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Posted by: STONERS 10 months, 1 week ago

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    STONERS10 months, 1 week ago

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    "The unanswered question: Whether the new Democratic president will actually listen to GOP concerns about the amount of spending and the tax approach — and modify his proposal accordingly."

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      PatrioticAmerican10 months, 1 week ago

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      THE ANSWER IS..........NO he has no intention of listening to them he is just making a show like he cares

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        sinophil4910 months, 1 week ago

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        Patriot - Yeah! Obama has to learn from Bush how to completely ignore the opposition and not even bother meeting with them. Bush knows how to stomp on the opposition and show them what he really thinks of them (if he even thinks of them). In Bush's world view, there is only one point of view - HIS. Rookie Obama is just wasting his time playing nice w/ the Republicans

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          Hhussk10 months, 1 week ago

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          Actually Bush listen to Ted Kennedy and joined with him to create the No Child Left Behind program. You can see how that worked out.

          Democrats have controlled Congress for over two years now. Congress controls our money. How much longer are you going to let Democrats ruin our economy?

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            vor10 months, 1 week ago

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            Like most of your fellow cons you don't understand the basic construct of our system. Power does not exist without the veto. Bush held that power (and the Dems had no ability to override) for 8 solid years.

            Amazing that you can then blame the Democrats "for ruining our economy"! Again, as with your fellow cons you have a difficult time accepting responsibility. You voted for this man who possessed no true leadership skills. He floundered and eventually failed. You simply cannot accept that fact.

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              ybdogsct10 months, 1 week ago

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              HHUSSK:
              "Democrats have controlled Congress for over two years now. Congress controls our money. How much longer are you going to let Democrats ruin our economy?"

              The underpinnings of the economic collapse were initiated more than 2 years ago. The public is no longer buying your neocon lies.

              No wonder the public booted your ilk out of power in both the White House and the Capitol.

              LOL.

              PRIOR TO ITS COLLAPSE COLLAPSE, FREDDIE MAC KILLS CHUCK HAGEL'S REGULATORY LEGISLATION LARGELY BY LOBBYING REPUBLICANS
              http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/12/07/how-fred...
              "Freddie Mac thwarted efforts to bring a tough regulatory bill sponsored by Senator Chuck Hagel by secretly paying a Republican consulting firm, Washington-based DCI Group, $2 million to kill Hagel's legislation. The covert lobbying campaign targeted Republican senators in 2005-06. According to the newly obtained records, DCI's deployment was part of a broader campaign that targeted mainly Republicans on Capitol Hill. The internal Freddie Mac documents show that 17 of the lobbying firms and consultants paid in 2006 were specifically directed to focus on Republicans and four on Democrats."

              http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266607/
              "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.

              Before 2004, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were Democratic strongholds. After 2004, Republicans ran their political operations. McLoughlin, who joined Freddie Mac in 2004 as chief of staff, has given $32,250 to Republican candidates over the years, including $2,800 to McCain, and has given none to Democrats."

              THE DCI LOBBYIST GROUP USED BY FREDDIE MAC TO LOBBY REPUBLICANS WAS HEADED BY DOUG GOODYEAR, JOHN MCCAIN'S SELECTION FOR GOP CONVENTION CHAIR
              http://www.newsweek.com/id/136321
              "Doug Goodyear, McCain's selection for GOP Convention Chair, is CEO of DCI Group, which earned $3 million lobbying for ExxonMobil and GM.

              DCI was paid $348,000 to represent Burma's military junta, which was condemned by the State Dept. for its human-rights record and remains in power today. His firm created a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, denouncing 'falsehoods' by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.

              Goodyear's firm also pioneered 527 groups, precisely the kind of operations that McCain, in his battle for campaign-finance reform, has denounced.

              Ironically, Goodyear was chosen for the post after the McCain campaign nixed another candidate, Paul Manafort, who runs a lobbying firm with McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis."

              http://www.newsweek.com/id/161218
              "A Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain: Last week, though, McCain's trust in his campaign manager Rick Davis was tested again amid disclosures that Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid his campaign manager's firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008."

              DEMOCRATS TRY TO PASS THEIR OWN REGULATORY LEGISLATION BUT SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-ALABAMA) KILLS REGULATORY LEGISLATION AUTHORED BY SEN. PAUL SARBANES (D-MARYLAND)
              "During deliberations, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) dismissed the alternative submitted by ranking member Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)."

