Positive Obama thread

susan, there is video that supports my claim in regards to palin's aip membership made by the vice chair of the group. the los angeles time and the new york times have referenced this. neither have retracted their story. maybe sarah lied about her membership, it scertainly would not be the first time sarah lied for politcal purposes.

a look into sarah's ongoing in relationships with her aip pals; mark chryson, steve stoll, wally hickel, lynette clark, george clark show that "shirley's e-mail" is a little short on the full truth there.

i feel that sarah's aip pals that she surrounds herself, has taken favors from and put into jobs have some baring on both the way she has run her governorship and to her character.

it bothers me that she does not seem to understand the old addage, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and her attacks to obama's character on the ayres thing is troublesome.

...............

lap -  evidentally hannity did not come up with any october surprises tonight.

donna - lol thinking of you standing in the nascar stands booing bush.

amy - we are all in this together, eye on the prize...

madalyn - missing sarah's updo too

nicki - what a horrible message this send our college kids!

anyway.... we can do this ladies!

only 100 more days of bush!

susan - i wish i could attend a rally, nobody comes to california this late in the game, how wonderful for your mom!

Hi Ladies,

 Thanks so much for all the thoughts and hugs!  It was a very sad day yesterday.  Our poor Scooby battled cancer for about a year, and she was old too.  So, the vet came out, and we did put her to "sleep" in her bed.  I took her out in the morning for a few last rays of sun on this earth, which I think she really was happy for.  She always had happy eyes and she took in the sun for a bit.  Then I took her back in and she went to bed and then she went on.  We stayed by her side the whole time.  I kept thinking I heard her last night in the kitchen, and then on the front porch, but it was just my mind.  I miss her, but I know she is in a better place where she can run and play again.  I just miss her :-((  So,thank you all! 

Well, wow...so much has gone on here in the day I've stayed away!  I did see where that old woman got up at the McCain convention and said Obama was an Arab and McCain took the mic back from her.  Hhhmm..is he surprised that the republicans angry outbursts and lies are actually starting to work on the minds of their supporters?  I found it it interesting, and in no way feel that McCain is any better for what he said.  Personally, I think he must have felt embarrassed, and rightly so.  He and his soccer mom side kick started all of that, and here is where its gotten them.  I see there are non positive posts on here for Obama made by some republicans.  I'm not surprised at that.  I have never looked at their site.  No point.  We can assume it is as angry as they are on the media and at their conventions.  Again, just not worth our energy.  Don't let them get to you, remember, that's what they want.  They want anger and outbursts.  Forget it.  We are on a roll and no one is stopping our Obama!!!!  Here comes another week..so keep spreading the word!!!  Obama '08..its almost here!!!!!  :-)

Watch.

McCain is getting desperate. Look for big changes in his campaign in the next days. It's his only way to pull it out. He's going to ignore his "handlers" and be a kinder, gentler McCian. He's going "folksy" on us, which may just kill palin, but I wouldn't be surprised if they stop negative ads and go for the longer spots and town hall venues.

He HAS to redefine himself, or it's too late. Maybe it already is. I hope so. But you saw what a comeback he made before the primaries started. Yet, he may be too much in bed with the Rovians now. And people here and around the world are seeing the Palin choice as scary in the event of a crisis.

But I'm not at all ready to conced this thing to Obama, though I do remain optimistic!

Anne

O4P...no offense to the soccer mom's!!  My bad!  :-) 

Anne..Well, I do see this thing going to Obama.  I don't care if the angry troll pulls mickey mouse out of his ass, I think its a little to late to see him as coming from any happy place.  He keeps moving in a different direction as much as the stock market is.  To unpredictable.  It's not going to happen.  Obama is in! 

I did not see Biden's speech, and you are right, very under played as I didn't even know he was giving one!  I like him too!  They are both exactly what we need now!  Anyone who is playing any sort of a race card on this needs to take a good look in the mirror at themselves.  This is about what is best for America on a whole...not just the good ol' boys anymore!! 

