Saturday, October 20, 2007

Good Politician Bad Politician

Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable, is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently to build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence. – Abraham Lincoln

I should know better by now than to do such irresponsible things as keeping track of those weasels in D.C and Sacramento. Don't worry, it's sunny and I'm enjoying some landscaping in my tiny plot in deepest darkest dense Los Angeles. If this becomes a habit then feel free to send out the wagon and butterfly net. First the bad politician.

Norm Coleman (R, MN) [apologies for previously calling him G] has this gem:

In an effort to provide relief to homeowners who are facing foreclosure due to difficulty with their mortgage payments, Senator Norm Coleman yesterday introduced the Home Ownership Mortgage Emergency Act (HOME Act). The HOME Act would allow homeowners who are 60 days late in their mortgage payments to withdraw penalty-free up to $100,000 from their retirement accounts through 2009 for the purpose of refinancing into an affordable mortgage or avoid foreclosure.

Used to be not so long ago that your home was your retirement. The worm has turned and your retire is your home.

But wait... that's not all. Young Coleman is not so much a pie-in-the-sky dreamer. He's already "helped":

Additionally, he is a cosponsor of the Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act of 2007, which will make mortgage debt forgiveness tax-free.

Gives flesh to the words: "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session." [poss. attr. Judge Gideon J. Tucker]
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All may not be lost however. There are still honest politicians. Ooops, sorry about all that beer that just ruined your keyboard. I don't know how it happens but occasionally it seems there are a very few able to avoid the lure. This is California State Senator Tom McClintock. He had his 15 minutes as the man who lost to Da Governator in the recall election a few years back.

McClintock has this refreshing bit of common sense from the land of fruit and nuts:

The True Cost Of The Global Warming Farce
Excerpt:
Last year, in the name of saving the planet from global warming, California adopted the most radically restrictive legislation anywhere in the nation, including AB 32, which requires a 25 percent reduction in man-made carbon dioxide emissions within 13 years.

To put this in perspective, we could junk every car in the state of California RIGHT NOW – and not meet this mandate.

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Sorry to be so long winded, seems to be a hazard of exposure to politicians.

10 comments:

Debbie said...

Hey Good Buddy,
Please don't pull a Fox News and mislabel that dufus Coleman as(D/Minnesota). He is Republican. In fact, that Democrat of all Democrats, Al Franken (SNL & Air America) is running against him in the upcoming election.

BTW, I went to Coleman's official site just to double check my memory (lost some brain cells in college) and it is really hard to find his affiliation there. Hmmm... wonder why that is...

Rob Dawg said...

Sorry, Deb. Corrected and noted in the post. My own damn fault. I mean, Congress, Minnesota, socialism plan, etc.

I doth proclaim Coleman a RIMO.

Akubi said...

@Dawg,
OT, but Zillow Book has dedicated a yoga on rails post to you. Maybe trains aren't so bad afterall...

Lou Minatti said...

Home Ownership Mortgage Emergency Act (HOME Act). The HOME Act would allow homeowners who are 60 days late in their mortgage payments to withdraw penalty-free up to $100,000 from their retirement accounts through 2009

I predicted it would come down to this 2 years ago. It's the last untapped pool of cash. Most of these people would be better off walking and taking the credit hit than cashing out their life savings to keep paying for an overpriced depreciating asset.

RE global warming. I predict this time next year no one will give a shit because we'll have bigger problems to deal with. Like a major recession.

Rob Dawg said...

Akubi,
Okay, I'm caught. I am a rail fan now. ;-)

Lou,
Never underestimate the stupidity of the US Congress. As to AGW; I give it one, at most two years before it gets thrown on the trash heap of history.

Arthur Wankspittle said...

RE global warming. I predict this time next year no one will give a shit because we'll have bigger problems to deal with. Like a major recession.
I've been thinking for some time that Joe Public will soon have to pick between:
Going "Green"
Medical Care
A Pension
That will apply to us here in the UK and the US (and for the logically minded, those are separated by "OR" )

Santa Flipper Clause said...

Ho Ho Ho - It's Santa Flipper Clause

The constitution should simply read:

start/ "Congress shall make no laws" /end

Not Santa's quote, but I do not know who to attribute it to.

Santa F. Clause

Bill in NC said...

Global warming won't go away in the next recession, since it's just another excuse to tax us.

Slap a carbon tax on fuels, plus a separate "gas-guzzler" tax (either at point of sale, or yearly at registration renewal) if your vehicle gets less than 35 mpg city.

I'm sure there's add'l variations on the above.

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

Isn't that the painting that turns into Lincoln's face when you look at it a certain way?

Rob Dawg said...

Yes, that is Lincoln just squint and/or back away from the monitor. The quote from Lincoln right next to it was a hint.

I just thought the eloquence of two real Republicans bracketing the nonsense of Coleman was cute.