It's like a mirror!
Sorry about that Hiroshima thing.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood last week while shouting "Allahu Akbar." I'm going to go out on a limb that the politically correct mainstream media won't, and call him a "jihadist." Maybe those 20 emails to the al-Qaeda cleric in Yemen will back me up here. Or the Powerpoint presentation Hasan gave at Walter Reed about beheading infidels, resulting in NO action from the Army (since any whistleblower would risk being labeled 'insensitive,' investigated for harrassment, and penalized on his/her next evaluation report... since Hasan is a Muslim. I served long enough as an Army officer to know that's the insane P.C. climate that our senior political and military leaders demand).
Sgt Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for killing two soldiers and wounding 14 more during a grenade and rifle attack in Kuwait just before the 2003 Iraq invasion. I was in the desert, one camp over from where this occurred. Again, since he is a Muslim who killed non-Muslims because they were non-Muslims, I'm going to go ahead and call him a jihadist.
WASHINGTON -- Conservative Republicans are capitalizing on the troubles of community activist group ACORN -- ranging from charges of voter registration fraud to embarrassing videos of its employees -- to revive their long-standing fight against a federal law that grades banks on their investments in poor and minority neighborhoods.
The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act was intended to end redlining, a practice in which banks in effect walled off many inner-city neighborhoods from mortgage loans. But some GOP lawmakers say it has outlived its purpose and is being used inappropriately by ACORN to shake down banks for money. They want to repeal the law, scale it back or at least block a Democratic proposal to expand it.
Critics of the law are linking it to ACORN -- a subject many Democrats wish would go away -- at every opportunity.
"Should we repeal CRA? Absolutely," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, a member of the House Financial Services Committee. "Do we have the votes for it today? I seriously doubt that."
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., also on the committee, has described ACORN's actions under the law as "legalized extortion," contending that the law gave ACORN the power to stall or prevent bank mergers or expansions by filing CRA complaints with regulators.
"In order to avoid these filings, financial institutions would either lower their lending requirements to meet the needs of ACORN associates or they would simply pay out funds to one of the many ACORN-affiliated organizations," Royce wrote in an article posted on his House Web site.
ACORN said that nearly all the money it receives from banks is used to provide advice to first-time home buyers or homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosures, and that the money isn't used for political advocacy.
"The Republicans are attempting to intimidate banks to halt monies that are used to help working families become home buyers or save their homes from foreclosure," spokesman Brain Kettenring said.
Archived ACORN testimony on the Federal Reserve Board Web site shows ACORN has spoken against bank mergers, contending that banks weren't living up to the CRA. In at least one case, however, ACORN supported a merger. The group acknowledged in the 1998 testimony that it was unusual for it do so, but said one of the banks involved, NationsBank, was a leader in community reinvestment, and that its partnership with ACORN Housing Corp. had produced at least $236 million in mortgages.
A decade ago, then-Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas unsuccessfully tried to gut the law, describing nonprofits that use the law as "protection rackets."
Recent troubles at ACORN are giving Republicans ammunition in their renewed campaign against the law. Some employees are accused of voter registration fraud. Its founder was forced out last year amid revelations that he had tried to keep quiet his brother's embezzlement of nearly $1 million. Two conservative filmmakers disguised as a prostitute and a pimp caught ACORN employees on camera giving them tax and immigration advice and advising them to disguise the source of their income to get housing aid.
Three Republican congressmen have asked 14 banks to provide details on their dealings with ACORN. One of them, Bank of America, said it wouldn't engage further with ACORN Housing Corp. until ACORN's issues are resolved.
ACORN, short for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, portrays itself as a successful advocate for tens of thousands of low-income and minority homebuyers. It appointed a former state attorney general to investigate the video scandal.
Republicans describe it as a pro-Democratic group that among other things, is violating the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.
ACORN Housing Corp. and other ACORN affiliates help people land mortgages and fight predatory lending. They also build and renovate low-income housing around the country. The developments include the ACORN Beverly and Desert Rose subdivisions in Phoenix, the ACORN Glenn subdivision in Houston and apartments in Paterson, N.J. ACORN affiliates rehabilitate housing in New York and elsewhere.
ACORN Housing Corp. and related entities have long done business with major banks. How much, how the money was spent and which ACORN organizations and personnel were involved are difficult to piece together. ACORN does not file a publicly available report describing all its various entities, their financing, their spending or the various roles of its executives.
ACORN's public announcements and a patchwork of documents filed at the federal, state and local levels provide at least a glimpse of the range of its housing activities and relationships with banks.
Just last year, ACORN Housing Corp. announced it was starting a nonprofit brokerage with CitiMortgage, Bank of America and others to help low-income families get mortgages in Florida.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave ACORN a five-year, $5 million grant in 2003 for foreclosure prevention and low-income housing initiatives. The company said it hasn't made any donations since last year and won't consider any.
