Daily Archives: September 22, 2008

Great start to the week

Just perfect. Stocks finish Down 372 and Crude Oil Prices Up More Than $16. An example of why I hate Monday’s. This will be Yet Another bad week. On the Plus side: We did convert from Oil to Gas heat.

IMO: It’s just a bad idea

"Trust Me!"A little follow up to the “Bail Out” : Apparently, the Democratic Members of the House and Senate read the proposed Legislation (it’s not very long 3 Pages?).  Senator Dodd has proposed a version WITHOUT Section 8 (Seriously, it’s Section 8. Coincidence or do they just know it’s Crazy??).

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

As I mentioned before, I have really a big problem with this part.

Here is how I bet the Administration attempts to frame it: “The Democrats are UN-American and Hate the Ecomony!!!” or “WE have a plan. the Democrats have NOTHING!“. What do you think?

In any case, I bet the Administration will attempt to ram this down Congress throats.  Call me skeptical but whenever this Administrations cries about a “Dire Imminent Emergency!“,  I grab my wallet with both hands and wonder. The Economy is in trouble and does need help. The problem is, this Administration ALWAYS takes the “My Way Or the Highway” approach to “negotiating”.

I *really* hope Congress does NOT roll over on this.

Slight update: The NY Times has an informative article on this topic.
Another update: Here is Sen. Dodd’s bill on Politico. Sen. Dodd’s version reads:

SEC. 8. LIMITS ON REVIEW.
(a) IN GENERAL.-Any determination of the Secretary with regard to any particular troubled asset pursuant to this Act shall be final, and shall not be set aside unless such determination is found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not in accordance with the law.

(b) EXCEPTION. -Notwithstanding subsection (a), the terms of a residential mortgage loan that is part of any purchase by the Secretary under this Act shall remain subject to all claims and defenses that would otherwise apply notwithstanding the exercise of authority by the Secretary or the Corporation under this Act.

Which is quite different from the version the Administration wants.

Music I’m listening to now:
Mad World“, sung by Gary Jules from the Donnie Darko soundtrack album. You can see the video here.

Wow, Sen. McCain’s Campaign lies in multiple languages.

It’s just Shocking, I know. From the New York Times Blog the entry labeled “What’s Spanish for ‘Lies’?“:

Block immigration reform? The Democrats?

Mr. Obama opposing a path to citizenship?

Welcome to the night-is-day, down-is-up, world of the McCain campaign.

The NY Time Blog has the original video and a translation. I think the above video from “America’s Voice” says it all.  Being Hispanic, I sincerely hope the Hispanic Community doesn’t fall for this. Honestly, I used to have a lot of respect for Sen. McCain but I’m really approaching the point where I think he’ll approve and say anything to get elected as President.

Was Sen. McCain really the victim of dirty politics in the 2000 campaign? It would seem he learned the lessons well. He seems more than able to have his campaign use any dirty political trick, including a ‘Push Poll’ targeting Jewish voters. You might remember one particular ‘Push Poll’ from the 2000 campaign. Specifically:

South Carolina voters were asked. “Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” They had no interest in the actual percentages in the poll, the goal was to spread misinformation about McCain. The claim was particularly vicious, since McCain was campaigning with his adopted Bangladeshi daughter. The sight of the little dark skinned girl made the seed planted earlier grow and John McCain lost South Carolina, effectively ending his run for the presidency.

BTW: In Spanish, ‘lies’ is ‘mentiras’. I imagine the McCain campaign is fully aware of this.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.