Obama’s Finance Chair, Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker And Today’s Wall Street Problem
By Uppity Woman on September 16, 2008 at 1:05 PM in Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Current Affairs, Hoodwinking, Penny Pritzker
Fellow former hippie and blogger over at Power and Control tossed me a link to his most interesting article on the condition of Wall Street and how it relates to Mr. Innocent, Barack Obama. The blogger’s first paragraph refreshed my memory about a piece I wrote back in April while the MSM was busy stroking The One and looking for new ways to set Hillary Clinton aflame.
You see, while Barack Obama is faking outrage over all the bankruptcies and bailouts, he doesn’t mention that a number of his top ten contributors are from Wall Street, including Goldman Sacs, Lehman and the JP Morgan Chase. He also fails to mention that one of the first subprime lenders to stick it to borrowers and have her bank seized is a woman named Penny Pritzker, who just happens to be Barack Obama’s campaign Finance Chair (as confirmed on April 3, 2008) and a potential Secretary of the Treasury in an Obama administration.
Power and Control blogger has this to say:
This is a long and complicated story about how Obama backers were behind the mortgage industry meltdown. It hast to start some where, so lets start with a well known Chicago name Penny Pritzker. It starts with a bank failure.
Power and Control is not only correct, but it looks like it’s time for a re-print (and then some) of my April 3 2008 piece on Penny Pritzker and the failed Superior Bank. I must have been psychic, I guess.
Let’s meet Barack Obama’s Finance Chairperson, Penny Pritzker.
We all know that Barack Obama hangs out with some interesting people and Penny Pritzker is no exception. I thought you might like to know more about Penny Pritzker and the closing of Superior Bank, which was owned by the Pritzker family.
The Pritzkers are one of the nation’s wealthiest families and heirs to the fortune created by the Hyatt hotels. Yes, Penny is a billionaire. So basically, Penny could squash me like a bug right now for writing this.
Among their other endeavors, the Pritzkers were the owners of Superior Bank in Hinsdale, Illinois when it was seized.
Yes, I did say seized.
Penny Pritzker, Barack Obama’s great Chicago (of course!) friend was a pioneer you might say! She was a failed subprime lender who set the tone all the way back to 2001. She did it before it was even in style.
Below is a 2001 press release from the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)
OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent
WASHINGTON – The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) closed Superior Bank FSB, Hinsdale, Ill., today and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.
The FDIC transferred the insured deposits and substantially all the assets of Superior Bank into a newly chartered, full-service mutual savings bank, known as Superior Federal, FSB, which will open for business on Monday morning. All depositors of Superior Bank automatically become depositors of Superior Federal, and will have immediate access to their insured funds. All 18 of Superior Bank’s Chicago metropolitan area offices will open for business Monday and will continue to offer full banking services, including online banking. Superior Bank’s loan production and servicing operations will also continue to operate normally.
OTS used its authority under the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 to close Superior Bank when it found that the bank remained critically undercapitalized — that its tangible equity capital was less than two percent of its total assets. The bank failed to implement a capital restoration plan that it submitted to OTS on May 24 this year.
Superior Bank suffered as a result of its former high-risk business strategy, which was focused on the generation of significant volumes of subprime mortgage and automobile loans for securitization and sale in the secondary market. OTS found that the bank also suffered from poor lending practices, improper record keeping and accounting, and ineffective board and management supervision.
Superior became critically undercapitalized largely due to incorrect accounting treatment and aggressive assumptions for valuing residual assets. The bank also experienced significant losses during 2000 from its automobile lending program.
OTS has determined that Superior Bank is insolvent, having incurred losses that have depleted all or substantially all of its capital. OTS also determined that Superior Bank was no longer able to transact business in a safe and sound manner.
OTS notified the bank of its serious concerns in July 2000.
The bank was purchased by two families in 1988 — the Pritzker family of Chicago, owner of Hyatt Hotels and other interests, and the Dworman family of New York, with interests in real estate and financial services activities — and was operated through a complex network of holding companies.
In light of these findings, OTS determined that closure and the appointment of FDIC as receiver were necessary to protect the interests of the bank’s insured depositors.
As of March 31, 2001, the failed bank had total assets of $1.9 billion and total deposits of $1.5 billion. FDIC insures depositors’ accounts up to the statutory limit of $100,000.
Superior is the only bank that OTS has closed in 2001, and only the fourth OTS-regulated institution closed in the past five years.
The FDIC has established a toll free telephone number for customers of Superior. That number is 1-800-331-6306, and will be available until midnight tonight and then from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily thereafter.
At the time of this seizure, it was determined that Penny Pritzker and her family owed $460,000,000 to the Federal Government. Yes, that’s right folks. Nearly a half a billion dollars. Gee, i wonder if that’s all paid back yet, don’t you?
I thought you might also like to hear an interview with one of Penny Pritzker’s victims and how this bank closing affected her life. You will also hear her reaction to the thought that Barack Obama would hire Penny Pritzker as his campaign Finance Chair, not to mention her horrified reaction to the thought that Ms. Pritzker might one day be “Secretary of the Treasury”. If “Play” doesn’t work, Click in MP3 Stream link.Buckle your seat belt first, please. This woman does not spare details and is not in a good mood. I suppose I wouldn’t be in a very good mood either if I lost my savings to Penny Pritzker.
I guess the main stream media didn’t think this Petty little Penny Pritzker Problem (say that three times fast) was important enough to look into back in April, 2008 when insignificant little me wrote about it. Ooops! Wait! They don’t seem interested in looking into it now either! Obama’s going to fix this problem. Oh yeah, for sure.
While your at it, take a look here at The Real Barack Obama’s repost of her piece on the Penny Pritzker Problem. It contains a nice round-up of Pritzker contributions to Obama as well.
Additional links on this bilking of innocent people:
NY Times, December, 2001
FDIC Failed Bank Information - Superior Bank
OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent
OTS Announces Resolution of Charges Against Auditor of Closed Superior Bank FSB
Copyright © 2008 Uppity Woman. All Rights Reserved.
(Release: November 13)
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Hey another piece of interesting news…..
“Good Morning America’s” train tour across the country continued on Tuesday with Diane Sawyer interviewing Hillary Clinton and encouraging the senator to agree that John McCain is too old to be president. She also jokingly invited the former first lady aboard, telling her the program could “go out and buy you some pajamas.”
But first, adopting the liberal talking points that McCain might die soon, the ABC host wondered, “…Senator Claire McCaskill said recently that she felt that it was a dangerous decision to pick Governor Palin, because of Senator McCain’s age and because of his health. Do you agree?” After Clinton declined to support McCaskill’s contention, Sawyer prompted, “So, you’re not going to endorse what she said?”
SAWYER: Senator McCaskill, Senator Claire McCaskill said recently that she felt that it was a dangerous decision to pick Governor Palin, because of Senator McCain’s age and because of his health. Do you agree?
CLINTON: You know, what I said, is we have to keep focused on the differences between the Republicans and the Democrats. This goes way beyond any one candidate. It’s really about the future that we have to fight for. And I am doing all I can to keep focused on what matters in the lives of Americans. We have a better economic policy. You know, we had a difficult situation in 1993, when my husband became president. Democrats fixed it. We have all kinds of challenges. And if we don’t look at the differences between what Senator McCain and Governor Palin offer, in terms of policies, and in my view, misplaced policies, compared to what we offer, then we’re going to get diverted and we’re not going to make the right decisions.
SAWYER: So, you’re not going to endorse what she said?
CLINTON: You know, I think the point is not the vice presidential candidate on the other side, with all due respect. It’s the presidential candidate. Senator McCain is not offering much of a change from what has already been the policies of the Republicans and of this administration.
Hillary is dignified as always.
WTF is wrong with these news “journalist”? They continue to amaze me everyday with how much they are willing to toss any remaining journalistic integrity they may have in the gutter for Barry.
Considering that Sawyer was once a Nixon press aide her political judgment wasn’t always the best and she seems to be making biased assessments by trying to push Senator Clinton into making negative comments that could be used against her (Senator Clinton) in the future.
From Sawyer’ biography:
The Soetoro/Obama campaign seems to be trying to convince us that the only mistakes made are by the opposition when evey time you scratch the surface of Obama loyalists you see the tarnish beneath the shine.
Well said, Hillary! Oh Dear, now I’m going to cry because she’s not our candidate. I know, I know, Obama says we should just “GET OVER IT!”
One of my greatest pleasures would be to say this right back to him on November 5.
That will be fun, I’m looking forward to it, too. Today I had the fun of saying it to John Kerry, while voting for his primary opponent Ed O’Reilly here in MA. Go Ed!
