baldilocks

Changed

The National Mall today.

It's a Different World; but so much is the same.

(Thanks to Ace of Spades HQ)

Consequences of Enforced Equality

Are we screwed? And, if so, how did we get here?

Let’s see if an amateur can get the facts straight (mostly) off the top of the head.

The government “encourages” banks and loan organizations to grant mortgage loans to persons whose incomes would normally be judged as too low to afford the house-note. Many (most?) of these persons are not required to make a down payment.

Quasi-governmental mortgage guarantors Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae buy up the loans—the goods ones and the bad ones—bundle them into securities, and sell them back to the banks.

As a result of the housing boom of early this year going bust and an economy gone rocky due to the energy crisis, many of these home-owners found themselves unable to pay their notes and lost their houses. In turn, the banks, who understandably assumed that Freddie/Fannie guaranteed securities were low risk, were left holding the bag.

And now, in case of further mass defaults, the government wants to shore up the banks to the tune of $700 billion.

In short, the government wants to take the taxpayers’ money to get the banks out of a mess which that same government virtually forced the banks into in the first place. And if the answer is no, we all make like Humpty Dumpty. Maybe. But if the answer is yes, the same may happen.

And the Legislative Branch was warned but refused to take action.

Do I have this correct?

UPDATE: The screwers.

Hmmm...who to vote for?

(Thanks to Ace of Spades HQ)

Is That What You Really Want?

"I want you to argue with [your Republican and Independent friends and neighbors] and get in their face."

--Barack Obama, as oblivious to the concept of cause-and-effect as ever.

Obama takes time to remind his troops of the Jedi Mind Trick tactic:

"And if they tell you that, 'Well, we're not sure where he stands on guns.' I want you to say, 'He believes in the Second Amendment.' If they tell you, 'Well, he's going to raise your taxes,' you say, 'No, he's not, he's going lower them.' You are my ambassadors. You guys are the ones who can make the case."

This sort of thing will surely solidify the base--the conservative base.

Trippin' in Iraq

Obama did what??

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

If true, this is a whole lot more serious than displaying a faux presidential seal.

McCain:

At this point, it is not yet clear what official American negotiations Senator Obama tried to undermine with Iraqi leaders, but the possibility of such actions is unprecedented. It should be concerning to all that he reportedly urged that the democratically-elected Iraqi government listen to him rather than the US administration in power. If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas [in a time of war]. Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq's Foreign Minister during their closed door meeting. The charge that he sought to delay the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq raises serious questions about Senator Obama's judgment and it demands an explanation.

Eagerly await the response from the Obama campaign.

Living Among the Boors

7/27/08 around 4:15PM

I’m sick of this town. I’m sick of this state.

A man, late forties or early fifties, walked out in front of me while I was sitting in line at an In-n-Out drive-thru and while my car was rolling forward, so I said “hey could you make sure that I see you before you walk in front of me? I almost hit you.” He looked at me with a mixture of incomprehension, disgust and bluster, but said nothing. He was Latino, so I asked, “do you speak English?” He did, at least a bit. “F*ck you, b*tch.”

I watched open-mouthed as he walked over to a light-green Toyota Rav 4. As some may remember I carry a camera everywhere I go. So I got out and took his photo and took one of his vehicle. “You want my ID too?” he asked. “No," I said and walked back to my car.

He began cursing me in Spanish so I yelled back: “None of this would have happened if you had just said you were sorry! NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING IF YOU WOULD HAVE SAID ‘LO SIENTO!!’

His wife tried to block the plate but I got a photo of it when I got back in my car. So he gets out and writes down my plate number. I have veteran’s plates and two window stickers: 'United States Air Force Retired' and 'National Rifle Association.'

“You make sure you tell whoever it is that I’m a veteran of the United States Air Force protecting your right to be an A**HOLE!” This was at the top of my lungs also.

If it’s the LAPD he’s telling I should be okay, but if it’s some gang member, who knows? There is a low-level race war going on here, you know. That’s the only reason that I’m making this information public.

I won’t post his face or his plate number unless something crazy happens, but I’ve sent the images to someone I can trust.

I’m tired of people-of whatever race--who can’t even be bothered to display simple manners and who then have the nerve to get offended when you take exception to it.

Go ahead, lambaste me for this post, but I've had enough of this crap.

UPDATE:++undead says that just wearing this outfit would adjust pedestrians' attitudes appropriately.

Israeli Newspaper Publishes Obama Wailing Wall Prayer

While in Israel, Barack Obama, visited The Wailing Wall, which

is thought by Jews to be the most sacred of places, because the temple itself was thought to be the place where God resides on earth. Praying at the Wailing Wall signifies being in the presence of the Divine. Jews from all countries, and as well as tourists of other religious backgrounds, come to pray at the wall, where it is said one immediately has the “ear of god.” [snip]

[Written p]rayers sent in are placed into the cracks of the walls and are called tzetzels.

Obama did so while on his visit, but now an Israeli newspaper is coming under fire for publishing the specifics of the prayer, as well it should.

AP:

The rabbi in charge of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitz, said publishing the note intruded in Obama’s relationship with God.

“The notes placed between the stones of the Western Wall are between a person and his maker. It is forbidden to read them or make any use of them,” he told Army Radio. The publication “damages the Western Wall and damages the personal, deep part of every one of us that we keep to ourselves,” he said.

A conversation between God and one of His creations is a place I wouldn't want to intrude--especially this particular creation.

Maariv published a photograph of the note, which it said had been removed from the wall by a student at a Jewish seminary immediately after Obama left.

As much as I stand against Obama as president, this is shameful behavior.

UPDATE: Donald Sensing provides more history and tells of his trip to the Wailing Wall.

The Anchoress is aghast at the behavior of the newspaper in question, the student and at that of some faith-based entities regarding the topic.

