"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
This week’s FMJRA salutes the healthcare summit. One could call BHO’s efforts Quixotic, except that Don Quixote was sort of a good guy, and doesn’t deserve the abuse. We still have some FMJRA echos from CPAC to cover, so, without further distraction… Continue reading Frantic Medical Jujitsu Reinforces Asshattery →
by Smitty
Update: minor correction.
As someone who has written a demented post or five in my blogging career, I can relate, but now GJ is literally floating around the room, as depicted in the last photo of this post.
Clearly all of those years on health-insurance provided meds, as legislatively protected by their GOP puppets, have taken their toll. Let’s pass ObamaCare for Grandpa John’s sake, so he can get back down to Earth. It’s the Right Thing To Do.
by Smitty
Troglopundit got the Automotivator thing going. Fellow delinquent Jimmie Bise chipped in.
I’ll go for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (0:47)* and some sign language.
*The music is funky, but the words may offend some. Baby/bathwater.
Time for another dose of economic reality:
Sales of previously owned homes in January stumbled considerably for the second consecutive month. The National Assn. of Realtors in Washington said Friday that sales fell 7.2%. . . .
Economists said that last month’s sales drop from December was another sign the market is critically weak and unlikely to recover robustly this year as the potential for more foreclosures looms.
Friday’s report follows news this week that sales of newly built homes hit a record low in January and that mortgage applications plunged to their lowest level in nearly 13 years. . . .
Fannie Mae is begging for another bailout:
Battered by the housing crisis, mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said Friday that it needs another $15.3 billion in bailout money from the federal government. . . .
Continuing problems with Fannie Mae’s mortgage portfolio are still straining its finances. Some 5.38% of its single-family loans were more than 90 days delinquent, up from 2.42% a year earlier.
Total nonperforming loans were $216.5 billion at year-end, compared with $198.3 billion in the prior quarter and $119.2 billion in the prior year-end.
Just eight weeks into 2010, the FDIC has already shut down 21 banks:
Regulators seized a small bank in Nevada on Friday, bringing the year total to 21 as small institutions continue to struggle with bad loans.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said Carson River Community Bank in Carson City, Nevada was closed, and its deposits were assumed by Heritage Bank of Nevada, from Reno, Nevada.
The agency said earlier this week that the number of “problem” U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign that the industry’s recovery remains uneven.
“Uneven” is putting things rather mildly, I’d say. There’s nothing but more bad news on the horizon:
A Congressional panel charged with monitoring the health of the nation’s financial system is warning that a wave of commercial real estate loan failures could wreck the banking system over the next four years much as the residential real estate collapse did in 2008.
In its February 2010 report, “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Threat to Financial Stability,” the Congressional Oversight Panel notes that $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will expire between 2011 and 2014. Most of these loans will require refinancing. Almost half of these, the report says, are already “underwater” — owing more than the property is currently worth, thanks to a 40 percent drop in commercial property values since 2007. Falling rents and rising vacancy rates put further downward pressure on those values.
The worst of this crisis is yet to come. Take it from someone who predicted the failure of Obamanomics:
And it’s still not working.
by Smitty
There are signs of possible renewal in England. Announcing a Tea Party in Brighton, Daniel Hannan admonishes:
Those British Lefties who now sneer at what they regard as the Americanisation of the British Right would do well to remember their own history. They are the political heirs of Charles James Fox, of John Wilkes, or Tom Paine. I have no doubt that if the heroes of that age – Burke or Fox or Pitt or Johnson or Swift – could be transported to our own time, they would recoil with horror at the level of taxation and state intervention.
To remind you, Labour has introduced 111 tax rises since 1997. It has taken a trillion pounds in additional taxation. And it has still left us with a deficit of 12.6 per cent of GDP.
Enough is enough. I’m not asking you to throw any chests into the Channel, but at least come to Brighton, drink some tea, and let our leaders know how you feel about their squandering of our property and our heritage.
Meanwhile, via Jonah Goldberg, another Brit gets his Roger Daltry on with a blunt “Who Are You?” for the EU President:
There just seems to be a great deal of dissatisfaction with politicians who don’t seem representative these days. Tough crowd.
Chelsea Schilling at WorldNetDaily:
One year ago this week, tens of thousands of patriots held “tea parties” in 40 cities in protest of government expansion, bailouts and the stimulus package, launching a nationwide movement – and now those citizens are regrouping and heading back to the streets to “recharge the movement” Saturday.
Feb. 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the first round of protests following CNBC analyst Rick Santelli speech against President Obama’s proposed bailout plan and other massive spending measures.
WND has a long listing of events from sea to shining sea this weekend, but I especially want to call to your attention the Daytona Bike Week Freedom Rally:
Deland, Fla. – Feb. 27-28, Volusia County Fairgrounds & Expo Center, 3150 E State Road 44. Contact Rhonda Lee Welsch at (386) 690-7814
Regular readers of the Other McCain will remember that I met Rhonda Lee Welsch when I traveled to Orlando in November for the final stop of the Tea Party Express 2009 tour, and she was the subject of an American Spectator feature article:
Rhonda Lee Welsch has a vision. “When we go back to Washington next year, there’s going be a lot of Harleys,” the Florida activist said. “And those Harleys make a lot of noise.”
Making noise may not seem like much of a goal to D.C. political strategists, but if thousands of thundering Harleys roll up in front of the White House as part of a national Tea Party march on Washington, Welsch’s vision might make more impact than Beltway wizards imagine. . . .
A breakthrough moment, she says, was when she joined the 9/12 March on D.C. and attended a seminar on organizing led by veteran conservative fundraiser Richard Viguerie.
Welsch returned to Florida and went to work on her vision: Bike Week Freedom Rally, scheduled during late February’s annual motorcycle gathering in Daytona Beach. She’s already booked the Volusia County Fairgrounds for the event, hired a rock band for musical entertainment, and is now in the process of raising more money and arranging speakers.
At a Tea Party last month in Orlando, Welsch handed out flyers promoting the Daytona rally. She sees bikers as a constituency instinctively opposed to big government. “Their motto is ‘Ride Free, Live Free,'” she says, and getting them involved in the political process could make a difference. . . .
Read the whole thing. This weekend’s event will feature FL22 congressional candidate retired Lt. Col. Allen West, the Razorbacks rock band, Tea Party favorites the Rivoli Revue, and “Take Our Country Back” singer Chris Cassone. Here’s video of Chris playing at the 9/12 March:
My own plans to cover this event in person got canceled — I need rest after CPAC — but if you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Daytona Beach this weekend, hop on your Harley and ride!
(Cross-posted at Right Wing News.)
by Smitty
This blog remains a huge fan of Evan. One hopes he puts in another Heritage appearance Real Soon Now. Evan’s last appearance was more or less my first post as a blogger, right at a year ago.
Check out Da Tech Guy’s quick interview, who must have the record for most CPAC 2010 posts. Even concludes by mentioning his new act will be on the road in June, so that might make a good Smittypalooza excuse.
Well, no wonder I always have such a hassle trying to get Al Regnery to pay my travel expenses!
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