Obama’s Energy Sec. Wants Gasoline Price Increase of 300%

Posted by Duane Lester on Dec 18th, 2008

Gasoline where I am is back down to $1.49 a gallon. The national average right now is about $1.65 a gallon.

The Eco-Marxists aren’t happy with the price of gasoline being low. If you remember during the primaries, even Barack Obama said the price wasn’t bad, it just rose too fast.

To the green mafia, the price of gasoline should be so high that people can’t drive to work and have to rely on public transportation. And if the market won’t keep the price high, government will.

Steven Chu is Obama’s nominee for Energy Secretary. Here’s what he thinks about gas prices:

In a sign of one major internal difference, Mr. Chu has called for gradually ramping up gasoline taxes over 15 years to coax consumers into buying more-efficient cars and living in neighborhoods closer to work.

“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” Mr. Chu, who directs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September.

The price of petrol in Europe right now is more than three times the price of gasoline in America. So, given Mr. Chu’s preference, instead of paying $1.49 per gallon, I would be paying $4.50 a gallon. Instead of a tank of gas costing me $17 and some change, it would take $54 out of my wallet. For the record that would be $37 in taxes for each tank of gas I buy.

Believe it or not, this is what the environmentalists voted for. This is exactly what they want from an Obama government. This is the change they believed in, and we can expect more of the same across the board.

One last quote from Mr. Chu to illustrate my point:

“Coal is my worst nightmare.”

What do you think will happen to energy prices under him?

The Heaviest Element Known to Science

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.z

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.


Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.


When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Obama's civil defense training

Can you say Gestapo, Hitler youth?
Welcome to fascism.

Obama's promises

Taxes

• Give a tax break to 95% of Americans.

• Restore Clinton-era tax rates on top income earners.

• "If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime. Not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing."

• Dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes.

• Give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create in the U.S.

• Eliminate capital gains taxes for small business and startup companies.

• Eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000.

• Expand the child and dependent care tax credit.

• Expand the earned income tax credit.

• Create a universal mortgage credit.

• Create a small business health tax credit.

• Provide a $500 "make work pay" tax credit to small businesses.

• Provide a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to families.

Energy

• Spend $15 billion a year on renewable sources of energy.

• Eliminate oil imports from the Middle East in 10 years.

• Increase fuel economy standards by 4% a year.

• Weatherize 1 million homes annually.

• Ensure that 10% of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012.

Environment

• Create 5 million green jobs.

• Implement a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Get 1 million plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015.

Labor

• Sign a fair pay restoration act, which would overturn the Supreme Court's pay discrimination ruling.

• Sign into law an employee free choice act — aka card check — to make it easier for unions to organize.

• Make employers offer seven paid sick days per year.

• Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2009.

National security

• Remove troops from Iraq by the summer of 2010.

• Cut spending on unproven missile defense systems.

• No more homeless veterans.

• Stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq.

• Finish the fight against Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorists.

Social Security

• Work in a "bipartisan way to preserve Social Security for future generations."

• Impose a Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000.

• Match 50% of retirement savings up to $1,000 for families earning less than $75,000.

Education

• Demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers.

Spending

• Go through the budget, line by line, ending programs we don't need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.

• Slash earmarks.

Health care

• Lower health care costs for the typical family by $2,500 a year.

• Let the uninsured get the same kind of health insurance that members of Congress get.

• Stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

• Spend $10 billion over five years on health care information technology.

Ex-Hitler youth's warning to America

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'Every day brings this nation closer to Nazi-style totalitarian abyss'

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Posted: November 13, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – Because it has abandoned moral absolutes and its historic Christian faith, the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book.

"Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss," writes Hilmar von Campe, now a U.S. citizen, and author of "Defeating the Totalitarian Lie: A Former Hitler Youth Warns America."

Von Campe has founded the national Institute for Truth and Freedom to fight for a return to constitutional government in the U.S. – a key, he believes, to keeping America free.

"I lived the Nazi nightmare, and, as the old saying goes, 'A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument,'" writes von Campe. "Everything I write is based on my personal experience in Nazi Germany. There is nothing theoretical about my description of what happens when a nation throws God out of government and society, and Christians become religious bystanders. I don't want to see a repetition. The role of God in human society is the decisive issue for this generation. My writing is part of my life of restitution for the crimes of a godless government, of the evil of which I was a part."

"For now, we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president." --Ann Coulter

Twenty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character.
Today what America has done is turn that dream into a sham.

Very few voted for his character, for he has none.

We are set for a crazy ride through the next four years.

Early reports say that Obama wants Corzine as treasury Secretary!

