The strong stench of corruption at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

What does it tell you when there is no independent Inspector General for a federal agency that oversees $6 trillion in mortgages? This is not a thought experiment. It is undisputed reality. And there is good reason to suspect that something utterly corrupt is going on at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There are pointed allegations jointly made by progressive blogger Jane Hamsher and fiscal ultra-conservative Grover Norquist, who don't see eye to eye on much of anything. But they have come together to urge that we allow the light of day to fall onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The allegations are detailed, and you can read them here. The center of the storm is the current White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. A rejected FOIA request only makes these allegations more troubling. The allegations are exacerbated by the fact that the Acting Inspector General was dismissed early this year through the effects of legislation pushed through by Rahm Emanuel. The fact that $800 Billion in taxpayer funds is at stake (more than $7,000 for each one of the 111,000,000 American households) makes this all the more surreal. To put this $800B number in perspective, the Defense Secretary just made a big announcement that we should set aside a "mere" two billion dollars for "nation building." A second set of allegations has also been made: that the White House is facilitating the cover up of potential malfeasance at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until the 10-year statute of limitations has run out on Rahm Emanuel. All of this incredibly disturbing. If Mr. Obama is the man he portrayed himself to be during the campaign, he will immediately appoint an independent Inspector General in order to get to the bottom of this.

Continue ReadingThe strong stench of corruption at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

Veteran speaks out about the military’s greatest weapon: racism

In this video, a military veteran named Mike Prysner spoke out about the military's main weapon: racism. He argues that without racism, none of the military's expensive weapons could ever be used, and there would be no chance that the working people of one country would be convinced to kill the working people of another country. His argument regarding the power of racism is another way of pointing out the explosive power of ingroups and outgroups and the curing power of diversity--a willingness to embrace the humanity of people unlike ourselves. For more on the often-used recipe for going to war, see this post on "War Made Easy."

Continue ReadingVeteran speaks out about the military’s greatest weapon: racism

Lengthy bill = mischief

What do Americans think of 2,000 page health reform bills? Here's what Zogby found out:

More than 80 percent of Americans agree that Congress drafts lengthy, complex bills to hide spending on special interests and to prevent constituents from understanding what's in them before a vote is taken, according to a new survey. According to a Zogby poll conducted last week, 83.5 percent of respondents agreed at least “somewhat” with the lengthy-bill premise, and 61.2 percent of Americans agreed strongly. Only 14.4 percent disagreed, and just 5.8 percent did so strongly.

Continue ReadingLengthy bill = mischief

Rape Amendment Passes

Al Franken's amendment to the new DoD appropriations bill has passed. Obama has signed it into law. This is the now infamous anti-rape amendment, which opens up and begins to hold accountable contractor abuse in cases involving sexual assault. The vote was 68-30, which is not exactly close. The thirty votes against? Republicans: Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Wicker (R-MS) Most of these people have not explained themselves, but have carped loudly afterward at their "characterization" as somehow pro-rape. An accusation Franken did not make. (Part of the heat around this has been generated by Franken's acrimonious row with Senator's Corker and Alexander, who co-wrote an op-ed piece condemning the amendment.) Senator Cornyn has been quoted in the after math thus:

Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape —and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing.

Any embarrassment seems, however, to have been self-acquired in this case. Senator Sessions complaint about the amendment curiously misses the point of it while sounding a standard Republican note:

Continue ReadingRape Amendment Passes

Bill Moyers: Our Capitol’s being looted

Bill Moyers, Robert Kuttner and Matt Taibbi had a vigorous discussion focusing on the health care "reform" and Wall Street "reform": Moyer's take-home statement from the video:

Truth is, our capitol's being looted, republicans are acting like the town rowdies, the sheriff is firing blanks, and powerful Democrats in Congress are in cahoots with the gang that's pulling the heist. This is not capitalism at work. It's capital. Raw money, mounds of it, buying politicians and policy as if they were futures on the hog market.
Robert Kuttner:
[T]hose of us who consider ourselves progressives invested so much in this remarkable figure, Barack Obama. And we read our own hopes into him. We saw him as a potentially great president. We saw this as a potentially transformative moment, I certainly did, where he could've chosen to be the kind of president Roosevelt was. And it turns out that's not who is characteralogically and that's not how he chose to play the moment.
Matt Taibbi:
[T]his individual mandate that's going to force people to become customers of private health insurance companies, the Democrats are going to end up owning that policy and it's going to be extremely unpopular and it's going to be theirs for a generation. It's going to be an albatross around the neck of this party . . . The Democrats are in exactly the same position that the Republicans were in once the Iraq War turned bad. All the Republicans have to do now is sit back and watch the Democrats make a disaster out of this health care effort. And they're going to gain political capital whether they're in the right or not. And I think it's a very- it's a terrible thing for the party.

Continue ReadingBill Moyers: Our Capitol’s being looted