Big 3 Bailout thoughts

I wrote the following to Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida on his "No" vote to on the "Cloture Motion; Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008". A yes vote would have allowed the Senate to move forward on this bill, to which leaders intended to attach auto financing and restructuring legislation

Thank you for voting "No" on the Cloture Motion to the "Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008."

While I am fundamentally opposed to government intervention in free markets, that's in large part what got us into the financial and housing meltdown to begin with, if there is going to be government intervention, there must be concessions on "all" sides.

That the unions refused to even consider concessions to help their employers to become more competitive and preserve blue collar jobs is case in point of the arrogance they have fostered.

In tough times everyone needs to be willing to do what is necessary to keep their business viable, unions included.

That said, the very best method for the big 3 to deal with the problem of mismanagement, poor market prognostication and burdensome union contracts is the very Darwinian yet efficient method of Chapter 11 reorganization.

With good decisions they will come out stronger, more competitive and positioned for future growth and profitability without eating at the public trough.

I need my blue collar, Postal Service, earnings to support my family, not those of mis-managers and unionized extravagance.

I wrote a similar note to Sen. Bill Nelson who voted "Yes" on the motion. Except I extended my disappointment at his vote.

We must each become involved in the political process and tell our representatives what we think of their actions. Our Senators and Representatives are in Washington to "represent" each of us, the voter, the constitutent, not their own self interests and personal philosophies.

They must listen to us and seriously consider our wishes on the issues. If not, we have the responsibility in our Republic to go to the voting booth and replace them.

But if we fail to provide guidance and feedback, the onus falls on each of us for the actions they take with which we disagree. So take time to get involved, learn about the issues and write your political representatives, it's your future, and that of your children and grandchildren.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Life's Priorities

Ellie laid in intensive care for 3 days while her doctors stabilized her injuries and allowed her body to adjust to the shock of her extensive injuries. Her son, John, was already planning on visiting before the accident. Ellie wasn’t even supposed to have worked that day; her vacation was to have started so she could prepare for his visit.

Now those plans were scrapped and all focus was on Ellie’s precarious medical condition. The doctors had repaired her punctured lungs, the fracture of her spine would heal itself if she remained stationary, which was no problem because her shattered legs wouldn’t allow her to walk and her broken ribs hurt too much to sit or even move.

Ellie was so medicated for her pain that she lived in a semi-conscious stupor, barely knowing where she was, much less who was around. While she lay in ICU, her friends began the work of caring for her animals.

For years Ellie had enjoyed loving people, setting up regular outings to places like the Arabian Nights dinner show in Orlando, FL. She made the arrangements, secured group rates, and invited as many friends and co-workers as would come. Memories were made, relationships bonded, life’s priorities readjusted.

Now it was time for her friends to return the love she had so unselfishly shown. Her friend Lisa went by Ellie’s home and scooped up her miniature Dobermans, Billie and Bo, and took them home to her own menagerie of dogs, cats and birds. Friends and her stable girls oversaw the care of Ellie’s four horses, an Arabian, a Miniature horse, a Lipizzaner mare and her son, a stallion with potential to become a show horse.

Ellie’s stables boarded several horses that needed immediate relocation while her own horses required daily care, feeding and training. Those that could be relocated were, the Arabian and Mini were easy to care for, the high spirited Lipizzaners were another story. They required a trainer with special knowledge of the breed and someone willing to take on the liability of these beautiful but potentially dangerous animals.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Halfacre, the driver of the car that hit Ellie’s vehicle, had initially been brought to the same wing of the Orlando Regional where Ellie was. To protect her from the possibility of crossing paths with him, Ellie was kept in ICU two extra days until a private room was found in another wing of the hospital.

She was still heavily medicated and barely aware of her surroundings. John, his father, and Ellie’s ex-husband, remained by her side, advocating for her with her doctors and the medical staff. It would take weeks before she would be allowed to even sit and her legs would have to remain stationary even longer.

The weeks would roll by before Ellie could leave the hospital. Finally, by the end of March and after an extended search for facilities that could support her physical therapy and healthcare needs, and would accept federal workers compensation, Ellie was relocated to Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach. This would become her home for the next two and a half months.

At Florida Hospital Ellie slowly began her recovery and rehabilitation. She worked to strengthen her broken body and regain mobility in legs that had been so long immobilized. It was hard, painful work. Limbs that had been strong enough to work with and train spirited horses themselves now needed training to move but a few inches.

But move they did. Ellie was relentless in her therapy and set goals that she achieved to the amazement of her nurses, therapists, doctors and caseworkers. The day she stood and walked the parallel bars in Physical Therapy was celebrated as a huge milestone. When she began using her walker to navigate the hallways, there was no stopping her.

But Ellie’s recovery wasn’t limited to her physical body. In many ways her spirit and psyche had been damaged. She struggled with the emotions of knowing someone had died in the impact with her car. Logically, she knew it wasn’t her fault and there had been nothing she could have done. But emotions don’t rely on logic, they don’t do fault analysis. And Ellie, being a loving, caring people person struggled mightily.

Even as she struggled with her own emotions, Ellie reached out to those around her at Florida Hospital. Those who were struggling with their own loss of independence and mobility, many of them elderly, found in Ellie a friend who would quietly listen, encourage and support them until they were themselves able to begin moving forward with their lives.

Finally, by the middle of June she was able to walk with her walker far enough that she was able to leave Florida Hospital. Though she couldn’t yet return home because needed to be able to get out of her home without a wheelchair in an emergency, Ellie could go to the home of another friend in Port Orange for the few weeks it would take to reach that point.

Ellie was ecstatic to be able to return to a real home, sleep in a real bedroom and help with the cooking. It was the next best thing to heaven! Friends could come by and she would be dressed in street clothes, she could go to church, the store and help, in a limited way, around the house.

A few weeks later she finally achieved her goal of moving home with her dogs. During this long wait they had lived with Lisa and made visits to Ellie at Florida Hospital, but having them home with her was the best therapy for both Ellie and her animals.

She mourned the loss of her beloved Lipizzaners, but she had found a home with a reputable and knowledgeable trainer who knew the breed well and had trained many champions. The Arabian mare and the Mini were still stabled and she would be able to keep them. Ellie’s goal is to use her Mini to draw a carriage, perhaps even in shows. Her horses would be well cared for and that brought her joy and satisfaction.

Ellie had a series of appointments with a psychologist to help her with the pain of her loss of physical health, and especially that emotional struggle with the loss of life in her accident. She also scheduled several lessons with a driving instructor to help her regain her confidence in returning to driving.

Her doctors continued to find areas of her broken body needing attention. Glass from the windshield embedded in her hands that had caused so much pain worked its way to the surface and fractures to her fingers that had gone undiagnosed were discovered and corrective surgery performed.

The biggest surgical procedures required would be knee replacement in both legs. Ellie’s right leg had been shattered and her left leg suffered compound fractures. When those bones had healed enough to make surgery possible Ellie opted to have knee replacement on both knees at the same time. She figured she had got used to a wheelchair and she might as well get the pain over with at once.

When she awoke from surgery the evening of November 12 she began to question her decision. The pain was awful, but in some ways it didn’t matter because her doctor kept her heavily medicated for pain and in a drug induced stupor.

By the end of the next week though Ellie was doing much better. Her pain was manageable, she was able to reduce the medication to a level where she felt more normal and she was moving to Lucerne Rehabilitation Center.

There she remained until December 1. Ten and a half months after her accident, Ellie left Lucerne with son John driving and headed home; hopefully for the final time for accident related hospital stays. She still has a long path of rehabilitation ahead of her. She may never be able to return to work in the job she was in at the time of her accident, but she has plans, and a future ahead of her.

While there remain many uncertainties, she wants to work with horses and people. Riding is out of the question, but training and teaching still remain possibilities, and of course there’s that carriage for her Mini.

Ellie loves to cook and has entertained the idea of a business where she could teach others how to make easy, nutritious meals on a budget. Most of all, she want to help others. So many have sacrificed for her and she want to pass that gift on.

