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Sunday, September 28, 2008

Federal Bailout

On the eve of the massive Federal Bailout bill of our banking industry, I thought this would be an appropriate time to disclose to our viewing audience.

On page three of J. Edgar Hoover's Book - (former FBI director ) - 'Masters of Deceit', he tried to warn America what a "Soviet America" would mean.

Here's what Mr. Hoover wrote:

'In June 1957, Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Communist Party boss, was interviewed before a nation-wide American television audience. With calm assurance he stated:'

" I can prophesy that your grandchildren in America will live under Socialism. And please do not be afraid of that. Your grandchildren will . . .not understand how their grandparents did not understand the progressive nature of a Socialist society."

Just in case your not aware folks, we are about to enter what William Z. Foster, former National Chairman of the Communist Party, referred to in his book, "The Twilight of World Capitalism".

For the discerning SBYnews readers, Knowledge is Power.

FOUR FATALITIES IN STATE POLICE MEDEVAC CRASH IN PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY

(Forestville, MD) – Maryland State Police have confirmed the identifications of the victims from the crash involving a State Police helicopter early this morning in Prince George’s County.

The deceased victims are identified as Stephen J. Bunker, 59, of Waldorf, Md., the State Police pilot; Trooper First Class Mickey C. Lippy, 34, of Westminster, Md., the State Police flight paramedic; Tanya Mallard, 39, of Waldorf, an EMT-B with the Waldorf Rescue Squad; and Ashley J. Younger, 17, of Waldorf, who was a patient being transported.

The surviving victim of the crash is identified as Jordan A. Wells, 18, of Waldorf. Wells is currently undergoing treatment at the Prince George’s County Hospital Center.

At about 11:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police medevac helicopter, Trooper 2, was dispatched to the scene of a traffic crash in Waldorf. Trooper 2 left its hangar at the Andrews Air Force Base. It was piloted by Mr. Steven Bunker and the flight paramedic was Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy.

The crew flew to the crash scene and picked up two patients, Ashley Younger and Jordan Wells. Joining the crew to assist with medical care on the flight to the hospital was Tanya Mallard, who had responded to the scene with the Waldorf Rescue Squad.

Trooper 2 lifted off and headed to the Prince George’s Hospital Center. No call came from the helicopter crew notifying helicopter dispatch that they had landed.

Just before 12:30 this morning, the State Police Forestville Barracks, the Prince George’s County Police, Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office, and the Prince George’s County Fire Department launched a search for the helicopter. Flight following equipment was used to locate the region of the crash. The crash site was found by police officers on foot shortly before 2:00 a.m. today. The crash site is in a wooded area within the Walker Mill Regional Park, in the 8000-block of Walker Mill Road, in Forestville.

The four deceased victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The surviving victim was transported by ambulance to the Prince George’s Hospital Center.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified and are on the scene. Maryland State Police investigators are also on the scene and are providing any assistance necessary to the federal investigators.

Pilot Stephen Bunker had been with the Maryland State Police since 1972. He was a State Police corporal, who retired in 1998 and returned to service as a civilian pilot. He had flown for the Maryland State Police for more than 24 years. He was married and had three grown children. Mr. Bunker held a commercial pilot’s license and was a certified flight instructor and a certified instrument flight instructor. He also had a single engine airplane pilot’s license.

Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy was appointed to the Maryland State Police four years ago. He had been in the Aviation Command as a flight paramedic for since April of 2007. TFC Lippy was married. He had recently returned from family leave after the birth of his daughter, who is four months old.

Tanya Mallard was a dedicated member of the Waldorf Rescue Squad, at Station 12. She did not hesitate to join the crew of Trooper 2 this morning in their effort to save the lives of their two patients. She leaves behind her husband and two children.

The aircraft was a Eurocopter Dauphin II twin jet engine helicopter. It became a part of the State Police fleet in June 1989, and was the second helicopter purchased in the current fleet. The helicopter completed a 100-hour inspection on Wednesday, September 24th.

The State Police Aviation Command has grounded all aircraft for at least today. Allied partners in the U.S. Park Police, Delaware State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, and commercial medevac companies will be covering the state today with helicopter services.

