Why a revolver (rather than a semi-automatic pistol) is better for home defense

From my firearms instructor (and personal friend):

• It always goes bang
• There are no feeding or extraction problems (no "jams")
• Wide latitude of ammo is usable
• Simpler operation—no safeties, press checks, etc.
• No need to tear down ("field strip") to clean
• No need to shoot 200 rounds of self-defense ammo to ensure reliability
• Many accidental shootings occur when someone erroneously thinks he has unloaded a semi-auto pistol
• Revolver ammo can often be had in wadcutter, semi-wadcutter, or flat-nose bullets which make cleaner, easier-to-see holes in the target

Shotguns have well-known advantages; but, as others have noted, they are often inaccessible quickly, and may be unhandy in cramped quarters.

1. The chambers are always loaded--you loaded them. And, you cock the hammer, with thumb or trigger finger. Bang!

2. The semi-auto must feed the ammo in an awkward path, which may not function when needed. Some ammo, such as hollow point defense ammo, does not feed as reliably as hardball (aka FMJ).

A revolver operates well even when not handled ideally. But, a semi-auto may fail to function if the hand is weak (called "limp wristing".) That is, the semi operates by recoil. If the hand recoils, then the receiver of the gun also recoils, and the slide may not recoil sufficiently in relation to the receiver. Result: jam.

3. If ammo is too powerful, in a semi-auto, it damages the gun or at least the recoil spring, leading to possible serious damage. If ammo is not powerful enough, the slide may not cycle fully, resulting in a failure to feed or other jams. Revolvers (especially .357 Magnum) have a wide latitude of useable ammunition loadings; as, the functioning of the mechanism does not depend on specific recoil requirements.

4. Revolvers need no safety. So, you cannot have the safety engaged by mistake, when attempting to fire in self-defense. Semi-autos come in many designs and configurations: some have a safety that is up for Safe, down for Safe, Decock only, frame mounted, slide mounted, etc. A few have no thumb safety.

5. Field stripping makes cleaning easier than on a revolver. But, field stripping usually requires hand strength, dexterity, and a bit of mechanical ability. Re-assembly is a little bit more difficult.

6. After tentatively settling on self-defense ammo, one needs (as a rule of thumb) to run 200 rounds of that ammo through a semi-automatic, to prove reliability in feeding, extracting and ejecting. Self-defense ammo does not necessarily feed as well as FMJ range ammo, as the shape of the bullet is designed for maximum effectiveness in defense, and that requirement conflicts with the best shape for reliable feeding.

7. Many people, including kids, think that a semi-auto is unloaded by dropping the magazine. But, if there were a round in the chamber, the pistol would still be loaded, and many will fire. The exceptions are those pistols that have 'magazine disconnect' safeties. Assuming they work, these safeties prevent firing when the magazine is removed. Often, police prefer this design; the military prefers the opposite. Sometimes the same pistol can be ordered either way. In either case, after dropping the mag, one must rack the slide, to eject the live round in the chamber, and check to see that the chamber is empty. A revolver's ammo can be seen from the outside; further, opening the cylinder makes it easy to see if it is loaded, and prevent firing.

8. Flat nosed or target bullets make nice clean easy-to-see holes in the target, giving instant feedback on each shot.

There is no semi-auto that will provide both the effectiveness of .357 Magnum performance, and the low-cost pleasant practice of .38 Specials. You can approach one or the other, but, not both.

So, why do people buy semi-autos? Well, for many it is an error. If they do not get the instruction and practice to use it proficiently, they may regret it when under threat.

But, if a person carries a pistol concealed, semi-autos are flatter, and hold more ammo. That may be important. The semi can be fired faster, generally; but, if the shooter is not highly proficient, faster shooting will simply mean more misses. And that is where the extra ammo goes.

On average, cops shoot 2.5 shots in a gunfight, if equipped with a revolver. Semi-auto cops on average shoot 40% more rounds in a fight: 3.5.

So, why do I have a semi-auto? Because at the time I bought it, 1994, it seemed like the last chance to ever legally buy a pistol with a large capacity (over 10 rounds) magazine. It is pleasurable to shoot, as are all well designed handguns. But, it is not my home defense gun. The revolver is, equipped with very high quality defense ammo. No feed worries. Always goes "bang." Easy to shoot under stress. And, for extra ammo, if needed, I just pick up my other weapon.

~~Robert

[UPDATED 5/18/2010]

Shocking: Teacher ordered to remove posters from walls...

CitizenLink

Letter from Mrs. Susan Hildebrand, owner of the Shiner Ranch, to Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, in response to his protest of the Arizona immigration law

Dear Mayor Castro,

I am writing on behalf of my family and many other ranching families who live in South Texas. I listened to your opinion about the actions of the Governor of Arizona, and I respectfully disagree. We have had to deal with illegal immigrants crossing onto our land for many years, and before the drug cartels and terrorists entered the picture, it was always our policy to help these people by giving them something to eat and drink. It is something we wanted to do to help them, but now things have changed and we feel that our lives are in danger from the recklessness shown by those crossing the borders. In the past nine months, “coyotes” have driven through our fences SIX times while attempting to escape law enforcement. Just this past week, they have crashed three stolen vehicles on the ranch and have abandoned the people who were being transported, including a 14 year old girl who was injured. (The driver had to be air lifted to San Antonio, at a cost to us tax payers.) The vehicle had been stolen from Travis county and it had to be towed. Another tax payer expense, to say nothing of what it has cost us to repair fences and pay for vet bills to pay for an injured horse. (See below.)

Last summer around eleven o’clock at night, another stolen vehicle broke through our fence and managed to drive through three other fences in an attempt to escape the Border Patrol. While our men were repairing the fence so that the livestock wouldn’t get out onto the highway, the Border Patrol, Sheriffs from two towns (Pearsall & Dilley), mounted law enforcement officers (with their tracking dogs) from the Dilley Prison, a helicopter, and a wrecker were here searching for the coyote and his passengers. During the hunt, one of the prison dogs was bitten by a rattler and she died later that night, despite medical treatment. One of our working ranch horses was so frightened that he ran into a tree and cracked his skull. Meanwhile, most of the bad guys managed to elude capture. When the coyote was finally apprehended, he was found to have around $39,000 in his pockets…all taken from the people he had abandoned.

It is easy to live in a city away from the problems we are experiencing here near the border, but we would welcome you and your family to join us and see what is happening firsthand. It would be an eye-opener and it might change your mind when you criticize what the people of Arizona are doing in trying to protect their citizens.

Racial profiling has nothing to do with following the laws that are supposed to be in effect concerning Illegal immigration. Personally, whenever I write a check, go for a doctor’s appointment, or break a traffic law, I am always asked for my identification. I believe it’s the same for you, too.

The Border Patrol is so understaffed, and even if they do apprehend someone they have no power to hold them at gun point. Their lives are put in danger every day while our government officials sit back and offer only criticism of the job they are trying to do.

This land where we live has been in my husband’s family since 1881, and never before have we had any fear about leaving our doors unlocked, walking down a sendero, or driving through a pasture. Now we’ve had to instruct our men not to confront any strangers they come upon because we are unarmed, and they may not be. My husband and I want to leave a legacy of love for this part of God’s country to our children and grandchildren, not one of fear. Please reconsider your stance about enforcing stricter immigration laws, and stand behind the brave men and women who protect our families, as well as your own.