Dear God, Protect us!

read this speech of Ronnie's

Let Them Go Their Way

Governor Ronald Reagan (R-CA)

Conservative Political Action Conference

Washington, DC

March 1, 1975

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual -- or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." --Samuel Adams

This must be the republicans suppressing the vote

This is just plain illeagal

A Repeat of 2004 Philly Voter Chaos, Fraud

Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 7:46 AM

EXCLUSIVE, DEVELOPING-- GOP Election Board members have been tossed out of polling stations in more than half a dozen polling stations in Philadelphia because of their party status. A liberal judge previously ruled that court-appointed poll watchers could be NOT removed from their boards by an on-site election judge, but that is exactly what is happening. It is the duty of election board workers to monitor and guard the integrity of the voting process. Denying access to the minority (in this case Republican) poll watchers and inspectors is a violation of Pennsylvania state law. Those who violate the law can be punished with a misdemeanor and subjected to a fine of $1,000 and sent to prison between one month and two years. Those on site as describing it as "pandemonium" and there may be video coming of the chaos.

This is an email I recieved

I don't know who John is but he certaily set Aivars off!
Great stuff!

John,

Thanks for the eloquent retort. I think you misunderstand what the word liberal has come to mean in American politics. Classic Liberalism couldn’t be further from the type of fascism that is beginning to openly rear its head in our political arenas. Before you go wild-eyed with rage, the term fascism is misunderstood by nearly everyone who utters it. Automatically one sees goosestepping nazis and Hitler. To an extent you’re correct but that was a perversion of fascism as it was originally intended by Mussolini. I don’t want to bore you with the details but left-leaning people in the US had embraced the “vision” of Mussolini in the pre-war years. His ideas were revered as noble by the left and even some more right-leaning folks. this type of “progressive” thinking gave today’s “liberal” ideology it’s foundation. Of course during and after the war Hitler and Mussolini were lumped together and the Communists became evryone’s fall guy for EVIL. Truth is, all three were basically the same economic, ideological and political systems with some minor differences. They all look at government as the giver of prosperity and everyone’s keeper. They all sought to spread the wealth. They all held that healthcare was a God-given (for lack of a better term) right. They also all shunned religion and the belief in a higher being – save worshipping the state.

What this all boils down to is a shift towards socialism/Marxism/communism/fascism(take your pick) and a sickening shift away from the United States Constitution. I’m surprised that you haven’t learned about it in your process of becoming a citizen! The bottom line is that our economic woes don’t stem from “capitalist policies” but rather from attempts at “equalizing the playing field for those desrving souls who could not afford mortgages”. Sounds like a socialist/leftist policy to me. Oh, yeah, it was started by Carter and expanded by Clinton . The fact that certain politicians couldn’t keep their hands off of the money in those two silly little companies only compounded the problem while a Democrat controlled congress repeatedly stood in the way for calls (from either side of the aisle) to reel in the mortgage backed securities and try to regulate. The problem is not in the sytem – it is fundamentally in the attempt to spread wealth and give to those who have not earned something as if everything is a right! Entitlements are not covered by the Constitution.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t much like McCain but I despise Obama for what his “vision of change” is for this great country. It’s a slap in the face to the founding fathers who, in my estimation, were a perfect storm of genius men. The rules they wrote (and they were remarkably minimal) have stood the test of time. Their form of government and call for this country’s citizens to be responsible for themselves and their own families was a huge departure from anything before and certainly anything to come since. Yet, after so many failed experiments in “social change” and “social justice” and attempts at economic fairness and equality, some people still seem to be drawn towards the ever elusive, unattainable utopian dream. As our affluence has grown some have grown apologetic for their success and decided that others less fortunate should have all that they have. Noble thought but life doesn’t work that way. When people get something for free, without working for it, they lose their appetite to work and claw in order to succeed. They become lazy. People have always been like this and they always will so remain.

Your quaint talking points about Obama’s “pals” don’t hold water either. All of these associations come together to prove that he aligns himself with radical leftists (seeks them out according to his own book) that are against the fundamentals set forth in the US Constitution and the basis of our unmatched political and economic systems.

As far as Bush’s mumbling, stumbling and bumbling – have you ever heard your hero respond to a question or comment that he has no notes or practice on. Well I’d say he gives Mayor Ed Koch a run for his money on ahhs, errs and umms. Just because he delivers a well practiced speech doesn’t give him substance. Used car salesmen have pretty good shticks; would you buy a car from one? Anyway, talk about a tired association: McCain=Bush. Talk about fear-mongering. They’re not the same. Never were. I honestly don’t think Bush and McCain even get along.

When was there ever a democrat who had a new idea that was better than what is already spelled out in the constitution? They sure like to point out what conservatives may have goofed on but do they have a way to solve anything without increasing the size of government and spending of OUR HARD EARNED MONEY? You’ll have to point out the instance because it escapes me if it has indeed occurred.

Fact is Obama will plunge us head long into a true recession (just like Hoover did) and he will grow spending (his own words to the tune of over a trillion $) and by default grow government. We can’t afford any of it!

Since you are wary of any politician (as am I) remember this stupid fact – As the government makes mistakes it grows. As a business makes mistakes it usually shrinks and eventually ceases to exist. If you look at how huge and intrusive today’s federal government is just think about how much it has screwed up to grow so large. Then ask yourself if you really trust them to run your economy, healthcare system, social security or anything else for that matter.

At the end of the day aren’t you the person you most trust with the things that are most important to you?