A JPMorgan Chase mortgage officer, Guilermo Loaiza, until recently was on the board at ACORN Housing Corp. He also served as presidents of Arizona ACORN Housing Corp. and ACORN Beverly, a limited liability corporation through which ACORN developed a Phoenix subdivision with help from $4.8 million in credit from JPMorgan Chase.
A spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase & Co. said she cannot discuss the loan because of a legal privacy policy the bank has for all clients.
ACORN Housing Corp. spokeswoman Alyson Chadwick said Loaiza's term on the ACORN Housing board was due to end this month and he decided not to remain for personal reasons. He no longer heads Arizona ACORN Housing or ACORN Beverly, she said.
ACORN Beverly used about $2.5 million of the JPMorgan Chase credit line to build 25 homes and has repaid most of it, Chadwick said. JPMorgan Chase hasn't financed any other loans with Arizona ACORN Housing or ACORN Beverly but has funded other ACORN Housing projects, Chadwick said.
Loaiza didn't act as a loan officer for any Beverly homebuyers, nor did he have anything to do on JPMorgan's end with the project's multimillion-dollar credit line, Chadwick said.
"Bottom line -- no fees to Guilermo," she said. "He always stayed away to avoid any potential for conflict of interest." ACORN Housing has a conflict-of-interest policy and it was in effect at the time of the Arizona project, she added.
An ACORN consultant in the summer of 2008 identified multiple roles played by many officials at ACORN affiliates and the need for a strong conflict-of-interest policy as problems for the group.
"Too many people are wearing too many hats, or perhaps the wrong hat entirely," the consultant wrote in an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report recommended a number of good governance reforms including an anti-conflict-of-interest policy. Those reforms were adopted at the October 2008 board meeting of ACORN.
The history of the relationships between banks and groups like ACORN goes back to President Jimmy Carter's signing of the CRA in 1977.
The neighborhoods targeted for help by the law were typically in areas where groups like ACORN already were working. Banks initially resisted the overtures, but over time saw a viable market for lending in minority communities, with community organizers in a supporting role counseling potential borrowers.
"The relationships between banks and groups like ACORN weren't necessarily marriages made in heaven, but they've consistently worked well," said Gregory Squires, a George Washington University professor who has written about ACORN.
Ben Smith at Politico.com reports:"A top Democratic National Committee official reacted furiously to a statement from Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele mocking -- and describing as 'unfortunate' -- President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.
'The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,' DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. 'Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party.' "
Now that the Dear Leader has snitch-lines up and running at the White House, what comes next? Enter the stormtroopers of organized labor. What the Brownshirts were to the streets of 1930's Germany, the Purpleshirts of the SEIU labor union are to us. 
Van "I don't care what the facts look like" Jones is Obama's appointed "Green Jobs Czar."Unelected, unconfirmed, unexamined, and unrepentant, he describes himself as a "Communist" and a "Revolutionary."
I'm not making this up.
With $60 billion to spend, not only has he not created a single "green job," he can't even explain what a green job is.
More here from Kathy Shaidle, examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-722-Conservative-Politics-Examiner~y2009m7d17-Van-Jones-Green-Jobs-Czar-a-selfdescribed-communist-arrested-during-Rodney-King-riotsAmerica, wake up before it's too late.
Today, while lecturing his
The theocracy of Iran has repeatedly stated their desire to wipe Israel off the map. They continue to work on "peaceful" nuclear power... and intercontinental ballistic missiles. President Obama, sharing the far left's myopic fixation on teacup diplomacy and appeasement as the best ways to deal with a threat, has been silent. Then a revolution against the Mullahs started in Iran. After three days of prodding by the worldwide media, he suddenly decided to appear morally outraged.
The Associated Press reported today:
"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is asserting that the description she initially gave of the border swine-flu monitoring effort no longer applies. Appearing Wednesday before a Senate panel, Napolitano said that "passive surveillance" is "not an accurate picture of what is going on" at U.S. entry points. She had used that term Tuesday morning to describe the nature of the monitoring for illness. On Wednesday, Napolitano said that U.S. officials are "actively" questioning visitors at the border, asking questions about "whether they are ill, their travel history and the like." She also discounted turning to thermal meters to gauge whether people are carrying a fever, and Napolitano also said she does not believe the facts of the current situation would merit closing the borders."
Psssssst... hey, Janet: while you're at it, why don't you have the Border Patrol ask them if they are smuggling drugs or planning to overstay their visas? That way we could solve all these problems through active dialogue! Why didn't President Bush think of that?! Well spank my ass and call me Arlen, I'm switching to Democrat! Yeehaw!!!
No, this is not a joke. Remember all the left-wing nutroots shrieking and screaming about the coming of the "Bush-Hitler"? I guess when fascism actually arrives, it's okay... so long as it's a Democrat. At least Obama didn't put incompetent ideologues in charge of any other government agencies... oh, snap!
