The New "Raw" Deal

Where does it end? The stock markets have crashed, the government is out of control, the economy is struggling and people are angry about anything the media feeds them these days. AIG execs got bonuses. So what. They had a contract. A contract that was in effect before they got bailed out, a contract that was to be honored due to Sen. Dodd adding his little amendment to make sure those who scratched his back were taken care of, a contract that was legal and binding no matter how distasteful it was. The important thing was that there was a contract. We are a nation of laws, when Congress determines that those laws should be disregarded due to public outrage we become socialist. Congress has made this economy worse. Barney Frank is an idiot. How does he get re-elected??? He and Chris Dodd are the masterminds of the banking regulations that caused the banks to make sub-prime loans to people who they knew could not afford to pay. If I were one of those people I would be angry that they did opened up this candy store and made it so appealing only to have it all come crashing down years later. Yet to do so would force people to accept part of the blame. That's hard to do. Frank also wants to pass a bill to allow Geithner to change existing contracts to adjust pay in ALL employees of companies that took bailout funds. You can be sure they won't be looking at how much the Congress make. Janet Napolitano doesn't want to enforce the immigration laws. Kathleen Sebelius is another in a long line of President Obama's cabinet choices who owed back taxes. At this rate maybe we'll have a surplus when all his picks pay their back taxes to be a part of his cabinet. Add to this the forced resignation of GM's Chairman and you should be very afraid of where this country is heading. I read a lot of comments after articles and am surprised that Obama got elected based upon all the negative comments I see. Are people coming around? Or did the Republican party just not offer a solid candidate who people felt the need to get out and vote for? I don't know but I'm hoping the midterm elections allow the people to express their disappointment by voting for more change in the form of a lessened Democrat majority or even better, a thumping by electing Republicans back into power. I'd like to see how well Obama would handle that situation...even better, I'd like to see Pelosi's face if that were to happen. One thing I do wonder is, how do the unions in Detroit feel now about their choice of President? First he stands by to allow Senator Levin to be lowered in stature then he takes a hard line on the life blood of the auto industry by choosing who can and can't run GM and then says bankruptcy is a viable option for GM and Chrysler. Add to that the new CAFE standards he'll sign into effect and other hurdles he'll place in front of a struggling auto industry. I bet Ford is happier than anything that they passed on the bailout funds. They are looking like the smartest of the big three and may be the only ones who survive since anytime the government has a hand in a company it seems to always run it into the ground.

Non-Political post

Now that I've got that out of my system I can write about something non-political. After sitting here for the last 45 minutes I began thinking maybe I didn't have anything else to write. I do have a life outside the political musings of a conservative father of two.
We recently had a big screen TV installed. It was our Christmas gift to ourselves. The picture wasn't that great but we also don't subscribe to HD from our cable provider so we didn't think much of it. DVD's rock though! The picture from a DVD is great and the other day a friend of mine brought over his HD antenna that he wasn't using. We hooked it up and WOW! What an difference it made!! We were watching the NFL playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens and I swear I could see the hair on some of the players arms from the sideline camera shots!! We also had surround sound installed and I am really enjoying playing music through the house and listening to talk radio as I do stuff around the house. I'm glad we had it done. The sound quality is really good.

Inauguration Day tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Inauguration day. The era of Bush ends and Obama will be sworn in as the first African American President. Will it be historic. Yes. Will it be a new path for the US? Maybe. Either way the day will start and end as it always does. The sun won't shine any brighter, the temperature won't become any warmer, and the economic crisis won't disappear.
Seems that the more Obama does the more he seems to be gravitating towards a middle ground in the political spectrum. Funny how spectrum rhymes with another word that could be used when referring to politics. I didn't vote for Obama, big surprise there, but I genuinely hope he leads the country in a positive direction. Even if I didn't vote for him, he's still our President. I hope God gives him wisdom and courage to follow a path that keeps our country safe, prosperous and healthy. I noticed that as he became more informed of all the material he gets to see as President Elect he became more centrist in his decisions and appointments. I think that says something about the decisions Bush made while President. It seems that the more he was let in on the Presidential Daily Briefing information he started to change his approach to certain situations. He backed off his raise taxes on the wealthy promise. He backed off his withdraw troops from Iraq promise. I hope he continues to lead from the center rather than the liberal left. If he does he has the opportunity for a second term and quite possibly be able to draw people from both sides of politics. Of course, tomorrow is a new day. It's also the day he takes the reins on this country of ours and I hope he doesn't pull hard to the left once he has the Office of the President given to him.