She is, I saw that and she was not going to lower herself become a attack dog for nobama.
brilliant.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75307
I’ve been waiting since the primaries to see this Woman’s Name come up in the MSM. Consortiumnews did an article on it way back then and no one picked it up.
Penny Pritzker, she was ahead of her time in bilking Joan Q. Public out of her money. Very good article.
And that fraud, that incompetent sham who is headed for 0blivion slams McCain on the economy? The Creature of Chicago proclaims a Great Depression because the stock market lost 4% in one day…when in 1987 there was a one day drop of 20% and no Great Depression followed. And as the peons are lined up on the sidewalks to get their apple and slice of bread, Senator 0blivion chows down at a $28k/plate fundraiser. What a man of the people he is.
Thank you for writing this article. It’s just another example of what a preening mendacious cipher he is.
Hi all..was talking to my 79 year old father who remembers the end of the Great Depression and what it was like for him, his family and his friends. And he said although yes things may be shaky right now, no way does the economy today come close to what Americans went through over 70 years ago. Does anyone know what the unemployment rate was back then? Anyone have family or friends who remember what it was like? Just food for thought.
The unemployment numbers are in the middle of this page: At the height of the depression the rate was 25%.
We may be in a recession but Depression-speak is overstating the situation.
I agree..thanks RW!
My parents were children during the Great Depression. My father doesn’t have any particular stories although they moved out of the South and relocated to the Midwest so my grandfather could be a farm laborer. My mother grew up on a farm and she doesn’t have really bad memories of the Depression. They had a home, they grew their own food, and they had enough to hoboes who came to the back door, knowing that my grandmother would feed them.
The one poignant story my Mother tells is that they couldn’t afford to have Christmas presents, so the year when she was twelve, she went to town with my grandmother who had put a side a little money for gifts. When they saw the prices, grandma realized she couldn’t really afford a gift for everyone, so she bought a church that had “stained glass windows” and played Away in the Manger as a gift to the whole family. She put that church out every year at Christmas until she died at age 96.
The people during the depression didn’t lose it all because they were too stupid to know you can’t live on credit without it coming down on your head. They didn’t lose it all because they bought homes they couldn’t afford either.
I was a Depression child. My parents were lucky; they lost investments but owned a house which they rented out the year I was born. We lived in a series of strange rental apts. that I loved, but it took a toll on my mother. To the day she died she would say that she only wanted to “live nice.” We had no car. We moved back when I was in 5th grade.
My husband’s father was out of work for a long time, so they moved in with his great grandmother and great aunt–she had a job. They had a vegetable garden on a relative’s land and walked up the hill about a mile each day to work in it. They at least had food and shelter.
This was in the Pittsburgh area. My most poignant memory is a shanty town built along the bus line– shacks made out of anything and everything, fires outside where people were cooking. I thought it was normal. Hard days.
Boy, they do have a really long-term plan!
Sorry I made a typo. Perhaps you could direct me to your perfect blog so that I might learn how to write.
I’ll wait…..
…….still waiting….
I think it was a perhaps failed attempt at humor, lighten up.
When you write six pieces on your own free time daily for a cause you believe in, then tell me to lighten up.
You have no idea what I do with my free time daily. But fine, don’t lighten up.
UW thank you your writing. I love reading everything you have to write. I am going to be sad when the election is over and don’t get to read your stuff anymore. Write a book!
Uppity - I feel the same way!
I admire your ability to keep writing such powerful stuff.
UW — you are amazing, don’t lighten up, ever!
I’m convinced there are Evil Viruses that insert typos into our comments. I never make typos, and yet everything I put up has something wrong with it. This is very sinister.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk_fPi-24Iw
Uppity,
Your posts are fantastic. Thanks for your hard work.
Uppity,another great piece from you. Please mail it immediately to the Mc Cain campaign so they can turn it into an ad for the battleground states. I don’t understand why they aren’t exploiting this type of FACTUAL information to expose Barry.
I’d like to think they already know this. I hope. If not, I am worried. lol.
seriously I’ve been writing about this since April and so have others. Let’s face it, it’s deliberately buried.
Thanks Perry for all your funny pieces. You are great!
I saw a new Obama ad in Ohio last night. it was on how many people around McCain are lobbyists. I figured it was an attempt to get the early upper hand since so many people around Obama are connected to the mortgage issue. More sign of desperation IMO.
That ad played in Missouri, too.
And Florida.
He’s not just slime. He’s lying slime. He’s got lobbyists bundling money for him. They still get the credit only it LOOKs different. He’s a back door liar.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/04/06/names-of-the-dc-lobbyists-obama-doesnt-take-money-from/
oh dear…
looks like the american people are catching on to the fraud that Obama is…
even if the media aren’t actually reporting on Obama’s crimes and criminal friends…
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09162008/news/politics/mac_makes_move_on_dem_empire_129286.htm
NY state might actually switch to mccain this election…
that is pretty historic…
a. hillary
b. mccain
america first!
good, make him spend some of that $77M to run ads in NY, FL, CO and a few more. Run him ragged doing campaigns. I’ll never forget the friggin’ whinning throughout the end of the primary. He’s such a priss that way.
There is not enough counter to this age and health thing. They should be called ageist, and it is McCain who has released his entire medical record of over 200 pages while Obama has released next to nothing. it may very well be that McCain is healthier than Obama, he certainly seems to have more energy.
And 0blivion has a wart on his nose…OMG IT MUST BE MELANOMA….
HE HAS SKIN CANCER HE CAN’T BE PRESIDENT!!!!
/sarcasm
What about his addiction to cigarettes and former addiction to Cocaine?
How do we know these aren’t effecting his health and maybe he could die in office too?
It is so ironic that the “progressive” Dems are running a candidate who’s a chain smoker! Shops for that healthy food at Whole Foods and then he smokes tobacco. Well, that’s the sign of a druggie for you.
How right you are about Soetoro/Obama’s additions being hazardous to his health and look who would be taking his place? A 66 to 70 (4 year term) year old white guy who is reported to have a drinking problem.
At least Palin’s “vice”, according to the media, is religion. And if she hasn’t panicked at living across the water from Russia in war mode, I think she’ll do all right.
I’m getting concerned…Barky is coming out wham, bam, slam at McCain and it seems like the McCain campaign isn’t doing much at fighting back right now. They seem to be losing traction and and gaffing regarding the economy.
I’m not a troll!
I am just very uneasy right now. Any thoughts out there?
Are they waiitng for Barky to re-load?
p.s. I live in Massachusetts and I’m going to have the pleasure later today of voting against Senator Kerry in teh primary!
When your opponent is making a fool of himself you stand back and let him. Obama is perfectly capable of doing great damage to himself. he looks desperate and flailing although of course the msm isn’t portraying it that way. I’ve seen enough hard hitting stuff from McCain to believe that they are not being shy about hitting back and when it seems they are, it’s just a matter of timing.
Right. Also, the McCain camp seems to be pointing out that Obama is setting the negative tone in the campaign. McCain keeps saying that the tenor of the campaign would be different if Obama agreed to Town Hall meetings.
But Obama would rather continue with more of the same old style politics and run crazy ads about not sending email.
The more he flails, the worse he looks.
I love how they let him loosen up and start flapping his lips again. They know he’s going to say something stupid.
Unfortunately, I agree with your assessment. McCain somehow let Obama get away with his ‘whining’ about a negative campaign AND own the economy issue. The polls appear to be tightening nationally with McCain losing a point or two.
I am nervous. I will be nervous until McCain and Palin are in the White House.
Take care,
Patrick
jack, relax. these are the repubs. they are experts at presidential elections. in the immediate past, except for Big dawg, no one could stand upto the repubs. they know when to release what. dont worry, its gonna rain down on Obama. store up on popcorn and watch the fun.
I know, really! When they’re quiet is when you know they’re about to land a sidewinder.
At this moment they’re most likely doing the OODA thing - you know: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.
And someone mentioned about the polls tightening. I do believe this stock market thing will be somewhat advantageous to 0blivion. But before long he’ll do something else to make people hate him because he is the n00b POTUS candidate from hell.
McCain will need to connect wall street, Pritzer, and barky’s campaign…obama’s biggest backers are from wall street
Thanks for the feedback!
I hope that the McCain strategy is to have Barky on defense going into the debate next Friday.
p.s. I’m off to vote!
Wait for the debates. . .
