It appears that working for Obama will not only put you in good stead with God but gain you some badly needed credits at the University of Massachusetts. School officials have moved to rescind an offer of two college credits for students who volunteer for Democrat Barack Obama. This follows a Denver professor who assigned students an essay to write critical things about GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Chaplain Ken Higgins sent an email to students on Sept. 18 e-mail that stated: “If you’re scared about the prospects for this election, you’re not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day.” He then said that an unnamed sponsor in the History Department would give them two credits for the work, even noting “It is relatively (easy) to do late add-ons.”
The school has nixed the idea but declined to name the history professor.
In the meantime, Professor Andrew Hallam, apart-time English teacher at Metropolitan State College in Denver, wanted to see such work himself. He ordered students to write essays critical of Sarah Palin as a formal assignment. He tells the students to address “her body language, facial expressions, the way she dressed, what she said and who she pointed out or talked about in her speech. How do these elements form a ‘fairy tale’ image about Sarah Palin as a person and as a politician that the Republican Party may wish its members and the American public to believe?”
For the Denver article, click here.
For the full story from UMass, click here.
You’re absolutely right about the “boy who cried wolf” scenario that Bush is currently facing.
I understand no one wants to believe him, but there are smart people behind the scenes consulting on this crisis right now. Bush is scared and the last thing he wants is to leave the economy bankrupt, having that being blamed on him. In his mind he can win on the Iraq thing, and other stuff, but he knows an economic collapse would be a final nail in the proverbial coffin, and he is now listening to some of the right people. This bailout isn’t Paulsons. Its Greenspan, and commerical economists behind the scenes, telling Paulson and company what to do.
Besides, regardless of who you believe is giving him the information the bottom line its good information. Its a proven approach to this problem. So its good science. And the democrats are calling it bad science and people are believing them, instead of Bush, because of the boy who cried wolf scenario.
So its a good scenario.
Just remember though.
That last time that kid in the story cried wolf, he wasn’t lying.
😐
There really was a wolf.
CMM,
There are no “smart” people around Bush. If there are, they are never heard by Bush. If he had, or listened to smart people, we wouldn’t have had all of these scandals and problems during these past 8 years. What has Bush done to make anyone want to believe him. He has lied at every opportunity. At the very least, it is a bit of the Boy who cried Wolf situation.
Its sad to see that democrats talk a good game about being non partisan, but can never, ever, ever, take off their partisan blinders.
Its not Bush’s plan. Its smart people around Bush telling him what to do. The difference is he’s finally listening to them.
But its election time, so the democrats, including many in here it seems, would rather cause an economic collapse so they can blame it on the republicans rather than finally, work together for a bit, and get this economy out of the mud.
Gyges:
“I’m a Bronco’s fan.”
I may be a Giants fan, but that doesn’t stop me from deeming John Elway as the best quarterback that ever played the game.
“THE DRIVE,” and all those other 2 minute miracle drives, makes ya wonder who’s the patron saint of hopeless cases; St. Jude or St. Elway?
Rafflaw said…
Seondly, the talk of the foreclosure crisis isn’t what stopped the lenders from lending. It was the fact that lenders were sinkin already, in many cases, due to the subprime mortgage lending process. It never makes any sense to take what the Bush regime tells you on its face value
Yes, it is.
The only lenders that were struggling were the ones who bankrolled the bulk of their operations on Subprimes and ARMs, like Countrywide did. Thats where it began.
And what happened was people started crying wolf, talking about the mortgage companies collapsing, which they were not, just the Subprime giants, and even many of them were easily salvagable with a little forethought and some action last October when the collapse began.
Instead the democrats in congress, headed by Pelosi, Reid and others, saw this as an advantage. After all, history shows us that in a failing economy voters usually vote out the incumbent party. So they wanted the crisis to have teeth. And they gave it teeth, by showing theirs.
They began talking “investigations” and new legislation and “crackdowns” on mortgage lenders, all the while knowing that the effect such talk and threats would have, would be to effectively freeze the mortgage lending industry, which is exactly what it did.
That freeze in turn created a crisis for investors who had more than one property under SubPrime and ARM loans that they only intended on reselling and not living in. Many of these investors had half a dozen properties or more, and by February, when lending literally crawled to a stall, they were now starting to fall behind in their payments because they couldn’t sell the homes, and without anything selling, their capital dried up and they could no longer carry the properties. Believe me, as a part time investor myself, I can tell you 20 or 30 thousand a month in mortgages can really add up. Quick.
