Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I wrote another e-mail to my German cousin. This is what it said:

I do not share your opinion about Bush, but let's agree to disagree about that.
I am very sad that the unborn have been betrayed because some want to put more coins in their pockets. We are a nation like Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Some think that if the economy gets better, there will be fewer abortions, but I ask, "How long will that take and how many millions of unborn babies will die before then?" Some say we will always need legal abortion, but isn't that like saying there will always be a need for legal murder?If Hitler had been a candidate that had promised to improve the economy, but I knew he wanted to kill 12 million people, would it be right for me to vote for him? That is what Americans did last week. The killing of innocents will be permanently legal.

This article says what I am really concerned about:
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4825&Itemid=100

"Senator Obama has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which
would repeal every restriction on abortion in every American state, right up
through the ninth month. But then, we knew that about Obama, the whole
infanticide thing. But there's more. The FOCA raises abortion to (in its own
words) a "fundamental right." According to legal analysts at the U.S. Council of
Catholic Bishops, the act's language is so sweeping that it will snuff out any
state's "conscience" clause -- the laws allowing hospitals, doctors, and nurses
not to take part in abortions. To do so would amount to illegal discrimination,
denying a citizen her fundamental right. Christian hospitals could no more
decline to perform abortions than they can currently refuse to operate on black
people. "So President Obama and his congressional supermajority would
force every Christian hospital, doctor, and nurse either to abandon their faith
or go out of business. By federal law, believing Christians would be banned from
a major industry (and apostolate). This is literally equivalent to a law banning
faithful Jews from owning newspapers. "History tells us that steps such as
this aren't where religious persecutions end; it's where they begin. Things are
already scary enough in neighboring Canada, where Christians are now routinely
hauled up before human rights tribunals for repeating what the Bible teaches
concerning sex. Who knows what some Obama-appointed judge, 20 years from now,
will make of a pastor whose sermons attacked the "fundamental right" of women to
kill their children? How many churches and seminaries will face crippling civil
judgments and have to close?"
The same thing can be said will happen if homosexual marriage becomes legal. Anyone who opposes it could lose their job or lose tax-exempt status, which means the government can take away your business. Currently, the right of Americans to refuse to do things they believe are sinful is under attack. A recent court case in California is an example. A homosexual couple of women went to a doctor to get help getting pregnant artifically. The doctor believes it is wrong for a child to be born and raised by homosexuals, so he refused to help. Instead, he gave them the name of another doctor who would do it. After the couple had a baby, the couple sued the first doctor. The doctor lost and had to pay a lot of money to the couple, in spite of the fact this was not an emergency procedure. The pharmacists are being sued and losing their jobs for not giving out medicine that causes abortion.

This could mean that Catholic churches and schools would be forced to teach that homosexuality is good and not sinful as the Bible says it is. Any priest that says it is not could be jailed for "hate speech." Our freedom of speech and conscience will be lost forever. Americans do not realize the danger we are in because the newspapers and TV are telling us what to think and they think that abortion and homosexual marriage is good. They have become like a government Department of Mind Control. Americans are fools if they let this happen. The good news is that three states passed laws against homosexual marriages in this election and one outlawed adoption by these couples. This country already has enough laws that let people give their money to anyone they want after they die and to make health care decisions for them. No one tells them they can't live together or not get a job. They have the same freedoms they need without the problems of letting them adopt children or making others think the way they do .

Yes, love the sinner, but hate the sin. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim were destroyed by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven" (Genesis 19) because homosexuals wanted to rape men. I fear God will destroy our country for our sins.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

"The End Of The World"
Nina Gordon

Why does the sun go on shining
Why does the sea rush to shore
Don't they know it's the end of the world
'Cause pro-lifers failed to score

Why do the birds go on singing
Why do the stars glow above
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended when Obama won

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does

Why does my heart go on beating
Why do these eyes of mine cry
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended 'cause unborn babes will die

Why does my heart go on beating
Why do these eyes of mine cry
Don't they know it's the end of the world
It ended 'cause unborn babes will die

Obama as Antichrist?

No, an apocalyptic author explains. November 04, 2008
"The influential Canadian Catholic artist and novelist Michael O'Brien has disclosed in his private newsletter that many readers see "an uncanny resemblance" between Senator Barack Obama and the figure of the Antichrist portrayed in O'Brien's apocalyptic novel Father Elijah. While acknowledging similarities, O'Brien concludes that Obama is not the Antichrist. Nevertheles, he says: "I also also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church…"

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/081103a.html

The Last President of a Free Democracy
in Free Republic

"But what of those ”Bitter Clingers” who stand in fear of what his [Obama's] ascension to power really means? When their leaders are declared enemies of the state and the laws are changed to stifle their dissent? What will they do when the country they loved resembles the tin horn dictatorships of South America? What will become of them, after their enemy has destroyed their way of life? Will they ever be able to mobilize as a force to take back their country? And what of their God, whom the friends of the “Anointed One” will inevitably declare illegal on grounds of tolerance?"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2125896/posts

Welcome to the Obamanation!
Nov 5, 2008 Neal Boortz
"The big question for me today is whether or not freedom, economic liberty and self-sufficiency can make a comeback in America. Right now it seems that a dismaying number of Americans think that they are owed a living; that it is the government's job to guarantee their economic security. Can we ever turn that around and return to a time when people accept the responsibility for their own lives and eschew the idea of using government as a tool of legalized plunder?"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2125803/posts

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Obama's Planned Parenthood Speech
Friday, July 11, 2008
This is a chilling reminder why we have to vote pro-life on Tuesday, Nov 4.
http://ppgi.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-planned-parenthood-speech.html
Obama will wipe out all the small victories we have had in protecting babies. I don't agree with his vision for American women.

Vote pro-life to save black babies too.

Black Genocide
Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 Blacks were lynched in the U.S. That number is surpassed in less than 3 days by abortion.
1,452 African-American children are killed each day by the heinous act of abortion.
3 out of 5 pregnant African-American women will abort their child.
Since 1973 there has been over 13 million Black children killed and their precious mothers victimized by the U.S. abortion industry.
http://blackgenocide.org/home.html

I am vacillating between anxiety and hope about this election. I am anxious because so much is at stake for the pro-life movement. I don't think I'll get much sleep Tuesday night. I am hopeful because I know that God is in control.
Holy Spirit, please inspire the undecided voters to remember unborn babies as they cast their vote.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Senator Obama's Four Tax Increases for People Earning Under $250,000 and for Those Earning as Little as $25,000 a Year
By Ned Barnett

Senator Obama’s two tax promises: to limit tax increases to only those making over $250,000 a year, and to not raise taxes on 95% of “working Americans,” intrigued me. As a hard-working small business owner, over the past ten years I’ve earned from $50,000 to $100,000 per year. If Senator Obama is shooting straight with us, under his presidency I could look forward to paying no additional Federal taxes – I might even get a break – and as I struggle to support a family and pay for two boys in college, a reliable tax freeze is nearly as welcome as further tax cuts.
However, Senator Obama’s dual claims seemed implausible, especially when it came to my Federal income taxes. Those implausible promises to make me look at what I’d been paying before President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as what I paid after those tax cuts became law. I chose the 2000 tax tables as my baseline – they reflect the tax rates that Senator Obama will restore by letting the “Bush Tax Cuts” lapse. I wanted to see what that meant from my tax bill.

Read the rest at http://www.americanthinker.com

Barack Obama’s aunt is living in public housing

A Boston Housing Authority director says Barack Obama’s aunt, a Kenyan woman who has lived in public housing for five years, is an “exemplary resident” and only recently did anyone know of her connection to the presidential contender.

Obama’s campaign spokesman Reid Cherlin confirmed to the Herald yesterday that Zeituni Onyango, 56, who lives on Flaherty Way in South Boston, is Obama’s aunt on his father’s side.

If Obama wants to spread the wealth around, why doesn't he spread his wealth to his beloved aunt?
http://bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1128958&format=text


ENPR Prediction: Obama Narrow Win, Dems 58 Senate Seats, 254 House Seats
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=29267

But we all know how biased the polls are. The only one that counts is the one next Tuesday, Nov. 4. Please vote pro-life.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Pre-election Anxiety
I wrote to my German cousin again about the election.

