Proof positive that democrats are responsible for bank crisis

Have you been wondering who is responsible for the bank crisis and the failure of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac? Every voting age American should be required to watch this video. The video is from 2004 Congressional hearings about regulating Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. You will see Republicans pointing out problems and calling for more regulation of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. You will see Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and other Democrats denying there is a problem and criticizing the regulators and Republicans for trying to prevent the upcoming crisis. If this video doesn't make you ashamed to be a member of the Democratic Party, nothing will.
2004 Congressional hearing on Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac

Barack Obama's little shop of economic horrors

Barack Obama named Clinton's Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as his top economic adviser at the White House as head of the National Economic Council.

Obama described Summers as “one of the great economic minds of our time” who has “earned a global reputation for being able to cut to the heart of the most complex and novel policy challenges.” Link.

Larry Summers is one of the people most responsible for the failure of the banking system. He was a strong advocate of scrapping Glass-Steagall. He did this under the encouragement of Former President Bill Clinton who received large contributions from Wall Street. Repeal of this regulatory act led to the repeal of more banking regulations and the spiral into the crisis we are now in. He has named a flaming liberal, Melody Barnes, as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. These people will be working closely with Barney Frank, Maxine Waters and other Congressional democrats who are culpable in the economic crisis we face today. This is very much like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum.

CNN insists Gaza casualty video with fake CPR is real

This is just another example of why Al-CNN can not be trusted to deliver news from the Middle East. They are concerned with their global audience and have trouble maintaining their objectivity. Sadly, the same is true about CNN reporting news in the USA if there are political undertones.

CNN Says the Video is Genuine
Middle East | Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 5:04:03 pm PST

CNN insists that the Gaza video is genuine, and they’ve reposted it. This is their only response to the criticism that the “CPR” shown in the video is an obvious pantomime: Hat tip and link to Little Green Footballs.

Here is the video

Gaza war may be escalating

Israel has warned residents in the Gaza Strip that it intends to intensify its military action against Hamas.
Here is the video from the BBC

Five Somali pirates drown with their loot

I don't know if this was the work of God or Mother Nature, but I approve. There is a certain amount of justice to this story. It is good to have the bad guys get what they deserve for a change.

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD
5 Somali Pirates Drown With Share of $3M Ransom
Saturday, January 10, 2009
AP

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and port town resident said Saturday.

Pirate Daud Nure says the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden that ended Friday. Read more here.

Blagojevich impeached

The Illinois House finally got around to impeaching embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich. The vote was 114-1. One vote of "present" was cast by Rep. Elga Jefferies (D-Chicago). I guess she did that to honor President Elect Obama who often used that tactic. In the tradition of Former President Bill Clinton, Blogojevich is refusing to resign.

House impeaches Blagojevich
January 9, 2009 2:28 PM | 27 Comments

SPRINGFIELD---In a historic vote, the Illinois House has impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, directing the Senate to put the state's 40th chief executive on trial with the goal of removing him from office.

The vote by the House was 114-1 with one member voting "present." It marks the first time in the state's 190-year history that a governor has been impeached, despite Illinois' longstanding reputation for political corruption.

Rep. Milt Patterson (D-Chicago) was the lone vote against impeachment. The "present" vote was cast by Rep. Elga Jefferies (D-Chicago).

A spokesman for the governor said he won't resign. Full story here.

The Intifada is going high tech

The Palestinians used to only fire off inaccurate Qassam rockets that were cobbled together in their houses. They now have access to longer range and more accurate missiles manufactured in Iran and China. Access to this higher grade weaponry may have prompted Israel to act when they did. The expected lack of support from the Obama administration may have also played a factor.

Intifada Tech
The story behind the rockets that started a war
By Stuart Fox Posted 01.06.2009 at 3:16 pm 12 Comments

WS-1-E: A WS-1-E, a Chinese-manufactured rocket Hamas is known to possess, being fired from a truck. Courtesy globalsecurity.org

While it’s a safe bet that few Hamas members know the lyrics to “the Star Spangled Banner”, very little separates their activities from those witnessed by Francis Scott Key centuries ago. In what has become a hallmark of guerilla war, Hamas has used a mixture of low-tech weapons and simple tactics to stymie a technologically superior enemy.

On January 3rd, Israel launched a ground invasion of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, partly in response to rocket fire that hit deeper into Israel than ever before. During the Israeli occupation of Gaza, Hamas rocket fire consisted primarily of homemade rockets only capable of hitting the southern-most Israelis cities. After taking over the Gaza Strip in 2006, Hamas acquired the new rockets with the expanded range. However, the increased range doesn’t imply advanced technology.

“‘It's the "rocket's red glare’ rockets that we used at the battle of Fort McHenry in 1812,
said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org. “It's a solid fuel and an oxidizer, hot stuff comes out the back end, and there's an explosive on the pointy end. It's pretty simple.”

According to Pike, rocket technology is no different from any other ballistic technology, be it catapult, trebuchet or a thrown rock. Unlike, a missile, which changes direction as it flies, rockets are at the whim of gravity after launch.

The older rockets used by Hamas, the Qassam, were homemade projectiles assembled from whatever was handy. These rockets were more psychologically damaging than physically, and failed to produce significant casualties.

Recently, Hamas imported factory manufactured rockets from China and Iran. Based on a family of Soviet rockets dating back to World War II, these rockets have the range to hit many more Israeli cities, and their introduction help precipitate the current conflict. Full story here.

Democrats want to redo the bank bailout

Democrats want to redo the bank bailout. I must admit I agree with them on this one. We have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out banks and gotten nothing in return. There is no accountability of where the money has gone. In some cases, the money was used so one bank could buy another bank.This is certainly not what Congress or the American taxpayers thought would happen. Secretary of the Treasury Paulson is the worst Treasury Secretary in American history. He should face criminal charges for malfeasance of public office. Fortunately, half of the 700 billion has not yet been spent. I just wish someone besides Rep. Barney Frank would be in charge of redoing the bailout. I have no confidence in him. He is partly responsible for the mess we are in.

Obama team, Rep. Frank eye bailout fund overhaul
By Caren Bohan and David Lawder Caren Bohan And David Lawder Fri Jan 9, 8:22 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama and a key Democratic lawmaker revealed plans on Friday to overhaul the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund as a way to aid struggling homeowners and speed the flow of credit.

An Obama transition official on Friday confirmed that the new administration planned a broader approach for the second $350 billion of the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Some money would be aimed at stemming record foreclosures and helping cash-strapped local governments, which have been forced to cut staff and services.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he was planning to require money be devoted to housing. Aides said Frank's legislation, which would also tighten restrictions on the use of TARP funds by recipients, would demand about $40 billion for foreclosure relief. [nN09294312]

The efforts underscore growing dissatisfaction in Washington over the handling of the bailout fund by departing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Lawmakers have complained that his approach to devote the first half of the TARP money largely to recapitalize banks as a way to lessen the worst credit crisis in a generation has failed to slow soaring foreclosures.

"There's just no money that's gone in that direction. This one's not even arguable," Elizabeth Warren, the chairman of a TARP congressional oversight panel, told ABC News. "The TARP funds themselves have not been used in this way despite congressional statutes requiring them to do so."

A report from the panel on Friday also sharply criticized the Treasury's lack of oversight, saying there were "significant gaps in Treasury's monitoring of the use of taxpayer money," including failure to ask financial institutions to account for what they have done the funds. Full story here.