So Wednesday, December 3, was a coming out of sorts for Ellie. Dressed in her sequin applicade western style blouse and a jaunty white gambler style hat, she rolled her wheelchair into Chi-Ling’s Japanese Steakhouse like the life of the party she is.

Friends gathered and while they demonstrated their love and appreciation for her, it was obvious the night wasn’t about Ellie, it was about her friends and bringing people together to allow them to refocus, make memories and deepen relationships.

Adults, children and teens all mixed with at casual familiarity of people who though they may not know each other, trust the friend who brought them together knowing that if they all are loved by Ellie, they have passed the important test already.

There will be more therapy, more attention by medical professionals, more struggles with emotions, jobs, finances, but Ellie is back, she’s bringing people together again and she has never forgot her most important life rule, it’s all about people. Work, jobs, things all come and go, but family, relationships, they go on forever and that’s the most important part of life and living.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Heros...

Last night I had dinner with a hero. A co-worker, Ellie Celeste, had her “coming out” of sorts, 2 days after returning home from her hospital and rehabilitation for the 2nd time. Eighteen friends gathered to celebrate with her and celebrate we did. But first, some background.

Ellie is a sixty something lady, originally from New York City, who loves horses, dogs and people. Not always in that order. For years she has bred and trained horses, mostly Lipizzaners, some of which have made their way into well known shows featuring these beautiful animals.

Additionally, she operated stables and a carriage ride business in New York City, and after moving to Florida about 10 years ago she again boarded horses and offered riding classes for kids, specializing in therapeutic riding. Her dream was to do this full time when she retired from the Postal Service.

That all changed on February 16, 2008. On that day Ellie was returning from the Lady Lake Post Office about noon after conducting a test on the mail. Traveling across Florida on Highway 42 east of Weirsdale, a trip she had made many times, Ellie was ever alert.

Though this route is the shortest path from her home office in Daytona Beach to Lady Lake, it is also wrought with potential peril. Twisting through the rolling hills of central Florida, Highway 42 is loaded with blind turns, unseen roads and driveways emptying into it and traffic snarled by the slow pace often punctuated by impatient drivers taking terrible chances.

This particular February Saturday was bright and sunny; the temperature was in the low 70’s, the rolling countryside covered with scrub oaks in their winter dormancy punctuated with the deep greens of pine and cedar. It was a perfect example of Florida’s best time of the year. As Ellie drove she thought of her plans later that day. Caring for her horses, riding classes, it was a great to be alive!

Little known to Ellie, at that moment, Jeremy Halfacre and his passenger Ray Jenkins were racing her way. Halfacre was at the wheel of a borrowed lease car which he wasn’t authorized to drive on his suspended license.

Halfacre had minutes earlier rolled through a stop sign in Eustis. A sheriff’s deputy, observing the violation, gave pursuit until he saw the reckless manner of Halfacre’s driving. Little did the officer know that in addition to the minor traffic violation, Halfacre was wanted on a drug charge, that’s why he sped from the officer’s pursuit.

Halfacre merged off of County Road 450 onto Highway 42 and was headed her way at over 90 miles per hour. While the officer had long since stopped his pursuit, the driver of a forest service truck, listening to the officer’s exchange with his dispatcher, observed Halfacre’s car as it passed and followed at a distance to keep him in sight.

Halfacre, thinking he was still being pursued, sped away, swerving in and out of traffic. He came up behind some motorcyclists out for a leisurely ride and cut into the oncoming lane just as Ellie’s car rounded the curve. Halfacre swerved and his car, sliding sideways at 70 miles per hour, slammed into Ellie’s postal car at a combined impact speed of 130mph. Jenkins was killed instantly.

The impact crushed the 2006 Chevy Malibu Ellie was driving, ramming the steering wheel into her chest, breaking 3 ribs and puncturing her lungs. The seat frame slammed into her spine fracturing it. As the floorboard collapsed, her legs had nowhere to go and the bones in her legs and her knees were shattered, her right femur breaking through the skin and jamming itself into the console.

Glass from Jenkins’ car and her windshield peppered her with lacerations, embedding itself such that months later Ellie was still finding pieces rising to the surface of her hands, arms and face. Through it all, she remained conscious and alert.

If not for the air bag, Ellie would have died. There were times in the coming weeks when she wished she had, but right now she was trapped and just wanted out. The forest service employee probably saved her life by staunching the blood flow from torn arteries.

Miraculously paramedics were nearby the location of this deeply rural accident scene and they rushed to provide immediate care while other emergency workers raced to dismantle the Malibu with the “Jaws of Life.” The doors and roof had to come off the crushed car before Ellie’s mangled body could be extracted and air lifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

While the doctors at ORMC worked feverishly to save her life, Ellie lay in a semi-conscious state and down the hall, the man who had inflicted this insult to her body was himself receiving medical care.

Come back in a few days for the rest of the story.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Giving thanks...

Eph 5:20 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (KJVA)

If you’re reading this Thanksgiving Day, I was scheduled to work today, but flexibility being the watchword, that has changed, YEAH!!.

I had originally planned to be off this week and was considering making the trek to be with my parents and siblings this day, that or spend the week working on a failed shower pan.

Well, things didn’t work out where I would be able to work on and complete the shower, but neither was I able to make the pilgrimage north. One of our employee’s heart problems revisited and for the second time in 3 weeks he had to undergo a cardiac stent procedure.

With the downsizing the Postal Service is undergoing, we no longer have the redundancy of employees for which the service was once legitimately criticized. That redundancy is no longer the case and the reductions continue with voluntary early retirements taking effect in January ’09.

Two strong healthy people can distribute mail in our office for a short period of time, I know because I did it the first time this employee went into the hospital. But now, if I were to take the time off, the two people left are both near or past retirement and neither are in the best of health themselves. Attempting to run the office for a week would most likely, for them, result in their needing to take sick leave to recover from the physical damage they’d incur.

So, I find myself working this week, the first time I would have had Thanksgiving week off in 20 years of working for the Postal Service. Additionally, the little known secret is that even though there is no window service or mail delivery on a holiday, many larger offices still must staff to one degree or another otherwise the mail the following day would be overwhelming and most likely delays would occur.

However, with the overwhelming changes occurring in the Postal Service, we are downsizing our staffing across the board and extending dependency on automation processes to increase productivity and further reduce staffing.

The Postal Service is not immune to the shrinking economy. Our business depends on mail volume and that volume is dropping. Many factors come into play, the rise of the Internet and electronic billing and remittance being primary.

We learned Wednesday that except in the major processing centers, there will no transportation running to delivery offices on Thanksgiving Day and thus no need to provide even minimal staffing in those office. I have no doubt that this seeming minor change will save millions of dollars in avoided costs on this holiday.

And with that additional bit of knowledge, I no longer am required to work this Thanksgiving Day, and that's a good thing.

So, with all this change and uncertainty am I complaining, Nope. I’m thankful. Thankful for so many things. Thankful for my job. It’s been a source of income security for 20 years and provided for my family in many ways.

I’m thankful for my family. For their love and patience with me, even in those times when I challenge their patience.

For my parents, for their nurture, their provision, their guidance, their love. For being an example to follow and a source of strength in times of trial. For their expression of love and in doing so were an example of God’s love to me.

For my brother and sister. I left home before we developed those close relationships so often depicted in film and book. But then, I’m a different kind of independent individual and those kind of relationships would be difficult for me to maintain for any length of time. Still, I know their love is secure and when I have needed their support, they have been there for me, without fail.

For my wife, Karen. For the same reasons listed above, I’m not an easy person to live with. I can often be distant, quite, uncommunicative, and stubborn and sometimes exhibit unloving behavior. Still, she is patient and continues to love me, even after these past 8 years of ups and downs. She really deserves a medal.

