Obaman Leadership

Blaming Republicans for the bailout's defeat even though 95 Democrats voted against the bill? Perhaps you would like to know how hard Obama fought to save the bill that was the subject of Pelosi's and Frank's histrionics. The New York Times reports:

"Aides to Mr. Obama said he had not directly reached out to try to sway any House Democrats who opposed the measure. But where Mr. McCain had accused Mr. Obama of taking a hands-off approach to the financial crisis, Democratic advisers said they believed that Mr. McCain now had a role in the legislation’s failure.
As aides to both campaigns pointed fingers, Mr. Obama sought to stay above the fray and maintain a steady demeanor that advisers maintain has set him apart throughout the financial turmoil. ...." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/us/politics/30campaign.html?_r=3&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

So much for leadership when the country might actually need it. Even though I oppposed the bill, Obama should've still been out there getting his party members to vote for the bill if it was something he supported. Instead, the professor chose to "stay above the fray". Can't have the chosen one getting his hands dirty.

Clever But Truthful Video About Housing Meltdown

Ok, the last 90 seconds turn into a campaign ad but the video is still true.

By the way, back in the 90's, didn't we get stuck bailing out Goldman Sachs while Rubin was Secretary when Mexico decided to devalue the Peso RIGHT AFTER Nafta was passed?

The Market Ticker: Fed Injection Proves Bailout was a Fraud

"The Fed threw $630 billion into the market before the vote, and yet the S&P 500 was down 40 handles anyway, and in fact tanked after the vote.
Note carefully - Paulson's plan was $700 billion, and Bernanke spent $630 billion - almost the entire amount proposed - but failed to fix the problem.
Got it?
Good.
Now do you see what I've been saying?
We were about to piss $700 billion into a tornado and lose it forever.
Fortunately sane people prevailed in The House of Representatives and voted NO.
If they hadn't, we'd have had our proof but the money would be on its way into the vortex and you the taxpayer would have been utterly screwed.
IF we are truly facing an economic catastrophe you have just seen proof that Paulson's $700 billion will do nothing. It is my contention that to actually arrest this mess we'd need up to $5-7 trillion, and taking on that sort of debt would essentially destroy the value of our currency, cutting it in half (which means your cost of living doubles); that is, "fixing" this mess will be worse than doing nothing at all!
IF we are indeed facing a deep recession (or worse) then we will need that $700 billion to feed and house the displaced Americans here in our nation, and cannot afford to hand it to a bunch of rich (and pissed-off) bankers around the world who made bad bets and now are screaming with their hand out like a 2-year old who wants another candy bar.
Now let me make clear - I am not suggesting we do nothing, but I am stating clearly that we cannot print (or borrow) our way out of this.... "

Mr. Denningner on how the short-selling ban made the DOW sell-off worse:
"Finally, a large part of the decline today was due to the lack of shorts. I saw multiple instances this afternoon of bids literally disappearing on individual stocks - that's something that is the direct result of forbidding shorting, and it happened only on non-borrowable stocks. My best bet is that a solid 100 points - and maybe as much as 200 - of the DOW's decline was specifically due to the shorting ban........."
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

For those of you mad about the bill's defeat yesterday, I have one question: Did you actually read the bill?

MELTDOWN!!!

http://www.folo.us/2008/09/29/the-house-is-voting-down-the-bailout/

95 comments.

Meanwhile, Oil Dropped $10 a Barrel

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/oil_prices.html

DOWN GOES BAILOUT! DOWN GOES BAILOUT!

PICKERING votes for it. Thompson, Childers, Taylor vote against.

Thanks a lot Pickering.

Here is a REAL Congressman

This is what a leader looks like, unlike those who represent Mississippi yet are always quiet unless there is some pork or an election involved.

Mississippi Business Writers Are a Joke.

I'd love to provide links to coverage or analysis of the bailout bill by Mississippi publications. The only problems is, there isn't any to provide. One would think The Mississippi Business Journal might be interested reporting on the bailout bill and the mess in our credit markets but such is not the case. The two blogs over at MBJ by Laird and Hartwick discuss everything BUT the collapse of Wall Street and the attempted government takeover. The MBJ Blog last week discusses the debate, gas prices, and the Apple Store in Ridgeland. Mr. Hartwick's blog recently opined on tax incentives for movies, Mississippi Supreme Court elections, and living in diverse communities. Perhaps the business writers at The Clarion-Ledger have something to say about something so important.

Kevin Richardson, who passes for a Business Columnist at the newspaper, writes some penetrating analysis: "Limited access to credit means fewer cars and homes will be sold. As fewer cars are sold, manufacturers will trim staffs and cut orders for supplies, costing more jobs...." The rest of his column was written at this level as it attempted to explain the economy to an audience of first-graders. Not one word on the actual terms of the bailout, how our financial markets got into this mess, or any learned commentary on the current events on Wall Street as they relate to Mississippi. The only thing missing from his piece was the crayons and snacks. http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080928/COL0102/809280346/1303/biz

When it comes to business journalism, is this the best Mississippi can offer?


http://www.msbusiness.com/index.cfm
http://mbjblog.wordpress.com/
http://philhardwickblog.wordpress.com/
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/02/clarion-ledger-error-of-day.html

The Fix is in!!!

The Naked Capitalist website reports on a secret conference call Treasury had with financial analysts last night.
"Various readers wrote us, and it was confirmed by a detailed report on the call at DealBreaker, that the Treasury Department held a conference call this evening for analysts on the bailout bill. A memo was evidently sent to SIFMA members; others may have been contacted by other means. But the report I got from one person who was on the call was the the questions came from financial services industry members. In other words, this was most assuredly not intended to be a call open to the public at large. If anyone from the media or other member of the great unwashed was listening in, it was by accident......."
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/mussolini-style-corporatism-in-action.html

Here is a live blog of the call. You need to read this and give our Congressional delegation hell today. Emailing or calling the David Hampton and Sid Salter wouldn't' be a bad idea as well. This is garbage. As I wrote last night, this bill is loaded with bad things for Americans that have nothing to do with restoring confidence in the markets.
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/09/live-blogging-the-treasury-cal.php#more

Here is a recording of the call. Bob Hoyt works for Treasury.
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4418763

Note: Good comment below from someone who listened to the audio recording.

The Bailout Bill Analyzed

Karl Denninger of The Market Ticker blog read the bailout bill and gives his sober analysis. I read all 102 pages of the bill myself this morning and can say that he is on the money in his remarks. Sickening. Here are some highlights of his epistle today:

Section 3(9) – This permits the purchase of CDOs, CLOs, and credit default
swaps! ALL forms of derivatives have a potential zero value and credit default swaps have a potential negative value; that is, they can result in an obligation greater than their purchase consideration – in fact, they can result in obligations of 100 times or more their purchase consideration! This is outrageous and must not be allowed.... "

(Kingfish note: That is exactly what this section of the bill says. The Secretary can purchase " residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages..." That includes Credit Default Swaps. Notice the commercial mortgage provision. Is this a new crisis or a favor to the banks?)

Section 101(e) – Specifically allows Treasury to pay up to 100% of the original acquisition cost of an asset, irrespective of its current value in the marketplace, and such determination is nonreviewable.
None of these “troubled assets” are currently priced or valued there, or they
wouldn’t be “troubled.” There is no threshold to prevent the Treasury from overpaying for
these assets nor to keep sellers from gaming the system for acquisition! (Did you get that? Can we say kickback?)

(Kingfish note: Bill says (Secretary shall take steps) "preventing the sale of a troubled asset to the Secretary at a higher price than what the seller paid to purchase the asset." In my opinion the bill is poorly worded in this section and shows an intent to keep firms from profiteering off of the sale of assets. However, Denninger is correct in that the Secretary could buy the assets for their original purchase price, not current market value. One can see the opportunities for financial mischief here. Remember, under the proposed judicial review provisions, any injunctive relief is AUTOMATICALLY STAYED until the Secretary can appeal.

The taxpayers will undoubtedly get ripped off because of this provision. The government will purchase mortgages that are based on overvalued appraisals. Lenders such as Countrywide OWNED the appraisal companies used for their mortgages, creating an egregious conflict of interest as it led to the widespread problem of these lender-employed appraisers creating fraudulent or bogus appraisals. Even worse, Fannie Mae had a program for several years that WAIVED appraisals altogether. Unfortunately, that is not the end of it as there is the second mortgage market that has completely collapsed. Second mortgages usually did not depend on appraisals at all or if they did, the lender relied on a "drive-by appraisal". Citi originated stated income second mortgages. GMAC underwrote 125% second mortgages, i.e. an unsecured loan based on an overvalued property. The Secretary could thus be forced to buy most of the second mortgages that are toxic while the lender actually gets full value for the bad debt. Nice deal if you can get it. This section is bad news for Americans. Period. Banks will take advantage of this clause to dump bad or fraudulent mortgages on the government, leaving it to figure out how to modify the mortgage or help the homeowner.)

Section 119 – This is an absolute travesty. Full protection under the law must be provided
to shareholders and bondholders. Absent this you will precipitate capital flight from these
instruments and institutions – guaranteed. This section is tremendously DESTABILIZING.

(Kingfish note: You REALLY need to read the entire section. He is not kidding one damn bit. The bill states:
INJUNCTION.—No injunction or other form of equitable relief shall be issued against the Secretary for actions pursuant to section 101, 102, 106, and 109, other than to remedy
a violation of the Constitution.....
(3) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS BY PARTICIPATING COMPANIES.—No action or claims may be brought against the Secretary by any person that divests its assets with respect to its participation in a program under this Act.... (Get government aid, surrender all legal rights to defend yourself )
(4) STAYS.—Any injunction or other form of equitable relief issued against the Secretary for actions pursuant to section 101, 102, 106, and 109, shall be automatically stayed. The stay shall be lifted unless the Secretary seeks a stay from a higher court within 3 calendar days after the date on which the relief is issued.....)

Section 128 – This is touted by Bernanke as accelerating his ability to pay interest on reserves; that is not of particular concern. The problem with this section is that it also allows Bernanke to set the reserve requirement for banks to zero if he so chooses. Such an event would have a catastrophic outcome for our banking system. This section MUST NOT STAND AS WRITTEN AS IT RISKS OUR ENTIRE BANKING SYSTEM......"

Read the rest of Mr. Denninger's thoughts at http://www.denninger.net/letters/you-r-nuts.pdf. The address for the home page of The Market Ticker is http://market-ticker.denninger.net/.

Here is a link to the text of the bill itself: http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/AYO08C04_xml2.pdf

CEO of Federal Reserve in Dallas: Markets Contracted an STD

"Since the beginning of the year, I have been worried about the efficacy of reducing the fed funds rate given the problems of liquidity and capital constraints afflicting the financial system. As I see it, the seizures and convulsions we have experienced in the debt and equity markets have been the consequences of a sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior, not a too-tight monetary policy.
There is no nice way to say this, so I will be blunt: Our credit markets had contracted a hideous STD—a securitization transmitted disease—for which lowering the funds rate to negative real levels seemed to me to be not only an ineffective treatment, but a palliative and maybe even a stimulus that would only encourage further mischief.
I was and I remain skeptical that lowering the fed funds rate is the most effective antidote for such a pathology, given that, in my book, rates held too low, too long during the previous Fed regime were an accomplice to that reckless behavior. A fed funds rate of around 3 1/2 percent—that was the level at which I began to stray from “the pen”—did not appear to me to be the principal problem, particularly with commodities prices soaring and incipient inflation coming to our shores from demand-pull pressures and rising labor costs in the countries that we use to source the inputs needed to run our manufacturing base and stock the shelves of our retail stores. ....." http://dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2008/fs080925.cfm

Heady stuff but he makes some good points if you feel like making the effort. ;-)

The Great War in Color

Found this color footage of the Great War. This war always fascinated me as it was one of the few times technology got far ahead of the tactics.

More Evidence of Democrats' Responsibility for Fannie/Freddie Disaster

McCain still using kid gloves. Should be hitting the Democrats with these videos.

The Nation: Obama Pathetic

"Obama's performance was nothing short of pathetic, and only a Democratic-leaning analysts and voters with blinders on could suggest that Obama won the debate....."
The Nation Slams Obama

By the way, Mother Jones calls it a draw. Mother Jones

Not Safe for Work (Seriously)

Its my damn birthday so I can do what the hell I want to do.

Live Blogging the Debate.

Working on a bottle of cabernet right now and shot some tequila as well. Finally, the event we've all waited for this week. We've had our share of drama with this debate this week but hey, a national event centered in Oxford needs some Faulknerian drama.

Wow. Daredevil just appeared on camera. Maybe Captain America or Spiderman will show up tonight as well. Wait, sorry. That was not Daredevil but Cindy McCain wearing a bright red pantsuit. Damn tequila already affecting my vision apparently. I'm watching this on Fox. Just don't feel like hearing Olberman whine about "McCain's social pornography". Somehow, I'm sure Keith is an expert on things that are pornographic.

My expectations? I've seen too many debates where the favorite didn't win as the underdog thought it was a damn fight and didn't know it was a show, to paraphrase Rocky. Remember Perot-Gore? I expect Obama to do very well. He will appear in command of himself and sound very eloquent. I think the debate will pivot on McCain's ability to get tough on Obama and bloody his nose when his jabs get through. McCain needs to take advantage of moments similar to the capital gains tax issue in the Hillary debate when it was clear Obama didn't' know what the hell he was talking about. McCain too often doesn't look strong in debates. He has to have a killer instinct without looking like a killer. Obama has to appear as a confident expert who wants to improve our lives, not a smug politician who thinks he is entitled to win and is morally superior to Mr. McCain. I will say that if this debate turns out to be like the Cheney-Lieberman debate, I will not be disappointed as it was a fairly civil and substantive debate instead of a plethora of sound-bites, talking points, and gotchas.

Lehrer just said he was going to include the global financial crisis. This is going to be very interesting. Still good on the cab.

Lehrer starting with the economy. Not wasting any time. "Where do you stand on the financial recovery plan?" Obama calls this the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Anyone remember the recession of 81 or late 70's? Obama is very forceful in his answer. Trying to tag in 8 years of Bush economic policies to McCain and uses the trickle-down reference. McCain graciously mentions Senator Kennedy's hospitalization. Starts out a little nervous. Discusses how important it is for both parties to work together. Lays out his core requirements for a bailout bill. Mentions energy independence.

Lehrer asks if they favor the plan. Obama punts, says he hasn't seen the language yet. Um, why NOT? Isn't he the leader of his party? Ok McCain. Obama is saying he tried to do something about the subprime problem. Hit him in the face here with your 2006 bill that would have reined in Fannie Mae as well as your remarks on the subject while he remained silent. Hit him here. McCain doing just that and attacks Washington as well, saying it has no accountability for failure and corruption. So far a draw. McCain not looking clueless on economy so far.

