The company he keeps

O'S DANGEROUS PALS

WHAT exactly does a "community organizer" do? Barack Obama's rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here's a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high-risk loans to customers with poor credit.

In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes - and thereby force financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers.

In other words, community organizers help to undermine the US economy by pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans. And Obama has spent years training and funding the organizers who do it.

THE seeds of today's financial meltdown lie in the Commu nity Reinvestment Act - a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and regulatory rulings in later decades.

CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in "subprime" loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority customers.

Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has complied with CRA - and approval can be held up by complaints filed by groups like ACORN.

In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America's financial institutions.

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Again -- clearly, deregulation and the Bush tax cuts led us into this mess.

Not credit extended to unqualified deadbeats under pressure from radical "community organizers" -- whatever the hell THAT means.

Why hasn't the McCain campaign smacked the flaccid friend of unrepentant domestic terrorists with his ACORN associations and the huge amount of money he's taken from Fannie/Freddie flacks?

We suppose it's for the same reason it hasn't tied Obama to the unrepentant domestic terrorists he keeps company with.

Whatever the hell that reason is.

Who's responsible for Fannie/Freddie's failure?

Ahhhhh!

So it was deregulation and the Bush tax cuts that caused the current crisis, at least according to the flaccid friend of unrepentant domestic terrorists!

Certainly, the attempt to enable DEADBEATS to buy homes they could not afford had no hand in this debacle.

Were there truly an independent media, this video would be headline news.

Expect Franklin Raines to be named Secretary of the Treasury in 2009.

This failed "bailout" bill would have put our "economic security" in his incompetent hands.

Thank you House Republicans for resisting today's attempt to nationalize a huge portion of the American economy.

Too little, too late we fear.

Kissinger refutes Obama claim

Kissinger Unhappy About Obama

Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: "Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality."

Insert obnoxious sneer here.

Yes, investing in education ...

... will earn us respect!

Take that, Hamas!

His father came from Kenya ...

No other country on Earth?

His father was a Marxist!

Obama's laughing when McCain talks ...

... further proof he's an arrogant jerk.

All our resources have gone to Iraq?

What does he call those guys and materiel in Afghanistan?

The last ten years?

Clinton was president 10 years ago.

We're actually getting ...

... a great deal of cooperation from other countries in combatting terrorism, regardless of whether they like us or not.

Wait, he believes ...

... in missile defense all of a sudden?

Why does McCain keep conceding ...

... that we torture detainees?

A K, a G and a B!

Great line!

Cold War posture ...

No one's calling for a grain embargo ...

We need a missile defense question ...

... here ...

We have to evaluate our Russian approach ...

Well, of course.

Actually, the Norks were developing ...

... nukes under Madeline Albright's failed agreement.

We haven't talked to North Korea?

Wha?

So Iran's nuke program started when ...

... we went into Iraq?

Huh?

Not sure why ...

... McCain let Obama get away with the "Iraq was a mistake" canard.

It wasn't.

Obviously the post-regime change strategy was.

al Qaeda is more powerful?

What the hell is he talking about?

And why doesn't McCain nail him on it?

We are already redploying troops ...

... from Iraq to Afghanistan.

And conducting raids into Pakistan.

Bin laden is not in Afghanistan ...

... al Qaeda was in Iraq.

Rush to go into Iraq?

That was a pretty long rush.

He's proud ...

... of Joe Biden?!

How was it politically risky ...

... for a State Senator in Illinois to oppose Iraq?

al Qaeda is resurgent? WHAT?

Enormous deficits?

As a percentage of GDP they are hardly enormous.

Probably the best recipe?

No, the best recipe.

Tax cuts = spending?

All you need to know about Obama.

On climate change ...

... McCain reminds us why we are reluctantly championing his campaign.

We will end that war ...

... honorably, no thanks to Senator Obama.

Yeah ...

... coz Head Start has been so effective.

Yeah, you're a disciple of Saul Alinsky ...

... but you're not wildly liberal!

Good job ...

... on ethanol subsidies.

How can we compete in education ...

when you're in thrall to the NEA?

So, he supports drilling?

Guess not.

Yes, Barry, lower corporate taxes ...

... would include oil companies.

I've got news for ya ...

... You ain't getting a tax cut from Obama unless you currently pay no income tax.

Which is effectively a handout.

This Wall Street/Main Street thing ...

... has got to go.

Does Obama know ...

... there is no line item veto?

Obama interrupts ...

Classy as always!

Obama doesn't want corporate taxes cut ...

Thinks economies grow from the bottom up.

Yikes ...

... McCain not debunking Obama's bunk about the last eight years being the cause of this crisis.

Marine sues Murtha for slander

Exonerated Marine to sue Rep. Murtha

One of the Marines cleared in the killings of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha plans to sue his congressman today for statements he says defamed him and other members of his squad.

Former Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 24, of Canonsburg, will file a civil lawsuit against U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, who was widely quoted two years ago saying that eight Marines carried out a cold-blooded killing of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town on Nov. 19, 2005.

Charges were later dropped against all but one of the Marines, with a military prosecutor calling allegations against Mr. Sharratt "incredible."

