This is one of the community organizing groups into which the Democrats tried to funnel billions of dollars in the first draft designed to capture the 700 billion pound gorilla. Read this and understand why that little treat was considered nearly criminal by even the casual observers.

First. Obama claimed he has no ties to “a group he did some legal work for” back in 1995. Let’s look into that claim.

• In 1995, Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar balked at implementing the federal motor voter law out of concern that letting people register via postcard and blocking the state from pruning voter rolls might invite vote fraud. A young lawyer named Barak Obama, a community organizer himself, sued on behalf of ACORN and won. ACORN later invited Obama to train its staff on voter registration drives.
• In 1996 Obama ran for Illinois State Senate and ACORN became his precinct organization, identifying and turning out the vote.
• When Obama served on the board of the Woods Fund for Chicago, the Fund frequently gave ACORN grants to fund its agenda and voter registration activities.
• In 2004 ACORN operates as Obama’s precinct organization in his run for the U.S. Senate.
• In 2007 ACORN’s national political arm endorsed Obama for president, and its “nonpartisan” voter registration affiliate starts registering hundreds of thousands of voters for Obama.
• Obama claims he has no ties to “a group he once did some legal work for.”
• In July 2008 the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, along with NoQuarter researchers, exposes the lie by uncovering $832,598.29 that the Obama campaign funneled through a front company called Citizens Services, Inc.
• ACORN, which receives partial taxpayer funding, used those funds to conduct solicitations for contributions to and raised over $800,000 for Obama in Philadelphia alone.

Where does ACORN, the political group get this money? In 2006 Project Vote hired ACORN and CSI as its highest paid contractors, paying ACORN $4,649,037 and CSI $779,016. It has also been well documented that money flows to them from various sources including from the federally chartered non-profit ACORN Housing Corporation, as you will see below.

Now, on to Nancy’s article.

Picture courtesy of Bud White. ACORN protesters, protesting “predatory lending”. How ironic!

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), with a smattering of Obama and ACORN thrown in to the mix assisted in the creation of the subprime housing saga. The saga led to the governmental take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Obama tries to omit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, confuses them and turns grey while discussing the bailout. Obama “obviously” has no idea who Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are but I digress.

There is still more from another group, Consumer Rights League (CRL), who appeared as supporting evidence in an earlier NoQuarter story, Obama’s Acorn: A Leftist Social Reform Group. Part II who has done extensive research on the ACORN Housing Corporation. Consumer Right’s League’s research is chronicled in the following paper, ACORN’s Hypocritical House of Cards: How One “Community” Group Helped the Housing Crisis Harm Taxpayers. Read about that <a href=”here.

Mr. James Terry recently appeared on Fox News discussing the fact that ACORN will benefit from the current bailout bill. ACORN did not respond to calls from Fox News. Mr. James Terry:

From their report:

This report focuses on the troubling record of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and its tax-exempt offshoot, the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC). The ACORN/AHC version of consumer advocacy has consisted of a three-decade assault on free enterprise and a history of extracting resources from financial lenders seeking abatement of ACORN’s public relations assaults. Specifically, this report examines ACORN’s impact on the housing problem. Documents provided by internal whistleblowers,
cross-checked with public records and recorded events, expose hypocritical lending recommendations tied to ACORN Housing Corporation’s agreements with major banks—agreements that end up harming consumers.
Media reports, combined with information provided by former ACORN employees, show that:

• ACORN leveraged the Community Reinvestment Act in order to
attack lenders’ reputations and secure financial resources for itself;
it has also endorsed loans offered by companies that fund ACORN
operations
• ACORN’s decades of lobbying and publicity seeking have contributed
to the current housing crisis by lowering lending standards
• Despite raking in a troubling 40 percent of its revenue from taxpayers
over the last three years, ACORN Housing Corporation’s actions
range from controversial to borderline illegal (This summer when Bush signed the current housing bill into law, he effectively gave ACORN and ACORN Housing Corporation a portion of upwards of $600 million dollars. There is no firewall between ACORN and AHC so the money for housing also supports the the political arm….Project Vote. Read more on that here from the Wall Street Journal.)
• AHC has worked to obtain mortgages for undocumented
workers
• AHC relies on undocumented income, “under the table” money
that may not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service
• ACORN’s “financial justice” operations attack lenders for “exotic”
loans, but AHC has recommended ten-year interest-only
loans (which deny equity to the buyer) and reverse mortgages
(which can be detrimental to senior citizens)
• AHC may have violated federal law by failing to maintain a
proper distinction between its tax-exempt housing work and
the aggressive political activities of ACORN

More About ACORN and ACORN Housing Corporation from CRL’s report:

To understand the current subprime credit mess is to glimpse a world in which a politically active organization with a non-profit housing arm reaps millions of dollars through “rent seeking” or manipulation of favorable laws. ACORN and its non-profit housing arm have taken in millions of taxpayer and corporate dollars by abusing a three-decade-old law intended to help the poor obtain housing. For decades, the activist organization known as ACORN has grabbed headlines—and cash—by attacking mortgage lenders in the name of citizens’ rights. Considerably less attention has been paid to the amount of taxpayer money that funds ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) and to the financial rewards ACORN has amassed

The troubling thing about ACORN,

it does not claim federal tax exemption, therefore it is free to engage in politics and is not required to disclose details of its vast and varied financial operations. Their membership includes more than 350,000 families, in more than half dozen countries.

According to CRL’s report, ACORN has a business model that is repeated over and over again, each time targeting a different company or financial institution. Here is that model:

Issues—–>Target—–>Direct Actions—–>Victory——>Partnership—–>$$$$ For Organizing

This information is provided by Former ACORN Organizer and University of Georgia Professor Fred Brooks.

CRL really did their homework and was able to retrieve information on the funding ACORN receives from financial institutions through whistleblowers (former employees) and public records. Some of the whistleblowers provided CRL with internal e-mails. Here are some of those figures:

In addition to the millions of taxpayer dollars AHC has taken in, one of
the organization’s tax returns shows private donations of more than $4 million
from major banks.6 Whistleblower documents covering AHC’s revenue
sources from July 1, 2004 through June 31, 2005 included:

• ACORN (Citibank Partnership)………………………….$127,500
• ACORN (Citibank Partnership)………………………….$240,000
• ACORN (Freddie Mac)……………………………………….$35,000
• Ameriquest Mortgage…………………………………………$130,000
• Fannie Mae (for Broadband)…………………………………$20,000
• Fannie Mae FYE 2005–2006………………………………$100,000
• JP Morgan Chase 2005–2006…………………………..$1,000,000
• Bank of America 2005–2006……………………………$1,390,000
• Washington Mutual…………………………………………..$175,000
• M & T Bank…………………………………………………….$150,000
• United Way (American Dream)……………………………..$15,000

Why should banks pay without a fight? Banks according to CRL, “look at it as a cost of doing business.” It seems that ACORN forces banks to see it as doing business….according to an internal statement that CRL retrieved.

