Filed under: American Elephant, Conservatism, Economy, Election 2008, History, Liberalism, Media Bias, News, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: Debunking Liberal Lies, Democrat lies, Democrats, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, John McCain, Obama
It’s about TIME!
After weeks of Democrats disingenuously blaming the housing crisis on Republican policy and their supposed deregulation, John McCain is hitting back with a new ad proving that it was Republicans who have been pushing to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and corrupt Democrats who blocked the reforms.
If you’re like me, and you don’t live in a battleground state, chances are you haven’t seen these ads. And considering the media isn’t about to cover this election fairly, ads like these are one of the few places most Americans can get a glimpse of the other side of the story.
It’s a powerful ad — especially since it stars Bill Clinton. It could be even more hard-hitting, but its a good start. It’s a 60 second ad, which makes it more expensive to air. If you agree, email the McCain Campaign, and tell them you want more ads like this. (And if you can, contribute so they can afford it.)
A good ad giving a taste of how a McCain/Palin ticket would address economic problems with solid conservative principles:
And another new ad, directly taking on Obama’s policy proposals and his dishonest portrayal of them:
And lastly, a few ads that have been out for a while that I either didn’t see, or that bear repeating:
Filed under: American Elephant, News of the Weird | Tags: Dogs, Human Interest
Florida man dives off pier, punches shark to save his rat-terrier, Jake:
ISLAMORADA — Greg LeNoir watched in horror as the shark’s mouth opened wide, chomping a large set of teeth on his beloved 14-pound dog, Jake.
”Noooooo,” LeNoir shrieked, fearing the worst.
But the case of the rat terrier vs. the shark has a happy ending.
”Jake’s doing great,” LeNoir’s brother, Phillip, said Monday. “And I still can’t believe my brother jumped in the water and punched a shark.” [read more]
We love dogs, and we love happy endings. What a heartwarming story.
(photos: Miami Herald)
Filed under: Economy, Election 2008, Liberalism, The Elephant's Child | Tags: ACORN, Democrat Corruption, Liberal lies, Sub-prime Mortgage Crisis
One of the big sticking points in the debate over the financial bailout bill has been the Democrat attempt to include more funding for ACORN. ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has been in the forefront of encouraging banks to make home loans to high-risk borrowers. Barack Obama was a community organizer with ACORN. Stanley Kurtz, a scholar and writer, is a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington DC. He writes about Obama’s dangerous connections:
What exactly does a “community organizer” do? Barack Obama’s rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here’s a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit.
In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes — and thereby force financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers.
In other words, community organizers help to undermine the US economy by pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans. And Obama has spent years training and funding the organizers who do it.
The seeds of today’s financial meltdown lie in the Community Reinvestment Act — a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.
CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in “subprime” loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.
ACORN has been at the center of vote-tampering schemes in past elections. It drew national attention in 2004 when its get-out-the-vote activists were implicated in many reports of voter fraud, particularly in swing states like Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Colorado Minnesota and Washington.
ACORN has worked closely with corrupt labor unions and its tactics resemble those of labor racketeers. An unusually large number of its critics describe the organization as a cult, demanding fanatical devotion from members, while exploiting their good will. ACORN actually sued California in 1995, arguing that ACORN should be exempted from state minimum-wage laws. Which seems particularly crass since ACORN’s mission is to enact “living wage ” ordinances. Discover the Networks has an excellent run-down on ACORN activities and agendas.
Stanley Kurtz goes on to describe Obama’s worrisome connection to ACORN:
It would be tough to find an “on the ground” community organizer more closely tied to the subprime-mortgage fiasco than Madeline Talbott. And no one has been more supportive of Madeline Talbott than Barack Obama….
In those years , he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN’s up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott’s drive against Chicago’s banks.
More than that, Obama was funding them. As he rose to a leadership role at Chicago’s Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation’s board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers — and Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift…
The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the intimidation tactics used by ACORN’s Madeline Talbott in her pioneering efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts….
In short to understand the roots of the subprime-mortgage crisis, look to ACORN’s Madeline Talbott. And to see how Talbott was able to work her mischief, look to Barack Obama.
To find out what community organizers really do, read the whole thing. It will show you why it would be beyond the pale for a federally funded bailout for this mortgage crisis to include funding for the group that contributed so much to creating the crisis.