As the days until the election shorten, I become more anxious. So much is at stake here. I don't believe polls, but I am worried that it is going to be a close one. It all depends on how many of each party actually go to vote. The conservative Republicans are more happy about McCain because of Sarah Palin. I think she will help more than she will hurt. Americans can identify with her. Unlike Obama, Biden, or McCain, she has actually managed a government. She has more useful experience than they do. I wish she were running for President.

I am wondering whether the financial mess is caused by investors that are worried that Obama will win. Obama, I think, will not be able to handle the financial mess as well as McCain could. It's too bad that Americans don't know much about economics.

On top of Obama's lack of experience, he is a socialist in disguise. Obama says, "Spread the wealth around." This is what his wife Michelle Obama says. "In order to get things like Universal Health Care and revamped Education System, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of the pie so that someone else can have more" I detest the way class warfare, of rich against poor, is dividing the country. I think those who encourage coveting one's neighbors goods are sinful. It is wrong to envy those who have more and to coerce them to give to others through voting. That's not charity or love of neighbor. It's robbery. Christians should care for the poor, but they should not be forced to do it or go to jail if they don't pay taxes. It will be a much poorer country when the government can decide how much one is allowed to make. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Any government that is powerful to give you anything you want is powerful enough to take away everything you have. People in Germany voted for Hitler because the economy was bad. I think the content of one's character is what really counts. I trust a survivor of prisoner of war camps much more than Obama.

Do you know what is a stake for the pro-life movement in this election? At least two Supreme Court justices will retire in the next 4 years. The Supreme Court justices decide what the laws mean, but liberal ones ignore the votes of the people and use international law and their own feelings to make new laws. They could be on the court for 30 years. If Obama wins, he will pick liberal, pro-abortion justices. The pro-life movement will lose everything we have worked for since 1973! This is showdown time. We either elect a pro-life president or lose the war to protect unborn babies. It is life or death issue. The Democrats say they help the "little guy." I think they should also help the "little UNBORN guy" too.
Will old people be treated as non-persons too? Yes, if Universal Health Care comes in, there will be rationing of care. Those who cost too much to treat will be left to die. I was at a workshop on health care justice last week that said this is happening in the UK. The US will be next. People screamed about $700 billion being spent on bailouts, but that amount would fund only about 6 years of Universal Health Care. It will bankrupt the whole country. We will be forced to pay for abortions with our tax money as well.

McCain is a different person than George Bush. He has always been disliked by Republicans for voting sometimes with the Democrats instead of with his own party. He is a maverick, which means he goes his own way and often rebels against what people want him to do.

So I am praying God will have mercy and inspire people to vote pro-life.

Letter from 2012 in Obama's America
What will the United States be like if Senator Obama is elected? Focus on the Family Action spells it out for us. It is very sobering.

http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

Saturday, October 18, 2008

In the voting booth, thou shalt not covet your neighbor's goods.

If you are not truly poor and, because you covet your neighbor's goods, you vote to force someone else to pay taxes that will benefit you, isn't that the same as robbing him? How can one justify this? Think again if you think that benefits come from "Uncle Sam." It is a real, flesh and blood American, either directly from a pay check or indirectly through higher prices due to higher business taxes, you are taking it from. You are coercing money from someone who would have to go to jail if he doesn't pay taxes. Being coerced to help others merits the taxpayer nothing from God for helping his neighbor. The one who receives these govenment benefits rarely accept them as a sign of love from God, unlike they would do if they were from a generous neighbor.
Wouldn't it be better to encourage us all to donate money to a charity that cares for the poor instead of voting to raise taxes? If we all did that, there would be no need for the government to care for the poor. God will reward you for your love of neighbor, but not for coercing someone to pay higher taxes through the ballot box.
The same people who believe they are being benevolent by voting for helping "the little guy" need to also help "the UNBORN little guy." Voting in a way that helps your pocketbook often results in voting for those who allow the holocaust of abortion to continue. We need to make the right to life our highest priority. Please vote pro-life.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Revolution? This article says it has already started.
The Rebellion Has Begun
by Sandy Rios
Somewhere along the way while most of us were enjoying our precious freedoms, taking kids to soccer, ordering pizza and listening to our iPods, there was another group of people who were at work to destroy America. Even as they enjoyed with us its benefits, they schemed and planned and, moment by moment, inch by inch gained a footing and we never realized the ground was shifting.
http://townhall.com/Columnists/SandyRios/2008/10/10/the_rebellion_has_begun
http://townhall.com/Columnists/SandyRios/2008/10/10/the_rebellion_has_begun?comments=true#comments


October Surprises
by Oliver North
Those who believe that this month's collapse of global financial markets is an unprecedented disaster need to study history. The Great Crash of 1929 -- so severe that it makes this year's meltdown pale in comparison -- began Oct. 24. In 1987, Oct. 19 became known as "Black Monday," as Wall Street investors watched the market nose-dive 22 percent and lose $500 billion in value in a single trading session -- still the biggest one-day loss of value in history.
http://townhall.com/columnists/OliverNorth/2008/10/10/october_surprises

Edmund Burke was remarkably prescient and wise when he said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Friday, October 10, 2008

How to Make the US Government be Socialist

If you wanted to overthrow capitalism and the US government and establish a socialistic, atheistic nation, how would you do it?

What won't work is brute force. A direct attack on Washington, DC would be bloody.

What will work is slowly, patiently destroying one institution at a time. I think the steps below would probably work, even though they would take about 50-100 years to work.

  1. You would have to make the government have the authority to coerce people to give their wealth to the government in taxes.
  2. You would have to make people feel invincible.
  3. You would have to make people think they are better than other communist or socialist nations.
  4. You would have to increase government regulation of every business and institution to reduce productivity and increase government power.
  5. You would have to make the majority think that anything that exists is old-fashioned and needs to be changed.
  6. You would have to destroy the moral fabric of the nation, especially among young people.
    You would have to destroy the family.
  7. You would have to use the goodness and trust in government as a weapon against them.
    You would have to make people's weaknesses be a weapon against them.
  8. You would have to weaken the will of the people to fight for freedom.
  9. You would have to infiltrate universities and professional organizations.
  10. You would have to infiltrate the press and media so that you can control what people believe.
  11. You would have to dumb down the youth so that they don't know or care about their rights.
  12. You would have to dumb down the nation so they don't understand how the government works.
  13. You would have to agitate the people to think that one group of people is the enemy so they fight against each other.
  14. You would have to control the election process, even if it means using fraud to do it.
  15. You would have to make the legislative process unable to reform the situation.
  16. You would have to make the laws be what you want them to mean.
  17. You would have to destroy the idea that we must obey laws for the good of others.
  18. You would have to take away the ability of people to defend themselves from government.
  19. You would have to destroy powerful religious institutions and freedom of religion.
  20. You would have to ridicule and side line all religions and promote atheism.
  21. You would have to destroy the right to live by your conscience.
  22. You would have to increase taxes to destroy all wealth.
  23. You would have to make the nation's wealth be diverted to other countries.
  24. You would have to infiltrate Wall Street so that you can rob the wealth of those who work hard and save what they earn so you can give it to the winners.
  25. You would have to make other nations stronger militarily than the US is.
  26. You would have to have our enemies infiltrate our nation and be ready to take control on signal.
  27. You would have to make the government take away private property.
  28. You would have to make the government own all private property.
  29. You would have to elect someone willing to overthrow the government through executive order and make the military enforce absolute obedience.


End Game! You are now living in a socialistic, atheistic nation where you have no freedom, wealth, or power to change the system in your favor.

By slowing turning up the temperature on the stove, we didn’t realize that we are about to boil to death. Without seeing the blueprint of what is happening and having a short memory of history, we are almost ready to join the Roman Empire on the dust heap of societies.

Do you see what is happening in our nation? Have you noticed any of these things happening in the last 100 years?

High divorce rate, illegal drugs, irresponsible sexual behavior, status quo mocked, use the desire to care for one's neighbor to bankrupt the nation, welfare state that increases poverty through coerced tax payments, hatred of the military, main stream media in control of the enemy, government monopoly of bad schools with no way of affording a private education, class warfare, election fraud, polarization of politics, legislation by the judicial branch, restriction of gun rights, moral relativism, “hate” speech, pedophilia scandal in the Catholic church and other denominations, books about atheism on the Best Seller list, freedom of conscience destroyed by the tool of homosexual "marriage", taxes that rob from the "rich" to give to the "poor", financial crisis engineered by banks to happen just before a national election, foreign made products and raw materials so that our money is shipped overseas, give nuclear weapons secrets to foreign terrorist states, uncontrolled immigration, immigration of terrorist enemies, expensive wars, overstretched military, imminent domain protection repealed by judicial fiat, nationalization of industries such as health care, government ownership of homes, and a charismatic political candidate who promises "change."