Candy Crowley and David Gergen said on CNN last night that bad news on Wall Street is good news for the Obarfy Campaign. Sounds strikingly familiar to the Iraq story. McCain needs to point out how many Obarfy campaign advisors have their dirty hands all over this Wall Street problem - Jim Johnson, Franklin Raines, Jaime Gorelick and Hunter Biden to name a few Freddie and Fannie stars. How about our deplorable democratic congress and the horrible Chris Dodd/Barney Frank housing bill which has contributed to our housing and mortgage meltdown. This was the dem plan all along. Throw the American people into financial troubles and then blame the Republicans and George Bush! How much does George Soros and Felix Rohatyn have to do with all the market troubles going on? Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are traitors to the American people. Why are gas prices going up Nancy when the price of a barrel of oil is going down?
Well George Soros is famously known for “breaking the Bank of England” on Black Wednesday in 1992.
All is not bleak on the economic front:
Big fall in energy pushes consumer prices down
Consumer prices drop 0.1 percent in August, first dip in nearly 2 years as energy plunges.
Tampagurl…
good point.
Some articles about G. Soros and his method of operating
Soros’ double-dealing in the Caucasus oil market by Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing writer, 8/13/08
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3614.shtml
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Organizations%20Funded%20Directly5.htm
Lists organizations supported by Soros
**********************
The Soros Media “Empire” The Power of Philanthropy to Engineer Consent By Michael Barker
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker02.html
Candy and Gergen are two blathering Obama fools. I never listen to anything either of them has to say. In fact I never listen to CNN ever any longer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKj109ZST3g
wow.
a. hillary
b. mccain
america first!
This video is shocking in that Colmes actually tries to give his shameful point of view to defend Barry’s votes. As a man, he carries no credibility talking about these issues. He also had on his blog questioning whether Palin had taken care of herself enough prenatally as to end up with a Downs Syndrome baby. What a moron. That joker needs his ass off that show. Why can’t Fox replace him with Howard Wolfson? Colmes looks like a cadaver.
McCain / Palin Rally in Vienna, Ohio at 4 PM EST - LIVE VIDEO FEED
to be starting shortly..
hey thanks!
a. hillary
b. mccain
america first!
Great piece. I thought Obama was super-clean. Now we hear he was taking a ton of lenders’ pac money…very interesting, and interesting friends.
[...] http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/09/16/obamas-finance-chair-failed-bank-owner-penny-pritzker-and-to... Also see Dan Riehl’s July 22, 2008, post Penny Pritzker: It Gets Worse? h/t Bessie On a list of ten questions he’d like Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to answer, author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson recently listed the following as number 6: The head of your campaign finance chair is Penny Pritzker. Before taking over Obama´s campaign finances, she headed up the borderline shady and failed Superior Bank. It collapsed in 2002. The bank engaged in deceptive and faulty lending, questionable accounting practices, and charged hidden fees. It made thousands of dubious loans to mostly poor, strapped homeowners. A disproportionate number of them were minority. Why does she still have a principal financial role in your campaign? [...]
Obama, ACORN and the subprime mess:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/09/acorn_fannie_mae_and_motor_vot.html
Talk about chickens coming home to roost!
This just underscores that we do not know the real agenda of Barack Obama. I do believe his is a manchurian candidate whose mission is (1) destroy the democratic Party and create a new vanguard movement (the new dems ala Brazille), (2) get elected and destroy america within.
This is getting interesting…I’m going out to stock up now on popcorn.
OT–Sarah Palin is coming to my town (Jackson WY) to do a private fundraiser! I heard about it, contacted the republican party for info. within 10 minutes I heard from the national campaign, the local office, and the regional office thanking me for my interest and vote. Hey, I’ve never received anything like this from the democrats. yes they want my money and vote–and they’re going after it.
Time to clean house with the democrats.
HRC 2012!
If I lived in Jackson and you had a feather up your butt we’d both be tickled to death!
Yay, Dr. Kate!
I got my rubber gloves, my bucket, my mop and my Pine-Sol at the ready. I am prepared to clean this house, sistah!
HRC 2012
A sub prime mortgage lender as Secretary of the Treasury.
There are no words.
Obama’s greed and audacity knows no bounds.
jack, relax. these are the repubs. they are experts at presidential elections. in the immediate past, except for Big dawg, no one could stand upto the repubs. they know when to release what. dont worry, its gonna rain down on Obama. store up on popcorn and watch the fun.
+1
Tom is right. Timing. It’s everyyyyyyyything. It’s too early.
McCain is not giving Obama anything serious to “push back” against. It’s an old tai chi trick. Obama is floundering.
Obama has night sweats thinking about what McCain has in store for him. Let him sweat.
He’s being worn down and he’s doing it to himself.
wow, a wonderful onterview with Meghan McCain….
A few lines from the interview :
KING: What do you make of those, back to Governor Palin, who say that if you criticize her, it’s sexism.
M. MCCAIN: I don’t think necessarily criticizing any candidate is sexism, but I do think that sexism has played a role with the governor and with Senator Clinton as well in this election. I don’t think criticizing a candidate, no matter what gender, is necessarily sexism.
KING: You think Senator Clinton was a victim of it, too?
M. MCCAIN: I do.
KING: Did you like Chelsea?
M. MCCAIN: Yes. I met her a while ago at the ABC debates. She’s lovely, really cool. I liked her a lot.
KING: You liked Hillary, too?
M. MCCAIN: Yes, I like Jenna Bush, too. I’ve met her too. They’re all really interesting women. Chelsea was particularly friendly.
KING: I think it was quoted. Did you say you were obsessed with Governor Palin?
M. MCCAIN: Yes.
KING: What do you mean?
M. MCCAIN: What I love about Governor Palin is for so long women are told, you can do everything, but you have to do it at different time. You can have a career, but then you can have kids. She has five kids and now she’s the vice presidential nominee. I love that she’s doing it all at once. She’s such a role model for me. I love strong women. I am a strong woman and I just love examples like that.
KING: You have been with her, right?
M. MCCAIN: Yes.
KING: What do you like about her?
M. MCCAIN: First of all, she’s really chill. She’s really nice, really friendly. She’s really up on pop culture, which I always respect. She’s very smart. She doesn’t act entitled, which unfortunately sometimes you get with some politicians. She’s just like your average girl, like just a mom. But she’s very very, very shrewd, very smart. I’ve heard her talking about issues.
Meghan McCain seems like a very good, grounded person.
also, i would argue that McCains camp did serious damage over the last couple weeks. You cannot go overboard. They will let obama go overboard.
They might even wait to pushback until obama takes the lead and thinks his attacks are the road to victory and the nail him.
It is all chess. Chess that his campaign has played to a tee.
I see them lulling obama into a false sense of security and confidence.
They are not pushing back so obama will think he has free reign to say anything.
Plus, keep in mind that the media will always distort it in bama’s favor. I mean the politico is running retarded storys about adviser fiorina saying Palin is not experienced to run HP.
They are making a big deal but the fact is no one in this race has ANY experience running a multi-billion dollar corporation like HP. Or the story about McCains adviser joking about him helping invent the blackberry.
2 harmless things being pushed as serious.
Especially the fiorina thing, you do not get a job running HP unless you have some serious business credentials and a supreme education in that feild.
Trust me, we have to help McCain win, it is up to us to work on the ground and make calls.
McCain’s campaign set a trap for obama and it will spring in another day or 2. You will see.
Plus, palin is doing an interview with Hannity tonight and Couric next week. The battlegrounds are swinging to mac, as well as democratic strongholds.
Look at NY, obama refuses to help the democrats in NY because of lobbyists. I bet the dems there will pay him back in kind.
Well said.
You are psychic Uppity!
Great post. Sometimes I think of the late great Molly Ivins when I read your articles. She was one of the funniest and astute political writers here in Texas. I miss her voice.
Keep it up, Uppity!
Leisa that is the one compliment I REALLY love when I hear it. I would have LOVED to take Moly Ivin’s place. She was definitely my style. A great loss she was. Dowd is crap next to Ivins.
This is a chess game. The key is to allow your opponent to get comfortable and then hit him so hard and so fast his head unscrews and he defeats himself. There’s 7 weeks left before the election, you have to wait until what you hit them with is no longer defensible. In two weeks he’ll him Bambi hard, week 3 will be a little harder and sometime around week 5 he’ll start in on the Pakistan-Taliban-Alqaeda connections and his drug selling days in New York. Week 6, hold on to your hats because the real bombshells are going to start dropping.
[...] from: Obama’s Finance Chair, Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker And Today … Share and [...]
By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive)
September 16, 2008 - 11:20 ET
Do you think the recent stock market collapse or troubles in the banking system are good news?
Well, according to CNN’s Candy Crowley, the Obama campaign does.
