Where Have You Gone Joe Dimaggio?

After realizing last night that movies like "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" are almost unknown by a large segment of the population, especially that segment that drives much of the advertising and spending dollars in this country, it is a good bet a much larger part does not recognize the origin of this post title. Then again I doubt anyone will be reading this and it amuses me so that's what counts. I just wanted to say, I have been gone for quite a while but now I am back.

I have been gone from blogging for quite awhile now, I know when I started to blog a bit I didn't realize how much work it really was to create and post a new blog on a regular fashion. After reading so much more blogs I think I am a little better prepared to write more now. I hope. A lot has happened since my last blog. The economy, led by the reckless policies of the Fed, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and some major Wall St players (AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, The entity formerly known as Lehman Bros, Citigroup, et al) has completely tanked and is now just a shadow of what it was. And that wasn't so great either because as Financial Genius Bill Fleckenstein kept saying, the economy was built for the last 8 years on the housing ATM and sooner or later that was gonna run out of cash. But the players I listed certainly didn't help matters with their foolish and utterly dangerous policies. Also the "Great" Alan I can't see any bubble Greenspan let this happen and in fact aided and abetted it. Just like his follower Ben Bernanke did as well.

What else has happened? For starters, a black man was elected President. Hope and Change y'all. After a year in office, many of the people who voted for him are still hoping for some change. The only change I see is the record deficits of the previous temp employee in that office are but a pale imitation of the ones now upon us. That and the fact he keeps trying to foist off a completely insane health care "reform" bill on the populace. Anything being opposed this loudly by this many people cannot be good. Also all of the back room deals being cut to get dissenting Dems on board cannot mean this bill is what they claim it is. Lets not even go to the supposed savings this bill will (not) produce. And the fact that it only covers HALF of the people not currently insured makes it a complete boondoggle that will cause much more grief than it cures. Of course they don't tell you anything about that.

A Republican was elected senator from Massachusetts. I thought I had seen the last of those in my lifetime when Edward Brooke (the first elected black senator btw) was defeated in 1978. Goes to show you how much of a backlash there seems to be going on against Washington. That will probably change between now and election day 2010 not to mention 2012 but it is refreshing to see none the less. Though I am a card carrying member of the Republican Party, I am coming to see more and more that the elected nimrods of both parties are much to blame for the mess our economy is currently in. I am favoring voting against every incumbent in the next election, throw them all out, and let a new set of thieves take their place. The current ones are so entrenched that all of the lobbyists have their private numbers. I am tired of seeing quasi governmental agencies like Fanny and Freddie putting money in their pockets and then watching the Congresspeople we elect to protect our interests rolling over to help Fannie and Freddie steal. Not to mention the big investment banks. Much of the blame for the current credit and housing fiasco should be laid right at the feet of Congress. Both Pres Clinton and Bush tried to rein in mortgage financing but the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee both ignored them. Why? See how much Barney Frank et al got from the people they are supposed to be overseeing. Wanna see a hoot? Watch the YouTube video from 2003 of the Federal Regulators testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee. The head regulator (Schultz maybe? I can't remember) is castigated and basically called a liar when he told the Committee of the shenanigans going on at Fannie and Freddie. Of course the Repubs are almost as much to blame. After all they were in charge of Congress back when these hearings took place. As much as the Dems went after the regulators, the Repubs did nothing to stop them nor to overhaul the bad lending going on as they should have. So throw them all out. I want fiscal conservatives in charge who don't want to spend more money, not people who want to create more programs and entitlements for their constituents.

Enough ranting for now. I didn't want this first post back to become a long discourse on what I want or don't want to happen, just a reintroduction of ME. I just want to say it's good to be back and I hope to become a much more diligent blogger like my heroes across the bloggerverse. I'll be back soon, thats a promise.

Well Whoopdee Doo

So, apparently our Democratic challenger for president is a black man. Barack Obama. Let me get this out of the way. Yippee, hip hip hooray. Ok that's done. Now if I don't hear anything more from him for awhile, or from his stupid wife, I will be fine. Because I have some very serious doubts about his candidacy that's for sure.