I’m thankful for my health. The past two years has really brought this home with the cycling accident I had in February ’06 and the subsequent two surgeries. The long rehabilitation and just in the past few weeks returning to my bike. It’s a joy to be able to physically challenge myself. Many my age are unable to do so, their bodies failing them either due to genetics or abuse.

I’m thankful for my home. Yes, even with the damaged shower. Our home is a blessing and a refuge. In the six years since we built we’ve realized it is probably too small for this time in our lives and there are things I miss, like a two-car garage. But many have no garage, live in an overcrowded home with several generations under one roof and, recently, a significant percentage of homeowners are losing their home. Some due to imprudent financial decisions, some simply victims, oh how I hate those words, of our present economy.

I’m thankful for our grandchildren. Don’t see ‘em often enough, and frankly, when we do I’m often ready for their parents to pick ‘em up before their parents are ready to do so. Still, Camron and Katie are great kids, healthy, active, energetic, imaginative, inquisitive and intelligent. What more could you ask for.

I’m thankful for technology, though sometimes I’d like to take that technology and toss it out the window. Technology helps keep us closer. Families that would barely know each other develop cyber-relationships when there would have been little contact otherwise. Some of you are reading this on Facebook where I have recently had the pleasure to reconnect with friends thought lost years ago.

Speaking of those friends, I’m thankful for each of you. The imprint you’ve had on my life is indelible and while some more than others, each friendship and relationship has served to mold and shape me in ways that has made me the person I am.

Most of all I’m thankful for the love, grace and mercy of a loving God who really does love me. Some folks think of God as a stern, judgmental, unforgiving master who seeks their obedience, respect and fear. The God I know loves me; he really does, and seeks his best for my life. It’s my duty to seek out his will and conform my life to it, not out of fear but out of love and devotion to him.

So on this Thanksgiving Day, as I work, I will do so with thanksgiving in my heart and a song on my lips. For I truly have much to be thankful for.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

In the Shadow of the Moon

I’ve always had an interest in space and space exploration. The idea of what lies beyond planet Earth, what wonders exist in the heavens above has occupied my thoughts in varying degrees since childhood.

I remember as a child watching TV while the Gemini and Apollo space capsules blasted off into that great unknown, then returning in a fiery reentry and splashdown, Navy ships, helicopters, rafts and divers rushing to the scene to secure the capsule and extract the astronauts before their craft was claimed by the waters.

Living in Florida these past 20 years I’ve had opportunity to exercise that interest to a greater degree than otherwise possible, and with the coming of the Internet, the availability of information and imagery is like manna, or perhaps a needed “fix” for this addiction that oft runs hot and cold. The Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral are located on the central Atlantic Florida coast, a short drive from our home, and excite the imaginations of children and adults, myself included.

One of the cool things about living here, for me, is that under the right atmospheric conditions I can view launches from my home. They vary in degrees of visibility; some day launches are a mere contrail arching through the sky with a faint orange flame at its head.

Night launches are the best, recently on November 14 STS-126 (that’s Space Transport System number 126) launched at 7:55pm into partly cloudy skies of an early evening. As the shuttle accelerated in speed and altitude she suddenly appeared over the trees between the clouds suspended in the air on a tail of flame quickly rising on her rendezvous with space and the International Space Station.

The most amazing and beautiful night launch I viewed was STS-33 in November 1989. At the time I lived in a semi-rural area and that evening our overhead skies were clear but there was high altitude overcast at the launch pad. As the shuttle engines ignited the fireball lit the undersides of those clouds and with them the whole horizon. It was an indescribable sight of beauty and power.

No matter how many times they launch there’s always a crowd of people of all ages lining our streets and staring into the heavens hoping for a glimpse of the start of this most recent of adventures. Perhaps some of it is the spectacle syndrome, hoping against hope to be there if another shuttle launch fails in the manner of STS-51L, Challenger, which, with her crew, was lost 73 seconds into the launch in a huge fireball seen across the state.

No one wants to see that ever again. But space is a harsh mistress and space exploration is, at its essence, a process of discovery that is built on taking high risk. Each shuttle and launch vehicle contains millions of components, each critical to the mission. Failure of even the seemingly most innocuous of parts could have disastrous consequences.

One of the most awesome of experiences you can have is to be at KSC when the shuttle launches. I’ve viewed it twice, once from Titusville with my nephew and a second time from across the Banana River at the Merritt Island launch viewing spot for the general public. Even though it’s 8 miles away, when the shuttle launches the roar and blast of the engines rolls across the water and physically shakes your body. (Google Map)

I’ve said all this to introduce these few words about the 2007 documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon” directed by David Sington and introduced by Ronnie Howard. This film follows the space program of the 1960’s from the lofty goal set by President Kennedy in 1961 through the achievement of that goal in 1969 and beyond.

While this is not a scientific overview of the race to the Moon, it succinctly captures the mood, challenges, achievements and failures of the space program during this time.
With overwhelming odds and technology that by today’s standards was less than primitive, this nation set its collective eye on the goal and through determination, unrelenting effort, innovation and even dumb luck achieved that target in a manner that was acclaimed around the world.

The film is based on interviews with the men who risked their lives to attain that objective. Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Mike Collins, Ed Mitchell, John Young and many more of these adventurous risk takers tell the story in their own words, in the process providing wonderful insights to the space program and the men behind it.

If you have any interest in science, history, space exploration, technology or human nature, this is an important study that you simply must see. It’s available on DVD and if you subscribe to Netflix you can add it to your queue. You’ll thank yourself for doing so.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

How progressive taxes work...

Came across a paraphrase of the following on another networking site I regularly visit. Snope's can't verify attribution so I'll leave that part off.

Still, the analogy is sound and clearly explains the fallacy of a progressive tax system and especially one geared towards wealth envy, such as ours.

How Taxes Work . . .

This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Read on — it does make you think!!

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man — the richest — would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement — until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six — the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too . . . It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man, "why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

Sadly, in America today, according to a recent Gallup poll 46% of those polled would prefer to be the first 4 or 5 guys. They approve taking from the others, only they don't want it done voluntarily, they want it under the threat of government coercion.

That says much about the state of their self motivation and one might even say moral depravity. What happens when government gets into the business of wealth redistribution? Well, I'm talking more than we currently have and more like has been proposed by the incoming powers of our government, both legislative and executive branches.

In the mid '90's I was in Hungary, a nation that lived under Communism. In 1989 she came out from under that heavy handed rule and while the Budapest was thriving, outside the city the people still labored in a state of despair.

Old world horse carts still traveled the roads as people moved themselves and the fruits of their backbreaking labor in their gardens and fields. Once the socialist economic principles of Communism took hold, breaking their grasp on those weaker, poorer victims of it's failed policies was near impossible.

This is what some in power want for our nation. I have no doubt they don't wish the wearying daily struggle, but we have already seen the results of unintended consequences of well intended government intervention gone wrong.

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, at the heart of our current financial crisis. I've written much about that. The 2005 Energy Bill, expanded in 2007, mandating ethanol production. That short-sighted, well intended legislation resulted in dramatically higher grain prices and ultimately grocery prices, with little to show in energy production. There are currently calls to freeze its mandates at the current levels.

Social Security, a well intended product of the Roosevelt era, has had progressively steeper demands placed on it, disability benefits, survivors benefits, constantly increasing the meager monthly payments. All the while the population of those drawing SS checks grows as our population lives longer and the pool of those worker paying in continues to decrease as the birth rate declines.

I have two nephews, a niece, two step sons and two grandchildren who will be footing the bill for my Social Security payments, assuming it is still in force 12 years from now. Currently the estimated benefit for myself and my wife is $2489 in today's dollars. In 2020, at the current rate of growth, its estimated that for every recipient there will be 2.4 workers, and the ratio gets smaller every year. (More info)

That means, on average, out of each of their monthly paychecks, about $520 will be taken off the top to pay the social security for me, my wife and every other recipient. That, my friends, is wealth redistribution.