Oh, one last thing, remember that, due to the huge increase in voter registrations by ACORN and the subsequent huge voter turnout expected, the polls will be open to conservatives and other like-minded folk as scheduled on Nov. 4^th. All libs and other such freedom-haters will be warmly welcomed on Nov. 5^th.

Stop trying to ruin my country! If you don’t like the system, please move to Venezuela , Cuba , Russia or, hell, even France . Leave the US Constitution alone.

-Aivars

Election 2008: The Titanic is Sinking - We’re Voting for the Iceberg?

By admin on Oct 26, 2008 in Blogging, Politics, Social Media

One of the strangest stories to be written about in the future will tell of the election of 2008. It is utterly insane how events are taking shape to make us all vote in those who are cheering the Iceberg.

Why I say this is quite simple. The complete economic meltdown that we are now witnessing is 100% caused by the Community Reinvestment Act.

Watch this video now and understand it all. Watch the Democrats themselves saying there is no problem.

"The government is best which governs least."

---Thomas Jefferson

where we are heading

I am an American

I am an American, I believe in freedom.

I am an American; I live in the greatest country in the world.

I am an American, I trust my government to do what's right.

I am an American; I ask, "What can I do for my country?"

I am an American, I surf the web with impunity.

I am an American, I watch 36 hours of television a week.

I am an American, I believe in the media to tell me the truth.

I am an American, my government doesn't lie.

I am an American; I wait in line all day.

I am an American; I do as the authorities tell me.

I am an American, tell me what to think.

I am an American, tell me what to believe, I forgot.

Obama lies

Secret Service says "Kill him" allegation unfounded

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

SCRANTON – The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded.

"It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us
by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, 'We base all our experiments
on the capacity of mankind for self-government.' This idea that government
was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power, is still
the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to
man. This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for
self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that
a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for
us better than we can plan them ourselves." ---Ronald Reagan (27 October 1964)

Our Founders wrote at length about character, both of those who seek high
office (or, rather, those that high office seeks), and those who elect
them. Here are but a few excerpts in their own words.

John Adams: "Children should be educated and instructed in the principles
of freedom... If we suffer [the minds of young people] to grovel and creep
in infancy, they will grovel all their lives... We have no government armed
with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality
and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the
strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our
Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly
inadequate to the government of any other... We should be unfaithful to
ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if
anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair,
virtuous, and independent elections."

Samuel Adams: "The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of
public men... Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a
State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men
of unexceptionable characters... If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation
and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and
true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme
Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other
excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect
that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation... [N]either
the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and
happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt... No people
will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued,
when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when
People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will
sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders... Let each
citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making
a present or a compliment to please an individual---or at least that he ought
not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human
society for which he is accountable to God and his country... Religion and
good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness."

Thomas Jefferson: "It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a
republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the
heart of its laws and constitution... If a nation expects to be ignorant---and
free---in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will
be... The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest. Only aim
to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail... An honest
man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."

George Washington: "No compact among men... can be pronounced everlasting
and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words,
that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping
torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current
of corrupted morals on the other...[A] good moral character is the first
essential in a man, and that the habits contracted [early in life] are
generally indelible, and your conduct here may stamp your character through
life. It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only
to be learned but virtuous... The foundations of our national policy will
be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the
preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which
can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the
world...[W]here is the security for property, for reputation, for life,
if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths...? Of all the
dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and
morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the
tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of
human happiness---these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."

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WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Proof Obama backed ruthless, foreign thug
Set up direct Senate contact for Kenyan opposition leader

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Posted: October 10, 2008
12:05 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Sen. Barack Obama designated a personal aide as his direct contact for the 2007 Kenyan presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, who later was appointed prime minister after his election loss was followed by widespread, deadly violence that destroyed or damaged 800 Christian churches, according to e-mails obtained by WND senior staff writer Jerry Corsi during a trip to Kenya.

Corsi attempted to release this and other information at a Tuesday press conference in Nairobi. The WND reporter and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author was detained by Kenya security officers as soon as he entered the hotel to make his presentation. He was held incommunicado and without food for the entire day before being permitted to board his regularly scheduled flight out of the country to London, where he is currently recuperating from the ordeal.

As WND has reported, Obama openly campaigned for Odinga during the Illinois Democrat's 2006 Senate "fact-finding visit" to Kenya.

read the rest at Worldnetdaily

New World Order: Global co-operation, nationalisation and state intervention - all in one day

Global co-operation, nationalisation and state intervention - all in one day

Published Date: 09 October 2008

By Lindsay McIntosh

IT WAS a day of desperate global action, unprecedented in both scale and cost, intended to stymie the international devastation being wrought by the financial crisis.

As the London stock market steeled itself to open again following days of vicious battering, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, rose to stake the future of the country and the Cabinet on an audacious £500 billion banking bail-out.

And barely had the City begun to digest the hugely complex and unorthodox scheme when it was sent reeling again by an unscheduled interest rate cut – mirrored across the world – by the Monetary Policy Committee. It was the first such co-ordinated approach since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 – yet another indicator, had one been needed, of the gravity of the situation.

