House Did the Right Thing in Voting Down $700 Billion Mistake-In-Progress: Yesterday's Massive Stock Market Sell-Off Looks Silly Today

Yesterday's rejection of the $700 billion bailout plan of Wall Street's Folly by the House of Representatives was exactly what was needed. The vote SHOULD have been 435-0 against the plan, but some badly misguided Representatives were not on the side of the American taxpayer.

And yesterday's knee-jerk reaction on Wall Street was sheer panic, nothing more. They badly overreacted to a very bad plan that even Wall Street is lukewarm about, as evidenced by today's stock market results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 485 points of the 777 points that they lost yesterday. The way that it goes up and down, they could make that back within a day or two.

I REALLY enjoyed Speaker Pelosi's pre-vote speech. I could just see the votes flying straight out the window and into the nearest toilet. Nice job, Speaker Pelosi. Yesterday's vote was symbolic of both her speakership and of Democratic control of Congress. More from the do-nothing majority party.

Now, Congress should offer to LOAN Wall Street $700 billion, in exchange for certain concessions on the part of companies that accept the lifeline: a large share of their profits go back to repaying the taxpayer, in addition to repayment plans to the U.S. treasury, and so forth. And they can NEVER leverage mortgages again, and can only borrow a percentage of their total net worth, not thirty times their total net worth.

THAT'S fair to the taxpayer, and will allow the companies to survive. And if a company goes under, the proceeds from the sale of assets of the company go to reimbursing the U.S. treasury.

NO corporate handouts, Congress.

Foreclosed Property, Former Owners and New Owners: Who's to Blame More?

I was reading this Fox News story about a former homeowner stalking the family who bought his foreclosed home.

It started when the former homeowner couldn't keep up on his $532 a month mortgage payments and lost his home. He filed a legal appeal just before the auction was set to begin, then showed up at the auction to try to stop the sale. He was unsuccessful, and a developer bought the property, who then sold it to the current family.

And since then he's allegedly been stalking the family and has been charged numerous times with assault on the original investor, and trespassing against the current homeowners. And every time the charges were dropped because it was ruled that he was incompetent to stand trial, leaving him free to harass the family to the breaking point. It has been going on for eight years now.

And the family recently gave up, moving out of the house and losing much of their investment.

What a sad story. The legal system won't prosecute the guy, won't institutionalize him and won't intervene to keep this family safe. It isn't their fault that the original homeowner lost the house.

The former homeowner is a serial stalker and needs to be dealt with by those who have the power to get him some help. Someone needs to take some responsibility down there.

Wall Street is Putting WAY Too Much Faith on This Rescue: Government Needs A More Viable Plan

Wall Street needs to settle down.

They're putting WAY too much faith on one flawed plan, and if it gets delayed or doesn't happen, they need to be open to other alternatives before flying off the handle.

No $700 billion ever made can stop a crash of a financial system that people have lost their trust in and believe is unstable. The stock market IS overvalued by at least 1/3. It will be unfortunate if the inevitable adjustment comes in a short amount of time; it would be better if it was staggered over a decade or so, rather than in one week, as some business analysts are predicting.

It WON'T be the end of the world.

But I repeat my opposition to putting the taxpayers on the hook for Wall Street's Folly. They are expecting something for nothing, and that isn't right.

The mortgage meltdown is a separate problem from the leverage meltdown, and they are trying to fix one while ignoring the other. Leveraging should be outlawed and taken off the table permanently, so we never get into this kind of situation again. The people who authorized these kinds of shady financial dealings need to be in jail.

And I'm glad that the FBI is looking at the worst offenders to see if some kind of fraud was going on.

Surprise, Surprise: Obama Says He Should Get Credit for Curing Wall Street Folly: Since When?

Barack Obama blasted John McCain again, saying that McCain didn't do anything to deserve credit for the $700 billion mistake-in-progress plan, while he did.

Yeah, right.

Last time I checked, Obama scurried his butt out of Washington first. He also didn't want to even be in Washington (which I think was a smart initial move.) McCain stuck around, then left Washington to go to Friday's debate, then turned around and came back to Washington to confer with his GOP colleagues. Obama belatedly returned.

Obama said he deserved credit for making sure that there were taxpayer protections in the plan, but the fact is that his Democratic colleagues and many Republicans were calling for the same things long before Obama even realized that it was going to be a campaign issue.

Both candidates were equally ineffective and should have stayed out of Washington to begin with. Obama's statements are highly hypocritical.

And the "plan" that they came up with is not much of one.