Lehrer asks about fundamental difference. McCain says "Republicans came to change the government and government changed us." Attacking spending and not shying away from Obama's earmark requests. Obama rebuts. Obama hits back on earmarks, pointing out its a small part of the budget. Good point. Now hitting him on tax cuts, saying he wants to help the wealthy. McCain needs to explain that small businesses file on their personal tax returns and that Obama's tax cuts will hurt them. Damn. McCain tags Obama, stating that his earmark requests stopped after he announced his candidacy. Obama comes back with populist rhetoric, saying he wants to stop jobs going overseas and bring affordable health care to Americans. Obama focusing on McCain's rhetoric about earmarks while McCain discusses government spending overall, not just earmarks. McCain showing a mastery of the government spending issue. Missed opportunity. McCain says at the end we should examine his definition of rich. Should have explored that more. Obama has a nice counter for McCain's point about corporate tax rates, saying corporations have loopholes. On this exchange they have gotten some jabs through. No heavy punches though. This debate might be a good one as they both show a willingness to stand in the middle of the ring and go toe to toe.

Oops, forgot I had a spellcheck function in this software. Damn, I've gone spastic typing.

Nice question. Lehrer asks what priorities they'd be willing to give up because of the bailout plan. Obama concedes the point, saying he'll have to postpone some plans. His base WON'T like that one. Discusses energy costs. McCain should hit him with the fact that a weak dollar has resulted in much higher energy costs and say he will strengthen the dollar and help Americans. McCain wants to cut spending and criticizes Pentagon purchasing? HUH? Pentagon spending had not really been an issue in this campaign. Not a word about entitlement spending. Obama has a nice comeback for being accused of having a liberal record, saying he was only voting against Bush's policies and has a nice judo move, saying he has worked with Senator Coburn. Nice move.

Obama needs to quit frowning or smirking when he hears something he doesn't like. Lehrer trying to get them to admit they will have to give up some of their plans because of the financial crisis. Obama admits LESS tax revenue because of a slowing economy. Um, does he know GDP increased 2.8% last quarter? His base won't like hearing him say that either. McCain talking about health care. Needs to refute Obama's charge he would tax health care benefits. Still hasn't done so. Obama linking him to Bush, 90% votes, and deficits again. Nice. McCain lists issues where he opposed Bush.

NOW we are on to foreign policy. My take? Both candidates on their game so far. Several jabs have landed on both opponents. No blood so far. Obama making a mistake here, saying we should've just focused on Afghanistan. WHAT? Did Obama say Al Qaida was stronger than ever since 2001? Osama's in hiding. We killed most of their leadership. We kicked their ass in Iraq. And he is saying AQ is stronger now? McCain should slam him here. He should also tell Obama you can't deal with terrorism one country at a time. Does Obama not know that Afghanistan is a NATO operation, which DOES fall under his subcommittee?

Obama getting some good shots on McCain's remarks in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. Obama looking frustrated but parries him nicely on tactics and strategy. They both need to quit arguing about whether the decision to invade Iraq was right. We are there NOW. They both need to focus on the future in Iraq, not the past. Obama coming out for timetable of 16 months. McCain should say the enemy doesn't have a timetable but make it clear we are bringing the troops home.

Obama discussing Pakistan now. Makes some good points and the Bush administration does deserve criticism over Pakistan. Nice. McCain points out how Obama's position on Pakistan is naive and will creat instability. On my last glass of this bottle of cabernet. Los Cardos by Don Paulo of Argentia. French grape grafted onto the vine. Kats carries it and available at Bravo! Slight edge to McCain on the Afghanistan/Pakistan issue.

So far, no mention of Iran. Or Russia. Or China.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!!! McCain points out his vote against Reagan's sending Marines to Beirut. Oh yeah. I love that one. Hell, I didn't even know that fact. He stood against Reagan as a Republican. Take that one, Obama. When did he ever stand against his party on such a substantive matter? I don't think anyone who watches McCain's performance will think he doesn't care about the troops. By the way, I think Obama does too. McCain screwing up a little here in explaining why America should not come home as a loser. He misses the point. Americans are TIRED of war. He needs to make a better point of why it is important to American and WHY their sacrifices are worthwhile. Don't paint it as a win/lose proposition. I'm not going to demonize him on this one because as a former soldier, I understand a soldier thinking this way.

Dayumn. McCain keeps pointing out Obama, like Bennie Thompson, rarely visited the fronts. In fact, Obama only visited once if I'm not mistaken.

FINALLY, IRAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now we are talking.

McCain immediately brings up nukes. There ya go. put it on the table. Should bring up North Korea and Syria nuke project. Alludes to Iran's threats to wipe out Israel. Nice. McCain mentioning a League of Democracies. Considering most of the world is under some form of totalitarian government, not a bad idea. Flaw is, Europe is socialist to a large degree in character and philosophy and will not go along with such an idea. NICE!!! He hits Obama over the vote against naming the Iranian Republican Guard a terrorist organization. Obama trying to defend it but is vulnerable here somewhat as the IRG WAS operating against us in Iraq. Nice point by Obama as he says Iran helps Hezbollah and Hamas. Good thoughtful explanation by Obama about the value of diplomacy. Obama makes a nice use of Kissinger, a pillar of Republican foreign policy thinking. Damn. Obama calls Iran a "rogue regime". Nice. He is parrying McCain rather well on this issue. McCain making good points but Obama not looking clueless either. Nice job by Obama to mention North Korea helping Syria get nukes. Now I'm getting a good buzz going.

McCain comes back with a serious answer about speaking to Iran without preconditions. That is one weakness in Obama's position. Too often such meetings are used by dictators as photo ops to use against their populations. Obama keeps hitting him with Kissinger. Damn. McCain needs to point out that Kissinger thought the Beijing Massacre was ok. Nice comeback by McCain on Kissinger. Louis XIV is being very good and sleeping while I am watching this. Usually at this time of night he wants me to throw his toys for him to fetch.

Now we are on to Russia. The most important issue: Don't stop the free flow of Russian women to this country. Period. I want to know where the candidates stand on this very serious issue.

You guys are making good comments.

Nice job by Obama making fun of Bush. Bush deserves it. Obama doesn't say a thing about Georgia. McCain putting him down. There ya go. Showing a better understanding of Russia. DAMN!!! "I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes and I saw theree letters: K, G, and B". Damn. Brings up the pipeline and Russia using energy as a weapon. Obama neglected this. McCain is a little bit tougher towards Russia and bring up Ukraine. Showing a superior subject matter knowledge compared to Obama. Anyone want to bet Lotus and Ladd are talking about what a warmonger McCain is and how crazy he is? In my opinion, Obama not showing he is clueless about Russia, just McCain knows the subject better than he does. Wait! Obama warned Bush about Russian peacekeepers? When?

Wow. Obama says we should increase domestic and offshore oil production. Concedes nuclear energy, which McCain brought up first. Obama hits him on voting against alternative fuels 23 times. I'm willing to be those votes were over ethanol subsidies, which Dole and Archer-Daniels Midland pushed for and got for years. McCain missing out on the increased drilling issue: It will create more high-paying jobs and bring him in some union votes as well.

NICE. McCain shows up 9/11 Commission, which Bush opposed. One major flaw of the Bush administration was its top-down management style. THEY know best. Don't worry your pretty little heads about anything. What tipped me off after 9/11 is when Bush opposed arming the pilots, fighting it tooth and nail, and the creation of the 9/11 Commission.

McCain using specifics on homeland security, Obama speaking in more general terms. Obama says we need missile defense. McCain needs to point out his ad earlier this year was AGAINST it. I posted the video on this website. Obama focuses on how we are perceived. How bad will LSU beat MSU tomorrow night?

McCain again discussing why leaving Iraq is a bad idea in terms of won/loss terms. Needs to make it more personal and concrete for Americans. Americans don't want to hear their kids died for a scoreboard. Obama screwing up here, saying Al Qaida is resurgent. Sounds clueless to anyone informed on the subject. Obama trying to tie cost of Iraq excursion into economy.

End of debate notes. They both came off very serious, prepared. I enjoyed this debate much more than I did the Bush/Gore or Bush/Kerry debates. NICE! Obama talking about WHY his father came here. I like it. Something Reagan would've said and Clinton never did. If Obama is smart, he'll paint that vision of how he sees America as a land of opportunity, with government working for them (in his own way, of course).

Obama had a better closing statement than did McCain. I think both of them were polished, serious, well-prepared, thoughtful. I liked this debate. No animosity between the two even though it was spirited. This is what we expect of our leaders, not the crap we saw from Harrie Reid and Barney Frank earlier today.

Who won? Slight edge to McCain. Showed a superior mastery of foreign policy butu Obama held his own and made some good points. I think he was wrong on some of them, such as going into Pakistan and talking to Iran, but he was able to back them up with his reasons for thinking the way he did. McCain looked more experience, looked more expert of how Washington works, and that he cared as much as Obama did about the welfare of his countrymen. No knockdown punches, just a series of good jabs and some serious discussion by two people who deserve our respect.

I'm now drunk as anyone reading this can tell.

A Congressman shows some backbone.

"House Republicans stood and supported the Petraeus surge so our troops would have victory in Iraq.
Today, House Republicans oppose the Paulson splurge so that we can have prosperity in America in the long run.
And make no mistake, we understand the gravity of this situation. But we will not engage in a rush to judgment that destroys the possibility of the free market and prosperity for American families for decades to come.
We will not walk out of this room after a forced vote, waving a piece of paper in our hands, claiming “fleece in our time.”
We will do the job we are entrusted with and we will get the job done."

Meanwhile Congressman Pickering and Senator Wicker "study" the problem and refuse to take a position. Great speech. Only 5 minutes.

Nice.

Called Wicker and Pickering's offices. They STILL are not taking a position on the bailout bill.

Meanwhile Boehner and Bunning are all over this issue. Nice to know we have elected backbenchers.

The Times(U.K.): British Banks Could get $175 Billion in Bailout.

"Britain’s five leading high street banks have as much as £95.3 billion ($175 billion) of distressed assets on their books that may qualify for the American bailout scheme.
If the British banks tap the rescue fund being set up by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve to the maximum, they could secure one quarter of the $700 billion being made available. Under the terms of an outline agreement that appeared to have been reached by US policymakers last night, Britain’s lenders will be able to use the facility. .....
Combined, the five British lenders hold securities worth $175 billion, which they could transfer to a federally backed Treasury fund. Under the proposed terms of the rescue package, non-US financial institutions must have significant operations in America to qualify..........."
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4828413.ece

Democrats Lie. They called for McCain to come back to DC to help pass bailout bill.

Meanwhile a certain left-wing local publication here in Jackson prints the headline: "McCain wants to cut and run from debate". The same publication that referred to Governor Palin as "white trash" in a headline this week.

Did the Fed bail out Citigroup?

VERY interesting.

http://elliottwave.com/freeupdates/archives/2008/09/24/$138-Billion----Just-Inferences,-We-Hope.aspx

DWF: Everyone Wish Kingfish a Happy Birthday Tomorrow!

Saturday is the big birthday for Kingfish! Everyone be sure to send congratulations.

Happy Birthday!

Fox News Catches up with The Kingfish

Sound familiar?

McCain should've already been hitting them with this stuff instead of that pathetic ad linking Frank Raines to Obama.

Is Bernanke TRYING to torpedo banks?

Kingfish note: Colonel Hapablap penned this little column.

First, a quick primer on the Federal Reserve and interest rates:


The Federal Reserve is a private bank, and like any other private company, has a balance sheet. The liabilities & equity side is filled with Federal Reserve Notes (Dollars) and the asset side is filled with U.S. Treasuries, Agency (GSE) paper, and other mortgage debt. The Federal Reserve's balance sheet is approximately $1 Trillion. As a part of its management of the money supply, the Federal Reserve conducts daily open market operations, loaning out dollars for short term duration, often one or 2 days. Collateral, in the form of Treasuries, Agency paper, or other mortgage paper, is required to be posted in order to receive one of these loans.


These overnight operations are the mechanism by which the Fed "sets" overnight interest rates. Ultimately, all interest rates are determined by supply and demand in credit markets. Despite what they might have you believe, the Fed doesn't just tell the market what overnight interest rate to use when they make a policy decision. If there is more money out there to be loaned than demand for that money, interest rates go down as lenders compete to lend available dollars to a finite group of borrowers. The interest rate moves until either more borrowers are drawn in by the lower interest rate or more lenders give up on lending at such low rates. Similarly, if there is more demand for money than there is available money, interest rates move up. So, in order to consistently maintain a given interest rate day after day regardless of minor fluctuations in the overnight credit markets, the Fed conducts open market operations, draining or adding liquidity (cash) to or from the system as is necessary to keep the rate where they want it.


Remember, the Fed has a finite balance sheet, so it can only play this game so much. For instance, the Board of Governors has no ability to force the overnight rate to 20% for tomorrow. With current overnight rates hovering in the 2% range, a massive amount of liquidity would have to be drained from the system in order to make the overnight supply and demand for money balance be 20%. Similarly, if the credit markets suffered a huge shock tonight that took the natural supply/demand balance up to 20%, there is no way for the Fed to bring it back down to 2% via open market operations with the balance sheet available to them.


Now that we all basically understand how all this mess works, and presuming that I haven't confused you even more than you already were, let's look at some interesting data from the last several days:


http://www.gmtfo.com/reporeader/OMOps.aspx




This is the Slosh Report. It shows, essentially, how much liquidity the Fed has outstanding on any given day. Noticee a few things. First, look at the amount of liquidity that has been drained (Net Add column) in the last 5 days. If you go to the page yourself, you can mess with the start date to show you liquidity going back for a while. Through most of August and the beginning of September, the Slosh hovered between $100B and $120B. Today's total was $63B. The Federal Reserve has DRAINED $60B of outstanding system liquidity. But why? I thought that the problem was a LACK of liquidity in the system. If there are financial institutions teetering on bankrupcy, one would expect the Fed to be ADDING liquidity to the system.





http://newyorkfed.org/markets/omo/dmm/fedfundsdata.cfm


This is data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, showing historical overnight rates. As you can see, the overnight rate for the last 4 days has been markedly below 2%. In fact, it's been much closer to 1.5%. So, clearly, the Fed is unable to defend its target 2% rate. In fact, as I mentioned before, the Fed shouldn't WANT to defend the 2% rate, as it would require a liquidity drain that the system clearly does not need right now. So, why haven't we seen a target rate cut?


Now, I am generally not a Tin-Foil-Hat type of guy. In fact, that kind of stupidity generally makes me mad. But this is just inexplicable to me. The credit markets have already decided that the overnight rate needs to be no higher than 1.5%. Yet, the Fed continues - for a week now - to drain liquidity from the system in an effort to keep the rate higher than the market wants. And they're doing it at a time when Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson are in front of congress, testifying under oath that the system is on the brink of collapse due to a lack of systemic liquidity. Why? Why would you engage in something that could very well cause the bank failures that you claim you want to prevent? Maybe for the same reason that you would, in the previous week, tell America that you had to get a financial bailout bill done before the markets opened in Asia on Sunday or else there would be financial calamity.