On Monday’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” after CNN senior political analyst David Gergen said “what happened over the weekend with the economy and the bottom falling out of the financial markets…is the opportunity for Obama to seize the momentum back on his side,” Crowley actually said, “[J]ust as foreclosures were showing up on B-17, or in the real estate section, along comes this horrific headline out of Wall Street…I mean, this is what they wanted.”
I kid you not. The transcript of this disgraceful exchange follows (video embedded right, h/t Steve Malzberg):
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DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But what happened over the weekend with the economy and the bottom falling out of the financial markets — and we have been saying for some time on this program this is the worst financial crisis since the Depression — Alan Greenspan said on Sunday the worst economic situation he’s seen — it seems to me that there’s a real turning point now, that that momentum on McCain’s side is likely to fade. And there is the opportunity for Obama to seize the momentum back on his side. I don’t know if he’s going to do it or not. He is trying. McCain has an opportunity here as well. But there’s no question right now that this — this really dark economic situation is now going to be — is going to really — is going to, I think, blot out a lot of this question about who — the backing-and-forthing and the advertising, and focus on the issues.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Right.
GERGEN: And that’s what — that’s what Obama has wanted to do. He’s now got the opportunity.
I think, personally, he’s got the critique down, but he still hasn’t provided a message about what he would do, nor has he really surrounded himself, in the way he needs to, with the Bob Rubins and the Paul Volckers and the Larry Summers and Laura Tysons, and have them as a tight unit. I think he still has to do that.
COOPER: Candy, no doubt — very quickly — on the campaign trail, it obviously played a big role today. You anticipate, in the days ahead, issue number one, it’s going to be front and center?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN: Oh, absolutely.
I mean, listen, just as foreclosures were showing up on B-17, or in the real estate section, along comes this horrific headline out of Wall Street.
COOPER: Right.
CROWLEY: I mean, this is what they wanted. They believe, of course, that the economy is one of their strengths and that they can paint John McCain as George Bush.
Isn’t that nice? The nation’s banking system is collapsing, and members of CNN are not only discussing how it helps Obama, but are admitting that this is what his campaign wanted.
How disgraceful.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
Its like saying, “Good, the hole in the side of the ship is bigger… maybe I can be captain now.”
Its like a rival general in the civil war being glad the other side is doing well so maybe he can replace the guy ahead of him.
They are such fools…
It’s like Cheney and Rusmfeld celebrating 9/11 because they could implement the neocon agenda.
Obama=Bush III
well I think it is just another desperate move by the media. It won’t work either. I smell a conspiracy. Obama gets big donations from these crooks. They all tank right before the election…..if it was on purpose then they want Obama in office to cover for them and Hillary and McCain wouldn’t have.
Saw a bumper sticker today
***********CNN**********
“Communist News Network”
The only reason CNN, MSNBC and NY TImes endorse Obama is Karl Marx isn’t available.
thanks I needed a laugh Uppity…
From downstairs. Could McCain’s fair treatment by Clinton have something to do with the “odd couple” meeting last week?
I have a friend who works for him and he says Scaife is very smart. He personally wrote Hillary’s endorsement for his paper last spring. To have been a fly on the wall at that meeting would have been better (for a fly at least) than landing in fresh pig poop.
LOL….
Amazing amount of content to this article. NQ writers and readers are vetting the people and the issues.
Hi, Mr. Murder.
I would venture to guess alot of why Obama has been pushed on voters is because the bigwigs don’t want us to know that they were in on this whole fiasco and Obama wouldn’t squeal on them because he is taking their big donations.
It angers me. Diane Sawyer tried to provoke Hillary Clinton. Thats pathetic. Are there no objective journalists? Why do women try to bring down other women? Thats so blatantly ridiculous. Thank God that Hillary is a seasoned politician, and knows how to handle all quests.
OT but have you seen this…
Exclusive: DOJ will not conduct witch hunts for Obama
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/16/exclusive-doj-will-not-conduct-witch-hunts-for-obama/
Remember Barack Obama’s attempt to silence TV stations running an independent ad by American Issues Project spotlighting The One’s ties to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers?
30, the scumball didn’t vote for FISA for nothing.
Maybe we could pattern such a plan after the FDIC, John. The program was established in 1933 following the wave of bank failures during the early days of the Great Depression. It’s been in place ever since.
The fundamentals? You mean like the strength of the dollar, the annual federal budget, the national debt, the “balance” of trade, personal debt levels, the unemployment rate, the stability of the markets, and the confidence Americans have that they’ll be able to pay their bills and keep their homes?
Nope. That’s not what John means:
OK… I guess what you’re saying is that those things are just fine and don’t need fixing. Which brings us back to those other things, which have all gone to hell in a handbag during the last eight years of republican policy and administration. Maybe we should think about reforming some of that?
By the way, the FDIC was part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which included a number of other protections that McCain’s economic advisor Republican Phil Gramm dumped with his Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. One of the things Phil dumped was the 1933 provision that separated banking services from investment services. That’s what allowed investment banks such as Lehman Brothers to help set up our unfolding financial disaster on Wall Street. We can certainly give Phil some credit for that, as well as Enron and the subprime mortgage crisis.
Excuse me, but my stocks and securities in my retirement account are NOT insured by the FDIC you hack.
That is what McCain was talking about…
FDIC Website:http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/investments/facts/index.html
You are righteously correct, Leisa.
God, some people are just stupid. They usually use words like Hopey Changey.
Nope, they aren’t, and couldn’t be. The potentially higher return stocks and securities offer are had at the cost of increased risk.
What angers me presently is that the risk is now spreading from investors–who consciously accepted that risk–to savers, who opted for security at the cost of higher returns. Common-sense savers have also been penalized by way of artificially suppressed interest rates, which have been forced down to stimulate the market, and by the huge decline in the value of the dollars they’ve saved.
Savers and small investors alike seem to keep getting the shaft. Nobody seems to win anymore but the big guys. I suspect the game is seriously rigged.
something -
I’m in agreement with you about how the end result here is small investors getting hosed. Speaking of the game being seriously rigged, recall that the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 passed with bipartisan support. Biden, notably, was for it. Dodd and Obama were not.
(fast forward a couple years and the lenders had gotten to them also.
I looked up the bill you referenced in your below post. I see that one of the provisions is:
in 1999 NO ONE could have foreseen the WTC attacks occurring. Interest rates were lowered to jumpstart the frozen economy after that horrible event. And thus the real estate mania was born.
Both political parties should be held accountable. I trust McCain to address the problem. He has a vested interest in preserving his reputation as a maverick and reformer.
Senator John McCain voted in favor of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act.
Only one democratic senator voted AYE.
Get it? The republicans set up the current financial melt-down. The republicans removed protective regulations from investment and banking that allowed Enron, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the investment banking failures to happen.
McCain, today:
Uh, no we aren’t. All we have to do is look at the provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, which you supported. The entire explanation can be found there. Today’s financial news can be traced directly back to that source.
The republicans never changed the law to allow false financial information to be submitted on mortgage loan applications. Yet said applications were regularly falsified so that the mortgage broker could earn their commission and the house hungry applicant could feed their McMansion jones.
Honest appraisers and lenders were shoved aside by house hunters and realtors alike in favor of shady operators who would hit the numbers. Again, no laws were changed to allow this to happen, and complaints that were filed to appropriate agencies went largely unheeded - by agencies of every political stripe.
Bush trumpeted the “ownership society” but he forgot the little detail that the homebuyer should be able to afford their little castle. The NAR (National Association of Realtors) contributed huge amounts equally to Republican and Democrat legislators. There is enough blame to go around, and I remember when McCain made a statement that no one should be bailed out of the real estate meltdown. That was early on in the primary season. Some interpreted that his stance was not friendly to the “little guy”, so he modified his position.
I have confidence that the mover and shaker of Campaign Finance Reform will be able to get us to a place where this fiasco will not occur again, well anyway not in the foreseeable future.
I tend to blame them for removing important regulations that stood in the way of such abuses. Beyond that, I’m pretty much in complete agreement with everything else you say.
Give crooks an avenue, and they’ll take it every time.
I don’t like crooks, either. But I think Obama is having to be circumspect in flinging this mud because it is not so easy to put on McCain without getting some on himself. For example:
Another dem/rep financial creature that benefitted mightily form the results of that legislation, ie., Citigroup, and now touts Obama.
Something to chew on:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/09/acorn_fannie_mae_and_motor_vot.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
This 2003 New York Times story said the Bush Administration wanted to strengthen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulation but Congressional Dems and the housing lobby opposed it.
I saw a FOX interview today with Piglosi. She was squeeling like a little piggy that it was not the Dems fault. “You can’t pin this on us!”
It sounded like “You’ll never take me alive copper!!”
another little tidbit…
Sep. 16, 2008): New Jersey a battleground state? Second poll has Obama ahead by 3 points - (Quinnipiac)
09/10 - 09/14 - Obama +3
McCain - 45%
Obama - 48%
08/04 - 08/10 - Obama +10
Mccain - 41%
Obama - 51%
This article confirms my fear that an Obama administration would be no different than Dubya. But of course the Dems would be telling us, what he meant was….
I got this e-mailed to me…
STEALING TRILLIONS TO MAKE A FEW MILLIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG8RLZn678I
ALL YOUR CHANGE ARE BELONG TO US
Yes indeed. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones…if I may invoke that well-used truism.
When Chris Dodd withdrew from the primary campaign, he sent out an email stating that he was endorsing Barack Obama because Obama’s experience in housing made him particularly qualified to address the mortgage crisis. That email seemed like a huge mass of BS when I first read; right now it seems unbelievably stupid.
Another character to add to the cast of characters is that former CEO of Countrywide or whereever who was heading Obama’s VP search team until asked to resign for his tainted image…not to mention those shady figures, Soros, Bloomberg, Greenspan, Rezko, Pelosi, Rohatyn, etc, lurking in the background
Obama has nothing on McCain when it comes to the economy.
The people we really need are Hillary and Bill Clinton who for some reason unbeknownst to inquiring minds have been banished and exiled by the Illuminati.
I am sorry, but there is something seriously wrong with the system. Guess that misogyny is inbuilt. Its incredible. I think of it this way……the MSM is
waiting to hear a smear from a former presidential candidate to an opposition on the VP ticket. That means…..Hillary to Sarah.
Take it the other way. If Romney or Huckabee (presidential candidates) smears Biden (a VP candidate), will it be given ehough press and analysis. I bet not.
Looks like the MSM wants a catfight between Hillary and Palin. Really, they are totally sexist. and its disgusting. And I’m a man. And this offends me. I can only imagine what you women are feeling.
A desperate Fed pumped an additional $96 billion into the banking system yesterday, and the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank, added some $55-$60 billion into the banks. The Fed injected capital three separate times, to provide liquidity to panicked banks. This is going to lead to hyperinflation!
Look, if you called a veterinarian because your dog is covered with blood sucking ticks that are killing him and that vet simply connects an IV to your dog to replace the blood, you would call him nuts. The cure is to remove the parasites!
These delaying tactics are simply making the problem worse. Stop this bail out process! We’ll need the blood later to recover. Put the financial system under bankruptcy protection right now. Whatever isn’t going to function, put into bankruptcy reorganization. Anything that is in trouble goes into receivership.
But the key is to remove those parasite without killing the dog. In the overall scheme of things, $96 billion in temporary liquidity really isn’t a huge number. The Fed did the exact same thing following the stock market crash in 1987 and the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. It’s done mainly to prevent irrational panic among investors, and it’s proven to be quite effective at doing so.
This statement bears repeating…
I am sorry, but there is something seriously wrong with the system. Guess that misogyny is inbuilt. Its incredible. I think of it this way……the MSM is
waiting to hear a smear from a former presidential candidate to an opposition on the VP ticket. That means…..Hillary to Sarah.
Take it the other way. If Romney or Huckabee (presidential candidates) smears Biden (a VP candidate), will it be given ehough press and analysis. I bet not.
Looks like the MSM wants a catfight between Hillary and Palin. Really, they are totally sexist. and its disgusting. And I’m a man. And this offends me. I can only imagine what you women are feeling.
I was at McCain’s store…the have a pink button that says “It’s A Girl”…I am so tired of this sh!t that pissed me off…I know a man was responsible for that one…
http://www.goptrunk.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=130
Write to the campaign and tell them their ignorance is showing.
I don’t know about that.
I am not known for “picking my battles” effectively. But this button thing is not one I would get excited about.
I guess the supposed insult is that the button refers to Palin as a “Girl”.
Well if the men can have an “Old Boys” network, what is wrong with an “Girls” network?
Besides, you must know it torures Obambi to know he is getting sand kicked in his face by a “GIRL”. Why not let that keep getting into his head.
The real insult is that GIRLS are somehow inferior. I say keep the GIRL Button.
But, don’t make me wear one.
I went to the store, saw the button and thought it was kind of cute. My daughter (27) came in, saw the button and ordered 50 of them and tossed in some bumper stickers and lawn signs too. She has an Obama supporter next door and per my daughter, “I’m gonna piss her off so bad she’ll puke”.
cool!
Great post Uppity. I missed the original.
Obviously this is extremely relevent NOW.
Maybe FOX can run with this.
In my opinion, and ofcourse it may be deeply flawed, there are 2 kinds of democratic presidents. The growth-democrat or the re-distribution democrat. Clinton was a growth-democrat. His presidency expanded the economy, created jobs, bridged the deficit. But Obama’s economic plan is like a classic re-distribution democrat. The economy will die under Obama. That is not good in the present circumstances. Obama would be a disaster in this present scenario, whatever he or the Democratic part says.
I just don’t think Obama is a Democrat. If he were a Democrat, the economy would be in good hands.
Check it out–our worst guy (Jimmy Carter) beats the stuffing out of their best guy (Ronald Reagan)!
This is an overly simplistic argument. Granted, certain Bush administration policies have not helped with job growth. But one also has to consider the fact that the US population has stabilized at around 300,000,000 and that we are now getting a level of competition from countries like China and India that we’ve never had to deal with before. The surest way to grow the US economy and create new jobs is to keep taxes and government spending as low as possible while practicing free trade, not raising taxes and putting up protectionist trade barriers as Barack Obama would do.
You forgot to mention that there was no problem with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac under Carter either. But if I recall correctly (and I do) interest rates were at 21% under Carter and you couldn’t afford to by a house and inflation was at 17% so basically we couldn’t afford gas under Carter either. WAIT! I forgot, there was NO GAS under Carter.
You nailed it. There is indeed a huge difference between the two.
lol….the next huffington advice…
With the Palin media frenzy still in high gear, it’s imperative that Obama take back the excitement momentum. One powerful way to shake up the race again would be to begin publicly announcing his Cabinet, beginning with the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, assuming she agrees to take the position.
This would not only give the public a deeper sense for what an Obama administration would look like. It would reignite the passions of devoted Hillary followers as they are assured of the power and influence that she would wield in an Obama administration.
Hillary Clinton has, by all accounts, demonstrated her credentials to be the President. The Secretary of State plays a key role in positioning America on the global stage and representing our interests abroad, as well as acting as an adviser to the President. It is the single most powerful and visible role in the Cabinet and a role for which she is eminently qualified. Such a position would also harness more of the wisdom gleaned from eight years of the Clinton administration and augment the foreign policy expertise that Biden brings.
In terms of election dynamics, such an announcement would turn the headlines back to Obama’s candidacy, with some pundits calling it a brilliant tactical move to regain Hillary’s supporters and others calling it a reaction to the Palin buzz. The debate itself would shift the fascination from the Palin pick, as well as subtly highlight the fact that Obama’s Secretary of State would be more qualified to be President than McCain’s VP.
With a defined role in the coming Obama administration, Hillary’s campaign events could have renewed vigor and visibility and those followers who have felt slighted and thus inclined to support Palin would have an additional reason to vote Democratic.
The next logical step with such an approach would be to announce further Cabinet picks, which would grab headlines, illuminate details about his administration’s plans, and add powerful leaders to the campaign trail. As the full Obama team becomes more visible, with specific leaders able to talk about concrete policies that can solve America’s formidable problems, voters can more easily look beyond the personalities at the top of the ticket and instead look at the programs and teams that can implement those policies. And it is in the details of their plans for America where the most important differentiators between McCain and Obama can be found.
By publicly announcing his Cabinet picks in advance, Obama would break historical precedent, demonstrating his role as change agent. Ironically, the stage is already set for this move since both McCain and Obama on 9/11 agreed to a Cabinet level position for Service and offered the position to their opponent if they win. In the long term, a shift towards early announcement of key Cabinet members would make good sense. After all, a venture capitalist will rarely invest in business ideas without assessing the full team that can execute a plan. Similarly, the American people should have a better sense for the full leadership team that will constitute an Administration rather than just the #1 and #2. Even better is a strategic plan for how to implement policies, which Cabinet members can be invaluable in fleshing out.
