A Three-Fer

Oh look, a Three Stooges re-run - circa 1997:

Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system;

One hundred years later, the system is "overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist," Ayers said.

Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.

Comments

[chris]

Look, over here!! Obama's a radical!! OOOOOHHH!!

Never mind the economy and the fact that the geezer admitted that he doesn't know anything about the economy and the bimbo - well....

McCain 2016 - More experienced than eva!!!

[Fred Beloit]

"Lay off my wife."
Sorry but no. She has been on the campaign trail saying making you a candidate for POTUS is the first decent thing that happened in America in her lifetime.

From Dan's link: "Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center..." Oh, a double-dipper eh? A multi-tasker eh? One would have thought that Director of the University Community Service Center would have been a real 60-hrs a weeker. Guess not.

[Fred Beloit]

Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Wood foundation, The Joyce anti-gun Directory. Obama and Ayers, they fit together like piano keys. What about it chris? Do you have your decoder machine on?

[templar knight]

Yeah, Dan, focus on the economy. The ecomomy that was ruined by Obama and the politically-correct forces on the Left. And I'd sure like to know when Obama became an expert on economic matters, or at least something more advanced than theft, in which he and his cohorts are adept.

[chris]

The Fundamentals of our economy are still strong!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKGyhiE7SE

You guys crack me up!!

P.S - S&P is down 5% TODAY

[joeb]

chris you and jaime and jharp and spartan 112 really need to read this and get hip to the fact that it is BOTH parties that caused this economic mess.
This really says it well:

"Eyes Wide Shut!!"

Very informative perspective from Richard W. Rahn, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth.

SURPRISED BY THE OBVIOUS

Written by Richard Rahn

Wednesday, 24 September 2008

Are all too many in the global political class doltish, or do they just appear that way? The current financial meltdown has revealed an amazing number of revelations from people who were surprised by the obvious.

For years, liberal Democrats in Congress and some Republicans pushed for banks and other institutions to make home loans to unqualified borrowers, and suddenly we find many of these people cannot repay their loans.

The reaction from members of Congress, like the "surprised" Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is to demand investigation of "greedy bankers," while ignoring the fact that it was her (democrat) colleagues who created the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) that required the banks to lend to people who were poor credit risks in the name of "housing rights." A Chicago "public interest" lawyer named Barack Hussein Obama was active in this movement.

A majority of members of Congress seemed to be surprised that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became insolvent when many of the subprime mortgages they had been pressured to buy (by members of their oversight committees such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd) became nonperforming.

Some members of Congress (including John McCain) did try to pass legislation to limit the size of Fannie and Freddie, but it was blocked by - surprise, surprise - Rep. Frank and Sens. Dodd, Charles Schumer, Barack Obama, who just happened to have taken major contributions from Freddie and Fannie.

Mr. Obama was particularly surprised when some charged that his nonsupport of the reform legislation might have had something to do with the fact he was the second-largest recipient of campaign donations from Fannie Mae over the last three years. Oh my, how could we possibly think such a thing?

It only gets worse. Most members of Congress seemed surprised that voters think the huge campaign contributions many of them received from Fannie and Freddie might have something to do with the now all too apparent lack of congressional oversight of the two mortgage giants.

The endlessly surprised Mrs. Pelosi ranted against the "privatization of profits and the socialization of costs" in Fannie and Freddie. She must have forgotten that Fannie and Freddie was created and overseen by Congress, and staffed by political appointees (former Fannie CEO Franklin Raines was Bill Clinton's budget chief), and had an implicit (and now explicit) guarantee from the federal government.

Alan Greenspan seems to have been surprised to find out that when he kept interest rates below the rate of inflation, banks over-borrowed and were less careful as to how they lent or invested the money. This "surprise" occurred despite the fact many warned of the consequence.

Former and thoroughly disgraced New York Attorney General and Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his political supporters seemed to have been surprised to learn the company would run into difficulty when they forced out the very able and highly regarded Hank Greenberg as head of AIG (the world's largest insurance company) - on bogus charges of criminality (which have now been dismissed by the courts) - and saddled the company with less competent management and unwarranted huge fines.

