DarkStar Spouts Off

I Didn't Think It Was Possible

I didn't think it was possible, but it appears that Obama is more hated by those on "The Right" than they hated Bill Clinton. If Obama wins the race, the amount of abuse thrown in his direction will be unbelievable.

Just Stoopid

Query: Early Voting

Can someone tell me why early voting for the presidential race is constitutional?

Obama's "Redistribution" Out Of Context

OK, I already wrote that I'm not for Obama, with one reason being I think taxes are going to rise during his administration. But, even with that, I have to say Drudge and "The Right" screaming "redistribution" over Obama's comments, is way out of context as can be seen in this Fox transcript:

33:55 yeah you know one of the things that is interesting and i thnk susan is exaclty right that there is this pruning taking place and that we are aseeing potentially the groundwork being laid for potential future changes being made on substantive issues i mean right now they are sort of obscrure legal issues and at some point this may set the precendent then for trimming 34:15 back on more substantive issues that we care about but there is one other 34:21area where the civil rights area has changed and that is at the state level you now have state supreme cts and state laws that in some ways have adopted the ethos of the warren court 34:39a classic example would be something like public education where after brown v board a major issue ends up being redistribtion how do we get more money into the schools 34:51 and how do we actually create equal schools and equal educational opportunity well the court in a case called san antonio v rodriguez in the early 70s 35:01basically slaps those kinds fo claims down and says you know what we as a court have no power to examine issues of redistribution and wealth inequalities 35:11with respect to schools thats not a race issue thats a wealth issue and something and we cant get into those

hutchinson: and the federal constitution doesnt offer any warrant for intervention

OBAMA

35:18 exactly now what is interesting is though suddenly a whole bunch of folsk start bringing these claims in state court under state constitutions that call for equal educational opportunity and you see state courts with mixed results being more responsive to it 35:34 you knwo the reason i think that is relevant is not to say that i am not worried about the lack of protectiosn coming from the supreme court 35:42 but it is to say though that you have got a cultural transformation that changes hwo states operate and how states think about the protection of individual rights in ways that didnt exist prior to the warren court and that i think is an important legacy 35:56 to keep in mind

Obama was talking about funding education after Brown v Board of Education.

Thanks to P6 for the initial full audio clip and additional links to the text.

Socialist?

How can any rational person claim Obama is the socialist but not McCain? Didn't McCain vote for the financial bailout that nationalizes (you can't partially nationalize anything, it either is or isn't) insurance companies and banks?

Didn't McCain vote for the financial bailout that contained A HELLUVALOTOF PORK!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

This is why I HATE the silly season of presidential politics.

GM Deserves To Go Under

GM deserves to go under if it is true they are seeking a buyout/merger with Chrysler just because Chrysler has cash that GM thinks it needs to continue to operate.

They should get no money. Chrysler got money years ago and now they are back asking for more?

A $25 billion loan program rushed through Congress to revive the nation's ailing domestic auto industry may not deliver any money to Detroit for more than a year, federal officials said, prompting concern that the cash may come too late to prop up one of the country's most important manufacturing sectors.

In recent days, auto industry representatives and lawmakers from Michigan, Kentucky and other states where auto plants employ tens of thousands of workers have begun clamoring to pry the funds loose, prodding the Bush administration and questioning the reasons for the delay. Federal officials have said it would take months to finalize the rules for distributing funds.

The loan program has emerged as a lifeline as the global financial crisis has made it more difficult for people to get loans, sending car sales plummeting to a 15-year low. In response, General Motors and Chrysler have discussed merging or forming an alliance in hopes of arresting their decline. On Monday, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian began selling off his stake in Ford at a large loss, adding to worries about the industry's prospects.

Unfortunately for GM workers, this move makes sense.

General Motors is suspending a variety of benefit programs for its white-collar workers and slashing additional jobs to cut costs -- a move that comes as employers nationwide begin to re-evaluate the cost of retirement and health-care packages in an effort to ride out the economic downturn.

