Bailout Strikes the Heart of America with Wooden Arrows

Who the hell are we trying to bail out here? The first draft of the Bailout proposal gave 20% of the profits to ACORN!!? A group known for falsifying election registrations, where they've literally started taking the Phone book and just registering people across the board. I guess it makes sense though, since Obama has called ACORN 'family', so I guess he's just trying to take care of his family.
So now we have the new and improved Senate version that weighs in at 453 pages, we have a whole slew of new bits of pork in it, such as provisions benefiting film and television studios, litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, railroad track maintenance, wool research and le peice de resistance, toy wooden arrow-makers.

COME ON GUYS!!!! Saving America isn't enough? Does EVERYTHING need to be politicized? This is the reason why the government MUST not get involved in this, they will only screw things up and overspend to the point to where they will destroy the Dollar and make things MUCH worse. When the Dollar goes down we all end up paying more for Oil imports and energy and end up with even higher prices, and less money to spend in the economy. This is a terrible idea and I guarantee you even more pork will be added to this thing before it even comes up for a vote in Congress.

How about this congress, give us the 700 Billion, give us a 700 Billion Dollar Tax cut. Cut the Capital Gains tax in half for the next 4 years. THAT would pump REAL money back into the economy, create jobs, get people buying homes again and solve this entire Crisis. There's a reason why Buffet is going around investing in these companies, it's because he knows that the overall fundamentals of our economy are strong. One way or another we will get out of this, just like we've gotten out of every other downturn in the economy that we've been through, without government help.

The Fix Is In For Palin

The fix is in for Palin. In an age where the media is being judged again and again on a clear bias towards the Democrats and in particular towards Obama, the mediator for Oct. 2nd's debate between Palin and Biden is none other than the author of the book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama By Gwen Ifill. Insane isn't it? A woman who stands to profit from promoting Obama is actually the "Unbiased Mediator" for this debate? You've got to be kidding me!
Palin had an 80 to 90% approval rating before entering the national race. Some of those numbers have dropped, due to the fact that many of her former supporters, are now (and mostly have been) Obama supporters (though they still think she's done a fantastic job as Govornor). Yet most of the media coverage on her has been excruciatingly negative. Compare that to Obama, member of a body that gets an approval rating that is less than 10%! Where are the negative news stories about Obama from the main stream press? Does Palin have Terrorist friends? Does Palin have friends like Rezko who's stolen millions in public money? Does Palin go to a church that promotes racism? No! The big story, she tried to get a Trooper fired who Tazered her 11 year old nephew. Ooohh the corruption. Please!

Is there no one else who is qualified to mediate this debate? Someone with a proven record of being unbiased. Someone without a conflict of Interest? Instead we have a woman (Ms. Ifill) who obviously loves Obama AND has a vested interest in seeing him win! Absolutly incredible, the events of this election never cease to boggle the mind.

Obama's Failed Economic Policies

This video that I found probably explains what's going on in the Housing Market better than practically any other one that I've found and it highlights the type of thinking that Obama has when it comes to economic policies. He wants to use Government as a tool to advance the Middle class, when let's face it. Government has NEVER been able to do anything other than get out of the way to help people get ahead. Sure government is useful to keep people from starving and barely provide a living, but when it comes to really improving our lives all of that is squarely in our hands and there's nothing that government can do to make it better. They CAN however make it worse, by taxing and regulating us to death.
What amazes me is that there are actually polls showing that Obama is benefiting from the Housing implosion, even though most of the evidence points to the Democrats mostly being at fault here. As far back as 2004 the Bush Administration tried and failed to regulate these institutions and the Democrats did everything they could to keep those companies from any regulation. McCain picked up on this and has tried again and again in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to regulate these entities but was stopped by the Democrats every time.

