Apologies Mrs Palin

Seems as though the blog I wrote below may not be accurate. The books listed have not been verified as those Mrs. Palin wanted banned, nor is there any proof that she had a list at all. The list is one that has circulated on the internet, but in fact contains books (Harry Potter) printed after the alleged book banning proposal. So until there is some solid proof, other than the word of the librarian she allegedly asked about book banning, then I must recant.

So, Mrs Palin, I do apologize and if you are ever in Sebastian be sure to stop by and have some delicious Chinese food!

Oh, and I have some books on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and a couple by Al Gore that you might like to read, since they were all VPs.

BTW, I could easily have deleted the blog, but hey, when you are wrong it's healthy and liberating to admit it. I feel much better now!

Palin's Banned Books

Here is a list of books that Sarah Palin tried to have banned from the Wasilla library. This is not a rumor. It has been verified by Time magazine. I'm sure that many of you have read quite a few of these books, as I have. Shakespeare? Twain? Steinbeck? Huxley?

There was a very long list of books here which I have now removed. I did not do so when I first discovered that the list was not directly attributed to Mrs. Palin. In fairness, now that I have had time to research this a bit, I have indeed removed the book titles. Please don't think of this as censorship. All I have done is censored my own poorly researched material. I did not want to delete the entire blog because I felt that some people may have read the previous version and thought it was accurate, only to come back and find it was gone and wondered why.

Fannie and Freddie

Today we learn that by next weekend the Fed will announce a takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two home mortgage giants. Both are bleeding money, having lost about 80% of their value. They hold over one trillion dollars in direct debt.

So the Treasury Department plans to bail the two companies out, costing perhaps $20 BILLION.

So, the two CEOs of course have done a terrible job. I don't think there is any doubt when losses mount to totals we are looking at for both companies.

Now you might want to know how much salary each was paid for the terrible job they did.

Daniel Mudd, CEO of Fannie Mae, made $11.8 million in 2007. Richard Syron, CEO of Freddie Mac made $18.3 million plus perks like paid travel for his wife.

I ask this: Why should or would these huge companies worry about bleeding money when the Fed is bound to come along to bail them out. It happens over and over again and who pays for it? You and I. Hey, how about giving that money back to the tax payers to help them get out of debt? No, we'll give it to the crooks who created this mess to begin with. The banks and other lenders were greedy and lent money irresponsibly. Now many Americans cannot afford their mortgage payments. Does the Fed help them out? Nope, they bail out the crooks. Nice!

Message to the next president: How about REAL change. How about making the irresponsible RESPONSIBLE!

Obama? McCain? How about Madison!

We haven't heard much from Sarah Palin since the RNC ended. I have a feeling she is getting a crash course on politics. Compare that to Joe Biden, who might just be the one giving her the lessons!

My problem is, as I think it is with many Americans, who do I vote for in this election?

There are so many rumors about Palin that I've come to discount all of them.

There are so many rumors about Obama that I've come to discount all of them.

Same for McCain, mostly.

What I do know is that, whoever wins, it will just be more of the same Washington politics running this country.

Only one candidate spoke for real change...Ron Paul. And we know where that got him.

Want to learn from some REAL reformers? Read about James Madison, James Wilson, and Alexander Hamilton. Those Founding Fathers R-O-C-K!!!

A Billion Bucks

Do you know what country has the third most troops in Iraq? Do you know what country just got a nice gift from the US? They are both Georgia (the country not the state).

Now I was really surprised to learn that Georgia had about 2500 troops in Iraq. But about half of them were redeployed back to Georgia when the confrontation with Russia escalated. Oh, we are giving the 5 million people in Georgia a nice round figure...ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!!

In the 2007 US Budget for Education, $380 million was earmarked to strengthen the capacity of our schools to improve elementary and secondary instruction in mathematics and science.

The 2000 Election! Now a Major Motion Picture

Just a quick thought:

If I was going to make a movie about the 2000 election, here is the cast...

Bush - Jack Nicholson (heh, heh)
Cheney - Robert DeNiro (you talkin' to me?)

Gore - George Clooney (the perfect storm!)
Edwards - David Duchovny (sorry for the joke)

If you want to see a cool browser inside your current browser go to:
http://www.navigaya.com/main.php

Have we learned anything from Iraq?

Take a look at a world map in order to understand why Iran is a bit worried. They are practically surrounded by American troops. I don't think the Iranian people have anything against us as Americans. What I do think is that with American troops so close, it might be best to wave a saber like nuclear power to at least make them feel more substantial in our eyes.

And also keep in mind that their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was elected by the people of Iran. But he is mostly a figurehead and the country, a theocracy, is ruled by the Supreme Leader. The president shares some degree of power with the Supreme Leader, but does not have the range of influence that presidents have in more democratic societies. So when Ahmadinejad shoots off his mouth, take it with a grain of salt.

That doesn't mean that Iran is any less of a threat, especially when it comes to influencing neighboring countries like Iraq.

But I certainly don't think threatening Iran serves them or us or the world any good. We should learn a lesson from the Iraq fiasco.