Originally Published on the Pondering Penguin

When my husband and I purchased our first home, in 1985, the mortgage
was financed by Countrywide Financial. That name may sound familiar to
you now, given the recent news coverage of the sub-prime mortgage
‘crisis’. Allegedly, according to politicians like Barack Obama
remarking on the campaign trail about Countrywide Financial CEO, Angelo
Mozilo, the company takes advantage of “ignorant borrowers to make subprime loans it knew wouldn’t be paid off and then selling the loans
to the quasi-governmental Fannie Mae mortgage agency.” That from
Investor’s Business Day on June 17, 2008.

Obama, the candidate
of change, continues to surround himself with mouthpieces of the past.
In particular, Jim Johnson, the man selected by the candidate of change
to head up Obama’s vice-presidential search committee, is a long time
Democrate insider and, more importantly, money-man, had to leave the
campaign as the scandal develops and Johnson’s dealings with Mozilo and
Countrywide are exposed.

Two high ranking Democrat Senators,
Christopher Dodd who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, along with
the tag of former Presidential candidate and now supporter of Obama,
and Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota who chairs the Finance
Committee and sits on the Budget Committee, have fallen into the net
cast in by investigators.

Both Senators denied any sweetheart
deals and as recently as last month, Dodd had the chutzpah to rant on,
blaming President Bush for the subprime mortgage mess, as he was
praising a $400 billion bail out for the industry, including his buddy
Angelo. Yes, it’s Bush’s fault, it’s always Bush’s fault.

The
one Republican named to date involved in improper activities is former
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson. You’ll
note the ‘former’ designation. And, former Health and Human Serivices
Secretary Donna Shalala and former U.N. ambassador and assistant
Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, both from the Clinton
administration and Holbrooke now an Obama advisor, also appear to have
benefited as a Friend of Angelo. It appears Mr. Johnson was happy to
refer the Washington insiders to Angelo.

Senator Dodd received
two mortgages with no closing costs. The fixed rates were 4.25% and
4.5%. Senator Conrad said that he didn’t ‘know’ Angelo. Then he had to
admit that, well, he did call him and yes, he got a good deal. His
deal? Low interest, no-cost loan for a $1 million beach getaway and
another loan, a commercial loan that wasn’t even offered to other
customers, as Countrywide is a residential lender.

Conrad said,
“I did not think for one moment - and no one ever suggested to me -
that I was getting preferential treatment.” Well now. Then, though he
said no preferential treatment was given, Conrad pledged to give away
$10,500 in mortgage savings to charity.

Senator Dodd admitted
that he was told he’d get a VIP package, but he didn’t think that was
anything more than a courtesy. Yeah, it was a courtesy in my mind.

Any
investigations going on with these two sitting Senators? No. The
‘ethics committee’ isn’t certain that an investigation is necessary.
Can you imagine if the two were Republicans?

These two sitting
Senators are chairs of two committees directly responsible for
legislation concerning the alleged mortgage crisis. Rep. Jeb
Hensarling, R-TX, thinks an investigation is warranted. He’s called for
hearings to find out if anyone in Congress has received this
preferential treatment on mortgages with Countrywide.

Remember
when former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, was drummed out of his
position due to an allegedly improper book deal? And then the book deal
was found to be completely above board. And Gingrich returned the
advance money anyway? Yeah, he’s a Republican.

I found it
interesting that these two sitting Senators were the ones named for the
sweet deals. Dodd, always a pompous ass when it comes to self-righteous
speeches on the Senate floor and Conrad, the go to guy on the budget
for pontificating on the Senate floor. Those evil Republicans are so
fast and loose with money.

One little piece of information that
needs to go out to the public from the 537 page bill on mortgage
bail-outs has to do with a fingerprint database that
Democrats are putting into place. According to The Wall Street Journal,
“A measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to
national security or violent crime may clear the Senate with little
debate. The legislation would require thousands of individuals not
suspected of any wrongdoing to send their prints to the feds. This is a
part of the bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow.

That’s right.
The blowhard Dems, so outraged that the Constitution has been shredded
under this administration, that all of our civil rights have been
trampled on (though no evidence of this has surfaced, only politics of
defeatists as usual), put in this provision: “an individual may not
engage in the business of a loan originator without first obtaining a
unique identifier. An individual is required to furnish to the newly
created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry
information concerning the applicant’s identity, including fingerprints
that will be sent to the FBI and other government agencies.” So it’s
bonus time on Capitol Hill - a new government agency and a new database
to leak personal data when it is politically opportune.

This
term ‘loan originator’ is odd. It covers “employees working for
mortgage lenders and brokers and real estate firms, including clerical
employees, part-time and seasonal workers. An originator is defined as
anyone who takes a residential loan application; and offers or
negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or
gain. Real estate agents are also covered if they receive any type of
compensation from originators.” Hmm.

Does targeting low level
employees help in any way to prosecute those accused of wrongdoing at
the top, making the big bucks off corrupt business practices?

Among
the 14 sponsors of the Senate’s S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act
introduced in February, where the fingerprint provision was originally
placed into legislation, were 2 Republicans, Mel Martinez of Florida
and Elizabeth Dole of N.C. What are they thinking? The others,
Democrats, included Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Surprised? Yeah.
Me, either.

Investigate Dodd and Conrad and have them step down
from the chairmanships of the relevant committees in the meantime.
Maybe that will speed up the stalling currently going on in D.C. The
issue isn’t going away.

Liz from Three Bright Stars chose this article from Karen of the Pondering Penguin, where Karen blogs about politics and current events. She is a moderate to
liberal Republican, not liked by the far right on social issues. You can subscribe to the Penguin and get all of her posts, every time she posts! How about that?!