The Respectfully Republican Conversation

This is the part of Biden's comment that really scared me.  I'm still scrathing my head thinking, What the heck!       

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where [the crisis] might originate. And [Obama is] gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision.' Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

What is this man talking about!?  And I'm supposed to think he's ready to be the VP if something happens to Obama?  This doesn't make sense.  Or does it? 

Shirley

More, Rosemary.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16   FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005

The United States Senate

May 25, 2006

Section 16

Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

Quick Info S. 190 [109th]: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 Last Action: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably. Status: Dead

Rosemary, no matter what we post (facts instead of talking about "the troll" = John McCain) -- words out of the HORSES ASSES mouth people who are voting for Obama will not change their minds.  And they'll be damned if they would vote for McCain after everything they have said.  I don't care if that video came out that the LA Times has...if it showed Obama cursing this nation...they'd still vote for him.  Why?  Cuz we need a CHANGE!  And we need HOPE!  And YES HE CAN win because there are people out there who will not research, will not believe that Obama can be a dangerous person...and people MUST love Barney Frank the...I'm not going to call him a name right now..yes I am!  The IDIOT!  And, Pelosi, God help us.  What if something happens to either candidate and the VP...Pelosi would be president! 

I told a friend of mine (really one of my dd's friends) that I couldn't stand Pelolsi. I asked her if she knew why I didn't like her.  Her answer..hold your breath..don't laugh...her answer...because she's a strong woman!  I just about fell off the couch.  Pelosi is the most liberal....well, whatever she is..I hate to say "woman."  She was out TRYING (LOL) to sell her book..who wants to read her book is beyond me.  And, I love this quote..."I'm out to save the Planet!" 

I wonder if I'll be able to get food stamps?  I know people who have cheated the system and have gotten them.  Heck, I'd be caught and thrown into jail. 

Barney will not take any credit for messing up our economy...it's all Bush's fault although Bush warned us back in 2003 about this housing mess, but the dems would not listen and now look where we are.  No fault of the dems.  It's the republicans. 

I just hope some undecideds read this thread.  I hope it makes them think.  Makes them do their own searches. 

Still the frustrated woman in North Carolina.

Shirley 

You Can't Be Half-Socialist
By Michael Reagan
October 30, 2008

The other day I went to a Hollywood luncheon crammed with producers, directors, writers and other film industry notables.

One of them, Larry Gelbart of "MASH" fame, spoke telling the group that since capitalism has failed, why don't we try socialism?

Try socialism? Take a sip of it and see how it tastes? It doesn't work that way.

There's an old saying that you can't be half-socialist any more than you can be half-pregnant; get knocked up with a socialist fetus and you'll have to deliver a full-born Marxist. There's nothing in between. Try it, you'll like it, and if you don't, as the lads in the Gestapo used to tell people, they had ways to make them like it.

Larry Gelbart gorged himself at the capitalist table and came away with untold millions, now safely banked, and continues to collect even more millions from never-ending reruns of the "MASH" sitcom. Having made his bundle from our capitalist free-enterprise system, he seems to be telling us now that the rest of us should get in the socialist bread-line and eat crumbs while he feasts on caviar.

One of the realities of this age is that the great mass of the American people haven't traveled abroad to see how the rest of the world lives, a lot of it under dreary socialist regimes with stalled economies and no real chance for advancement for the ordinary citizen.

Moreover, our shoddy educational curriculum that has left most younger Americans so deficient in the study of history that vast numbers of them think George Washington was a Civil War general, or a lumberman who chopped down cherry trees. They have no real understanding of the economic system that allowed us to become the wealthiest and most powerful nation since the Roman Empire ruled most of the known world 2000 years ago.

Given that mournful reality, the moment the economic Rolls Royce engine that drove this nation to the top of the hill stalls, instead of installing new spark plugs to get it going again they go looking for an alternative mode of transportation.

In the present case, Obama and the Democrats are directing them to Larry Gelbart's used-economic system lot where he shows them a jalopy with a fancy paint job on the outside and a one-cylinder motor inside that goes chug-chug.

Listening to the advice of a man who made his name and his money on a show about America's military at war -- yet told the same audience that our armed forces are nothing but "mercenaries" -- doesn't seem the smartest thing to do.

We are now a few days away from an election in which one of the presidential candidates is trying to sell that jalopy on Larry Gelbart's lot and convince us that it is really a luxury limo that will get hundreds of miles to the gallon and carry us off to the promised land, where the rich will be impoverished and the middle class enriched and everybody will be deliriously happy.

Call Barack Obama's program socialism, however and he'll swear on a stack of Qurans it isn't. He calls it change. He says it's fairness, not Marxism.

Oh?

How does he explain the proven fact that he has been wallowing in a sty surrounded by fervent socialists and sharing in their swill for most of his life?