I believe our country is on the verge of disaster in the coming election. What kind of change do you want?

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

More on who is to blame for the credit crisis:
‘SNL’ Take-Down Taken Down
By Tobin Harshaw
“The presidential campaign has been good for ‘Saturday Night Live’ — and for Hulu.com,” reports Advertising Age’s Michael Learmonth. “In a few short weeks, the first clip of Tina Fey impersonating Gov. Sarah Palin has become the site’s most-viewed of all time. But it appears NBC.com and Hulu.com may have run into some trouble with the latest SNL political send-up. A clip poking fun at the bailout, and specifically, at former Golden West Financial Group co-chiefs Herb and Marion Sandler, has been taken down from NBC.com and Hulu.com sometime on Monday, leaving many speculating as to why. A good guess: The clip, a fake C-SPAN news report, identifies the Sandlers, who sold their Golden West Financial S&L to Wachovia in 2006 as ‘People who should be shot’ in a graphic.”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/snl-take-down-taken-down/?ref=opinion

Who are the Sandlers?

Herb and Marion Sandler, owners of Golden West Financial Corporation, was giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party campaigns."[6]
Golden West was sold in 2006 for $24 billion to Wachovia Bank. The merger was completed in October 2006. The Sandlers owned about 10% of the company at the time of the sale, making their share of the sale price worth about $2.4 billion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Sandler
Wachovia had to be sold last week, due to the subprime mortgages they aquired when they bought Golden West.

How Catholic Money Funded Obama's Community Organizing

By Deal W. Hudson
October 7, 2008
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/guest/2008/dwh_10071.shtml

One of the untold stories in the Obama campaign is how his background in community organizing has direct links to Catholic funding -- from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (web site)
Catholic journalist Stephanie Block has been writing about the CCHD for many years, but it has been difficult to stimulate any serious concern about their funding the innocuous sounding activity of "community development." Innocuous or not, Obama years as a community organizer were supported, in part, by Catholic money dispersed by the USCCB.

Barak Obama - was lead organizer in Chicago for the Developing Communities Project, it received a $40,000 Catholic Campaign for Human Development grant in 1985 and a $33,000 grant in 1986.

While he was in Chicago Obama was trained by the top Alinskyian organizers. One mentor was the ex-Jesuit, Greg Galuzzo, lead organizer for Gamaliel. The Developing Communities Project operated under the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of Alinskyian organizations that receive 4-5% of all Catholic Campaign for Human Development grants each year.

Who is Saul Alinsky?
In Rules for Radicals (his final work, published in 1971 one year before his death), he addressed the 1960s generation of radicals, outlining his views on organizing for mass power. In the first chapter, opening paragraph of the book Alinsky writes, "What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away".[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky

Obama's Alinsky Jujitsu
By Kyle-Anne Shiver
The agitator's job, according to Alinsky, is first to bring folks to the "realization" that they are indeed miserable, that their misery is the fault of unresponsive governments or greedy corporations, then help them to bond together to demand what they deserve, and to make such an almighty stink that the dastardly governments and corporations will see imminent "self-interest" in granting whatever it is that will cause the harassment to cease.
In these methods, euphemistically labeled "community organizing," Obama had a four-year education, which he often says was the best education he ever got anywhere.
Is it any wonder, then, that Obama's Alinsky Jujitsu is making mincemeat of the woman who merely interviewed Alinsky, wrote about him, and spent the next 30 years in corporate law and in the lap of taxpayer-funded luxury in government mansions?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/obamas_alinsky_jujitsu.html

Barack Obama and Alinsky's Rules for Psychopaths
By James Lewis
A psychopath is a person without conscience; someone who constantly breaks the moral rules of the community. Saul Alinsky was a "community organizer" who found a career that fit that personality disorder. In the Orwellian upside-down world of the Left, community organizers disorganize communities. That is the meaning of revolution, to overturn whatever exists today in the raw pursuit of one's own power.
Alinsky boasted about his close alliance with Frank Nitti, Al Capone's second in command in the Chicago Mob during the 1930s. Al Capone's Mob were domestic terrorists, and not for any noble cause either. They poisoned the Chicago politics of their era. Alinsky's close alliance with Frank Nitti tells us something crucially important today. Alinsky was also a lifelong ally of the Stalin-controlled Communist Party, at a time when Stalin was known to have murdered tens of millions of people. He was proud of building a bridge between organized crime and the power hungry Left. That tacit alliance may continue today.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_alinskys_rule.html


Saul Alinsky’s son: “Obama learned his lesson well”
By Judi McLeod Tuesday, September 2, 2008
In Artful Dodger style, Barack Obama, plays down his mentorship with Communist author Saul Alinsky. But Alinsky’s son, L. David Alinsky, credits Obama for “learning his lesson well” from the Communist guru.
Indeed, Alinsky Jr. who credits his late father for the success of last week’s Democratic National Convention, may have done something that Obama’s detractors couldn’t: blown the cover on the presidential hopeful’s communist leanings.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4784

Friday, October 03, 2008

Catholic Voting & the “Seamless Garment” Theory
by Patrick Madrid
How to vote with a clear conscience
Are some [issues] more important than others?
http://www.envoymagazine.com/pdf/envoy_votersguide.pdf

Karl Rove Lists 10 ‘Factually Wrong’ Biden Debate Statements
Karl Rove sets the record straight on 10 things Biden said in the debate last night.

Biden said McCain voted the same as Obama on the budget resolution vote. Fact: McCain voted No, Obama voted "Yes" to increase taxes on those making $42,000 year.
Biden said people would pay no more taxes under Obama than they did under Reagan. Fact: The top rate under Reagan was 28%, Obama wants to return it to 39.5%.
Biden said it would take 10 years to get new oil into production. Fact: It would take only about 2 years.
Biden said used of force resolution in Iraq was not an authorization for war. Fact: Yes it was.
Biden said McCain voted the same as Obama on funding the troops. Fact: McCain voted yes, Obama voted "no."
Biden said we are spending as much in 3 weeks as we have in 7 years in Iraq. Fact: Not true
Biden said Article 1 of the Constitution refers to the Executive branch. Fact: Article 1 refers to Legislative branch
Biden said there is a windfall profits tax in Alaska. Fact: Not true
Biden repeated the lie about a nuclear weapons bill that Obama passed. Fact: Not true
Biden said McCain opposed Clinton on Bosnia. Fact: Not true
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=187263

Biden doesn't understand what the Veep job really is.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/03/biden-gets-veep-role-wrong/


A 1999 New York Times article explains how we got in the financial mess we are in
Read this article which appeared in the NEW YORK TIMES ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1999. It answers the question. Some of the quotes in here are eerily prophetic.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Agency’s ’04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt, and Risk
Dennis Brack for The New York Times
"Many events in Washington, on Wall Street and elsewhere around the country have led to what has been called the most serious financial crisis since the 1930s. But decisions made at a brief meeting on April 28, 2004, explain why the problems could spin out of control. The agency’s failure to follow through on those decisions also explains why Washington regulators did not see what was coming."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03sec.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

Thursday, October 02, 2008

A Brief Catechism for Catholic Voters from EWTN
"If someone were running for state treasurer and that candidate made it a point to state publicly that he was in favor of exterminating people over the age of 70, would you vote for him?... If personal character matters in a political candidate, and personal character involves the kind of thoughts a person harbors, then such a candidate who publicly states that he is in favor of the evil of exterminating people over the age of 70 - or children who are unborn - has also disqualified himself from receiving a Catholic’s vote."
http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm

More Voter Guide Links
As a Catholic, I have an obligation to inform my conscience before I vote. These voter guides are very helpful
http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/
http://www.usccb.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml

What is the Most Efficient Way to Care for the Poor?
Suppose I am coerced to pay $100 in federal taxes that are for the purpose of caring for the poor. First, the legislator who makes the laws about collecting the money takes a slice, then the tax collector takes a slice, then the boss and auditor of the tax collector take a slice. Next, the social worker who determines eligibility for services and their boss and auditor of the social service agancy take a slice. Then the one who assures us that their is no fraud going on takes a slice. How much is left to give to the poor?
When I donate money to charity, I want to know the administrative expense ratio. That is, is the money going to some fat cat or is it really going to the cause for which I gave it? If my goal is supporting the poor, it seems to me to be more effective to give money to Catholic Charities than it does to the federal government.
I think it is foolish to vote for someone because they promise to do something "for the little guy." It seems that most of those promises are "voter bait." If they ever delivered on their promises, they would have to think of something else to bait the voters. Is it any wonder that campaign promises are quickly forgotten after the election? Wise up, Americans! Vote based on the character of the man and the one who will kill the fewest babies. That's the "little guys" I care about!