ACORN does have a historical place in the current home crisis. Here is more on that, ACORN:

…has become both a leading beneficiary and an important advocate of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Three decades ago politicians, spurred by activist groups, found that banks were engaging in “redlining” refusing loans in areas with high concentrations of individuals with low credit scores. Legislators passed a bill that gave community groups significant sway over bank mergers based on the banks’ record of lending to minorities and the poor. The fact that poor credit put such borrowers at higher risk for default was deemed irrelevant. ACORN and AHC have taken advantage of that 1977 bill and have aggressively argued— since at least 1991—for its continuation. Given ACORN’s reliance on AHC to funnel federal funds for “mortgage counseling,” such support is hardly surprising.

It is important that we understand the Community Reinvestment Act, its passage and who it was passed under.

The Community Reinvestment Act or (CRA) was passed in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter. Take the time to watch the following video. It explains Obama, his advisers, foreclosures, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and their connections to the subprime mortgage loans:

The CRA’s purpose is:

to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound banking operations. It was enacted by the Congress in 1977 (12 U.S.C. 2901) and is implemented by Regulations 12 CFR parts 25, 228, 345, and 563e. (See Regulation).

Furthermore there are reports that must be checked periodically:

# The CRA requires that each insured depository institution’s record in helping meet the credit needs of its entire community be evaluated periodically. That record is taken into account in considering an institution’s application for deposit facilities, including mergers and acquisitions. (See CRA Ratings) CRA examinations (see Exam Schedules) are conducted by the federal agencies that are responsible for supervising depository institutions: the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).

According to Thomas J. DiLorenzo in The Government-Created Subprime Mortgage Meltdown,

The original lobbyists for the CRA were the hardcore leftists who supported the Carter administration and were often rewarded for their support with government grants and programs like the CRA that they benefited from. These included various “neighborhood organizations,” as they like to call themselves, such as “ACORN” (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). These organizations claim that over $1 trillion in CRA loans have been made, although no one seems to know the magnitude with much certainty. A U.S. Senate Banking Committee staffer told me about ten years ago that at least $100 billion in such loans had been made in the first twenty years of the Act.

DiLorenzo explains the Catch-22 that these “community” banks find themselves in as a result of this 30 year old law:

Banks have been placed in a Catch 22 situation by the CRA: If they comply, they know they will have to suffer from more loan defaults. If they don’t comply, they face financial penalties and, worse yet, their business plans for mergers, branch expansions, etc. can be blocked by CRA protesters, which can cost a large corporation like Bank of America billions of dollars. Like most businesses, they have largely buckled under and have surrendered to their bureaucratic masters.

Consequently, banks in every community in America have been forced to hold a portfolio of bad loans, euphemistically referred to as “subprime” loans. In order to compensate themselves for the added risk of extending these loans, many lenders have increased the lending fees associated with mortgage loans. This is simply an indirect way of doing what banks always do – and what they must do to remain solvent: charging effectively higher rates of interest on riskier loans.

DiLorenzo has more to say on this “predatory lending”:

Then groups like ACORN call these loans discriminatory forcing the banks into making loans that they ultimately have no protection from. Thus, if one browses the ACORN web site, one can read of their boasts of having “predatory lending laws” passed in numerous states which outlaw such fees, prohibiting banks from protecting themselves from the added risk involved in making forced loans to “subprime” borrowers.

Of course it doesn’t end there. Banks are constantly threatened with fines if they do not comply with the requirements of the CRA. See how the Democrats have been forcing the issue lately. Investors.com wrote about this very subject:

Only, the risk-taking was her idea (Rep. Nancy Pelosi) — and the idea of all the other Democrats, along with a handful of Republicans, who over the past 30 years have demonized lenders as racist and passed regulation after regulation pressuring them to make more loans to unqualified borrowers in the name of diversity.

They were the ones who screamed — “REDLINING!” — and sent banks scurrying for cover in low-income neighborhoods, where they have been forced to lower long-held industry standards for judging creditworthiness to make the subprime loans.

If they don’t comply, they are threatened with stiff penalties under the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, a law that forces banks to make home loans to people with poor credit risks.

Banks are required to keep up good ratings or mergers and other transactions can be blocked by the federal government. The CRA grew enormous during the Clinton era, with the many amendments that were added raising the amount of home loans to otherwise unqualified low-income borrowers. There were other problems associated with these amendments. This is exactly where Obama and ACORN enter the scene.

In February 2008, in The New York Post, economics professor Stan Liebowitz of the University of Texas at Dallas suggested:

At the crisis’ core are loans that were made with virtually nonexistent underwriting standards—no verification of income or assets; little consideration of the applicant’s ability to make payments; no down payment … From the current hand-wringing, you’d think that the banks came up with the idea of looser underwriting standards on their own, with regulators just asleep on the job. In fact, it was the regulators who relaxed these standards—at the behest of community groups and “progressive” political forces.

Liebowitz further pointed to ACORN’s role in the current housing “crisis” and to current advertisements ighlighting its role in procuring loans without using credit scores, 100-percent financed loans, and acceptance of undocumented income.

ACORN was responsible for issuing mortgages via CRA with little or no paperwork. They were also known as NINJAs….It stands for No Income, No Job, No Assets. These loans were still available in February of this year.

More from a New York Times, 1992 article, Fading Red Line; A special report; New Hope in Inner Cities: Banks Offering Mortgages:

ACORN’s longtime housing leader, Michael Shea, admitted that banks would not have adopted ultimately harmful policies “if there was no community pressure and the law,” but
that those factors made “a lot of bankers see it’s in their self-interest.”

That self interest— ACORN’s and modern banks’—made possible the extension of cheap credit to risky borrowers and has led directly to the modern subprime mess. It’s important to note, as the Times did, that in this campaign there were “many such voices. But by far the loudest belongs to Acorn…”

Of course not all financing for ACORN comes from financial institutions, a good deal of their financing comes from the American taxpayer in the form of grants and contracts because they are AHC is tax exempt. And CRL says this how AHC’s finances breakdown:

Two out of every five dollars AHC takes in come from taxpayer coffers.