The Maryland State Police will work diligently with federal authorities to uncover the details of what occurred this morning. Our ultimate goal is to determine what caused the crash and this tragic loss of life.

All calls regarding the details or cause of the crash, and any updates concerning the investigation should be directed to the National Transportation Safety Board, at 202-314-6100.

Thank ACORN For Current Mortgage Crisis...

THE REAL SCANDAL

HOW FEDS INVITED THE MORTGAGE MESS
By STAN LIEBOWITZ

February 5, 2008 — PERHAPS the greatest scandal of the mortgage crisis is that it is a direct result of an intentional loosening of underwriting standards - done in the name of ending discrimination, despite warnings that it could lead to wide-scale defaults.

At the crisis’ core are loans that were made with virtually nonexistent underwriting standards - no verification of income or assets; little consideration of the applicant’s ability to make payments; no down payment.

Most people instinctively understand that such loans are likely to be unsound. But how did the heavily-regulated banking industry end up able to engage in such foolishness?

From the current hand-wringing, you’d think that the banks came up with the idea of looser underwriting standards on their own, with regulators just asleep on the job. In fact, it was the regulators who relaxed these standards - at the behest of community groups and “progressive” political forces.
In the 1980s, groups such as the activists at ACORN began pushing charges of “redlining” - claims that banks discriminated against minorities in mortgage lending. In 1989, sympathetic members of Congress got the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act amended to force banks to collect racial data on mortgage applicants; this allowed various studies to be ginned up that seemed to validate the original accusation.

In fact, minority mortgage applications were rejected more frequently than other applications - but the overwhelming reason wasn’t racial discrimination, but simply that minorities tend to have weaker finances.
Yet a “landmark” 1992 study from the Boston Fed concluded that mortgage-lending discrimination was systemic.

That study was tremendously flawed - a colleague and I later showed that the data it had used contained thousands of egregious typos, such as loans with negative interest rates. Our study found no evidence of discrimination.
Yet the political agenda triumphed - with the president of the Boston Fed saying no new studies were needed, and the US comptroller of the currency seconding the motion.

No sooner had the ink dried on its discrimination study than the Boston Fed, clearly speaking for the entire Fed, produced a manual for mortgage lenders stating that: “discrimination may be observed when a lender’s underwriting policies contain arbitrary or outdated criteria that effectively disqualify many urban or lower-income minority applicants.”

Some of these “outdated” criteria included the size of the mortgage payment relative to income, credit history, savings history and income verification. Instead, the Boston Fed ruled that participation in a credit-counseling program should be taken as evidence of an applicant’s ability to manage debt.
Sound crazy? You bet. Those “outdated” standards existed to limit defaults. But bank regulators required the loosened underwriting standards, with approval by politicians and the chattering class. A 1995 strengthening of the Community Reinvestment Act required banks to find ways to provide mortgages to their poorer communities. It also let community activists intervene at yearly bank reviews, shaking the banks down for large pots of money.

Banks that got poor reviews were punished; some saw their merger plans frustrated; others faced direct legal challenges by the Justice Department.
Flexible lending programs expanded even though they had higher default rates than loans with traditional standards. On the Web, you can still find CRA loans available via ACORN with “100 percent financing . . . no credit scores . . . undocumented income . . . even if you don’t report it on your tax returns.” Credit counseling is required, of course.

Ironically, an enthusiastic Fannie Mae Foundation report singled out one paragon of nondiscriminatory lending, which worked with community activists and followed “the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted.” That lender’s $1 billion commitment to low-income loans in 1992 had grown to $80 billion by 1999 and $600 billion by early 2003.

Who was that virtuous lender? Why - Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, recently in the headlines as it hurtled toward bankruptcy.
In an earlier newspaper story extolling the virtues of relaxed underwriting standards, Countrywide’s chief executive bragged that, to approve minority applications that would otherwise be rejected “lenders have had to stretch the rules a bit.” He’s not bragging now.

For years, rising house prices hid the default problems since quick refinances were possible. But now that house prices have stopped rising, we can clearly see the damage caused by relaxed lending standards.