              DEMOCRATS SUCCEEDED IN PASSING REGULATORY LEGISLATION ONLY 2 MONTHS AFTER REGAINING A SLIM MAJORITY IN CONGRESS IN 2007 BUT IT WAS TOO LATE TO STOP THE MOMENTUM OF FREDDIE MAC'S COLLAPSE
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz-d6WPTXa8
              BARNEY FRANK: "I became chairman of the Banking Committee on January 31st 2007. Less than 2 months later, I did what the Republicans hadn't been able to do in 12 years -- get through the committee a very tough regulatory bill and it passed the House in May. I've always felt 2 things about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- that they had important roles to play but that their regulation should be improved. From 1995 to 2006 when the Republicans controlled Congress, no regulatory legislation was passed. The first time I had any real authority on this was January of 2007 and within 2 months we had passed a bill that regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The earliest chance we got to put tough regulation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we did it.

              BILL O'RIELLY: "Ok. Alright, that's swell."

              IN FACT, IT WAS REPUBLICAN PHILL GRAMM (R-TEXAS) WHO LED THE REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION TO PASSING REGULATORY LEGISLATION
              http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/economy...
              “'Some people look at subprime lending and see evil. I look at subprime lending and I see the American dream in action,' Phil Gramm (R-Texas) said.

              On Capitol Hill, Mr. Gramm became the most effective proponent of deregulation in a generation. And in one remarkable stretch from 1999 to 2001, he pushed laws and promoted policies that he says unshackled businesses from needless restraints but his critics charge significantly contributed to the financial crisis that has rattled the nation.

              He led the effort to block measures curtailing deceptive or predatory lending, which was just beginning to result in a jump in home foreclosures that would undermine the financial markets. He advanced legislation that fractured oversight of Wall Street while knocking down Depression-era barriers that restricted the rise and reach of financial conglomerates. And he pushed through a provision that ensured virtually no regulation of the complex financial instruments known as derivatives, including credit swaps, contracts that would encourage risky investment practices at Wall Street’s most venerable institutions and spread the risks, like a virus, around the world.

              From 1999 to 2001, Congress first considered steps to curb predatory loans — those that typically had high fees, significant prepayment penalties and ballooning monthly payments and were often issued to low-income borrowers. Foreclosures on such loans were on the rise, setting off a wave of personal bankruptcies. But Mr. Gramm did everything he could to block the measures. In 2000, he refused to have his banking committee consider the proposals, an intervention hailed by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers as a 'huge, huge step for us.' A year later, he objected again when Democrats tried to stop lenders from being able to pursue claims in bankruptcy court against borrowers who had defaulted on predatory loans.

              In late 1999, Mr. Gramm played a central role in what would be the most significant financial services legislation since the Depression. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as the measure was called, removed barriers between commercial and investment banks that had been instituted to reduce the risk of economic catastrophes.

              Michael D. Donovan, a former S.E.C. lawyer, faulted Mr. Gramm for his insistence on deregulating the derivatives market. 'He was the architect, advocate and the most knowledgeable person in Congress on these topics. To me, Phil Gramm is the single most important reason for the current financial crisis.'"

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                BB6410 months, 1 week ago

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                I think we've learned from Arther Anderson, accounting and laws are only as good or honest as the people working the numbers. We have had some of the super banks go under while at the same time many of the smaller ones are gaining strength, at least here in the midwest. McCain asked about this and it was the DNC that prevented the questioning. Again, here in Milwaukee much of the bad loans were made because to refuse the loan, accusations of racism were used. At least in this region of the country, racism is the beat all end all.

                You mention FEC. A useless organization if there ever was one. Where the hell were they when the junk mortgages first hit the markets? All C, D, E and some B rated mortgages are risky investments. They're called derivatives. In some cases they helped fund Microsoft in others they died over night. In the 1980's derivatives earned the name "Junk Bond". When you invest in junk bonds you actually sign a separate form clearly stating you understand this is a very high risk investment and that you stand a better chance of failure than success. It's an unsound investment tool. I bought into several mortgage funds but none of them stated they were funding junk mortgages. Where are the hearings asking why or how this happened. When I have my series 67, had I failed to mention this, I faced forfeitures and even jail. The House and Senate are in the DNC control. They can call hearings about a college super bowl, base ball drug use or some other waste of time but this they remain silent. I smell a rat and it's coming from your side of the isle. I think you're afraid of what will come out.

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                  ybdogsct10 months, 1 week ago

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                  BB64:
                  "I think we've learned from Arther Anderson, accounting and laws are only as good or honest as the people working the numbers...I smell a rat and it's coming from your side of the isle. I think you're afraid of what will come out."

                  Guess again.

                  You have plenty speculation but no evidence.

