What I Think of Obama vs. McCain

“Beef’s stake in the election”
9/8/2008

And What I Think About It!

My friends, thanks for your editorial on the candidates. I have always used and admired Beef Today as a source for knowledge. But I was a bit confused this time as I was not aware that the death tax and CAFO were major beef issues. Must be for a different crowd than I run with.

”The political conventions are over and if you know anymore about where which candidate would lead the cattle industry, you’ve seen something I haven’t.”

Well I did hear Obama say, “We had too many farms to save.” That is what a lot of us call ourselves is farmers. So if he is going to save farms then that must mean us. McCain said nothing about Ag that I heard. McCain still wants to win the Viet Nam “war” with honor. After giving us the payday loans and usury. All he spoke about was “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and more war and wars. And oh yes the “surge.” We must not forget the “surge” and other government “boondoggles” like another Hundred Year War and the 363 tons of hundred dollar bills flown into Iraq by Paul Bremmer to bolster their economy. After all the price of freedom is not cheap!

”Here’s some of what we do know:

”Obama—who would probably, we should note, have the wind of a Democratic congress at his back—would like to reinstate the estate tax. That’s the one landowners call the “death tax.

”McCain—who would probably have to wrestle anything he wants away from that same Democratic congress, or at least meet them half way, wants to extend the current tax rules.”

Like I said I did not realize the death tax was a major issue with the majority of farmers. After all, we did not all get in on the Coyote Recovery Program and get the government to buy lots and lots of land for us. I can understand the big guys being worried. But doesn’t Obama want to cut the lower income tax rates giving a progressive tax rate up to the higher income levels? While McCain will cut the higher income tax rates and increase the lower income tax rates, just like Bush did? Look at where that has gotten us now!

”Obama is an avid supporter of ethanol. He opposes the idea of lifting the import tariff on imported ethanol—a tariff Brazil is getting ready to challenge as protectionist.
McCain is not a supporter of ethanol at all. He believes it is a boondoggle and he claims to be against boondoggles.”

My friends, everyone is against ethanol. My goodness! The oil industry is having a fit about the subsidy paid on ethanol. Are you supporting big oil? Did big oil buy some anti-ethanol ads in BEEF TODAY? I oppose the subsidy in principle also but with the mess they have gotten our economy in with importing $700 billion of foreign oil, we need to produce every drop here we can. Monies we pay to each other do not hurt us nearly as bad as what we pay overseas.

My friends, what I find disturbing is that we have allowed foreign investors to build our ethanol plants and allow them to enjoy a one-year pay back on their investment. I think that is the “boondoggle.” Why shouldn’t they be taxed some? Is McCain even aware of this? I doubt it. Get them confounded “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.” Support the “surge.” Did you realize we could feed the gluten produced from the ethanol to the cattle? Just have to “retool.” Don’t work so well with pigs and chickens. Are we to sacrifice our selves to save pigs and chickens? For the big guys?

My friends, I found the Denver Department of Interior office parties with big oil furnished liquor, drugs and wild women very interesting. I guess if you keep the bureaucrats busy they just plain forget to collect the royalties on offshore oil and gas. The Republicans don’t think they should have to pay tax on it either. If you send me some wild women I will be so busy chasing them I might forget to send this email! But then who cares about me? I would have to go on the Internet to discover what to do if I caught one! Drill baby drill! Now this is a “boondoggle.”

I notice you said nothing about the export subsidy on cotton (and other commodities) being paid to big corporations. I think this is another “boondoggle.” Brazil is after that too. Brazil cannot understand how they can produce cotton for 20 cents while we produce it for 60 cents and then we can under sell them on the market. While one complains about a subsidy being paid on ethanol why not on cotton and other commodities also?

My friends, I guess by now that you are aware that Iraq has closed its first big oil deal or sale. To Communist China of course. Why didn’t we get the oil? Well I guess the “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” did it. Confound them boogers! Support the “surge.”

The solution to our energy and economy is simple. Lets just install roof top solar panels and generate 60% of our power needs, not loosing the huge transmission losses we now experience, like they do in Germany. Then we can convert our cars to CNG and we are just about free of imported oil. Listen to T. Boone Pickens, he just won’t tell you about the solar roof panels. His model will consume huge transmission losses. We can make the solar panels here in America and install them ourselves sparking a huge need for jobs. My friends, it really isn’t very complicated. My friends, have you looked at Obama’s plan?

Right now our Republican Administration is holding the generation of power as the sole dominion of the huge Utilities and will not allow the individual roof panels as it takes from the big Utilities. Our whole economy is geared to burn more oil and now imported oil! I listened to the Republican Senate Forum on offshore oil and gas drilling and they deduced if we drilled offshore we could be self sufficient in oil! They also deduced we could set platforms in 2000 and 3000 feet of water! We could never produce 21 million barrels a day - that is 7 times the maximum historical Texas oil production. Sarah Palin thinks Alaska can produce that much. Why not? My friends, at some point reality must set in and we must assume reasonable expectations and start being honest.