Since so much money they raise comes from taxpayers, don’t you think ACORN should be doing good works? They may have some good work in the past, in recent years, not all of their works have been helpful to their clients or good use of taxpayer money. Here are some things they have been doing:

• Poor service to some of its vulnerable clients
• Potential staff lapses allowing HUD fraud

• Controversial collaborations assisting undocumented
workers in obtaining mortgages

• Assistance to borrowers using “under the table”
undocumented income in loan applications

• Ironic (if not hypocritical) recommendations
for exotic loans

• Possible violations of federal law through
failure to maintain a distinction between
the activities of AHC and those of the very
political ACORN

Consumer Rights League has received many internal e-mails via whistleblowers as I said earlier. CRL has more information about ACORN’s questionable loan documentation. CRL discusses that more:

Of specific concern is ACORN’s agreement to provide letters of “undocumented income” to Bank of America.According to a 2005 internal ACORN e-mail, that bank “pays ¼ of $1,300,000 each quarter.”Another pre-2007 ACORN document instructs its staff:

Undocumented income is a feature that allows ACORN Housing counselors to capture the applicant(s) total household income. Primarily observed in minority and immigrant communities, this type of income is not reported to the IRS and is also known as under-the-table.

As we can see ACORN and ACORN Housing Corporation are both quite closely connected. Not only are they connected to each other but pretty closely related to the current housing crisis. In light of the Washington Mutual collapse and the federal government taking over Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae, it is important to note that ACORN had their fingers in those “honey pots” too. One more mortgage company that ACORN played business with that went down was Ameriquest Mortgage highlighted in the following article, Latest Ameriquest Speculation: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley.

I am left with three questions. How many more financial institutions will suffer at ACORN’s hand? How many companies will be bailed out that are in bed with ACORN? And how much money will ACORN receive in the form of funds from the bailout? See more on the bailout, ACORN-NUTS!- at TheCorner at National Review Online (NRO).

CRL has a very interesting conclusion to their research. I will let CRL conclude my article for me. Here is their conclusion:

ACORN’s long history of abusing the public’s trust seems to have continued through the housing bubble. Its advocacy for loose credit played a role in the current subprime mess. Its advocacy of exotic loans calls into question the wisdom of giving taxpayer money to the organization. And its record of inappropriate ties between a non-profit that receives government funding and a political organization may violate federal laws. Congressional leaders should be wary of donating hard-earned tax dollars to a group with this sordid record. At a minimum, a Congressional investigation is warranted.

Which leads me to an interesting article by Amanda Carpenter, “Reid Uses Clout To Trip Up McCain.” In it, Carpenter writes:

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid seems to be doing all he can as the Senate’s most powerful member to cause trouble for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

Reid indicated Thursday that he will not hold any votes in the Senate on Friday so McCain has “no excuses” to skip the debate scheduled for that day.

Wait a second here - I thought the Senate and House were supposed to be working for US, to get our economy back on track. And Reid is already claiming he won’t hold any votes? Is he playing politics here? Evidently, because:

Reid’s move is curious since several news outlets reported earlier this week that Reid told the White House it was essential McCain take an active role in crafting the bailout—something that would certainly keep McCain off the campaign trail. “We need now the Republicans to start producing some votes for us, we need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands,” Reid publicly told reporters.

Let me make sure I understand this. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, ASKED Senator McCain to return to DC to help get this bill worked out. Because McCain agreed, Senator Reid, who, IMHO, has been an incredibly ineffectual leader, castigates Senator McCain for coming back?? That sure seems like a “Damned if you do, Damned if you Don’t” scenario in bold relief. Carpenter seems to think so, too:

As soon as McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and possibly postponing a presidential debate in order to get to Washington to work on the bill, Reid began criticizing McCain for doing so.

“It appears to me John McCain is trying to divert attention to his failing campaign,” Reid said during a press conference Wednesday.

Shortly before McCain made his decision to return to Washington and had yet to make any statement on the bill, Reid distorted McCain’s position on the yet-to-be completed bill. “I’ve got some good news,” Reid told the press. “it appears Senator McCain is going to come out for this.”

When told by the Washington Post about Reid’s comment McCain flatly responded “I did not say that.”

Throughout the debate on the bailout package, McCain has refused to reject or endorse the plan. He has only said the final version of it must include stricter oversight standards and limits on CEO pay.

Reid is not the only one - every Democrat I have seen, from Rep. Barney Frank to Gov. Bill Richardson (here’s a newsflash to all of the news organizations - we don’t give a CRAP what Bill Richardson, that sexist, homophobic, back-stabbing creep has to say, so STOP giving him a platform already!!) has HAMMERED Senator McCain, claiming this was just a stunt on McCain’s part.

Wow. You might recall, well, only if you didn’t blink, that Sec. Paulson HIMSELF asked Senator McCain to return (SusanUnPC had it at No Quarter). Yeah, I figured you hadn’t heard that, the way the media has been busily spinning this. So, yes. Secretary Paulson asked McCain to do it, and in the interest of the country, McCain did. What is more, while McCain was being mocked and belittled by House and Senate Republicans, he didn’t say a word about Sec. Paulson having asked him to do this. That takes some character right there, if you ask me, something Harry Reid sure hasn’t demonstrated in all of this. No, rather Harry Reid and others in the Democratic Party have blamed McCain PERSONALLY for a bill not getting struck (
Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain). Yes, that’s right, it is ALL McCain’s fault.

And now is when I remind you of this Roll Call article:
Reid Seeks McCain Pledge. Oh, this is rich:

Fearing a political backlash against Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has told the White House that it must serve up support from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) if it hopes to ensure bipartisan backing for a massive economic bailout package by week’s end.

Reid made his position clear to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday night, as well as to his Democratic caucus, which shares many of the GOP’s concerns that the $700 billion bailout has been drafted too hastily and is a risky remedy for an economy on the brink of crisis. Reid, according to Democratic Senate sources, also wants assurances from Senate Republican leaders that an evenly divided, bipartisan group of Senators will pass any legislative fix so his party isn’t left with the burden of doing an unpopular White House’s bidding — again.

“If the administration wants us, we are going to have to go hand in hand or at the end of the day, it’s not going to happen,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said.

Democratic leaders have privately been eyeing a strategy — to be worked out with the White House and GOP Senate leaders — that would call for an equal number of Senators in each party supporting the final bailout plan. Talks have included splits of 30 Democrats and 30 Republicans or higher to ensure neither party is labeled with being responsible for the costly package.

“Harry Reid would like Republican Senate support, whatever remedy we come up with,” Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said. “Right now, there’s significant opposition on the Republican side. Democrats have serious concerns about Paulson’s proposal, but we are willing to work with the Treasury Department and the Fed to come up with the right solution.”

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) agreed, saying, “we need help from both parties” if a bill is to be completed in the coming days. Casey, who sits on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said the administration needs to do more to get Republicans invested in a solution.

“I think if you look at the Republican side, at the McCain campaign and the leadership, I’m not convinced they are working to get their side to the table,” Casey said. “But the week is young.”

