Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two largest mortgage holding corporations in America holding over three TRILLION dollars in mortgages are nothing more than crooks. Everyone knows it. So where is the call to arms by the masses and the congress? Where are the senate hearings and investigations by Congress? Why aren't their honchos explaning themselves to the Grand Poobah's on the hill like the oil exec's have had to do? They have helped make a MUCH bigger mess of things than the oil companies have and no one is saying a thing about it.

I am sure there will be the tired "It's all big oil's fault" battle cry from the masses who castigate big oil for making money but are willing to bail out an industry that has crashed due to its own greed. But that really had little to do with the mortgage crisis, but I digress. I guess if you make money you are a bad guy, but if you need money you are a good guy? I don't get it.

I recently read that these institutions were the largest politcal contributors on BOTH sides in Washington over the last few years and I guess nobody wants to bite the hand that was feeding them, but hey, the mouths of these fetid entities have nothing left but rotted nubs and are no longer dangerous,,,so grow a set!

The mortgage meltdown has and will cost Americans MUCH more than oil prices have or will because the idiots in Washington are ready to float a one hundred BILLION dollar bailout to these titans of piss poor management and foresight, and quite possibly even nationalize them, at least in part..Yeah..That's what we need now. The government in the mortgage business. Has anyone seen the budget defecit lately? The government has proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it is unable to run itself, I don't want them handling my mortgage.

Well, I say to hell with Fannie and Freddie. Sell the mortgages to the private sector(Fannie and Freddie are already propped up by the Fed as it is)and let the market work the way it was intended. Let the mess sink or swim on its own and let Fannie and Freddie die quiet deaths the way your business or mine would if we managed it so poorly.

Maybe they picked the distraction of the Olympics to finally announce that they would indeed need the governments help to survive. Dropping the news as Nastia and Shawn battled it our for Gold on the beam..Geez! I'm glad I have a DVR!

I really hate to think that so many people are so caught up in TV, gas prices and the campaign to let this slip by. I don't care what your political leaning, this should really piss you off! It's bad enough that Ford and GM are earmarked for bailouts, but at least they are VICTIMS of the economic crisis, Fannie and Freddie are one of the biggest CAUSES of it.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two largest mortgage holding corporations in America holding over three TRILLION dollars in mortgages are nothing more than crooks. Everyone knows it. So where is the call to arms by the masses and the congress? Where are the senate hearings and investigations by Congress? Why aren't their honchos explaning themselves to the Grand Poobah's on the hill like the oil exec's have had to do? They have helped make a MUCH bigger mess of things than the oil companies have and no one is saying a thing about it.

I am sure there will be the tired "It's all big oil's fault" battle cry from the masses who castigate big oil for making money but are willing to bail out an industry that has crashed due to its own greed. But that really had little to do with the mortgage crisis, but I digress. I guess if you make money you are a bad guy, but if you need money you are a good guy? I don't get it.

I recently read that these institutions were the largest politcal contributors on BOTH sides in Washington over the last few years and I guess nobody wants to bite the hand that was feeding them, but hey, the mouths of these fetid entities have nothing left but rotted nubs and are no longer dangerous,,,so grow a set!

The mortgage meltdown has and will cost Americans MUCH more than oil prices have or will because the idiots in Washington are ready to float a one hundred BILLION dollar bailout to these titans of piss poor management and foresight, and quite possibly even nationalize them, at least in part..Yeah..That's what we need now. The government in the mortgage business. Has anyone seen the budget defecit lately? The government has proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it is unable to run itself, I don't want them handling my mortgage.

Well, I say to hell with Fannie and Freddie. Sell the mortgages to the private sector(Fannie and Freddie are already propped up by the Fed as it is)and let the market work the way it was intended. Let the mess sink or swim on its own and let Fannie and Freddie die quiet deaths the way your business or mine would if we managed it so poorly.

Maybe they picked the distraction of the Olympics to finally announce that they would indeed need the governments help to survive. Dropping the news as Nastia and Shawn battled it our for Gold on the beam..Geez! I'm glad I have a DVR!

I really hate to think that so many people are so caught up in TV, gas prices and the campaign to let this slip by. I don't care what your political leaning, this should really piss you off! It's bad enough that Ford and GM are earmarked for bailouts, but at least they are VICTIMS of the economic crisis, Fannie and Freddie are one of the biggest CAUSES of it.

