Bailout failure: They call it Democracy!

"A bipartisan rebellion in the House killed a $700 billion rescue plan for the nation's financial system yesterday, "- Washington Post

Funny how the Post like some of the polititans in Washington is calling this a "rescue" when the American people overwelmingly know this is a bailout of the idiots of Wall Street. Speaking of idiots. How about that Nancy Pelosi? here are some of the money quotes:

"The Democratic side more than lived up to its side of the bargain," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "

Bargain my ass! Creating legislation to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money is not a bargain this was a bailout of Wall Street. The American people know it and they let their representatives know it in know uncertain terms.


"What happened today cannot stand," Pelosi said. "We must move forward, and I hope that the markets will take that message."


What can not stand ,Nancy? The will of the American people? Who flooded the offices of their Representatives with calls that this plan sucked? They call it Democracy for better or worse you and everyone else in Washington had better remember that!

BAILOUT: Hola suckers!

Nancy Pelosi said "The Party is over." but, for some the party has just begun. Nowhere in this trillion dollar bailout bill do I see that those sub prime homeowners who will be helped and bailout along with the banks have to prove that they are in this country illegally. Michelle Malkin

pulls back the curtain to show the 800 pound Gorilla sitting in the room where this bailout scam was negotiated here are the money quotes that will cost the American taxpayers:

It’s no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the
foreclosure wave – Loudon County, Virginia, California’s Inland Empire,
Stockton, San Joaquin Valley, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, for starters — also happen
to be some of the nation’s largest illegal alien sanctuaries. Half of the
mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers
with the shadiest credit histories.

I’ve reported on the rapidly expanding illegal alien home loan racket.
The top banks clamoring for their handouts as their profits plummet, led by
Wachovia and Bank of America, launched aggressive campaigns to woo illegal alien homebuyers. The quasi-governmental Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority jumped in to guarantee home loans to illegal immigrants.

The Washington Post noted, almost as an afterthought in a 2005 report:
“Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing major ethnic or racial group, have been
courted aggressively by real estate agents, mortgage brokers and programs for
first-time buyers that offer help with closing costs. Ads proclaim: “Sin
verificacion de ingresos ! Sin verificacion de documento !” — which loosely translates as, ‘Income tax forms are not required, nor are immigration papers.’”

Yes, Nancy Pelosi had it right "The Party is over. But, for groups like La Raza and the illegal immigrants and banks who have these sub prime loans the party has just begun. Meanwhile we American taxpayers are the ones who will be left to clean up the mess thanks to this bailout bill. Hola suckers!

Wall Street is selling it's sh$t! Guess who is buying it?

From today's Washington Post:

Congressional leaders and the Bush administration this morning said they
had struck an accord to insert the government deeply into the nation's financial
markets, agreeing to spend up to $700 billion to relieve Wall Street of troubled
assets backed by faltering home mortgages.

Yes Wall Street is selling it's sh$t and we tax payers are buying it! Hello suckers!

Full details of the plan were not immediately available.

That's because the devil was busy looking at it and try to find a way to climb into it.

There was at least one good piece of news the Republicans seemed to have been able to get the Democrats to drop their demand that suspect "social services" groups like A.C.O.R.N don't get hold of any taxpayer money since their record of corruption and voter registration fraud is one of the under reported scandals in this whole mess. Here is the money quote:

They also agreed not to dedicate a portion of any profits from the bailout
program to an affordable housing fund that Republicans claimed would primarily
assist social service organizations that support the Democratic Party, the
official said

Only time will tell how badly we taxpayers are being screwed by this legislation and those who negotiated it want this passed before the opening bell of Wall Street. So it looks like our time is up!

Bailout Barney Frank to the rescue! Of who?

As the saying goes "Fools rush in where wise men never go" so it was the Democrats and Bush administration officals like Henry Paulson who tried to rush this Wall Street bailout plan cooked up by the banks themselves through Congress this week. Now comes this irritating comment from Bailout Barney Frank in today's Washington Post:

"I am convinced that by Sunday we will have an agreement people will understand." -Barney Frank

Oh we understand Congressman Frank. We understand we taxpayers are about to be screwed by a bailout orchestrated by the banks and financial institutions like Bank of America to save their butts because of the bad sub prime loans THEY made.

No Boo Hoos for WAMU!

