Survey results confirmed

Gallup: Republicans have better mental health than Democrats.

ABC News: Clinton office hostage taker was "a well-known local man with a history of emotional issues."

WE HAVE HIT BOTTOM!

Cramer called it! BOTTOM! We have hit the sub-prime bottom. Sure we are going to have a massive amounts of mortgage resets next March OR somehow, the teaser rates are going to be locked in thereby obliterating the MBSs that hold them but somehow this is all going to work and we can start breathing easy and again invest in Countrywide, Wells Fargo, HSBC, MCI, Enron and Arthur Andersen. Phhhheeewwwwwww, thanks Jim!

Freedom to Fail

This link gives a good sob story narrative about the deceptive practices of the mortgage lending industry. PBS It illustrates how poor, poor home "owners" were deceived and how Congress is reacting to the situation. The comical part is the lobbyist representing the mortgage industry. He is straight out of "Thank You For Smoking". And while I do believe the problem is primarily the borrowers, the mortgage industry is surely one of the more evil, FU industries we have on the planet. I do think that that little, orange butcher's son deserves to be snatched up by flying monkeys and dropped from 200 feet no doubt. But the real problem here are the stupid people who signed up for stupid loans. Also a little deserved blame goes to the economically challenged Uncle Greenspan for pushing the dream of homeownership. It was never homeownership; it was home rentership and liquidity production for Wall Street. And he fricking got knighted.

On a side note, how funny would it be to see little Tanzilo in a full plate mail knight's get up with the helmet, a sword he couldn't lift and a shield? Sort of like those little hobbits from Lord of the Rings in that final battle. Except Tanzilo instead of fighting would probably be sucking the blood out of all the dying combatants lying in the field. Fucking midget vampires.

Letter bag

E-mails, we get e-mails:

We’re inviting North Carolina and South Carolina media to attend a national Town Hall meeting hosted by John Ratzenberger (Cliff on ‘Cheers’) at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at The Freedom Center, 215 E. Main Street, Rock Hill, SC, 29731.

I’ve pasted some info on the event below. Please feel free to contact me if you might be interested in attending and/or covering the event. I’d also be very grateful if you could please post this notice or pass it along to anyone who might be interested in attending or blogging live at the event.

Many thanks,

Steven Capozzola
Communications Director
Alliance for American Manufacturing

My response:

Dear Steve,

While I have been deeply involved in many of the most crucial North and/or South Carolina news stories this year, I am unfortunately located in San Francisco, California. I will not be able to attend the Town Hall with Cliff Claven from Cheers. Please feel free to send Woody's girlfriend Kelly to San Francisco, as I would love to probe her views on American competitiveness in manufacturing.

Best regards,

W.C. Varones

Freddie Mac - Buy Opportunity!

Freddie Mac is probably the reason that most exemplifies why someone like me should go nowhere near the stock market. Yesterday the quasi-government mortgage liquidity factory announced that they are cutting their dividend in half while at the same time issuing preferred stock because they are burning through their reserves because of all the defaults occurring on the loans they own. ARTICLE

This makes sense because our lending, appraisal and real estate industry, with the backing of crazy-talk-Greenspan, set out to rip the face off of anyone with a pulse by pushing grossly inflated homes on people who couldn't possibly afford them. Really the definition of afford changed from "able to meet the expense of" to "able to provide fees to all vampires involved."

So what drives me to drink, beat my kid and seek out prostitutes is what happened today in response to this news. The stock jumped 14.34%. QUOTE

I think I get it really. All those who own the stock really want the dividend they were promised so maybe they decided to double down, right? Seriously, what in the world is considered bad news anymore? I think had the Enron implosion happened today, they wouldn't have gone under. They probably would have out priced Google.

And don't even get me started on the "fantastic" news about Citi and their cash infusion at 11%!?! What a great DEAL!!!

Preferential treatment for illegal alien felons

Illegal alien who stole his dead cousin's identity to become a cop gets probation.

Can you imagine what would happen to an American citizen who committed multiple felonies to infiltrate a police department under a false identity? Not probation, I would think.

Sure, this guy has a sympathetic story. But so do millions of other illegal aliens. That's precisely why we need to secure the border and enforce employment law. Immigration should be for those who follow the law, not those who sneak in and then develop sympathetic stories because of their illegal status.

Separated at birth

Melissa Frances and Brittany Murphy: