Simple Man Politics

Today I am going to write about something a little different than what I normally write about which as you all know is US politics. Today I'm going to write a little bit about politics and economies around the world in relation to the current economic crisis here at home.

As we all know the economy here in the US has taken a severe downward turn in the last couple of weeks and it has been at it's worst since the bailout bill was signed into law. This has prompted several governments to follow suit with their own versions of a bailout for their financial institutions. This just proves that America is the world leader once again because what happens here really does effect everyone around the world and if we don't fix this economic problem now that we have jumped in with both feet and committed taxpayer dollars to it we might possibly be facing a global recession.

In the UK they have instituted an 87 billion dollar bailout for banks. Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that the problem started in the US with irresponsible lending practices and has plunged the global financial markets to a point where it has ceased to function. PM Brown went on to say that the bailout in the UK could possibly exceed the 700 billion dollar bailout here in the US.

In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel made a move to guarantee bank deposits in her country and while she was originally against a EU bailout plan put forth in Luxembourg she has since reversed her position and is open to the idea. Italian PM Berlusconi said that the reason she originally didn't support the joint EU rescue plan/fund was because she didn't have the power to do so.

French President Sarkozy is reportedly in favor of the EU bailout fund which is modeled after the 700 billion dollar US bailout plan. France along with Ireland is already showing negative growth as evidenced in their markets.

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi says his government favors a UK style bailout for its financial institutions and a revival of the discussion and possible passage of an EU wide bailout fund to shore up banks and lending institutions in the EU as well as to guarantee bank deposits held by its citizenry. He points out that in the case of Italy's financial market they are not as exposed to the current credit crisis as the US and UK are.

The Spanish PM Zapatero stated that the international community understood and supported the US financial bailout plan and hoped it would restore confidence in the market. Zapatero went on to say that with strict regulations in reserve and investment the Spanish economy has zero exposure to sub prime related assets and that its financial market is very solid and is resisting the market crisis.

We have also seen adverse conditions in the market in Russia and in the Asian markets to in some cases down as much as nine percent of volume. Russia suspended trading in its market because of their financial institutions being in free fall. Iceland has even asked Russia for 5 plus billion dollars to help bailout their banks.

While it is true that all of these problems around the world with the global financial markets is a direct result of the sub prime lending problems and the credit crunch I can't help but wonder who exactly is going to be held responsible for all of it here at home. While it is true that there was an incredible amount of corruption and thievery amongst corporate CEO's and top ranking executives under them they are not entirely responsible.

There are organizations like Acorn who are responsible for forcing banks to make loans to high risk borrowers that they would not otherwise provide loans to if their ability to grow, merge, and invest was not directly threatened by such organizations with the use of CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) complaints.

There are also some politicians who are responsible for the damage done to our financial market as well for the problems we now face both here and around the world. The two most notable figures are Congressman Barney Frank who chairs the The House Financial Services Committee and Senator Chris Dodd chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. These two men are responsible for regulating and enforcing the regulations that guide our financial institutions. Instead they looked the other way and allowed the damage to our financial market after the were warned three years ago. Why, because they benefited from contributions made to them by some of those organizations and financial institutions and didn't want to see their cash cows go away. The current Democrat Presidential Nominee may even be partially responsible for his early work as both a community organizer, leadership trainer, and attorney for Acorn but that remains to be seen.

All I can say to all my friends both here and around the world is that I am profoundly sorry that in our ignorance we both allowed these figures to stay in their positions of power and turned a blind eye when we knew this day would come. Now everyone is going to have to pay a steep price for our arrogance and transparent naivete that the people we trusted to protect us have failed.

I hope you all have learned something from this post today and that you have enjoyed reading it. I also hope it has made you mad enough to go out and demand that those responsible be held accountable and pay for it. I have to go for now but I will see you all on Monday have a super weekend and enjoy the holiday, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

P.S. I have decided to make Fridays topic open to my readers. If there is something related to politics that you would like me to write about let me know. Whatever I get the most request for I will write about on Fridays and I will let you know Fridays topic on Thursday.

As a political junkie i watch a lot of news and i have been aware of some interest in the organization known as Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). After finally becoming curious as to who this organization actually is I started doing research and I have found out that they are quite possibly the most radical, militant, socialist, and left wing organization in the US.

The organization known as Acorn grew out of the New Left and its subsidiary organization the NWRO (National Welfare Rights Organization). To say the least their efforts were not what they had hoped for and were largely unsuccessful. There ideology called for flooding the welfare roles with so many clients that the welfare system would collapse under the weight of itself and would force "a radical reconstruction of Americas unjust capitalist society". What actually occurred was that families broke down and a culture of dependency was under way in the US.