Cash-strapped GM, the largest of the Big Three Detroit automakers, plans to stop matching its nonunion employees' contributions to their 401(k) retirement savings plans beginning Nov. 1, the company said in an e-mail sent to its U.S. executives Wednesday. The company usually matches contributions of up to 4 percent of an employee's salary. On Jan. 1 the company also plans to shelve its scholarship program, as well as financial assistance for tuition and adoption.

I know that company matching contributions to my 401(K) has really helped the growth of my current 401(K).

More Economic Article Catch Up

What happened to pre-conditions? How can you give banks tax payer money and HOPE they will "do right"?

Several major U.S. banks are leaning toward spending a portion of their federal rescue money on acquiring other financial firms rather than for issuing new loans, the primary purpose of the government's $250 billion initiative to invest in banks.

J.P. Morgan Chase, BB&T, and Zions Bancorporation have all said in recent days that they are considering using some of their federal money to buy other banks.

About 10 financial institutions belonging to the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents 100 of the nation's largest financial services firms, are also considering making acquisitions with the money, said Scott Talbott, the group's senior vice president.

Check out this paragraph:

There is a growing consensus among Treasury and other federal officials that allowing healthy banks to use the money to acquire banks in jeopardy of failing could stabilize the economy and bolster confidence in banks. This could also save money for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Aren't these the same banks that over-leavaged themselves? And you are going to trust them to do non-stupid things?

Remember when I wrote that I pooped my pants? Well, it happened, again, after reading this:

The Fed will make up to $540 billion available to buy assets from money-market mutual funds -- in which pension funds, university endowments and millions of Americans stash money -- if they need it. The measure is intended to keep the funds from experiencing cash crunches.

Money-market mutual funds invest by lending money on a short-term basis to companies, banks and other financial institutions, as well as the government. They are normally considered safe places to park cash because they buy only debt that is highly likely to be paid back.

But from early September to mid-October, nervous investors pulled about $480 billon out of a particular class of money-market funds. If that run on the funds had continued, it could have forced them to sell assets into an already troubled market, potentially causing a cascading series of losses to investors, more fund redemptions, more forced selling and further losses.

Again, if a "redemption rush" means the funds can go under, what happens when a sustained redemption rush occurs when the baby boomers retire and take money out of their 401(k), 403(b), etc?

Catching Up On Economic Articles

A few links to articles in the past week about the current economic mess that I found interesting:

A Program to Keep the Roof Over Your Head -- but It Will Cost You in the Long Run

The Federal Housing Administration will insure up to $300 billion of these new loans. As many as 400,000 homeowners could avoid foreclosure through H4H over the next three years.

This program provides a last hope for homeowners by bringing in the federal government as their investment partner for as long as they own their homes.

I know people are desperate to keep their homes, but they need to understand that H4H is an expensive rescue program. There is a great benefit upfront -- you get to keep your home.

But there is a significant cost to homeowners at the back end. If you take this deal, you have to split the initial equity created by the write-down of the mortgage with the FHA. The government also gets a 50 percent cut of any appreciated value for as long as you own the home -- even after you pay off the mortgage.

"It's outrageous," says John E. Taylor, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

For example, let's say your home has a current appraised value of $200,000. The lender would have to give you a 30-year, fixed-rate loan for $180,000, which is 90 percent of the appraised value.

So at the start of the H4H loan, you have $20,000 in equity. If you sell the home in the first year after receiving the loan or you refinance, FHA gets 100 percent of that $20,000. If you sell after two years, FHA would get 90 percent of the equity, or $18,000. Each year up to year five, the share that FHA gets is decreased by 10 percent. After year five, you have to share 50 percent of the equity created with the new loan.

In addition to this upfront equity-sharing, if your home increases in value between the time you receive your H4H mortgage and the time you sell the property, you will share the amount of this increase with the FHA minus any closing costs and a portion of any improvements you have made. This is a 50/50 split that does not change over time.

So, staying with the previous example, if you sell your home for $250,000 in a few years, FHA would collect $25,000 (half of the appreciated value of $50,000).

There are other rules worth noting. H4H participants are also barred from taking out second mortgages unless the money borrowed is used to maintain the property.

Other costs include a 3 percent upfront mortgage insurance premium and a 1.5 percent annual premium based on the mortgage amount. Typically, FHA-backed loans carry a half-percentage point annual premium.