I appreciate the chance to give you some idea of what we are dealing with, and it is my prayer that you will support defending our borders before it is too late.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Susan Hildebrand

A Hidden History of Evil

In the world’s collective consciousness, the word “Nazi” is synonymous with evil. It is widely understood that the Nazis’ ideology—nationalism, anti-Semitism, the autarkic ethnic state, the Führer principle—led directly to the furnaces of Auschwitz. It is not nearly as well understood that Communism led just as inexorably, everywhere on the globe where it was applied, to starvation, torture, and slave-labor camps. Nor is it widely acknowledged that Communism was responsible for the deaths of some 150 million human beings during the twentieth century. The world remains inexplicably indifferent and uncurious about the deadliest ideology in history.

This is very interesting to those of us who were old enough to take notice:

...the documents cast Gorbachev in a far darker light than the one in which he is generally regarded. In one document, he laughs with the Politburo about the USSR’s downing of Korean Airlines flight 007 in 1983—a crime that was not only monstrous but brought the world very near to nuclear Armageddon. These minutes from a Politburo meeting on October 4, 1989, are similarly disturbing:

Lukyanov reports that the real number of casualties on Tiananmen Square was 3,000.

Gorbachev: We must be realists. They, like us, have to defend themselves. Three thousands . . . So what?

And this is so typical, but, still heartbreaking:

And what of Zagladin’s description of his dealings with our own current vice president in 1979?

Unofficially, [Senator Joseph] Biden and [Senator Richard] Lugar said that, in the end of the day, they were not so much concerned with having a problem of this or that citizen solved as with showing to the American public that they do care for “human rights.” . . . In other words, the collocutors directly admitted that what is happening is a kind of a show, that they absolutely do not care for the fate of most so-called dissidents.

Remarkably, the world has shown little interest in the unread Soviet archives. That paragraph about Biden is a good example. Stroilov and Bukovsky coauthored a piece about it for the online magazine FrontPage on October 10, 2008; it passed without remark. Americans considered the episode so uninteresting that even Biden’s political opponents didn’t try to turn it into political capital. Imagine, if you can, what it must feel like to have spent the prime of your life in a Soviet psychiatric hospital, to know that Joe Biden is now vice president of the United States, and to know that no one gives a damn.

Why doesn’t anyone care about the unread Soviet archives?

CBO says ObamaCare will cost $115 billion more than thought!!!

Don't you just love getting jobbed? Of all the slime dripping from ObamaCare, from the de facto bribes to the procedural shenanigans to the Democrats’ insane demagoguery of townhall protesters, the gaming of the CBO numbers is what bothers me most...

33 states now challenging Obamacare

Efforts to block a key provision of the new health-care overhaul law are underway in 33 states, as a growing roster of mostly Republican officials have mounted legal and legislative challenges to an eventual requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty tax.

This Friday, seven more states will formally join a lawsuit originally filed by Florida and 12 other states in late March...

Read more...

Investigators say Obama is using a Connecticut Soc. Sec. Number: 3 experts insist White House answer new questions about documentation

NEW YORK – Two private investigators working independently are asking why President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.

In addition, the records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, yet Obama's earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii.

WND has copies of affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Ohio licensed private investigator Susan Daniels and Colorado private investigator John N. Sampson.

The investigators believe Obama needs to explain why he is using a Social Security number reserved for Connecticut applicants that was issued at a date later than he is known to have held employment.

Read more

Elena Kagan shielded Saudis from 9/11 lawsuit

President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court Sided with kingdom in case brought by victims of terror attacks...

White House budget director Peter Orszag told Reuters Insider in an interview on Wednesday that the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece

U.S. posts 19th straight monthly budget deficit

It’s amazing to watch the civil libertarians hide when Democrats propose the most sweeping intrusions of privacy in generations

Bailout Bill Would Require Banks to Track and Report Personal Checking Accounts to Feds

My day at the range...

Well, I finally did it! An experienced ex-Army friend of ours took us to the shooting range today and taught me how to shoot (my husband had two previous head-starts alone with him before today).

Was hoping to include some pictures, but we brought a camera with too low a battery charge unfortuneately.

Turns out, I'm a natural sharp-shooter!

Tried two guns, a 38 something-or-other and a semi-auto (when you shove in that magazine, makes you feel like Jack Bauer)...hit the kill zone every time and the black center of the target most of the time, bulls-eye once.

Needless to say, it's only been in the last year or so that I've felt a compelling need to learn how to defend myself. Watching the country descend into fascism really wakes you up.

Further reports to come (and some pictures too)...

Just call me Annie Oakley (unless you're too young to know who she was).

Last night was great

My husband, Gary, and I drove a short distance south on the infamous "405" to the Skirball Center and got to meet and listen to these terrific five bloggers extraordinaire:

Watch Dog Media Bites Lap Dog Media
Five Bloggers Explain How The Mainstream Media Smears America’s Friends and Excuses Our Enemies… and what you can do about it

Monday, May 10, 2010 • 7:00 p.m.
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Panelists include:
Jim Hoft – Gateway Pundit
Daniel Greenfield – Sultan Knish
J.E. (Jennifer) Dyer – The Optimistic Conservative
Omri Ceren – Mere Rhetoric
Rick Richman – Jewish Current Issues

We’ll be discussing the attempt by the current administration and other political forces to delegitimize bloggers’ contribution to honest and legitimate news investigation.

Pictures from Gateway Pundit

PS: I got to thank Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish) for linking to this blog under his category "U.S. Politics!" (He is VERY funny, btw...had the audience in stitches :-)

If a government-run medical system is going to save any serious amount of money, it is almost certain to do so by sacrificing the elderly...

A "Duty to Die"?

America's Best College

How West Point beats the Ivy League

Why the Ground Zero Mosque Must Be Stopped

Planting a mosque just two blocks from where Muslims murdered Americans on 9/11 in the name of Islam is a huge slap in the face. Why shouldn't Muslims be sensitive enough to realize that a huge mosque planted right near the horrific wound to the U.S. created at Ground Zero by Muslims is outrageous to us? They claim a right to be insulted by cartoons mocking their prophet, even to the point of beheading people.

The Imam of the Ground Zero Insult, Faisal Abdul Rauf, is not the nice guy he likes to hold himself out to be. At his Friday afternoon khutbah services and in his book What's Right With Islam Rauf states that he wants the mosque to be a place where inter-faith understanding is fostered. His sonorous voice is smooth and almost hypnotic. His writing style appears to be rational and unthreatening.

However, this does not jibe with the aspects of him that are downright hostile and frightening.

Read more

UNRAVELING...

Uh-oh: Obama and his Chicago friends...

From a New York Correspondent re: LTC Lakin's pending court martial

May 8,2010
Fox News
New York City, New York
Att: Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly

Dear Bill and Megyn:

THE TRIAL OF LT.COLONEL TERRENCE LAKIN

I have termed this article a "trial" because I, and many others felt that when you aired this segment a short while ago your viewers were going to receive a dialogue on LTC Lakin's upcoming court-martial. Instead, we saw and heard a two-headed monologue denigrating every aspect of LTC Lakin's defense of conduct. I would like to respond to the most serious of your comments (recorded), trusting my words may induce you to rectify your unfair and unbalanced presentation.

Bill: "You can't have military saying 'I'll obey the orders I like'"

Response: LTC Lakin never said or implied such a thing. He obeyed all orders for 18 years, not just one's he 'liked'. Only when he began to realize that Obama may not have been eligible to seek the Presidency did he ask, in good conscience, for confirmation of Obama's authority.After waiting one year unsucessfully for a responsible clarification he, on his own, stood up for Our Constitution. For that, you would knock him down!

Bill: "Why doesn't LTC Lakin just resign?