The easiest way to get something done in Washington is to create panic. I bet a few banks going under would do it.


Hattip to Karl Denniger on this one.
http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=62791

The Bailout Broken Down

Congressman McCotter has alternative plan to Paulson Bailout

McCotter Bailout Plan, no cost to taxpayer

Congressman McCotter has created a plan that he says will stabilize the markets with no cost to the taxpayers:

"Expedited American Recapitalization -- Now" Act

1. Expedited American Recapitalization -- Now (EARN) Proceedings: A sunset bill that makes available to financial institutions a pre-packaged recapitalization (EARN) proceeding in which debt forgiveness is expedited. (This is similar to expedited bankruptcy proceedings....
3. Incentivize Private Recapitalization: If, within a limited one year window (commencing upon this legislation's enactment into law), a person invests in (i.e., recapitalizes) a financial institution that has undergone an EARN proceeding, this investment over its lifetime is subject to a ZERO capital gains tax rate. If, within the same one year window, a person purchases a toxic asset, this investment over its lifetime is subject to a ZERO capital gains tax rate. .......
4. Government Backstop: If no private capital is forthcoming, the government can take a preferred equity stake in an EARN financial institution. No dividends may be paid to any other investor until the taxpayers' claim is redeemed with appropriate interest. The government shall also hold voting rights, as determined by the percentage of its equity shares owned, in an EARN financial institution only until such time as the taxpayers' claim is redeemed with appropriate interest. (This addresses CEO salaries and bonuses without permanently vitiating the private sector's setting of compensation.)...
7. Market Transparency and Congressional Oversight: To ensure Market Transparency, the Secretary of the Treasury is empowered to examine any and all appropriate financial records at any time of financial institutions and individuals covered under this act; and Congress at any time may request of the Secretary of the Treasury any and all information required to protect the taxpayers' investment incurred under this act. ....
10. Ultimate Cost to Taxpayers: ZERO!"

Article on McCotter Bill

I still prefer the other alternative I posted a few days ago, reasonable alternative to bailout but McCotter's plan is an improvement.

Only 700 Light-Years Away

At first glance, the Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293), looks simple and round. But this well-studied example of a planetary nebula, produced near the end of the life of a sun-like star, is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry. Its extended loops and comet-shaped features have been explored in Hubble Space Telescope images. Still, a 16-inch diameter telescope and camera with broad and narrow band filters was used to create this sharp view of the Helix. The color composite also reveals the nebula's intriguing details, including light-year long, bluegreen radial stripes or spokes that give it the appearance of a cosmic bicycle wheel. The spoke features seem to indicate that the Helix Nebula is itself an old and evolved planetary nebula. The Helix is a mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080904.html

Truth coming out on Troopergate

Apparently the two main figures involved in Troopergate besides Governor Palin are guilty of a little domestic violence.

The head of the state police Governor Palin fired, Walt Monegan, had a restraining order placed on him and dislocated her shoulder (of course he claims they were just horsing around and it happened before they were married). The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
It turns out that well before he was jettisoned for what he says was his refusal to fire trooper Wooten at the behest of Sarah Palin, Monegan had his own share of domestic troubles - some of them spilling all the way down to the Bay Area.
In October 1994, Monegan's estranged wife, who had moved from Alaska to the Peninsula with the couple's two daughters after more than 10 years of marriage, sought a temporary restraining order against him - accusing Monegan of threatening to kill her, waving a gun at her and dislocating her shoulder, according to her declaration on file in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
In an interview last week, Georgene Moldovan said Monegan had threatened several times to throw her body in an Alaska river.
Monegan, 57, who has since remarried, vigorously denied Moldovan's allegations, both in court papers filed at the time and in an interview with us last week. "I'm not a door slammer - I don't punch walls," he said.
Monegan admitted to dislocating Moldovan's shoulder, but said it was an accident that had happened before they were married, while they "were wrestling and tickling." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/15/BALE12T2N3.DTL

Sound familiar?

So Governor Palin fired a state official who had a history of domestic violence and refused to fire a state trooper who tased a 10 year old child and was drinking on duty. Yet Palin is the villain for actually trying to control her own department. Go figure.

List of Mississippi Bloggers on Townhall.com

http://townhall.com/youropinion/blogs/state/MS

Does Buffet Show up Bernanke & Paulson?

From The Market Ticker:
"Throwing cold water on the "bailout now!" mantra, Berkshire announced it is going to invest $5 billion dollars this evening into Goldman Sachs:
"Berkshire is buying $5 billion of perpetual preferred shares, New York-based Goldman said today in a statement. Goldman, which this week transformed itself from the biggest U.S. securities firm to the fourth-largest bank by assets, also plans to raise at least $2.5 billion by selling common stock in a public offering."
But wait! Didn't Bernanke and Paulson just get done saying a few hours prior that private capital would not invest?
Well Comrade Paulson and Comrade Bernanke? It appears that indeed private capital will invest, if the terms are good and the company sound.
Heh heh heh, a free market solution! Warren comes in and sticks a big wad of cash into Goldman Sachs - something that you said wouldn't happen without you offloading all of this bad debt onto the back of the taxpayer.
I love it when one of the most-storied investors of our time turns our Treasury Secretary and Chairman of The Fed into a liar just hours after their "Armageddon Story" is run on national television............"

Latest headline at Jackson Free Press. Needs no comment.

"Quiz: What Mississippi Legend is Calling Sarah Palin ‘White Trash’?"

The JFP will tell you a bit later today on our brand, spanking new Debate-Politics Blog. Stay tuned. posted by ladd on 09/24/08 at 01:52 PM
White trash reference

Long list of economists oppose bailout

http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

Wicker, Cochran, and Pickering: No position on the bailout bill.

I called my representatives in Congress today to express my opposition to the bailout bill as currently written.

The lady who answered the phone at Senator Wicker's office informed me he had not taken a position yet and was trying to get as much information as possible. She also informed me that very very few people had called in favor of it but that calls had been running very heavily against it. Interesting.

Senator Cochran's office said he had not taken a position yet on the bailout bill as well. It must be noted that the person answering in the phone was not as friendly as Senator Wicker's staff and just seemed interested in keeping a tally and hanging up as quickly as possible instead of listening to what the Senator's constituents might actually have to say.

The same held true when I called Congressman Pickering's office as I was told by a staffer that he was reviewing everything and had not taken a position yet on the bailout bill either. Young man was very nice and was able to discuss the bill at some length. He also said the calls were running very heavily against the proposed legislation.

Note: If looking for alternate proposals, check out Congressman McCotter's bill, Expedited American Recapitalization Now Act or an earlier post that made a great deal of sense,
Sensible bailout alternative

Recap of bailout bill/housing implosion posts:
Great breakdown of Paulson bailout bill
Sensible alternative by a fund manager
Newt Speaks
1999 NY Times: Clinton Admin pressured Fannie to make subprime loans
Quick Primer on Current Financial Crisis
More evidence of Democrats/Fannie incest
2002 NY Times: Bush tries to reform Fannie & Freddie
McCain tried to reform Fannie and Freddie
Truth about FDIC
Senator Dodd:"Troubled"?
Thinking of blaming Bush for Fannie problems? Try again

WLBT covers The Kingfish's fight with City Hall

WLBT reported last night on Jackson's attempts to frustrate The Kingfish's efforts to obtain the Heather Spencer case police reports through the Public Records Act. I haven't seen the video as I absolutely HATE seeing myself on camera. The reporter did a good job in the interview and in her print version of the story. As usual, Tom Hood has been very fair in his comments about this issue and has been active in helping the public gain access to what are its own records.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9061399&nav=menu119_3

Here is the police report provided by Jackson:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/jackson-disregards-ethics-commission.html

By the way, since they linked my blog on WLBT's website, I have to stay respectable for a few days. Too bad, had a killer babe pic to post today.

Clarion-Ledger recognizes bloggers

Congrats to Tom Freeland, FOLO blogger, lawyer, master chef, blues aficionado, and sometime practitioner of jackassery. The Clarion-Ledger published an interview with him in last Sunday's edition. The interview is available at http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809210341.

Editoral Page Editor David Hampton discussed my fight to get Jackson to release the Heather Spencer case police reports in his weekly column, http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/COL0408/809210336/1167/OPINION

Wow, are we finally becoming respectable?

A peek into BDS

Over at FOLO, Lotus is wondering about an "October Surprise" involving Osama. Have to love the circular logic: If Bush doesn't get Bin Laden, he's incompetent. If he does get him, he's trying to influence the election. http://www.folo.us/2008/09/24/this-oughta-be-worth-a-question-or-two-friday/

We should be so lucky.

From The Clarion-Ledger tonight:
An inmate in the State Penitentiary at Parchman died this weekend of cardiac arrest following a fistfight with another inmate.
Ricky Sykes, 43, died Saturday in Parchman’s Unit 30, where prisoners go for educational classes and drug and alcohol counseling, according to Mississippi Department of Corrections spokeswoman Tara Booth.

We can hope.

GREAT Breakdown of the Paulson bailout bill.

Karl Denninger, who has been on the money in predicting the fate of the markets and economy since the beginning of the year, breaks down the Paulson bailout plan, showing exactly why this is a really really bad deal for America. The full text of the bill is included so scroll past the bill to his comments.

If you think the cost of this bill is $700 billion, you're wrong. The cost is actually infinite and the entire bill constitutes a giant money-laundering scheme.
Paulson can (and presumably will) buy up to $700 billion of these "assets", then sell them. Let's say he decides to buy them at 60 cents on the dollar and sell them for 10. You, the taxpayer, will eat the fifty cents, for an immediate cost of $350 billion dollars.
Having done so, he is then authorized to do so again, since the $700 billion is no longer on the government's balance sheet.
In fact, he can do this without limit, other than possibly due to the federal debt ceiling, which of course Congress will raise any time we get close to it. Oh yeah, this bill does that right up front too. No need to bother with it the first time around.
Folks, $700 billion isn't even close to the total cost of this monster.
If Paulson and his successor decide to, they could literally cycle all $5.3 trillion of Fannie and Freddie's debt through this scheme, potentially sticking the taxpayer for 20% or more of the total, plus as much private debt on various bank balance sheets as they can manage to nationalize until (and possibly beyond) the point where the bond market tells him to go to hell.
Bottom line: This bill gives Paulson the ability to nationalize an UNLIMITED amount of private debt and force YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN to pay for it.

Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
If you are a bank, investor, or other entity who is forcibly gang-raped by Secretary Paulson due to his actions as "King" (crowned by Congress) under this law, you are unable to seek redress in the courts or by administrative action......
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/587-The-Mother-Of-All-Frauds.html

Some Comic Relief

Economist/Fund Manager has pretty good idea for what might work instead of the bailout.

In 2006, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted “Everyone knows that a policy of bailouts will increase their number.” This week, Congress is being asked to hastily consider a monstrous bailout plan on a scale nearly equivalent to the existing balance sheet of the Federal Reserve.
As an economist and investment manager, I am concerned that the plan advocated by Treasury is essentially a plan to bail out the bondholders of financial institutions that made bad lending decisions, with little help to homeowners that are actually in financial distress. It is difficult to believe that the U.S. government is contemplating taking on the bad assets of these institutions at probable taxpayer loss and effectively immunizing the bondholders (and shareholders) of these companies.
While it is certainly in the public interest to avoid the dislocations that would result from a disorderly failure of highly interconnected financial institutions, there are better ways for public funds to accomplish this, other than by protecting corporate bondholders while homeowners remain in distress. ....
What has happened in recent months is that this equity has become insufficient, so that the company technically becomes insolvent provided that the bondholders have to be paid off....
The appropriate solution is not for the government to replace the bad assets with public money, but rather for the government to execute a receivership of the failed institution and immediately conduct a “whole bank” sale – selling the bank's assets and liabilities as a package, but ex the debt to bondholders, which preserves the ongoing business without loss to customers and counterparties, wipes out shareholder equity, and gives bondholders partial (perhaps even nearly complete) recovery with the proceeds. ......
http://hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc080922.htm

Very interesting read and very thought-provoking as well. Can someone explain why this wouldn't work?

Ok Republicans, its time to get your ballz back.

FINALLY a Republican leader speaks out against this insane bailout conjured up by Paulson. This bailout is nothing but a betrayal of the conservative principles of free markets, moral hazard, limited government, and reducing government spending. The bailout bans any review of the bailout by a court or agency. In plain English this means the Secretary can act without ANY check on his authority unless the statute itself is changed. The bailout can run OVER 700 billion dollars, as it allows the Secretary to use $700 billion at any one time. Meaning, the $700 billion amount is a line of credit limit, not a hard one time cap. This bill bails out the Chinese and other foreign debt, not just American debt. You read right: The American taxpayers will be bailing out the Chinese.

Bondholders are protected. The holders of bad mortgage notes are allowed to dump them on the taxpayers and the Secretary can sell them at pennies on the dollar if he so desires. Translation: The Secretary can buy high and sell low while manufacturing an excuse about stabilizing the markets. It allows him to choose which financial institutions can act as "financial agents of the government". Can you say "crony capitalism"? This is the kind of crap seen in moribund Europe or Chicom socialism, not the American capitalist system that built up the highest standard of living in the world.

Republicans are supposed to stand for protecting the taxpayer and not engaging in such schemes, but here we are standing on the edge of the monetary abyss because President Bush and Secretary Paulson have "lost their nerve", as Speaker Gingrich put it so aptly tonight. It's about damn time a Republican called this treasury spade the poisoned dagger it really is. Already Bush is caving in to the Democrats as they seek to pile even more money on top of this monstrosity. Do you Republicans not remember 1994 when you stood against Hillary's attempted takeover of the American healthcare system? Do you remember the complaints about her plan? Unlimited liabilities. Too much power handed over to a bureaucrat with no limit on his power. No cap on how much money could be spent supporting a national healthcare system. The ability to levy unlimited taxes with no approval from Congress on all employers within a region. Back then you showed some guts in taking on the media and the Democrats in stopping Hillary's insidious scheme.

Where is the Phil Gramm today who will say "This will pass over my dead body" as Bob Dole prepared to surrender? Have all of the Republicans lost their nerve? Have they all gone wobbly? Is crony capitalism what Republicans now stand for? If the Republicans don't get some backbone and stand up to the Democrats and Bush, they deserve to get creamed in November.

Note: Don't worry if you don't understand everything about the bailout. Kingfish is going to take care of you and over the next few days, make sure you know everything you need to know about the bailout.

Newt's remarks on bailout in National Review online today

What to do? What to do?

Thinking about blogging during the debate Friday night. The main question if I do it is....

do I blog sober or drunk? Could be interesting either way.

