Break out the ND flags and the tie-dyed t-shirts

What would happen if a brain-dead hippy from the "Ban The Bomb!" era got elected President?

PRAGUE – Just hours after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, President Barack Obama called for "a world without nuclear weapons" and said the United States has a “moral responsibility ” to lead the way, as the only nation ever to use them.

Obama’s speech was long planned as the centerpiece of his first presidential trip overseas, but it gained new urgency after North Korea sent a multi-part rocket soaring over the Sea of Japan early Sunday morning.

North Korea insisted the launch was meant to put a satellite into space but the U.S. and other nations believe Pyongyang is trying to develop the capability to launch a nuclear warhead.

The president, who was woken up just after 4:30 a.m. local time by news of the launch, spoke to the authoritarian state in remarks hastily added to his text.

Does Obama even watch or read the news? He didn't know the North Koreans have been planning to launch an ICBM and had to be woke up at 4:30 a.m. and add "remarks hastily" to his speech to make a comment about it? At least we know now what our Rookie President will do when confronted with an international crisis. Make a speech. Boy, that'll show 'em, won't it?

But don't miss the main point of the speech he had to hastily add remarks to about the North Korean ICBM: The U.S. is the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons, in Japan to end WWII, so therefore Obama extends his "Apologize to the World for the Mean Ol' US of A Tour" with this bit of ridiculous blather, "Ban the bomb, blah, blah, blah..." Wonder where wonder boy got the idea the U.S. did something wrong by saving the lives of millions of G.I.s who would have died in the invasion of Japan? Can't you just hear crazy ol' Uncle Jeremiah ranting and spitting?


Uncle Jimbo points out our Dear Leader also pulled out the stops and made a Youtube video to denounce North Korea's ICBM launch. Wow. He really knows how to roll out the heavy artillery with "soft diplomacy," don't he?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Anchoress updates on news you might have missed. Our wonderful Congress passed a national volunteer service act that prohibits worship services. Yep, that's what it says. She says "If this is correct, liberty is almost gone."

One of her commenters, AJ Strata, gives the nitty-gritty details of the dirty, rotten truth.

The Anchoress wished to know if there really were restrictions on personal religion in the bill - yes there are

`SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

“(a) Prohibited Activities.–A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:
…
“(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.
Actually, the entire list is pretty damn oppressive:

“(1) Attempting to influence legislation.
“(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.
“(3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing.
“(4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.
“(5) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office.
“(6) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials.

And there are more. Basically you have to give up all your constitutional rights.

And the Anchoress also adds this update on the Great Depression, brought to us by the friends of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Reps. Maxine Waters and Barney Frank & Co. and Sens. Barack Obama and Chris Dodd & Co.: Fannie and Freddie are giving out $210 Million in bonuses.

Will the last one out please turn off the lights? The party's over and it's time to go home.

The Two Congresspersons from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Hypocrisy, thy name is liberal Democrat Congresspersons. As in Barney Frank and Maxine Waters, the two members of Congress who had leading roles in creating and defending from all attempts at regulation the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac economic tsunami which has shredded our economy.

Frank and Waters tag-teamed as midwives to bring this "affordable housing" mess into being, bullying banks and lending institutions into offering mortgages to folks who were laughably unable to repay them. And guess what happened then? They couldn't repay their mortgages. Duh.

So far, Barney Frank is The Teflon Congressman who lies about his role in the mess and has the audacity of launching an investigation to determine the guilty culprits for the credit crisis.

But Maxine Waters has finally been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. No, not for her role in getting us into this mess, but for snagging $50 million of the bailout funds for the bank for which her husband has a quarter-million in stock and sits on the corporate board.

Michelle Malkin gives us a front-row seat at the Hypocrisy of Waters on display in Congress, when her big mouth even embarrassed Barney Frank, who I thought was unembarrassable:

At a flail-and-wail House hearing last month, California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters melted down in front of big banking CEOs. "Raise your hand! Raise your hand!" she shrieked as she harangued the executives on their business practices and management of federal bailout money. Sneering at the "captains of the universe," whom she refused to address by name ("You, Bank of America!"), Waters excoriated the corporate heads for their greed. "All of my political life," Waters bragged, "I have been in disagreement with the banking and mostly financial services community because of practices that I have believed to be not in the best interest always of the very people that they claim to serve."

As you'll soon see, however, the ethically conflicted Waters has her own special definition of what's in "the best interest" of the people she claims to serve. While she crusades against crony pseudo-capitalism, she is one of its most hypocritical beneficiaries and advocates. Cronyism comes in all colors. Waters has once again earned her title as one of the "Most Corrupt" members of Congress from the left-leaning (yes, left-leaning) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The bank CEOs sat meekly during Waters' verbal flogging. But as she frothed at the mouth, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank covered the microphone and briefly chastised her. To no avail. Waters' motor mouth kept on running.