Response: Resigning would have been the safest way out but one doesn't receive a Bronze Star for "playing it safe". Also, by risking his career through a court-martial he may have considered this as the most viable manner of forcing Obama to satisfy this issue for everyone by producing the original Hawaiian Dept.of Health Birth Certificate, not the document he put on a website to pacify those questioning his eligibility.

Bill: "I think Lakin was trying to make a political point."

Response: LTC Lakin has given 18 years of service to the Army. Were his medals and promotions "political points"? NO.They were for defending Our Constitution and our Country. You dishonored the man with your comment.

Bill: "The 'birther' movement hasn't gathered any traction."

Response: Bill, the "Constitutional Defenders", who you so casually link together as "birthers", consists of thousands of participants(seen at rallies throughout the U.S.) protesting against Constitutional violations of all kinds. Traction? Their feet are solidly on the ground and they are moving forward relentlessly. Millions are witnessing this. I hope that you are not using the Major Media for information on this issue.

Megyn: "Lakin didn't go with any of the other lawyers who represented other "birthers".

Response: You may think that LTC Lakin would have been best served by a lawyer previously involved in a similar lawsuit but your future is not the one at stake. Also, you referred to LTC Lakin as a "birther". He is a "Constitutional Defender", challenging Obama's eligibility whether through his birth certificate, passport, school records,etc. Does that also make him a "Passporter"?

Megyn: "Some said Bush was illegitimate-their argument wasn't allowed".

Response: Presuming you were speaking about Florida's voting issue your comparison is not legitimate. Bush's eligibility to seek the Presidency was never an issue in question....Obama's eligibility was and is.

Bill(to Megyn): "Do you know how we proved Obama was born in USA? We got birth announcements in two papers-that's impossible (to falsify ?) because someone would have to know that they were going to fake Obama's birth because someday he's going to be President."

Response: That is a false statement. You did not not prove Obama was born in the USA. You never saw his original Hawaiian birth certificate , which he refused to release to anyone. It seems two newspaper birth announcements became "Gospel" to you, when, in fact, birth announcements are simply public announcements that a baby was born. They do not provide any information about the child's citizenship, cannot be authenticated and hold no weight of evidence to support either side of the eligibility argument.Also, your sarcasm (implying Constitutional Defenders believe Obama's family faked a birth certificate in anticipation of his someday becoming President) is not worthy of you. Securing an American "naturalized" citizenship status for one's child would be highly prized for it bestows many benefits on the child with one major exception....only a "natural-born" status allows one to seek the Presidency of the U.S. (Constitution-article 2, Sec.1) Why have you not questioned why Obama, a Constitutional scholar, would pay over $2 million dollars in legal fees to prevent anyone from viewing the Hawaiian original birth certificate and deliberately post a "Certification of Live Birth(which is what you saw) on a website, passing it off as a supposed valid document establishing his Presidential eligibility?. Please do not insult me by saying that he did all this to distract Republicans from other issues.

Bill: "The papers only print birth announcements when the baby is born. You call them & tell them 'hey, the baby was born'. (Continuing) "He was born in the USA-
you can't fake that."'

Response: Obviously, you are pinning your entire defense of Obama's eligibility on the newspapers.If my responses above cannot cause you to re-think your words I can only suggest prayer.

Megyn: "Maybe there were two Barack Obamas"

Response: Illogical sarcasm about such a grave issue does not become you, Megyn, and cheapens dialogue.

Megyn: "Hawaiian Health officials said 'we've seen it''' (referring to the birth certificate)

Response: They acknowledged seeing a birth certificate but did not define it as a true "Certificate of Live Birth", showing the Hospital,Doctor,and witnesses names, certificate number,etc. Transparency by Obama could have well put this issue to rest yet he refuses to allow anyone (including Fox) to view the hospital copy. Clearly, the meaning of the word "transparency" is not seen by him.

THE SILENT SIDE OF YOUR 'DEBATE'

Obama never offered to produce a "Certificate of Live Birth", which could have saved many lawsuits. In particular, he ignored the pending military action (since withdrawn) against Major Stefan Cook and the now-pending Court-Martial being prepared against LTC Lakin. Imagine, a Commander-in-Chief of our military refusing to assure them and others by providing a document which no one else in our Military has ever refused to provide.

Why didn't either of you mention Obama's refusal to release school records,etc. or which country issued a passport to him to go to Pakistan in 1981 or the active cases presently being heard in various courts on the eligibility issues?

Republicans know that any request by them ,of Obama, to satisfy LTC Lakin's request would be futile, but where was the voice of any Democrat?

Bill, you did not present a "fair and balanced" analysis. Both of you spent all your time criticizing or ridiculing LTC Lakin. Many people contacted me to voice their displeasure with your unfair treatment. Why not have him come on your show like you have done with so many others through the years?

Obama once said that the "Certification of Live Birth" which he posted on a website was a copy of the one which the Hawaiian Health Dept had. If true, that statement would mean he was never eligibile to seek the Presidency....and that he knew it. If, on the other hand, the Hawaiian copy was a true Certificate of Live Birth it could prove Obama eligible, leaving one unanswered question. Why did he spend over $2 million dollars to keep this a secret!

CONCLUSION

LTC Lakin is going to be court-martialed and Obama, who holds a "keep out of jail free" card refuses to produce it. Secrecy over Support. How inspiring this must be to our men and women in Service!

Very truly yours,
R.Quinn
New York
bquinn @ pngusa.net

CC: Every member of The Supreme Court.
Everyone else I know

ALL RECIPIENTS OF THIS LETTER ARE FREE TO PASS IT ON TO ANY AND ALL WITHOUT SECURING MY PERMISSION.

SEC is commencing 'cease-and-desist' proceedings against the rating agency Moody's Investors Service (MIS)

What did Warren Buffett know and when did he know it???

Ted Nugent: Profile or Die

From Ted NUGENT: Profile or die

I profile my daughter's dates. I profile my children's friends. I profile my band mates and employees. I profile the fruit I am about to purchase. I profile the sky in order to ascertain my potential need for rain gear. I profile the cleanliness of dining establishments and smiling all the way, I profile the general public as I pleasantly stroll the not-so-mean streets of America. Conditional and environmental awareness is a powerful survival tool. Write that down.

Failing to profile based on one's life experiences is to abandon man's basic instinct to learn through trial and error. Such trials, when cataloged by intelligent people, reduce and oftentimes eliminate unnecessary future errors. This is good.

Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto

God, Guns & Rock 'N' Roll

A "PS" to Mom for 2010

UCLA Professor calls for a Mexican revolution in the United States at UCLA La Raza rally

Isn't this sedition???

This 'Professor' says that "We will no longer fall for these lies called borders..."

But that means that there could be no such thing as sovereignty either! There goes the Constitution and there goes ANY sovereign nation--all out the window because this jerk doesn't like borders.

What a friggin' idiot (and parents are paying for him to teach this trash to their kids).

OK, then: if there isn't any sovereignty anymore, then there certainly can't be any such thing as taxes...so who's supposed to pay the damn welfare checks of his constituents?

From GatewayPundit:

We are revolutionary Mexican organization here. We understand that this is not just about Mexico. It’s about a global struggle against imperialism and capitalism… At the forefront of this revolutionary movement is La Raza. We will no longer fall for these lies called borders. We see America as a northern front of a revolutionary movement… Our enemy is capitalism and imperialism.