Rather than protect AIG stockholders, the government raped them.

Political officials outside the United States are also endlessly surprised. For instance, the Russian prime minister seems to be surprised that the Russian stock market has fallen to half its value in May - just because Vladimir Putin has eroded the legal and property rights of private firms, invaded Georgia, and threatened other countries and outside investors.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems surprised that businesses and international business people are fleeing London just because he increased their taxes. He also seems to be surprised the flight has hurt the British economy.

The French, German, Italian and leaders of other high-tax states seem to be endlessly surprised that their citizens will go to great lengths to put their money in less punitive and higher growth economies elsewhere, despite increasing attempts to punish them for looking out for their own self-interest.

Predictable surprises to come: Mr. Obama, if elected, will be greatly "surprised" that his increased taxes on capital gains, businesses and higher-income individuals result in less revenue for government because of the downturn in economic activity and job loss that results from his tax increases.

Michigan's Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and his colleagues, including Mr. Obama, who are supporting greater restrictions on U.S. investment abroad and higher taxes on U.S.-based international companies, will be very "surprised" when their actions cause not less but more capital flight from the United States and more businesses to move or be formed outside the United States.

Some politicians are "surprised" at the obvious because they are ignorant. However, many more are "surprised" because immediate gratification, whether applause or votes, is more important to them than being responsible, and others are "surprised" because they are just plain corrupt.

Being "surprised by the obvious" happens in democratic countries because the media are too fearful, ignorant or biased to ask the tough questions beforehand, and because the population doesn't understand the second-order effects of political actions.

In the private sector, those with fiduciary responsibilities can be fined or even sent to jail if they are surprised by the obvious. Given the great suffering caused by the fiscal mismanagement by the political class, should not the private sector penalties apply to them?

Richard W. Rahn is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and chairman of the Institute for Global Economic Growth.

[Fred Beloit]

"P.S - S&P is down 5% TODAY"
Not surprised the market doesn't like the "rescue". Markets tend to not be crazy about socialistic endeavors by Congress. Unintended consequences are a bitch, right chris? Time will tell.

[chris]

BOTH parties, huh?? Sounds like the Jack Abramoff thingie where the GOP was calling it a "bipartisan scandal".

Sorry, no one is buying your crap. The party's over.

[Rambo]

The only difference between Bill Ayers and Timothy McVeigh is that McVeigh was a "successful" domestic terrorist - he accomplished his goal of killing innocent people to vent his anger at the US government.

CAN YOU IMAGINE IF McCAIN BEGAN HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN THE LIVING ROOM OF TIM McVEIGH??!!!!!!

[joeb]

ok chris I will play it your way. It was Bill Clinton and the Democratic party that started this housing bubble mess with the idea that everyone in America should own a home even if they could not pay for it. So you are right the party is over. And you are the loser. And a potty mouthed loser at that.

[chris]

I agree, I am starting to look like a loser.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=aSBMpHpjEucI&refer=home

The key thing is not to be as much of a loser as the rest of the market.

Anyone who has owned in Manhattan for 5 or more years is still WAY ahead.

[Worst President Ever]

I think Obama's going to trump any Ayres ad with Keating 5 ads.

Both parties deserve blame - but it was the idea that markets didn't need any regulation and would always go were core problems. Bundling mortgages into derivatives and leveraging them in double-digit multiples is where much of the blame lies.

It was Bush that talked incessantly about the "Ownership Society".

[Rambo]

Ayers is just the tip of the iceberg!

The mainstream media won't report most of the "knowable" information about Obama and his self-created, "self-packaged" biographic history.

Y'all strap in! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!!

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

"CAN YOU IMAGINE IF McCAIN BEGAN HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN THE LIVING ROOM OF TIM McVEIGH??!!!!!!"

No, numb nuts, but try to imagine a scenario by which McCain actually began his political career being bought and paid for by S&L crooks. Oh, wait, we don't have to imagine that, do we?

