1992 NY Times article: Clinton Pressured Fannie Mae

Sweetness & Light deserves an internet Pulitzer for pulling this up.
This is what modern journalists should be doing... using the power of their databases to either confirm or deny claims that are given by the politicians of today.

For instance, the democratic party has been claiming that the Republicans are to blame for the lack of regulations on mortgage institutions like Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.

But as this New York Times article says:

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

Later, it says:

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

Read the whole thing.

-John

Remember that Fidel Castro Joke?

You know... the one where the far leftie Democrats meet with Fidel?
Oh wait... its not a joke?

In an effort to improve the relationship between Cuba and the U.S., Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) and Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) were the first U.S. officials to meet with the 82-year-old former dictator since his intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Geitner wants to fire CEOs

Just so that its clear:

When asked if he would leave open the option to pressure a bank CEO to resign, Geithner replied: "Of course."

So no... I'm not over-reacting.

-John

Tax Protest in Chicago, and CNN

I was at this protest in Chicago, when I heard a group of people shouting "CNN, go home!"


I didn't know what it was about. In truth, I thought it was a really bad move on their part. Its just bad PR to tell a media agency to 'go home'.
Then I saw the video on this page.

The reporter was unprofessional, and lost her shit. I don't know Susan Roesgen. I want to give her the benifit of the doubt. But when I saw this video, I understood why my fellow protesters were yelling for CNN to go home. Particularly when she started telling the protester that he should be happy because Obama was providing him with tax breaks. She didn't get what the protest was about.... at all.
Bad reporting. Fail.

Rescuing another one of his promises

Obama said that he was going to get a pound puppy, and that he was going to rescue a dog in need.
Instead, he ended up getting a pedigree pup that had lineage that traced back to the Kennedy's dog.

Go figure that for the man, whose image is everything, is picking out a pure bred dog.

"He's in a gray area," Pacelle said of Bo. "But I will say that many animal advocates are disappointed that he (Obama) didn't go to a shelter or breed rescue group, partly because he set that expectation and because so many activists are focused on trying to reduce the number of animals euthanized at shelters, and there's no better person to make the case to the American public that you can get a great dog from a shelter than the president."

Let's get this straight; there was no grey area. That pure bred dog was not going to end up in a shelter. We all know that.
If this were Bush making this type of decision, there would be a bunch of hand-wringing about how he broke his promise, and how its a shame that he can't keep one.

But this is Obama.
So there is no expectation that he's going to stay true to his word.

-John

Rahm Emanuel

I've blogged about Rahm before, but its a good time to remind everyone who he is.

Rahm is currently the chief of staff for Obama. Before that:

• He worked for Mayor Daley as a fund raiser.
• He worked for Bill Clinton as a campaign adviser, and was instrumental in his defense during impeachment.
• Rahm earned $320,000 working 14 months, starting in 2000, for Freddie Mac. He was appointed by Bill Clinton.
  
• After that, he was hired by a fund raiser for Clinton to work as an Investment banker for Wasserstein Perella. He made $16.2 million in 2 1/2 years.
• Then Rahm became a state senator. While he was doing that, he worked as a campaign strategist for Governor Blagojevich.

That makes him the first person I know of who has worked for both an impeached president and an impeached governor.

I'm important to remind you; when he worked for Clinton, he was appointed to the board of Freddie Mac in 2000. In 14 months, Rahm earned $320,000, or about 1/3rd of a million dollars in a little over a year.

So to me, it came as no surprise that Rahm's name came up when Blago was suspected of bribing people. I even told several people that I expected Rahm to be indicted as a person who was complicit in the scandal.

I was, however, surprised to read this headline in Politico as the indictment came down for Blagojevich:

Indictment suggests Rahm, brother were victims of extortion attempt

Rahm was a 'victim' of extortion???

Its time to remind everyone that Rahm worked as a campaign strategists for Blago.
Rahm was apparently looking for $2 Million for 'athletic facilities' at a school. This leads to the obvious question: how was Rahm being punished?
Unless, of course, Rahm was looking to profit somehow off of the two million dollars worth of 'athletic improvements' on one school.

But I digress.

When Blago was first indicted, Rahm ducked reporters.
The Obama administration was quick to say that they had to be quiet, because a criminal investigation was under way.
Then things got weird.
It was discovered that Rahm had spoken to Blago on a number of occasions.

I believe that Rahm had pitched a 'senate candidate' to Blago. Blago, being Blago, would have asked for something in return.

I know I have to convince some people, so let's start with the section of the criminal complaint that everyone has heard.
This is on page 68, number 104:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH suggested starting a 501(c)(4) organization (a non-profit organization that may engage in political activity and lobbying) and getting “his (believed to be the President-elect’s) friend Warren Buffett or some of those guys to help us on something like that.” HARRIS asked, “what, for you?” ROD BLAGOJEVICH replied, “yeah.”
[snip]
Later in the conversation, ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he knows that the President-elect wants Senate Candidate 1 for the Senate seat but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them.”