But for those currently coming into power in Washington, its a non-issue. The wealth redistribution they are pushing takes this much further and in the process the Ponzi scheme known as Social Security, Medicare, National Healthcare, Welfare, Child Credit ad nausem will end up breaking the back of the American economy.

Good intentions? Certainly, though some more skeptical will argue its merely buying the vote of the lower economic classes. But good intentions do not make good policy.

We've already seen in microcosm the results of human nature in the financial bailout. Companies are repositioning themselves to become eligible when they weren't before. Companies not related to the financial crisis are demanding a bailout for their sectors. Citizens are concocting schemes, dreaming up ways they think they should get a piece of this action.

What everyone forgets is that it isn't government who foots the bill. Government doesn't create wealth, it only takes it. Government doesn't produce a salable product. The current model seems to be redistribution.

According to the Tax Foundation analysis of 2006 tax data, if you earned $153,542 you were in the top 5% of income earners and paid 60% if income taxes. If you earned a modest $64,702 you were in the top 25% of income earners and one of the wealthy. You and your group paid 86.27% of all income taxes.

What does this tell us? For starters, the idea that the wealthy don't pay income taxes is a myth. Perpetuated by a political class with an agenda of riding wealth envy to power. Secondly, you could have confiscated the total incomes of the top 5%, those making %153,542 in 2006 ($2.43 trillion), and the total going to the government would come close to to paying the $2.7 trillion budget for that year, but only once.

The only answer to this is to reduce spending. In 2006 the federal government spent $248 billion just on interest on the national debt, that is more than twice the $117 billion spent on the Iraq war that year and $22 billion more than the federal deficit that year.

Confiscating wealth, nor redistribution of wealth, is the answer. A fair review of the data is convincing. The only answer for the fiscal dilemma our government is in, less government.

The only problem with this is the current and the incoming leadership on both sides of the aisle seem committed to more government, more intrusion into the private sector, more spending, more and increased entitlements, more deficits, and a higher national debt.

I've oft repeated this quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, "The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."

Our legislators discovered this long ago, the people are swallowing this hook into their collective gut and it will eventually rip us all inside out.

I want more for my nephews, niece, step sons and grandchildren. They deserve more, yet sadly, I'm afraid their generation may have fallen victim to the elixir of wealth envy and may well be bringing to power those who will orchestrate their own fiscal demise.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

The cyclist rides again!!

And on a lighter note, WooHoo! For the first time since February 24,2006 I climbed on my bike and took off on a exhilarating ride! While my shoulder will most likely never be 100% of what it was, it was great getting back to the sport I love!

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Time to come down off the "high"

With the election over, journalists, pundits, commentators, most politicians and most importantly, the President-Elect, Barack Obama, have all begun to scale back the rhetoric. These professionals, for the most part, understand there is an important distinction between campaigning for political office and holding that office.

The words, thoughts and ideas expressed in a campaign are idealistic, crafted to appeal to a candidate’s constituency’s hope and dreams. A political candidate also knows the rhetoric of campaigning will rarely become policy. Therefore he or she must scale back the expectations of their constituencies otherwise those who carried them to office will turn on them when they realize their idealized hopes will not be attained, or at least to the degree they were led to believe during the campaign.

To his credit, President elect Obama began lowering expectations in the final week of his campaign when it became clear that barring unforeseen and hugely inaccurate polling, he would most likely become this nation’s 44th President. The difficulty for Obama is that most of the constituency he has courted, the youth vote and the wealth envy vote, do not understand the difference between campaigning and governing.

Political candidates have since the beginning of politics promised far more than they can deliver. In the form of government in this nation, that fact is inherent in our Constitutional Republic. You see, this is not a democracy, despite the misguided belief perpetuated by the educational system and the media.

Sadly, the constituencies of President-Elect Obama have drunk the “Kool-aid” of “Change” and truly believe that their candidate and our soon to be President will enact all that he has promised. Many remain in “campaign mode” ravenously attacking anyone expressing ideas and opinions even slightly different from their own. They look for attack and disparagement in even the most benign of comment.

Their youthful idealism and expectations, their lack of understanding of the American political process, will lead them to disillusion and disappointment. At the same time, their inability to tone down their rhetoric and attacks will serve only to alienate them from both those who may agree with them as well as those who don’t.

Their friends, families and fellow employees will all soon tire of the constant argumentative attitude and newly empowered political groupies will soon find themselves not only disappointed in their expectations, but distanced from those who would have otherwise been there for them when they finally realize their candidate cannot fulfill the all promises made and their government has failed them despite their hope for change.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Change, Obama's positions vary minute by minute

As recent news events and the current political cycle has demonstrated, disgusting images of anyone on the left are hate speech and those committing such acts must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Arguments, ideologies and even general statements that differ from the leftist “party line” are deemed at their core racist, intolerant, disgusting, lies and without basis. Even when it is shown that those statements are rooted in fact backed up with quotes and even recordings showing the statements to be factual.

Barack Obama was only 8, so the story line goes, when Bill Ayres committed his heinous acts, there for he cannot be held responsible, I can accept that. But Obama was in his 30’s when he sat on committees and boards with Ayers, conceding to and helping to promote Ayres views of America while accepting Ayres help in launching his own political career. The Obama campaign would have us believe the candidate barely knew Ayres.

For 20 years Obama sat in the pews of the Chicago Trinity United Church while Jeremiah Wright spewed hate for the principles of America and directed that hate towards 74% of Americans who are white. Obama counseled with Wright and calls Wright his spiritual mentor. Yet during all that time Obama claims he knew nothing of the racist views and hatred espoused by Wright. When confronted with it, Obama conveniently threw his mentor of 20 years “under the bus.”

Now the story line goes that it was 7 years ago when Obama made statements of support for PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi calling Khalidi his "friend and frequent dinner companion." That was so long ago and now the Obama campaign spins out, “he does not share Khalidi's views.”

Of course, he didn't mean "spreading the wealth" when he said those words so clearly to Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher. What he really meant was tax fairness.

He doesn't promote or support socialism or Marxism. But, as stated in a 2001 interview, equal outcome for all is desirable and even, in his view, a basic societal right that the US Supreme Court has failed to ensure. According to Obama our nations highest court failed to "break free from the essential constraints" of our Constitution. Therefore the Constitution itself is, in his view, fundamentally flawed and should be "thrown under the bus."

The Obama campaign dismisses the socialist characterization of such statements as a "distraction." The spokesperson says Obama was speaking of the "civil rights movement – and the kind of work that has to be done on the ground to make sure that everyone can live out the promise of equality" and "has nothing to do with Obama's economic plan."

Excuse me. His 2001 statements are fundamental to his current tax and wealth redistribution policies.

I recently heard Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton excuse a statement by the candidate as inconsequential because it occurred 2 weeks previously. Next we’ll be told to forget what was said in the previous sentence because it just didn’t happen that way.

So we are required to make excuses for and accept a new story line a day for candidate Obama who refuses to defend at face value even one of his controversial stands. If we fail to accept his views we are characterized as racist, intolerant, dysfunctional and without merit.

I suppose in an Obama administration free speech will still reign as long as it mirrors their party line. If not, you may well end up in an gulag, Obama style.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Profits, profit margins, get the whole story

With 58% Jump in Profit, a Record Quarter for Exxon

As usual the NYT, like most of the rest of the media fail to put oil company profits in perspective.

The "record" was set with the highs in oil prices back in the summer. I want to know what the profit "margin" was. The numbers are impressive, but most Americans don't differentiate between "profit" and "profit margin" or the net earnings to revenue ratio.

That is the real telling figure. Microsoft averages 28-29%. Coke averages 18%. Most people think a 10% margin is acceptable. Historically, oil companies earn 7.5-8.5%, even during the recent "astronomical highs." Exxon's net margin is 9.21%. Coke 18%, Microsoft 28%, Exxon 9.2%. Who's really raping the consumer?

In this quarter they spent $7 billion on research and development, nearly $33 billion on taxes (that's before the Obama "windfall" profits taxes) and had earnings of $14.8 billion.

