Beating My Head Against the Wall of Stupid...

Clients are bad for my health. I think my blood pressure skyrocketed beyond the range of "normal" today.....

1) Client asks why I can't make the rectangular image she sent me fit proportionally into the square space....

2) Client: When will my update be finished?
     Me: My hope is to have it done today. I will let you know when we've finished the programming.
     Client: Ok, thanks.
     Me: The programming has been completed, please review at your convenience.
     Client: What am I looking at?

3) Client receives scam email. Forwards it to a lawyer and asks what he should do. Lawyer says while it's important to protect your trademarks, this is a scam, ignore it, blah, blah, etc, etc. Client then forwards email to me, with a very panicked message about not knowing what should be done and asking what action should be taken. I reiterate that it is a scam and should be deleted and forgotten. Client says "Okie dokie, that was easy peasy". SOMEONE NEEDS THEIR MEDS INCREASED.

@$^%*@$&!!!

I have no patience. I am so sick and tired of receiving forwards. And its not just the "cutesy" ones that force me to hold down that veggie burger I had for lunch. I'll even admit to chuckling at a few of the funny ones I've received over the years. But its the stupid ones that really get me. The ones that spread lies and b.s. - as if our world isn't filled with enough - these morons have nothing better to do than to regurgitate the mindless drivel they've just swallowed...


There are a TON of resources available to you. Do your homework. I realize that doing actual "work" requires effort - unlike sitting back and being spoon fed idiocy via the internet, your inbox and your television...But I promise that a little thought won't hurt you - but stupidity KILLS...

Today's assault came in the form of an email attributing some long winded America should be thankful speech to David Letterman. A quick Google search found me at one of my favorite websites, Snopes. Specifically: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hitnail.asp

Now, yes, I think we in America, should be thankful for what we do have - we have a lot. But that shouldn't mean complacency. It should mean that we continue to strive for improvement. We need to improve our impact upon the environment improve our contributions to the world, improve ourselves....AND STOP BEING SO IGNORANT...

...sigh....

Response to stupid YouTube video...Part 1 - The CRA

Let me preface this by saying that I am neither a Democrat or Republican. I don't identify with any party (hell, I don't identify with most of humanity) - I simply contribute to the political game by casting my votes for the person I think is going to do the least amount of damage....

However, I'm getting tired of people slamming Obama to me. (He's the one out of these two that I think will do less harm). Unless you have evidence that he killed puppies or babies or is some kind of psycho you're not going to change my mind and make me support McInsane. I don't normally go into politics with anyone because I see little point. However, STOP TRYING TO FORCE YOUR POLITICS UPON ME. Its not going to work - if you know me, you know that I'm terribly stubborn and have little tolerance for coercion - well, at least politically speaking ;-)

That said, I was directed to a YouTube video that I believe was intended to "open my eyes" to see the reality of the subprime mortgage problem - Obama. Yes, this video implies that the Democrats and Obama are to blame for the housing crisis.

I must admit I have been rather remiss these past couple of years - more focused upon this little world in which I dwell and all of the strange and wonderful goings on that have been occurring. I'll admit to needing to do more reading and some research but I do want to respond to this.

The video first looks at the CRA - Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. From what I have gathered in my cursory searching, the CRA was an attempt to give those of lower socio-economic standing a chance to become a homeowner. It appears that it is a government program that requires banks to lend in the lower income neighborhoods where they take deposits.

The first thing that sprang to mind when seeing the date of the CRA is that if the CRA was such a crappy program that could have caused such wide-spread damage (instituted by the crazy left) why has no one done anything about it since? I mean since 1981 (after Carters term) we have had THREE republican presidents and ONE democrat and a republican Congress for about 16 of those years?? So really, I'm sorry, all this time spent under a republican regime and they haven't done a damn thing to change it? Sorry, that just doesn't fly with me...

According to research done by Traiger and Hinckley the CRA loans were MORE responsible loans overall due to the scrutiny they underwent and more than 50% of SUBPRIME loans were made by OTHER lending institutions that were NOT subject to the CRA. And it looks like quite a bit of the good done by the CRA took place in the 90's with increased lending in lower income neighborhoods, increased homeownership, rising property values, etc.

According to Robert Gordon "the lenders subject to CRA have engaged in less, not more, of the most dangerous lending. Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, offers the killer statistic: Independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts."

And University of Michigan Law Professor Michael Barr, a specialist in banking and finance law, flatly rejected claims that the CRA was "a significant factor in the current crisis. CRA was enacted more than 30 years ago. It would be quite odd if this 30-year old law suddenly caused an explosion in bad subprime loans from 2002-2007."

This is to be continued soon. This was only one point the video made.

My sources, in no particular order (may or may not be listed above too):

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=did_liberals_cause_the_subprime_crisis

http://www.newamerica.net/blog/asset-building/2008/its-still-not-cra-7222


http://www.crahandbook.com/preface.htm

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/09/the-cra-and-the.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act

http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/09/community_reinv.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_blogspotting


http://www.traigerlaw.com/publications/traiger_hinckley_llp_cra_foreclosure_study_1-7-08.pdf

http://iowadefense.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/burning-down-the-housewhat-caused-our-economic-crisis/

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/radio010706.htm

Grrrr....