So what started out as a anticipated nominal increase in Sub Prime defaults got blown way out of proportion by democrats quick to pounce on Cheney and Grahams “new programs”, and the MSM ate it up. After all, if theres one thing that people lap up, is talk of “the big guy sticking it to the little guy”.
But what really happened, is some programs which weren’t that bad, got abused by some firms like Countrywide, and saw a marginal increase beyond what was expected in their default rates. And congress took that information and turned it into a crisis, freezing up the mortgage lenders which in turn made it impossible for investors to sell their investment properties which in turn created a glut in the housing market which in turn drove down prices making many people upside down on their notes which in turn caused more foreclosures when both people with devalued homes couldn’t sell them for the balance of their mortgages and millions of investors caught with properties they couldn’t sell because no one could get the loans.
That in turn caused an employment crash, where millions of workers who’s jobs depend on our housing market, either saw reduced income or lost their jobs altogether. Everyone from the realtor who has homes listed no one wants to see cause they can’t get a mortgage to buy them, to the carpenter working for the builder who is bankrupt because he built homes that he can’t sell, to the guy working in the factory where they used to crank out aluminum siding but now are into forced layoffs, to people at home depot who got layed off because of store closing because of the companies overall losses due to less building, and on and on and on.
Our economy was tied directly to the housing market. If you don’t believe me, go back and read Greenspans warnings for the last few years when he told us “our economy is propped up by our housing market”. Everything relied on the housing market and the democrats, or at least the democrat leaders, knew and exploited this. They know a people usually votes out the incumbent party in an economic downturn so they made sure that right before the elections, we were in an economic downturn.
No one wants to hear this pre election, but its true.
And finally Raff, with regards to your statement: “It never makes any sense to take what the Bush regime tells you on its face value”, I am just sad that you’d suggest I get my information from the Bush administration.
Why is it, everytime I disagree with the democrats in here, I’m accused of either listening to or supporting Bush?
I have spoken out on Bush ad nauseum, and none of that seems to matter. If I disagree with the democrats, or worse, call them on something that is in plain sight, then I’m listening to Bush.
I’m not listening to Bush.
I don’t listen to Bush.
I have never listened to Bush.
And I never would.
Thats a cheap shot, and you know it.
And my information Raff, is from my own experience, not from Bush, not from the DNC, and not from a blog. I lost a lot of money in the last year. A lot. A hell of a lot. And I know exactly why I lost it, and I know exactly what needs to happen to get it back, or at least, to not loose any more.
You’re reciting to me what the democrats and MSM are reciting to me on tv, so I assume its you getting your information from the democrat leaders, who are telling you that everyones defaulting and the industries bankrupt. Which is baloney.
The industries fine, its just the foriegn investors pulled out, devaluing our securities, so now, we have to value them, and back them, so that the world will like our money again.
Get it? Its not rocket science. And I’m not making s$it up to make a point. Real people are losing real money, and they’re not “greedy fat cats”. And if we don’t act soon, you’re going to get a first hand look at what the great depression looked like, as you line up with the rest of the people in front of your bank, hoping to get 60 cents on the dollar while you all lament about how the “fat cats stuck it to you”.
You’re sticking it too yourselves. Ourselves. The crisis is a mental crisis that is becoming a financial one. Its fear mongering, just like the republicans used to get us into a war.
Just kidding. You’re right about the blinders we wear for our home teams, which is why I don’t have a home team. Everyones out screaming right now about a financial meltdown because the democrats in congress started crying wolf and scared the lending industry into a freeze.
And of course that message passes along the internet in the blogs and such, and the MSM of course eats it up, and pretty soon, we do have an economic meltdown. Because we precipitated it. And I find a cold reception in progressive and liberal blogs whenever I point out that, because folks don’t want to believe it.
It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t vote for Obama. It just means we vote with one hand while keeping one eye open with the other, and remembering our wolves, benevolant as they may sound, are still wolves. They just have better sheep costumes.
What the hell are you two talking about?
That whole team should be sterilized!
Jill,
And why the Raiders are nothing but dirty cheaters.
Gyges,
I think what you wrote explains much of the incredible intellectual dishonesty on display, both by the right and the left.
Jill,
The problem as I see it comes down to how people watch football. I’m a Bronco’s fan. I identify with the team. Since I would never associate with anything that’s bad they can do no wrong. When the Raiders get penalties it’s because they’re dirty cheaters, when the Broncos do it’s because of a bad call or stupid mistake. When the 49ers have a bad season it’s because they suck, when the Broncos do it’s because it’s a rebuilding year (or decade).
