Ted Rudow III,MA

E.J. Dionne Jr.: Obama just needs to play it safe?

By E.J. Dionne Jr. -

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
WASHINGTON — To win the presidency, Barack Obama needs only to battle John McCain to a tie on foreign policy and national security.That means Obama has no need for a great triumph during his trip this week to the Middle East and Europe. His goal is to look safe, sound and competent, and that's how he's playing things.More and more, 2008 is taking on the contours of 1980. Then, the country, desperate for change after the battering it felt it took during Jimmy Carter's term, was eager to vote for a new direction and a charismatic leader-----


Wednesday, July 23, 2008


UN Resolution 242

Because Palestine patience has reached its limits withIsraeli refusal to abide by the unenforced UN Resolution No.242(1973) in which virtually the whole world, including America, agreed that Israel should withdraw from Arab lands. But the world has only pain lip service to the agreement and, until now, no attempt has been made by the world powers to compel Israel to obey it, and she will never obey it unless forced to do so by the actual armed intervention of a super power. Since the Palestine are now agree, united and determined--backed by Russia, Asia, Africa and Europe--that America must persuade Israel to withdraw or America will get no more oil from the Arabs; and since America will never force Israel to do this, and her economy will collapse without the oil, America herself will feel forced to fight for Israel and Arab oil. It will cause end to this perpetual irreconcilable war between American-Israeli interests in the Mideast.
Ted Rudow III,MA

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Fannie, Freddie need support, not bailout
By Franklin D. Raines -
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Story appeared in FORUM section, Page E5
"Just Tuesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined the problems facing our economy. It is time to make a choice: Continue the policy approach of trying to kill off the companies and reap the economic carnage that will inevitably produce, or make a forthright statement that these companies are necessary instruments of national policy.
Paulson has tried to move the administration and the Fed back from the brink. But too much ambiguity remains.
President Bush should stand with Paulson, Bernanke, Fannie and Freddie's regulator, and with the chairmen of the relevant House and Senate committees, and together they should declare Fannie's and Freddie's clear roles in our markets. They should codify this role in legislation that will bind future administrations. The sooner this happens, the better."
About the writer:
Franklin D. Raines was chairman and chief executive of Fannie Mae from 1999 to 2004 and served as director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration. He receives a pension and deferred compensation from Fannie Mae and owns stock in the company. This article originally appeared in the Washington Post.
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Greater debt.
Veteran journalist William Grieder thinks that we're not witnessing a temporary financial hiccup, but rather at the dawn on "Wall Street's great deflation." and it is far from over.The crash of IndyMac is just the beginning. More banks will fail, so will many more debtors. The crisis has the potential to transform American politics because, first it destroys a generation of ideological bromides about free markets. The root of the problem is the same as it has been for centuries: credit, which leads to debt that spirals into ever greater debt. Then those who are lenders gamble that they can make even more money by devising new and more lucrative ways for people to go more deeply into debt, while the people themselves gamble on what they consider a sure thing, just what they need to pay off their debts, or set themselves up for retirement, or finance their lifestyles, etc. It said in Psalm 15:5a," He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent."
Ted Rudow III,MA

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A series about the surge in consumer debt and the lenders who made it possible.

Given a Shovel, Americans Dig Deeper Into Debt

"Patricia A. Hasson, president of the Credit Counseling Service of Delaware Valley, said Ms. McLeod would probably wind up having to repay 40 percent to 60 percent of her credit card debt. The owner of her mortgages could come after her for the difference between what she owes on her loan and what her house ultimately sells for. The first mortgage was sold to investors; Citigroup declined to say whether it held onto the second mortgage or sold it to investors.A sheriff’s auction of her home on June 12 received no bidders, Ms. McLeod said. The bank will soon evict her. “Oh, I definitely have regrets,” Ms. McLeod said. “I regret not dealing with my emotions instead of just shopping. And I regret involving my son in all this because that has affected him and his finances and his self-esteem.” Ms. McLeod says she hopes to be living in an apartment she can afford soon and to get back to paying her bills on time. She does not want another credit card, she said. But even though her credit profile is ruined, she still receives come-ons. Recently an envelope arrived offering a “pre-qualified” Salute Visa Gold card issued by Urban Bank Trust. “We think you deserve more credit!” it said in bold type. A spokeswoman at Urban Bank said the Salute Visa is part of a program “designed to provide access to credit for folks who would not otherwise qualify for credit.” The Salute Visa offered Ms. McLeod a $300 credit line. But a closer look at the fine print showed that $150 of that would go, as annual fees, to Urban Bank."



July 20th, 2008
National affairs correspondent William Greider has been a political journalist for more than thirty-five years. A former Rolling Stone and Washington Post editor, he is the author of the nationalbestsellers One World, Ready or Not, Secrets of the Temple, Who Will Tell The People and, most recently, The soul of Capitalism.

Veteran journalist William Grieder thinks that we're not witnessing a temporary financial hiccup, but rather at the dawn on "Wall Street's great deflation." and it is far from over.The crash of IndyMac is just the beginning. More banks will fail, so will many more debtors. The crisis has the potential to transform American politics because, first it destroys a generation of ideological bromides about free markets. Democrats and Republicans are bipartisan in this crisis because they have colluded all along over thirty years in creating the unregulated financial system and mammoth mega-banks that produced the phony valuations and deceitful assurances. The federal government protects the most powerful interests from the consequences of their plundering. It prescribes 'market justice' for everyone else."

The root of the problem is the same as it has been for centuries: credit, which leads to debt that spirals into ever greater debt. Then those who are lenders gamble that they can make even more money by devising new and more lucrative ways for people to go more deeply into debt, while the people themselves gamble on what they consider a sure thing, just what they need to pay off their debts, or set themselves up for retirement, or finance their lifestyles, etc. It said in Psalm 15:5a," He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent."

— Ted Rudow III, MA, Menlo Park, CA

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http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/07/12/18515524.php

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Thursday July 3, 2008

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Campus briefs: Holiday fireworks cancelled due to construction

July 3, 2008
By The Daily News Staff
Holiday fireworks cancelled due to construction




University officials announced earlier this week that the annual July 3 fireworks display over campus has been cancelled due to conflicts with local construction. The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will still perform at the event, coordinators told The San Jose Mercury News.

The three-inch firework shells normally used in the display require a launch location that is at least 210 feet from spectators, vehicles and buildings. However, because the new Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research is under construction near the event site, coordinators axed the popular fireworks finale that has followed each annual July 3 concert for over a decade.

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To equate the Fourth of July with Christianity is absurd! I do not like the spreading of American-style democracy at the hands of the bloodthirsty and warlike Americans themselves. This does not lead to more Chris­tianity, but rather to a nation drifting further.
Has America brought more Christianity and Christian values to Iraq or Afghanistan or other nations it has attacked in one way or another in recent years? No. the opposite is true. America cannot impose righteousness on others. That is a personal affair, not something that can be imposed in a national crusade.
Many people want to go to the United States to lust after things! It's not to fulfill some dream of freedom! Materialism, "the devotion to material wealth and possessions at the expense of spiritual or intel­lectual values," is virtually synonymous with capitalism, the profit-driven system that dominates the economies and nations of today.
Ted Rudow III,MA
Menlo Park

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