Free Republic

  The once moribund Senate “Gang of Six” regained new life Tuesday after Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn unexpectedly rejoined the group — and more senators are now coalescing around a new proposal that would cut the debt by as much as $3.7 trillion over the next decade. Other top senators are also getting behind the plan, including Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the No. 3 Senate Republican, who told a group of senators Tuesday he would back the Gang of Six’s proposal, sources say. The fast-moving developments mean that elements of the proposal could influence the stalled talks to raise the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Time running short to raise the government's borrowing limit, President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed a plan by a bipartisan senators' group on deficit reduction as the kind of "balanced approach" the nation is looking for. He said it's time for Congress as a whole to rally around such a proposal. "We don't have any more time to engage in symbolic gestures, we don't have any more time to posture. It's time to get down to the business of actually solving this problem," the president said. Obama spoke even as House Republicans pushed toward a vote on...

Senator Kent Conrad, the allegedly “pragmatic” and “common sense” budget leader (according to his sycophants at the Fargo Forum) was upset recently when a Republican dared showed up to a meeting about one of Conrad’s many budget proposals. Because how dare the opposition party think they get a say in the budgeting. ... “Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is steadily emerging as the voice of pragmatism and common sense in the overheated federal budget debate in Washington,” wrote the Fargo Forum in an editorial. That doesn’t mesh with the reality of Kent Conrad’s actions on the budget, which has been to...

Gang of Six negotiators are close to striking a deal on a deficit-reduction package, according to Senate sources.  White House officials and Democrats are pressing for the six negotiators to wrap up their talks by the Easter recess beginning on April 16. There is no deal yet, however, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has made clear that he will not be held to an arbitrary timeline.  Coburn has also insisted that a broad deficit reduction package include Social Security reform, something that Democratic negotiators such as Sens. Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.) argue should be handled separately.  The...

Dumb ideas never die in Washington, DC. They just get stuck in committee. Proving that once again is outgoing Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), attempting to revive an idea for a new tax that was so intrusive and unwieldy that even Barack Obama had to disavow it two years ago when his Transportation Secretary starting pushing the notion. Conrad points to a new CBO study saying that taxing Americans on their car mileage will provide a windfall for the federal government: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they...

Angelo Mozilo, former boss of Countrywide Financial, has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007. --snip-- Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud. --snip -- The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo. "The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he...

House Democrats Lock GOP Out of Committee Room A bitter divide over Countrywide mortgage scandal. By JAMES FREEMAN Democratic staff for the House oversight committee informed their GOP counterparts today that the majority has changed the locks on the committee's hearing room. While Republicans previously enjoyed their own key to the room, they will now have to request access from Democrats. This followed a bitter partisan argument in which Republicans refused to take down a video from their website that contradicted Dem explanations about a closed-door meeting on the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. As we reported last week, the committee...

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...

Congressman Darrell Issa, the new oversight cop in Washington, will announce his first hearing tomorrow, and Politico's Mike Allen has reported that it will focus on the mortgage crisis. We won't know what the scope of this hearing will be until witnesses and a narrower topic is announced, and we won't know whether it will turn into a full-blown investigation until Issa's Oversight and Government Reform Committee receives testimony and documents and decides whether or not it's interested in pursuing further study. It's possible, however, that this will turn quite political. If committee Republicans choose to investigate the preferential loans...

Snip~ Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman — deeply unpopular with voters in his home state — is unlikely to seek reelection, a knowledgeable source tells POLITICO ahead of the senator’s announcement on Wednesday… “After many thoughtful conversations with family and friends over the last several months, Sen. Lieberman made a decision about his future over the holidays which he plans to announce on Wednesday,” said Erika Masonhall, a Lieberman spokeswoman who declined to comment further… Snip~ Lieberman’s announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday’s declaration by Susan Bysiewicz, the former Connecticut secretary of state, that she plans to enter the 2012...

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad plans to announce his retirement today, according to two informed Democratic sources, creating a potentially prime pickup opportunity for Republicans in a GOP-leaning state. Conrad, who currently chairs the Senate Budget Committee, has been in office since 1986 and risen to become one of the most influential -- and intellectual -- policy makers operating in the nation's capital. Conrad had been open about his ambivalence about running for another term and those doubts almost certainly increased following a 2010 election that decimated the Democratic party. Former Sen. Byron Dorgan retired in the face of...

