Oh Come On!!!

You have got to be kidding me! Does anyone else have a problem with this? Six-year old kids singing songs of praise to the Lord Obama? I want to know where this idea came from. It's one thing for a child to be taught from an early age a set of values, conservative or otherwise. It's quite another to have them offering up songs to a politician and parents encouraging it or even thinking it's a good idea. Indoctrination at it's finest.

Bailout BIll Fails

The controversial bailout bill has failed to be passed by the House. I'm watching the news right now as Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues pontificate and place blame on Republicans. Before they walked to the podium, the Dow was trying to make a comeback and was holding steady. In the 15 minutes they've been speaking, it fell by over 130 points. Just incredible. I'm so damn sick of all this partisan bickering. Get back into session, stop acting like two-year olds, and DO YOUR DAMN JOBS!

I find it so utterly despicable and shameless for Pelosi, Barney Frank, and the other Democrats speaking to blame the Republicans for them not being able to shove this massive bill down our throats. Last time I checked, the Dems control the House. There are no filibusters in the House. There were 94 Democrats that voted against this bill. The socialism bill was defeated 228-205. You do the math. Sounds like Pelosi needs to get her own party in line before launching into a political tirade and showing herself to be the idiot I've always thought she was. And that's just political technicalities. Forget the meat and potatoes behind this bill.

As I write this, the Dow taking a huge hit for the day. You know what? It happens. Like it or not, it happens. Sometimes, the toilet gets filled up with so much crap that what it needs more than anything is a good flush, then the water level can rise back to it's normal level. This bill is included as part of that crap. It would provide a shot of adrenaline to the system when what we really need is a transplant to ensure long term stability. It's completely ludicrous to pass what amounts to a socialism bill just to keep the stock market steady for the short-term.

I hear some people bashing basic free-market economics, saying sometimes socialism is needed. That's pure BS in my view. I saw a perfect example yesterday and this morning of the market working. Wachovia was getting close to going under. Low and behold, rather than going under and the FDIC having to step in and use taxpayer dollars to repay those with deposits, Wachovia was bought by Citigroup. This has been happening time and time again over the last couple of weeks. Doom and gloom are forecasted with banks going under right and left. What's left out is the fact that in all cases except for one that I've heard of, the failing bank was bought by a stronger one and the people with accounts will not lose any money (unless they've bought shares in the failing banks). Another example, just a few days ago WaMu was taken over by JP Morgan Chase. Customers with money at WaMu will not lose their money either.

In fact, the only bank I know of to truly go under was IndyMac, in no small part thanks to Chuck Schumer, a Democrat Senator from New York. This guy, another idiot, wrote a letter expressing his doubts about IndyMac to the FDIC, which after being publicized led to a "run on the bank" in which depositors withdrew $1.3 billion in cash over 11 days, triggering its collapse.

Bottom line, markets and companies will go up and down. Everything is a cycle, from the markets to political power to the climate. The fundamentals of this market will go down until investors, large and small, realize that stocks are "on sale" in a way they haven't been for some time. After all, isn't the simple formula you hear people talk about for making money in the market buy low, sell high? Seems it's a pretty good time to start buying low. When enough people get past their panic and realize this, the markets will head north again and the cycle will continue.

OK, I'm done. For now...

The First Debate

Well, I didn't get to see the whole debate as I was getting ready to head out of town, but I did catch most of it. I didn't see any knockout blows, just a lot of jabs. To be fair, short of one candidate beginning to cry, I really don't know how one actually "wins" a debate, so I wouldn't know how to call it. All I will say is this. It's obvious that the schmObama campaign strategy was to try to get under McCain's skin and get him to lose his temper. It didn't work, McCain kept his cool. Even with Barack dressing him down directly and addressing him with his first name, John, which I've never seen in a presidential debate. Not saying it hasn't happened, but I've never seen it. Usually, the candidates show the respect of calling each other by their title or "my opponent".