Filed under: American Elephant, Conservatism, Economy, Election 2008, Liberalism, Media Bias, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: Debunking Liberal Lies, Democrat lies, Democrats, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Republicans
Republicans tried many times to regulate Fannie and Freddie. Democrats demonized and demagogued those calling for the regulations. Watch how they attack the Director of Oversight. Democrats said there was no problem. Democrats voted in complete party unison against reforms.
Here they are in their own words. See for yourself.
They were protecting their pet policy that caused this meltdown. They were protecting the Democrats who ran Fannie and Freddy. They were protecting their piggy bank.
They must be voted out of office.
Please share this video. Email it to friends and family. Post it. Send it to your favorite blogs.
(h/t VinceP)
Filed under: American Elephant, Conservatism, Economy, Election 2008, Liberalism, Media Bias, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: Bailout, Debunking Liberal Lies, Democrat lies, Democrats, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Obama, President Bush
Another video explaining Democrats complicity in the financial crisis. Notice the alternative media are the only ones covering this most important story. The most important story this election season and the “mainstream” media, desperate to drag Obama across the finish line at all costs, won’t cover it. Isn’t that the very definition of a lie of omission?
Please forward these videos and stories to the people you know — especially Democrats and independents — and ask them to forward them as well. Post them on your blog or myspace. Encourage others to circulate them. America seems poised to elect the very people who did this to our financial system so they can do it to our healthcare system and who knows what else.
Filed under: American Elephant, Conservatism, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Liberalism, News, Politics | Tags: Dan Quayle, debate, Henry Kissenger, John McCain, Lloyd Bentsen, Obama
Henry Kissinger slams Obama. The Weekly Standard has the exclusive:
Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.”
Of course McCain pretty much slammed him on the spot. Is there anyone who wasn’t reminded of Lloyd Bentsen’s famous response to Dan Quayle?
“Senator, I know Henry Kissinger, and you’re no Henry Kissinger.”
A devastating blow.
Filed under: American Elephant, Conservatism, Developing Nations, Economy, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Liberalism, News, Politics | Tags: debate, John McCain, Obama
Man that was quick. So quick in fact that they had the video out before Obama had finished praising McCain for being right. Apparently he said it 7 times total.
It’s essential to note, that while Obama has his talking points down about McCain being wrong about everything, when it comes down to the facts, Obama is forced to admit, over and over, that McCain’s position is the right one. And throughout the campaign, from the surge to meeting with foreign leaders, to going to Washington to work on the bailout, to Georgia, it has been Obama who has modified his position to match McCain’s — after which he inevitably claims that it was his position all along.
My first impression is that McCain won decisively. I was very aggravated at first as McCain seemed to be letting Obama get away with far too many lies, but as the debate wore on, it was clear that McCain was the one in command of the facts, McCain was the one who looked presidential, bipartisan, and ready to lead, while Obama came across as nasty, bitter, partisan, and as though he were reciting talking points rather than speaking from a thorough understanding and comfort with the issues.
McCain was calm cool and collected. Obama was aggitated, angry, barely civil and constantly interrupting. McCain seemed presidential, Obama seemed unprofessional. I was reminded strongly of Gore’s performance 8 years ago when he kept sighing and clicking his tongue every 2 seconds.
More to follow.
Filed under: Economy, Election 2008, Liberalism, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Democrat Demagogues, Democrat Spending, Dirty Tricks
Excellent video. It goes fast, so don’t hesitate to go back to catch things. It’s important.
UPDATE: YouTube has taken down this video — surprise, surprise — due to a copyright claim over the music used in the background. In other words, Democrats or the Obama campaign saw the video on Drudge, called Warner Music Group CEO, Edgar Bronfman Jr. , who just happens to be a MAJOR Democrat contributor, and told them to complain.
Hopefully the producer will cut out the music and re-release it. We will re-post it if we are able to find it.
In the meantime, please watch the second, also very important video. Be sure to watch all the way to the end for a word from former president Bill Clinton on who is responsible for the current financial crisis.
UP-UPDATE: The video has been re-released, with the offending music replaced with a less-effective classical soundtrack. The sound-bite from corrupt Chris Dodd was covered over by the music. But it is the headlines and visuals that are the most important part anyway. Watch both.
