Word to your mother – it’s racist to blame Democrats, Doodad Pro’s donation, polling methods, Ayers’ airs and mortgage discrimination – the legal kind
By LisaB on October 7, 2008 at 1:10 PM in Current Affairs
1) Well, it was only a matter of time. Get a good race blame theme going and, sure enough, white people will glom on. According to HotAir, who read Barney Frank’s reactions to charges he played a role in the economic meltdown, it’s a race thing.
Let’s keep score. Criticizing Obama means we’re racists. Criticizing Congress means we’re racists. Getting angry at Congress for pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying bad loans and infecting the entire financial system with essentially fraudulent paper — at a cost of up to $700 billion in taxpayer money and potentially trillions in lost investments — means we’re racists.
————–
Congress — and specifically Frank himself — had plenty of warning that this would happen. The anger generated from that information has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with the breach of trust between Congress and its constituents. Frank, Chris Dodd, and others like Lacy Clay and Maxine Waters tried the racist meme out on regulators who tried to warn Congress of the pending collapse. They have to smear their critics. They certainly can’t admit that Congress failed spectacularly. Racism is the last refuge of scoundrels in 2008, and not surprisingly, we find most of those scoundrels in the Democratic Party.
read the rest ->
The Boston Herald has the original story.
“The bizarre notion that the Community Reinvestment Act . . . somehow is the cause of the whole problem, (conservatives) don’t mind that,” the lawmaker [Frank]said. “They’re aware that the affordable-housing goals of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and) the Community Reinvestment Act (aim to help) poor people. And let’s be honest, the fact that some poor people are black doesn’t hurt either from their standpoint.”
Now, when even privileged white people get to draw the race card, it’s pretty much played, isn’t it? I mean, isn’t it the death knell of “hip” and “edgy” when some old white guy says it? I guess I’m down with that.
2) CBSNews finds more bogus Obama donors.
CBS News has learned that two donors to the Obama campaign that gave a total of $7,722 appear to have made their contributions under fake names that look like they were written by a mouse running across a keyboard: Dahsudhu Hdusahfd of Df, Hawaii with the following employer CZXVC/ZXVZXV and Uadhshgu Hduadh listed as living in Dhff, Florida listed their employer as DASADA/SAFASF.
CBS News did not find any records of these last names, towns or employers anywhere else. Newsweek reported two questionable Obama donors over the weekend named “Doodad Pro” and “Good Will”.
I hope Doodad Pro got a receipt.
3) At CNN, Campbell Brown is really, really, really upset about negative campaigning. No, don’t bother. I put the link here merely as a courtesy. The usual media dance of publicizing every dirty trick and then decrying it continues apace. . . . Yawn. There’s always investigative reporting, but that might upset the “narrative.”
4) Over at strata-sphere.com is an interesting observation about polling. Using a graphic from a WSJ piece, the author says that polling done on the basis of party affiliation is misleading. He points to the fact that policy preferences don’t always track with party affiliation. According to WSJ, voters identify themselves as liberal (23%) moderate (36%) and conservative (37%). They identify themselves as Dem (43%) ind (20%) and Rep (36%).
So, if a pollster gathers participants based on party affiliation, likely Obama voters will likely outnumber likely McCain voters, with independents a small group in between. However, if a pollster gathers participants based on policy preferences, that would certainly widen the middle group, lessen the likely Obama voters and do almost nothing to likely McCain voters.
Interesting. Still, I’m guessing pollsters use party affiliation because its less slippery than policy preferences. But the author thinks the polls are skewed, making Obama’s lead look much bigger.
Maybe some pollster readers here at NQ can weigh in.
5) City Journal has a piece on Ayers and Obama dated yesterday.
Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer. (If you find the metaphor strained, consider that Walter Duranty, the infamous New York Times reporter covering the Soviet Union in the 1930s, did, in fact, depict Stalin as a great land reformer who created happy, productive collective farms.) For instance, at a November 2006 education forum in Caracas, Venezuela, with President Hugo Chávez at his side, Ayers proclaimed his support for “the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chávez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane.” Ayers concluded his speech by declaring that “Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education—a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation,” and then, as in days of old, raised his fist and chanted: “Viva Presidente Chávez! Viva la Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”
————–
As I have shown in previous articles in City Journal, Ayers’s school reform agenda focuses almost exclusively on the idea of teaching for “social justice” in the classroom. This has nothing to do with the social-justice ideals of the Sermon on the Mount or Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Rather, Ayers and his education school comrades are explicit about the need to indoctrinate public school children with the belief that America is a racist, militarist country and that the capitalist system is inherently unfair and oppressive.
The author finishes with this:
Is it too much to hope that one of the moderators of the two remaining debates will press Obama for a fuller accounting of his work with Bill Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and also ask Obama what he thinks of Ayers’s views on school reform? If the mainstream media deem it important that voters know which newspapers one of the vice presidential candidates reads, they certainly ought to be demanding more information from a presidential candidate about whom he collaborated with in distributing $160 million to the public schools. How about it, Tom Brokaw?
What do NQ readers think the odds are for Brokaw asking such a question tonight?
6) Now this is fun. At the Atlantic (of all places), is a piece about Obama and Ayers that does a really good job of calling out the hypocrisy of that relationship in a way those people will understand, with literary references, chianti and gentle language. The author (Ross Douthat) is responding to a post by another person (Richard Stern) who describes the Ayers / Dorn pair.
Douthat quotes Stern’s piece in TNR:
I’ve been to three or four small dinner parties with Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, once hailed as the Weathermen’s Dolores Ibarruri (”La Passionaria”), a fiery, beautiful muse. (Incidentally, I never heard the word “Weatherwoman.”) Dohrn is still attractive, while Ayers maintains an adolescent fizzle in his sexagenarian bones. Dohrn is more subdued than Ayers, uninterested in fame. She told me that her husband wanted to pursue movie interest in their story, but that she wasn’t interested. “They only care about the sex and violence.” Once, Ayers was about to tell the four other people at dinner how they’d gotten Eldridge Cleaver from a California prison to a Moroccan haven, but Dohrn skillfully buttoned his lip.