Here is a nice little provision of the Bailout

"Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

http://www.housingwire.com/2008/09/21/full-text-of-treasurys-proposal/

Jackson Disregards Ethics Commission Opinion, Only Provides One Police Report in George Bell, III Case

The City of Jackson apparently disregarded the recent Ethics Commission opinion directing the City to release copies of the two police reports I requested under Mississippi public records law. On July 25, 2008, I submitted a public records request to the City for a copy of the police incident reports for the murder of Heather Spencer and the kidnapping of Elizabeth Hall. Monica Joiner, Deputy City Attorney, denied my request, thus forcing me to appeal to the Mississippi Ethics Commission. The Commission ruled that under the new amendments to the public records law, Jackson should provide me with a copy of the reports. Jackson Denial Letter

In what can only be called a blatant disregard for the Commission's ruling, Jackson only sent the police incident report for the murder of Heather Spencer after heavily redacting it. The sanitizing was so thorough not even Heather Spencer's name is mentioned anywhere in the report. The city did not provide me with the report for the kidnapping, thus ignoring the Ethics Commission's ruling.

The City of Jackson has dealt with this matter in bad faith from the very beginning. The City refused my original public records requests despite the statute. The city claimed it did not have a police incident report form, even though the report is titled "police incident report". When I appealed Jackson's denial to the Mississippi Ethics Commission, the City stated in writing that the capital murder and kidnapping charges against George Bell, III had not been prosecuted as of August 6, 2008!!!
Cases already prosecuted. Second to last paragraph

When the Ethics Commission ruled in my favor, the attorney for the City said they would comply with the ruling. The City,however, only released one police report when the opinion states Jackson must provide both reports. Jackson has repeatedly acted in bad faith by lying (What else do you call saying the cases had not been prosecuted?) and avoiding its responsibility to the public.

Jackson's attorneys forget the government exists to serve us, not themselves. Jackson has a bunker mentality discouraging openness and accountability. From the Melton administration's junking of the Comstat crime reporting system to its refusals to provde the public with crime statistics (until forced to do so by media lawsuits), Jackson has engaged in a pattern of keeping Jacksonians from seeing how its government and police are run by its leaders. Sadly enough, the actions by the City attorneys are only more of the same as it ignores the Mississippi Ethics Commission, shirking its responsibilities to its own citizens.

Copy of Police Incident Report for the murder of Heather Spencer:
http://jackson-jambalaya.googlegroups.com/web/city%20reports.pdf

Ethics Commission Opinion

Previous Posts on this subject:
Greenwood Commonwealth Editorial
Clarion-Ledger Editorial on Ethics Commission ruling and Kingfish
Kingfish requests opinion from Ethics Commission
Jackson denies Kingfish's request for police incident reports

Nazism & Communism are blood brothers.

This clip from The Soviet Story discusses the relationships between Nazism and Communism and how Marx and Lenin were the ideological foundations of the Nazi party. Interesting stuff. A little over five minutes long. Very interesting. Also something to throw back at liberals when they hurl the Nazi charge at Conservatives and Republicans.

Neshoba

This is the trailer for the documentary, Neshoba, produced by award-winning filmmaker and former Mississippi resident Miki Dickoff. It is currently shown at film festivals around the country. No information available when it will be be shown to the general public.

New York Times 1999: Clinton Administration pressured Fannie Mae to make subprime loans.

Ignore the spin and media histrionics. Do the research. Eventually the truth does come out as it always does. In this case, most if not all of the Fannie Mae trainwreck can be blamed on the Clinton Administration and the Democrats. OFHEO warned in 2006 Fannie was out of control and lying on its balance sheets. The Bush Administration tried to reform Fannie and Freddie in 2003 only to be stopped by Congressional Democrats such as Barney Frank who said there was no problem to fix. Senators Hagel and McCain tried to pass legislation tightening the supervision of the agencies in 2005. Meanwhile, former Clinton Administration officials-turned-Fannie Mae executives such as Jamie Gorelick, Frank Raines and others walked out of Fannie Mae with over $100 million in compensation after illegally manipulating earnings statements and engaging in Enron-type fraud. While lining their pockets, they and their Democrat allies were corrupting our mortgage system as The New York Times reported in 1999:

"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits......
'Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.'' (Frank Raines statement)......
By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings....
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.'' .......
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

Yet it's all Bush's fault.

Earlier posts on Fannie/Freddie Implosion and the role of the Democrats:
More evidence of Democrats/Fannie incest:
NYT 2002: Bush tried to reform fannie, Dem's opposed:
Thinking if blaming Bush? Try again.
McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae, Obama took $126,349 from Fannie Mae:
2006 OFHEO report warning of impending disaster at Fannie Mae:

Ayn Rand Slams Conservatism

http://realcluster.forethought.net:8080/ramgen/ari/registeredonly/ar/conservatism_lecture.rm
In light of the events on Wall Street this week and the opportunism shown by the campaigns, this lecture by Ayn Rand is strangely appropriate and not dated as her criticism applies to both candidates, even though this was recorded in 1960.

If link does not work, try this one:
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_conservatism

Portico Magazine added to Local Links Section

Portico Magazine, a local publication, has been added to the Local Links/Blog Roll sidebar on the right side of the page.

http://www.porticojackson.com/index.htm

My only suggestion is it would be nice if the publisher provided an online edition of the magazine, subscription-based of course.

GEAUX TO HELL AUBURN!!!

I sat through the big rip-off two years ago at Auburn. It was the worst, and I mean the worst, officiated game I've ever seen in college football from start to finish. Turns out the replay official at the time had a daughter on athletic scholarship at Auburn and pulled the same crap the next week against Georgia. He's an insurance salesman in Huntsville with a bunch of Auburn paraphenalia all over his office. My Tigers are going to Auburn tonight to beat the hell out of the Auburn hicks. I hate Auburn. Nothing good at all about them exists. I see the damn war chicken and I want to shoot it out of the sky then gut it. I'd like to torch the big A in the middle of the field and blow up every single frat house on campus. Tuberville is one of the sleaziest coaches around and I hope Keiland accidentally runs right over him. The only thing I'll be sorry about is Chaz Ramsey isn't playing tonight so we can't pay him back for his chopblock against Glenn Dorsey last year. GEAUX TO HELL AUBURN!!!

Obamaites want to "get in your face"? Get SHARKBAT!!!

It's like a cactus bat, but instead of nails and wood, you take an aluminum bat and punch triangular holes into it with a church key. Then you use needlenose pliers to pull the "tooth" back outside, letting it snarl..like shark's teeth.

It hits, and rips. Definitely sends a message..."I'm going to SHARKBAT that guy's face for getting in MY face."

Great response by Liberal Democrat Alaskan defending Palin

\


Former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives. Gore Vidal type liberal. Totally owns the JFP-like interviewers.

Triumph's Award-Winning Coverage of the Republican Convention

Here is a quick primer on the current financial turmoil which is easy to read.

From The New York Times:
"The last 10 days have been the most remarkable period of government intervention into the financial system since the Great Depression. In talking with reporters and our noneconomist friends, we have been besieged with questions about several aspects of these events. Here are a few of the most frequently asked questions with our best answers....."
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/diamond-and-kashyap-on-the-recent-financial-upheavals/

More evidence of the Democrats/Fannie Mae incest and abuse.

NY Times in 2002: Bush Admin tried to reform Fannie & Freddie; Democrats opposed reform.

Still trying to blame the Bush administration for the implosion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as Obama and his lackeys are? The right-wing rag The New York Times reported in 2002 the Bush administration tried to reform the agencies while placing them under more adult supervision.

'Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates. ......
At the time (1992), the companies and their allies beat back efforts for tougher oversight by the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Reserve. Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families.....
The company is also likely to lobby against the efforts that give regulators too much authority to approve its products...... (We all know what happened because of this, don't we?)
Fannie Mae, which was previously known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, which was the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, have been criticized by rivals for exerting too much influence over their regulators.
Fannie Mae, which was previously known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, which was the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, have been criticized by rivals for exerting too much influence over their regulators.
''The regulator has not only been outmanned, it has been outlobbied,'' said Representative Richard H. Baker, the Louisiana Republican who has proposed legislation similar to the administration proposal and who leads a subcommittee that oversees the companies. ''Being underfunded does not explain how a glowing report of Freddie's operations was released only hours before the managerial upheaval that followed. This is not world-class regulatory work.''
Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Is any comment necessary?

Earlier posts:
Thinking of blaming Bush?:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/thinking-of-blaming-bush-for-fannie.html
McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae 3 years ago. Obama took $126,349 from Fannie Mae:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-tried-to-reform-fannie-mae-2.html
2006 OFHEO report warning of Fannie/Freddie abuses and reckless management:
http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/FNMSPECIALEXAM.PDF

One little fact about the AIG bailout....

The bailout is a LOAN. The interest rate is nearly ELEVEN percent. Nice juice if you can get it. With an 80% equity stake, the government makes money on this deal.

Performa Problems?

Looks like Farish Street isn't the only place where Performa is having problems. Black & White, Birmingham's City Paper, reports:
"After a no-show by Performa Entertainment CEO John Elkington at the July meeting of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex's board of directors, board members at the August 20 meeting buzzed with the anticipation of a progress report. Performa is under contract with the BJCC to create The Forge, an entertainment district of retail shops, restaurants, and nightclubs adjacent to the BJCC....
Then Elkington began his now-familiar refrain about how hard it is to secure funding and tenants for the space: "We're in the dog days of summer," Elkington intoned. "The environment we're in today is different; lenders are requering three years of tax statements and financials for each lessee." He vaguely mentioned "issues" of soils at the site, and talked about his "big concern" being "significant minority participation" in the project, by way of tenants, subcontractors, and others involved. Elkinton said it would be five to six weeks before his company ordered steel for the project (but he didn't specify for what portion).....
As he had at previous meetings, Elkington offered a litany of confusing excuses for why he hasn't provided the names of specific lessees: "If we were leasing to Applebee's, or Publix, it would be a different situation. . . . These are tough times." Oddly, Elkington brought up his company's work on a similar entertainment district in Jackson, Mississippi (called Farish Street), which has received attention for its lack of progress in the nearly 10 years since Performa said it would begin construction. Despite recent news that a Jackson bank is denying Performa $3 million in loans to finance the second phase of that development ("Bank Problems Mire Farish Project," Jackson Free Press, June 11, 2008, tinyurl.com/6ff5nk), Elkington dismissed Farish Street as if it were no big deal. "I'm no longer on that project, because I'm here," he said, talking about his search for a home within Birmingham's city limits..."
http://www.bwcitypaper.com/Articles-i-2008-09-04-223700.113122_The_Tao_of_John_Elkington.html

A couple of thoughts:

1. His complaining about lenders, *gasp*, requiring things like financial statements. A bank is going to loan you several million dollars and wants to see your financial statements. Imagine that. Is he that ignorant or has he had his nose stuck in the government money trough for so long he forgot how the private sector operates?

2. He is no longer on the Farish Street project? Oh really?

Very interesting.

Jackson Free Press story cited in article:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/bank_problems_mire_farish_project_061108/

Madison Misfits Blog added to blogroll

Madison Misfits Blog: http://madisonmisfits.blogspot.com/

McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae 3 years ago. Obama was AWOL as he took $126,349 from Fannie Mae

Senator John McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several years ago. Senators Dole, Hagel, McCain, and Sunnunu sponsored "The Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005". This bill would have created a new oversight board for the agencies that would have had more authority to investigate and discipline them. Naturally the Democrats blocked this bill in committee as they did everything they could for years to prevent Fannie and Freddie from being held accountable for their mismanagement and fraud.

McCain made the following remarks in 2005 as he urged passage of this bill:
"Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs—and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation."

While McCain was trying to save the housing industry and the American taxpayers from the current crisis THREE YEARS ago, what was Barack Obama doing? Taking $126,349 in contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Link)

When asked about the housing crisis now, Obama says, "Republicans and Democrats I think in Congress did not pay enough attention to the structural problem with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which was, they are quasi public, quasi private institutions." Gee Barack, where were you in 2005 when McCain was fighting for "change" in the housing industry? Why didn't he stand up to his Fannie Mae masters? In fact, when has he ever bucked his own party or campaign donors in a major fight? (Link)

McCain fought to reform Fannie and Freddie while Obama took $126,349 from them. That is all you need to know.

By the way, want to guess which candidate is making the most noise about the financial crisis and blaming the other party for it?

2006 OFHEO report on abuses at Fannie and Freddie:

Earlier post on Fannie/Freddie problems and how OFEO tried to alert Congress:

Nagoya wins JJ Readers' Poll for Best Asian Cuisine in Jackson

Congratulations to Nagoya. JJ readers voted the restaurant the best Asian cuisine-style restaurant in Jackson. Nagoya led the poll from start to finish. If you haven't been to Nagoya, try it. Order the Fried Nagoya roll. One further question. If Bonsai is the third or fourth best local Japanese restaurant, how come it is always the most crowded?

Here are the results (86 votes were cast):
1. Nagoya: 25 votes (29) 2. Little Tokyo: 17 votes (19%) 3. Thai House: 10 votes (11%) 4.Kyoto: 7 votes (8%) 5. Bonsai: 6 votes (6%) 6. PanAsia & Sukurabanna: 5 votes (5%) 7. China Bell 4 votes (4%) 8. Ichibans: 3 votes (3%) 9. O.E.C. & Sun Koon: 2 votes (2%) (HOW did Sun Koon get this many votes?)

Greenwood Commonwealth publishes story on Kingfish's Victory on Public Records Fight

The Greenwood Commonwealth published a story today on Kingfish's successful battle to open up police reports to the public last week:
"The days when officials in Mississippi could get away routinely with defying the rights of citizens to see government documents and observe government meetings may be coming to a close.
There's a new “sheriff” in town, empowered by a new state law that eliminates most of the financial leverage government officials formerly used to dissuade those who would challenge secrecy.The new law got its first test last week, and it was a great success.
The Mississippi Ethics Commission, now empowered to mediate disputes over open meetings and open records, said that the Jackson Police Department erred when it declined to provide a citizen with copies of incident reports involving the separate crimes of kidnapping and murder committed last year by the son of a prominent Jackson family.
The Ethics Commission said that although police officials are free to redact information from the incident reports that would compromise an investigation, it had to provide the rest of the reports.....
That point aside, however, it’s noteworthy that for the first time the public had a way to compel a government body to follow the state’s Public Records Act without having to go to the expense of filing a lawsuit.In the past, public bodies could simply dig in their heels if they wanted to shut out citizens or the press. They knew that only a few well-heeled media organizations would put up the money to pursue a lawsuit. Even though successful plaintiffs might be able to recover their legal costs, they still had to come up with the money to pay their lawyers up front. Meanwhile, whatever costs the public body had to fork out to defend itself were coming from the pockets of taxpayers, not the officials themselves, so they had no qualms about being defiant...." (Kingfish note: Yes, I was prepared to go to court. There is a reason I wasn't too worried about the expense of a court fight.)
http://gwcommonwealth.com/articles/2008/09/16/opinion/editorials/edit01.txt

Earlier posts:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/clarion-ledger-pens-editorial-on-ethics.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/kingfish-requests-opinion-from-ethics.html

I report. You decide.

