'The Perfect Stranger'

By Charles Krauthammer who is a political writer, and this is a commentary he wrote during the Democrat Convention.

You can watch Charles on FOX News almost every weekday in the 6 PM -7 PM slot; he's on in the Commentary' section from 6:30-7 PM (Eastern). And in case you are saying - oh, well then... he's just one of those right-wingers....one of those right-wing nut cases... he was involved with Mondale and also Carter - both in the White House. He's a practicing psychiatrist with Mass. General. His syndicate column appears in the Washington Post.

Here's his resume:
Krauthammer was born in New York City to parents of the Jewish religion whose citizenship was French. He was raised in Montreal, Canada where he attended McGill University and obtained an honors degree in political science and economics in 1970. From 1970 to 1971, he was a Commonwealth Scholar in politics at Balliol College, Oxford. He later moved to the United States, where he attended Harvard Medical School. In his first year there in 1972, Krauthammer was paralyzed in a serious diving accident. Continuing medical studies during his year-long hospitalization, he graduated with his class, earning an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1975, and then began working as a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital< In October 1984, he became board certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

From 1975-1978, Krauthammer was a Resident and then a Chief Resident in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. During this time he and a colleague identified a form of mania (a part of bipolar disorder) which they named "secondary mania" and published a second important paper on the epidemiology of manic illness. The standard textbook for bipolar disease ("Manic Depressive Illness" by Goodwin and Jamison) contains twelve references to his work.

In 1978, Krauthammer quit medical practice to direct planning in psychiatric research f or the Jimmy Carter administration, and began contributing to The New Republic magazine. During the presidential campaign of 1980, Krauthammer served as a speech writer to Vice President Walter Mondale.

In 1981, following the def eat of the Carter/Mondale ticket, Krauthammer began his journalistic career, joining The New Republic as a writer and editor. His New Republic writings won t he 1984 "National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism." In 1983, he began writing essays for Time magazine. In 1985, he began a weekly column for the Washington Post for which he won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

In 2006, the Financial Times named Krauthammer the most influential commentator in America, saying "Krauthammer has influenced US foreign policy for more than two decades. He coined and developed `The Reagan Doctrine' in 1985 and he defined the US role as sole superpower in his essay, `The Unipolar Moment', published shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Krauthammer's 2004 speech `Democratic Realism' set out a framework for tackling the post 9/11 world, focusing on the promotion of democracy in the Middle East."

Without being malicious or mean spirited, Charles simply tells it like it is ... a master at provoking thoughtful insight by the written word...so read what he has to say and check your own instincts...


'The Perfect Stranger' By Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama is an immensely talented man whose talents have been largely devoted to crafting, and chronicling, his own life. Not things. Not ideas. Not institutions. But himself.

Nothing wrong or even terribly odd about that, except that he is laying claim to the job of crafting the coming history of the United States. A leap of such audacity is odd. The air of unease at the Democratic convention this week was not just a result of the Clinton psychodrama. The deeper anxiety was that the party was nominating a man of many gifts but precious few accomplishments -- bearing even fewer witnesses.

When John Kerry was introduced at his convention four years ago, an honor guard of a dozen mates from his Vietnam days surrounded him on the podium attesting to his character and readiness to lead. Such personal testimonials are the norm. The roster of fellow soldiers or fellow senators who could from personal experience vouch for John McCain is rather long. At a less partisan date in the calendar, that roster might even include Democrats Russ Feingold and Edward Kennedy, with whom John McCain has worked to fashion important legislation.

Eerily missing at the Democratic convention this year were people of stature who were seriously involved at some point in Obama's life standing up to say: "I know Barack Obama. I've been with ;Barack Obama. We've toiled/endured together. You can trust him. I do."

Hillary Clinton could have said something like that. She and Obama had, after all, engaged in a historic, utterly compelling contest for the nomination. During her convention speech, you kept waiting for her to offer just one line of testimony: I have come to know this man, to admire this man, to see his character, his courage, his wisdom, his judgment. Whatever. Anything.

Instead, nothing. She of course endorsed him. But the endorsement was entirely programmatic: We're all Democrats. He's a Democrat. He believes what you believe. So we must elect him -- I am currently unavailable -- to get Democratic things done. God bless America .

Clinton's withholding the, 'I've come to know this man' was vindictive and supremely self-serving -- but jarring, too, because you realize that if she didn't do it, no one else would. Not because of any inherent deficiency in Obama's character. But simply as a reflection of a young life with a biography remarkably thin by the standard of presidential candidates.