On to Palin vs. Biden. Hopefully they have more of a pulse than their bosses did during Friday's debate.

Wall Street Should Fend for Itself: They Made That Bed, Now They Should Sleep in It

I am now opposed to bailing Wall Street out of it's "toxic debt" problem that it alone is responsible for. The American taxpayer should NOT be made to pay for Wall Street's Folly, beyond what has already been agreed to.

In my opinion, the bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and Bear Sterns were correct, because of their interconnecting relationships to the U.S. and global currency markets. The damage from the collapse of those companies would not have been confined to Wall Street. Lehman Brothers was not bailed out because it was self-contained, as many of the other companies who stand to benefit from this $700 billion mistake-in-progress are.

The standard that the Bush Administration followed before should be the standard that is used now in deciding which companies to save, and which ones to allow to go by the wayside.

The other companies who have "toxic debt" need to get on a payment plan and pay off their debt. If the government wants to help, they should negotiate and set a fair interest rate with the creditors, which will allow the companies to clean up their own friggin' mess. People have to do the same thing; why should it be different for a company that goes into deep debt?

This is entirely appropriate for a system that cheers when blue-collar workers lose their jobs and pensions, while the system sees it's stock value soar. Why then, should blue collar taxpayers be stuck with the company's bill?

SHAME on Wall Street!

And the government needs to come up with a better plan.

Presidential Candidates Need to Get the Hell Out of Dodge: Their Presence at White House Didn't Help Matters

Talks aimed at alleviating the U.S. financial crisis ended in failure, with both sides blaming the other. And the presence of the presidential candidates didn't aid the summit in finding a solution to Wall Street's Folly.

They need to get OUT of Washington and put some distance between themselves and the ongoing fiasco at the White House. And McCain needs to get it in gear and quit wasting time on pointless political gestures. He needs to show up at that debate tomorrow night and give Obama what-for, or risk becoming a has-been former presidential candidate.

What a stupid stunt!

Nebraska Needs to Change It's "Safe Haven" Law: Dad Drops Off NINE Children at Hospital

Nebraska has the most liberal "safe haven" law in the country, and there are some major problems happening as a result.

"Safe haven" laws are laws that allow for mothers to drop off infants at hospitals, fire departments, police departments and government offices. Most of the states have them, but Nebraska went much further than all of them.

They allow children up to age 17 to be dropped off, and not just infants.

And a Nebraska dad did just that, dropping off nine kids between the ages of one and seventeen at an emergency room late Wednesday night. What a horrifying story! Nebraska needs to strengthen it's child welfare system and work to keep the families together, not allow parents to discard their families that they were responsible for creating.

Now that word of this is spreading, they may have a HUGE problem on their hands when others start doing the same thing. What were the legislators down there thinking?

Congress is Asking Administration All the Right Questions: $700 Billion Bailout is Unbelievable

Democrats and conservative Republicans in Congress appear to be asking all the right questions about the Administration's plan to take over all of the "toxic debt" that Wall Street ran up.

The Secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Chairman appeared before Congress for a second day to push through the Bush Administration's bail-out plan. Congress gave the two a frosty reception again and started right in on the proposal, asking for modifications to the plan. And it appears that there has been a tiny bit of progress.

The Democratic position is that the plan should also help common people who are struggling with their mortgages and are in danger of foreclosure. They want to change the bankruptcy laws of the nation so that struggling homeowners can be thrown a lifeline too and restructure their mortgages.

Conservative Republicans think that this plan is financial socialism, which they don't agree with and won't support. They want everyone to stop and think this thing through before enacting a bad plan that gets rushed through just because the Administration wants it.

One of the committee members asked if it was possible to give Wall Street a fraction of what was asked for in the plan: $150 billion instead of $700 billion, with the possibility of the Administration coming back and asking for more. They got a big "NO!"

I'm still not convinced. I think that $700 billion is just the start and they'll come back and ask for another $500-$750 billion in six months. We can't afford that!

U.S. Navy Should Escort Russian Ships into Venezuelan Waters

It would be really funny if the entire U.S. Atlantic Fleet sortied and rendezvoused with the four Russian Navy ships heading to Venezuela and provided close escort for the Russians into Venezuelan waters.

The little commie runt in Venezuela would be SCREAMING his head off, wouldn't he?

Government Needs to Take Steps to Ensure That Current Wall Street Trouble Doesn't Happen Again

I've been holding off commenting on the current Wall Street crisis until I could understand what was happening and why. Here's how it breaks down:

1. People wanted to buy houses that were too expensive for them.
2. Mortgage companies wanted people to buy expensive houses too.
3. Banks lowered their standards to a point that people didn't even have to show that they had a job or could afford the monthly payments.
4. People got the loans and "bought" their houses with a mortgage.
   