And those earnings are returned to the investors, i.e. pension funds, mutual funds, 401-K's, individual investors, institutional investors. If you have a retirements fund or mutual fund, you may very well be a beneficiary.

All I want to see is perspective in these articles but they are determined to demonize these companies without which our economy would come to a screeching halt. No energy to run it, no economy, no jobs, no home, no retirement, no food, clothes, goods etc.

Do they make a lot of money, Sure do! Is that bad? Let 'em go bust and see what happens. Do they earn excessive profits, not even.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Hangings in America

The recent degeneration of political discourse in the form of effigies of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and now twice reported effigies of Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama are a sad commentary on the state of America.

Chad Michael Morrisette, the creator of the Palin effigy that has hung since the weekend, says its art and humor. At the same time he acknowledges that such an image is distasteful and offensive, "The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman, for our country and the history of our country," he told a local station.

Yet the effigy remains despite outcry from local official as well as across the nation. The local sheriff says there’s no law against “bad taste” while the FBI responded, "It's clearly distasteful, but it doesn't appear to be a violation of federal civil rights statutes." A special agent with the Secret Service says, “incident seems to be a harmless, though unusual, Halloween display.”

Meanwhile, effigies of Obama have had brief appearances at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and at George Fox University in Oregon. Both effigies were immediately taken down, there were no references to free speech or art, only offered apologies and disgust.

The students who allegedly confessed responsibility for the GFU incident will be punished according to school officials while the president of KU, Lee Todd, “says that he plans to personally apologize to the Obama family on behalf of the university and that he is ‘personally offended and deeply embarrassed by this disgusting episode.’"

Why the disparate difference in response to these equally despicable acts of feigned violence? Do we in America, in the interests of “tolerance” fail to understand the significance of the act of hanging someone in effigy? Is good taste, or conversely abhorrent behavior, solely dependent on the political position of the one so depicted?

Perhaps so. The Islamic world well recognizes the power of the image of hanging one in effigy. We have seen images almost ad nauseam of President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Many Americans have found these images disgusting and disturbing, yet we have never heard outcries against them from those on the left who now find such images of Obama offensive.

From this lack of response one can infer that as far as the left is concerned, it is just fine and even acceptable practice to disparage, demonize, and disgustingly depict anyone on the right, or for that matter anyone who disagrees with the left.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

I just finished watching a DVD I heard about on Steve Brown Etc. several months ago and had put on my list of must see videos. It is Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.

If you have never heard of this story, or haven’t yet taken time to view it, you must do so. It is a lesson, first in the strength of character of those who truly believe in their cause and secondly, a treatise on the dangers of a government that believes it alone has the right to determine what ideas are proper and must destroy those whose ideas oppose it.

In a nation where government becomes so powerful that it invades the private economy, nationalizes industry, socializes its education and humanitarian sectors, that power is an elixir to the population and a source of control for those in power. The people become either emasculated through fear or gratitude, or a few rise and speak out against the iron claw of those in power.

Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and a group of others known as the White Rose chose the latter. When they saw, either with their own eyes or through reports from others, the abuse of a government self-described as Nationalist Socialism, they knew it was their duty to speak out, even in the face of possible death.

That death came at the end of a kangaroo court where the laws and constitution of Germany were suspended for the sake of expediently dispatching those who opposed Hitler’s Third Reich.

The lessons for today are many. Throughout the film, which was created after interviews with many who were witness to the events as well as uncovered court records, Sophie, Hans and Christopher Probst were interrogated and harangued for defying the state in spite of their state provided educations.

How could they rebel against Germany after all Germany had done for them? With the continued intrusion of federalism in the United States into the educational system, the attempts to criminalize home schooling in California, and the control of the public (read “government”) education system by such liberal organizations as the National Education Association which allies itself with the Democrat party, our children may soon be asked the same question.

The education system envisioned by “Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.” It was Kruschev who in 1960 declared before the United Nations General Assembly ”America will fall without a shot being fired. It will fall from within.”

He was referring to the Communization of America, extolling the bullet points of the Communist Manifesto. What we are interested in here specifically is plank five, “Free education for all children in public schools.” An Obama nation would provide “free” education to all children, starting at birth; to indoctrinate them in the glories of a government controlled society.

It’s not surprising that Obama would promote such a scheme in that his college years included a plethora of socialist connections that have continued in one form or another to today. Black Liberation Theology, espoused by Rev. Jeremiah Wright whose Trinity United Church of Christ Obama attended for years, is rooted in Marxist philosophy.

But getting back to Sophie Scholl, it is important, even more so as we approach this coming election, that we remind ourselves of the dangers of empowering one who lifts himself up as the answer to all societal needs and will administer those remedies via the power of the state.

When we assign to the state our right of self-determination, we assign to the state our freedom as well. Freedom is not easy; moreover, it is difficult to determine ones course for ones life and family. When government assigns to the people certain entitlements, with each entitlement comes a loss of freedom.

Incrementally since Roosevelt’s New Deal we are assigning our freedom and liberty to an increasingly socialist government. With Social Security, the expansion of government education, the welfare system, Medicare and Medicaid, now with the advent of corporate welfare in the recent bailout of Wall Street and the intrusion of government mandating private industry rewrite legal contracts and looming on the horizon the specter of national healthcare, the American electorate is blindly and ignorantly reducing themselves to wards of the state.

Alexis de Tocqueville, who lived from 1805-1859 stated, “The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.”

Sophie Scholl, as she headed to the guillotine said in part, "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause.”

de Tocqueville’s prediction is now coming true in America. The question is, is there anyone left who is willing to ascribe to Sophie Scholl’s admonition? I pray there is yet a remnant who will rise up stand. If not, it may soon be illegal to publish a dissenting article such as this.

Other sources:

Accuracy in Media - Obama’s Communist Mentor
Accuracy in Media - Obama’s International Socialist Connections
The New York Times - The Mask Slips
The Conservative Voice - Barack Obama Lauded by Marxists
American Thinker - Another Obama Marxist

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

SNL Update

YouTube has taken down the video link in the last post.

NBC has stated that the skit failed to meet standards. The question is, whose standards? SNL has never been afraid to lampoon anyone and specifically anyone on the right of the political divide.

They used their editorial commentary skits to skewer most recently Sarah Palin and her family, even going so far as to suggest incest. So I don't understand what the problem is here unless some very powerful people, i.e. the Sandlers or George Soros, has threatened NBC with lawsuits, or even with buying them and firing them all.

Michelle Malkin is following this closely, visit her site for the latest info.

Here's the link to the edited version just posted on the NBC Saturday Night Live site. On my first viewing the differences seem minor. The most prominent is the absence of an identifying tag under the Herb and Marion Sandler characters that states “People who should be shot."

Maybe they were afraid that some of the people they took advantage of in their quest for billions of dollars would see that not as a satirical statement but a suggestion that should be followed up on.

I just located a site with the original unedited version of the skit along with an outtake of the edited portion and a video embed of the edited version from Hulu.

SNL Bailout C-Span Video Clip

Thanks to the internet, NBC can run but they can't hide. Hmmm, I wonder if someone at NBC, some free thinker, is actually helping to keep this alive as a snub to whomever is trying to shut it down in original form? Ya think?

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

The missing SNL video...

The current brouhaha among political watchers and commentators is the disappearance of a video on the NBC/SNL website of a skit broadcast this past Saturday night.

This skit is a surprisingly honest commentary on the events surrounding the recent bailout, the complicity of the Democrats, the amazing availability of easy money for mortgage loans to people that could in no way qualify without the intervention of the Community Revitalization Act, and the gross greed of those in the mortgage industry who took advantage of the situation.

While the politicians depicted are real, the "victims" are fictional, except for Herbert and Marion Sandler who are real life individuals who profited hugely by focusing of sub-prime mortgages then selling their business to Wachovia in 2006 just before the mortgage meltdown began.