One of the primary points of the video is that the CRA is what caused this whole mess, but in truth probably 80 to 90% of the loans didn't fall under the CRA. However, with that said, it was the lowering of the Standards to Accommodate the CRA that allowed the abuses in the system. People used the whole "No Money Down" mentality to buy homes as investments, especially here in Florida where you could basically buy a home "Pre-Construction" for a lower price, and once it's built turn around and sell it for a higher price. Problem was there were too many investors and in the end not enough homeowners to sell to.
Where was Obama in this? Obama actually sued Citibank for not providing enough of these CRA Loans. In addition during the years when McCain was trying to get regulations passed on these institutions, Obama was silent while raking in the cash.
Want more proof of Obama's failed economic policies utilizing Government as a tool of change? Obama's plan to revitalize Chicago's inner cities with Rezko met with utter failure. Most of the homes they built together are today either boarded up or demolished.
What all of this shows is that the supposed "change" that Obama is talking about is nothing but more of the same. More of the same MASSIVE government institutions, more of the same Socialization of the U.S.A. More of the same Washington Potitics controlling markets. More of the same Tax and spend and then when that runs out you go and tax and spend some more. That's not change, it's more of the same failed economic policies!

Smoking Gun - Freddie Mac Spared by Democrats

Here it is, the smoking gun we've been looking for. The proof that everyone needs to see the real cause of the Housing Crisis. How Democrats let bad loans spread like a cancer throughout the financial system bringing it to utter ruin. I've already written about how this all started, back in the Clinton Era, but here's just to show you that it wasn't something where no one knew what was going on, and people were clueless. There were willing and able accomplices to keep the scam on America going. Where's the coverage. Where's the spotlights. Where's CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and their Coverage?
I've seen some of the reviews on this video on YouTube and I was pretty shocked, there are some saying that Obama knew nothing of this and was clueless. First of all, the video shows his own economic adviser defending Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Second, who do you think was first put in charge of finding his VP? Third, Obama was the largest recipient of Political Contributions from these Organizations.

The Proof is clear. Democrats defended these guys so they could rake in their bonuses, then turn around and kick some cold hard cash back to them. Will anything be done about this? With Democrats in charge of congress I doubt it.
McCain knew about this 3 years ago, he led efforts to try to stop it, but with Democrats in charge of Congress, it was practically impossible. Fox News is the only network doing stories on this. Where is everyone else?

Broward Teachers Are Asking Too Much

Teachers Are Asking For Too Much

BY MARTY RUBINSTEIN

Guest Columnist  

 
  Last year, while the Teacher contract really wasn’t up for dispute, I went to bat for the Teachers of Broward County Schools. 

 What I posted here a year ago wound up not only as a published Letter To The Editor in the Sun-Sentinel, but likewise as an Editorial produced by the Sentinel Editorial Board as well after their investigation of the information I exposed.

Nice to know that I was ahead of the pack even then. 

This year I say NO.

Don’t be bamboozled by the hype that Broward Teachers are getting no raise this year, or the School Board is offering Zero percent.  Teachers have already received a 3 percent raise as of July 1st.

From the BTU Negotiation news posted July 8th:  “BTU-EP Chief Negotiator Dane Ramson said the requested information (School Board finances) was to help the union’s team identify possible “pots” of money during such difficult economic times. The funds could be utilized for the salary increases of instructional staff.”

“District negotiators flatly rejected the union’s salary increase proposal above the negotiated step movement that took place effective July 1, 2008.”

Don’t swallow the mis-information that Teachers are underpaid.  They aren’t.  Give that a moment to sink in and then read on…

Let me debunk some common myths.

Teachers need to be paid like professionals.  Broward Teachers start at $38,500 while most professionals start at $24,000.  Broward Teachers top out at $72,000 while most professionals top out at $55,000. And with Master’s, PHDs and other certifications, there are many Teachers in Broward making upwards of $92,000.  Hardly slave wages.

Teachers don’t get paid vacations.  Most professionals get two weeks off each year for the salaries they earn. Teachers get thirteen weeks.  Two weeks for winter break, one week for spring break and ten weeks for summer break.  Most professionals get five sick days each year, use them or lose them by December 31st. Teachers not only get ten sick days per year, but they can accumulate unused leave year to year.