”Obama supported the farm bill with objections to the size of payments to rich guys. McCain voted to support the Bush veto, calling the program “bloated.” He thinks it is a boondoggle, and we’ve already discussed his position on that.”

My friends, well I think the payments to “rich guys” are way too much also and think much lower limits should be set. And that is the “boondoggle.” McCain thinks it is bloated! What does McCain think of the huge government subsidies we are giving to the big international companies and Wall Street? Doubt if he even understands any of these yet. But I do really appreciate you picking up my part of the $50 million golden parachute for the now fired ex-CEO of AIG. I am just a bit strapped for cash right now, will hit you later.

”We don’t know how either of them would approach the Creekstone case, wherein USDA has refused to allow private testing for BSE.”

My friends, well no we don’t. But we do know that it is a Republican Administration that has fought Creekstone and not allowed them to test privately. I think they should be allowed and I think Obama is more likely to allow it as the Democrats have allowed the interstate shipment of state inspected beef. Having been under both, I feel more confident with state inspection than federal as the state employees are not as corrupt as the feds are. Specs are the same! Maybe FSIS feels that they will screen the cattle for BSE and if they are positive, Creekstone will resell them in the market and not suffer a loss on them! That is why they told us we could not bangs test our own cattle.

”Both have complained about increasing food prices hurting “the people” but neither has said anything about what they think they might do about it. Surely--surely--we can assume they won’t repeat the Nixon price freeze mistake.”

Heaven forbid another Nixon price freeze on beef! That was the first of a most effective Republican (not Democrat) step in destroying the small packers. More was to follow. Get that unsanitary rust off that stainless steel! More than rust to worry about. If packers ever get irradiation for beef then they can sell us cattle feces for the same price as beef. My friends, wouldn’t that reduce the price of beef? I really do not understand why it makes folks sick anyway as I have eaten so much of it and it ain’t killed me yet! That would equal out the effects of ethanol anyway, right?

Oil and energy is in just about every thing and affects the price of everything. Gosh we even learned it (melamine) is even in Communist Chinese baby formula! Can you even believe the American buyers of the laced Communist Chinese “wheat gluten” thought that they could make it and ship it cheaper than our own mills could produce it from American wheat? That seemed kind of dumb to me. But then accountants and lawyers run our corporations now.

My friends, actually the same thing that hit oil prices hit food prices too. Uncontrolled speculation in the futures markets. We really need to control speculation in the futures market. It really distorts the market. The oil bubble was driven by two Tulsa speculators and Goldman Sachs, withdrawing $39 billion now from the market. People should have to put up 50 cents to control each dollar on the futures market like on the stocks and the reporting time should be the same 5 minutes for each. The speculator interest should be controlled in futures like it is in the stocks. Without this and after having allowed or created these super huge entities, the markets are a shambles and can cause much harm to the economy.

Obama and the Democrats are considering regulations for the futures markets. Is McCain even aware of the problem? This Republican Administration is running full time to print more money, doubling the money supply in just the last 7 years, and people are also trying to hedge inflation in commodities. So if Obama can control speculation in the futures, restore faith in our dollar and save farms, then he will lower food prices! McCain is still on the “boondoggle.”

”Obama has said he wants to renegotiate NAFTA and McCain says he is pro-trade.”

I can support free trade. But what we have is not free trade. We have all these trade agreements with all these countries who ship to us like Communist China but we can’t ship to them. Yes, I think NAFTA should be renegotiated. It is a “boondoggle.” Are you aware that many of the feeder cattle coming in through Mexico are actually from Australia and New Zealand? TAHC found some and a big stink was raised - bet they don’t find any more. One of our animal health commissioners is an importer of “Mexican” cattle and like he once said in a commission meeting, it is only a Class C misdemeanor ($16.50 fine) to get caught with them without the proper health papers, so what? McCain is pro-trade so his friends can use child and cheap foreign slave labor (like Agriprocessors).

”Neither of the guys has much to say about beef issues on their Web sites. Obama’s list of “issues” includes:
”Civil Rights, defense, disabilities, economy, education, energy and environment, ethics, faith, family, fiscal, foreign policy, healthcare, homeland security, immigration, Iraq, poverty, rural, service, seniors and Social Security, technology, urban policy, veterans and women.
”There are many promises under most of those categories, but “The Problem” he lists under Rural issues seems not too hard to define:
”Family farmers are being squeezed: Farm consolidation has made it harder for mid-size family farmers to get fair prices for their products and compete on the open market.
”CAFOs pollute the environment: Between 1992 and 2004, there were more than 450 manure spills from CAFOs in Iowa, killing millions of fish and jeopardizing public health.
”Rural communities are often left behind: Rural communities often struggle to attract capital because of lack of infrastructure and remote distances.
”There is less access to quality doctors, and schools have trouble recruiting teachers.”

Well at least Obama mentions some important issues rather than just “defeat radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and “support the surge!” From my experience, Obama is correct in his assessment of the problems. We have been squeezed by the consolidation of the Ag companies.