On the other side, Obama seemed on the defensive for much of the debate, and there were a lot of his usual "Uh's, ah's, and umm's". The impression I got from listening to the 2 candidates was that McCain had a much more in-depth knowledge of foreign affairs that comes from years of experience, so I guess in that sense, he won. You could tell that Obama had studied a lot of Foreign Affairs Cliff's Notes in the last couple of weeks. That being said, everyone has their own opinion over how they would like to see a president conduct foreign policy, so I guess we'll see. At least they are allowed to challenge each other directly this election. I remember from 2004 Bush and Kerry were not allowed to really mix it up, which makes for a very long, boring hour and a half.

Gingrich: Paulson Should Resign

Well said as usual Newt. Well said.

Commercial

Saw this on TV and loved it. Right now I'm so fed up with the Legislature, I'm thinking this might not be a bad idea. Fire everybody that's there now and replace them with these guys!

Quick Thought...

Do you think that in order to be a member of Congress, it's part of the eligibility requirements that your parents never taught you how to balance a checkbook?

Building a New Wing to the House of Cards?

I've been trying to study up on the $700 billion bailout for financial institutions being proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson, and I have to admit that I'm having a little trouble with this one. The more you try to research this problem and exactly what the bill is meant to do, the more you run into political posturing on both sides. I decided to just read the bill itself, which is posted here. Although filled with legalese, this can be read in less time than it will take make a small pot of coffee. I find it a very disturbing that a bill which takes about 3-4 minutes to read and has been whipped up in a couple of days is going to free the Treasury Secretary to spend up to $700 BILLION to purchase mortgage related assets, raise the national debt allowance to $11.3 TRILLION, and provide NO OVERSIGHT.

Everyone reading this knows I'm a free market guy. Right now, we seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Either allow major firms which provide the liquidity for the operation of our economy to go under, possibly sending the economy into a tailspin not seen in 70 years, or put together a massive package to bail them out with (future) taxpayer money. To say I'm uncomfortable with this is an understatement.

Is it just me, or is the government making a lot of bailouts and taking over a lot of companies lately?

They bailed out Bear Sterns, rescuing it from it's own poor investments in mortgage-backed securities, which was supposed to save the economy.

They spent nearly $160 billion in an economic stimulus package which really didn't help anything.

They approved a $200 billion Housing Bill to bail out those facing foreclosure.

They then flat-out took over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

They then bailed out/took over AIG with a loan which in return left the government with a 79.9% stake in the company.

Now, they're getting ready to authorize a $700 billion bailout. Absolutely unbelievable.

There's no doubt, it's a huge mess. However, most huge messes tend to start small, often with good although misguided intentions. As I look at this, it seems that all of this turmoil really boils down to crazy exotic mortgages, those that took them out and cannot make the payments, and a government which encouraged (and indirectly virtually required through organizations like ACORN) financial institutions to make these loans to unqualified borrowers.

Let me put it this way. I work for a financial institution (name intentionally withheld). The institution makes money by lending to people and charging them interest. Obviously, the bank wants to do credit checks to insure to the best of their ability that the money lent will be repaid. If an applicant has poor credit, the bank should always have the right to turn that person down flat for a loan. In fact, a logical person would think that it would be completely irresponsible, both to the bank and its shareholders as well as the applicant, to approve such a loan. The fact that the government has for years been trying to force banks to get low credit individuals into home "ownership" is outrageous. It has resulted in these exotic loans which the same politicians now decry.

I have no idea what's going to happen over the next week. My guess is that the bill will be passed and our children will be made $700 billion more poor by this group of politicians. Going forward, I would truly hope that they have learned some kind of lesson about injecting artificial forces into the market, attempting to manipulate it to score political points. Unfortunately, although hope springs eternal, common sense dictates otherwise. Politicians just can't help themselves. They will, by regulation or red tape, manipulate markets which are operating at equilibrium as they should, a bubble with ensue, it will without fail eventually burst or deflate, then the politicians who screwed it up in the first place will blame the market system itself and demand more regulation.

