Who Put the House on Fire?

That's the question asked by John over at Verum Serum, who also provides the link to a related Hot Air article, complete with video and highlights. The Democrats continue to try to pin the whole thing on the Republicans, but in truth, the Dems are the ones who created this mess, and the Republicans tried to stop it, but were rebuffed at every turn.

More on the Meltdown

Hat tip to Ace of Spades for this video, another dealing with the current economic meltdown, who's behind it all, who tried to stop it, and who benefited from the events leading up to it.


UPDATE: Would help to embed the actual video...

A Brief History of Financial Crisis

This could also be described as a brief history of how we found ourselves in the mess we are currently in, who we have to blame for it, and who tried to stop it before it started. With a tip of the hat to John at Verum Serum, I present the following from Fox News:



No further comment from me. You, however, are welcome to have at it.

The Real Culprit Behind the Fannie/Freddie Meltdown

From an editorial in Investors Business Daily:

Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.

But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.

Go read the rest.

H/T Verum Serum

Fri... er, Saturday Funny

Hat tip to ysmarko, here's a mashup of Home Alone and I Am Legend. If you've seen the latter and remember the former, hopefully you'll find this as funny as I did.

Where Were You

when the world stopped turning on that September day?



I was working at Pizzeria Uno in Elm Grove at the time. I started work at 8AM, like I usually did. I was a prep cook at the time, working in the back of the house. We had a feed of the jukebox, so I didn't hear anything that was going on.

Around 10AM, when the servers started arriving, I'd go out to the front drink station to get something to drink. The servers were all at the bar, as they usually were. Today, though, something was very different. Usually, they were watching The Price is Right; kind of a goofy tradition, but it was fun. Not today, though. Today, I walked out to the bar to find CNN on the TV. When I asked what was going on, they told me; somebody flew a plane into the side of the World Trade Center.

I had to get back to work, but we had a TV in the back of the house, near the mananger's office, which was tuned in to the news for the rest of the day. I would stop back for updates as I could. That night, I went down to First Assembly of God in Kenosha, WI, to hear Steve Hill of the Brownsville Revival speak. We had been planning the trip for a few weeks, and decided that in light of the events of the day, there was no place else we'd rather be than in a church, praying for our country. To this day, I remember one of the men in our church telling us that his brother was a manager of a floor of an office building near the WTC, who had gotten one of the last calls going out, only to tell them he was OK. It had been hours since anyone had heard from him. Hours that seemed like eternity.

In the days that followed, I got on with the business of life; going to work, going to church, that sort of thing. But I knew that our country would never be the same. Some time after the attacks, I was going through some pictures I had taken on a trip to New York in February of that year. In among them was a picture of the Twin Towers with the sun setting between them, that I had taken from New York Harbor. We had gone on a dinner and dancing cruise, and took plenty of pictures. In light of what had happened, it was poignant, for lack of a better word.

Seven years later, I sit at my desk at home, having come home from two classes at MATC today, getting ready to go to work tonight. In some ways, it seems like a long time ago, and in others, it seems like only yesterday. I hope to make it back to New York City someday, and see where the towers once stood.

I will always remember, the eleventh of September, when our world stopped, and our country changed forever. Tomorrow, we can get back to the elections, the political issues we debate so often, all of that. For today, let us remember what happened that day, and remember those who lost their lives. Let us remember those who gave their lives in defense of our country, and pray for those who are still defending us at home and abroad. And let us pray, and work, and hope, so that such a tragedy never befalls us again.

Round Four (Five?) for Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader was on CNN today, talking about McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden, and why he's running for president again. Here's a CNN article from February, pointing out that this is his fourth attempt at the White House, fifth if you count his write-in campaign. As I recall (and as CNN pointed out), Nader cost Gore the election in 2000. Of course, Nader went on about how unfair the system is, how it is set up to keep him down, blah blah blah.

Please, please PLEASE let this be true. If it is, Nader may have just handed McCain the White House on a platter.

RIP Don LaFontaine

Deadline Hollywood is reporting at this hour that Don LaFontaine, voice of over 5,000 movie trailers and more than 750,000 TV commercials (featured recently in a Geico insurance commercial) has died at the age of 68, apparently of complications related to a blood clot in the lungs. This story is still developing, so details may change as time goes on.

RIP, Don. This is truly a sad day, not only for Hollywood, but for all of us who are or were professional voices. You gave us something to aspire to, and from what I read, you were a class act.

Hat tip: Pete Republic