More of the blame game, only this has a ring of truth to it
So that's what a Community Organizer does!
What did Obama do with the Community Reinvestment Act money? Did he stop the flood of money going to these bad mortgages?
http://www.youtube.com/johnmccaindotcom

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

U.S. archbishop at Vatican says Democrats becoming 'party of death'
By Cindy Wooden
The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death,'" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican's highest court.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804933.htm

Bishop calls abortion 'homicide'
Scranton Diocese priests read abortion position letter to parishionersBy Laura Legere
In the letter, Bishop Martino refers to abortion as “homicide” and writes, “It is a tragic irony that ‘pro-choice’ candidates have come to support homicide — the gravest injustice a society can tolerate — in the name of ‘social justice.’”
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/09/30/news/sc_times_trib.20080930.a.pg1.tt30bishop_s1.1980663_top.txt

Catholic Answers has a wonderful Voters Guide for Serious Catholics Video. You can find it at http://www.catholic.com/
The Voter Guides booklet says there are five non-negotiables for Christians:
  • Abortion
  • Euthanasia
  • Embryonic Stem Cell Research
  • Human Cloning
  • Homosexual "Marriage"
Please pay attention to the "How Not to Vote" section.
http://www.caaction.com/pdf/Voters-Guide-Catholic-English-1p.pdf

Presidential Voter Guide at kitchentableblog
Investigate the presidential candidates with our in-depth research and analysis on all the important Values Voter issues. From bioethics, marriage and family law to judicial and religious liberty issues, our policy experts present this valuable guide.
http://www.kitchentableblog.com/EF08H02.pdf

Secret, Foreign Money Floods into Obama Campaign
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman U.S. federal law bans any foreigner from donating to a U.S. election campaign.
http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/Obama_fundraising_illegal/2008/09/29/135718.html

The pro-bailout view:
Recent Market Commentary From Fidelity
Insight on Government Rescue Plan
September 29, 2008
The first lesson learned throughout the history of financial crises is that when financial markets simply stop working on their own, the government may be the only backstop available to prevent a systemic financial collapse that jeopardizes the entire economy.
http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/framesets/iw.shtml

The anti-bailout view:
Commentary: Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer
By Jeffrey A. Miron
So what should the government do? Eliminate those policies that generated the current mess. This means, at a general level, abandoning the goal of home ownership independent of ability to pay. This means, in particular, getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with policies like the Community Reinvestment Act that pressure banks into subprime lending.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/29/miron.bailout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Bailout marks Karl Marx's comeback
By Martin Masse
In his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, Karl Marx proposed 10 measures to be implemented after the proletariat takes power, with the aim of centralizing all instruments of production in the hands of the state. Proposal Number Five was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.”
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/09/29/bailout-marks-karl-marx-s-comeback.aspx

Why wasn't the financial Crisis Avoided?
In late 2004, Democrats Defended Freddie, Fannie ... while Republicans were asking for more regulation
http://election.newsmax.com/bailout_fanniefreddy.html

Watch this video on YouTube
It's about who tried to prevent this problem and who helped to cause it. (OK. I'll spoil the ending a tell you. McCain tried to fix this mess years ago. Obama helped create it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgSubmiGt8

Monday, September 29, 2008

Since I have an MBA, I am interested in how all this happened and how we are going to get out of this crisis.

Why Didn't We See This Credit Crisis Coming?
This didn't happen overnight. The credit crisis has been building for years.
Graphic shows timeline of credit crisis events with banking and mortgage foreclosures data;
http://apnews.myway.com/image/20080915/FINANCIAL_MELTDOWN.sff_GFX890_20080915183434.html?date=20080929&docid=D93GC9FG0

Stocks fall sharply ahead of bailout vote
There are new restrictions allowing Congress to limit how much of the money goes out the door at once. It also includes caps on pay packages of top executives as well as assurances that the government also would ultimately be reimbursed by the companies for any losses. The Treasury would be permitted to spend $250 billion to buy banks' risky assets, giving them a much-needed necessary cash infusion. There also would be another $100 billion for use at president's discretion and a final $350 billion if Congress signs off on it.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/wall_street.html

Let's put this in perspective. What Foreign News sites are saying about how we got in this financial mess:
What it costs: $700 billion. Ok, in relation to some other big things it´s not that much. Financial markets help the world produce that much twice a week. And if we assume that the assets the agency buys are worth at least half of what it pays, then it´s not that far from the cost of the latest US farm bill.
http://johannorberg.net/

Total cost of the 2008 US Farm Bill

In the 2008 farm bill, the current ten-year spending level is approximately $600 billion.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/wto.info/twninfo20080522.htm

The US subsidizes farmers. Now we want to do the same with the financial industry?

The Blame Game

Blame the bubble on FDR, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton

Article in theaustralian.news.com.au

As usual everybody blames markets and calls for regulation when there is a financial crisis. But in Dagens Industri today (in Swedish, subscribers only), I remind the readers of some milestones in the pre-history of the crisis:
1933: As part of the New Deal, investment banks are stopped from also acting as commercial banks (which would have given them bank deposits and more stability).
1938: As part of the New Deal, President Roosevelt creates the mortgage association Fannie Mae and in 1970 Congress creates Freddie Mac. With their implicit government guarantees they can offer cheaper loans and expand until they dominate the American mortgage market.
1989: The American government decides to step in and pay for the savings and loan crisis, which sets a precedent: If you take too big risks with mortgage loans, the government will save you.
1995: The Community Reinvestment Act is revised so that banks and thrifts are stopped from targeting the wealthy, and are forced to give home loans to low- and moderate income-households as well. In return they are allowed to re-package and sell those subprime risks to others, which Bear Sterns pioneers in 1997.
2001-2003: Instead of letting the market get rid of bad businesses and loans after the dot com bubble and 9/11, the Fed reduces its rate from 6.5% to 1%. There is only a mild recession, but at the cost of a dramatic expansion of the money supply, that creates a real estate bubble.
These were definitely not the only villains in the story, but if I deliberately wanted to create a financial crisis, I think that this is almost exactly how I would do it.
The prices increased, people borrowed more, and Mae and Mac ran leverage ratios that exceeeded 60 to 1 (cheered on by the Democrats who now blame free markets for the crisis) to keep giving loans to people who could not really afford it. And meanwhile everybody involved thought that they couldn´t really lose, because the government would bail them out.
It only took more traditional interest rates for the bubble to burst (with the help from some new accounting regulations). The independent investment banks that did not have access to bank deposits collapsed and almost brought the whole system down.
All those who now think that the solution is to give more powers to politicians, authorities and central banks should at least go to the trouble of looking at what they did with the powers they already had. Decision makers on the market do act irresponsibly and incredibly short-sighted from time to time. So do decision makers in government.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24421918-20261,00.html


The Financial Mess: How We Got Here
By Abraham H. Miller of American Thinker
I am not suggesting that the CRA [Community Reinvestment Act] by itself led to the current crisis, but the CRA was the first and most important part of the food chain. The CRA caused the expansion in the number of questionable loans that lending institutions made, but Wall Street and insurance underwriters were all to willing to package these loans, enhance their ratings through convenient exercises in fantasy, sell them, and insure them with reserves that were more inadequate than the incomes of the people who got the loans in the first place..
The best thing that can emerge from the current financial crisis is the realization that the government needs to stop directing economic decision making. In a sense, the government is putting out a fire it started when it both created the CRA and assessed lending institutions by how well they were doing in response to the program. When Clinton decided, in his usual arrogance, that he knew better than the market how banks should lend money, the seeds were sown for the current financial disaster.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/the_financial_mess_how_we_got.html

More information on the Community Reinvestment Act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act

http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/

http://www.policylink.org/EDTK/CRA/Why.html

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

How did the economy get in this bad shape?
Clinton, Republicans agree to deregulation of US financial system
By Martin McLaughlin
Nov. 1999
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/bank-n01.shtml

It happened the same way with the health insurance problem.
Blame Congress for HMOs
by Twila Brase
http://www.cchconline.org/privacy/hmoart.php3
Wasn't it Will Rogers that said that when Congress tells a joke, it is a law?