Teachers don’t get paid holidays.  Yes they do.  While not defined as holidays in their contact, holidays are defined as days off through school closing. Even though Teachers don’t work on Columbus Day, they still get paid for the day as though it was a regular work day.  Ditto with New Year’s Day.  July 4th, too.  And just how many professionals are required to work on those days for no extra pay?

Teachers work long hours.  Yes they do.  So do most professionals.  60 and 70 hour weeks with weekends are not uncommon in either the professional or teaching world.

As I mentioned, teachers have already received a 3 percent raise as of July 1, negotiated LAST YEAR. 

 But that’s not enough for some, despite the fact that the voters have mandated reductions in cost of government and lower taxes. 

 TEACHERS HAVE GOTTEN THEIR RAISES THIS YEAR DESPITE THE MANDATE, but the union wants more.  Everybody else is suffering in the current economy.  Miami Dade is getting no raise as of this writing, but the BTU wants more.

The issue last year and the year before as a School Board Member was not one of percentages, but of equitable distribtuion.  The Union distribution of raises was and still is a JOKE.  It’s called a step system and MUST be dismantled at all costs. 

 The joke is that Teachers with less than 18 years get next to nothing, while Teachers with 18 years or more get 10, 17 and even 20 percent raises.  And that’s exactly the case with this year’s raises.  Just go to btuonline.com and take a look at the contract salary schedule.  $50, $75, $100 raises.  Not per week.  Per year.  Enough for a tank of gas.  Maybe.

That changed in 2006 with my leadership and again in 2007.  In 2006, Teachers received 6.3 percent ACROSS THE BOARD, not distributed according to the step scale.  Every teacher received a $2,050 raise and in 2007, that raise was $1,725.

The bottom line here is that while Teachers are feeling the pain with rising prices as are the rest of us, they’ve already gotten something that most of us haven’t. Demanding more is just plain piggy.

Me?  Like Will Rogers; “I’m not a member of any organized party.  I’m a Democrat.”

 (Marty Rubinstein is a former Broward County School Board member.  See more of his views on martyrubinstein.com)

The Root of All Evil

It's interesting to see the candidates trying to bloody each other over who's at fault for this Housing mess. The real root of the Problem is Bill Clinton, the problem however, is that most American's are so short sighted that they can't believe that someone who served so long ago, is still having an impact on our economy. Consider this though, before Bill Clinton's policy changes, if a bank was going to underwrite a loan to you or anyone else, it had to make the vast majority of these loans out to strict policy guidelines set by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Income had to be verified, if there were no W2's there had to be at least 2 years of Tax Returns verifying your income. Credit had to be at least reasonably good and a strong 5 to 10% or better down payment was generally required (depending on Credit). If there was no income verification, and no tax returns, the only way it could be done was with a hefty 25% down payment. The reasons behind this was simple, if the bank could not sell the loan to investors, the bank was stuck with the loan for the life of the loan. Most banks had Community Reinvestment programs where they would allocate possibly 1% of local profits to go to low income families or no doc type loans, but generally these types of loans were very few and far between. Also, if you had a good relationship with the bank, they might do Investment loans for you, since they figured you would sell the home in a fairly short period of time and they would get their cash back. Finally, cities often put together Community Development loans offered to first time home buyers that often required no more than 1 to 3% down and were generally available at reduced interest rates. The vast majority of these "risky" loans though were simply not forwarded to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Investors. They knew that these types of loans would undermine confidence in the system.

