Chutzpah

The whitewashing of Fannie and Freddie has begun in earnest as one of the chief foxes of the hen house, Henry Waxman and his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met Tuesday to examine “The Role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Financial Crisis”. As one could imagine, though, from the testimony provided by ex-Fannie CEO Franklin Raines and documents held, though unreleased by Waxman but seen by the Wall Street Journal, it was a surreal exercise in suspension of belief.

If one were to believe Waxman and Raines then all they were really guilty of was getting blind-sided by the excesses of the run-away free market.

"But previously undisclosed internal documents that are now in Mr. Waxman's
possession and that we've seen tell a different story.

The
companies understood the risks they were running. But squeezed between the need
to meet affordable-housing goals set by HUD and the desire to sustain their
growth and profits, they took the leap anyway. As a result, by the middle of
this year, the two companies were responsible for some $1.6 trillion worth of
subprime credit of one form or another. "

Incredibly, both Waxman and Raines claimed they were just following the market rather than leading it. As if, casting aside the warnings of Fannie’s own head of risk management by adopting previously banned “dangerous” lending practices becomes a sin only as a matter of timing. At this point, do you hear your parents ringing in your sub-conscience, “If you’re friends all jumped off a cliff…..?).


And in another stupefying turn of events, Raines claims that Fan and Fred’s regulators did nothing to stop them while conveniently forgetting about that $11.7 million they spent in ’06 alone to keep regulators off their back and being conveniently forgetful of the hearings back late in ’04 where federal regulator, Armando Falcon was lambasted and told to get lost for wanting to upset the apple cart by the likes of Barney “Brothel” Frank, Chris “Countrywide” Dodd and Maxine “Housing Goals” Waters.



These interweb tubes really are fantastic for these archival “Oh, really?” moments. Its going to keep going like this… the lies, the whitewashing, and the CYAs so be prepared for more of this breathtakingly galling behavior from your elected officials.

That oughta learn'em.

A Day without a Gay, yet another gay community grass roots response to being on the losing end of Prop. 8 swept across… swept across… well, it swept through Hillcrest, San Diego’s gay enclave appearing to hurt only those businesses patronized by the gay community and which are, thusly, supportive of the gay community.

"Tawny Gonzales says it was slower than usual at her Hillcrest hair salon.
Gonzales says she wanted to support the "Day Without a Gay" boycott but she had to open the store she manages. "So I couldn't be out there supporting because
then I'm losing money, the salon's losing money cause I'm not opening," said
Gonzales."

Ms. Gonzales illustrates perfectly the circular logic that calls into question the effectiveness of these types of boycotts and which also…. makes our head hurt.

Nice try, anyway, people.

Lessons Learned?

…paging Steve Collins

"According to a federal criminal complaint, Blagojevich also was charged with
illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to the Tribune Co., the owner
of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field. In return for state
assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper's editorial board
who had been critical of him fired."

The unfolding saga of “Blago” reminds us that regardless of whether or not tax payer money would be used to bailout a newspaper, the involvement or advocacy of the government on behalf of the paper(s) presents its own opportunities for graft, undue influence and the abuse of power. We’re not sure why this fact is lost on people.

Unfathomable

"Yoon looked every bit like a man who lost everything when he spoke yesterday of his wife and babies. His eyes were moist, his voice deadened.
Watching him, I realized that worrying about the health of a retirement fund can seem so trivial. Or a less-than-spectacular Christmas season. Or the auto bailout."

Our hearts and prayers go out to University City resident Don Yoon who lost his wife, two daughters and mother-in-law when a crippled F/A-18D Hornet crashed in a fireball that destroyed his home, yesterday.

Yoon and his family had just moved into the house a few week previous from their apartment to gain a little more room due to the arrival of 15-month old Rachel. Yoon's mother-in-law had come over from Korea to help out the family. Its been a long time since we've seen a photo emote that much anguish and grief.

May God bless Don Yoon.

Phoning-in "Opressed"

On U.N. International Human Rights day, we are reminded that, by golly, there are actual human rights protests going on.

"Two dozen people protested outside China's Foreign Ministry in downtown Beijing
on Wednesday, using the 60th anniversary of the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of
Human Rights to decry a myriad of alleged government abuses

One
woman clasped a bright red copy of the constitution close to her chest, and
another a white banner in English that read: "Safeguard human rights." Others
held photos of relatives allegedly beaten in labor camps."

Clever marketing with the constitution and the English language and all but points deducted for the omission of Mexican flags.

"Beijing police contained the protesters behind a police rope, but let them
continue for nearly half an hour, before they were herded onto a public city bus
and taken away, pressing their complaints to the windows and shouting at foreign
journalists.
"They are going to relevant departments," said one policeman,
who refused to give his name."

And just what is it with authoritarian/totalitarian regimes that make high art of euphemisms?

Happy U.N. Human Rights Day to everyone and to where we should take a moment to reflect upon the freedoms and liberties we enjoy and those throughout the world that are denied the same because of opressive governments guided by corrupt ideologies.

Plunging through that glass floor.

Not just a recession but a… man-cession?

"Over the last year from November 2007 to November 2008, the U.S. economy lost
2.352 million jobs, and 82% of those losses were male jobs (1.932 million) and
only 18% female jobs (430,000). Stated differently, for every female job lost,
there were 4.5 males jobs lost over the last year. "

So, why so?