As the Washington Post reports:

"Federal regulators last night seized the massive, troubled mortgage lender Washington Mutual in the largest bank failure in U.S. history,"

J.P. Morgan submitted the highest bid in an auction regulators held Wednesday night, buying Washington Mutual's 2,200 branches, its $135 billion in remaining deposits -- and its vast portfolio of troubled investments in mortgage-related securities.

My my how could this have happened? As Diggers Realm reported a while ago here is an example of the kind of sub prime mortgage that Washington Mutual gave out:

"Soledad Aviles, an immigrant from Mexico with a 6th grade education who can't read or write English and makes $9 an hour, was approved for a mortgage of $615, 000 by Washington Mutual. It should be noted off the bat that Washington Mutual is one of many banks that accept the Matricula Consular ID card as proof of identity and which is easily forgable."

"Referred to a local loan broker by a trusted friend, he borrowed the entire purchase price of $615,000 from Washington Mutual at a high interest rate typical of sub-prime loans. The monthly payment, as he says he understood it, would be $3,600 -- steep for a glass cutter who made $9 an hour"-

Gee, What could go wrong here? Meanwhile Congress and the mainstream media continues to ignore exactly who these banks like Washington Mutual were giving mortgages to and why we should not be surprised how things turned out and why these banks deserve to fail and not a penny of taxpayers money should be spent to save them.

BAILOUT: The fix was in...

This BCP post from February is going into the I told you so file. All the hoopla about the administration officials coming up with this plan to buy up the toxic mortgages and bad sub prime debt and make us U.S. taxpayers pay for it is a bunch of B.S. The fix was in many months ago as I correctly predicted in February. It always seemed curious to me why the Bank of America would buy a failed mortgage broker like Countrywide with all it's bad sub prime debt. The answer is now clear Bank of America had a plan to unload that bad debt from the Countrywide purchase on us taxpayers from the begining. With the recently announced plan to have the government spend 700 billion dollars to purchase these subprime loans it looks like they succeeded. Here is exhibit A from my Post in February 2008:



"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 2/2008



That sounds very similar to what is being railroaded in in Washington this week. Just remember I told you so.

Stupid money and the common sense of mainstreet.

The Washington Post had an article today that looked at the feelings of some people in suburban main street communities who like me are not in foreclosure, who lived with in their means and did not borrow more money than they could afford when they bought their homes. Here are the money quotes:



"Ed Merkle, 58, as he pointed to the "for sale" signs lining his street.
But Merkle, a defense contractor, said he has lived within his means in an era of easy credit. He didn't take on a huge loan even when his bank encouraged him to dream bigger.
"I've been financially responsible with my own money. Why should I now be responsible for the fact that you were not?" he said. "



""If I spent more money than I have, I don't deserve to have somebody bail me out," said John Owens,"



"This may be a Main Street bailout backlash in the making. The details of the financial crisis are still hard for most people to follow -- what with talk of exotic "derivatives" known as "credit-default swaps" and so on -- but the central fact of the matter hasn't been lost on anyone in this Northern Virginia community: The taxpayers are on the hook for the bad judgment of others. "



Backlash indeed! I say bring it on and take it to Washington and Wall Street.

I woke up this morning and...

I woke up this morning and found this note on my pillow.

Somehow I don't think this is good news.

Media bias exhibit A: Jill Greenberg

When the Republicans want to provide evidence of bias in the mainstream media. They need look no further than photographer Jill Greenberg who was hired to do a photo shoot of McCain for an Atlantic Monthly article. Instead of doing the job she was assigned Greenberg went out of her way to make McCain look bad in the photos using various lighting techniques and then bragged about what she had done in her blog. There are many stupid people on the left you can now add Jill Greenberg's photo to that gallery. Here is the money quote:

“I left his eyes red and his skin looking bad…He had no idea he was being lit from below."

An Atlantic staff writer Jeff Goldberg had it right when he wrote that Greenberg had:
“disgraced her profession.”

Meanwhile Atlantic Editor James Bennet said Greenberg behaved improperly and will not be paid for the session. He said the magazine is also considering a lawsuit. As for Greenberg she last night published some of the worst photos of McCain on her website which is appropriately known as manipulator.com. However this idiot has now taken down the photo from her site. So much for the courage of her convictions.

Monday Morning do you know where your money is?

News today that Bank of America is going to buy Merrill Lynch both were participants in the sub prime mortgage meltdown that we tax payers are now paying for. How did this thing start? Bob can explain it.

Socialism comes to Wisconsin Ave.

