by Jim Rutenberg

Two liberal groups – one of them directed by a brother of the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean – will begin running a graphic attack advertisement Thursday morning raising questions about Senator John McCain’s health. Showing vivid and unflattering images of the fresh scar that appeared on Senator McCain’s face immediately after his last operation for melanoma skin cancer eight years ago, the commercial ends with a screen headline that reads, “Why won’t John McCain release his medical records?” (Mr. McCain, 72, did invite a limited group of reporters to inspect more than 1,100 pages of his medical records in May, though he gave them only a three-hour window in which to review the documents.)

The commercial is among the harshest to run against Mr. McCain yet, seeking to exploit the sensitive issues of health and age. Officials with the groups running the ad, Brave New PAC and Democracy for America, said they were only showing the spot initially on MSNBC over the next few days, a limited run intended to draw news media attention on a network that has increasingly catered to liberal tastes.

Officials at the groups, both of which are political action committees that rely on individual donors, said they hoped to show the spot on stations in battleground states in the coming weeks as well. But it is unclear if individual stations will accept the spot: Leighton Akio Woodhouse, a spokesman for Brave New PAC, said late Wednesday that CNN declined to accept the commercial after reviewing its contents this week.

The ad comes from the same two groups that recently released an advertisement questioning whether Mr. McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam adversely affected his ability to lead.

(Fair use snip, click to read the rest)

He very clearly pointed out, and I agree with him, that the root of this crisis is the mortgage industry.

But while the American Dream to some is being able to buy a home, I really have no desire to buy fractions of other people’s homes without getting any equity in them.

One of the big contributing factors, in my opinion, to this crisis is the practice of issuing adjustable-rate mortgages. They were disasters not just waiting, but eager to happen. (The “interest only” mortgages were sheer insanity, and in my opinion people on either side of those loans should seriously consider eliminating themselves from the gene pool, or at least the housing market, unless they had a darn good reason for doing it — and IMHO planning to sell the house very quickly is not a good reason.) People who want more house than they can afford with a fixed-rate mortgage were able to get what they wanted — for awhile. Lenders were able to make more loans, people were able to build and sell more houses, and all looked rosy, until it all turned red.

I’m not saying that ARMs can’t be an intelligent choice and save a person money. They can.

If a person bought a home at the national median home price in June of 2003 from Freddie Mac with the average 1-year ARM rate instead of getting a fixed-rate mortgage, when their ARM was adjusted in 2007 they would have had payments over $150 higher than what they started out with. They’d still be paying a bit less than what the fixed-rate mortgage-holder was, but this is where budgeting comes in. An intelligent person would budget for the fixed-rate payment and then pay the difference between the minimum and the fixed-rate payment to principal, and come out well ahead. But if the reason they chose an ARM was because they couldn’t afford that extra $150….

The people most unfairly affected by these idiotic lending/borrowing practices are those who unwittingly bought into these loans when the stupid/greedy lenders saw them for the disaster they were and unloaded them bundled with other securities. I’m not happy at all that my 401k’s rate of return has went sharply downhill, and I’d sure like to get that money back. But is the best way to get that money back to pay it back to myself?

If we’re going to spend our money or use our national charge card from Bank of China to fix this situation, I’d like to see incentives for lenders to refinance some of these loans into something more manageable (both in price and budgeting ability) so that people can not only keep their homes, but pay for them too. And if the people who have planned so poorly still cannot manage to pay for what they’ve bought, I’d like to see some reform to a foreclosure system that allows people to stay in foreclosed homes for months on end without paying a dime in rent or mortgage payments.

Any other ideas?

I believe that liberals and conservatives both can agree on many subjects. We may disagree about the best way to deal with certain problems, but we generally both agree that the problems exist.

I also think both liberals and conservatives agree that our country was founded on the right to peacefully protest, and the right to free speech. Now, the Boston Tea Party was not exactly an example I would like protesters to follow — I don’t think it is necessary to damage property in a protest. But at least if you’re going to damage property, damage the property that has at least some significance to your cause, not just random acts of vandalism. I support the right of every person to peacefully protest, even if I disagree with their message, because if I want that right I have to grant it to others. However, I do not support the “right” for people to harm others or randomly damage property as “free speech”.

So here is a compilation of videos, some from the Democratic National Convention, others from the Republican National Convention, as well as photographs and articles, showing protesters behaving badly. Please be aware that some of the language in these videos is not suitable for children.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I trained as a Legal Observer with the National Lawyer’s Guild. I firmly support freedom of speech, but objective video and audio of protests protects both good police officers and good protesters. Unfortunately, not all of either group are good.

So here is a compilation of videos showing protesters behaving badly. Please be aware that some of the language in these videos is not suitable for children.

Knocking signs over, dragging newspaper stands into the street

Reporter mentions water bottles being thrown, close to the Xcel center

Picking up wooden barricades to use them to block traffic

Narrator mentions seeing/hearing glass bottles thrown

Major vandalism, broken windows, newsstands and trashcans put in the street, a person’s expalnation of why they are doing it

A St. Paul resident cleaning up after the vandals and interviewed about the situation

Finally, one of the most egregious examples I’ve seen this year:

Police officer attacked!

I’m sure I will add more to this list as the convention continues, unfortunately.