                  How expected.

                  The FACT is that Arthur Anderson and Texas-based Enron were firm supporters of the Republican Party , particularly GW Bush's administration.

                  REPUBLICANS NOMINATE ENRON LOBBYIST TO BE PARTY CHAIRMAN
                  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0...
                  "As questions intensify about Enron's ties to the White House, Republicans who gathered here today for the party's winter meeting said they were not entirely reassured after last week's decision by the newly selected party chairman, Marc Racicot, to stop lobbying for a firm whose biggest clients included Enron."

                  REPUBLICAN PHIL GRAMM'S WIFE SAT ON ENRON'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
                  http://www.rense.com/general19/en.htm
                  "A Senate panel probing energy conglomerate Enron Corp.'s sudden collapse sent a subpoena Friday to Texas Republican Sen. Phil Gramm's wife, Wendy Gramm. Wendy Gramm has been a member of Enron's board of directors for eight years and of the crucial Audit and Compliance Committee as the giant company's financial condition was deteriorating.

                  Phil Gramm is the second-largest recipient in the Senate of financial contributions from Enron, receiving $97,350 from the company between 1989 and 2001, according to data provided by The Center for Responsive Politics. The senator receiving the largest contribution from Enron is Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, who received $99,500.

                  President Bush also has received political and financial support from Enron and Lay in all his political races. John Ashcroft received a $25,000 contribution from Enron during his run for re-election to the Senate from Missouri and in an unsuccessful attempt to win the Republican presidential nomination."

                  ENRON'S TIES TO THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
                  http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1...
                  "The country was quickly reminded of the pervasive reach of Enron and its executives—the biggest contributors to the Presidential campaign of George W. Bush—when U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft had to recuse himself from the probe because he had received $57,499 in campaign cash from Enron for his failed 2000 Senate re-election bid in Missouri. Then the entire office of the U.S. Attorney in Houston recused itself because too many of its prosecutors had personal ties to Enron executives—or to angry workers who have been fired or have seen their life savings disappear.

                  Bush told reporters that he had not talked with Enron CEO Kenneth L. Lay about the company's woes. But the White House later acknowledged that Lay, a longtime friend of Bush's, had lobbied Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill."

                  ENRON TOOK ADVANTAGE OF LAX REGULATION ITH THE HELP OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
                  http://www.publiccitizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nu...
                  "President Bush's presidential campaign received significant financial support from Enron ($1.14 million). Enron took advantage of lax oversight following deregulation and formed a complicated web of more than 2,800 subsidiaries -- more than 30 percent (874) of which were located in officially designated offshore tax and bank havens."

                  REPUBLICAN ALAN GREENSPAN ALSO ACCEPTS BLAME
                  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/economy...
                  Critics, including many economists, now blame the former Fed chairman for the financial crisis that is tipping the economy into a potentially deep recession. Mr. Greenspan’s critics say that he encouraged the bubble in housing prices by keeping interest rates too low for too long and that he failed to rein in the explosive growth of risky and often fraudulent mortgage lending.

                  “You had the authority to prevent irresponsible lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis. You were advised to do so by many others,” said Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, chairman of the committee. “Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?”

                  Mr. Greenspan conceded: “Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact.”

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            ybdogsct10 months, 1 week ago

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            PATRIOTIC AMERICAN:
            "THE ANSWER IS..........NO he has no intention of listening to them he is just making a show like he cares"

            That's a laughable charge coming from a supporter of the Republican Party. The truth is that it was the REPUBLICAN Party who went to extreme lengths to exclude Democrats from the legislative process.

            REPUBLICANS REFUSING DEMOCRATIC INPUT ON MEDICARE & ENERGY BILLS
            http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10...
            "On two of the most critical bills this Congress has considered -- the Medicare and energy bills -- Republican committee members met in private, refusing to allow entry to Democrats by claiming that the meetings were not official conference sessions.

            While Republican leaders claimed to obey congressional rules by allowing Democrats to attend the opening and closing sessions, the actual writing of the bills was done in secret and exclusively by Republicans; in some cases, Democrats didn't even know in which room their committee colleagues were holed up writing the bill. Democrats were not permitted entry into the closed-door talks to write the complicated bill."

            EXCLUSION OF DEMOCRATS FROM BUDGET RESOLUTIONS, TAX CUTS, TRADE, MEDICARE, FAMILY PLANNING AND MOST MAJOR BILLS
            http://www.spa.american.edu/ccps/getpdf.php?table=...
            "Bush chose to govern from the 'right-in' rather than the 'center-out.' This pattern held on budget resolutions, tax cuts, energy, Medicare prescription drugs, family planning and abortion, trade, and most other major bills. This tended to leave Democrats out of the equation and to put great pressure on Republican moderates to acquiesce in positions formulated by the conservative 'majority within the majority.'