A pig is about the same size as us humans and eats about the same, both in quantity and quality (protein content), well at least some of us anyways! Remember they are the ones without the lipstick. So if you take a town of say 10,000 population and have everyone poop in an open lagoon, it is going to be pretty stinky ain’t it? Kind of like driving around our loop and smelling all the leaks in the Palestine city sewer lines. So don’t the same happen to pig poop, too? At least the last pigs I had did and much much less than 10,000 - only a dozen or so! So why do CAFO have to use open lagoons? It is a formula to disaster that we did not have when these varmints was raised on family farms. But my pig’s poop didn’t stink; it is yourn!

I notice you did not mention that the farmer feeder in the Corn Belt could produce top hogs cheaper by about 4 cents than the big guys using the CAFO’s. The big guys control the slaughter facilities and force the public to buy their higher priced pork rather than the more economical quality farmer feeder raised pork. So maybe this is just another way to help lower food prices.

”The McCain site does have a category called “Agricultural Policies,”but it has little specific to beef. He does reiterate and then re-reiterate his support for free trade.”

Yes his crowd is very high on “free trade.” That is the solution to every thing even “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.” Support the “surge.“ Import cheap Communist Chinese bullets to kill “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.” And support the “surge.” After all Communist China has plenty of cheap Iraq oil to make and deliver them! Thanks to us. We sure spent that money we borrowed from Communist China wisely didn’t we? What does he say about the other things Obama mentions? Does he even know they exist?

”We should note here that Country of Origin will be up and running (or not running) before inauguration. So that’s off the table, I suppose. The word among the wizened is that the JBS merger will be done by then as well. So if Obama and his National Farmer’s Union advisors want to make good on their anti-corporate rhetoric, they’d be facing a done deal on that.”

I like the policies of the National Farmers Union far better than the Farm Bureau and others. I have watched the state level Farm Bureau lobbyist testify in direct conflict with their published state policy. That was one of my early experiences with lying in government and it is far too common now. I will assure you that the Farm Bureau, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Independent Cattlemen’s Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association do not represent the domestic calf producers and maybe not even the beef industry. I think it is queer that they have had to go to a check off to support themselves now and the Ag publications just keep getting thinner and thinner. My friends, they have been so bad they need to raise the check off to $2 now.

I did not know NFU had come out against the JBS merger or COOL. The reason there is so much opposition to COOL is that the processors are mixing cheap imported beef with some domestic beef and then selling it all as “US Beef.” This is illegal but why enforce government regulations if it keeps some good Republican middleman from making more profit? And that dog gone Obama wants to tax his extra illicit profits, what a shame! With COOL this will have to stop if COOL is actually ever enforced. Won’t that help our beef producers?

”So, near as I can tell, if you just want to vote your bumper sticker—the one that says “BEEF,” you have a pretty clear choice.”

Obama and the Democratic slate!

”If you are among those who think big packers and beef imports are the industry’s biggest problem, Obama may be your man
”On the other hand, if you’re in one of the higher tax brackets or have a sizable piece of the pie you’d like to pass to the kids, or if you are among those who see more promise than threat to your industry from Global trade—or, for that matter, if you fret about what Mr. Obama means when he chooses to include CAFO’s on such a short list of “problems”—maybe you should consider McCain.”

Yeah if you want to vote your bumper sticker “BEEF” maybe you better vote for one that has told you what he stands for rather than one who has not told you what he stands for. That would seem prudent to me. McCain is 4 more years of the same and the economy is basically sound and the recession is only in our minds as we are a nation of whiners! And a Texas A & M PHD in economics said that and you can believe it ’cause it’s “Aggie Economics 101!”

Obama is opposed to more than just big packers and beef imports. Most of us are not in the high tax brackets, don’t have assets to qualify for the “death tax,“ know there is more threat in Global Trade and understand what CAFOs are doing to us. You know with our emerging economy (deficit) we may no longer be able to afford the huge export subsidizes being paid to the huge mega international companies to export our crops. Isn’t that more harmful to us than the subsidy to ethanol? Didn’t we ship 1.5 billion bushels of corn to Communist China this year?

We are not cost competitive with Ag commodities on the world market - they beat us bad on production costs. So we cannot export if Communist China or Russia or Saudi Arabia refuse to loan us more and more money to pay these export subsidizes. Actually the world will be better off as the farm commodity prices will be forced to rise and more food can be produced thereby eliminating lots of hunger in the world. We saw this in India when Gandhi told us to shove our subsidized grain. Now, India is a net food exporter and even exports powered milk to us, maybe without melamine!

”Or you could, I suppose, just vote what you think is best for the whole country. But that would make you a silly goose, wouldn’t it?”

Oh come on “negotiate.” Take a chance! Go ahead and be a silly goose for once. Vote Obama and the Democratic slate! A change will do you good. I always heard it would change your luck and our’s sure needs changing!