This is what happens when over time markets aren't allowed to correct themselves. I'd like to revisit part of a post I made in July, as it looks like I've been proven right:

Finally, I say this as a word of warning. Markets, all markets, go up and down. It's a natural ebb and flow. We as Americans have become very spoiled and expect stocks, real estate, or whatever to rise continuously to the moon. This is setting our economy up for a very steep fall eventually. Markets will correct themselves eventually. Nothing we can do to stop it. It's just a question of whether it will be several small, manageable corrections or one huge, Triple Crown, grand slam of a correction. Bailouts like this housing bill, the "stimulus package", etc. simply put a band-aid on a heart attack about to happen.

I think it's fair to say that a small heart attack happened last week. Even more alarming is that these politicians and this country are caught up in our own exotic loan. One to the tune of around $53 trillion in unfunded long-term liabilities. Unless government can seriously start to reign in its absolutely mind-blowing spending habits to what is Constitutionally appropriate and start to pay down that sucker, we'll be in for an economic crisis one day which will make the Great Depression look like a walk in the park. As we've seen from the last few weeks, at some point the bill always comes due.

7 Years Ago...

I remember 9/11/2001 like it was yesterday. I remember where I was when I heard about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I was in college and my wife (then my fiancee) was at work. She called me in a panic, telling me to turn on the TV to CNN. I started watching just in time to watch the second plane hit live. Then came the report about the Pentagon. Then came the report about Flight 93. I watched those towers fall.

My cousin/roommate and I spent the vast majority of the next few days glued to the 24-hour news channels. It's so strange that it took a day or two to realize we were living through what would go down as a major moment in history. It was brought to my attention when I went back to class that many professors did not see fit to cancel classes on 9/11. That was a major surprise to me. I learned more in those two days after the attacks than I did throughout high school. Not only about how our government works, but what it really means to be an American.

A program on the History Channel just concluded entitled 102 Minutes That Changed America. It's the story of 9/11 in New York told through the video cameras of New York citizens who happened to record pieces of that horrible morning, either intentionally or not. I was absolutely mesmerized. Seriously, if you see this on TV or in a video store, do yourself a favor as an American and check it out. There were images that I have never seen before, and the History Channel should be commended for this work. It reminds us of a day that quite frankly many people in this country have forgotten about. A day of tragedy and triumph, panic and resolve, fear and heroism. What can result when people work together to accomplish evil as well as what can happen when people work together to do good.

Maybe people haven't forgotten in terms of the historical events that took place, but they have forgotten the helpless emotions that take hold when one realizes how fragile and precious our freedom and liberty really are, and to what lengths some will go in an attempt to destroy them. There was one shot in this program that particularly stands out in my mind. The camera was looking down from about the 3rd or 4th floor of an apartment building. On the street there was a flock of people running from left screen to right, fleeing the devastation at the towers. Making their way through the people, walking the opposite direction, were the brave FDNY firefighters as they moved in toward the towers, preparing to go up and save as many as they could. Many of these heroes did not come back out alive. It really made me stop and think.

We live in the most blessed country on the face of the Earth. We have freedom to pursue our passions, worship our God how we choose, and build a life for ourselves and our families that is limited only by our own desire and ambition. But those freedoms penned into our founding documents are worthless without the dedication and sacrifice of certain people. Without selfless first responders like police officers, EMTs, and firefighters, as well as those in the military which defend our freedoms from enemies both foreign and domestic, we would be lost. Thank God for each of you, we owe you a debt we can never repay.

God Bless America.

Something I Never Thought I'd Do

I actually have to defend Barack schmObama today. It's about the following comment:



Some in the media (not conservative talk radio BTW) are attacking this by saying he is calling Sarah Palin a pig. This would be based on her "Pit bull with lipstick" comment to describe hockey moms. This is just plain silly. I don't think he's stupid enough to attack Sarah Palin in this way. I just think he's dumb enough to say something dumb without thinking how easily it might be twisted.

My honest opinion is that he was giving this stump speech, bumbling around as he usually does when off teleprompter, and this just came out. Kind of like a verbal fart. I think he probably realized as soon as it came out of his mouth that it was a poor saying to use given his opponent's VP and the saying she used last week, which is why he moved on quickly to the whole thing about old fish stinking even when wrapped in new newspaper (Not on Youtube clip). It's time to get off this. There's plenty else that he says which is just plain stupid that we can have fun with. That goes for his Democrat colleagues as well.