“La Passionaria” a “fiery, beautiful muse?” “An adolescent fizzle in his sexagenarian bones?” High flown language for a couple of aging hippies who put bombs together to kill and maim, but that’s just me.
Incidentally, isn’t it interesting that Ayers would like to “sell out” and have his story made into a movie? Who does he think should play him? I’ll bet money on Sean Penn.
Douthat responds:
. . . Obama’s obfuscation regarding Ayers is, in a sense, the homage that vice pays to virtue – a tacit acknowledgment of the fact that the political culture of Chicago, and especially of Hyde Park, is more accommodating than perhaps it should be to a morally dubious figure like Ayers, and that having accommodated himself to those accommodations Obama now recognizes the need to behave as if he didn’t.
Whereas bragging about what a “splendid, rather intimate community” Hyde Park is, where you can brush shoulders with the Ayerses at a lovely dinner party, maunder on about Chekhov and old enemies embracing, and gently forgive them for their “criminally violent past,” seems to me considerably grosser. What offences did the Weathermen commit against Richard Stern, besides calling him a dirty name, that he should have the honor of bestowing forgiveness for their crimes? And when, for that matter, did Bill Ayers ever ask to be forgiven?
————–
But really, really, I never thought I’d see the day when TNR would find itself publishing florid odes to the “adolescent fizzle” in Bill Ayers’ sixtysomething bones, and the charms of sharing a fine chianti with his “fiery, beautiful muse.” Change we can believe in, indeed.
Now, I thought that was very fun. Douthat skewers Stern’s language in describing the bombing twins and the notion that Stern can “forgive” them. It’s subtle, but very effective. Kind of reminds me of a guy who likes his liver with “a nice chianti.”
Jennifer Rubin, at Commentary, responds to Douthat:
But more than hypocrisy is at work here. It is not just far Left, American-hating radicals he now disowns. You get the sense that he believes everyone can be played. Rashid Khalidi can believe that Obama finds no one suffers more than the Palestinians. Jews can buy that he was moved by the Holocaust from a summer camp experience. Voters in his Congressional race in 1990 can be told that there is no difference ideologically between him and 100% ADA-rated Bobby Rush, but the rest of the state in 2004 (and eventually the country) can buy that he’s a post-partisan reformer. Terrorists come to believe he shares their scorn for America, but Iowa voters hear him talk about his appreciation that only in America could his story have happened. Primary voters in Ohio are coddled with protectionist promises – and then privately scorned while he is talking to San Fransciso liberal donors.
————–
But one thing has been consistent. He has never, ever attacked political corruption, whether in Chicago or Washington. To the contrary, at the Woods Fund, the Annenberg Challenge and the U.S. Senate he’s laddled out earmarks and goodies to a long list of friends and associates — Wright, Pfleger, Will County ( home of FBI target Larry Walsh), Allison S. Davis, ACORN, etc. The one consistency has been his fidelity to political supporters. Everyone else and every political position were disposable.
You’d think not attacking corruption would be a problem for a “change” candidate, but this election year is nothing if not deeply weird.
7) IBD has an editorial about Barney Frank’s disavowal of any Democratic responsibility for the economic meltdown. Franks says “Did not!” IBD says, “Did too.” Of course, IBD also blames the Clinton administration, but there are some very interesting points here.
When former Treasury Secretary John Snow pleaded for Frank to support Fannie and Freddie reform, Frank responded: “These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Democrats believe in affordable housing even if it’s at the expense of the vast majority who watch their credit, work hard and pay their mortgages on time. But for the deadbeats, particularly Democratic constituencies, they have ways to make affordable the housing you couldn’t afford. So first, they forced them into housing they couldn’t afford, and now they give them a financial mulligan.
In the vice presidential debate, Sen. Joe Biden said that “what we should be doing now — and Barack Obama and I support it — we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you’re paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal you owe.”
To get this bill passed, Obama made a lot of phone calls — particularly to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including caucus chief Rep. James Clyburn — assuring this would happen.
Those paying their mortgages on time don’t get that break.
Rep. Elijah Cummings said Obama told him that, if elected president, he would direct a Treasury Department official to work with homeowners in foreclosure to restructure their loans. Cummings said Obama also told him he’d seek changes in bankruptcy laws allowing judges to reduce what borrowers owe on their home loans.
I’d LOVE to have the principal on my home reduced!!! Of course, I try to overpay my principal when making mortgage payments. But I guess that just proves I’m a total sucker.
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Barney Frank is guilty and his squirming is pathetic.
Dorhn described as a “fiery, beautiful muse” is disgusting.
Who calls someone a “muse” anyway? Maybe on PBS morning kid’s shows…
SNL bailout skit up again
http://msunderestimated.com/SNLBailoutSkit.wmv
People are trying to get this up everywhere and NBC puts the hammer down as soon as they find it. This is unbelievable. I could understand NBCs complaint if the postings were stealing traffic from their website, but they pulled it. This is truly depressing. Keep putting it up wherever you can.
LisaB, I always enjoy your news roundups. But it often happens that I get so Obama-nasueous that I don’t make it to the end.
This time I got knocked out of the running by the article you quoted on the glorification of two sadistic, mentally-un-there,
wanna-be mass murderers. Yeah Dohrn is firey.
I hope she goes where they keep the big fires burning night and day.
LisaB – I do feel Sean Penn would be repulsed by both Ayers and Dorhn.
Oh come on! He’s sympatico with these people.
Barney Frank is done & he knows it…
Great article LISAB…NQ ROCKS!
LisaB — you do rock!! Great round up.
Loved the inclusion of the Commentary Mag. piece — it is amazing that Senator Obama never seems to do anything to battle corruption, but rather makes it easier for his friends to continue their own.
Not the kind of change we need in the White House.
BREAKING
ACORN offices raided in Nevada
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/07/acorn-vegas-office-raided-voter-fraud-investigation/
I think Apple’s 1984 commercial would be very appropriate for this election.