So much for the Republican idea of free markets. Now that the Bush administration is using our taxpayer dollars to bailout Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the mainstream media refuses to look any deeper than the headlines to find out how this happened. This has all the look of a problem that is attempting to be swept under the rug. Here are some of the money quotes:

"There is no guarantee that the takeover will work, and it comes at a potentially massive cost to taxpayers. The government has pledged to inject money in the companies in any quarter in which they would otherwise be insolvent -- up to $100 billion in total for each company. "

How nice! No guarantee that after spending up to 200 billion that this may not work. If somebody in congress proposed such legislation would Bush sign it?

"Paulson also announced a separate program in which the government will start buying securities backed by mortgages -- $5 billion worth, initially. That will, in effect, subsidize the purchase of homes by lowering the interest rate that buyers must pay for a mortgage."

Why do we taxpayers have to be the only ones to buy these mortgage backed securities? Paulson should have made all those banks and institutions who gave out the loans to unqualified home buyers and illegal immigrants and then bundled them into securities be required to buy these mortgage backed securities on a 50 50 basis. Why not they caused this problem in the first place they need to share the pain of the recovery not just us taxpayers.

U.S. Taxpayers about to get smacked in the Fannie Mae

I traveled from St. Paul to Washington on Friday and opened the paper Saturday to bad news. It had all the earmarks of a taking out the trash news release. News that the U.S. Government aka the U.S. taxpayers were going to take over and bailout the two quasi private mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is real bad news that's why it is in the Saturday papers and on a day when a tropical storm was heading up the east coast. Hold on to your wallets as once again more money is flowing out to bailout people like illegal immigrants and others who should not have gotten a mortgage but, should not have been in this country in the first place.
Here are some of the money quotes:

"For years, they played high-profile roles in the political and civic life of Washington, hiring armies of lobbyists to help protect their unique status and, through foundations, giving vast amounts of money to charities large and small. That began changing with a series of accounting scandals beginning in 2003. The housing crisis raised more questions about their structure and operations."

Were was the in depth reporting of the mainstream press when this was going on? Following the antics of Britney Spears no doubt!

"It's a case where market psychology became more important than the fundamentals, and that's why they had to act," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee"

Huh? Fundamentals are good but, investors are scared so let the taxpayers pay billions to make sure these "investors" sleep well tonight but taxpayers will be paying for years. I smell something fishy going on.

Report from the Republican Convention

I've been here in St Paul for a week and have not had much time to blog or even do more than some walks around the XCEL convention center. Now that the Republicans have arrived and the convention begining there will be even less time. Things are starting to heat up on a number of levels. Security is getting tighter and we were advised yesterday to hide our credential when leaving the building because there were reports the more radical protesters aka anarchists were macing people and cutting the credentials from around there necks in an attempt to gain access to the convention. Stay tuned to see if they do succeed. I the meantime here are some images I took in the last week:

You knew security was tightening when last week you began to notice things like workers welding the manhole covers around the EXCEL center welding the manhole cover shut.

Last week the convention floor was filled with bags of ballons 100,000 of them before they lifted them up to the ceiling . I think one of the highlights for me at this convention will be when they drop them from the rafters it should be quite a show.

ALERT THE MEDIA!

The media has arrived! That's CNN's Wolf Blitzer with Bill Bennet and Donna Brazil.

Yesterday the delegetes began to arrive. It's about time to get this party started!

Guess where I am going?

A company I work for is sending me to help set up a communication system at the Republican National Convention site in St. Paul. I hope to be able to blog from time to time during the next two weeks from the location. Maybe even meet Juan McCain and tell him what I thought of the Kennedy/McCain Illegal immigrant amnesty bill. Well, it's time to pack and head off to the airport.

Obama/Biden in 08? I don't think so.

Well, the Barrack (the change messiah) Obama has made his pick for VP and it is Joe Biden. A good choice but it would have been better if you hold this team up to a mirror and reverse the choices IMO. None the less I still will not be voting for an Obama/Biden ticket. Mainly because Obama has already come out for granting drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Biden as a member of the Obama team will have to go along with this reward for illegal behavior. The Obama/Biden campaign seems to have forgotten the Grassly axiom: "When you reward illegality you get more of it!" But, some of us voters have not forgotten their positions like rewarding illegal immigrants for breaking our laws. Putting Biden on the ticket is not enough to sway this registered Dem.

