The death of Dith Pran

Dith Pran the Cambodian man who survived and walked through the "killing fields" has died. He was Sydney Schanberg's interpreter by was left behind after the war (Vietnam) was over. He was the inspiration for the book THE KILLING FIELDS written by Schanberg.
He was an outspoken critic of the Pol Pot regime and when Pot died he continued:
"The Jewish people's search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people's search for justice doesn't end with Pol Pot,"

He died a Buddhist:
I want to save lives, including my own, but Cambodians believe we just rent this body," he said. "It is just a house for the spirit, and if the house is full of termites, it is time to leave."

The question of the day?

Ar least two dead in the Green Zone from rocket attacks. Bush out there talking about this being a test of the Iraqi government to control things. The question of the day:Is Baghdad burning?

Anatomy of a sub prime problemo.

The Washington Post has an article that belongs in the "Hola suckers" file concerning the sub prime loan debacle that we responsible citizens will be paying for. As is usual in liberal mainstream media papers like the Washington Post no mention is made about the legal status of some those involved. Use your own editorial judgment because you can't rely of those of the Washington Post. Still the article shows the problem that all of the rest of us RESPONSIBLE citizens will be paying for. Here are some of the money quotes:

"Looking back, Glenda Ortiz can see she did everything wrong when she bought her house in 2005."

Duh! When you do everything wrong. Guess what happens?

"Ortiz, who speaks little English, said she didn't know much about the U.S. banking system. So when a Mary Kay saleswoman, Maria Esperanza Salgado, came to her door and said she could help her buy a house, Ortiz said, she believed her."

What could go wrong here? Ortiz has lived in the U.S. for nine years and speaks little English? Perhaps if she spent a little less time watching Spanish language Novellas on TV she might have been able to read some of the documents she signed.

Exhibit A:
"She signed papers in English that she didn't understand. One said she was married to a man she didn't know. "

Uh huh. Well this must be a new law that I am not aware of.

"Erick Gutierrez, housing director for the Washington-based Latino Economic Development Corp., said is all too familiar. Gutierrez blames the government for allowing so many sub prime loans, such as Ortiz's, which required no proof of income."

Oh yeah, I blame the government too! But, unlike Mr. Gutierrez I blame the government for not making sure that some of the people getting these loans are supposed to be in this country in the first place. Of course there is no mention of this in the article.

"According to the Center for Responsible Lending, 40 percent of loans to Latinos are subprime, and it projects that one out of five of these loans made in 2005 and 2006 will go into foreclosure."

Of course not all of these loans to Latinos where being made to illegals but, no one in the mainstream media or our government seems to be asking the question of how many of these sub prime loans were given to people who should not have been here in the first place. But, we responsible U.S. citizens should be demanding that they do! After all we are paying for this debacle.

"She said she had become so depressed about losing her home that she stopped working for more than a year."

Hmmm stopped working for a year? I wish I could do that. How did she survive? Oh but, she has somehow managed to scrape together enough money to hire another lawyer. Hola suckers!

Richardson's racism and his Obama endorsement

SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president"- Washington Post

Yep some endorsement! Bill Richardson was the former Democratic Presidential candidate who thought that Alberto Gonzales should remain in the Attorney General's Office just because he was Hispanic. Some of these guys like Richardson even don't see their own racism. But, that may fit it nicely with Reverend Wright's endorsement of Obama too.

Just what we need?

We the people own the airwaves or so we are told. But. yesterday the Federal Communications Commission auctioned off a chunk of it and sold them to Verizon and AT& T and others for a total of $16 Billion. Though they are supposed to provide "openness" whatever that means for the system. Here is the money quote:

"The openness rules could encourage more innovation, such as better video access over cellphones or home refrigerators that automatically order groceries online over a wireless network, some analysts said."

They can keep the refrigerator that orders groceries and cell phone video. How about a being able to use a cell phone that allows us citizens to make doctors appointments to a healthcare system that is available to everyone at a reasonable price.

IRAQ: Five years later. The quote of the day

Five years after the start of the war in Iraq here is the quote of the day:
After a reporter cited polls showing that two-thirds of Americans oppose the Iraq war, Cheney responded: "So?" -Washington Post

Barack on the bus

Barack Obama gave an interesting speech on race yesterday in order to try and distance himself from the racist comments of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. But, instead of throwing him under the bus Obama said he will continue to ride with him. So much for Barack's "change" message. Here is the money quote:

"Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive," he said, "divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems."

So let me get this straight Barack. You listened to the "divisive" racial hatred messages that Rev. Wright spewed from the pulpit for twenty years but, never said anything to him about it? If you can't confront your Pastor with something you say you did not believe in how can we expect you to confront the problems that come with being President.