5. Investment banks used a system referred to as "leveraging", which means that they borrowed money from other banks and countries to buy up the mortgages so that they would receive the income from the borrower. Since the interest rate on the mortgage was higher than the interest rate on the loan that the investment bank took out to purchase the mortgage, a profit would be made by the investment bank.
6. Some banks kept borrowing money to buy up more mortgages and make more money. Several of the big banks accumulated debt more than thirty times their TOTAL value.
7. Housing collapse began; people began to default on their mortgages.
8. So many people defaulted that the banks couldn't pay back their own debts that they had accumulated.
9. "Toxic debt" was the term coined to describe the debts that the investment banks accumulated to buy up mortgages.
10. On Friday, President Bush announced that the government would buy up the "toxic debt" to shore up the faltering financial sector. The U.S. taxpayer gets stuck with the trillion-dollar bailout. Some people need to go to JAIL.
    

That's it in a nutshell.

And I am not in favor of this move until we're told EXACTLY how much this is going to cost.

There's plenty of blame to go around:

• People shouldn't have taken out loans that were beyond their ability to pay back.
• The banks should NEVER have allowed these loans to be authorized.
• The government should NEVER have eased the leverage restrictions that were in place until the late 1990s. This was a total screw-up.
• Both parties are to blame as well. The party that SHOULD have seen this crisis coming DIDN'T, and the party that did didn't do ANYTHING about it.
  
• In addition, the Fed should have done much more to keep the dollar strong, which is their MANDATE.
• The government should have been cutting expenses at the same rate as their tax cuts. $1 of tax cuts should have translated into at least $1 of spending cuts. They should have been cutting our $10 trillion debt load up to a week ago, before committing the government to an additional $1.5 trillion (minimum) that they've taken up to save Fannie May, Freddie Mac, and all the banks that have failed in 2008. Put another way, this week has been the most expensive government spending surge in HISTORY.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has spent $600 billion in 2008. It has $30 to $45 billion left in reserves, which is approaching the minimum mandated by federal law. What happens if another 10-20 banks go under and they each have $3 billion in covered deposits?

Who's leveraging the GOVERNMENT??!

Pakistan Claims to Have Opened Fire on U.S. Choppers: Conflicting Accounts

Here's the conflicting versions of an "incident" involving U.S., Pakistani and tribal forces:

Pakistan security force: "Pakistani forces and local tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters who attempted to land along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border on the Pakistani side. The helicopters fled back across the border to Afghanistan."

Pakistan Foreign Ministry: "Local tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters escorted by U.S. gunships who attempted to land along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border on the Pakistani side. Pakistani security forces were not involved. The helicopters fled back across the border to Afghanistan."

Pakistani Army: "We deny it. Our border wasn't violated. But we did hear shooting in the area. We don't know where the firing was directed."

Tribesmen: "We saw that U.S. forces were gathering across the border, so thousands of tribesmen who were upset that the U.S. came in on September 3rd and killed twenty civilians gathered and were guarding the area. Good thing the U.S. left, otherwise the people were ready to give them the welcome that they deserved."

Pentagon spokesman: "The incident described by Pakistan didn't happen."

It seems like everyone has a version of what did or didn't happen.

It's probable that someone with an itchy trigger finger in the village got spooked, and everyone joined in the firing, without having a real target in sight. Once the firing stopped, someone claimed that U.S. helicopters had tried to land, and that's how the story spread.

I'm inclined to go with the Pakistani Army and Pentagon explanations. What a confusing story.

No American Candidates Should be Anywhere Near UN Next Week: Opening Session Being Attended by World Leaders

I'm not too happy to hear that the GOP ticket is planning on sending Sarah Palin to the U.N. to meet world leaders to build her foreign policy experience. That is precisely the WRONG thing to do; it's no better than Obama's grandstanding overseas a couple of months ago.

They need to reconsider this move. If McCain/Palin wins in November, she can build up her experience by attending funerals of foreign leaders and dignitaries, and acting as the President's representative while overseas.

This could backfire as badly as Obama's bungled overseas trip. I don't think they want to go there. Both tickets should avoid the UN like the plague!

Pakistan Orders It's Army to Open Fire on American Troops on Strike Missions Into Pakistani Territory: American Side Needs to Back Off

Pakistan is getting fed up with American troops crossing the border into their territory to destroy Taliban and al-Qaeda targets and has ordered it's army to open fire on American and coalition forces that they encounter inside Pakistan. This is not a healthy turn of events.

