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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

9/16/2008

The Master of Deceit and Phony Outrage


I urge all readers here to consider the present and future ramifications of the information below. Barack Obama has lied about his (or, at the very least, the involvement of an organization with which he has very strong ties, and in which he has very strong influence) involvement in the current financial/economic crisis that is staring us in the face. He has also exhibited righteous indignation regarding the crisis, and simultaneously pointed the finger of blame at many others, most of whom are blameless.

The mortgage/Wall Street debacle is just beginning. The economic repercussions of what Obama and his kind have done will be felt for decades to come, and we, our children and our grandchildren will pay a terrible price as a result of the unquenchable greed and power hunger that sit at the root of the policy positions of this evil man and countless others of his kind who occupy decision-making positions in Washington.

A year ago, who would have thought that giants of the financial world such as Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers would be insolvent? And how many more major financial firms will declare bankruptcy within the next year?

Perhaps more than any presidential candidate in recent history, Barack Obama’s pious rhetoric has focused on his concern for ‘the little people’ and his disdain for the big money represented by corporate America.

I’d like to take a brief look at the words/deeds comparison of this man, and then pose a few crucial questions regarding not only Senator Obama’s honesty, but also his personal and professional affiliation with an organization that bears much of the responsibility for the sub-prime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial meltdown, and his fitness to hold office of any kind.

Earlier this month it was announced that Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), America’s largest mortgage companies, are now the property of the United States government.

Along with that ownership comes some $5 trillion (with a tr) in mortgage debt. The nationalization of the two biggest mortgage companies in America occurred because it ‘was required to help millions of struggling mortgage holders and shore up the U.S. housing market.’

As a result, every American taxpayer will be forced to pay through the nose for the rest of his lifetime in order to bail out wealthy, well-connected people who committed fraud. In effect, every American taxpayer has been forced to purchase stock in two insolvent companies.

Ben Bernanke was not elected by the American people, and he is not accountable to them. Henry Paulsen was not elected by the American people, and he is not accountable to them. And the people in the corporate offices of FM and FM were not elected by the American people, and they were not accountable to them. And they were committing fraud.

In addition to the gargantuan personal debt that you and I have been forced to assume, the U.S. dollar will suffer as a result of this bailout. Inflation will increase. And the recession will worsen.

This is just the beginning of the ‘let's-make-the-U.S.-taxpayer-pay-the-price-for-the-financier/government-blunders’ roller coaster. The bailouts are going to start coming fast and furious. The big question is: How long will it take before the powers that be recognize that the boat is sinking faster as a result, and the people who are doing the bailing are going to (1) weaken to the point where they can no longer lift their bucket, or (2) mutiny. I'm betting on (1) because the American public is too clueless to contemplate (2).

The democrat party, and Barack Obama in particular, are forever crucifying big business and the financial world, while purporting to champion ‘the little people’. The democrat party, and Barack Obama in particular, are forever accusing John McCain of being in the pocket of both.

When the federal government announced earlier this month that it was taking over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, The Center for Responsive Politics decided to take a close look at the amount of political contributions the two largest mortgage companies in America have made to our Washington leadership.

If you have been in the practice of swallowing leftist media swill, you should be very surprised at the results of their study:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers
.

In the list of 354 lawmakers who have received contributions from the two mortgage giants since 1989, Barack Obama has collected the second highest dollar figure – behind only fellow leftist Christopher Dodd (D-CT). Recall, also, that Senator Obama has been in Washington for only three-plus years. So, despite the fact that this list includes the total of all of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac’s contributions to these 354 lawmakers since 1989 (for the last nineteen years), Barack Obama has managed to eclipse all but one of his fellow senators/congressmen, some of whom have been on the Hill six times as long as he.

And democrats in total collected the large majority (57%) of those monies.

The mainstream media, and most of our leadership in Washington, would have us believe that this mortgage crisis (eventually scheduled to blossom into a full-fledge economic earthquake) occurred as the result of a combination of greed on the part of the banking/mortgage industry and ignorance on the part of prospective low-income homeowners.

That, however, is not the case. The mortgage crisis is the result of a purposeful, newly required relaxing of underwriting standards, largely foisted by our government on the banking/mortgage industry in the name of ‘ending discrimination’, and in spite of warnings from respected economists that such underwriting relaxations could lead to unprecedented defaults.

It was the regulators, not the banks, who relaxed these standards - at the behest of 'community organizers' and 'progressive' political activists.