The Administration’s Unheeded Warnings About the Systemic Risk Posed by the GSEs

For many years the President and his Administration have not only warned of the systemic consequences of financial turmoil at a housing government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) but also put forward thoughtful plans to reduce the risk that either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac would encounter such difficulties.

President Bush publicly called for GSE reform 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted. Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President’s repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.

2001

April: The Administration’s FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is “a potential problem,” because “financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.”

2002

May: The President calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles contained in his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (OMB Prompt Letter to OFHEO, 5/29/02)

2003

January: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years.

February: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) releases a report explaining that “although investors perceive an implicit Federal guarantee of [GSE] obligations,” “the government has provided no explicit legal backing for them.” As a consequence, unexpected problems at a GSE could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market. (”Systemic Risk: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Role of OFHEO,” OFHEO Report, 2/4/03)

September: Fannie Mae discloses SEC investigation and acknowledges OFHEO’s review found earnings manipulations.

September: Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact “legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related government sponsored enterprises” and set prudent and appropriate minimum capital adequacy requirements.

October: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.

November: Council of the Economic Advisers (CEA) Chairman Greg Mankiw explains that any “legislation to reform GSE regulation should empower the new regulator with sufficient strength and credibility to reduce systemic risk.” To reduce the potential for systemic instability, the regulator would have “broad authority to set both risk-based and minimum capital standards” and “receivership powers necessary to wind down the affairs of a troubled GSE.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Remarks At The Conference Of State Bank Supervisors State Banking Summit And Leadership, 11/6/03)

2004

February: The President’s FY05 Budget again highlights the risk posed by the explosive growth of the GSEs and their low levels of required capital, and called for creation of a new, world-class regulator: “The Administration has determined that the safety and soundness regulators of the housing GSEs lack sufficient power and stature to meet their responsibilities, and therefore…should be replaced with a new strengthened regulator.” (2005 Budget Analytic Perspectives, pg. 83)

February: CEA Chairman Mankiw cautions Congress to “not take [the financial market's] strength for granted.” Again, the call from the Administration was to reduce this risk by “ensuring that the housing GSEs are overseen by an effective regulator.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Op-Ed, “Keeping Fannie And Freddie’s House In Order,” Financial Times, 2/24/04)

June: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman spotlights the risk posed by the GSEs and called for reform, saying “We do not have a world-class system of supervision of the housing government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), even though the importance of the housing financial system that the GSEs serve demands the best in supervision to ensure the long-term vitality of that system. Therefore, the Administration has called for a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banking System.” (Samuel Bodman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Testimony, 6/16/04)

2005

April: Treasury Secretary John Snow repeats his call for GSE reform, saying “Events that have transpired since I testified before this Committee in 2003 reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed by the GSEs and further highlight the need for real GSE reform to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding for expanding homeownership opportunities in America… Half-measures will only exacerbate the risks to our financial system.” (Secretary John W. Snow, “Testimony Before The U.S. House Financial Services Committee,” 4/13/05)

2007

July: Two Bear Stearns hedge funds invested in mortgage securities collapse.

August: President Bush emphatically calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying “first things first when it comes to those two institutions. Congress needs to get them reformed, get them streamlined, get them focused, and then I will consider other options.” (President George W. Bush, Press Conference, The White House, 8/9/07)

September: RealtyTrac announces foreclosure filings up 243,000 in August – up 115 percent from the year before.

September: Single-family existing home sales decreases 7.5 percent from the previous month – the lowest level in nine years. Median sale price of existing homes fell six percent from the year before.

December: President Bush again warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs, saying “These institutions provide liquidity in the mortgage market that benefits millions of homeowners, and it is vital they operate safely and operate soundly. So I’ve called on Congress to pass legislation that strengthens independent regulation of the GSEs – and ensures they focus on their important housing mission. The GSE reform bill passed by the House earlier this year is a good start. But the Senate has not acted. And the United States Senate needs to pass this legislation soon.” (President George W. Bush, Discusses Housing, The White House, 12/6/07)

2008

January: Bank of America announces it will buy Countrywide.

January: Citigroup announces mortgage portfolio lost $18.1 billion in value.

February: Assistant Secretary David Nason reiterates the urgency of reforms, says “A new regulatory structure for the housing GSEs is essential if these entities are to continue to perform their public mission successfully.” (David Nason, Testimony On Reforming GSE Regulation, Senate Committee On Banking, Housing And Urban Affairs, 2/7/08)

March: Bear Stearns announces it will sell itself to JPMorgan Chase.

March: President Bush calls on Congress to take action and “move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They need to continue to modernize the FHA, as well as allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to homeowners to refinance their mortgages.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Economic Club Of New York, New York, NY, 3/14/08)

April: President Bush urges Congress to pass the much needed legislation and “modernize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [There are] constructive things Congress can do that will encourage the housing market to correct quickly by … helping people stay in their homes.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With Cabinet, the White House, 4/14/08)

May: President Bush issues several pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the situation deteriorates further.