Very Interesting Email Regarding Oil Rig Explosion

FROM A MEMBER OF MEMESHOCK [a group on Facebook]:

Dear Memeshockers,

Last night I received a very disturbing message in my Inbox from a member of MemeShock who will remain anonymous. It pertains to the recent oil rig explosion off of the coast of Louisiana.

I've included the email below in its entirety minus the person's name.

As a disclaimer I will comment that I am not normally the kind of person to believe this sort of thing, and I'm not going to comment either way on this, but we’ll see for yourself:

Hi Johanan, my name is ********. You probably don't know me but I'm a member of your MemeShock group.

I'm going to tell you something and I'm wondering if you might be able to help me out. My uncle lives in the gulf area and works for Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

He said that a few months ago some federal agents, whom he believes may have come from the Justice Department, had come to his place of work and had a series of meetings with his supervisor. He found this a little odd but didn't think anything of it at the time.

Later, on April 19th he got an assignment about an oil spill off the gulf. The only trouble of course was that there wasn't an oil spill until the next day. He had got an assignment about an oil spill that hadn't happened yet!

He put two and two together and tried to contact the local news about it. Of course they laughed him off. However over the course of the next week he received two separate deaths threats from anonymous callers. Since then my uncle's been scared to death to about it, and doesn't want any of the family talking about it. The upshot is that he isn't planning to vote for Obama again!

Seeing Obama's Cap&Trade agenda and his disingenuous proposal to open off shore oil drilling I have a pretty fair idea of what is going on here. Obviously this isn't going to get out through normal channels so I when I heard this I immediately thought of you. I was wondering if you can help me out and maybe like "viral" this along or something. If you do please remove my name. I don't want anyone connecting the dots back to me.

Thank you so very much.

I don't know quite what to say, but I found this rather creepy. I figured I'd pass it along to you.

Well have a nice night guys.

Oh my

Arizona law made simple for simpletons

LOOKIT

Republicans get balls...finally!

Republicans are so determined to stop what they say is abusive and unlawful expansion of the federal government under President Obama that they are willing to abdicate power to the states to do it.

Taking its cue from the Bill of Rights, the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans, says that the 10th Amendment dictates that initiatives such as the health care reform law and other massive government programs are the business of state governments, not Washington.

So the RSC this week announced that it had formed a 10th Amendment task force to help "usher in a new era of federalism" and to work to disperse power from Washington back to regions, states and local governments.

Read more

And from Dr. Jack Wheeler [ToThePointNews.com]

Other folks to keep your eye on is the collection of very heavy hitters with very deep pockets organized as the Coalition for Responsible Regulation (CRR). They have banded together to spend whatever it takes on the savviest Washington law firms to tie the EPA and its greenie supporters like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club into legal knots.

Here is one of their legal challenges to the EPA (it's worth reading entire). There will be plenty more. As Greenpeace is warning its members, the CRR is "powerfully organized and rich. They have all the tools and all the lawyers, and they are going to do all they can to stop carbon regulation."

Coalition for Responsible Regulation (CRR) - one of their legal challenges to the EPA.

Wait a minute...tons of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico each year!!!

Tons of Oil Seeps into Gulf of Mexico Each Year
Roger Mitchell
rmitchel@earthsat.com
301-231-0660

Scientists find that tons of oil seep into the Gulf of Mexico each year.

Twice an Exxon Valdez spill worth of oil seeps into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a new study that will be presented January 27 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

But the oil isn't destroying habitats or wiping out ocean life. The ooze is a natural phenomena that's been going on for many thousands of years, according to Roger Mitchell, Vice President of Program Development at the Earth Satellite Corporation (EarthSat) in Rockville Md. "The wildlife have adapted and evolved and have no problem dealing with the oil," he said.

Oil that finds its way to the surface from natural seeps gets broken down by bacteria and ends up as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. So knowing the amount of fossil fuel that turns to carbon dioxide naturally is important for understanding how much humans may be changing the climate by burning oil and gas.

Using a technique they developed in the early 1990s to help explore for oil in the deep ocean, Earth Satellite Corporation scientists found that there are over 600 different areas where oil oozes from rocks underlying the Gulf of Mexico. The oil bubbles up from a cracks in ocean bottom sediments and spreads out with the wind to an to an area covering about 4 square miles. "On water, oil has this wonderful property of spreading out really thin," said Mitchell. "A gallon of oil can spread over a square mile very quickly." So what ends up on the surface is an incredibly thin slick, impossible to see with the human eye and harmless to marine animals.

When oil spreads out over water, surface tension causes it to act like a super-thin sheet of Saran Wrap, flattening down small waves on the ocean surface. To spot the oil slicks, EarthSat scientists use radar data from Canadian and European satellites. The oil slicks stand out in the radar image because they return less of the radar signal than the wavy surfaces.
To get an estimate of how much oil seeps into the Gulf each year, the researchers took into account the thickness of the oil-only a hundredth of a millimeter, the area of ocean surface covered by slicks, and how long the oil remains on the surface before it's consumed by bacteria or churned up by waves. "The number is twice the Exxon Valdez's spill per year, and that's a conservative estimate," said Mitchell.

With funding from NASA, EarthSat researchers began this work in the early 1990s using Landsat satellite and radar data to identify marine oil seeps for petroleum exploration. The method has had amazing success. Drilling for oil in the ocean is extremely expensive, and with radar data, oil companies have a much better shot at finding oil deposits.

In the future, EarthSat hopes to refine this method using data from NASA's new EO-1 satellite, set for launch in June 2000. A sensor aboard EO-1 may be able to tell gas from oil and better pinpoint the source of the slick.

From NASA

Is this like the government paying farmers not to grow crops???

Military may soon start awarding medals for … “courageous restraint”

Obama's Health Care Promises Already Busted

The ink was barely dry on President Obama's signature before the RAND Corporation released a report concluding that not only would the hard-won health care package fail to curb premium increases, but the bill would drive premiums up as much as 17 percent for young people.

And then there's this:

...the Congressional Budget Office now says that as many as 10 million workers will lose their current insurance under the bill. Some of those will have to buy new insurance through the government-run exchanges. Millions more will be thrown onto Medicaid.

In addition, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Studies reports that half of seniors enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program will lose their coverage under that program and be forced back into traditional Medicare.

And this:

...the government's chief actuary released his report on the bill recently, showing that the bill will actually increase health care spending by $311 billion over the next 10 years.

At the same time, the actuary warns that promised future spending cuts, particularly those for Medicare, are unlikely to occur.

And, finally:

Now the most recent report from the Congressional Budget Office warns that nearly 4 million Americans, nearly three-quarters of them middle-class workers, will be hit with fines for failing to meet the government's mandate. Those penalties will average nearly $1,000 per person in 2016.

All this, and the health care "reform" law is merely a month old.

Perhaps this is why nearly 56 percent of American voters now favor repealing the bill.

Read the whole thing

What a mess this inexperienced narcissistic amateur has left us!

How Obama (and Obamacare) screwed low-skilled workers

Low-skilled workers have some of the highest unemployment rates in America. Adults without high school diplomas face an unemployment rate of 14.5%, almost three times as high as rates for college graduates, and well above the national average of 9.7%. The unemployment rate for teens, another low-skill group, is 26%.

Reasonable people likely presume that Congress and the administration are doing everything possible to help low-skilled workers get jobs.

But, come 2014, the new health care bill will make it harder for employers to hire low-skill workers. And, as workplaces around the country prepare to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, employers are considering how best to comply. For some companies, that means that low-wage and part-time jobs will start to go, not in 2014, but now.

Read more

HAT TIP: Powerline

Media ignores critical emergency in Nashville, Tennessee

No looting, no crime, no media:

From REDSTATE.COM

If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.