Byron York wrote in a recent National Review article:

    Perhaps the simplest way to describe community organizing is to say it is the practice of identifying a specific aggrieved population, say unemployed steelworkers, or itinerant fruit-pickers, or residents of a particularly bad neighborhood, and agitating them until they become so upset about their condition that they take collective action to put pressure on local, state, or federal officials to fix the problem, often by giving the affected group money.
In the 1980s and 1990s, groups such as the activists at ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), of which Barack Obama has been an active member (see National Review’s Inside Obama’s Acorn), began claiming that banks were engaging in discriminatory practices against minorities.

See also: The Acorn Obama Knows and Getting Paid to Watch: The Link Between Obama, the Woods Fund, Earmarks and the Mortgage Crisis.

ACORN approached sympathetic members of congress who managed to amend the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, forcing banks to collect racial data on their mortgage applicants. The predictable result was that it was ‘discovered’ that banks were indeed discriminating against minorities (the fact that those minorities were generally considerably less financially capable of assuming a mortgage received minimal consideration in every study).

What resulted was an increase in the power of the Community Reinvestment Act, and banks were now required to relax the criteria for low income mortgage applicants. Another new, more insidious, stipulation in the revamped Community Reinvestment Act allowed for 'community organizers' to take an active part in annual bank reviews. Intimidation was the name of the game.

Banks that received poor reviews were fined. Some were denied merger requests. Others faced Justice Department action if their ‘quotas’ of minority acceptances were not met.

ACORN states on its own website:

    ACORN members have Negotiated landmark agreements with banks in St. Louis, New York City, D.C. and others, making more than a billion dollars available for loans in low-income neighborhoods.

    Blocked the gutting of the Federal Community Reinvestment Act.

    Forced Fannie Mae to establish a precedent-setting program to buy community reinvestment mortgages.
As if ACORN’s complicity in the entire financial meltdown weren’t enough, the organization for which Barack Obama worked both before and after attending law school, and with which he still maintains close ties, is currently being accused of committing massive voter fraud, presumably in order to get their man elected. ‘Their man’ … the one who looks out for ‘the little guy’ and who repudiates big money and the power of special interests.

I will leave you all with a few simple questions:

(1) Why is it that Barack Obama rarely, if ever, lists his ‘accomplishments’ as a ‘community organizer’?

(2) Why did Barack Obama receive more total political money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than all but one of his fellow senators/congressmen? And how did he accomplish that amazing feat in just three short years, when many of his fellow 'leaders' have been on the job for six times as long?

(3) How difficult should it be for the American citizenry to accept Barack Obama’s pious repudiation of capitalism and the ‘greed’ of big business?

(4) If John McCain or Sarah Palin had such skeletons in their closets, would those skeletons find themselves revealed in glaring headlines from now until election day? And would congress be clamoring for hearings ... or worse?

(5) How much responsibility does Barack Obama's ACORN bear for the current mortgage crisis -- not the mention the devastating economic aftershocks that have yet to occur?

(6) Where are the mainstream media?

Nuff said.

~ joanie

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

AMAZING research Joanie!

WHERE ARE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA?????

Anonymous said...

-

Joanie,

Nice catch:

In the list of 354 lawmakers
who have received contributions
from the two mortgage giants since
1989, Barack Obama has collected
the second highest dollar figure –
behind only fellow leftist
Christopher Dodd (D-CT).

-

Lately, I heard from one friend, how Obama was so qualified to put together the staff to fix the economic ills.

What the cures might be, there were none to suggest... which did not help clear up what were the criteria used upon which to make the judgement of "so qualified."

Of course, I did not stop to think, that perhaps his qualifications are that he knows people.

Indeed, such are the requirements for receiving the generous donations from a federal gov't agency that has been masquerading as a "private corporation" until its "parent organization" (that would be, the U.S. Government) discovered that no more lawyer-cleverness would hide the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac WERE CORRUPT sieves for laundering the public's money into the hands of the Congress (and it is probably safe to guess, "friends of the Congress).

Used to be, that "freedom of the press" meant that you and I are free to use "the press" to expose such ... well now, they are actually, true ECONOMIC ILLS.

Yet we mostly have had, save the minority "conservative media" such as yourself, a deluge of "liberal media" who are as opposed to our "free press" as they are opposed to Sarah Palin.

Which begs the question, How many and how much of the liberal media, are "friends of the Congress?"