Alaskan Aurora

Some auroras can only be seen with a camera. They are called sub-visual and are too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. The reason is that the human eye only accumulates light for a fraction of a second at a time, while a camera shutter can be left open indefinitely. When photographing an already picturesque scene above Juneau, Alaska, USA, a camera caught green sub-visual aurora near the horizon. Auroras are sparked by energetic particles from the Sun impacting the magnetic environment around the Earth. Resultant energetic particles such as electrons and protons rain down near the Earth's poles and impact the air. The impacted air molecules temporarily lose electrons, and when oxygen molecules among them reacquire these electrons, they emit green light. Auroras are known to have many shapes and colors.

Clarion-Ledger pens editorial on Ethics Commission Decision. Opinion published.

It's a nice day for Jackson Jambalaya as the Clarion-Ledger editorial page made my winning fight to obtain the police reports in the Heather Spencer case the subject of its editorial today. The Jackson daily opined:
"Call it, Citizens 1, Gov't secrecy 0, in the first test of Mississippi's new configuring of the law ensuring access to public records.
In its first ruling since the 2008 Legislature gave it new authority, the Mississippi Ethics Commission has ruled a private citizen is entitled to redacted Jackson police initial incident reports involving George Bell III in the slaying of his ex-girlfriend.....
media representatives repeatedly said when seeking guarantees of government compliance with Mississippi's Open Records Act, the law is for the public, not simply media outlets. xxxxx is a private citizen not employed by a media company.
The purpose of the request has no bearing on whether public information is public. Incident reports are public by law. xxxxx says he wants the information to use on his Internet blog. Government should have no say over the intent of publishing or medium...."
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080916/OPINION01/809160323/1008/OPINION

In addition to the published editorial, JJ is posting a copy of the published opinion. Here are some excerpts:
"The central dispute presented to the Commission is the duty o f a law enforcement agency to produce documents containing information that meets the statutory definition of incident report, where such documents could be considered "investigative reports" under the current statutory definitions. This dispute arises because the reports in issue were created before the statutory definitions were enacted and because Jackson did not create a separate document at that time which contains only '"incident report* information. If Jackson had produced a separate "incident report' containing only the name and identification of each person charged with and arrested for the alleged offense, the time, date and location of the alleged offense, and the property involved, Jackson could simply produce that document. However, such is not the case.....

As it applies to the instant dispute, Jackson has in its possession documents that
contain investigative information. Clearly these documents are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Sec. 25-61-3. However, these exempt documents admittedly contain information that meets the statutory definition of incident report" under Section 25-61-3(e). To comply with the mandate in Section 25-61-55(2) well as the public policy codified throughout the Act, Jackson must redact the exempt investigative material from the documents and produce the nonexempt incident report information Failure to do so is a violation of the Act.."
http://jackson-jambalaya.googlegroups.com/web/Ethics+Commission+Opinion+on+Public+Records.pdf?gda=WmNpVGEAAACpt_Tri4u_xWELoGlFZT09e9dtt5eYXLbLCGrWeLYb5p_lEDef9X0c_XdaLwwHZyoI9cGV5CK1aKIDrKjx4WRdpl9VnGXE7D0_SrUvQx-tzVMJP-kItwVPBwjdKujmMDOVcV4Kf5x1iV4X6-2IalYA

This is just one step in the fight to make government more accountable to the people. This battle to open up public records benefits the public, not just the media, in the long run. One of the reasons Mississippi has been in last place for so long is because our government officials for too long have been able to hide their shenanigans and hijinks behind a veil of secrecy. Hopefully, other media outlets and private citizens will realize how valuable this tool is and make productive use of it.

Note: Correction for the CL editorial: It issued an opinion which said if Jackson had created a separate document containing only incident report information, such as the name, date and location of persons charged, the city could simply produce suc document. This is not completely true as the law also requires a "narrative description":
"Incident report" means a narrative description, if such narrative description exists and if such narrative description does not contain investigative information, of an alleged offense, and at a minimum shall include the name and identification of each person charged with and arrested for the alleged offense, the time, date and location of the alleged offense, and the property involved, to the extent this information is known..."

Earlier post reporting on Ethics Commission's decision:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/09/kingfish-requests-opinion-from-ethics.html
WLBT story:
http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?s=9001359
Clarion-Ledger story:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/NEWS/809130353/1001/news
Jackson's original reply to Ethics Commission inquiry:
http://jackson-jambalaya.googlegroups.com/web/09-02-08_Ethics_Letter%5B1%5D.pdf?gsc=ECkxewsAAAAGckAheHJlUw4Hi8907OxH
Original post:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/08/city-of-jackson-denies-requests-for.html

The REST of the Story

Here is the full transcript of the Charlie Gibson interivew of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:
http://marklevinshow.com/gibson-interview/

You might be surprised (well, maybe not) at what wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Good day.

Obama Slime

Breitbart News reports on the latest ad from the Obama campaign:
"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," it says. It shows video of McCain getting out of a golf cart with former President George H.W. Bush and closes with a photo of him standing with the current President Bush at the White House. "After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."
Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said the campaign was not making an issue of the 72-year-old McCain's age, but the time he's spent in Washington.
"Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail." McCain has said he relies on his wife and staff to work the computer for him and that he doesn't use e-mail..."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9359KL80&show_article=1

This ad and the comments by Mr. Pfeiffer are disgusting: John McCain can NOT type due to his wartime injuries. In 2000, the Boston Globe reported:
"McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball..."
http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/McCain_character_loyal_to_a_fault+.shtml

Mr. Pfeiffer needs to be punched in the face. Repeatedly.

One question for Jim Hood.

When will you prosecute the Seale case since there are no statute of limitations for murder?

It IS on your list of things to do, isn't it?

The truth about FDIC

Update: The Fed is now accepting equities as collateral.

Post:
Bear Stearns goes under. Fannie & Freddie are broke and on welfare, literally. Lehman and Merrill (Ok, Merrill Lynch is selling itself to avoid bankruptcy) are going down this weekend. WaMu probably goes down the tubes soon and AIG is trying to tread water in the middle of a hurricane without a life preserver.

"My bank is ok, right? They are FDIC insured, so I have nothing to worry about," you say to yourself.

Not so fast, my friend. There IS NO FDIC INSURANCE FUND!!!

When FDIC head Shelia Bair says her agency might have to bolster the FDIC's insurance fund with Treasury borrowings to pay for the new spate of bank failures, a lot of us, this 40-year banking veteran included, assumed there's an actual FDIC fund in need of bolstering.
We were wrong. As a former FDIC chairman, Bill Isaac, points out here, the FDIC Insurance Fund is an accounting fiction. It takes in premiums from banks, then turns those premiums over to the Treasury, which adds the money to the government's general coffers for "spending . . . on missiles, school lunches, water projects, and the like.........."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/95129-fdic-insurance-fund-it-doesn-t-actually-exist

All FDIC premiums go into the general budget!!! FDIC "insurance fund" is an IOU. There is no safety net from FDIC for the banking system. The so-called insurance is yet another Congressional illusion which will once again leave us holding the bag, breaking us in the process.

However, you people are more concerned with lipstick or who knocked up who than your banking system and financial markets imploding.

Note: Here is a list of Lehman's top 30 unsecured creditors. Ouch!:
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idINLF73920080915

SPHC
Uploaded by Hishighness

Thanks for trashing Laurel Park.

Check out the landscaping job CARA, Tom Kepner’s Cane Creek Cooker, Bumper's Drive-In, and a radio station did at The Dog Days of Summer event held at Laurel Park in Belhaven today. Apparently they didn't have the sense to park on the street as it has rained for several days this week, leaving the ground very soggy. One of the ruts was so deep it went well above my ankle. When I went to the park this evening, several regular park visitors were there and didn't appreciate the landscaping either. THANKS alot.

Obama blowing it?

From The Telegraph (U.K.):
"The Sunday Telegraph has learned that senators, governors and union leaders who have experience of winning hard-fought races in swing states have been bombarding Obamas campaign headquarters with telephone calls offering advice. But many of those calls have not been returned.
A senior Democratic strategist, who has played a prominent role in two presidential campaigns, told The Sunday Telegraph: "These guys are on the verge of blowing the greatest gimme in the history of American politics. They're the most arrogant bunch Ive ever seen. They won't accept that they are losing and they won't listen."
After leading throughout the year, Mr Obama now trails Mr McCain by two to three points in national polls.
Party leaders and commentators say that the Democrat candidate spent too much of the summer enjoying his own popularity and not enough defining his positions on the economy - the number one issue for voters - or reaching out to those blue collar workers whose votes he needs if he is to beat Mr McCain.....
he Democratic strategist told The Sunday Telegraph: "They think they know best. They don't return calls. There are governors and senators calling them up with ideas. They don't get back to them.
"These are senior people from the border states and the South who know how to beat Republicans, and they're being ignored. They ignored everyone during the primaries and they came through it, so they think they can do the same again."..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2909844/Barack-Obama-under-fire-for-ignoring-advice-on-how-to-beat-John-McCain.html

Equal Time

Warning: Adult Humor

Kingfish requests Opinion from Ethics Commission concerning Jackson's denial of public records request for Heather Spencer case police reports.

Update: What do you know, this made the WLBT broadcast tonight:
http://www.wlbt.com/global/story.asp?s=9001359

Clarion-Ledger story: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/NEWS/809130353/1001/news

Remember the post I made a few weeks ago about the City of Jackson denying Kingfish's request for a copy of the police incident reports on the murder of Heather Spencer and kidnapping of Elizabeth Hall by George Bell, III? Well, Kingfish followed the law, submitting a request (in person) for an opinion from the Ethics Commission on the public records sought. The Ethics Commission sent an inquiry to Jackson (Jackson's response is posted in .pdf format below).

The Ethics Commission placed my opinion request on the agenda for the monthly meeting held today. The meeting went very well, as my request was a test case for the new law (Mississippi Code 25-61-12) mandating law enforcement agencies make public police incident reports. Mr. Tom Hood and his staff provided a draft opinion stating my request was permissible under the law and that Jackson would have to comply. Mr. Hood also mentioned several discussions took place between his office and Jackson concerning my request, and Jackson was directed to provide more information than was initially redacted from the reports. The Commissioners were very nice, even allowing the Kingfish to make some purely undistinguished remarks. The Ethics Commission voted in favor of the drafted opinion (some fine-tuning will take place).

Note: Read the second to last paragraph in Jackson's response. Notice anything?

Jackson's reply to the Ethics Commission Inquiry:
http://jackson-jambalaya.googlegroups.com/web/09-02-08_Ethics_Letter%5B1%5D.pdf?gsc=ECkxewsAAAAGckAheHJlUw4Hi8907OxH

Original post:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/08/city-of-jackson-denies-requests-for.html

Remembering Heather Spencer

It was exactly a year ago this week Heather Spencer was brutally murdered by George Bell, III. This blog has made a serious effort to help her family in seeing justice meted out to Mr. Bell and anyone who may have helped him, directly or indirectly. Below are all the posts made over the last year on this tragedy for your convenience.

http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/08/city-of-jackson-denies-requests-for.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/07/robbie-bell-files-answer-to-wrongful.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/07/mother-of-heather-spencer-files.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/07/jfp-story-on-lawsuit-against-george.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/03/robbie-bell-dismissal-huh.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/03/robbie-bell-case-family-tree.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/03/clarion-ledger-error-of-day-its-good.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/02/mdocs-newest-resident.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/02/tale-of-two-mothers.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/02/breaking-george-bell-iii-gets-life.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/01/bad-apple-or-misunderstood.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/clarion-ledger-gets-it-wrong-on-heather.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/wheels-slowly-turn-robbie-bell-indicted.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/heather-spencer-case-update-after.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/jpd-and-heather-spencer.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/heather-spencer-case-update-after.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/latest-news-on-heather-spencer-murder.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/09/help-spencer-family.html

Essays by Heather Spencer's mother:
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/two-months-without-heather.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/11/heathers-tree.html

Police report of June, 2007 assault:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/foi_pdfs/jfp_spencer.pdf

Gas Skyrocketing Tonight?

WAFB in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the newspaper in Houston, Alabama (yes, you read right) report the wholesale price of gasoline on the coast has increased by $1.41 a gallon today. Estimates vary on how much gasoline prices will increase over the next few days due to Hurricane Ike forcing refineries to shut down operations.

WAFB: http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8994667
Rickeystokesnews.com: http://www.rickystokesnews.com/cgi-bin/MyWeb/article_proc.pl?object=16490&category=26

DWF: A Little Dessert After Dinner

I can't pass up a challenge by Kingfish, so after my evening bowl of cereal, I decided to do dessert. The resulting sweets are above. YUMMMMMMMMM

I think I'll have seconds.

Michael Yon now in Afghanistan

Iraq has calmed down so much that Michael Yon, the leading journalist covering Iraq, recently moved to Afghanistan to cover that war. His reporting has been top notch as he has spent most of the last 4 years in theater, unlike other reporters who drop in for one week tours while roughing it in the Green Zone. He is a writer and former soldier who understands his subject matter very well and pulls no punches in his remarks. This dispatch tells the story of a recent mission to deliver a turbine to a hydroelectric damn in Afghanistan:

"When I was briefed on the top-secret mission before it was launched, I thought : “Good grief. I might have to report on the failure of one of the largest and most important missions of the entire war.”
After seven years, the war in Afghanistan has morphed from a breathtaking expedition of a handful of special operators—often on horseback—to a sort of lethal day-to-day business. Morale is high among American, Aussie, British and Canadian soldiers. Dozens of other nations are contributing to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, including the French, Italians and Estonians, but I have not seen enough of them to be able to judge their morale. The French recently lost ten soldiers in a Taliban ambush, and many in that country are talking about pulling out, although President Nicolas Sarkozy is standing firm. Other countries, like Germany, have strict rules of engagement that essentially preclude them from joining in combat. The Poles and Danes are strong allies and good soldiers, as they were in Iraq. Yet the bulk of the fighting against the Taliban is done by the Anglosphere (U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia), and, of course, the Afghans.
Among the English-speaking troops, there seems to be a sense of mission. American and British officers with experience in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere—leaders whose opinions I greatly value—do not think we are losing here in Afghanistan. Yes, they will acknowledge that the situation is deteriorating, but they still believe we are making progress. And it’s hard to disagree with them (though I do), given the blow that ISAF forces just delivered to the Taliban. ...
The top-secret mission was to deliver a new turbine to the Kajaki Dam. The second-largest hydro-electric dam in Afghanistan, Kajaki is designed to operate three turbines, and was originally built with American money in 1953 to provide electricity to Helmand and Kandahar Provinces. But that was another era of the Great Game. Only two out of three turbines were installed, and they fell apart when the Soviet Union pulled out from Afghanistan in 1989......
Since the American-led invasion in 2001, only one turbine was working. The mission’s goal was to drag a second turbine up treacherous roads, and put it online. The operation was of a magnitude large enough to warrant its own name: Operation Oqab Tsuka: Pashto for “Eagle’s Summit.” Some of the younger soldiers, when they heard about the plan to drive a giant convoy straight through Taliban territory, had another name for it: “Operation Suicide.”
In an increasingly successful attempt to discredit the Afghan government and the ISAF, enemy forces have been attacking infrastructure including bridges, power, communications, and dams.
Far up road 611 in Helmand Province, there has been much fighting at Kajaki. If another turbine could be brought online, and power lines stretched from generator to consumer, wide swaths of the population would have electricity. This would not only help the Afghan people, but also support the government, and spur the economy. ....
Success! The convoy made it, and all the components arrived safely. There were no combat casualties, but one soldier had his pelvis crushed when a vehicle he was working beneath fell on top of him. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t fighting. Anywhere from 200 to 250 Taliban were killed trying to take out the convoy. With more hard and dangerous work, and a couple more years, the turbine will begin pushing electricity to more than a million Afghans..."