Just words?

It was interesting to see the Obamaites try and sugar coat Barack Obama's pastor Jeremiah A. Wright oratory regarding 9/11 and the United States. You had NPR's Michelle Norris on Sunday's Meet The Press trying to say that kind of talk is heard in Black churches every Sunday. Uh Huh. That may be and the pastor certainly has the right to say what he said. It may play well before the African American community who attends these churches. But, what revs people up in that community may not play well in others. It will be interesting to see how Obama addresses this issue. Because as he has said before speeches are not "just words".

White men can't jump but, we do vote!

Dan Balz in today's Washington Post has an article today on us neglected white male voters that the Obama and Clinton campaigns have just discovered. I am reminded of the Quicksilver Messenger Service song from the 60's whose refrain was "Ohhh What ya gonna do about me?" A Lou Dobbs Democrat like myself still remembers Hillary Clinton speaking at the illegal immigrant rallies and we also know that Obama supports drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. Just like Eliot Spitzer and you know what happened to him. Yes, perhaps we white guys can't jump but, we do vote. And all campaigns should remember that we don't forget either.

Eating the Bear

Last night I was on the Amtrak heading back to Washington D.C. reading the weekend Financial Times. There are a few articles about the Bear Sterns bailout. But, what struck me was the timeline one of the articles had. It traces the demise of some of these geniuses of Wall Street but, more importantly the amount of money we taxpayers have been pumping in to correct the mess so far:

Timeline

Jul 2007 Bear reports hedge fund losses of $1.6bn
Aug 5 Warren Spector quits as Bear co-president
Aug 10 Fed provides $38bn of liquidity to the market
Aug 17 Fed cuts discount rate by 50bp
Sep 11 Joe Lewis, a British billionaire, buys 7 per cent of Bear
Oct 4 Bear cuts 310 more jobs
Oct 29 Stan O'Neal ousted as head of Merrill Lynch
Nov 2 Bond insurers' troubles emerge
Nov 4 Chuck Prince quits as CEO of Citigroup
Dec 8 Joe Lewis raises Bear stake to 8 per cent
Dec 21 Bear reports Q3 loss of $859m
Jan 7 2008 Jimmy Cayne resigns as chief executive
Jan 21 Fed makes emergency 75bp interest rate cut
Mar 7 Fed injects $200bn into market
Mar 10 Bear shares start plunging
Mar 11 Fed delivers an additional $236bn rescue

Along with this money when you add the $156 billion from the "stimulus bill" you can see pretty soon we are talking about some real money that we fellow taxpayers are laying out because these masters of the universe of Wall Street never questioned the words "sub prime". And it's not over yet. File this under "Hola Suckers" taxpayers.

Money, Money, Money

Well the masters of the universe in the banking and financial industry who came up with these hair brained schemes like "sub prime loans" still do not understand that their universe is shrinking. Even as Feds try and make a silk purse out of a sows ear and the idiots of the finiancial industry still can not own up to their mistakes. Here are some of the money quotes:

"Taken in total, the effort seeks to cure three paramount failings behind the credit meltdown: Financial firms at each step of the securitization process didn't know what they were buying, didn't care as long as they were making money, and didn't have enough cash to cover mistaken bets."

TRANSLATION: I believe this is called mismanagment. And gee who is responsible for that? Oh yes the "managers" of these institutions.

"Unfortunately, you've got the brightest minds of both parties working night and day to come up with solutions, and so far there have been a lot more misses than hits," he said."

Ya Think!


"Paulson, a former chief executive of Goldman Sachs, also raised the hackles of some Wall Street bankers by suggesting they cut dividends to shareholders to raise their capital levels to cover potential losses. They said punishing shareholders was the wrong move for banks that are struggling."

So let me get this straight these bankers screw up up but, they don't want to punish the shareholders? OK how about these executives resign and sell their Hamptons houses, private jets and a only drive one car (without a chaffeuer) too. When they were making money were they giving any of the extra profits back to the rest of us taxpayers. I think not but, now that house of cards has collapsed they don't want anyone to pay for their bad decsions exept the U.S. taxpayers. I don't think so.

Spitzer and me.