-

First_Salute

Anonymous said...

Wow. I have to digest this. It's mind boggling.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of ACORN, from the Detroit Free Press:
~~~~~
Several municipal clerks across the state [of Michigan] are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families.

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."
~~~~~

Anonymous said...

John,

"any problems likely stem from sloppiness or incompetence -- not an intent to let people vote more than once"

Oh ... well ... OK

Especially where ACORN claims that it tries to keep fraud to a minimum, as in, if only a few thousand cases of fraud by ACORN is ... well ... OK.

The "intent," is obvious: flood the system so that fraudulent voting can take place.

On our books, just one fraudulent vote is a crime ... but in the world of fruits-and-nuts, that is OK, cause ... citing something Biden recently said, "it's not malevolent" or there's an absence of malice.

No, no hatred from the left in these elections ... well ... OK ... if you only look in one small dry part of the political landscape while this OVER-REACHING FANATICAL WAVE OF HATE-FULL JUDGEMENTALISM from the left is crashing down everywhere.

-

First_Salute

Anonymous said...

Even if Obama weren't directly involved in this sickening use of power, his group was at least partly responsible for this mortgage meltdown.

The media should be reporting at least that particular tidbit. They certainly would be reporting it every day up until the election if McCain's "work history" showed such a link.

I personally believe he's even more involved than we think and it just goes to show that his history is full of such associations.

The phony outrage is sickening and the media lets him get away with it- even acts like it's sincere and in our best interest.

joanie said...

Cal and John,

You're absolutely right, Cal. It's the media neglecting to report this 'connection' that is an outrage.

Obama may not have been directly invoved with ACORN's lobbying to get the mortgage requirements lowered for minorities, but he has a long history (and probably still is strongly connected) with ACORN.

It has been documented that ACORN was indeed involved in major lobbying of congress in this regard, and (as John as pointed out) they are also apparently currently involved in major voter fraud as well.

Wouldn't you think that might need to come to the attention of the voting public? The mainstream media doesn't appear to think so.

I believe the sub-prime mortgage mess has played a huge role in the financial-world meltdown that is occurring, and will play a major role in the looming economic crisis. Yet the fact that one of the two men running for president either was involved in, or is part of a group that helped bring about, that catastrophe doesn't seem to be of interest to the media.

It's beyond mind boggling.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the GREAT connect-the-dots commentary. Where is the media indeed!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely disgusting. That he's involved with such an organization and that the media doesn't care.

Anonymous said...

Argh! How many more connections to human slime does this man have to have before the media start reporting about it?

These people have had a major longterm effect on our economy. Every American household will be hurt in a major way by their actions. And he is closely connected to them!

A pox on their houses.

joanie said...

Which begs the question, How many and how much of the liberal media, are "friends of the Congress?"

First_Salute, I'd suspect that comes about as close to 'the complete set' as possible.

Anonymous said...

If this monster is elected President, we deserve whatever happens.

Anonymous said...

Joanie should be called "On the Mark" Joanie.

Barack Obama’s pious rhetoric has focused on his concern for ‘the little people’ and his disdain for the big money represented by corporate America.

The democrat party, and Barack Obama in particular, are forever crucifying big business and the financial world, while purporting to champion ‘the little people’.


Today (09/17) BHO critized McCain and then flew off to Beverly Hills to sup with BS (Barbara Streisand) and her little people friends at a $27,500 a plate dinner.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, how I wish we had a one-party Republican-only system in this country !

Golem said...

Hey, Joanie. Look at this. :)

Anonymous said...

God help us.

Anonymous said...

Good work, Joanie.

More on Obama, ACORN and fraud:

ACORN IV

joanie said...

All:

I urge you all to read the article that Golem linked to above:

How Come I Would Make the Economy Better, by Barry Obama.

It is absolutely priceless!!!!!

Thanks, Golem!

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Huskies in the White House!

Lots of dogs running around; I like it.

-

First_Salute

Anonymous said...

Huskies in the White House!

?????????????

What have you been smoking?

Anonymous said...

I had heard that the changing standards in the mortgage industry (Congressional implications, there) had occurred, and figured the Section 8 housing had something to do with it (iirc, under Cisneros during the Clinton Administration). I was not aware of the A.C.O.R.N. connection to that change, but that ties Obambam back into the matrix pretty thoroughly.

