Free Republic

from the sickening dept Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation... or else: "Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk...

The Google logo has been blacked out today. Wikipedia, reddit, Mozilla and Twitpic are all blocking access to content. Even Star Trek icon George Takei has blocked his site. The moves are displays of cyber-protest against the heavy-handed and ill-conceived Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). From a political and public relations standpoint, this has already been a complete and utter failure for Hollywood and their formerly formidable lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America. Former Sen. Chris Dodd became the new CEO of the MPAA after he realized he would never be re-elected in his home state of Connecticut...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

It appears that four current members of the United States House of Representatives received loans via the VIP program of Countrywide Financial Corporation. Once again the motives of the former giant mortgage institution have been brought into question. Where they trying to peddle influence with these loans? Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and he has been investigating the VIP program for a number years. Issa reportedly learned about the four loans after issuing a subpoena to Bank of America. Countrywide was purchased by Bank of America in 2008 and...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Carrie Fisher, speaking of sexual harassment charges, or rather the lack of them in this case. There's an amusing anecdote out there, Carrie Fisher's latest autobiography. She's the daughter, by the way, of the movie star Debbie Reynolds. I met Debbie Reynolds once at a House Clinic event. She was the entertainer. She's hilarious. I had forgotten. She is a hilarious comedienne, Debbie Reynolds. That's Carrie Fisher's mom, and Carrie Fisher played Princess Leia in the first Star Wars flick. That was before calling someone princess was sexist. Do you believe Cain had to apologize for calling...

‘Star Wars’ actress: Date with Sen. Dodd brought wild questions from Sen. Kennedy Holy Obi-Wan Kenobi! “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher claims the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked her some pretty frank questions while dining out with the star and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). According to published excerpts from Fisher’s new book, “Shockaholic,” the entertainer, best known for her role as Princess Leia, was fresh out of her first stint in rehab and on a date with a then single Dodd back in 1985. Kennedy joined the pair at dinner in D.C.. Fisher writes, “Suddenly, Senator Kennedy, seated...

Government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac has requested $6 billion in additional aid after posting a wider loss in the third quarter. Freddie Mac said Thursday that it lost $4.4 billion, or $1.86 per share, in the July-September quarter. That compares with a loss of $4.1 billion, or $1.25 a share, in the same quarter of 2010. This quarter's $6 billion request from taxpayers is the largest since April 2010.

fter a worldwide financial meltdown — and a $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout — the need for common-sense financial reforms was clear. But now, even though the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (known as Dodd-Frank, after Rep. Barney Frank and me, its sponsors) is only beginning to take effect, critics are launching false attacks against the law in an effort to undermine it. Whether they are intentionally misleading or just misguided, they are wrong about the law’s purpose and impact. 1. Dodd-Frank is deepening the economic slowdown. Critics who charge that the law is aggravating the recession...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich got worked up when asked about the Occupy Wall Street protests at last night's Bloomberg-Washington Post debate. Gingrich first sought to tie the protests to "left-wing agitators" before calling for the firing of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He then doubled down, calling on former Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank to be thrown in jail, not anyone on Wall Street. Asked if he actually meant for them to do prison time, Gingrich said he did, alluding to past ethical scandals. Watch the video below: CLICK ABOVE LINK...

Newt Gingrich is asked about the Occupy Wall Street movement at the Bloomberg debate in New Hampshire: New Gingrich: "If they want to change things, the first thing to do is fire Bernanke, who is a disaster as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The second person to fire is Geithner. The fact is, in both the Bush and the Obama administrations the fix has been in. And I think it's perfectly reasonable to be angry. But let's be clear about who put the fix in. The fix was put in by the federal government. If you want to put people...

Abstract: Five of the world's richest hedge fund managers, including George Soros, the man who the broke the Bank of England, have been called to account by US politicians for their role in the collapse of the global financial system. The quintet – including John Paulson, who made $3.7bn (£2.49bn) last year betting against the US mortgage market – were grilled over their roles in buying unregulated derivatives products, which some politicians believe contributed to the financial markets' meltdown. The men, who each earned more than $1bn each last year, were called to account by Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman, who...

Barack Obama Has Destroyed the Economy in Two-and-a-Half Years July 14, 2011 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "Boehner: Dealing With the White House 'Has Been Like Dealing With Jell-O' -- In a meeting with a small group of reporters in his Capitol Hill office this morning [he] criticized President Obama and White House officials for their lack of resolve in negotiations. 'Dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-o,' Boehner said. 'Some days it's firmer than others. Sometimes it's like they've left it out over night.' Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because,...

