Dave Ramsey, Common Sense Fix Rather Than Congressional Rescue

Financial counsellor and syndicated talk show host Dave Ramsey---where credit card debt goes to die---presents an alternative to the $700 billion Paulson plan which accomplishes more for less and lets taxpayers off the big hook. Below are highlights which are well worth reading and considering. This man is a no nonsense kinda guy. Here's Dave Ramsey's plan:

"Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three step Common Sense Plan:

I. INSURANCE
Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:

1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into thebalance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.

This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET (see this on DaveRamsey.com and here.) Mark to market explained here.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX
Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.

This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

Hat tip: Bill Hobbs

Treading Lightly For the Next Month

ADDED: Palin Truth Files

As things unwind toward the November presidential election, I've made only one commitment to myself: not to become completely unhinged over our current economic situation including the idiocy that got us there, the stock market and the very probable win of Barack Obama as POTUS. To the extent that I can do this, I'll be here on this blog. However, to the extent I can't, I may sit it out a day or two and chill.

Take today for instance. Glenn Reynolds evidently received an anonymous e-mail from a reporter in a "major newsroom" saying the MSM is in the bag for Obama. It's all over the Web and my fellow bloggers are on it like a tic on a hound. It's outrageous and unfair. My only question is, is it new or news worthy? And is it something to agonize over specifically today?

Not in my book. It's old, worn out news and I'm not biting. I'm saving myself for something even more outrageous and shocking that's truly news to me. The MSM is so biased for Obama that that story has totally lost its appeal. It's like beating a dead horse.

Then there's a new YouTube video on children in Venice, California singing "hymns" for Obama in the spirit of BHO being the anointed one. It is disturbing. But is it anything new or news worthy? Or just more of the same?

Much of mankind is atheistic and for many of these people government has indeed taken the place of god in their lives. They project their hopes and fears and frustrations on their leaders with their political ambitions and glib talk, however unrealistic--- and make an election a life or death issue. We live in a country with freedom of religion which, for better or worse, allows each of us to worship what or whomever we choose. That means that people can worship even a smooth operator like Obama.

So is it any wonder that a few of those people would be indoctrinating their children with Obama songs and giving them applause for singing in the Obama choir? There's nothing here that surprises me one whit. It's the way of the world.

I'm happy to let another blogger better than I channel shock and indignation. I simply don't care or have the energy today. I blew it out yesterday with Pelosi Derangement Syndrome and that's enough for me.

Me, I'm going to enjoy this gorgeous afternoon, try to find and buy a tank of gas and let others channel the inner outrage. Having 'derangement syndrome' over anything once a week is my limit, and at least for a while, I've done my part. I gave yesterday at the office.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not saying there's not a lot to be apprehensive about coming down the pike. Obama, recession, taxes, more of Pelosi, Reid, no sunspots in over a year, Social Security....it's enough to make you, you know, start to look for the real God and cry out and beg for mercy.

Nancy Pelosi and Wall Street

UPDATE: NEWT IS NOW FOR 'BAILOUT.'

I don't see how Nancy Pelosi can look the American people in the eye and blame this mess solely on Republicans. She's despicable beyond belief and does not have this country's best interest in mind or in heart. She's partisan and dishonest down to the the tips of her talons.

And Hank Paulson (former liberal Master of the Universe turned wannabe Master of Capitol Hill) should be ashamed for pandering to the likes of Pelosi who's going to play this thing, and him, like the harpy she is. Nancy is an utter disgrace to American politics, professional women of all political persuasions and the people she was elected to serve. Hers is a legacy of failed, partisan leadership that's the most disgraceful thing I've seen in my lifetime.

*********

At 2:43 p.m. EDT, the NYSE composite crashed 7.2% to its lowest levels in nearly four years. The Nasdaq plunged 6.5%, nearing its July 2006 low. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Dow crumbled 6% and 4.5%, respectively.

Goldman Sachs (GS) tumbled 15.75, or 11%, to 122.28 in heavy trading. It had sunk as low as 105 immediately after Congress' vote results were known. According to the Financial Times, the company is seeking to buy up to $50 billion in assets from troubled banks as it makes its own transition into commercial banking. Morgan Stanley (MS) dropped 3.50, or 14%, to 21.25. It agreed to sell a 21% stake to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial.

On the upside, gold settled at $894.40 an ounce, up $5.90. But in after-hours trading, the metal jumped to $909.70 an ounce. The VIX spiked 32% to an all-time high. Elsewhere, crude plunged $10.52 to $96.37 a barrel.

Sunday, Newton's Seafaring Career Near An End

By October 1753, shore time had run out, and Newton was at sea on the African again. The ten-month voyage was to be his last as a slave-ship captain. It marked a profound turning point in his spiritual life because he had a chance meeting with a fellow captain and fellow Christian, Alexander Clunie. In the short term, their meeting on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts proved a guiding light to Newton in matters of prayer, doctrine, and witness. In the long term, the two men formed an enduring friendship and exchanged many letters, which were eventually published under he title of The Christian Correspondent.

Newton's four week stop over on the Caribbean island was notable for the spiritual nourishment he received there. There, Newton met a Scotsman who was destined to make an enormous impact on his Christian faith and fellowship. Soon after their initial encounter in St. Kitts, Clunie and Newton became inseparable soul mates.

Clunie's Christian teaching was Bible-based with a strong learning toward Reformed theology. In modern terminology this would be called conservative evangelicalism. Up to this time, Newton's religion had been almost entirely self-taught. Apart from what he had absorbed from his late mother and childhood pastor, Newton had received no formal instruction or teaching in matters of faith since the age of six. ......ever since his conversion in the Atlantic storm of March 21, 1748 Newton had been a solitary Christian. He had traveled far in his Bible reading and in his studies of theological authors, but he had traveled alone. He had never experienced the joy of fellowship that so often follows from membership in the Body of Christ.

Now for the first time in his life, he found that Christian fellowship with Alexander Clunie who during those intense weeks at St. Kitts became John Newton's prayer partner, mentor and spiritual director. The doctrine of justification by faith was strongly emphasized by Clunie.

Newton on fire with enthusiasm for his new friend's teachings, accepted this promise of salvation. "Now I began to understand the security of the covenant of grace," wrote Newton, "and to expect to be preserved not by my own power and holiness but by the mighty power and promise of God, through faith in an unchangeable Savior."

