SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

B sent this one.

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. CHRISTOPHER DODD, MILLIONAIRE SENATOR, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE NINETIES. THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

It's legit because I checked Snopes.

Linked by: The invaluable American Digest, Cold Fury and Mitchell Langbert. Thanks!

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The Mortgage Meltdown Trial of 2010

You may call the final witness.

Your Honor, I call the head of the Federal Reserve.

Sir, could you describe how defendant Dodd -- former Senator Christopher Dodd -- interacted with Fannie, Freddie and the financial services companies under his purview as head of the Senate Banking Committee?

During the past 20 years... PACs and employees of these firms contributed more than $13 million to Dodd... including nearly $6 million in the past two years.

That's $250,000 a month from people who expected protection. And he protected them alright. All the way until the catastrophic meltdown.

Sir, what about defendant Frank? Former Representative Barney Frank?

Well, by now all of us have heard Frank's incriminating tapes... he said, "I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country."

Not only was he wrong, but even in July of '08, he was pitching Fannie stock to investors on CNBC. Retirees, boomers, young people... anyone who listened to him thought Fannie was healthy. Right before everything evaporated.

And Frank had a major conflict-of-interest: his live-in partner, Herb Moses, was a Fannie Mae executive "at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions."

Which one is more culpable, though?

Neither. [Muffled surprise expressed by crowd]

Excuse me?

Is the man behind this mess sitting in the courtroom?

Yes, sir, he is.

Could you please point him out to the jury?

Yes. He's right there.

Phil Spector?

No... that guy right there.

Barack Obama???

Yep. That's him.

But how? We know Obama took more money from Fannie and Freddie per year than anyone else, but how could that be the root cause?

Easy. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback machine to 1985... *** Schwang!!! ***

This is Barack Obama in 1985 when he was a community activist.

Obama worked with one of the heads of Acorn, the radical leftists who have been heavily involved with voter intimidation and fraud -- even trading crack cocaine for votes.

In those days Acorn "proudly touted 'affirmative action' lending and pressured banks to make subprime loans." When "Acorn was beginning its campaign against these banks, Barack Obama trained the leadership of organizers in Chicago."

Even in February of this year, the mainstream media was decrying the activities of Acorn in setting the stage for the mortgage meltdown: "In the 1980s, groups such as the activists at ACORN began pushing charges of "redlining" - claims that banks discriminated against minorities in mortgage lending." In 1995, the Clinton administration loosened underwriting further, erasing "'outdated' criteria included the size of the mortgage payment relative to income, credit history, savings history and income verification."

"Banks that got poor reviews were punished; some saw their merger plans frustrated; others faced direct legal challenges by the Justice Department... Flexible lending programs expanded even though they had higher default rates than loans with traditional standards. On the Web, you can still find CRA loans available via ACORN with '100 percent financing . . . no credit scores . . . undocumented income . . . even if you don't report it on your tax returns.'

Ironically, an enthusiastic Fannie Mae Foundation report singled out one paragon of nondiscriminatory lending, which worked with community activists and followed "the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted." That lender's $1 billion commitment to low-income loans in 1992 had grown to $80 billion by 1999 and $600 billion by early 2003.

That was Countrywide, the same firm that gave sweetheart loan deals to prominent Democrats including... Senator Chris Dodd.

You see, it was Obama all along. His support for Acorn's intimidation of banks...

...and the millions he provided Acorn using his directorships of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge...

...and the Woods Fund (both with terrorist Bill Ayers)...

-- were primary drivers behind the mortgage meltdown.

Obama designed a slow-motion attack on the American economy, designed to promote "economic fairness" -- an Acorn code-phrase for socialism.

Consider: every one of Obama's mentors -- from communist Frank Marshall Davis to Jeremiah Wright -- were unapologetic Marxists who hate America.

Mr. Obama: what do you have to say for yourself?

Guilty as charged, your honor. I really thought I could get away with it -- what, with the mainstream media in the tank for me.

Bailiff: take all three ex-Senators into custody. Court is adjourned!

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Tens of millions in Obama donations under FEC review

The National Review references Kenneth Timmerman's blockbuster report on illegal campaign donations to the Obama campaign.

The FEC has compiled a separate database of potentially questionable overseas donations [to the Obama campaign] that contains more than 11,500 contributions totaling $33.8 million. More than 520 listed their "state" as "IR," often an abbreviation for Iran. Another 63 listed it as "UK," the United Kingdom.

More than 1,400 of the overseas entries clearly were U.S. diplomats or military personnel, who gave an APO address overseas. Their total contributions came to just $201,680. But others came from places as far afield as Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa, Beijing, Fallujah, Florence, Italy, and a wide selection of towns and cities in France.

