........... If you enjoy what you are reading, please help Texas Hill Country grow, expand and spread the word through blogging and various other projects! Thank you in advance!
I have decided to move my blog over to blogger for a variety of reasons. The archives will be moving over the next week, but all my new posts will be there.
Please change your links and visit often!
http://texashillblog.blogspot.com
Thanks!!!
Filed under: 1 | Tagged: moving | 3 Comments »
I have been reading many of the various proposals to solve the financial crisis that we are facing here in the United States and the rest of the globe because the securities that are tied to the values of the troubled US assets were sold all over the world.
The United States is in a period that should be ripe for an instant and tremendous boom in growth. Energy prices are incredibly low, index rates are ridiculously low… and yet nothing is moving and credit, the lubricant of the economy, is not being extended or is extended at a premium.
First, a bit of a conversation about why banks are having solvency issues and are therefore either not lending or are lending at a premium….
Filed under: Mortgage Bailout | Tagged: Asset, Bailout, Bank, banks, Clinton, Dodd, Foreclosure, Frank, Housing, interest rate, MBS, Mortgage, Obama, Rate, Security, Valuation | 2 Comments »
In the wake of the 2008 elections, it has become painfully obvious that the Republican Party needs to wipe the slate clean, do a total house cleaning and start over; rebuilding the party around their young superstars.
Where was the famous and much touted day of the election get out the vote power of the GOP?
Why isn’t the name of the Chairman of the GOP, Mike Duncan, a household name?
How did the Republican Party get out done in fundraising by the Democrats?
Where was the Republican presence on college campuses?
Why were the same people running things during the 2006 midterm election disaster still running things in 2008? In a party that is supposed to be the embodiment of merit based success, those that failed in 2006 should have been long gone. In any corporation, that board of directors would have been out….
Why can’t members of the black community name one black Republican… or even know there is an equivalent to the Congressional Black Caucus on the Republican side.
Once upon a time, it was cool to be a Republican. That time has passed.
With a Presidential Nominee and a Chairman of the Party, not to mention the continued idolization of Reagan, the Republican Party has now become my grandfather’s party.
So here is some advice…
Filed under: Domestic Politics, Republican | Tagged: african american, cantor, college republicans, cool, GOP, grandfather, jindall, old, palin, pawlenty, rebuild, Republican, rich, start over, white, young | 1 Comment »
I have been ruminating on this issue for the last couple of days. I knew it was coming, but I wanted to see just how it played out.
The attacks on Sarah Palin are horrendously sexist and wholly unfair.
Filed under: John McCain, Sarah Palin | Tagged: Attack, democrat, evangelical, Left, Media, palin, Party, Republican, Right, Vote | 4 Comments »
In the last 48 hours since Barack Obama was declared President-Elect, the dow has dived over 700pts and is nearing an 800+pt dive.
I am thrilled. Can’t you tell?
Lets all watch it dive together! YAY!!!
Not really the change I was hoping for….
Filed under: 1 | Tagged: dow, down, Obama, wall street | 5 Comments »
Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.
The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.
“I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” yelled one former campaign worker.
A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.
The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.
“There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they’re trying to get it organized,” said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.
The large gathering of around 375 people prompted police to call in extra officers and set up temporary barricades. The barricades helped keep the crowd from spilling out onto Meridian Street. Police say the several hundred people in line were for the most part orderly.
“No arrests. Some of the people were upset at first because the line wasn’t moving as fast as they thought it should. But we really haven’t had any problems,” said Major Darryl Pierce, Metro Police.
Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.
“Still that’s not right. I’m disappointed. I’m glad for the president, but I’m disappointed in this system,” said Diane Jefferson, temporary campaign worker.
“It should have been $480. It’s $230,” said Imani Sankofa.
“They gave us $10 an hour. So we added it. I added up all the hours so it was supposed to be at least $120. All I get is $90,” said Charles Martin.
“I worked nine hours a day for 4 days and got paid half of what I should have earned,” said Randall Waldon.
Some people weren’t satisfied with filling out a claim form for money they felt was still due to them.
“They say that they gonna call you or they going to mail it to you, but I don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” said Antron Grose.
“Talking about they’ll mail it to us. I ain’t worried about that, man. They’re not going to mail nothin’,” said Martin.
As my friend diggins says… “Can You Feel The Hopechangery Yet?”
Filed under: 1 | Tagged: angry, Campaign, Obama, unpaid, worker | 3 Comments »
“Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening. My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly.”
“A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him. To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love. In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving. This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.”
“I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.”
“A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt’s invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.”
“Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth. Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I applaud him for it, and offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day. Though our faith assures us she is at rest in the presence of her creator and so very proud of the good man she helped raise.”
“Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.”
“Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that. It’s natural, tonight, to feel some disappointment. But tomorrow, we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again. We fought – we fought as hard as we could. And though we feel short, the failure is mine, not yours.”
“I am so deeply grateful to all of you for the great honor of your support and for all you have done for me. I wish the outcome had been different, my friends. The road was a difficult one from the outset, but your support and friendship never wavered. I cannot adequately express how deeply indebted I am to you.”
“I’m especially grateful to my wife, Cindy, my children, my dear mother and all my family, and to the many old and dear friends who have stood by my side through the many ups and downs of this long campaign. I have always been a fortunate man, and never more so for the love and encouragement you have given me. You know, campaigns are often harder on a candidate’s family than on the candidate, and that’s been true in this campaign. All I can offer in compensation is my love and gratitude and the promise of more peaceful years ahead.”
“I am also, of course, very thankful to Governor Sarah Palin, one of the best campaigners I have ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength… her husband Todd and their five beautiful children… for their tireless dedication to our cause, and the courage and grace they showed in the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign. We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican Party and our country.”
“To all my campaign comrades, from Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter, to every last volunteer who fought so hard and valiantly, month after month, in what at times seemed to be the most challenged campaign in modern times, thank you so much. A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship.”
“I don’t know what more we could have done to try to win this election. I’ll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes, and I’m sure I made my share of them. But I won’t spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been.”
“This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life, and my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing before deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honor of leading us for the next four years.”
“I would not be an American worthy of the name should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.”
“Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama – I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.”
“Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much.”
Filed under: John McCain | Tagged: class, Concession, john, McCain, Pure, speech | 3 Comments »