Who was there to speak about the real Barack Obama? His wife. She could tell you about Barack the father, the husband, the family man in a winning and perfectly sincere way. But that only takes you so far. It doesn't take you to the public man, the national leader.

Who is to testify to that? Hillary's husband on night three did aver that Obama is 'ready to lead.' However, he offered not a shred of evidence, let alone personal experience with Obama. And although he pulled it off charmingly, everyone knew that, having been suggesting precisely the opposite for months, he meant not a word of it.

Obama's vice presidential selection, Joe Biden, naturally advertised his patron's virtues, such as the fact that he had 'reached across party lines to ... keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.' But securing loose nukes is as bipartisan as motherhood and as uncontroversial as apple pie. The measure was so minimal that it passed by voice vote and received near zero media coverage.

Thought experiment. Assume John McCain had retired from politics. Would he have testified to Obama's political courage in reaching across the aisle to work with him on ethics reform, a collaboration Obama boasted about in the Saddleback debate? 'In fact,' reports the Annenberg Political Fact Check, 'the two worked together for barely a week, after which McCain accused Obama of 'partisan posturing'' -- and launched a volcanic missive charging him with double cross.

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served on a board. He's out. Where are the others?

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger -- a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair. Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night.
 

2004 Hearing of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
Let's review History instead of rewriting it

Drag Racing 101
The Beginner's basics for not looking stupid

In Mid September, I raced in the Nostalgia Super Stock class of a NMCA event in Atlanta, GA. During Sunday's Eliminations, the track had a bracket race in between the first and second round of our Heads Up race. While there is a place for cars struggling to do 15 seconds in the 1/8 mile -- this event wasn't the place. Race fans were lulled asleep with slow cars and horrible drivers. This took an incredible 7 hours between our first and second round -- so many NSS racers were in the stands watching these bracket races to kill time. While maybe 75% of these slower cars appeared to have a driver with some experience -- there was at least 25% that clearly didn't have a clue. This was obvious with virtually everything they did from the lack of safety equipment, to their burnout, to their staging, to the launch, to what to do when they broke on the track. It was sad watching many of these people.

However, it really isn't the racer's fault. No one is born with this knowledge -- and most every racer without instruction made stupid mistakes when they first started. This is because there is no real guide to help the new racers -- combined with them being too embarrassed to ask questions. This "Big Secret" which really isn't -- most likely cause many people interested, not try because they feel it is beyond their ability. Some of the embarrassment to ask comes from hearing experienced racers laughing at some of the questions -- instead of helping, or a cryptic high-tech answer with the assumption that the new racer knows what you're talking about.

I write this article in an attempt to give a condensed set of basic instructions of what to do -- so that the first time racer can take Mom's Expedition to the track and know what to do. For the sake of clarity -- we'll assume 1/4 mile track (most of the NHRA sanctioned tracks) for times and speeds, a sportsman tree of .500 seconds, an automatic transmission, and we'll assume that you are foot-braking your launch -- and not using a transbrake. After all this is Racing 101 -- Just the Basics.

Safety Equipment:

There is a variety of safety equipment required on a car, based on how quick of a quarter mile or the speed that the car runs. We'll assume that for your first trip down a quarter mile that you will not go faster than 14-seconds, as 14-seconds is fast street car territory. Your typical fast street car doesn't require too much more than for the car to stop and steer straight -- and to not leak any fluids on the track. As you go faster, you will have requirements for safety harnesses, roll bars or cages, driveshaft loops, SFI balancers, Flexplates, and Bell housings, catch cans, battery shut offs, diapers, trans-shields, license, parachute, etc.

Should you go faster than 14-seconds -- then you should familiarize yourself with the safety requirements for your car as you have crossed into the next level of requirements. As you get into the 12-second range -- drag racing become less and less safe and the driver's experience/competence becomes more and more important. Under 11.5 seconds (another level requiring more safety equipment), each half second faster is considerably more challenging to do safely. It is advisable that you take drag racing in steps. I feel no one should be going faster than 11.5-seconds with less than 50 passes in the 12-13 second range, and not faster than 10-seconds (a threshold requiring yet better equipment and a competition license) with less that 100 passes in the 11-second range. Calling your track will get you pointed in the right direction for safety requirements.

No need to be scared, going 14-seconds and slower is generally safe and easy -- yet still a blast for new racers. In addition to having a safe vehicle you should bring a helmet designed for drag racing; wear long pants, leather shoes or boots; wear a long sleeved shirt (better yet a light racing jacket costs less than $20); and you need to have a current state driver's license. If you are under 16, you will need to have a parent with you who will sign a minor waiver -- accepting full responsibility for you.