McCain holds the key to such a bipartisan vote, according to Reid, because Republicans are likely to defer to his position on a bill that holds political peril. McCain on Tuesday night joined Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in lending qualified support for the $700 billion package, but it remains unclear whether his backing is strong enough and timely enough to persuade the Congressional rank and file. According to a Democratic aide familiar with the discussions, Reid told Paulson this week that “if McCain didn’t come out for this thing and come out for it quickly, it was going to begin bleeding Republican votes.” Democrats “have a very real concern that opposition [from McCain] is going to drive away potential Republican votes,” this aide said.

Well, as they say, “No good deed goes unpunished.” And for reasons that escape me, the media is allowing Reid to get away with this duplicity. It truly does seem like the ultimate case of “Gotcha” - they ask McCain to come back, then do nothing but criticize him for coming back. Meanwhile, the president has to call Senator Obama to get HIM to come back to do the work he is supposed to do. That just falls by the wayside, the man who after 100 days, threw his hat into the Presidential ring, has done blessed little actual WORK in the Senate. He’s like a petulant teenager, who has to be forced into doing the right thing by his parents. But he didn’t stay long, and seemed to only contribute acrimony.

Tell me again why this man is the Democratic nominee?? Really - how in the WORLD did Obama get this far? I am guessing that the first term senator who has $860 million, that’s MILLION, dollars in earmarks in his first THREE years, is having strings pulled by someone, or several someones. Who else would have that kind of hubris? In their first term?? No one of whom I can (if I am wrong, tell me who has asked for more). So now, he is on his way to Oxford, acting like he has always wanted to do these debates, never mind that he REFUSED, flat out REFUSED to do any more than three, despite the frequent requests from the McCain camp. And this is the guy who has so hoodwinked so many Democrats.

After seeing the remarks of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night, and the way he mocked and criticized McCain (as he is doing right now on tv - saying the “interjection of presidential politics was harmful” - which he repeated, and said McCain had done nothing but stand in front of the cameras. Um, did he not see OBAMA doing that???) - I remarked that it almost made me embarrassed that I have been a Democrat all these years. My partner responded that this must be what REAL Republicans felt like when their party was taking over by the Right Wing. I have to agree. I see these blatant lies, maneuvers, and traps set by the Democrats for McCain during a time of TRUE crisis for this country, all in an attempt to try and pave the path with gold for their inept selected candidate. This is deplorable. Reid is sacrificing the good of the COUNTRY for the good of the party, and that is simply unacceptable to me. This is not the time. This is NOT the time, Senator Reid. (He just did it again - blamed McCain for everything falling apart.) Here’s the bottom line:

One senior GOP Senate aide said Republican Senate leaders are making the case to their Conference that the ramifications of doing nothing are too great, following through on what was described as Paulson’s sobering assessment of the crisis. This aide said of Paulson’s personal appeal to Senators on Tuesday, “It’s fair to say it convinced a number of Members we needed to act, and we need to act quickly.”

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking member on the Budget Committee, said afterward that Congress cannot address the economic meltdown in a partisan way. It will not get done, he warned, unless Democrats and Republicans work together to craft a solution, and that includes the support of McCain and Obama.

“It has to be bipartisan. There’s no choice,” Gregg said, adding, “I would hope that wherever we end up agreeing to here it includes both presidential candidates being comfortable with it(emphasis mine).”

Senator Reid, instead of constantly attacking Senator McCain for “injecting presidential politics” into this matter, shut your piehole, and actually get to work already. You are an embarrassment to the position. Stop blaming EVERYONE else but the Democratic leadership over the past two years, as you have Senator DODD, of all people, NUMBER ONE on the list of 354 lawmakers getting Fannie and Freddie money, standing beside you. Reid, you are a friggin’ hypocrite. Just STOP the BS for ONCE, and do your damn job. And maybe ask your buddy, Biden, to not put any earmarks on the Bail Out bill while you are at it. Get away from the cameras, and go hammer this out. Now. Today. GO.

UPDATED: Larry Johnson has a great article about “Acorn: The Poison Pill” which details why the Democrats were in such a hurry to get this bill passed. You will not believe what is (was?) in it: Three non-profit organizations, ACORN, National Urban League, and the National La Raza would share 20% - I said TWENTY PERCENT of the profits from the Bail Out bill. I cannot even go INTO all of the issues with ACORN - do a search at No Quarter on ACORN and you will get a ton of articles on it. Not only is Obama connected with them, but they have been charged with voter registration fraud in a number of states now, as well as some other issues that have come up with them. This is OUR money we’re talking about here that CHRISTOPHER DODD (who is the one who came up with this - with Obama, no doubt) wants to GIVE AWAY. And to give away a TON of it to an unsavory organization currently facing legal difficulties. This has gone WAY beyond the pale. WAY beyond it. Is this the sort of thing toward which we can look forward should Obama end up in the White House? I think the answer is an unequivocal YES, and it scares the crap out of me. And infuriates me. They have hijacked the Democratic Party, and I want it BACK!!!

“Hillary took to the floor of the Senate today to lay out her plan for halting the economic meltdown, and her Senate staff has the video of her speech up online. … [L]isten to what she’s got to say. She’s speaking about what needs to be done NOW to address the economic meltdown taking place up on Wall Street this week. She talks in detail for over 20 minutes and dammit, it just breaks my heart that someone this capable and brilliant isn’t headed to the White House this fall.”

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Ricki Lieberman and Ann, a No Quarter reader, strongly suggest you compare the video that NancyA has posted below with, ahem, Barack Obama’s video on “solving our financial crisis.” Obama urges everyone to “watch the ad and share it with everyone you know.” Uh, Barack, I think we’ll be sharing Hillary’s video that NancyA put up below.

…………………………………………………………

NANCYA’s post: While Senators John McCain and Barack Obama were auditioning for who could best handle a national economic emergency, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton released the following statement from her office in Washington, DC. As usual Senator Clinton understands the dangers of this “once in a century” crisis. She calls it “the greatest market upheaval since the Great Depression”. She did the following:

…called for swift and strong action to stem the growing credit crisis on Wall Street. Assailing the Bush Administration for ignoring repeated warnings of the growing crisis and failing to provide adequate oversight of an increasingly complicated market, Senator Clinton offered a series of bold, specific proposals, including creating a new version of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) to restore confidence in the market, curbing the most damaging and manipulative trading practices, providing relief to homeowners facing foreclosure, and reasserting competent federal oversight.

She outlined several proposals. Here is a list of her proposals:

* Create a new entity to buy up and quarantine toxic mortgage securities that are dragging down the markets which would allow the markets to stabilize. Last spring Senator Clinton was among the first to call for a new entity modeled after the successful Depression-era Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) or the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) created after the Savings and Loan crisis.

In response, Senator Clinton outlined a series of proposals to address the crisis, a crisis she warned about during the primary:

* Place a temporary moratorium on the most abusive stock transactions, many of which involve the “short-selling” of stocks. Yesterday, Senator Clinton wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission urging such a moratorium, saying it would provide breathing room for the markets to recover, for investors to make accurate assessments of companies and for regulators to assess what trading practices should be permanently banned.

