Barack has a bracelet too!!

I think we all know what it is like to be caught up with housework, children, arts and crafts and laundry during a busy election season.  This idiot is not a great multitasker, hence, I have fallen a bit behind.

Anywhooo…

Obama and McCain Debate - Click for bracelet comments

The first debate between the two Presidential candidates was on Friday.  This idiot watched very closely, which is why I am puzzled that the reviews are so mixed.  Although I am already proudly displaying my McCain sign on my lawn, (p.s.- almost a week and no egging or vandalism by my always open minded liberal friends and neighbors!) I know that debate performance is crucial, at least in the court of public opinion.  I knew what I was looking for ahead of time:  a strong performance citing wisdom, experience, and actual examples of what the candidates have accomplished during their tenure in the senate, and what they plan to do after they take office.

McCain’s performance was strong.  He cited his career  long crusade against wasteful spending, while highlighting Obama’s love of earmarks.  There is no doubt that Obama is an eloquent speaker, however, unless the job requires extensive knowledge of bumper sticker rhetoric, he brought nothing substantive  to the table.  This idiot is sure that Obama supporters thought he did a great job, but he didn’t offer anything new.  He did an excellent job of implementing his tried and true “it’s all of us against the angry, rich, GOP machine” strategy that seems to have served him well thus far among the wide eyed naive masses.   Although I did get a chuckle at the thought of Barry and Ahmadinejad sitting around a brightly decorated table making small talk over afternoon tea, the debate did nothing but reinforce my opinion that Obama would be a DISASTER for this country.

He talked about cutting taxes for 95% of Americans.  What he neglected to mention is that his plan is more of a government paycheck than an actual cut. A large percentage of those who would receive this “cut” actually pay very little or no taxes, because the current tax code does not tax below a certain threshhold.  To put it clearly, a large chunk of Americans, under Obama’s plan, will simply get government paychecks as a reward for their current economic status.

Available for purchase at PissOffTheLeft.com

Forgive me for being an idiot, but is this not governmental social engineering?  Is this not considered social redistribution of wealth- taking from the haves and giving to the have nots?  Is America willing to put a Robin Hood in the whitehouse whose socialist policies completely contradict the free market system that has, thus far, made this the greatest country in the world?

I have yet to hear a good explanation from anyone in the Obama camp.  As per Joe Biden, redistribution of wealth is “patriotic”.  Seriously?  Am I the only idiot infuriated by this?!  We all have conflicting views about foreign policy and social issues, but EVERY American (well, maybe every American not lined up for their free government paycheck) should be outraged and terrified that a socialist under the cloak of the Democratic party has an actual chance of becoming the leader of the free world.  Electing Barack Obama would be the death of the American dream.  We already have the largest governmental machine since the birth of our country, if Barack wins, it is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says he is not in favor of negotiations with Iran at the presidential level.

Although Obama is wrong about so many issues of foreign policy, including his insistence during the debate that Kissinger himself supports meeting without precondition with the evil dictators of the world (Kissinger immediately responded post debate to refute Obama’s claims, saying that he supported low level talks, NOT meetings between the Commander in Chief and, for example, Iran), none of it even matters if he expands the role of the federal gov’t to include bail bondsman and social worker.  Obama supports a culture of reliance that is dangerous.  This idiot believes that the government should protect and encourage it’s citizens, not handicap them to the point that they cannot survive without governmental handouts.  What ever happened to hard work and accountability?  I agree that we are a compassionate nation with a history of holding up our fellow citizens in times of trouble.  But, over time, the mindset seems to have shifted from one of hard work and compassion to one without motivation to be productive.  People now expect the gov’t to shoulder the burdens of it’s citizens more than ever before.  The government should function as a support system for it’s citizens that encourages hard work and success, not a life support system that cripples it’s citizens by not requiring any responsibility or accountability.  Shame on us!

This idiot often feels like the smartest chick in the room when she hears her liberal friends speak so enthusiastically about Obama.  I think he preys on people’s  anger at the current administration (helped along in no small part by the liberal media machine which takes it upon itself to blame everything bad in the universe on GWB), which allows him to make grand, sweeping statements about his plans and intentions without really  explaining how such plans would be implemented.  I had no idea that standing in front of a teleprompter making bold, yet empty promises could get one so far in politics.  If I knew that a brain full of one liners and hollow rhetoric were all it took to be a candidate, I might have considered running for office myself.  Then again, I am still so young and fresh that I do not meet the required age minimum- at least now I have something to work towards- HA!

Onto the current wall street clusterfu@*.  There is no doubt that greed and corruption contributed in no small part to this mess.  Greedy CEOs who did not have the individual investor’s best interests at heart, and loan sharking sub prime lenders are largely to blame.  But there is another very serious element to this disaster that seems to be getting very little airtime or newspaper attention.

In 1992, Congress mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers.  Pressure to force social engineering of lower income populations by the Clinton administration encouraged Fannie Mae to buy more loans with very low down payments–or with mortgage payments that represent an unusually high percentage of a buyer’s income.  That’s what made banks willing to lend to lower-income families they once might have rejected.  Fannie and Freddie were required to devote almost 50% of their portfolios to loans for low- and moderate-income borrowers, under targets set by HUD.  Ironically, Fannie and Freddie might have forseen their own imminent collapses when     they warned  that a higher target would only produce more loan defaults by pressuring banks to accept unsafe borrowers. HUD accused Fannie Mae of resisting more low-income loans because they were not as profitable.

How much money has been lost because lenders were essentially forced to lend to unqualified loan candidates under social engineering pressure from our own government?

In an effort to bring class warfare on behalf of the underprivileged, the government, under Clinton, played a huge  part in the current financial mess.  It is easy to place the blame solely on the backs of CEO s with Greenwich country homes, but let’s not under estimate the negative effects brought on by our own government’s failed social experiments.

This idiot is no economist, but even I know that banks offer loans based upon the risk level of the applicants.  How could we have ever expected Fannie and Freddie to remain solvent when they were expected to purchase loans that no other institutions would be dumb enough buy?  Should it matter that a particular loan, high risk though it may be, will increase minority homeowner stats in a particular region?  It doesn’t really matter which underprivileged segment of the US population gains homeowner stats if the mortgage simply doesn’t get paid.  The free market was successful when it offered loans based upon financial criteria, not race or class quotas.  Even THIS idiot knows that and I need a calculator to handle any figures beyond my finger and toe capacity.

And now for your viewing pleasure, take a look at this awesome Sarah Palin Corn Maze.

Ok- now back to real life and all the laundry and craft projects therein.