Acorn has since made its name in both strong arming banks into high risk home loans, and fraudulent voter registration. With regard to their activities involving high risk loans and the banking industry they used the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act). The CRA which up to the exploitation of Acorn was thought to really have no teeth. However Acorn realized that by using regulations within the CRA they could force banks to make these loans simply by filing complaints through the CRA on behalf of minority and low wage clients. The reason this was so effective was that it held up banks abilities to form mergers that were necessary to the growth of financial institutions. They became even more successful after Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae were forced to drop their standards with regard to sub prime loans by Democrat controlled congress in the 90's.

There activities in voter registration is another way in which they attempt to push their agenda. They use their employees and volunteers to register voters in an effort to support the candidates that most favor them and their ideological beliefs which has been a source of contention because they claim that it is a non partisan effort to register voters and create voter awareness. This has been proven to be largely a lie on the part of Acorn. Currently Acorn is under investigation in as many as 15 states for voter registration fraud. Law enforcement raided the Acorn office in Las Vegas Nevada and seized computers and documents. In Indianapolis Indiana Acorn turned in so many voter registration forms that the voter registration forms actually out number eligible voters in the city. other states also report instances of potential voter fraud in their states to. Including Acorns hiring of convicted felons to register voters some of who were convicted of identity theft there can be little doubt that this organization is guilty of the accusations of fraud being leveled against them.

The current Democratic Presidential nominee is well aware of Acorns activities and has a long history of working with and pushing their agenda both in the state of Illinois and on the federal level to. His association goes all the way back to his days as a community organizer with them and other left wing groups. Obama has also served as their attorney in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois which forced the state to implement the motor voter bill and which ultimately won Obama an award known as the Legal Eagle for his participation in the suit. Madeleine Talbot even used Obama to train a new cadre of Chicago's Acorn leadership. Obamas positions on both the Woods Fund and Joyce Foundation allowed obama to steer tens of millions of dollars into Acorns coffers and helped to cement his relationship with Acorn and it's leadership both in Illinois and nationally.

Now I don't know how you folks feel but after what I have read I think that this organization is a rogue outlaw entity and it should not only be denied any further access to taxpayer dollars but that it should be dissolved because of its major roles in the sub prime mortgage crisis and its malignant abuse of and fraud with regard to its voter registration practices. I also think that its assets should be seized and returned to the taxpayers who have been cheated and robbed by these criminal practices. I have also concluded that Barack Obama is most definitely complicit and should hold some responsibility for what has been done done to main street along with his cohorts Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will see you all again tomorrow CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Like a lot of you I watched the 2nd Presidential debate last night and like a lot of you I still have some questions left unanswered by the candidates and I am still greatly concerned. I didn't see a clear winner in the debate either and I was surprised that the town hall style format was anything but a town hall. There was no spontaneity between the candidates and the audience. Every time one of the candidates even started to break loose Tom Brokaw reined them in trying to adhere to the time constraints that the candidates had agreed to which for his part is understandable as it wasn't really a town hall meeting in the first place. As a result I came up with these observations of the candidates.

I thought Barack Obama acquitted himself well. He responded directly to the audience and the people who asked the questions there in particular attempting to make that connection and I think he was successful. He was a little more specific about his economic policy, energy policy and health care policy. While I don't agree with his ideas and as usual he was less than truthful i would have to say that if this debate was judged solely on performance he won it no contest.

I think John McCain was right on target with his plans for the American people. I was particularly impressed with his position on the economy except for his idea of having the government buy up all those bad mortgages as an addition to the bailout when there is already funds in the bailout for doing exactly that. I also think he is wrong to offer 5000 dollar tax credit to find health care coverage and then tax it on the employers end. He was right about which party was responsible for this mortgage crisis and I think he should have went into more detail about Obamas associations with people like Franklin Raines and James Johnson his economic advisors. I think Barack Obamas character and relationships with controversial figures are very important and legitimate targets for the McCain campaign. I think he blew Obama away on foreign policy and national security issues as well. So if this debate were to be judged totally on substance I think that McCain won.

Well there you have it the Presidential debate in a nutshell and I can only conclude that there was no clear winner although I think that the audience was a little more liberal and on Obamas side and that Obama was clearly the person who abused the time constraints the most. I think it is all going to come down to the next and last debate and if John McCAin expects to win he had better nail Obamas hide to the barn door and go after all of his past associations with the people who have most influenced him like Wright, Ayers, Phleger, al-Monsour, and Louis Farrakhan because if he doesn't he will lose. As for Obama if he just keeps doing what he has been doing which is just coasting and not screw up the White House is his.

