 Custom Search DEMOCRAT SCANDALS: Corruption On The Rise
WASHINGTON POST Fred Hiatt Feb. 10, 2010 Why is Obama killing off D.C.'s voucher program? Excerpts: The Obama administration said it was going to respect science and respond to evidence -- a contrast, many Democrats said, to the previous regime. So why is President Obama killing off the program that offers the best chance to find out if school vouchers work? Congress has been paying for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which helps more than a thousand District children attend private schools. It gives a chance of a future to children who otherwise would be condemned to attend failing schools. How can that be bad? Generally, opponents offer two arguments. One is that it won't solve the whole problem. Well, no. That's why everyone should support what Chancellor Michelle Rhee is trying to do to improve all D.C. schools. But even she supports the scholarship program. She testified before the Senate last September that until her reforms have had a few more years to take root, she can't guarantee a quality education to every District child. No wonder that every year there have been many more applicants for the vouchers than vouchers to give out. Full article Fred Hiatt Washington Post Nov. 24, 2009 Jobless Rate for Young Black Men: 34.5% Washington Post: Tough Economy Has Hit 16-to-24-Year-Old Black Men Especially Hard This story was written by V. Dion Haynes. These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment. These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment. Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland Excerpts: Full article V. Dion Haynes Washington Post ACORN'S Latest Scandal--Today Nov. 16, 2009 to air on Sean Hannity 6PM EST. Promises To Be A Beauty The Times-Picayune William Jefferson's judgment day: An editorial By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune November 13, 2009, 6:30PM Excerpts: Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday for the 11 counts of corruption for which he was found guilty in U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III's courtroom last summer. That's a fitting punishment for a disgraced former official whose conduct the judge described as "a cancer on the body politic.'' New Orleans needed effective representation in Congress more urgently than ever after Hurricane Katrina. But Mr. Jefferson, whose Washington, D.C., home was raided by federal agents three and a half weeks before the storm, was mired in his own legal troubles during that critical time. The accusations against him reinforced the negative stereotyopes about Louisiana as a bed of political corruption at a time when people from elsewhere were looking for reasons not to come to our aid. Full article The Times-Picayune The Washington Times Rep. Darrell Issa Mozilo's friends on the Hill Democrats block probe of Countrywide scandal By Rep. Darrell Issa Oct. 13, 2009 Angelo Mozilo has lots of friends. Or at least, he used to. The former chief executive of Countrywide Financial now faces a series of federal lawsuits, including one brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud and insider trading. Suddenly, some of the most powerful Washington politicians are eschewing the shameful appellation "Friend of Angelo." Back in the early 1990s, when Countrywide was climbing to the top of the mortgage industry, Mr. Mozilo was looking to make friends on Capitol Hill. According to documents obtained by congressional oversight investigators, these key VIPs were afforded preferential and personalized treatment, including specially priced home mortgage loans at below-market rates. This generosity was not limited to elected officials but was extended as well to select congressional staff members, administration officials and Washington lobbyists. In his aggressive pursuit of market dominance, Mr. Mozilo tried to make friends everywhere, especially among people who had a primary responsibility to craft legislation and oversee government enterprises with a stake in the U.S. housing market. In March 2009, the minority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform produced a detailed, 63-page report that analyzed Countrywide's VIP program and Mr. Mozilo's successful scheme to buy political influence and manipulate public policy decisions. Full article Rep. Darrell Issa Washington Times BIGGOVERNMENT.COM Fool Me Hundreds of Times: Who Gets to Clean Up ACORN? by Mike Flynn Excerpts: Imagine: In the days following the public revelations of the accounting scandal at Enron, then-CEO Ken Lay convened a news conference. He forcefully expressed his disgust with the actions of his subordinates and vowed to begin “cleaning house” at the company. Taking a few turns to slam the company’s critics and the reporters who had uncovered the scandal, he stressed that, this time, there would be a thorough revamp of the company. He even said that people would be fired! Reassured, reporters, lawmakers and regulators shrugged and went back to their daily lives. Substitute Bertha Lewis for Ken Lay and ACORN for Enron, in this hypothetical situation, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what was asked of us at Lewis’ tour-de-force theatrical performance at the National Press Club earlier this week. She alternated between attacking her critics, expressing disgust with the actions of her employees caught on tape by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles and vowing to pursue a lawsuit against the filmmakers for capturing on film her employees’ misdeeds. Oh, and by the way, she really, really—she means it this time—intends to “clean house” at ACORN. Full article Mike Flynn Never Ending Acorn Scandal BigGovernment.Com
ACORN embezzlement was $5 million, La. attorney general says NOLA.COM By Robert Travis Scott October 06, 2009, 5:46AM Louisiana's attorney general has broadened the scope of an investigation of ACORN to include a possible embezzlement of $5 million a decade ago within the community organization, five times more than previously reported. ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new reported amount is "completely false." Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been conducting an investigation of ACORN since June. He issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to former ACORN International President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group's books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible ACORN violations for non-payment of employee withholding taxes, obstructing justice and violating the Employee Retirement Security Act. No charges have been made. Full article Nola.Com NEW YORK POST Shaming Charlie's Pals October 5, 2009 Excerpts: House Republicans, clearly frustrated by the sloth-like pace at which the Ethics Committee is looking into the tangled financial affairs of Rep. Charles Rangel, have finally decided to take the bull by the horns. Good move. Unless Rangel steps down this week as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee -- the House's tax-writing body -- the GOP will introduce a resolution demanding his removal. It's not likely to succeed, of course -- in fact, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer probably won't even let it come to the floor. But that will still force at least one roll-call vote in which Democrats will have to go on record as either backing Rangel -- as Pelosi continues to do -- or not. Full article NEW YORK POST POLITICO Manu Raju 9-30-09 In Tight Times, Congress Boosts Its Budget Excerpts Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget — even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades. Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion. The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more. Full article Politico HUMAN EVENTS Rangel: The Most Corrupt Dem? by Ross Kaminsky 09/17/2009 Excerpts: First there was “Countrywide Chris” Dodd (D-Conn.), whose combination of poor judgment and possible corruption qualifies him to be Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Then there was Tim “TurboTax” Geithner, whose false tax return filings qualify him to be Secretary of the Treasury. And now, in keeping with the Democrats’ recent tendency to have scoundrels in the highest positions involving regulation of the nation’s finances, we have the Chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who recently filed amended financial disclosure reports showing a net worth about double what he had previously reported. (Rangel’s original 2007 disclosure form and the amendment can be seen here in pdf form.) In addition to showing his net worth increasing from a range of $516,015 and $1,316,000 to a range of $1,028,024 to $2,495,000 in his amended 2007 financial disclosure form filed last month, Rangel also reported substantial 2007 income and several transactions involving mutual fund sales, purchases, and exchanges which he had not disclosed earlier. The new numbers are not small, especially as a percentage of Rangel’s total net worth. For example, while Rangel was reporting net worth in the area of $1 million, he “overlooked” two accounts worth over $250,000 each (one checking, one mutual fund), another bank account, several other mutual fund accounts, and holdings of stock and land totaling another roughly $300,000. In other words, Rangel’s unreported assets were worth about as much as his reported assets. Full article Human Events New York Post Charlie Rangel Scandal Keeps Growing and Growing Fails to report Harlem-pad income By ISABEL VINCENT and MELISSA KLEIN Last Updated: 2:56 PM, September 13, 2009 Posted: 3:28 AM, September 13, 2009 Excerpts: Rep. Charles Rangel reported no rental income for eight years on his rundown Harlem row house, even though public records show tenants were living there. The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said he received nothing from 1993 to 2000 on the six-unit building, according to federal financial disclosure forms. But one current tenant told The Post she had lived at the building for 20 years -- and paid rent during that period. Full article Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein New York Post This Sham Health Care Bill Accomplishes Nothing Most Americans Want The Voters' Option By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Health Care: With opposition growing to their planned takeover of U.S. health care, Democrats have an idea: They'll go it alone without GOP votes. Looks like they'll have to go it alone without the American people, too. Posted Wednesday, August 19, 2009 4:20 PM PT Excerpts: Sure, the Democrats could pass a health care bill. They have the votes to do whatever they want. Well, good luck with that. As we all have seen from constituents shouting down their quaking representatives, the public is up in arms about the "reforms" proposed. Democrats would be wise to think twice about trying to ram them down the public's throat. One new poll shows that Americans, by an overwhelming 59% to 36%, agree Congress shouldn't pass a health care bill with just Democratic support. And a Pew Poll shows that, for the first time in the Obama era, fewer than half of all Americans have a favorable view of the Democrats. If Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman and the wonks in the White House think they'll get a free political pass on this, they're in for a big surprise. Dems Excoriated Auto Execs For Using Jets-Now Spending 1/2 Billion Taxpayers' $ For Their Jets WALL STREET JOURNAL July 7, 2009 Congress Gets an Upgrade $500 Million Slated for Purchase of Eight More Planes as Lawmakers' Travel Soars
By BRODY MULLINS [Congress to Buy Eight New Planes] Excerpts: WASHINGTON -- Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds. The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad. The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes. The Defense Department also asked to buy two additional 737s that were being leased. ASSOCIATED PRESS AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 7 mins ago July 28, 2009 Excerpts WASHINGTON – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment. Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad's two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota. Full article Larry Margasak AP 44 Charged by U.S. in New Jersey Corruption Sweep Louis Lanzano Associated Press Agents led suspects from F.B.I. headquarters in Newark on Thursday. The inquiry began with questions on money laundering. Article Tools Sponsored By By DAVID M. HALBFINGER Published: July 23, 2009 Excerpts: A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said. Robert Stolarik for The New York Times The case began with bank fraud charges against a member of an insular Syrian Jewish enclave centered in a seaside town. But when that man became a federal informant and posed as a crooked real estate developer offering cash bribes to obtain government approvals, it mushroomed into a political scandal that could rival any of the most explosive and sleazy episodes in New Jersey’s recent past. It was replete with tales of the illegal sales of body parts; of furtive negotiations in diners, parking lots and boiler rooms; of nervous jokes about “patting down” a man who turned out to indeed be an informant; and, again and again, of the passing of cash — once in a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000. Full article New York Times AUTO CZAR STEVE RATTNER QUITS MYSTERIOUSLY WALL STREET JOURNAL JULY 14, 2009 Auto Czar Quits Post Six Months Into the Job By NEIL KING JR. ExcerptsL WASHINGTON -- Steven Rattner, chief architect of the bailouts of General Motors Co. and Chrysler LLC, is leaving the Obama administration after less than six months on the job and just days after ushering GM through a speedy bankruptcy-court proceeding. Mr. Rattner, a former investment banker and onetime partner of the New York private-equity firm Quadrangle Group, is closely identified with the bailout's successes and controversies. He led revamps that shed thousands of jobs and eliminated heavy debt loads. He also drew criticism from those who objected to the government's intervention in the automobile sector. All told, the bill could hit $100 billion... The move comes as the New York attorney general's office has intensified scrutiny of Quadrangle Group and Mr. Rattner, 56 years old, as part of a long-running probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. Full article Neil King Jr. Wall Street Journal REUTERS NY AG probe of Rattner over pension ties heats up Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:37pm EDT Excerpts: NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York attorney general's probe of investor Steven Rattner, related to how Quadrangle, the private equity fund that he co-founded, won business from New York's public pension fund, has "intensified" in recent weeks, a source familiar with the issues said on Monday. Rattner is the departing head of the U.S. government's auto task force. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for over two years has been investigating the use of paid middlemen to win business from New York's public pension fund. Full article Joan Gralla Reuters WASHINGTON TIMES Stonewalling on Walpin-gate The White House ignores unanswered questions about the scandal By | Friday, July 10, 2009 Excerpts:
President Obama's dismissal of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin becomes more of a scandal with every White House action. AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which is a federal agency. Both the White House and the general counsel at the corporation have been stonewalling congressional investigators. If their actions in firing Mr. Walpin were on the up and up, they wouldn't have anything to hide. It's also curious that they are selectively releasing certain documents to The Washington Post within minutes of The Post's requests after withholding those same documents (and many others) from congressional investigators for days or even weeks. Mr. Walpin was fired on June 10 with no explanation and no warning to Congress, even though the act governing inspectors general says IGs can be removed only after the president gives Congress 30 days' notice and a reason for the firing. Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, first wrote the White House on June 15 asking for "a full and complete explanation of whom the White House consulted in order to evaluate the performance of Mr. Walpin," among a number of other requests. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, wrote the White House on June 17 with similar specific requests, after first raising questions about the firing on June 12. Mr. Issa wrote Corporation for National and Community Service Acting Chief Executive Officer Nicola Goren on June 26 to ask again for the information. Full article Washinton Times Sunlight Foundation JOHN MURTHA--EARMARKER SUPREME What do top earmarkers talk about in Congress? Does our money go where their mouths are? In the case of the top ten earmarkers for FY 2008, the top words they used from 2007-2008 (110th Congress) do often align with their duties in either the Appropriations Committee or in bringing home the bacon to their home state. Six of the top ten use appropriations-related language in their top words and three use their state’s name in their top words. The top ten earmarkers for FY 2008 were, in descending order with top word in parentheses, Rep. John Murtha (Billion), Rep. Jerry Lewis (Appropriations), Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (Defense), Rep. Pete Visclosky (Indiana), Rep. David Obey (Billion), Rep. Norm Dicks (Million), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Trade), Rep. Harold Rogers (Kentucky), Rep. Ike Skelton (Military), Rep. Chet Edwards (Veterans). Only one of these lawmakers (Rep. Skelton) is not on the House Appropriations Committee. Three of these lawmakers — Reps. Lewis, Murtha and Visclosky — are either under federal investigation or have been mentioned in connection to an investigation in relation to their earmarking practices. Full article Paul Blumenthal Sunlight Foundation July 3, 2009 WALL STREET JOURNAL REAL CLEAR POLITICS The EPA Silences a Climate Skeptic By Kimberley Strassel July 3, 2009 Excerpts: Wherever Jim Hansen is right now -- whatever speech the "censored" NASA scientist is giving -- perhaps he'll find time to mention the plight of Alan Carlin. Though don't count on it. Mr. Hansen, as everyone in this solar system knows, is the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Starting in 2004, he launched a campaign against the Bush administration, claiming it was censoring his global-warming thoughts and fiddling with the science. It was all a bit of a hoot, given Mr. Hansen was already a world-famous devotee of the theory of man-made global warming, a reputation earned with some 1,400 speeches he'd given, many while working for Mr. Bush. But it gave Democrats a fun talking point, one the Obama team later picked up. So much so that one of President Barack Obama's first acts was a memo to agencies demanding new transparency in government, and science. The nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, joined in, exclaiming, "As administrator, I will ensure EPA's efforts to address the environmental crises of today are rooted in three fundamental values: science-based policies and program, adherence to the rule of law, and overwhelming transparency." In case anyone missed the point, Mr. Obama took another shot at his predecessors in April, vowing that "the days of science taking a backseat to ideology are over." Full article Kimberly Strassel Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON TIMES Rep. Kaptur gets $3.5 billion sweetener in climate bill Democrats offered concession to Ohio's Kaptur By Edward Felker (Contact) Originally published 04:45 a.m., July 1, 2009, updated 09:31 a.m., July 1, 2009 Excerpts:
When House Democratic leaders were rounding up votes Friday for the massive climate-change bill, they paid special attention to their colleagues from Ohio who remained stubbornly undecided. They finally secured the vote of one Ohioan, veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, the old-fashioned way. They gave her what she wanted - a new federal power authority, similar to Washington state's Bonneville Power Administration, stocked with up to $3.5 billion in taxpayer money available for lending to renewable energy and economic development projects in Ohio and other Midwestern states. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, included the Kaptur project in a 310-page amendment to the legislation unveiled at 3 a.m. Friday, just hours before the bill was to be debated on the House floor. The amendment was packed with other vote-getting provisions, both large and small, that had been sought by dozens of wavering Democrats. Full article Washington Times The Union News Blogspot 8/12/08 ACORN scandals blow-up Union-backed, voter fraud group and Rathke brothers attract increasing scrutiny The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is a network of nonprofit community groups formed nearly 40 years ago on the premise that banks, corporations and insurance companies, immersed in greed, have kept poor and predominantly minority neighborhoods desperate. Within the past couple months, however, its leaders have been engaged in the more mundane task of spinning a scandal that already has claimed its most visible leader. To longtime ACORN critics, it’s a case of belated just deserts. At the center of this storm are ACORN co-founder and chief organizer Wade Rathke and his brother, Dale. Wade Rathke is an almost legendary figure in progressive Left circles. Beginning in the Sixties as an SDS activist, he would go on to apply his talents to the National Welfare Rights Organization, whose principle legacy during its years of existence was a large expansion of welfare eligibility and dependency. Out of this experience came ACORN in 1970. Initially based in Little Rock and eventually in New Orleans, ACORN has become a giant oak tree. The group’s early agitprop rhetoric, as expressed in its People’s Platform, made clear its intent for the years ahead: We are the majority, forged from all minorities. We are the masses of many, not the forces of few. Enough is enough. We will wait no longer for the crumbs at America’s door. We will not be meek, but mighty. We will not starve on past promises, but feast on future dreams. From the start, ACORN has been unapologetically radical in both worldview and tactics. Taking its inspiration from Saul Alinsky-style neighborhood confrontation politics, the organization, now claiming about 1,200 chapters with some 400,000 households in the U.S. and abroad, prides itself in its ability to mobilize local residents into demanding and getting their fair share – regardless of whether the donations are voluntary. Right now, ACORN hopes to mobilize someone into replacing Wade Rathke. Full article The Union News Blogspot WORLD NET DAILY Insider: ACORN 'always been Democrat operation' 'They've never made any secrets about who they support' Posted: June 18, 2009 7:30 pm Eastern By Chelsea Schilling © 2009 WorldNetDaily Anita Moncrief, former ACORN insider Excerpts: While the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, remains under investigation for voter registration fraud and related allegations in at least 14 states, one former insider told WND the organization acted as unofficial arm of the Democratic Party during the recent election and used cash operations to keep some financial transactions under wraps. In 2005, Anita Moncrief began working in the Strategic Writing and Research Department of ACORN Political Operations and its affiliate Project Vote. She said she conducted voter fraud research and census research and worked with political organizers. Moncrief left the organization in January 2008. "It has always been a Democrat operation," she told WND. "They've never made any secrets about who they support. Their political action committees are usually set up to support these Democratic candidates." Full article Chelsea Schilling World Net Daily MICHELEMALKIN.COM Who’s funding the Obamacare Astroturf campaign? By Michelle Malkin June 24, 2009 01:40 AM Excerpts: My syndicated column today investigates the deep pockets behind the “grass-roots” campaign for Obamacare. Chicago crony/White House senior adviser David Axelrod is, of course, the master of astroturfing. So it certainly comes as no surprise that left-wing puppetmasters are behind the government health care takeover lobby. But an informed citizenry needs to know the nitty gritty details. Will the ABC “All Barack Channel” News health care infomercial tell viewers about the cabal at 1825 K Street (a far Left office complex/headquarters that is the Washington DC analogue of the 1024 Elysian Fields ACORN headquarters in New Orleans, which I first reported on in August 2008)? Will they tell viewers about the First Lady’s patient-dumping scheme? Full article Michelle Malkin.com PORTFOLIO.COM Countrywide's Many 'Friends' by Daniel Golden Jun 12 2008 Senators Dodd and Conrad are among the government officials who scored V.I.P. loans from C.E.O. Angelo Mozilo. An exclusive Portfolio investigation. Angelo Mozilo Donna Shalala James Johnson Excerpts: The Company through its subsidiaries, provide banking & nonbanking financial services and products through three business … View MoreTwo U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people. Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans. Other participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Jackson was deputy H.U.D. secretary in the Bush administration when he received the loans in 2003. Shalala, who received two loans in 2002, had by then left the Clinton administration for her current position as president of the University of Miami. She is scheduled to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 19. Full article Daniel Golden Portfolio.Com POLITICO Conyers' wife pleads guilty Monica Conyers (wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers) pleads guilty Friday to federal bribery charges. Excerpts: Monica Conyers, the chairwoman of the Detroit City Counciland wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), pleaded guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, the latest blow to a city still reeling from the collapse of the U.S. auto industry and the jailing of its former mayor. Monica Conyers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with a city sludge-hauling scandal. As a member of the Detroit City Council in 2007, Conyers cast the deciding vote in favor of awarding a $1.2 billion contract to Synagro Technologies Inc. Monica Conyers’ attorney said Friday that she would be sentenced to between 30 and 37 months in federal prison. Full article To Politico ### WALL STREET JOURNAL Lawmakers Tussle Over Mozilo Probe By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and KARA SCANNELL June 24, 2009 Excerpts: Lawmakers on a congressional oversight panel are struggling with whether to ramp up a probe into a controversial home-loan program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that involved former Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo.Rep. Darrell Issa, a Southern California Republican and the ranking minority member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wants to subpoena records of the program known as "Friends of Angelo." The program provided home loans on attractive terms to some people, including elected officials. Mr. Issa said he believes the names of many favored Countrywide borrowers still aren't known. "We want to know the size and scope of influence" of the program, he said. The move comes on the heels of a civil fraud suit filed against Mr. Mozilo by the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the committee chairman, New York Democrat Edolphus Towns, declined to co-sign a letter Mr. Issa sent earlier this month to Bank of America Corp., which purchased Countrywide last year, requesting records of the Friends of Angelo program. Full article Wall Street Journal NBA Buddy of Prez Obama, Kevin Johnson, misused federal money. Inspector General's non-partisan investigation ruled former NBA star ineligible for further funds. Obama had Inspector fired. Gave him 1 hour to resign. VERY SCANDALOUS!!! REAl CLEAR POLITICS June 18, 2009 Interview with Fired Inspector Gerald Walpin By Lou Dobbs Tonight Excerpts: DOBBS: The Obama administration said it fired an AmeriCorps inspector general because he was incompetent and showed up to a meeting, quote, "confused and disoriented." Gerald Walpin is technically on administrative leave. Administration critics say Walpin was removed because he uncovered waste in the federal program run by one of the president's supporters and friends. Joining me now the man at the center of this controversy and political storm, Gerald Walpin. Good to have with us. GERALD WALPIN, FMR. AMERICORPS INSPECTOR GENERAL: Glad you invited me, thank you. DOBBS: You were told summarily that you were fired, is that correct? WALPIN: I was told that I would either resign or be fired and I was given one hour to decide and I thought my obligation to this country was that I stand up to this, which was clearly a firing having to do with the fact that I was doing my job. Full Article Lou Dobbs Real Clear Politics Moe Lane Obama Administration Tyranny Continues--The Firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin Walpin was investigating Obama crony’s involvement in an AmeriCorps-related scandal involving misappropriation of funding. Case was settled, to the mild detriment of crony*. Walpin disagreed with settlement. Complaint made against him. So far, this is all he-said, he-said. Then the White House tried to force out Walpin; Walpin, well aware of his rights, made them go through the process. At this point, Senator Charles Grassley - Republican - stepped in, as IG issues are one of his interests. Grassley would also like to know if the First Lady’s office is involved in this somehow, given that her CoS is going over to run the Corporation for National and Community Service, who Walpin was also responsible for oversight over. Meanwhile, Senator Claire McCaskill - Democrat - has also stepped in, as she too is usually associated with IG protection. That makes this officially a matter of bipartisan concern, which means that the White House of course is doing everything it can to address said concerns seriously. I’m kidding, of course. No, what the White House is actually doing, of course, is trying to imply that Walpin’s senile: WASHINGTON — Responding to criticism from a Senate Democratic ally, President Obama explained why he fired the Inspector General of the AmeriCorps without the 30-day notification required by law, calling Gerald Walpin so “confused” and “disoriented” that there was reason to question “his capacity to serve.” Moe Lane Full article Moelane.Com President Obama's Tyranny, Deception, Redistribution, Orwellian "Newspeak" Continues Washington Examiner.Com By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent 06/14/09 7:00 PM EDT Gerald Walpin speaks: The inside story of the AmeriCorps firing Dispute that resulted in firing involved stimulus money ALSO: See UPDATE below; Grassley protests, demands information, including any role of First Lady NEW: House Republicans raise questions about Walpin firing AND: Will Democrats cover up the AmeriCorps Mess? AND: First Democrat questions Obama over AmeriCorps IG firing The White House's decision to fire AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin came amid politically-charged tensions inside the Corporation for National and Community Service, the organization that runs AmeriCorps. Top executives at the Corporation, Walpin explained in an hour-long interview Saturday, were unhappy with his investigation into the misuse of AmeriCorps funds by Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, California and a prominent supporter of President Obama. Walpin's investigation also sparked conflict with the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento amid fears that the probe -- which could have resulted in Johnson being barred from ever winning another federal grant -- might stand in the way of the city receiving its part of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money. After weeks of standoff, Walpin, whose position as inspector general is supposed to be protected from influence by political appointees and the White House, was fired. Walpin learned his fate Wednesday night. He was driving to an event in upstate New York when he received a call from Norman Eisen, the Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform. "He said, 'Mr. Walpin, the president wants me to tell you that he really appreciates your service, but it's time to move on,'" Walpin recalls. "Eisen said, 'You can either resign, or I'll tell you that we'll have to terminate you.'" At that moment, Walpin says, he had finished not only a report on the Sacramento probe but also an investigation into extensive misuse of AmeriCorps money by the City University of New York, which is AmeriCorps' biggest program. Walpin says he told Eisen that, given those two investigations, neither of which was well-received by top Corporation management, the timing of his firing seemed "very interesting." According to Walpin, Eisen said it was "pure coincidence." When Walpin asked for some time to consider what to do, Eisen gave him one hour. "Then he called back in 45 minutes and asked for my response," Walpin recalls. Full article Byron York Washington Examiner John R. Lott Blogspot 12/17/2008 Bernard Madoff a Democrat In writing my book Freedomnomics, I started keeping track of the political affiliation of prominent criminals. Needless to say, Madoff is not unusual. John Fund has this over at the WSJ's Political Diary: Bernard Madoff, who appears to be the perpetrator of the largest financial fraud ever, was a politically active player in Washington. He paid the lobbying firm of Dow Lohnes Government Strategies some $400,000 over the last decade to buttonhole regulators and Congressmen. The Madoff clan were also large donors to political candidates. They donated over $380,000 to individual politicians and political action committees since 1993, most of it going to Democrats but with a few prominent Republicans thrown in, such as scandal-tarred Rep. Vito Fossella of Staten Island. Full article John R. Lott Blog John Murtha's defense: thank-you notes POLITICO By JOHN BRESNAHAN & PATRICK O'CONNOR | 6/1/09 4:31 AM EDTText Size June 1, 2009 Scandal Rep. John Murtha Democratt and Kuchera Defense Systems Inc. Excerpts: As federal prosecutors prepared subpoenas for one of his colleagues and the Navy disbarred a defense contractor with close ties to him, John Murtha last week took an unusual step in response to the ethics imbroglio that seems to be intensifying around him. He sent thank-you notes to fellow Democrats. It’s not clear how many House Democrats got the notes — or why. According to aides who have seen copies, the notes said only “Thanks for your support,” and they seem to have been signed by Murtha himself. By Murtha’s standards, it was a big step Full article JOHN BRESNAHAN & PATRICK O'CONNOR Politico Nancy Pelosi in a "Cloud of Corruption" Capitol Hill Journal January 6, 2006 Bob Parks Posted on Friday, January 06, 2006 6:03:16 PM by WatchYourself ...“The unreported trip was a week-long 1999 visit to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, for "meetings with government, military and business officials," according to a filing Pelosi signed June 30. The flights cost $3,400 each for Pelosi and her husband. The hotel cost was $940. The sponsor, which has picked up trips for leaders of both parties, paid $300 for meals. “Pelosi said she had provided "a good faith estimate" of the cost of the other two trips, since her "office records for that period do not indicate the costs." In 1998, NBC paid for a $200 trip to New York for a "Meet the Press" appearance, according to the filing. In 1999, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee paid $300 for transportation to Delray Beach, Fla., and $40 for meals for Pelosi to appear at a reception and briefing.” Whoops. Nancy's words will come back and bite her, and when they do, she'll spin, she'll point fingers, she may even cry. But seeing how this scandal may touch almost every United States Senator, Pelosi may be lamenting how lousy she'll look wearing orange... Full article FreeRepublic.Com NewsMax.Com AIG Scandal May Be Last Straw for Chris Dodd's Career Saturday, March 21, 2009 3:35 PM
HARTFORD, Conn. � Howard Rosenblatt voted for U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd five years ago. He won't do that again. "It's time for Chris to resign," said the 62-year-old owner of Rosenblatt's department store in Naugatuck, Conn., a working-class borough of more than 30,000. "He sits on the Senate banking commission, and he had his hands on funny money loans." Earl Reilly, a 59-year-old factory worker from Naugatuck, shares Rosenblatt's anger with the state's senior senator. "Don't get me started on Dodd," he said. "He's been doing the job too long, and he's got a hole in his canoe and it's sinking." Full article NewsMax.Com WASHINGTON POST Sen. Roland Burris (D-Blago) The hole gets deeper for the tainted senator from Illinois. June 8, 2009 Excerpts: WE DON'T know where to begin with the latest mess that has ensnared Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.). No, "ensnared" isn't the right word. That would imply that he's blameless for his troubles, which isn't the case. Phone conversations taped by federal prosecutors that were released May 26 between Mr. Burris and the brother of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich belie the senator's repeated assertions that there was no quid pro quo for his appointment to the seat vacated by President Obama. Robert Blagojevich called Mr. Burris on Nov. 13 to talk about raising money for the governor. But it was Mr. Burris who started the conversation by saying, "I, I know you're calling telling me that you're gonna make me king of the world . . . ." Throughout the conversation, Mr. Burris was very concerned about the appearance of his raising money for Mr. Blagojevich's reelection while seeking to be considered for the Senate seat. Yet, that didn't stop him from trying to figure out ways to get around it. Mr. Burris suggested hiding behind his lawyer: "I might be able to do this in the name of Tim Wright." He suggested obscuring his involvement by linking into one of 18 upcoming events. "Maybe I can join in on one of those events, too," he said. "What, what, do you have any going with the people that I know?" At the end of the call, Mr. Burris reassured Mr. Blagojevich: "I will personally do something, okay." Full article Washington Post WALL STREET JOURNAL JUNE 18, 2008 Senate Panel to Review Conrad's Home Loans By JAMES R. HAGERTY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN Excerpts: Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota, said the Senate Ethics Committee will look into mortgage loans he received from Countrywide Financial Corp. Sen. Conrad is among numerous politicians and other prominent people who received home loans, sometimes on preferential terms, from Countrywide on orders from the company's chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo. Those loans were known internally as being for "Friends of Angelo," or FOA. Last week, Sen. Conrad said a review of a $1.2 million loan he received in 2002 to buy a vacation home in Bethany Beach, Del., indicated he received a discount of one percentage point on fees, a finding confirmed by a person involved with that transaction. The senator has said he didn't ask for a discount or know he received one at the time. Sen. Conrad said he also has discovered that Countrywide made an exception to its normal practices in 2004 in making him a $96,000 mortgage loan backed by an eight-unit apartment building he owns in Bismarck, N.D. According to Sen. Conrad, Countrywide typically made loans only on properties with four or fewer units. Sen. Conrad has said he will seek refinancing on the property from another lender. He also has said he believes he may have overpaid for the Bismarck loan. Full article JAMES R. HAGERTY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN WALL STREET JOURNAL Phila.Com Posted on Thu, Jun. 4, 2009 Defense firm, a Murtha backer, got money from drug dealer By Dennis B. Roddy Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Excerpts: A Johnstown-area defense firm under investigation for possible contract fraud received an infusion of cash during its start-up years from a narcotics trafficker with whom one of the company's founders admitted engaging in the drug trade. At the time, Kuchera Industries was a startup company that assembled electronics components and sought federal contracts -- contracts that would ultimately make the company and its sister firm, Kuchera Defense Systems, multimillion-dollar businesses. Peter Whorley, a Florida man and business associate of William Kuchera, one of the top officers at the companies, put up $50,000 to help Kuchera Industries find its feet, according to court records. Kept on the Kuchera books as a consultant receiving "special commissions," Mr. Whorley later helped the company in its unsuccessful efforts to land a contract with the United States Census Bureau in the mid-1980s. Full article Dennis B. Roddy Phila.Com Here is What Gina Keating wrote on June 2nd "U.S. prosecutors far from decision on Mozilo": sources See excerpts from Gina Keating below Here Is What Happened on June 4th "Regulators charge Angelo Mozilo, the former king of America's mortgage market, with fraud" ECONOMIST.COM Angelo Mozilo Accusing Angelo Jun 5th 2009 | NEW YORK From Economist.com Regulators charge Angelo Mozilo, the former king of America's mortgage market, with fraud Excerpts: IT IS enough to wipe the Hollywood smile off Angelo Mozilo’s face, if not his equally legendary perma-tan. On Thursday June 4th America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the former boss of Countrywide, America’s largest mortgage lender before the credit crisis, and his former chief operating and financial officers with securities fraud. The civil suit also accuses Mr Mozilo of insider trading. He thus has the dubious privilege of becoming the first high-profile moneyman to be fingered for alleged wrongdoing in the credit crunch—Bernie Madoff was hardly a household name before the exposure of his ponzi scheme. The SEC alleges that the three Countrywide executives deliberately misled investors about the risk of its mortgage loans souring as it aggressively built market share. It was, according to the complaint, “a tale of two companies”: In public, Mr Mozilo praised the quality of his firm’s loans, describing Countrywide as a “role model to others in terms of responsible lending”; in private, he is described as having become increasingly alarmed at the poor quality of the mortgages and their chances of blowing up, issuing “dire” assessments to colleagues. The firm did not disclose these concerns to investors, as it was required to do in SEC filings. The executives allegedly rejected warnings from the chief risk officer about lax loan-underwriting standards. From 2005 on, Countrywide loosened these to match the sloppiest of its competitors, even as Mr Mozilo publicly trumpeted the firm’s prudence. The race to the bottom only accelerated after house prices started to fall. The insider-trading charges stem from Mr Mozilo’s sale of nearly $140m of Countrywide shares. The complaint portrays him as a gambler, betting his investors’ chips on ever-crazier hands while quietly pocketing his own. Full article ECONOMIST.COM Tue Jun 2, 2009 3:11pm EDT By Gina Keating Excerpts: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors are at least several months away from deciding whether to bring a criminal case against Countrywide Financial Corp founder Angelo Mozilo, the home loan entrepreneur expected to be hit soon by regulators with civil charges of insider trading. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have been examining Mozilo's activities for more than a year but have yet to find proof he intended to defraud investors through his trading activities, two people familiar with the probe said. The people were granted anonymity because the probe is not public. "They are not close (to an indictment)," one source said. Full article Gina Keating Reuters.Com The National Ledger Nancy Pelosi Airplane Scandal, John Murtha Warns Pentagon By Jack Kramer Feb 8, 2007 The airplane scandal for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ramping up. One of her main allies, Congressman John Murtha is stepping up and in his own words is telling the Pentagon what to do. According to a report from the San Francisco chronicle, Murtha, who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort. But he denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do,'' Murtha said. Murtha then seemed to threaten the Pentagon again - or at least told them what to do. Murtha said he is convinced the Pentagon has been leaking information about the possibility that Pelosi would use large military planes to make her look bad. But he said, "They're making a mistake when they leak it because she decides on allocations for them,'' referring to the Pentagon budget. Full article Jack Kramer The National Ledger POLITICO JOHN BRESNAHAN PMA-related snarls mount for Pete Visclosky Excerpts: Rep. Pete Visclosky’s political problems are mounting in the wake of subpoenas served as part of a federal criminal probe involving the PMA Group, a once highflying lobbying firm with ties to Visclosky and other senior Democrats. The Indiana Democrat announced Tuesday that he will turn over authority for the $30 billion energy and water spending bill to another Democrat on his Appropriations subcommittee. And Visclosky will have to move forward without the help of his longtime chief of staff, Charles Brimmer. Brimmer — who, like Visclosky, was served with a federal subpoena last week — retired quietly in recent days. A Visclosky spokesman confirmed Brimmer’s departure but offered no additional information. Full article JOHN BRESNAHAN POLITICO POLITICO Navigate: McAuliffe denies cash offered to Nader By ANDY BARR | 5/29/09 5:59 PM EDT Excerpts: Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe’s campaign denied Friday that he offered former independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader campaign funds as part of an effort to persuade Nader from running in certain key states in 2004. Nader claimed in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday that McAuliffe offered him money for his 2004 presidential campaign if he would stay out of the 19 battleground states McAuliffe believed Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) needed to compete with President George W. Bush. “Terry McAuliffe is slipperier than an eel in olive oil,” Nader told the Post. Full article Andy Bar Politico CHICAGO SUN-TIMES Back in February, when snow covered Chicago, we urged Sen. Roland Burris to resign. Excerpts: He should not have accepted the Senate appointment from soon-to-be-impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, we wrote, and the way in which he fudged the facts of his negotiations with the Blagojevich camp -- failing to come clean about whole conversations and any mention of money -- stripped him of credibility. Now it's May, but only the weather has changed. The release this week of a recorded phone conversation last fall between Burris and Blagojevich's brother, Robert, only reinforces our view: Burris really should step down. Not that he will, obviously, which leaves Illinois with a senator and a half. The covert recording by federal agents leaves the clear impression that Burris was willing to make or arrange for campaign contributions to Blagojevich in return for continued consideration for the Senate seat. He worried how that might look. Maybe, he suggested, he could get his law partner, Tim Wright, to do the fund-raiser and cover himself that way. Full article THE NEW REPUBLIC Why Dodd Is Still Trailing
Excerpts: A new Quinnipiac poll released today shows that five-term Connecticut senator Chris Dodd still trails leading Republican challenger Ron Simmons 45-39 percent in the 2010 race. As I discussed in my recent story on Dodd, his numbers started to plummet in the wake of the furor over the AIG bonus scandal. (Dodd chairs the Senate Banking Committee, and while he originally opposed the bonuses, the Obama administration pressured him to let them through.) Though Dodd seems to be making up a bit of electoral ground (he trailed Simmons by 16 points in April), his approval ratings remain distressingly low: Connecticut voters disapprove 53-38 percent of the job that he is doing, barely budging from the all-time low of 58-33 percent that he polled on April 2. "Dodd appears to have stopped the bleeding," Quinnipiac poll director Douglas Schwartz said in a press release today. "But he still has a long way to go to restore the trust of Connecticut's voters." As I argue in my recent article, the Dodd is still being haunted by the perception that he has become too cozy with moneyed interests, and today's poll only confirms these fears: For those who disapprove, 24 percent list Dodd's overall dishonesty or lack of integrity, with 17 percent who cite his failure to deal with banking industry problems and 11 percent who point specifically to the Countrywide mortgage deal. Full article Michelle Cottie, Christopher Orr, Jason Zengerle GOOGLE.COM Denials aside, recovery hard for Burris' image By HENRY C. JACKSON – 30 minutes ago Excerpts: WASHINGTON (AP) — Tainted from the day he was appointed, Sen. Roland Burris again finds himself denying any role in a pay-to-play scheme as newly revealed wiretaps show him begging for his Senate seat and offering to donate to ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign. Burris repeatedly insists he did nothing wrong, telling reporters Wednesday that his taped conversation with Blagojevich's brother, Robert, was the result of a misunderstanding. He said he was trying to placate the governor's brother because he wanted to win a Senate appointment. Political observers say Burris' justifications aside, there's no recovery for his image. Full article Henry C. Jackson The Jeff Scott Show Blog Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Democrat Scandals Everywhere Today! Excerpts: Today is a juicy day for Democrat scandals. You have California Senator Dianne Feinstein introducing a bill to spend $25 billion on a government agency that had just given her husband's business a lucrative contract, California Congresswoman Jane Harman promising help for an AIPAC espionage case in exchange for help becoming House Intelligence Committee Chairwoman, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha is still directing earmarks to his campaign contributors, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson is getting millions of dollars in homeland security earmarks for his alma mater, even though they don't have the capacity to provide the services under the earmarks, and Indiana Congressman Pete Visclosky has to use his campaign funds to pay for legal help defending himself from an FBI probe into his campaign fundraising. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
To make things even worse, we have warnings from the bailout watchdog that the program is vulnerable to fraud. Some banks are trying to get out of TARP, and Obama isn't crazy about the idea, as they take the backdoor to nationalization.
Obama is going to attend a meeting with credit card company executives, presumably to protect them from the pitchforks the same way he is with the banks, as long as they kiss his ring. Full artile The Jeff Scott Show Blog SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS Excerpts: Ex-senator John Edwards was accused of having an affair with Rielle Hunter, while his wife Elizabeth was fighting cancer. Not only that, but he was rumored to have a love child with his mistress. Now, Edwards has confessed (what the rest of us knew!) that he did indeed father Hunter's baby girl. John decided to come forward to his wife because his ex-lover threatened to go public. Although Edwards had admitted to the affair earlier, he would not admit to being the baby's father - he even had one of his campaign workers, Andrew Young, claim to be the father. John's wife has a book coming out in May, titled, "Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities," and his ex-lover was upset about the release and John wanted to get the news of his affair out before Rielle did. Full article Babble.Com Monday, April 27, 2009 NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE NRO CHRIS DODD, BARACK OBAMA, JOHN EDWARDS Your Democratic Scandal Scorecard Excerpts: If you’re reading NRO, you’re probably already used to revelations of Democratic lawmakers saying one thing and doing another, and in some cases, violating the law with impunity. But for a congressional majority, and later, a president and administration that ran against a “culture of corruption,” the breadth, depth, and variety of recent and ongoing Democratic scandals is pretty eye-opening. SEN. CHRIS DODD (D., CONN.): Dodd is most notably and recently in trouble for the provision of the stimulus bill that ensured that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money would be honored. In an interview with CNN, he initially denied any role in the provision. As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd tried to put together federal aid for the then-troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Dodd’s homes in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., were refinanced to below-market rates under the “Friends of Angelo” program (meaning he was a friend of then-CEO Angelo Mozilo). He did not disclose the refinance in the six financial-disclosure statements he’s filed since then and has failed to keep promises to release more information about them. He later said he knew he was part of the company’s “VIP” program, but he didn’t know being a part of the VIP program meant he would receive favorable mortgage terms. (Really.) Those noted anti-Democrat partisans on the New York Times editorial board have declared “his excuses are wearing ridiculously thin.” Full article NRO Pelosi's Latest Doublespeak/Newspeak Tortured Account By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:20 PM PT Integrity: Release of the interrogation memos was intended to tarnish the Bush administration's legacy of keeping America safe. Now, that political strategy is collapsing — and with it, Nancy Pelosi's speakership. Excerpts: The tables have turned on "Memogate." House Speaker Pelosi and other congressional Democratic leaders clearly knew early on, via classified briefings, about President Bush's approval of enhanced interrogation techniques for high-level terrorist detainees. Yet she kept silent. In an adaptation of the famous Watergate catchphrase, people have been asking, "What did the speaker know and when did she know it?" But as Pelosi's tune changes and her credibility crumbles, a new version of Nixon White House counsel John Dean's observation might be more apt: that there is a cancer growing on the speakership, and if the cancer is not removed, the speaker herself may be killed by it. Here is the latest line of baloney we are being asked to believe: After a Pelosi aide was briefed on Feb. 4, 2003, together with House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Jane Harman, D-Calif., about waterboarding Abu Zubaydah, a key al-Qaida operative, Pelosi supposedly expressed support for a private protest letter Harman wrote — but she didn't ask to sign her name to the letter, sent to the CIA's general counsel, nor did she pen her own protest. Full article Investor's Business Daily WASHINGTON EXAMINER Astoundingly, John Conyers, Barney Frank and other Scandalous Democrats Find Nothing To Investigate With One Of The Most Corrupt, Crime Ridden Organizations In America Rep. Conyers Reverses Stance on ACORN Investigation By: Kevin Mooney Examiner Investigative Reporter 05/06/09 4:53 PM EDT Excerpts: After listening to detailed testimony on voter fraud allegations and questionable financial transactions connected with ACORN no less than Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called for a possible investigation. The non-profit activist group formally known as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is the subject of vote fraud investigations in at least 12 different states. Additional charges were filed in Nevada on Monday. A dissident group known as the ACORN 8, which includes two former board members of the national group, have also called for federal agents to probe into an embezzlement scheme that involves Dale Rathke, who was once the chief financial officer, and is the brother of Wade Rathke who founded ACORN.Heather Heidelbaugh, an attorney with the Republican National Lawyers Association, sued ACORN over election law violations last year. Her March testimony made a strong impression on Conyers who received a 100 percent rating from ACORN in its 2006 legislative scorecard. Full article Kevin Mooney WASHINGTON EXAMINER OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY Barney Frank: Housing Bubble Nostradamus James Joyner Friday, April 24, 2009 Full article OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY Excerpts: When I saw Glenn Reynolds‘ snarky post, “BARNEY FRANK IN 2005: Bubble? What bubble?” my instinct was a snarky rejoinder about what a stupid SOB Frank was with a link to my own archives, subtly alluding to the fact that a lot of us got that one wrong. The link, though, goes to an Ed Morrissey post noting that Frank is now taking credit for having warned about this all along when it turns out “Frank has long been one of the loudest voices supporting the CRA and Fannie/Freddie policies that encouraged irresponsible lending.” Okay, now that’s funny. Frank, 22 April 2009: Barney Frank's Double Indemnity Mr. Frank wants to put a public safety net under municipal bonds. April 17, 2009 Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL Excerpts: Barney Frank's track record as a financial analyst is, shall we say, mixed. The House Financial Services Chairman said for years that a collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pose zero risk to taxpayers. For most people, a mistake of that magnitude would trigger introspection, if not humility. But not the sage of Massachusetts. He's cooking up another fantastic subsidy -- and like the last one, he swears taxpayers won't feel a thing. In his words, "it would cost the federal government zero." Uh oh.[Review & Outlook] AP Barney Frank. Mr. Frank believes state and local governments are paying too much when they issue debt because rating agencies don't give them the ratings Mr. Frank feels they deserve. So last year he pushed a bill to effectively force Standard &Poor's, Moody's and Fitch to raise their ratings on municipal bonds, but the legislation got sidetracked amid the financial turmoil. Now Mr. Frank is back, bigger than ever. He'd like to create what he calls an FDIC-like federal insurance program for municipal bonds. Jurisdictions issuing debt would pay premiums into the insurance fund, and in return the federal government would guarantee the debt against default. Private companies already insure municipal bonds -- companies such as MBIA, Ambac and Berkshire Hathaway. And you may recall that last year the big bond insurers caused considerable angst when their exposure to mortgage-related debt called into question their ability to meet their muni-bond obligations. MBIA, in response, recently fenced off its muni-bond business from its other obligations. REAL CLEAR POLITICS April 7, 2009 Full article Real Clear Politics Excerpts: WFXT-TV: It all started with a question: "How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?" Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and a conservative Harvard law student debated over how Frank should have handled his role as the House Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Frank was at Harvard University for a speech at the Kennedy School of Government. Frank said the student wasn't backing up his claims, invoking some laughter from the crowd, and the student told Frank he wasn't answering his question. Barney Frank protests (and sputters and bullies) too muchBy Michelle Malkin • April 7, 2009 03:12 PM Full article Michelle Malkin Excerpts: Have you seen the video of a Harvard student challenging Barney Frank to take responsibility for his role in the subprime crisis? His defensive bullying and sputtering and ranting about “right-wing attacks” speaks for itself. So do the FOIA records that Judicial Watch obtained and released yesterday, which I linked yesterday. A reminder for Barney Frank (and ammunition for the next time a brave student wants to take him on again): Judicial Watch obtained the documents from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated December 4, 2008. Judicial Watch requested records related to members of Congress activity regarding the policy of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase lending to individuals with poor credit risk, as well as correspondence and records about contacts between FHFA and Fannie and Freddie. Among the important documents: AGE OF SPADES HQ Full article MINX.CC Excerpts: As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give. The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in line" to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry, and he would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry. "Given his seniority in the Senate, he will also play a key role in the Democratic Majority's leadership," Mr. Cassano wrote in the message, obtained by The Washington Times. CNN Dodd: Administration pushed for language protecting bonuses March 19, 2009 Full article CNN Excerpts: (CNN) -- Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored.Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, appears on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, appears on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday. Dodd acknowledged his role in the change after a Treasury Department official told CNN the administration pushed for the language. Both Dodd and the official, who asked not to be named, said it was because administration officials were afraid the government would face numerous lawsuits without the new language. fireandreamitchell.com Democrat scandals you wouldn’t hear from the liberal mainstream media Full article fireandreamitchell.com Excerpts: Below is a list of scandals involving leaders of the Democrat Party. 