* Convene an emergency economic summit to show the American people their government is working together. Bringing together leaders in the administration and Congress with lenders, consumer advocates, non profits, financial institutions, and all stakeholders will allow a coordinated response to the crisis.

* Aggressively pursue and encourage mortgage modifications. Senator Clinton has introduced legislation to remove barriers to mortgage modification and to encourage lenders to voluntarily work with borrowers to keep them current on payments and in their homes.

* Restore competent federal oversight of the increasingly complicated financial markets. The rapid evolution of the securities and banking industry overwhelmed the current regulatory framework, resulting in a “shadow banking system” that operates outside of oversight and without accountability.

* Require transparency and accountability on executive pay. Senator Clinton has proposed the Corporate Executive Compensation Accountability and Transparency Act to impose new transparency rules on executive pay, end the accounting techniques that hide compensation, and provide shareholders a say in executive compensation packages.

* Ensure the accountability of financial institutions borrowing money from the Federal Reserve’s new lending facilities. Taxpayers deserve to know that the companies they are bailing out are on the road to recovery and aren’t throwing more good money after bad.

Here is video of her remarks to the Senate yesterday:

The transcript of Senator Clinton’s remarks follows.

Senator Clinton: Thank You, Mr. President. We have seen the financial landscape in our country reshaped over night. The titans of Wall Street have been rendered insolvent or even bankrupt. These are firms that survived the Great Depression, World Wars, the attacks of September 11th, but were no match for a mounting credit crisis allowed to escalate in the shadows of our financial system. The Federal Government has taken over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bear Stearns had to be rescued by J.P. Morgan Chase after the federal government guaranteed J.P. Morgan’s investment. And while they’re in talks to keep part of the company viable, Lehman Brothers has declared the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Merrill Lynch has been purchased by Bank of America and the Federal Government has agreed to rescue AIG. This past Monday we saw the largest drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 9/11. Now even money market funds are affected. For only the second time in our history, one has been valued at less than 100 cents on the dollar. Alan Greenspan has called this a once-in-a-century event. In my state of New York, tens of thousands of hard-working employees have lost their jobs. And the livelihoods of tens of thousands more who depend on Wall Street’s economy are threatened as well.

New York City and New York State, already facing serious economic and fiscal challenges, will now be forced to contend with a battered Wall Street, the lifeblood of our state’s economy. And the sudden collapse of these firms and the government takeover of some have shaken our markets and buffeted the economy as a whole.

Many are now asking, What’s next?

I know that New Yorkers and Americans are deeply concerned and more than a little bewildered. As our markets have grown more complex and interconnected globally, so too have the crises that have emerged. And we are still sorting out the details.

One of the consequences of the secrecy and lack of oversight under the Bush Administration is that we do not know what we do not know. But it is important to recognize what we do know about what went wrong so that we can assess what needs to be done right now to make it right.

What we have seen over the course of the last eight years is an administration that refused to recognize the threats lurking in our economy, no matter what lurked just beneath the surface or what problems were facing middle class families.

Now, we know that many CEO’s are paying lower tax rates than their receptionists. We know that President Bush and those who carry his mantle seek to lower those taxes even further. Middle class families have seen their wages decline even as the cost of living has skyrocketed. This administration has the worst job creation record in 70 years. Millions of families were locked into ballooning and unaffordable adjustable-rate loans as this administration stood by denying there was a crisis. Regulators and regulations designed to keep pace with the markets have been steadily chipped away by Washington Republicans even as companies experimented to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in ever more complex and risky financial instruments.

Now, we were reassured that the risk was too diversified and investments too sophisticated to put our economy in jeopardy. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, the cracks were showing as the value of mortgage-based securities slipped day by day by day. And the President and his supporters in Congress repeatedly chanted – and still chant the mantra today – that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

The administration waxed philosophical when middle class families started facing foreclosures at record levels. The administration and their allies derided my proposals over the last two years to offer assistance to troubled homeowners seeking refinancing as a bailout. They dismissed my concerns and the concerns of millions of Americans even as the storm clouds gathered. They said they didn’t believe the government should intervene and provide borrowers an affordable opportunity to avoid foreclosure. Even when I and others warned the Bush Administration repeatedly from the start of this crisis that decisive action was demanded immediately to help families stay in their homes, that that was the best way to stave off a deepening economic crisis, their only responses were predictions for a soft landing and that the crisis could be contained.

Well, as I traveled throughout our country, I could see that no soft landing was forthcoming.

Many families, hundreds and even thousands of miles from Wall Street, were having their lives turned upside-down by the home mortgage crisis, and the ripple effects being felt throughout the economy, as a consequence of the broken economic policies of the last eight years.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration waited until this past summer to admit that massive housing relief was necessary. The administration finally supported in concept much of what I had proposed: mortgage modifications, freezes for unreasonable mortgage rate increases, and an expanded role for the Federal Housing authority.

But their response was half-hearted, without adequate resources or a commitment to enforcement. And so the home mortgage crisis slowly but surely eroded the value of risky debt instruments upon which Wall Street firms were depending. The house of houses of cards began to fall. My proposals, as well as those of others, were greeted as too much, too soon. Now we are forced to reckon with too little, too late.

When giant Wall Street firms revealed their dire straits and turned to this administration for the exact same help as we had sought for middle-class families — discounted loans, loan modifications and government-backed lending to weather the storm, Adam Smith was nowhere in sight.

Taxpayers have loaned these banks upwards of half a trillion dollars. And after years of laissez-faire policies for the middle class, the Bush Administration has acted on behalf of Wall Street with the largest and most significant federal interventions in the history of our modern financial system. The largest banks in the world can have closed-door meetings with the White House and the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to discuss their bailout options, but millions of homeowners with mortgages worth more than their homes, or who are facing default and foreclosure, don’t have the same opportunity.

And this administration seems to be once again paralyzed.

Now, I represent both the workers and the homeowners and the investment firms. I wish we had taken action long before this for the sake of all of my constituents, but now we must have a concerted, focused effort. I don’t believe we can wait until the next president. I am extremely hopeful and optimistic that we will have a president who will work with us to resolve our economic challenges, but I don’t think we can wait.

However, I do believe we can avoid a deepening crisis. We can take steps right now to address the root causes of what is taking place in our economy to stem the tide of foreclosures and mortgage defaults and the aggregating consequences in the credit markets on Wall Street and throughout the global economy.

But we must cast aside the haphazard, half-hearted approach of this administration and bring every stakeholder to the table to seek out and implement the right solutions. We must be as vigilant on behalf of homeowners and middle class families as we are on behalf of Wall Street firms. We must chart a new course based on the facts at hand, not the ideology at work for eight long years. We’ve tried being reactive. It’s time now to be decisive.