The only primary missing ingredient is a direct reference to the collusion of Congressmen, specifically Barney Frank though he is depicted in the video, to prop the doors to Freddie and Fannie open even while the Bush administration and members of the Republican Congress raised warning flags and tried to reign them in.

I’ll say no more but post links to pertinent articles and say that I’ve downloaded the video, so if it goes missing again, I and many others who’ve done the same will work to keep it alive.

This video, in satire, tells the story that many in the mainstream media won’t touch, and apparently NBC is to dishonest, and apparently frightened by someone, to remain public.

Links:
YouTube – Freddie and Fannie
LA Times – Self-censorship? "Saturday Night Live" pulls bailout skit
Michelle Malkin – The missing SNL bailout skit — and the Soros connection
RedState – NBC Yanks SNL Skit From Internet To Help Democrats
Wikipedia – Herb Sandler
Winston-Salem Journal – Ex-Golden West banker defends his mortgage actions

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

An open letter to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL),

While I am appreciative of your negative vote on H.R. 1424, I question whether your reasons were the same as mine.

The socialist shifts legislated in 1424 are an affront to our Republic and I fear that Section 110 will cause more damage to our nation and our economy than even the provisions of Section 101.

Short-term relief to mortgage holders who made poor decisions will result in undermining confidence in our nations banks and financial institutions even more so than current events have.

The underlying cause of the current financial and mortgage crisis originated in a Congress which, putting politics over the nations good, created legislation, the Community Reinvestment Act, that served to embolden activist groups to badger, sue and force institutions into making loans that were imprudent and unjustifiable.

It encouraged individuals to purchase homes far beyond their ability and means. Not unlike a Ponsi scheme, when the bubble burst, those caught in it’s midst found a hell hole where there should have been a castle.

Members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, voted to encourage and allow Freddie and Fannie to dangerously expose their portfolios to these sub-prime notes in an effort to further expand home ownership by many who could not afford the responsibility of such.

While the individuals were certainly to blame to letting their greed and dreams overcome commonsense, and the lenders are to blame for not resisting the dangers of making such loans on the promise of increasing profitability, it is squarely on Congress where the blame must fall for creating the social engineering scheme that created this mess.

While Democrats demonize the current administration and Republicans, and there is blame to go around, the record clearly shows that this administration and certain Republican members raised a clarion call several times since 2001. It was the Democrat members who, though in minority, used procedure to kill these efforts to reign in those out of control entities.

Mr. Barney Frank was a primary contributor to killing these attempts and he should be a primary target of investigation for deliberately ignoring his fiduciary duty to the American people.

But Mr. Frank is not solely to blame. Every member of Congress who participated in this social engineering scheme is a fault and in my opinion should be turned out of Congress.

It is imperative that if this Republic, this great American experiment in democracy, is to survive, the People need representatives who truly represent the interest of the people. I fear this Congress is enamored with their own selves, with their quest for power, and have lost that vision, assuming they ever subscribed to it.

Write your Representative: How did they vote?
Write your Senators: How did they vote?

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

An open letter to Sen. Bob Martinez (R-FL)

I am very concerned by your vote in the affirmative for H.R. 1424. This bill was rushed through the legislature and little time was given to investigate alternative solutions that would be more effective and less costly to the American taxpayer.

Even now our President and other leaders are backing off their urgent pleadings, telling us now that this bill will not be implemented for several months and will have little effect on our economic crisis.

I am very disturbed by the legislation provided in Section 110. It appears to me that this Congress has created provisions that, even more than Section 101, will advance socialism in the United States and the federalization of our financial markets.

I am surprised that your college, Mr. Nelson (D-FL), voted against this bill despite on its language that socializes the US financial markets and our banks via:

1) Government ownership of financial institutions, and
2) Unwarranted government intervention into private mortgage contracts.

This slippery slope will only become steeper if Democrats, now encouraged in their agenda, retain their majority.

I plead with you to set aside political considerations and make a stand for the future of our Republic.

Alexis de Tocqueville said, "The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."

Our legislators discovered this long ago, the people are swallowing this hook into their collective gut that will eventually rip them inside out.

Write your Representative: How did they vote?
Write your Senators: How did they vote?

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

The 10 most feared words

The 10 most feared words, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” - Ronald Reagan

I missed this in my quick perusal of H.R. 1424 yesterday. Had I taken more time, looked closer and realized the greater implications of the following, I would have been even more adamantly against this piece of legislation.

The very important section is as follows:

10 (b) HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE BY AGENCIES.—
11 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that the Fed-
12 eral property manager holds, owns, or controls mort-
13 gages, mortgage backed securities, and other assets
14 secured by residential real estate, including multi-
15 family housing, the Federal property manager shall
16 implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance
17 for homeowners and use its authority to encourage
18 the servicers of the underlying mortgages, and con-
19 sidering net present value to the taxpayer, to take
20 advantage of the HOPE for Homeowners Program
21 under section 257 of the National Housing Act or
22 other available programs to minimize foreclosures.
23 (2) MODIFICATIONS.—In the case of a residen-
24 tial mortgage loan, modifications made under para-
25 graph (1) may include—
1 (A) reduction in interest rates;
2 (B) reduction of loan principal; and
3 (C) other similar modifications.

This section of 1424 in essence gives the US government the authority to modify the terms of any mortgage over which it has control under H.R. 1424. Since that includes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this provision extends to the majority of mortgages in the United States.

This means that if you are unhappy with the terms of your mortgage and it is in a security under the authority of the US government, you can petition the appropriate authority and they can have the holder of your mortgage lower the interest rates, reduce the principle amount owed, change the length of the note, lower the points, or what ever they determine will make you happy.

One can infer that the opposite could also happen. If you are not a constituency of what ever party is in power, if you petition the government in your behalf, it is possible they could use their authority to punish you for not having the correct political leanings. Raising your rates, increase your principle, shorten the length of the note or what ever they wish to convince you to see it their way.

This is a gross violation of both the rights of the property owner and the mortgage holder. If you are holding a note in the sale of property while you have a mortgage covered under this section, while you may be able to secure a reduction in the terms of the mortgage you owe, you may be required to reduce the terms to the individual to whom you are selling the property as well. In effect, reducing the income you receive from the sale of the property.

This is a huge socialization of the mortgage industry that very well may have implications far beyond the $700 Billion bailout of the financial markets. If you think this analysis is overblown, consider that lines 15, 16, and 17 state that “…the Federal property manager shall implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners and use its authority to encourage…”

That is a mandate, not a suggestion, to federal officials to secure the very best situation for the homeowner. There is no mandate to ensure a fair process, to take into consideration the costs, risks or profits of the holder of the mortgage.

And that last part, “use it’s authority to encourage.” As we all know, the federal government doesn’t “encourage” anything. They “mandate, direct, require.” Does the IRS “encourage” you to pay your taxes?

Does the State Department “encourage” you to get a passport if you wish to re-enter this country after you visit a foreign nation? Does the military “encourage” you to serve you full term of enlistment?

While many parts of this bill are legislated to expire at a date certain, and there are provisions to extend the authority set in the bill, there is no sunset provision of the authority given in Section 110. Therefore, without specific legislation by Congress, this authority will extend for as long as the federal government holds interest in any mortgages, either directly or by proxy via an institution in which it holds interest.

No, our representatives have not voted for a bailout of the financial system, they just voted in a far more sinister move to socialism than the original bill rejected by the House on Monday.

We all need to take a very jaundiced look at our Washington legislators and put them and the legislation they consider under the microscope of democracy. The actions they are taking, some with cunning and guile, others by misguided counsel and poor oversight, is taking us in a direction where we will lose the ability to live our lives in freedom.

With freedom comes responsibility. When we accede responsibility to a higher authority, we also give up our freedom.

Download and read the full text of Section 110
Read the full text of H.R. 1424

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

H.R. 1424 remains step toward socialism

Dear Representative Keller,

Thank you for taking the time to listen to your constituency. I’ve written previously about the “bailout” legislation for the financial markets. Specifically, I’ve been decidedly against any such legislation.