---Jonathan Aitken, John Newton, From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Memo To McCain: Sadly, Palin Needs To Go

HOPE I'M WRONG HERE. WILL STILL VOTE FOR McCAIN

It's late, I'm just home and getting ready for bed, so this will be short and sweet. It's one of the hardest things I've posted here and I hate saying it more than anything. I hate saying this because I am a fan of VP candidate Sarah Palin. Unfortunately I am no longer a fan of her continuing on the GOP presidential ticket with Senator John McCain.

Palin needs to resign from the ticket immediately. I'm with Kathleen Parker, Palin needs to step down. Now. This weekend. Another rumor. It's best for the ticket, best for the country and best for her. She should resign Sunday so McCain can replace her Monday morning with either Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney ahead of the VEEP debate Thursday. It will be a disaster and bloodbath otherwise.

Palin may be smart, hard working and often articulate and funny, but in the last ten days, she has shown herself to be far too inexperienced and out of her league for a job that's only a heartbeat away from POTUS. She's not ready to be president. She's not ready to be VEEP. And if she stays on the ticket, she will be an increasing liability and embarrassment to McCain and the GOP.

There's no other chance for conservatives to win otherwise. Not with this monumental financial crisis all around us. The country needs a McCain/Romney or a McCain/Lieberman ticket more than it needs a McCain/Palin ticket.

I hate it but let me say one more time: Palin needs to get off the GOP ticket this weekend so that McCain can replace her Monday morning with Mitt or Joe. Time is of the essence.

McCain KOs A Weak Obama Friday

UPDATE: Kissinger: McCain is right; corrects Obama on talking to Iran.

UPDATE: Bill Kristol said on Fox after the debate, that it was clearly McCain's night as he won 8/9 question segments but there was no clear KO. I beg to differ.

John McCain stood out last night with Barack Obama before the American people clearly defining his positions on the economy, energy, health care, and foreign relations. He came across as a strong, extremely experienced leader.

From the get go, McCain put the stuttering, sputtering Obama on the defense.

At least half dozen times, McCain used the phrase Senator Obama doesn't seem yet to understand..... to KO his opponent. Obama came across as weak. No wonder our enemies are want to see O elected.

McCain was clearly in command of the foreign policy part of this debate. On Iraq. On Iran. On Afghanistan. On Pakistan. On North Korea. On Russia. On the Russian invasion of Georgia.

McCain made Obama look shifty, naive and tentative in this debate, at times in ways that made me embarrassed for the junior senator from Illinois. And Obama's Kissinger reference will surely come back to haunt him as Kissinger issued a correction after the debate.

McCain emphatically supports spending restraint, earmark elimination and low taxes. He reiterates that American businesses have the second highest tax rate---35%---in the world which don't need to be raised. Obama opined about too many loopholes in these taxes.

McCain explained his part opposition to President Bush on spending, climate change, torture of prisoners to name a few. He recalled that he opposed President Reagan on sending troops into Lebanon.

McCain is his own man.

McCain said Obama doesn't know the difference between a tactic and a strategy in Iraq. He accused Obama of wanting to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in Iraq, the central theater of the War on Terror, and said the surge continues to be shown to be effective and successful.

Watching This All Play Out

FRIDAY: Alternatives to the bailout, here. McCain may favor this. Another alternative aimed at the right market.

"The alternative plan allocates less public money and relies more on tax breaks, lifting regulatory barriers and using less bailout-oriented mechanisms to free up capital and credit. It also seeks to create a privately funded mechanism to ensure mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.

This sounds very good to me, however, at this point, I still feel unqualified to comment intelligently. My sensibilities however tend towards less government intervention, as in the video below:



THURSDAY: We may be victims of Wall Street greed — but not quite innocent victims.---Victor Davis Hanson writing today at NRO.

At the moment I, like every American, feel like a spectator to two mega dramas now unfolding: the great economic meltdown of 2008 and the presidential dogfight of epic proportions. Somehow they seem inexorably connected.

It's rare I have no opinion on something, but tonight after hearing President Bush speak on the 'bailout' (it's not really a permanent bailout, but a buy up, hold and resale of iffy mortgages so credit doesn't dry up to you and me) followed by numerous talking heads, pro and con (Newt being the most vociferous con opposed to the $70 billion plan), I honestly don't know what I think. It remains to be seen how much of this sense of urgency is being conjured up by the Administration led by Treasury Nanny Hank Paulson for quick passage with no conditions, and how much is truly a dire warning of impeding meltdown. I mean, only 5% of all mortgages are sub prime and so for me, it seems this could be over-stated a bit.

Sub-prime mortgages---first pushed by Congress and cheap money in the late 90s, then bought and resold by Fannie and Freddie, then bundled and resold with other products by the likes of Lehman, Bear Sterns ----have spread like bird flu through the global economy and no one knows where the next outbreak will show up, or how lethal it will be. No one can know.

Does anyone grasp how this drama will all play out? Hind sight is always 20/20. It seems the only solid ground to stand on right now is I don't know. Seems prudent for me to just keep watching and see where the chips start to fall. May God help and bless this country.

Michelle Malkin Goes Where Angels Fear To Tread

Have to say, Michelle is on to something big here: illegal immigration and the sub-prime mess. Her piece today should be mandatory reading for all sane people who want to connect the dots, ALL the dots.

No one escapes culpability. It's going to take a while, maybe a long while to clean this up. Connecting the dots just got very politically incorrect and even more bi-partisan.

Can we say buenos dias?

More: Mark Krikorian---Credit is not a civil right. I might add neither is a college education.

Trouble In Paradise? Obama and Biden Show a Disunited Front, Will Hillary Re-Enter This Picture?

If ever there was an outsider into the heart and soul of the Obama/Biden ticket, it's me. From the outside, however, it sure seems like some cracks are appearing. First with this. Then this. While to a casual observer like me, it's somewhat amusing, in the end, can it portend something more serious? Could a political separation or divorce be in the making? Which begs the greater question, if a schism happens, can Hillary be far behind? Might I wonder futher: Is this staged by the Dems, to get Biden off the ticket, leaving the way for a new VEEP?


Look, let's be honest, Joe doesn't give a damn about moving to Massachusetts Avenue in January. He likes taking Amtrak to and from Delaware every day and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It ain't no shirt off his back if he gets off the ticket. He'll still be Joe, doing what Joe does.....in the Senate. Perhaps in the end, he's better off. This could get interesting.

Jim Cramer Says Goodbye To Masters of the Universe---As Safe Becomes the New Sexy

NEW ERA BIRTHED WHILE SOME MASTERS NOT GOING QUIETLY or empty-handed.

Wildman Jim Cramer has written absolutely the best piece I've seen to date on the Wall Street meltdown---how we got there, what happened last week and where we're headed. It takes a bit of time and concentration, but well worth the effort. We owe it to ourselves and children to try to understand as best we can causes of this mess so we can avoid some of it in the future.