(h/t: Powerline)
Filed under: American Elephant, Cool Site of the Day, Domestic Policy, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Humor, Liberalism, Politics | Tags: Democrats, Liberals, Progressives
Liberals not only live in their own little world, they have their own little language. It sounds the same as ours, the words and syntax familiar, but is in fact entirely different. Normal people think they are saying one thing, but they mean something else altogether.
At no time is it more important to be fluent in liberalese than election-time, when such important issues teeter in the balance.
To that end, the wise and estimable Renaissance Guy has composed a field guide to the silly season — an invaluable resource for anyone who intends to vote. I highly recommend everyone familiarize themselves with his Liberal to English Dictionary.
Filed under: American Elephant, Economy, Election 2008, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: Democrat Corruption, Fannie Mae, Jim Johnson
Someone once defined character as what you do when you think no one is looking. In that case, Obama is in big trouble.
Everyone now knows scandal-ridden former Fannie Mae chairman Jim Johnson worked for Barack Obama as a financial adviser, big money bundler, and led his vice-presidential search team. The embarrassing results of that search aside, Johnson had to resign when his $7 million in sweetheart loans from Countrywide were plaguing the Obama campaign.
Since then, the housing crisis has blown up and McCain has been hammering Obama for hiring Johnson, who, at the head of Fannie Mae, profited by millions while the institution was cooking the books.
But it turns out that Johnson hasn’t stopped advising the Obama campaign at all. Apparently his being mired in two enormous scandals doesn’t bother Obama or the Democrats much. It will, however, bother Americans a great deal.
From the Politico:
Former Fannie Mae chairman Jim Johnson was dumped from Obama’s vice presidential search team, but he’s still playing a behind-the-scenes role on the campaign.
Former Senator Tom Daschle, a top Obama backer, emailed a select list this afternoon that he and Johnson would be leading a briefing intended largely for Clinton’s campaign brain trust next month.
“Jim Johnson and I have scheduled another informal breakfast discussion and update on the campaign early next month,” he wrote to a list including Senator John Kerry, James Carville, and Richard Holbrooke, as well as Clinton’s former top campaign aides, including Howard Wolfson, Geoff Garin, and Harold Ickes.
Johnson’s involvement comes at a moment when political association with the failed mortgage giants is particularly toxic. He was already the subject of a McCain ad attacking Obama.
The October third breakfast is also a mark of the continuing effort to bring the ex-Clintonites into the Obama fold.
I smell McCain commercials… At least I better!
Johnson not only stinks of corruption, but it has now rubbed off on Obama. Obama is the teenage girl who has been caught making-out with the boy her parents forbade her to see. There is simply no way to make this look innocent, because it’s so obviously not. There is no “plausible deniability” whatsoever.
Filed under: Domestic Policy, Economy, Election 2008, Humor, News, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, The Elephant's Child, Uncategorized | Tags: Economics, Financial Crisis, Humor, Political Correctness, Politics
It is always wise to consult more than one source. Experts will differ in their conclusions, and will express the problem differently, so listening to several experts will help your understanding.
(h/t: The Daily Bayonet)
Filed under: American Elephant, Economy, Election 2008, History, Liberalism, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics | Tags: Democrat lies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Yes! Democrats are up to their eyeballs in this crisis. Republicans warned about it, Republicans tried numerous times to do something about it, Democrats blocked them every time!
What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.
If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.
But the bill didn’t become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn’t even get the Senate to vote on the matter. We now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years. [read the whole thing]
This is important. Polls show Americans currently favor the very same Democrats who got us into this mess to get us out of it. The very same Democrats who promise more of the same, who promise to do the exact same thing to healthcare.
But polls also show 18% of voters are undecided. Dems are furiously telling them that capitalism, and the same Republicans who tried to reform Fannie and Freddie are the ones responsible for this crisis. Now is the time to make sure they get accurate information.
(h/t Powerline)
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Environment, Science/Technology, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Environmental Demagogues, Gas Prices, Global Warming
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats will allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week.
Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey is telling reporters that language continuing the moratorium will be omitted this year from a spending bill to keep the government in operating funds after Congress recesses for the election.
Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue after gasoline prices soared beyond $4 a gallon this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.
The Interior Department estimates there are 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath coastal waters now off-limits.