O4P...I have a flag pole in my front yard and we have not had one flying for, I can't even tell you how many years now. But...I LOVE your idea!!  I am going to do that as well!!  I am going to buy one because I KNOW I will be flying it.  I agree the the republican's are going to try anything they can put there nasty little minds too.  No question. They will not concede to this victory like they will not concede to stopping the war!  If it were a closer race, I think we would be right to be worried about them fixing the polls again.  However, it is not close and it's not going to get close.  I'm sure the angry troll will start going off on his terrorist binge..this is what they are about.  Frighten the sheep so they will close ranks!  As far as them finding "intelligence"...good luck on that!  They haven't found it for 8years now, where's it coming from?  His brainwashed flock will probably not waiver far from him, however, anyone with any sense of what is right now, well..I think they will stray from the republican flock and come join us in the real world!

lap - are these santa ana winds something? hope you are well out of danger's way with the fires up there...

amy - great idea on the flag, count me in.

susan- if you want to know more about sarah and her aip pals that she has gone so far as to try and install in her administration,  google: salon, mark chryson.   

anne - i heard obama speak in ohio today and what stuck with me was his remark about how we are spending 10b a month to rebuild iraq and it is time we think about spending 10b a month on rebuilding ohio.

the crowd and i liked that very much.

little ggggggggggg: you betcha we are on a roll, and we are not going to stop!

count down indeed to the end of king george's reign and about fricken time!

what is it with sarahcuda in white all the time now, does she think she can fool us into thinking she is pure and not one that has violated the public trust?

see, i can not make a post without mentioning her....

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Hi girls,

I haven't had a chance to read through all the latest posts, but I wanted to share an article with you that ran in the Dallas Morning News today (and many newspapers across the country) regarding the truth about the roles of Fannie and Freddie, and the initiatives to provide home-ownership opportunities to minorities and lower income people, in the current crisis.  It's a little long, but it's a MUST read!   The next time someone tells you that the current meltdown is Clinton's fault (or Carter's fault, according to my hairdresser!) you will be armed with the facts, which tell a very diffrerent story:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53802.html

By David Goldstein and Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.

Commentators say that's what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They've specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie's and Freddie's financial problems.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Subprime lending offered high-cost loans to the weakest borrowers during the housing boom that lasted from 2001 to 2007. Subprime lending was at its height from 2004 to 2006.

Federal Reserve Board data show that:

• More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.

• Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year.

The "turmoil in financial markets clearly was triggered by a dramatic weakening of underwriting standards for U.S. subprime mortgages, beginning in late 2004 and extending into 2007," the President's Working Group on Financial Markets reported Friday.

Conservative critics claim that the Clinton administration pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make home ownership more available to riskier borrowers with little concern for their ability to pay the mortgages.

"I don't remember a clarion call that said Fannie and Freddie are a disaster. Loaning to minorities and risky folks is a disaster," said Neil Cavuto of Fox News.

Fannie, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., don't lend money, to minorities or anyone else, however. They purchase loans from the private lenders who actually underwrite the loans.

It's a process called securitization, and by passing on the loans, banks have more capital on hand so they can lend even more.

This much is true. In an effort to promote affordable home ownership for minorities and rural whites, the Department of Housing and Urban Development set targets for Fannie and Freddie in 1992 to purchase low-income loans for sale into the secondary market that eventually reached this number: 52 percent of loans given to low-to moderate-income families.

To be sure, encouraging lower-income Americans to become homeowners gave unsophisticated borrowers and unscrupulous lenders and mortgage brokers more chances to turn dreams of homeownership in nightmares.

But these loans, and those to low- and moderate-income families represent a small portion of overall lending. And at the height of the housing boom in 2005 and 2006, Republicans and their party's standard bearer, President Bush, didn't criticize any sort of lending, frequently boasting that they were presiding over the highest-ever rates of U.S. homeownership.

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

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

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

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

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

Conservative critics also blame the subprime lending mess on the Community Reinvestment Act, a 31-year-old law aimed at freeing credit for underserved neighborhoods.

Congress created the CRA in 1977 to reverse years of redlining and other restrictive banking practices that locked the poor, and especially minorities, out of homeownership and the tax breaks and wealth creation it affords. The CRA requires federally regulated and insured financial institutions to show that they're lending and investing in their communities.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote recently that while the goal of the CRA was admirable, "it led to tremendous pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - who in turn pressured banks and other lenders - to extend mortgages to people who were borrowing over their heads. That's called subprime lending. It lies at the root of our current calamity."