Why am I not surprised

"WASHINGTON — Dropping her opposition to a vote on coastal oil exploration, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Saturday that the House would consider expanded offshore drilling as part of broad energy legislation when Congress returns next month."- New York Times

While Nancy Pelosi and her liberal dumbocrats continue to cave in on issues like this just like they have been doing on everything from the Iraq war vote, wire taping and giving immunity to the telcom companies. With this latest flip flop on offshore oil drilling we will increase and extend our dependence on oil and push back development of new technologies. As for me I spent yesterday doing a preliminary checkout of a new 48 volt solar panel I recently bought. I am not waiting for anyone in Washington to promote any "alternative energy" proposals. Especially not the weasel Democrats.

John Edwards: The lying lawyer Democrat

I get angry thinking that I might have actually voted for the lying lawyer John Edwards after he admitted his having sex with his f&^k buddy aka mistress. I am so sick of these elite Washington pols who screw up and ask for forgiveness after they are caught screwing people other than their spouse. Here are some of the weasel quotes from the lying lawyer John Edwards himself:

"n 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs."

What an idiot. If you believed them you never would have climbed in the sack with Rielle Hunter. You did not really believe them. Did you?

"I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public."

Well I can believe the last part of that statement but, the first is pure BS.

"I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby. "

TRANSLATION: As a lawyer I have not personally authorized payments to this woman, or anyone else who might be taking the heat because of my screw up. But, that does not mean that someone else might be doing it.

"It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry."

Ya think!

"In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up -- feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help. "

Beat you up? No reason to beat you up we the people should just put your picture the Hall of the Lying Sack of Shit Politicians and shut the door.

McCain's VP choice: Bloomberg

Not that I want to help the McCain campaign. But, after watching the cable news idiot pundits discuss all the choices for Vice President for both candidates as if they actually knew something. I thought why not play a hunch myself. If McCain were smart (and I do not think he is) he would pick New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Yeah, I know Bllomberg registered as an independent, But look at Joe Lieberman going on Meet the Press to be spokesman for McCain. This notion popped into my head yesterday when I read that Bloomberg was taking Spanish lessons which is just perfect for an ambitious politican who plans on Hispandaring for higher office in the future. The VP spot would be perfect for Bloomberg and the McCain campaign. It would give McCain a solid lock on the Jewish vote. Not to mention that both MCain and Bloomberg have no problem with illegal immigrants breaking our laws. Best of all for Bloomberg McCain will probably only last one term making Bloomberg a shoe in for a run for President in four years. Stay tuned!

New York Times at it again.

If it's Sunday it must be the New York Times with another liberal tear jerker article about illegal immigrants and down playing the cost of illegal immigrants to U.S. taxpayers. This time it's the story is about an illegal immigrant who changed his name and was involved in a traffic accident here in the U.S. The hospital bills to treat his injuries were over 1.5 million until the hospital sent him back to his family in Guatemala. Of course the lawyers and and church are now involved in suing the hospital over his health care. The Times once home to defrocked journalists who were making up stories now seems to be in the process of making up policy. Calling what the hospital did a "deportation". Hmmm and I thought deportations were the policy of the Federal Government. Or is the New York Times just making this stuff up again.
Here are some of the money quotes:
"The journey to Jolomcú is an arduous one, as Mr. Jiménez’s new legal team discovered when several members — a lawyer, a paralegal, a priest and a bioethicist — first traveled there to meet him."
Amazing what the lure of money from lawsuits will make some people do. Like make "arduous journeys" to foreign countries to find clients.
As usual in the New York Times articles you have to read all the way to the end to see that the "client" is not as brain damaged as the reporting and lawyers might have you believe.
"Much to the surprise of his visitors, Mr. Jiménez, despite his brain injury, could read. He smoothed out the yellow legal paper from Mr. Gaspar and began: “I am sending you some little things. Luis, I hope that you like them.”
At first, Mr. Jiménez read haltingly, then more fluidly. Later, when all his visitors had gone outside, he read the ending aloud again to himself."

I'm sure by the time his lawyers get through with him he will not be able to read at all. We shall see.

And the Democrats are dumber.

You do not have to look to far to see that there is really no difference between the insane position of the Republicans and the Democrats when it comes to offshore oil drilling. It seems when the oil industry speaks about drilling for oil off our coasts even people like Barrack "change" Obama listen. Here is exhibit A:

"Obama said Friday that he would be willing to compromise on his position against offshore oil drilling if it were part of a more overarching strategy to lower energy costs.-CNN

But, back in June Obama was speaking a different tune:

"When I'm president, I intend to keep in place the moratorium here in Florida and around the country that prevents oil companies from drilling off Florida's coasts," Obama told reporters in Jacksonville in late June. "That's how we can protect our coastline and still make the investments that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices for good."

