The Politics Thread - please direct all related posts here..

[ewingxmanstarks]

I didn't need Fox to tell me it was a lie, there's no source attributed with any reports claiming 911 victims were wire tapped.

The reason why Eric Holder is investigating it is, so he can perpetuate the story, taking attention away from Fast and Furious...we should be outraged that they're wasting money on an investigation.

Call me old fashioned, but I think governments should be held to a different standard all together.

[HarthorneWingo]

I didn't need Fox to tell me it was a lie, there's no source attributed with any reports claiming 911 victims were wire tapped.

The reason why Eric Holder is investigating it is, so he can perpetuate the story, taking attention away from Fast and Furious...we should be outraged that they're wasting money on an investigation.

Call me old fashioned, but I think governments should be held to a different standard all together.

"Old-fashioned"? Hmmm? Nah, that name was the one that came to mind.

[HarthorneWingo]

Michelle Bachmann suffers from severe migraine headaches for which she needs to take medications. Wow. Migraine headaches can be very debilitating. My sister gets them too. They even make her nauseous. She has to go into a room where there is no light. They can wipe her out.

I don't know that I would want someone who has to make that life or death decision at 3 a.m. - as President of the U.S.A. (i.e. The World). I guess she's done.

Her "good friend," Tim Pawlenty, put the knife in her back. Never knew he was that cold-blooded.

Gee, I really love republican primaries!

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/T ... cal-fodder

Is Tim Pawlenty turning Michele Bachmann's health into political fodder?

After news emerged that Michele Bachmann seeks occasional treatment for migraines, most candidates left the issue alone. Now Tim Pawlenty is implying it may limit her ability to serve.

By Linda Feldmann, Staff writer / July 20, 2011
Washington

The story of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s struggle with migraine headaches has elicited an outpouring of compassion, especially from other women – regardless of their politics – who face this challenge.

Now, two days after the story broke on the Daily Caller website, it’s become political fodder in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Since announcing her candidacy on June 13, the charismatic Minnesotan and tea party favorite has been a juggernaut. In national polls of GOP voters, she’s now in second place behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And in Iowa, where caucuses in early 2012 will kick off the nominating process, she’s polling first.

Enter fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty, the state’s former governor. He’s been struggling to get much traction with voters, both in the early nominating states and nationally. If he loses badly to her in the informal Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 13, that could hamper fundraising, and if he makes it to the caucuses and then doesn’t do well that could doom his campaign.

On Wednesday, Mr. Pawlenty moved closer to turning Congresswoman Bachmann’s health into political fodder. When asked about Bachmann’s problem, he asserted first that he didn’t know enough about her particular situation to comment and that he would defer to medical professionals. But then he kept going: “Setting all that aside, all of the candidates, I think, are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job all of the time," Pawlenty told reporters, according to news reports.

"There's no real time off in that job,” he said.

Bachmann addressed her health on Tuesday:

“Since entering this campaign for the presidency, I have maintained a full schedule between my duties as congresswoman and as a presidential candidate, traveling across the nation to meet with voters,” she said after a campaign speech in South Carolina. “I have prescribed medication that I take on occasion, whenever symptoms arise, and they keep my migraines under control. But I’d like to be abundantly clear: My ability to function effectively will not affect my ability to serve as commander in chief.”

On Wednesday, Bachmann released a letter from the attending physician of Congress stating that she is in “good general health.”

“Your migraines occur infrequently and have known trigger factors of which you are aware and know how to avoid,” Dr. Brian P. Monahan wrote in the letter to Bachmann.

Presidential health and the physical ability to carry out the duties of the president have always been fair game in campaigns and once in office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt sought to hide the fact that he used a wheelchair. Other presidents have had well-known ailments. Bachmann presents a peppy demeanor and hard-charging style on the stump, which belie any notions of illness.

But now that her health issue is out in the open, how might it might affect her ability to build support? The fact that she’s a woman – still a novelty in presidential politics – and faces a problem more common among women than men adds another wrinkle. Sexism is still very much a live issue in politics.

Until Pawlenty’s comment Wednesday afternoon, Bachmann’s challengers for the Republican nomination had played it safe. When asked by reporters about Bachmann’s health Wednesday in Los Angeles, Mr. Romney dismissed it as a nonissue.

"There is no question in my mind that Michele Bachmann's health is in no way an impediment to her being able to serve as president," Romney said.

[ewingxmanstarks]

^what about all the meds JFK used to take...I'm sure that's fine with you.