Read the rest of the dispatch, Where Eagles Dare (scroll down)
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

Take a break from your worries

Governor Palin and her religion

Here is the key question on Governor Palin's religion: "Do you think Americans should be able to buy beer on Sundays?"

If she answers yes, then everyone needs to shut up about her possibly being a religious kook.

Top This, Obama

Think this will appear on FOLO?

Nick Cohen, a columnist for the left-wing Guardian (U.K.), lectures progressives, liberals, leftists, or whatever they call themselves on the dangers of falling into the campaign by hate trap:
My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week. Their charismatic candidate was ahead in virtually every poll. George W Bush was so unpopular that conservatives were scrambling around for reasons not to invite the Republican President to the Republican convention. Democrats had only to maintain their composure and the White House would be theirs.....
The same could have been said of the American Democrats last week. But instead of protecting their precious advantage, they succumbed to a spasm of hatred and threw the vase, the crockery, the cutlery and the kitchen sink at an obscure politician from Alaska....
On the other, liberal journalists turned her family into an object of sexual disgust: inbred rednecks who had stumbled out of Deliverance. Palin was meant to be pretending that a handicapped baby girl was her child when really it was her wanton teenage daughter's. When that turned out to be a lie, the media replaced it with prurient coverage of her teenage daughter, who was, after all, pregnant, even though her mother was not going to do a quick handover at the maternity ward and act as if the child was hers......
Hatred is the most powerful emotion in politics. At present, American liberals are not fighting for an Obama presidency. I suspect that most have only the haziest idea of what it would mean for their country. The slogans that move their hearts and stir their souls are directed against their enemies: Bush, the neo-cons, the religious right.....
Hate can sell better than hope. When a hate campaign goes wrong, however, disaster follows. And everything that could go wrong with the campaign against Palin did. American liberals forgot that the public did not know her. By the time she spoke at the Republican convention, journalists had so lowered expectations that a run-of-the-mill speech would have been enough to win the evening.
did....."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/07/uselections2008.republicans2008

The Guardian is one of Lotus' favorite newspapers. Anyone think this will appear on FOLO? ;-)

Editing 101 needed?

Want to see some bad writing? Read this story in The Clarion-Ledger:

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/HEALTH/809090334&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Senator Dodd: "Troubled"

Jumpin' jimminey crickers. Senator Chris Dodd is "troubled" about the government takeover of Fannie and Freddie:
"Dodd has said he is troubled about the plan. "First of all, I want to know the motivations for it," he says. "We passed a major, landmark piece of housing legislation about a month ago, in which was included newly sought authority by the secretary of the Treasury to possibly take equity positions within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — with a quick assurance by the secretary of the Treasury that that authority would never be used — but now, getting a far more aggressive action taken by the Treasury. So I clearly have a question: What transpired? The second question I have is: What [effect does this] have on home mortgages, on homeowners...
Some critics have accused Congress of failing to adequately regulate Fannie and Freddie to prevent such a crisis, but Dodd says reforms were included in the housing bill passed this summer, after seven years of failed efforts....." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407478

Of course he is troubled as he has been the agencies' congressional tool for years. It was Senator Dodd, along with some other Senators, who received sweetheart deals from Countrywide as a member of the "Friends of Angelo Club". The Wall Street Journal reported on June 13, 2008,
"Sen. Christopher Dodd, a top figure in Democrats' response to the housing crisis, defended through a spokesman two mortgages he reportedly received under a special Countrywide Financial Corp. program that awarded preferential interest rates to people referred to as "friends" of the company's chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo."

It was Senator Dodd who tried to bail out Countrywide earlier this year. The WSJ editorial on June 19 criticized the Senator for his questionable ethics:
"How much will Countrywide benefit from Mr. Dodd's rescue? The Senator's plan allows mortgage lenders to dump up to $300 billion of their worst loans on to taxpayers via a new Federal Housing Administration refinancing program, provided the lenders are willing to accept 87% of current market value. The program will be most attractive to lenders and investors holding subprime and slightly-less-risky Alt-A loans made during the height of the housing bubble in 2006 and 2007.
As the market leader during that period, Countrywide originated $167 billion of such loans, more than 11% of the nationwide total, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Analyst Fred Cannon of Keefe, Bruyette and Woods estimates that the company is still holding more than $30 billion in subprime and Alt-A loans on its books, based on the company's most recent quarterly financials.
Even for the loans Countrywide has already packaged and sold, the company would still benefit from the bailout. That's because Countrywide continues to service the loans, and every loan that goes bad means increased costs for the servicer...." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383295591086669.html

The website Mortgage Implode-O-Meter was even sharper in its criticism:
"This $300 billion Dodd-Shelby bailout is an absolute crime. It bails out the banks by limiting their loss to 10%; a joke since many of the problem areas like CA are down as much as 30% already on the median in the past 12-months and the rate of acceleration of the price declines are picking up steam. The subprime crisis is nearly over and now Prime, Alt-A, Pay Option ARMs and Home Equity Lines/Loans are failing. If they get this $300 billion passed, another $1 trillion+ will have to come on its heels for all of the other bailouts." (Is anyone laughing at the $1 trillion figure now? ) http://mrmortgage.ml-implode.com/2008/06/21/bofa-perhaps-countrywide-wrote-dodd-shelby-bailout-this-news-must-get-out-there/

Unfortunately for Senator Dodd, evidence came out proving Bank of America/Countrywide wrote his beloved bailout bill as National Review obtained a copy of a Bank of America document so similar to Dodd's bill there is no question who the true author was.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODJkN2Q3NTY0MjAwYjJlNTY0NTJmMWEzZTI1OGZjZTg=
Bank of America Document: http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2008/06/20/bofa.pdf

Meanwhile the taxpayers, will spend close to one trillion dollars bailing out the housing industry. Mr. Dodd helped his friends at Countrywide dump their garbage on us while making sure Fannie and Freddie were allowed to keep their ability to lobby Congress and the shareholders kept their equity and dividends (that power was revoked in the government takeover). In a few years, the agencies would have been back on Capitol Hill, using their power-brokers to remove their shackles so they could yet again drive the housing market into the ditch. Meanwhile, Senator Dodd is "troubled".

Drive-by Guilt by Association

She just can't stop. Apparently seeing a dynamic conservative woman unhinged Madame DeLadd the same way other similar women or female Clarion-Ledger reporters have in the past. She can't just let it go: criticizing her on family, mothering skills (despite never being a mother), marriage (despite never being married herself), politics, ethics, morals, you name it. This times its over where Ms. Palin went to college! Ms. Palin went to an Idaho community college for two semesters and then graduated from the University of Idaho. Ms. Ladd had the following to say about Idaho:
As for Idaho, all, we had a funny trip there a few years back. We were visiting Todd's brother on the Washington side of the border in a great convertible we'd rented, and I wanted to do nothing more than go drive by the Aryan Nation compound in Coeur d'Alene. Now, Todd puts up with a lot with me as an investigative reporter, and a Klan interviewer and all, but he drew the line at driving by a heavily guarded outpost of the Christian Identity. NO FRIGGIN' WAY. (If you read up on what happened to the daughter and mother who drove by there, you'll understand.)
So, we went to the amusement park up the highway in Idaho and rode one of the best roller coasters ever. I forget what it was called.When I saw that one of Palin's colleges is in Coeur d'Alene, smiled a bit at the memory of Todd putting his foot down. ;-)
Folks, that region of the country can make Mississippi look like the most racially tolerance place on the planet. (Which sometimes I think we actually are, but that's a subject for another thread.) It's really scary when the most extreme racial groups are drawn to a part of the country to hide out among other white people and plan things like secession and revolution.
To that area's credit, though, there are many good people there who have taken a stand against the bigots in their midst.
I really would be curious about Palin's position on race-related issues, and if she has taken a stand against the racial aspects of the secessionist movement.
posted by ladd on 09/05/08 at 07:20 PM http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/why_is_sarah_palin_sneering_so_much/

Aryan Nations. Secessionists. Racism. Christian Identity. She drives through Idaho one damn time and is now an expert on the state and Governor Palin as well. This is going past the level of obsession and is becoming a psychosis.

Palin's college record story:
http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/politics/article/vp_hopeful_sarah_palin_attended_5_colleges_in_6_years/16916/

Ronnie Agnew: Sexist?

Clarion-Ledger Executive Editor Ronnie Agnew made the following comments about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in his column last Sunday:

"Palin lacks experience needed for job as VP (Title)
Let's face it: McCain could not have chosen a weaker choice as a vice presidential mate if he had tried. She has been a governor less than two years. Her real experience is running a town about the size of Florence. It should send chills through the spine of every American that a person with so little experience could be one bad McCain health break away from the presidency. It's a frightening thought, at least to me......
In these economically tough times, where many Americans can't make ends meet, does Palin have the experience to help? In these tough times, where it's past time for our Iraq presence to end, does Palin have what it takes to stand up to McCain?
Palin is about as impressive as they come. But she needs more time on the job as governor of Alaska. To have her as vice president is an incredible reach that would weaken America around the world if a 72-year-old, cancer-surviving McCain is unable to finish his term if elected to the Oval office......." http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/COL0402/809070330&s=d&page=4#pluckcomments

I will skip the obvious Palin/Obama question on experience and instead ask another one. Mr. Agnew, could you please reprint your column you wrote in 2004 on how unqualified John Edwards was to be Vice-President of the United States? As I'm sure you had the same concerns over Kerry's picking a running mate whose political career had consisted of five years in the Senate and had less experience than Governor Palin, I look forward to refreshing my memory with this column.

It DOES exist, right?

Thinking of blaming Bush for Fannie & Freddie? Try again.

OFHEO (Office of Federal Enterprise Oversight) published a scathing report in May, 2006 regarding the state of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Bush administration sought to reform the agencies as it documented a culture focused on hiding the truth while paying its executives hundreds of millions of dollars. The agencies waged total war against reform, seeking to destroy all opposition as they bullied their way into bankruptcy (See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121677050160675397.html for a great read on Fannie's tactics.).

While the agencies stifled all criticism, they engaged in reckless lending policies. No down payment loans given to borrowers with 580 credit scores and 55% debt to income ratios with reduced mortgage insurance premiums. Mortgages were approved for borrowers requiring no verification of income or assets, yet the borrower only had to provide a five percent down payment. Borrowers could even buy TEN properties with only ten percent down on stated income programs (verified assets were required). Mortgages given to borrowers with 540 credit scores. Similar programs were provided to lenders and borrowers which encouraged an "anything goes" culture. However, all good things, if it can be called that, must come to an end and the Fannie Mae party is no exception to this cliche'. See earlier post: Fannie and Freddie's Ticking Time Bomb http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/12/fannie-and-freddies-ticking-time-bomb.html

The agency chickens have now come home to roost, as the Democrats have put us on the hook for HUNDREDS of billions of dollars, while former Fannie CEO and Clinton Administration official Frank Raines keeps nearly $100 million he received from Fannie Mae.

OFHEO's report stated:
Fannie Mae senior management promoted an image of the Enterprise as one of the lowest-risk financial institutions in the world and as “best in class” in terms of risk management, financial reporting, internal control, and corporate governance. The findings in this report show that risks at Fannie Mae were greatly understated and that the image was false.

During the period covered by this report—1998 to mid-2004—Fannie Mae reported extremely smooth profit growth and hit announced targets for earnings per share precisely each quarter. Those achievements were illusions deliberately and systematically created by the Enterprise’s senior management with the aid of inappropriate accounting and improper earnings management.

By deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting to hit earnings targets, senior management maximized the bonuses and other executive compensation they received, at the expense of shareholders. Earnings management made a significant contribution to the compensation of Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Franklin Raines, which totaled over $90 million from 1998 through 2003...

A combination of factors led Fannie Mae senior management, through their actions and
inactions, to commit or tolerate a wide variety of unsafe and unsound practices and conditions. Those factors included the Enterprise’s enormous financial resources and political influence, the expectation that senior management could write the rules that applied to Fannie Mae, financial rewards tied to a measure of profits that management could easily manipulate, and the relative disinterest of senior executives in adhering to standards of prudent business operations....

The image of Fannie Mae communicated by Mr. Raines and his inner circle and
promoted by the Enterprise’s corporate culture was false. In the words of one current member of Fannie Mae’s Board of Directors, the picture of the Enterprise as a “best-in-class” financial institution was a “façade.” To maintain that façade, senior executives worked strenuously to hide Fannie Mae’s operational deficiencies and significant risk exposures from outside observers—the Board of Directors, its external auditor, OFHEO, the Congress, and the public. ...

The existence of a federal agency with the ability to regulate the Enterprise represented a
direct challenge to senior management. To deal with that challenge, Fannie Mae took the
extreme position that OFHEO simply had little authority over the Enterprise, while Fannie Mae’s lobbyists worked to insure that the agency was poorly funded and its budget remained subject to approval in the annual appropriations process. The goal of senior management was
straightforward: to force OFHEO to rely on the Enterprise for information and expertise to such a degree that Fannie Mae would essentially be regulated only by itself....."

Finally, in a statement quoted almost directly from Bernie Ebbers and Worldcom, OFHEO reports: "The message from Mr. Raines was clear: EPS results mattered, not how they were
achieved...."
http://www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/FNMSPECIALEXAM.PDF


Enjoy the trillion-dollar bailout while you worry about lipstick politics.