Clinton Chages the Game:
The Clinton Administration had a goal of making housing affordable to more people and so they made some very basic and fundamental changes at Freddie Mac and Fannie mae that basically said that these two companies could now start taking these types of "No Doc" loans that would usually only be available with a significant down payment The argument was that there were a lot of people that were self employed as Painters, Tile Setters, and other service professions making decent money, but writing off a lot of their personal expenses as Business expenses. These people could definitely afford to keep up with their mortgage payments even if they didn't have w2's. While that may have been the target audience, the abuses that happened when people thought they could buy homes for the sole purpose of flipping them was an unintended consequence. For nearly a decade after these regulation changes were made, they seemed to be working just as intended, but at some point the abuses started and as Wall Street saw money to be made, they jumped in with both feet into the bandwagon.
The last banking crisis 18 years ago (the Savings and Loan Mess) taught investors that the only S&L's that were saved from the mess were the ones who invested most of their cash in Home Mortgages, so they figured that this time would be the same thing. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that the rules had changed and this was now a different game.
The biggest problems came when the very same institutions that were supposed to be monitored by Congress started becoming some of it's biggest campaign contributors. These guys basically started cooking the books to make sure the Companies hit targets required to trigger their Bonuses. McCain began to blow the wistle on this 2 years ago, but of course no one listened, since they were doling out cold hard cash to practically everyone in Congress that had anything to do with thier oversight. Obama was one of the biggest beneficiaries of this money and he now acts as if McCain is somehow to blame, when McCain is the only one on record trying to stop these guys!

There are those who say that the Bible says that Money is the root of all evil, but that's not what it says in the Bible. What it says is that "The Love of money" is the root of all evil. Well this love fest got just a bit out of control didn't it.

Barrack Obama - The Media Love Fest Continues

I was poking around the Internet when I stumbled across this video by 60 Min. and my jaw nearly dropped to the ground. In an interview with Barrack Obama, 60 min. highlighted the fact that Joe Biden hammered on his lack of experience, Hillary Clinton hammered on his lack of experience and now John McCain is hammering on his lack of experience. 60 min. then went on to say "does the fact that he chose someone as his vice president someone who has less experience than you take that weapon out of his arsenal?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing!! I had to rewind that several times to make sure I heard it correctly! The interviewer is talking to a man who has done absolutely nothing with his life. Well, other than spend about a Million a day of your money on Pork and his trying to get money for his wife's Hospital (where she received a hefty raise thank you very much). He hasn't run any companies, hasn't run a town a city a state, absolutely zero executive experience and the man is actually suggesting that a sitting governor somehow has less experience than he has!?!

Not only is Sarah Palin a sitting Governor, but in the short time she's been running Alaska, (a state with a population fairly equal to Joe Biden's State) she's cut wasteful spending in Alaska even though the state's awash in Petro Dollars. The type of fiscal conservative needed in Washington. In addition, Palin has eliminated fraud, busted up scams and hasn't been afraid to take anyone on, including members of her own party. What has Obama done? Nothing, absolutely nothing, other than his ethics bill of course. However, let's examine Mr. Obama on Ethics. Did his ethics bill stop him from taking massive amounts of Cash from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Is that why he didn't want to go along with John McCain when McCain called for their reform 2 years ago? Apparently Obama talks about ethics reform, while McCain actually tries to make it happen. McCain's bill was defeated, but apparently he was right.

Woopie Goldberg - A Slave To Her Ignorance

It amazes me that people accept the one sided bias of the media with their usual sheepishness, such as how Michelle Obama goes on to The View with a list of topics she won't discuss, and gets the soft ball treatment from them. McCain on the other hand goes on the view and he gets the Major League treatment, but not only that, gets downright outrageous comments and accusations lobbed at him.

In response to McCain asserting that he would appoint judges that would not "legislate from the bench", in other words make up their own laws and instead stick to interpreting our constitution, Ms. Goldberg asked the question, "Do I have to worry about the return of Slavery". What?!?! Is she really that dim?

First, let's explore the history of slavery a bit. Slavery was not an institution suffered only by blacks, throughout the history of mankind, many societies such as Greece, the Baghdad Caliphate (Iraq) and Rome were constantly invading their neighbors to fill an unending appetite for slave labor. Just like the spectacle of the Colosseum, with it's "to the death" battles, is no longer considered a civilized event that no civilized society would partake in any longer, slavery as well is a barbaric thing of the past.