The fact is if you listen real close neither Juan McCain, the Dumbocrats like Obama or the oil companies are promising that if the oil companies get the moratorium lifted to drill off the U.S. coasts that the oil found will be used to provide energy to U.S. consumers. I will put this little tidbit of information in the "I told you so file" for later use.
Meanwhile back in the oil company board rooms:

"HOUSTON -Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total SA wrapped up a string of gargantuan, record-breaking earnings reports Friday, a stretch in which six of the major international oil companies topped $50 billion in combined profit for the first time."

Hello suckers! Especially those who think voting for Obama means that there will be a real "change" in Washington.

Republican insanity

I was reading the Wall Street Journal article yesterday about how the Republicans are hoping to use drilling offshore for oil as an issue against the Democrats. Have they gone insane? First it was picking a candidate like Juan McCain who ignores the conservative middle class of the party base in favor of hispandering to the illegal immigrant vote. Now they believe that the American public will vote for them if they give the oil companies what they want which is more drilling offshore. They are just nuts if they pursue this track. They do not seem to understand that oil is not the future. We have as a nation failed to understand this during previous energy crises. That's why we are paying over $4.00 a gallon for gasoline today. Second even if the Republicans allow the oil companies to drill offshore that does not mean that the oil will be used here in the United States. We have been down this road before and it leads nowhere good. As they say the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. It seems the Republicans are insane if they think that more oil is a winning issue for them.

Something ain't kosher in Iowa and at the New York Times

The embattled grey lady of newspapers the New York Times has had a series of articles about the immigration raids in May at a "kosher" meat packing plant in Iowa by Julia Preston. It illustrates some of the reasons why the paper is losing it's credibility when it comes to reporting the news. Here are some of the money quotes from today's article:

"POSTVILLE, Iowa — About 1,000 people, including Hispanic immigrants, Catholic clergy members, rabbis and activists, marched through the center of this farm town on Sunday and held a rally at the entrance to a kosher meatpacking plant that was raided in May by immigration authorities."

Hmmm, the usual pro illegal immigrant activists protesting. But, notice no mention of "illegal immigrants" in this first paragraph. I guess the immigration raid in May swept them all up. Yeah right! Why are these "activists" protesting anyway? Read on...

"The march was called to protest working conditions in the plant, owned by Agriprocessors Inc., and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants"

Ah there it is. Everything was fine as long as the illegal immigrants were allowed to violate U.S. laws, commit identity theft and get paid above minimum wage. But, now that the laws are being enforced and the illegal immigrants are being caught it's time to give the illegal workers legal status. Huh?

You need to read until the last three paragraphs to get quotes from people who really know what the immigration raids where really all about.

“It’s a felony when you take someone’s identity, and we think that needs to be out there when you talk about the supposed injustices against undocumented workers,” said Susan Tully of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organizer of the counterprotest."

Give the workers legal status after breaking our laws and committing felonies? I don't think so.

Back on land

I have spent the past three weeks on a sailboat away from computers, and mainstream corporate media TV, newspapers and radio. I did not miss them at all. My only communication was with fellow human beings I came in contact with and the marine VHF radio to listen to weather broadcasts. I am slowly working my way back trying to the land of nonsense and the political campaigns of Barack (change messiah) Obama, Juan McCain and the stupidity of those in Washington. It has been a couple of very calm and peaceful weeks. Though I suspect it will not take long more than a few days before I become outraged by the shenanigans of either the Democrats or Republicans.

The problemo Mr. Obama is....

"If the government can bail out investment banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to folks who are struggling on Main Street," Obama said

Nice words from Obama looking out for the "little people". The problem is Senator is that some of the people you are bailing out with U.S. taxpayer money may not be here legally and that is a sub prime problemo.

The Hispandering of Obama and McCain

"In back-to-back speeches to Latino public officials, John McCain and Barack Obama position themselves as devoted champions for Hispanics in hopes of luring support from the fast-growing and critical voting bloc."-Reuters

That includes amnesty and a path to citizenship for the illegals who have broken our laws. Hey stupidos! Why would you grant citizenship to people whose first act in our country is to break our laws. A recent poll had the question which candidate do you favor for immigration reform. Obama or McCain. I did not answer because there was no choice for "none of the above". Which is how I plan to vote in November too!