You will not want to arrive at the track with anything in the car or truck that is not secured. Those items become a hurling projectile should there be a wreck -- and could kill you. No tools, bags of rock salt, groceries, loose spare tire, loose fire extinguisher, -- even your cell phone, etc.

When you first arrive to the track -- immediately turn off your air conditioning so that condensation dries and doesn't drip on the track. Liquids on the track, even water from your air conditioner, is a danger to other racers.

You will be given a tech card to list information about you and your vehicle. After completing the tech card -- you will need to bring it, your car, and all of your safety equipment to the tech inspection area. Once there, a tech inspector will look over the situation -- and if you pass he will put a number on your car and the card. Your tech card will then go to the tower for the track announcer and the track manager to monitor.

Staging Lanes:

The staging lanes are where cars and drivers wait until the track is ready for their group to race. Often there will be lanes assigned for different classes of racing and different types of Trees. Listen to the track announcer for what lanes and when to report. The track will generally release two lanes at a time to move up to race. Most often, the right of the two lanes will be the right lane on the track and the left lane released will be the left lane on the track. There will be track personnel along the way so pay close attention to them as they'll signal to you where they want you to stop and where they want you to move up to. Tracks are very different in their policy of burnouts and on-deck -- so pay attention to the staff there to direct you. If you don't and move up too far -- or not far enough -- they'll let you know in a humiliating fashion. Be ready to race by the time you get to the water box. That's helmet on, buckled in, and any other safety equipment (net up, gloves on, neck brace on) required of you in place.

The Burnout

There are generally three different burn-out procedures -- based on your rear tire type and how fast your car goes.

• If you have street tires, you will generally drive to the outside of your lane and around the water and back up to the edge of the water -- but not into it. Because your tires have treads and harder compound rubber -- you will want to do a dry burnout to clean the scumotes off your tires, but not get them wet. You will not get water off of street tires in a burn-out and that water will only cause you to spin your tires and not have traction when you launch. Put your left foot on your brake and with the right foot bring your engine speed up to where the brakes don't want to hold the car -- and release the brake while flooring the accelerator. You want to spin the rear wheels the best you can without getting past halfway to the staging beams. If you go past the staging beams with a car slower than 8-seconds -- you will piss of the track staff -- and they'll generally yell at you the first time and tell you to go home after the second time. Because you have to aim your car straight all of the way down the track, you want the area between where your burnout stops and the staging beams to aim your car straight (looking all of the way down the track) as you pull into the beams.

• If you have slicks and your car is slower than 8-seconds -- you should have a line lock installed on your car. A line lock is a solenoid that is installed on your front brake's fluid line. Slowly drive through the water and stop at the water's edge. You will see some cars spin their slicks while going through that water -- but that will throw water up in your wheel wheels -- which will drip onto your slicks and cause your slicks to spin at launch. A slow roll through will get them wet enough without slinging water under your car. Shift to second gear in an automatic with less than 600hp, or third if a stick shift or an automatic over 600hp. This is to keep from over spinning your engine and transmission during the burnout. Transmissions exploded if over run -- so don't do a 1st gear burnout. Pump your brakes three times and hold down, then push in your line lock button to hold the fluid to keep the front brakes applied. Release the brake pedal to free up the back brakes while still holding the button to keep the front brakes locked. Tromp on the accelerator to get the wheels spinning. Don't try to work up to a burn out speed as it will not shock the slicks into an immediate spin - but floor it immediately to break loose those slicks and getting them spinning hard. Get your RPMS up to 5000 and then shift to third if in second (or keep at 5000 if you started in third gear). As soon as you feel the slicks grabbing -- release the line lock button and ease out of the accelerator. I say ease out of it -- as getting out hard will slow your rear wheels too quick and twist your axles or break your ring gear. Again you want your burnout to stop halfway to the beams -- to where you have enough room to line up straight into the staging beams.

• If you have an 8-second car -- no line lock will hold you. You get to do the John Force style of burnout -- but that is beyond the scope of Drag Racing 101.
  

Kick you transmission into neutral and blip the accelerator hard to clean off your sparkplugs, and then put your car into first gear if a full manual or drive if a full automatic. You are now ready to stage. Many people stage crooked -- causing corrections that scrub off speed. Look all of the way down the track as you line up straight into the beams.