Have a great day and I will be back tomorrow CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Well what do you know we actually caught some corporate executives with their hands in the taxpayer cookie jar. just a week after we the taxpayer loaned AIG 85 billion dollars to pay off their debt, the honchos at AIG take a 440,000 dollar corporate retreat at one of the most exclusive resorts in California at the St Regis resort in Monarch Beach. An AIG spokesperson said the event was about entertaining independent insurance agents of AIG American General which is one of the company's major US operations and was planned months ago.

I understand the need to recognize and reward people who are successful in performance based payed positions because working on a commission basis is not that easy especially in sales and with the economy in the shape it is in right now. However i find it be an extremely criminal act to have this sort of event within AIG at this time and to fund it with taxpayer dollars and I don't care how far back it was planned. People are losing their homes, cars, insurance, and jobs right now and at the same time being asked to fund this and other corporate giants who are failing with this bailout bill and get treated with such disrespect it is outrageous. I think this is just one more reason why we shouldn't have bailed these idiots out. But to be honest our government and the politicians in charge of regulating these firms in the first place played a critical role in their financial demise and now they have to try to fix it i guess. I can't wait to see what other shenanigans are attempted by these corporate executives and the politicians who are regrettably in charge now.

Have an awesome day everyone CIAO4NOW!!!!!

We are well inside 30 days until the Presidential election and now all of the mudslinging is starting to happen. The major topic of all of this mudslinging seems to be around who is associated with who. Now while I may personally think this is a dangerous road to go down for both Presidential candidates I do think it is worth looking into. So what I am going to write about today is all of the candidates known controversial associations starting with Barack Obama and finishing with John McCain so lets get started.

Bill Ayers is the first association of Obamas we are going to look at. Bill Ayers is the former leader of the domestic terrorist group The Weather Underground and is responsible for several bombings in the 1960's. On September 11th, 2001 he said in an interview that he wasn't sorry for what he did and felt they didn't do enough and wouldn't discount more bombs as being necessary now. It is said that Obamas political career started in Bill Ayers living room and that Bill Ayers held several fundraisers for Barack Obama who had also attended them.

Reverend Jeremiah Wright is another controversial association of Barack Obama. This man is a racist and anti Semite who Obama called his spiritual mentor for more than 20 years. He not only presided over barack and Michelle Obamas wedding but even baptised both of their daughters. Obama claims that he never once heard Reverend Wright espouse anything racist or anti Semitic in all the time he was a member at Trinity even though these sermons were available on tape for sale at the church. This is the same individual who gave an award to

Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour (Donald Warden) is definitely a controversial figure in Barack Obamas life. A self confessed radical Muslim, advisor to the Saudi royal family, an ardent anti Semite, and former member of the Black Panthers. This man is responsible for helping to finance Barack Obamas Harvard Education.

Tony Rezco is another one of Obamas Associations that bears scrutiny. A convicted criminal and slum lord from Chicago he and Obama go way back to Obamas time as a community organizer. He was responsible for raising funds for Obamas political campaigns but was involved with Barack Obama in a land deal involving the current Obama residency and a piece of land adjoining their respective properties.

Father Phleger well what can you say about this association. Yet one more controversial figure in Obamas background but this guy is just stupid. He was also a community organizer and activist on Chicagos southside at the same time as Barack Obama and they worked with each other. He is also a close known associate of Louis Farrakhan.

Frank Raines is one of Obamas current associations. He is the former CEO of Fannie Mae and is currently advising Obama on his economic policies. He was CEO of Fanny Mae at the time all of the corruption started in the company and stole tens of millions of dollars from the company and its investors.

James Johnson is in the same position as Franklin Raines advising Barack Obama on economic policy. He is also a former CEO of Fannie Mae and also received millions of dollars from the company through corrupt practices at Fanny Mae.

Here is on of my personal favorite associations of Barack Obama Calypso Louie Louis Farrakhan. This is the man who introduced Barack Obama to al-Mansour. Farrakhan is the Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam and is another racist and anti Semite.

Another of Obamas associations was as an attourney for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). This organization is responsible for strong arming banks into giving high risk loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them back and is linked to the current financial crisis we face in the economy and the market now. They are considered by some to be the largest radical organization currently operating. They were also to be a recipient of tax dollars from the bailout bill that didn't pass the house last week.

Rashid Khalidi is an alleged former member of a terrorist organization (PLO). He was a professor at the University of Illinois and is currently a professor at the Columbia University. They have both been helping each other out financially.