My only criticism of the piece is that it completely ignores the devalued dollar's contribution to the formation of the commodoties bubbles---housing, gold and oil, and the rise in inflation. I believe, as my friend John Tamny at RealClearMarkets, that this Bush Administration policy is at the heart of our economic woes.

I'll be back with more commentary later. Meanwhile, I'm heartened to know that Cramer is not fond of Hank Paulson (my least favorite of the bunch), Ben Bernanke or Alan Greenspan. (me neither).

Cramer opines, rightly I believe:

I don’t care what the stock market did late last week or what it does in the next few days. That age, the Master of the Universe Era, is over. Too many people were too badly burned by taking too much risk to repeat that trick again. That has practical implications for everything from private schools, Range Rover dealerships, and Sotheby’s auctions to SAT tutors, newsstand operators, and shoeshine guys. It will also have an impact on the Zeitgeist. Greed is good? Not anymore. I’m nobody’s innocent, but I think we’ll see a more chaste culture emerge from all of this, on Wall Street, and perhaps beyond. Caution will be the new daring. Safe will be the new sexy.

Yes, Jim, it's true for Wall Street. But as you rightly note in your article lots of people on Main Street stayed the fiscal conservative course and will be rewarded for not running with the fast crowd.

Wasn't that basically what our mothers taught us in junior high?

Monday

A confession. I've never mentioned this before here. There's something else I do with some of my time on the Web that sometimes preoccupies me as much, if not more than blogging. I've been doing it for years. In fact, it's what got me to the internet in the first place.

I often go days or weeks without doing my other work, but during times like this, I leave the world of ideas and words for a little while and go back to my first real job on the Web.

Today is one of those days away from writing and back to my other life. When I get finished, I plan to come back here and write more. But for now, it's where I am. It's my other job and I love it too.

Meanwhile, a friend e-mailed me this funny little political gotcha this morning:

On television today a Democratic operative pointed out that when Obama holds a rally 25,000-30,000 people show up, whereas when McCain holds one he only draws 10,000-15,000. The Republican spokesman replied, 'That's because McCain's supporters are at work.'

Good un. Thanks LP.

Sunday, John Newton in Africa, 1748

The journey from Liverpool to Africa took eight weeks, followed by eight months of slave-trading operations up and down the coast. Although it was not Newton's first exposure to the unsavory deals and physical brutalities that were central to the bargaining between local tribal chiefs and white slavers when corralling a human cargo of natives for shipment to the West Indies, nevertheless this voyage was a new experience for him now that he was in a position of authority. As mate of the Brownlow, Newton was at the forefront of bartering worthless trinkets in return for able-bodied men, putting slaves in irons, dragging them on board the ship and keeping them captive in horrific conditions below the decks. There is no evidence that Newton's faltering journey of faith made any difference at this point to the treatment he inflicted on the slaves, during the Brownlow's journey along the west coast of Africa in 1748-1749. Tearing husbands away from wives and children, shackling these screaming men in heavy fetters, and chaining them in horrific, overcrowded squalor that would have disgraced the animal pens of an abattoir were routine tasks for the ship's mate of a slave-trading ship. It is likely that Newton carried them all out. Without being totally explicit on the licentious side of his excesses, it is clear from his later accounts of this period in his life that Newton indulged himself in the sexual abuse of native women on board ship, for he admitted that he had 'followed a course of evil, which a few months before I should not have supposed myself any longer capable....I had little desire and no power to recover myself.'

---Jonathan Aitken, John Newton, From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

------John Newton, Amazing Grace, first stanza, 1772

Space Shuttle Endeavour Now On Standby

In case the Atlantis mission to repair the Hubble Telescope runs into trouble and needs emergency help.

If you've never seen one of the space shuttles blast off I can only say it's one of the most dramatic and amazing sights anywhere. I was fishing with a friend in Florida several years ago, about fifteen miles south and inland from Kennedy Space Center the day of a scheduled launch. We knew it might be canceled due to weather and a small window of opportunity for launch.

As the day wore on the wind died down, we fished and almost forgot about the launch altogether. Then suddenly there was a flash and loud noise that could only mean one thing: the shuttle was blasting off. I've don't recall which shuttle it was, but will never forget the sight, the sound and the vibration of that behemoth rocket blasting off. No one moved as put down our rods and watched the lift off until it finally disappeared from sight minutes later. What a thrill I'll never forget!

photo WSJ

On Freddie And Fannie Lobbying Congress To Be Left Alone

Freddie and Fannie have spent over $200 million lobbying Congress in recent years to leave them alone and outside federally mandated government oversight/regulation.

Obama received more of that lobbying money than any other legislator on the Hill, save for Sen.Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking committee that was in charge of regulating Fannie and Freedie. Some regulation!

McCain, speaking at a Townhall meeting in Iowa last week had this to say of the mess:

"Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae’s CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his vice president. Fannie’s former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn’t lift a hand to avert this crisis. While the leaders of Fannie and Freddie were lining the pockets of his campaign, they were sowing the seeds of the financial crisis we see today and enriching themselves with millions of dollars in payments. That’s not change, that’s what’s broken in Washington."

"When AIG was bailed out, I didn’t like it, but I understood it needed to be done to protect hard working Americans with insurance policies and annuities. Senator Obama didn’t take a position. On the biggest issue of the day, he didn’t know what to think."

All this goes to show, Obama is an empty suit in a time that calls for him to define himself. It also shows that all laws in Congress legalizing regulation are only as good as the will to enforce them. There are always lobbyists that will lobby to limit whatever laws are on the books for their special interest. No exceptions.

Now the Feds are bailing out the Fannie/Freddie urchins with no conditions (!!??). What's wrong with this picture? The WSJ people agree:



Do we really think Obama represents courageous change, or just more-of-the-same or worse? Surely we know the answer to this. John McCain sure does.

Secretary Paulson With Nanny Pelosi: What Will Happen to Our Children's Future?

SATURDAY UPDATE: IBD has another take on this massive bailout. I'm not ready to buy it yet, but I'm open to listening. The market was up over 700 points on Thursday and Friday. Another view from Wall Street. Pat Buchanan makes the most sense: the end of an era
Shameful for conservative fiscal policies everywhere, Hank Paulson does his Messiah act and hocks our children's future with another massive bailout so we can all have a pacifier today. Forget the dollar. Forget retirement, forget free markets. This day will live in economic infamy.