95% of which have probably never been mentioned by the liberal biased mainstream media. The republican list, which is a fraction the size of this list has been beaten to death by the liberal biased mainstream media. William Jefferson Clinton was barred from practicing law in his home state after being impeached. He was not tried as prescribed in the Constitution. It is true that the letter “W” was removed from White House typewriters and computer keyboards during Clinton’s last days in office. While it may be true that the letter “W” was scratched into the famous desk in the Oval Office, it was reported that incoming president George Bush said that it looked to him like an “M”. Neil Goldschmidt - Democrat - Oregon governor. Admitted to having an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old teenager while he was serving as Mayor of Portland. arturoafc54.wordpress.com Carville’s 2009 Predictions: Stand By For More Democrat Scandals James Carville CNN Full article arturoafc 54 wordpress.com Excerpts: In domestic politics, my first prediction is one that pains me to make, but I’ll make it anyway. The Democratic Party has had a recent run of corruption and sex scandals. Mathematicians say that there are no such things as streaks and that the last event has nothing to do with the next. The only people who disagree are crapshooters and political operatives. Since I am both, I firmly believe that there are streaks and that political scandals happen in clusters. AIG, Larry Summers and the politics of deflection Online Journal.Com By F. William Engdahl Mar 24, 2009, 00:24 Full article F. William Engdahl Online Journal.Com Excerpts: Finally, US authorities have gotten ‘tough’ with the predator financial institutions. The world has been waiting for such decisive intervention since an unending series of government bailouts of financial institutions began early in 2008, amounting to now trillions of taxpayer dollars. Now, with the world’s largest insurance giant, AIG, the White House Economic Council chairman, Larry Summers, has expressed ‘outrage.’ President Obama himself has entered the fray to promise ‘justice.’ US senators have threatened a law to change the injustice. The only problem is they are all exercising ‘politics of deflection,’ taking attention away from the real problem, the fraudulent bailout. The issue is over AIG announcing it was obligated to pay its traders in its high-risk London unit a sales bonus totaling $165 million for the year. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has announced a novel strategy for ‘justice.’ AIG will ‘reimburse’ the taxpayers up to $165 million for bonuses the company is giving employees. AIG will pay the Treasury an amount equal to the bonuses, and the Treasury will deduct that amount from the $30 billion in government (taxpayer) assistance that will soon go to the company. But he said that the Obama administration hasn’t given up on efforts to recoup the money from the employees who got the bonuses. Good luck. Larry Summers is the man directly responsible for the mess... Jesse's Café Américain Geithner and Summers should resign over their handling of AIG. March 16, 2009 Full article Jesse's Café Américain Excerpts: The Fed has no business regulating anything more complex than a checking account. The difficulty with which we are faced is that despite their mugging for the camera and emotional words the Democrats and Republicans are owned by Wall Street and Big Business because of the existing system of lobbying and campaign funding. Getting behind a third party for president is symbolic but ineffective. Giving a significant number of congressional seats to a third party will send a chilling and practical message to both the President and the Congress that enough is enough. GAYPATRIOT.NET Obama Chief of Staff Tied to Key Player in Financial Meltdown Posted by GayPatriotWest at 8:45 pm - March 26, 2009. Filed under: Democratic Scandals, Liberal Hypocrisy, Media Bias, Obama Watch Full article GAY PATRIOT.NET Excerpts: After President Clinton named Rahm Emanuel to the board of Freddie Mac in 2000, the current White House Chief of Staff sat on a board of directors deemed “so pliant” by Armando Falcon Jr,. , head of a federal oversight agency for the government-sponsored mortgage giant, that Freddie Mac’s managers easily were able to massage company ledgers. They manipulated bookkeeping to smooth out volatility, perpetuating Freddie Mac’s industry reputation as “Steady Freddie,” a reliable producer of earnings growth. Wall Street liked what it saw, Freddie Mac’s stock value soared and top executives collected their bonuses. “The scandal forced Freddie Mac to restate $5 billion in earnings and pay $585 million in fines and legal settlements. It also foreshadowed even harder times at the firm.“ Not just that, “Freddie Mac reported recently that it lost $50 billion in 2008. It so far has tapped $14 billion of the government’s guarantee and said it soon will need an additional $30 billion to keep operating.” As Freddie Mac crumbled, putting taxpayers on the hook for $44 billion, not to mention the losses suffered by stockholders, Emanuel pocketed a hefty sum, making “at least $320,000 from his time at Freddie Mac. Two years after leaving the firm, Emanuel reported an additional sale of Freddie Mac stock worth between $100,001 and $250,000.” BLOOMBERG.COM Summers Earned Millions in D.E. Shaw Salary, Bank Speech Fees By Timothy J. Burger and Kristin Jensen April 4 (Bloomberg) Full article By Timothy J. Burger and Kristin Jensen Bloomberg.Com Excerpts: Lawrence Summers, director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, earned millions working at a hedge fund and speaking to banks such as Citigroup Inc. that later received taxpayer bailout money. Hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. paid Summers more than $5 million in salary and other compensation in the past 16 months, according to a financial disclosure form released by the White House yesterday. Summers served as a managing director at the New York-based firm. Summers, a former Treasury secretary, also earned more than $2.7 million in speaking fees. “There was considerable interest in hearing his economic insights,” said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman. At the White House, Summers “has been at the forefront of this administration’s work to shore up our nation’s financial system and to put in place a regulatory framework that will strengthen the financial system,” LaBolt said. Political Hotsheet April 2, 2009 3:12 PM Dodd Polls 16 Points Behind Possible Republican Challenger For 2010 Posted by Michelle Levi Full article Michelle Levi CBS NEWS Excerpts: In a direct match up with possible Republican 2010 candidate former Congressman Rob Simmons, Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd has the support of only 34 percent of his constituents, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows. Simmons receives 50 percent of the vote, according to the poll. Dodd, who has been in the Senate for 30 years, chairs the Senate Banking Committee. Many of those polled cite his involvement in the AIG bonus fiasco for their unhappiness with the incumbent, whose has just a 33 percent favorability rating. That’s the lowest point his approval rating has ever gone; in March, it stood at 49 percent. Dodd took much of the blame last month when his committee loosened restrictions on executive bonuses for bailed out companies in the stimulus bill. After initially denying having a hand in the legislation, which allowed AIG to reward current and former employees with $165 million dollars in retention bonuses, Dodd admitted that he diluted the restrictions at the request of the Treasury Department. CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000 By Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac Tribune reporters 3:18 PM CDT, March 26, 2009 Full article Bob Secter and Andrew Zajac CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM Excerpts: Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator. One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort. As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation's mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration's pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world. MICHELLEMALKIN.COM Another day, another Obama nominee with tax problems By Michelle Malkin March 31, 2009 06:43 PM Full article MICHELLE MALKIN Excerpts: "...Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama’s nominee to become Health and Human Services secretary, said in a letter obtained by the Associated Press that she made “unintentional errors” on her taxes and has corrected her returns from three different years. In the letter, which was sent to senators and dated today, Sebelius wrote that she had made changes related to charitable contributions, business expenses and the sale of a home, according to the AP The wire service reports that she and her husband paid just over $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest, for the years 2005-2007... Business & Media Institute Media Ignore Democratic Ties to Fannie Mae Scandal Papers largely bypass Franklin Raines service in Clinton White House but focused on Enron ties to Bush. By Ken Shepherd Feb. 24, 2006 Full article Ken Shepherd Business & Media Institute Excerpts: After Enron’s collapse, the media frequently reminded the public of political ties top executives in the failed energy company had to the Bush administration. The same standard, however, wasn’t applied to mortgage broker Fannie Mae (FNM), whose former CEO served in the Clinton White House and was speculated to be on presidential hopeful John Kerry’s short list for Treasury secretary. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS The print media continued that double standard in covering a comprehensive new report on the scandal released February 23 by former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.). Of the nation’s top five newspapers, only The New York Times mentioned Raines’s Clinton connection. The Wall Street Journal didn’t just ignore Democratic links to Fannie Mae, it reported on Republican connections. In the last paragraph of that story, reporter James R. Hagerty pointed out the “strong ties” between the chairman of gulf Bank and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and linked that to a failed investment. New York Times correspondents Stephen Labaton and Eric Dash wrote that the February 23 report found Raines, “a former chairman and chief executive who had previously served as a top official in the Clinton administration, ‘contributed to a culture that improperly stressed stable earnings growth’ and that he hired and retained a management team that ... was ‘inadequate and in some respects was not competent.’” THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE Carville Wanted Bush To Fail on 9/11 Morning [Fox News also uncovered a 2006 survey showing that most Democrat Party voters wanted President Bush to “fail” 51% to 40%] Full article VISIT: THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE Excerpts: The political back-and-forth about who-wants-who to “fail” has taken another step after Fox News reports that Democrat Party strategist Jim Carville said he wanted then-US President George W. Bush to fail only minutes before the terrorist events of September 11, 2001 unfolded. “I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed,” Carville told a group of Washington reporters. Democrat Party pollster Stanley Greenberg, who was with Carville at the time, was encouraged by new information showing “public misgivings” about the new President. “I’m wanting them (the American public) to turn against him,” Greenberg admitted, adding with a chuckle, “They don’t want him to fail. I mean, they think it matters if the president of the United States fails.” sayanythingblog.com Rahm Emanuel Played Role In Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Accounting Scandal By Rob on March 26, 2009 at 07:45 am Full article Rob sayanythingblog.com Excerpts: Hope ‘n change! Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator. One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort. As gatekeeper to Obama, Emanuel now plays a critical role in addressing the nation’s mortgage woes and fulfilling the administration’s pledge to impose responsibility on the financial world. WASHINGTON TIMES Jamie Gorelick's wall Originally published 09:47 p.m., April 15, 2004, updated 12:00 a.m., April 16, 2004 Full article WASHINGTON TIMES Excerpts:
The disclosure that Jamie Gorelick, a member of the September 11 commission, was personally responsible for instituting a key obstacle to cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence operations before the terrorist attacks raises disturbing questions about the integrity of the commission itself. Ms. Gorelick should not be cross-examining witnesses; instead, she should be required to testify about her own behavior under oath. Specifically, commission members need to ask her about a 1995 directive she wrote that made it more difficult for the FBI to locate two of the September 11 hijackers who had already entered the country by the summer of 2001. Democrat Scandals On Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft declassified a four-page directive sent by Ms. Gorelick (the No. 2 official in the Clinton Justice Department) on March 4, 1995, to FBI Director Louis Freeh and Mary Jo White, the New York-based U.S. attorney investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In the memo, Ms. Gorelick ordered Mr. Freeh and Ms. White to follow information-sharing procedures that "go beyond what is legally required," in order to avoid "any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance" that the Justice Department was using Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, instead of ordinary criminal investigative procedures, in an effort to undermine the civil liberties of terrorism suspects. Democrat Scandals At issue was the oft-noted wall of separation that prevented counterterrorism agents and federal prosecutors from communicating with one another prior to September 11. Information collected under special FISA warrants, which do not require a probable cause, was generally not to be shared with personnel responsible for enforcing federal criminal laws -- where probable cause must be demonstrated for a warrant to be issued. As lawyers David Rivkin and Lee Casey noted on our Op-Ed page yesterday, the practical effect of the wall was that counterintelligence information was generally kept away from law enforcement personnel who were investigating al Qaeda activities. But Ms. Gorelick's memo clearly indicated that the Clinton administration had decided as a matter of policy to go even beyond the law's already stringent requirements in order to further choke off information sharing. WALL STREET JOURNAL Gorelick's Wall The Commissioner belongs in the witness chair. Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:01 A.M. EDT Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL Excerpts: We predicted Democrats would use the 9/11 Commission for partisan purposes, and that much of the press would oblige. But color us astonished that barely anyone appreciates the significance of the bombshell Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped on the hearings Tuesday. If Jamie Gorelick were a Republican, you can be sure our colleagues in the Fourth Estate would be leading the chorus of complaint that the Commission's objectivity has been fatally compromised by a member who was also one of the key personalities behind the failed antiterror policy that the Commission has under scrutiny. Where's the outrage? DEMOCRAT SCANDALS At issue is the pre-Patriot Act "wall" that prevented communication between intelligence agents and criminal investigators--a wall, Mr. Ashcroft said, that meant "the old national intelligence system in place on September 11 was destined to fail." The Attorney General explained: "In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall. Democrat Scandals "When the CIA finally told the FBI that al-Midhar and al-Hazmi were in the country in late August, agents in New York searched for the suspects. But because of the wall, FBI headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join the hunt for the suspected terrorists. VOLOKH CONSPIRACY [Jim Lindgren, July 14, 2008 at 2:28pm] Trackbacks Jamie Gorelick's ties to Fannie Mae and What She's Doing Now Full article VOLOKH CONSPIRACY Excerpts: In reading this article about Crony Capitalism at Fannie Mae (tip to Instapundit), I noticed that Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based of Enron-style accounting. She was Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003 (Fannie’s fraudulent accounting scheme was made public in 2004). This is the same Jamie Gorelick who was Deputy Attorney General in the mid 1990s and was reported to have been the author of the Clinton Administration’s WALL against sharing intelligence data between foreign and domestic agencies. Democrat Scandals Without the policies instituted by Gorelick still in place in 2001, officials might have learned more about the 9/11 attacks before the planes hit the buildings. The Wall Street Journal quoted Attorney General Ashcroft on the possible influence of Gorelick's wall: "In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall
NRO NATIONAL REVIEW ONLIND The Wall Truth Gorelick provides the clearest proof yet that she should resign. April 19, 2004, 8:49 a.m. Andrew C. McCarthy Excerpts: The grandstanding Richard Clarke having made apologies all the rage, one should expect that President Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice will be getting one in the next day or two. Something like this:
Dear Mr. President and Dr. Rice: Very sorry about all that high dudgeon a couple of weeks ago. You remember, when we couldn't pass a microphone, a pencil, or a camera without perorations about the vital need to have the President waive executive privilege and ignore scads of history so Dr. Rice could be permitted to testify under oath and publicly (and improve our Nielson numbers) to address provocative allegations by another commission fave — er, witness — Richard Clarke. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS Turns out we should have mentioned that if Condi had just zipped an op-ed over to the Washington Post that would have done the trick. We regret any inconvenience to you, your staff, or the Constitution. Respectfully, the 9/11 Commissioners. Democrat Scandals If that note is not forthcoming, then someone's got some explaining to do about "The Truth About 'the Wall,'" Jamie Gorelick's remarkable Washington Post op-ed from Sunday, which purports to put to rest the nettlesome squawking about her untenable position as a commissioner judging the causes of pre-9/11 intelligence failure, a matter in which she was a key participant. Leaving aside, for a moment, how off-the-wall her account of the wall is, the fact that she well knows she needed to say something is the clearest indication yet that she belongs in the witness chair, not on the commissioners' bench. REAL CLEAR POLITICS September 23, 2008 Raines, Obama and the Media By Jack Kelly Full article Jack Kelly REAL CLEAR POLITICS Excerpts: ...Franklin Raines, CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from 1999-2004, is the individual most responsible for the subprime mortgage crisis. It was on Mr. Raines' watch that Fannie Mae went bankrupt. He was accused of manipulating earnings statements so he could be paid bonuses to which he was not entitled.In July, Mr. Raines was interviewed by Anita Huslin, a business reporter for the Washington Post. Housing Meltdown "In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae's chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself," Ms. Huslin's story began. "He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case's D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health care companies and, more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing matters."... How Timothy Geithner's Bailout Plan Created the AIG Bonus Scandal Posted by Chris Bowers March 19, 2009. Full article Chris Bowers AlterNet In order to protect its bailout plan, the Obama administration protected the bonuses. Back in January and February, there were some votes to try and block excessive employee compensation at financial institutions receiving bailout money. In the Senate, this took the form of the Snowe amendment, which was supported by all 58 Democrats, and also by three Republicans. In the House, it took the form of the TARP Reform Act, which was favored by 242 Democrats and 18 Republicans. Overall, across the House and the Senate, only 10 Democrats, compared to 193 Republicans, voted against legislation that might have stopped the bonuses. Unfortunately, despite overwhelming Democratic support for limiting executive compensation, in order to save their public-private partnership bailout plan, the Obama administration worked against these limits: As word spread Friday about the new and retroactive limit -- inserted by Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut -- so did consternation on Wall Street and in the Obama administration, which opposed it.(...) THE NEW YORK TIMES Many in Government Knew Weeks Ago About A.I.G. Bonuses By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and JACKIE CALMES Published: March 19, 2009 Full article EDMUND L. ANDREWS and JACKIE CALMES The New York Times Excerpts: WASHINGTON — The question was direct and prescient. Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, asked the Treasury secretary in an open hearing what could be done to stop American International Group from paying $165 million in bonuses to hundreds of employees in the very unit that had nearly destroyed the company.
Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, responded by saying that executive pay in the financial industry had gotten “out of whack” in recent years, and pledged to crack down on exorbitant pay at companies like A.I.G. that were being bailed out with billons of taxpayer dollars. The exchange took place before the House Ways and Means Committee on March 3 — one week before Mr. Geithner claims he first learned that the failed insurance company was about to pay a round of bonuses that have since caused a political uproar. TOWNHALL.COM Dodd's political stock tumbles in Connecticut By ANDREW MIGA Friday, March 20, 2009 Full article Andrew Miga Townhall.Com Excerpts: Democrats may want to start thinking about a bailout for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, whose political stock has slipped amid the financial meltdown. As a five-term Democrat who blew out his last two opponents by 2-1 margins in a blue state that President Barack Obama won handily, Dodd, D-Conn., should be cruising to re-election in 2010. Instead, he's feeling heat from a Republican challenger eager to make him a poster boy for the tumult in the housing and financial markets. A recent poll showed former Rep. Rob Simmons running about even with Dodd, a former national Democratic Party chairman. As head of the banking panel, Dodd, 64, has become a convenient target for voter anger over the economic crisis. MICHELLE MALKIN John McCain’s AIG bailout revisionism By Michelle Malkin March 17, 2009 12:53 PM Full article Michelle Malkin Excerpts: "... A day after he dismissed a federal bailout for American International Group, Republican John McCain announced Wednesday that circumstances had forced him to shift his position and that he supported the proposed $85 billion rescue of the insurance giant. McCain, who in recent days has slammed what he called Wall Street greed and corruption for causing the latest downward spiral of the stock market, said he had to change his position on AIG to protect millions of Americans who could be hurt if the company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection. “The government was forced to commit $85 billion,” McCain said in a statement. “These actions stem from failed regulation, reckless management and a casino culture on Wall Street that has crippled one of the most important companies in America... FOXNEWS.COM Rep. Mack Calls for Geithner to Resign or Be Fired Over AIG Bonuses The Florida Republican becomes the first lawmaker on Capitol Hill to call for the treasury secretary's ouster. FOXNews.com Wednesday, March 18, 2009 Full article Fox News.Com>/a> Excerpts: Florida Republican Rep. Connie Mack called for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to lose his job Wednesday, becoming the first Capitol Hill lawmaker to call for his ouster over AIG's using tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for executive bonuses. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., later joined in the call Wednesday. Mack told FOX News that Geithner should resign or the administration should fire him. "The American people certainly don't see any competence in him. And I think he's got a lot of questions to answer," he said. Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In Dodd Also Top Recipient From AIG-$103,100-Obama second $101,332 Dodd Also Tops Money From Fannie and Freddie FOXBusiness.COM Rich Edson Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Full article Rich Edson Fox Business.Com Excerpts: Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax. The move represents somewhat of an about-face for the Senator. While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax. The amendment made it into the final version of the bill, and is law. Separately, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org. Tuesday, September 16, 2008 MIKE'S AMERICA Financial Crisis a Democrat Scandal About Me Currently living in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Mike has taken a keen interest in politics and government since his days as a young whippersnapper in Ohio. There, he organized College Republicans clubs, worked as a professional staffer on two statewide campaigns and was elected to the Delaware County Republican Central Committee among other achievements. In 1986 he began graduate studies in government at Columbia University where he specialized in National Security matters under the tutelage of former National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Democrat Scandals Leaving New York in 1988 he moved to Washington, D.C. to become a White House Intern in the Political Office of President Ronald Reagan. With backing from the first Bush Administration he spent four years at the Environmental Protection Agency. He has lived on Hilton Head since 1996 where he writes, photographs and gardens. Full article Mike's America Excerpts: Democrats have spent more time investigating Sarah Palin than they have the crooks in their own party who are responsible for the financial crisis! Democrat Scandals The current financial crisis was sparked by the failure of the huge government backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac whose fraudulent accounting practices and willingness to encourage banks to make bad loans to people who could not afford them have undermined faith in the financial sector of the U.S. economy. Caught in this mess are millions of Americans who have either had their homes foreclosed or whose investments or employment with the affected banks, mortgage companies and investment houses has come crashing down. All Americans are affected by the downturn in the economy caused by this crisis and leaving taxpayers left to clean up the mess estimated to cost $150 billion or more. Waters Helped Bank Whose Stock She Once Owned California Democrat Has Championed Minority-Owned OneUnited on Capitol Hill and Criticized Its Government Regulators MARCH 12, 2009 By SUSAN SCHMIDT Full article Wall Street Journal Excerpts: WASHINGTON -- When Rep. Barney Frank was looking to aid a Boston-based lender last fall, the Massachusetts Democrat urged Maxine Waters, a colleague on the House Financial Services Committee, to "stay out of it," he says. The reason: Ms. Waters, a longtime congresswoman from California, had close ties to the minority-owned institution, OneUnited Bank. Ms. Waters and her husband have both held financial stakes in the bank. Until recently, her husband was a director. At the same time, Ms. Waters has publicly boosted OneUnited's executives and criticized its government regulators during congressional hearings. Last fall, she helped secure the bank a meeting with Treasury officials. From: Hot Air Maxine Waters intervened with regulators to protect personal investment posted at 10:48 am on March 13, 2009 by Ed Morrissey Excerpts: Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring liberal politicians, has come under scrutiny because of bailout funds that went to a bank in which her husband had owned stock and served on the board. Democrat Scandals Waters was a senior member of the congressional committee dealing with the financial crisis when OneUnited Bank — one of the nation’s largest minority-owned institutions — received $12 million in bailout funds. Her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000 in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for which public financial disclosure statements are available. PAJAMAS MEDIA Follow the (Democratic) Money: A Scandal Guide The "culture of corruption" brought down the GOP in 2006. Republicans hope the same will be true in 2010 for Democrats. December 15, 2008 - by Jennifer Rubin Congress Lies Low To Avoid Bailout Blame By TERRY JONES INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:30 PM PT Congress says it likely will adjourn this month having done nothing on the most important issue in America right now: the financial meltdown from the subprime lending crisis. Full article INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Excerpts: "...Funny, since it was a Democrat-led Congress that helped cause the problems in the first place. When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently barked "no" at reporters for daring to ask if Democrats deserved any blame for the meltdown, you saw denial in action. Pelosi and her followers would have you believe this all happened because of President Bush and his loyal Senate lapdog, John McCain. Or that big, bad predatory Wall Street banks deserve all the blame. "The American people are not protected from the risk-taking and the greed of these financial institutions," Pelosi said recently, as she vowed congressional hearings. Only one problem: It's untrue..." WALL STREET JOURNAL The Greatest Scandal JULY 28, 2008 Full article Wall Street Journal Excerpts: The profound failure of inner-city public schools to teach children may be the nation's greatest scandal. The differences between the two Presidential candidates on this could hardly be more stark. John McCain is calling for alternatives to the system; Barack Obama wants the kids to stay within that system. We think the facts support Senator McCain. "Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent and diplomas that open doors of opportunity," said Mr. McCain in remarks recently to the NAACP. "When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a choice in the education of their children." Some parents may opt for a better public school or a charter school; others for a private school. The point, said the Senator, is that "no entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity." Mr. McCain cited the Washington, D.C., Opportunity Scholarship Program, a federally financed school-choice program for disadvantaged kids signed into law by President Bush in 2004. Qualifying families in the District of Columbia receive up to $7,500 a year to attend private K-12 schools. To qualify, a child must live in a family with a household income below 185% of the poverty level. Some 1,900 children participate; 99% are black or Hispanic. Average annual income is just over $22,000 for a family of four. In Campaign, One Man's Pragmatism Is Another's Flip-Flopping By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page A06 A Pardon For A Friend, A Good Deal For Dodd Full article Jonathan Weisman The Washington Post Excerpts: It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department. Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before. A man will do a lot for a former real estate partner. It was reported here two weeks ago that Downe's real estate development partner, William "Bucky" Kessinger of Kansas City, Mo., purchased a 1,700-square-foot home in Ireland with Dodd in 1994 for $160,000. Democrat Scandals Downe's name appeared on the transfer document filed in the Irish Land Registry as the witness to Kessinger's signature. Kessinger owned two-thirds of the property, Dodd one-third. Dodd's spokesman told The Courant in 2001 that the senator and Downe, who pleaded guilty to insider trading in 1993, had been friends for many years. No one mentioned that Dodd and Downe together purchased a condominium in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Dodd bought Downe's share 3 1/2 years later. NPR Calls Fade For Burris' Resignation From Senate by David Schaper Full article David Schaper NPR Excerpts:
Sen. Roland Burris, seen here Feb. 18, appears to have weathered calls for his resignation. The Illinois Democrat came under fire after he changed his story about the circumstances surrounding his controversial appointment to the Senate by disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich. AP
All Things Considered, March 4, 2009 · Democratic Party leaders in Illinois and in Washington now seem resigned to the idea that Sen. Roland Burris won't resign. "He told me last week he's not going to resign," says Dick Durbin, Illinois' senior senator and one of several top Democrats who had urged Burris to step down. "I've got a lot of work to do. I'm going to work with him, do everything I can for this state." Burris had been under pressure to resign since changing his story a few weeks ago about the circumstances surrounding his controversial appointment to the Senate by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was later impeached and ousted from office. Burris remains under investigation for possible perjury and ethics violations related to his appointment, but he seems to have weathered the storm for now. MACON.COM Brown says he hasn’t filed federal, state taxes in 2 years By Travis Fain - tfain@macon.com Full article MACON.COM Excerpts: ATLANTA — Nearly 10 percent of Georgia state legislators are late filing or paying their state taxes, and state Sen. Robert Brown is apparently among them. Brown, D-Macon, said Wednesday he’s not sure whether he actually owes the state or federal government any money because he hasn’t filed tax returns. He said he’s gotten extensions, but he declined to give more information or say for what years he received filing extensions. He told Atlanta station WXIA-TV that he had not filed his income taxes at least in the past two years, according to a report on the station’s Web site. He volunteered the information while arguing against a change in Senate rules that would make it easier for the body to take action against, or even expel, members who don’t pay their taxes. BRIGHT HALL Scandals Strike House Democrat... Again, and Again Joshua Sharp Posted: Dec 8th 2008 12:13AM Filed under: Politics, USC Full article Joshua Sharp Brighthall.aol.com Excerpts: As if Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) didn't have enough reporters bugging him already, Politico reported late last week that Rangel kicked $80,000 to his son to make cheap websites for Rangel's Congressional campaign and National Leadership PAC. The sites have a bare-bones design, are fraught with basic errors ("Sen. Barak Obama"), and should have cost less than $100 to make, according to Politico's resident expert. The prominent House Democrat has already spent much of the last few months acting like an Old School Republican: embroiled in scandal and attacking the New York Times for unflattering media coverage. Democrat Scandals But even Ted Stevens was less brazen than Rangel seems to be. The Washington Post first revealed in July that Rangel used Congressional letterhead to set up meetings soliciting donations to The Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service. The center has been derided as Rangel's "Monument to Me," after the congressman jump-started the project with a $1.9 million earmark. NRO National Review Online Krugman Truth Squad Hatred can be so blinding. June 21, 2005, 10:13 a.m. Full article Donald Luskin NRO Excerpts: It seems there is no limit to Paul Krugman’s hatred of the Republican party. And apparently there’s no limit to the New York Times’s willingness to embarrass itself by printing yet another hilarious error-filled column by America’s most dangerous liberal pundit. In his Friday column, Krugman attempts to spit out the salacious details of scandals involving Republican politicians in Ohio. But what Krugman doesn’t seem to know is that many of the politicians he’s talking about are Democrats! Democrat Scandals And because the Times does no fact-checking of its op-ed columns, his absurd blunders now live forever in the “newspaper of record.” Krugman’s column concerns apparent improprieties in the management of investment funds by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Ohio’s state government is dominated by Republicans, so for Krugman the BWC scandals are “an object lesson in what happens when you have one-party rule untrammeled by any quaint notions of independent oversight.” This all started in April when the scandal now referred to as “coingate” was documented on the Angry Left hate-blogs that Krugman sources. Apparently the BWC made a highly unconventional investment in rare coins managed by a high-profile Ohio Republican fundraiser, Tom Noe. It remains to be seen how much real fire there is to “coingate,” but there is certainly plenty of smoke: Though Noe is an expert in coin investments, he is also currently under investigation by the FBI for campaign finance violations, while other matters of ethical impropriety — of unknown merit — have been raised. [Jim Lindgren, July 14, 2008 at 2:28pm] Trackbacks Jamie Gorelick's ties to Fannie Mae and What She's Doing Now-- Full article The Volokh Conspiracy Excerpts: In reading this article about Crony Capitalism at Fannie Mae (tip to Instapundit), I noticed that Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based on Enron-style accounting. She was Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003 (Fannie’s fraudulent accounting scheme was made public in 2004). This is the same Jamie Gorelick who was Deputy Attorney General in the mid 1990s and was reported to have been the author of the Clinton Administration’s WALL against sharing intelligence data between foreign and domestic agencies. Without the policies instituted by Gorelick still in place in 2001, officials might have learned more about the 9/11 attacks before the planes hit the buildings. The Wall Street Journal quoted Attorney General Ashcroft on the possible influence of Gorelick's wall: Democrat Scandals "In the days before September 11, the wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After the FBI arrested Moussaoui, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall. "When the CIA finally told the FBI that al-Midhar and al-Hazmi were in the country in late August, agents in New York searched for the suspects. But because of the wall, FBI headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join the hunt for the suspected terrorists. "At that time, a frustrated FBI investigator wrote headquarters, quote, 'Whatever has happened to this — someday someone will die — and wall or not — the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain 'problems.' " ChicagoTribune.Com Archive for Monday, February 23, 2009 Excerpts from editorials urging Burris to resign By The Associated Press February 23, 2009 Roland Burris, resign. Excerpts: The benefit of the doubt had already been stretched thin and taut by the time Roland Burris offered his third version of the events leading to his appointment to the U.S. Senate. It finally snapped like a rubber band, popping him on that long Pinocchio nose of his, when he came out with version four. Let’s see if we have it right: Burris had zero contact with any of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s cronies about his interest in the Senate seat being vacated by President Barack Obama unless you count that conversation with former chief of staff Lon Monk, and, on further reflection, the ones with insiders John Harris, Doug Scofield and John Wyma and, oh yeah, the governor’s brother and fundraising chief, Robert Blagojevich. Democrat Scandals But Burris didn’t raise a single dollar for the now ex-governor as a result of those contacts because that could be construed as a quid pro quo and besides, everyone he asked refused to donate. The story gets worse with every telling. Enough. Roland Burris must resign. Chicago Tribune. Feb. 18. TIME Will Burris Be The Next To Fall in the Blago Scandal? One can forgive the voting public of Illinois for not knowing whether to laugh or cry these days. By Eric Ferkenhoff Chicago Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009 Full article Eric Ferkenhoff TIME Excerpts: Just when it seemed that the Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal might actually recede from the spotlight, with the accused governor booted out of office and his seemingly unimpeachable Senate pick Roland Burris firmly ensconced in Washington, comes another baffling chapter in the saga. (See pictures of the remarkable world of Rod Blagojevich.) Worse yet, the latest accusations of impropriety concern Burris himself, a former state attorney general who was appointed the state's junior Senator last month over initially loud objections from fellow Democrats and Republicans in Washington and Springfield. Burris eventually won the nod of party leadership in Washington on the basis of his long, unblemished record of public service and strong denials that he had ever bargained with Blagojevich, who allegedly tried to sell Barack Obama's senate seat (a charge Blagojevich denies). Democrat Scandals But as he returned home this past weekend to kick off a listening tour of the state he has represented for over a month, Burris suddenly faced tough questions regarding his own possibly conflicting statements about whether he had had contact last fall with Blagojevich's brother about raising money for the governor. And so now, after a whirlwind six weeks that saw the governor defiantly resist calls to resign before finally being ousted, resignation calls are echoing again. The controversy over Burris stems from the testimony he delivered on Jan. 8 to the House panel that impeached Blagojevich. Democrat Scandals His appearance came after Blagojevich surprised all observers by making the appointment but before the Illinois Secretary of State had agreed to certify the nomination and the U.S. Senate had accepted Burris into its exclusive club. At the time, Burris testified that he had not had contact with Blagojevich's brother, who was the Governor's chief fundraiser and is also reportedly under federal scrutiny for allegedly putting the squeeze on Senate hopefuls (a charge he, too, has denied). After his testimony, Burris said: "I feel I passed the test with flying colors. I have nothing to hide." FREEREPUBLIC.COM LARRY MARGASAK Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 9:08:43 AM by jessduntno Analysis: Democrats self-destructing over ethics Full article FREEREPUBLIC.COM LARRY MARGASAK Excerpts: WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration and the new Congress are quickly handing over to Republicans the same "culture of corruption" issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power. Senate Democrats accepted Burris because they believed what he told them: He was clean. Burris now admits he tried to raise money for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who authorities say sought to sell President Barack Obama's former Senate seat. "The story seems to be changing day by day," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday. The political mess for the Democratic Party, however, isn't Burris' conduct alone; it's the pattern that has developed so quickly over the past few months. --The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is the subject of a... Towhnall.Com Illinois gov.: Burris should resign from Senate Friday, February 20, 2009 Full article Towhnall.Com Excerpts: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says Sen. Roland Burris should resign his post for the good of the state. Quinn said Friday that his fellow Democrat, Burris, is an honorable man. But he says controversy surrounding Burris' appointment has cast a shadow over his service in the Senate. The governor says a new senator should be chosen by special election. Burris was appointed by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was later impeached and removed from office. Free Republic Fannie/Freddie Scandal Dwarfs Enron, WorldCom (combined - where are the hearings & investigations?) Rush Limbaugh .com ^ | 10/01/08 | The Maha Posted on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 4:19:19 PM by Libloather Fannie/Freddie Scandal Dwarfs Enron, WorldCom Full article Free Republic Excerpts: RUSH: Investor's Business Daily today has just a great, great editorial: "Should Congress Be 'Perp-Walked'?" They say, "A federal grand jury in New York is probing the accounting shenanigans at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's about time, and we hope it doesn't end there. Remember the early 2000s, when companies such as WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and Xerox suddenly and spectacularly were revealed to have been cooking their books? Remember the glee expressed by Washington politicians, especially Democrats, as they watched CEOs and their underlings get perp-walked out of their buildings and into federal custody? Enron became the poster child for corporate misdeeds. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS In the accounting crisis of 2002, CEO Ken Lay was one of the most loathed human beings on Earth. And no, that's not an exaggeration. "Here was California Attorney General William Lockyer, one of many Democrats on the national scene who gloated at the downfall of the Enron chief and others: 'I would love to personally escort Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey.' Lockyer wasn't the only one swept up in a spiteful prosecutorial frenzy. Sure, some of the prosecutions were deserved. But some were excessive, part of a corporate witch hunt. As noted in a 2003 study by Kathleen Brickey, a Washington University law professor, the Justice Department brought 50 major fraud prosecutions from March 2002 to August 2003. An estimated 90 corporate officers were involved. That's a lot of prosecutions. ... DEMOCRAT SCANDALS "Democrats wasted no time calling this a 'GOP' scandal, tarring any Republican official with charges of corruption for taking so much as a dollar from any of the companies. Never mind that Democrats were also prominent on the political gift lists. Fanning the fire were news media highlighting Republican ties to scandal-plagued firms while all but ignoring Democrat links. Here's how James B. Lockhart III, head of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, described the two companies back in 2006, before the meltdown occurred..." Fannie and Freddie, "We mention all this because we now have an opportunity, thanks to the New York grand jury, to probe perhaps the greatest financial crime ever." Do you understand that Fannie and Freddie "dwarfs Enron," and WorldCom, "in size and scope," and that's why we're fit to be tied here! CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM The silence of the Dems February 20, Full article CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM Excerpts: By what he said and what he chose not to say, Roland Burris lied his way into the United States Senate. Our questions, then, for leaders of Burris' Democratic Party: Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Harry Reid, Mayor Richard Daley, Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias—what's your moral calculus here? • Do you think it's acceptable for someone to take a Senate seat by lies of commission and of omission? That is, by saying what isn't true—and by declining to say what is? • Are you comfortable having Burris represent the people of this state—people who wouldn't trust him if he said in a sworn affidavit that the Earth is round? Tuesday, February 17, 2009 PHILLY.COM Senator Roland Burris Caught A Second Time? The Word Weasel Full article Philly.Com Excerpts: Until this past weekend, Roland Burris was known merely as a tainted U.S. Senate appointee, tapped for his seat by a tainted Democratic governor. But, in the wake of fresh revelations, we need to urgently update the Burris profile. Now he's a tainted appointee who, prior to his appointment, engaged in potentially tainted conversations with the brother of the tainted Democratic governor; worse yet, he engaged in a coverup while under oath last month, declining to mention his contacts with the gubernatorial brother. Burris' clam-up occurred during the Illinois impeachment proceedings that were directed against the tainted governor who appointed him. Got all that? What a tangled web he weaves. It has long seemed obvious, at least to me, that voters should have the right to choose a new senator in the event that a vacancy occurs in their state. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS That scenario seems far more democratic than simply having a governor designate a winner. And that scenario seemed to be even more of a no-brainer in light of recent events - notably in New York (where the accidental Democratic governor, elevated to the job thanks to Client 9's cavortings the call girl, wound up ticking off the entire Kennedy family), and in Illinois (where Rod Blagojevich, even while his head was being fitted for the noose, gave us Burris). THE BEST & WORST MANAGERS OF 2004 -- THE WORST MANAGERS Fannie Mae Full article BUSINESS WEEK Excerpts: On Labor Day, he was a favorite to be Treasury Secretary should John Kerry win the White House. At yearend, he had left under a cloud. The charmed career of Franklin D. Raines -- a poor kid from Seattle who climbed through Harvard and a Rhodes Scholarship to become White House budget director and CEO of Fannie Mae (FNM ) -- crashed to a halt on Dec. 21. That was six days after the Securities & Exchange Commission's top accountant declared that mortgage giant Fannie misstated earnings for 3 1/2 years, leading to an estimated $9 billion restatement that will wipe out 40% of profits from 2001 to mid-2004. Supporters of Raines, 55, insisted that he wasn't culpable for Fannie's misuse of obscure accounting standards. But that argument didn't wash. Raines was in charge in 2001, when Fannie chose to create what the SEC dryly called "its own unique methodology" to calculate the earnings impact of its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives. Raines gave Chief Financial Officer J. Timothy Howard free rein and tolerated "weak or nonexistent" financial controls, according to a scathing report issued in September by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Fannie's regulator. Worse, the CEO failed to manage the scandal. When sibling Freddie Mac's accounting first came under fire in mid-2003, Raines's arrogant insistence that Fannie was above reproach spurred OFHEO to do a white-glove examination. And when that uncovered the improper bookkeeping, Raines insisted on an SEC review, which he maintained would vindicate Fannie. "Frank was supposed to be the great political risk manager," says independent banking analyst Bert Ely in Alexandria, Va. "Instead, he compounded the problems." WALL STREET JOURNAL WASHINGTON WIRE Do Democrats Have a Corruption Problem? Susan Davis reports on politics. February 11, 2009, 2:46 pm Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL Excerpts: Congressional Democrats swept into power in 2006 after a steady drumbeat of attacks against Republicans for allowing a systemic “culture of corruption” to define their majority. It wasn’t a new charge, but it took a perfect storm of GOP scandals that year — lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California, and Florida Rep. Mark Foley of Florida — for it to register with the electorate. Now, with solid Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans are echoing the same attacks of corruption among Democrats—and they may have a point. Consider the following: Capital Research.Org A New Collection Method, Courtesy of Hilda Solis’s Husband February 6th, 2009 by Matthew Vadum Full article Matthew Vadum Capital Research Center Excerpts: The Obama administration has achieved yet another historic first by developing an extremely effective way to collect deliquent taxes, news reports suggest. All one need do is have the president nominate the tax deadbeat’s spouse to a cabinet position. The White House discovered this fascinating new approach to collection science a few hours ago when Sam Sayyad, husband of would-be Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, coughed up about $6,400 less than a day after news reports surfaced that he owed the money. Solis’s confirmation process had been put on hold, but who knows what will happen now. We have a profile of Solis by Philip Klein in the current Labor Watch. NEW YORK TIMES.COM Angelo Who? Published: February 8, 2009 Full article New York Times Excerpts: After months of delay, Senator Christopher Dodd has offered a fuller but less than satisfactory account of the V.I.P. mortgage loans extended to him by a key player in the subprime mortgage crisis. Mr. Dodd, the banking committee chairman who oversees remedies for the continuing financial crisis, denied any ethical wrongdoing or “sweetheart deals” in the $781,000 house refinancings he got through the Countrywide Financial Corporation. Even so, the senator announced his mortgages would be refinanced elsewhere as he decried being listed in internal loan files as a “Friend of Angelo.” That’s Angelo Mozilo, the Countrywide chief executive who had a lot of Washington friends happy to avail themselves of attractive mortgage deals before being overtaken by the subprime scandal. Last summer, a former Countrywide executive disclosed the V.I.P. program and estimated that it could save Mr. Dodd more than $70,000 across the years of his loans. The senator denied any Angelo friendship or cut-rate favoritism in what he said seemed a mere courtesy service, and he promised a detailed accounting. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Jonah Goldberg: Democrats are hypocrites when it comes to paying taxes They say taxes are a patriotic duty. So why did Geithner and Daschle have trouble paying them? Jonah Goldberg February 3, 2009 Full article Jonah Goldberg THE LOS ANGELES TIMES Excerpts: During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden insisted that paying your taxes is a patriotic duty. No, scratch that. He said that supporting a tax hike was the American thing to do. "It's time to be patriotic," he told America's putative tax slackers. When asked whether he might be questioning the patriotism of people who don't want higher taxes, Biden, as is his wont, took things to the next rhetorical level. Forget patriotism, insisted Joe, paying higher taxes is a religious obligation. The man who gave an average of $369 a year to charity over the previous decade fulfills his religious obligations by cutting a tax check -- a check he's required to cut by law.