According to Fox's Bill Sammon, his Messiahship recalled that when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles: "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully," he wrote in "Dreams From My Father," his memoir. "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists."

And that was his milieu for all his years in Chicago.

To anyone familiar with socialism, Obama's programs fit comfortably within the pages of Karl Marx's playbook, the root of which is the redistribution of the wealth, the key to the entire Obamian vault. What's mine is yours, and he's the middle man.

It's socialism lite and it can only evolve into socialism heavy. Remember, you can't be half-socialist, and Barack Obama knows it.

Shirley,

Hold on to our hats, because the Maxine Waters, Barney Frank's and Nancy Pelosi's will be right back in their seats in January.  One wants to throw money at us, the other wants to weaken us, and Maxine just wants to steal from us.  She was voted the most corrupt politician for 2 years in a row.  McCain will have his work cut out for him..  Obama will just go along for the ride, he's never voted against his party's wishes yet.  So I wouldn't expect him to start doing it now. 

The silent majority usually comes out on election day and they quietly take care of business.  I'm expecting them to bring us back to sanity again as they usually do.

Nancy, Good one.  I read that too.  Thanks for posting you "Obama girl trouble maker."  LOL  You weren't called a troll, were you?                           

Sherri:

Right on!!!!  You've said it all . . .   

Pat

This is a video with John Stossel...very interesting. 

Voting for Dummies 

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6009249

I saw John Stossel a couple of times saying that some people shouldn't vote.  I found his 20/20 piece on this on YouTube.  I forgot to watch him.  He also talks about health care. 

Some of these "voters" didn't know how many states are in the US..how many senators..Roe vs. Wade.......GOD HELP US!  It may be one's civic duty to vote, but one should try to find some of the facts!  

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5985719   

Maybe It's Your Civic Duty Not to Vote Should Uninformed Voters Be Casting Their Vote on Nov. 4? By JOHN STOSSEL Oct. 9, 2008- We keep hearing how important it is for everyone to vote and that voting is our civic duty. Celebrities like Christina Aguilera, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diddy and Dave Matthews urge everyone to get out and vote. And to help people vote, voter registration groups such as HeadCount deploy volunteers to sign people up. Watch John Stossel's "Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics" at 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17. HeadCount focuses on registering young people at rock concerts and music festivals around the country. During the concerts, famous musicians such as Eddie Vedder and Jack Johnson implore their fans to sign up to vote. Marc Brownstein, the bassist for the band The Disco Biscuits and a co-founder of HeadCount, tells fans to "please participate this year by casting your vote!" Brownstein and a friend, Andy Bernstein, co-founded HeadCount in 2004. "We do this because we want the kids to be a part of the political process," Brownstein said. Bernstein added, "We registered over 100,000 people. ... It is so imperative that this generation's voice is heard. And they are being heard." But are these get-out-the-vote drives entirely a good thing? "20/20" asked some newly registered young people some basic questions about our government. Some people were knowledgeable. "There are two senators from each state, making a total of 100," one young voter said. Another knew that "the Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the Constitution." But many of the young voters didn't seem very informed. Some didn't know how many states are in the U.S. or how many senators there are. Few could explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling upholding abortion rights. "Roe v. Wade is segregation maybe?" one new voter guessed. Another asked: "Was Roe v. Wade where we declared bankruptcy?" And still another wondered, "That was about a black person and a white person?" Brownstein said, "There's a lot of uninformed voters out there." So should those uninformed voters just stay home? "It's an argument that really, really smacks against everything we hold dear as Americans," Bernstein said. "Democracy is not about taking ... the most educated portion of the society and having them decide," Brownstein said. But could these voters' civic duty be to not vote, because they know very little? "We don't believe it's their civic duty not to vote. We're out there telling them that it is their civic duty to vote," Brownstein said. Maybe it's not fair to pick on kids at a rock concert. So "20/20" moved on to our nation's capital and spoke to prospective voters on the Washington Mall. Certainly people there will know more, won't they? People were shown some pictures of prominent Americans, like John McCain and Barack Obama. Everyone recognized Obama and McCain. And maybe half the people knew who Sarah Palin was. But Joe Biden? Most didn't recognize the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Few recognized Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, yet almost everyone recognized television's Judge Judy. "Maybe 75 percent of people can name the vice president. ... The public's knowledge of politics is shockingly low," economist Bryan Caplan said. In his book "The Myth of the Rational Voter," Caplan argues that people who know little about our government ought to stay home on Election Day. But aren't Americans always told it's their civic duty to vote? "This is very much like saying, 'It's our civic duty to give surgery advice,'" Caplan said. "Now, we like to think that political issues are much less complicated than brain surgery, but many of them are pretty hard. If someone doesn't know what he's talking about, it really is better if they say, 'Look, I'm just gonna leave this in wiser hands.'" But isn't it elitist to say only some people should vote? "Is it elitist to say only some people should do brain surgery?" Caplan said. "The bottom line is, if you don't know what you're doing, you are not doing the country a favor by voting." Voting is serious business. Democracy works best when people educate themselves. So maybe instead of telling people things like "Rock the Vote," these groups should say "Rock or Vote." Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

I effin' give up. Carol Joynt reports on Washington goings-on, has a radio show on NPR (I think) and owns a popular Georgetown restaurant, Nathan's. She is a Democrat, and was reporting what she's heard behind the scenes.