No Gas At the Pump In Nashville

It's true. Panic buying all over Nashville after Hurricane Ike has no gas station left behind. I'm just starting to drive again on a very limited basis, so I have a full tank of gas. But there's no gasoline in Nashville for the most part, and rumor has it, it won't come back again until at least the middle of next week.

Leftist Jewish Group and Hillary Would Rather Diss Palin Than Ahmedinejad

Think it's possible to come together against a common enemy? Think again. In a shameful show of partisan politics and un-solidarity, a group of left leaning Jewish organizations has invited, then disinvited Governor Palin to a anti-Ahmedinejad rally next week in New York after Hillary had a hissy fit and refused to go (because of Palin's invitation).

Jennifer Rubin has more on the shocking story today on Pajamas.

If anyone thinks Obama will be bi-partisan if elected chief nanny, CNOTUS, then they've got another thought coming. McCain however, has reached across the isle too many times to count in his long career on the Hill.

New York Women Near Hysteria Over Palin Nomination

AS THE TRUTH OF FEMINISM MARCHES ON,

Fits of rage, terror, near break downs strike New York women, according to the NY Sun.

Oh pleeeeeease.

"A posting on a New York-based Web site for women, Jezebel.com, spoke of unbridled anger.

'What I feel for her privately could be described as violent, nay, murderous, rage," an associate editor at Jezebel, Jessica Grose, wrote just after the Republican convention wrapped up. "When Palin spoke on Wednesday night, my head almost exploded from the incandescent anger boiling in my skull.'

Even some 'prominent' figures admitted to being overcome by anti-Palin feelings. "I am having Sarah Palin nightmares," an acclaimed playwright and writer, Eve Ensler, wrote on the Huffington Post. She said she was disturbed by the chants about oil and gas drilling during Mrs. Palin's speech to the Republican convention. "I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination," Ms. Ensler wrote."

Could someone please get these women straight jackets and them off the streets?

Memo To McCain

Please be thinking over the weekend about what's going to happen next week when Hillary replaces Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket with Obama. Two partisan nannies who push victim voter thinking is not going to be good for the country. But it sure looks like it's going to happen.

McCain Running For POTUS, Obama running for CNOTUS

Know what I mean?

Tennessean 'Obamacrat' David Kernell Suspected of Hacking Palin's E-Mails

UPDATE: Evidently David Kernell has some shocking and obscene words of advice for Gov. Palin on his MySpace page. I won't link but sure you can find it if you're determined.

UPDATE: Richard Miniter has more at Pajamas this morning. More still on the self-described 'Obamacrat'.

Evidently 20-year old UT freshman David Kernell, son of Democratic state Rep. Mike Kernell of Memphis, is a prime suspect in illegally hacking into Governor Sarah Palin's private e-mail account earlier this week. More here from today's Tennessean.

Details as they unfold.

Tennessean leftie blogger Sharon Cobb vouches for her friend Rep. Mike Kernell and says if David is involved in the hacking that Mike had nothing to do with it. The irony, according to Cobb, is that Rep. Mike Kernell hates computers and won't even use e-mail.

*******

This very sad post from David Kernell's blog in 2003 when he was 15:

" this page is dedicated to showing what has happend to scociety these days, now i am not going to be a hipicrit here and say im "fair and balanced" like FOX news, it is imposible to do so, we are humans and are very falable, but less than perfect is better than nothing, its much like limits in calculus, you can get infintely close to the variable but it is impossible to reach it. Also, this is intertwined a bit with my expriences because most of our behaviors are formed by scociety and our experienes. My name is David KernellI am 15 a white cacasian male i live in memphis, TN. My favorite and only hobby is chess, more like an obsession. I am not afraid to say that i have acute depression and have been institutionalized twice, one at th age of 9 in Texas and one this past year. I have been strugleing with this for my entire life and have finally come to the conclusion that being stoic in most of life's issues is of the untmost importance. i have to go to sleep now, its 2 AM here. notice, i never say goodbye or c ya ."

H/T Ace

Something Wrong with Blogger

Can't post. This is a test....

John McCain Saw Freddie/Fannie Train Wreck Coming In 2006 And Warned Congress

HOT AIR has more on Senator McCain's attempts in 2006 to stop the Freddie and Fannie Mae excesses leading to the train wreck he saw coming. The Democratic Congress would not hear of McCain's attempts to pass legislation at reforming the profligate organizations.

In the speech below, McCain managed to predict the entire collapse that has forced the government (using our taxpayers' money) to resuce Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with Bear Stearns and AIG. He hammered at how Fannie and Freddie falsification financial records year after year to benefit executives, including Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, both who worked for these Wall Street disasters and personally took tens of millions of dollars and were fined and investigated in the process. Both men worked as advisers to Barack Obama this year. McCain also noted the power of their lobbying efforts to forestall oversight over their own despicable business practices.

We also know that Freddie and Fannie lobbyists paid $126,349 to Senator Obama over the past three years. What's wrong with this picture?

Mr. President,

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation

John McCain
May, 2006

Obama At the Trough of Fannie and Freddie Lobbying Donations

Rich Uncle Sam and Nanny Paul---Baby Strollers For Wall Street

How our Rich Uncle Sam went into the insurance business yesterday with the blessing of Nanny Paulson and now threatens to bankrupt the government and the taxpayers in the process.

The New York Post writes:

"The US government last night went into the insurance business in a big way - effectively nationalizing the industry's largest firm, with the taxpayers footing the $85 billion bill.

The Federal Reserve - whose move was unprecedented in the scope of intervention - agreed to bail out on-the-brink AIG with the mind-boggling loan in exchange for control of nearly 80 percent of its faltering assets over the next two years."

While there are many factors and players contributing to this Nanny State Debacle, Michael Lewis at the NYP has a few culprits worth noting:

1. Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has the job of regulating these companies that helped make it possible for every poor American to get a mortgage, a Clinton administration social engineering policy---whether they could afford it or not---and are now, as a result, falling apart. Cox, in bed with the big investment banks, continuously shouted down and ignored those voices shouting in the wilderness foretelling Lehman's impending demise.

2. Wall Street CEO elites who instead of taking responsibility like men for running their businesses into the ground are now getting slapped into baby strollers by Nanny Paul. Can thumb sucking be far behind?

Stan O'Neal,chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch. Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers. James Cayne, CEO of Bear Stearns. Each took home tens of millions of dollars in pay for making the highly risky and greedy decisions that destroyed his firm.

Of the lot, O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, deserves perhaps the greatest scorn because he took a business that wasn't well designed to take huge trading risks and wagered it all on a single bet.