An American admiral went to Pakistan to talk to their new government about smoothing things over, but each time an American strike happens inside Pakistan and civilians get killed by American bombs and missiles, it destabilizes Pakistan's fragile government and increases the risk of an anti-American government coming to power in Islamabad. This is not a good way of keeping Pakistan on our side.

I don't think this is a correct course of action to take; we don't need to get into a shooting war with Pakistan over this. I think President Bush and the Pentagon need to decide if Pakistan is still our ally or if it's a nation that we intend to invade next. We're not acting like good friends to Pakistan.

No good can come of this.

When Is That Little Commie Runt in Venezuela Going to Get Indicted on Drug Charges?

The U.S., Venezuela and Bolivia are engaged in expelling one another's ambassadors; the U.S. has also frozen the assets of two Venezuelans who are engaged in drug dealing to raise money for FARC rebels in Columbia.

Screw that!

When will U.S. courts indict President Chavez on drug dealing charges? Forget about the lackeys, go for the head of the snake itself, and charge him as Manuel Noriega was. Better yet, get INTERPOL involved, as Chavez ordered his people to sell drugs for FARC, which he supports. That's grounds for INTERPOL involvement.

Further, Columbia, the U.S. and Venezuela are all signatories to the INTERPOL agreement. If the U.S. wants to isolate the Mouth of the South, this is a good way to do so, until Columbia's people get tired of Chavez and throw him out of office themselves.

Some People Need to CHILL: They're Creating the Very Gas Shortage That They're Afraid Of

There's been a great deal of rumor-mongering going on today, and it's created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

People are afraid that gas will hit $5 or $6 a gallon overnight; what a bunch of BULLSHIT! That wouldn't have happened, but since so many people went out and panic-bought fuel today, they're creating the very shortage that they're afraid of. And now there's a possibility that gas will hit $5 in the coming days and weeks because of the panic buying AND the potential disruption, which probably wouldn't have been so bad on it's own.

According to WLNS, the police had to be called to at least one gas station in the Lansing area today, to break up fights between drivers. State officials are telling everyone to follow their normal routines when it comes to fill-ups as it will minimize any ACTUAL disruptions in the fuel supply from Hurricane Ike.

People need to remember that as demand exceeds supply, the price will increase. If the hurricane tears up oil production and disrupts the supply, that's one thing. But for us to panic-buy and reduce the available supply faster than it can be replenished, and the price skyrockets as a result--without the price gouging factor--then we've shot ourselves in the a$$.

Shame, shame.

Who Cares What Bolivia Does? They Need Us More Than We Need Them

Regarding the Bolivian expulsion of our ambassador: WHO CARES?

They need us more than we need them. Let them throw our entire embassy out while their country goes to pieces, as it's currently doing.

The State Department can cut their budget accordingly and save the money that would be wasted on Bolivia's current government. They won't even be there in a couple of months! Their own people seem to be showing them the door.

Good riddance!

Foreign Governments Need to Stay the Hell Out of Our Business: We'll Elect Our Own President, Thank You Very Much

80% of the world wants Obama in the White House? Too bad; there might well be a lot of disappointed people around the world once AMERICANS have their say at the polls on November 4th. Americans don't like foreigners messing with OUR elections.

And what is with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown endorsing Obama and Obama's proposals that Obama withdrew his support from last month? I respect the Prime Minister, but not when it comes to OUR elections. He ought to get his OWN house into order before telling us how to run ours.

And speaking of elections, why won't he allow a general election in Britain? Is it because Labor's run out of gas and the Conservatives lead by David Cameron are taking seats away from his party in local elections across Britain? This man has some nerve endorsing Obama when he won't allow a general election in his own country.

And as predicted, Obama didn't earn any votes over here with his grand trip overseas, in which he WAS grandstanding. Shame, shame. Pandering to an overseas audience before he's even elected.

International community, keep your opinions to yourselves because we AREN'T interested. Run your own elections, and let us run ours.

Conyers Says She's Ready to Lead Detroit City Council: I Think Not

President Pro Tempore Monica Conyers says she's ready to lead the Detroit City Council once Council President Ken Cockrel becomes acting Mayor of Detroit.

YEAH, RIGHT.





She called Cockran "Shrek" in the above exchange. She was more concerned about being disrespected and was extremely rude herself.

Her temper will get the best of her and she'll turn the city council meetings into a bigger farce than they are now. And that's assuming that she comes out of the FBI investigation of the council in the clear.