...Fast-forward a month later. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the high-and-mighty Waters had a personal and financial stake in Boston-based OneUnited, a minority bank that received $12 million in TARP money under smelly circumstances. The banks' executives donated $12,500 to her congressional campaigns. Her husband, Sidney Williams, was an investor in one of the banks that merged into OneUnited. They've profited handsomely from their relationship with the bank:

"Congressional financial-disclosure forms show Ms. Waters acquired OneUnited stock worth between $250,000 and $500,000 in March 2004, as did Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams joined the board of OneUnited that year.

"Each sold shares in September 2004 -- including Ms. Waters' entire stake -- but Mr. Williams continued to hold varying amount of the company's stock. In the lawmaker's most recent financial-disclosure form, dated May 2008 and covering the prior year, Ms. Waters reported that her husband held between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of the bank's stock.

"Mr. Williams also received interest payments from a separate holding at the bank, also worth between $250,000 and $500,000. The 2008 form doesn't specify what that is. Mr. Williams stepped down from the bank's board last spring. It couldn't be learned whether he still owns stock in the bank. Mr. Williams didn't return calls seeking comment.

It's good to know there's at least one newspaper not in the left's hip pocket, the Wall Street Journal.

Breaking news bulletins...

Question. Is Obama so ignorant of recent American political history that he does not know what former President always said "Let me make this perfectly clear..." before telling a huge whopper? Or is this his tongue-in-cheek imitation of Nixon as he tells his latest whopper?

"Let me make this perfectly clear. I have had no contact with Rod Blagojevich ... or Jesse Jackson Jr."

This shocking news just in from our Washington bureau:

Evil Republicans in the U.S. Senate have conspired to hasten the end of the world as we now know it by defeating the Detroit bailout plan for the United Auto Workers, heroically passed earlier by Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats plus a few RINOs.

A spokesman for the UAW called the Senate vote "a victory for all courageous $78-per-hour blue-collar workers," noting the Union had courageously held its ground by refusing all concessions demanded by evil Republicans in the Senate.

In other news, this just in from our news bureau in Springfield, Illinois:

The Illinois Legislature has passed a major bill to put a positive spin on recent developments in state and national politics. A new state motto has been adopted with bipartisan support: "Some of our politicians haven't been indicted, yet!"

And this bulletin just received from the Chicago, Ill., Imaginary Office of the President-Elect:

President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama showed his concern for the growing political scandal in Illinois politics by taking a brief pause from his rehearsal practice for the inaugural oath. Lowering his right hand and removing his left hand from the Koran, Obama turned to the camera and said, sincerely with a sad and solemn voice:

"This is not the Governor Rod Blagojevich that I once knew." When reporters responded with a barrage of questions, Obama said his announcement was only a photo opportunity. But when questions persisted, he responded with one other brief statement: "This is not the Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. that I once knew either."

In other major news from Hollywood:

Famed film-maker Michael Moore has announced a blockbuster cast for his latest docudrama, coming to a screen near you just in time to bring a bit of holiday cheer to these troubled times. Congresspersons Barney Frank and Maxine Waters will play themselves as the co-inventors of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the lead roles in "When Freddie Met Fannie."

Ex-President Bill Clinton will co-star as the President who successfully kept America out of the War on Terror for eight years while leading the peacetime economic expansion of Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac and establishing the twin Clinton legacies of "Peace and Prosperity In Our Time."

Moviegoers will probably want to go out for popcorn and a stiff drink for a few minutes during the brief depiction of the eight years of soon-to-be Ex-President George W. Bush's administration, which begins with his launching of the War on Terror on 9/11 and ends with him forcing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into bankruptcy, bringing about the economic collapse leading to The Great Depression II.

But be sure to be back in your seats for the final minutes, when President-elect Barack Hussein Obama will make triple cameo appearances. First, he will play himself as the Illinois Senator receiving the "Friend of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Award."

And the film will end on a high note with President-Elect Obama in a second cameo appearance as Presidential-candidate Obama, doing a dramatic rendition of his "The Oceans Shall Recede!" speech, wearing the same robe Charlton Heston wore as Moses in "The Ten Commandments" and holding the staff of Moses in his outstretched arm.

The dramatic ending of the film is an amazing political prophecy by Moore. Obama will make his third cameo as President Barack Hussein Obama, still wearing the robe of Moses and carrying his staff, with which he will tap on both shoulders Al Gore, inventor of Global Warming, as he appoints him Czar of Receding Oceans.

We now return to your regular news programs by the mainstream-media Obama network.

Democrats got sweetheart mortgage rates from Countrywide

NBC News does an honest-to-God investigation of Democrats!? Wow, what a concept, journalism. The investigation is of Countrywide, a leading mortgage lender, who gave sweetheart home mortgage rates to big shots, all of whom have since claimed they had no idea they were getting a better deal than the average Joe. Really? Not true, NBC learned.