That's section 104 of the criminal complaint. Its the one talking point that the WH apparently pushed to the press... the fact that Rod said "Fuck them." if all they wanted to give was appreciation. But Rod was speculating about what they might say... because he kept talking about working out a deal.

That's clear from the next few notes in the criminal complaint:
From section 105:

Later on November 11, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A.
Advisor A indicated that he will stay “on top” of getting the Senate Candidate 5 information leaked to the particular Sun Times columnist. ROD BLAGOJEVICH again raised the idea of the 501(c)(4) organization and asked whether “they” (believed be the President-elect and his associates) can get Warren Buffett and others to put $10, $12, or $15 million into the organization. Advisor A responded that “they” should be able to find a way to fund the organization.

Just so that its clear... Blago hadn't given up on the idea of a deal with the president-elect (Obama.)

The idea of a deal is kept alive from day to day. From Section 106:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH noted that the President-elect can ask Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and others for money for the organization. ROD BLAGOJEVICH states he will ask “[Senate Candidate 6]” to help fund it as well. HARRIS said that funding the 501(c)(4) would be a lot easier for the President-elect than appointing ROD BLAGOJEVICH to a position.

From section 107:

On November 12, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor B. ROD
BLAGOJEVICH discussed with Advisor B his idea for a 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor B stated that he likes the idea, but liked the Change to Win option better because, according to Advisor B, from the President-elect’s perspective, there would be fewer “fingerprints” on the President-elect’s involvement with Change to Win because Change to Win already has an existing stream of revenue and, therefore, “you won’t have stories in four years that they bought you off.”

From section 108:

The advisor said he likes the Change to Win idea better, and notes that it is more likely to happen because it is one step removed from the President-elect.

Note how often the advisors are concerned that they stay one step away from the president-elect.
Like... a Chief Of Staff. From note 112 (my emphasis added in Blue):

On November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with JOHN HARRIS.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted to be able to call “[President-elect Advisor]” and tell President-elect Advisor that “this has nothing to do with anything else we’re working on but the Governor wants to put together a 501(c)(4)” and “can you guys help him. . . raise 10, 15 million.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wanted “[President-elect Advisor] to get the word today,” and that when “he asks me for the Fifth CD thing I want it to be in his head.” (The reference to the “Fifth CD thing” is believed to relate to a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Illinois’ Fifth Congressional District. Prior intercepted phone conversations indicate that ROD BLAGOJEVICH and others were determining whether ROD BLAGOJEVICH has the power to appoint an interim replacement until a special
election for the seat can be held.).

Who is the President-elect's advisor? He's the same guy who was from the 5th congressional district of Illinois: Rahm.
From section 113:

Also on November 13, 2008, ROD BLAGOJEVICH talked with Advisor A.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH said he wants the idea of the 501(c)(4) in President-elect Advisor’s head, but not in connection with the Senate appointment or the congressional seat. Advisor A asked whether the conversation about the 501(c)(4) with President-elect Advisor is connected with anything else. ROD BLAGOJEVICH replied that “it’s unsaid. It’s unsaid.”

I hope you're following.

Shortly after that, in early December, everything blew up in Rod's face.
The prosecutor, Fitzgerald, had to act before Blago appointed someone. In the meantime, a clear path to the president-elect was being formed... through Rahm Emmanuel.

Now you can interpret this information many ways.
Obama fans will no doubt say that even if "advisor A" spoke to the President-elect's Advisor (who would most likely be Rahm), that any quid pro quo was 'unsaid'.
I would point out that if Blago thought that his former campaign strategist Rahm would go along with such a scheme, he was probably right.

The fact is that Rahm has a lot to answer for... and I don't know why the media is not asking him about it.
Rahm has left a trail of shady dealings with shady people. I find it near impossible that he is innocent in all of this. If he was, it would be the first time that he didn't profit from dealings with a shady character.

Who is this guy, at Obama's International Press Conference?

Please take a look at the first 10 seconds of this video.

This is a screen cap taken from the video. Note the guy in the Blue shirt, pointing. I highlighted it with a circle.

When I watched this press conference, I was watching streaming Fox News coverage. (I added the circled highlight)
They cut away from the president and showed a 'front' view of this guy pointing. (Highlighted)

Then the president called on someone in the direction he was pointing to... the woman from India.
From what I saw of the guy in blue, he didn't have a press pass on. He looks American.
What I want to know is: was this guy part of the White House? Is he an aide whose job it is to let the president know who he should ask?
Or is he just some tool that happened to be there, pointing at a reporter he liked?
If you know the answer, please leave a comment.

New Obama promise broken!

The AP gets credit for actually calling the president out on this.

The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama's promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000.

The short version is this: Obama is putting out a massive tax on tobacco. Anyone who thinks about this realizes that poor people smoke too.
Obviously, this massive tax will hit the poor the hardest.