And so it begins

[unixronin]

I just heard it reported on NPR that Al-Qaeda has already begun vilifying Barack Obama.  AlQ's second-in-command apparently released a recording calling Obama "a traitor to the blacks and Muslims of the world", and "a house slave", among other epithets.

This is probably not an auspicious start to his foreign-policy career.  But at least maybe it'll silence the wingnuts who say he's secretly in league with the jihadists.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Did anybody expect anything any different? I can't think of any leader of the US al-Qaeda wouldn't vilify.

It'll be interesting to see how the wingnuts spin this. Because they're gonna continue to believe whatever they want to believe. (Not that the moonbats are any better in this regard.)

[mazianni.livejournal.com]

Clearly Al-Qaeda is bashing Obama in order to create the perception that he is *not* an Al-Qaeda operative. Very clever. Almost...too clever...

And so I clearly cannot drink from the cup in front of you

[http://users.livejournal.com/crossfire_/]

That's exactly what they want you to think....

Re: And so I clearly cannot drink from the cup in front of you

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

or, is it?

I suspect...

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

that the real idiots will claim that he put the jihadists up to issuing derogatory press releases so as to lull the American public into complacency. Sigh.

Exactly...

[mrakg.livejournal.com]

The wingnuts* in question will either claim it's a deep cover operation, or that he paid them to do it.


* Pity such a nice, attractive, friendly and useful piece of hardware got saddled with such connotations. Then again, there's a canned pork product that can sympathize.

Re: Exactly...

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I think the appellation is because they spin.

Honeymoon is over...

[msa.livejournal.com]

Personal aside: It's treating me okay so far. Put in an offer on a house (short sale) this week, which is going to be interesting, because of course their lender is incompetent.

Back on topic...the honeymoon does seem to be over:

-snip-
“President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts,” Kevin Freking writes for the AP.
-snip-

There are quite a few more articles along those lines, but it definitely seems like the messiah has now left the media wanting.

Should be an interesting few years.

Re: Honeymoon is over...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

That's always the problem with promising too much — or, more to the point in this case, making too many vague promises of miracles and letting your followers fill in the blanks with what they want to hear. The Obama Nation is about to start discovering that its Messiah puts his pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.

On the personal note, it's a good time to buy a house in that regard ... lots and lots of foreclosures on the market. Sucks to be the people who got foreclosed upon, though it's a little hard to be too sorry for the ones where even a crack-smoking monkey could tell there was no way on earth they could possibly afford the house. (I understand Wells Fargo made a $720,000 house loan somewhere in Southern Cal to a Mexican gardener who spoke no English and only made $14,000 a year.)

Re: Honeymoon is over...

[msa.livejournal.com]

Well, this loan is in that category. They put $6,000 down, and paid $293,000 for this house, in 2006.

The downturn in the market, particularly the Phoenix market, where 65% of sales were to speculators, has been pretty hard on its value. A fair estimate of this homes value is approximately $160,000. They are far, far underwater.

So I did some digging at the county recorder's office. Here are their current loan terms:

Over 7% starting interest, on a 5/1 ARM. The interest rate is capped at a maximum 13.125% when it first resets, in 2011. After that, it can be raised 2.5% annually (yes, 2.5%, not 0.25% as would be typical.)

It gets better...there's also a 10 year interest only rider.

Running this through the interest only 5/1 ARM calculator, I get a total repayment amount of almost exactly one million dollars. On a property worth 15% of that total.

Given that it's interest only, they have no equity they are walking away from, and if we can complete this short sale, I am helping them avoid outright foreclosure.

As it stands, I can't feel too guilty, because this loan is clearly sub-sub-prime, and the terms are basically usurious. They honestly NEED to default on this loan. They never should have signed it, but at this point, getting out of it is their best option.

The calculator also tells me their starting (interest only) payments are around $1700/mo. Having looked at several very similar houses in the same neighborhood, many of which are currently being rented out for approximately $1200-$1300, they are quite honestly better off renting, especially since they have no equity and will establish none like this.

Re: Honeymoon is over...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in that situation they don't even gain from the mortgage interest deduction, because what they save in taxes on it is no more than they'd save by renting instead of buying.