Pre-stage and Staging

Looking in the center, between the lanes, you will see a stack of lights called the tree. On the left side and the right side of the tree are going to be a vertical stack of lights. You should be able to see the pre-stage and stage lights of both sides -- but not the launch lights of the other lane. The pre-stage lights look like a pair of yellow bug lights at the top. Right under them is another pair of bug lights for staging. Under that are flood light sized bulb of three ambers, one green, and a red light. Exactly 25' before the tree, each lane will have the staging beams on the ground. Look to the outside of the lane that you are in -- and locate where your staging beams are. It most often will either be a slightly raised box -- or three holes about 2" in diameter in the wall. As you get close to beams with your front tire, creep your car up while looking at the tree. As soon as your front tire comes to the first beam it will turn on the top set of bug lights in your lane -- STOP. You are now pre-staged. Do not move up and turn on the staging beams until both cars have first pre-staged. This is called "Courtesy Staging". To stage before the other car has pre-staged is call "Asshole Staging".

Once both cars have pre-staged, then both cars need to stage. As soon as the first car has staged, a fifteen second timer starts. Don't waste too much time staging.

To stage creep up (a foot or so) until you just flicker the next set of bug lights - and then stop. You want to be consistent with where you stage every time. Inches will cause different reactions times. Stopping as soon as the sights flicker on is called shallow staging. As you gain more experience -- you can experiment with deep staging and bumping the brakes into staging -- but this is the 101 Course. Once both cars are staged -- you only have a few seconds before the lights count down to green. As a rookie -- try to stage first so you will not be rushed.

Once staged, left foot on the brake hard, and give as much gas as you can with the brakes still holding your car from moving. This is called Foot-braking. Giving too much accelerator will move the car and maybe cause a red light or at least an inconsistent Reaction Time. Don't do this before the other car has staged, as long periods of applying this power against the brakes is not good for the transmission. Now focus on your bottom yellow bulb -- and try not to see or hear anything else but it. The reason for this is that is Reaction Time is most of the race. As a footbrake driver -- you want to shoot for between .000 and .050 second. Yes, that is 5/100 of a second. If you leave before the green light -- you have lost the race with a red-light start. If you take too long after the green light (even a 1/10 second) is lit, you will lose the race. For many people with good concentration, from the time the eye sees the bottom yellow light, the brain process it, and your leg muscle releases the brake and tromps the gas -- is .500 seconds -- which is a perfect Sportsman Light. Do not watch the yellow lights count down and try to time the last yellow. Block out everything but the first flicker of the bottom yellow -- Then go! If that strategy makes you too early of too late -- then adjust. Practice and full concentration makes someone good on the tree.

The Run

Now you're off. If you are driving a pure street car that is an automatic -- you're usually best off to have left it in Drive and let the transmission shift for you. If you have a manual valve body -- you will need to both focus on keeping your car in the groove and the tach for when to make the next shift. The groove is going to be the darker less shinny tracks of used rubber going down the track. It is the stickiest part of the track and the safest place to run. It is not so critical for slower than 12-seconds -- but it gets to be critical the faster you go from 12-seconds. 10-seconds or faster (or 4-speed cars) it is so critical that you stay in the groove -- that getting out of the groove can at the least cause you to have to lift and give up, and at the worse wreck the car. It is best that you learn to stay in the groove even before you go fast enough to need to -- as it is a good habit. You have to watch the tach (or your shift light) to shift at the RPM that makes your car consistent for the time you declared. If you use a shift light -- set it for about 200 RPM before you need to shift to compensate for reaction.

If you break down on the track, immediately pull over to the wall, stop, and turn off power -- especially if you are leaking. Get out of the car to evaluate the situation while the track people come to you. Fluids in the center of the track is a danger to you and other racers. Spreading that fluid the length of the track (vs. 1 place where a clean up is needed) will cause a long delay for a bigger than needed clean up -- and maybe an ass-kickin from other racers who had to wait 45 minutes in a hot car.

At the end of the run, the car in back should allow the car in front to exit first -- but if you are the car in front it is your responsibility to make sure you are clear (know where the other car is) if you have to exit on his side of the track, and have to cut across his lane. Don't assume the guy in the other lane knows what he's doing, and know where he is. If you are the back car, slow down to where you are a safe distance behind the front car -- and then move into his lane behind him so he can see your courtesy in his mirror.

On the way back to the pits there is generally a little shack where you stop to get your time slip. Log these time slips and keep track of changes you make that made the car faster or slower. You can download a free Driver's log at http://www.bigredram.com/passlog.pdf .