Scaring Us to Death
by Walter Williams
Things are not nearly as gloomy as the pundits say. Most of today's economic problems, whether it's energy, health care costs, financial problems, budget deficits or national debt, are caused by policies pursued by the White House and Congress. As my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell suggested in a recent column, we don't look to arsonists to put out fires that they've created; neither should we look to Congress to solve the problems they've created.
http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/09/24/scaring_us_to_death

What Happened to Market Discipline?
by John Stossel
Irresponsibility induced by government-created perverse incentives is the culprit. For decades politicians of both parties have relieved big companies of the responsibility that market discipline would have imposed. The promise -- explicit or implicit -- to bail out companies "too big to fail" weakens market discipline. That invites recklessness.
We do need protection from reckless businessmen. But there is only one way to provide that: market discipline. That means: no privileges, and no bailouts.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Quo Vadis, Catholic vote?
Jeffery T. Kuhner, Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/21/quo-vadis-catholic-vote/
The Catholic bloc is the key swing vote in this year's election that will decide the next president of the United States - and shape our destiny in this watershed moment in history. Catholics must support Sen. John McCain.
Both campaigns are courting Catholics vigorously. Catholics constitute America's largest single religious denomination. The church has 47 million adherents - nearly one-quarter of all registered voters. In pivotal battleground states, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, they form almost a third of the electorate. Moreover, 41 percent of Catholics are independents.

What if the bailout plan doesn't work?
Under the current plan, the U.S. government will buy up to $700 billion in assets from private holders on Wall Street. That would help banks stabilize their balance sheets, and in theory provide an incentive for banks to begin extending credit among themselves again — a critical component of a functional financial system.
Here’s the good news: If everything goes smoothly, it is even possible that taxpayers will profit from the deal in the long run, as the underlying assets accumulate value over the coming years and the government is able to ultimately sell them back into the market at higher prices than it’s paying now. Of course, it’s also possible that the values will never come back, in which case taxpayers would be on the hook.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080923/pl_politico/13769

Obama: Bailout likely to delay spending programs
By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he probably would have to delay the spending programs he has called for during his campaign in light of the massive government bailout being proposed for the nation's financial industry.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_el_pr/obama

Does that change how you will vote? If you are voting to line your own pockets, then you have been warned that it won't happen. Campaign promises don't mean a thing after the election is over.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Barack Obama's opposition to Born Alive Act
Gianna Jessen was aborted. She had been left to die in a Los Angeles hospital. And she had been rescued.The saline solution had burned her body and the long time without oxygen left her with cerebral palsy.
Gianna is 31 now. She still sings. She even runs in marathons! And she speaks out on behalf of other children aborted and left to die. She has spoken out in a new ad aimed at presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Please watch this video.
BornAliveTruth.org Gianna ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anieuWFWe8s
and this one:
Gianna Jessen of BornAliveTruth.org on Hannity & Colmes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZVf_o1C2nI&feature=related

and this one:
Jill Stanek, former nurse, on Barack Obama's opposition to Born Alive Act
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3041755&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,407882,00.html

Jill Stanek's web site http://jillstanek.com/

Gianna Jessen's web site
http://bornalivetruth.org/
http://www.giannajessen.com/

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/music/2008/09/gianna-jessen-sings/