I want to reiterate that I remain so. I am a small investor, a postal worker who lives frugally and saves and invests about 20% of my gross income. I have a pretty fair exposure to the markets and have in the past year watched the value of my investments go down considerably.

The negative reaction, some would say temper tantrum, of the markets the past few days has in no way changed my take on the so-called “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.” I remain convinced that government intervention in the private markets is dangerous and ultimately will have negative repercussions in the US economy.

Because of the nature of politics, government cannot intervene without distorting the marketplace to try to gain some political advantage for one party or the other. It’s the nature of the beast.

The current legislation sent over from the Senate remains a piece of legislation that I think if approved will one day will be looked upon as the day the United States took a great leap into socializing the US financial markets and industry as a whole.

Still, I know that the art of politics is compromise. If there is anyway that this bill can be stripped of it’s socialist underpinnings while keeping the legislative changes insuring troubled assets (Sec 103 ), Mark to Market (Sec.132), FASB 157 (Sec.132), and increases in FDIC insurance to $250,000 (Sec.132) it has the makings of a decent bill that addresses the problems that created the stagnation in the financial markets.

I would also like to see repeal of some of the provision of the Community Reinvestment Act that have resulted in a situation where many who truly cannot afford the responsibilities of home ownership are now finding themselves strangled with unaffordable mortgages. The result of which is the sub-prime “meltdown” we are now seeing.

Sec. 124 addresses some changes in the HOPE program, but I have neither the resources nor the expertise in legislative language to cross-reference and discover the implication of these changes.

I am glad to see codified in the legislation that all proceeds from the sale of the purchased assets will be returned to the Treasury for the purpose of reducing the public debt. I can only hope that future administrations and Congresses will not find a loophole around this provision.

The inclusion of sunset provisions for the aforementioned legislative changes is distressing. If we recognize that the original adoption of these provisions was a precursor to the current situation, that we would even consider returning to them a some future time demonstrates an amazing lack of foresight and stewardship with the public trust.

The addition of “sweeteners” to this legislation makes it even more distasteful to me. Inclusion of important legislation on energy issues, a plethora of random tax provisions and Title V Subtitle B are acid to me. They should stand on their own without being thrust though on the coattails of H.R. 1424.

The provisions of Title V Subtitle B alone will most likely result in further increases in health insurance costs, for benefits many would not opt for, during a time when costs are escalating on their own at intolerable rates.

While I don’t support this bill in it’s current form, it’s preferable to the original legislation defeated on Monday. I am concerned that with a new administration coming, depending on their political leanings may migrate more towards the provisions of Sec. 101 rather than those of Sec. 102. That would be a tragedy for the American people and the long-term health of US economy.

Download H.R. 1424 as passed by the Senate October 1, 2008 from FoxNews

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Congressional statesmen hold the line for the people.

An open letter to Florida Rep. Ric Keller:

Thank you for your vote against the flawed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 - H.R.3997. It was and remains deeply flawed and fails to address the fundamental problems underlying the current weakness in the credit markets.

It seems that many in Congress have the mindset that the only solution to a problem is to “throw” money at it. You cannot fix is problem caused by bad legislation with more bad legislation.

There is a much better solution that will be less costly to the American taxpayer. According to William Isaac the Fair Value Accounting rules, better known as mark to market, are a prime culprit in the current crisis.

According to Isaac, “This is contrary to everything we know about bank regulation. When there are temporary impairments of asset values due to economic and marketplace events, regulators must give institutions an opportunity to survive the temporary impairment. Assets should not be marked to unrealistic fire-sale prices. Regulators must evaluate the assets on the basis of their true economic value (a discounted cash-flow analysis).”

One Rep. John Linder has said that were this rule returned to mark to par almost every financial institution that is now in trouble would be back on solid footing. Mark to par served our nations financial institutions well for 220 years. FAS 157 and mark to market has resulted, in conjunction with other flawed legislation such as the Community Reinvestment Act, in the current crisis in our financial markets.

The CRA requires banks and lending institutions to make loans to that were otherwise fiscally indefensible. Many of the loans made under CRA form the basis of the current sub-prime mortgage foreclosure problem.

Community organizers have used CRA to force banks to make loans they otherwise would not have extended. A.C.O.R.N., for one, is well know for its methods of “shaking down” lenders and requiring them, under the auspices of CRA, to make “exotic” loans to unqualified applicants.

Contrary to assertions by Democrats, deregulation by Republicans has not been a factor in the current crisis in the financial markets. To the contrary, Sarbanes-Oxley, voted into existence by a Republican Congress in response to Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, et. al., was a buzz saw where a scalpel was needed.

This should be revisited and repealed in part or, better, in whole.

Additionally, updating F.D.I.C. insurance to cover up to $250,000 in deposits will ensure small businesses that the money they need for payrolls and operating expenses will be there when needed despite the turmoil in the credit markets.

I’m not financial wiz, but I do understand that when government gets involved in the private sector, the primary result is chaos and disruption. There is a place for prudent regulations and laws to punish abusers.

But government manipulating the private sector for the purpose of advancing “progressive” policies that fly in the face of common sense and good business practice must stop.

Further reading:

Wikipedia - Mark to Market
Talk Gwinnett - 10 Reasons Why Republican Oppose the Bailout
TMP Cafe - William Isaac's quote
Wikipedia - Community Reinvestment Act
Michelle Malkin - The A.C.O.R.N. Obama knows
Wikipedia - Sarbanes-Oxley Act

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

An open letter to Congress...

I am very concerned about the legislation currently being drafted to socialize the US financial markets. The primary reason for the current financial crisis is the manipulation of the financial system by Congress through entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

An additional primary factor is the decade old legislation such as HOPE IV promoting home ownership by all that provided stiff penalties to “unfair” practices in mortgage lending. Those unfair practices were left ambiguous enough to force banks and institutions to make unsound loans to unqualified applicants in a bid to protect themselves from lawsuits.

Secondarily, giving taxpayer funds to activist agencies such as A.C.O.R.N. is a travesty. A.C.O.R.N. has been a major player in creating this crisis taking advantage of the aforementioned legislation. Included in recent drafts of the bail out legislation is language giving them 20% of any profits. This is like allowing a convicted murderer to profit from books written about his crime.

A major initial concern of my was what Congress would do with any "profits" from this supposed "investment." I had no faith they would actually return it to the people from whom they took it. There is no precedence for that. Now we know what their intent is.

Ayn Rand said, "One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."

The Congress has done that to our financial systems through demands for housing loans to many who cannot afford it, in the process encouraging the "cooking of the books" and fraudulent application and approval process that Congress now rails against.

The creation of GSEs Freddie and Fannie, then failing to provide strong rules to prevent them from buying up weak mortgage packages while allowing them to enrich members of Congress through lobbying and contributions has only created an incestuous and disastrous relationship.

Instead of a rush to create another monster that may address the short term "crisis" but in the process create unintended consequences that will irreparably damage our financial systems for decades to come and take us dramatically into socialism, the Congress needs to step back and breath deeply.

The American people in their intuitive grasp of this problem has said, "slow down and back off!" Congress needs to do just that. The major players in the financial system are sitting back to see what Congress is going to do.

If Congress stands down, the financial players will step up to the plate. But why should they if there is a socialist Congress willing to commit the wealth and treasure of ordinary Americans to the task.

I'll do my own investing; I don't need Congress to do it for me.


"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

We need term limits, now!

The following is an excerpt from an article I came across on Gas Buddy:

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers enjoy a perk not available to their colleagues in any other state: unchecked use of gasoline charge cards that stick taxpayers with the bill.

Through the first seven months of the year, California taxpayers have spent $220,000 to pay for lawmakers' gasoline, according to a review of records requested by The Associated Press. That includes July, when lawmakers already were past their deadline to approve a budget and the state faced a $15.2 billion deficit."