I love the desperation though: whining about Obama's tenuous links (that have been explored at length already), at a time of economic crisis, is good work.

[mary]

The VIX is 53+?

[jaime]

"Ayers is just the tip of the iceberg!"

Yep. Guess we'll be seeing that whitey tape.

Any. Day. Now.

[chris]

The fundamentals are getting stronger!!! John McCain is getting younger! Sarah Palin is getting smarter!!

[Worst President Ever]

It's the Economy, Stupid!

Dow Jones Industrial Average 9,572.47 –752.91 –7.29%

[ET]

By the way, what is the statute of limitations on the "blame Bush for everything" meme. Will we be in the 4th year of an obama presidency and still be hearing from chris, boob, harpomarxist, jaime the chick, worst poster and the stoner that the ongoing occupation in Iraq, the widening war in afghanistan and the slumping economy all have their roots in the bush years? Will these idiots ever take any responsibility for the action of their own fucked-up party?

Not so much.

[chris]

You 22% deadenders are still blaming stuff on Clinton 8 years out.

The fundamentals are strong!!!

[ET]

Asked and answered. Thanks chris.

[Philip McDaniel]

“chris you and jaime and jharp and spartan 112 really need to read this and get hip…
Good article, Joeb. But you’re wasting your efforts on the likes of chris, Jaime, jharp and spartan112. These are children – ignorant children at that – living in their parents’ damp basements, hunched over cobbled together computer parts. When they are not playing games, they are out and about on the Internet harassing adults. As such, they are sometimes amusing but mostly mildly annoying. Sort of like neighborhood dogs with tiny shrill barks. They are too small to be smacked down; their owners either deaf or uncaring so I guess they have to be endured. (I am reminded of popeyed Chihuahuas.)

If you want to know what an Obama regime would look like just take a look at the failed economy of Michigan and then look at the collapsing economies of California – highest tax structure in the US by the way -- and of course Massachusetts.

This is what you get when you apply social-progressive planning [read National Socialism]. One has only to look at the peripheral items, such as the recent You Tube video of the “Obama Youth - Junior Fraternity Regiment” to see where all of this is going.

As an aside to WPE and THC: One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Keep on insisting on McCain being guilty of some crime with the S & L mess. Everyone – and that means you two as well – knows that the only two persons not guilty of anything were John McCain and John Glenn. One a Republican and one a Democrat…a real democrat, I might add. Not one of the current crop – morons all.

[Worst President Ever]

"One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

I agree completely - voting in another Republican president would definitely be insane.

[Philip McDaniel]

Touché, WPE! We need another party...or a revamping of the Democratic Party to get it back to where it was just after the war...(That's WWII)

[Worst President Ever]

I'm for kicking the corporatists out of the Democratic party but preferably, both parties. There's been way too much, of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation in government. And too little, we the people.

[jaime]

"collapsing economies of California"

California's economy collapsed years ago. Why?

ENRON and energy deregulation.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Funny, California is an Obama paradise....businesses are punished, the wealthy are overtaxed, and the poor get free everything.

It's no surprise that Obama Democrats run the state and dominate everything. Want to see what the US would look like after Obama? Take a look at California's collapsed economy.

[SpaceCat]

And the meltdown of the right wing continues unabated. Is this really all you guys have got left to talk about? One last bit of guilt by association sludge? For people with as many shady associations as McPain and Quaylin, I'm surprised they'd want to go down this route. But whatever. Keep it up! It's working wonders. Maybe you can drive McSame's poll numbers down below 40% if you try just a little harder. LOL

[Spartan112]

"CAN YOU IMAGINE IF McCAIN BEGAN HIS POLITICAL CAREER IN THE LIVING ROOM OF TIM McVEIGH??!!!!!!"

McCain considers himself a close friend of his own domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy who is as equally unrepentant as Ayers. Liddy has held at least one fundraiser for McCain...McCain might want to get some windex for his glass house.

[mary]

chris, if you watched CNBC today you would have seen several financial types state that the economy is basically sound, it is the financial sector that is having the problem. So you can't just look at the market to judge the economy, you must look at many factors. I know a couple of guys who placed "big bets" today on that basic economy being fundamentally sound.