Monday, September 15, 2008

The US Economy and the Race for President
The US Economy and the Race for President
My German cousin wrote me about the bankruptcy of the US bank, Lehmann Brothers. He is blaming the war in Iraq. He asked my opinion of the race for president. He said he thinks Sarah Palin is a hick and is inexperienced in foreign affairs compared to Obama and Biden. He says McCain is too old.
Since he does not understand how things work in the US, I have to explain things in detail. This is my response to him:
The problems in the economy have nothing to do with the conflict in Iraq. Things are much better in Iraq now.
The economy is a complex issue.
For several years, the banks made it too easy to get a loan for a house. The interest rate set by the Federal Reserve was unusually low. Many people who normally could not afford a house when the rates were higher were able to get a loan. The greedy banks did not make these people prove they could pay the loan, because the bank would sell the loan to other investors. Many investors like to buy mortagages (house loans) because they are usually a safer investment than others.Also, many people bought homes as an investment because the increased demand for homes made the value go up. They would keep the home for only a year, then sell it and keep the profits. This is called "flipping." The loans they took had an adjustable interest rate, which means the rate can go up or down, depending on what the US Treasury charges the bank for the interest. Instead of the rate staying the same or going down as many thought it would, it instead went up. That meant that many people could no longer afford the loan payment and had to sell the home for a loss, if they were able to sell the house at all. Too many ended up losing the house when the bank took the house away from them. So there have been rising mortgage defaults and plunging home values in the U.S due to tight credit markets. When there are more houses being sold than there are buyers, the price of the house goes down.
When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the economy cools off. It means fewer houses will be built and fewer business investments, which decreases jobs. If people lose their job, they can't make loan payments.
The U.S. Treasury earlier this month seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are agencies that make loans. They are not really owned by the government, but the Treasury took them over to keep them from going bankrupt. This means the taxpayers are going to have to pay for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's negligence. That is why there is a need for stricter financial regulation than before.
As for me, the price of a house has no effect. Bob and I paid the whole loan for our house so we own it totally. As long as we don't sell before the economy gets better, we will be OK. We both have good jobs, so only the higher price of gas and food have an impact on us. Financially, we are better off than we were when Clinton was president.
There is a mixture of inflation and recession going on. The price of gasoline is going up because of more competition from China for oil and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have stopped pumping for oil. The 2005 Hurricane Katrina is still having an effect on this. Also, there are environmentalists that want the price of gas to go up so that Americans will buy less gas. They don't allow drilling for oil in our own country and push for more corn to be turned into gasoline, which makes the price of corn go up. The increase in gas prices to fuel farm machinery and higher corn prices means higher food prices. Usually, in a recession, prices go down and that is not the case this time.
Americans are dependent on gasoline to power our cars until an affordable car is on the market that requires less or no gasoline. I hope that will happen very soon. There is talk of a car that is powered by air compression being on the market soon. It is made in India. One can recharge it by plugging it into the household electric socket. It only goes 175 miles before it needs to be recharged, so it will mean that gas stations will have to make available a way to recharge the tanks. If that happens, we can pay less money to the Arabs. That would make our economy much better because we would have more money to spend on other things.
Please don't believe what the media says about John McCain and Sarah Palin. They have 10 times more experience that Obama. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska. She manages a multi-billion dollar budget. She has cleaned up corruption in the government of her state. She has made it possible to build a natural gas pipeline through the state that will make our energy cheaper. She had to get Canada to agree to let Alaska do this. That takes a lot of work to make another country agree to this. Sarah Palin is the chief commander of the Alaska National Guard. The Alaska National Guard is on duty full-time because it is so close to Russia. They are our first line of defence against attack from Russia. That mean that the US military has to work closely with the Alaska National Guard. She has done a great job in this role. The Alaska National Guard love how Sarah Palin leads them. If Sarah Palin is a hick, then my husband is one too. Bob loves to go deer hunting. Hunting is a big sport in this country. It is necessary to manage the wild animal population. It shows she has courage and is competitive, though she is still very feminine. I admire her for being a mom to 5 children and still able to work a job.
Obama was a "community organizer" which means he handed out papers for political candidates door-to-door. He was a state legislator for a few years, but wrote no legislation or got any passed. He got elected Senator because the person who ran against him had to quit the race and then the substitute candidate is a radical. Mostly, people voted for Obama because the politics in Illinois is corrupt and people feel sorry for a Black man. People feel guilty about being so racist against Blacks a long time ago. There was a lot of anger in the country against the conflict in Iraq and so he used that anger to get elected to the Senate, where he also has done no real work. He got there after the conflict started, so he can't be hated for voting in favor of it. It is getting better in Iraq in spite of what he has done to stop it. It would be a disaster to stop fighting now. Obama has never been in charge of any government and never had to balance a state or federal government. He knows nothing about how to fix the economy. He promises people he will give them government benefits that will fill their pockets, but has no way of paying for them because you can only tax people so much before the economy gets worse. That is not what is best for the country in the long run. He says he will tax only the rich, but what he would have to do to pay for all this is tax anyone who is making enough to have a spare dollar. He is almost a socialist or communist. We have never had any candidate for the president that is this extreme about the economy.
Obama is a butcher. He voted in favor of letting babies who survived an abortion die by withholding medical care. The legislation would have required doctors to care for a baby after it was born even if the mother wanted it dead. That is infanticide and killing a baby is murder. Obama is a radical extremist when it comes to the abortion issue. He is like Hilter when it comes to respect for human life. We already have a million babies die each year to abortion. Obama would defeat all the effort done in the last 30 years to stop the slaughter of babies.
Sarah Palin is to be praised for giving birth to her baby even though she knew it would be disabled. Her baby is the kind of baby Obama would have voted to kill.
Sarah Palin is the total opposite of Hilliary Clinton. She wears a skirt and lipstick. She is a real woman and mom. She loves her husband and family. She is in this race to serve, not to be famous or popular. She is not doing this to prove women are as powerful as men. She is more like the ideal American woman than Hilliary.
No person has all the experience needed to be president. Yet most of our presidents were governors of states, which is what Sarah is. Being a governor is a better qualification than being a Senator. For example, Ronald Reagan was the Governor of the state of California before he became President and Clinton was the Governor of the state of Arkansas. Governors of states are leaders, not just people who vote on legislation that was written by others. Governors of states have real responsibilies and manage huge budgets. Senators do not. In some ways, she is more qualified than McCain, Obama or Joe Biden.
However, McCain has been a Senator for a lot longer than Obama, so he is more qualified than him. McCain will be a much better manager of the economy than Obama.
Our country has been through times much worse than now, so I have hope that things will be better soon. What goes up must come down, and when the price goes down, the demand goes up. So what goes down will eventually go up. Our economy has done so much better since Reagan, that people forget how bad it was under Jimmy Carter (another former state governor).
Just as Israel was punished for its bad leaders, I fear what will happen if we elect such an incompetent, evil man as B. Hussein Obama. I am praying that the American people will make the right decision. In the news today, polls in 11 battleground states show Obama retains narrow lead as 78 Electoral College votes are still a toss-up. Sarah Palin has made the race for the White House nearly dead-level even.
Even my mom, who is a life-long Democrat, says she will not vote for Obama. She is offended that people say McCain is old at 72. She is 86, so 72 is young to her. That is an amazing change. A lot will depend on whether Catholics vote pro-life. The race is really just starting because most people don't pay much attention until the last 2 months of the campaign when the TV ads start. A lot has changed since it started almost 2 years ago. This race is going to be a lot of mud slinging, dirty politics.
In other news, I am hoping the Pope's visit to France will make more Catholics go back to church. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for the United States!
Our son, Tim, started college this fall. Our youngest will start next year. I am going to start training as a hospital chaplain on October 9 for 6 months. I will keep my technical writer job, but eventually I want to work as a chaplain. Hospital chaplains minister to the sick. In this way, I would be able to serve God and his Church.
God bless,
Betty
The US Economy and the Race for President
My German cousin wrote me about the bankruptcy of the US bank, Lehmann Brothers. He is blaming the war in Iraq. He asked my opinion of the race for president. He said he thinks Sarah Palin is a hick and is inexperienced in foreign affairs compared to Obama and Biden. He says McCain is too old.
This is my response to him:
The problems in the economy have nothing to do with the conflict in Iraq. Things are much better in Iraq now.
The economy is a complex issue.
For several years, the banks made it too easy to get a loan for a house. The interest rate set by the Federal Reserve was unusually low. Many people who normally could not afford a house when the rates were higher were able to get a loan. The greedy banks did not make these people prove they could pay the loan, because the bank would sell the loan to other investors. Many investors like to buy mortagages (house loans) because they are usually a safer investment than others.Also, many people bought homes as an investment because the increased demand for homes made the value go up. They would keep the home for only a year, then sell it and keep the profits. This is called "flipping." The loans they took had an adjustable interest rate, which means the rate can go up or down, depending on what the US Treasury charges the bank for the interest. Instead of the rate staying the same or going down as many thought it would, it instead went up. That meant that many people could no longer afford the loan payment and had to sell the home for a loss, if they were able to sell the house at all. Too many ended up losing the house when the bank took the house away from them. So there have been rising mortgage defaults and plunging home values in the U.S due to tight credit markets. When there are more houses being sold than there are buyers, the price of the house goes down.
When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, the economy cools off. It means fewer houses will be built and fewer business investments, which decreases jobs. If people lose their job, they can't make loan payments.
The U.S. Treasury earlier this month seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are agencies that make loans. They are not really owned by the government, but the Treasury took them over to keep them from going bankrupt. This means the taxpayers are going to have to pay for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's negligence. That is why there is a need for stricter financial regulation than before.
As for me, the price of a house has no effect. Bob and I paid the whole loan for our house so we own it totally. As long as we don't sell before the economy gets better, we will be OK. We both have good jobs, so only the higher price of gas and food have an impact on us. Financially, we are better off than we were when Clinton was president.
There is a mixture of inflation and recession going on. The price of gasoline is going up because of more competition from China for oil and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico have stopped pumping for oil. The 2005 Hurricane Katrina is still having an effect on this. Also, there are environmentalists that want the price of gas to go up so that Americans will buy less gas. They don't allow drilling for oil in our own country and push for more corn to be turned into gasoline, which makes the price of corn go up. The increase in gas prices to fuel farm machinery and higher corn prices means higher food prices. Usually, in a recession, prices go down and that is not the case this time.
Americans are dependent on gasoline to power our cars until an affordable car is on the market that requires less or no gasoline. I hope that will happen very soon. There is talk of a car that is powered by air compression being on the market soon. It is made in India. One can recharge it by plugging it into the household electric socket. It only goes 175 miles before it needs to be recharged, so it will mean that gas stations will have to make available a way to recharge the tanks. If that happens, we can pay less money to the Arabs. That would make our economy much better because we would have more money to spend on other things.
Please don't believe what the media says about John McCain and Sarah Palin. They have 10 times more experience that Obama. Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska. She manages a multi-billion dollar budget. She has cleaned up corruption in the government of her state. She has made it possible to build a natural gas pipeline through the state that will make our energy cheaper. She had to get Canada to agree to let Alaska do this. That takes a lot of work to make another country agree to this. Sarah Palin is the chief commander of the Alaska National Guard. The Alaska National Guard is on duty full-time because it is so close to Russia. They are our first line of defence against attack from Russia. That mean that the US military has to work closely with the Alaska National Guard. She has done a great job in this role. The Alaska National Guard love how Sarah Palin leads them. If Sarah Palin is a hick, then my husband is one too. Bob loves to go deer hunting. Hunting is a big sport in this country. It is necessary to manage the wild animal population. It shows she has courage and is competitive, though she is still very feminine. I admire her for being a mom to 5 children and still able to work a job.
Obama was a "community organizer" which means he handed out papers for political candidates door-to-door. He was a state legislator for a few years, but wrote no legislation or got any passed. He got elected Senator because the person who ran against him had to quit the race and then the substitute candidate is a radical. Mostly, people voted for Obama because the politics in Illinois is corrupt and people feel sorry for a Black man. People feel guilty about being so racist against Blacks a long time ago. There was a lot of anger in the country against the conflict in Iraq and so he used that anger to get elected to the Senate, where he also has done no real work. He got there after the conflict started, so he can't be hated for voting in favor of it. It is getting better in Iraq in spite of what he has done to stop it. It would be a disaster to stop fighting now. Obama has never been in charge of any government and never had to balance a state or federal government. He knows nothing about how to fix the economy. He promises people he will give them government benefits that will fill their pockets, but has no way of paying for them because you can only tax people so much before the economy gets worse. That is not what is best for the country in the long run. He says he will tax only the rich, but what he would have to do to pay for all this is tax anyone who is making enough to have a spare dollar. He is almost a socialist or communist. We have never had any candidate for the president that is this extreme about the economy.
Obama is a butcher. He voted in favor of letting babies who survived an abortion die by withholding medical care. The legislation would have required doctors to care for a baby after it was born even if the mother wanted it dead. That is infanticide and killing a baby is murder. Obama is a radical extremist when it comes to the abortion issue. He is like Hilter when it comes to respect for human life. We already have a million babies die each year to abortion. Obama would defeat all the effort done in the last 30 years to stop the slaughter of babies.
Sarah Palin is to be praised for giving birth to her baby even though she knew it would be disabled. Her baby is the kind of baby Obama would have voted to kill.
Sarah Palin is the total opposite of Hilliary Clinton. She wears a skirt and lipstick. She is a real woman and mom. She loves her husband and family. She is in this race to serve, not to be famous or popular. She is not doing this to prove women are as powerful as men. She is more like the ideal American woman than Hilliary.
No person has all the experience needed to be president. Yet most of our presidents were governors of states, which is what Sarah is. Being a governor is a better qualification than being a Senator. For example, Ronald Reagan was the Governor of the state of California before he became President and Clinton was the Governor of the state of Arkansas. Governors of states are leaders, not just people who vote on legislation that was written by others. Governors of states have real responsibilies and manage huge budgets. Senators do not. In some ways, she is more qualified than McCain, Obama or Joe Biden.
However, McCain has been a Senator for a lot longer than Obama, so he is more qualified than him. McCain will be a much better manager of the economy than Obama.
Our country has been through times much worse than now, so I have hope that things will be better soon. What goes up must come down, and when the price goes down, the demand goes up. So what goes down will eventually go up. Our economy has done so much better since Reagan, that people forget how bad it was under Jimmy Carter (another former state governor).
Just as Israel was punished for its bad leaders, I fear what will happen if we elect such an incompetent, evil man as B. Hussein Obama. I am praying that the American people will make the right decision. In the news today, polls in 11 battleground states show Obama retains narrow lead as 78 Electoral College votes are still a toss-up. Sarah Palin has made the race for the White House nearly dead-level even.
Even my mom, who is a life-long Democrat, says she will not vote for Obama. She is offended that people say McCain is old at 72. She is 86, so 72 is young to her. That is an amazing change. A lot will depend on whether Catholics vote pro-life. The race is really just starting because most people don't pay much attention until the last 2 months of the campaign when the TV ads start. A lot has changed since it started almost 2 years ago. This race is going to be a lot of mud slinging, dirty politics.
In other news, I am hoping the Pope's visit to France will make more Catholics go back to church. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for the United States!
God bless,


