Republican David Brooks on GOP Response: “Insane”

Two Photos on Why America is Great

From the Washington Post’s coverage.

Nikki Khan / Washington Post

Linda Davidson / Washington Post

Chucky Todd: Prolonged Obama Honeymoon; Bush Down

Some pretty interesting numbers. In particular:

• The majority believes that Obama is coming in with more challenges than any president in recent history.

• Nearly half the country thinks that George Bush is one of the worst presidents in recent memory.

• Americans (being the good people they are) acknowledge the difficult times ahead and are willing to take one for the team.

WAY COOL

Good stuff:

When the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black force of elite pilots, emerged from combat in World War II, they faced as much discrimination as they had before the war… Now, the roughly 330 pilots and members of the ground crew who are left from about 16,000 who served are receiving another honor that has surpassed their dreams: They are being invited to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama as the country’s first black president.

Tuskegee Airmen / US Army Signal Corp

The Picture Many Have Been Waiting to See

Photo: Isaac Brekken

Service Dogs Helping War Veterans

Alan Poizner / New York Times

For those of you whose heart melts when hearing about great dog stories, Karen Jones of the New York Times has a cool piece about service dogs who help tragically wounded Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Toles on Economic Trickle Down: “Now you get it…”

Mortgage Mess: 2 Interesting Quotes from the Past

The Cunning Realist found these to interesting quotes from four years back regarding mortgage issues:

“I signed into law the American Dream Downpayment initiative, which authorizes $200 million a year to assist an estimated 40,000 low-income families with downpayment funds. In this year’s budget, I proposed the Zero Downpayment initiative, which would eliminate the statutory requirement of a minimum 3% downpayment for Federal Housing Administration-insured single-family mortgages for first-time homebuyers.”

George Bush 9/20/04

“The Zero Downpayment Act, as its names suggests, creates a federal program that allows some homebuyers to obtain federally-insured mortgages without making a down payment. “Federally-insured” really means taxpayer-insured, as taxpayers like you foot the bill for defaults…Between the Federal Housing Administration, which is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world, and the government-created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac corporations, the mortgage market is hopelessly distorted. Millions of mortgages in this country are federally insured, and the tax bill for defaults could be astronomical if the housing bubble bursts.”

Ron Paul 6/21/04

Gentleman. Humanist. Actor.

Rest in Peace, Paul Newman

1925-2008