I only throw this in here for the Evangelicals as one told me Sunday that the Moslems descended from Cain. Did you know the actual translation of the Gaelic name McCain? It actually means “son of Cain.” My name, Mack, is Gaelic also and it just means “son.” So I guess we didn’t know who the daddy was - making me a descendant of a _ _ _! So maybe we can save this country from the “Anti -Christ” yet! Obama really is not a Moslem.

But this autumn you will only have a choice between Obama and McCain, not A, B, C, X, Y or Z. So one has to choose the best of only two. The other also runs really don’t count this time as CNN ain’t giving them much airtime. Myself I want a proven self made man that has at least spent some time trying to help others and has made a rather successful life, including a few million bucks, so far for himself and his family and has offered some thought out solutions for our problems.

My friends, I am not impressed with another daddy’s little rich soldier boy who has done nothing for himself, a mama’s boy, had a good time in life, understands very little of our problems, is not a self made man but used daddy’s and family friend’s influence to get his successes and married his money rather than making it after a false start before going to POW camp, plus is a liar and has only offered a commission to study our problems.

My friends, it looks to me like this time around that the “God Save America” button is marked “Democrat” while the “Self Destruct” button is marked “Republican.”

I really like your heading, “Here’s some of what we do know:” What do we know?

My friends, well we know that Obama came from nowhere and pulled himself up by his bootstraps. From the most unlikely beginnings to the second highest political position in the land - a major party candidate for President! Even with that as a failure he will still be a Senator - still not a bad achievement for such humble beginnings. Obama has done a lot to help other people, even if the Republicans did laugh at and make fun of him for helping other people at their Convention. One has to admire that streak in him. He could have gone to NYC and got a high dollar job as they are always desperate for minority lawyers. Instead he choose to help the less fortunate people.

Obama taught Constitutional Law and worked as a Civil Rights lawyer. He has served 11 years in elective office. Paid his and Michelle’s student loans off and made a few million dollars from writing books. His experience is varied which I think is good. Two years in the US Senate is long enough to learn how the system works. One must wait years for the seniority to do things. I like his commitment to family and God.

Joe Biden’s reputation speaks for itself. Plagiarism is not nearly as bad as lying and killing over 4,100 Americans and hundreds of thousands of other descendants of Abraham. My friends, I hope I ain’t plagiarized myself here! Don’t forget that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Wolfawich [sp?] gave us the “fortified villages” in Viet Nam with moats and sharp bamboo stakes sticking out all over the place. Unfortunately they forgot the mortar had been invented! Now look what they did for us in Iraq.

Senator McCain, like most other Republicans, are Daddy’s little rich boys. And Mama’s boys! McCain went off to the Naval Academy in his big new shiny convertible so he could better chase the girls and party! It was good to hang out with McCain, as you would get invited to all the fun parties! When he got out, he went into Daddy’s navy as a glory fighter pilot to better chase the girls. After this pilot’s career and he was about to be discharged, another family friend, Senator Werner, got him a job in the Pentagon so he could stay in the Navy. McCain has not choose to do any thing for others, only himself. Nor gotten much for himself, instead using others like Sarah Palin and Senator Werner to reach his goals.

My friends, this is reminiscent of another Daddy’s little rich flyboy in high office. He got into the National Guard - that was back when they didn’t go and fight - a much-coveted position - like entrance into the Naval Academy. One had to really be someone to get in back then as the draft was after us guys and our daddies could not keep us out. Little George even failed to show up for his flight training - his duty sergeant lived down the road from us. From then he kept his head up a skirt and bottle of beer in his hand most of the time. He was graced with the purchase of an interest in a baseball team where Ross Perot was setting up a deal with the Dallas City Council to take private property with eminent domain and a public taxpayer bond to build a super stadium. He then sold his interest for lots of money after having done not very much!

They caught him in the 90’s, sobered him up and dried him out and run him for governor. He left the Texas finances in shambles. Like Sarah Palin, he wasn’t here long enough for it to come home to roost. He was never a non-partisan governor. The powerful Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock told the Legislature, you will work together and they did. Look at the mess this has caused us! When he took office we imported some 1.2 million head of feeder cattle and today it is some 2.4 million head - good for grazers and feeders but disaster for calf producers - the little guys. I realize USDA is really down playing this year’s Mexican feeder imports, wonder why?

McCain got shot down and became a POW. He admits he “sang” in order to get badly needed medical attention in prison. I do not blame him for this, as I would have done the same. But why stand up and lie about it at the Convention (reference my hero Fred Thompson and the dreaded Rudolph Juliano [sp?] and they laughed at community organization and service)? McCain did sing and admitted it! He did listen to the Saddleback Church questions given Obama and was not in the sound proof box. He and Preacher Warren lied about that also. Just like on the Keating 5, McCain was just trying to help deregulate the S & L crisis.

My friends, I thought he made a conscious decision to stay as a POW when offered early release. Now we are learning that it was a “something” (law, understanding, navy regulation, etc.) that first in was first out. I am curious to know what would have happened to McCain had he left early as offered. Would we have imprisoned him on his return or what?