I don't like the idea of a mortgage bail out at all, but I don't find much to disagree with in this approach. Those "needing" the money shouldn't be able to profit from it.

Then, there are the workers of Moody's and Standard & Poors who doubted mortgage backed securities;

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Employees at Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's privately questioned the value of some mortgage-backed securities that were given creditworthy ratings, saying they created a ``monster,'' according to e-mails released by a U.S. House panel.

``Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters,'' one e-mail from an S&P employee said.

So, what role did poor Blacks play in that?

Men's Retreat

I attended a men's retreat held by my church and I will never be the same.

Coming back, I thought about a thread I read on P6 and other places about Black men needing to talk through issues with other men. I'm looking but I can't find it which is too bad.

You see, I heard some very interesting testimonies. There seemed to be a single core running though them all and it dealt with relationships with fathers and men taking their problems on all alone.

Men need to talk with other men.

I am not the same and my family will be better for it.

Quickly, If It Is "Just About Race"

If Powell's endorsement was just about race, how come he didn't endorse Al Sharpton?

If Black people are polling so heavily for Obama, and it's just about race, why not the same reaction when Al Sharpton ran? How come Sharpton only won ONE majority Black voting district?

Solution To U.S. Economic Mess: Bankruptcy

In web forums, blogs, and "real dot life," I've been saying that I think the best solution to the current economic mess is letting things flow as they normally would. Under normal circumstances, if businesses can't survive, they would engage in activities to sell themselves to the highest bidder and/or seek bankruptcy either for liquidation or re-organization. I think today's (Sunday) "60 Minutes" interview of the Bank of America CEO supports my belief.

In the interview he was asked if it was true that Bank of America paid to much for Merrill Lynch and could have purchased the company for less if it had waited until the end of Monday instead of announcing the deal over the weekend. The CEO said that would have been true, but the Merrill Lynch brand would have been more damaged, possibly making the buyout more risky to Bank of America. The CEO of Bank of America said they passed on buying Bear Sterns because they could not do it without financial help from the government AND even then, the deal may have been too risky for Bank of America.

It is laid out for you right there. Surviving companies, I think, are going to make good decent decisions in picking over the carcuses of companies in trouble. If there is worth left in the companies in trouble, the survivors will get them, otherwise, the troubled companies will go into bankruptcy, which has a chance of some parts of the companies being salvaged while the other parts just get buried.

At least that's how I see it.

What Public Black Conservative Will "Call B.S.!"

OK, the angle that Powell is supporting Obama just because Obama is Black has started.

I want to see what public Black conservative will "call b.s." and say/ask:

• When Blacks vote 90+% for Democrats, most times white Democrats, is it racist then?
• What about when Powell supported white liberal Republicans?

• In addition to his contribution to McCain’s presidential bid, Powell has written 44 checks to Republican candidates – including several liberal Republicans such as Arlen Specter, William Weld and Rudy Giuliani.

And how about replying to Rush Limbaugh:

"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."

That Powell supported George Bush, someone Limbaugh said is not conservative?

If True, WOW...

If this is true, WOW.

JERUSALEM – Hamas has received a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thanking the terror group for its efforts in maintaining a cease fire in the Gaza Strip, a senior Hamas leader announced today.

If accurate, the alleged letter would be the first public communication between the Bush administration and Hamas, which Israel is seeking to isolate.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, chief of Hamas in Gaza, announced at a press conference in Syria today that Rice in recent days sent a letter to Hamas praising the terror group for its efforts in maintaining a cease fire in the Gaza Strip.

If Rice did this, is it because it may bolster Obama's willingness to meet with no pre-conditions? [ For those so impaired, that was sarcasm ].

Listen To What Was Said

Listen to what this man said. There is, I'm sure, one nugget that is going to set conservatives, OFF.

>
I REALLY want to see how the public Black conservatives respond to this and compare it to how public white conservatives respond to it.

WELFARE $*&^%^#!!!! YOU VOTED FOR THE BAILOUT!!!!

How in the WORLD can John McCain sputter ANY DAMN THING about WELFARE when he VOTED FOR THE BAILOUT!!!!!

The question Joe asked about our economy is important, because Senator Obama's plan would raise taxes on small businesses that employ 16 million Americans. Senator Obama's plan will kill those jobs at just the time when we need to be creating more jobs. My plan will create jobs, and that's what America needs.

Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you'd better hold onto your wallet. Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don't pay taxes.

That's not a tax cut, that's welfare. America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by redistributing wealth; we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.

If McCain were Black, this would be a N***** PLEASE(!) moment!!!

Taking $700B from the tax payer to bailout businesses who made bad decissions? And, to top it off, banks, who were "expected" to take the money they were given and use it to get credit flowing again, are HOARDING the damn money!!!

The deepening red ink underscores a crucial question about the government’s plan: Will lenders deploy their new-found capital quickly, as the Treasury hopes, and unlock the flow of credit through the economy? Or will they hoard the money to protect themselves?

John A. Thain, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, said on Thursday that banks were unlikely to act swiftly. Executives at other banks privately expressed a similar view.

“We will have the opportunity to redeploy that,” Mr. Thain said of the new capital on a telephone call with analysts. “But at least for the next quarter, it’s just going to be a cushion."

Term limits.
Damn it. This just made me support term limits.

Levi Stubbs, RIP

The lead singer of The Four Tops, has passed.

Health Care

If you had free health care available, and it was "good", and you had paid health care available, that is also "good," what would you do?

HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

So, how many people are surprised?

My main criticism of this government provided health care has always been, when the money gets tight, the health care provided will get worse.

Joe Shows His Butt Crack!

OK, I had to get a butt crack line in there somewhere, especially since Joe is a plumber.

Look, I like bad puns; sue me.

Anyway, it turns out Joe The Plumber isn't a plumber but works for one. That's not a big deal, because many people working as plumbers, aren't certified plumbers but work under master plumbers while going for certification.

But Joe owes $1,182.98 in back taxes. But even that isn't a big deal. Joe The Plumber screwed himself:

According to Joseph, Joe claimed on a social networking site to be a working union member and even used the pipefitters' insignia as a background. ''He's never been a member of the union,'' Joseph said.

When a reporter went to Wurzelbacher's door Thursday afternoon, he declined to answer questions. ''I don't want to stir things up again,'' he said.

Turns out, Joe works for a small plumbing shop in Toledo that's on call for leaky pipes, running toilets and gas leaks; but without licensing, he's years away from owning his own business -- legally, at least.

In fact, Joseph said, Joe isn't even supposed to work as a plumber in Toledo or the surrounding suburbs because he's not licensed under any of the local codes.

''Unless he's way out in the boonies working on some farmer's leaky pipes, he's not allowed to do any plumbing,'' Joseph said.

When McCain started talking about Joe the Plumber, McCain shined. He was in his element and McCain made sense. He struck a cord, with me anyway, that said, "Let me keep my own money that I earned! Get out of my way and let me try to get the American Dream!"

I thought McCain had a game changer with Joe the Plumber, but it looks like another political stunt that was found out, like Biden's diner closing years ago.

Mental Gymnastics: Taxes

OK, conservatives state that businesses don't pay taxes, the customers of the businesses pay the taxes, meaning the business marks up the item price to include taxes.  I understand this and agree with it. Just think about sales taxes that stores pass on to the customers. Stores don't have to pass the tax along, they can pay for it out of pocket.

OK, conservatives state businesses make decisions to leave an area or go to an area, based, in part, on the tax bite of the area they are interested in going to. I agree with this because Maryland lost some of its computer service companies when Maryland levied a tax on computer services. Maryland also removed the tax before it went into affect because of the business complaints.

But, on a drive home tonight, thinking about Joe Plumber and a post to make on that with a reference to butt crack, I realized the two views can't be thought to be true by the same person without going through mental gymnastics. In other words....

*OW OWWWW OWWWW!!!!!*
My brain hurts!

Anyone want to reconcile the two?

Crab

Jesse Jackson, Sr. is a crab.

It's time to cut off his balls.

How Do They Sleep?

I wonder how they sleep. Do they need drugs?

ATLANTA — Three weeks after temporarily sparing a Georgia inmate from the death penalty, the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear his appeal, a decision that will probably lead to a quick execution.

