Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/1/2005 2:46:25 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

send your imported pair of shoes to those iranian poor !!!

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/1/2005 2:50:41 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Franklin Raines Fannie Mae On Labor Day, he was a favorite to be Treasury Secretary should John Kerry win the White House. At yearend, he had left under a cloud. The charmed career of Franklin D. Raines -- a poor kid from Seattle who climbed through Harvard and a Rhodes Scholarship to become White House budget director and CEO of Fannie Mae (FNM ) -- crashed to a halt on Dec. 21. That was six days after the Securities & Exchange Commission's top accountant declared that mortgage giant Fannie misstated earnings for 3 1/2 years, leading to an estimated $9 billion restatement that will wipe out 40% of profits from 2001 to mid-2004. Supporters of Raines, 55, insisted that he wasn't culpable for Fannie's misuse of obscure accounting standards. But that argument didn't wash. Raines was in charge in 2001, when Fannie chose to create what the SEC dryly called "its own unique methodology" to calculate the earnings impact of its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives. Raines gave Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard free rein and tolerated "weak or nonexistent" financial controls, according to a scathing report issued in September by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Fannie's regulator. Worse, the CEO failed to manage the scandal. When sibling Freddie Mac's accounting first came under fire in mid-2003, Raines's arrogant insistence that Fannie was above reproach spurred OFHEO to do a white-glove examination. And when that uncovered the improper bookkeeping, Raines insisted on an SEC review, which he maintained would vindicate Fannie. "Frank was supposed to be the great political risk manager," says independent banking analyst Bert Ely in Alexandria, Va. "Instead, he compounded the problems." When Fannie's board balked over ousting Raines, OFHEO forced its hand. Raines described his exit as an "early retirement' that was self-initiated and says that it shows he was accountable for the SEC findings. Fittingly, Raines -- a man who built a $54 billion behemoth with his mastery of behind-the-scenes politicking -- went down spinning.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/1/2005 2:51:50 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

businessweek.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/3/2005 3:08:50 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

HOW TO BE A GOOD LIBERAL 1. You have to believe the AIDS virus is spread by the lack of Federal funding. 2. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach the same kids about sex. 3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese communists. 4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding. 5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented changes in the earth's climate, and more affected by yuppies driving SUV's. 6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural. 7. You have to be against capital punishment but support abortion on demand. 8. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity. 9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but looney activists who've never been outside Seattle do. 10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it. 11. You have to believe that the military, not corrupt politicians, start wars. 12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good, because it supports certain parts of the Constitution. 13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high. 14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, General Robert E. Lee, or Thomas Edison. 15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides aren't. 16. You have to believe Hillary Clinton is really a lady. 17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge. 18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belongs in the White House. 19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites and bestiality should be Constitutionally protected and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal. 20. You have to believe that illegal Democratic party funding by the Chinese is somehow in the best interest of the United States. 21. You have to believe that anyone who beats you in an intellectual arguments is a bigot. And finally... 22. You have to believe Richard Nixon obstructed justice by having an 18 1/2 minute gap in one tape of his recorded conversations and that it was an innocent mistake that one year's worth of Al Gore's e-mails got erased. And, wouldn't you know that these e-mails of Al's just happen to be the ones subpoenaed by a White House committee and a federal grand jury in their continuing investigation of campaign finance abuses and other matters. Bonus belief of a liberal: 23. You have to believe that it's better for a woman to be raped and murdered than for a rapist to be shot. Believe all of the above, and THEN you will be a really good liberal. You say you're a liberal but don't agree with a bunch of these items? Maybe you're not a liberal after all. Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz and find out--if you dare.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/3/2005 3:10:12 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Democrat Voter Notification Prior to voting, this warning must be read to every Democrat voter: You are a Democrat voter. You have the right to assisted voting. If you are too stupid to read ballot instructions, an eighth-grader will be provided to read and explain them to you. If you cannot figure out the ballot, a fourth-grader will assist you in following the black arrow pointing from your candidate's name to the proper punch-hole choice. If you are so confused you punch two choices for President, a third-grader will explain how lame you are and get you a fresh ballot. If you are so feeble you cannot completely punch a hole in a thin card with a sharp object, a first-grader will be available to hit your pin with a Playskool mallet for you. Should you decline any of the above assistance, you consent to the fact your ballot is final and waive the right to whine, protest or sue in a court of law.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (666732)	1/3/2005 3:12:28 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Democrat vs. Republican From the mouths of babes... A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a liberal Democrat. She asks her students to raise their hands if they were liberal Democrats too. Not really knowing what a liberal Democrat was but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A girl named Lucy did not go along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she decided to be different. "Because I'm not a liberal Democrat." Then, asks the teacher, what are you? "Why I'm a proud conservative Republican," boasts the little girl. The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a conservative Republican. "Well, I was brought up to trust in myself instead of relying on an intrusive government to care for me and do all of my thinking. My Dad and Mom are conservative Republicans, and I am a conservative Republican too." The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your Mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?" A pause, and a smile. "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be a liberal Democrat.