My friends, did I ever tell you about my uncle? Well he survived the Batan Death March. That was quite a feat and I think that really makes my Uncle a real war hero - especially after General McArthur (another daddy‘s little rich boy Republican) ran away in the dark of night and refused to fight! Very brave, but I may have also as them Japs was pretty bad back then. When he returned and waded ashore, the GI’s threw rocks at him and they splashed in the water on the film so that he had to return to his ship and change clothes. They moved the troops back out of chunking range for his second return landing! Gotta take care of them poor little rich Republican daddy boys.

One never put greens on the table as they reminded him of the grass and leaves they ate nor any kinds of rodent like rabbit or squirrel as they reminded him of all the rats they ate. They were carried out each morning and hung naked by their arms behind their back with cold water thrown on them. He never talked much at all about it and never offered to either. McCain seems to feel comfortable in discussing his captivity.

My uncle had a lung disease and when he got too weak to pull the oxygen bottle on the carpet (he furiously would not let anyone help him), he shot himself. When the undertaker asks me if he had any false teeth, as so many were missing, and I ask my aunt, she said no. When he got a toothache, he got the pliers and went into the bathroom to the mirror and pulled the tooth himself. That takes a level of pain tolerance I don’t have. I wonder if McCain built up that level of tolerance for pain? Maybe this is what McCain means about eliminating the waste and abuse from Medicare and Social Security.

I think my Uncle was a real war hero. But I don’t think it qualified him to be President and Commander-in-chief and I don’t think he did either. He was forced into the situation whereas McCain went voluntarily. I admire and respect all who have fought for this Country. But I really wish McCain would read ex-Secretary of Defense McNamara’s book about the Viet Nam War. McCain has never planned a battle either. Let’s not forget what General Giap told General Westmoreland who stated we won every battle, with Giap replying “ but none were significant!” McCain still wants to redo Viet Nam.

Sarah Palin is a very attractive, sweet and very momsy lady. She and her husband, Todd, are the type people one would like to have a beer with. Seems like our President’s main qualification was that he was someone that we would like to have a beer with. Boy look where that got us! Any qualifications?

Imagine the White House at 3 AM and the phone rings, Sarah hears ?the Russians are coming” and hit’s the red button, then the speaker says “for dinner” to which she gasps, “Todd where did you leave the ‘Undo button’ the baby was playing with last night?”

My friends, Republican farm policy is contained in the “Young Executives Plan to Liquidate Farmers: A Study Chaired By The Under Secretary” read into the Congressional Record in June 1972, Volume 118 Part 17 pages 21734 - 21742. This has been posted on the Internet by THE MILKWEED and should be read by all potential Republican farmers and voters. Believe me, they mean you too. That’s why McCain didn’t tell you much on his site about Ag issues. So you do not want to know what McCain has planned for farmers. But then you all aren’t farmers though, you are landowners, grazers, feeders, editors, etc. but not poor ole dirt farmers.

I am very curious how one can fix these problems without raising taxes. After all, lowering taxes is what got us in this mess. And failing to follow laws on the books. All our companies have moved overseas and therefore pay no taxes to this government. Listen to Montel Williams free drug ad where the “pharmaceutical research companies of North America” want to help you get your drugs if you can’t afford them. Only the drug research companies are left here because the government pays them to do drug research here. Bet they don’t even pay taxes on that government money either. Get them “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.”

My friends, did you realize it cost between 3 and 4 cents a day to produce, distribute and dispense the AIDS drug cocktail? That is what India actually sells them to Africa for now. When Bush gave Africa $90 a month to assist AIDS patients, he was just giving the overseas drug companies a grant of your tax money!

My friends, did you hear about the offshore royalty management group responsible for collecting the government royalties from offshore oil and gas? One big party, lots of drugs, booze and girls - whoopee! But no royalties collected. Drill baby drill - us poor folks thought it was drilling in the offshore seabed but no not this time! Notice McCain supports drilling. Get them “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.” This was and still is a “boondoggle.” Drill baby drill.

Did you hear the reason they took Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae over was because Russia and Communist China said they were uncomfortable with their investment in American mortgages and wanted the full faith and credit of the American government behind them. Get them “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.”

Our Secretary of State Rice has warned Russia of dire consequences of entering Georgia. Wonder if she is even aware Russia is underwriting our home mortgage industry? And Russia just increased her defense budget by 25%. Talk about ignorance! Where would Palin be? Senator Hagel is right.

My friends, does anyone know why we are at odds with Bolivia now; we have withdrawn Ambassadors and the Peace Corps? Or why did we try to assassinate President Chivas in Venezuela who has agreed now with Senator Kennedy to give poor and old folks cheap Citgo heating oil this winter in New England.

How are we going to operate around our creditors? They are soon going to start telling us how to run our business just like our bankers told us. Then what are we going to do about it? War, war, war and more war from President McCain and President Palin. Communist China even makes the components for our smart bombs now.