# “Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeatedly requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance sub-prime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/3/08)

# “[T]he government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes. And one way we can do that – and Congress is making progress on this – is the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That reform will come with a strong, independent regulator.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With The Secretary Of The Treasury, the White House, 5/19/08)

# “Congress needs to pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/31/08)

June: As foreclosure rates continued to rise in the first quarter, the President once again asks Congress to take the necessary measures to address this challenge, saying “we need to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks At Swearing In Ceremony For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 6/6/08)

July: Congress heeds the President’s call for action and passes reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it becomes clear that the institutions are failing.

Needless to say, our ever vigilant Congress, who after all control these such things, ignored these warnings studiously.

Thomas Jefferson quote

The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free,
neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.

But Then It Was Too Late

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

In 1995, During Obama's First State Senate Campaign, William Ayers And Wife Bernadine Dohrn Hosted A Meeting Of Chicago Liberals At Their Home For Obama, Which One Attendee Said Was Aimed At "Launching Him." "In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. ... 'I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the info rmal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. '[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' ... Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. 'When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. 'They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'" (Ben Smith, "Obama Once Visited '60s Radicals," The Politico, 1/22/08)

read more here

RNC to File FEC Complaint on Obama Fundraising Practices

By Matthew Mosk
A lawyer for the Republican National Committee today said the party will ask the Federal Election Commission to look into the source of thousands of small-dollar contributions to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

The RNC is alleging that the Obama campaign was so hungry for donations it "looked the other way" as contributions piled up from suspicious, and possibly even illegal foreign donors.

"We believe that the American people should know first and foremost if foreign money is pouring into a presidential election," said RNC Chief Counsel Sean Cairncross.

Cairncross alleged there was mounting evidence of this, and cited a report in the current issue of Newsweek magazine that documents a handful of instances where donors made repeated small donations using fake names, such as "Good Will" and "Doodad Pro."

Palin the Populist

She killed. She had him at "Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?" She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.

Peggy Noonan

PIGGY POLS IN HOG HEAVEN WITH PORK-PACKED PACT

"This is how Washington works," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington research group. "A big pot of pork is their recipe for final passage."

The special provisions include tax breaks for:

* Manufacturers of kids' wooden arrows - $6 million.

* Puerto Rican and Virgin Is- lands rum producers - $192 million.

* Wool research.

* Auto-racing tracks - $128 million.

* Corporations operating in American Samoa - $33 million.

* Small- to medium-budget film and television productions - $10 million.

Another measure inserted into the bill appears to be a bald-faced bid aimed at winning the support of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who voted against the original version when it went down in flames in the House on Monday.

That provision - a $223 million package of tax benefits for fishermen and others whose livelihoods suffered as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill - has been the subject of fervent lobbying by Alaska's congressional delegation.

Some of the pork-barrel measures buried in the financial rescue package had been contained in a bill that previously passed the Senate, but died in the House.

The Congressional Budget Office said the package of breaks - including obvious pork and some more defensible tax-relief measures - will add about $112 billion to budget deficits over the next five years because the bill doesn't contain enough offsetting revenue hikes to keep the budget balanced.

UPDATED:

Frelinghuysen Statement on Economic Rescue Plan

Evaluating Senate Modifications

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) today issued the following statement on the progress of the economic stabilization package being considered in the Senate:

“All Americans are concerned about the stability of our economy and are worried about the current condition of the financial markets. Our economy is built on credit, and we need to get credit back into the markets to help large and small businesses keep and create jobs!

Congress and the Administration have more work to do, and we should resolve to work every day from now on until we have done what is needed to stabilize financial markets and protect the American taxpayer.

As you may have seen, the United States Senate is taking up its own version of the economic stabilization legislation. I am actively evaluating the package being considered and am encouraged by many of the improvements made. I understand that many people are frustrated by the delay, but it is important that we strengthen this package to protect taxpayers.

Reported improvements include:

• Temporarily raises the FDIC insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000. America’s depositors need to know that their money is safe.

• Increases Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) exemption sparing millions of middle-class families from an unfair tax increase.

• Tax relief for middle-class families and American businesses. These include tuition deductions, child tax credits, and the research and development tax credits.

• The extension of renewable energy tax incentives.

• Mental Health Parity legislation: This legislation requires that group health plans cover mental illness and addiction the same way they cover other illnesses. I am a co-sponsor of this bill.

• I am also encouraged by actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin rolling back “Mark-to-Market” accounting rules. This move could increase liquidity for banks and other financial institutions.

Some concerns remain from the legislation:

• The legislation still lacks clear parameters and shifts major powers to unelected bureaucrats in the Treasury. Congress will need to have more aggressive oversight.

• The bill needs to do more to get at the core problem which created this mess – a plummeting housing market.