We here have lived through several riots, demonstrations, celebrations, whatever~~~they haven't been good for the city. I thought Carol's message covered all sides. Apparently there is only one side who may say anything they please, however unpleasant. What a way to live.......

I'll still end with this link that I planned to post on a note of bi-partisanship, before I saw the accusatory post above. My heart is sinking at the thought of so much animosity.
 
Be  sure to watch this to the end when all the state flowers come  together as one.

 
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1221321706636&source=jl999    

Good luck, ladies.,,and gentlemen.

Daffodil, you should have left the post up.  If nothing else, people could read for themselves that it was giving a balanced report of the plans for dealing with crowds in the aftermath of the election, no matter what the outcome. 

One woman's nasty namecalling doesn't make it true. 

There were huge crowds all over Philadelphia and the surrounding area after the Phillies won the World Series last night.  The police anticipated that the crowds would gather, and were out in force to keep things under control.  Those crowds were not in any way angry or racially motivated, but the police have learned that when that many people gather in a highly emotional state, things can get out of hand, so they had a plan in place to prevent problems.  Appparently, the DC police have a plan in place for election night...no matter what the outcome.  That's a good thing.

I consider most of you good Internet friends.  I have know some of you for a very long time.  I don't post much here because I like Obama and respect your passion for McCain. 

If I misinterpreted Daffodil's post then you have my apology.  I read that as an awful racial statement.  I just go back to the thoughts that many cultures come here to read and if I was Afro American I would have been offended by "Rioting in the streets."  We can disagree with each other, and we will lol.  

Rosemary:  I was talking directly to Daffodil and not everyone else that comes here,  I do read what you all post and sometimes you make me think about what if.

Nicki 

Shirley,

I just voted today... 

I am way behind in reading these posts, but I just had to say this:

Shirley, you mentioned:

 If he was only with one suspicous fella perhaps that would not be alarming.  But put them all together and we're yelling FIRE an no one wants to put out the fire.

That is SO right!  When I was on jury duty for the state of Maryland, I was told to look at not just one or two details, but 'THE PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE'.

Well, I say that THE PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE  suggests that there is something fishy about THAT ONE.

Sherry,

I am also so VERY SCARED of that very thing:   GOVERNMENT RUN HOSPITALS!!!

Harley

Rosemary,

No, there were really no lines at all.  There was ONE man handing out a brochure with ALL the Republican candidates for us, to help make the selection of local offices easier.  There was NO Obama rep. there.   I hear that NC usually votes Republican, but I know that a couple of weeks ago, McCain spoke in Wilmington, because the surveys were showing Obama was very strong in NC.  The only people I know are voting for McCain.  In my neighborhood where I live, there are only two Obama signs in front of houses, and about 8 to 10 McCain signs. 

Rosemary, you're in Texas.  My brother's in Texas.  He said it was very pro-McCain there.  So, we'll see.

Harley, I haven't voted yet.  I did hear from a friend of mine who voted at the Senior Center that she was hearing some things she didn't like.  I will keep my ears open.  And, I won't be violent if someone starts on McCain.  I just get in back of the line...LOL...Not!

According to one poll Obama is ahead by only 3 points.  We'll have to wait and see what happens after his infomercial..obscene cost.  I just heard a commercial by Obama...this economy is all Bush's fault..forget about Waters, Barney and other's who sat on the board and poo-pooed the arguments and said Freddie and Fannie was doing just wonderful.  Why doesn't McCain use some parts of the YouTube videos proving what the dems had to say and the warning on how this economy could be affected?

Shirley

I just wish that my vote in Illinois could count.  If we could get rid of Chicago, the state of Illinois would be Republican.  We just can't beat that Chicago Machine which Obama is very much a part of.  I live in a town 85 miles west of Chicago and you would be hard pressed to find anything that has the Obama name on it.  When you drive though our town...you see McCain/Palin.  When you drive through the countryside you see all McCain/Palin signs.  Most of the farmers and small towns are for McCain/Palin.  It just stinks that we are colored blue every year without even hearing from the rest of the state.