I shook hands with Eliot Spitzer once. On November 14th 2007 I was standing in the security line to get into one of the congressional office buildings in Washington D.C. The news broke that morning that Spitzer reveresed himself on his plan to give illegal immigrants a New York State drivers license. Spitzer and his entourage arrived to give testimony along with Governor Napolitano to some congressional comittee. I called out to Spitzer as he entered the building shook his hand introduced myself as a New York State resident. I thanked him for reversing his position on the illegal immigrant drivers license plan. He said "Your welcome" and then went off to the hearing.
About a month or two later I'm on the Washington Metro and there is a guy sitting about two seats in front of me across the aisle. The guy looks exactly like Eliot Spitzer. I'm thinking to myself it could not be. The Governor of New York would not be riding by himself on the Washington D.C. metro. There would be some sign of security around. I thought maybe Spitzer might have had a brother who might work in D.C. a brother who looked like him who just happens to be riding the Red Line metro train. As I'm thinking about this the train pulls into a station and the guy gets off. Which just happens to be the metro stop closest to the Mayflower hotel.

Spitzer: On second thought...

I thought New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was an idiot for attempting to grant New York State drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. But, when he reversed himself and withdrew the plan. Well, I thought that maybe there was hope for him as he semmed to have heard and responded to the outrage from New York citizens to the plan. Then yesterday the bomb shell dropped the Spitzer was involved as a client of a prostitution ring. I think I was right the first time.

SNL removes Obama video cartoon?

I went looking for the Saturday Night Live site where a very funny cartoon has Obama doing everything he can to avoid people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as they attempt to jump onboard his political bandwagon. Apparently the power weasels at Saturday Night Live and the NBC network are so politically correct they have removed all traces of this funny video from the SNL website. Seems the Dems like the Bush administration like to remove things from the public so people won't see them. Where is John Stewart when you need him?

SNL UPDATE!It appears that the catoon has reappeared on the website. What happened? Server trouble? Or the power of the blogosphere? Anyway here it is:

Some Senators are listening to the American people

Michelle Malkin has some good news on illegal immigration

Today, U.S. Sens. David Vitter (R- Louisiana), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina), Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) announced the formation of the Border Security and Enforcement First Caucus.
The U.S. illegal immigrant population is the highest it has ever been. One in 25 residents currently living in the United States is here illegally. Over the last seven years, immigration has been the highest in history – 10.9 million immigrants arrived, over half of them (five million plus) without legal status.
The Caucus members recognize that Congress has presented the American people with a false choice in solving the illegal immigration problem – give illegal aliens amnesty or round them up and deport them en masse. The principle mission of the Caucus is to promote a true, achievable alternative: attrition through enforcement and border security. Living illegally in the United States will become more difficult and less satisfying over time when the government – at ALL LEVELS – enforces all of the laws already on the books."

Hmmm having our Federal Government enforce the law. What a concept!

William F. Buckley

William F. Buckley died at his desk yesterday in Stamford Connecticut. Our paths have crossed several times. One was on Long Island Sound. I was out alone in my 24 foot Bristol sailboat for a late season afternoon sail. I came across another sailboat and noticed a member of the crew looking at my boat through binoculars as I drank my hot coffee from a thermos. I waved and he waved back. As the boat passed I noticed the name and recognized Buckley and the sailboat he had used when he sailed across the Atlantic. He wrote about this passage in such books as Airborne. Sometime later I met Buckley on land and went up to him and introduced myself as a fellow sailor and said that our paths have crossed on Long Island Sound. His eyes widened as he said "Oh my Gawd, I hope I did not run into you?"

McCain's Univision connection

Mickey Kaus and others have dug a little deeper into Ms. Iseman Juan McCain's "friend"/lobbyist and it turns out she was also working for the Spanish language network Univision too! Gee, I wonder why McCain worked so hard on the illegal immigration amnesty bill last year. Could it be Univision wanted to make sure it did not lose it's audience here in the U.S.? Oh yeah and here is another interesting the money quote:
"Former Univision CEO, controlling shareholder and Iseman client Jerrold Perenchio is a National FInance Co-Chair of McCain's campaign.

File this under Hola Suckers.
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Running across the border and running drugs in the U.S.

Amar C. Bakshi has an interesting profile of an illegal immigrant who came across the border looking for work but, ended up running drugs and worse Here is the money quote:
"Three years later, he was running drugs along the California coast, pocketing six thousand untaxed dollars per month, and sending his family at least US$800 per week. Hector says he fell deep into an underworld and ended up an unwitting accessory to murder."-Washington Post

It's an interesting read that the pro illegal activists, church groups and open borders crowds may not want to you to hear about.

Another wheel falls off McCain's straight talk express.

"Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson yesterday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf". -Washington Post

Well now we know why Juan McCain hired D.C. power lawyer Bob Bennett. Let's see how this expensive legal counsel responds to this unfortunate piece of bad news for McCain.