There is clear need for a bipartisan solution, and I feel we are moving toward one. In light of this, I was disappointed to hear of House Democrat’s opposition to extending tax relief for American families. This stabilization package will ask a great deal of taxpayers, and I believe it is important to extend assistance to them as well!”

good stuff

'Un-American' Bailout, Paulson Should Have Quit, Gingrich Says

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September 28, 2008 12:46 PM

ABC News' Tahman Bradley and Arnab Datta Report: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on Sunday described Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for billions of dollars to buy debt from struggling Wall Street financial firms as "un-American" and said the secretary should have stepped down.

Gingrich even expressed concern with Paulson's connections to Wall Street. The treasury secretary served as the chairman of a major global investment banking and securities firm before joining the Bush administration.

"You have the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs asking for 700 billion dollars, and in his initial request, asking for it in such an un-American way that I think he should have resigned," said Gingrich. "I think Paulson has terminally misunderstood the nature of the American system. Not just no review, no judicial review, no congressional accountability. Give me 700 billion dollars, 700 BILLION dollars! 'I'll be glad to spend it for you.' That's a centralization of power that is totally un-American."

Watch Gingrich's remarks HERE.

I only have one question.

Is the bailout bill constitutional?

Look up the separation of powers and congress's ability
to give someone other that the president this much power
and discretionary spending ability.

I do not believe it is.

From Mike in Turkey

The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the United States and included banking reforms, some of which were designed to control speculation.[citation needed] Some provisions such as Regulation Q that allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999 by a bipartisan, conference committee version of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act signed by President Bill Clinton.

(Michael here: That is from Wikipedia, and very accurate. We're into one of my areas here. I did a major research paper on that depository institution deregulation & monetary control act of 1980. Bill Bradley was a major architect, and it was the most sweeping changes in the financial industry since glass-steagall. Talk to you soon...Mike)

[2:06:33 PM] Michael Roth says: (Michael here again: This is the rest of the page; it is a little long, but this page effectively explains how the situation we are currently in was allowed to happen. But remember, this did not happen due to one event; is has been a chain reaction of multiple events, building up w/increasing speed over the past 2 years...)

Two separate United States laws are known as the Glass-Steagall Act. The Acts (Glass & Steagall) were both reactions of the U.S. government to cope with the collapse of a large portion of the American commercial banking system in early 1933. While many economic histories attribute the collapse to the economic problems which followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929 it is clear that the U.S. banking collapse of 1933, which came three and a half years later, could only have been partially the result of the stock market collapse in October 1929.

The Republican Hoover administration had lost the November 1932 election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but his administration did not take office until March 1933. The lame duck Hoover Administration and the incoming Roosevelt Administration could not, or would not, coordinate actions to stop the run on banks affiliated with the Henry Ford family that began in Detroit Michigan in January 1933. The Federal Reserve chairman Eugene Meyer was equally ineffectual.

Both bills were sponsored by Democratic Senator Carter Glass of Lynchburg, Virginia, a former Secretary of the Treasury, and Democratic Congressman Henry B. Steagall of Alabama, Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency.

Congressional Research Service Summary:

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bankers and brokers were sometimes indistinguishable. Then, in the Great Depression after 1929, Congress examined the mixing of the “commercial” and “investment” banking industries that occurred in the 1920s. Hearings revealed conflicts of interest and fraud in some banking institutions’ securities activities. A formidable barrier to the mixing of these activities was then set up by the Glass Steagall Act.[4]

[edit] First Glass-Steagall Act

The first Glass-Steagall Act was the first time currency (non-specie, paper currency etc.) was permitted to be allocated for the federal reserve. In addition, the G.S.A. separated investment banking from commercial banking, in effect curbing speculation. The resulting FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insured all bank deposits up to $5000.

The Glass Steagall Act, as well as FDIC, CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), Emergency Banking Act, and the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) were all products of Roosevelts 'Hundred Days', Roosevelt's first one hundred in office.[5]

[edit] Second Glass-Steagall Act

The second Glass-Steagall Act, passed on 16 June 1933, and officially named the Banking Act of 1933, introduced the separation of bank types according to their business (commercial and investment banking), and it founded the Federal Deposit Insurance Company for insuring bank deposits.[citation needed]

Literature in economics usually refers to this simply as the Glass-Steagall Act, since it had a stronger impact on US banking regulation.[citation needed]

[edit] Impact on other countries

The Glass-Steagall Act has had influence on the financial systems of other areas such as mainland China which maintains a separation between commercial banking and the securities industries.[6][7]

Repeal of the Act

See also Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act passed in 1980, the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulating the Savings and Loan industry in 1982, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999.

