a lynch mob.
It’s been weeks, even months, since a CON on this forum has offered any reason to vote for John S (for Senile) McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term).
Instead we get:
“Traitor!”
“Kill him!”
“Terrorist!”
…and an accusation from the particularly unbalanced “Franklin” that Obama was a member of the Manson Family.
They say desperate times call for desperate measures. And the Republic Party base is obviously desperate.
Boxlock opines:
“I have decided there must be a slightly dark side to my idea of entertainment because I like to poke a stick at them every once in awhile and watch them squeal like the pigs they are.”
Sounds like Hannibal Lector to me. Maybe he’s eaten of few of his less than worthy neighbors. Better start a file on this psychopath.
Yep, JoMarieM, or whoever you are, you should be afraid. He just might, if elected, end the years of hate spewed by bush and his cronies. He might make this country a leader in the worlds efforts for peace. He might just get decent health care for all the kids in this country. He might make it possible for this country to become energy independent, and not financing terrorist countries. He might actually get Osama, something the bush admin seems to have forgotten about.
O, ya, he might make all republicans get the word, “STUPID”, tattooed on their foreheads.
Your man says you need not fear Senator Obama.
“(Obama)’s a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
a “decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
“If you want a fight, we will fight. But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.” “I just mean to say you have to be respectful” -John McCain Oct 10, 2008
bth’s poster could have just slightly edited and submitted by Palin supporters today. It’s just a testament to how these people think.
That is amazing, I had not seen that before now.
#
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm | Permalink
So explain it, instead of of just calling names.
Oh never mind, I already knew that sort of discourse is beyond your capability.
======================================================
Gee, I did explain it. That you can’t understand it is not my problem. Slap, crap and nap, boy. You need it.
How’s your liver mxyzptlk, or are you an alien without one.
Maybe that’s your excuse.
“I’d rather take the enthusiasim
that comes with hope.”
Over the enthusiasm that comes with a rope?
Age well Boxlock!
#
bth
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm | Permalink
“First of all is the cult-like aura surrounding him, which I have never seen the likes of with any other candidate.”
I HAVE seen it before in a candidate:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Wanted_for_treason.jpg
I have fear too in regards to Obama … deja vu …
———————-
One nut prints up a poster in Dallas many years ago equates to massive conspiracy by duh Libs.
hahahaha!
Golly.
I really don’t want to tune away from the Red Sox and Rays…
But Tina Fey calls.
Damn.
MARY,BOX, Have a good night and a great Sun
#
JMWalker
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:20 pm | Permalink
#
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm | Permalink
So explain it, instead of of just calling names.
Oh never mind, I already knew that sort of discourse is beyond your capability.
======================================================
Gee, I did explain it. That you can’t understand it is not my problem. Slap, crap and nap, boy. You need it.
—————————-
As previously written, you are totally incapable of writing a reasoned response.
MH,
Who’s winning?
Freebird – how goes it? Long day – soccer, fall fetival South Wichita, Newman U anniversary celebration – with five grandkids running me ragged!
Hope your day was similar!
ODAT
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 7:50 pm | Permalink
XXX doesn’t even believe a video when it is offered to be shown to him.
Evidently, lying is his main profession now.
_________________________________________________
Blah, blah blah, blah. Blah!
bth,
Guess I’m a glutton for punishment. Went to a meeting this morning then took the grandson to the zoo. Man,if I could harness that energy the dependence on oil would be over. My mom’s tests all came back negative and I’m off tomorrow so am going to spend time with my baby brother(48yrs old) who is in from Spokane. I see soccer games in my future as well as football games. Can’t wait
You are definitely right about the energy level – mine run all the time. And eat like crazy. They eat the same as I do but are skinny … I’m not (Hank can attest to that!). UNFAIR!!!!!!!
:)
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
Bill Ayers, who terrorized families with children and caused one family to send their children to school for over 18 months via police car.
Democrats approve of terrorist activities.
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Blah, blah blah, blah. Blah! Blah, blah blah, blah. Blah! Blah, blah blah, blah. Blah!
The Rays, 8-7 in the top of the 8th.
But the 7th Inning stretch came in time for me to see the Hillary/Palin intro to SNL.
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
Bill Ayers, who terrorized families with children and caused one family to send their children to school for over 18 months via police car.
Democrats approve of terrorist activities
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Please tell me you are not serious
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Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:26 pm | Permalink
As previously written, you are totally incapable of writing a reasoned response.