Betty

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Sarah Palin is no ordinary pro-lifer.

Mona Charen says, "Sarah Palin is no ordinary pro-lifer. She is an attractive, intelligent, ambitious, successful woman who has actually lived her convictions." Something about Sarah Palin set them [the media] off before their own politically correct impulses ("Must Avoid Sexism") could inhibit them. By the ferocity of the response, you might have thought Palin was a secret member of a polygamous cult or had forced her daughter to give birth after a rape. But no, she was just the mother of five, hunting, fishing, NRA member, and governor.
"I wonder if it was that baby." Read the article at:http://townhall.com/columnists/MonaCharen/2008/09/09/is_trig_at_the_heart_of_medias_reaction_to_palin

Nancy Pelosi, when you don't know what you're talking about, would you please be quiet?
The Speaker's war with the Catholic Church has now spilled over to the Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has challenged when life begins. The Roman Catholic Church says life begins at conception. The Speaker, who claims she is an ardent Catholic, says down through the years the Catholic Church has not been able to agree when life begins. Church authorities have hotly disputed her view. Now a group of Pelosi's fellow House Members has weighed in with a sharply worded letter, organized by Representative Thaddeus McCotter, of Michigan. McCotter is part theologian, part street-fighter. Clearly he is one of the most articulate Members who have graced the Floor of the House of Representatives. Read the article at:http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulWeyrich/2008/09/08/the_speakers_unusual_description_of_catholic_dogma
Her actions remind me of the old joke, "Don't confuse me with the facts." I surely hope she has not confused Catholics. At least her actions gave the bishops a reason to correct her.

Prime examples of liberal bias in the media: Newsweek's Anna Quindlen and MSNBC's Chris Matthews
Palin's a Tough, Smart Conservative Woman: Deal With It!
by David Limbaugh
Liberals excel in blinding themselves to their own biases and hypocrisy and blaming conservatives for their own sins, all of which they are showcasing in their frantic reaction to the Sarah Palin nomination.
Not only are they trying to destroy Palin. They are straight-facedly denying it and accusing Republicans of manufacturing this charge to exhibit phony sympathy for women.
Conservatives, after all, couldn't possibly be supportive of female Palin based on merit; it's just a political ploy to purloin Hillary voters. Liberal captives of identity politics just can't comprehend that neither gender nor race matters to conservatives. It's all about the candidate's political philosophy, approach to governance and qualifications to serve -- not those artificial constructs that liberals have exploited through the years.
Don't get me wrong. Palin's beauty and tough-as-nails femininity are refreshing icing on a delicious cake for conservatives, but if she were not demonstrably conservative, they'd be depressed -- not energized.
But you'll never convince the liberal press, which sees everything through the lens of gender and race consciousness and indiscriminately projects that propensity onto conservatives. Read the article at:
http://townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2008/09/09/palins_a_tough,_smart_conservative_woman_deal_with_it!?page=2

Phyllis Schlafly outlines reasons why the the Democrats' Platform is a bad idea from both a pro-life and from an economic standpoint.
We Can't Afford the Democrats' Platform by Phyllis Schlafly http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2008/09/09/we_cant_afford_the_democrats_platform
The past two presidential elections taught the losing Democrats a couple of political lessons. They learned that attacks on guns and defense of abortion are no longer winning issues for them, and this new awakening is reflected in their 2008 party platform adopted in Denver.
The platform grudgingly states, "We will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms." The powers-that-be in the Democratic Party have learned to tolerate a few pro-gun candidates.
Feminist pressure won't let the Democrats recede from their "proudly" stated 2004 platform position that "Abortion should be safe, legal and rare." This year's platform is just as pro-abortion, but uses slightly softer words, stating that the Democrats support "a woman's ability to make her own life choices and obtain reproductive health care, including birth control" (throughout nine months and with taxpayers' money, of course).
Proclaiming that "we will end the Bush administration's war on science," the Democratic platform promises to "lift the current administration's ban on using federal funding for embryonic stem cells." The genuinely pro-life Republican Platform calls for "a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes."
http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2008/09/09/we_cant_afford_the_democrats_platform================

Monday, September 08, 2008

The Demise of the "Sisterhood of Single-Issue Feminists"
If you listened very carefully to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s dynamic speech to the Republican Convention last Wednesday night, you could plainly hear the death cry of single-issue feminism. The nomination of Governor Palin, a pro-life feminist, for Vice President of the United States has put the final nail in the coffin of an increasingly discredited and narrow-minded worldview that believes that women cannot thrive in a world without unrestricted abortion-on-demand. Equally importantly, her historic candidacy promises to transform the tone and complexion of American feminism.
Read this article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28418

The Best Man Turned Out To Be A Woman
Ann Coulter
John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate finally gave Republicans a reason to vote for him -- a reason, that is, other than B. Hussein Obama.
[The media] claimed Palin was chosen only because she's a woman. In fact, Palin was chosen because she's pro-life, pro-gun, pro-drilling and pro-tax cuts. She's fought both Republicans and Democrats on public corruption and does not have hair plugs like some other vice presidential candidate I could mention. In other words, she's a "Republican." ....
As for former governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge and Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, the other also-rans, I can think of at least 40 million unborn reasons she's better than either of them.
Read this article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28370


A caller to the Rush Limbaugh program last week had a great insight. Sarah Palin, if elected, will be taking to Washington a baby that B. Hussein Obama voted to let a woman abort. What a contrast in values!
Freudian slip? Obama's "my Muslim faith."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/08/obama-mistake-on-being-muslim-seized-by-rivals/ST. LOUIS Sen. Barack Obama's foes on Sunday seized upon a brief slip of the tongue when the Democratic presidential nominee was outlining his Christianity but accidentally said "my Muslim faith."
The three words - immediately corrected - were uttered during an exchange with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week," when Mr. Obama was trying to criticize the quiet smear campaign suggesting that he is a Muslim.
Within one hour of the interview, anti-Obama groups had edited it out of context and were sending it around via e-mail. They also were blogging about it.
Mr. Obama, who is a Christian and often proudly speaks about how his faith has influenced his public service, said he finds it "deeply offensive" that there are efforts "coming out of the Republican camp" to suggest "that perhaps I'm not who I say I am when it comes to my faith."
The exchange came after Mr. Obama said that Republicans are attempting to "scare" voters by suggesting that he is not Christian, which McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said was "cynical."
Hmmmm!