WE ARE NASHVILLE

You OWE us America!!!

Oh, really? If you think we'll let you turn us into Greece, think again. (But, does anyone think they get what's happened in Greece...or even know what's happened in Greece?)

What actually caused the financial crisis in the United States?

From a financial consultant to major corporations (who wishes to remain anonymous):

This was government driven from the start. The systemic risk was injected by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and fueled by the Fed. Congress continued to encourage the bad behavior by not reining in Fannie and Freddie and in many cases encouraged them to go further. Regulation also encouraged banks to load up on the hidden systemic risk.

Wall Street is primarily a symptom of the Governments off balance sheet social program financing scheme. It makes Enron look like child's play. Those in Government who are responsible are using the typical populist scapegoat ploy to avoid scrutiny.

The Fed provided the fuel in greater dollars. Fannie and Freddie were the conduit which incentivized the banks to increase loan originations. Fannie and Freddie fed the junk to Wall Street often misrepresenting subprime mortgages as prime, which were then packaged into opaque securities obscured through multiple parties and sheer numbers in a pool. The securities were then often mis-rated by S&P, Fitch, & Moody's (required by gov't regulation for bank investment) a defacto government oligopoly, which then affected the eventual under capitalization by the banks once the securities ratings were downgraded. Again banks were encouraged to invest in mortgage-backed securities by capital requirement regulations because they were perceived by regulators to be less risk than individual mortgages or typical securities such as bonds or commercial loans, etc.

Then Fannie was purchasing a large number of mortgage-backed securities essentially making the market and giving the market the impression these securities were more liquid than they really were, which increased the price. If these people were not in the government or in a Government Sponsored Entity, they would all be in jail today.

WSJ.com: The Lesson of Basel's Bean Counters
Decades of obsession with accounting standards couldn't overcome the perverse incentives created by 'too big to fail.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704508904575192534100550538.html
=======
WSJ.com: Angels Out of America
How the Dodd bill harms start-ups.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704671904575194483171910348.html

Mr. Dodd's bill would change all this for the worse. Most preposterously, it would require that start-ups seeking angel investments file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and endure a 120-day review. Rare is the new company that doesn't need immediate access to the capital it raises, and a four-month delay is the kind of rule popular in banana republics that create few new businesses.

=======
WSJ.com: An Economy of Liars
When government and business collude, it's called crony capitalism. Expect more of this from the financial reforms contemplated in Washington.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704508904575192430373566758.html

The idea that multiplying rules and statutes can protect consumers and investors is surely one of the great intellectual failures of the 20th century. Any static rule will be circumvented or manipulated to evade its application. Better than multiplying rules, financial accounting should be governed by the traditional principle that one has an affirmative duty to present the true condition fairly and accurately—not withstanding what any rule might otherwise allow. And financial institutions should have a duty of care to their customers. Lawyers tell me that would get us closer to the common law approach to fraud and bad dealing.

=======
WSJ.com: Staffer One Day, Opponent the Next
The revolving door can turn swiftly at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052702303450704575160043010579272.html
=======
WSJ.com: Fannie and Freddie Amnesia
Taxpayers are on the hook for about $400 billion, partly because Sen. Obama helped to block reform.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704671904575193910683111250.html

The date of the Senate Banking Committee's action is important. It was in 2005 that the GSEs—which had been acquiring increasing numbers of subprime and Alt-A loans for many years in order to meet their HUD-imposed affordable housing requirements—accelerated the purchases that led to their 2008 insolvency. If legislation along the lines of the Senate committee's bill had been enacted in that year, many if not all the losses that Fannie and Freddie have suffered, and will suffer in the future, might have been avoided.

Why was there no action in the full Senate? As most Americans know today, it takes 60 votes to cut off debate in the Senate, and the Republicans had only 55. To close debate and proceed to the enactment of the committee-passed bill, the Republicans needed five Democrats to vote with them. But in a 45 member Democratic caucus that included Barack Obama and the current Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), these votes could not be found.

=======
WSJ.com: The Dodd Bill and U.S. Competitiveness
Its new taxes and regulations will make the U.S. an unattractive jurisdiction for financial companies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704117304575137980120672008.html
=======
WSJ.com: If You Liked Fannie and Freddie...
... You'll love Chris Dodd's latest reform proposal. It would make many more companies too big to fail and lead to far greater financial consolidation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704743404575127541719271252.html

If passed in its current form, the bill would give the government control over the financial system in roughly the same way, and to the same extent, that ObamaCare would take over the nation's health care. There isn't a public option, exactly, but the private firms involved would be so heavily regulated that they would be effectively controlled by the government.

=======
WSJ.com: Most Pundits Are Wrong About the Bubble
The repeal of Glass-Steagall has helped us weather the storm.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122428270641246049.html

As for the evils of deregulation, exactly which measures are they referring to? Financial deregulation for the past three decades consisted of the removal of deposit interest-rate ceilings, the relaxation of branching powers, and allowing commercial banks to enter underwriting and insurance and other financial activities. Wasn't the ability for commercial and investment banks to merge (the result of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed part of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act) a major stabilizer to the financial system this past year? Indeed, it allowed Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch to be acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and allowed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to convert to bank holding companies to help shore up their positions during the mid-September bear runs on their stocks.

=======
WSJ.com: "A Silver Lining to the Financial Crisis: A More Realistic View of Capitalism"
Two familiar scapegoats for the financial crisis---deregulation and bankers' bonuses--- don't appear to be responsible for the disaster.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081680480599148.html

But under the recourse rule, "well-capitalized" American commercial banks were required to spend 80 percent more capital on commercial loans, 80 percent more capital on corporate bonds, and 60 percent more capital on individual mortgages than they had to spend on asset-backed securities, including mortgage-backed bonds, as long as these bonds were rated AA or AAA or were issued by a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), such as Fannie or Freddie. Specifically, $2 in capital was required for every $100 in mortgage-backed bonds, compared to $5 for the same amount in mortgage loans and $10 for the same amount in commercial loans.

=======
WSJ.com: "The Price for Fannie and Freddie Keeps Going Up"
Barney Frank's decision to 'roll the dice' on subsidized housing is becoming an epic disaster for taxpayers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703278604574624681873427574.html

There is more to this ugly situation. New research by Edward Pinto, a former chief credit officer for Fannie Mae and a housing expert, has found that from the time Fannie and Freddie began buying risky loans as early as 1993, they routinely misrepresented the mortgages they were acquiring, reporting them as prime when they had characteristics that made them clearly subprime or Alt-A.

=======
WSJ.com: Let's Write the Rating Agencies Out of Our Law
By Robert Rosenkranz
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123086073738348053.html

Indeed, that is the entire raison d'être of the $6 trillion structured-finance business, which serves little economic function other than as a rating-agency arbitrage. Subprime mortgages (and all manner of other risky loans) held directly by financial institutions are questionable assets with high associated capital charges. Each one alone would deserve a "junk" rating. Structured finance simply piles such risky assets into bundles and slices the bundles into tranches. The rating agencies deemed some 85% of the tranches by value as AAA, and nearly 99% as investment grade -- thus turning dross into gold by a sort of ratings alchemy.