FOR EXAMPLE:

I give you Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN)



I haven't been calling Barack "the messiah" for awhile now. I call him schmObama. You have to admit though, these boneheaded Democrat politicians just keep asking for it!

An interesting perspective...

...from one of our friends across the pond in an article about Sarah Palin. Definitely worth a read.

MSNBC Smackdown

You can always count on Newt to educate someone in an entertaining way. Classic!

It's a Whole New Ballgame

I just finished watching the new GOP Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, finish her speech to the RNC and all I can say is "Wow!". Talk about a simultaneous sigh of relief (McCain choosing a conservative) and a breath of fresh air (McCain choosing this conservative)! In my last post, I stated that I was waiting for the McCain VP choice before deciding whether or not to support his ticket. Count me in Senator McCain, well done.

I'm not sure I could have hoped for a running mate with a more perfect background.

First of all, I tend to be a fan of electing governors to president or vice president. They have executive experience, have to balance budgets, make appointments, and make the difficult decisions needed to run a state as opposed to the legislature where people basically talk all day with each other. That is, of course, unless you're schmObama and have spent virtually your entire career in the Senate running for President. But I digress. Governors also have the added benefit of not spending the majority of their time in that logic-free spot on the North American map known as Washington DC.

Secondly, I want my leaders to get into politics for the right reason, which is because they care about their community, city, state, or country and want to serve the citizenry. As Gov. Palin said in her speech tonight:

No one expects us to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern
with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant's
heart.

This is a problem I have with many national politicians, as their egos crave power for power's sake and they tend to see their constituents as obstacles to that power that have to be appeased every election cycle. This is another reason I'm drawn to Palin. She got started in the local PTA trying to improve public schools. Then, sensing that people in her city were getting shafted, she started moving up through the ranks to city council, mayor, and finally governor, fighting corruption the entire way including in the Republican Party. She even primaried a sitting incumbent governor in her own party because she saw corruption that had to be addressed.

Thirdly, I want a leader to be direct and honest with me. Over the last 19 months that this presidential election has been going on, we've seen schmObama make many speeches and he has proven himself a great orator (provided there's a teleprompter present) that can pull at your emotions. However, more than a few times I've watched a speech from beginning to end and find myself asking "What the hell was that about anyway?" From her speech tonight Palin leaves no room for question when it comes to her philosophy on government in America. Agree or disagree, it is a courtesy that all politicians should pay to the electorate which entrusts them with power.

Fourthly, it's nice to have a true, articulate conservative who agrees with most of my positions on issues. To name a few:

1. She believes that citizens make better decisions on how to spend their money, plus do it more efficiently, than government.


2. She's pro-life. Not just lip service, but serving as a living example of love for the unborn by making the decision to keep a Down Syndrome baby. More on this below.


3. She believes in cutting wasteful government spending. She put the governor's luxury jet up on eBay for crying out loud!


4. She believes in domestic energy exploration and energy independence, but is not willing to cave to oil companies when she thinks her state is getting a bad deal.


5. She's a supporter of the 2nd Amendment and a lifetime NRA member.


6. She knows that even as we face challenges, America is a great country that we can all be proud of.

Speaking of the pro-life issue, I know that there are arguments abound of how to best reduce the number of abortions. I find it very telling, however, to learn a politician's personally held views, convictions, and actions when it comes to abortion and the sanctity of unborn life. In addition to carrying to term a baby with Down Syndrome, I must say that I am thoroughly impressed at how Palin's family is handling the pregnancy of her daughter Bristol. This serves as a great example of how a family should rally around their daughter if she finds herself in this type of position. She obviously knows she made a mistake and telling her parents is quite possibly the hardest thing she has ever had to do. I think by surrounding a teenage mom-to-be with love instead of malice and shame, the chances of an abortion fall dramatically. The Palin family deserves a salute on this.

And finally, how could I not love a brunette hottie who is also a Christian mom who leans solidly conservative, has a great sense of humor, is smart, strong, and likes to shoot and fish? After all, I'm married to one!

McCain/Palin 2008 baby!