Until recently, the Obama Web site allowed a contributor to select the country where he resided from the entire membership of the United Nations, including such friendly places as North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Unlike McCain's or Sen. Hillary Clinton's online donation pages, the Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently....

In July and August, the head of the Nigeria's stock market held a series of pro-Obama fundraisers in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. The events attracted local Nigerian business owners. At one event, a table for eight at one fundraising dinner went for $16,800. Nigerian press reports claimed sponsors raked in an estimated $900,000. The sponsors said the fundraisers were held to help Nigerians attend the Democratic convention in Denver. But the Nigerian press expressed skepticism of that claim, and the Nigerian public anti-fraud commission is now investigating the matter.

In June, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gave a public speech praising Obama, claiming foreign nationals were donating to his campaign. "All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man," the Libyan leader said. "They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency..."

[O]n July 31 that donors from the Gaza strip had contributed $33,000 to the Obama campaign through bulk purchases of T-shirts they had shipped to Gaza.... A pair of Palestinian brothers named Hosam and Monir Edwan contributed more than $31,300 to the Obama campaign in October and November 2007, FEC records show. Their largesse attracted the attention of the FEC almost immediately. In an April 15, 2008, report that examined the Obama campaign's year-end figures for 2007, the FEC asked that some of these contributions be reassigned. The Obama camp complied sluggishly, prompting a more detailed admonishment form the FEC on July 30. The Edwan brothers listed their address as "GA," as in Georgia, although they entered "Gaza" or "Rafah Refugee camp" as their city of residence on most of the online contribution forms.... The latest Obama campaign filing shows that $891.11 still has not been refunded to the Edwan brothers, despite repeated FEC warnings and campaign claims that all the money was refunded in December.

A ...review of the Obama campaign finance filings found that the FEC had asked for the redesignation or refund of 53,828 donations, totaling just under $30 million.

But none involves the donors who never appear in the Obama campaign reports, which the [Center for Responsive Politics] estimates at nearly half the $426.8 million the Obama campaign has raised to date.

Hat tip: Larwyn.

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Reason to be worried -- very worried -- about the bailout deal

Here's some testimony from '03 and '04 that relate to the oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that should make you cry. But these people are smiling, laughing even, about $700 billion in taxpayer money they'll use for a bailout of the GSEs they failed to control.

Any questions?

Via: Rick at Brutally Honest.

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Official Missouri Truth Squad Incident Report

Cub Reporter Biff Spackle discovered this document that confirms the report of Barack Obama's 'Truth Squad' (the high-ranking Democratic prosecutors who have threatened to "prosecute critics of Barack Obama").

Which incident(s) are you reporting? (Check all that apply)
They mocked, questioned or satirized Obama (with or without styrofoam Greek columns).
They mentioned Obama's questionable citizenship/elibility for the presidency.
They mentioned Obama's questionable religious background.
They mentioned Obama's 20-year affiliation with a racist, anti-semitic Church.
They mentioned Obama's many affiliations with extremists and those tied to terrorists.
They mentioned Obama's career was launched and orchestrated by terrorist Bill Ayers.
They mentioned all of Obama's missing records (medical, collegiate, birth certificate, etc.).
They described Obama's blatant lie about infanticide that was even recanted by his handlers.
They described Obama's many ties to Fannie Mae executives and the mortgage meltdown.
They showed me pictures of Obama's stunning results as a "community organizer" and state senator.

Who are you reporting? (Check all that apply)
My parents
My sibling
Neighbors
My boss or co-worker
A friend or acquaintance
A radio talk-show host
Sean Hannity
Governor Matt Blunt
A wingnut blogger
Other

How did you find about their relationship to these untruths? (Check all that apply)
They sent me a chain email
They sent me a link to a wingnut or Rethuglican website
I happened to notice it on their laptop while sitting behind them on a bus, train or plane
I overheard them whispering
I installed a key-logger on their computer
I read their blog
I installed a network sniffer that monitors all traffic coming into and out of the neighborhood
I went "war-driving" and/or employed wireless monitoring tactics

How long would you recommend that we detain the subject(s)? (Check only one)
Until after the election
Until 2012
Until 2016
Until they graduate from Re-education Camp
Until prisoners start starving in the O'Gulags
Do not set release date

How dangerous is/are the subject(s)? (Check one)
Harmless/crackpot
Mildly annoying
All bark, no bite
Typical Pennsylvanian who clings to guns and religion
Other NRA member
NRA member with concealed-carry permit (a CCW)
Lifetime NRA member with three or more firearms, a CCW, and a Class III permit
Typical Texan
Chuck Norris

Email your completed form to Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce or County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCullough (or email him here).

Update: Associates of the Truth Squad have successfully shut down the sacrilegious Macsmind website. An alternative version of this notorious Rethuglican propaganda website has popped up here too, but rest assured our Squad is working diligently to bring it down as well.

Related: BizzyBlog has the transcript. Linked by: Instapundit, Jammie Wearing Fool, Discerning Texan, MyDD, Dad29, Grim's Hall, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, Inoperable Terran, Rantburg, Real Barack Obama and Up to Penrose and back. Thanks!

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Question o' the Day: In Large Typeface for Easy Reading

"Where is the Congressional Investigation?"
                                                                        -- Me. Just now.

Could it be because of this? Or this? Or this?

Maybe Jamie Gorelick will be named to the commission that will eventually investigate this mess, just like she was for 9/11.

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Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "I've got a bracelet too!"

• Liar: Nancy Pelosi says she was never warned about the financial crisis. I guess she was in the Trinity United Church restroom with Senator Obama during the roughly two dozen efforts by the Bush administration since 2001 to reform Fannie and Freddie. These were blocked repeatedly by Democrats because the GOP did not have a filibuster-proof majority.

• Childish and pathetic: "I've got a bracelet too." ...Jim, let me just make a point. I’ve got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant - from the mother of [can’t think of the name, looks down to read name on bracelet] Sergeant Ryan David Jopeck, sure another mother is not going through what I’m going through...

In reality the Jopek family is none-too-pleased with Obama and does not want the senator wearing their son's bracelet. I'll alert the mainstream media, who I'm sure will report this dichotomy instantly.

• Liar, Part Deux: Henry Kissinger says Obama was fibbing during the debate when he mentioned the old diplomat. Interviewed by Megyn Kelly, Kissinger said Obama is full of s***. Or words to that effect.

• Obama's Brownshirts are at it again: Notwithstanding their efforts to silence Dr. Stanley Kurtz of the National Review (while avoiding debate on his research), Obama's thugs are at it again.

KMOV TV (St. Louis) reports that two prominent government officials have formed a "truth squad" at the behest of the Obama campaign. Obama is asking Missouri law enforcement "to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign." I am not making this up. Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri announced the following on Saturday:

St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign... What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words... abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment... Barack Obama needs to grow up."

Mark Steyn's contribution: "Yes, we ban!"

Professor Mitchell Langbert suggests an effective response for bloggers of both political persuasions disgusted by these Gestapo-style tactics. More to come.

• The rotten ACORN: The American Thinker's James Simpson lays out a compelling description of the "manufactured crisis."

Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had sixty years of virtually unbroken power in Congress - with substantial majorities most of the time. Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? ...One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit... I submit to you they understand the consequences. For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent - the failure is deliberate.

...The chart puts Barack Obama at the epicenter of an incestuous stew of American radical leftism. Not only are his connections significant, they practically define who he is. Taken together, they constitute a who's who of the American radical left... Conspicuous in their absence are any connections at all with any other group, moderate, or even mildly leftist. They are all radicals, firmly bedded in the anti-American, communist, socialist, radical leftist mesh...

It's important. Read the whole thing. Investors Business Daily has more on the malevolent bands of miscreants who call Obama an ally.

Update: New blog: I've got a bracelet too!.

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The Fannie Mae testimony that will make you scream in anger

In 1997 President Clinton's HUD secretary, a man named Andrew Cuomo, claimed Fannie Mae had exhibited "racial discrimination" and proposed that 50 percent of the GSEs' (Fannie and Freddie) loan portfolio be made up of loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers by 2001.

Wayne Barrett at the Village Voice:

[Clinton appointee] Andrew Cuomo... made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that... helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration...into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.

At the time, Democrat Cuomo said "GSE presence in the subprime market could be of significant benefit to lower-income families, minorities, and families living in underserved areas..."

...as Paul Krugman noted in the Times recently, "homeownership isn't for everyone," adding that as many as 10 million of the new buyers are stuck now with negative home equity... So many others have gone through foreclosure that there's been a net loss in home ownership since 1998...

From 2001 to 2008, the Bush administration tried more than 18 times to bring Fannie and Freddie under heel.

For example, consider October 6, 2004. Location: The House of Representatives. Richard Baker -- the Republican Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises -- reads an opening statement as he issues his report on "Allegations of accounting and Management Failure at Fannie Mae."

The Capital Markets Subcommittee meets today for the purpose of receipt of a report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. It is indeed a very troubling report. But it is a report of extraordinary importance, to those who wish to own a home, as well as the taxpayers of this country who would pay the cost of cleanup.

...The matters detailed in this report are serious and raise concerns regarding the validity of previously reported financial results, the adequacy of regulatory capital, the quality of management supervision, and the overall safety and soundness of the Enterprise...

We all know that the Enterprise is very thinly capitalized, but the potential effect of requiring a responsible capital level would be to adversely affect earnings per share, and consequently make the payment of bonuses [to Fannie executives] much less likely...