Give your car a Break

I watch people hot lapping the Hell out of their cars. This kills the engine and transmission. These drivers may be keeping track of the coolant temperature -- but what they don't realize is that the engine and transmission oil gets hotter than the water and doesn't cool as fast. Give street cars at least 10 minutes between rounds and longer as you make more and more passes.

Drag Racing is a blast -- and I encourage every man, woman, and child with a driver's license to take their car to the track on street night -- and give it a shot. Street car speeds with a safe car are actually very safe. Many of you will find that you have found a new hobby -- and the increased need to go faster and faster. This is a great addiction to be inflicted with -- and a nice adrenaline kick!

The next thing to consider is to get involved with class racing like Nostalgia Muscle Car or Nostalgia Super Stock. Both of those classes have a wide spectrum of cars from inexpensive street cars to very expensive FX Class cars. If you have further questions -- please ask the in the drag racing forums.

Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis
Good Explanation (with references) of Cause Set to Good Music

Trouble Shooter

Dave 'The Old Hippie" Schultz

September 25, 2008

Companies in trouble will often have an Outside Trouble Shooter come in for a certain period of time and look at what the company is doing wrong. They will then draw on their expertise from fixing previous companies, and come up with a new game plan. Often this means an entirely new way of how the company does business -- and the people it employs to oversee that. For it to work -- everything is on the table and trust in the Trouble Shooter is total.

I've spent most of my life in business and have come in to turn around a couple of companies. I recently thought to myself -- what if America was a business and it had one shot at totally eliminating the things wrong with it. How Would I go about doing that? Well here are a few things off the top of my mind that I would do, if I were given total control over fixing what was wrong with the Federal Government.

• Fix the politicians with multi-million dollar office budgets, and unreasonable retirement packages -- and make them less attractive to corrupt. Terms limits of one term only to the House, Senate, and Executive – and no retirement. Straight pay of $100,000 salary for each of those positions; zero Lobbyist money, zero contributions from businesses/unions/PACs/other entities, zero gifts from anyone but family (and that limited to $10,000 value), zero usage of other's private jets, zero invitations to vacations spots, and any other graft possibilities. Earmarks are to be totally eliminated. Pork Eliminated. Only Balanced budgets. Total annual budget for any House member or Senator to be capped at $200,000. Do it with interns and without wasting postage and airfare. No Federal Campaign funds or use of personal fortune in buying your election. Everyone would be limited to $200 per individual contributor. That would make people start with running as Mayor or city councilman to develop a name to get contributors to back for State office. That would get a name to get contributors in each state to put their best in the House, and then in the Senate. Stop wasting Federal money on campaigns and being bought and paid for by businesses and other entities with an agenda.

• No attachments to the original Bill. These are done to either kill the Bill or pay off a Crony. Those that sponsored the Bill can amend and resubmit if the committee suggests and they agree

• All Bills put to an up or down Committee Vote

• Line item Vetoes for the President

• No Filibusters to waste time

• All Presidential nominees get an up or down vote within 30 work days

• Eliminate the Electoral College -- and go to a Popular vote. This is the 21st Century and we can now track these things.

• A more secure voting system where you have to be registered to vote, and show ID when you vote. Convicted felons cannot vote. Absentee ballots only submitted with written Dr. or employer affidavit listing legitimate reason why the voter can no be at their poll on voting day.

• Eliminate Federal Income Tax and most of the IRS

• National Sales Tax – with only contract labor, employees, a single home purchase, food, and health expenses as exemptions. Then everyone would be paying based on their wealth. The rich pay for their airplanes, yachts, Rolex, expensive furniture, swimming pools, etc. Old people with wealth who are on budgets pay near no tax. Panhandlers, Crack whores, drug dealers, Saudis visiting the country, hookers, the mafia, and everyone else avoiding tax would pay their fair share.

• Eliminate the capital gains tax, taxes on interest, and encourage savings and investments in America. That income was taxed already and a National Sale Tax will capture the taxes from spending. Stop the flow of money to Swiss and Cayman accounts to avoid paying taxes on interest.

• Eliminate the Estate tax – that income was taxed already and belongs to the person who earned it to leave to whomever they wish.

• Eliminate Corporate taxes – and stop the flow of businesses moving off shore. We have the third highest Corporate taxes in the world and business if leaving in droves to Arab countries.