It already has been used in this election on the net against Hillary.
i just voted an early ballot for mccain and it felt great!
Good for you!
Welcome to my world!!
Welcome to the club…
HillaryDem here who voted for McCain/Palin last Tuesday in Ohio.
woooohooooo thanks all! McCain/Palin here as well.
WTG!
That whitey tape was terrible. LJ is a hack.
And there is a difference between critcism and lies. Trying to link Obama to terrorism because of his name and skin color is racist.
The ties to Ayers are meaningless and have been debunked by multiple legitimate news sources.
NY Times also came out with an article today debunking Hannity’s smear piece as not factual, but opinion.
and you believe NYT. very intelligent. lol
Free Dumb:
Did you see ONN’s Anderson Cooper’s report on the Obama/Ayers relationship yesterday? Get some popcorn because it’s quite informative.
Stop the hate!
The NY Times propagandized and lied us into Iraq – and you’re citing that rag as a credible “debunker” of anything? Too funny!
I think I remember you from 2004, Freedumb – you were one of the zealots for Bush back then. The crazies seem to have changed sides this election, but not really – they’re all the same fast-typing hate-infested robots – because 0bama and Bush are the same candidate – the one who attracts and pays (pennies) for the same vicious nutjobs to act out their viciousness.
I only stumbled upon this website earlier this year when I was reading Taylor Marsh. Taylor Marsh is a diehard Hillary supporter and she is now supporting Barack Obama.
read: taylor marsh is putting party before country
Which is why SOLDIER4HILLARY was B.A.N.N.E.D.
Disgusting!!
REALLY????????
Taylor Marsh is an unAmerican, self-centered, has been dope.
We need more patriots like Patsy!
Taylor is a bend over American ….
RFLMAO..Bee Touche’….chuckle…BOA
poor Taylor Marsh!
TM is an overated hack with delusions of being a cute martinet…lol…Sheeeeesh!
The NYT? Jayson Blair’s old place where apparently no one is watching the content ???? hahahaha yeah. That’s a good one!
LOL…As I remember it Jason Blair…cried racist too…chuckle….OH BROTHER!!
The NYT is now an Enquirer rag, on its last leg.
It has no real reputation left.
Yep…I think they are all of them hanging on by a thread…
“No story here, move along…no history, no corruption, no crime, no lies – because we say so – we tell you all criticism has been debunked – we have spoken – just keep moving past the obvious. 0bama is the messiah and of course we’ll have to destroy anyone who tries to say otherwise – our critics have FORCED US to form TRUTH SQUADS.”
They’re the thought police: “All that has been decided for you. No need to trouble yourselves.”
The could just tell us to sit down and shut up. Oh, that’s after the election.
Actually, no, the story is accurate.
He definitely is from a far-left wing, nutured by ACORN tactics, etc.
I insist, to the annoyance of many, that means zip, other than his tactics are the same.
He’s so in the status quo, he’s dangerous.
daniel, clean up the poop you are leaving on the floor and go back to dogie obedience school. you are a failure.
When you stop lying to youself, and start asking the hard question, maybe, maybe you will find the truth.
Think, I am sure that your very smart.
Use what the nature has given you, ask the hard questions about Obama.
look for the records.
You own your vote, use it the way you want. Once you cast it you cannot take it back.
hey Daniel, SHUT UP!
…so, wait…”daniel” you’re saying a guy part of an underground domestic terrorist group who “lives in uhbama’s neighborhood”, who runs in the same circles as uhbama, whose family is very wealthy and prominent in Chicago, who can influence politics who helped kick off uhbama’s state senate run in 1995 (in ayers’ own home) can’t be mentioned because it might be perceived as racist?
Or is it just factual and you don’t want to experience cognitive dissonance?
daniel…please.
LOL….Daniel is drowning in flop sweat…call Hazmat
I like how Bill Murray said in Groundhog Day: “people are morons, they’ll believe what we want them to believe.”
exactly, freedom. reminds me of the people who support obama.
Free Dumb:
And you reflect that comment to a “T”.
Peace hater!
Stop the hate!
FactCheck has a page which tries to sort out the blame for the economic crisis. It debunks the meme going round NQ which tries to pin it on the Dems, but also debunks some left-wing claims:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/who_caused_the_economic_crisis.html
To those who say FactCheck is suspect, I offer this page, which defends Sarah Palin in what looks to be a robust way:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_palin.html
My latest video is very deep and symbolic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvNkRJ1x-6g
Perry, factcheck likes to behave as if its fair. but if you look into it, its funded by annenberg. thats the obama factor. yes, I will admit that factcheck TRIES to behave non-biased. but cant trust them.
Sheeeesh!…WJC said it himself…Fact check is desperately tryin to hang on to an illusion of relevance…and integrity…JeeeeZUS !
Only Perry and the Koolaide Kids cite Factcheck …. sooooooo sad.
Here’s one thing that factcheck.org (an ANNENBURG FOUNDATION web site, by the way) cannot wish away:
In 2005, McCain spoke of massive fraud inside Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, and introduced legislation to REGULATE these institutions. He totally nailed it and predicted this month’s market meltdown.
http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=51771&keyword=fannie&phrase=&contain=
Title: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005
Date: 05/25/2006
Location: Washington, DC
Speech
FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.
I am not looking at any more of Perry’s videos until he stops bashing. PERIOD!
You should avoid Perry’s videos to inoculate your IQ…chuckle…
I quit looking at Perry’s video’s since he bashed Republicans. Perry is out of touch and irrelevant.
FAct Check you George Soros hack is owned by George Soros, who owns Obama and I guess signs your paycheck. I encourage no one to visit his video. the one I went to had him buzzing around and then showing his teeth in a magnifying glass. Makes total sense to me, NOT.
Perry, is that you featured in that video that you posted?…If it is then you sir are a f_cking idiot…Do I understand correctly you are voting for McCain?…Well, I too am voting for McCain and I am embarrassed to have anything in common with you…Perry, please go and vote for Obama and I will feel a lot better…Next time you make a video take your meds first and allow time for them to kick in.