In today’s world of complexity, a President can only process so much information. It is beholden upon his or her Cabinet to be voices of wisdom, balance, and innovative ideas. The mark of a great leader is that they surround themselves with excellent leaders rather than yes-men or yes-women. Picking Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and announcing that now would give us further insight into the caliber of leadership that Barack Obama would bring as President.
Can’t this poor guy see he’s wasting his time?
apparently not….
I believe it is a criminal offense to name the cabinet picks in advance.
You can not promise specific things to people based on the outcome of an election.
Uppity, you ARE psychic, sweetie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp7i66YtOXw
Yup,
She called it…
This is truly disgraceful…..
Do you think the recent stock market collapse or troubles in the banking system are good news?
Well, according to CNN’s Candy Crowley, the Obama campaign does.
On Monday’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” after CNN senior political analyst David Gergen said “what happened over the weekend with the economy and the bottom falling out of the financial markets…is the opportunity for Obama to seize the momentum back on his side,” Crowley actually said, “[J]ust as foreclosures were showing up on B-17, or in the real estate section, along comes this horrific headline out of Wall Street…I mean, this is what they wanted.”
I kid you not. The transcript of this disgraceful exchange follows (h/t Steve Malzberg):
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But what happened over the weekend with the economy and the bottom falling out of the financial markets — and we have been saying for some time on this program this is the worst financial crisis since the Depression — Alan Greenspan said on Sunday the worst economic situation he’s seen — it seems to me that there’s a real turning point now, that that momentum on McCain’s side is likely to fade. And there is the opportunity for Obama to seize the momentum back on his side. I don’t know if he’s going to do it or not. He is trying. McCain has an opportunity here as well. But there’s no question right now that this — this really dark economic situation is now going to be — is going to really — is going to, I think, blot out a lot of this question about who — the backing-and-forthing and the advertising, and focus on the issues.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Right.
GERGEN: And that’s what — that’s what Obama has wanted to do. He’s now got the opportunity.
I think, personally, he’s got the critique down, but he still hasn’t provided a message about what he would do, nor has he really surrounded himself, in the way he needs to, with the Bob Rubins and the Paul Volckers and the Larry Summers and Laura Tysons, and have them as a tight unit. I think he still has to do that.
COOPER: Candy, no doubt — very quickly — on the campaign trail, it obviously played a big role today. You anticipate, in the days ahead, issue number one, it’s going to be front and center?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN: Oh, absolutely.
I mean, listen, just as foreclosures were showing up on B-17, or in the real estate section, along comes this horrific headline out of Wall Street.
COOPER: Right.
CROWLEY: I mean, this is what they wanted. They believe, of course, that the economy is one of their strengths and that they can paint John McCain as George Bush.
Isn’t that nice? The nation’s banking system is collapsing, and members of CNN are not only discussing how it helps Obama, but are admitting that this is what his campaign wanted.
How disgraceful.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NzI3ZDUzOTE0ZThlMTU3MTY0MDI4ZTY0MTZhY2I2MGY=
September 16, 2008, 0:28 a.m.
On Sex-Ed Ad, McCain Is Right
What was that Illinois sex-education bill really about?
By Byron York
In recent days, a consensus has developed among the Obama campaign and commentators in the press that John McCain has decided to lie his way to the White House. Exhibit A in this new consensus is McCain’s ad, released last week, claiming that Barack Obama’s “one accomplishment” in the field of education was “legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergartners.”
Within moments of the ad’s appearance, the Obama campaign called it “shameful and downright perverse.” The legislation in question, a bill in the Illinois State Senate that was supported but not sponsored by Obama, was, according to Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, “written to protect young children from sexual predators” and had nothing to do with comprehensive sex education for kindergartners. In a stinging final shot, Burton added, “Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why.”
Newspaper, magazine, and television commentators quickly piled on. “The kindergarten ad flat-out lies,” wrote the New York Times, arguing that “at most, kindergarteners were to be taught the dangers of sexual predators.” The Washington Post wrote that “McCain’s ‘Education’ Spot is Dishonest, Deceptive.” And in a column in The Hill, the influential blogger Josh Marshall called the sex-education spot “a rancid, race-baiting ad based on [a] lie. Willie Horton looks mild by comparison.”
The condemnation has been so widespread that the Obama campaign has begun to sense success in placing the “McCain-is-a-liar” storyline in the press. But before accepting the story at face value, it might first be a good idea to examine the bill in question, look at the statements made by its supporters at the time it was introduced, talk to its sponsors today (at least the ones who will consent to speak), and find answers to a few basic questions. What were the bill’s provisions? Why was it written? Was it really just, or even mostly, about inappropriate advances? And the bottom-line question: Is McCain’s characterization of it unfair?
21st-CENTURY SEX EDUCATION
The bill in question was Senate Bill 99, introduced in the Senate in February 2003. Its broad purpose was to change and update portions of Illinois’s existing laws concerning sex education. (The text of the bill is here, and everyone interested in the issue should take a look at it.)
When the bill was introduced, a coalition of groups including the Illinois Public Health Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Cook County Department of Public Health, the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council and others issued a press release headlined “Coalition of Legislators, Physicians and Organizations Bring Illinois Into the 21st Century with Omnibus Healthcare Package.” It was a three-part campaign; Senate Bill 99, covering “medically accurate sex education,” was the first part, with two other bills addressing “funding for family planning services for women in need” and “contraceptive equity in health insurance.”
According to the press release, Senate Bill 99 required that “if a public school teaches sex education, family life education, and comprehensive health education courses, all materials and instruction must be medically and factually accurate.” The bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Carol Ronen, was quoted saying, “It teaches students about the advantages of abstinence, while also giving them the realistic information they need about the prevention of an unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.” The release contained no mention of sexual predators or inappropriate touching.
What, specifically, was the bill designed to do? It appears to have had three major purposes:
The first, as Ronen indicated, was to mandate that information presented in sex-ed classes be “factual,” “medically accurate,” and “objective.”
The second purpose was to increase the number of children receiving sex education. Illinois’ existing law required the teaching of sex education and AIDS prevention in grades six through twelve. The old law read:
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades 6 through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention, transmission and spread of AIDS.
Senate Bill 99 struck out grade six, changing it to kindergarten, in addition to making a few other changes in wording. It read:
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education in any of grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV.
The bill’s third purpose was to remove value-laden language in the old law. For example, the old law contained passages like this:
Course material and instruction shall teach honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual marriage.
Course material and instruction shall stress that pupils should abstain from sexual intercourse until they are ready for marriage…
[Classes] shall emphasize that abstinence is the expected norm in that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against unwanted teenage pregnancy [and] sexually transmitted diseases…
The proposed bill eliminated all those passages and replaced them with wording like this:
Course material and instruction shall include a discussion of sexual abstinence as a method to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Course material and instruction shall present the latest medically factual information regarding both the possible side effects and health benefits of all forms of contraception, including the success and failure rates for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV…
The bill gave parents and guardians the right to take their children out of sex-ed classes by presenting written objections. The bill also specified that “all sex education courses that discuss sexual activity or behavior…be age and developmentally appropriate.” And, after covering a number of other provisions, the bill addressed the issue of inappropriate advances:
Course material and instruction shall teach pupils to not make unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances and how to say no to unwanted sexual advances and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one’s judgment. The course material and instruction shall emphasize personal accountability and respect for others and shall also encourage youth to resist negative peer pressure. The course material and instruction shall inform pupils of the potential legal consequences of sexual assault by an acquaintance. Specifically, pupils shall be advised that it is unlawful to touch an intimate part of another person as specified in the Criminal Code of 1961.
The wording of that provision suggests lawmakers were at least as concerned with protecting children from each other as from adults, and it doesn’t seem directed toward the youngest children, as Obama maintained. But there is no doubt that the bill did address the question of inappropriate touching. On the other hand, there is also no doubt that, looking at the overall bill, the “touching” provision did not have the prominence that Team Obama has suggested it had, and it certainly wasn’t the bill’s main purpose.
TOUCHY SUBJECT
After the ad controversy erupted, I asked the Obama campaign to suggest who I might interview for more information. I particularly wanted some sort of contemporaneous account showing that Obama voted for the bill because of its inappropriate-touching provision. The campaign suggested I call Ken Swanson, who is head of the Illinois Education Association and a 20-year veteran of teaching sixth-graders.
“The intent of the language and inclusion of kindergarten was simply to make it possible to offer age-appropriate, not comprehensive, information for kindergartners so that those young children could be given basic information so that they would be aware of inappropriate behavior by adults,” Swanson told me. “Certainly, it was never intended to be some sort of inappropriate information that might be appropriate for junior high or high school students.” McCain’s accusation, Swanson told me, was “bogus.”