The inmate, Troy A. Davis, 40, was convicted in 1991 of murdering Mark A. MacPhail, a Savannah police officer. The court’s decision, made without comment or explanation, allows Georgia officials to obtain a new death warrant and schedule the execution, probably in the next few days or weeks.

The case has led to an outpouring of support for Mr. Davis, largely because seven of nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, with two claiming that the police had pressured them to testify against him. Prosecutors presented no physical evidence and no murder weapon, and three witnesses have said another man admitted to the murder.

Some women who have had abortions, have nervous breakdowns. Some women who have abortions say they never get over it.

I wonder if the man is killed, how the justices who voted against hearing the appeal will sleep.

Financials: Another Data Point

Another "Blame the Darkies" data point:

Between 2004 and 2006, when subprime lending was exploding, Fannie and Freddie went from holding a high of 48 percent of the subprime loans that were sold into the secondary market to holding about 24 percent, according to data from Inside Mortgage Finance, a specialty publication. One reason is that Fannie and Freddie were subject to tougher standards than many of the unregulated players in the private sector who weakened lending standards, most of whom have gone bankrupt or are now in deep trouble.

During those same explosive three years, private investment banks — not Fannie and Freddie — dominated the mortgage loans that were packaged and sold into the secondary mortgage market. In 2005 and 2006, the private sector securitized almost two thirds of all U.S. mortgages, supplanting Fannie and Freddie, according to a number of specialty publications that track this data.

In 1999, the year many critics charge that the Clinton administration pressured Fannie and Freddie, the private sector sold into the secondary market just 18 percent of all mortgages.

Fueled by low interest rates and cheap credit, home prices between 2001 and 2007 galloped beyond anything ever seen, and that fueled demand for mortgage-backed securities, the technical term for mortgages that are sold to a company, usually an investment bank, which then pools and sells them into the secondary mortgage market.

About 70 percent of all U.S. mortgages are in this secondary mortgage market, according to the Federal Reserve.

I underlined one part for a specific reason. Am I the only one who remembers what happened in 2001 and why money left the stock market or why, at that point, money started rushing into real estate?

Hat tip: p6

Independent Thought?

"The Right" admires independent thought, right?

Christopher Buckley knew he was venturing into treacherous territory when he endorsed Barack Obama: "It's a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They'd cut off my allowance," he wrote.

The penalty turned out to be more severe. William F. Buckley Jr.'s son said yesterday that he had lost his back-page column in National Review, the conservative bible founded by his father.

"Within hours, poor NR was being swamped with furious mail, 'Cancel my subscription, this is betrayal, Judas, Benedict Arnold,' " Buckley, 56, said in an interview. "I thought the decent thing to do would be to offer to resign the column. Well, they accepted it."

...

"Chris says that his Obama endorsement has generated a 'tsunami,' that e-mail at NRO [National Review Online] has been running 'oh, 700-to-1' against him, and that there's a debate about whether to boil him in oil or shoot him. Chris is either misinformed or exercising poetic license," Lowry writes. "We have gotten about 100 e-mails, if that [a tiny amount compared to our usual volume], and threats of cancellations in the single digits."

Shame....

Understanding "Nationalizing"

OK, let me understand this.

It was BAD to provide "incentives" to get financial institutions to loan people money to buy homes. But it's GOOD to buy shares in "healthy" banks to provide loans to people and businesses who are strapped for cash.

I Just Pooped My Pants

Part of the reason why the markets have tanked, excluding today *, is because people are redeeming shares in their mutual funds. Now, think about this.

Social Security will run out of money because older people are retiring and drawing on Social Security, but there will not be enough younger people paying into Social Security to take care of those drawing Social Security. We all agree on that point, right?

Well, older people drawing on their 401(K)s, 403(B)s, IRAs, and the like, are going to draw at a higher rate than younger people contributing to their 401(K)s, 403(B)s, IRAs, and the like. If I'm right, that means stock prices will steadily go down overall because the shares are being redeemed and the market for buying them, in general, should be soft.

So, why isn't 401(K)s, yada yada yada, not a Ponzai scheme?

That's the point where I had to go change my clothes.