Great post! City Journal is a great source! Another journal worth checking is the New Criterion (if you can get beyond the partisan aspects and its being rather conservative).
As for Barney Frank and the others, along with some of the Wall Street “geniuses”, their conduct is borderline treasonous and of course there will be no hearings, nothing, except us footing the bill. No taxation without representation was the cry. Well, no one seems to be representing us.
I have small children. We have a parenting rule, my hubs and I – we DON’T SET THE KIDS UP FOR FAILURE by putting them into a situation we know they can’t handle (yet). I’m all for helping people get into home ownership but they’ve got to sacrifice something, too. Even Habitat makes you work for it. What is the deal here?
Royally ticks me off that I scrimped and went without to get into our first home, payed the f-ing PMI randsom, too. I also pay 1/12th of my housepayment in extra principal every month (to make a full extra principle payment each year)…and I pay early, damn it.
ARG.
Well, we can “punish,” and then the county next to me which is already up to 70% foreclosures can go to 90%.
*blink*
It makes total sense to me to rewrite the loans.
The houses are worth X dollars right now. The loans were predatory.
Rewrite them. Take out the absurd predatory clauses. All new loans require an appraisal. Reappraise the value.
And voila……
I think this “Democratic” clause was a good one in the bail-out bill.
Hill was saying the same thing months ago.
She was right.
I agree with you – you missed my point. I’m all for helping people get started on owning a home, but let’s get real here about holding up your end of the bargain. It’s not just the less financially well off that suffer from this but there’s a whole lotta “gimmee” going around. Now it’s a case of “help me help you” and we’re going to have to do it, but I’m sick and tired of the gimmee mentality. They have effectively set these people up to fail financially and in the end, hurt them terribly. For those of us that have done our own heavy lifting, it just sucks. Doesn’t mean we don’t care about others, just that it’s getting mighty old.
True…
but I don’t think now is the time to right those wrongs.
We we all benefit by giving those loans a chance to survive.
Many of them won’t. But the percentage might be less than if we rewrite the loans.
I couldn’t care less, personally. Home ownership isn’t my schtick.
But…I do get it that people charged usury fees and who have to choose between eating and mortgage…..are going to choose to eat.
So it’s not unreasonable to rewrite those loans.
I am guessing that means a flourish in reappraisals for everyone.
personally I’d like to see the apprasiers eat their fees. They were a big party of this cave-in. Charging 400 bucks a pop to spend ten minutes at a house… appraising proprety way over its value. Shitheads.
So are you saying if someone brought a $300,000 and it now reappraises at $150,000 the owners gets off the hook for the additional $150,000?
I agree with part of what your getting at, but no one gets off the hook for any unpaid principle. Re-evaluate the mortgage terms, even giving loans at 1-2% if necessary, but every one needs to take responsibility for what THEY did.
No one gets off the hook. If the government is giving your neighbors $150,000 because they brought a house they can’t afford to pay for now, then I want a $150,000 check also.
Yeah, and I think it will trigger a bit of a jump-start in that market.
You, TOO, will get a reappraisal.
But that’s not really a fix.
I’m waiting to hear how they are going to stimulate some market beyond that.
The underlying economy is really the sore spot for us.
Would you be soothed by a reduction in your property tax?
That’s where this is going.
I’m with you PHX…..cut the interest to zero if you have to, but leave bankruptcy judges and re-evaluations out of it. When do people have to take responsibility for their own actions? Yes people were duped into thinking they could get a big house, but come on, even a kid knows if you only have a dollar you can’t buy a $5 item.
“All new loans require an appraisal. Reappraise the value.”
Those f**king houses were appraised to begin with and the whores who called themselves appraisers marched in step with the predatory bastards and helped cause it.
Re-appraisal when more than half of the appraisers were in the tank for the lenders is a waste of time.
Life is a bitch. Sign a contract, complete the terms. There is “legal” recourse for these chumps and its called “class action.” The crooks who set ‘em up need to go to jail but dammit, I’ve read these contracts before and they really DO say that if the interest rates change, that the borrowers are screwed.
You learn in life mainly by screwing up and remembering no to do that again. We, as a nation have fallen so far in the responsibility department that we may not climb out.
Nobody is responsible for the financial crisis even when its proven that a corrupt senator has drilled us like his pillow partner at FannieMae.
I’m sorry that people are mainly gullible to the point of self-destruction but I am not inclined to give them a pass on life when I’m hip deep in holding up my end.
So, Barney Frank has to take the responsibility for his actions and so should every damned one of the suckers who thought they could get something for nothing.
The clause also insures that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t go bust completely.
Me too. And now Obama is going around saying with that little folksy “dropping of the g’s at the end of his words” (which SNL accused Sarah Palin of doing but Oblahma does too), he’s saying (and I paraphrase):
“If there’s a house burnin’ down on your street, don’t go talkin’ about how that person was always smokin’ in bed or leavin’ the stove on, rather go fight the fire because your house is next.”
That’s called “distraction” or “misdirecting attention”
Well get used to America under the New Democrats, i. e. everything for blacks and hispanics, nothing for white middle class. The middle class gets to pay for all the freebies for ethnic minorities who will vote the Dems into office.
I must confess, I didn’t read it all.
However, I think Frank is referring to the latest conservative talk shows on the radio, and they really are racist.
They are blaming this on the CRA, for crying out loud.
They ARE appealing to racism.
Personally, I know that’s nuts.
What is relevant is that Democrats supported the lobbyists who didn’t want any restrictions on the Freddie/Fannie investments.
And so, here we are.
And UNTIL the Democrats own it?
The public will be as wary of them as they are of Republicans.
I don’t know any black people who were stupid enough to get into mortgages they couldn’t afford and then default on them. I’m sure there are some, I just don’t know any. The ones I know are overly cautious, perhaps even “conservative” about meassuring what they can and cannot afford. All our local foreclosures are young white couples.
And LOL, how bizarre to accuse people of being racist for pointing out Obama’s associations with corrupt “white” people. Rezko, Ayers, Blagojevich..