Mike,
The lack of flexibility is certainly shinning through with the economic meltdown! You’re also correct about “bad thoughts”. We should be able to think whatever we want, nothing being out of bounds. I would hope we would then test our ideas out with others/reality and try to be as analytical about them as possible. (By this I don’t mean acting out cruel and hateful things on others.) But I do notice that groups seem to invariably have thought “no, no’s”. These keep questioning people in line and allow all sorts of bad behavior to continue within the group.
Jill,
It’s well-formed enough that I agree with you. Ideology in the end always allows authoritarian personality’s to hijack its’ intent in the service of their own ego’s. How else does Jesus become a Republican Poster Boy? While I consider myself of the Left it is because I believe in reforms like economic fairness, universal healthcare and civil liberty for all. I’ve always been left cold though by Marxists, Socialists, Libertarians, Objectivists, Fascists, Conservative Ideology, et.al. The only “ism” I subscribe to is Pragmatism. The problem with ideology is its lack of flexibility. The inability to change course in light of a current environment, due to inflexibility of permitted thought patterns, is in the end insanity rather than rational behavior.
Mike,
I’m working on this and would like to hear your thoughts. I think you’re correct about power being the driving force and ideology is just the vehical. But there seems to be an inherent authoritarianism contained in most ideologies that allows them to be used by unscrupulous people. If that authoritarianism wasn’t there, power mad people would just find another ideology that had it to use instead. But it seems like our society, and others, keep creating virtually the same authoritarian ideas in everything we come up with, old or new. So somehow we have to break that paradigm.
As you can tell this is not a well-formed thought on my part but that’s exactly why I’d like to hear the thoughts of others!
Herbert Hoover lost his 32 re-election bid not because he established the Reconstruction Finance Corp to bail out the banks, but because he established it 4 years too late.
After watching the country rot in a depression caused by bank failings for 4 years, and seeing his reelection hopes dashed, he finally did the right thing, and established the RFC and began pulling the banks out.
But it was too late as far as the public was concerned, who had to rot for 4 years under his miserable depression where he was, like you, busy “teaching those fat cats a lesson”.
Well, the fat cats learned the lesson alright, as did ALL the cats.
Everyone rotted under that decision.
When FDR took over in 33, and seeing the success of the Hoovers RFC, the first thing he did was institute his “bank holiday” where he created vast new powers of the fed to bail out ailing banks. Subsequently the Glass-Steagall Act created the FDIC, which federally insured deposits from the public and walla, the world liked our money again.
😐
Its not rocket science here. Its happened before, and both times it was resolved with a federal bailout. First with Hoovers Reconstruction Finance Corp, then with FDR’s Bank Holiday and the establishment of the FDIC, and in 89 with creation of the Resolution Trust Corp, which insured deposits of failed thrift institutions.
And it will work here, if we stop all the fear mongering and get about fixing it before more damage is done.
Rafflaw said…
You also state that giving the $700 billion to lenders to payoff the past due mortgages wouldn’t get the lenders lending again. However, they would have less past due loans and therefore more capital to lend. And, lo and behold, the people hurting the most just might get relief.
Wrong. I pointed out it would give the lenders immediate capital, but where do you think the lenders get the money for these mortgages? The investors purchasing securities that comprise the mortgages aren’t doing to it “break even”, like your plan would cause. They are in it for profit and that profit is paid for by your interest.
If we pay off ALL the mortgages in the US, you would overnight bankrupt the mortgage lending industry, because you would be robbing it of its only source of income. You’d be robbing it of decades of interest payments that value the securities that are our financial system.
It would be a foolish move, one that on the surface appeals to the average Joe, who says “yea, pay off my mortgage”, never bothering to think about what it would do to the banking system. OUR banking system. Which is heavily divested into those same securities that you would devalue overnight with your “take care of the little guy” plan.
That “take care of the little guy” crap is just that. Crap. Its a lot of hype coming out of the democratic congress to sour the public on anything that might cause an economic rebound.
As I said last night, a bailout is a time proven method of stabilizing the markets when banks are failing, and banks are failing so its what we have to do.
The democrats are busy making speeches getting people like you to buy into their hype, instead of pointing out to you that its their hype that precipitated this crisis, and that the truth is MOST of our mortgages in this country are good, and thus our economy more sound than they want to let on.
The pre-election fearmongering is what drove us into this mess, NOT Americans defaulting on mortgages. We over hyped an ANTICIPATED spike in defaults that was EXPECTED due to the new Sub Prime and ARM programs and that in turn scared off foriegn investors from purchasing securities backed by US mortgages, which in turn caused banks, who were relying on those devaluing securities, to fail.