Hola Hamptons

I spent last week out on the beach in Amagansett. There were a lot of changes from my last visit there in the summer of 2007. The Amagansett Farmers market was closed and so was Gordons a long time restaurant in town. But, even more striking was my visit to the IGA Supermarket. Between the workers stocking the shelves to the primarily Hispanic customers. I felt as though I was shopping in a supermarket in Mexico not in the United States. Meanwhile in tawny East Hampton the illegals are line up all along Newton Lane. They sit on the fences right outside the playground. I wonder how long before some East Hampton liberals child is molested by one of these frustrated illegals waiting for work.

Oil suckers.

As I continue to drive in my 38 mpg vehicle. I got some amusement from the news that those who bought SUV's over the past few years now find themselves unable to trade them in. Because these gas guzzlers have nobody buying them. This is good news that perhaps we as a country will finally come down to the reality of "wants and needs". Until that happens those who still say they can not live without an SUV can kiss my gASS tank.

Remembering Russert

I was out working on my sailboat when I heard the news that Tim Russert had died. The local NPR station had just switched from it's classical music format to the nightly broadcast of All Things Considered. The headlines started with "one of Washington's most respected journalists had died". I thought immediately it must have been Helen Thomas the longtime elder icon of the Washington press corp. I was shocked that they started they mentioned Tim Russert.

What made Russert different from many of the other journalists in the mainstream media is his middle class background. There are far to few journalists today who have the sensitivity and common sense of the middle class. Tim because of his growing up in Buffalo the son of a hard working middle class sanitation truck driver understood what it meant to be middle class in America and never forgot it. He was more in tune with that segment of the American public than many of the others in the mainstream media. There are not many others in the media with the same sensibility. With Russert gone politics will not be the same, America will not be the same.

Bloggers: The new Sheriff in town

Howard Kurz in the Washington Post has the story of citizen journalist and blogger Mayhill Fowler who scooped the mainstream media with both Obama's "bitter" comments and Bill Clinton's comments on the Vanity Fair piece. Good for her at getting at the truth of some of these politicians runnoing for office. Here are some of the money quotes:

"Fowler is part of a new breed -- citizen journalist, liberal advocate, agent provocateur -- and her success has stirred questions about her methods."

How dare she get at the unvarnished truth instead of the sugar coated pundent filled one that the mainstream media provides. Stand back MSM there is a new sheriff in town.

"She is one of 2,500 people, from writers to academics to accountants, working with Off the Bus, a $200,000 venture launched by the Huffington Post and New Assignment, the brainchild of New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen. The idea is to unleash ordinary folks on the presidential campaign and give them a technology-powered megaphone"

The mainstream media journalists and editors had better understand they do not have a monopoly on the truth or are not the final word on what is news.

Once again: Enforcement works!

The Washington Post had a front page story yesterday about how Operation Streamline a Homeland Security enforcement program along the U.S. Mexico border is actually yielding some impressive results. It seems our Federal Government is finally getting the message: ENFORCEMENT WORKS! It is about time! Here are some of the money quotes:

Federal law enforcement agencies have increased criminal prosecutions of immigration violators to record levels, in part by filing minor charges against virtually every person caught illegally crossing some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to new U.S. data.

Officials say the threat of prison and a criminal record is a powerful deterrent, one that is helping drive down illegal immigration along the nearly 2,000-mile frontier between the United States and Mexico.

In testimony to Congress this spring, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that Operation Streamline "is a very good program, and we are working to get it expanded across other parts of the border" because "it has a great deterrent effect

Federal officials credit the program and other measures for contributing to a 20 percent drop in apprehensions of illegal immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border in 2007, to 859,000. That figure is on track to drop an additional 15 percent this year.

In areas where it has been applied -- which total about 500 miles, or one-fourth of the border -- Operation Streamline has slowed border traffic more substantially.

It's worked beautifully. Crime has dropped 76 percent in Del Rio, with the lowest level of illegal crossings they have ever seen," said Rep. John Culberson, a Houston area Republican who has worked with two border-district Democrats to promote the program. "Law enforcement is simple if you just enforce the law rigorously."

I tip my hat to Michael Chertoff and all those involved in enforcing this program along with BIG thank you. I am beginning to feel that our Federal Government is finally starting to do something about illegal immigration and it's a good feeling.