Freddie Mac Pays Republicans to Scuttle Bill

This story has more legs that I can count.

Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.

In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Freddie Mac's payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel's bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

In the midst of DCI's yearlong effort, Hagel and 25 other Republican senators pleaded unsuccessfully with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to allow a vote.

"If effective regulatory reform legislation ... is not enacted this year, 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," the senators wrote in a letter that proved prescient.

Unknown to the senators, DCI was undermining support for the bill in a campaign targeting 17 Republican senators in 13 states, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The states and the senators targeted changed over time, but always stayed on the Republican side.

Chuck Schumer- Give Mukasey a Chance!

A sad look back at the Mukasey hearings. This is followed by an excellent analysis of the torture issue with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Naomi Klein.

Justice Dept. Freezes Congress Out of CIA Tape Inquiry

It is nice to see that we exchanged one incompetent Attorney General for another. This is the latest saga in 'As the Justice Department Turns'.

The Justice Department asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday to postpone its investigation into the destruction of videotapes by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2005, saying the Congressional inquiry presented “significant risks” to its own preliminary investigation into the matter.

The department is taking an even harder line with other Congressional committees looking into the matter, and is refusing to provide information about any role it might have played in the destruction of the videotapes. The recordings covered hundreds of hours of interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda.

The Justice Department and the C.I.A.’s inspector general have begun a preliminary inquiry into the destruction of the tapes, and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said the department would not comply with Congressional requests for information now because of “our interest in avoiding any perception that our law enforcement decisions are subject to political influence.”

Over all, the position taken by Mr. Mukasey, who took office last month, represented what Justice Department officials described as an effort to caution Congress against meddling in the tapes case and other politically explosive criminal cases.

I am beginning to seriously wonder if we can ever put back the pieces of our broken down and corrupt government. Congress has become irrelevant, the executive branch is totally out of control and the judiciary is stacked with political lackeys. All of us, whether Democrat or Republican, better wake up and demand accountability from our 'leaders' or one day wake up to the cold fact that we have even lost that right.

As a side- many thanks to Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer for their enthusiastic support of Mukasey during his confirmation hearings!

The Cost of War- 12 Billion Dollars a Month

I have written several times in this blog about the economy today and how that it has affected me personally, hence the title of it. I have seen the good times and, more recently, the not-so-good times. The people of this country, as a whole, are suffering and being slowly strangled in a web of debt and despair. About the only ones to prosper in this economy are the super rich, the CEO's, the ones who don't worry about how they are going to pay their next light bill or how they can save more on their next grocery store run.

In the bigger picture, signs of the country's decay can be seen everywhere. Crumbling roads and bridges, lack of basic public services, small towns decimated by job loss when the only factory in town moves overseas...the list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capitol, such petty concerns are not that important. The politicians, when not patting themselves on the back or giving themselves the latest pay raise, continue to spend (borrowed) money like drunken sailors. This story illustrates this point clearly:

"Congressional analysts say the boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month. All told, Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since Sept. 11, 2001. That's roughly the same amount that was spent on the war in Vietnam, taking inflation into account. Iraq alone has cost $450 billion. The figures come from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which provides research and analysis to lawmakers. For the 2007 budget year, CRS says, the $166 billion appropriated to the Pentagon represents a 40 percent increase over 2006. If Congress approves President Bush's pending request for another $147 billion for the budget year starting October first, the total bill for the war on terror would reach more than three-quarters of a trillion dollars."

Three-quarters of a trillion dollars. Makes you feel good, huh? While many of us here worry every single day about every penny that we have, this country has spent $610 billion (borrowed) dollars in war-related money in only six years! This is outrageous. And the kicker is that every single year, the money Congress appropriates to the Pentagon skyrockets while we 'little people' are told that our public services must be cut because they need to be frugal with the 'people's money'.

The sad reality is that the decline in the overall state of the nation and economy have taken place in small incremental baby steps and many do not realize just what has been lost, stolen or plundered. Add to that the many who have been brainwashed for the last twenty five years or more that government is bad and has no role in providing for its citizens and you find a population that is apathetic in many ways.

In the real world, people can't just live on credit cards and spend, spend, spend. Well, government can't survive on borrowed money forever, either. If this out of control spending is not reigned in, we are going to suffer a financial hangover like never seen before...

Bush Invokes Executive Privilege--Again!

President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors. The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers' demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege. The latest move in the separation of powers fight between the legislative and executive branches came as members of Congress began returning from their Fourth of July recess. An atmosphere of high tension accompanied the resumption of work as a fight also loomed there between majority Democrats and some key Republicans and Bush over his Iraq war policy.

Rep. John Conyers stated that "Contrary what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of Executive Privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally," the House chairman said in a statement.

This crew in the White House seem to invoke executive priviledge when questioned about anything. What are they hiding? These 'private off the record' offers are nonsense. It invites just another whitewash of any meaningful oversight. Take a stand Congress! Our future depends on it.

Credit Card Labyrinth

Reading an AP article entitled "Fed wants to clear credit card confusion" I was certainly interested as I am one of those unfortunate souls held hostage by these damn pieces of plastic. Deluged by complaints from consumers, both the Federal Reserve and Congress are proposing changes in the ways consumers are notified about changes in their accounts and the various interest rates for different types of transactions.

The article is worth a read. I know first hand the devestating effects that credit card companies can wreck on ones' life. If I can ever get out from under the thumb of these companies, I will personally become an advocate against their use. If you are one of those fortunate ones that do not have one of these cards, PLEASE, PLEASE throw those damn offers away or go straight to the shredder and get rid of them.

It is way past time to reign in these companies and their ridiculous interest rates, fee structures and penalty payments. It's simply the latter-day version of the infamous loan shark. The dark trenchcoat and scary alleyway have transformed into cute plastic cards that you can personalize in really groovy colors. Get to work Congress- Get to work Feds- It's time to stop letting these companies rip off consumers while lining their pockets with handsome profits.

The Great Immigration Debate

Few topics of late have generated as much talk as the current proposals before Congress dealing with immigration reform. One one hand, you have those advocating for passage stating that it will be both good for the economy and national security. It is argues that the bill would help to identify the more than 12 million illegal immigrants now working in this country as well as fortifying the border with Mexico. The bill as proposed would allow temporary legal status to these more than 12 million immigrants and allow them to apply for visas and eventual citizenship. It also allows up to 400,000 foreign workers into the country every year, but they would have to return home after two years. On the other side of the debate, many worry that the loss of jobs and fattening corporate profits are the real issues here. This is definitely an issue that must be dealt with as the number of illegal immigrants rise each year. What are your thoughts on this issue? What effect do you think trade deals such as NAFTA and CAFTA have had on the number of illegal immigrants working here?