• Windfall taxes of 50% on executive bonuses and stock options over $5,000,000 a year if the company is publicly traded – regardless of where traded. I’m all for Capitalism and paying the best what they’re worth – but these $50 Million bonuses are rape of the people investing. No one is worth that. This includes professional athletes paid by teams that are part of a publicly traded corporation. This is money stolen from investors.

• School vouchers for every school age child attending grade through high school.

• School vouchers for four years of full time college for American born students maintaining a 2.75 or better GPA and a full load of classes until they're 23 years old. They may not be redeemed from Colleges which do not allow ROTC and/or Recruiters on campus.

• No more Federal money to schools and colleges besides these vouchers. Let the local property taxes pay for the difference.

• Any high school graduate under the age of 21 not in college is eligible for a 2-year draft in the branch of their choice accepting draftees -- subject to criminal/psychological record and so labeled Undesirable Because of Criminal or psychological Record if not draftable. Optional Corps of Public Services as non-military branch of service structure exactly as the Military branches are structured -- to provide Federal services currently a Civil Service position. Eliminate Civil Service.

• No more Federal money to foreign countries. In over 200 years – no country has given us a nickel of help.

• Get out of the UN – and kick the UN out of the country!

• No more funding of Liberal Organizations like ACORN, ACLU, PBS, Rainbow Coalition – or any of their shells.

• No more FEMA – it is up to the State and Charities to take care of those in need – not the Federal Government.

• No more Federal Loans for disaster. Shit happens.

• Social Security allows for Voluntary opt in or out. If you opt out – you take care of yourself and submit proof Bi-annually. Too bad if you’re irresponsible.

• Medicare a Voluntary Opt in or Opt out. Same as above.

• The private market deals with home loans totally. No Federal Government involvement.

• Affirmative Action of any type to be illegal – including city, county, state, and Federal jobs. No preference ever to any group for anything.

• Tort reform on Class-Action lawsuits.

• The job of the Federal Government is a strong defense, a strong intelligence, a strong home security, interstate commerce, interstate crime, and Interstate Transportation. Reasonable regulatory agencies to monitor those functions.
   

These were just off the top of my head that I feel would make American take more responsibility of their actions and reduce cronyism in politics.

Wealth Redistribution

Dave "the Old" Hippie Schultz

September 26, 2008

You may copy this article in its entirety and forward to others.

Well today the politicians are still trying to hammer out a deal before the Monday opening of the Asian Stock Markets -- as to not do so will start the dominos to tumble. If you listen to the News media, this is all of the fault of Bush, McCain is grand standing, and the House Republicans are stonewalling. Those are the lies -- and here is the truth in simple to understand terms.

How We Got Here or The Tale of Three Companies:

It all started when William the Impeached appointed his friend and budget director Franklin Raines to a sweetheart deal as the CEO of Fannie Mae -- most likely for some kickback as Clinton never did anything for free, but that's another story. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are corporations set up by the government to buy home loans from banks, for the purpose of creating increased home ownership. Clinton's appointment of Franklin Raines made him the first ever Black CEO of a Fortune 500 Corporation. Immediately, people like Barney Frank (aka Barney Fag - who is now the Chair of the House Banking Committee) called for more homes to go to minorities, and laws were passed restricting home loans to whites to have a larger percentage go to minorities. If there were not enough minority loans made -- no loans to whites could be made. At about the same time, Citibank appointed its first black as CEO, as did Merrill Lynch (trust me -- I'm going somewhere with this).

In the case of the three black CEOs, it was the fox watching the hen house, as each of these CEOs made tens of millions of dollars in bonuses based on the  gross dollar amount of the mortgages they pushed through -- regardless the quality or ability of the borrower to repay. Citicorp/Citibank led the initial charge of making bad loans to minorities who couldn't afford them. Appraisals were overstated, employment and income was all of a sudden "self-verified", bad credit ignored, and these bad loans were made. The reason for these frauds was that it was the only way that enough loans to minorities could be made for government quotas -- so that the more profitable loans to whites and Jumbo loans (over $235,000) could then be written. Citibank (and then many others who followed when they saw Citibank getting away with it) then sold these loans to Fannie Mae -- who turned their head to the quality of the loans and happily bought them. Franklin Raines made over $90,000,000 in compensation for the 6 years he was with Fannie Mae (his successor (Johnson) ripped us off for even more) by buying these bad loans. Soon Fannie Mae ran out of money and needed to sell these loans. They couldn't do it on the open market because the SEC monitored such things. However, since this was so new of a concept, there was no regulatory body to monitor the selling of these mortgages to "Sophisticated Investors" -- like Merrill Lynch. So Merrill Lynch (and later other brokers) and repackaging them (with other home loans to diversify) through off-shore corporations (to hide the true nature of the loans) -- and they were sold to pension funds, retirement funds, cities, and communities. Everyone thinking they were guaranteed by the government because they had moved through Fanny Mae. Franklin Raines was fired for cooking the books -- but not only not tried for his fraud giving him a $50Million bonus -- he now to this day receives almost $120,000 a month from Fannie Mae until both he and his wife die. I'm not sure what the net is after paying a tribute to William the Impeached for landing him this opportunity of a lifetime. It is worth noting that Citibank was bailed out by a Saudi Prince because of these loans -- and that Arabs are the largest shareholder in America's largest bank. Next Fannie Mae was bailed out with taxpayer's money. Finally -- Merrill Lynch had to be bailed out with its acquisition. All three black CEOs first put their loyalty into outrageous bonuses to themselves by selling out America with bad loans to people that common sense showed didn't have the ability to repay -- and all three were fired. Yet we are willing to repeat this process by putting a man in the White House who has already demonstrated where his loyalties are -- Blacks and Muslims.