Frank Raines's politican donations: http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Franklin_Raines.php

No Comment.

More Media Ignorance

CNN reported this morning:
"Sunday's federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will likely translate into lower mortgage rates and greater availability of credit, experts said. Rates could drop by 1 percentage point from the stubbornly-high 6.39% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage..."

6.39% is a "STUBBORNLY-HIGH" interest rate? The reporter is obviously clueless, as that is a very good rate. It's not at the level of the record lows seen in 2003, but the rates are still very good. Statements such as these are just more evidence of how ignorant the media and most Americans are about financial matters. http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/07/news/economy/fannie_homeowners/index.htm?cnn=yes

Good Read on Fannie/Freddie Bailout.

I've published articles written on The Market Ticker blog before as Mr. Denninger has uncannily nailed the problems facing the financial markets this year. Yesterday he opined on the ramifications on the massive bailout of the GSE's:
"You have been gamed into granting Treasury the ability to skull-screw every American out of three hundred billion dollars - at minimum - to "rescue" the GSEs. A sum that, I might add, is likely small - S&P says the total could reach over one trillion, and I happen to agree - it just might.
How many times do you have to get conned by these people - Bernanke and Paulson - before you rescind their authority, start investigating them for perjury and inside dealing and put a stop to this rape of the American consumer?
You've been had twice in a row. Bear Stearns and now this. Are you going to allow it to pass some "innocent" explanation?
Where does it stop Mr. Dodd? $300 billion? $500? $700? You and the rest of the Democrats whine about Iraq and its cost, but when it comes down to the truth that's chump change. Here we have you fools in the House and Senate spending over $500 billion thus far on a "stimulus" that didn't, on a rescue of a failed investment bank, and now Hank's "Bazooka", which he told you he wouldn't have to use, turned out to be in fact loaded with over $100 billion of immediately-committed taxpayer dollars, with more available as he chooses to use it!....." http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

Kingfish has a new young male live-in companion.

Meet Louis XIV, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel I got a few weeks ago.

Cavalier information: http://www.ckcsc.org/

Earlier post on Cavaliers: http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/08/bad-ass-video.html

Al Qaida leader killed by predator drone.

From the London Telegraph:
"Western intelligence sources in Pakistan believe that al-Qa'eda's prize American recruit and propaganda chief may have been killed in a CIA-directed airstrike....
Adam Gadahn, a former heavy-metal fan and so-called "killer computer nerd" originally from California. Nothing has been heard from him for months, leading intelligence experts to conclude that he may be dead.
Mr Gadahn has been credited with helping transform al-Qa'eda's al-Sahab propaganda wing into a slick operation which communicates in fluent English and produces professional quality DVDs, including one for Osama bin Laden last year. ......
Mr Gadahn is now thought to have been killed in an attack launched from a remotely piloted aircraft in January....." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2695294/Al-Qaedas-American-born-propaganda-chief-may-have-died-in-predator-attack.html

So far there have been no complaints on FOLO, http://www.folo.us/, about whether Mr. Gadahn was denied habeaus corpus.

Yet another lie by Ladd about Governor Palin

Oh, came across this little lie by Ladd on her website:
"Here's another lie, debunked: Palin/Alaska did not sell the plane on eBay, as she told the country while looking very self-satisfied and superior to all those people who do not meet her high standards of ethics and honesty.
Chicago Tribune:
When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sought to illustrate her frugality and flair to delegates at the GOP convention Wednesday, she described how she disposed of a corporate jet acquired by her unpopular predecessor.
"That luxury jet was over the top," Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said to loud cheers. "I put it on eBay." http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/comments/palin_confuses_her_facts_during_rnc_speech_090408/

Has anyone told the so-called journalist with a Master's of Journalism from Columbia that selling a plane on Ebay is not the same thing as putting it on Ebay? Please keep going Ladd. You are giving me great material every day as you continue to make a fool out of yourself.

Equal Time

LSU Campus a Wreck.

Hurricane Gustav left the LSU Campus in Baton Rouge in ruins. Breaks my heart to see my beloved LSU torn up. So many beautiful Spanish Oaks, gone forever, never to be appreciated for their beauty ever again. Campus is a wreck and very difficult to navigate. Many buildings suffered damage and even Tiger Stadium and The Box were not immune from Gustav's wrath. Click on this link and scroll down to see more pictures. http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/MessageTopic.asp?p=9596073&Pg=1

Fake photos of Palin surface

Getting those emails showing Governor Palin in saucy attire? That photo is probably a fake as the British Daily Mail reports:

"The saucy pictures, which exploit her glamorous image, have been published amid a concerted ‘dirty tricks’ campaign against the former beauty queen, following her surprise appointment as 72-year-old Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate.
One shows her apparently wearing a leather miniskirt and stilettos....'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1053169/Anger-fake-Sarah-Palin-photos-smear-campaign-makes-look-like-stripper.html

Was Palin too mean to Obama? Judge for yourself.

So Sarah was being mean to poor little Obama. Lets check the record and see how nice Obama has been to McCain.

"But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent....

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know....

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.....

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.
Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.....

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America....

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office......

If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush Administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past....

If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy....."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/28/barack-obama-democratic-c_n_122224.html

Alaskan Humor

Alaskan Aurora

"Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. In this case, a picturesque lake lies in front of you, beautiful green aurora flap high above you, brilliant stars shine far in the distance, and, for a brief moment, a bright meteor streaks by. This digitally fused breathtaking panorama was captured late last month across one of the Chena Lakes in North Pole, Alaska, USA, and includes the Pleiades open cluster of stars on the image right. The shot is unusual not only for the many wonders it has captured simultaneously, but because lakes this far north tend to freeze and become non-reflecting before a sky this dark can be photographed" http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071009.html

Enjoy

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/geoffrey-dickens/2008/09/04/olbermann-has-angry-breakdown-over-9-11-video-tribute-gop-conventi

Mississippi Blogger opines on Sarah Palin

Hattiesburg blogger, Becca Neal, writes for Jackson Jambalaya the following essay on why she support Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Ms. Neal is not a journalist or pundit. She is not part of the chattering class. She is simply a 25-year old regular working wife in Hattiesburg who tries to keep up with what is going on in the world. Her blog, The Perception of Life, can be found at http://www.beccanealtharp.blogspot.com/. Its so easy for those of us who are political junkies that we forget what "ordinary" people might think or how they see things. Enjoy.

I absolutely love Gov. Sarah Palin's nomination for Republican Vice President. She is intelligent, straightforward, confident, motivating, and ethical. I doubt we will see her dancing around any questions as the Democrats this year. Her powerful speeches are logical and contain no glamorous words; just facts and solutions. I was already a supporter of John McCain before he announced his running-mate. Sarah Palin has just reinforced my decision.

As an animal-welfare activist, however, I do not like Palin’s fight to keep polar bears off of the Endangered Species Act Protected List. Does her reason for keeping the polar bear unprotected by the Endangered Species Act have more to do with her concern for harm by "protecting" a “healthy species like the polar bear” or her concern that protecting polar bears may disrupt drilling in ANWR? I also disagree with her support for the aerial hunting of wolves. Even if Alaska needs predator control, I think that aerial hunting is very unsporting. I am also worried about the effects drilling in ANWR may have on wildlife, although I do think all attempts will be made to limit its impact. However, I think that these concerns are secondary to the priority concern of what she can do for Americans.

As a Christian, I appreciate Sarah Palin’s Christian values. I love her support for teaching creationism alongside evolution in public schools. Her reasoning that this opens the floor for healthy debate in the classroom is logical and a big step in the right direction. I also love the fact she is pro-life and agree with her statements that the only acceptable reason for a woman to have an abortion is if her life would be in danger if the pregnancy continued.

Palin is a huge advocate for becoming more energy-independent as a country by tapping our own supplies of fossil fuels while furthering research and development for other forms of energy. I think this will have a tremendously positive impact on our economy,which is our Presidential Team’s second-largest responsibility (the first being homeland security). She wants to take this country in the right direction and has already influenced John McCain position's on drilling for oil.

The Democrat’s attempts to drag Sarah Palin’s name through the mud are laughable at best. Obviously calling her too inexperienced is a dumb move on their part… they should avoid even bringing up the word “inexperienced”. I think the ramblings and accusations about her family life are ridiculous and irrelevant to this election. I think she scares Democrats because McCain/Palin truly is the Republican “dream ticket”.

Palin was a smart pick for the Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee not only because of her positions and ethics, but also because she could help McCain win the election for a superficial, yet existing, reason... Now no matter which political party wins the election, the “glass ceiling” of a white male belonging in the White House will be shattered. This takes the edge of making political history away from Obama.

Does Factcheck.org factcheck?

One weapon used by some so-called journalists to attack their political opponents is http://www.factcheck.org/, a supposedly non-partisan website which scrutinizes political ads and other media issues. How accurate is the website? A good test case is the story involving the purchase of Senator Obama's million-dollar mansion. The purchase was the subject of much controversy, as it involved a purchase of an adjacent property by Obama patron and convicted felon, Tony Rezko.

Factcheck.org states:
"Here’s what happened: In 2005, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, bid $1.65 million for a house on the south side of Chicago. According to newspaper reports, the owner was also trying to sell an undeveloped parcel of land adjacent to the property Obama was buying, and he wanted the sales of the two to close on the same day. Obama has said that he mentioned he was buying the house to a longtime political patron, Antoin (Tony) Rezko, a developer. Rezko’s wife wound up buying the lot adjacent to Obama’s. At the request of the Obamas, who were seeking a bit more space for their yard, she later sold them a 10-foot wide strip, or about one-sixth, of her land. The Obamas paid $104,500 for it, or about one-sixth of what Mrs. Rezko had paid for the entire property.
Obama doesn’t appear to have reaped any financial advantages from the transactions....
Obama has a relationship with Rezko that dates back many years, but there’s no indication Obama did anything improper..."
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_obama_have_a_real_estate_problem.html

Now here is what Factcheck.org left out and what appeared in an earlier post on this blog:
"The loan (see note below) that was the reason for the bond revocation occurred three weeks before Rezko and Obama bought two properties together from the same owner on the same day, with Obama paying $300,000 below the asking price while Rezko paid the full price. The property adjacent to the Obama mansion was a garden plot (A home could not be built on it as it was to small due to code standards.) that Mrs. Rezko paid $650,000 for even though she declared in court "she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. " (Times of London). The court also found that Mr. Rezko was deeply in debt and he declared he had no assets. Yet Mrs. Rezko is buying a very expensive property while earning a small income three weeks after a hidden loan (later forgiven) from Auchi is funneled to Mr. Rezko through a Panamanian company while the Obamas are buying a million-dollar mansion substantially below its market value. Such shenanigans make it appear that the Rezkos were helping the Obamas buy a house they really could not afford. (For further coverage of that transaction, see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3499430.ece )

Note: Auchi, Saddam's cousin, reputed Iraqi agent, and Rezko business partner, lent Rezko $3.5 million dollars three weeks before Obama and Rezko bought the house. See earlier post, The Tribe of Obama, for further details of Auchi's involvement with Rezko and Rezko's ties to Obama. http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2008/06/tribe-of-obama-part-1.html

Factcheck.org conducted a very superficial analysis of Obama's purchase. Why would Rezko purchase a property too small for a building at the same time Obama purchased his house from the same seller, when Rezko was dead broke and concealing loans from Iraqi agents? Especially when Obama was purchasing his house for $300,000 below the listing price and Rezko paid full value. Factcheck.org also fails to mention Obama has not disclosed the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, which would shed some light on this transaction (We won't even get around to the issue of Obama's interest rate). This is just one story I came across on Factcheck where I had actually done some research for an earlier post, so I was able to examine their so-called objective analysis. Rest assured, I will be reading their website from time to time to see if they make similar errors or omissions.

Alaska's Corrupt Bastards Club

Want to know where some of the dirt on Governor Palin is coming from? Or where the motivation for the Alaska Legislature's investigation of Ms. Plain originates? A few of the members of the legislature have been nailed by the feds and more are expected to be nailed as well. Alaska Reports wrote:
"Anchorage, Alaska - Two former Alaska state Republican legislators, Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, were arrested Friday and accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO Corp., a private oil services company, extortion, wire fraud and mail fraud.
A federal grand jury has indicted the two for allegedly taking bribes from oil companies trying to win the state's natural gas pipeline. Indictment (Kott & Weyhrauch)
Kott of Eagle River and former state Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau, were among six legislators whose offices were raided and searched by the FBI last August.
Former Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, is expected to be indicted shortly....© AlaskaReport News"

The FBI also raided the office of the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, a Republican. Alaska Report Story on Corruption Link

Apparently, the raids were connected to the pipeline deal that Governor Palin fought against:
"A copy of one of the search warrants, obtained by The Associated Press, links the investigation to a new production tax law signed last month by Gov. Frank Murkowski and a draft natural gas pipeline contract Murkowski and the state's three largest oil companies negotiated.
The warrant called for seizure of documents concerning any payment made to lawmakers by Bill Allen and Richard Smith, executives of oil field services giant VECO Corp. Agents also looked for documents about contracts, agreements or employment of legislators provided by VECO, Allen, Smith and company president Peter Leathard...."
Western Democrat Story on Raid

The Corrupt Bastards Club (That is the name of the group in legislature under investigation. They even had paraphernalia with the CBC monogram printed.) in the Alaska legislature put together a sweetheart deal with the oil companies to build a pipeline while claiming it was Alaskan jobs for Alaskans. They excoriated the Governor for promoting a different pipeline deal because it used "outsiders". Always follow the money. In this case, the money landed a few of them in jail and fuels their little witch hunt of Governor Palin since she said she will prosecute them AFTER the feds are through with their investigation (Too bad Jim Hood doesn't have such backbone and moral character). Corruption and vengeance are not limited to any party and have ruined many a political career. Hopefully, these two ugly monsters will be seen for what are whenever more false accusations are hurled at Governor Palin.

Palin reaction from the UK

From The Sun:
"Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering that she was a small town nobody, a hick from the Alaskan sticks put into a job way beyond an inexperienced woman.
Believe me, you will not be hearing that again.
Palin turned out to be an electrifying mix of intelligence, passion, energy, optimism and plain speaking. ....
What will have scared the enemy camp most is the devastating series of prime-time punches she landed on the jutting Obama jaw.
Showing steel beneath her magnolia jacket, she slaughtered his lack of experience, his vanity, his emptiness beneath the windy waffle.
It was the most powerful demolition of the Democrat hero I have heard in two weeks on the US election trail.
The St Paul audience adored her.
When she duffed up the Lefty media commentators for their sexist sneers, the vast crowd roared approval and pointed in anger at the titans of the American press aloof in their special enclosure.
And quite right too: who ever asked whether Obama could still be a good dad if he became president?.."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/columnists/fergus_shanahan/article1647092.ece

For your reading pleasure

Have a drink in hand. Light a cigar. Enjoy:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/why_is_sarah_palin_sneering_so_much/#c135097

Note: Hmmm.....the Daily Kos crowd and media said her child was really her kids, they've called her an anti-American secessionist, a Nazi sympathizer (Wexler), Christian Identity militia racist, enemy of women, a right-wing kook, put her social security number and other personal info on the internet, published Bristol's fiance's Myspace profile in the media, dragging Bristol through the mud, asking how Palin can be a VP while still being a mom (would never ask that if she were a man), said she would quit because of all the controversy and so on.