[seekeronos]

"--- McCain considers himself a close friend of his own domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy who is as equally unrepentant as Ayers. Liddy has held at least one fundraiser for McCain...McCain might want to get some windex for his glass house. ---"

Explain: how is G. Gordon Liddy anything like that bomb-tossing terrorist fiend, Bill Ayers?

[seekeronos]

"--- Touché, WPE! We need another party...or a revamping of the Democratic Party to get it back to where it was just after the war...(That's WWII) ---"

There is one already, and it is called the Constitution Party.

http://www.constitutionparty.org/

The Rev. Dr. Chuck Baldwin is its candidate for President:

http://www.baldwin08.com

[seekeronos]

"--- I think Obama's going to trump any Ayres ad with Keating 5 ads. ---"

Ya know, WPE... that McCain has about as much guilt with his connection to the Keating Five as Obama does to being a secret, closeted, al-Taqqiya practising Muslim?

[tally]

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5402

[tally]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=76758

[Spartan112]

"Explain: how is G. Gordon Liddy anything like that bomb-tossing terrorist fiend, Bill Ayers?"

Actually Liddy posed a much greater threat to democracy in the US with his actions on behalf of the Nixon administration.

"that McCain has about as much guilt with his connection to the Keating Five as Obama does to being a secret, closeted, al-Taqqiya practising Muslim?"

According to the McCain camp Obama's problem isn't that he actually DID anything bad with Ayers, but simply that he chose to know him and be friends with him...it goes to his judgment about who he chooses to associate himself with...doesn't the same apply to McCain? Keating was a family friend of McCain's. McCain showed incredibly poor judgment whether or not he did anything illegal, though the appearance of that is there too. Trips to the bahamas, 112k in contributions, flights on a private jet...John showed poor judgment in associating with criminals throughout his career. Keating, Liddy...

[mary]

Speaking of Senator Obama's beginnings, wonder why we haven't seen his wedding picture? Only mention this becasue a friend told me she saw a documentary about McCain and they showed a lovely wedding picture. She saw the same kind of documentary on the same cable channel for Obama and they had no wedding picture, wonder why?

[seekeronos]

"--- chris, if you watched CNBC today you would have seen several financial types state that the economy is basically sound, it is the financial sector that is having the problem. So you can't just look at the market to judge the economy, you must look at many factors. I know a couple of guys who placed "big bets" today on that basic economy being fundamentally sound. ---"

Yet it is that financial sector - where the big money (that never really had much value in the first place, being inflated and leveraged ninety ways to Sunday) that has everyone in (the financial markets particularly) having a full-scale panic attack.

It is by this CREATED panic that we are ushering in yet MORE tyranny, MORE regulation, and MORE protection of those few ultra-rich, and their benefactors in Congress, who have decided to try closing the door to wealth to the average man by breaking the banks.

Anyone with a clue and some knowledge of history can see that this is a re-engineering of what George Soros did when he broke the Bank of England, only far worse for us, given our national accumulation of debt and our inability to pay it off.

This is being done on a GLOBAL scale, to break down the banking system in order to create a clamorous demand for a global currency and a worldwide central bank, perhaps to give the UN and similar supranational entities the financial bite they have so far lacked.

[chris]

"Only mention this becasue a friend told me she saw a documentary about McCain and they showed a lovely wedding picture."

Is the picture of Grandpa and the wife he discarded or of him and the pill-thief?

[mary]

Wow, chris, you dems just porked up the bill with mental health stuff and you call cindy mccain a "pill thief". Nice, warm and fuzzy you are not.

BTW, he gets along great with wife #1. So what is your problem?

How come we haven't seen a picture of him and michelle? Is he not wearing a nice tux. Could he be wearing something that would give him away?

And, while we are speaking about it, where is militant michelle? If someone is going to be "first lady" then maybe the public should get to see them. You accused McCain of hiding Palin which he wasn't but it is really obvious that your man, barack, is hiding michelle.