Makes term limits look more inviting. I used to believe the ultimate term limit was the best way, vote 'em out. After all, are we not as a nation of voters supposed to understand that the politicians work for us and we hold the ultimate authority?

Now it seems the voter is more interested in the promises politicians make to them but cannot or will not fulfill. You know, tax the evil business that employ us or the evil rich who own the evil business that employ us. Promise to send our kids to college or preschool, pay for our health care with no cost to us, oh, and put a chicken in every pot and free cable with HBO.

We know they cannot or will not do what is promised, but continue to fool ourselves into believing it. When will we wake up and realize that the politicians, with few exceptions, are in it for only one thing, the power to control our lives.

You may say, "but that's California, not my state." Well, you better wake up, historically what happens in California will sooner or later spread to the rest of the nation. Do you want to wait until its too late, or act now while we still have a chance to stop it before it starts?

Once a politician gets a taste of power, unless he is exempt from the human condition, he will crave more and more until his primary interest is maintaining power, not the betterment of the nation.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Is YouTube saying life begins before birth?

While I’m an a strong supporter of allowing a child the choice to reach full term and have every opportunity to engage in the life that God has breathed in him or her, I’ve often been uncomfortable with some of the tactics of Operation Rescue.

Too often it seems that they engage in practices that in the end may do more harm than good to the progress of creating an America where abortion is not only undesirable but also unavailable. Still, this is America and we have a constitutional right, and some will say duty, to express our views as individuals and groups.

Some will argue that such expression needs to be respectful, reasoned and responsible. I would agree with that sentiment. But there are times when a bold statement is the only way to shake someone enough to truly look at the core issues.

YouTube recently removed a video uploaded to its site that strongly and graphically stated Barack Obama’s historic positions on the issue of abortion. The video contained images that are painful to view, yet convey a message that cannot be ignored.

The producers did not distort Mr. Obama’s positions, just stated them in such a way that the results of those votes were graphically depicted. YouTube said it failed to meet “Community Guidelines.”

Apparently those standards are subjective to the sensibilities of YouTube and it’s corporate owners, Google. As Google’s motto is “do no evil” it seems that they believe it is evil to tell the truth about the beliefs an individual who aspires to the highest political office in the land, the most powerful office in the free world.

But if the censorship of this video by Google means they believe that in the case of Barack Obama freedom of speech should be suspended if it depicts him in a negative light, then they, Google, through their surrogate YouTube are themselves violating constitutionally protected speech and in doing so committing “evil.”

Some might argue that the graphic nature of the depiction is offensive or over the top and removal was justified. But a perusing of the YouTube site will reveal a plethora of video ranging from near pornography to graphically depicted violence. So one is left with the reasonable assumption that the only “Community Guidelines” offended were those of the “Obama Community.”

Of course if YouTube removed the video because the depiction of an aborted fetus violated their policy against viewing dead bodies they then have another problem. If by pulling it they are saying they will not show images of a dead body, they are tactically admitting that an aborted fetus, rather than a “mass of tissue,” is in fact a human being.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Wow Crowds in The Villages Frighten Dems

Sunday we headed south to The Villages to be part of the crowd welcoming Republican V.P. Nominee Sarah Palin. We left early because the crowds were anticipated to be in excess of 30,000. That estimate was based in part on the 30,000 event tickets that were snatched up by Florida residents who were anxious to see this charismatic candidate.

However, on Friday before the event, the Republican Party of Florida announced that all comers would be welcome; no one would be turned away. With that, the doors swung wide and the thousands who couldn’t get to a local party office to retrieve their free tickets stormed this small but growing retirement community 65 miles northwest of Orlando and 85 miles northeast of Tampa.

We arrived about 3 hours before the event was to begin and after waiting in traffic for an hour, only to learn that the parking for that area was closed, we turned around and headed back to another access. When we discovered we were in stopped traffic moving at a pace that would easily give a turtle first place, and finding ourselves 3.5 miles away we decided to reevaluate.

I needed to be back home to get some rest before getting up at 1:30 am for work and realizing, with the crowds and traffic, it would be hours after the event before we were able to get out of the heavy traffic and begin the drive back home. So we made the hard decision and turned around and left.

It was disappointing to miss being a part of this event, but duty called. When I learned the following day that the crowds were estimated to be 60,000, I wasn’t’ surprised. Though I had in no way got close enough to get a visual, and when we left it was still 2 hours before the event, the number of folks already there was amazing and there was no apparent end that we could see.

I’ve read a number on online accounts of the event but really not that many. It was heavily covered locally, but national coverage was limited. Newspapers close to The Villages reported the crowd at 60,000 estimated by the fire chief whose job it is to know such things.

There are anecdotal stories of people traveling in excess of 100 miles to be part of this event, the first by Mrs. Palin out from under the wing of Senator McCain. The crowd was hoping for a glimpse of this energetic and engaging newcomer to the US political scene. The media was hoping for a gaff.

A number of liberal papers and news sites disputed those numbers citing unnamed individuals in the crowd or pitting their reporters estimate of the crowd as low as 20,000 against the numbers cited by the professionals. They questioned the validity of the estimates and on Washington Post columnist suggested that the McCain campaign released the numbers provided by the Secret Service, which the columnist offered doesn’t provide numbers.

I think they are trying to diminish the welcome Florida gave to Palin because of the poor showing for Obama earlier in the week. The Miami Herald described Obama’s visit to Jacksonville, a metropolitan area of 1.3 million and heavily Democrat as attended by an “overflow crowd…capacity 13,000.

Oh, by the way, The Villages is a community of roughly 70,000 with the much larger metropolitan areas of Orlando and Tampa 1 ½ to 2 hours away. So it seems that even in something a benign as crowd estimates, the bias of the media shows through.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

POM, PCP and DRS, dangerous mental diseases

In a recent interview by Sean Hannity, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin referred to an addiction to OPM (say opium) when asked about the causes of the meltdown of Wall Street and the financial markets. She was referring to Other Peoples Money.

I think she also should have mentioned another addiction, that of the Washington politicians to PCP. So many of our politicians are controlled by this addiction as evidenced by their inability to separate themselves from the Washington power structure.

They keep returning year after year, election after election. Each time they complain about the corruption of Washington and vow to clean it up, but in the end they, year by year, election by election, become increasingly tainted by their addiction.

That addiction? PCP, also known as Personal Consolidation of Power. Except for the very strong and disciplined, they all fall into its grasp. The grasp of its tentacles and the tantalizing purr of its disarming voice more often than not overwhelm the good intentions of freshmen politicians.

Its most prominent symptom is the complete lack of acknowledgement of their addiction. As we all know, especially those whose life work is in addiction counseling, until an addict acknowledges his addiction, there’s no hope for him/her.

For those who are in the grasp of this addiction, usually their only hope is the good will of their constituents who, though not an easy task, must force themselves to think of their representative over themselves, and issue a massive dose of anti-incumbentadosis.

On November 4 of this year, voters across this nation have the solemn obligation, as they go to their polls, to vote for a candidate other than the incumbent.

I know, in some cases, this may be a very difficult task. It’s hard to think about what you are doing and consider your vote intellectually rather than by rote. But for the health of your representative, you must do so.

If you find you cannot, it may be a strong symptom that you are infected with an incurable case of DRS or Disassociative Responsibility Syndrome. Other symptoms are an insane belief that your politicians are actually telling you the truth as they campaign, that you want to get your fair share of the money the candidate is promising to dole out, and you think you must punish the greedy rich and big business by increasing taxes on them to transfer their money to your bank account.

If you exhibit any of the symptoms of DRS, it is vital that you isolate yourself immediately. Do not go out of your house until after November 4th. It is especially important that you stay away from your polling place and avoid at all costs absentee balloting.

Extracting yourself from the political process is the only hope for you to regain your sense of self responsibility and for your country to regain it’s equilibrium and return to the greatness for which it is known.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson