Wait... I thought Congress fixed it?

Wow, with Congress spending $800 BILLION (at the very least, I gaurantee you it will be more) of OUR money on *fixing* the financial market's mess, you would have thought Wall Street would have responded by going up today, eh?

At some point, enough is enough. When the vast majority of the American people are able to shut down the website and phone lines of Congress letting them know of our displeasure with the bailout bill and Congress STILL votes to do so, when does enough become enough?

Utterly ridiculous.

The research story you won't see

New York Times
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, 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 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University 's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

In a cursory search of current news stories on the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae "crises" on the Time's own website, I found a couple recent stories. Strangely enough, even though they easily could have conducted some research into their own archives, not a single word about the Clinton administration's role was mentioned.

State of Fear

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 777 points Monday, its biggest single-day fall ever, easily beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

That's right - the WORST ever!! Except for one little point. As of today, it's not.

In October 2002, the NASDAQ dropped to as low as 1,108.49 - a 78.4% decline from its all-time high of 5,132.52, the level it had established in March 2000.

To put some perspective on it, the Dow dropped 6.9% today.

On October 19, 1987, the stock market crashed. The Dow dropped 508 points or 22.6% in a single trading day. This was a drop of 36.7% from its high on August 25, 1987.

Again, the market dropped less than 7% today...

One of the books I would suggest that everyone reads is Crichton's State of Fear. He does a fabulous job of explaining how our media manipulates the news to create a constant state of panic and fear. Exactly what we're seeing today. Are the financial markets hurting? Clearly. But the worst ever? Not quite.

Shocked, I am!

The House of Representitives actually did the right thing today and voted down the ridiculous bailout bill.

They must have been hearing volumes of mail from their constituents that the thought of the government taking over the mortgage industry was not a good idea. At all.

I firmly believe that if this ridiculous bill were voted on this time last year it would have passed. But only a little more than a month out from the election? That's much too close for comfort for those running for re-election.

I think this could very well be a foreshadowing of the election. Nancy Pelosi couldn't even get all of her Democrats on board. Obama couldn't lead. Bush continues to serve out his (very) lame duck term.

As of the writing of this post, you STILL can't get onto Congress' website. We, the people, have virtually overwhelmed the Congress critters and for once, they did the right thing.

Religion of Peace update

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but it would appear that a couple of followers of the Religion of Peace were out to take out another airliner...

If you'd just read the first paragraph or two, however, you might not make that connection:

German police arrested two terrorist suspects on board a Dutch airliner Friday, minutes before it was due to take off from Cologne-Bonn airport for Amsterdam. A police spokesman said a Somali man aged 23 and a 24-year-old German born in Mogadishu were escorted off the KLM Flight 1804 at 6:55 am (0455 GMT).

The arrests came a day after police appealed to the public to help track down two missing Islamists, one of them a German convert, who were suspected of membership in a terrorist group called the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), often described as a successor to al-Qaeda.

Police said they were pursuing about 20 leads related to Eric Breininger, a 21-year-old German, and Houssain al-Malla, a 23-year-old Lebanese, were last seen in the zone along the Pakistan-Afghan border. Police suspect they might have secretly returned to Germany.

Seems like some pretty good intelligence work there, but what would I know....

More pics from the mud bowl

Great picture of Dave, gun in full recoil... Now if I could just figure out what's up with that face he's making when he shoots!



Picture of yours truly - the gun started out unloaded on the table, great picture caught right after I'd loaded the mag and am starting to rack the slide....



Cool picture of Greg - the Animal - on many levels. You can see how deep the mud was, the fierce look of determination, and then check out the brass. Two pieces in the air, and the camera caught the next round being loaded into the chamber - pretty cool!



And finally, here's the blog father showing some great finger and muzzle control - this is how you should do it, boys and girls.

Now THAT's funny

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Avast, ye scurvy dogs. Today be "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." Look alive, ye bilge rats, get yer fingers outta the bunghole, scrub the poopdeck, and hoist that there mainsail.

Wanna see a real man's yardarm?

Arrr!

More MudBowl 2008

This video of Catfish pretty much sums up our 2008 Open/L10 Nationals experience this year. This was our 4th stage of day 1, and after rolling through the first 3 stages pretty quickly in spite of the rain, we had to wait behind 2 full squads before we could shoot this one. Yeah, that is 2 hours standing in the pouring rain to shoot. Kinda takes the wind out of your sails just a bit. But we still had a great time - there's nothing quite like putting on the same soggy, smelly cleats 3 days in a row and standing ankle-deep in mud! Can't wait 'til next year...

Mud Bowl, part deux

Snapped some pics from this year's USPSA nationals - and yeah, it was pretty damn muddy.

Here's The Girl....



And JR....



And yours truly after the first stage, last day...

Now that's class

Looks like one of Dallas' own has stepped in the mierda once again.

In a video posted on YouTube, Howard is shown on a football field at a charity flag football game. As the national anthem plays in the background, Howard approaches a camera and says: “‘The Star Spangled Banner’ is going on right now. I don’t even celebrate that (expletive). I’m black.”

Yep, that's right, folks. The same America that has given this moron the opportunity to make millions of dollars playing basketball is the same America that he feels compelled to spit on.

What an asshole.

Nicholas

After a long day at work, one resplendent with hate, ignorance and stupidity, I was ready for someone else to serve my dinner. Of course, the restaurant I chose was packed and noisy. Most of the noise came from squealing children whose parents, equally as tired as I, were content to let them caterwaul at will.

During the course of the meal, I had glanced around, taking notice of the sociological experiment that is the restaurant. There was an Asian family there, the kids in elementary school, still enamored with Star Wars as evidenced by the light saber. Another family had a small child who didn't much care for his high chair, and was sharing his displeasure with everyone within earshot. There was an older couple, sitting with each other on the same side of the booth. I only noted in passing the three women and a little boy in a booth just behind and to my left. The little boy looked tired, resting on his mom's shoulder, and he had an abrasion above his left eye - it looked as if he'd fallen and bonked it pretty well.

Dinner went on, with the predictable botching of the order, constant aggravation of the noisy restaurant, the irritation at paying too much for food, the continual remembrance of the day's events; people acting mean, petty, and selfish. Grown men and women taking offence at the slightest thing, all adding up to what has too often become the norm: just wanting some quiet, away from the meanness and burdensome routine of the daily grind.

I paid my bill, and as I handed the check to the waiter, the 3 ladies with the little boy stood up.

I glanced, thought nothing, then heard, "what's your name?"

I blinked, taken aback, because the little boy on his mom's shoulder had raised his head, and looking at me, asked again, "what's your name?"

"My name's Jim. What's yours?"

"Nicholas." And he put out his hand to shake mine.

"It's very nice to meet you, Nicholas."

And that was it. Children are here to remind us that we're not as important as we like to think we are, and that more often than not, we need to stop and appreciate those around us, and take a moment to make new friends.

It's been a very good day.

Gone Fishin'

Several of us are off to Tulsa for the USPSA L10/Open Nationals. Wish us luck.

For those of you who are Twitterers, follow "jimbob_texas" for updates. I'll have my BlackBerry with me, and will provide Twitterberry updates as the days go by.

Hasta la vista!

Jesse at USPSA nats

Here's a nice little video of JR's favorite shooter!

USPSA nationals

Here is a great link to a local news story about the USPSA nationals in Tulsa going on right now.

In addition, here's another great resource for the biggest shoot of the practical shooting year.

Rev. Jesse Jackson hospitalized for stomach pains

Ladies and gentlemen, when you're chronically full of shit, this is what happens.

Home Run

I like me some Sarah Palin. After listening to her tonight, I was struck by how well she delivered the speech, likely written by a stranger, but delivered by her. She was nothing short of brilliant. She's an excellent public speaker, very graceful, yet disarming. She's honest to a fault, and has the family to prove it.

That was impressive, and pretty much seals the deal as far as I'm concerned. I'd drink a beer with her any time. Hell, I'd even buy it.

Even John McCain liked it. That was a great speech.

Someone

Has way too much time on their hands....

Gustav

Here's a little bit of advice to those folks livin' in NOLA.

Get the hell out of Dodge now. And just like Katrina, you've got no excuse if stay and take your chances...

Editor? We don't need no stinking editor...

Ah, the lovely folks at AP have screwed the pooch again. Check out this story just posted:


And the key error, right here:

The convention, a marquee event meant to send presidential candidate Dick Cheney into the fall campaign with a burst of energy and good feeling....

Cheney, huh? I didn't realize he was on the ticket!

And these are the same people we're supposed to trust with important details, eh?