Democrat Scandals * Tom Daschle withdraws as Health and Human Services nominee * Nancy Killefer withdraws as Obama's choice for performance officer * Treasury secretary nominee Geithner apologizes for 'avoidable mistakes' on taxes DEMOCRAT SCANDALS Now it's always perilous to take Biden's statements too seriously, but it does seem eminently fair to say that his comments reflect a common, if not universal, attitude among Democrats. Taxes aren't a "necessary evil" so much as a joyous affirmation of the possibilities of government and the lifeblood of a more hopeful society. "Taxes are what you pay to be an American" -- like "membership fees," says Democratic language guru George Lakoff. CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION – CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS Feb. 4, 2009 – 8:16 p.m. As Rangel Investigation Slogs on, GOP Renews Calls for Him to Step Down By Bennett Roth, CQ Staff Full article Bennet Roth Excerpts: Despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi ’s desire for the House ethics probe of Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel to end early last month, the investigation appears to be dragging on. The ethics committee has still not voted on how to proceed in its probe of alleged financial and fundraising improprieties by the New York Democrat. The Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group, released a report Wednesday saying that Rangel, who was first elected to the House in 1970, had failed to report purchases, sales or ownership of assets 28 times since 1978 as required on his financial disclosure forms. REAL CLEAR POLITICS February 03, 2009 Daschle is Indefensible By Marie Cocco Full article Marie Cocco REAL CLEAR POLITICS Excerpts: WASHINGTON -- No need to fumble for words that sum up the stew of hypocrisy, arrogance and insiderism that is the unfolding saga of Tom Daschle. This is the audacity of audacity. Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader turned multimillionaire power broker, is defending his nomination to become secretary of health and human services despite having failed to pay all his taxes, despite having failed to tell President Barack Obama's transition team about his six-figure nonpayment before his appointment was announced, and despite having raked in about a quarter of a million dollars in fees for giving his insider insight to health insurers and others that the department he wishes to run happens to regulate. Rush Limbaugh now has the talking points of his most fevered right-wing dreams. POWER LINE January 30, 2009 Posted by John at 9:19 PM Full article John Power Line Excerpts: As a life-long politician, Tom Daschle never earned much money. But he retired from the Senate, after being defeated for re-election by John Thune, as a multimillionaire. He retired to Georgetown, of course, not to South Dakota. This happens a lot in Washington, and Daschle's case is pretty typical. His wife Linda is or was a lobbyist, and she was the one who reported the family's income. (This is inference, since Daschle consistently chose not to make his tax returns public.) Linda Daschle made millions "lobbying" on behalf of various corporate interests. There was no conflict of interest, the Democrats assured us, because Linda Daschle only "lobbied" the House of Representatives, not the Senate, where her husband was either the Majority or the Minority Leader for much of his career. But wait! If a company hired Linda to lobby House members, the check they wrote went straight into the Senate Majority Leader's joint checking account. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS It would have been a felony to write the check to Tom in exchange for political services, but a check to Linda, that went into the same bank account? No problem! She wasn't lobbying the Senate! So Tom Daschle became a multimillionaire. Another thing that happens a lot in Washington is that when Democrats get appointed to visible, high-ranking positions in the Executive Branch, they suddenly discover that they owe a lot more money in taxes. We saw that with Tim Geithner. The latest example is Daschle, Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services: MSNBC MAYOR BECKER is a DEMOCRAT MSNBC did not mention the fact that Mayor Becker is a Democrat, neither did the New York Times nor the New York Daily News, all liberal newspapers. Not until I visited someone's blog did I find mention of a Democrat. Before and after that 2 other Democrats Mayors had either a sexual scandal or a bribery scandal the Mayor of Baltimore, bribery, the Mayor of Seattle, kissing a minor inappropriately. Same result, could find no mention of either being a Democrat, till I went to a blog. Democrat Scandals Mayor Gary Becker on charges including second-degree sexual assault of a minor. Pall Cast on Racine Since Becker Charges WTMJ-TV and JSOnline.com Jan. 16, 2009 Full article MSNBC Excerpts: The atmosphere at Racine City Hall, and in the city of Racine, has dramatically changed since the arrest and charges of Mayor Gary Becker on charges including second-degree sexual assault of a minor. RACINE - The atmosphere at Racine City Hall, and in the city of Racine, has dramatically changed since the arrest and charges of Mayor Gary Becker on charges including second-degree sexual assault of a minor. "I haven't seen anything quite like it in terms of being in a workplace where it's been so somber," said Racine City Administrator Ben Hughes on 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News." BALTIMORESUN.COM Mayor Sheila Dixon indicted Counts of perjury, theft, misconduct in office among 12-count indictment By Annie Linskey and Julie Bykowicz annie.linskey@baltsun.com and julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com BALTIMORESUN.COM January 9, 2009 Full article By Annie Linskey and Julie Bykowicz annie.linskey@baltsun.com and julie.bykowicz@baltsun.com Excerpts: Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon was charged today with 12 counts of felony theft, perjury, fraud and misconduct in office, becoming the city's first sitting mayor to be criminally indicted. Democrat Scandals The case stems in part from at least $15,348 in gifts Dixon allegedly received from her former boyfriend, prominent city developer Ronald H. Lipscomb, while she was City Council president. She also is accused of using as much as $3,400 in gift cards, some donated to her office for distribution to "needy families," to purchase Best Buy electronics and other items for herself and her staff. Lipscomb was not indicted in the Dixon case, but he and City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton were charged this week in a separate $12,500 bribery scheme. Both cases grew out of a nearly three-year probe by the state prosecutor into City Hall corruption Spartan Tailgate Excerpts: Prediction: the CIA scandal will bring down Nancy PelosiOK, this liberal Democrat feels that Pelosi's explanations do not pass the smell test. I predict she will not be Speaker within 30 days. I trust Leon Panetta's word 100 times over hers. Her only glimmer of hope is Senator Bob Graham's diary. He has obsessive-compulsive disorder and he writes every moment of his life in his diary. He says the CIA claims he was in briefings on days when his diary says otherwise. It's sad, but that's my prediction. NEW YORK POST Jonah Goldberg Dec. 14, 2008 How often have you thought, as you watched some film about the Mob, or some television series about corruption in high places, that, as entertaining as it might be, it fails a basic plausibility test? We know that people do bad things, stupid things. But there's a clichéd theatricality about it all on the screen that leaves it looking more like entertaining parody than realism. Democrat Scandals Nobody actually tries to pull off that stuff, do they? The language is especially overdone. Nobody really speaks like that, surely? Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic Governor of the great state of Illinois. Mr Blagojevich was indicted on Tuesday on corruption charges after federal investigators caught him on tape discussing ways in which he might personally profit from his authority to name someone to a vacant seat in the US Senate WALL STREET JOURNAL Whitewashing Fannie Mae Congress begins its self-absolution campaign. December 11, 2008 Full article WALL STREET JOURNAL Excerpts: * Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met Tuesday to examine "The Role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Financial Crisis." Alas, Mr. Waxman didn't come to bury Fan and Fred, but to bury the truth. Democrat Scandals The two government-sponsored mortgage giants have long maintained they were merely unwitting victims of a financial act of God. That is, while the rest of the market went crazy over subprime and "liar" loans, Fan and Fred claimed to be the grownups of the mortgage market. There they were, the fable goes, quietly underwriting their 80% fixed-rate 30-year mortgages when -- Ka-Pow! -- they were blindsided by the greedy excesses of the subprime lenders who lacked their scruples. But previously undisclosed internal documents that are now in Mr. Waxman's possession and that we've seen tell a different story. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS Memos and emails at the highest levels of Fannie and Freddie management in 2004 and 2005 paint a picture of two companies that saw their market share eroded by such products as option-ARMs and interest-only mortgages. The two companies were prepared to walk ever further out on the risk curve to maintain their market position. WALL STREET JOURNAL REAL CLEAR POLITICS December 09, 2008 Democrats Must Break With Rangel By Froma Harrop Full article Froma Harrop Real Clear Politics Excerpts: Company gives $100,000 to congressman's pet cause. Congressman protects company tax loophole worth tens of millions. Bam! Company gives pet cause another $100,000 check. DEMOCRAT SCANDALS Sounds like old times in the Republican Congress of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. But this is happening in the Democratic Congress of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. What a way to greet the new dawn of the Obama era. The congressman is Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The cause is the future Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service at the City University of New York. And the company is Nabors Industries, an oil driller that has pledged a total of $1 million to the school. Send to a Friend | Print Article REAL CLEAR POLITICS January 30, 2007 Dems Should Dump Ethically Challenged Harry Reid By Dennis Byrne Excerpts: Senator Harry Reid Implicated In Land Deal The Nevada lawmaker has been implicated in yet another land scheme that this time could net him a tidy $50,000 to $290,000. Los Angeles Times investigative reporters Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger, this week revealed that Reid paid $166 an acre for valuable northern Arizona land whose market value, according to the county assessor, four years ago was worth $2,144 an acre. Democrat Scandals Who would be a big enough fool to sell Reid the land at such a ludicrously low price? A long-time pal who would financially benefit from some obscure legislation that the senator has often sponsored. It worked like this, according to the Times: Democrat Scandals In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend of 50 years. Democrat Scandals The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned. Reid's price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time. Harry Reid seems to be one of the most partisan, mean spirited Senators, not only in the Senate but in all of congress. Democrat Scandals Not only that he seems to make many mistakes in his role, and presently with every advantage to be favorite in his next contest, he is running way behind in the latest polling. March 13, 2009 From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: Judicial Watch Uncovers Documents Detailing Pelosi's Repeated Requests for Military Travel Visit Judicial Watch Judicial Watch Democrat Scandals New documents uncovered by Judicial Watch suggest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been treating the Air Force like her own personal airline. This discovery has led to a barrage of news coverage. The Pelosi documents were a lead story on The Drudge Report for two days straight, while I conducted a number of television interviews, including CNN and Fox News. We obtained the documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). They include internal Pentagon email correspondence detailing attempts by Pentagon staff struggling to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's 11th hour cancellations and changes. Democrat Scandals Here are a few highlights from the documents. (You can read them in full by clicking here.) * In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, "Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi's team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?...[T]here's no need to block every weekend 'just in case'..." The email also notes that Pelosi's office had, "a history of canceling many of their past requests." * One Pentagon official complained about the "hidden costs" associated with the speaker's last minute changes and cancellations. "We have...folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc." Democrat Scandals * The documents include a discussion of House Ethics rules and Defense Department policies as they apply to the speaker's requests for staff, spouses and extended family to accompany her on military aircraft. In May 2008, for example, Pelosi requested that her husband join her on a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) into Iraq. The Pentagon explained to Pelosi that the agency has a written policy prohibiting spouses from joining CODEL's into combat zones. * Documents obtained from the U.S. Army include correspondence from Speaker Pelosi's office requesting an Army escort and three military planes to transport Pelosi and other members of Congress to Cleveland, Ohio, for the funeral services of the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Pelosi noted in her letter of August 22, 2008, that such a request, labeled "Operation Tribute" was an "exception to standard policy." * The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. "It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable...The speaker will want to know where the planes are..." wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs. In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker." Democrat Scandals * During another email exchange Pentagon staff advised Kay King that one Pelosi military aircraft request could not be met because of "crew rest requirements" and offered to help secure commercial travel. Kay King responded: "We appreciate the efforts to help the codel [sic] fly commercially but you know the problem that creates with spouses. If we can find another way to assist with military assets, we would like to do that." Honestly, can you believe the arrogance? These emails reek of entitlement and privilege. And they show Pelosi's office is oblivious about wasting taxpayer money with last minute cancellations and other demands. This is no way to treat our nation's military. Democrat Scandals Of course, this is not the first time Pelosi has been under fire for her military travel requests. In 2007, the speaker was hammered in the press for requesting a 42-seat Air Force carrier to ferry her and her staff back and forth between San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, by comparison, was allowed access to a 12-seat commuter jet for security reasons after the events of 9/11. Contrary to what some reports in the media suggest, we found that Pelosi used military jets twice as much in two years as Hastert did in three years. We're experiencing the usual attacks from the usual suspects on the Left. But in the end, the documents speak for themselves. I'm proud of what Judicial Watch was able to accomplish with this document release. And I thank those of you whose financial support make this and all our other anti-corruption work possible. Judicial Watch Obtains Grand Jury Subpoenas Related to Federal Investigation of Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich – White House Advisers Listed On the heels of Judicial Watch's Pelosi document release, which ignited a media firestorm this week, Judicial Watch uncovered another set of documents that ought to gain interest. They relate to connections between the Obama White House and impeached former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was removed from office in January for trying to "sell" Obama's senate seat, among other notable transgressions. This week, as a result of an Illinois Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, we obtained a number of documents from Blagojevich's office related to federal investigations involving the former governor, including federal grand jury subpoenas. And you're never going to guess who's listed on these subpoenas: Obama White House advisors and other notable people connected to the national Democratic Party! Here are just a few of the key names. You can check out all of the subpoenas for yourself by clicking here: Democrat Scandals * Valerie Jarrett: Once labeled "the other side of Barack Obama's brain" by CBS news, Jarrett remains a close advisor to President Obama. Obama recently tapped Jarrett to chair his newly formed White House Council on Women and Girls. Jarrett was widely rumored to be a candidate to take over Obama's senate seat. * David Axelrod: Axelrod, Obama's top campaign strategist, now serves as a senior White House advisor. During the campaign, when asked about the search for a replacement for Obama's Senate seat, Axelrod told Fox News Chicago, "I know [Obama has] talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them." He later retracted the statement. Democrat Scandals * David Wilhelm: Wilhelm, a former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and campaign strategist for Bill Clinton, served as an informal advisor to the Obama campaign. He was also a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. * J.B. Pritzker: Obama named Mr. Pritzker's sister, Penny, to serve on his recently formed 15-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Penny Pritzker previously served as the Obama campaign's National Finance Chair. We filed our initial FOIA request all the way back on November 27, 2006, well before news broke of Blagojevich's scheme to put Obama's senate seat on the open market. Blagojevich's office at first claimed the subpoenas were exempt from disclosure, dlambro@washingtontimes.comforcing us to file a lawsuit on January 16, 2007 in the Cook County Illinois Circuit Court. Governor Pat Quinn's office finally released the grand jury subpoenas on March 4, 2009. Democrat Scandals You may recall, in January 2009, Judicial Watch obtained a separate set of documents specifically regarding Blagojevich's contacts with President Obama and his transition team. The documents include a December 3, 2008 letter from Barack Obama following a December 2, 2008 meeting with Blagojevich as well as a November 17, 2008 letter signed by former Presidential Transition Team co-chairs Valerie Jarrett and John Podesta providing Blagojevich with a list of transition team contacts. Judicial Watch Litigation Director Paul Orfanedes also testified to the 21-member Special Investigative Committee that recommended Blagojevich's impeachment to the Illinois House of Representatives. From the outset, the Obama team has refused to substantively discuss any connections to former Governor Blagojevich and the crimes that led to his impeachment. We now have independent confirmation that top Obama White House officials are caught up in a federal grand jury investigation. Democrat Scandals Of course, it would be helpful if President Obama kept his promises of transparency and finally released all documents related to this scandal. We don't expect that to happen. So we're going to keep battling to find out as much as we can -- with or without help from the Obama White House. A New Ethics War Brewing in Congress? Don't count on it... Politico posted an article this week talking about a new "ethics war" brewing in Congress. The point of the piece was that House Republicans are turning up the heat on Democrats by requesting an ethics probe into the relationship between earmarks and campaign contributions – a not-so-subtle jab at leading Democrats such as John Murtha, under fire for his relationship with PMA Group, "a lobby shop raided by federal authorities last year." Democrat Scandals It's also a shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who filed a dozen resolutions calling for investigations into a number of Republicans when she was in the minority. But here's a squib from the article that I found most interesting: The Republicans have stopped short of filing formal complaints against any Democratic member — a move that would require a response by the House ethics committee. Republicans say they don't want to ignite a full-blown ethics war like the one that dominated the House in the 1990s, but there's another cause for their caution: If they were to file a complaint against Murtha or anyone else, Democrats would retaliate by filing their own complaints against Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and Don Young (R-Alaska). Democrat Scandals Because of this threat of mutually assured destruction, no member has filed a formal ethics complaint against another member since Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) did it to DeLay in 2004 — and he did so only after it was clear that he wouldn't be returning to Congress. Not one ethics complaint filed by a member in five years! In other words, nothing has really changed. As long as Members of Congress are willing to protect each other (and only use "ethics" to score political points), we will never see any real attempt to hold corrupt members from either party accountable. And whatever happened to the congressional ethics reform promised by Democrats during the 2006 election cycle? You may recall I testified before a House special task force in 2007 to give my recommendations for the most effective way to clean up corruption in Congress. I was worried at the time that any reforms that made it through Congress would be too watered down to be effective. I was right to be worried. There has been no meaningful ethics reform. Republicans don't want the rules enforced. And neither do Democrats. The bottom line is this: As long as citizens and outside groups (like Judicial Watch) are prohibited from filing ethics complaints against corrupt members of Congress there will be no true ethics enforcement – no matter which party controls Congress. Until next week... Tom FittonPresident Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, educational foundation organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. Judicial Watch is dedicated to fighting government and judicial corruption and promoting a return to ethics and morality in our nation's public life. To make a tax-deductible contribution in support of our efforts THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY THE RIGHT OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE WAR POWER By William Lloyd Garrison and Others EMANCIPATION UNDER THE WAR POWER. Extracts from the speech of John Quincy Adams, delivered in the U.S.House of Representatives, April 14 and 15, 1842, on War with GreatBritain and Mexico:-- What I say is involuntary, because the subject has been brought intothe House from another quarter, as the gentleman himself admits. Democrat Scandals I would leave that institution to the exclusive consideration andmanagement of the States more peculiarly interested in it, just aslong as they can keep within their own bounds. So far, I admit thatCongress has no power to meddle with it. Democrat Scandals As long as they do not stepout of their own bounds, and do not put the question to the people ofthe United States, whose peace, welfare and happiness are all atstake, so long I will agree to leave them to themselves. But when amember from a free State brings forward certain resolutions, forwhich, instead of reasoning to disprove his positions, you vote acensure upon him, and that without hearing, it is quite anotheraffair. At the time this was done, I said that, as far as I couldunderstand the resolutions proposed by the gentleman from Ohio, (Mr.Giddings,) there were some of them for which I was ready to vote, andsome which I must vote against; and I will now tell this House, myconstituents, and the world of mankind, that the resolution againstwhich I would have voted was that in which he declares that what arecalled the slave States have the exclusive right of consultation onthe subject of slavery. Democrat ScandalsFor that resolution I never would vote,because I believe that it is not just, and does not containconstitutional doctrine. I believe that, so long as the slave Statesare able to sustain their institutions without going abroad orcalling upon other parts of the Union to aid them or act on thesubject, so long I will consent never to interfere. I have said this,and I repeat it; but if they come to the free States, and say tothem, you must help us to keep down our slaves, you must aid us in aninsurrection and a civil war, then I say that with that call comes afull and plenary power to this House and to the Senate over the wholesubject. It is a war power. Democrat Scandals I say it is a war power, and when yourcountry is actually in war, whether it be a war of invasion or a warof insurrection, Congress has power to carry on the war, and mustcarry it on, according to the laws of war; and by the laws of war, aninvaded country has all its laws and municipal institutions swept bythe board, and martial law takes the place of them. Democrat Scandals This power in Congress has, perhaps, never been called into exercise under thepresent Constitution of the United States. But when the laws of war are in force, what, I ask, is one of those laws? It is this: thatwhen a country is invaded, and two hostile armies are set in martialarray, the commanders of both armies have power to emancipate all theslaves in the invaded territory. Democrat Scandals Nor is this a mere theoretic statement. The history of South America shows that the doctrine hasbeen carried into practical execution within the last thirty years.Slavery was abolished in Columbia, first, by the Spanish GeneralMorillo, and, secondly, by the American General Bolivar. It wasabolished by virtue of a military command given at the head of thearmy, and its abolition continues to be law to this day. Democrat Scandals It was abolished by the laws of war, and not by municipal enactments; thepower was exercised by military commanders, under instructions, ofcourse, from their respective Governments. And here I recur again tothe example of Gen. Jackson. What are you now about in Congress? Youare about passing a grant to refund to Gen. Jackson the amount of acertain fine imposed upon him by a Judge, under the laws of the Stateof Louisiana. Democrat Scandals You are going to refund him the money, with interest;and this you are going to do because the imposition of the fine wasunjust. And why was it unjust? Because Gen. Jackson was acting underthe laws of war, and because the moment you place a military commanderin a district which is the theatre of war, the laws of war apply tothat district. MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY [From the English edition of 1888, edited by Friedrich Engels] A spectre is haunting Europe--the spectre of Communism.All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance toexorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot,French Radicals and German police-spies. Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried asCommunistic by its opponents in power? Where is the Oppositionthat has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism,against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as againstits reactionary adversaries? Two things result from this fact. I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powersto be itself a Power. II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in theface of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, theirtendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre ofCommunism with a Manifesto of the party itself. To this end, Communists of various nationalities haveassembled in London, and sketched the following Manifesto, to bepublished in the English, French, German, Italian, Flemish andDanish languages. Democrat Scandals I. BOURGEOIS AND PROLETARIANS The history of all hitherto existing societies is the historyof class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf,guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed,stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on anuninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each timeended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society atlarge, or in the common ruin of the contending classes. In the earlier epochs of history, we find almost everywhere acomplicated arrangement of society into various orders, amanifold gradation of social rank. In ancient Rome we havepatricians, knights, plebeians, slaves; in the Middle Ages,feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices,serfs; in almost all of these classes, again, subordinategradations. Democrat Scandals The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruinsof feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. Ithas but established new classes, new conditions of oppression,new forms of struggle in place of the old ones. Our epoch, the epoch of the bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinctivefeature: it has simplified the class antagonisms. Society as awhole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps,into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisieand Proletariat. From the serfs of the Middle Ages sprang the chartered burghersof the earliest towns. From these burgesses the first elementsof the bourgeoisie were developed. Democrat Scandals The discovery of America, the rounding of the Cape, opened upfresh ground for the rising bourgeoisie. The East-Indian andChinese markets, the colonisation of America, trade withthe colonies, the increase in the means of exchange and incommodities generally, gave to commerce, to navigation, toindustry, an impulse never before known, and thereby, to therevolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapiddevelopment. The feudal system of industry, under which industrial productionwas monopolised by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for thegrowing wants of the new markets. The manufacturing system tookits place. The guild-masters were pushed on one side by themanufacturing middle class; division of labour between thedifferent corporate guilds vanished in the face of division oflabour in each single workshop. Meantime the markets kept ever growing, the demand ever rising.Even manufacture no longer sufficed. Thereupon, steam andmachinery revolutionised industrial production. The place of manufacture was taken by the giant, Modern Industry, the place of the industrial middle class, by industrial millionaires, the leaders of whole industrial armies, the modern bourgeois. Modern industry has established the world-market, for which thediscovery of America paved the way. This market has given animmense development to commerce, to navigation, to communicationby land. This development has, in its time, reacted on theextension of industry; and in proportion as industry, commerce,navigation, railways extended, in the same proportion thebourgeoisie developed, increased its capital, and pushed into thebackground every class handed down from the Middle Ages. Democrat Scandals We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself theproduct of a long course of development, of a series ofrevolutions in the modes of production and of exchange. Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompaniedby a corresponding political advance of that class. Anoppressed class under the sway of the feudal nobility, anarmed and self-governing association in the mediaeval commune;here independent urban republic (as in Italy and Germany),there taxable "third estate" of the monarchy (as in France),afterwards, in the period of manufacture proper, serving eitherthe semi-feudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoiseagainst the nobility, and, in fact, corner-stone of the greatmonarchies in general, the bourgeoisie has at last, since theestablishment of Modern Industry and of the world-market,conquered for itself, in the modern representative State,exclusive political sway. The executive of the modern State isbut a committee for managing the common affairs of the wholebourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionarypart. Democrat Scandals The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put anend to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It haspitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man tohis "natural superiors," and has left remaining no other nexusbetween man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cashpayment." It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies ofreligious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistinesentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. Ithas resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place ofthe numberless and feasible chartered freedoms, has set up thatsingle, unconscionable freedom--Free Trade. In one word, forexploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, naked,shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupationhitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It hasconverted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, theman of science, into its paid wage labourers. The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimentalveil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere moneyrelation. Democrat Scandals The bourgeoisie has disclosed how it came to pass that thebrutal display of vigour in the Middle Ages, which Reactionistsso much admire, found its fitting complement in the most slothfulindolence. It has been the first to show what man's activity canbring about. It has accomplished wonders far surpassing Egyptianpyramids, Roman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedrals; it hasconducted expeditions that put in the shade all former Exodusesof nations and crusades. The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionisingthe instruments of production, and thereby the relations ofproduction, and with them the whole relations of society.Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form,was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for allearlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising ofproduction, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions,everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeoisepoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations,with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices andopinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquatedbefore they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, allthat is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to facewith sober senses, his real conditions of life, and hisrelations with his kind. Democrat Scandals The need of a constantly expanding market for its productschases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. Itmust nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexionseverywhere. The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world-marketgiven a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption inevery country. To the great chagrin of Reactionists, it hasdrawn from under the feet of industry the national ground onwhich it stood. All old-established national industries havebeen destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are dislodgedby new industries, whose introduction becomes a life and deathquestion for all civilised nations, by industries that no longerwork up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn from theremotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not onlyat home, but in every quarter of the globe. In place of the oldwants, satisfied by the productions of the country, we find newwants, requiring for their satisfaction the products of distantlands and climes. In place of the old local and nationalseclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in everydirection, universal inter-dependence of nations. And as inmaterial, so also in intellectual production. The intellectualcreations of individual nations become common property. Nationalone-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and moreimpossible, and from the numerous national and local literatures,there arises a world literature. The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments ofproduction, by the immensely facilitated means of communication,draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilisation.The cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy artillery withwhich it batters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces thebarbarians' intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners tocapitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, toadopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them tointroduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., tobecome bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a worldafter its own image. The bourgeoisie has subjected the country to the rule of thetowns. It has created enormous cities, has greatly increased theurban population as compared with the rural, and has thus rescueda considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rurallife. Just as it has made the country dependent on the towns, soit has made barbarian and semi-barbarian countries dependent onthe civilised ones, nations of peasants on nations of bourgeois,the East on the West. The bourgeoisie keeps more and more doing away with thescattered state of the population, of the means of production,and of property. It has agglomerated production, and hasconcentrated property in a few hands. The necessary consequenceof this was political centralisation. Independent, or butloosely connected provinces, with separate interests, laws,governments and systems of taxation, became lumped together intoone nation, with one government, one code of laws, one nationalclass-interest, one frontier and one customs-tariff. Thebourgeoisie, during its rule of scarce one hundred years, hascreated more massive and more colossal productive forces thanhave all preceding generations together. Subjection of Nature'sforces to man, machinery, application of chemistry to industryand agriculture, steam-navigation, railways, electric telegraphs,clearing of whole continents for cultivation, canalisation ofrivers, whole populations conjured out of the ground--whatearlier century had even a presentiment that such productiveforces slumbered in the lap of social labour? We see then: the means of production and of exchange, on whosefoundation the bourgeoisie built itself up, were generated infeudal society. At a certain stage in the development of thesemeans of production and of exchange, the conditions under whichfeudal society produced and exchanged, the feudal organisation ofagriculture and manufacturing industry, in one word, the feudalrelations of property became no longer compatible with thealready developed productive forces; they became so many fetters.They had to be burst asunder; they were burst asunder. Into their place stepped free competition, accompanied by asocial and political constitution adapted to it, and by theeconomical and political sway of the bourgeois class. A similar movement is going on before our own eyes. Modernbourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchangeand of property, a society that has conjured up such giganticmeans of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who isno longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom hehas called up by his spells. For many a decade past the historyof industry and commerce is but the history of the revolt ofmodern productive forces against modern conditions of production,against the property relations that are the conditions for theexistence of the bourgeoisie and of its rule. It is enough tomention the commercial crises that by their periodical return puton its trial, each time more threateningly, the existence of theentire bourgeois society. In these crises a great part not onlyof the existing products, but also of the previously createdproductive forces, are periodically destroyed. In these crisesthere breaks out an epidemic that, in all earlier epochs, wouldhave seemed an absurdity--the epidemic of over-production.Society suddenly finds itself put back into a state of momentarybarbarism; it appears as if a famine, a universal war ofdevastation had cut off the supply of every means of subsistence;industry and commerce seem to be destroyed; and why? Becausethere is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence,too much industry, too much commerce. The productive forces atthe disposal of society no longer tend to further the developmentof the conditions of bourgeois property; on the contrary, theyhave become too powerful for these conditions, by which they arefettered, and so soon as they overcome these fetters, they bringdisorder into the whole of bourgeois society, endanger theexistence of bourgeois property. The conditions of bourgeoissociety are too narrow to comprise the wealth created by them.And how does the bourgeoisie get over these crises? On the onehand inforced destruction of a mass of productive forces; on theother, by the conquest of new markets, and by the more thoroughexploitation of the old ones. That is to say, by paving theway for more extensive and more destructive crises, and bydiminishing the means whereby crises are prevented. The weapons with which the bourgeoisie felled feudalism to theground are now turned against the bourgeoisie itself. But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bringdeath to itself; it has also called into existence the men whoare to wield those weapons--the modern working class--theproletarians. In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed,in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern workingclass, developed--a class of labourers, who live only so longas they find work, and who find work only so long as their labourincreases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselvespiece-meal, are a commodity, like every other article ofcommerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes ofcompetition, to all the fluctuations of the market. Owing to the extensive use of machinery and to division oflabour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individualcharacter, and consequently, all charm for the workman. Hebecomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the mostsimple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that isrequired of him. Hence, the cost of production of a workman isrestricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that herequires for his maintenance, and for the propagation of hisrace. But the price of a commodity, and therefore also oflabour, is equal to its cost of production. In proportiontherefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wagedecreases. Nay more, in proportion as the use of machinery anddivision of labour increases, in the same proportion the burdenof toil also increases, whether by prolongation of the workinghours, by increase of the work exacted in a given time or byincreased speed of the machinery, etc. Modern industry has converted the little workshop of thepatriarchal master into the great factory of the industrialcapitalist. Masses of labourers, crowded into the factory, areorganised like soldiers. As privates of the industrial army theyare placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officersand sergeants. Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class,and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved bythe machine, by the over-looker, and, above all, by theindividual bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly thisdespotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim, the more petty,the more hateful and the more embittering it is. The less the skill and exertion of strength implied in manuallabour, in other words, the more modern industry becomesdeveloped, the more is the labour of men superseded by that ofwomen. Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctivesocial validity for the working class. All are instruments oflabour, more or less expensive to use, according to their ageand sex. No sooner is the exploitation of the labourer by the manufacturer,so far at an end, that he receives his wages in cash, than he isset upon by the other portions of the bourgeoisie, the landlord,the shopkeeper, the pawnbroker, etc. The lower strata of the middle class--the small tradespeople,shopkeepers, retired tradesmen generally, the handicraftsmen andpeasants--all these sink gradually into the proletariat, partlybecause their diminutive capital does not suffice for the scaleon which Modern Industry is carried on, and is swamped in thecompetition with the large capitalists, partly because theirspecialized skill is rendered worthless by the new methods ofproduction. Thus the proletariat is recruited from all classesof the population. The proletariat goes through various stages of development.With its birth begins its struggle with the bourgeoisie. Atfirst the contest is carried on by individual labourers, then bythe workpeople of a factory, then by the operatives of one trade,in one locality, against the individual bourgeois who directlyexploits them. They direct their attacks not against thebourgeois conditions of production, but against the instrumentsof production themselves; they destroy imported wares thatcompete with their labour, they smash to pieces machinery, theyset factories ablaze, they seek to restore by force the vanishedstatus of the workman of the Middle Ages. At this stage the labourers still form an incoherent massscattered over the whole country, and broken up by their mutualcompetition. If anywhere they unite to form more compact bodies,this is not yet the consequence of their own active union, but ofthe union of the bourgeoisie, which class, in order to attain itsown political ends, is compelled to set the whole proletariat inmotion, and is moreover yet, for a time, able to do so. At thisstage, therefore, the proletarians do not fight their enemies,but the enemies of their enemies, the remnants of absolutemonarchy, the landowners, the non-industrial bourgeois, the pettybourgeoisie. Thus the whole historical movement is concentratedin the hands of the bourgeoisie; every victory so obtained is avictory for the bourgeoisie. But with the development of industry the proletariat not onlyincreases in number; it becomes concentrated in greater masses,its strength grows, and it feels that strength more. The variousinterests and conditions of life within the ranks of theproletariat are more and more equalised, in proportion asmachinery obliterates all distinctions of labour, and nearlyeverywhere reduces wages to the same low level. The growingcompetition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercialcrises, make the wages of the workers ever more fluctuating. Democrat Scandals The unceasing improvement of machinery, ever more rapidly developing,makes their livelihood more and more precarious; the collisionsbetween individual workmen and individual bourgeois take more andmore the character of collisions between two classes. Thereuponthe workers begin to form combinations (Trades Unions) againstthe bourgeois; they club together in order to keep up the rate ofwages; they found permanent associations in order to makeprovision beforehand for these occasional revolts. Here andthere the contest breaks out into riots. Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for a time.The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediateresult, but in the ever-expanding union of the workers. Thisunion is helped on by the improved means of communication thatare created by modern industry and that place the workers ofdifferent localities in contact with one another. It was just this contact that was needed to centralise the numerous localstruggles, all of the same character, into one national strugglebetween classes. But every class struggle is a politicalstruggle. And that union, to attain which the burghers of theMiddle Ages, with their miserable highways, required centuries,the modern proletarians, thanks to railways, achieve in a fewyears. This organisation of the proletarians into a class, andconsequently into a political party, is continually being upsetagain by the competition between the workers themselves. But itever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. It compelslegislative recognition of particular interests of the workers,by taking advantage of the divisions among the bourgeoisieitself. Thus the ten-hours' bill in England was carried. Democrat Scandals Altogether collisions between the classes of the old societyfurther, in many ways, the course of development of theproletariat. The bourgeoisie finds itself involved in a constantbattle. At first with the aristocracy; later on, with thoseportions of the bourgeoisie itself, whose interests have becomeantagonistic to the progress of industry; at all times, with thebourgeoisie of foreign countries. In all these battles it seesitself compelled to appeal to the proletariat, to ask for itshelp, and thus, to drag it into the political arena. Thebourgeoisie itself, therefore, supplies the proletariat with itsown instruments of political and general education, in otherwords, it furnishes the proletariat with weapons for fightingthe bourgeoisie. Further, as we have already seen, entire sections of the rulingclasses are, by the advance of industry, precipitated into theproletariat, or are at least threatened in their conditions ofexistence. These also supply the proletariat with fresh elementsof enlightenment and progress. Finally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisivehour, the process of dissolution going on within the rulingclass, in fact within the whole range of society, assumes such aviolent, glaring character, that a small section of the rulingclass cuts itself adrift, and joins the revolutionary class, theclass that holds the future in its hands. Democrat Scandals Just as, therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to thebourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to theproletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeoisideologists, who have raised themselves to the level ofcomprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole. Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisietoday, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class.The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face ofModern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essentialproduct. The lower middle class, the small manufacturer, theshopkeeper, the artisan, the peasant, all these fight against thebourgeoisie, to save from extinction their existence as fractionsof the middle class. They are therefore not revolutionary, butconservative. Nay more, they are reactionary, for they tryto roll back the wheel of history. If by chance they arerevolutionary, they are so only in view of their impendingtransfer into the proletariat, they thus defend not theirpresent, but their future interests, they desert their ownstandpoint to place themselves at that of the proletariat. Democrat Scandals The "dangerous class," the social scum, that passively rottingmass thrown off by the lowest layers of old society, may,here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarianrevolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far morefor the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue. In the conditions of the proletariat, those of old society atlarge are already virtually swamped. The proletarian is withoutproperty; his relation to his wife and children has no longeranything in common with the bourgeois family-relations; modernindustrial labour, modern subjection to capital, the same inEngland as in France, in America as in Germany, has stripped himof every trace of national character. Law, morality, religion,are to him so many bourgeois prejudices, behind which lurk inambush just as many bourgeois interests. All the preceding classes that got the upper hand, sought tofortify their already acquired status by subjecting society atlarge to their conditions of appropriation. The proletarians cannot become masters of the productive forces of society, exceptby abolishing their own previous mode of appropriation, andthereby also every other previous mode of appropriation. Theyhave nothing of their own to secure and to fortify; their missionis to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of,individual property. All previous historical movements were movements of minorities,or in the interests of minorities. The proletarian movement isthe self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority,in the interests of the immense majority. The proletariat, thelowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raiseitself up, without the whole superincumbent strata of officialsociety being sprung into the air. Democrat Scandals Though not in substance, yet in form, the struggle of theproletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle.The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of allsettle matters with its own bourgeoisie. In depicting the most general phases of the development of theproletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, ragingwithin existing society, up to the point where that war breaksout into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of thebourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat. Hitherto, every form of society has been based, as we havealready seen, on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressedclasses. But in order to oppress a class, certain conditionsmust be assured to it under which it can, at least, continue itsslavish existence. The serf, in the period of serfdom, raisedhimself to membership in the commune, just as the pettybourgeois, under the yoke of feudal absolutism, managed todevelop into a bourgeois. The modern laborer, on the contrary,instead of rising with the progress of industry, sinks deeper anddeeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. Hebecomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly thanpopulation and wealth. And here it becomes evident, that thebourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class insociety, and to impose its conditions of existence upon societyas an over-riding law. Democrat Scandals It is unfit to rule because it isincompetent to assure an existence to its slave within hisslavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such astate, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him.Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in otherwords, its existence is no longer compatible with society. The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway ofthe bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation ofcapital; the condition for capital is wage-labour. Wage-labourrests exclusively on competition between the laborers. Theadvance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie,replaces the isolation of the labourers, due to competition,by their revolutionary combination, due to association. Thedevelopment of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under itsfeet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces andappropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces,above all, is its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory ofthe proletariat are equally inevitable. II. PROLETARIANS AND COMMUNISTS In what relation do the Communists stand to the proletarians as awhole? Democrat Scandals The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to otherworking-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of theproletariat as a whole. They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own,by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement. The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class partiesby this only: (1) In the national struggles of the proletariansof the different countries, they point out and bring to the frontthe common interests of the entire proletariat, independently ofall nationality. (2) In the various stages of development which thestruggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to passthrough, they always and everywhere represent the interests of themovement as a whole. Democrat Scandals The Communists, therefore, are on the one hand, practically,the most advanced and resolute section of the working-classparties of every country, that section which pushes forwardall others; on the other hand, theoretically, they have overthe great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearlyunderstanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimategeneral results of the proletarian movement. The immediate aim of the Communist is the same as that of allthe other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat intoa class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest ofpolitical power by the proletariat. 12 The theoretical conclusions of the Communists are in no waybased on ideas or principles that have been invented, ordiscovered, by this or that would-be universal reformer. Theymerely express, in general terms, actual relations springing froman existing class struggle, from a historical movement going onunder our very eyes. The abolition of existing propertyrelations is not at all a distinctive feature of Communism. All property relations in the past have continually been subjectto historical change consequent upon the change in historicalconditions. The French Revolution, for example, abolished feudal property infavour of bourgeois property. Democrat Scandals The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition ofproperty generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property. Butmodern bourgeois private property is the final and most completeexpression of the system of producing and appropriating products,that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of themany by the few. In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up inthe single sentence: Abolition of private property. We Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishingthe right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of aman's own labour, which property is alleged to be the groundworkof all personal freedom, activity and independence. Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property! Do you mean theproperty of the petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form ofproperty that preceded the bourgeois form? There is no need toabolish that; the development of industry has to a great extentalready destroyed it, and is still destroying it daily. Or do you mean modern bourgeois private property? But does wage-labour create any property for the labourer? Nota bit. It creates capital, i.e., that kind of property whichexploits wage-labour, and which cannot increase except uponcondition of begetting a new supply of wage-labour for freshexploitation. Property, in its present form, is based on theantagonism of capital and wage-labour. Let us examine both sidesof this antagonism. To be a capitalist, is to have not only a purely personal, but asocial status in production. Capital is a collective product,and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the lastresort, only by the united action of all members of society,can it be set in motion. Democrat Scandals Capital is, therefore, not a personal, it is a social power. When, therefore, capital is converted into common property, intothe property of all members of society, personal property is notthereby transformed into social property. It is only the socialcharacter of the property that is changed. It loses itsclass-character. Let us now take wage-labour. The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, i.e.,that quantum of the means of subsistence, which is absolutelyrequisite in bare existence as a labourer. What, therefore, thewage-labourer appropriates by means of his labour, merelysuffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence. We by nomeans intend to abolish this personal appropriation of theproducts of labour, an appropriation that is made for themaintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves nosurplus wherewith to command the labour of others. All that wewant to do away with, is the miserable character of thisappropriation, under which the labourer lives merely to increasecapital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest ofthe ruling class requires it. In bourgeois society, living labour is but a means to increaseaccumulated labour. In Communist society, accumulated labouris but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existenceof the labourer. Democrat Scandals In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present;in Communist society, the present dominates the past. Inbourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality,while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. And the abolition of this state of things is called by thebourgeois, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightlyso. The abolition of bourgeois individuality, bourgeoisindependence, and bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at. By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions ofproduction, free trade, free selling and buying. But if selling and buying disappears, free selling and buyingdisappears also. This talk about free selling and buying, andall the other "brave words" of our bourgeoisie about freedom ingeneral, have a meaning, if any, only in contrast with restrictedselling and buying, with the fettered traders of the Middle Ages,but have no meaning when opposed to the Communistic abolition ofbuying and selling, of the bourgeois conditions of production,and of the bourgeoisie itself. Capital is, therefore, not a personal, it is a social power. When, therefore, capital is converted into common property, intothe property of all members of society, personal property is notthereby transformed into social property. It is only the socialcharacter of the property that is changed. It loses itsclass-character. Let us now take wage-labour. The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, i.e.,that quantum of the means of subsistence, which is absolutelyrequisite in bare existence as a labourer. What, therefore, thewage-labourer appropriates by means of his labour, merelysuffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence. We by nomeans intend to abolish this personal appropriation of theproducts of labour, an appropriation that is made for themaintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves nosurplus wherewith to command the labour of others. All that wewant to do away with, is the miserable character of thisappropriation, under which the labourer lives merely to increasecapital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest ofthe ruling class requires it. In bourgeois society, living labour is but a means to increaseaccumulated labour. In Communist society, accumulated labouris but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existenceof the labourer. Democrat Scandals In bourgeois society, therefore, the past dominates the present;in Communist society, the present dominates the past. Inbourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality,while the living person is dependent and has no individuality. And the abolition of this state of things is called by thebourgeois, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightlyso. The abolition of bourgeois individuality, bourgeoisindependence, and bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at. By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions ofproduction, free trade, free selling and buying. But if selling and buying disappears, free selling and buyingdisappears also. This talk about free selling and buying, andall the other "brave words" of our bourgeoisie about freedom ingeneral, have a meaning, if any, only in contrast with restrictedselling and buying, with the fettered traders of the Middle Ages,but have no meaning when opposed to the Communistic abolition ofbuying and selling, of the bourgeois conditions of production,and of the bourgeoisie itself. You are horrified at our intending to do away with privateproperty. But in your existing society, private property isalready done away with for nine-tenths of the population; itsexistence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in thehands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us, therefore, withintending to do away with a form of property, the necessarycondition for whose existence is the non-existence of anyproperty for the immense majority of society. In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with yourproperty. Precisely so; that is just what we intend. Democrat Scandals From the moment when labour can no longer be converted intocapital, money, or rent, into a social power capable of beingmonopolised, i.e., from the moment when individual property canno longer be transformed into bourgeois property, into capital,from that moment, you say individuality vanishes. You must, therefore, confess that by "individual" you mean noother person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner ofproperty. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the way, andmade impossible. Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate theproducts of society; all that it does is to deprive him of thepower to subjugate the labour of others by means of suchappropriation. It has been objected that upon the abolition of private propertyall work will cease, and universal laziness will overtake us. According to this, bourgeois society ought long ago to have goneto the dogs through sheer idleness; for those of its members whowork, acquire nothing, and those who acquire anything, do notwork. The whole of this objection is but another expression ofthe tautology: that there can no longer be any wage-labour whenthere is no longer any capital. Democrat Scandals All objections urged against the Communistic mode of producingand appropriating material products, have, in the same way,been urged against the Communistic modes of producing andappropriating intellectual products. Just as, to the bourgeois,the disappearance of class property is the disappearance ofproduction itself, so the disappearance of class culture is tohim identical with the disappearance of all culture. That culture, the loss of which he laments, is, for the enormousmajority, a mere training to act as a machine. But don't wrangle with us so long as you apply, to our intendedabolition of bourgeois property, the standard of your bourgeoisnotions of freedom, culture, law, etc. Your very ideas are butthe outgrowth of the conditions of your bourgeois production andbourgeois property, just as your jurisprudence is but the will ofyour class made into a law for all, a will, whose essentialcharacter and direction are determined by the economicalconditions of existence of your class. Democrat Scandals The selfish misconception that induces you to transform intoeternal laws of nature and of reason, the social formsspringing from your present mode of production and form ofproperty--historical relations that rise and disappear in theprogress of production--this misconception you share with everyruling class that has preceded you. What you see clearly in thecase of ancient property, what you admit in the case of feudalproperty, you are of course forbidden to admit in the case ofyour own bourgeois form of property. Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at thisinfamous proposal of the Communists. On what foundation is the present family, the bourgeois family,based? On capital, on private gain. In its completely developedform this family exists only among the bourgeoisie. But thisstate of things finds its complement in the practical absence ofthe family among the proletarians, and in public prostitution. The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when itscomplement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing ofcapital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation ofchildren by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you will say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations,when we replace home education by social. And your education! Is not that also social, and determined by thesocial conditions under which you educate, by the intervention,direct or indirect, of society, by means of schools, etc.? TheCommunists have not invented the intervention of society ineducation; they do but seek to alter the character of thatintervention, and to rescue education from the influence of theruling class. Democrat Scandals The bourgeois clap-trap about the family and education, aboutthe hallowed co-relation of parent and child, becomes all themore disgusting, the more, by the action of Modern Industry, allfamily ties among the proletarians are torn asunder, and theirchildren transformed into simple articles of commerce andinstruments of labour. But you Communists would introduce community of women, screamsthe whole bourgeoisie in chorus. The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production.He hears that the instruments of production are to be exploitedin common, and, naturally, can come to no other conclusion thanthat the lot of being common to all will likewise fall to thewomen. He has not even a suspicion that the real point is to do awaywith the status of women as mere instruments of production. For the rest, nothing is more ridiculous than thevirtuous indignation of our bourgeois at the community of womenwhich, they pretend, is to be openly and officially establishedby the Communists. The Communists have no need to introducecommunity of women; it has existed almost from time immemorial. Our bourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughtersof their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of commonprostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each other'swives. Democrat Scandals Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in commonand thus, at the most, what the Communists might possiblybe reproached with, is that they desire to introduce, insubstitution for a hypocritically concealed, an openly legalisedcommunity of women. For the rest, it is self-evident that theabolition of the present system of production must bring with itthe abolition of the community of women springing from thatsystem, i.e., of prostitution both public and private. The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolishcountries and nationality. The working men have no country. We cannot take from them whatthey have not got. Since the proletariat must first of allacquire political supremacy, must rise to be the leading class ofthe nation, must constitute itself the nation, it is, so far,itself national, though not in the bourgeois sense of the word. National differences and antagonisms between peoples are dailymore and more vanishing, owing to the development of thebourgeoisie, to freedom of commerce, to the world-market, touniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions oflife corresponding thereto. The supremacy of the proletariat will cause them to vanish stillfaster. United action, of the leading civilised countries atleast, is one of the first conditions for the emancipation ofthe proletariat. Democrat Scandals In proportion as the exploitation of one individual by anotheris put an end to, the exploitation of one nation by another willalso be put an end to. In proportion as the antagonism betweenclasses within the nation vanishes, the hostility of one nationto another will come to an end. The charges against Communism made from a religious, aphilosophical, and, generally, from an ideological standpoint,are not deserving of serious examination. 17 Democrat Scandals DEMOCRAT SCANDALS DEMOCRAT SCANDALS To Editorials Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals Democrat Scandals
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