Let’s not forget he’s also supposed to be Cheney’s cousin. LOL, those are the genes I really worry about.
Good round up of articles. Jeffifer Rubin nailed it with this, “You get the sense that he believes everyone can be played.” Yep, that’s His Hubris for ya.
It’s not a racial issue. It’s a low-income issue.
It is a COMMON SENSE ISSUE…nuff said…
Exactly…..
It’s just not a racial issue.
Racial issues have to do with skin-heads, Aryan brothers, Central American gangs, the Crips…….
THOSE are racial issues, folks, and it’s not nuanced.
Ayers only annoys me because he thinks that the schools can reverse this. He’s guilty of typical radical black/white thinking.
No, dodo….that approach doesn’t work.
What you have to do is address the CURRENT issue. Don’t even go close to addressing the “core” issue.
Give them jobs, a way out.
That is the ONLY solution, dodo-brain.
The guy dealing dope on the street can earn the same take-home pay with a so-so job.
Give him a so-so-job.
He’s not interested in being a gangster, other than he’d like to eat.
These guys aren’t getting rich. They are surviving.
Give them something else.
If we have to make up the “something” else?
Who cares?
Let’s do it.
I think he is 13th cousin to Bush. I kid you not.
Fighter of your own freedom, chant with me.
ODINGA, ODINGA.
also to savage who on the last post said Obama and odinga are not related. Well, Odinga was on TV saying Obama’s father is his 1st uncle.
Obama also campaigned heavily for Odinga. The kenyan government even called Obama Odinga’s stooge because he was blindly following him based on family ties.
It is all there to see Savage and FF.
Obama is the most radical man in our history to seek oval office. Odinga’s supporters slaughtered 10 christians a day in their churches until he got his way in the power sharing agreement because of all of the murders. Odinga also signed a declaration of Jihad and is trying to impliment sharia law.
Even if they were not related savage. Once again you and FF’s god is working elbow to elbow to help a man that is radical and a hate monger. Obama obviously supports Odinga in Jihad and Sharia law or he would not have campaigned to elect him for his socialist muslim agenda.
Go check the tapes and hear their speeches together in Kenya. Obama’s aides said they were speaking daily during the NH primary.
Just because Keith O does not talk about it and the Huffpo does not report it does not mean it is fictiticious.
Barack Obama & Raila Odinga
here is a bit of video proof to back up what you say.
Have you guys been watching Bush?
Oh my god – I hate obama!
Was absolutely no problem marking my early ballot for McCain. A little more difficult not voting for a single democrat. And every other mark I placed was next to republicans. First time for everything I guess.
And honestly with Palin on his ticket I had no second thoughts or doubts about voting for McCain, and it actually was not even a protest vote – it was a very “informed” decision.
I want to thank everyone for really looking at the two candidates and making an informed decision. That is what keeps America strong and free.
ACORN Vegas Office Raided in Voter Fraud Investigation
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/07/acorn-vegas-office-raided-voter-fraud-investigation/
Thanks for the link. It is good to know that they are at least trying to protect our voting rights.
YIPEEEE!!! What’s the ACORN Tally up to now?
Obama isn’t going to win. I don’t care what the biased BS media says or the phony polls. Who cares. Look at the desperate trolls like Freedumb spinning. That’s when you know Mac is doing a good job.
We don’t want terrorists in the White House. Period.
And I’m sure that McCain isn’t going to save the country, either.
This election is so not the issue, really.
Quite right. And Obama has shown that he’s a terrorist himself. Caucas fraud, intimidation, blackmail, threats (or reality of) violence.
BFFs like Rezko, Dohrn and Ayers, Wright and Meeks.
No terrorists in the white house. No Obamas.
Nice piece, thank you.
You know, AC on CNN covered ( a bit) the Ayers Obama relationship and admitted how there is much more there. But even in this piece of coverage, they tried hard to SOFTEN the REALITY of this story.
You’ll note how they like to keep repeating Obama’s talking points “group in the 60’s when Obama was 7 or 8 years old” As if. They STARTED at the end of the 60’s in to the 70’s. Which doesn’t change the fact that Obama wishes he was only 7 years old to excuse his DUMBNESS is trying to EXCUSE HIS CLOSENESS AND LIES OF SUCH RELATIONSHIP with this terrorist.
Also note they added, when covering that as recently as in 2001 Ayers said he didn’t do enough, CNN added on their own “to stop the war”, because they claimed these efforts were just to “stop the war”. Oh yes, it makes sense to me to claim to stop a war by bombing and trying to kill people of where the conflict is not. Sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvROBLortBQ
Anderson Cooper seemed more upset that they were revealing more on the Ayers Obama story than he was hoping, thinking no doubt they were just to wipe their hands clean to say “see, we covered it, we can’t be held to bias or coverup claims”. yeah right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvROBLortBQ
Persistent over-sampling is one of the biggest scandals in this election cycle.
Nov. 4th is going to be a huge shock to the media. I think that it will be absolutely ho-hum victory for McCain/Palin because it will show that Hillary was right – the map didn’t change.
The entire south, including Va. will be red, the nuttiness of the Kerry+1 strategy will be revealed, Indiana, NH and Minnesota will go red, and everything will return to normal. Sanity will return and Obama, who would have spent 1/2 billion dollars on a loss worse than that of Kerry, will have egg on his face. Howard Dean will update his resume and start packing his bags.
I can’t wait.
God I hope so.
Heather,
From your lips to His ears…
I haven’t met anyone yet, in person, who is voting Obama. One guy said he was, until he heard about his stand on abortion. I don’t see ANY yard signs for president. Actually, I saw one, for McCain/Palin.
I think the gloss is wearing off Obama. I believe many Democrats will stay home in resignation.
I believe most of his college-age supporters will do as slacker do, not show up for
workvoting.I think the enthusiam for him peaked before the Conventions, which is why so many people watched the Republican Convention and debates on TV. They want to see what their options are.