I also wish to inform members of the Committee of another troubling incident, which I now choose to make public. About a year ago, I corresponded with the Director’s office making inquiry about the levels of executive compensation at the enterprise for the top twenty executives...

Now I understand why the Enterprise [Fannie Mae] was so anxious not to have public disclosure of compensation of an entity that was created by the Congress, and supported by the taxpayer... As a direct result of abhorrent accounting practices, executives have been able to award themselves bonuses they did not earn and did not deserve...

In 2003, the effort to rein in Fannie began in earnest with a GOP bill ("H.R. 2575—THE SECONDARY MORTGAGE MARKET ENTERPRISES REGULATORY IMPROVEMENT ACT"). The bill would have strengthened an independent regulator that did not have to kowtow to the political establishment. Like most efforts aimed at reformation of Fannie, the committee votes were typically on the straight party line.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): I think it is clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sufficiently secure so they are in no great danger... I don't think we face a crisis; I don't think that we have an impending disaster. ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do very good work, and they are not endangering the fiscal health of this country.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA): I have sat through nearly a dozen hearings where, frankly, we were trying to fix something that wasn't broke. [sic] ...These GSEs have more than adequate capital for the business they are in: providing affordable housing. As I mentioned, we should not be making radical or fundamental change... If there is anything to fix or improve, it is the [regulators].

Rep. David Scott (D-GA): ...affordable housing goals for both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae require that 50 percent of units should be built for low-and moderate-income home buyers, and 20 percent for very low-income families... Yet, from 1998 to 2002, African-American home ownership rates only rose from 45.6 percent to 47.3 percent, less than 2 percent compared with the white average increase from 72 percent to 74.5 percent, huge gap remains. Clearly, the mission of Freddie Mac, and especially Fannie Mae, is to close that gap...

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY): ...I have to go to another hearing, I will try to be just real quick... I am just pissed off at [the regulator] because if it wasn't for you I don't think that we would be here in the first place. ...we are faced with is maybe some individuals who wanted to do away with GSEs in the first place, you have given them an excuse to try to have this forum [to change the] mission of what the GSEs had, which they have done a tremendous job... There has been nothing that was indicated is wrong, you know, with Fannie Mae... The question that then presents is the competence that your agency has with reference to deciding and regulating these GSEs.

Franklin Raines, Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae: ...In 1994, we launched our trillion-dollar commitment, a pledge to provide $1 trillion in financing for 10 million underserved families before the decade was over... In 2000... we launched a redoubled new pledge... to provide $2 trillion for 18 million underserved families before this decade is over. (I guess we didn't quite make it, did we Frank?) ...we are one of the best capitalized financial institutions in the world, when compared to the risk of our business...

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): I don't see any financial crisis.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL): A concern that I have... is you are making very specific... broad and categorical judgment about the management of this institution, about the willfulness of practices that may or may not be in controversy. You have imputed various motives to the people running the organization... That sounds to me as if you have gone from being a dispassionate regulator to someone who is very much involved and has a stake in this controversy... And I will follow up on Ms. Waters's point because I think it is very well taken: Her observation is that the political context surrounding your investigation was that serious doubts were being raised about OFHEO... In fact, frankly, doubts were raised about your leadership of OFHEO. And all of a sudden, the response to that is to produce an enormously critical report.

Franklin Raines, Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae: ...these assets are so riskless that their capital for holding them should be under 2 percent.

This week even ex-President Clinton admitted that the Democrats were guilty of destroying Fannie and Freddie... and responsible for the current crisis that threatens to bring the entire U.S. economy to the brink of recession: I think that the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by the Republicans and the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Who were the top recipients of Fannie Mae's money-dispensing leaf-blower? The top three were Chris Dodd (D-CT), Barack Obama (D-IL) and John Kerry (D-MA).

And where are these Fannie Mae executives now?

• Franklin Raines ($90 million in compensation): Economic Adviser to Barack Obama
• Jamie Gorelick ($26 million): Major Democratic Fundraiser
• James Johnson ($21 million): Adviser to Barack Obama

That's change you can bank on!

As recently as 2007, Gorelick -- who lives in a $1.7 million home -- was still donating money to disgraced Senator Christopher "Nero" Dodd, who fiddled while homes burned.

I have just one question for FBI director Mueller. Why aren't these people in prison?

Updates: Gateway Pundit has some ominous news regarding WaMu... and Dan Riehl parses a critical moment in the debate relating directly to the financial mess.

Hat tips: Naked Emperor News, Ann, Barking Moonbat, Country Store ("Jamie Gorelick: the pinup girl for Democrat foolishness strikes again") and the incredibly prolific, always on-point Gateway Pundit.
Linked by: The Anchoress, Gina Cobb, Liberty Peak Lodge and Madville. Thanks!

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