[HarthorneWingo]

^what about all the meds JFK used to take...I'm sure that's fine with you.

Can't you just deal with the task at hand? I was 8 years old when JFK was president.

Times of changed. As I'm sure you know, this is a post-9/11 world.

[HarthorneWingo]

Wells Fargo Bank caves in, settles lawsuit, and pays millions. They are now admitted scoundrels.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/2 ... 05198.html

Wells Fargo Illegally Pushed Borrowers Into Subprime Mortgages, Falsified Loan Documents, Fed Says

First Posted: 7/20/11 07:19 PM ET Updated: 7/20/11 08:16 PM ET
By: Shahien Nasiripour

WASHINGTON -- Perhaps more than 10,000 Wells Fargo borrowers were inappropriately steered into more expensive subprime mortgages or had their loan documents falsified by bank personnel, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The bank, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, agreed to pay $85 million to settle civil charges. On Tuesday, the company announced that it turned a $3.9 billion profit last quarter. It's made $7.7 billion in profit thus far this year.

The fine is the largest the Fed has ever imposed in a consumer case, the central bank said. It's also the first formal enforcement action taken by a federal bank regulator against allegations that banks steered borrowers into high-cost, subprime loans, it added.

Wells Fargo did not admit wrongdoing.

"The alleged actions committed by a relatively small group of team members are not what we stand for at Wells Fargo," John Stumpf, the bank's chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. The bank has already voluntarily compensated 600 customers, the statement said.

The fraudulent activity took place over four years from early 2004 to the autumn of 2008, according to the Fed. The bank must compensate borrowers for losses, some of whom could receive more than $20,000. At least 3,700 borrowers will be compensated, the Fed estimated. Wells Fargo has to review a subset of borrowers who took out subprime loans to determine whether they were illegally steered into more expensive mortgages.

The case is another blow to the bank's once-pristine reputation. It's widely touted as the cleanest mortgage lender of the biggest U.S. banks, even though the company has faced multiple lawsuits alleging it pushed black borrowers toward predatory loans; misled investors about the risks of mortgage-backed securities it sold; and employed so-called "robo-signers," the agents that lenders employed to process foreclosure filings en masse without examining the underlying paperwork.
Advertisement

Last year, as the robo-signing fiasco forced its competitors to make embarrassing admissions or halt home seizures, Wells Fargo resisted, arguing that its procedures were sound. Depositions in lawsuits later revealed that its employees also acted as robo-signers.

Confidential audits by the the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general accuse the bank of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased with government-backed loans, The Huffington Post reported in May.

Federal investigators concluded that senior managers at Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, broke civil laws. As part of their investigation, auditors interviewed a pair of South Carolina public notaries who improperly signed off on foreclosure filings for Wells, sources briefed on the findings told HuffPost.

Wednesday's settlement with the Fed also includes allegations of fraud.

In a multi-year investigation, regulators found that Wells Fargo employees altered or falsified borrowers' loan documents, inflating their incomes in order to qualify them for loans.

The bank's internal accountability measures were inadequate to detect and prevent such abuses, the Fed said, at least the second time this year the Fed found Wells Fargo lacking adequate safeguards to prevent abuse and wrongdoing.

Wells Fargo's employees were likely driven to such lengths in order to meet company goals.

The unit responsible for the bulk of the wrongdoing, Wells Fargo Financial, drove its employees to originate a minimum amount of loans or risk losing their jobs, the Fed said. Employees were also expected to hit loan targets in order to receive bonuses.

That unit has since been disbanded. Sixteen former employees have been barred from working in the banking industry, the Fed said.

Investigators also found that borrowers were pushed into more expensive mortgages in part because Wells Fargo employees could boost their bonuses if they hit subprime targets.

Borrowers who otherwise would have qualified for lower-interest mortgages weren't told so, nor were they told that it was "generally more advantageous for the salesperson to sell a nonprime, rather than a prime, loan," the Fed said.

Such practices broke federal consumer protection rules, as well as numerous state laws governing fraud and unfair or deceptive practices, the Fed said.

The Fed's investigation primarily involved mortgage loans originated in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and New Mexico. The Fed declined to say what led to the investigation, or provide any details on the actual probe itself.

In addition to compensating harmed borrowers, the Fed also instructed Wells Fargo to pay homeowners whose homes were seized as a result of the bank's wrongdoing the modest sum of $7,000. Perhaps thousands of borrowers were forced to make higher mortgage payments than they otherwise would have made thanks to the bank's actions.