In just a few days some fairly big changes in the commodities and currency trading markets are expected to land with a thud.  The changes stem from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act aimed primarily at consumer lending, but is also having a wide ranging impact on securities trading.  Some of the changes are fairly straightforward and are intended to curb speculation that comes at the expense of consumers.  Others are aimed at curbing the excesses of the largely unregulated derivatives market.  Most of those changes will generally be good for consumers, all were well-intended but, like...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Falling home prices have shrunk equity so much that the proportion of their homes that Americans actually own is near its lowest point since World War II. The Federal Reserve says average home equity plunged from more than 61 percent at the start of 2001 to 38 percent in the January-March quarter this year. That drop comes as home prices in big metro areas have reached their lowest level since 2002.

Chris Dodd on front lines of movie copyright war Less than a month into his new job as head of the Motion Picture Association of America, former Sen. Chris Dodd finds himself in the midst of another high-pitched battle. This time the issue isn’t health care and financial reform. It’s copyright infringement, an ongoing tug-of-war since the advent of broadband internet access. Members of the Motion Picture Association filed suit in a federal court in Los Angeles Monday, accusing a movie-rental web site, Zediva, of illegally streaming films online. Zediva offers movies after they are available on DVD, but weeks...

Countrywide’s VIP program is the first subpoena target for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said a committee aide. The “Friends of Angelo” program, named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, has been under committee investigation since 2008 for allegedly granting generous mortgage deals to influential government officials, lawmakers and employees at Fannie Mae. “Countrywide orchestrated a deliberate and calculated effort to use relationships with people in high places in order to manipulate public policy and further their bottom line to the detriment of the American taxpayers even at the expense of its own lending standards,”...

Issa demands details on Countrywide's VIP loan programBy Peter Schroeder - 02/16/11 06:31 PM ET Bank of America will have to turn over all documents and records tied to Countrywide Financial's VIP lending program after House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued a subpoena for them Wednesday. Issa announced the far-reaching subpoena, his first as chairman of the panel, and made clear that he wanted to know specifically what public employees or elected officials may have benefited from the program. Issa is looking for all documents about the program, and is particularly interested in what "covered borrowers" were involved...

Let me see if I can summarize what has happened over the last few years. Democrats in Congress specifically Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy changed some laws forcing banks to extend loans to people with bad credit (the CRA). They also changed some laws allowing other companies to “bundle mortgages” and sell them with little to no regulations. Then Al Sharpton, La Raza and ACORN legally extorted financial institutions into loaning large sums to people who couldn’t afford the interest payments much less the loans. All these “loans” were traded back and forth between hedge funds in order...

As the final days of his long congressional career were falling from the calendar, corrupt Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd was uplifted as one special interest after another heaped praise upon him. They were the beneficiaries of his years of generosity with other people's money and his advocacy of federal mandates that enriched them. And for all those years, they completed the quid pro quos by delivering copious sums and manpower for his re-election campaigns. In another context, prosecutors would call this extortion or racketeering; in this context, however, it's just called government. The news media, new and old, also kissed...

"He is lying, he did it last April in front of the House Financial Services Committee," a man yelled at David Lowman, the CEO of Chase Home Lending. Man to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT): "Chairman, let the homeowners speak! Let them speak. Homeowners, tell your story!" He was quickly escorted from the hearing on foreclosure practices.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?by novelist Orson Scott Card, a Democrat_________..      This [financial crisis] was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it.  One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules.  The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them...Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans.  (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me.  It's as if the Pentagon were...

Last night, President Obama again tried to revise history by blaming our current financial crisis on the war in Iraq stating “We have spent over a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits.” Of course he and his brethren on the left continue to ignore Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s contribution to the current crisis. Between the two institutions they have secured nearly sixty percent of the $12 Trillion in mortgages in the United States, a large portion of which were subprime...

On July 21, when President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, he promised: “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.” How long will this Obama promise last? Well, The New York Times reports today that “the Obama administration on Wednesday pumped $3 billion into programs intended to stop the unemployed from losing their homes,” including a program announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that “will draw on $1 billion authorized by the new financial overhaul law.” That’s right. The Dodd-Frank “no more taxpayer-funded bailouts forever” bill is not even a month old, and already...

"And speaking of Countrywide, how can a bill written by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank possibly solve anything, when they were right in there ... right there with the collapse at every level in the first place? Isn't this a little like asking Mel Gibson to write your company's rules on anger management and racial tolerance?" — commentator Glenn Beck, July 22 Corrupt Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., indeed wrote the financial-industry-overhaul bill that President Obama has signed into law. Among the bill's most grievous errors, it rewarded the worst and most asleep-at-the-switch actors in the...