We have not done much with North Korea either. We could not handle the 1500 big guns along the border. Don’t have that many smart bombs or planes to take them out. They can fire 150,000 shells in the first hour of our attack and can destroy Seoul. But they have made several nuclear bombs since we first stopped heavy oil shipments to hem. So we are right back where we started with them, heavy oil shipments, except they have the bombs now and a rocket that can hit California! Brilliant strategy.

Bear Stearns management and shareholders were bailed out by taxpayers. Now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with their ex-CEOs getting $30 million bonuses for making the mess all from taxpayers. Merrill Lynch is gone under and Lehman Brothers and now the largest Savings & Loan, Washington Mutual. I thought the sub prime mortgage mess was over, but not quite. Thanks for giving the CEO of AIG our part of his $50 million leaving bonus - that was a bargain! We will hit you when we get our social security. We now learn that for our $85 billion we bought a $440 billion liability. Gosh was that a bargain or what? Now the founder of AIG has said he can fix AIG for only $25 billion! Tyson and Pilgrims Pride will be next.

My friends, it just gets thicker and thicker doesn’t it? Now we need to give Paulson $700,000 billion to buy worthless sub prime mortgages that they will later sell for a profit! We learned today he even wants to buy the delinquent credit card, college, auto and etc. loans. A good investment. This is how we got into this mess! And we will bail out foreign banks too. We believe in free trade don’t we? Even Barclays Bank of London has 5 billion pounds sterling worth of American sub prime mortgages on hand.

My friends, McCain said our economy was basically sound. Allen Greenspan says it is the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression! Greenspan is probably superior to McCain in economics. McCain is way off base and has no idea what is happening anymore. Where was McCain during all these? Right there in the Senate pushing for more tax cuts and less regulations. And he is going to save us now? He has 1 years of experience 26 times, only needed it one time. Or he has Obama’s 2 years experience in the Senate 13 times. Most folks say that your only knowledge is what you bring to Washington, as you do not learn anything there. That really shows on McCain, as he didn‘t learn much the past 25 years.

Actually McCain was right there as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, first 6 years of this Administration, and removed the regulations that allowed this economic mess. But it was President Clinton that signed the deregulation law!! After all if McCain had fixed the deregulation debacle during his 6 years he couldn’t blame it on Clinton! A really good job - but for who, me you Barclays of London or who? He is a proud deregulator! He has really made some folks really rich and many more of us very very poor! Strained 80% of the generated wealth to the top 20%.

When ask how he was going to pay for the government programs, McCain said he would eliminate the inefficiencies in Medicare and Social Security. McCain thinks it is disgraceful our young people pay social security for the older people. So I guess we will go back to taking care of our aging parents in our own homes, because we can’t afford nursing homes, and paying our own doctor bills. Boy that was the life in them good ole days!

And you must pay them now as the Republicans gave the doctors and hospitals the right to sue you if you didn’t. I had a friend who had a million dollar health insurance policy. He developed colon cancer and went to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Hospital in Houston - world class! They gave him a staff infection that cost $500 thousand to clear and the remaining $500 thousand was not enough to cure his colon cancer, so he died from it! No wonder some 30% of our bankruptcies are from medical bills. Who is going to fix the broken health care system? McCain isn’t as you give him the best this government can offer. We spend 25% of our GNP on health care and people still die from lack of treatment.

We live in a Country now where right is left and left is right. Did you realize Hillary’s health care plan was a for profit private insurance system not a government hand out? The insurance companies would compete on the various policies provided. They could not compete in a free enterprise system and had to defeat it or they would have cooked their goose for sure. Interesting isn’t it? Republicans stand for liberal government programs and Democrats stand for conservative capitalists programs.

The Republicans are giving us more government regulations and still calling for more and more surveillance depleting our civil liberties. We are going from a $4.5 trillion National debt to a $15 trillion debt just about equal to our $14 trillion GNP. I do not know how this stacks up to banana republics but I bet it is close.

Let’s just for example play around with an example of how a sub prime home mortgage that was shown on TV might be used. I am not trying to be smart here, just be informative, as I do not know all. She was a single mom with 4 kids working as home help for $10 per hour. Let’s call her Rosa for short. In a 40-hour week she would gross $1732 per month. Mortgage payments can be roughly 20% of gross income for some $346 per month. She finds a $440,000 new home she is told she can buy if she signs on the dotted line! Sure she does! Now remember we are not making a mortgage loan as you know it but generating paper to sell for more money on the secondary money market.

My friends, at one time I was a USDA FmHA County Committeeman where I got to observe a few things. Like government loan programs are written so that they can sell the paper on the secondary money market. For a $100,000 USDA FmHA 90% government guaranteed farm operating loan, the interest was set so that the maker could sell it on the secondary money market for $120,000 to $130,000, guarantying them at least a $10,000 to $20,000 profit even if the borrower defaulted and they lost the $10,000 at risk.

The mortgage market functions the same. The maker is given 0.75% of a point to make and administer the mortgage.