If the numbers I have heard are anywhere close, the bailout puts my family on the hook for multiples of our current debt, while we live well within our means and frugally, so others could live well beyond their means and live it up.

If Americans really understood how thoroughly they have been screwed, the roads to Washington D.C. would be jammed with people looking to adorn the lamp posts with swinging bureaucrats and Congress people.

joanie said...

Smokin' Joe:

The media have no intention of reporting this connection between a group in which Obama has been extremely active, and in which he wields significant power, and the incredible social and economic burden that will result for not only our generation, but the next. These people have also indirectly placed our national security in jeopardy.

Yet even 'fair and balanced' FoxNews still busies itself with fluff stories, or at most stories that are significantly less relevant than this historically unprecedented betrayal of the public trust.

Thank God for the internet. At least this way we can attempt to inform those who are willing to expend more effort than sitting in front of their televisions in order to know the truth (I estimate that portion of the population to be approximately two percent).

If Americans really understood how thoroughly they have been screwed, the roads to Washington D.C. would be jammed with people looking to adorn the lamp posts with swinging bureaucrats and Congress people.

The only reason the majority of Americans might react in that way would be because this particular affront hits them in the pocketbook. It reverts to the old 'It's the economy, stupid!' mindset. Which, in this case, is valid, but I have always cringed at that concept. There are many more blatant usurpations of power over which we should be revolting that are far more egregious than those that hit us in the pocketbook. But if that's what it would take for the lamp post/swinging thing to occur, so be it. Wrong reason, right reaction.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

An excellent dissertation that should receive wide circulation!

Anonymous said...

There are many more blatant usurpations of power over which we should be revolting that are far more egregious than those that hit us in the pocketbook.

I thoroughly agree, but until the bread is gone and the circuses are inadequate to sate the masses, Caesar will rule.

Anonymous said...

The following text was part of a discussion on a tech discussion board, but the subject under discussion applies across the board with regard to the sad state of the nation. In my not so humble opinion, the "little people" in various corners of society have had enough of the "in" crowd.
____________________

What we're seeing with Palin's popularity is that millions and millions of people at the bottom are fed up with the institutionalized corruption, and are showing up enmass, many for the first time in thirty or forty years, to vote for a real pro-American candidate. Whether McCain stays for a complete term matters little. Palin is the energizing element in the campaign, and McCain seems to recognize this. I believe she will be more influential as VP than any other VP in our lifetimes. And I also strongly believe that she will subsequently be President. She is the right person, with the right message, with the right motivations, for this nation, at this particular time in history.

The people who lead in times of constructive change may come from anywhere in the spectrum, but they must lead from the top to bring about meaningful reforms (and they have to be a real person; not media-created vaporware). Anyone here who has tried to bring about improvements in a business, or an IT shop, or in business or IT processes, being led by mindless, inept bimbos should easily recognize the futility of trying to manage change from the bottom. It doesn't work.

So what does this have to do with unemployed or underemployed computer scientists? Everything. IT projects and IT jobs are overhead, expenditures that can easily be trimmed in tough economic times (you'll have to look back 80 years or more to find a "worse" time, long before .Net). In tough times, core business functions will get all the investment, even if they have to work with paper and pencil. In general, technology projects and innovations are reserved for periods of growth or projected growth.

Many people question what I mean by "institutionalized corruption", and whether it has ever been any different. Corruption has always been present in our politics since the nation's founding, but has cycled from bad to worse, to not so bad. The past two or three decades have brought us to this current period of "really, really pervasive corruption", in government, politics, markets, business, academia, and any other sizable group of people in society.

What is ironic about the question is that it would be asked in discussion groups where concerned citizens are dedicated to improving the political direction of the country, or on a job board where so many qualified job candidates find themselves locked out of regular employment, begging through layers and layers of corrupt recruiting firms and corrupt HR "professionals" for a few crumbs of work.

Brokered employment (where the fruits of one person's work is divided among multiple layers of non-producing thieves) is the worst form of anti-capitalist corruption (next to outright slavery); even worse than multi-generational dependency on socialist government programs.

In a real free market, providers of services would have the unemcumbered right and ability to negotiate directly with the consumers of those services, without the bureaucratic interference of any IRS rules; without the overthrow of immigration controls that served the country well for its first 200 years; without the restraint of legal free trade of services created by the multiple layers of corrupt recruiting and hiring practices.