Ethics: A probe by Rep. Darrell Issa has now uncovered 173 sweetheart loans made by Countrywide Financial Corp. to 42 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. As is too often the case, it's a regulatory problem. Of the 173 loans, 150 were made to borrowers who identified themselves as employees of Fannie Mae. Loan recipients from the institution include Jamie Gorelick, a former vice chair of Fannie Mae; James Johnson, former chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae; Daniel Mudd, a former Fannie Mae president and CEO; and Franklin Raines, former Fannie Mae chairman and CEO. Issa, ranking member of the...

The 2,319 page financial regulation bill that just passed Congress is filled with vague, complicated language. Some language will weaken our financial system and make it less efficient. Other language appears to mandate racial and gender employment quotas in dozens of Federal agencies. In the name of making sure that there is not another financial crisis, the bill does nothing to address what caused the mortgage problems created by government regulations that forced banks to make risky loans that they didn't want to make. It does nothing to rein in the $400 billion in losses created by government entities Fannie...

The Dodd/Frank Wall Street bill (oh, the irony) just passed the Senate and is headed to President Obama’s desk. Obama will be signing into law what Bob Belvedere calls the Fascist Take Over of the Free Market bill. To recap, it does nothing to address the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem that was at the center of the financial crisis. Nor does it do anything about “too big to fail” which, if I recall correctly, was the original intent of financial reform. What the Fascist Take Over of the Free Market bill does do is reward more of the...

"It is not a perfect bill, I will be the first to admit that. We don't know ultimately how well the ideas we've incorporated here will achieve the results we desire. It will take the next economic crisis, as certainly it will come, to determine whether or not the provisions of this bill will actually provide this generation or the next generation of regulators with the tools necessary to minimize the effects of that crisis when it happens," Sen. Chris Dodd said Thursday.

What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, which was created by merging Senate and House bills. When the Senate returns from recess one of its first actions will be to vote on the bill, which passed the House on June 30. I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new...

Big changes are in store for the banking system should Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be revamped or eliminated—both of which are being discussed by housing experts and government officials to deal with the distressed real estate market. As the system works now with the two entities, Fannie and Freddie , banks write the mortgages, but they rarely hold them. The mortgages are sold off into pools, known as mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Fannie and Freddie guarantee the mortgage payments, so that the MBS buyer, be it the Chinese government or an American pension plan, has the security of the US...

Senate and House conferees on Wall Street reform are reconvening Tuesday because of Republican objections to $19 billion in fees that would be placed on big financial firms. The meeting follows Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) letter to the chairmen of the conference committee on Tuesday, in which he said he would oppose the Wall Street overhaul bill as it stands. In a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Brown expressed "strong opposition" to the fees that were added in the conference process between House and Senate lawmakers last week. "If the final version of the...

Here is a summary of the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the long-awaited financial reform overhaul that passed out of conference committee at 5:39 a.m this morning. Both the House and Senate are expected to pass the conference report next week so that it is on President Obama's desk by the July 4th recess. The provisions below are broken into two groups -- those that mainly affect consumers and those that mainly affect financial institutions.

Money grabber caption time!

Accountability: Democrats have finally gotten around to blaming the Bush administration for the Gulf oil disaster. We wonder when this administration will take responsibility for anything. Asked on the "Imus in the Morning" program Tuesday on Fox Business Network if the Obama administration is to blame for the damaging fallout of the spill, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., actually said, "Well, you know, they come into office a year ago with all of this. And so, after the last eight years ... " before being interrupted by a perplexed Imus. We too are perplexed. George W. Bush was blamed for the...

When asked by Don Imus on his morning program if the Obama was to blame for lack of response to the oil spill, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) blamed the Bush administration. "Well, you know, they come into office a year ago with all of this. And so, after the last eight years," he said. At that point, Imus interrupted and asked if he has "lost" his mind for blaming Bush. "The President has been in office for a year and a half and they've been dragging their feet and even people like James Carville said that his behavior 'has been...

Last week's passage of the Dodd finance reform plan dredged up bad symbolism, none of it good. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal front page headline touted legislation that would be the "Biggest Regulatory Overhaul of Wall Street Since Depression". Though most of us didn't suffer the federal government's persecution of the productive back in the ‘30s, basic history tells us that reforms back then did nothing to revive an economy on its back thanks to too much government. In that sense, we perhaps shouldn't pin all of the stock market's recent ill health on problems in a country as economically...

Here's a sampling of reaction to the revelation that Attorney General Richard "Rambo" Blumenthal, the Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate, falsely claims he served in the Vietnam war: "Lame excuses for Semper Lie; Conn. pol admits he's no 'Nam vet" — New York Post headline "What else has he been lying about? — Andrew Breitbart, echoing the thoughts of millions "This Dick Blumenthal even looks a little like Eliot Spitzer. And now it turns out ... even Jane Fonda spent more time in Vietnam than he did." — Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr "Vietnam is apparently not (his) only lie. Last...