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So because the Alinsky’s son says the democrat national convention had elements of communism in it makes it so? Sounds just like the republican national convention as well. Put them side by side, and there is very little difference between the two. “Key words and phrases”, the rallying selection of music, and, to the republican national conventions discredit, showing 9/11 for the sole purpose of inciting the conventioneers. Communism who?
My response to Alinsky’s son’s rant. What other explanation do you need? Maybe Tara can jump in from the big island and draw you a picture.
#
Freebird1971
Posted October 11, 2008 at 10:47 pm | Permalink
Regular
Posted October 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink
Bill Ayers, who terrorized families with children and caused one family to send their children to school for over 18 months via police car.
Democrats approve of terrorist activities
————————————————-
Please tell me you are not serious
=======================================================
Freebird, the problem is, he is serious. And he has the gall to call Obama a radical.
g’night all … later …
Democrats approve of terrorist activities.
Sarah Palin helped finance genocide in Darfur by Regular’s twisted logic.
Gov. Palin to Divest from Her Mutual Fund over Sudan InvestmentsEmail | Digg | Del.icio.us
You may recall that in the Vice-Presidential debate, Governor Palin came down hard against the Government of Sudan and even recommended a no-fly-zone over Darfur. Since then, the intrepid ABC news investigative team discovered that “Palin owns up to $15,000 in Legg Mason International Equities, which the McCain-Palin campaign specified is the Legg Mason International Equity Fund. That Fund owns shares in two companies the Genocide Intervention Network labels ‘highest offenders’ because, in that organization’s judgment, they empower the government of Sudan at the expense of the country’s marginalized populations.”
How the market works — England — From 2007
http://brasschecktv.com/page/187.html
good night; good luck; god bless —-
whatever you conceive god to be!!
blessings ALL!!
so mote it be!!
“All the voter fraud…all ACORN…all Democrats.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny.”
Bullsh*t (in the Harry Frankfurt sense). There is quite a lot of evidence of conservative republicans trying to prevent registered voters and eligible voters from making it to the polls, and which has been linked to in these discussions. That is also voter fraud.
“Senate letter signed by 20 Republicans warning of the problems inherent with Freddie and Fannie and the very noticeable absence of a single Democrat.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny.”
Bullsh*t again. Creditors, including but by no means limited to the Macs, pursued marginal mortgages, and it was a primarily Republican sponsored initiative that resulted in a bill that protected lenders from the consequences of their actions to the expense of borrowers (e.g., the bankruptcy bill supported and voted for by Republicians and, it should be said, some Democrats, including Biden-the credit crunch goes far beyond mortgages). Reality check, there was plenty of blame to go around. Also by the way, the Macs often inherited the bad loans from other lenders. That’s why they got such a large share of the loans. That does testify to real flaws in the Macs, but point of reality, many of the bad mortgages did not originate with the Macs, and they were already bad loans before the Macs purchased them.
“Freddie and Fannie top executives on Obama advisory list.
Response from Dims on blog: Dims deny”
And on McCain’s advisory list as well.
“The only other response from the Dims is name calling and spitting along with ad hominem arguments.”
The irony of you accusing anyone of resorting to ad hominem arguments actually goes beyond irony. You are clearly the sort who booed McCain when he belatedly tried to civilize his rallies. Do you really think you are doing “your side” any good at all? Your posts, including this one, are generally nothing but ad hominem, and certainly devoid of actual argument. “Dims” is a clear ad hominem.
“Does everyone detect a trend here, a severe flaw in character.”
Uh huh.
“That’s not a question, it’s obvious.
Typical lying Dims, esp. Chas the fake preacher.”
Yep, those who have nothing but ad hominems clearly have a severe flaw in their character.
Ooooops.
Thanks for providing the entertaining meltdown. Again.
Right wing meltdowns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lEyrk5ZsQw
This is like Pat Buchanan’s raw meat speech at the 1992 Republican Convention all over again. It wasn’t Buchanan or what he said, it was that he was cheered so enthusiastically for saying nasty things. Here, the candidate is being booed by his own supporters when he chastises them for saying nasty things (the sort of things that his VP candidate has arguably been encouraging).
It truly astonishes me that there are some who think that there are comparable lunatic fringes between the left and the right. There are lunatic fringes on both ends, and also several points in between (bacause the spectrum is not just a line), but the idea that there is anything comparable in numbers of virulant, “I hate the other side” between the American right and any other political end of the spectrum truly is fooling themselves.
