I found some great photos of the sun at The Boston Globe.  Catch a few of the great pictures courtesy of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory SOHO (ESA & NASA).

This illustration shows a CME blasting off the Sun’s surface in the direction of Earth

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This past weekend we were able to have a little jaunt to the pumpkin patch with our bff’s the Sanders fam! Our little babies were able to pick out their first pumpkins together and we all had a really fun time hanging out on a beautiful fall day that was actually cold (by cold I mean 70 degrees). So here are some great pics of our weekend at the pumpkin patch.

With the Sanders fam at the pumpkin patch

Our babies at the patch

Wilkinson fam at the patch

What a good looking family!!

Pensive at the patch...(wishing it was nap time)

Two gens of BFF's

Daddy and son

Baby's first pumpkin

So cute on a hay bale!

What.

Cute drooly baby!

Mommy with her baby

Daddy with Ethan in the pumpkin patch wheelbarrow

You’d think we were there a year with all the pictures I posted. It’s a pumpkin patch extravaganza folks!! Too many cute pics to edit!! Hope you enjoyed…

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Karl Marx, on page 243 of his infamous book The Communist Manifesto, states that the “proletariat will use its supremacy to wrest, by degrees, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State.” He then states that “the following will be pretty generally applicable:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
3. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
4. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
5. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.”

Marx’s predictions have not come to pass; there is no proletariat trying to wrest capital from the bourgeoisie. What we have are crony capitalists and politicians consolidating power, and implementing with great gusto the wishes of Mr. Marx. When Luigi Zingales stated his opposition to the Paulson Plan he asked some pertinent questions: “Do we want to live in a system where profits are private, but losses are socialized? Where taxpayer money is used to prop up failed firms? Or do we want to live in a system where people are held responsible for their decisions, where imprudent behavior is penalized and prudent behavior rewarded?” He then finished with quite a zinger: “The time has come to save capitalism from the capitalists.” Amen Mr. Zingales.

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Here is an excerpt from an article from 1999 about Fannie Mae and it distinctly shows how we ended up in the mess we are currently in. For some reason, people seem to be blaming republicans for everything and I’m not sure why. There is enough blame to spread around for sure, but this article highlights the main reason the housing and credit markets are such a mess.

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates — anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

”Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990’s by reducing down payment requirements,” said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae’s chairman and chief executive officer. ”Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.”

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.

”From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”

here is the whole article if you’re interested…

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

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Last weekend our baby boy was dedicated to Jesus! He was dedicated at the University Church here in Loma Linda. Our family and friends joined us in this special day and we were so happy to have everyone over for lunch afterwards. We had a really nice afternoon…my Auntie Jean made a really yummy fluffy lemon ice cream pie that we all really enjoyed! It was such a nice weekend and Dale and I were so proud to be able to dedicate our son to Jesus with so many of our family and friends there to witness it.

Wilkinson family portrait on dedication day

Grandma and Grandpa and Ethan

Ethan and Great-Grandma Carr

Ethan's really excited to have his friend over!

Joyce, Laura and Melissa (who's back from Okinawa for a while!)

With the Grandmas! My Great-auntie Jean, Grandma Haynes and Grandma Carr

bff's with baby bff's

So after Ethan’s dedication, my parents stayed over for the weekend and we had a really nice time with them, especially Ethan! It was so nice because they played with him for an hour or two in the afternoon on Sunday which gave me a chance to take a nap! Trust me, that’s like gold! Then they watched him for a couple of hours while Dale and I went to our friend Jenn Verhelle’s wedding in Beaumont. We had a really nice time as we were able to spend some time with our friends Haley and Tyler! We didn’t get to stay to the end of the wedding as we wanted to get home to our baby, but it was nice to get out and about and have a little bit of grown-up time!

Dale and Laura at the wedding

Haley and Laura at the wedding

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So, on Dale’s actual 30th birthday, we had another party with some close friends and family at Dale’s favorite restaurant Ravi’s. We had some yummy Indian food and hung out…here are some pictures from Dale’s official first day as a 30 year old!!