=======
AmericanThinker.com: Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened
By M. Jay Wells
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/what_really_happened_in_the_mo.html
=======
Video of the CSPAN congressional hearings on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Accounting scandal which came to light in 2004.
see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
=======
Clinton administration's "BANK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION"
Andrew Cuomo references a Federal Reserve Report that was later discredited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmL-lXNy64
=======
IBDeditorials.com: How the Fed, Media and Academia Aided and Abetted Lending Debacle
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=459798
=======
WSJ.com: A Mortgage Fable
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204078161261183.html
=======
WSJ.com: The Fannie Mae Gang
By Paul A. Gigot
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121677050160675397.html
=======
WSJ.com: Information Haves and Have-Nots
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122203382068860947.html
=======
NationalReview.com: Inside Obama's ACORN
By Stanley Kurtz
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=
=======
IBDeditorials.com: Congress Tries To Fix What It Broke
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=490605
=======
WSJ.com: Faith in Ratings
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212668589565225.html
=======
WSJ.com: The Moody's Blues
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120303641478270219.html
=======
WSJ.com: AAA Oligopoly
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120398754592392261.html
=======
WSJ.com: Another 'Deregulation' Myth
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122428201410246019.html
=======
WSJ.com: Spitzer and Sarbox Were Deregulation?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122541609109386729.html
=======
WSJ.com: The Ratings Racket
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121435051391301517.html
=======
WSJ.com: The Meltdown That Wasn't - A primer on credit default swaps, the latest Beltway scapegoat.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122670411909729683.html
=======
WSJ.com: Bad Accounting Rules Helped Sink AIG
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122169320421449849.html
=======
NYTimes.com: Dear A.I.G., I Quit! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html
=======
SeattlePI.com: Activists vent at AIG executives http://www.seattlepi.com/business/404117_aigbus22.html

Amen

The Continuing Adventures of Janet Incompetano, our Fraudinator-in-Chief, and Ali Baba al Shazamm al Kaboomi

And as Manet was...

making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows she described attempt as "amateurish," not "sophisticated."

"You know, at this point I have no information that it's anything other than a one-off."

And Islam is a religion of peace, the War on Terror is over and unicorns do exist.

From The Neville Awards: Islamic Terrorists 3 - Obama 0 -- Three Attacks on U.S. Soil in Nine Months

There are encoded messages in Google maps from a language of our enemies and no one in the government cared...

It was just released that Al Qaeda in Pakistan was going to hit us and at the same time people are now finding secret messages in Google maps? How strange is that?...

We found these images in many states across the country and don’t know if they represent correspondence or some kind of communication among the bad guys, or are they coordinates?

It is just breathtaking that the Feds ask us to look out for things that look strange and then blow you off when you find something. What could be more strange then finding Islamic messages in rural areas of America encoded in Google maps? Hello?

A FORM OF SECRET COMMUNICATION AMONG TERRORISTS?

Comedy Central developing Jesus Christ cartoon

So they cower in fear and refuse to mock Mohammed yet go out of their way to mock Jesus?…

From The Hollywood Reporter

Obama Asks People To Show Him Their Papers

But, OF COURSE, you'll never see his!

"A demonstration is one thing and murder is quite another.."

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets as part of nationwide strikes to protest new taxes and government spending cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund and other European nations before heavily indebted Greece gets a euro110 billion ($141 billion) bailout package of loans to keep it from defaulting...Three people died after being trapped in a burning bank along the main demonstration route in central Athens.

Read the whole thing

CBO: Doc fix will cost more than anyone thought

Legislate in haste, repent at leisure. The ObamaCare bill signed by Barack Obama after getting hastily and repeatedly rewritten in backroom negotiations by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid turns out to cost a lot more than they admitted — and in new areas that keep appearing after its passage. The CBO now estimates the “doctor fix” that Pelosi and Reid promised to the AMA in exchange for their support will cost much more than the Democratic leaders admitted, emphases mine:

Read more

Marijuana smuggling venture interrupted by Border Patrol south of Brownsville, TX on the Rio Grande river

From a retired Border Patrol Supervisor:

EMP could leave '9 out of 10 Americans dead'

Analyst: 'That is exactly what Iranians are working toward'

The Money Behind the Illegal Protests

The "civilian force" that Obama speaks of is here. These groups are the money behind the protests...

Obama Administration making plans to take over nation’s 401(k)s to bail out their union backers and their bankrupted pension plans.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and members of the House GOP Savings Solutions Group sent a letter to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warning the Obama Administration that the government should keep its hands off of the retirement savings of Americans, and should reject proposals that would dismantle or nationalize the private 401(k) system in favor of a government-run retirement security regime. Several Administration officials, including the Vice President, have voiced support for efforts to create so-called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” or impose new government mandates which would undermine 401(k) retirement savings plans and jeopardize employers’ willingness to continue offering them to their workers.

Read the whole thing

Is mysterious linen cloth a virtual 'photo' of Jesus at moment of resurrection?

STUNNING SCIENCE OF THE SHROUD

What you MUST know about Arizona

From a friend who lives in Arizona:

This is one of the best explanations of why the AZ legislature passed the law that you will never hear on the Main Stream Media. This needs to be circulated far and wide.

"I want to explain why SB 1070 is needed."

I’m Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen. I want to explain SB 1070 which I voted for and was just signed by Governor Jan Brewer. Rancher Rob Krentz was murdered by the drug cartel on his ranch a month ago. I participated in a senate hearing two weeks ago on the border violence, here is just some of the highlights from those who testified.

The people who live within 60 to 80 miles of the Arizona/Mexico Border have for years been terrorized and have pleaded for help to stop the daily invasion of humans who cross their property. One Rancher testified that 300 to 1200 people a DAY come across his ranch vandalizing his property, stealing his vehicles and property, cutting down his fences, and leaving trash. In the last two years he has found 17 dead bodies and two Koran bibles.

Another rancher testified that daily drugs are brought across his ranch in a military operation. A point man with a machine gun goes in front, 1/2 mile behind are the guards fully armed, 1/2 mile behind them are the drugs, behind the drugs 1/2 mile are more guards. These people are violent and they will kill anyone who gets in the way. This was not the only rancher we heard that day that talked about the drug trains.

One man told of two illegal’s who came upon his property one shot in the back and the other in the arm by the drug runners who had forced them to carry the drugs and then shot them. Daily they listen to gun fire during the night it is not safe to leave his family alone on the ranch and they can’t leave the ranch for fear of nothing being left when they come back.

The border patrol is not on the border. They have set up 60 miles away with check points that do nothing to stop the invasion. They are not allowed to use force in stopping anyone who is entering. They run around chasing them, if they get their hands on them then they can take them back across the border.

Federal prisons have over 35% illegal’s and 20% of Arizona prisons are filled with illegal’s. In the last few years 80% of our law enforcement that have been killed or wounded have been by an illegal.

The majority of people coming now are people we need to be worried about. The ranchers told us that they have seen a change in the people coming they are not just those who are looking for work and a better life.

The Federal Government has refused for years to do anything to help the border states. We have been over run and once they are here we have the burden of funding state services that they use. Education cost have been over a billion dollars. The healthcare cost billions of dollars. Our State is broke, $3.5 billion deficit and we have many serious decisions to make. One is that we do not have the money to care for any who are not here legally. It has to stop. The border can be secured. We have the technology we have the ability to stop this invasion. We must know who is coming and they must come in an organized manner legally so that we can assimilate them into our population and protect the sovereignty of our country. We are a nation of laws. We have a responsibility to protect our citizens and to protect the integrity of our country and the government which we live under.

I would give amnesty today to many, but here is the problem, we dare not do this until the Border is secure.

It will do no good to forgive them because thousands will come behind them and we will be over run to the point that there will no longer be the United States of America but a North American Union of open borders. I ask you what form of government will we live under?