Donald also provides this comment from the Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick:

This was supposed to be a private benediction, and it was extraordinarily improper for someone to take this prayer and sell it to the media. On the other hand, in the world of paparazzi, the exposure of the prayer was predictable, and Obama apparently constructed the prayer for public consumption. Like everything else about his visit, this was a carefully crafted statement, designed not to ruffle very many feathers. And like this prayer, there was nothing extraordinary about Obama’s visit. As you would expect from a politician, he tried to be all things to all people. And he probably succeeded.

Glick is probably one of the few people brave enough to say what many are thinking. Still it's unseemly to judge the quality of communication between another and God. Let's just hope (and pray) that his prayers are answered in the affirmative.

Obama Birth Rumors

Ed Morrissey asks:

Was Barack Obama born in Hawaii or somewhere else, or did he just change a name?

Ed cites Jim Geraghty, who thinks that the Obama Campaign’s failure to produce the candidate’s birth certificate has caused these rumors to fly:

1. Obama was not born in the US, but in Kenya.
2. Obama’s middle name was Mohammed, not Hussein (but then why change it to another Arabic name?)
3. His real first name is “Barry”.

Of these, only one is serious.

My first instinct is to call Bravo Sierra on this story, since it’s most likely an ever-mutating product of the malignant imagination of a guy named Kenneth Lamb who saw fit to make up lies about my tribe—the same tribe that Obama stems from. Lamb claims that our tribe is an Arab tribe. Yes, really. The goal in creating this fiction is to refute the idea that Obama, whose mother was a white American, is a “legal” “African American,” whatever the heck that is. (I suppose that, by this logic, I am half “African American” since my mother is a black American.)

See the guy on the right? That’s my father, journalist Philip Ochieng, a Kenyan Luo like the senior Barack Obama. The two were also friends (something which Father's beginning to rue since he's being inundated by American media requests of late). Does he look like an Arab to you?

Obama has produced so many gaffes—both about his personal life and about American history—that I’m beginning to wonder whether anything he says is something which he hasn’t learned rote from a script. However, allowing this fantasy about the Luo tribe--one born of ignorance regarding African countries--to mix in with real, live concrete issues regarding a prospective Barack Obama presidency hurts the opposition to that candidacy. That it p*sses me off is beside the point.

Make no mistake, Lamb’s novella is the origin of these rumors.

The Good News

Huckabee won't be getting the GOP nomination for vice president.

During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

The bad news: the idiot gives the Democrats something legitimate to complain about.

World is Crazy (UPDATED: Lebanon)

I’ll be away from the computer this morning, but I’m thinking about war, disaster, famine and pestilence and I’m praying. And, no, I'm not trying to depress you but remind you of our blessings.

India: Terror attack in Jaipur, 30 dead and rising.

Myanmar: The country’s junta has allowed the US deliver disaster aid and the UN has resumed its assistance efforts, but with the food delivered being of good quality and slow perishability, the junta still hoards it and gives out spoiling food to its dying population.

China: A couple of days ago, a 7.9 earthquake shook the city of Dujiangyan and the death toll is past 12,000 and rising. China's disaster prep seems to be better than that of Myanmar's; it's the decrepit architecture that's yielded the high death toll.

US: Tornadoes run from Oklahoma to Georgia, bringing the 2008 toll to 100. Lesson learned here: don’t get in your car when a tornado hits.

American Red Cross

International Red Cross

PREVIOUSLY:

Behaving Like Dictators
Myanmar Cyclone

UPDATE: In the comments, Martn Bebow says:

You forgot the civil war going on in Lebanon.

I did. It's falling to Hezbollah.

Europe Tries to Plant Itself

Plant dignity?

Plant dignity??

PLANT DIGNITY????

Yes there are advocates and activists for and official policy guarding the "dignity" of plants--in Europe of course, Switzerland to be specific.

The Swiss federal government's ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has mapped out guidelines to help granting agencies decide which research applications deeply offend the dignity of plants — and hence become unfundable. [SNIP]

Beat Keller of the Institute of Plant Biology at the University of Zurich[…] is running the first field trial — of disease-resistant corn (maize) — to be approved under the new legislation. [SNIP]

Keller sees the issue as providing another tool for opponents to argue against any form of plant biotechnology, which is already very difficult to conduct in Switzerland. [Swiss constitution lawyer at the University of Basel and member of the Swiss federal ethics committee on non-human biotechnology Markus] Schefer says that things will start to become clearer when legal challenges to specific research projects come to court, and case law becomes established.

When I first heard about this, I guessed that it was all about opposition to biotechnology. The demonization of biotech has managed to continue the cycle of starvation in Africa, but you have to hand it to the Swiss—they’re doing their best to ensure that misery will be shared and shared alike. It just may take longer for it to be felt than has been so in Africa.

The committee has created a decision tree presenting the different issues that need to be taken into account for each case. But it has come up with few concrete examples of what type of experiment might be considered an unacceptable insult to plant dignity. The committee does not consider that genetic engineering of plants automatically falls into this category, but its majority view holds that it would if the genetic modification caused plants to 'lose their independence' — for example by interfering with their capacity to reproduce. The statement has confused plant geneticists, who point out the contrast with traditional plant-hybridization technologies, for example in roses, which require male sterility, and the commercial development of seedless fruits.

(Emphasis mine.)

I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry.

You know, between the near-zero population replacement growth of indigenous Europeans, the over-concern for animal dignity in the form of eschewing meat-eating, the opposition to using animals for medical experiments that may lead to saving human life…and now this, one might reasonably conclude that Europe seems content to drag out its commission of suicide.

Don't jump!

See also Wesley J. Smith's "The Silent Scream of the Asparagus" at the Weekly Standard.