This is good news, but there is still a long rocky road on the way to actually drilling for oil.
The real problem is that environmental groups seem to believe that “alternative energy” can replace fossil fuels if they just shut off access to oil and gas. Wind and solar may never make a significant contribution to our energy needs. Biofuels have already significantly raised the price of food, and caused food riots in the developing world.
There are many promising technologies on the horizon, but they are far, far from ready for the market. The idea seems to be — and I am just guessing here — that if they just force us to develop alternative energy by bringing us close to freezing and starving, then we will pay attention and do what they want. That’s why they talk about “Marshall Plans” and “Apollo Projects” without any understanding of the difference between those programs and our present situation.
Call it the “Energy Gap”. Environmental organizations see “Global Warming” as their best chance to bring about the Utopian vision that is their goal which has much more to do with “social justice” and who is in control than with clean air and water.
England is now facing the Energy Gap. Their power structure is supposed to be shut down and replaced within the next 12 years, but the Greens are fighting any attempt to replace it, except with wind and solar. The climate stopped warming about 10 years ago, and has actually been cooling for the past 7 years. The sun has gone quiet, without sunspots for over a month. Many scientists believe that we are in for 20 to 30 years of cooling, at least.
Colder weather means greater energy needs. Colder weather means poorer agricultural yields. Far more people die from cold weather than from heat. Prudence says that you do what you can to prepare for the worst.
But true believers are not about to let prudence interfere with the possibility of permanently getting rid of evil, dirty oil and gas. It’s a strange mindset.
And if the whole basis of their argument is phony? If CO2 is not responsible for climate change? If all the fuss is for nothing because climate change is a natural process that has been going on for centuries? What if there is nothing that we can do that will actually affect climate? What if it was all a lie? What then?
According to Rasmussen Reports, 69% of voters support offshore oil drilling. Clearly that means the Democrats have decided that they must be responsive to voters, right? Well, never mind.
Nancy Pelosi is not going to miss a chance to mess things up some more. She is trying to attach her “Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act” (a euphemism if there ever was one) to the massive end-of-the-fiscal-year “continuing resolution to sneak it into law.
In spite of the charming name, there is no consumer protection in it. Instead it actually bans drilling in any places where we know there is oil or gas. It prohibits drilling within 50 miles of the coast, and prohibits drilling off her own precious California coast. Under the bill, legislatures would have to approve drilling off the state coast in legislation separate from acts of Congress. No encouragement for nuclear. And it will raise oil prices by taxing oil companies to the hilt. More subsidies, of course, for “alternative energy”. Sneaky doesn’t even begin to describe it.
If you want to get something done, you’re going to have to elect a different Congress.
Filed under: Developing Nations, Foreign Policy, Liberalism, News, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear, Politics, Terrorism, The Elephant's Child | Tags: Congressional Democrats, Democrat Demagogues, Dirty Tricks, Foreign Policy, Nancy Pelosi
President Alvaro Uribe of Columbia came to Washington this week to plead for a free trade pact. He didn’t come asking for very much — only that Congress keep its word on an agreement that will drop tariffs on American goods sold in Columbia. Columbia is perhaps the most valuable ally that America has ever had in Latin America.
President Uribe is looking for a chance to help his country develop as a democracy and prosper in a difficult region. The main result of the free trade agreement would be an increase in investments in his country, and an opportunity for America to sell more to Columbia. The more Columbia is allowed to develop and increase legal investment, the more it will help them to defeat terrorist groups and illegal drugs.
Last July, Columbia put its’ own men in harm’s way in a daring rescue of three Americans held hostage by FARC Marxist terrorists. For that, somebody should get a medal, let alone a trade agreement.
Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who killed the free trade deal last April, refused to meet Uribe, and did not even acknowledge a White House invitation to an event in his honor. Later, her staff complained that Uribe did not call her.
Pelosi has offered a variety of excuses, but the motive seems to be paying attention to the demands of Big Labor at election time. Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson, supposed Latin experts, seemed unaware of the message that their treatment of Uribe sent to the region.
But Governor Sarah Palin, who is supposed to be a foreign policy lightweight, asked to meet with Uribe on Tuesday in New York. Way to go, Sarah. At least someone knows how to behave when an important leader comes to our country. And she puts our country’s interests ahead of politics, as well.