The republicans play their base like a cheap plastic banjo at an Earl Scruggs concert. I find it ironic, that the democrats and liberals don’t notice when their leaders do likewise.
“Authoritarian right = fascism (e.g. Nazism)
Authoritarian left = communism (e.g. Stalinism)
U.S. under G.W. Bush = pure statism.”
Bob,
You couldn’t have stated it better and in a more pithy manner.
Jill,
I think Bob’s comment sums up your position and i agree that this is true. Where I get off the bus is that I’ve come to believe that ideology is a vehicle used by people who seek to dominate others. Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini and Franco are poster children for this. They used ideology in their quest for power and as their “raison d’etre” once it was achieved. To these types, beyond their sociopathic pathology, power is better than sex.
In politics the drive for power is the proverbial 800 lb. gorilla in the room. While greed also plays a major role, it really is an adjunct to power lust. Power motivates most politicians, even ones that I like, and getting, using and holding it trumps any ideology they hold. We are socially still quite similar to the Great Apes in our hierarchical structure. In the end good politics will never really make the world a better place, humanity learning to live without the need for hierarchy will, but that won’t happen soon. We will continue to reward leadership to those who lust for power and pray that they also have some innate decency and ethics.
rafflaw
1, September 24, 2008 at 7:44 am
CMM,
Even if the 50% increase in foreclosures is the correct figure and I am not sure on that
Its the article you quoted, not me.
Do the math. The article you provided provides the statistics and they factor 55 percent, not the 79 percent they taut.
And no, it is NOT a “huge increase”.
Thats the democrats hype.
Once more.
We KNEW they’d increase and this was to be expected given the new high risk programs. We factored this in, but now companies like this Realty Trak are putting figures out that the democrats including their followers, are tauting online as Prime loan figures when in fact, Realty Traks numbers include Sub prime and ARM figures as well as all sorts of peripheral data including simple warnings notices being sent.
And, of course at the end of the day, we have the real figures, which Realty Trak abrubtly quotes in the article you produced.
And those figures? Once more from YOUR article.
More than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some phase of the foreclosure process last year, up from about half a percent in 2006, RealtyTrac said
ONE percent of ALL U.S mortgages. So while everyone wants to cry “panic” and literally “shock” the markets, the truth is the vast majority of US mortgages are sound.
CMM,
Even if the 50% increase in foreclosures is the correct figure and I am not sure on that, that is still a huge number when you consider it was a 50%+ jump over a year that had big jump from the year before that. Seondly, the talk of the foreclosure crisis isn’t what stopped the lenders from lending. It was the fact that lenders were sinkin already, in many cases, due to the subprime mortgage lending process. It never makes any sense to take what the Bush regime tells you on its face value. They will and do lie about anything and everything. Paulson is trying to make a power grab at the same time he is making a money grab that will benefit his former company to the tune of 5 billions. You also state that giving the $700 billion to lenders to payoff the past due mortgages wouldn’t get the lenders lending again. However, they would have less past due loans and therefore more capital to lend. And, lo and behold, the people hurting the most just might get relief.
Sorry, one more point. I’d be amiss if I didn’t likewise point out that the upswing in foreclosures since last October has been due primarily to the Democrats in congress tough talk and cracking down on the mortgage lenders. They literally froze up the lending market, so what happened was out of state investors who bought homes to sell suddenly couldn’t sell them, and got stuck with 3, 4 and 5 homes or more. Quickly this can run a developer or investor into bankruptcy and all these mortgages go into default, further driving up the delinquincy rates. In fact Realty Trak figures do at least point out the geographically isolated inflated figures where pockets of investor properties went into default.
The fact is most people are still paying their mortgages, but investors cannot sell properties they got stuck with, so they go into default and drive up the foreclosure rates. Congress precipitated this crisis last October when they knee-jerk reacted to a noticable but anticipated rise in the foreclosure rates. They freaked out, locked down the mortgage companies and started launching investigations, bringing lending to a halt and in turn, freezing the housing market.
The best thing the government could do here is to get the mortgage lenders lending again, and thats what this bill could do. I agree there are details to be hammered out like removing the oversight clause but thats what emergency sessions are for. This is what the government is supposed to be doing in times like this. We give them hell for all sorts of stuff but this time they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
If we get the bill out now, before the damage gets too widespread, we might just yet salvage this sinking ship.
Or, we can mutiny and make the captain and crew walk the plank, so we can meet them on our shared journey to the bottom of the sea.