As for the ACORN! ACORN! bullsh*t coming from the righties here…reality check.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103202.html
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=194883&ct=6080603
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/03/voting
This is real voter fraud, and it is much better substantiated than the allegations against ACORN that it is engaged in widespread voter fraud. The reality is, likely Democratic voters are being targeted for intimidation and challenges, and that is illegal.
“The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act… – Alinksky
In the beginning the organizer’s first job is to create the issues or problems – Alinsky”
DAMN!!! Those are the very tactics that the SMEAR OBAMA people are using… Gee, according to the Reich Wing, that would make the SMEAR people commies!!
Ya just cant make this stuff up!!! ROFLMAO!!
I thought I was reading the bush plan in your post, Chas.
The daily rant and howl, “Chas the fake preacher” is getting OLD!!!
IF you CONS think you can prove what you say, then GO FOR IT!!
IF you cant PROVE your LIES…. Then Get the hell off of MY BACK…. Go after the RACISTS on your side of this stupid argument…. Take apart those who HATE a man because of the color of his skin….
Yea, that means ALL of you ANTI OBAMA people…. ALL of you A$$holes who rant on about “the One” or Hank and his “mulatto messiah” (how RACIST can you be, Hank???) And you claim to have such great FAITH!!
I think your daily rants against a true American, god-fearing man; a FAMILY man; a man who cares about people…. A Black man, running for President of the greatest country on Earth….
Your RANTINGS against this man, with all of your BLATANT LIES, and HORSE S*IT… This is despicable…. and you claim to be AMERICANS???
Hey, promote your candidate…. stay with the issues…. THATS politics….
This CRAP you people spew out like foul vomit DAILY… This is embarassing for the City…. for the Paper… and for the entire NATION!!
Like McCain told one of his “followers” Barack Obama is a good citizen… McCain and Obama disagree on the direction they want to take the Nation….
But apparently, McCain is not going to stand for this BS you Reich Wingers Spew out DAILY!! I only wish McCain would go on ALL the talk radio shows, and tell those bozos the same thing he told those people in Wisconsin the other day!!
GOOD NIGHT, AMERICA!!!
THATS ABOUT RIGHT, PHANTOM….
Yet, thats the plan the RIGHT WING is objecting to!! It’s their own plan!!
The Right appeal to racial superiority, to nationalism, to moral superiority, put me in mind more of Nazism than communism.
Back to sleep, for me.
I agree Phantom… Nite!!
Chas posts:
“IF you cant PROVE your LIES…. Then Get the hell off of MY BACK…. Go after the RACISTS on your side of this stupid argument…. Take apart those who HATE a man because of the color of his skin….
Yea, that means ALL of you ANTI OBAMA people…. ALL of you A$$holes who rant on about “the One” or Hank and his “mulatto messiah” (how RACIST can you be, Hank???) And you claim to have such great FAITH!! ”
Spoken like a true ‘man of the cloth’, ha.
Like I said, a ‘fake preacher’!!!
And one that can’t control his temper or his tongue.
I think it interesting that Chas (the fake preacher) chooses to ignore GOD’s nature as GOD has revealed Himself to us, and instead defines God according to what pleases man and makes him to be, Chas says, “whatever you conceive god to be!!”.
Very revealing!
And Chas just because some can clearly see Obama for what he is…or more accurately isn’t, that does not make them racist. Voting for him because he is black sure does though, what don’t you address that next time.
“Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach! Wild!”
-Bernadette Dohrn
“?I have decided there must be a slightly dark side to my idea of entertainment because I like to poke a stick at them every once in awhile and watch them squeal like the pigs they are.”
-Boxlock
File under Boxlock/WEBlog/Dossier
Don’t fret mxyzptlk, I would never ’shove a fork into your stomach’.
You are so full of rotten gas I’d be afraid to do that.
But it interesting to see you squirm and squeal when you get figuratively poked a little.
Typical of small people.
Welcome to another day closer to Progressive victory!
No Boxlock. Just trying to show you how class/political hatred is the same no matter how righteous you think you are.
Get the plank out of your own eye and maybe I’ll listen to you.’
But I seriously doubt you even know it’s there.
BlueJay
Posted October 12, 2008 at 9:39 am | Permalink
Welcome to another day closer to Progressive victory!
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Which will mean the same as a con victory and that is buisness as usual in government
Hey guys, I just landed on a website called reloramax that says it contains natural ingredients that are effective for stress relief and weight management. What you say?
http://tiny.cc/PVaSE