At Ravi's

Carrigan, Jacob and Michael

Tim, Caiden and Dave

Ryan, July, Carrigan and Emylee

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Here are some pics from a few weeks ago!! These are pictures of Ethan’s biggest blow-out of all time!! I challenge anyone to have seen a bigger blow-out!! He used to have blow-outs at least once a day, sometimes two or three times a day. Luckily now he only goes like every other day, and never has a blow-out…so I guess it was just a phase. They say BF babies can all of a sudden stop going as often and can go without going for up to 14 days!! So I’m happy that Ethan has moved past the daily blow-out stage! I’m sorry, b/c these pictures are kind of gross, but I have to share them as they are too awe-inspiring to keep to myself!! Just be warned…

I feel much better now!!

Wow. That's all I have to say...and you can't even see the half of it in this photo!

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When the government proposes to fix our economic woes by intervening in credit markets, A little perspective on what is not seen is in order from Frederic Bastiat, who wrote the the essay What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen over 150 yeas ago. A few choice paragraphs follow:

However, the credit organizations would have to do just this in order for the end of the social reformers to be attained, since these gentlemen aspire to nothing less than to give plows, houses, tools, provisions, and raw materials to everyone who wants them.

And how do they imagine they will do this?

By giving to loans the guarantee of the state.

Let us go more deeply into the matter, for there is something here that is seen and something that is not seen. Let us try to see both.

Suppose that there is only one plow in the world and that two farmers want it.

Peter is the owner of the only plow available in France. John and James wish to borrow it. John, with his honesty, his property, and his good name, offers guarantees. One believes in him; he has credit. James does not inspire confidence or at any rate seems less reliable. Naturally, Peter lends his plow to John.

But now, under socialist inspiration, the state intervenes and says to Peter: “Lend your plow to James. We will guarantee you reimbursement, and this guarantee is worth more than John’s, for he is the only one responsible for himself, and we, though it is true we have nothing, dispose of the wealth of all the taxpayers; if necessary, we will pay back the principal and the interest with their money.”

So Peter lends his plow to James; this is what is seen.

And the socialists congratulate themselves, saying, “See how our plan has succeeded. Thanks to the intervention of the state, poor James has a plow. He no longer has to spade by hand; he is on the way to making his fortune. It is a benefit for him and a profit for the nation as a whole.”

Oh no, gentlemen, it is not a profit for the nation, for here is what is not seen.

It is not seen that the plow goes to James because it did not go to John.

It is not seen that if James pushes a plow instead of spading, John will be reduced to spading instead of plowing.

Consequently, what one would like to think of as an additional loan is only the reallocation of a loan.

Furthermore, it is not seen that this reallocation involves two profound injustices: injustice to John, who, after having merited and won credit by his honesty and his energy, sees himself deprived; injustice to the taxpayers, obligated to pay a debt that does not concern them.

(Bold type added for emphasis)

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In light of the looming socialism our country faces as a result of politicians ‘fixing’ our financial crisis, I thought I would post one of my favorite poems:

One From One Leaves Two
	- By Ogden Nash

Higgledy piggledy, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Gentlemen come every day
To count what my black hen doth lay.
If perchance she lays too many,
They fine my hen a pretty penny;
If perchance she fails to lay,
The gentlemen a bonus pay.

Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow,
She's cooperating now.
At first she didn't understand
That milk production must be planned;
She didn't understand at first
She either had to plan or burst,
But now the government reports
She's giving pints instead of quarts.

Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors,
They are giggling at their labors.
First they plant the tiny seed,
Then they water, then they weed,
Then they hoe and prune and lop,
Then they raise a record crop,
Then they laugh their sides asunder,
And plow the whole caboodle under.

Abracadabra, thus we learn
The more you create, the less you earn.
The less you earn, the more you're given,
The less you lead, the more you're driven,
The more destroyed, the more they feed,
The more you pay, the more they need,
The more you earn, the less you keep,
And now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If the tax-collector hasn't got it before I wake.

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