Amanda Carpenter at Townhall.com gives the highlights:

A former Countrywide executive who worked close with CEO Angelo Mozilo said the politicians who got under the table deals on their mortgages "absolutely" knew they were getting the discounts because of their influential political position.

Among those who received sweetheart deals were Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. Kent Conrad and former Fannie Mae CEO's James Johnson and Franklin Raines.

Before this scandal broke, Johnson was leading Barack Obama's vice presidential vetting team and Dodd was considered to be a VP contender.

The Congressman from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

I gotta say, Barney Frank has got more gall than a surgeon after a gall-bladder removal. The man who brought us the subprime mortgage crisis with his years of work for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, defending them in all attempts at regulation by Republicans and even President Clinton, now says "Vote for me! I'm working on the crisis." Please Barney, stop working immediately. Go home.

Here are some of Barney Frank's -- and his Democratic friends' -- attempts at "reform."

So, as the slick lawyer told the jury, "Who ya gonna believe, Barney Frank or your lying eyes and ears?"

Before the Meltdown: Fannie Mae CEO gives a "shoutout" to Obama

Video surfaces from 2005: The interim director of Fannie Mae (after Franklin Raines took off with his $90 million golden parachute) addresses the black caucus, whom he calls the "conscience" of Fannie Mae. Obama is given a special introduction. Hey, wait a minute. I thought Obama said he wasn't there that day. Time for some new spin.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac meltdown the economy. Brought to you by Obama and the Democrats.

Barney Frank promises to raise your taxes

Barney Frank, the Congressman who birthed and burped Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other assorted leftwing disasters, has got a plan to get us out of the mess he created: Raise taxes!

Keep the hits coming, Barney. With friends like you and Joe Biden, Obama don't need no enemies.

The Democrats Responsible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Yet another Fannie and Freddie, "The Democrats did it!" ad. Produced by A Better Where.

Sen. John McCain in Albuquerque, NM

More red meat from McCain on "Who is the real Barack Obama?" The real fight begins.

Obama "Abetted" Wall Street Corruption, Was Silent on Fannie/Freddie When McCain Tried to Defuse the Bomb

The gang that brought our economy to a grinding halt

The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gang that have brought our economy to a grinding halt.

By Right Change

McCain on Obama, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac

John McCain finally takes on Barack Obama, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Looks likes he's finally taken the gloves off and begun to ask, "Who really is Barack Obama?" Hope it's not too late.

Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the "Family" and "Conscience" of Fannie Mae

RightChange TV Ad on Freddie, Fannie and John McCain

What happened with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Who brought the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disaster down upon your heads? Guess. Hint. John McCain and President Bush tried to stop it. Barney Frank and his buddies wouldn't allow it.

Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.

So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

The Men Who Built The Bomb: Fannie & Freddie

Ace has compiled the "whodunit" list of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fame. Read it all.

The Men Who Built the Bomb: ... are all working as advisers to Obama now.

Penny Pritzker, "the Michael Milken of subprime mortgages," is Obama's Finance Chair.

Jim Johnson, disgraced former CEO of Fannie, was Obama's vice presidential search chairman, at least until he resigned under fire due to his role in providing subsidized sweetheart loans to Democratic Senators during his stint at CountryWide.

Franklin Raines, who participated in the accounting scandals to fix Fannie's books and deliver unwarranted bonuses to its top executives, is a top Obama adviser.

Corrupt "Community Organizer" organization ACORN, an institutional ally of Barack Obama, lobbied Freddie and Fannie to extend even more risky loans to credit-poor borrowers in the interest of ending "racial redlining." But they didn't end "racial redlining." What they ended was any credit-checking at all, as subprime mortgage providers simply stopped verifying self-reported claims of income and in fact ended even the most basic prudential element of a mortgage -- the down payment.

"Fannie Mae is proud to work with ACORN Housing, " said Thomas Collins, Director, Single Family Business, and Fannie Mae. By working with ACORN and lenders like Citibank, we can support their efforts to expand homeownership opportunities for underserved communities at affordable price points achieve sustainable homeownership."

In this same speech, Collins referred to, Obama, and other members of the Black Congressional Caucus which had worked so diligently to craft the time bomb that would ultimately destroy two key segments of the American economy (both housing/home construction and the financial sectors), members of "the family."

Obama Economics Adviser Austan Goolsbee continued defending and lobbying on behalf of the mortgage industry's no-money-down-no-credit-check policies at least until September of 2007.

Another Fannie Mae ex-CEO in Obama's camp

Another Obama buddy, former CEO of Fannie Mae Franklin Raines, who took the money and run before the brown stuff hit the fan. The hits keep on coming.