I suggested to Swanson that the bill seemed to provide for HIV education for youngsters before the sixth grade, and perhaps as early as kindergarten. “As I recall the discussion, there was a conversation where in different places in the state — that was something that should be left to local circumstances,” Swanson told me. “What might be appropriate in an urban inner city might not be appropriate in a rural community. I don’t recall anybody, from our perspective, having a one-rule-fits-all vision.”
Swanson suggested that if I wanted to know more I should get in touch with the bill’s sponsors. There were five — State Senator Ronen, as well as Sens. M. Maggie Crotty, Susan Garrett, Iris Martinez, and Jeffrey Schoenberg. All were from the greater Chicago area. But getting in touch with them was easier said than done.
Ronen has left the Illinois state senate. When I called her home, I reached a woman who did not give me her name but told me she knew how to reach Ronen. I gave her my information, but there has been no call back, nor has Ronen answered a number of follow-up calls.
An assistant in Garrett’s office helpfully gave me the senator’s cell-phone number, so I was able to have a few brief conversations with her. In one, she said she couldn’t talk and asked me to call back in a few minutes. I did, and then did again, and ended up doing so several times over an extended period, all without an answer. The next day, I reached Garrett again, who told me that since the debate took place five years ago, she couldn’t speak about it “unless I have the bill in front of me . . . I’d be happy to do that if I could just print out the bill . . . I just want to be sure I get it right.” We agreed that I would email her the bill, but after I did, she didn’t answer the phone. She still hasn’t.
I’ve gotten no response from Crotty or Schoenberg.
That leaves Sen. Martinez, who was kind enough to speak to me by phone Monday afternoon. Martinez began by saying that the bill was indeed about inappropriate touching. “We know that young children, very, very young, have things happen to them that they don’t speak about,” Martinez told me. “It’s important that we teach our young kids very, very young to speak up.”
When I asked Martinez the rationale for changing grade six to kindergarten, she said that groups like Planned Parenthood and the Cook County Department of Health — both major contributors to the bill — “were finding that there were children younger than the sixth grade that were being inappropriately touched or molested.” When I asked about the elimination of references to marriage and the contraception passages, Martinez said that the changes were “based on some of the information we got from Planned Parenthood.”
After we discussed other aspects of the bill, I told Martinez that reading the bill, I just didn’t see it as being exclusively, or even mostly, about inappropriate touching. “I didn’t see it that way, either,” Martinez said. “It’s just more information about a whole variety of things that have to go into a sex education class, the things that are outdated that you want to amend with things that are much more current.”
So, I asked, you didn’t see it specifically as being about inappropriate touching?
“Absolutely not.”
“THAT WASN’T WHAT I HAD IN MIND”
The controversy over the McCain sex-ed ad is a rerun of a similar controversy that erupted in the 2004 Illinois Senate race, when Obama’s opponent, the Republican transplant Alan Keyes, brought up the same issue. In a debate that year, when Keyes accused Obama of supporting sex education for kindergartners, Obama answered, “Actually, that wasn’t what I had in mind. We have a existing law that mandates sex education in the schools. We want to make sure that it’s medically accurate and age-appropriate. Now, I’ll give you an example, because I have a six-year-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean. And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age. So, that’s the kind of stuff that I was talking about in that piece of legislation.”
Obama’s explanation for his vote has been accepted by nearly all commentators. And perhaps that is indeed why he voted for Senate Bill 99, although we don’t know for sure. But we do know that the bill itself was much more than that. The fact is, the bill’s intention was to mandate that issues like contraception and the prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases be included in sex-education classes for children before the sixth grade, and as early as kindergarten. Obama’s defenders may howl, but the bill is what it is.
—
Byron York, NR’s White House correspondent, is the author of the book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President — and Why They’ll Try Even Harder Next Time
John, thank you for the details and the link.
Oprah Winfrey was sexually molested when she was a young girl. I think she said it was a family member who did it. She admitted this years later when she was a young adult.
On the one hand you have Penny Pritzker who ripped of her bank customers, then you have Obama’s co- Finance Chair James Crown who sits as a director of JP Morgan Chase who is raking in millions on the Bear Stearns collapes and the wars in Iraq and Afganistan due to his family owning huge stakes in General Dynamics.
Who says it isn’t about the money, community organizer Obama who keeps taking from the rich to stuff his own pockets…lol
James Crown? Obama’s gang of Chicago thugs puts Al Capone to shame.
I’m getting truly afraid of Obama. What kind of man is he? He wants the economy to tank cos he gets to blame Bush, he wants to delay troop withdrawals from Iraq, cos it benefits his presidency. This man is scary. Please get a grip. America, and send this guy back to chicago. He is dangerous. Get serious about it. If you can, tell others about the dangers. This will affect the whole world. Obama is power-hungry and insane. And imagine him facing Putin. No way, he’ll want to run back to Michelle in the white house. yes, I’m being harsh, but you have to make sure that this guy doesn’t win.
Tom,
You have discovered the solution to our problem. I think at one time or another most all of us finally understood the degree of evil intent behind this man and his masters and we all experienced that astonishment. This sonofabitch IS really trying to take over and collapse our country from within.
He intends, with the help of his assembly of thugs and robber barons, to eviscerate our military, gut our economy, and then declare that the Republicans have made such a shambles of things that he has to regrettably, suspend our rights, just until the National Police Force gets control of the situation.
Big Brother is one election from permanently buggering each and every one of us for effectively, ever.
You are right. He must not win. If you convince one person that this is so, you double the value of that vote because you’ve not only added that person, you’ve taken one away from him.
Keep pressin’ man…
regards
Byron York from the National Review has done a good job of going through the bill that the John McCain campaign used in their “Education” video ad regarding Barack Obama’s support of Senate Bill 99 which would allow kindergartners to be taught sexual education.
Video ad below:
http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/09/fact-checking-mccain-ad-saying-obama.html
The ad above says Barack Obama voted for a bill that would teach sex education to kindergartners and the Obama campaign denied the assertion and accused the McCain campaign of lies and smears. Pulling up the text of the bill gives the answers.
Criticisms from the Obama campaign came out immediately after the McCain ad was released, with the Obama campaign calling it “shameful and downright perverse,” and Obama spokesman Bill Burton saying the bill Obama supported was “written to protect young children from sexual predators.”
McCain spokesperson Tucker Bound’s responded by stating “the Obama campaign did not and cannot dispute a shred of the content in the ad.”
The text of the ad in question:
Education Week says Obama hasn’t made a significant mark on Education.
That he’s elusive on accountability.
A staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly.
Obama’s one accomplishment?
Legislation to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergartners.
Learning about sex before learning to read?
Barack Obama, wrong on education.
Wrong for your family.
The media jumped in with some saying McCain distorted the facts of the bill, the left accused the McCain campaign of lies and smears and the Obama campaign created an ad called honor in response to the McCain ad.
All the ink dedicated to one specific ad, about a bill that Obama did not sponsor but did support, and which did not get passed into law, aroused curiosity across the Web, which was easily satisfied by looking into the text of Senate Bill 99 and the press release that proceeded the vote on the three part package which includes Senate Bill 99.
The opening paragraph of the release states:
An unprecedented package of legislation aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies, reducing the need for abortion and reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections will be unveiled today at a Springfield press conference. Composed of three separate bills, the legislation will cover: 1) medically accurate sex education; 2) funding for family planning services for women in need; 3) contraceptive equity in health insurance.
The Sponsor of the original bill, Senator Carol Ronen, was quoted in the release as saying, “It teaches students about the advantages of abstinence, while also giving them the realistic information they need about the prevention of an unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.”
SENATE BILL 99.
Sec. 27-9.1. Sex Education. (A)
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV.
Section one supports the McCain ad assertions that sexual education is the specific purpose of Senate Bill 99.
Part 2.2.1 of Section One, also offers Barack Obama some protection about his voting for Senate Bill 99 where it states:
(2) All (1) course material and instruction shall be age and developmentally appropriate.
Immediately following that line in the bill comes the purpose for the bill:
Course material and instruction shall include a discussion of sexual abstinence as a method to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Course material and instruction shall present the latest medically factual information regarding both the possible side effects and health benefits of all forms of contraception, including the success and failure rates for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Course material and instruction shall include a discussion of the possible consequences of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Then we come to the portion of the bill that Obama spokesman, Bill Burton, says the bill was intended for, which in his words were “written to protect young children from sexual predators.”