Noah Geary, a Washington County lawyer representing Mr. Sharratt, said his client will file suit today in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh accusing Mr. Murtha of violating his constitutional rights as well as slander for statements about the Haditha incident. A 1:30 p.m. news conference has been planned to announce the suit.

"He just held innumerable press conferences, just repeatedly kept saying this was cold-blooded murder," Mr. Geary said of the congressman.

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Too bad Murtha can't be sued for providing aid and comfort to the enemy, but this is almost as good.

His inexcusable behavior in this matter went way beyond the pale and he needs to be made to pay -- if only financially -- for attempting to convict our best and bravest men without a trial.

This guy makes Dick Durbin look like Nathan Hale!

It is still possible to make him pay politically.

Veteran (including Operation Iraqi Freedom) Bill Russell is challenging Murtha for his Pennsylvania 12th Congressional District House seat.

We encourage you to pledge whatever you can to Russell's campaign.

The moment Murtha is removed from public life we will all be just a little bit safer.

Another benchmark attained

Iraqi provincial elections law clears its first hurdle

By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament, after months of being deadlocked, approved key legislation Wednesday that sets up the first provincial elections in four years and will broaden participation in Iraq's government.

The United States has been pushing for the law as one of 18 "benchmarks" to measure progress in legitimizing Iraq's new government and as a step toward national reconciliation.

The measure calls for the elections to be held by Jan. 31, before the current four-year terms of the provincial councils expire in February 2009.

The legislation still needs to be approved by a three-person presidential council before it becomes law.

Large numbers of Sunnis boycotted the last provincial elections and have a limited voice in the Shiite-dominated government. Since then, many Sunnis have put down their arms and given support to U.S. and Iraqi forces, but are frustrated by a lack of a strong voice in government.

The elections to choose councils in 14 provinces will likely shift the political balance in Iraq and have the potential to lessen simmering mistrust between the Sunnis and Shiites.

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The Surge continues to bear fruit.

Thanks, MoveOn kids!

We couldn't have done it without you!

Bush, McCain Foresaw Freddie Mae/Mac Woes

September 11, 2003

New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.

...

The administration's proposal, which was endorsed in large part today by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would not repeal the significant government subsidies granted to the two companies. And it does not alter the implicit guarantee that Washington will bail the companies out if they run into financial difficulty; that perception enables them to issue debt at significantly lower rates than their competitors. Nor would it remove the companies' exemptions from taxes and antifraud provisions of federal securities laws.

The proposal is the opening act in one of the biggest and most significant lobbying battles of the Congressional session.

...

Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.
[The Ponderosa: Emphasis ours]




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FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005

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Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]: Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.


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The Real Culprits In This Meltdown

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Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.

But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.

Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.

The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Reinvestment Act*, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but "predatory."

Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the '90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.

And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades have come to manage the real estate market in America.

As soon as Clinton crony Franklin Delano Raines took the helm in 1999 at Fannie Mae, for example, he used it as his personal piggy bank, looting it for a total of almost $100 million in compensation by the time he left in early 2005 under an ethical cloud.

Other Clinton cronies, including Janet Reno aide Jamie Gorelick, padded their pockets to the tune of another $75 million.

Raines was accused of overstating earnings and shifting losses so he and other senior executives could earn big bonuses.

In the end, Fannie had to pay a record $400 million civil fine for SEC and other violations, while also agreeing as part of a settlement to make changes in its accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.

But it was too little, too late. Raines had reportedly steered Fannie Mae business to subprime giant Countrywide Financial, which was saved from bankruptcy by Bank of America.

At the same time, the Clinton administration was pushing Fannie and her brother Freddie Mac to buy more mortgages from low-income households.

The Clinton-era corruption, combined with unprecedented catering to affordable-housing lobbyists, resulted in today's nationalization of both Fannie and Freddie, a move that is expected to cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

And the worst is far from over. By the time it is, we'll all be paying for Clinton's social experiment, one that Obama hopes to trump with a whole new round of meddling in the housing and jobs markets. In fact, the social experiment Obama has planned could dwarf both the Great Society and New Deal in size and scope.

There's a political root cause to this mess that we ignore at our peril. If we blame the wrong culprits, we'll learn the wrong lessons. And taxpayers will be on the hook for even larger bailouts down the road.

But the government-can-do-no-wrong crowd just doesn't get it. They won't acknowledge the law of unintended consequences from well-meaning, if misguided, acts.

Obama and Democrats on the Hill think even more regulation and more interference in the market will solve the problem their policies helped cause. For now, unarmed by the historic record, conventional wisdom is buying into their blame-business-first rhetoric and bigger-government solutions.

While government arguably has a role in helping low-income folks buy a home, Clinton went overboard by strong-arming lenders with tougher and tougher regulations, which only led to lenders taking on hundreds of billions in subprime bilge.

Market failure? Hardly. Once again, this crisis has government's fingerprints all over it.

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So, essentially, we have another failed welfare program, Freddie Mae/Mac.

And, again, the productive will pick up the tab.

At least Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson got rich!

And Chris Dodd and a failed community organizer from Chicago had their campaign coffers lined with donations from employees of this sorry, government sponsored behemoth.

Damn you, deregulation!