I Still Love My Fellow Democrats, But...

Well here we go... Year Number 3 of NWOW.

There's a lot going on besides the fact that Greta Van Susteren's fascination 2 weeks ago with the newly missing Laci Peterson rhyming Stacy Peterson has now evolved into a huge national story! I don't know if this would have caught as much attention from Day One unless her name was Simpson. Let's hope she just ran away and is alive and well somewhere. This reminds me of my Radio Days in the early 1990s when a local woman disappeared under mysterious circumstances. I bet my belching news director that the woman had met with some foul play, but amazingly enough she had just run off to take some time away from her family and returned some time later. About a week after her return, my eyeballs popped out of my head while on the air with onetime Blogging Superstar DangerSpouse when the winner of a live call in trivia contest was none other than the woman who had just disappeared! She must have been brushing up on her Moops edition of Trivial Pursuit.

The other big news this week is NY Governor Eliot Spitzer smartly did a 180 and decided against that silly idea to give illegal immigrants Drivers Licenses. And just in time too apparently, as Hillary Clinton's front runner status is causing her opponents to put a big fat bullseye on her back with her original support of Spitzer being the arrows. Obama is still hedging on what should be a non issue, but on the Wolf Blitzer CNN debate Hillary spoke out against it. (Speaking of the CNN debate - Suzanne Malveuax - va va voom!) I don't know what Spitzer was thinking.. the only driving the illegals should be doing is back to the border on a Greyhound bus with a one way ticket. My dad was an immigrant... a legal one... and he did an almost unheard of thing when he moved here.. He learned English! I used to do seminars for job hunters back in 2003 and one thing I discovered was that some people are discriminated in the workplace because they can't speak Spanish. Why is our work force catering to these people who steadfastly refuse to learn the language?? Incidentally I suggested doing exactly the opposite in my 12/18/05 column.. but that was just for one specific type of situation.

NY is also apparently strike headquarters as the Broadway stagehands and TV Writers continue to picket on. I am not too sympathetic to the crew people who want contracts stating that a minimum number of stagehands be hired for each show regardless of whether those stagehands are necessary for that particular production. And TV Writers want more shekels in a long term deal involving new media such as the internet. DVD profit sharing? I am all for that.. but how can you predict money making opportunities on web platforms over a long period of time. I watch some shows online... are they making any money on those 30 second spots when most of us usually just go to another tab to check email, or fantasy teams, etc. I just hope they get back to work soon.. Those rumors that Family Guy will continue without genius Seth McFarlane make my tummy hurt.

This week's column marks a historical first for NWOW. I had to scrap my original column and start from scratch at the last moment! I had already written a whole article about an upcoming report I was preparing at The Mortgage Podcast concerning a new bill being proposed by Congressman Barney Frank. The Mortgage Reform and Anti Predatory Lending Act of 2007 has some good ideas but one particularly troubling aspect of it was just removed on Wednesday. That part of the bill was basically going to mean the end of mortgage brokers as we know it since it would require that loans could only be offered if the closing costs are not financed into the loan. Yep that means you would have to bring cold hard cash to your closing to pay all the fees if you refinance a loan. Luckily, a lot of mortgage brokers are able to get clients lower closing costs since Banks pay us a fee called yield spread. However, for some reason the original version of the bill barred brokers from collecting Yield Spread too! Wisely enough, cooler heads prevailed and future changes to the current laws will allow us to charge lower closing costs by getting paid by the lender and you won't have to bring money to the closing to pay your fees!

However, I don't know if even Superman could solve this problem since the whole mortgage mess really needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. But as much as Frank might seem to think that mortgage brokers created this crisis, there is blame to spread among all parties. A lot of people buy houses that they can't afford when in reality they should have bought something smaller. I'm in the trenches every day and I see these credit reports, and frankly I have seen a number of cases where people bought homes with no money down, and they were late with their payments, yet had enough money to pay Best Buy for a big screen TV, or for a major landscaping project or some other frivolity when the money should have gone to a mortgage payment. And since a lot of these people bought houses with no money down.. no harm no foul.. they just walk away and lose nothing. You would think it would make sense to eliminate programs for people to buy a house with no money down.

I find it odd that mortgage brokers almost ended up out of work if Frank's bill had gone through unchanged. Let's say Gordon Ramsey the Kitchen Nightmares restarateur has a 4 star establishment that is rather pricey. A customer comes in, orders a nice dinner, and when the check comes, says he can't pay his check because he can't afford it. You would think that this customer should have gone to a less expensive restaurant that he could afford. Well lets say this situation becomes very commonplace. Assuming the prices are clearly disclosed on the menu, would Congressman Frank want to propose legislation that would create federal regulations for how the 4 star restaurant makes its money?

For awhile there, I almost thought I would have get out there and find a different job. And by the way prospective employers - Yo hablo espanol!


PUMPSTRADAMUS NFL PICK OF THE WEEK: Pumpy rolls on with his incredible hot streak with his Bird Flu pick from last week, improving to an improbable 9-1 and clinching a winning record. This week we go to Chicago where all the media has been camped out following the Peterson story. The Bears travel to Seattle where they are 6 point doggies to the Seahawks. Sayeth the Reading Challenged Pump: "Take the Bears... As the old song goes.. Bears Bears They're Good for Your Heart... The More You Eat...."

UNBIASED GIANTS FAN PICK OF THE WEEK; Last week we went 2-1 to get to 14-15-1. The run on mediocrity continues - there has never been a winless or undefeated week.

Giants 3 faves over DETROIT - Very gutsy to make the Giants a road fave against a team doing so well at home. Face it - The Giants are 2 behind Dallas with 7 to play and the Cowboys own the tiebreaker. It's a good week for the Giants to send a message to the other 6-3 wild card contender.

Washington 10 1/2 doggies over DALLAS - The Cowboys will drop the wild card contending Redskins down a notch. I think the Skins will cover.

Miami 10 faves over PHILADELPHIA - Just like the London game, the Dolphins will find a way to cover late.. although it would be cool if they got their first win at the Eagle's expense.


CLIP OF THE WEEK - After a week of being critical towards the Democrats, let's not forget how evil Republicans can be. Here is a song about that skank Anne Coulters repulsive anti semitic remarks. It's sung by a woman named Leah Kauffman. This song called "My Box in a Box" is a spoof of the SNL song parody Shmeckle in a Box. By the way, I saw a You Tube clip of Kauffman doing a light hearted chat with Keith Olbermann and she looked more uncomfortable than Drew Peterson when he chatted with Matt Lauer. Smile, lighten up... contact my Media Coaching Pal Jacquie Jordan! Obviously, a slick writer snuck the title past a Jewish News editor who didn't quite catch on what the crass song title meant.