A Republican needing a Loan

When the heat stops working, you start questioning your political beliefs.

Anyone familliar with my facebook comments or daily (hourly) diatribes knows that I am a card-carrying, tea-bag tossing, gun toting, Ronald Reagan quoting, God fearing Conservative. As such, I have, and in large part continue, to oppose the current instantiation of health care reform, TARP, the bailouts, and other programs.

That was, until my entire heating system broke on Monday night. Now I am sitting here typing in a well-lit icebox with Mother Nature's Hellspawn Nor-Easter Blizzard and all 20+ inches of her snowy wrath bearing down on me.

I like to plan my major purchases and finances, so lieu of this large and unexpected purchase, I thought the most prudent move would be to take out a short term home improvement loan. Easier said than done. In today's poisonous lending environment, even with my excellent credit rating and the fact that I have never been delinquent on a payment, the fact that my house is worth less than the mortgage prevented me from qualifying for a loan with my bank of 12 years!

This shocked me. I can't get a loan? ME? Do you know what I do for a living? Do you know where I work? I am trusted with all these things but can't get a mesely small loan?

Fear not, friends, this story has a happy ending and eventually a loan at a great rate was secured from another institution. But the fact remains that my bank, which has received money from the bailouts (and is the only major lending institution yet to pay back the money to the federal government) saw fit to keep my ass in the cold. My tax dollars went to them (FDIC already insures my accounts) to keep them solvent, and they couldn't help out a customer of 15 years.

I hate on Timothy Geithner like it's my second job. But sitting in the ice box, I couldn't help but wonder if he was on to something. How dare these institutions that we keep solvent throw bonus after bonus while refusing to lend to credible individuals like me? And how dare all of us let them run amuck to the point where they were too big to fail? It became a nasty Catch 22 that caused everyone, Liberals and Conservatives, to bend their beliefs in order to keep America from crashing beyond the Great Depression.

Capitalism is not the root of the problem here. Greed is. Fraud is. Lust of Power is. All three of these know no political party, no socio-economic class, no race, and no faith. Or they know them all. The responsibility of this federal government is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemeies, both foreign and domestic. I would contend that the practices and policies, the fraud and the abuse that led us to this mess qualifies as an enemy of the Constitution. As such, responsible legislation, in accordance with the Constitution, should be enacted to mitigate as much as possible its devestating effects being repeated.

Selling Out

Call me old school: I remember when Green Day released the album "Dookie" and were immediately accused of "selling out" by going mainstream; similarly, I was at RFK stadium when Good Charlotte debut'd their then new song, Little Things, which to alt-punk rock music purists was equally blasphemous.

Now fast forward about a decade to the current state of politics, and witness some serious "selling out" on both the left and the right. On the left, how much does it cost to change your healthcare vote, Mary Landreiu? Turns out a $120 Million line item for Louisiana does the trick. On the right, remember John McCain's 2008 campaign for President? How many times did he vote with President Bush after spending years castigating him? In both cases, the politicians were changing their votes against their conscience to satisfy something else, usually political ambition.

I'm all about having a change of heart, or reaching a compromise. Compromise is how we arrive at our best legislation, like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But when you sacrifice your conscience for reelection, you sacrifice your soul in the eyes of the American voter. Ends rarely justify the means.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "You can fool all of the people some of the time. You can even fool some of the people all of the time. But you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."

Truer words never spoken.

We Bow to No Man

For being the most popular politician in the world, President Obama is sure making a precedent of prostrating himself before a lot of heads-of-state. This flies in the face of American tradition, and our proud independence from a monarchy. Some recent items to think about:

- Bowing deeply to the Emperor of Japan (not even General MacArthur did this after we conquered Japan)

- Bowing deeply to the King of Saudi Arabia (home to the majority of the 9/11 hijackers and the Wahabi sect that seeks our destruction)

- Begging to hold one-on-one talks with Iran, and being rebuffed (while not bowing, you get the picture)

- Begging to hold one-on-one talks with North Korea, and being rebuffed

The United States Navy never salutes first on the open seas. We had to fight for our independence from a totalitarian regime, and some forget that. We must never prostrate ourselves before another ruler. It does not earn points, it does not show a global appreciation. It conveys weakness.

We bow to the Almighty and the Almighty alone. Our Constitution recognizes unalienable God given rights, and it is because He is the source of our liberty and freedom (a freedom that we are tasked to defend), that we bow to Him.

What has the Emperor of Japan, King Saud, Ahamedinejad of Iran or Kim Jong Il in DPRK done for you lately?

AngryNews invites your ire.

Escape from GTMO

Thoughts following the news release that KSM is to stand trial in NYC for 9/11 attacks...

- Change of venue? A serial killer like John Allen Muhammed--another islamist mass murderer who terrorized Washington DC--can't even be expected to stand trial in the jurisdiction that he committed his horrible crimes that terrorized the DC metro area...are we to expect that the courts will allow KSM to stand trial in NYC after bloddying America's biggest city?

- Constitutionality? If we are applying the constitution to KSM now, after allegedly torturing him, can't it be said that he had constitutional rights all along? Wouldn't his confession be thrown away? How about his capture / "rendition?" Being held without an attorney?

- Why now? I guess that Domestic Islamist Terrorism, Cap and Trade, Health Care, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Ballistic Missile Defense, Cambridge Police Department, 10.2% + unemployment, $2Trillion in TARP / Bailout / Stimulus, defense cuts, ACORN, CIA witch hunts are requiring a subject change.

- Implications for us all: Let's say that the courts allow KSM to be tried and convicted. What precedent does that set for the rest of us who are protected by the constitution? Can our rights be stripped and then reapplied by the Justice Department? Bringing KSM into the civilian court system ensures that he will either get off free, or we will see our rights curtailed. Either way, America suffers.

AngryNews welcomes your ire.