Random Musing..

So they're saying that this is the most important Presidential election of our time.
Until the election in 2012 that is. Then that one will be the most important election of our time. I wonder if we'll ever hear them say an election doesn't matter much?

Polls report Obama is up by 10 points. Another poll reports it's tied. Another says the race is tightening. The only thing tightening is the rear end on people listening to pollsters. Any more tightening and we may need a government sponsored enima for the population.

Some news columnist in Missouri wrote a column stating that the term "Socialism" is code for African American. Funny, Websters defines it as: A theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. And "Columnist" is code word for "lacking a proper dictionary".
Just because McCarthy used that term back in the 60's does not give him the authority to redefine the word for the rest of the world. If I say "goofy" means "news columnist" do I get to change the definition for everyone else later in history?

We need to have a math quiz for anyone who applies for a mortgage. That way people can qualify only if they know how to subtract the amount of a house payment plus insurance and escrow from the net take home pay they recieve every month. Pass the test and you can qualify for a house.
The test also should be given to the politicians before they can vote on any spending bill and any bill that involves money!

Why can't we have a coalition to patrol the coast off of Somalia and start blowing the pirates out of the water? Do that a few times and I bet it'll get safe to sail through there really quick!

Is it me or have halloween costumes become cheaply made and poorly designed?

Fall is my favorite time of the year.
The temps cool down, the leaves turn brown,
and a chill is in the air.
Now if only we can have snow for Christmas Day!

Who's watching the watchers?

Mortgage Crisis. Banking crisis. Stock Market Crisis. 800 Billion bailout. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And yet where did this slippery slope begin? Perhaps we're concentrating on the wrong cast of culprits?
I was watching the TV today and there was a congressional committee drilling the CEO of Lehman Brothers about how much compensation he received before the company went bankrupt. It got me thinking. The people asking the questions should also be the ones on the receiving side of the inquisition. You see, it was the US Congress that relaxed the rules on the mortgage giants called Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This resulted in banks and lenders offering subprime mortgages to people who were clearly not qualified for the amount they requested. This in turn led to housing prices surging to unreasonable prices, defaults, foreclosures, housing slumps, and bankruptcies.
See this link...

As a result, whether for good intentions or bad, we have in effect people (congress) making business decisions that they are not qualified to make. Let me ask you...if you had a person you knew not too well, who was not steadily employed or did not make very much, come up and ask to borrow $10,000, would you lend it to them? What if they threatened to take you to court? That is essentially what the government set up the banks to do. Banks are to blame for allowing the loans but congress is to blame for putting them in a position that in order to make solid financial decisions they would have to fight lawsuit after lawsuit.
We need a whole new congress. Not just democrats, not just republicans, we need a good ol' house cleaning. The people all spoke when the bailout plan was put forth. At least 2 to 1 against any bailout yet not only did they pass it (the 2nd time around) they added PORK to the 2nd bill! How wrong was that!!! That's adding salt to the wound. By adding another 100 billion in pork to an already bad bill, they not only told the american taxpayer to stick it, they did it while giving us the finger!
I for one am going to be looking at who voted for this pig of a bill and making my decisions with that in mind this November.

Smooth Sailing

What a great week it's been at work. In the airline industry if you're late the issues just multiply. These last two weeks, even with Hurricane Ike, have been extremely smooth. Yesterday we were at 97% on time. I haven't seen that in years!
All week we've been in the 90's for on time performance and that's a great thing.
The weather across the country has helped a lot also. We've had sunny weather everyday and in the 80-90's for temperatures. Let's hope that we can continue this for as long as possible.