Religion Remains Major Dividing Factor Among White Voters - Gallup Poll
John McCain has led Barack Obama all summer among highly religious white voters and continues to do so in the first three days of September, with no sign of change coincident with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110053/Religion-Remains-Major-Dividing-Factor-Among-White-Voters.aspx


Republicans’ Enthusiasm Jumps After Convention
[The Gallup] Poll finds that the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket has more than matched the Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket's convention bounce of last week with a "rebound" bounce, and in the immediate aftermath of the GOP convention McCain and Palin now have a slight edge over their opponents.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110107/Republicans-Enthusiasm-Jumps-After-Convention.aspx


Zogby Poll: Republicans Hold Small Post-Convention Edge
The McCain/Palin ticket wins 49.7% support, compared to 45.9% backing for the Obama/Biden ticket, this latest online survey shows. Another 4.4% either favored someone else or were unsure.
Pollster John Zogby: "Clearly, Palin is helping the McCain ticket. She has high favorability numbers, and has unified the Republican Party. The striking thing here in this poll is that McCain has pulled ahead among Catholics by double-digits. On the other hand, Palin is not helping with likely voting women who are not aligned with either political party. The undecided independent women voters decreased this week from 15% to 7%, but those women went to Obama. Palin is also helping among men, conservatives, notably with suburban and rural voters, and with frequent Wal-Mart shoppers, who tend to be "values" voters who like a good value for their money."
http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1548

Alaska National Guard Commander Praises Sarah Palin's Performance as Commander in Chief

Don't dismiss the fact that Sarah Palin is Commander of the Alaska National Guard-- consider this.

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It is on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter-terrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's and certainly by far exceeds Obama's.

She is also the commander-in-chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counter-terrorism plans.
Listen to this video:
http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2008/09/alaska_national.php

Friday, June 27, 2008

Archbishop Raymond Burke Leaving St. Louis
Pope Benedict the XVI has named Archbishop Burke to the Vatican's Supreme Tribunal of Apostolic Signatura in Rome.
The Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church.

The announcement was made at the Vatican.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=148943&catid=40

Archbishop Burke has courageously defended the truth about abortion, gay rights, and embryonic stem cell research, despite the attacks from the media. He has fought the good fight. The Archdiocese stands in his debt for his pastoral care and repeated smacking down of heretics, especially handling the problem at St. Stanislaus. I am sad to see him go, but he is too good for this town. He deserves a more prestigious position. May his successor be as brave as Burke was.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Presidential candidates and "the content of character"
I'm expecting a reaction from the Barack Obama campaign about the question of whether he is Muslim. I can see it now - a flood of anti-Obama sites and pro-Obama sites to deal with this question. This is a snippet from an e-mail I received this week that was refuting what Obama says in public v. what the truth really is:

7. *I Never Practiced Islam* - NOT EXACTLY, you practiced it daily at school,
where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until
your wife made you change, so you could run for office. 4-3-08 Article 'Obama
was 'quite religious in islam''
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60559
There is no doubt in my mind that Obama is Muslim by birth and training. It is hard to deny that. The question is how much influence will that have if he is elected President? I don't think it is a good thing to have this background if it means he would be soft on Muslim extremists. How can we know if that would be the case? I don't think we can. Obama has such sparse public experience that he is a blank slate. People don't have a complete picture of what kind of person he would be on this issue.
It is stupid to vote against him for this reason alone. It is also stupid to vote for him because he is Black. So this is the next question in evaluating Obama. Race doesn't make you better than anyone in the same way it doesn't make one worse than anyone. We were taught by Dr. Martin Luther King that we should judge people by the "content of their character", not the color of their skin. Race is neutral, despite what those who voted for him in the primary think. Here's another snippet from that e-mail:

6. *My Name is African Swahili* - NOT EXACTLY, your name is Arabic and 'Baraka'
(from which Barack came) means 'blessed' in that language. Hussein is also
Arabic and so is Obama.Barack Hussein Obama is not half black. If elected, he
would be the first Arab-American President, not the first black President.
Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother's side and 43.75% Arabic
and 6.25% African Negro from his father's side. While Barack Hussein Obama's
father was from Kenya , his father's family was mainly Arabs.. Barack Hussein
Obama's father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father's birth
certificate even states he's Arab, not African Negro). for more go to.....
http://www.arcadeathome.com/newsboy.phtml?Barack_Hussein_Obama_-_Arab-American,_only_6.25%25_African

If Obama is not Muslim and is, instead, as he claims, a Christian, then what kind of Christian is he?
He belongs to the United Church of Christ. We already know the anti-white racist teachings of his pastor, Jerimiah Wright. We know that Obama has cut ties to his pastor. But that leaves the question, does he subscribe to the kind of Christianity that teaches a moral code that is consistent with the 10 commandments and Sermon on the Mount?

This is what the official web site for the United Church of Christ says:
"The UCC has roots in the "covenantal" tradition-meaning there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members."
http://www.ucc.org/beliefs/
"The United Church of Christ is one of the founding faith groups of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
"
http://www.ucc.org/justice/advocacy_resources/pdfs/reproductive-health-and-justice/reproductive-health-and-justice.pdf

I believe this means the United Church of Christ does not meet the 10 commandments and Sermon on the Mount test. We know that people sometimes claim to adhere to a denomination, but don't agree with all the tenets of that faith. So we have to look to the individual to see if they are actually living what their denomination teaches. What is "the content of Obama's character?" Does his claim to be Christian hold water? That is the real question.

Abortion is my litmus test for any denomination or candidate. I can't stomach a person who thinks it is right to kill an unborn baby. That shows a deep character flaw, in my eyes. For me, this article says it all:
Obama is the Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/TerenceJeffrey/2008/01/09/obama_is_the_most_pro-abortion_candidate_ever

I rest my case. I have looked beyond Obama's religious affiliation and race. I have followed Dr. King's advice, so I can honestly say I could never give the slightest thought to voting for Obama. I may not like the McCain alternative 100%, but I will do my best to support him. I see too much to lose if I don't. The Religious Right would lose a war, not just a battle, if Obama gets to pick the next two Supreme Court justices.
How has it come to this? We have so few good choices for candidates for President. Is it because so few politicians have a clean enough record to survive the smear campaigns that our political system has become? Do we need to focus on building future candidates instead of discovering them?
10 commandments for future Presidential candidates (and for all of us, for that matter.)

  1. Value human life in all stages.
  2. Do follow a moral code.
  3. Be faithful to your spouse.
  4. Be a good dad or mom.
  5. Study macroeconomics.
  6. Don't do drugs or be an alcoholic.
  7. Don't be involved in corrupt politics or business.
  8. Get lots of real life experience that prepares you for the huge responsibilities of public life.
  9. Improve your character by working hard to accomplish something significant that seemed impossible.
  10. Help the poor improve their lot in life, not by giving them a hand out.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Archbishop Burke is vindicated. The local newspaper the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has been raking him over the coals for years, so I wonder if that will stop. I'm not going to hold my breath.

Vatican upholds declaration of excommunication for St. Stan Six
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/28/2008

The St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church
(Kevin Manning/P-D)

ST. LOUIS -- The Vatican has upheld St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke’s 2005 declaration of excommunication of the Stanislaus Six, the six lay members of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Church board who refused to turn over church property and assets to the archdiocese.
The board members were declared excommunicated after they hired a priest — the Rev. Marek Bozek — who had been suspended by his own bishop in the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau. Bozek was also declared excommunicated by Burke, but his appeal was not addressed by the Vatican.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rejected the board’s appeal of the excommunications, writing in a decree dated May 15, 2008, that "it is evident that the Board Members have committed the delict of schism by constituting St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish as an independent entity capable of appointing its own clergy apart from the hierarchy of the Church."

"In a gradual process the parish has been removed from the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary," the Congregation’s prefect, Cardinal William Levada continued. "This can be seen as an expression of the refusal of the members of the Board to subject themselves to the lawfully constituted Ecclesiastical authority."

Schism, the canoncial offense that triggered the excommunications, is defined in the Catechism and the Code of Canon law as "the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."

Catholic law says that only a bishop can appoint priests to parishes.

The board members were given 30 days to appeal the Vatican’s ruling.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/6F31FC0EDBC935E7862574570052E872?OpenDocument