Travis, Well, damn that nasty old Constituion. Giving uppity poor people the right to freedom of speech, right of assembly, right to demonstrate and the right to participate in the political process. You just can't trust men that wear powdered wigs and dip snuff. The banks were "forced" to provide loans by political activists that "chanted in bank lobbies and confronted executives"? The HORROR! Why I certainly hope those poor men are getting help for the PTSD they must surely all be suffering from. You do realize that the current financial mess is not caused solely by bad home mortages don't you?
On Oct 1, 5:08 pm, Travis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > tile of pic should be: Ignorance is bliss. > > From: *Travis* > Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2008 > Subject: ACORN's role in the current crisis > > ACORN: Association of Crappy Organizations Recruiting Numbnuts > > O'S DANGEROUS PALS BARACK'S 'ORGANIZER' BUDS PUSHED FOR BAD MORTGAGES By > STANLEY KURTZ [image: Chutzpah: ACORN's drive to lower mortgage standards > paved the way for the meltdown - yet last week, it was holding protests like > this one in Florida, trying to get a cut of the financial-market-rescue > bill.] > Chutzpah: ACORN's drive to lower mortgage standards paved the way for the > meltdown - yet last week, it was holding protests like this one in Florida, > trying to get a cut of the financial-market-rescue bill. > > Posted: 3:53 am > September 29, 2008 > > http://www.nypost.com/seven/09292008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_da... > > WHAT exactly does a "community organizer" do? Barack > Obama<http://www.nypost.com/news/p/obama_barack/obama_barack.htm>'s > rise has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here's a big > part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making > high-risk loans to customers with poor credit. > > In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private > offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes - > and thereby force financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of > dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers. > > In other words, community organizers help to undermine the US economy by > pushing the banking system into a sinkhole of bad loans. And Obama has spent > years training and funding the organizers who do it. > > THE seeds of today's financial meltdown lie in the Commu nity Reinvestment > Act - a law passed in 1977 and made riskier by unwise amendments and > regulatory rulings in later decades. > > CRA was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often > minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to > radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for > Reform Now) to abuse the law by forcing banks to make hundreds of millions > of dollars in "subprime" loans to often uncreditworthy poor and minority > customers. > > Any bank that wants to expand or merge with another has to show it has > complied with CRA - and approval can be held up by complaints filed by > groups like ACORN. > > In fact, intimidation tactics, public charges of racism and threats to use > CRA to block business expansion have enabled ACORN to extract hundreds of > millions of dollars in loans and contributions from America's financial > institutions. > > Banks already overexposed by these shaky loans were pushed still further in > the wrong direction when government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac > began buying up their bad loans and offering them for sale on world markets. > > Fannie and Freddie acted in response to Clinton administration pressure to > boost homeownership rates among minorities and the poor. However > compassionate the motive, the result of this systematic disregard for normal > credit standards has been financial disaster. > > ONE key pioneer of ACORN's subprime-loan shakedown racket was Madeline > Talbott - an activist with extensive ties to Barack > Obama<http://www.nypost.com/news/p/obama_barack/obama_barack.htm>. > She was also in on the ground floor of the disastrous turn in Fannie Mae's > mortgage policies. > > Long the director of Chicago ACORN, Talbott is a specialist in "direct > action" - organizers' term for their militant tactics of intimidation and > disruption. Perhaps her most famous stunt was leading a group of ACORN > protesters breaking into a meeting of the Chicago City Council to push for a > "living wage" law, shouting in defiance as she was arrested for mob action > and disorderly conduct. But her real legacy may be her drive to push banks > into making risky mortgage loans. > > In February 1990, Illinois regulators held what was believed to be the > first-ever state hearing to consider blocking a thrift merger for lack of > compliance with CRA. The challenge was filed by ACORN, led by Talbott. > Officials of Bell Federal Savings and Loan Association, her target, > complained that ACORN pressure was undermining its ability to meet strict > financial requirements it was obligated to uphold and protested being boxed > into an "affirmative-action lending policy." The following years saw Talbott > featured in dozens of news stories about pressuring banks into higher-risk > minority loans. > > IN April 1992, Talbott filed an other precedent-setting com plaint using the > "community support requirements" of the 1989 savings-and-loan bailout, this > time against Avondale Federal Bank for Savings. Within a month, Chicago > ACORN had organized its first "bank fair" at Malcolm X College and found 16 > Chicago-area financial institutions