If corruption were not so pervasive, the discussions on this board would be about making real contacts, getting the right people in the right positions, designing and developing software to make honest businesses more productive and profitable in a growing economy. Instead every single discussion on this board deals with the corruption of brokered labor, manipulated salaries and benefits, massive work-visa fraud, illegal non-compete clauses in make-believe unilateral contracts, crooks, crooks, and more crooks.
____________________

Anonymous said...

For the record. John McCain's 2006 Statement on Fannie and Freddie:
~~~~~
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
~~~~~
S.190 has been bottled up in Chris Dodd and Chuckie Schumer's Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee for three years now. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Chris Dodd is the Number One recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie over the years - $133,900.

Top 25 swillers at the Fannie/Freddie trough from opensecrets.org

Anonymous said...

Jeez! This should be headline news in every newspaper across the country and on every news show on TV! But it won't be so we have to shout it from the roof tops ourselves!

Anonymous said...

Cooper, Your "Top Swillers" link is the same one Joanie has in her article.

Anonymous said...

Evil is in control in Washington. This election may be our last chance to loosen it's foothold. I am fowarding this article to a lot of people, hopefully it will open some eyes.

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of people who should be going to jail, but won't be. Instead, they'll be getting re-elected. Others will be sailing their yachts to their island mansions. Innocent honest people will be ruined in vicious witch hunts organized by the real perps who want to cover their tracks. We taxpayers will pay for it for the rest of our lives.

American justice and freedom will be the big loser.

Anonymous said...

I had read most of what you wrote here but hadn't taken the time to put 2 and 2 together. Great research and even greater analysis, Joanie.

Anonymous said...

Golem-- That essay was hilarious. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't John McCain know about any of this? If so, why isn't he talking about it?

Anonymous said...

Long before the subprime crisis, the Bush administration not only warned of impending calamity, they had a plan to avert it. Fannie Mae, under the leadership of Clinton appointee Franklin Raines, who's now an Obama insider, economic advisor, and Freddie Mac, had issued over one-and-a-half trillion dollars in loans, but their accounting was in shambles. The agency that Congress set up to monitor them had failed to rein 'em in, so on September 11, 2003 -- this is five years ago -- President Bush proposed the agency that Congress set up to monitor them. He proposed what the New York Times called the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis. Central to Bush's proposal was creating a new agency to oversee Fannie and Freddie…

…So this was nothing more than Barack Obama-type cynicism and racism, Melvin Watt accusing Bush of weakening the bargaining power of poor families. So, Democrats did not pay any attention to any of the problems going on, they looked the other way. In fact they made the problems even worse by extending loans to people in greater numbers who couldn't pay them back. So, instead of solving the problem, Democrat insiders kept using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as personal piggy banks, Clinton-era policies fueled the giveaway that is now in the famous words of Jeremiah Wright, coming home to roost. Democrats fought every effort, every reform, and now they're rewriting history. It's just a sitting duck. It's just a sitting duck issue.

How Democrat Thieves Looted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Anonymous said...

You need to send this to Rush.

Anonymous said...

Reading this makes me physically sick. WHERE IS THE MEDIA???????

Anonymous said...

Your column is getting a lot of response over at investorvillage.com, almost all of it supportive.

Very good work here.

Anonymous said...

Joanie, this is linked on sphere.com

Anonymous said...

I have been following the Fannie/Freddie situation for a number of years now. They have one of the strongest lobbies in Washington (until the recent bailout provision that makes them stop lobbying….we will see).
If a Congressperson or Senator opposed them they would run adds in his or her district accusing the politician of being against affordable housing. It was very effective.
A former Fannie executive was on Obama’s VP search committee. What I did not know was Obama’s deep involvement that made him the second highest recipient of contributions. Dodd being number one did not surprise me.
I am not convinced Obama understands financial issues. He seems only to be focused on redistributing the nation’s wealth in favor of helping the poor by taking from everyone else. I do not believe he cares nor understands how that can kill wealth creation in this country.
Paul Krugman, the liberal economist who writes for the NYT, admitted that taxing the rich will not give the federal government enough money to carry out the current liberal social agenda.
Yes we have heard from the liberal news media and they may very well get their way this November. But I am reminded of Richard Nixon’s silent majority. We will again hear from the silent majority the first Tuesday in November.
The bottom line: I think the American people are frustrated with all the politicians, including the do nothing democratic congress. In times like this they often vote for divided government. That might add up to one party keeping Congress and the other taking the White House.