"We understood that he [McCain] did not speak directly with him [Paxson]. Now it appears he did speak to him. What is the difference?"

Ah, maybe the difference Mr. Bennett is that someone is lying? Please Republicans someone slide the gun across the table to McCain. This is going to be too painful to watch. It's not too late to get another Republican candidate for us voters so we have a choice this election. One that was not picked by pundits, the media and party elites.

Bank of America's plan. Hola sucker taxpayers!

Yes the genius at the Bank of America are pushing a plan to help them out of the sub prime loan crisis. You remember Bank of America don't you? They are the geniuses who thought it would be a good idea to allow illegal immigrants to open up bank accounts with them. Then they went further and allowed illegal immigrants to get credit cards. Perhaps they should change the name of the bank to the Bank of Criminals.
Now these same corrupt banking officials have come up with a plan to help bail them out of their sub prime loan mess no doubt full of loans to illegal immigrants too. And guess who they want to be stuck holding the bag. Here is the money quote:

"Bank of America, which is in the process of acquiring Countrywide Financial and has potentially huge exposure, has circulated a proposal to create a new federal agency that would buy vast quantities of delinquent mortgages at a deep discount and replace them with fixed-rate federally guaranteed loans."-New York Times

Hola sucker taxpayers!

Sex, lies, lobbyists and John McCain's B. S. express

I was enjoying a nice piece of Talaipa with my homemade mussel sauce while watching Hardball on MSNBC last night. When Keith (BIGHEAD) Olbermann came on with the "breaking news" of Juan McCain's involvement with a forty year old lobbyist for the telcom industry. While MSNBC played up the sex scandal angle the Washington Post this morning has the more important details. Here are the money quotes:

"In the years that McCain chaired the commerce committee, Iseman lobbied for Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, the head of what used to be Paxson Communications, now Ion Media Networks, and was involved in a successful lobbying campaign to persuade McCain and other members of Congress to send letters to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Paxson. "

In late 1999, McCain wrote two letters to the FCC urging a vote on the sale to Paxson of a Pittsburgh television station.

"At the time he sent the first letter, McCain had flown on Paxson's corporate jet four times to appear at campaign events and had received $20,000 in campaign donations from Paxson and its law firm. The second letter came on Dec. 10, a day after the company's jet ferried him to a Florida fundraiser that was held aboard a yacht in West Palm Beach."

As much as it would delight me to see Juan McCain do a Bill Clinton "I did not have sex with... " moment. The big story is how easily the wheels will come off of McCain's "straight talk express" . And how politicians like McCain think the American people are dumb enough to believe that his getting free rides on the Paxson Corporate jet had nothing to do with his writing letters to the FCC urging votes on an issue involving financial gain to a Paxson. It's clear that despite all the polished image of John McCain as a crusader he is still a creature of Washington and instead of sending him to the Whitehouse he should be sent back to Arizonia ASAP. It remains tho be seen if those Republicans who jumped aboard the McCain bandwagon will continue to ride his B.S. express all the way to defeat.

I am woman watch me steal. Update!

From today's Washington Post:
"Federal authorities think that nearly $50 million was stolen in an embezzlement scheme run out of the D.C. tax office, more than double the amount they had previously uncovered, four sources close to the investigation said.

The corruption at the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue went undetected much longer than initially thought, the sources said, extending back almost 20 years. In addition to tracking the missing money, authorities are looking into gifts suspected of being provided to co-workers and others by the woman accused of leading the scam, former tax office manager Harriette Walters."

I only hope that our Federal Prosecuters get down to the bottom of this and other thefts of taxpayer money. Because people who steal taxpayer money are stealing from everyone of us.

Obama and the audacity of the ripoff!

Barack Obama had a Joe Biden moment the other day. When he ripped off a speech that Deval Patrick gave in 2006. Oh but, according to Obama it's ok because he and Deval are friends.

John McCain's Gary Hart moment

Diggers Realm goes where the mainstream media liberal pundits dare not go. Before the Republicans and Conservatives jump on the McCain bandwagon they should watch this:

Bush in Africa

"COTONOU, Benin - President Bush opened a coast-to-coast journey through Africa on Saturday by highlighting how U.S. aid can help a small western African nation like Benin develop and save lives. "- Associated Press

"Those dollars come with great compassion," Bush told Thomas Boni Yayi, the president of Benin. "We care when we see suffering. We believe we're all children of God."

Who exactly is this "we" George?


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The Death of Adrienne Shelly

The death of Adrienne Shelly by illegal immigration has finally come to an end. Adrienne Shelly a new mother, accomplished actress and up and coming woman director had everything to live for until....