Next, let's go on to the conditions that allowed slavery. In the early days of the Colonies, slavery was allowed by our British masters and so land owners especially in the South utilized these rules as a way to farm their vast land holdings. When the colonies wanted to break away from the rule of England, they needed the South to help out in the effort, so as a compromise, in order to bring everyone together, slavery was basically put off by the constitution for 20 years, to give states time to transition their societies away from slavery, this is what happened in the North where slavery was officially ended without federal intervention in most states. The South however, saw things differently and wanted slavery to continue. Clearly, Democrats were not up to the task of ending slavery and it took a Republican and the religious right to make it happen. The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln ended slavery, while the Democrats fought to keep it alive. Ms. Goldberg, why do you think the Civil War happened? There are the revisionist out there that say that it was fought over some other issue, but let's take a look at the facts shall we? Lincoln's major campaign theme was the campaign against the expansion of Slavery, he claimed that Slavery was unconstitutional and that Science had taught us that Blacks were not "Three Fifths" of a person as we were told by the Democrats (it took another Republican law to end Democrat Primaries counting "Negro" votes as Three Fifths a vote too), upon the Republican victory, seven souther states declared their succession and independence from the U.S. After the south attacked the north at Fort Sumter, 4 more slave holding states declared their independence. Any student of history will tell you that Slavery was the ONLY issue that the Civil War was fought over, all other issues were nothing but peripheral instances that could have easily been resolved without a war.

So the short answer is, No Whoopi, you don't have to worry about the return of Slavery, Slavery is unconstitutional. The definition of rights, true rights, basically ends at the beginning of another person's rights. Science has also shown us that people of color are every bit as human as the rest of us and therefore not subject to the Democrats "Three Fifth's" rules where they could be enslaved, deprived of voting rights and so on.

Why Star Wars Galaxies Online SuX!

I've been playing Star Wars Galaxies on and off for the past 3 years or so. Ever since the Combat Upgrade or "CU" and New Game Experience or "NGE", they've just REALLY fouled up the game. I tend to jump in for a month or two, reminisce about how the game used to be and then cancel my account for another 6 months to a year.
First of all, let me go over what made the game interesting to begin with. For me, I like not only the Combat aspect of games, but also the ability to build things online, so SWG was like a gift from the gaming Gods. It had (and still has) one of the best crafting systems out of practically any MMO out there. Eve Online comes pretty close, but SWG has the ability to create truly unique versions of in game items that Eve doesn't have. By utilizing raw materials with Superior qualities, you could craft components that work in a superior fashion to those made by other less discerning crafters. Therefore, you could truly make a name for yourself in the game as someone who makes superior products. As an example, by utilizing high conductivity metals in crafting certain weapons, their energy output could be markedly improved. So the quest was on for Crafters to get the best materials to work with, and the fighters to find the best crafters to buy from.
In addition, there were mind expanding "Illegal drugs" that could be made in the game by characters who were part chef, part medic that would give the user temporary abilities that made them fighting machines. However, once they wore off, that person would drop and throw up leaving them vulnerable to attack and death. They had to run quick to a Doc to heal the battle wounds and an Entertainer to heal the Battle Fatigue. For this reason, all the cantina's or Bars in all the cities in SWG, were always filled with Entertainers and Medics. While death was easily overcome with a decent clone, it did take it's toll on your goods to where they decayed faster and had to be replaced or repaired to stay in good working order. Keeping your clone up to date made this less of a problem.
What made the game interesting was the unique interdependency's that the game relied upon so that each of the 33 professions had something to contribute to the game. Each was an integral part of a greater machine that made life in the game very interesting and fulfilling.
Additionally, factional warfare was a daily part of life and if you wanted to take part in the Rush that it was to be part of the Galactic Civil War (GCW), then you could Ally yourself with either the Rebel Army or the Imperials and engage in Player VS Player combat at any time and at any place.

Then the Socialist Took Over.

