Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout

Yep, the free market system at work. I loved the quote I saw on CNN today..."Freddie and Fannie, too key to fail." Why? I thought it was about keeping gov't out of things. Guess not....

So why aren't all the Conservatives screaming out about bailouts, free market system, etc.?
Why isn't Bush going to veto it? Politics. Politics trumps the free market system every time. Politics trumps everything every time.

The Dark Knight

It's a hoot. Ledger has not been oversold; he's amazing.

Re: LJ's Economics

LJ is dead right about the fact that those wages would rise and thus Americans would do those jobs without the wages being driven down by those who will work for less. I don’t feel any dissonance though about wanting to restrict illegal immigration and being a free-marketeer. The free market is also a market that depends on the rule of law. Not related to the economics of the issue but for me the issue is not about numbers but assimilation.

One thing to keep in mind is that those like me are conservatives first and that the Republican Party is just the lesser of two evils when it comes to picking a party. I abhorred the whole Schiavo deal, both the “husband’s” and Republican’s behaviors. Her folks had every right to contest but the congress had no business meddling.

Real conservatives loathe judicial activism no matter the issue. It is the job of the legislature to make laws, not judges appointed for life.

As for company bailouts (and subsidies of any kind), real conservatives loathe those, too.

Mammoth Springs

Elk Dot

My sister coined the term Grizzly Dot for those bears that are so far away they appear nothing more than dots to the naked eye. This is my Elk Dot. If you click on the image you can verify that it actually is an elk.

A Yellowstone Bison

I'm pretty sure the Park Rangers had him tethered so close to the road.

Tetons

Quake Lake

This is Quake Lake, created in 1959 or thereabouts, by an earthquake. In Montana in the SW corner:


On the lake above Quake Lake one finds Scooter's future:

A week in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

Call me Troutslayer. Ok, maybe I'm just Troutbotherer but my brother and brother-in-law are both slayers.

The view from my bro-in-law's cabin:



Update: I should point out that we were all catch and release.

The Seduction of Water

Yuck. This was a book club pick. It illustrates how hard it must be to write a good novel. Goodman seems to have what you would think you'd need: a cast of characters that aren't 2-dimensional (though maybe not quite 3D), a well-described setting or two, a complicated plot spanning decades, personal/family mystery, geopolitical intrigue and artsy literary technique (using fairy tales as metaphor). She puts a sentence together adequately, though not artfully. And yet it adds up to zilch, blech, ugh.