THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Sub-Par Solution For Sub-Prime Loans: Part II: After a series of laughable articles profiling “victims” of the subprime loan “crisis” that served only to make the case not to bail out irresponsible borrowers and greedy bankers, The Washington Post now takes a different tack: Focusing on “mortgage survivors” who are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps by working with their mortgage lenders to change the terms of their adjustable rate home loans. It’s time-consuming, frustrating and difficult – the WaPo cites a statistic from The State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group that 70 percent of “seriously delinquent borrowers aren't in a workout process” - but it’s a lot easier than losing one’s home to foreclosure. One group homeowners in dire straits can contact: Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America. (Hope Now, a consortium of mortgage lenders, loan servicers and investors appears to be conflicted over whether its mission is to help distressed homeowners or mortgagees, and is not likely to provide meaningful help to borrowers until it gets its own house in order.)
† It’s A Topsy-Turvy Campaign: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wonders, “Why does [Barack] Obama, the one with the bumpy background and mixed racial heritage, the one raised by a single mother who was on food stamps, seem so forced when he mingles with the common folk?,” whereas “[v]oters … don’t seem to mind Hillary, with her $109 million bank account, selling herself as the champion of the little people” - especially considering that “as first lady, [she] was renowned for her … high-handed treatment of the little people in the travel office, on the switchboard and on the residence staff.” An added bonus: Dowd gives Bill Clinton points for not using the word “uppity” when referring to Obama.
† When Environmental Values Collide: Ever notice that environmentalists are always moving the goal posts in an effort to be perpetually holier-than-thou? No? Well, here's an example. Danny Westneat, a columnist for The Seattle Times thought he was “going green” when he wanted to replaced the family car – totaled in a non-fatal accident – with one that runs on vegetable oil. Turns out he was “committing a crime against humanity”:
It's all the eco-rage. The bumper stickers for biodiesel say "No war necessary." Pollute less, help cool the planet and marshal the renewable power of nature. …
But when we asked around about biodiesel, it didn't take long before the scolding started.
Biodiesel pollutes more than oil, said one e-mailer on a community site where my wife asked for advice. Another questioned our morality, saying it's wrong to use food for fuel when people are starving.
Then I heard there's a Seattle environmentalist who protests at local biodiesel stations. Above the green-painted pumps, he hangs this banner: BIOFUELS = CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
Now, I don't expect it to be easy being green. But this is ridiculous. What was hailed as our leading green alternative to petroleum is now an affront to humanity?
There’s only one solution: Westneat has to start taking the bus. But wait - that won’t work, either, because the bus system also uses biodiesel. Noting that “environmentalists may end up picketing the bus system” Westneat asks: “Is it any wonder I'm paralyzed about which car to buy?” Then the compact fluorescent light bulb goes off: “Hmm. Paralysis. Can't get any greener than that.”
Editorial Note: The Stiletto has long been of the opinion that using food crops for fuel is immoral, and we are now reaping the bitter harvest of this unintended consequence of yet another not-fully-thought-out scheme do-gooder environmentalists keep foisting on gullible lawmakers and consumers.
† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: The Wall Street Journal reports that “Across the country, college campuses have become hotbeds of support for Sen. Obama,” but observes: “after classes - and after the occasional Obama rally - most black and white students on college campuses go their separate ways, living in separate dormitories, joining separate fraternities and sororities and attending separate parties.” “The racial divisions among college students are striking,” according to The Journal, “both because of the fervor for Obama and the increasing diversity on campus.”
The paper cites Duke University - where “initiatives to address race relations on campus … gained added impetus … two years ago when white lacrosse players hired a black stripper to perform at a party [who] falsely accused several … of raping her” – as a case in point:
About 10% of Duke students are African-American, compared to 4.5% two decades ago; they include many popular athletes as well as student leaders. The newly elected head of the graduate and professional student association is an African-American woman.
Black and white students live together in the same group of dorms during freshman year, though they can join fraternities and sororities and select their roommates starting in sophomore year. …
But working or voting for an African-American running for president doesn't necessarily bridge differences -- on campus or, later, in the workplace. Following a recent discussion in one of his classes about the campaign, in which most students expressed support for Sen. Obama, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, a Duke sociologist, asked his white students how many had a black friend on campus. All the white students raised their hands.
He then asked the black students how many of them had a white friend on campus. None of them raised their hands.
One Duke senior interviewed by the paper, Jazmyn Singleton, complained, “There is pressure to be black. The black community can be harsh. People will say there are 600 blacks on campus but only two-thirds are 'black' because you can't count blacks who hang out with white people.”
Think about that for a minute: None of the black students in Bonilla-Silva’s class would cop to having a white friend, because their black friends would no longer consider them black. How are we supposed to negotiate a “reconciliation” between the races that will bring about the post-racial nirvana that Barack Obama is promising to deliver if both sides aren’t acting in good faith?
The Stiletto can only hope that Singleton isn’t really a singleton – that there many more young black Americans like her, whose hearts and minds haven’t been poisoned by separatists like Jeremiah Wright. Otherwise, our nation will never reach the Promised Land.
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