Fannie and Freddie, however, didn't pressure lenders to sell them more loans; they struggled to keep pace with their private sector competitors. In fact, their regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, imposed new restrictions in 2006 that led to Fannie and Freddie losing even more market share in the booming subprime market.

What's more, only commercial banks and thrifts must follow CRA rules. The investment banks don't, nor did the now-bankrupt non-bank lenders such as New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest that underwrote most of the subprime loans.

These private non-bank lenders enjoyed a regulatory gap, allowing them to be regulated by 50 different state banking supervisors instead of the federal government. And mortgage brokers, who also weren't subject to federal regulation or the CRA, originated most of the subprime loans.

In a speech last March, Janet Yellen, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, debunked the notion that the push for affordable housing created today's problems.

"Most of the loans made by depository institutions examined under the CRA have not been higher-priced loans," she said. "The CRA has increased the volume of responsible lending to low- and moderate-income households."

In a book on the sub-prime lending collapse published in June 2007, the late Federal Reserve Governor Ed Gramlich wrote that only one-third of all CRA loans had interest rates high enough to be considered sub-prime and that to the pleasant surprise of commercial banks there were low default rates. Banks that participated in CRA lending had found, he wrote, "that this new lending is good business."

I dont get to watch alot of television/news channels.  Usually when I get home from work I turn them on, but by that time its old news for my DH.  I was watching yesterday and saw a clip from speech that Palin gave.  Apparently she miss understood what her "fans" were yelling.  Stopped her speech and said some nasty back to them.  Her own loyal fans!  Almost reminds me of a dictator.

I did see where Obama stopped the crowd from booing.  He is a gentleman thats for sure.  Also heard that MCCain will change what he is doing for what is it now the umteenth time?  He changes his mind faster than I can blink.  All of a sudden he is going to be the nice guy!

LuAnn, I have to agree with you - but it's not just the melanoma's that scare me.  It his age (yes I know age discrimination).  So many companies make people retire at 65 so why is it we are willing to have a president who is older?  I have seen him have difficulty pulling out words, have seen tremors, and have a difficult time dealing with stress in general.  He made a huge mistake picking Palin.  Even some Republican Politicians are having issues with her.

Usually when I want to know what is going on, I come and read here.  Find out so many things.  I see there is a discussion going on about McCains health care plans and taxing health care benefits.  Most people dont work for fortune 500 companies.  I know that my employers would be delighted not to offer health insurance as it is costly to them now without the added taxes McCain is talking about.  I pay 7,000.00 dollar are year for insurance.  Can you imagine what it would be if I were taxed? 

If someone with a small business is concerned about Obama then it makes me wonder.  $250,000 thousand dollars a year is alot of money to me.  I would be living the good life shall I say? 

Some have actually said to me they understand why I like Obama and a democrat will always vote democrat no matter what.  Well those of you who know me from the get go on this political thread - I was a Hillary fan all the way.  I like to consider myself an independent and it took me along time to weigh in everything before I made my decision.  When I see Obama, I see change.  When I see McCain I see an angry old man with a rattlesnake for a side kick.

Nicki

Madalyn,

 I know how it feels to live in a state that the candidates don't feel it necessary to campaign in - everybody just expects Texas to vote red.  But, this time has been different!  Obama ads on TV, during NFL games, NASCAR races, in primetime on the major channels.

I was checking out the local news today and Palin is coming to my area to speak this week.  In fact she will be about 15 miles from my house.  I was thinking about going to the speech.  Although 11:30 am on a weekday is not a good time to reach the people who work.  Anyway, you have to contact the repub party to get a ticket to see her.  This is going to be an outdoor speech.

I personally want to watch her screw up and maybe boo a little bit.  Then when she asks me to thank our service members for their service which allows me to boo I'll let her know what my son is truly doing in Iraq and how the gov't hides what happens over there and see what she has to say.  Maybe I can even take picture with me of his living conditions.  No showers at all, he said maybe once a week he can get a shower in the sand.....they have one port a potty for when you need to do your business and a tube that is dug into the sand for when they have to pee.  Hope they have good aim.  I wonder if she is aware of these wonderful living conditions our soldiers are living in overseas that our wonderful repub president felt the need to get us involved in.

hmmm...I just might contact the repubs to get my ticket then go get my obama sign to take with me.