Free Republic

In his early activist days, Barack Obama the community organizer sued banks to ease lending practices... During his time as a community organizer Barack Obama led several protests against banks to make loans to high risk individuals. ... A new study by the respected National Bureau of Economic Research found that Democrats are to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis. ... Republicans warned Democrats of the impending doom in 2004.

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...

A high-profile Chicago-based advocate for low-income communities has agreed to pay the federal government $550,000 to settle claims that it misused federal grant money. The National Training and Information Center was accused by the U.S. attorney’s office in a 2006 federal lawsuit of violating the federal False Claims Act when it used some of the millions it received from a division of the U.S. Department of Justice to lobby members of Congress with hopes of securing more grants. Federal law prohibits the use of federal funds to curry favor with congressmen or congressional employees in connection with a grant. NTIC,...