And they are whining about her not playing nice?

Fucking hypocrites.

Another question

How come Sarah Palin is considered to be too inexperienced to be Vice-President yet John Edwards in 2004 received no such criticism?

Go ahead, F with Bristol.

Make her day.

Newt owns MSNBC

"I don't know of a single thing Obama's done besides talk and write."

Alaskan Columnist on Governor Palin

Anchorage Daily News columnist Michael Carey gives an interview on a subject he has covered for a long time: Governor Sarah Palin. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/insider/politics/july-dec08/carey_09-02.html

Instead of posting excerpts, I'll just recommend it as a good read and places many things in perspective.

Serious question.

Suppose............

a true-blue conservative Republican embarked on a political career in Mississippi. Suppose she cleaned out Rankin County politics, then became Governor, busting a few of the Barbours who have done well on Katrina-related contracts. (Just making up an example. This is all hypothetical).

Suppose such a conservative was chosen to be the Vice-Presidential nominee. How much dirt do you think would be fed by local Republicans to Democrat operatives and media looking to smear her?

Donna Ladd: Local Smear Factor

I really do not want to write about The Jackson Free Press and Madame DeLadd today. I am working on something about David Archie that you will enjoy reading but every time I start writing the article, she writes something so outrageous I have to call her out on it.

Ms. Ladd focused her inner rage on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin recently, attacking her faith, morality, family, character, politics, and anything else she can think of about the Vice-Presidential nominee. The Fondren Flamer went so far as to state she was a secessionist (thus questioning her patriotism):
"At this point, I've read enough to know that my initial doubts were right on. She's a radical-right, anti-government-to-the-point-seceding conservative, and seems completely out of touch with where the country is right now. (She would have made more sense back before the anti-government movement started falling apart and being connected with ugly events.)
posted by ladd on 09/01/08 at 09:34 PM" http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/mccain_chooses_alaska_hockey_mom_as_running_mate_082908/#c134979
"ABC News has confirmed with the organization that Palin was a member.So, is it "patriotic" to want your state to secede from the U.S.? And ABC is reporting that the McCain is sending a "rapid response" team to Alaska to see what other surprises await about Ms. Palin. Watch the video. posted by ladd on 09/01/08 at 08:18 PM "

This is the best one:
"I don't think her daughter's pregnancy makes her unfit to serve. Her position as an extreme radical-right secessionist who uses her position to go after her enemies, and could be impeached in her own state, is more the problem I have with her as vice president.However, this does show the hypocrisy of a party, and candidates, who bash single mothers and their families and believe in failed abstinence-only policies. posted by ladd on 09/02/08 at 07:27 PM"

Unfortunately, Lotus over on FOLO fell for this garbage as well, pointing out the ABC story. However, it must be noted that Lotus didn't add any comments of her own stating that Ms. Palin is a secessionist. Knowing Lotus, I'm sure she will post the following AP story if she sees it.

The smear campaign against Governor Palin has been one for the books. First the Daily Kos and their allies slander Governor Palin with the disgusting charge she faked her pregnancy and passed her daughter's child as her own. Congressman Wexler is saying she is a Nazi sympathizer because HE claims she worked for Pat Buchanan. She is called a law-breaker and someone who is corrupt in the handling of the Alaska state police. Allegations of her possibly being in a Christian Identity Church (She attends an Assembly of God church. Never mind Obama's racist church that he attended for 20 years) are made. Now our local high priestess of slime calls her out as being a secessionist with its accompanying racist and neo-confederate implications.

However, the AP printed this story this morning:
"Voter registration records show Sarah Palin registered in May 1982 as a member of the Republican Party and has not changed her affiliation.....
Voter registration records and past news reports, however, show Palin never registered as a member of the Independence Party, and backed Steve Forbes' presidential campaign in 2000, not Buchanan...." http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpC0ED5JB9qx1iUsd9xz-dBbwWBwD92UTA501

The New York Times also printed a retraction:
"The chairwoman of an Alaskan political party that advocates a vote on the state’s secession from the union said Tuesday that she had been mistaken when she said Gov. Sarah Palin was a member of the group.
A front-page story in The New York Times on Tuesday and articles in other news media reported that Ms. Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990’s.....
On Tuesday night, Ms. Clark said that her initial statement was incorrect and had been based on erroneous information provided by another member of the party whom she declined to identify. The McCain campaign also disputed the Times report, saying that Ms. Palin had been registered consistently as a Republican.
After checking the party’s archives, Ms. Clark said that she could find no documentation that Governor Palin had been a member of the party. She said Ms. Palin attended the party’s 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention. ..." http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/alaska-party-official-says-palin-was-not-a-member/

This is why I didn't immediately comment on these allegations when they first appeared. Anyone who keeps up with politics and campaigns knows that lurid and sensational charges are made all of the time. When such claims are made, usually the truth comes out in a few days, as is taking place with these false allegations concerning Governor Palin. Ms. Ladd and to a lesser degree Lotus should have asked some basic questions such as where was the proof of the party official's claim. Political parties do keep rosters of their members and one would think that a party official stating the Governor was a member of her party would have produced SOME evidence of her membership. However, the rabid hatred for all things Republican drives people like Ms. Ladd to lose any sense of good judgement and smear people like Governor Palin without getting their facts straight or asking basic questions. Ms. Ladd owes her readers a correction and apology on her website.

Lotus, please.

You are smarter than this:
"In ‘84, revelations about Geraldine Ferraro’s seriously-mucked-up husband majorly helped do-in Walter Mondale." http://www.folo.us/2008/09/03/mccain-and-the-first-rule-of-holes/

You REALLY think Mondale had a chance against Reagan in 1984?

Help this Animal Shelter

The Community Animal Rescue and Adoption Shelter is in danger of closing. The Clarion-Ledger reports:
"the state's largest no-kill animal shelter, may have to close if fundraisers and donations don't pick up."
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS/809030341/1001/news

Folks, this is definitely a worthy cause for donations. These people do a great deal of good work and its a shame seeing helpless animals put to sleep because a schedule had to be met. The staff there are dedicated and I know of several who actually keep some of these animals at their homes when the shelter gets too many animals.

Contact info:
www.carams.org (601) 922-7575.

Question: Animal Rescue League, CARA, the government animal shelters. Has anyone thought of combining them all into one shelter?

Obama worried a bit?

From CNN:
"In an interview on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 Monday night, Obama was asked about whether his experience in the U.S. Senate dealing with weather-related situations compares to Palin’s executive experience running the state of Alaska and as the small town mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wassilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama responded.
Our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the past couple of years and certainly in terms of the legislation I’ve passed in the past couple of years, post-Katrina.” http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/01/obama-defends-natural-disaster-experience/

When is the last time you saw a Presidential nominee seriously comparing himself to a vice-presidential nominee?

McCain hits back

National Review's Byron York reports the McCain camp is fighting back against the smear campaign against Governor Sarah Palin:
"Had a long talk this morning with a senior strategist in the McCain campaign....
Gov. Palin, the strategist said, was subjected to a “complete vet.” “That included her filling out a 70-question questionnaire that was highly intrusive and personal. She was then interviewed for more than three hours by A.B. Culvahouse. There were multiple follow-up interviews.” (I asked precisely how many follow-ups there were, but my source stuck with “multiple.”) “There was a thorough interview process,” the strategist continued. “There was a public records search and political vet. There was a private life and financial vet. Everything that has come out was known by the campaign through the vetting process.”
Okay. What about particulars? The strategist started at the bottom and moved up.“Todd’s DUI — we judged that to be immaterial to the selection process. The ticket for fishing without a license — we judged that to be immaterial to the selection process.” On the charge that Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, the strategist said, flatly, “She was never a member of the independence party, because she has been a registered Republican.” (Later, the McCain camp put out a statement saying it had provided reporters with “ALL voter registration documentation” showing that Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982 and “has never been a member of the AIP.”) And on the issue of Palin’s daughter Bristol being pregnant: “John McCain made a decision that did not affect his decision-making in terms of her qualifications.” (As far as the allegation that Gov. Palin faked a pregnancy to cover up for her daughter is concerned, it appears the McCain campaign knew about it and looked into it, but never very deeply because it had been proven false to the satisfaction of pretty much anyone outside The Atlantic or the DailyKos.)From our conversation, it was clear that the McCain campaign paid a lot of attention to the so-called “Troopergate” issue. After all, unlike the “fake baby” story that has preoccupied the press, it is a real issue involving allegations that Palin abused her power. Last night, the McCain campaign distributed a "background guidance" memo to reporters on the issue. In our conversation, the strategist recounted much of the substance of that memo.
Of course this issue came up in the vetting, and this is what we discovered,” the source said. “The man who was fired has said on the record that he was never pressured by the governor or the governor’s husband on the issue of firing Trooper Wooten. The governor had a vision for how she wanted that department to be run. The commissioner had a different vision.”
“The reason that members of the Palin family were having discussions with the head of the state police about this state trooper, who was her ex-brother-in-law, was because he had made threats against the family. He threatened to kill the governor's daughter, her father, and her sister. He tasered her 11-year-old stepson. And that is why the Palin family was concerned about this trooper.” (Kingfish note: The trooper was suspended for four days for tasering the child, who had requested the tasering.) Read the rest of the story at:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2EyM2Q2NjYxZmUxMzgxNTYwMjAwZDk3MmE2NGNmNjY=

The Long Knives are out for Palin

From The American Spectator online:
"As Obama operatives scour records in Alaska for dirt on Gov. Sarah Palin, they are also seeking embarrassing materials about her husband. And it isn't just the Obama campaign. Several left-wing groups with ties to MoveOn.org have used their network to offer as to $5,000 for damaging employment or personal information about him.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has asked the DNC to coordinate surrogates that appear on camera to attack Gov. Palin. "Last Friday, the Democrat women they put all looked old and tired, nothing like what folks were seeing from Palin," says an Obama media adviser. "It was like, 'we don't have any good-looking younger representatives to put up?'"
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may be putting on a brave face for the cameras after losing out to Gov. Sarah Palin for the veepship, but his ever-loyal cadre of aides and consultants and conservative media types continue to work for him.Almost every critical remark made about Palin on a recent briefing call about her selection came from political consultants with ties to Romney. Those comments were planted, says one, because they knew that reporters would be on the call." http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13801

Donna Ladd: Liar

Over at The Jackson Free Press, Madame DeLadd invents new lies as she attempts to smear Republican Vice Presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Governor Palin has been the victim of vicious rumors on the internet claiming her baby is actually her daughter's child. Donna Ladd, who hates all things Republican, can not control herself and wades into the fray with the following post:
"Those rumors that went around over the last few days about Palin perhaps being the mother of young trig, and not the grandmother, apparently started on right-wing radio in Alaska in recent months. She definitely seems to have massive family drama, real or unproved.
posted by ladd on 09/01/08 at 02:43 PM" / http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/bristol_palin_unmarried_and_17_is_pregnant/

This claim is a flat-out lie and an attempt by Ms. Ladd to smear Ms. Palin. In case one hasn't noticed from her posts over the years, Ms. Ladd reserves a special degree of hatred and contempt for conservative women as she undoubtedly sees them as traitors to The Cause.

The fact is the left-wing blogs started these rumors on the internet as Ladd's fellow netroots have decided nothing in Governor Palin's life is off-limits to their slander. A google search of "Palin, pregnancy" will reveal a multitude of "progressive" websites publicizing the rumor as fact. Ms. Ladd lies when she says the rumors began on right-wing talk radio as she tries to smear conservatives for the rumors her friends started. This post from the Daily Kos shows who started this filth, contrary to Ms. Ladd's falsehoods:

"Sarah Palin Is NOT The Mother [Photos+Video]

by ArcXIX

Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 01:12:31 PM PDT

Well, Sarah, I'm calling you a liar. And not even a good one. Trig Paxson Van Palin is not your son. He is your grandson. The sooner you come forward with this revelation to the public, the better.....

Funny quote on her having no desire for the Vice-Presidency aside, the article is direly clear. No one knew she was pregnant, not even her own staff. Quite a feat. Why the secrecy? Sarah has never given an answer, and upon further reading, no one has bothered to ask.

Seven months into a pregnancy, and no one noticed.

Even Harry Houdini would be impressed.

And how could anyone tell? Sarah's waistline never changed. Her wardrobe still remained tight and professional. In a video posted in February (nearing five months of pregnancy at the time), Sarah is seen trim, and walking around all of Juneau, Alaska...." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/121350/137/486/580223 (The entire Daily Kos post is published in the comments section. Click on "comments" to read in case Daily Kos removes Artic's rant. )

Daily Kos smears Sarah Palin with filth that any self-respecting journalist, much less one who constantly preaches ethics in journalism as well as bragging about her Master's in Journalism from Columbia, would condemn. Not Ms. Ladd. Instead of condemning her fellow netroots, she makes up a lie and tries to say CONSERVATIVES started the rumors. Ms. Ladd, you lied. period.

PS) Do I need to explain the political leanings of the Daily Kos?

Update: Here she goes again, this time about Feminist for Life, a pro-life Feminist group:

"So, Palin is a member of the virulently anti-abortion (even rape and incest) group, Feminists for Life. They call the pill, the IUD and Plan B "abortifacients."

And here is their position on contraception from their site: Leaving abortion aside for just a moment, even most forms of contraception invade the woman's body, not the man's--and in more cases than we want to admit, scar and irrevocably damage those bodies. (Even condoms, the one "male" form of contraception, usually end up being the woman's responsibility--survey after survey shows that it is invariably women, not men, who are responsible for purchasing condoms.).."

"What Serrin Foster (head of Feminists for Life) will not be advertising during her campus visit is that Feminists for Life is opposed to contraception." http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/bristol_palin_unmarried_and_17_is_pregnant/#c134899

Funny how when I read the website that its position on contraception said the following:

"What is Feminists for Life's position on contraception?
Feminists for Life's mission is to address the unmet needs of women who are pregnant or parenting. Preconception issues including abstinence and contraception are outside of our mission. Some FFL members and supporters support the use of non-abortifacient contraception while others oppose contraception for a variety of reasons. FFL is concerned that certain forms of contraception have had adverse health effects on women.
Our membership enjoys a broad spectrum of opinion that reflects the diversity of opinions among the American public...." http://www.feministsforlife.org/FAQ/index.htm#contraception

I report, you decide.

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