This damage was quite predictable: “After the warm and fuzzy glow of ‘flexible underwriting standards’ has worn off, we may discover that they are nothing more than standards that lead to bad loans . . . these policies will have done a disservice to their putative beneficiaries if . . . they are dispossessed from their homes.” I wrote that, with Ted Day, in a 1998 academic article.
Sadly, we were spitting into the wind.

These days, everyone claims to favor strong lending standards. What about all those self-righteous newspapers, politicians and regulators who were intent on loosening lending standards?

As you might expect, they are now self-righteously blaming those, such as Countrywide, who did what they were told.
Stan Liebowitz is the Ashbel Smith professor of Economics in the Business School at the University of Texas at Dallas.

This needs to be shouted from the (foreclosed) rooftops.
But of course it will not be.
(And of course not only is Mrs. Clinton a big ACORN supporter, but Mr. Obama worked for them both before and after attending law schoo

Dem VP Sleight of Hand????????

What affect do you suppose this would have on the General Election? Ms Hillary finding out Governor Palin would appear at a protest of the Iranian PM coming to the U. N, backed out of her planned attendance, this event organized by the American Jewish League, what's this all about? You can understand the logic of Hillary in this case, her plan was Obama would lose, this setting her up for 2012. Now, with Governor Palin in the mix, her chances of taking on and beating Sarah in 2012 is slim to none, so why not get on the ticket with Obama. There is certainly no love lost between Barack and the Clinton's, however politicians, as a group, are a bunch of whores, especially the party to the left, the below could very well be true. Remember Biden recently remarked not only is Hillary qualified and even more so than he himself.....WOW....what a remark!

And how about that cozy little two hour lunch date recently between BILL Clinton and Obama in Harlem? Do you suppose the "Hillary Option" might just have come up in conversation? Inquiring minds want to know!


Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008, 3:48 PM

On or about October 5th, Joe Biden will excuse himself from the ticket, citing health problems, and he will be replaced by Hillary. This is timed to occur after the VP debate on
10/2. There have been talks all weekend about how to proceed with this info. Generally, the feeling is that we should all go ahead and get it out thereto as many blog sites and personal email lists as is possible. I have already seen a few short blurbs about this - the 'health problem' cited in those articles was aneurysm. Probably many of you have heard the same rumblings. However, at this point, with this inside info from the DNC, it looks like this Obama strategy will be a go. Therefore, it seems that the best strategy is to get out in front of this Obama maneuver, spell it out in detail, and thereby expose it for the grand manipulation that it is. So, let's start mixing this one up and cut the Obamites off at the pass -send this info out to as many people as you can - post about it on websites and blogs - etc.

MAJOR BREAKING NEWS, TROOPER 2 CRASHED

Trooper 2 has crashed, so far 4 out of 5 people on board are dead. Two State Troopers, one Paramedic and one patient have expired. Please pray for these families. More to come........

Fire In The Hole has more details HERE.

Go HERE to see the Maryland State Trooper Site and information on accident.

Chalk Drawings

Redneck Smoke Detector

How Many Of YOU Were Screwed/Used By The Mayor Too?

"I too went to Barrie and trusted her and when the department I worked for went after me because of them finding out, Barrie was no where to be found, she left me out in the cold. she benefited and then had no more use for me."

My Wife was ONE of these people and "I" was another one. I know of many more but I'll leave this up to all of you to anonymously state your case here too.

Smiley Face

GO HERE.

Friendships

Friendship among women:

A woman didn't come home one night. The next morning she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend's house. The man called his wife's 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.

Friendship among men:

A man didn't come home one night. The next morning he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend's house. The woman called her husband's 10 best friends. Eight confirmed that he had slept over and two said he was still there.

SALISBURY'S WEST SIDE . . . HIGH CRIME ZONE


KURT REPLY ''People come up to me and say, 'You played Snake Plissken.' I didn't play Snake Plissken,'' says Russell, ''I created him!''
Everett Collection
I just made it back from the West Side of Salisbury and was successful in retrieving my Ledo's Pizza.
With the recent high crime report just released by Jim Ireton for the Westside of Salisbury, I decided to brandish a patch over one eye to mimmick and portray a hardened criminal so none of the real scoundrels would mess with me. It must of worked because I managed to make it back and am stuffing my face with Pizza.

Anyone out there that dares to make the same trip is encouraged to do the same.

Johnnie Miller