"A construction worker who admitted he strangled an actress while robbing her in her apartment and then hanged her to make the death look like a suicide pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter.
Diego Pillco, 20, admitted he killed Adrienne Shelly, 40, in her Manhattan apartment after going through her purse. He was promised a sentence on March 6 of 25 years in prison. Pillco admitted to the court that he was robbing her when he killed her. He said he had eaten his lunch in the basement and was walking back up the stairs to resume working when he saw Shelly going up to her apartment.

He said he saw her apartment door was open so he stepped in and grabbed her purse. "When I was trying to put back the purse, the lady came out of the room," Pillco said through a Spanish language interpreter. He said she went through the purse and saw something was missing and she was going to call the police.
"I took the phone from her," he said. "Out of desperation I covered her mouth. I was scared and didn't realize what was happening. I saw a sheet, and I decided to choke her." The judge asked, "And you tied the sheet around her neck and strung her up?" "Yes," Pillco replied, "and I made it look as if she had committed suicide."
Pillco was arrested in Brooklyn after witnesses told police they had seen him working near Shelley's apartment."

"State Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman said Pillco, who is from Ecuador and is in the United States illegally, is subject to immediate deportation upon release from prison."

So that's what it takes to be deported! Somehow this story just does not have a happy ending for me and I am sure those who knew Adrienne.

Her memory can be honored by a donation to The Adrienne Shelly Foundation

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Cuban organized crime. Hola suckers!

Cubans immigrants over the years have received special treatment when it comes to immigration policy here in the United States. But, this special treatment does not seem to engender gratitude by some members of this community. Case in point:

"PHOENIX -- Forty-eight people accused of taking part in an immigrant trafficking ring -BCP MEDIA BIAS ALERT!: aka "illegal immigrant trafficking ring"] have been indicted on human smuggling and money laundering charges, authorities said. The group brought in as much as $130,000 a week moving people from Naco, Mexico, to its center of operations in Phoenix and then to destinations across the United States, Phoenix police Lt. Vince Piano said Thursday. Piano said the ring was believed to be one of the biggest operating in Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point into the country." -Washington Post

The smuggling operation of illegal immigrant according to authorities was run by two Cuban immigrants. Hola suckers!

The Stimulus Bill and the corruption that caused it.

President Bush and congress had their photo op yesterday with the signing of the "Stimulus" Bill. Since I have paid my bills and loans on time, saved money and had some investment and work income that will just barely put me over the threshold. I will probably not recieve a check from the IRS from this legislation. However, since the money for the refunds of the stimulus bill will be borrowed I will be helping to pay it back in the future. And they wonder why we taxpayers are getting so angry.

But, while the lapdog pack mainstream media is mostly drooling over the Roger Clemens testimony there are more important storys that deserve more attention from the media and we the people that are directly related to why the stimulas bill was even created. Luckily, Washington Post reporter Carrie Johnson has a look at the roots of this financial meltdown and the corruption that caused it. Here is one of the "money" quotes:

"FBI officials said yesterday that they are conducting criminal investigations of 16 companies, while their partners at the Securities and Exchange Commission are probing nearly two dozen more. Those federal investigations follow subpoenas from attorneys general in at least four states and class-action lawsuits that target home builders, lenders, credit-rating agencies and the banks that packaged groups of mortgages into securities. "


This is a much more important story than if Roger Clemens got needles stuck in his butt. I say to the FBI and Security and Exchange Commission investigators: GO GET EM!

Another Snow Job!

President Bush's former press secretary Tony Snow said on Imus this morning that Conservatives will need to go to McCain not the other way around. Uh, Tony who exactly needs votes to become President?

Bank of America, You've got to give them credit.

From today's Washington Post:
"Bruised by a rise in foreclosures, banks have been reluctant to lower rates for cardholders who have missed payments or had their credit scores slip, analysts and industry watchdogs said. Yet even some cardholders who pay on time have not benefited from the Federal Reserve's recent actions, as banks raise rates and fees to make up for losses in their mortgage departments, analysts said. "

Here is some more money quotes:

"Bank of America, for instance, notified some customers recently that their rates would increase as a result of a periodic review of their credit risk. "
Hmmmm Bank of America were'nt they the bank that .......
"In the latest sign of the U.S. banking industry’s aggressive pursuit of the Hispanic market, Bank of America Corp. has quietly begun offering credit cards to customers without Social Security numbers — typically illegal immigrants.
The new Bank of America program is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft. Most adults in the U.S. who don’t have a Social Security number are undocumented immigrants."

Bank of America. Higher standards? No! Higher rates.