            The exclusion of Democrats from conference committees reached a new high in 2003, facilitated by unified Republican control of the House, Senate, and Presidency. The extraordinary lengths to which the Republicans went to win roll-call votes represented a further shutting out of Democrats, for the idea was to win with as little bipartisan accommodation as possible. 'The Republicans had better hope that the Democrats never regain the majority,' Sen. John McCain warned in late 2003."

            ILLEGAL EXCLUSION OF DEMOCRATS AND PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS FROM CHENEY'S ENERGY MEETINGS
            http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020415/nichols
            "Vice President Dick Cheney cleared his calendar for an April 17 private meeting with Lay regarding what aides described as 'energy policy matters' and 'the energy crisis in California.' Cheney and his aides met at least six times with Lay and other Enron officials while preparing the National Energy Policy Development Group's report, which is the basis for the Administration's energy policy proposals. When Cheney and Lay met in April 2001, Lay handed Cheney a three-page "wish list" of corporate recommendations.

            Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, task forces like Cheney's must conduct public meetings, must allow interested parties to attend and must keep publicly available records. But arguing "executive privilege," Cheney, his aides and Cabinet departments have refused requests for records, despite legal challenges from the General Accounting Office and private groups."

            When oil execs were questioned about the existence of this PRIVATE meeting, they LIED about it before Congress with the help of Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who refused to swear them under oath:
            http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/energy110...
            "CHAIRMAN TED STEVENS: The question whether Senator Domenici and I should administer oaths to these witnesses. I shall not administer an oath today.
            CANTWELL: Mr. Chairman, I did send you a letter cosigned by eight of my colleagues asking that the witnesses be sworn in. This rare joint hearing--
            STEVENS: I did not yield to make a statement.
            BOXER: Mr. Chairman, I would like the committee to vote on whether we swear--
            STEVENS: There will be no vote. It is not in order at all.
            BOXER: Mr. Chairman, I move that we swear in the witnesses.
            STEVENS: And I rule that out of order.
            CANTWELL: I second the motion.
            STEVENS: Thank you very much. That is the last we are going to hear about that because it is out of order. "

            BILL THOMAS (R-CA) CONFESSES TO PLOT TO EXCLUDE DEMOCRATS FROM LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
            http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0...
            "Bill Thomas (R-CA) broke down in tears on the House floor today as he confessed to a hushed assemblage that he summoned the Capitol police to break up a meeting of Democrats. Late in the evening of July 17, Republican committee staffers substantially rewrote the Portman-Cardin bill and Thomas introduced the new 90-page bill as a substitute the next day, demanding a vote before any congressmen of either party had a chance to read it. The legislation is both complex and controversial. The Democrats objected and adjourned to a nearby library to review their options, leaving behind a single member, Pete Stark of California, to delay action by the committee by exercising his prerogative to have the bill read line-by-line. Thomas summoned the Capitol police to eject the Democrats from their impromptu meeting room, claiming they were engaging in disorderly conduct."

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              vor10 months, 1 week ago

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              Well if it means listening to further talk of tax cuts for the wealthy he shouldn't listen to them. Amazing how these same Republicans who are now screaming about deficit spending put out budget after budget loaded with debt from 2001-2008. Further exacerbating the situation with the off-budget debt of Iraq. The first time we ever cut taxes in a time of war.

              How hard is it to deal with the fact that trickle down doesn't work? Americans should be outraged at the suggestion we continue to follow such a wrong headed course. Meanwhile these same slimy folks that created these issues are busy doling out bonuses to themselves with taxpayer money meant as a remedy.

              We are a very sick country. Close to a failed experiment. Sick from greed - both corporate and individual. Failure over the next four years would leave much of America as a Third World country. And even worse could open the door for the likes of Sarah Palin. Just the type of tool needed to finish off the republic.

              I haven't traveled much domestically of late but a recent trip to South Memphis gave me a glimpse of what the future may hold. Shuttered stores, chain restaurants still recognizable only from their facades, now boarded up. An economy of convenience stores, check cashing outlets, and liquor stores. Trash blowing in the streets. You could see this was once a prosperous area, it wasn't a ghetto before. That lies much closer to downtown. It won't take much to tip the scales in a similar fashion in many other communities.

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                rimbaud10 months, 1 week ago

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                The Democrats have already agreed to some of the changes suggested by the Republicans.

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