No options should be off the fable, certainly not because they don’t fit into a narrow ideological prism that this administration abandoned — for some — at the first signs of trouble. Ideologues in Washington or in the market who thought that the only danger to the marketplace was the Federal Government are now going hat in hand to that same government seeking help to stay afloat.

So to those who suggest that the steps taken thus far are enough, let me be clear: we may need to take even more significant steps to avoid a self-sustaining cycle of depressed home prices and foreclosures with the consequent effects on the entire marketplace.

We’ve already pumped hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidity into the markets but we still cannot see the end of this crisis. The biggest problem now is that our entire financial market is anchored down by the mortgage securities that are untouchable. We’ve seen the banks and the financial institutions that had the largest exposures to these instruments among the first to fail. But now we’ve begun to see some of the mightiest institutions, even those making a profit, fall by the wayside, the market thrown into upheaval, and others the target of predatory short sellers.

The Federal Reserve has used virtually every arrow in its quiver, from rate cuts, opening its lending windows and in desperation has even created some new arrows through its new lending facilities. By some estimates, the Fed has put out more than a half a trillion dollars through discounted loans, bailouts and takeovers to stabilize the market and the economy. While necessary to prevent even deeper disaster, we’ve seen that the benefits of these actions have had limited effects.

This situation reminds me of that old fable, where people are standing by the side of a river and they keep seeing babies being rushed down the river in the current and they desperately reach out trying to save as many babies as possible. Day after day they’re reaching out. They get new tools, they build a bridge, they get a ladder, they’re constantly trying to get to those babies. They’re hoping that they can save as many, until finally somebody walks up and says, “Who’s throwing them in? Go upriver, find out what the real problem is and stop that!”

The real problem has always been the way our home mortgage system got totally out of whack with new kinds of instruments that were sold many times over with very little regard to the realities of life, human nature, and the inevitable ups and downs in the economy, with the results that until we reach in and fix the home mortgage crisis, we can bail out everybody from here till kingdom come, we will not get a handle on this economic crisis.

So here’s what I believe we should do.

First, in light of historic bank failures, even with the largest federal intervention in the history of the mortgage market, we need a government entity, a modern-day Homeowners Loan Corporation, referred to as HOLC — H-O-L-C — or we need to build on the Resolution Trust Corporation created to help deal with the Savings and Loan Crisis.

Now, I personally believe and was among the very first to suggest that a HOLC, a Homeowners Loan Corporation, could be a preferable way of unfreezing and beginning to fix our struggling mortgage market. Some of my colleagues and many other respected economists and government officials have called for the creation of an entity like the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was created after the Savings and Loan crisis to liquidate in an orderly way the virtually worthless assets that the failed S&L’s held.

Just yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Paul Volker, and Eugene Ludwig and Nicholas Brady made such a proposal. They said a HOLC, an RTC, we’ve got to come up with an entity that will assume these debts and burdens and begin to work our way out.

Last spring when I called for a modern version of the HOLC, that’s the Depression-era entity that bought up old mortgages and issued new, more affordable ones in their stead, most people did not pay much attention. But I think it’s important to note that by the time the HOLC closed its books, that agency had turned a small profit and helped over a million people keep their homes. And this was 70 years ago. Our population has grown dramatically. So, obviously, if we did it right, we would be able to save a lot of homes. And I think if it is administered correctly it could be actually a net expenditure or even winner for the federal government.

Now, with the FHA reforms that I have long championed adopted this summer in our Omnibus Housing Bill, the FHA could be already a modern Homeownership Lender Corporation. But we need to look to new ways to revive and if necessary create a new market for mortgage securities based on sound accounting, transparent recordkeeping and responsible lending.

A new government entity like the HOLC with a focus on attacking the source of the problem can serve the purpose of clearing a lot of those toxic mortgage securities from the market. We know there will not be any semblance of a normal or orderly marketplace until we have found a way to resolve these mortgage securities that are metastasizing in the bottom of our markets. By taking this paper out of the market and quarantining it in this new entity we will be able to give the market breathing room to recover. We will also be able to set the stage for an orderly sale of these securities and in turn allow some of them to recover and actually regain some of their value. Perhaps just as importantly, not only would our financial markets stabilize but so would our housing markets.

This is an extraordinary measure but it is not without precedent. This is the greatest market upheaval since the Great Depression. We are, indeed, in a crisis, and in times of crisis there are opportunities for leadership. Congress could show the American people that leadership working with the President by embracing this bold proposal.

Second, I’m calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to take immediate action to address the abusive and manipulative short-selling practices that are rattling the markets, threatening firms and jobs and sending shockwaves across the broader economy. I commend the SEC for yesterday tightening rules against manipulative short-selling. The SEC’s rulings are a positive step in curbing the heightened volatility casting uncertainty on domestic markets and financial institutions. However, the Commission did not go far enough.

As a Senator from New York, I have a special duty to represent the workers of the financial services industry and to try with all my might to retain New York City as the financial capital of the world. The abuses that have disrupted the markets today will impact the lives of so many far beyond New York.

So I think it’s necessary for the SEC to take steps similar to the emergency rule it imposed this past July when the Commission concluded that there now exists a substantial threat of sudden and excessive fluctuations of security prices generally, and disruption in the functioning of the securities markets that could threaten fair and orderly markets.

Conditions now pose a greater threat than they did in July, and several of the institutions that the Commission sought to insulate from abuse do not even exist or certainly not in the in the same form that they did two months ago.

So we need to stay a step ahead, not a step behind. So I urge the Commission, as I expressed yesterday in a letter to Chairman Cox, to move toward a temporary moratorium on all of the abusive and manipulative short-sale practices associated with substantial financial firms like those the Commission identified in July. A temporary moratorium would allow the marketplace to take a step back, take a deep breath, and it would allow the Commission and other regulators to identify and weed out the sources of these abusive transactions.

Moreover the Commission should give close consideration to the many calls for the immediate restoration of the uptick rule, whose repeal has been linked to the recent market volatility and proliferation. I know there are technical problems in terms of moving toward digitized trading but we ought to be able to figure out how to handle those.

Third, I’m calling on President Bush to convene an economic summit right now that brings together leaders in the administration, the Congress, with lenders, consumer advocates, nonprofits, financial institutions and all the stakeholders. Such a summit, I believe, would restore confidence, demonstrate that the entire country is focused on solving the problem we face.

Fourth, I want to propose, once again, that we aggressively pursue and encourage mortgage modifications. I’ve introduced such legislation. I believe it’s important. Ten million homeowners are under water today carrying more than $2 trillion in mortgage debt. That is a huge anchor on our markets and economy. Modification, done right, is a strategy that serves lenders and borrowers as well as the broader markets.