How long will it be before we will be just like Mexico, Canada or any of the other Central American or South American countries? We have already lost our language, everything must be printed in Spanish also. We have already lost our history it is no longer taught in our schools. And we have lost our borders.

The leftist media has distorted what SB 1070 will do. It is not going to set up a Nazi Germany. Are you kidding. The ACLU and the leftist courts will do everything to protect those who are here illegally, but it was an effort to try and stop illegal’s from setting up businesses, and employment, and receiving state services and give the ability to local law enforcement when there is probable cause like a traffic stop to determine if they are here legally. Federal law is very clear if you are here on a visa you must have your papers on you at all times. That is the law. In Arizona all you need to show you are a legal citizen is a driver license, MVD identification card, Native American Card, or a Military ID. This is what you need to vote, get a hunting license, etc.. So nothing new has been added to this law. No one is going to be stopped walking down the street etc… The Socialist who are in power in DC are angry because we dare try and do something and that something the Socialist wants us to do is just let them come. They want the “Transformation” to continue.

Maybe it is too late to save America. Maybe we are not worthy of freedom anymore. But as an elected official I must try to do what I can to protect our Constitutional Republic. Living in America is not a right just because you can walk across the border. Being an American is a responsibility and it comes by respecting and upholding the Constitution the law of our land which says what you must do to be a citizen of this country. Freedom is not free.

Respectfully,

Sylvia Allen

Arizona State Senator

Check out the Carbon Footprint of Al Gore's New Ocean-View Mediterranean Villa!

Exclusive Photo Gallery

Guess how many attempts President Bush made to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since he took office in 2001:

** 2001

April: The Administration’s FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is “a potential problem,” because “financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.”


** 2002

May: The President calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles contained in his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (OMB Prompt Letter to OFHEO, 5/29/02)


** 2003

January: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years.

February: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) releases a report explaining that “although investors perceive an implicit Federal guarantee of [GSE] obligations,” “the government has provided no explicit legal backing for them.” As a consequence, unexpected problems at a GSE could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market. (“Systemic Risk: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Role of OFHEO,” OFHEO Report, 2/4/03)

September: Fannie Mae discloses SEC investigation and acknowledges OFHEO’s review found earnings manipulations.

September: Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact “legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related government sponsored enterprises” and set prudent and appropriate minimum capital adequacy requirements.

October: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.

November: Council of the Economic Advisers (CEA) Chairman Greg Mankiw explains that any “legislation to reform GSE regulation should empower the new regulator with sufficient strength and credibility to reduce systemic risk.” To reduce the potential for systemic instability, the regulator would have “broad authority to set both risk-based and minimum capital standards” and “receivership powers necessary to wind down the affairs of a troubled GSE.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Remarks At The Conference Of State Bank Supervisors State Banking Summit And Leadership, 11/6/03)


** 2004

February: The President’s FY05 Budget again highlights the risk posed by the explosive growth of the GSEs and their low levels of required capital, and called for creation of a new, world-class regulator: “The Administration has determined that the safety and soundness regulators of the housing GSEs lack sufficient power and stature to meet their responsibilities, and therefore…should be replaced with a new strengthened regulator.” (2005 Budget Analytic Perspectives, pg. 83)

February: CEA Chairman Mankiw cautions Congress to “not take [the financial market's] strength for granted.” Again, the call from the Administration was to reduce this risk by “ensuring that the housing GSEs are overseen by an effective regulator.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Op-Ed, “Keeping Fannie And Freddie’s House In Order,” Financial Times, 2/24/04)

June: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman spotlights the risk posed by the GSEs and called for reform, saying “We do not have a world-class system of supervision of the housing government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), even though the importance of the housing financial system that the GSEs serve demands the best in supervision to ensure the long-term vitality of that system. Therefore, the Administration has called for a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banking System.” (Samuel Bodman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Testimony, 6/16/04)


** 2005

April: Treasury Secretary John Snow repeats his call for GSE reform, saying “Events that have transpired since I testified before this Committee in 2003 reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed by the GSEs and further highlight the need for real GSE reform to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding for expanding homeownership opportunities in America… Half-measures will only exacerbate the risks to our financial system.” (Secretary John W. Snow, “Testimony Before The U.S. House Financial Services Committee,” 4/13/05)


** 2007

July: Two Bear Stearns hedge funds invested in mortgage securities collapse.

August: President Bush emphatically calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying “first things first when it comes to those two institutions. Congress needs to get them reformed, get them streamlined, get them focused, and then I will consider other options.” (President George W. Bush, Press Conference, The White House, 8/9/07)

September: RealtyTrac announces foreclosure filings up 243,000 in August – up 115 percent from the year before.

September: Single-family existing home sales decreases 7.5 percent from the previous month – the lowest level in nine years. Median sale price of existing homes fell six percent from the year before.

December: President Bush again warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs, saying “These institutions provide liquidity in the mortgage market that benefits millions of homeowners, and it is vital they operate safely and operate soundly. So I’ve called on Congress to pass legislation that strengthens independent regulation of the GSEs – and ensures they focus on their important housing mission. The GSE reform bill passed by the House earlier this year is a good start. But the Senate has not acted. And the United States Senate needs to pass this legislation soon.” (President George W. Bush, Discusses Housing, The White House, 12/6/07)


** 2008

January: Bank of America announces it will buy Countrywide.

January: Citigroup announces mortgage portfolio lost $18.1 billion in value.

February: Assistant Secretary David Nason reiterates the urgency of reforms, says “A new regulatory structure for the housing GSEs is essential if these entities are to continue to perform their public mission successfully.” (David Nason, Testimony On Reforming GSE Regulation, Senate Committee On Banking, Housing And Urban Affairs, 2/7/08)

March: Bear Stearns announces it will sell itself to JPMorgan Chase.

March: President Bush calls on Congress to take action and “move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They need to continue to modernize the FHA, as well as allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to homeowners to refinance their mortgages.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Economic Club Of New York, New York, NY, 3/14/08)

April: President Bush urges Congress to pass the much needed legislation and “modernize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [There are] constructive things Congress can do that will encourage the housing market to correct quickly by … helping people stay in their homes.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With Cabinet, the White House, 4/14/08)

May: President Bush issues several pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the situation deteriorates further.

“Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeatedly requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance sub-prime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/3/08)

“[T]he government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes. And one way we can do that – and Congress is making progress on this – is the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That reform will come with a strong, independent regulator.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With The Secretary Of The Treasury, the White House, 5/19/08)

“Congress needs to pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/31/08)

June: As foreclosure rates continued to rise in the first quarter, the President once again asks Congress to take the necessary measures to address this challenge, saying “we need to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks At Swearing In Ceremony For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 6/6/08)

July: Congress heeds the President’s call for action and passes reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it becomes clear that the institutions are failing.


From Gateway Pundit: Pelosi Caught In Major Lie- Says Bush Didn’t Warn Congress About Financial Crisis… Records Show He Warned Congress 17 Times in 2008 Alone

Things that make you go "hmmmmmm"...

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.

IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.

IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

IF YOU CROSS THE United States BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET

• A JOB
• A DRIVERS LICENSE
• SOCIAL SECURITY CARD
• WELFARE 
• FOOD STAMPS
• CREDIT CARDS
• SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE
• FREE EDUCATION
• FREE HEALTH CARE
• A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON
• BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE
• THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT AND IN MANY INSTANCES YOU CAN VOTE.

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION

IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP AMERICA!