First off, what has he done? Nothing at all. He's a very junior senator who has no clue about foreign or domestic policy running on a platform of "change and hope" Change for what? Hope to do what? Well according to him and especially his wife, change the tax laws to take more money from people who work for a living and give it to people who don't. I mean if you are running on a platform of "change" don't you think you want to put out some concrete plans about what you want to change? Oh one thing he is willing to change is he wants to sit down with the leaders of outlaw states N. Korea and Iran and negotiate. Negotiate what? Is he gonna negotiate Iran from sending people into Iraq and causing trouble. Thats a big duh. But then he probably doesn't believe Iran is doing anything in Iran. Ole Nancy Pelosi is even worse. Instead of giving credit to the administration when they get something right like the troop surge and General Petraeus' handling of the war over there she credits Iran for negotiating an end to hostilities in Basra. Yes that's right, I fucking RAN. She didn't credit our troops, she didn't credit the Iraqi troops who did a lot of the work in Basra, she didn't even credit the Iraqi people who have turned on Al Qaeda, nope it was due to the good will of Iran. I suppose that means we should be happy if Iran reduces it's terror operations in another country and give it credit for doing less of what it shouldn't be doing in the first place. Nancy Pelosi is a miserable excuse of a California politico who is more interested in winning elections than in supporting her own country. People like that in positions of power are what gives aid and comfort to our enemies.

Now don't get me wrong, we have a right to disagree with each other, hell this country was founded on dissent. But come on people. Some clown saying that from a soapbox on the corner is one thing but the highest ranked member of congress saying that is completely bogus and she is patently doing a disservice to the people who have gone overseas and sacrificed, some of them have sacrificed their lives, to allow her to say stupid shit like that.

Now on to other stupid shit. Seems to me Barack Obama is getting a major free pass on his affiliation with Rev Wright and the Trinity Church. Oh sure, now that he has disassociated himself from the church and from Rev Wright (and Fr Phleger too who as a lapsed Catholic really really sickens me) we are supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy about him. Yet I was reading an interview he gave a few years ago when he was a newly elected senator. The interview was mostly about his beliefs and his church association etc. In the interview he specifically says he goes to that church "every week, 11 am service" So you tell me how he misses all of those anti American, anti white diatribes ole Rev Wright is spinning out from the pulpit. How does he sit there, as a senator, a representative of his country, while Wright is going on about how the government is responsible for AIDs in this country and in giving it to black people? And he does nothing about his associations with these people until he gets called on the carpet about it by the press, amazing they even noticed considering how far over they are leaning on his candidacy (must have been the NY Times since they were big Hilly supporters) and now we are supposed to think he doesn't feel the same way? Let me tell you, if I go to church and the pastor is going on about how the government is doing all these bad things, and is telling falsehoods to get his point across, I'm not going back. I expect politicos to lie, but I don't expect the people who interpret the word of God to do that right in front of me on Sunday morning at 11 am.

So in 6 months we have the election. I know a lot of conservatives are not sold on John McCain who they call a Republican in Name Only. I know he doesn't thrill me to tears either. But I also know some other things. Like he was a man who was willing to give his life for his country. He comes from a naval family, both his dad and grandad were admirals in the navy, I think his great grandad was too actually. He is a man of principals who could have gotten released from prison camp early since he was son of an admiral but chose to stay until people there longer than him were released which meant he stayed till the end of the war. I know he supports the troops and what they are trying to accomplish in Iraq. He won't pull them out before Iraq is ready to take care of itself and as much as I don't want them over in Iraq, now that we are there, we better do the job right. He supports America's friends and won't negotiate with outlaws. I think I'll take a chance on his not being as conservative as I would like over the chance Barack Obama fucks everything up and I end up paying for the rest of my life. Cuz in 4 or 8 years ole Barry won't be around for me to kick anymore but his policies, his taxes, and his screwed up foreign policies will haunt us long after he is gone.