2010-03-28

christian soldiers

3.6: co.apt/pol/christian soldiers:
[after seeing the news portray usa soldiers as
having group prayers during battle:]
. why are they [usa news channels]
presenting the soldiers as christians?
they are there defending the amer'values
for the constitutional Great Smut!
[ref. to islam calling usa the Great Satan,
while pointing at our constitutional protections of
smut, and other immodesties or immoralities .]
. shouldn't it be the reverse?
reporting instead that we come
not to engage in religious wars,
and that we are going to clean up our citizens
in order to not offend modest sensibilities ??
. well,
I can understand this as excluding muslims
from fighting beside them,
and it may give them a morale booster to be
showing christian devotions for the news
to tease the muslims that are
giving them a hard time .
. conversely,
seeing soldiers showing religious pref's
reminds us that they're not just soldiers
but individuals from among citizens .

free capitalist's original sin

3.6: pol/free capitalist/original sin:
. to the Free Capitalists, I'd like to joke:
"( original sin is real, my friend ) .
. how do we create value
when people are creating more people
than we can really value ?
. our assumptions about being able to
freely exchange
falls from not being able to control
pop'growth:
parents get value from children often only by
reducing value of the world around them:
owning children insures that
more of the world is loyal to you,
and often also insures
a better chance of being employed .
. even if we let capitalism operate freely,
this collective overgrowth of the labor force
means that many of them will choose crime
or will unfairly lower the value
of the entire labor force,
as their numbers increase the group's desperation
to the point of "(willing) slavery .
. this growing sea of more desperate slaves
are at greater risk of turning to crime
opportunistically .
. this is not just about
something looming in the future:
it was this discontent
with being the child of poverty
that drove Europeans to colonize other lands .
. there's nothing free about
any capitalism that doesn't
control population somehow
-- either by lottery, democracy, meritocracy,
or by waging wars --
to create new owners among fewer people .

3.7: pol/wealth of rations:
. wealth through pop'control
is what we're already doing:
it's the magic of land owner-ship
any excess labor can pile up in city soup lines
and the families that manage to stay wealthy
don't see any over pop' at all .

Recovery Act with pork, love

co.pol/dem/Highway Hypocrite/my response:
. district Sen. Jon Kyl voted against
creating as many as 3.9 million jobs
when opposing the Recovery Act.
Will you write a letter now asking for immediate disclosure
of how much Recovery Act money has been requested for your area?
After all -- shouldn't members of Congress
be proud of fighting for jobs for their constituents?
(to my local repub senators):
. I don't think that's fair that dem's
call repub's Highway Hypocrites;
because, you could honestly say
none of us should be voting for it,
but if we did anyway,
then it only makes sense to have
your state get the most out of every bill
-- even bills the other side forced .
. I think the really hypocritical thing
is that the real reason Repub's are
against a porky jobs bill
is that the other side thought of it .
. they sure do believe in the military
and that untouchable medicare .
. what a bunch of porky jobs for pro's and soldiers .

2010-03-27

thanks for toughing out this health care bill

co.pol/dem/Thank Representative Giffords/my reply

co.pol/{Arizona Daily Star, The Daily Territorial, USA Today, New York Times}/
thanks for toughing out this health care bill:


Dear Rep. Giffords,
. thank you so much for being a true
blue dog democrat -- a true fiscal conservative,
that is exactly the reason
I pumped $hundreds into this campaign .

. I'm sorry about the anger you rep's endured;
I watched your townhall meetings on
google( site:youtube.com giffords health care ) .
. the opposition claimed this bill was
not conservative,
but they know
they are just the sore loser half
that had their seat taken for the
I'm Bushed Years .
. I would ask them:
what is not conservative about
"(you pay for what you've been getting!)?
. how about
instead of our medicare "(death panels)
we gave them the honest conservative deal:
you take the same level of medicare
that you signed up for when medicare was created;
lets see them talk about honest conservatism then .

. too bad though that our bill didn't
offer them more choice:
one where we could sign a waver saying
we wouldn't accept any charity health care,
and then it would be fair if we
wouldn't have to pay any health insurance .
. but I believe in a right to die too,
so seeing people decline help
just doesn't touch me .

. I understand that you were in favor of tort reform;
did we get that ?
anyway, I have another fiscally conservative
idea for that:
rather than stopping the trials,
we could be getting at the root of the
medical errors:
those medical guys belong to a cartel
that artificially keeps their numbers low,
makes them operate alone with little sleep,
when instead
they should be working in pairs
like airline pilots .
-- and then we could quarter their $400k salaries .
. they talk about the quality of standards
when they set the bar so high for licensing;
but there is real safety in numbers
as is the case with pilots, juries,
and open source software .

. again, thank you so much,
I would be proud to fund your next election,
phil

2010-03-24

amer'dreaming on the job!

3.24: news.pol/amer'dreaming on the job!

. some news bit just said the same as here:
US Sees 'Explosion' of Extremist Groups, Militias
"(The U.S. has seen an "explosion" in the number of
radical anti-government groups and armed militias
[due to] the election of the first black president
[and] the bank bailout ... .
)
. amer's are hostile about both a black pres
and the bailout ?
what do those have in common ?
. the housing and finance collapse was basically due to
unconditionally guaranteed gov't loans
-- via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac --
and weren't those the liberal's attempt at
giving capital to the minorities ?
. this is similar to my euro-christian history apologist idea
of having the gov' buy businesses
to be handed out to blacks and natives
instead of welfare .
. owning a house would have my idea's effect only if
they lived in their car and rented their house out;
but, home ownership is still capital
that grows in value when you maintain it
--- it gives you a part-time job at
being your own landlord .
. I was wishing they would do this
without realizing they actually were!
and wow you have to be careful what you wish for,
because if it's heavy
then a sarcastic bureaucracy is likely to
drop it on your foot !

. here is a summary of wiki
showing how democrats are perceived
in the bailout picture .
Fannie_Mae
Subprime_mortgage_crisis
United_States_housing_bubble
Sales_Prices_of_New_Homes_Sold_in_United_States_1963-2008_annual.png

1938: Fannie Mae was established for New Deal:
. to make mortgages available to low-income families.
. added to the Federal Home Mortgage association,
a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal
in order to facilitate liquidity within the mortgage market.
1968:
. the government converted Fannie Mae
into a private shareholder-owned corporation
in order to remove its activity from the annual balance sheet
of the federal budget .
Consequently, Fannie Mae ceased to be the guarantor of
government-issued mortgages,
and that responsibility was transferred to the new
Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).

1970: Freddie Mac created .
(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation)(FHLMC),
to compete with Fannie Mae
for a robust and efficient secondary mortgage market.
HOUSES AVERAGE: $27k

1977: Carter's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA 1977)
. an affirmitive action plan for banks
giving small business loans and home mortgages
to blighted inner cities .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $54k

1999: Clinton's Fannie Mae CRA push .
. in response to the affirmitive action push,
primary mortgage markets pressed Fannie Mae
to ease credit requirements,
enabling them to make subprime loans at
higher than conventional loan interest rates .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $200k

1999: public awareness (New York Times)
"( Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk,
which may not pose any difficulties during
flush economic times.
But the government-subsidized corporation
may run into trouble in an economic downturn,
prompting a government rescue
similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s.)

2000: HUD's anti-predatory lending rules
. HUD disallowed risky, high-cost loans
from being credited toward affordable housing goals.

2002: Bush's "Renewing the Dream"
. the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act.
$2 billion in tax credits over the next five years
to develop affordable single-family housing in distressed areas.
HOUSES AVERAGE: $230k


2003: Bush's fix for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
. Fannie Mae's risk feared to be much larger than believed .
. Fannie Mae is prescribed outside supervision
to set capital-reserve requirements for the company
and to determine whether the company is adequately managing
the risks of its portfolios.

2003: Democratic opposition to Bush's plan:
ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee,
Barney Frank of Massachusetts:
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac --
are not facing any kind of financial crisis,"
"The more people exaggerate these problems,
the more pressure there is on these companies,
the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

2003: Bush's American Dream Downpayment Act
. a new program that provided grants to help home buyers with
downpayment and closing costs.
The act authorized $200 million dollars per year
for the program for fiscal years 2004-2007.
. also tripled the funding for Habitat for Humanity's
that help families help themselves become homeowners
through 'sweat equity' and volunteerism in their communities.
Substantially increasing, by at least $440 billion,
the financial commitment made by the government-sponsored enterprises
involved in the secondary mortgage market
specifically targeted toward the minority market.

2004: layered-risk loans race
[. high-risk loans were allowed again
with the intention that high risk actors
be given affordable terms .
. instead, house loans layered the risk:
their payments would remain affordable
only if multiple factors remained positive:
interest rates had to remain low,
and unemployment had to remain low .
. because these loans couldn't be covered by Fannie Mae,
the banks bundled the loans into products
that would be sold as high interest bonds .]

2004: Alan Greenspan warns of market conspiracy
. the markets appear to believe that the U.S. Government
would never allow Fannie Mae (or Freddie Mac) to fail .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $274k

2005: public awareness of "layered-risk" lending .
Alan Greenspan praised the rise of the sub-prime mortgage industry
and the tools which it uses to assess credit-worthiness .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $297k

2005: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act (S.190)
2005: Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1461)
. an effort to reform the existing GSE regulatory structure
in light of the recent accounting problems
and questionable management actions
leading to considerable income restatements by the GSE's.
After being reported favorably by the Senate's
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in July 2005,
the bill was never considered by the full Senate for a vote.[18]
. The House Financial Services Committee had crafted changes
and produced a Committee Report;
it was passed by the House in spite of opposition by
Democrats, Bush, and other Republicans;
and the Senate ignored it .
2006: Sen. McCain's becomes a cosponsor of S.190
. Fannie Mae's regulator reported that profits were
"illusions deliberately and systematically created
by the company's senior management" .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $306k

2007: HOUSES AVERAGE: $310k and falling
. the collapse of the U.S. housing market
and subprime mortgage crisis .
. many with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM)
were unable to pay their mortgages,
precipitously increasing home foreclosures
causing supply to exceed demand
and a decline in prices .
. also, stricter lending standards made it more and more difficult
for borrowers to get mortgages.
This depreciation in home prices
led to growing losses for the GSEs,
which back the majority of US mortgages.
. widely held subprime mortgage securities
lost most of their value,
resulting in a massive tightening of credit
around the world.

Democratic senators
such as Senator Charles Schumer of New York
were already proposing a federal bailout
in order to save homeowners from losing their residences.
Opponents
asserted that a government bailout would
set a bad precedent, create a moral hazard,
and worsen the speculation problem in the housing market.

2009: HOUSES AVERAGE: rising again
after a 32% dive from 2006 peak .

2010-03-05

President Obama's health care video

pos.pol/health care/President Obama's health care video:
. the "final march" speech adds very little:
some republican demands were included;
but, there's still no mention of how to appease
the people that were worried about death panels .
. I still feel like I don't have
the ammo I need to defend this bill;
because, even though we do have
a need for mandatory health insurance,
we also need a menu of variously-priced plans,
where we're being rewarded with cheaper premiums
for contracting to accept less care .
. the main problem today is that people haven't been
given a chance to make that deal;
instead, they can just hope nothing happens,
and then when it does happen,
they accept every treatment to fix it
regardless of their lack of plans .
. the gov't has already made special plans
for religious groups that have a
history of refusing treatments .
. what we need now is a generalization of that:
who is it that really cares about death panels?
let their groups pay the premiums for that exorbitant plan .
. the issue of death panels
and the costly problem of doing without them
would then take care of itself,
except for needing a transition period
where the people who are nearing medicare
would get subsidized to give them the chance
to keep the same unpaneled plan they were promised .

2010-03-01

health advice on knol needs full disclosure

2.14: health/knol/CAVEAT:
. I'm an evangelist for the dieticians I believe in,
but I'm not myself a certified dietician;
I'm simply practicing my freedom to speak
(often against the GRAINS of
the current dietary professionals) .
. don't even bother with checking my references:
you need to see a doctor or certified dietician
before acting on this advice .
. moreover, keep in mind that my highest calling
is to keep finding the most healthful advice;
so, please read with an eye toward helping me
in this open source self-help effort .

proj.health/knol/CAVEAT added:
. added caveat to all health articles,
and also changed summary of
primary USA cancer source is mold toxins .