The bill that ultimately repealed the Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (R-TX) and in the House of Representatives by James Leach (R-IA) in 1999. The bills were passed by a 54-44 vote along party lines with Republican support in the Senate[8] and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives[9]. Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. Without forcing a veto vote, this bipartisan, veto proof legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999. [10]

The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of Glass-Steagall since at least the 1980s. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report which explored the case for preserving Glass-Steagall and the case against preserving the act.[11]

The repeal enabled commercial lenders such as Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, to underwrite and trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations and establish so-called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that bought those securities.[citation needed] Citigroup played a major part in the repeal. Then called Citicorp, the company merged with Travelers Insurance company the year before using loopholes in Glass-Steagall that allowed for temporary exemptions. With lobbying led by Roger Levy, the "finance, insurance and real estate industries together are regularly the largest campaign contributors and biggest spenders on lobbying of all business sectors [in 1999]. They laid out more than $200 million for lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics..." These industries succeeded in their two decades long effort to repeal the act.[12]

The argument for preserving Glass-Steagall (as written in 1987):

1. Conflicts of interest characterize the granting of credit – lending – and the use of credit – investing – by the same entity, which led to abuses that originally produced the Act

2. Depository institutions possess enormous financial power, by virtue of their control of other people’s money; its extent must be limited to ensure soundness and competition in the market for funds, whether loans or investments.

3. Securities activities can be risky, leading to enormous losses. Such losses could threaten the integrity of deposits. In turn, the Government insures deposits and could be required to pay large sums if depository institutions were to collapse as the result of securities losses.

4. Depository institutions are supposed to be managed to limit risk. Their managers thus may not be conditioned to operate prudently in more speculative securities businesses. An example is the crash of real estate investment trusts sponsored by bank holding companies (in the 1970s and 1980s).

The argument against preserving the Act (as written in 1987):

1. Depository institutions will now operate in “deregulated” financial markets in which distinctions between loans, securities, and deposits are not well drawn. They are losing market shares to securities firms that are not so strictly regulated, and to foreign financial institutions operating without much restriction from the Act.

2. Conflicts of interest can be prevented by enforcing legislation against them, and by separating the lending and credit functions through forming distinctly separate subsidiaries of financial firms.

3. The securities activities that depository institutions are seeking are both low-risk by their very nature, and would reduce the total risk of organizations offering them – by diversification.

4. In much of the rest of the world, depository institutions operate simultaneously and successfully in both banking and securities markets. Lessons learned from their experience can be applied to our national financial structure and regulation

from the email pile

Once upon a time, on a farm in Virginia , a little red hen scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat.

She called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?'

'Not I,' said the cow.

'Not I,' said the duck.

'Not I,' said the ;pig.

'Not I,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

'Who will help me reap my wheat?' as ked the little red hen.

'Not I,' said the duck.

'Out of my classification,' said the pig.

'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow.

'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread.

'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen.

'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow.

'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck.

'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig.

'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose.

'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.'

'Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi)

'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer)

'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson) The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.'

'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen.

'Exactly,' said Barack the farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.'

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.'

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established.

Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.

EPILOGUE

Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.

Hillary got $8 million for hers.

That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.

IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?

How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable

By TERRY JONES
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September 24, 2008 4:30 PM PT

One of the most frequently asked questions about the subprime market meltdown and housing crisis is: How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market?

read the rest here

America Beyond The Point Of No Return

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." - George Bernard Shaw

A half century ago, Russian-born writer Ayn Rand warned about the creeping socialism she saw in America even then. In her thousand-page tome, "Atlas Shrugged," Rand told the story of John Galt, a shadowy figure who is so fed up with high taxes, burdensome regulations and interference from government, he secretly recruits the best and brightest of American capitalism - the captains of industry - to withdraw from society to the mountains of Colorado, leaving the growing welfare state without any visible means of support.

Imagine what Ayn Rand would say about the federal government coughing up quantities of cash even career bureaucrats didn't talk about in the 1950s; all to bail out quasi-government entities whose overseers were complicit in the failures of those very institutions.

Republicans and Democrats alike share the blame for this mess. It was largely created out of a misguided need (mostly by Democrats) to feel as though America was actually doing something to help the poor own their own homes. This may be a worthwhile goal, but when people who have absolutely no hope of paying back loans are approved to buy a home, one has to ask, "Who is going to pick up the tab for all this?" Answer: You are, to the tune of at least a trillion dollars, a sum most of us cannot even fathom.

Over the last decade, Democrats like U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-CN, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, have insisted that these ridiculous loans be made. Former Attorney General Janet Reno, carrying out the wishes of her boss, threatened legal action against any institution that discriminated or "redlined." I was very disappointed to hear John McCain say on CBS's "60 Minutes" that he admired New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and would consider him to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission. As Bill Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Cuomo was up to his eyeballs pushing the sub-prime mortgages that started these dominoes tipping in the first place.

And where were Newt Gingrich and the Republicans in the 1990s when Clinton and his cronies were building this house of cards? The GOP held the House and the Senate during most of Clinton's tenure. After 2000, they also held the White House. Why did this situation continue?