The Senate approved new far-reaching financial rules on Thursday aimed at preventing the risky behavior and regulatory failures that brought the economy to the brink of collapse two years ago and cost millions of Americans their jobs and savings. The bill passed by a vote of 59 to 39, with four Republicans joining a majority of Democrats in supporting it. The 1,500-page measure, shepherded through the Senate by Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, seeks to reshape both Washington and Wall Street. (snip) They successfully courted Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine,...

Sweeping Wall Street Reform Bill Advances Legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democrats nabbed the 60 votes needed on Thursday to advance the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s, paving the way for a final vote on passage within days. The legislation is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities. The bill calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large financial firms that are failing. It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the...

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.” There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served...

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd warned Thursday that an open-ended amendment process could threaten final passage of Wall Street reform, just hours before a Democratic Caucus meeting in which the party is expected to lay out its final moves on the bill. "We run the risk — I'll say it very blunt, on the record — if we start this process, which I'm fearful will be the case, we run the risk of losing this bill. That's the reality," Dodd said of bringing about 60 outstanding amendments to the floor. "This is not hyperbole." Dodd said "we only have...

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The Senate made modest progress this week in advancing a sweeping financial regulatory reform bill, but critical votes loom next week on regulating over-the-counter derivatives and expanding audits of the Federal Reserve Board. In perhaps the week’s most important vote, Senate Democrats, with the help of two Republicans, defeated a bid by Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, to sharply limit the powers and scope of the proposed consumer financial protection bureau. Shelby’s amendment was defeated on a 38 to 61 vote. The amendment would have created a new consumer protection entity that...

Senator Chris Dodd (D, Conn.) wants to give unions more power in the boardrooms of our nation’s businesses. In essence, Dodd wants to force corporate boards under the thumb of unions by federal fiat. Carefully hidden in Dodd’s new regulations are provisions that give new powers to board members, powers aimed at giving unions more say in the operations of businesses from the inside through investments of pension funds.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal probe into whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said she could "neither confirm nor deny" any Goldman investigation. Goldman was not available to comment.

As I write, our nation is still buzzing about the news flash that finally delivered the truth about why our economy melted down without word one from our crack government regulators. You know what I'm talking about. Yes, it's the great SEC porn scandal. Last week, a new memo surfaced from the Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector general stating it had investigated dozens of agency staffers, including supervisors, for surfing the Web for dirty pictures with their government computers and during work hours. The investigations dated back at least to 2008 and targeted some employees with truly heroic habits —...

Obama and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd have claimed repeatedly that federal bailouts of big banks will not be allowed by Dodd's financial reform bill. President Obama said that suggestions the bill would continue bailouts are "not factually accurate." Yes, they are. The Dodd bill creates a roughly $50 billion Orderly Resolution Fund with assessments on large financial institutions. It would provide a government-financed alternative to bankruptcy. Even if the firm is dissolved, that is a bailout. The firm's debts are paid by taxpayers. But, you say, it's not a tax-funded bailout. Hold on. The bill also allows the...

Financial reform? Not exactly. The bill before Congress does nothing to address the fundamental background causes of the crash of 2008. Wall Street may have been the instrument of the crash. But the crash was made elsewhere: in Washington's failed policies for middle-class families -- and in China's distorted rush for economic growth. The story is not a simple one. But I hope you will pay attention to the details. If you don't, you may find that the pocket that has been picked is your own. As you've heard, the crash begins with the huge excess load of debt built...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senators negotiating financial regulatory reform legislation said on Sunday they were close to a bipartisan agreement, as the White House said fraud charges against Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs highlighted the need for reform. Democratic Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Senator Richard Shelby, the panel's top Republican, told NBC's "Meet the Press" they were talking through the weekend to try to reach agreement on a bill aimed at preventing future taxpayer bailouts of financial firms. "We're getting there, we're close, we've got more work to do," Dodd said. "I hope can get the votes tomorrow...

Regulation: President Obama went to New York City Thursday to make clear his displeasure with what he called Wall Street's "failure of responsibility." But that's the very thing government is guilty of.

As the country's attention is directed to the Goldman-Sachs scandal, a much greater story lurks beneath the surface involving massive government corruption that makes Wall Street firms pale in comparison. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak). Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT. The current government of the United States of America under the leadership of Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress is the single most corrupt entity in the nation, worse than all of the private sector scandals combined. One would be hard-pressed to find an era of U.S history when government was any more corrupt than it is at present. The manner in which...