What the Craig?

Latest word is that Idaho Senator Craig is possibly gearing up for a fight over his arrest in June. According to the Section 1 of the Constitution he has legal ground to have the charge overturned. Congressmen can't be arrested for other than treason, or a felony charge when en route to Congress. A "wide stance" in the restroom hardly qualifies.

I could really care less if Craig stays or goes. I would lean to him going, since he has already signaled that he would. I am sure that the sentiment is shared with Republican Leaders and most of the party in general. It's a mute point, because I am sure the good people of Idaho will dispense with Mr. Craig in 2008.

The sad fact is the long legs that this story has gotten and the relative muted coverage the Hsu campaign allegations have gotten. Who by the way turned himself in and was released on bond, so that you guessed it, he could skip town again. How stupid is our legal system. This clown is probably sitting in Hong Kong safe from the prying eyes of the MSM. The judge that released him on bond should be slapped. This guy was on the lamb since 1991, why on earth would you provide him a chance to run again, this time to a location where he isn't easily retrievable. Way to go, Your Honor.

Presidential Visit

The President is visiting Anbar Province today and the vitriol from the nutroots on the Blogs is disgusting and plentiful. The horrible comments made by these bloggers only reveals the complete lack of relevance they lend to our society. There is no reason for the hateful rhetoric these morons spew. To what end do these foolish people think that their statements lend to the overall discourse.

Its sad that this type of hatred is espoused and tolerated by these sites. Some of the statements I've read are borderline threats and tecnically illegal. But Hey its just Bush, who cares? This is the prevalent attitude among the left wing nuts. To these people respect for the office means nothing, its all about hating the man that currently fills it. Aren't the right wingers supposed to be the haters?

I have never seen statements made by right wing bloggers that even compare to the filth of the left. Of course they hide their nonsense under the mantle of "comedy". Their favorite lines; "its just a joke", or "we are really being serious". I am sorry there comes a point when jokes are more than humor. Especially when there is nothing funny with what they are saying.

Schools in Session

And so will be Congress on Tuesday. This means that the maneuvering for the Democrats over the Iraq War can begin again. By all accounts and many liberal ones to boot, the new strategy is working in the Iraq theater. But that is going to matter little to the defeatist of this Congress and country that want us out of Iraq.

The strategy of the antiwar caucus is clear ignore the good things happening and trumpet the bad. Its the same tactic all politicians use, propaganda. Pick a single talking point and beat it to death until Americans begin to believe it is true.

I would like to believe that General Petraeus will be able quiet the naysayers when he reports to the Congress on September 15th. I am realistic enough to know that it won't happen. The real question is if enough turncoat Republicans will jump ship in order to give Democrats the majority they need. That too seems to be an unlikely event.

It looks like for at least the short term the strategy in Iraq will remain intact. Its unlikely that the Congress will de-fund the war. But with the progress in the strategy so far that would not have much support, including the left, who have had defections on the debate. Its going to be very interesting to watch.

Self Inflicted Economic Pressure

The old adage is if you repeat something enough its bound to come true. That seems to be exactly what is happening with our economy. Even though all the indicators point to good economic growth the pessimists are out in full battle regalia over the housing market. Is it just me or does anyone else remember 18% mortgage rates?

The sub prime market is the root of this nonsense, a market that is small compared to millions of mortgage customers in America, but large because of the money financial institutions have in it. Because greed won out during the housing boom of the last few years, we now face problems because banks loaned money to individuals they should not have. Additionally, marketeers and individuals seeking to make a quick buck by flipping real estate now find themselves unable to cover their margins. It all amounts to a mess, but not the end of the world.

Even though democrat pundits would have us believe the bottom is dropping out, the Dow remains solid, volatile, but solid. We aren't seeing a spill over into other sectors of the market and the banks are still loaning money. Albeit they have tightened up their lending standards, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The market is doing as the market does, It is correcting itself.

Even so the MSM is giddy with story after story of how the "crunch" is going to ruin us all. For the nearly 40 years I've been making money I have heard the same thing numerous times, yet never once have I been directly impacted or has it cost me my life savings. It all comes down to being smart with your finances, which unfortunately a wide margin of we Americans aren't.

Its almost hypocritical to damn Congress for spending like a drunken sailor when the majority of Americans are doing the same thing. We as a nation constantly rack up billions of dollars in unneeded personal debt each year. Many times using credit to buy things we can't really afford. And when the first payment comes due, whine because we can't afford to live.

I have no sympathy for anyone who lives in a $2000.00 trailer so that they can barely afford the payments on a $45000.00 vehicle. Or someone who buys a new HDTV when they should be putting that money aside for the future, then scream when the future gets here and they have no money.

The bottom line is Americans need to get smarter financially from top to bottom. We need to apply conservative financial principles and stop spending ourselves into oblivion. If we did we wouldn't have to worry about half of things we do right now. There are always going to be those that through misfortune, not necessarily of their own, who will need help. But the vast majority of problems we face are created by own lack of vision and unwillingness to make the hard choices.

If we were more intelligent with our money then perhaps we wouldn't think we need socialized medicine, or welfare. If we applied conservatism properly these needs could be met without trillion dollar entitlement programs. Work = Money, Money * Financial Prudence = Peace of Mind.

Just like the overall market if we tell ourselves the situation is bad, then bad is all we will see. It applies to our own finances also. No matter how difficult we find the situation we still have choices. We can either make a bad one or a good. We are fortunate enough to live in country that not only allows it, but is founded upon it.