Who Warned Us?

As far back as 2001, (and again in 2003) President Bush warned us that this practice was dangerous and going to bankrupt the country, if Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac were not immediately regulated. Alan Greenspan said we were in "grave danger" if something wasn't done to regulate Fannie Mae from encouraging and buying these bad loans. In 2005, John McCain (with Dole, Sununu and Hagel) introduced the "Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005". It was killed in committee when all Republicans voted for it, but all Democrats voted against it. The very same Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, and Chris Dodd that today blame the republicans and Bush for doing nothing to stop Fannie Mae -- in 2005 called Bush, Greenspan, and McCain alarmists (see video below). Barney Frank said Fannie Mae was in terrific shape and the government "wasn't at risk because it would never bailout Fannie Mae". It is no wonder that these Democrats were so much in the tank for Fannie Mae -- as they were each getting well over $100,000 (Dodd got almost $200,000) in "Contributions" from Fannie Mae -- plus sweetheart mortgages (like you don't have to pay back until you are caught) for their homes. They should be tried for treason! See the below videos of their words back then.

So now that we know what the problem is and how we got here -- what's next?

Don't expect any help from the Democrats. Obama received the second largest contribution from Fanny Mae, employed Franklin Raines as his financial advisor, and then Raines' successor at Fannie Mae to head up his Vice President search committee. The Chosen One is so busy trying to deflect this from him by attacking McCain for suspending his campaign and debate to fix the problem -- as being showboating. Dodd, Schumer, and Barney Frank are so guilty -- that they are in Hyper-mode of blaming Republicans to deflect the blame from them. The Liberal media is so in the tank for the Liberals -- that all the average person hears is Liberal spin with the lies that this is the fault of Republicans.

If this problem is not fixed immediately, as in before the Asian Stock Market opens Monday -- Black September will make Black Tuesday and Black October look like an off day on the market. No one is buying debt right now and that means no loans are being written. The World's largest Chevy dealer, with seven huge dealerships in Texas and Florida, has closed its doors yesterday and has filed for bankruptcy. They can't sell cars if they can't write car loans. This trickles down to the people who build cars, and the people who build parts for those who build cars. Those people are about to become unemployed. Likewise with retailers like Best Buy, Lowes, Circuit City, and Home Depot. So much of what they sell is on credit. Without extending credit -- they can't sell and have no need to stock their shelves, so those items don't need to be made.  Anyone wanting to buy or sell their homes right now is screwed. No moving for a better job at the moment. The trickle down is an automatic Depression (not Recession), where interest rates sky rocket and the dollar/employment falls. If you were an adult in the late 60s and early 70s -- you will remember Mr. Inflation and Mr. Unemployment. Get ready to greet them again. Expect to see your credit card limits drop and cards being revoked as credit tightens.

There is no one in the world who hates Wealth Redistribution more than me. In the last ten years -- I've paid more than $10,000,000 in taxes and hated writing every one of those checks. My blood boiled when most of you reading this received $600 stimulus checks from my tax dollars. I did not -- I just help pay for your little party. I just went through a hurricane where both homes sustained damaged -- but I didn't file FEMA claims because that's not what our government was set up to do. 40% of adults do not pay any Federal income tax and 5% of us pay 80% of the taxes. I'm sick of wealth redistribution. As such -- I've sold all of my businesses and have become an underachiever -- like most of America. No more will I employ 100s and put their FICA, Medicare, Unemployment, health insurance and retirement. No more will I earn millions and pay over 40% of it in taxes. No more will I stimulate the local economy with the purchase of millions of dollars of computers, furniture, and supplies for my businesses. Nope at 53-years old I'm now permanently unemployed; and I'm going racing and fishing. Time for some other sucker to beat his head against the wall 15-hours a day, 7-days a week taking personal financial risks for FEMA to move crack whores and their little crack babies from New Orleans around. If you can't beat them -- join them.