He screwed up the lives of more innocent people than the others. But interestingly, if any of these men had behaved well and resisted the pressures and temptations of the moment, his firm would have, for several years, dramatically underperformed the competition. He probably would have lost his job.

There are many other culprits in this dogfight, but will leave it at that for now. Remember it's us taxpayers and stockholders who are paying to bail out the men who awarded themselves millions and millions of dollars in bonuses while bringing down their companies in the process. If we're not outraged, then we must be smoking and inhaling something illegal.

AIG Bailout Is Appalling

WEDNESDAY: John Tamny at RealClearMarkets says Treasury's and the Federal Reserve's underlying economic assumptions for curing what ails us----inflation, commodities bubbles, devaluation of the dollar and the housing/banking crisies---are dead wrong.

UPDATE: Larry Kudlow applauded Hank Paulson earlier today for saying there would be no more federal bailouts and for preserving the risk of failure. So what happened to Paulson in the last few hours?

**********

While I reserve the right to change my mind as I mull new information over the next few days, I cannot see how the Fed's move to partially nationalize and bail out AIG with an $85 billion "emergency loan" can be good for our country in the short, medium or long term.

We have become a hysterical, regressed people clamoring for government of the quick fix to right every wrong, to blunt every accountability and to forestall every pain. Our founding fathers never meant for government to play this role in our lives. The AIG bailout announcement tonight shocks me. We're on the road to socialism and it's going to come back to haunt us sooner rather than later. When government tries to fix a problem like AIG, it ends up creating 10 others worse than the first and only forestalls the inevitable.

I've never cared for Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, but tonight I fear him and think he and Ben Bernanke are taking us down a treacherous road from which we may not soon recover. I need to attempt to figure out what they are thinking. Are they doing this for the benefit of the Sovereign Wealth Funds again? Does Paulson have some sort of economic messiah complex?

God save this country from the likes of Mr. All Things To All People, Hank Paulson who is now the Chief Nanny at Treasury.

Palin Lipstick Power

Gesture du jour sweeping the country as women show support by holding up their lipstick while waiting the arrival of Governor Sarah Palin in Golden, Colorado--- Coors country in the foothills just outside Denver---Monday. It's looking like Colorado may be swinging to the right for McCain/Palin.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Colorado, Obama drags his teleprompter into the rodeo ring in Pueblo. Lest he forget what he believes and stands for? Just asking.

My Hometown Bank and What the Feds Have Done To It

COMING SOON: Who and What is really to blame for the current banking and mortgage crisis? Candidate Obama hasn't got the faintest clue.

I'm a stockholder in a small town, solid little bank in Middle Tennessee. It's a bank that for the past 120 years has a reputation as good as gold----with a record of making good loans at about the rate of +90% or more---almost unheard of in today's free wheeling markets.

For some years my father, a small town businessman and employer, was chairman of the board of this little bank and continued the tradition of good business and solid loan practices. The community flourished.

Several years after he retired as chairman, the Feds in the Clinton Administration came in and started dictating to this bank as well as banks across America: they had to start making a certain percentage of bad loans even if management knew the loans would never be repaid. In essence the bank was told to start a policy that in effect was the same as giving a portion of its money away. If my hometown bank failed to comply with this insane new banking policy, it would face stiff penalties from the Feds.

Then, the Feds came in and strongly urged another insane policy: my hometown bank and over 8,000 other banks across this nation were strongly urged to buy millions of dollars of Fannie Mae preferred stock.

After this urging, management of this bank felt obliged to buy FNM preferred stock almost as an act of patriotism. Today, this FNM preferred stock is worthless and my privately held bank will have to write off over $5,000,000 losses. The bank is also having to write off a number of bad loans that the Feds told them they had to make.

Is this any way to run a bank or a business? Of course not. Does government really have a right to make businesses that are solid weaker because some bureaucrat in D.C. thinks it a good idea? Of course not.

Thankfully my hometown bank is still solvent and solid, though not as much as it once was--- had government intervention/supervision not stepped in.

I and my fellow stockholders in this small, conservatively run bank are going to eat the excesses of $5,000,000 of the Fannie Mae preferred. We'll do our part to take the hit from others' gross mismanagement far away in D.C. and in the investment banks that are falling.

Meanwhile, I say again: poorly run and mismanaged companies ---like Fannie and Freddie and Lehman Brothers---need to be allowed to fail and held accountable by stockholders and markets for the errors and excesses of their ways. Saving Fannie Mae and Bear Stears were monumental mistakes by the Feds. Taxpayers like me and my children are going to be paying for others' mistakes for a long time to come.Letting Lehman fail is a step in the right direction.

Many small town banks, their stockholders, as well as taxpayers have done more than enough to cover for thee big companies' mistakes and now we're sick of it! Enough is enough.

Please stay tuned for the rest of this saga and where and when this all began in Washington back in the 90s.

Today, Mother of Market Mondays?

UPDATE: DOW -503.99, NASDAQ -81.36, S&P below 1200 at close. Another Black Monday.

"The tectonic plates beneath the world financial system are shifting, and there is going to be a new financial world order that will be born of this. It's an ugly process.''

---Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group Inc.

What we're seeing here today with Lehman Brothers fall is the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.

Read. My. Lipstick: The Feds should NOT bail out Lehman Brothers with our taxpayer monies under any circumstances. (Nor should they have bailed out Fannie and Freddie as they did.) The markets need to sort this out for themselves, as they will. It may take some time. Fine. No quick fixes.

Most of all, the markets need to let failure be an option, because that is the reality. Failure is a real part of life that can bring some maturity and restraint back to the roiling markets. But a doofuss like this cannot understand this. Obama's remedy for this is way too much government involvement, punishment and overkill which always creates more problems than it solves. His way is hubris.

Richard Fuld, aka the Gorilla, is the CEO who shares much responsibility for the massive decline of his company. He's the guy who modestly gave himself---with the acquiescence of his board---a $22 million bonus at the end of 2007 in spite of LEH's mounting losses from the sub prime debacle last year. Now-bankrupt Lehman shareholders are the ones who should be outraged and take action accordingly. Unfortunately, it's these kinds of excesses which do indeed beg for federal government regulation. This is also McCain's reasonable position which I applaud.

John Newton: "Amazing Grace"

For the past several days, I have been totally, deeply enthralled in reading and completing the recently published biography of former slave ship captain turned Anglican evangelical minister John Newton.

Entitled John Newton, From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by British author Jonathan Aitkin I have found it almost impossible to put down---as in not wanting to eat, sleep, blog or even be taken out to dinner over the weekend (went anyway). As I continue recovering from ankle surgery hobbling around on crutches and unable to drive, I find it an ideal time to read uninterrupted and reflect on some of the loftier things of life before getting back into the world soon.