The rule in Washington seems to be this: If you squander your money and fail to provide for yourself, the government will take care of you. If you save, invest wisely and prepare for your retirement, you will be penalized in order to pay for those who did not. A perfect example was the tax increase passed by Clinton and the Democrats who still controlled Congress during the first two years of his administration. Seniors who had saved and invested for retirement, and who made more than $34,000 ($44,000 per couple) received a tax increase under that plan.

read the rest here.

great Churchill quotes

• History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.
• In war it does not matter who is right, but who is left.
• The biggest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter.
• We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm.
• If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.
• I am prepared to meet my maker; whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
• Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
• A nation trying to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to pull himself up by the handles.
• There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true.
• The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative.
• A modest man, who has much to be modest about. (Referring to Clement Attlee)
• A sheep in sheep’s clothing. (Referring to Ramsay MacDonald)
• He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. (Referring to Sir Stafford Cripps)
• He is the man who brought pederasty into disrepute. (Referring to Tom Driberg)
• He looks like a female llama who has been surprised in the bath. (Referring to Charles De Gaulle)
• If you wanted nothing done at all, Balfour was the man for the job. (Referring to Arthur Balfour)
• Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if I were your wife, I’d poison your tea.
  Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it
• Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk.
  Churchill: And you, madam, are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober.
• Young man (after seeing Churchill leave the bathroom without washing his hands): At Eton they taught us to wash our hands after using the toilet.
  Churchill: At Harrow they taught us not to piss on our hands.
• Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
  Woman: My goodness, Mr. Churchill… Well, I suppose… we would have to discuss terms, of course…
  Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
  Woman: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
  Churchill: Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

What in the world is going on here?

You've seen the headlines, and you heard of the failures and buyouts. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG; all big names and all in big trouble. Then those mysterious quasi-government agencies with names like Freddie and Fannie become wards of the state and you learn that you and your fellow taxpayers are potentially on the hook for tens of billions of dollars. At the end of the week Washington Mutual is looking for a buyer, and you start to wonder about the security of your own bank and your own savings account. Let's change that ad copy to WaMu -- boo hoo. Somewhere in the back of your mind you understand that this is all tied somehow to bad mortgages. If you start reading a bit further to enhance your understanding you run into terms like Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and credit-default swaps, whatever in the world those are. Read further and you find out that a combination of falling home prices and mortgage defaults have put many investment banks and other financial institutions in deep puddin'. All this reading, all this watching the talking heads on TV, and you still don't really know what in the world is going on here. Fear not. I'm here to help. I know … I'm just another talk show host; but the fact is that when the stage was being set for the problems we're seeing today I was making most of my money as a real estate lawyer .. closing loans for some of the very institutions that are the tank today. This rather unique combination – closing lawyer and radio talk show host – gave me a front row seat to the politicization of mortgage loans that led us to today's headlines. OK .. so we all know that a lot of really bad real estate loans were made. The political class would sure love for us to believe that the blame here rests squarely on "greedy" (try to define that word) mortgage brokers and lenders. The truth is that most of the blame rests on political meddling in the credit decisions of these mortgage lenders. Twenty years ago the buzz-word in the media was "redlining." Newspapers across the country were filled with hard-hitting investigative reports about evil and racist mortgage lenders refusing to make real estate loans to various minorities and to applicants who lived in lower-income neighborhoods. There I was closing these loans in the afternoons, and in the mornings offering a counter-argument on the radio to these absurd "redlining" claims. Frankly, the claims that evil mortgage lenders were systematically denying loans to blacks and other minorities were a lot sexier on the radio than my claims that when credit histories, job stability, loan-to-value ratios and income levels were considered there was no evident racial discrimination. Political correctness won the day. Washington made it clear to banks and other lending institutions that if they did not do something .. and fast .. to bring more minorities and low-income Americans into the world of home ownership there would be a heavy price to pay. Congress set up processes (Research the Community Redevelopment Act) whereby community activist groups and organizers could effectively stop a bank's efforts to grow if that bank didn't make loans to unqualified borrowers. Enter, stage left, the "subprime" mortgage. These lenders knew that a very high percentage of these loans would turn to garbage – but it was a price that had to be paid if the bank was to expand and grow. We should note that among the community groups browbeating banks into making these bad loans was an outfit called ACORN. There is one certain presidential candidate that did a lot of community organizing for ACORN. I won't mention his name so as to avoid politicizing this column. These garbage loans to unqualified borrowers were then bundled up and sold. The expectation was that the loans would be eventually paid off when rising home values led some borrowers to access their equity through re-financing and others to sell and move on up the ladder. Oops. Right now this crisis is being sold to the American public by the left as evidence the failure of the free market and capitalism. Not so. What we're seeing is the inevitable result of political interference in free market economics. Acme bank didn't want to loan money to Joe Homebuyer because Joe had a spotty job history, owed too much money on his credit cards, and wasn't all that good at making payments on time. The politicians told Acme Bank to figure out a way to make that loan, because, after all, Joe is a bona-fide minority-American, or forget about opening that new branch office on the Southside. The loan was made under politicial pressure; the loan, with millions like it, failed – and now we are left to enjoy today's headlines. So … why aren't you reading the whole story in the mainstream media? Come on, are you kidding me? Do you really expect the media to blame this mess on deadbeat borrowers and political interference in the free market when it is so easy to put the blame on greedy lenders and evil capitalists? Remember … there's an election going on. One candidate is decidedly anti-capitalist. Do the math.