Until the other day -- my attitude on bailing out the economy was "Screw them -- let them all take the hit for their irresponsible acts - serves them right". However, I've since learned, much to my dismay -- that we have to bail out the system, as it is ultimately the cheapest way. To ignore it will cost us much more with the American Economy failing. In the past we've bailed out both Chrysler and Mexico -- and actually made money on both. With the RTC bailout of the S&Ls in the early 90s -- we about broke even reselling that debt to distressed debt buyers (I was one). We can come out of this ahead -- but I'm afraid that we have the wrong people in government for that to happen.

The initial Bush/Paulson plan has us earmarking $700,000,000,000 to buy these loan packages at a fair price (maybe 70% face value) from those holding them -- so they have the capital to continue lending -- but with new (and heavily regulated) restraint. Technically, those loans are mostly performing and can be repackaged and sold to distressed debt buyers at a profit -- maybe 85% face principle (since it is predicted 93% are performing and the other 7% have homes that can be foreclosed on and resold). In this simplest form, the government takes a big hit on the books now for buying the ASSETS -- but that money gets paid back into the Treasury with a profit for another President to take credit -- or in the case of Obama, distribute to those he feels loyalty to (you make the call on who those people might be).

I'm all for this type of plan so long as it doesn't let any mortgage holder off the hook for their fraud and/or irresponsible acts, and the companies bailed out are held to stringent business practices -- and executives are not able to bonus or Golden Parachute any of this money. I would also want to see all home owners who fraudulently misstated their income, all loan writers who instructed them to do so, all appraisers who grossly overstated the value of the property, and all executives who purposely used bad business practices for the financial gain -- to be tried, convicted, serve time and banned from business. I think there should be a REAL ethics investigation into Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Barack Obama, and Charles Schumer for selling out America by being paid off by Fannie Mae. In the real world they were bribed to sell out the American people -- and that is Treason. We can't afford to teach businesses a lesson by letting them go under -- because it is like cutting off our hands if we allow a Depression -- but we can sure teach them as individuals a lesson that will be remembered for a 100 years.

However, you can be sure that's not the plan we're going to get. Liberals buy votes from those who don't pay taxes, with giving them something for nothing out of the public treasury. There are not enough of us contributing to the public treasury to have any voice to stop this -- although I still will not stay quiet. So what is going to happen is some of this money is going to ACORN. ACORN is a Liberal fraud organization claiming to represent blacks buying homes -- but is mostly involved in voter registration fraud to elect more Liberals to give them more entitlements. Obama knows ACORN well! Liberals won't be able to help themselves with letting many who fraudulently obtained a home they couldn't afford off the hook -- by renegotiating their mortgage to almost free and having taxpayers pay for this gift. You see, crime pays if Liberals want your vote.

The most sick thing of this entire selling out of America by Liberals (remember this started when Clinton appointed his friend as CEO of Fannie Mae and continued with Liberal Politicians accepting bribes in the form of 6-digit campaign contributions) is that a recent poll shows that Americans trust Democrats with the economy more than they trust the Republicans. Is there really that many stupid Americans that refuse to look at the facts?

A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

Obama Want's America To Be Like Chicago

Body count: In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago;

State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country.
Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. (Look 'em up if you want).
Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.

Sens. Barack Obama & Dick Durbin,
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.,
Gov. Rod Blogojevich,
House leader Mike Madigan,
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike),
Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)

Religious Leaders Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Father Pflagler .....our leadership in Illinois.....all Democrats.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he's gonna 'fix' Washington politics for us!

Hurricane Ike Photos

I was at a truck stop in Georgia on Sunday night, filling up with diesel for the trip home after racing. I was talking in line with another trucker and told him I was worried about getting diesel off I-10 close to Houston -- and he told me that it was no big deal down there. It wasn't even worthy of my commenting to him -- so I didn't. Below are some photos of the not so big deal. BTW -- I almost ran out of diesel because there was no electricity from Orange, TX to Baytown, TX -- thus no pumps pumping.