"Men have the misfortune of being concentrated in the two sectors that are doing
the worst: manufacturing (70% male) and construction (88% male). Women are
concentrated in sectors that are still growing, such as education and health
care (77% female).The troubles for the American male worker, while exacerbated
by the current slump, are hardly new. The manufacturing sector is in long-term
decline, and construction goes through repeated booms and busts. Meanwhile women
are graduating from college at higher rates than men. Some analysts even argue
that men are less suited than women to the knowledge economy, which rewards
supposedly female traits such as sensitivity, intuition, and a willingness to
collaborate."

What you are currently reading is so 2004

"Writing a weblog today isn't the bright idea it was four years ago. The
blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever
thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and
underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur
wordsmiths. It's almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers."

Let’s see. We started this blog back in ’07 so considering 3 years is the shortest amount of time we’ve ever been late to a techno-socio-cultural trend, we will press onward oblivious to the weight of the logic presented above… especially in light of this:

"Bloggers today are expected to write clever, insightful, witty prose to compete with Huffington and The New York Times."

We weren’t sure whether the author’s blogger expectations were such because of the competing cleverness and wit of HuffPo and the NYT or because of the lack of it.

Read more about Twitter being the soul of wit and other such stuff, here.

H/T: InstaGlen

Profile in Public Service

Where some see corruption, we see ambition. Where others see naked and unrestrained abuse of power, we see opportunity knocking. And while most will see unrepentant greed, we merely see securing a family’s financial security

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is attempting to continue the proud legacy of Illinois governors as, if he is convicted of federal charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat, he will be the 4th governor in the last 35 years to do time. Count’em – Four!

Whether it was getting himself a fat salary at a non-profit or labor-affiliated organization or his wife a $150,000 corporate board job or even appointing himself to the seat for a run at the Presidency in 2016, it was clear that “Blags” was taking a diversified approach to the acquisition process.

This strategy was summed up wonderfully by Blagojevich himself who captured on wire tap said: I've got this thing and it's [expletive] golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I'm not gonna do it."

And when confronted with the possibility that Obama had desired a specific candidate for the seat Blagojevich retorted to his chief of staff: "they're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them." Yeah, who’s the boss now, Barry?

One cannot help but admire the forthrightness and transparency of a man who had stated that his family was “financially” hurting in order to provide for the financial solvency of the same… something to which a $300,000 salary would go a small way towards achieving.

So, whether its continuing the proud legacy of Illinois governors or launching his extended game plan to one day be President of this great nation of ours, we salute Governor Blagojevich for being an exemplary role model in the realm of elected public service

You know who else thinks Big 12 defenses stink..?

Vegas does, that’s who.

But first, the final BCS rankings:
1. Oklahoma
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn St.
9. Boise St.
10. Ohio St.

The mighty Oklahoma Sooners, the juggernaut from the Plains, they of a record setting five straight games over 60 points and of most points ever scored for a Div. 1A (or FBS) team are… 3 point underdogs against the Florida Gators in the BCS championship game. We haven’t bought the Big 12 all year and apparently the money isn’t either.

This is the match-up most people, including us, wanted to see and by golly if the BCS didn’t deliver. We cannot wait to see what Urban Meyer and his defensive coordinator Charlie Strong have devised to contain an offense that no one else has. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until just before pitchers and catchers report to spring training to find out.

And the big winner of this year’s bowl season? San Diego. San Diego will host undefeated Boise St. and 10-2 TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl on December 23 and then one week later, the annual barn burner, the Holiday Bowl will feature the ground attack of the Oregon Ducks (never thought we would be caught saying that) vs. the Oklahoma St. Cowboys out of that wild and wooly Big 12 South.

Because the Pac-10 stunk this year, they couldn’t qualify their 7th place team to play in the Poinsettia Bowl this year as agreed upon so Boise St. from a back-up plan the Bowl had with the WAC, fell into their laps. That’s right – the little ol’ Poinsettia Bowl which was purposely created as a 3rd-tier bowl to showcase Navy once every 2 or 3 years and other teams with some local pull gets the 9th ranked team in the nation against the 11th ranked team.

Softest landing? After going 6-6 and stumbling horribly down the stretch, Notre Dame could’ve done a whole lot worse than having to travel to Honolulu to take on Hawai’i in the Hawai’i Bowl.

We'll have some more bowl coverage later.

A couple of Jon Gruden's friends would like to wish you a Merry Christmas

As of this posting, “Chucky” and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers are locked up in a tight one, 10-10, against the Carolina Panthers (ooops…. Make that 17-10 as our man-crush on Steve Smith continues to blossom).

So, if you’re thinking that Kenny and Corky aren’t your idea of Holiday cheer, there’s more where that came from at Anorak’s 20 Best (?) Christmas Album Covers Ever.

H/T: Iowahawk

A business model from Hell... or D.C., whichever is closer.

"Congressional Democrats were drafting legislation yesterday for tight
government control of the crippled U.S. auto industry, including the possible
creation of an oversight board made up of five Cabinet secretaries and the head
of the Environmental Protection Agency and led by an independent chairman or
“car czar.”

While the form of oversight was still being negotiated by Congress and
the White House, the talks made clear the extent to which the auto companies
would have to submit to substantial government supervision to receive a
taxpayer-financed bailout. "

Despite all the good intentions of corporate responsibility and social and environmental awareness, at the end of the day, a company or corporation will need to turn a profit in order to remain financially solvent without outside intervention.

After reading about this proposed hierarchy for oversight, it will take mass quantities both of sweet talk and cheap liquor to convince us this arrangement will result in the Detroit 3, once again, being profit-making entities.

Then again, the more we read and the more the details emerge regarding this bailout, the more we are suspecting that outside intervention is concerned not a wit with the Detroit 3 ever independently turning a profit again.