FmHA has spent $27,000 per unit to repair HUD apartments that would cost only $22,000 to build new. Buy in dummy name, rent to HUD and when they tear it up, default on the mortgage and let the government repair it, while you buy another one in another company name with good credit! This is what you are bailing out now.

The monthly payment on a $440,000 mortgage at 6% over 30 years is about $2,638 plus extras like taxes and insurance. So give Rosa a lower teaser rate to start. Then jump up later. She gladly signs and moves in. Actually who wouldn’t? Is this her fault?

Well after the teaser rate, she can’t pay the new payments. And the housing market has not continued to rise so she can sell the house, pay off the mortgage and pocket a huge profit to make a down payment on another home! So she is foreclosed on and moved out but her paper remains on the secondary money market.

She qualifies for HUD housing at probably costing $1000 per month plus utilities as she has the 4 kids. She may pay $1 per month rent on this if she pays childcare or 10% of her income if she don‘t, maybe $173.20 per month but probably much less.

Now hopefully she made her payments, which she likely did for the introductory years. So her mortgage paper is a fully viable commodity that can be sold on the secondary money market, as it is not in arrears. But it caries a sufficiently higher interest rate so that it can be sold for more than the original $440,000. And her mortgage is “bundled” and sold on the secondary market along with some good ones. No one cares as it is backed by real estate (homes). But notice the mortgage is foreclosed.

My friends, actually this mortgage did not follow regulations or good sound business practice to begin with. If the sister and brother-in-law of Henry Cisneros [sp?] mistress can be charged for lying on their mortgage application, because they rented the home to the mistress rather than living in it themselves, then the folks who generated this paper could be too. Bet they never are though as there are too many of them!

Another way they may have lost on home mortgages is that they destroyed the original mortgage papers and filed them on microfilm. In a foreclosure, they must produce the original mortgage in Court to prove their lien. If they can’t, then they cannot foreclose. Why should the public pay for these stupid mistakes?

End of story? Well not quite the end of the story. There is a market out there called the “differentials” and then the “derivatives” market few folks have ever even heard off. It surfaced a few years back with frightening results; in fact so bad you had to have several million dollars net worth (like Donald Trump) to even be considered for this “most lucrative trading.” Huge profits were being made in differentials and derivatives being traded by very smart traders indeed.

One day the owners of Berwick Bank of England woke up and a 22 year old trader in Singapore had invested them in differentials or derivatives and lost - and what a loss too! Yes, everything. Even the owner’s homes and Rolls. Berwick Bank of England is no more.

It is beginning to surface a little on the news now that some of our very smart bankers and financial traders may just have invested in differentials and derivatives. If that is the case, then gosh. How much have they really lost? No one even knows yet. Not even the management of the companies, as they do not know what all their traders have traded for them. Maybe BEEF TODAY could write an editorial and explain to us what differentials and derivatives are.

How much are the bad mortgages? The first estimate I heard was $9 billion, then $90 billion and now they are showing $200 billion at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The $200 billion will just about catch them, as no one would buy these unless they went through them as a clearinghouse because they are quasi government entities and cannot fail! Instead of the $1.5 or $2 trillion, we should only be paying the $200 billion.

What surprises me is the Republican Administration has handled this whole mess to maximize the cost. Why didn’t they just fix Rosa’s sub prime mortgage as we could have paid the $440,000 off much cheaper than the amount, maybe $600,000 or lots more, they sold her paper for and the other money Wall Street lost on differentials and derivatives! One firm even bet these sub prime mortgages would not be paid off! Rosa’s $440,000 sub prime mortgage and the others like it may constitute the $200 billion at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While the rest of the paper stuff is the other $700 billion loan that the other countries, like England and Germany, don’t want to participate in.

My friends wake up as they are giving the horse and barn both away! The Republican Administration is bailing out their buddies with your future. One last run on the bank before Obama takes over. Republicans are saying we cannot reward all those irresponsible people like Rosa who borrowed more than she could repay. But the folks who loaned it to her knew that also!

Her loan should have never been made but it was. The horse has bolted and it won’t do any good to shut the barn door now. The object is to get the horse back in the barn and how is not so important any more. Are we going to worry about helping irresponsible people like Rosa or the fat cats on Wall Street? Did you see the one the other day leaving the office with his $150 million golden parachute getting in his limousine to catch a flight to Florida to buy his $20 million new home? These are the people the Republican Administration is bailing out, while the Rosas go back on the dole for us to support too. This is absurd!

Had the government given you the $29 billion, you could have bought Bear Stearns too!

Let the rest file bankruptcy and wipe out their debt. Then sell their assets or the needed functions to responsible investors. The folks that loose their 401(k)s and etc just loose. That is life. Maybe they will learn like us not to vote Republican again! In the end Social Security is the only retirement we can be sure of. The rest is hype. The Republicans only want you to put your savings in the stock market where they can get them away from you. McCain is up to his neck in this mess. I bet Cindy didn’t loose a penny in this mess and is making millions out of it. She probably bet the sub prime mortgages would not be paid! We lost ours from the government’s failure to follow regulations and just plain lies!