Fifth, it is clear that for too long the rapid evolution of the securities and banking industry overwhelmed our regulatory framework resulting in an entire shadow banking system that operated outside of oversight and without accountability. It’s not enough just to shift responsibility or move lines on a flowchart. We need a new regulatory framework. We’ve been living off of the one from the Great Depression. Now is the time to create a new framework.

Six, I proposed the Corporate Executive Compensation Accountability and Transparency Act to impose new transparency rules on executive pay and the accounting techniques, the high compensation, and provide shareholders a say in executive compensation packages.

Finally, and seventh, I’m proposing that we require any financial institutions borrowing money from the Federal Reserve’s new lending facilities to open their books and ensure accountability and transparency to identify unsound practices. These banks and other entities have tapped the Fed’s new lending windows levels for over $300 billion in capital. They’ve shifted a lot of that risk onto the backs of our taxpayers. These are unprecedented interventions and we should make sure that these companies aren’t using taxpayer dollars to subsidize golden parachutes or risky investments, throwing your good money after bad. If we’re bailing you out we deserve to know exactly your liabilities. And you have to be part of this new regulatory framework.

This crisis has not abated. It’s time for us to start acting like Americans again. There isn’t anything we can’t solve once we put our minds to it. For that we need leadership. I know that our leader, Senator Reid, has said that the Senate will remain in pro forma session. We are ready to work with the administration, to work with the other stakeholders to change course and end the failed economic policies and failure of regulatory oversight that brought us to this point.

Now there’s much more, Madam President, that we need to do. Individuals have to take responsibility. We know that. But in this dynamic environment we must work together to stabilize the market, tackle the root causes that have festered too long, and restore confidence in our economy.

We’ll weather this storm but let’s do it sooner instead of later. Let’s try to save as many boats in the water right now instead of cleaning up the wreckage on the banks. I believe we can do that, and I thank you, Madam President, for your attention, and I hope that we’ll be able to start seeing action very soon. Thank you, and I yield the floor.

After watching the video of her remarks and reading the transcript, I sit here wondering why she isn’t our Democratic presidential candidate. And I remember the sadness and hole in my heart that I felt when I returned home from Montana and knew I would not see her as our candidate or our president this year.

He almost wrecked Barack Obama’s presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker’s marriage - and her job, The Post has learned.

You’ve seen the disgusting video of Reverend Wright, in a Sunday sermon, doing the the “hump” to suggest that Bill Clinton “done us wrong”:

The background story to Wright’s second marriage calls into serious question Wright’s “right” to preach to anyone. Here’s more from the Post:

Wright has been married to his second wife, Ramah, for more than 20 years.

The preacher reportedly wooed Ramah away from her first husband in the 1980s, when the couple came to marriage counseling at Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Now let’s see more reminders of Obama’s Reverend Wright. Remember this “America’s Chickens Come Home to Roost”?

The 37-year-old Elizabeth Payne admits to the affair but gives few other details.

Elizabeth Payne, 37, said she had a steamy sexual affair with the controversial, racially divisive man of the cloth while she was an executive assistant at a church headed by a popular Wright protégé.

She has since basically been excommunicated from the church, fired from her paid position in the church, and divorced. Her husband dashed to divorce court after the affair was discovered. She did have this to say about her life post-Wright:

Elizabeth Payne said she has been banished by Haynes and the flock at Friendship-West.

“I’m not a member of the congregation anymore; I’m not even allowed on the premises,” she said.

And she had this to say about her affair with Wright, her job and divorce:

“I was involved with Rev. Wright, and that’s why I lost my job and why my husband divorced me,” Payne said.

She refused to reveal when the adulterous affair started or how she met Wright.

But fellow churchgoers at Friendship-West “found out about the affair in the spring,” Payne said.

At the time, she was secretary to the Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a longtime Wright disciple.

In April, Payne organized a series of Texas public appearances by Wright, 67. Weeks before, Obama had disavowed his preacher of 20 years after Wright’s anti-government rants came to light.

“Liz was by Rev. Wright’s side day and night during those days,” a church source said.

“It’s all true,” said Payne, adding that she has filed a wrongful-dismissal claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to get her job back.

In an interesting twist, Wright gave a sermon about trouble in relationships at a church in New Jersey. Here is more on that:

“There’s no such thing as a problem-free relationship,” he told a packed Elmwood United Presbyterian Church. “In life, you’ll have unexpected problems.”

Here are his words minus a controversial statement.

Payne’s husband, Fred Payne, 64, said he learned of the affair in late February, when he discovered e-mails between his wife and Wright.

“There must have been about 80 of them, back and forth,” he said. “Wright said things like he was going to leave his wife for Elizabeth.”

And now we need to be reminded of Obama on his spiritual mentor….

And we know that Reverend Wright/Wrong became a albatross around Obama’s neck. Obama did what he always has — he denied any knowledge of the sermons — the same way he denies responsibility for anything his campaign does!

And this is the man we want leading our country? Not!

Obama your “chickens have come home to roost!”

Meanwhile, back in the United States, the US Senate is actually in session!! I bet you didn’t realize that since Obama is on his World Tour! But Obama not being in the Senate does not stop him from claiming credit, falsely, for one of the big committees in the Senate, the Banking Committee. He flat out said - with hand on his chest to make the point - that the Banking Committee is HIS committee! Here’s the kicker - he ISN’T EVEN ON IT!!! Wowie zowie - with all of the lies this man has told about his experience, especially his legislative experience, it is sure a good thing that his supporters have finally woken up and realized what a lying, conniving, scheming, Chicago-style politician he is!!! Oh, wait - that hasn’t happened yet. But we can hope that SOMEDAY they will realize they have been had. Of course, it would help if the media actually did their job to facilitate that awakening. This is me NOT holding my breath.

So, yes, the US Senate is in session, and there is someone who has been knocking herself out for her constituents, and all Americans. Oh, shoot - I have already given a clue by the use of the pronoun. I can assure you, it is not Claire McCaskill, one of Obama’s sycophantic “my children convinced me” supporters. No, of course not - you know who it is. Hillary Clinton.

That’s right, Hillary Clinton is currently fighting in the US Senate to get us relief from these exorbitant gas prices. Oh, and to argue against offshore drilling. What a silly little woman - worrying about the little people! Yet, she spoke about this on the Senate floor:

Senator Clinton urged her colleagues to support The Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act to provide short term relief to Americans feeling the pain of rising fuel prices and also called for bold new steps to break the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and achieve long term energy independence based on clean, renewable alternative energy.

Say WHAT? Gee willikers - it seems that all of her talk during her campaigning wasn’t just TALK! She CARES about these issues because she cares about us, energy independence, and the environment. Well, I’ll be darned! She went on to say:

“I believe we can lower gas prices in the very near term by taking smart, practical, sensible steps to address rampant oil speculation,” Senator Clinton said. “And let’s lead our nation to embrace the great next American endeavor, a national effort to change the way we produce and use energy. It’ll serve our economy. It will strengthen our security. It will bring us together as a nation.”