All of those people mentioned above are known associates to Barack Obama and I have checked the facts prior to writing this post. Now lets concentrate on John McCains controversial associations.

Charles Keating is definitely a controversial association of John McCains. He is the former owner and CEO of Lincoln Savings and Loan. He was convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. John McCain is known as one of the Keating 5. and was investigated by the Senate ethics committee and the Democrats. He was later exonerated by the committee. McCain was the only Republican investigated the other four were Democrats.

Well there you go all of the candidates known controversial associations. Now while I am not a big fan of the Keating scandal I have to say that I would take McCains one known controversial association compared to Barack Obamas 10 known controversial associations especially when they include dangerous individuals like terrorists, racist, and anti Semites. Knowing what I have just told you do you really want this man in the White House with people of these sorts influencing him I don't. I hope you all have a great day CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Hello everybody I thought i would go ahead and get today's post out early. As you know the Vice Presidential debate was on last night and this is what I'm going to discuss today so lets get started.

1st let me congratulate Gwen Ifill on a job well done I knew she would do the job of moderating the debate professionally. I thought she had a great group of questions to ask the candidates and I thought she was very fair with how she asked the questions and in how she treated the candidates so kudos to her.

With regards to Joe Biden I thought he did a very good job last night and I thought he proved that if he had to step in to the office of President of the United States he was ready to do so. I think he did a very good job of defending his tickets policies and defending Barack Obama as well. He is obviously a man with considerable experience in the arena of politics as last night proves.

As for Sarah Palin we all knew that this was to be a sort of consensus on her and her abilities to perform her duties and to step into the shoes as President should the need arise. I think she showed herself to be more than capable of performing her duties and educable enough to learn to be President if the need to do so arose. It was obvious to me and a few others I know that she is truly a Washington outsider and that was refreshing. It was very smart of her to point out that she has only been in national politics for five weeks and to say to both Biden and Ifill that she wasn't going to answer the questions the way the wanted her to but would speak directly to the people. I also think that she did a very good job of keeping McCains name in the forefront of her answers and comments.

Overall I think the debate was very well run, moderated, and showed the difference in policies between the two tickets. I also think that both candidates made statements that were not exactly true but were not serious enough to do either candidate or ticket any harm. Was there a game changer for either party in the debate last night I don't think so. In my overall view of the debate though I would have to say that the debate was a clear win for Sarah Palin and the McCain/Palin ticket. That is all I have for today.....so far. If they manage to pass a bailout bill for Wall Street I may have to comment on that. Otherwise have a grand weekend and I will see you all on Monday, CIAO4NOW!!!!!

I'm going to write about the upcoming Vice Presidential debate today but I'm not going to writing about either of the two candidates. Instead I'm going to write about the moderator for the debate and I think you will be surprised by what i say about the person and my opinion about their ability to be impartial during the debate.

The person who will be moderating Thursday nights debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden is a lady by the name of Gwen Ifill and is a reporter for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). Mrs. Ifill has had some experience in moderating debates in the past including the 1994 VP debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards so she knows how to do the job. Although she was criticized for for her performance in that debate I thought that she was right to tell Dick Cheney that he only had 30 seconds to respond to an Edwards attack because that was the response time allowed.

However the current controversy surrounding Gwen Ifill is about a book that she has writtien which is titled "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" and the fact that the release date is the same as the Presidential inaugaration. This is a problem to some conservative commentators and Republican politicians because it ties the financial success of her book to Barack Obama winning the election which these people cite as a conflict of interest.

Gwen Ifill believes that she is capable of remaining un biased for the duration of the debate and says that she doesn't know if Barack Obama will make a good President and is fully capable of assessing his pros and cons. She also tells Howard Kurtz the reporter who interviewed her and wrote the article for the post that her book also covers other black political figures such as Governor Deval Patrick of Massachussetts and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Even after Presidential Candidate John McCain heard about the book said that he was confident that Gwen Ifill would fullfill her duties as moderator as a professional.

I for one happen to agree with John McCAin and Mrs. Ifill. I think she will do an excellent and non partisan job of moderating the debate. I have seen her report the news including politics and she has always been fair and impartial when performing her duties as a reporter. She understands that it is her job to report facts and not innuendo or personal opinions in the stories that she covers. I also think it will be an interesting debate and I look forward to seeing the hockey mom and the gaffer on Thursday night.

HAve a great day and I will see you all on Friday unless som ething juicy happens between now and then and I have something to say about it CIAO4NOW!!!!!