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad announced today that he will not seek reelection, creating a potentially prime pickup opportunity for Republicans in a GOP-leaning state.

Paul Conrad, the political cartoonist who won three Pulitzer Prizes and used his pencil to poke at politicians for more than 50 years, has died. He was 86.

  Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) received up to six sweetheart home loans from Countrywide Financial, even though he has only publicly admitted to accepting two special deals, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The revelations were brought to light by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, raising questions about a previous Senate ethics committee investigation into Dodd’s dealings with Countrywide that just disclosed information about two of the loans. In 2008, Dodd was accused of accepting two very favorable home loans in 2003 from Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo, through the bank’s “Friends of Angelo” program....

June 6th. 7-Disc set. YEAH!!! :)

By Marcus Errico "Former Wild Wild West star Robert Conrad will pay a price for his wild, wild ride." "The aging action hero has been sentenced to six months of house arrest, five year's probation and alcohol counseling for a 2003 DUI accident. Conrad, 69, was piloting his Jaguar through California's Sierra foothills near his rural home in Calaveras County, 100 miles southeast of Sacramento, when he lost control of his car, swerved across the double-yellow line of Highway 4 and slammed head on into a Subaru. The car's driver, Kevin Burnett, was hospitalized with a broken wrist and leg....

Just heard on Foxnews that actor Robert Conrad (Wild Wild West, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Will (G. Gordon Liddy story)) was scheduled to be arraigned on the 6th on felony drunk driving charges related to an auto accident where the other driver was severly injured. That arraignment has been postponed, according to his wife, because he is still partially paralyzed from the accident. He played G. Gordon Liddy in the TV Movie from his autobiography, and has apparently kept in touch. He also starred in one of my favorite TV shows from my childhood, Wild Wild West. I loved his...

Democrats claim their sweeping financial-sector reforms will guard against the kind of problems that triggered the recent economic meltdown. But if they really wanted to do that, they would've focused on how so many US officials were simply . . . bought. Fat chance. Nonetheless, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, is demanding just such a review -- and, for the sake of the nation, he should get one. Last week, Issa wrote to Alfred Pollard, general counsel to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,...

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A caucasian man charged in six robberies across southern Ohio masqueraded as an African American in an effort to get away with his crimes, prosecutors say. Conrad Zdzierak, was arrested on Wednesday in Springdale, Ohio after police raided a hotel room where he was staying. According to authorities, Zdzierak has been charged with six counts of aggravated robbery for robbing five banks and one pharmacy. Police say five of the robberies took place on the same day.

They're already calling it the Bismarck Bribe: The legislation contains provisions apparently designed to ensure votes from wavering Democrats. As outlined in the House version, the compromise plan would give nonprofit loan providers in several states the right to participate, along with for-profit loan companies selected through a competitive process, in helping the Education Department distribute loan money to students. A new element, included in the plan issued on Thursday, would give a specific right to the Bank of North Dakota to issue federally subsidized student loans, meaning that it would be the only lender remaining outside of the Education...

Shock Switch: Pro-Reconciliation Senator Once Called Process ‘Absolute Abuse’ http://www.breitbart.tv/shock-switch-pro-reconciliation-senator-once-called-process-absolute-abuse/ Breitbart.TV and Naked Emperor News

Some Congress members and even President Obama have been bamboozled into believing that health care is better in other developed countries than in America. On Nov. 20, for example, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) pointed to a large blue chart showing the United States in last place in health performance. "All of these countries have much lower costs than we do," he said, "and they have higher-quality outcomes than ours." Conrad was duped by a bag-of-tricks report from the Commonwealth Fund (Health Affairs, vol. 27, no. 1, 2008). This put America in 19th place due to our nation's large number of...

American ThinkerNovember 26, 2009Senator Conrad's insulting defense of trying KSM in New York David Jeffers:Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else."  Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq.  I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts.  Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran?  Is it okay with...

Democrat Senator from North Dakota, Kent Conrad, while defending the Obama Administration's decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts, said: "If people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else." Really Senator Conrad? Would you like to retract that statement? I am a Gold-Star Father, meaning my son Sergeant Eddie Jeffers was killed in Iraq. I am opposed to terrorists being tried in civilian courts. Did I mention that I am a 22 year Army veteran? Is it okay with you if invoke my free speech rights?