“Course material and instruction shall teach pupils to not make unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances and how to say no to unwanted sexual advances and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance. The course material and instruction shall contain methods of preventing sexual assault by an acquaintance, including exercising good judgment and avoiding behavior that impairs one’s judgment. The course material and instruction shall emphasize personal accountability and respect for others and shall also encourage youth to resist negative peer pressure. The course material and instruction shall inform pupils of the potential legal consequences of sexual assault by an acquaintance. Specifically, pupils shall be advised that it is unlawful to touch an intimate part of another person as specified in the Criminal Code of 1961.”
There is more to the actual bill, but these portions show that both candidates are specifying the portions of the bill that they wish to focus on and both candidates ignored the portions of the bill that their opponents wish to focus on.
The McCain campaign did not add the unwanted touching portion of the bill to their video ad and the Obama campaign did not acknowledge the focus of the bill as stated in the news release and in the very first paragraph of Senate Bill 99.
Neither candidate lied, neither candidate distorted, and yet their has been much ink dedicated to this topic, when a simple reading of the bill itself could have answered all the questions.
The McCain ad is factually correct and the Obama campaigning trying to deny it so vehemently, simply gave people a reason to look into the actual bill itself instead of just chalking the ad up to politics.
The Obama campaign should have left this alone because now people will be shown the bill, which does, indeed, allow for children as young as 6 to be taught sexual educations and that while it did not become law, Barack Obama did, in fact, support the bill.
Others discussing this, via memeorandum:
Townhall.com, The Corner, Althouse, Eduwonk, QandO, pandagon.net, Weekly Standard, The Other McCain and Patterico’s Pontifications
.
I’m getting truly afraid of Obama. What kind of man is he? He wants the economy to tank cos he gets to blame Bush, he wants to delay troop withdrawals from Iraq, cos it benefits his presidency. This man is scary. Please get a grip. America, and send this guy back to chicago. He is dangerous. Get serious about it. If you can, tell others about the dangers. This will affect the whole world. Obama is power-hungry and insane. And imagine him facing Putin. No way, he’ll want to run back to Michelle in the white house. yes, I’m being harsh, but you have to make sure that this guy doesn’t win
Uppity Woman-
Excellent post. Thank you.
Here is just another factoid that supports premise of your article…
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers
I’m getting truly afraid of Obama. What kind of man is he? He wants the economy to tank cos he gets to blame Bush, he wants to delay troop withdrawals from Iraq, cos it benefits his presidency. This man is scary. Please get a grip. America, and send this guy back to chicago. He is dangerous. Get serious about it. If you can, tell others about the dangers. This will affect the whole world. Obama is power-hungry and insane. And imagine him facing Putin. No way, he’ll want to run back to Michelle in the white house. yes, I’m being harsh, but you have to make sure that this guy doesn’t win. I really do hope so.
Ask about GE (General Electric)Obama and General electric has a deal going which will bring General Electric billions and billions of money to general electric. And MSNBC CNN-AND more are in on this.This is alot of money going into the pockets of Obama -MSNBC-CNN AND MORE.That is why of many reasons MSNBC-CNN AND THE DNC IS PUSHING OBAMA ON THROYGH.It’s going to cost all of us.They are going to use the goble warming bit here on us.General Electic is wanting to get billion and billions of dollars.It’s the big wheels at msnbc-cnn ABC doing this.Think about it.Obama has nothing hje made his ounch card on in and we have the biggest of biggest here are getting him in.What are they afraid of.Nothing really.they have the media-they have the press-the have the internet-they have Obama ever where.I wish the hell people would wake up The sex education is true.look up the bill is there.
It’s our children are not safe from the big money they to are sold out.
Why
Truly MSNBC is pee in GE’s bucket.
Obama’s radical tax plan would hurt our economy. His desire to increase the capital gains tax and many other taxes would lead to an even greater economic crisis than exists today.
As far as taxes go, heres a simple version. And an example as to why taxing the rich more wont help. (I’m far from rich and know taxing them more is a bad idea).
BAR ROOM ECONOMICS – HOW THE TAX SYSTEM WORKS
Suppose that every day, ten people go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get their “fair share”?
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everyone’s share, then the fifth and the sixth would each end up being paid to drink their beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each drinker’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:
The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the drinkers began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth. She pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!” “Yes, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I did” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks” “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor”
The nine drinkers surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible!
Good analogy. The only thing I might add is in reality… the people in the analogy don’t even need to like or drink beer to be included. They just have to be taxed here. They can buy the beer for everybody else that they don’t even drink for themselves. Watch the tenth men figure out they can just get up and leave under a socialist leaning Obama presidency. I read just yesterday… Google is looking at moving offshore.
It’s the people in our goverment who are doing this to our country and the people.What happend? Oh my god!Our grant money was taken.People who didn’t have a dime the hurricain Katrain and more.Got no help cause of our goverment.I see the top of the list.From the smallest.So now what do we do.
I will have to stay with McCAIN AND Palin..Palin took down corruption so that’s my choice.And now we the people having to pay it all and suffer because of this.Oh my god.What the reason they can’t bail out Fannie Mae and Fannie mac is because maybe we don’t have any money in our goverment.What the hell is this.Fucken Goverment.What the hell is wrong with them.Like Obama said chase the big house that’s where it is all at.Yes telling the college kids that.Hasn’t Obama done so much damage. as well as many to .Obama is the worst of the worst.
Shit!!!!!!!!!I am about to get sick.Even sicker on Hillary as now she know who Obama is and now she is as well running with the dirty of the dirtest. What the hell do we do.???What? Obama is dangerous.as many others are to.But Obama is the worst of all.a nut cake!
Here is just another factoid that supports premise of your article…
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers
That’s what I want to know.What do we do now?
This is unreal.Well Obama is so dirty I know that.But now what do we do?
We can’t stand anymore of Obama’s radical tax plan would hurt our economy.We are going to be finish off here.
I saw his sex Education k-12 grade.McCain told the truth.Obama lied again.What’s his lies up to now?I know over a hundred.
McCain Palin 08
Country First
You mean you don’t want barky to redistribute you “pie”?
This is a very informative article about you know who.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/obama_and_south_chicago_slum_d_1.html
Thanks UW!
Glad I could help. One Old Hippy to another.
My guess is that this post will be removed, as all comments seem to be of the same voice, but how site with the tagline “Tired of Spin?…” can print an article referring to a presidential candidate as “Mr. Innocent” and “The One” is entirely beyond my capacity for comprehension. I support the notion of free speech and am always open to the other side of any argument, but whether or not the information in this article is accurate becomes irrelevant when you are choking on the emotionalism. The American people deserve more than this from the people that claim to work toward the purpose of providing information.
[...] No Quarter, the most despicable site on the internet, always pushing the most ridiculous lies to fuel Obama hatred, finds a way to use credit crisis to attack Obama’s judgement. [...]
[...] Obama’s Finance Chair, Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker And Today’s Wall Street Problem (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter) [...]
Democratic Congress May Adjourn, Leave Crisis to Fed, Treasury
[...] wait, there is more. Penny Pritzker. Our own Uppity Woman dished the dirt here. In a nutshell, “one of the first subprime lenders to stick it to borrowers and have her bank [...]
[...] up his VP search team. But wait, there is more. Penny Pritzker. Our own Uppity Woman dished the dirt here. In a nutshell, “one of the first subprime lenders to stick it to borrowers and have her bank [...]
[...] See also Uppity Woman’s 16 SEPT 2008 essay entitled “Obama’s Finance Chair, Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker And Today’s Wall Street Problem.” [...]
[...] With the Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac crisis, Obama has shown the same old corruption and graft characteristic of the old politics. Obama, as well as his associates, were major recipients of campaign contributions from these two entities. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/09/16/obamas-finance-chair-failed-bank-owner-penny-pritzker-and-to... [...]
[...] see now. Last week we discussed the 2001 failed Superior Bank of Chicago and Penny Pritzker, Barack Obama’s Campaign Finance Chair. Ms. Pritzker, it seems, is the Mother of the [...]
In a February 7, 2002 statement to a U.S. Senate Committee, FDIC Inspector General Gaston Gianni Jr. noted that “the failure of Superior Bank was directly attributable to the Bank’s Board of Directors and executives ignoring sound risk management principles…” Ironically, the Obama campaign’s national finance chair, Penny Pritzker, was a member of the Superior Bank/Coast-to-Coast Financial/Alliance Funding board of directors when Superior Bank engaged in the predatory subprime mortgage lending and toxic mortgage securitization practices which helped cause the collapse of the U.S. banking system less than 8 years after Superior Bank’s collapse in 2001.