OUR TIMES

 

Congressman Waxman sneaks anti-vitamin amendment into Wall Street reform bill

(NaturalNews) Of all the sneaky tactics practiced in Washington D.C., this recent action by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the most insidious: While no one was looking, he injected amendment language into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) that would expand the powers of the FTC (not the FDA, but the FTC) to terrorize nutritional supplement companies by greatly expanding the power of the FTC to make its own laws that target dietary supplement companies.

This is a little-known secret about the FTC and the nutritional supplements business: The FTC routinely targets nutritional supplement companies that are merely telling the truth about their products. Some companies are threatened by merely linking to published scientific studies about their products.

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Obama waited too long in Gulf disaster...

Doug Ross...further points out that much of the White House response thus far seems calculated to make trial lawyers happy, not find a solution to the crisis:

But the White House response has consisted of dispatching lawyers to New Orleans and shutting down other rigs that have nothing to do with the BP disaster. On April 30th - 10 days after the catastrophic explosion - the oil and gas news site RigZone reported that the White House had forbidden new drilling.

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DEVASTATING: Video Shows Feds Knew Of Potential Ecological Disaster Immediately After Rig Explosion

This is devastating.

Federal officials knew of the potential ecological disaster after the oil rig explosion on March 22nd.

Video from NOAA site shows officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow.

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Just released: proof that Obama met William Ayers years earlier than previously believed

A new book released today uncovers for the first time where and how President Obama first met Weather Underground terrorist-group founder William Ayers – and it is much earlier than previously believed.

The book reveals the two were brought together by a student of radical community organizer Saul Alinsky, whose name, it has emerged, was obscured in Obama's autobiography "Dreams from My Father."

The new book, "The Manchurian President: Barack Obama's Ties to Communists, Socialists and other Anti-American Extremists", charges Obama has deep ties to an anti-American extremist nexus that has been instrumental not only in building his political career but in crafting current White House policy.

Most exhaustive investigation ever into prez's background, radical ties

So Arizona should be boycotted because its people would like to keep it safe?

...drug dealers are a huge problem with far-reaching capabilities. On April 27, 2010, a large drug bust took place here in Cochise County. Among those arrested was Angelica Marie Borquez, the secretary for the Drug Enforcement Division of the Cochise County Attorney office. Allegedly, Ms. Borquez was tipping off the drug runners to counter drug operations conducted by the county. She was so bold that she used the phone in the County Attorney's office to make some of her calls.

This isn't a blatant effort by drug cartels to obtain control here in America?

Caterina Valente and Luiz Bonfa at the Hollywood Palace

Smooth...but, what famous rock song do you hear at the end (02:35 - 02:50) of this VIDEO???

Stranger In Our Midst: "It is as if the United States has been occupied by a foreign power..."

After auditioning countless political terms, I finally realized that the Obama administration and its congressional collaborators almost resemble a foreign occupying force, a coterie of politically and culturally non-indigenous leaders whose rule contravenes local values rooted in our national tradition. It is as if the United States has been occupied by a foreign power, and this transcends policy objections. It is not about Obama's birthplace. It is not about race, either; millions of white Americans have had black mayors and black governors, and this unease about out-of-synch values never surfaced.

The term I settled on is "alien rule" -- based on outsider values, regardless of policy benefits -- that generates agitation. This is what bloody anti-colonial strife was all about...

A Stranger in Our Midst

L A POLITICAL PRISONER RICHARD FINE TREATED WORSE THAN TERRORISTS AT GITMO

From Full Disclosure: VIDEO

Story from American Thinker:

In a disturbing case of politically motivated retaliation, prominent Beverly Hills attorney Dr. Richard Fine has been incarcerated in coercive solitary confinement for close to fourteen months at the Los Angeles County Men's Jail.

The Fine Pursuit of Exposing Corruption

The Spill vs. a Need to Drill

From the NYT:

...whatever the magnitude of the spill at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, it is unlikely to seriously impede offshore drilling in the Gulf. The country needs the oil — and the jobs...Much has changed since 1969.

No real exploration of almost any important issue in American life is possible as long as the Left focuses on the race, gender and class of those who hold differing positions.

From Dennis Prager: Why Left Talks About 'White' Tea Parties

In today's debate, the threshold question is: Should the nation have immigration laws?

Until 1875, there were none.

Bill pending in Senate would do for Americans' food supply what "Obamacare" is doing to the nation's supply of health-care resources...

New 'safety plan' would control what you eat

Wow...accountants really do have a sense of humor!

From the Institute for Truth in Accounting: Bernie Madoff vs. Social Security

Know any Senior Citizens???

SENIORS: LIST OF MEDICARE CUTS IN NEW HEALTHCARE LAW (Obamacare)

2009:
•Medicare cuts to hospitals begin (long‐term care (7/1/09) and inpatient and rehabilitation facilities (FY10))

2010:
•Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/10)

2011:
•Medicare Advantage cuts begin
•Medicare cuts to home health begin
•Wealthier seniors ($85k/$170k) begin paying higher Part D premiums (not indexed for inflation in Parts B/D)
•Medicare reimbursement cuts when seniors use diagnostic imaging like MRIs, CT scans, etc.
•Medicare cuts begin to ambulance services, ASCs, diagnostic labs, and durable medical equipment
•Prohibition on Medicare payments to new physician‐owned hospitals
•Seniors prohibited from purchasing power wheelchairs unless they first rent for 13 months
•New Medicare cuts to long‐term care hospitals begin (7/1/11)
•Additional Medicare cuts to hospitals and cuts to nursing homes and inpatient rehab facilities begin (FY12)

2012:
•Medicare cuts to dialysis treatment begins
•Medicare to reduce spending by using an HMO‐like coordinated care model (Accountable Care Organizations)
•New Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/12)
•Medicare cuts to hospitals with high readmission rates begin (FY13)
•Medicare cuts to hospice begin (FY13)

2013:
•Medicare cuts to hospitals who treat low‐income seniors begin

2014:
•More Medicare cuts to home health begin
•Government board (IPAB) begins submitting proposals to cut Medicare
•Medicare payment cuts for hospital‐acquired infections begin (FY15)

2015:
•More Medicare cuts to home health begin

COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS REPUBLICANS

Obama administration: CRIME INCORPORATED

Glenn Beck - CRIME INCORPORATED - Thursday, April 29, 2010 - VIDEO

From IBD (Investors Business Daily): The $10 Trillion Climate Fraud - Cap-and-Trade - The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) - Joyce Foundation

Obama. Blagojevich. 3 dead men...

Three deaths.

1. Christopher Kelly (Suicide?)


2. John Stroger (Stroke complications)


3. Orlando Jones (Suicide?)

All three with connections to Rod Blagojevich and Barack Obama.
All three are mentioned in this article from March 29, 2008 by Evelyn Pringle.

COINCIDENCE???

Can you say K - A - T - R - I - N - A ???

NYT editorial: Obama should have acted sooner on the oil spill

GRAPHIC: Beneath the Oil Slick

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/04/whats_going_on_beneath_the_sea.html

GO ARIZONA!

US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig

A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.

Most important to understand about this latest attack by North Korea against its South Korean enemy is that under the existing “laws of war” it was a permissible action as they remain in a state of war against each other due to South Korea’s refusal to sign the 1953 Armistice ending the Korean War.

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From Canada Free Press: Oil Spill a Catastrophe of Monumental Proportions: Is It Sabotage?

Obama sez: "I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money."

Thus, Obama has shown a complete misunderstanding of the Capitalist system and the nature of our biological existence here on Earth.

Let's hear from a real expert:

Asked why it is to a successful businessman’s interest to continue producing [Ayn Rand] responds...