I suspect Republicans will be out in force, as they usually are. I think the rural vote will cancel out the city vote in many states, as usual. And I think the thought of Obama winning will motivate them more than usual.
I also believe that many Obama supporters are so convinced he’s going to win, they don’t need to bother standing in line to vote.
I’m in a blue state, so I’ve met tons of people voting for him.
I’m in the minority.
Great review of the issues! I have a comment on item 4 (Polling by party preference). I’ve been unable to determine exactly HOW they use party to get their numbers. I’ve written rasmussenreports and pollster.com asking this question, but no replies. I figure there are two main ways they can do this, one legit and one not:
1. Legit – each evening they call a fixed number of people (say, 100). They ask the party affiliation of each person who answers the “which candidate will you vote for” question. At the end of the night, they have (say, for example) 50 Dems and 50 Repubs. Of the Dems 80% are for Obama and 20% for McCain. Of the Repubs, it’s 10% Obama & 90% McCain. They now compute a number that takes into account the fact that there are more registered Dems than Repubs. If the electorate is 60% Democrat, then Obama’s number will be 0.80 * 0.60 (80% of the 60% who are dems) + 0.10 * 0.40 (10% of the 40% who are repubs) = 0.48 + 0.04 = 0.52 or 52%. Likewise, McCain will be 20% of the Dems and 90% of the Repubs: 0.20 * 0.60 + .90 * .40 = 0.12 + 0.36 = 0.48 or 48%. This is legit because the procedure is clear and it captures the actual percentage of dems who prefer Obama (rather than assuming that all Dems do).
2. Not Legit – each evening they don’t call a fixed number of people, but instead keep calling until they have the party mix they expect to be true. So … if after 100 calls you’ve reached 80 Republicans and only 20 Democrats, you keep calling. And calling and calling and calling until you have 60 democrats. You then throw out all but 40 Republicans. This kind of procedure allows bias to creep into the process. When you “keep calling” and/or “throw out responses” you open the door to biasing results by throwing out responses you “distrust” for some reason.
What BOTH of these methods fail to do, is pick up changes in party affiliation (like some of us PUMAs who have switched to Repub or Indie since the last party sample was taken … Rasmussen uses historical numbers from THREE MONTHS back). Thus they underrepresent former Democrats who’ve left in disgust.
In the mid-1990s, Congressman Frank, then a member of the House Banking Committee with oversight responsibilities for Fannie and Freddie, had a long term intimate relationship with a senior Fannie Mae executive. The joke going around Washington at the time among was that Frank “fancied a fanny at Fannie.”
The relationship between a Congressional overseer and a senior executive of an organization that was the object of oversight was, of course, hypocritical inappropriate. Except that Frank was a liberal Democrat, and nothing is hypocritical and inappropriate for liberal Democrats. Only Republicans.
Where was the MSM on this? Probably laughing at the jokes as they investigated which Republicans may be having extramarital affairs.
Hmmmm…HYPOCRISY REIGNS IN DC…Frank is toast
The American people and the media doesn’t care about extramarital affairs, they only care about the Repubs because they are the moral crusaders. Note how little interest John Edwards generated. The story is about Repub hypocrisy.
lol rofl. grow up, kid.
Nobody cared about John Edwards BEFORE his affair was exposed, so why start now?
Why does this man continue to get elected? Are the people in Mass. that ignorant to who he is and what he does NOT do?
There has got to be a better person to elect for this job. We have the power to fix these problems – STOP ELECTING THESE FOOLS!
Fox News is reporting that the Feds just raided ACORN’s office in Las Vegas looking for evidence of voter registration fraud.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/07/acorn-vegas-office-raided-voter-fraud-investigation/
Woo Hoo. Hope it’s brought up tonight.
Kenya to deport Obama critic Corsi- (UPDATED)
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/478016/-/tkxv0p/-/
Oh, puleeze, who cares about being called a racist?! It really is worn out — like totally meaningless!The whole Obama scene is soo yesterday! Palin rocks!
Was sent an email with an interesting article dated September 30, 1999 called, “Fannie Mae Eases Credit to Aid Mortgage Lending”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9c0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
A couple of paragraphs stood out for me:
Then,
Eerily familiar isn’t it?
Finally,
Amazing that nearly 20 years they predicted exactly what is happening today.
From Wikipedia, a haunting similarity between calling people communists and racists:
“When the records of the closed executive sessions of the subcommittee under McCarthy’s chairmanship were made public in 2003–4,[56] Senators Susan Collins and Carl Levin wrote the following in their preface to the documents:
Senator McCarthy’s zeal to uncover subversion and espionage led to disturbing excesses. His browbeating tactics destroyed careers of people who were not involved in the infiltration of our government. His freewheeling style caused both the Senate and the Subcommittee to revise the rules governing future investigations, and prompted the courts to act to protect the Constitutional rights of witnesses at Congressional hearings… These hearings are a part of our national past that we can neither afford to forget nor permit to reoccur.[57]“
A point I’ve been following for a couple of days is continuing to pull up connections.
The original question I posed was: “Why Chicago?”
Now, it appears that Obama got a job offer from a small group of churches in the Chicago area. So, maybe that’s it. But, in following the string, I found another connection.
I posited yesterday that, while we are focusing on the William Terrorist Ayers connection to Obama, we stopped following Jeremiah Wright beyond his rants and raves because they were so outrageous. Yet, the path continues, if we follow it.
Wright’s (and the Obamas’) church gave an award to Louis (Nation of Islam) Farrakhan and Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan from the pulpit. Obama claimed that the award was only for helping “offenders” but there’s no mention of that anywhere and Wright’s homage to Farrakhan has gone far and above the actual award to praise him in no uncertain terms.
What I suggested was that, if you look at the origins of the Weathermen (spinning off from SDS), there is a distinct connection between radical, anti-government groups from that era, including the Black Panthers. Again, the fire bombing of the Panther-trial-presiding judge’s home was carried out, not by Panthers, but by the Weathermen.
As was further pointed out by Dr. Kate, the Weathermen declared war on the U.S. on behalf of the Black Panthers.
