Great Example of What Caused the Housing Mess

Last night, the Mrs. and I were watching one of those house buying shows on HGTV. The couple that were looking for their first house were in Portland, Oregon. They both worked for the local school system. One was a special needs teacher, and the other worked in administration, but her exact position was never made clear. They were pre-qualified for a $375,000 loan. The male wanted a big house with lots of room, while the female was a bit more practical. Other factors were not told to the audience such as other debt considerations: car loans, personal loans, credit card debt, college loans, and so on. So, lets just review the numbers so far. A young couple, both working in the Portland school system, can qualify for a monthly mortgage of more than $2,100. Sure. And I play a doctor on TV.

Even a Tax Bill Gets Loaded Up

Some people ask me "If you're registered independent, why do you align yourself with Republicans?" Well, I consider myself a common sense conservative. I believe there a few things the government should do, and a lot it shouldn't do. If Republicans start screwing up, I'll let you know.

The only reason I bring that up is due to the current mess going on in DC with the tax bill. This is not just a bill to keep the Bush era tax cuts in place. It also includes all kinds of tax credits for just about every industry you can think of. The same industries that received tax breaks/credits via TARP in 2008 are set to receive additional corporate welfare. From the WashingtonExaminer.com:

The Multitude Yelling and Holding Signs are Supporters!

Now that the newsies have had a day to digest the Republican party winning back the House, several governors' seats, and countless other local and state elections, it's time for the Dems to start putting their own spin on it. In fact, it's the Democrat in Chief who we can point to for calling it just a rock on a dirt path. Countless liberals are saying that this election was not a rejection of liberal ideals, but the voters were simply rejecting the message. Yes, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, "it's the message, stupid."

Rick Sanchez is a victim of Rick Sanchez

Rick Sanchez, the twitter reading day-time host of CNN was fired over the weekend after making derisive remarks about Comedy Central's "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. The comment was part of a series of remarks in which Sanchez complained that Jews do not face discrimination, and called out Stewart - calling him a "bigot" - for mocking him. In case he didn't know, Stewart is a Jew. Well, he does now.

Whenever a public figure, like Sanchez, is fired from a position that people are used to seeing them in every day, there might be a bit of sympathy from their viewers. Picture little old ladies sitting on their plastic covered sofas every afternoon. Sometimes, a tiff like this can put two opposing camps at odds with each other. But when the target is the liberal left's homeboy, Jon Stewart, there's not a battle, just the carnage. And that's what Sanchez is.

Sanchez, as a commentator at CNN, should have known not to go after Stewart, even if he wanted to. There's nothing to win for Sanchez. Stewart is bulletproof, and Stewart knows it. Even if Sanchez feels the mainstream media gives him a second billing as a Hispanic newscaster (he's Cuban born) as compared to northeast liberals, such as Stewart, he should have known to keep his trap closed.

To give you an idea of what kind of trust people put in Stewart, he was selected in a 2009 TIME Magazine poll the most trusted newscaster. Granted, it was an on-line poll, which might skew the results in Stewart's favor, but nevertheless.

The truly sad thing is there's really nothing for Sanchez to fall back on, unless he wants to hit the Fox News interview circuit, but I doubt Fox News would entertain the thought. Many people saw Sanchez as just a social media leach on CNN. His daily talk show, the Rick List, consisted of him mainly reviewing some trending stories and inviting his viewers to give their takes via Twitter. He would read his favorite on the air. I felt the show was pure filler, and CNN's way of trying to break into the social media realm, much like their I-Report videos. I do not feel that conservatives are going to give him a break either. Sanchez has worked at both MSNBC and CNN, and both are considered scourge of the Earth material by conservatives.

Some may point to John Stossel as an example of news people that were given a chance at Fox, but Stossel already had conservative, or, in his case, libertarian credentials that made it easy for him to be embraced by a new audience. Sanchez does not have that luxury. And that is why we say, good luck, Mr. Sanchez. You're going to need it.

NC Governmental Beaucracy at its Best.

In today's News & Observer, there is a front-page article about how the state's Employment Security Commision, or ESC, actually overpaid a few people that were on its roll. Thankfully, it's really not a big deal. Some estimate the over-payment amount at somewhere around $28 million. Whew! I thought it might be somewhere around a more understandable few hundred thousand dollars.

From the article, the problem appears to be an issue of paying constituents from the wrong funding, which involves federally funded unemployment extensions. Accounts the state uses to pay unemployment benefits were starting to be overdrawn, and then someone noticed a problem.

Fortunately, for the citizenry of this great state, the ESC is wasting more money sending letters to those it overpaid to let them know of the error. And not only are they letting them know about the error, but also letting them know they may also be required to re-pay the state. Yes sir!

As a citizen taxpayer, I would love to have the citizens pay back the money simply to keep my taxes down. But as a taxpayer, I believe it to be completely unfair to the affected individuals. It is a misguided notion to ask people that are considered "long-term unemployed" (as this is who the error generally affects) to repay benefits that were incorrectly given to them. Yes, I know some will call this stealing. Well, the individuals didn't rob a bank in the middle of the night. All they did was . . . nothing. At the worst, you could probably blame them for continuing to report that they are unemployed. In this economy, if you were unemployed and your benefits kept coming in, would you turn them down?

Supposedly, those affected can ask for a "waiver" and have the re-payment forgiven, but its not known what criteria will be used to grant these "waivers."

Eventually, the state needs to take the blame for sloppy record keeping, among other things. When a person's unemployment benefits start, they are automatically set to expire after a set amount of weeks. Well, at least they were. Maybe the state should look to its own automated processes as the culprit. But you can't get money from a computer, and that's what this all boils down to, recouping money. The state made an error, and the citizens have to pay. Again.

White People Need Not Apply

Oh, this should be entertaining. No way it gets any major national attention though.

A black elementary school principal in Michigan arranged a trip for only Black students to attend a meeting with a Black rocket-scientist. I'm all for trips that will help kids see there is more to getting an education than just recess time, but this stinks. The principal, Mike Madison, may not have had any racist intentions at all. Hindsight is 20/20 as the saying goes.

But what would happen if a White principal arranged a field trip for only White students. Jesse Jackson, you have a call on lines 1, 2, and 3. Unfortunately for Mr. Madison, he does need to be released from his position simply because if this were done by a White principal, he would be out of a job before he could ask what kind of terms would be in the agreement.

Here is the news feed from Foxnews.com. Even someone in Michigan agrees with me!

Thank you! I'll be here all week.

Last weekend was the big White House correspondents dinner. For those that do not know, this is when all the national media that cover the WH on a regular basis get together and yuck it up. The President shows up, shares in the good times and tells some jokes. And there are always a few celebrities on hand to give it a good time feel.

I don't mind the jokes, or even care about Obama poking fun at the opposition. My concern is having an event solely for the purpose of wining and dining the press. If the press is supposed to be the "4th estate," they should report on the news, not participate in the lambasting of political opponents.


And for the record, I do not care who is in office, Republican, Green, Libertarian, or Democrat. The press corps can not be a neutral entity when they are invited to an event put on to simply entertain them.

Even the media has called into question the purpose and friendliness of such an event. In 2006, comedian Stephen Colbert was the invited speaker, and practically ran, then President Bush out of the room. Unfortunately for the neutral media, this is just another indicator of how cozy the media is with politicians that speak their language.

Wikipedia page for the White House Correspondent's Association

Wiki page for Colbert's roast of President Bush