Obama Picks Biden....

On the tax issue, it is simple. Let?s use the big oil companies, and their many high paid execs, as an example. Obama has stated that he would raise oil company taxes by 40 %. Humm sounds like a good idea at first glance. But do you really think the oil companies are going to pay those taxes. Well yes they will, right after they raise gas prices by 50%. Can you say hello to 8 dollar a gallon gas.

On the gun grabbing Obama, please copy and paste this link: [www.nraila.org/obama] Now I can imagine many here do not like the NRA, perhaps even loath it. But read the fact sheet, then at the bottom of the page are links to support each and every fact. Case rested.

I know my statement on the closing down of our public lands was vague. Here is the thorn that sits lodged so well in my bottom. Slick Willy when he was in office, pushed through a law called the National Recreation Area act, (NRA act). I lived in Idaho at the time and people up there went ballistic, and repealed it for that state. But let me use the example of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA for short), since I now reside in Las Vegas, NV. When I came here in 1999 you could drive down to the lake, and camp or fish or swim or go boating just about anywhere around the lake, with the exception of the extreme east side which is in Grand Canyon National Park. So Willy got passed the NRA act in 1997. Well believe it or not I am not a Bush fan. Bush went ahead and implemented the NRA act. So the government proceeds to close roads, beaches, and erect million dollar entrance buildings, 8 total. Plus they build a ten million dollar welcome center. Of course you have to have employees, so they hired 400 of them, 100 of which are enforcement officers, who all drive not 7000 dollar Hyundai?s, but 50,000 dollar Expedition?s. (Can you say where is the green?) How is this all being paid for? Well it was supposed to come from entrance fees of 5 bucks a day, or 30 dollars per year. Last year there was an article in the local newspaper showing that the collected fees at the LMNRA, was 49% short of the cost to operate the building, and pay for the employees, and vehicles. So that means, that you and I and somebody from anywhere USA gets to foot the bill for the other 49% through higher taxes. How may of you all want to go for a swim? Oh you?ll still have to pay the entrance fee. Obama supports not only National Recreation laws, but wants to lock millions more acres up in to wilderness areas. Have a nice walk.

Obama is a poor choice for real Americans. But McCain I not an alternative. I will vote none of the above this year!

When people blame President Carter for subprime lending problems, they implicate a law, The Community Reinvestment Act, also known as the CRA, which requires lenders to make at least some loans to people who may not be able to repay the loan. Low income people need cars and houses, just like we all do, so the law is an attempt to help non-credit worthy people get credit. It seems like a reasonable goal.

When we first learned of this law, we thought, ?So what?? We assumed that people with a lower credit score would pay a higher interest rate, and in that way the risk to the banks would be the same for both credit worthy and not credit worthy barrowers.

Apparently, that is not what actually happens. Community action groups, pressure banks to make loans to subprime borrowers at prime rates by filling complaints with any of the four federal regulators. The complaints can use statistics collected for the regulators by the banks. If people of one ethnic group pay a higher than average interest rate than other ethnic groups, then the banks are open to charges of discrimination even if the loans were because of credit worthiness rather than ethnicity.

The Wikipedia article on subprime lending has three footnotes that lay out the arguments. The pro CRA article by Robert Gordon, in The American Prospect has the following quote, ?banks have made many low-and moderate-income mortgages to fulfill their CRA obligations, they have found default rates pleasantly low, and they generally charge low mortgages rates.?

So at least in this quote, Gordon seems to admit that the critics could be correct. Some subprime barrowers get low interest rates, not because they are credit worthy, but because they are politically worthy.

We don?t know for sure if the critics are correct or not, but we think that voters should vote for candidates who will allow banks to charge higher interest rates to less credit worthy customers. And voters should vote for candidates who will resist accusations of racism based on comparison of average interest rates paid by different ethnic groups. In that way, low income people can get credit, and the lenders can have a safe investment.

Four years ago, when we were in the seventh grade, we read a totally cool book about National Parks. Unfortunately, we don't remember the title, but now that school has started, maybe we can get back over to the junior high school and find the book. It was published by National Geographic.

The story began with Hyde Park, an area that is now a part of London, but when Henry VIII bought it, it was a forest where Henry and his guests could commune with nature. Henry must have been a tree hugger. The narrative made a point of the fact that ordinary people could not go to the park, so Henry was not a tree hugger in the sense of modern tree hugging that tree huggers claim to favor. Henry wanted to preserve trees for himself, not for all person kind.

The narrative went on to describe how Caitlin coined the term, National Park, and how John Muir and his rich cronies liked to commune with nature, and about how Yellowstone was the first National Park, or second if one counts Hyde Park.

And of course the narrative said that the tree huggers want to preserve the wilderness for future generations to see. That of course is not true. Preservation yes, actually seeing no. The tree huggers see themselves as modern day monarchs. Preservation is for them, not for the rest of us.