This book which I just finished has left me spellbound and will leave a indelible imprint on my life and faith. If anyone doubts the transforming power of God and the Holy Spirit to turn the most debauched, dark and despicable life around, then I submit this book to his or her perusal. For garden variety sinners, like me, this book offers inspiration that I will likely be talking and writing about and hopefully living out for years. If you want a read that's a spiritual and physical adventure of the highest order and also a great love story, then give yourself this true story of enduring value. John Newton became an amazing human being in the course of an arduous and tortuous spiritual process over many years. For now, that's all I want to say until I reflect on and digest his story more fully. Yes, he wrote the famous lyrics to Amazing Grace. Yet, it's what he did, and even more what God did to get Newton to the point of gratitude and repentance that he could write such words that makes this literary work so important and instructive to all of our lives.



Thus says the Lord:
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising loving-
kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight," says the Lord.
---Jeremiah 9:23-24

Political Ad From Long Ago

The election year was 1952. Eisenhower verses Stevenson. It was a simpler time of campaigning.

Wee Tiny Refugee

Zimbabwean refugees flee political violence and economic woes and seek refuge at a Johannesburg, South Africa, church Friday. (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/Associated Press; h/t WSJ.)

Here in the United States hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled hurricane devastation from Ike on the Gulf coast. May God be with them and may we extend helping hands any way we can. None of us are exempt from becoming refugees from any number of causes. I was for weeks during the great mega forest fires of Yellowstone in 1988. And I can tell you it was a humbling experience.

A Tale of Two Palin Interviews With Gibson

UPDATE: The full, unedited transcript of Governor Palin's interview with Charles Gibson.
h/t American Digest.

Must say I thought Governor Palin's second interview Friday night from her home in Wasilla, Alaska with Charlie Gibson on ABC went far better, seemed more relaxed than Thursday night's segment from Fairbanks in which Gibson seemed condescending to the point of haughty towards her.

Clearly, he does not consider Palin one of his elitist own and it shows in an embarrassing way---embarrassing for Gibson that is. I found his tone and manner unattractive to say the least though it did seem to mellow a bit tonight.

In the first Thursday night segment I came away nervous about the Bush doctrine thing and wondered if I was the only one who couldn't pin down the definition succinctly. I too would have had to ask Gibson to clarify his understanding of the doctrine, as Palin did, in order to answer his question. But I wondered how her asking would play with the MSM. Would she be summarily dismissed as an ignoramous?

For me that was the emotional low point of the first interview. Otherwise I thought Palin handled herself well enough for a first go at it with an interviewer who clearly was not nearly so interested in getting to know her and her beliefs as in showing her up as inadequate for the jobs of VEEP or POTUS any way he could.

Friday morning after that first interview however came a startling revelation from Charles Krauthammer, columnist for the WaPo who had evidently first coined the phrase 'Bush doctrine' back in 2001: even Charlie Gibson had gotten the Bush doctrine thing wrong Thursday night! According to Krauthammer, the phrase Bush doctrine has evolved and changed over the past eight years. He goes on to elaborate:

"There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different."

Krauthammer explained the Bush doctrine had evolved from meaning 1) unilateralism after Bush refused to sign on to Kyoto to 2) 'You're either with us or for the terrorists' after 9/11, to 3) preemptive war as we prepared to go to war in Iraq, to now 4)the idea that "the fundamental mission of American foreign policy is to spread democracy throughout the world."

Wow. Suddenly Gibson looked even more smug, rhetorical and self-serving than he had seemed the night before. Palin looked entirely reasonable. And I didn't feel so stupid either.

Tonight, Palin came across more relaxed, self-assured with Gibson, more willing to define herself, as a leader must, and let the chips fall where they may. When Gibson called our economy "very sick," Palin countered that the economy is weak then elaborated the need for low taxes, reduced federal spending, increased accountability for the agencies that spend tax payers' money. She decried the secret earmarking process. More here in video.

Palin opened the book of her life's convictions to reassert she is pro-life but thinks abortion should be a state rather than a federal issue. She said she had no idea whether homosexuality is genetic but says she does not judge them. She reiterated that she grew up in a gun culture in a gun toting state and, needless to say, she's against banning assault weapons.

And then Palin confides to Gibson as a parting salvo she thinks Obama may be regretting not putting Hillary on the Dem's ticket and follows up with some more complimentary words for the former POTUS contender.

Overall, I came away from Palin's Friday interview with a sense of relief and conviction that she's solid in what she believes. It comes from real life experience. She knows what are negotiables and non-negotiables in her political beliefs. And in knowing them, she'll stand by them and up to the likes of Charlie Gibson with grace and grit in the weeks ahead.

Meanwhile, Newt on Palin.

Hurricane Ike: A Postcard, NASA Satellite and Map of Target Landfall

As Hurricane Ike bears down on the Texas coast near Houston---with Category 2-3 winds and a 20-40' wall of water advancing---over a million residents flee. The rest batten down the hatches. They certainly need our prayers. Galveston will take the first, big hit. Can its historic seawall built in 1902 hold its own? Only time will tell. Due to hit tonight.


Galveston in better days.

Sea of traffic going mostly in one direction before the wall of water roils ashore Friday night.

Why Feminists Fear Strong Women Like Governor Palin

UPDATE: Sarah'sbiggest contribution so far, exposing the feminist con job. Jonah Golberg at NRO writes: "But here’s the fun part. Feminists are hooked on their own Kool-Aid; they actually believe the stuff they say. The shrill, angry women you see on MSNBC claiming to speak for all women actually think they do. But they don’t. They speak for a few left-leaning women in faculty lounges, editorial boardrooms and that’s about it."


(SHORT ANSWER: Palin doesn't buy THE BIG FAT FEMINIST LIE)

Perhaps it's because feminists' world view, ego trips, political power and empowerment revolve around perpetually selling womankind THE BIG LIE, the lie that says women are victims and can't do life, men, children or work without a strident feminist agenda to constantly battle the world's evil injustices. (BTW, it's the same lie of victimization, oppression and racism the radical civil rights movement uses today with its audience.)

James Lewis writes about it in American Thinker. An excerpt:

"For decades we've been told that half the human population -- the female half -- are somehow weak, oppressed victims, who cannot handle the normal challenges of life. Those are not the women you or I know. Normal women are incredibly strong; that's how evolution, or if you prefer God, made them; they are hardly pushovers or pitiable weaklings. Weaklings perish over the generations. The strong survive.