Fewer than 4 percent of the about 300,000 mortgage loans made by the lender during the period under review are eligible for restitution, the company estimated.

[mugzi]

Wingo, your hypocrisy is unique even for a lawyer, im going to call it WINGpocrisy.

You libs are scared of Bachman cause she's more mainstream than Palin and has a shot to win. We have a president now who takes frequent vacations on the taxpayer dollar and has played more golf than any president in history and your seriously going to make an issue over migranes?

And secondly, none of you libs have dared to explain to me why Murdoch's issues are bigger than fast and furious????


Lastly, I dont care what happens to Murdoch and the timing is awful convienent for Obama with all these scandals and the pathetic economy he's exacerbated.

So get off your high horse and explain why this man deserves re-election in the midst of such ineptitude or ride off into the sunset.

[mugzi]

Wells Fargo Bank caves in, settles lawsuit, and pays millions. They are now admitted scoundrels.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/2 ... 05198.html

Wells Fargo Illegally Pushed Borrowers Into Subprime Mortgages, Falsified Loan Documents, Fed Says

First Posted: 7/20/11 07:19 PM ET Updated: 7/20/11 08:16 PM ET
By: Shahien Nasiripour

WASHINGTON -- Perhaps more than 10,000 Wells Fargo borrowers were inappropriately steered into more expensive subprime mortgages or had their loan documents falsified by bank personnel, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The bank, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, agreed to pay $85 million to settle civil charges. On Tuesday, the company announced that it turned a $3.9 billion profit last quarter. It's made $7.7 billion in profit thus far this year.

The fine is the largest the Fed has ever imposed in a consumer case, the central bank said. It's also the first formal enforcement action taken by a federal bank regulator against allegations that banks steered borrowers into high-cost, subprime loans, it added.

Wells Fargo did not admit wrongdoing.

"The alleged actions committed by a relatively small group of team members are not what we stand for at Wells Fargo," John Stumpf, the bank's chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. The bank has already voluntarily compensated 600 customers, the statement said.

The fraudulent activity took place over four years from early 2004 to the autumn of 2008, according to the Fed. The bank must compensate borrowers for losses, some of whom could receive more than $20,000. At least 3,700 borrowers will be compensated, the Fed estimated. Wells Fargo has to review a subset of borrowers who took out subprime loans to determine whether they were illegally steered into more expensive mortgages.

The case is another blow to the bank's once-pristine reputation. It's widely touted as the cleanest mortgage lender of the biggest U.S. banks, even though the company has faced multiple lawsuits alleging it pushed black borrowers toward predatory loans; misled investors about the risks of mortgage-backed securities it sold; and employed so-called "robo-signers," the agents that lenders employed to process foreclosure filings en masse without examining the underlying paperwork.
Advertisement

Last year, as the robo-signing fiasco forced its competitors to make embarrassing admissions or halt home seizures, Wells Fargo resisted, arguing that its procedures were sound. Depositions in lawsuits later revealed that its employees also acted as robo-signers.

Confidential audits by the the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general accuse the bank of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased with government-backed loans, The Huffington Post reported in May.

Federal investigators concluded that senior managers at Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, broke civil laws. As part of their investigation, auditors interviewed a pair of South Carolina public notaries who improperly signed off on foreclosure filings for Wells, sources briefed on the findings told HuffPost.

Wednesday's settlement with the Fed also includes allegations of fraud.

In a multi-year investigation, regulators found that Wells Fargo employees altered or falsified borrowers' loan documents, inflating their incomes in order to qualify them for loans.

The bank's internal accountability measures were inadequate to detect and prevent such abuses, the Fed said, at least the second time this year the Fed found Wells Fargo lacking adequate safeguards to prevent abuse and wrongdoing.

Wells Fargo's employees were likely driven to such lengths in order to meet company goals.

The unit responsible for the bulk of the wrongdoing, Wells Fargo Financial, drove its employees to originate a minimum amount of loans or risk losing their jobs, the Fed said. Employees were also expected to hit loan targets in order to receive bonuses.

That unit has since been disbanded. Sixteen former employees have been barred from working in the banking industry, the Fed said.

Investigators also found that borrowers were pushed into more expensive mortgages in part because Wells Fargo employees could boost their bonuses if they hit subprime targets.

Borrowers who otherwise would have qualified for lower-interest mortgages weren't told so, nor were they told that it was "generally more advantageous for the salesperson to sell a nonprime, rather than a prime, loan," the Fed said.