August 3rd marked the death of my PC. Well, it may not be dead, but it seems to be in a chronic vegetative state! It won't do anything at all, and at this time, I haven't the money to mess with it. What, with my twso youngest daughters birthdays next week as well as back to school expenses on top of all the regular financial headaches, it's just not a priority.

The first couple of days I went into DT's over it, but with the occasional fix I get using my work PC, I get on well enough. I also have a bajillion hours of the Olympics on DVR to keep me distracted and I am enjoying reading more often also, not to mention getting to bed at a decent hour.

I went without the internet for the first 38 years of my life and did just fine, so I am certain I will survive. It's an inconvenience, but not a life altering event. I do miss being able to run in and post a blog and being able to look something up quickly, but I'll make through that too. It's kind of a pain, but it ain't bad.

See you all regularly ASAP....

Entertainers voicing their opinion is nothing new and they certainly have the right to do so. I don't think their opinions should carry any more weight than mine do, but I digress. They voice their opinions on talk shows, TV series', in films and in song, which brings me to the point of this post.

The most recent example of this is a song(if it can be called that)by the rapper Ludricrous endorsing Barack Obama which, on the surface, is fine. Except that this is not a song based on anythinjg other than hate, ignorance and racism. There are no references to any of Obamas accomplishments(which is understandable, as he has so few), his plans, policies or leadership abilities. The gist of the song is that Obama should be president because he is black, which is as ridiculous as the women who supported Hillary simply because she was a female. The song implores listeners to "make the White House black" thus empowering the black people. There is no mention of any other reason to elect him. Can you imagine the outcry if some white guy had a song saying "let's keep the White House white"? He'd be flogged and rightly so. Another double standard that the the left seems content to overlook since it fits their bill, but again, I digress. I will say, in Obama's defense, that he distanced himself from the song and the..um..artist.

Another of the disturbing lyrics says "McCain ain't fit for no chair, unless it's a wheelchair". This proves the total lack of humanity and the thug, gangster mentalitiy of so many of todays rappers. To wish such a fate on someone simply because you disagree with them is reprehensible. There is no way to spin one's self out of that.

"So don't buy it", you say. No problem, I won't, but tens or hundreds of thousands of young, impressionable, uninformed Americans will. I can hear my detractors telling me that Toby Keith's "Red, White and Blue" could be used to lure impressionable youngsters to the right, but that is apples and oranges. Keith is talking about fighting terrorism, not his fellow Americans.

If a young American makes the decision to follow a certain political path, it should be based on their own feelings and ideals and what they would like to see happen and selecting a path based on what is most closely aligned with their views and not on the lyrics of a song by someone so obviously out of touch with the direction in which America needs to be moving.

I have heard celebrities make some of the silliest, most uninformed statements I have ever heard, but most of them were done in a civil, tasteful and professional manner(I won't bring up Alec Baldwin) based on what they see as a wrong direction for America, and even though I disagree with most of them, I never feel compelled to bash them over it, but when a celebrity uses hate and ignorance to to make a point to their audience, I feel it is my duty to point it out..I have done so.

I see that Kern County is considering a "Dark Sky" policy. I love it! As a long time amatuer astronomer this is wonderful news! It may or may not pass, but it is certainly worth consideration. These laws and/or policies are actually aimed at energy conservation and not the back yard scope owners, but if I can get some of that icing from the cake, so be it!

I live in Riverlakes and am, therefore, unable to see anything but the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and a few of the larger stars from my home. My two younger daughters have always lived in Bakersfield(I lived in Tehachapi when I got into the hobby)and have probably spent less than 30 minutes at the eyepiece of my 8" Schmidt-Cassegranian. How sad! I recently took the scope to my nephews house out near the canyon so someone could enjoy it.

I hope the communities get behind this, if not to be able to show their kids the Big Dipper and the North Star, then to cause cities and businesses to conserve energy.

My alarm clock goes off at 6:20 am every weekday. I'm not a snooze kind of guy so I get up, scrub my jaws and stumble through the rest of my morning ritual. I then get on the computer, check my personal and company e-mails, the morning trouble ticket reports(signal problems over the last 24 hours), any tests in alert status and various other reports that keep my days busy scheduling and running around.

The left and it's lapdog, a.k.a. the media, have proven me right once again. Not that that makes me unique. Their predictablilty makes many people look like psychics! Yes, once again shiny objects have taken their attention away from, what was just a few short months ago, the most important issue of this generation; The War.