"All too often modern women have been suckered and bamboozled by a lifetime of Leftist agitprop, which has turned their strengths into weaknesses. But it's 100% hogwash.

"Hillary Clinton has based her whole political career on the Myth of the Victimized Woman. Feminists who run our schools and colleges are always trying to push that story to naive students, just like the young Hillary of forty years ago, who was indoctrinated at Wellesley College. Even perfectly normal women have come to believe it."

Lewis continues,

"'Weak" women are a figment of the Left, just like 'weak' black people or 'weak' poor people. Those folks never used to be weaklings, until the media made them think they were. With the unanimous help of mainstream radio and TV you can talk yourself into feeling you're a victim of circumstances, just as under better influences you can talk yourself into feeling strong."

Yes, the MSM and feminist movements have been talking THE LIE to us for decades. I bought into it as many of my generation and the next generations. But not all of us stayed in THE LIE forever.

Still THE LIE mongering feminists continue churning out drivel on women as victims. Their livelihoods and neediness for status and power depend on it afterall.

Read what aging feminist diva Gloria Steinem has said about Palin in the past few days. Notice how she grinds her axe of THE LIE of female victimization again:

“American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.”

Ho Hum. Victim, victim, victim. Suffer, suffer, suffer. I had no idea, Gloria, how bad our collective female lives are, so thanks for setting me straight. Ever wonder what Steinem would have to talk about if she cut this nonsense out?

Sarah Palin never seems to have bought into THE LIE. She's probably been too busy living her life to bother. As an empowered woman who takes responsibility for her actions, she's been successful on many fronts; she's also surely made plenty of mistakes and corrected them. It's more than the radical, aging feminists can bear. Watching them come out in droves against what she, Palin, represents and the silliness of their arguments against her, not to mention the utter viciousness, is edifying and yes shocking to watch.

Take for instance the article Canadian Heather Mallick wrote on Palin the other day declaring that the GOP needn't nominate Palin because the white trash vote---is she talking about me?---is already sewn up. Mallick then continues by saying Palin isn't really even a female:

"Palin was not a sure choice, not even for the stolidly Republican ladies branch of Citizens for a Tackier America. No, she isn't even female really. She's a type, and she comes in male form too."

Oh, please. If Mallick can't do better than this, perhaps she needs time off to rest and ground herself in reality.

Neo writes eloquently recently about more of the radical left's shocking arguments against Palin.

New Video: John McCain Released From Viet Prison, March 14, 1973

Never publicly seen footage just released today on McCain's release as a POW from Viet Nam prison. Full story here.

9/11: Porky Pig and Old Glory, Circa 1939

I know, I know, many pundits wiser than I think we should let the pig thing go already. Blame it on my recent surgery, or my age, or the fact that I've always liked lipstick. Whatever the excuse, I'm not about to let it go yet. It's not over till it's over! I say!

To wit, herewith, and withwith, I present you another variation from the recently recorded Symphony of the Pig: Porky Pig and Old Glory which came out in 1939. There's a little history lesson here and Porky learns it from Uncle Sam.

However, something missing from today's version of the Pledge. Know what? And when and why it was added? I'll be back with more later. But I'll bet you know the answer.

Palin: New Fashion/Hair Trends In the Making

THURSDAY UPDATE: A Feminist Revolution Without Feminists then Why A Liberal Woman Is Blown Away With Sarah Palin

An original. Lipstick's back as the clear gloss only look fades away. Bigger hair that's put up and bangs are back. Bright colors, especially red and royal blue are back. Throw away the contacts. And outdoorsy polar fleece will become more chic too.

We can only imagine who/what will be next.
h/t

Memo To McCain: Make A Silk Purse Out of A Sow's Ear

AND BRING HOME SOME VOTER BACON IN THE PROCESS

Sure, Obama made a silly, stupid gaffe---wittingly or unwittingly----about pigs and lipstick. And yes, it could be interpreted as being about your spectacular VP running mate. And yes again, you probably could have a reason to be offended.

But please don't take this righteous indignation and defensiveness thing too far.

Remember, defensiveness is easy and automatic, and always comes from the lowest (fight or flight) reptilian, uh, pig brain. Humor, however, is a higher function from the more creative part of our gray matter. Respond from that part. Go for the gold and raise the level of pig/lipstick discourse to a higher sty, er, plane.

Make Obama's silly remark work for you rather than against you by using cleverness and humor.

You can start by making reference to ending porky pig spending in Washington.

Turn the pig analogy around and put it squarely on the Democratic, do-nothing, pork barrel Congress, on the piggish out-of-control earmarking process, on the fact that Obama is now taking his desperate campaign down into a muddy pigsty, and yes, you can and should link it to President Bush's failure to use his veto pen more.

Slaughter the silly and increasingly humorless Obama campaign with smart and authentic pig analogies, delivered with a sense of humor. Give away Democratic pig snouts for Halloween.

Then have the local GOPs that you and Sarah visit in the coming weeks serve bacon on every menu (BLTs?) with the reminder that we've going to eat up the pork spending in Washington.

And most of all, mean it.

Read. My. Lipstick. When given pigs, make bacon bits out of them.

And, I promise you, John, when you do, you'll bring home some solid voter bacon. And make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (marks).

Remember, solid principles delivered with a smile and some humor go a long, long way towards the road to November.

Got Campaign Stuff?

GILL---THE GO-TO GUY
In case you'd like to get all suited up for the arduous weeks of presidential campaigning ahead, I've got just the place for you: Steve Gill at The Gill Report in Nashville has a store for GOP bumper stickers, hats, t-shirts and even a coffee mug. Follow the link and take a look. Good stuff and lots to choose from. Now, if only that vinyl all-weather bumper sticker will stick to the cast on my right leg.

Ohio, Looking Good For McCain

Over the last few months, there's nothing I've imbibed more in the way of political punditry than the fact that McCain H-A-S to win Ohio in order to have any chance of winning the presidency in November. It's the most pivotal 'undecided' state in the race, so the common wisdom goes.

I've been so indoctrinated that I now find myself repeating the question ad nauseam to those more knowledgeable than I, "well yes, McCain may up in the polls, sure, but..... How's he doing in Ohio?"

And so it goes, as I try to keep my hopes from getting too high in the euphoria of his choice of Sarah Palin as VEEP. We have less than two months to go and anything can, and probably will, happen.

Nevertheless when I received a call tonight from a friend and valued reader in Wyoming who is a native son of Ohio and has a reliable ear to the ground there, I was truly heartened to hear, first hand, that McCain has taken the lead in Ohio and is predicted to win.