Such practices broke federal consumer protection rules, as well as numerous state laws governing fraud and unfair or deceptive practices, the Fed said.

The Fed's investigation primarily involved mortgage loans originated in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and New Mexico. The Fed declined to say what led to the investigation, or provide any details on the actual probe itself.

In addition to compensating harmed borrowers, the Fed also instructed Wells Fargo to pay homeowners whose homes were seized as a result of the bank's wrongdoing the modest sum of $7,000. Perhaps thousands of borrowers were forced to make higher mortgage payments than they otherwise would have made thanks to the bank's actions.

Fewer than 4 percent of the about 300,000 mortgage loans made by the lender during the period under review are eligible for restitution, the company estimated.

I have no sympathy for these crooks or any other too big to fail bank. I had friends who worked for WF and I know full well what they did. And why isnt Angelo Mozillo in jail??

[Capn'O]

Oh and the laughing shows you're seriously trying to assert logic when you're devoid of any.

Why don't you in all of your regressive I mean progressive omnipotence dispel these statistics? And try to do it without the standard talking points such as economic disparity, allocation of govt resources and any other smoke and mirrors your ilk resort to.

Why wouldn't a criminal set up shop in a liberal city or state? After all the criminal to the liberal isn't the problem, the system is.

It wouldn't be so boring if I wasn't always right, but I feel like Mike Tyson boxing against a featherweight, none of you intellectuals ever argue with intellect. You obfuscate and hide behind cliches and your own elitist commie groupthink.

Lol, of course Detroit votes blue because their infrastructure is **** and Dems give more $$$ to urban redevelopment. Help us Obi Wan, you're our only hope!

It's pretty simple cause and effect economics why a number of the cities you mentioned vote the way that they do. It's the chicken... not the egg. And never mind that D.C.'s violent crime rate has been steadily dropping since the mid 90's.

I could focus a lot more on that but for now let's instead refocus our attention to the conservative bastion known as New York City. With crime rates that have been plummeting since the 70's it is now fairly roundly regarded as the safest major city in the country... well, that must be directly connected to the % of people that believe in global warming, no?

[kane2021]

Time for a new political thread.

[HarthorneWingo]

Wingo, your hypocrisy is unique even for a lawyer, im going to call it WINGpocrisy.

You libs are scared of Bachman cause she's more mainstream than Palin and has a shot to win. We have a president now who takes frequent vacations on the taxpayer dollar and has played more golf than any president in history and your seriously going to make an issue over migranes?

And secondly, none of you libs have dared to explain to me why Murdoch's issues are bigger than fast and furious????


Lastly, I dont care what happens to Murdoch and the timing is awful convienent for Obama with all these scandals and the pathetic economy he's exacerbated.

So get off your high horse and explain why this man deserves re-election in the midst of such ineptitude or ride off into the sunset.

Bachmann "is more mainstream than Palin"? I would not use the words "Bachmann" and "mainstream" in the same sentence. They just don't go together. Bachmann is still a crack pot, even if she's less of one compared to Palin.

And what's the deal with that "husband" of hers, Marcus Bachmann? Yikes.

[duetta]

And what's the deal with that "husband" of hers, Marcus Bachmann? Yikes.

You mean Paul Lynde?

[HarthorneWingo]

And what's the deal with that "husband" of hers, Marcus Bachmann? Yikes.

You mean Paul Lynde?

Paul Lynde!

"Paul Lynde for the (cock)block."

[mugzi]

Poll: Weakened Obama would lose vote today (Dem poll)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/ins ... lose-vote- 7/21 | by Dave Boyer

A Democratic polling firm said President Obama's already weak job-approval numbers are "worse than they appear" and he likely would lose the election if it were held today.

For the first time in a year, Mr. Obama does not lead former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Public Policy Polling's monthly national poll on the 2012 presidential race. They are tied at 45 percent, and Mr. Obama is losing among independent voters by a margin of 49 percent to 44 percent.

Worse for Mr. Obama, PPP said, the "vast majority" of undecideds disapprove of the president's performance. The survey of registered voters was conducted July 15-17.





[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Igui65gY5M[/youtube]

[ComboGuardCity]

Nooo...they closed the other thread. There was pure Mugzi gold in there I was literally loling at work.

[Pharmcat]

Nooo...they closed the other thread. There was pure Mugzi gold in there I was literally loling at work.

enough of that thread

this one is also bout to be replaced due to > 100 pages

[Pharmcat]

new thread

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1126546