As usual and just like every other game, especially EVE, War is expensive. Swords break, blasters fall apart, armor gets holes in it and people lose things. The ones who complained the most were the ones who simply wanted to jump in, get a good fight then jump out. Those people however, already had a game, it's called Planetside.
Some at Sony started thinking that it wasn't fair that some people actually lost their precious weapons or armor, so they removed decay from the game. Things no longer broke, ruining the economy for the crafters.
Additionally, since those greedy Doctors had to heal battle wounds from those who went out to fight, they removed Battle wounds from the game and simply made it to where people would heal automatically after being away from combat for a few minutes.
To top it off, the game originally had 3 bars for your character's health. Health, Action and Mind or HAM for short. To keep greedy entertainers from making a buck off healing your Battle Fatique on your mind, they basically eliminated the Mind bar, which fits in perfectly with how the new design team at Sony thought about their pllayer base, they thought we didn't have a mind, so why reflect that in the game. Of course this also meant that our drugs would no longer work, since they were Mind Expanding drugs, so those were eliminated from the game, along with the Chefs that used to make them.
Additionally, since the Game Masters figured that us Artisans and Crafters were making too much cash, they simply started giving away all the best stuff on quests that most players could complete on their own.
Now the game is a boring little utopia, where you obviously can't win, because you can't lose either. Anything that you lose in the game is automagically respawned so you never lose anything. I could jump into one of the worst battles in my life and if my wife calls me for dinner, I can just drop everything and go, which makes it very convenient, but at the same time, very boring. You can't ahve an adrenaline rush over the possibility of a loss, when you can't lose anything.

Even participating in PVP is no longer the RUSH that it used to be. While you can still align yourself to the Imperials or Rebels, it's now much easier to be part of either group, while staying out of Combat, so people have to give "consent" to be attacked!! Yes I can see it now:

Imperial - Halt Rebel Scum, or I'll shoot.
Rebel - See ya, ***Climbs on his Swoop Bike and takes off
Imperial - Please Click Accept to Duel
Rebel - Sorry, maybe you can kick my butt some other time

Unfortunately, the Socialists have destroyed the game and most people have left it because of this. Only 2 servers remain popular in the game, Bria and Bloodfin, and even those two don't have anywhere near the populations they used to have before all the changes. You would think that this alone would be enough for Sony to demand their game designers go back to the old system, but in typical Socialist fashion they'd rather have their little group in shared equal Misery then go back to a system were some prospered, some got ripped off, some got hurt and most did OK but everyone had fun.

Bush Finally Lifting Executive Ban on Offshore Oil Drilling

President Bush will announce today that he is lifting the executive order banning offshore oil drlling.
Unfortunately for us stuck paying $4.00+ per gallon for Gas, Congress still needs to repeal the Moratorium on Offshore Oil drilling as well. Unlikely to happen with the Democrats in Control of Congress. They are still beholden to the Sierra Club and other environmental groups vehemently opposed to offshore oil drilling, even though they can't point to a single instance of an Oil rig destroying a beach or the other nonsense that they spout about environmental damage.

"There is no excuse for delay," the president said in a last month in a Rose Garden statement.

"In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil, and that means we need to increase supply here at home," Bush said, adding that there is no more pressing issue for many Americans than gas prices.

Bush's father, concerned about the effects of falling Oil prices on the Mexican Economy, President George H.W. Bush, signed the executive order in 1990 banning offshore drilling.

Experts have gone from saying it would take 10 years to 3 years before we see any oil, once all the Moratoriums are lifted, but only time will tell who will be proven correct. One thing is for sure, if we do nothing, prices will continue to spiral upwards. Doubts on Global Warming, shouldn't stop us from sourcing our Oil from the Middle East to sourcing it from ourselves.

One thing is for sure, unless someone puts pressure on Congressman David Obey to re-open the Appropriations Process, we definitely won't see any progress on this issue.

Maybe now is the time to start a fresh round of Operation Drill Bit, to remind Congress that we're still overpaying for Gas.