Gas, Oil, Politics

Wow! It's been almost a year since my last post. Seems I think about it occasionally but it's usually at times when I don't have the time or proper venue for blogging. Usually it's in the car while listening to some news talk show who gets me to start thinking about topics of the day, week or year and then of course once I turn off the engine I completely forget about blogging.
I have a lot to say, just not the memory to keep it long enough to reach a computer. Gas has gone from $1.75 a gallon to $3.80 or more. We're down to the remaining nominations for this years Presidential elections. People in Myanmar and Zimbabwe are still being oppressed by their malevolent leaders, and inflation is rising here in the USA. While every year we elect a new president is important, this one could be different. John McCain and Barak Obama. This could be the year of choosing between the person who is disliked the least.
Barak Obama is a liberal. Plain and clear. He talks a good message but what he wants to do scares the crap outta me. Raise taxes, pull out of Iraq and the middle east, talk to people who have been saying for longer than GW was in office that they want to kill us and increase the size of the government. If he wins it will be a bad ride for the USA. We may be better liked by other countries, but only because they'll see us less potent a player in global events.
John McCain. He's got attitude. Sometimes good sometimes bad. He is more middle of the road. He supported amnesty for illegals, went against a President of his own party (which is not necessarily a bad thing but..) and has been known to go off the handle a little. I like that he supports the troops, I do not believe that Obama feels that way, and I do think John McCain has the background serving our country which you can't help but to admire. The man was imprisoned, tortured and even went so far as to let others take his place for release when the time came. Courage is something he has an abundance of. He doesn't have a great economic background though. Then again, neither does Obama. I was going to vote for McCain back in 2000 but he failed to win the nomination and by the time Texas was voting in the primaries the choice was made. He's a maverick in the Republican party, but perhaps that's what they need? Most are failing to adhere to republican principles of limited spending and reduced government. Especially limited spending. We are going to lose more seats in the House and Senate and that will be why. Scandals, big spending and a general disregard for the people of this country will cause the Dems to be in total control for 2-4 years. If the Republicans don't get their heads straightened out it will be much much longer. The only hope will be to have McCain as president during this time. One of the biggest things the Republicans can do to show they've changed is to allow Jeff Flake or Mike Pence into leadership roles. Stop the pork, stop the funding of pet projects under the pretense that it creates jobs and stimulates the market, stop lying to us. The reason this country is so politically divided isn't because of the population, it's because of the politicians. There's a civil war that's been going on in the nations capitol and it needs to end.
Oil. Drill. Here. Now. It may take 5-8 years before it reaches the markets but if we had started drilling back in Clintons years we'd be coming online right now, when we need it the most. No one in Washington has a comprehensive energy policy. Everyone wants to make something happen now, but no one is setting up the future except for failure. We have an abundance of oil 100 miles from the coast. Several other nations are already in those areas drilling so why aren't we? Why would you allow other countries to drill in areas you won't allow our own corporations to go? Make a deal. Tell the oil companies that in exchange for allowing them to drill off the coast 100 miles (deep sea) and perhaps even in Wyoming, they will: 1-subsidize the cost of the oil bought by the US thus reducing the cost to the population as does several other oil producing nations (Saudi Arabia gas cost about $1.00 a gallon) and 2-reserve a percentage of the profits from selling oil on the open market to pay the Federal Government with the funds earmarked solely for the reduction of the national debt and alternative energy research. No pork spending, no government programs, and no wasteful spending of these funds. We could drill, extract, refine, and sell gas to other countries, just as several middle east countries do and reap the profits for our country. This would reduce our dependence upon unstable regions and allow us to reduce our need of global presence by our military. Once these unstable regions realize their cash machine no longer needs them I think you would see a drastic change in attitude toward the United States. Imagine the United States energy independent and even gaining profits from our production of oil. The possibilities would be limitless. Reduced debt, energy independence, reduced military responsibilities, and perhaps even a trade surplus. That city of lights on the hill could be us, if only we allow it.