Ask them if they are going to investigate any of these firms and go after the criminals that caused this mess. Not likely, but they will go after Rosa!

When the industry is re-regulated, we must have the name of the sellers and the buyers so we can see what is going on. And if any buyers are overseas, they should be investigated. No more of this “street name.” When insider trading became illegal, the brokerage firms went overseas where they bought for insiders in names like “Mickey Mouse” and “Donald Duck” and the stock certificates were held in the street name. One government regulator should regulate both stocks, bonds and futures. No more industry self-regulation like the SEC.

Get them “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.” Who is the “surge?” The genius of General Petreaus? No. It is from a Sunni Sheik and an American Army Captain of no consequence. One day the Captain had a couple of spare pick ups and some rifles and he thought he would take them and give them to a couple of Sheiks he had meet. They took them and drove down the street picking up a load of teenage boys to the local Al Qaeda house and told them they had over stayed their welcome.

Al Qaeda packed up and left. Also we pay them $300 a month not to kill Americans now. Before the only job in town was setting IEDs for $100 each. Of course the grasping ambitious General “Betrayus” jumped in and took credit. And now McCain. Get them “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.”

Obama wanted to withdraw our troops and McCain and his buddy Bush said no. Now the Iraq government, agreeing with Obama, is saying to withdraw by next June. For $12 billion a month, why are we there? After Iraq has $70 billion on deposit in NYC.

Afghanistan has gotten out of control. Once the Afghans turn against us, it is folly to stay. Afghans are furious fighters like the Moros of Mindanao. We are no match for them. Notice Bush left the Moros about as fast as he got there!

No one has ever taken them over or conquered them. We now produce 85% of the world’s opium supply there where it was a capital offense to use it before we came. Real progress. We spend some $360 to destroy poppies for every $1 we spend introducing other cash crops. Obama is for introducing new cash crops while McCain is for killing more “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and supporting the “surge.” My friends, it is working!

Before the Russians, they were the world leader in dried fruit exports. They also grew the first cotton. All the “caves” Al Qaeda is hiding in are actually horizontal irrigation wells dug thousands of years ago and we are blowing them up so the folks can’t make a living. Oh well, maybe they can set IEDs for $100. What a mess. McCain is not likely to live out his term if elected. How do you think President Palin will handle this situation?

The Cuban Communist fighters in Granada were actually Cuban craftsmen, carpenters, electricians, concrete finishers, etc. employed by the Rank Organization out of London who had the contract to build the new International Airport in Granada. We shot the 6 Pakistani UN soldiers in their UN uniforms in the UN Headquarters in Mogadishu on a failed maneuver. Then went down and raided a meeting of 200 Somali elders meeting to try to help us. Why are we so ignorant?

I notice the obvious absence of Sidney McCain in all this. It is almost embarrassing. When his first wife got “gimpy,” like an old mare, he dumped her - surely not but it makes a good story - and got a trophy wife with a $100 million or so. The lucky devil. Every old man’s dream. I can understand him leaving his two adopted sons but his own daughter surprises me.

Especially after his experience with his adopted daughter from Bangladesh. She found Carl Rove’s message on the web about McCain going to Bangladesh, raping a woman, leaving her pregnant, and Cindy going back and adopting his illegitimate child! That was vicious and it really hurt the little girl’s feelings even though she did not understand it all. That is why McCain failed the South Carolina primary in 2000 and we have Bush. These are the tricks they are trying on Obama now. And you want these people to continue running the country?

I watched the program at the Saddleback Church. Obama went first and his answers were deeply and soundly thought out. McCain gave sharp brisk answers. Like the one on evil. Yes [evil does exist in this Country] and we must defeat it! And it is like Bill Mahr told Larry King that was the answer for the audience as “evil” was the devil! Not the prisons, rape, neglect, drugs, social injustices and other “evils” we have in our society. Get them evil “radical Islamic fundamentalist terrorist” and support the “surge.”

What left me so disappointed was that McCain got there late and was not in the sound proof box when Obama started answering the questions so McCain heard them and surly Carl Rove et al coached him on the answers. Pastor Warren did not know this when he started with McCain and McCain said he was in the box. After the program was over, it came out that McCain was late and did not get in the box at the start so he had access to the questions. This was mentioned again on the news the next morning. The next night Pastor Warren told Larry King Live that McCain was in the box. McCain was not! He lied!

I am very disappointed that McCain would pull such a cheap trick then lie about being in the box and not hearing the questions. Further that the Pastor Warren would lie to Larry King Live that McCain was in the box. That surprised me but not really. But it really shows the character of the men. Both are liars and driven by raw ambition and greed. It is a shame each has so little respect for the truth. They are in the class with Bill Abramoff [sp?], Ralph Reed and their third crony.

How could I ever consider voting for a liar that would even lie in Church? And they both claim to be men of God! Wait, what was that about a son of Cain?