"McCain's picking Palin has completely electrified Ohio," he told me. "It's really playing well with women too."

After hanging up, I felt a palpable sigh of relief for the first time in months. Maybe, just maybe, McCain really can win this election.

Right after this conversation I saw this confirming piece on Drudge.

While I don't want to get complacent, I have to think McCain has a real shot at being the next POTUS with Sarah Palin by his side. That seems to me to be very good news.

Without a doubt there will be rough sledding, gaffes, and missteps ahead for all the candidates. However, there's a momentum for McCain/Palin that no one could have ever believed as we watched Obama's closing speech in Denver a week-and-a-half ago.

This has got to be one of the most amazing political turn arounds of all time. And it's far from over.

Palin As A Toddler, In Kuwait and At The Alaska Native Heritage Center

Undated photo of then Sarah Heath in about 1964.

Palin in Kuwait in June, 2007. Here she visits with some of her guys from Alaska.

Gov. Sarah Palin is presented with a tool for pounding fish eggs to make akutaq (Eskimo ice cream) at a reception honoring the governor and her family Saturday January, 2007 at the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

h/t Anchorage Daily News

New York Post Today Endorses McCain-Palin

MEANWHILE, MSNBC MAKES SOME BIG CHANGES TO IT'S LIVE ELECTION COVERAGE AND MICHELE MALKIN REPORTS ON VIEWERS BACKLASH OF MTV

No big surprise here, still another good shot in the GOP arm. Back later with more commentary.

New York Post front page

Big Mac's Big Bounce

Beginning of The End For Obama's Presidential Hopes?

Barack was for tax increases before he was against them, was for leaving an American flag pin off his lapel before he began faithfully wearing one, was for pulling out of Iraq and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory before he came to believe The Surge was successful 'beyond our wildest dreams,' was against banning late term abortion before declaring he's against it, except in a life threatening condition of the mother, was a devotee for years of the radicals Reverend Jeremiah Wright and American terrorist William Ayers before suddenly and recently distancing himself from them.

What's next in the way of change for Obama?

Obama is turning out to be the CHANGE he himself has been waiting for. Is he just beginning to morph into a "centrist" after winning the title of the most left leaning U.S. Senator now serving in Washington---a man who's considered to the left of Ted Kennedy and, er, Joe Biden? A man who has been loath to even salute our country during the Pledge of Allegiance?

We must never forget the kind of flip flopping change Obama seems to actually represent.

What It Means For Evangelicals to Stand With Israel, Nashville Style

This is a video service on Standing With Israel taped November, 2006 at Bethel World Outreach in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. This fall of 2008, Rice Broocks, senior pastor at Bethel is living with his family for several months in Jerusalem. It's something I hope to do one day, after traveling to Israel twice in the past three years first with Lon Solomon, Senior Pastor of McLean Bible Church outside D.C., and second, with the Jewish Federation of Leigh Valley, in Pennsylvania.

The video speaks for itself. If you have 30 minutes, I hope you'll take a look. Well worth the time in my opinion. And don't pass up the music at the end.

Sunday, The Inwardness of Sin

IN EVERY HUMAN HEART

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being and who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? "

— Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Word of Truth Outweighs the Whole World

"Today, if we could really be persuaded that we are miserable sinners—that the trouble is not outside us but inside us, and that therefore, by the grace of God, we can do something to put it right—we should receive that message as the most hopeful and heartening thing that can be imagined. "

— Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos?

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

-----Psalm 51:10-12

Online sermon 1, When Suffering Comes, Alistar Begg, on its inevitability.

Online sermon 2, Rescued By the Hand of God, an amazing story of rescue from a plane crash in the Bering Sea.

New Alaskan License Plate

...in an e-mail from a friend today....

Oprah: Another One Bites The Dust

Oprah's Show: Five Reasons Palin Should Appear

So, Oprah doesn't want Sarah Palin on her show. She balks, according to Drudge this morning. Any wonder? After all, the diva is over the moon, the sun and the stars for Obama and still trying to find the eyelashes she lost crying and swooning at the DNC convention. Sarah Palin represents a monumental threat to the left, to the left elite media, to extreme and aging feminism---with its oh-so-old and tired axe to grind and grind and grind about abortion--- and to anyone who wants to be a perpetual visitor and adviser at the White House next year. This woman's advocate has quite a dilemma on her hands, doesn't she?

Maybe it's just as well. There would be no objectivity anyway. Then too , it is her First Amendment right to choose and exclude whomever she wants for her show. Still, I wonder if we're not going to see, as time goes by, a more and more militant and increasingly irrelevant Oprah?

Sarah Bio Video

Believe this was shown last night at the RNC convention.

Rove on Palin's tough days ahead. I tend to agree that she will be the most scrutinized, judged and demonized candidate in U.S. history.

At RNC

FRIDAY UPDATE: Wow, McCain had more viewers than Obama. FRIDAY UPDATE: Had surgery yesterday on my ankle and am home and so glad to be in recovery mode. Because I'm in quite a lot of pain and have very have limited mobility, my writing will be as I can muster it.

Watched some of McCain's speech last night and thought it went well, though a bit anti-climatic after Sarah's. To be expected.

Coulter on Palin

Nobody says it better than Ann. Excerpts below, but hope you'll read every word.

"While the difficult circumstances of Palin's pregnant daughter are being covered like a terrorist attack on the nation, with leering accounts of the 18-year-old father, the media remain resolutely uninterested in the parentage of Edwards' mistress's love child. Except, that is, the hardworking reporters at the National Enquirer, who say Edwards is the father."

***********

"Then they attacked her daughter, who actually is pregnant now, for being unmarried. When liberals start acting like they're opposed to pre-marital sex and mothers having careers, you know McCain's vice presidential choice has knocked them back on their heels. But at least liberal reporters had finally found someone their own size to pick on: a 17-year-old girl."

***********

"As this goes to press, the latest media-invented scandal about Palin is that McCain didn't know her well before choosing her as his running mate. He knew her well enough, though admittedly, not as well as Obama knows (American terrorist) William Ayers."

***********

"John F. Kennedy, who was -- from what the media tell me -- America's most beloved president, detested his vice president, Lyndon Johnson. Until Clinton interviewed Al Gore one time before choosing him as his vice presidential candidate, he had met Gore only one other time: when Gore was running for president in 1988 and flew to Little Rock seeking Clinton's endorsement. Clinton turned him down......."

Like I say, nobody says it better or puts things in perspective more succinctly than Ann.

The Best Turned Out to Be A Woman.