Here's more of her fine leadership qualities on display:

• Yesterday she ran away from the press after calling them "evil" and requested an escort past them.
• During the Democratic National Convention she called the Denver police to moderate a dispute between her, her staff and the hotel that she was staying at. Calling the police for something like THAT?
• She threatened to shoot one of outgoing Mayor Kilpatrick's aides at a pension meeting and then threatened to have her four brothers "whup his a$$."

She's promised to behave, but given the type of politics that goes on at the City Council meetings, will she be able to keep order and stay in order?

Woodward Makes Brief Mention of New Technique for Tracking Terror Leaders: Media Should STAY OFF This Part of the Story

Bob Woodward's new book makes mention of a new system of tracking and targeting terrorist leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan that the military is taking great advantage of. But when questioned about it in an interview, Woodward declined to explain further.

Smart move, Bob. I hope the media follows his example and leaves this part of the story alone. Whatever the military is doing, it's working.

The last time that the press revealed that the military was able to track al-Qaeda's use of particular electronic devices, the group stopped using them, which made the system useless and lead to more American lives being lost on the battlefield. We don't want a repeat of that experience.

If there are any reporters out there who already know the details about this "system" that Woodward mentions, ZIP IT. Don't take another tool out of the hands of the military.

Detroit's Mayoral Nightmare Ends: Kilpatrick Pleads Guilty and Resigns

Detroit's long nightmare is finally over. Mayor Kilpatrick plead guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice, will resign, serve 120 days in jail, and will have probation for five years. In addition he will lose his law license, forfeit his pension and will repay the city $1 million.

The scandal has made international headlines for months and was a huge embarrassment to the city and to the entire state of Michigan. Today's developments are also generating international headlines.

Now they have to sort out the City Council down there. Several members are under FBI investigation for corruption and may be in big trouble.

Kilpatrick's resignation will go into effect in two weeks; the city council president will assume control of the city as Detroit's 61st mayor the next day; hopefully he cleans house.

GOP Platform Looks Good; Few Items of Concern

The 2008 GOP platform is now complete and is available on their web site. They have a lot of good stuff in it, not the least of which are:

• Support for the First Amendment right of association that protects the Boy Scouts of America and other similar organizations who are under attack from liberals.
• Support for appointing judges with a strict view of the Constitution to the federal bench and not political activists who believe in the "living document" crap.
• Support for the 2nd Amendment to keep and bear arms.
• Support for human rights, religious freedom and economic freedom overseas.
• A strong pro-life stance in the abortion debate.
• A commitment to maintain our friendship with Israel.
• Calls for an end to earmarking.
• Calls for a balanced budget amendment, except during times of war.
• A ban on human cloning and stem cell research which involves the destruction of embryonic human life, and the creation of human embryos for research purposes.
  
• A massive expansion of stem-cell research in those areas that do not involve the destruction of embryonic human life.
• Preserving property rights.
  

I'm not in full agreement with everything in their platform.

• They still refuse to recognize habeas corpus as a right as described in the United Nations charter and is an international right, not just an American one.
• They're maintaining their support of the death penalty as a party.
• I also don't believe that the Republicans will stop runaway government spending. The moderates who hold a majority in the party will keep spending and expanding the debt unless conservatives get in control of the party. THEN we'll see dramatic reductions. Not before.
• Global warming hubris. Where exactly does the science end and the politics begin?
  

They're also debating the 2012 primary system. Looks like two states will again enjoy primacy at the expense of all others; I had hoped they would get rid of this unfair system after two states--Michigan and Florida--rebelled against this system for the 2008 primary season. I think every state in the union needs to follow Michigan's and Florida's example and hold their primaries early in 2012. This issue needs to be forced; both parties are reluctant to go there.

Here's the platform.

DailyKos's Lies Exposed: Backpedals on Story that Governor Palin's Fifth Child Was Actually Her Grandchild

Slam dunk story...ultra-liberal blog site DailyKos tried to spread a vicious lie that Governor Sarah Palin's fifth child was not hers, that the child was actually her daughter's.

So the Palin family fired back, announcing that the daughter is five months pregnant right now, which blows the DailyKos story clear out of the water. They've already eliminated their original post in shame, posting the announcement of the daughter's pregnancy, with the tagline that the candidate "was SO not vetted" by the McCain camp.

That also isn't true; McCain knew about it already; confirmation came from a McCain aide before the Palins issued a joint press release.

I'm SO enjoying watching DailyKos squirm...