Whole story please

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shirley Burnell, a community activist from Oakland, California, has been trying to get her subprime loan restructured since 2007.

She never missed a payment, but the adjustable rate mortgage she got in 2004 shot up to a monthly payment she could no longer afford.

The first thing I want to know is who held the gun to her head in 2004 and made her sign on to a mortgage she obviously couldn't afford in the first place.

Nobody was more stupid than I about home loans when we bought our first house on an adjustable rate mortgage over 25 years ago, but we knew enough to ask what the worst case scenerio on house payments could be. Before we signed we knew our income could survive that scenario; which of course happened within about 18 months. I have no sympathy for these people who signed up for more than they could afford.             

Sign this please

http://righttoworkcommittee.org/rprtwab_petition.aspx?pid=22j&gclid=CImx7pOg5KwCFQfsKgodrFKiLA

Goodbye Gary

I was liking this guy... till this.
The Examiner
12/2/11
Karl Dickey
Last night, Presidential candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announced during an on-line Town Hall Thursday night that he supports civil marriage for gay Americans. Having long supported civil unions for gay couples, Johnson's decision to endorse gay marriage is based on "a great deal of deliberation, discussion with the gay community, and a conclusion that government has no business choosing who should be allowed the benefits of marriage and who should not."
Announcing his support for gay marriage, Johnson said, "As a believer in individual freedom and keeping government out of personal lives, I simply cannot find a legitimate justification for federal laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, which ‘define' marriage. That definition should be left to religions and individuals – not government. Government's role when it comes to marriage is one of granting benefits and rights to couples who choose to enter into a marriage ‘contract'. As I have examined this issue, consulted with folks on all sides, and viewed it through the lens of individual freedom and equal rights, it has become clear to me that denying those rights and benefits to gay couples is discrimination, plain and simple....
Johnson's announcement came during an on-line Town Hall co-hosted with GOProud, an organization of gay conservatives and their allies.

Unemployment

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45521793
This was predictable. Watch for the drop after all the temporary Christmas help is let go.

George on the run

Amnesty International is calling for George Bush Jr to be arrested by whatever country he visits when he travels.
The world's largest human rights group said Thursday "there is enough evidence in the public domain" to justify Ethiopia, Tanzania or Zambia arresting the former president during his visit to the region on charges of committing "crimes under international law." The group last called for Bush's arrest when he was in Canada in October for an economic summit.
Looking back, We had Saddam Hussein arrested, tried and hanged for invading a sovereign nation (Kuwait) among other things.
I'd say that they have a case.

Thinning the herd

So now I read that thousands of people who refused to evacuate the Texas coastline after being repeatedly warned to do so in the face of hurricane Ike, are now begging to be rescued. Unfortunately that is what the Texas National Guard and other agencies will now attempt to do.
I say let 'em die, drown, rot or whatever. We can do without an extra 10,000 or 20,000 stupid people on the planet.

Smoke and mirrors

I am getting really tired of hearing about how well the "Surge" strategy in Iraq is working. Let me give you an analogy to better understand why it only appears to be working. The North side of Kalamazoo is generally considered something of a rough area with a higher crime rate than most, but I guarantee you if Kalamazoo were to post a police officer on every street corner there, crime would virtually disappear. Of course, just like you can't keep a cop on every street corner here, you cant keep Iraq flooded with soldiers. They have to leave sometime and when they do the whole thing goes right back to Hell in a hand basket. Now John McCain and the Republicans are suggesting we should look at our involvement in Iraq the same way as Germany, Japan, or Korea where we have had soldiers stationed for years. The subtle difference of course is that soldiers aren't being slaughtered at the rate of one or two a day in those countries. By the way, remember how Cheney sold this to us as a six month war back in 2003?