CNSNews.com) – Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, maybe they ought to go somewhere else.” Conrad also dismissed a question about the rights of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields and the rules of evidence in terms of a civilian court trial as not serious. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of facing a military trial. On Capitol Hill on Nov....

Since Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that five suspects in the 9/11 attacks would be tried in a civilian court in New York City instead of a military tribunal, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told CNSNews.com that civilian courts are well-suited to prosecute al Qaeda terrorists and that "if people don't believe in our system, they ought to go somewhere else.” Conrad also dismissed a question about the rights of terrorists captured on foreign battlefields and the rules of evidence in terms of a civilian court trial as not serious. On Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, CNSNews.com asked...

So, President Obama has demanded that health care reform not add "even one penny to the deficit". At the same time, the president is struggling to keep as many of the stakeholders (read special interest groups) on board. Two very important groups are the doctors and their representing group, the American Medical Association. A so called pet project of the AMA is the "doctor fix". This is a plan to subsidize doctors that serve Medicare patients from facing drastic cuts to their fees. Instead, Reid is negotiating with the AMA and Senate and House leaders to rollback about 20% in...

GOSH, what a surprise: A committee of their fellow senators has decided that Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad did nothing unethical when they took out loans from Countrywide Financial on the kind of favorable terms not available to mere mortals without their financial or political standing -- or a personal connection to the head of Countrywide. The very Select Committee on Ethics did recognize that the whole deal looked bad, and gave its colleagues a gentle pat on the wrist for creating "the appearance that you were receiving preferential treatment based on your status as a senator." But in the...

As the old Irish toast goes, may your sins be judged by the Senate ethics committee. Actually that's not an Irish toast but it must be the fervent hope of every politician who received a "Friend of Angelo" loan from former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo. Late last week the six Senators on the ethics panel dismissed complaints against Senators Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd with a mere admonishment about the appearance of impropriety. The three Republican and three Democratic Senators say they conducted an exhaustive probe and inspected 18,000 pages of documents. They say they found "no substantial credible...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Two key Democrat senators were cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee on Friday from year-long investigations about whether mortgages they obtained from Countrywide Financial Corp. violated the senate's rules on gifts. The bipartisan committee, which supported the decision unanimously, did scold the senior lawmakers, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., for not being more careful in their dealings. "While the committee finds no substantial credible evidence as required by committee rules that your Countrywide mortgage violated Senate ethics rules, the committee does believe that you should have exercised...

When I read last week about the hearings regarding Senator Conrad, Senator Dodd, and the friend of Angelo, I immediately recognized a serious scandal. Some of that has to do with my background in mortgages, and some simply has to do with common sense.

Democrats resist subpoenaing recordsJul 31, 2009 - 04:05:00 CDT By LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - House Democrats have declined to subpoena available records that might reveal whether other members of Congress got discounted VIP mortgages from subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp. similar to the sweetheart deals given Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad. Republicans say they are willing to risk that the records now held by Bank of America may show that GOP lawmakers were also "friends of Angelo" who got preferential terms on personal mortgages at the behest of then-Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Countrywide, after losing...

In mortgages, anything can make a difference. The same person could qualify for a loan if the property is a single family unit and get denied if that becomes a townhome or Planned Unit Development. A loan could hinge on whether or not a condominium has four stories or less or five stories or more. While standards became quite loose over the previous five years, it's important to understand that tens of thousands of rules exist in the mortgage world. Everything I just described concerns rules for RESIDENTIAL properties. Commercial properties are a totally different world.

Two powerful Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they knew they got low mortgage-rate deals in a lender's VIP program but thought the special treatment was a "courtesy" or the same as "frequent flier" discounts. Both vehemently denied any wrongdoing or ethical lapse in the mortgage deals, which came to light a year ago and triggered investigations by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "I thought this was like a frequent-flier program," Sen. Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said of the special benefits. "I thought nothing of it." Sen. Christopher...

Whoa. It's looking like Sen. Chris Dodd's involvement with a sub prime-lending company warrants far more than a mere Senate Ethics Committee look-see. Or so suggests closed-door committee testimony from a fomer executive of the firm in question. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota both got sweetheart mortgage deals a few years back from Angelo Mozilo, CEO of subprime-mortgage giant Countrywide Financial.

AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened By LARRY MARGASAK WASHINGTON – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got...

Asked by a House investigator if Conrad, the North Dakota senator, "was aware that he was getting preferential treatment?" Feinberg answered: "Yes, he was aware." Referring to Dodd, the investigator asked:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.

Kent Conrad made a startling and curious statement on health care today. Senate Democrats are going to need help from Republicans to get President Obama's ambitious plan to reinvent the health care system over the goal line, a top lawmaker acknowledged on Sunday. "Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle," said Sen. Kent Conrad, the chairman of the powerful budget committee.

 BAUCUS: The president is not helping us. He does not want the exclusion. That's making it difficult, with these taxes moved off the table, it is still difficult to come up with the revenue measures and other savings measures.(END VIDEO CLIP)BAIER: That's a top Democrat saying the president is not helping.CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER...: That's not a good sign. But the worst today, I think, was what emperor's new clothes moment, which occurred with Senator Conrad, who is a Democrat, chairman of the budget committee, and, as we saw, you had the impartial Congressional Budget Office exploding what is the central contradiction...

It looks like Sen. Kent Conrad (D. ND) has an idea to allow private insurance co-ops to write insurance for their members to compete against traditional insurance companies. The president gave it a veiled thumbs-up, and some Democrats who oppose the public option (and frankly who could kill it) may be on board. The part that some Republicans like is that the government doesn't own them and doesn't run them.

From a Senate Budget Committee markup meeting; watch the video.

The western Democrats like Baucus of Montana and Dorgan and Conrad of North Dakota know that this sort of spending is utterly ruinous to an economy and a currency. Some senators like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, up for re-election in 2010, know that the voters are recoiling from this orgy of spending already, and absent dramatic evidences of a return to growth will judge the entire enterprise a failure.

Email his Chief of Staff and tell her you will work to defeat him in 2010 if he votes for it: Elizabeth Gore: elizabeth_gore@dorgan.senate.gov

NEW YORK TIMES: "About that Mortgage, Senator . . ." It turns out that the chieftain of Countrywide -- which is smack in the middle of the mortgage mess -- extended privileged borrowing status to two Senators, Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota. Both Senators deny any ethical violations.   The disclosure of the V.I.P. arrangments by the political website Politico.com left constituents angry and suspicious -- particularly because the revelations came just as Congress was rousing itself to do something about the mortgage foreclosure crisis.   It would be nice to think that...

(CNN) -- Be honest: How many of you are really shocked to find out that a bunch of Washington insiders were part of a VIP program coordinated by mortgage giant Countrywide Financial? The story was first reported by CondeNast's Portfolio magazine, and everyone else has jumped on it since. Based on what we know, folks like former Housing and Urban Development honcho Alphonso Jackson, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala got favorable loan terms from the mortgage behemoth. My first reaction was, "Man, these folks are dumb to...

When it comes to charging abuse in markets like the mortgage business, American politicians, right up the ladder, should zip their lips. They're not ones to talk. That's becoming ever more painfully clear with reports like the one Thursday from Condé Nast Portfolio suggesting that several key pols got favored treatment on their personal mortgages. The lucky winners included folks like Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-ND), plus several former Cabinet secretaries: ex-Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson; ex-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala (who is to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday) and ex-UN Ambassador and...

WASHINGTON - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said Saturday he is donating $10,500 to charity and refinancing his loan on an apartment building after reviewing documents showing he received special treatment from Countrywide Financial Corp. Conrad said it appears that Countrywide waived 1 point on his mortgage for a Bethany Beach, Del., vacation home. He said he would donate the equivalent amount of money to Habitat for Humanity. "Although I did not ask for or know that I was receiving a discount, and even though I was offered a competitive loan from another lender, I do not want to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama is considering former top military leaders among his possible running mates, according to a senator who met Tuesday with the Democratic presidential candidate's vice presidential vetting team. North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad told The Associated Press said the team asked him about potential candidates from three broad categories _ current top elected officials, former top elected officials and former top military leaders. Conrad would not disclose which names they discussed, and the Obama campaign has been keeping the process a closely guarded secret. "We talked about many names," Conrad said, including "some that are out...