willing to participate. > > Two months later, aided by ACORN organizer Sandra Maxwell, Talbott announced > plans to conduct demonstrations in the lobbies of area banks that refused to > attend an ACORN-sponsored national bank "summit" in New York. She insisted > that banks show a commitment to minority lending by lowering their standards > on downpayments and underwriting - for example, by overlooking bad credit > histories. > > By September 1992, The Chicago Tribune was describing Talbott's program as > "affirma- tive-action lending" and ACORN was issuing fact sheets bragging > about relaxations of credit standards that it had won on behalf of > minorities. > > And Talbott continued her effort to, as she put it, drag banks "kicking and > screaming" into high-risk loans. A September 1993 story in The Chicago > Sun-Times presents her as the leader of an initiative in which five area > financial institutions (including two of her former targets, now plainly > cowed - Bell Federal Savings and Avondale Federal Savings) were > "participating in a $55 million national pilot program with > affordable-housing group ACORN to make mortgages for low- and > moderate-income people with troubled credit histories." > > What made this program different from others, the paper added, was the > participation of Fannie Mae - which had agreed to buy up the loans. "If this > pilot program works," crowed Talbott, "it will send a message to the lending > community that it's OK to make these kind of loans." > > Well, the pilot program "worked," and Fannie Mae's message that risky loans > to minorities were "OK" was sent. The rest is financial-meltdown history. > > IT would be tough to find an "on the ground" community organizer more > closely tied to the subprime-mortgage fiasco than Madeline Talbott. And no > one has been more supportive of Madeline Talbott than Barack > Obama<http://www.nypost.com/news/p/obama_barack/obama_barack.htm>. > > When Obama was just a budding community organizer in Chicago, Talbott was so > impressed that she asked him to train her personal staff. > > He returned to Chicago in the early '90s, just as Talbott was starting her > pressure campaign on local banks. Chicago ACORN sought out Obama's legal > services for a "motor voter" case and partnered with him on his 1992 > "Project VOTE" registration drive. > > In those years, he also conducted leadership-training seminars for ACORN's > up-and-coming organizers. That is, Obama was training the army of ACORN > organizers who participated in Madeline Talbott's drive against Chicago's > banks. > > More than that, Obama was *funding* them. As he rose to a leadership role at > Chicago's Woods Fund, he became the most powerful voice on the foundation's > board for supporting ACORN and other community organizers. In 1995, the > Woods Fund substantially expanded its funding of community organizers - and > Obama chaired the committee that urged and managed the shift. > > That committee's report on strategies for funding groups like ACORN features > all the key names in Obama's organizer network. The report quotes Talbott > more than any other figure; Sandra Maxwell, Talbott's ACORN ally in the bank > battle, was also among the organizers consulted. > > MORE, the Obama-supervised Woods Fund report ac knowledges the problem of > getting donors and foundations to contribute to radical groups like ACORN - > whose confrontational tactics often scare off even liberal donors and > foundations. > > Indeed, the report *brags* about pulling the wool over the public's eye. The > Woods Fund's claim to be "nonideological," it says, has "enabled the > Trustees to make grants to organizations that use confrontational tactics > against the business and government 'establishments' without undue risk of > being criticized for partisanship." > > Hmm. Radicalism disguised by a claim to be postideological. Sound familiar? > > The Woods Fund report makes it clear Obama was fully aware of the > intimidation tactics used by ACORN's Madeline Talbott in her pioneering > efforts to force banks to suspend their usual credit standards. Yet he > supported Talbott in every conceivable way. He trained her personal staff > and other aspiring ACORN leaders, he consulted with her extensively, and he > arranged a major boost in foundation funding for her efforts. > > And, as the leader of another charity, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, > Obama channeled *more* funding Talbott's way - ostensibly for education > projects but surely supportive of ACORN's overall efforts. > > In return, Talbott proudly announced her support of Obama's first campaign > for state Senate, saying, "We accept and respect him as a kindred spirit, a > fellow organizer." > > IN short, to understand the roots of the subprime-mort gage crisis, look to > ACORN's Madeline Talbott. And to see how Talbott was able to work her > mischief, look to Barack > Obama<http://www.nypost.com/news/p/obama_barack/obama_barack.htm>. > > Then you'll truly know what community organizers do. > > *Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center > in Washington, DC.* > > *(F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in > this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All > rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have > been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in > compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the > Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by > Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. 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