The connection between Ayers and the Panthers. Ayers and Obama living in the same Chicago neighborhood with Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan having reconstituted and relaunched the Nation of Islam in Chicago. The Million Man March, 1995, organized by Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
Black nationalism. Community Organization. Community Activism. Sound familiar?
Anyway, the point: I wondered if Obama had been drawn to Chicago because it was (and remains) the center of this movement and if we were missing the connection to the Nation of Islam, Black Nationalism, Farrakhan, the policies and practices of Jeremiah Wright’s congregation, all in our tizzy over William Ayers. In other words, had we followed both trails and were they related.
Specifically, I wondered if anyone knew if Barack Obama had attended the Million Man March, for example and, if so (it was hard to imagine he hadn’t in that time and place), did he have a background within the Nation of Islam movement and Farrakhan.
Today, I found the following:
In 1988 Obama applied for admission to Harvard Law School. At the time, a Muslim attorney and black nationalist named Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour asked civil rights activist Percy Sutton to send a letter of recommendation to his (Sutton’s) friends at Harvard on Obama’s behalf.
Al-Mansour formerly had been a close personal adviser to Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, having helped them establish the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. [He thereafter became an advisor to a number of Saudi billionaires known for funding the spread of Wahhabi extremism in America. Al-Mansour also would show himself to be a passionate hater of the United States, Israel, and white people generally.]
In 1995 Obama — along with such notables as Al Sharpton and Jeremiah Wright — helped organize the Washington, DC-based Million Man March which featured Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Said Obama in the immediate aftermath of the March:
[Emphasis supplied above]
Al-Mansour, Obama’s benefactor, helped organize the Black Panthers. We’ve focused on the Saudi connection but missed the other (at least I haven’t see it discussed).
Obama not only (apparently) attended the Million Man March, which is not a criticism — so did 999,999 other people — but he helped organize it with, among others, Jeremiah Wright. With Louis Farrakhan at its center.
The quote speaks for itself.
All I can say is, the idea that this man sat in Reverend Wright’s ranting, raving presence for 20 years and only heard the choir singing is beyond preposterous. He is a part of that community and I expect that whatever is in his blocked, sealed or scrubbed records would reveal the beginnings of that thread.
Regardless, the thread is big, bold and clear.
Now do we still wonder why anyone who speaks the name of this groomed, prepped and slick snake oil salesman without bowing in reverence is labeled “racist”?
There’s a great notion that often cuts to the core of these name-calling tirades. When someone is this hyper-sensitive and begins screaming epithets at the slightest provocation, the source is seldom outside themselves.
If Barack Obama wants to see the face of racism in America, he need do no more than look in the mirror.
Keep digging.
This is the Million Shovel Movement (”MSM”).
A million small shovels can move a mountain.
Very, very well done. Thanks for the digging, there is certainly more. (thanks also for the shout out!) Maybe you should consider a diary on this? More information could probably teased out in the ensuing thread.
Some more shovel fulls of information.
1) Frank Marshal Davis (a bisexual communist) lived in Kansas.
He went to a church run by Jeremiah Wright.
2) Obama family came from Kansas
3)Frank Davis moved to Hawaii
4) Obama family moved to Hawaii
5) In Hawaii the two families knew each other.
6) FMD had an intimate friend, a gay man named Richard Wright. (a communist)who lived in Chicago.
7)Eventually Obama moved to Chicago
9) The communist party in Illinois wrote on their blog that Wright had been crucified over his racist remarks.
Note: Obama father in Kenya was communistic. In my opinion extreme Islam is going to be the new communism. There are many Muslims in the Chicago and other surrounding states. Strange that the Arabic word for refuge is Mafia….. Is the Mafia still alive in America?
Does any of that mean anything? I dunno but all roads lead to Chicago.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10062008/news/nationalnews/homeless_driven_to_vote_obama_132395.htm
OFF TOPIC-
HOMELESS DRIVEN TO VOTE-OBAMA
PUMAs get a shout
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/pumas-in-the-news/
Ha ha! I just was over there at Not Your Sweetie reading this and was gonna post it here – thanks!
Don’t exactly know where I’ve been, but I wasn’t aware that PUMA has 5 million members! I know, too, that there are lots more than 5 million “PUMA in spirit” Democrats who WILL NEVER vote 0bama!
So, I guess we’re the 5+ million the bots think they’re gonna replace with duplicate voters and dead people, huh?
Um…I meant 10 years ago – not 20 lol. Sorry!
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/defendants-obama-and-dnc-desperate-to-delay-discovery/
OFF TOPIC-
DEFENDANTS OBAMA AND DNC DESPERATE TO DELAY DISCOVERY ON BIRTH CERTIFICATE
I would really love to know why this matter is taking so long, Obama is running for POTUS and you want to tell me that no one in power can make this man produce his dam birth certificate to prove if he is legally entitled to run for this position?
This has to be a joke we could have a man sitting in the WH and he is not a citizen of the USA, I think this country is totally out of whacked
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/berg-prepared-to-go-to-supreme-court/
FIRST STORY BEFORE UPDATE MORE INFO-OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Stanley Kurtz – NEW STUNNING OBAMA CONNECTION TO AYERS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjhSGW6CTI&feature=related
Thanks for this – I watched some of it this morning, but didn’t catch it all.
It’s starting to look like barky’s whole “life story” is pure fiction…
I now officially can’t stand Barney Frank. What a turd. The man has been granted tons of tolerance and good will as a gay, and he returns that by ripping us off in our mortgages and stealing our votes.
With Obama’s killer instinct toward babies (think BAIPA) who would serve as his Surgen General? Someone like Winnie Mandela or Idi Amin? And it makes you wonder who Obama dislikes the most, his half brother George or Corsi. After all Corsi was on his way to give BO’ half bros some money for groceries and candles. Obama didn’t even try to get them to release his brother’s good samaritan friend. And to think BO’ cult is expecting all that free stuff from precious. piece of crap
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 2000
RYAN: $1.4 MILLION IN ILLINOIS FIRST PROJECTS FOR CHICAGO
SPRINGFIELD — Governor George H. Ryan announced today that he is releasing $1.4 million in Illinois FIRST funding for projects in Chicago, including $590,000 to the Chicago Park District to develop and construct a new city park on 79th Street between Throop and Ada Streets.