Oh, she just needs to stop - energy independence AND economic recovery? It’s madness, I tell you!!! Maybe that’s what Jim Cramer of CNBC’s “Mad Money” responded EMPHATICALLY when asked by Ellen Degeneres which candidate would be best for the economy: “That’s actually, hands down, Hillary Clinton.” HERE is the link for the interview on YouTube.com. It’s short, but powerful.

But Senator Clinton doesn’t stop there, oh no. She goes on to tackle the issue of offshore drilling:

“Drilling is the wrong answer. It will do nothing right now. It is literally a Shell game, or an Exxon Mobile game. It’s designed to serve the political interests of vulnerable Republicans and the financial interests of profit-rich oil companies. Average Americans will not see a dime,” Senator Clinton said. “The oil companies say, ‘Drill,’ and the President and the Vice President say, ‘How deep?’ I don’t think that’s the smartest, most effective answer.”

Crazy talk, I tell ya! WHAT is she thinking?? Energy independence? Get the economy on track?? NO offshore drilling?!?!? She is out of control!!!

It seems there is some precedent for these wild ideas of hers:

Senator Clinton has previously cosponsored the Petroleum Consumer Price Gouging Protection Act and the Close the Enron Loophole Act, which would protect consumers from unscrupulous energy profiteers and increase transparency in the retail and wholesale markets.

What has gotten INTO this woman?? Concerned about price gouging at the pump? While ExxonMobil continues to rake in record-breaking profits?? What is WRONG with her?! I swannee, as we say down here in the South, she just seems hell-bent on HELPING people! Not in self-promotion! Or being Master of the Universe and pretending to be former American heroes! Good grief.

So, Senator Clinton was on the floor, talking away, pushing this:

Senator Clinton outlined her proposal to create a Strategic Energy Fund to jump start research and investment in clean energy technologies to promote job growth, energy independence and a cleaner environment. She also underscored her support for providing energy relief to low-income families in New York and across the country. Senator Clinton has long been an advocate of fully funding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

How dare she? She wants a program that will help the people of New York and all Americans? Including low-income people?! She has just gone too far. Apparently, she did not get the memo that her REAL job was to engage in narcissistic, selfish, egotistical, arrogant, CYA actions, not to actually do things that would HELP people, the economy, and the environment! Well, no wonder Kerry, Reid, Dodd, et al, in the Senate didn’t want her!! It has all become clear to me now!

Grrrr. So, to recap: Obama is off on his European vacation on TAXPAYER’S dime, pretending to be JFK but missing the mark by a universe, and Clinton is in the Senate fighting for US.

Once again, Automatic Super Duper Delegates: PICK THE PERSON WHO IS FIGHTING FOR US, who has the intelligence, the passion, the COMMITMENT, to restoring this country to economic health, and to take us to energy independence. HILLARY CLINTON is the only one who will do that. Grow a spine, stop worrying about getting more money for your pet projects, and DO THE RIGHT THING already. Have some integrity. Have some GUTS. Do not foist yet another Pretender on us. Seriously.

For an added bonus, here is the LINK to her speech on YouTube.com. Get a cup of coffee, tea, whatever your beverage of choice is, and watch a REAL leader, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Strangely, Obama has decided to come clean (almost) on this ad. He removed the reference to passing a law to extend health care to wounded veterans. You know, that inartful statement LIE that he told on his first ad because Obama didn’t even vote for the legislation. Whoops!

Ironically the title of this new ad is Dignity. I suppose that Obama finally coming clean after blatantly lying in his first general election ad is considered being dignified by the Obama folk. I think it would have been more appropriately titled: Fessing Up.

So we get to the meat of this ad and lo and behold what do we learn? The troubling fact that of all of the legislative accomplishments he claims, not a single one of them has occurred since he became a US Senator. Get that? He hasn’t accomplished a single thing of note since becoming a US Senator.

Not. A. Single. Thing.

I suppose he has been too busy running for president to have actually accomplished something. Of course Obama probably considers all those speeches he is giving as legislative accomplishments. On the other hand, not accomplishing anything leaves one devoid of any record that can be criticized. It allows Obama to take every side of an issue. A politico du jour, so to speak. And he has definitely accomplished that.

So let’s see just how “dignified” Obama’s new ad is. Shall we?

The ad touts his leadership when he passed a law that moved people from welfare to work. It goes on to state that his leadership slashed the welfare rolls by 80 percent. Now here is where the trouble starts. Barky took credit for enforcing a federal law that he admitted he wouldn’t have supported to begin with. His exact words were:

Illinois Senate Transcript

I probably would not have supported the federal legislation, because I think it has some problems. But I’m a strong believer in making lemonade out of lemons.

But sour puss Obama has no problem taking credit for something he claims to oppose. Hell, his new ad makes it seem like it was his idea to begin with. So much for dignity.

Obama also claims to have passed tax cuts for workers. Only trouble is that Obama was one of 43 co-sponsors of the legislation. And the record for Illinois Public Act 91-0700 contains no references to his active participation in either crafting the bill or arguing for it’s passage in any other way than voting for it. But geez he sure was Dignified actually taking the time out from his busy schedule to vote.

And just when you had lost hope that Obama had no real legislative achievements his new ad actually provides proof that he did something of value. In Illinois. During the 8 years he spent in the Illinois Senate. When he actually had the time to accomplish something. Because he wasn’t running for president. Yes, a single accomplishment. Woo Hoo!

Obama claims that he passed health care for kids and wouldn’t ya know it, he really did. He was the sponsor of Public Act 93-0063 and it really passed and it really did help children gain health care. And I commend him for doing this. It’s dignified and the right thing to do.

So kudos to you Senator Obama. I knew that if people dug deep enough they might find a single thing you actually did that actually helped anyone. Hell, Richard Nixon “passed” the EPA so I knew there was some good in you down deep somewhere. It took a lot of digging though.

Now you can brief your surrogates what to say the next time they are asked about your legislative achievements. Is that sweet or what? Just make sure that they give brief interviews.

But this begs the question Senator Obama. With of all the “accomplishments” you claim to have and all the superior judgment you claim to possess just why is it that you haven’t accomplished a single thing of note since becoming a US Senator?

Could it be that you haven’t been a US Senator long enough to actually do something. It took eight years to accomplish something in Illinois so maybe you are a slow achiever?

I’ll tell ya what. How about you spend 8 years in the US Senate? And maybe by then you will have actually accomplished something that is dignified. Really dignified. No questions asked dignified.

After that maybe we can talk.

But Until Then: What have you done for me lately?