The park will include landscaping, floral gardens, walkways, a fountain and a sculpture and will be used by older residents as well as children. The park district will contribute $900,000.
This Illinois FIRST project was initiated by State Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago.
http://web.archive.org/web/20011102191944/www.state.il.us/gov/press/00/nov/1129chicago.htm
_________________________
Just wonder was this prject ever finalized?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCY5sUsEM7E
I FOUND THIS INTERESTING – OBAMA
What a giant web he weaves – everything about this guy screams FRAUD!
Isn’t this the funding that is being investigated right now? I read that Michelle Obama’s second cousin (?) was in charge of this. Sorry I can’t provide a link, but it was on the internet not long ago.
http://sadbastards.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/obama-what-do-you-know-about-acorn-and-the-garden-to-nowhere/
NOT SURE OF THIS SITE STORY SOUNDS CLOSE -YOU DECIDE
Sure, I don’t care. Why should you? It means lower housing costs for everybody and lower property taxes for home”owners.”
It’s infinitely better than a bunch of foreclosed, vacant houses sitting around attracting vagrants, criminals, and rats. Why not let them become affordable for people?
Too many of those properties were insanely overpriced and the correction is going to be as jarring as the run-up, but in the long run it is better all around.
I’d like my mortgage cut in half, too, please!
It’s kind of like, can I get my 4 free delegates, too?
Hillary couldn’t and neither can I. I think boobs disqualifies us or something like that. Oh, wait, I know what it is. We are no Obis dumb Kanobi supporters. Did they write that clause into the bailout agreement? Everyone knows you only get the handout if you vote Obarfy, right?
This sounds great, if you could just get the sellers of that property who had received proceeds of $300,000.00 to give back half that amount to the mortgage lender who made the loan.
Donna it cracks me up every time you say this…
KosDems are now linking McCain to Singlaub and Neonazi Latin American death squads. How does this help solve the Social Security liquidity problem?
I hate to say I think the Berg suit will be dismissed for lack of standing. The question then becomes how long will an appeal take and will the courts allow the election to come and go with the matter unresolved? The answer to that may determine whether John McCain or Joe Biden ends up being inaugurated.
Won’t some court somewhere step beyond the legal technicalities and agree that the voters should have a right to know BEFORE they vote whether the two candidates they are choosing between are eligible to hold the job?
I think Sarah should bring it up on the stump – something like, “Did you know that Senator 0bama has refused to show America his BIRTH CERTIFICATE? The thing is, Presidential candidates, under the U.S. Constitution, must meet certain requirements with regard to their birth – you guys probably learned that in junior high school civics class, like I did. So, I’m saying this for the benefit of the mainstream media who apparently didn’t pass that class. I’ve got a question for you in the media to ask Senator 0bama – is there a reason you’re refusing to produce a birth certificate?”
At least SOMEONE in the media should report this if she says it on the stump, wouldn’t ya think? The camera will have captured it and people will have seen it before they the media can censor it. Sure, they’ll whitewash it because they’re corrupt and complicit, but at least it’d be out there in the public consciousness – and Fox or Rush will follow up…
Obama and his crapsters including Judas #2 James Clyburn have set race relations
back decades in this country. They started off with false accusations towards the Clintons which the poo boys and girls at the media were more than happy to run with. Selfish fools like Barney Frank believe just shouting racism makes it so. what a disgraceful way to avoid personal responsibility.
They are investigating possible voter fraud in Ohio too. Looks like a group of organizers(Obamabots) were driving around picking homeless folks from shelters and food drives to take them to the polls to register and vote.
here is more media not covering for his ass.
Obama Brushes Off Terrorist Ties, But CNN Digs Deeper & Finds There’s More to the Story
I hope a lot of Ohio people read this.
Thanks for another wonderful summary, LisaB. I remember reading about predatory lending and how the state attorneys general had the authority to rein in predatory practices taken from them and it was placed in federal hands. I’d love to know the backstory in this, but it is obvious who benefited.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/2003/pr040107.htm
LisaB–I really appreciate your media round ups. Thank you.
chanting “USA!” and wearing red, white, and blue is also now raicst.
This is a very sobering indictment especially since most ecommerce software has several checks (such as Billing ZIP check and CVV check) turned ON by default when solutions are newly installed. Web site/revenue managers would have to make a conscious decision that they want these checks turned off and would have to change software settings (pretty easy) to do so.
For 15 years, I have developed secure card processing software for a major shopping cart processor. Since we offer a free secure shopping cart, we have a lot of experience with new and inexperienced merchants processing credit cards for the first time. I can tell you this: it’s not a case of ignorance or naïveté, especially since this credit card security issue has been so widely discussed online, and we have many proofs that this administration is highly aware of critical discussions taking place in the blogosphere.
Doing what we’ve observed does not require a special arrangement or a conspiracy with the credit card companies: any tiny merchant on the internet could do the same, even with Paypal. After 60 or 90 days, the credit card company would want to have a ‘serious’ conversation with you, but all you would have to do is promise remedial action and you can continue merrily on your way without getting serious about remediation.
The more serious issue is compliance with FEC regulations and federal campaign law – it’s very obvious that the campaign was actively trying to solicit foreign contributions (illegal) when you visit pages like: my.barackobama.com/page/group/LesParisiensavecleSenateurOBAMA where the activist controls on the site even report to everyone how much foreign activist fundraising has taken place in the Paris group. Since most of the page is in French, I seriously doubt that all of the $39,000+ was raised by citizen expatriates in Paris. The common billing address check and a simple SQL query would have prevented so many foreign contributions.
My exit question is this: if this activity is what we observed prior to the election, if this candidate was so careless with common checks that most merchants use, what kind of care and diligence can we expect when this guy has his hands on the US budget?
Ron Robinson
800Cart