Senator Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) approach to overhaul financial industry regulations is scheduled to be debated next week in the Senate Banking Committee with a mark-up of the bill starting in early December.  This bill is sold as an effort by the federal government to seize control of financial institutions with the potential to cause a financial market meltdown.  Sources in the Senate tell me that the true effect of this bill will be to lock in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), give special treatment for the trading partners of financial institutions facing bankruptcy, and grant more power to the Federal Reserve Board in Washington over monetary policy.  This financial regulatory reform effort will create a massive new bureaucracy that will oversee financial institutions that will effectively serve as a Big Brother for Big Business.

From a Senate Banking Committee press release

“It is the job of this Congress to restore responsibility and accountability in our financial system to give Americans confidence that there is a system in place that works for and protects them,” Dodd said at the press conference.  “We must create a sound foundation to grow the economy and create jobs.”

The problem is that the big government approach to the financial regulatory reform effort may harm economic growth and grants sweeping new political powers to the Federal Reserve over monetary policy.  The big ticket item for the legislation is the creation of a new federal bureacracy called the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency.”   The discussion draft of the legislation describes the new agency as “an independent watchdog to ensure American consumers get the clear, accurate information they need to shop for mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products, while prohibiting hidden fees, abusive terms, and deceptive practices.”    The fact of the matter is that this new government entity distracts freedom loving Americans from many other disturbing aspects of this bill that will grow government and harm economic prosperity.

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Today, in 2001, troops of the Northern Alliance took control of Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.

The future for Afghanistan may not be as bright as it was today, eight years ago.

Media Matters continues to try to provide cover for the public flogging ACORN has received as a result of investigative videos which showed ACORN employees giving advice on a number of illegal activities including human trafficking, child prostitution, bank fraud, illegal immigration and tax evasion. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has largely ignored a growing scandal that cannot be contained: ACORN is reportedly closing offices across the country, including the site of the DC undercover videotape.

Also, today another damning ACORN tape was released at Big Government. This time an ACORN member openly confessed to ACORN using non-partisan voter registration to secretly produce Obama votes.

Anyone paying attention knows accusations relating to voter registration fraud, illicit partisan activity and other chicanery often have been made against ACORN, with ACORN either denying all or any ACORN fault. In October of 2008, I testified in Pennsylvania regarding the illegal coordination between Barack Obama’s Campaign and ACORN:

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Last Tuesday, I had round two with former ACORN Chief Organizer and current head of Community Organizations International, Wade Rathke. This interview was a lot more sweeping. It ranged from Rathke’s philosophy, his philosophy on organizing, his views on the tea parties, to all sorts of issues surrounding ACORN.

1)What do you think of the tea parties?

It’s important to note that I wasn’t asking about political philosophy or personal preference, but rather as an organizing philosophy.

Rathke is impressed by their ability to organize. As an organizing phenomenon, the tea parties are effective and, as an organizer, Wade Rathke believes they took advantage of a vacuum, stepped in, and filled a void that the president never saw coming. Rathke once referred to the tea party movement as “tea baggers”. He did this only once. He never really took any pot shots at them besides this and so I don’t know that this was a deliberate dig.

Rathke did, however, also point out that often the tea parties fail basic organizing principles.

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It is a Friday and President Obama is abroad.  What better time for the President and the Department of Justice to announce that 9/11 coordinator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and some of his fellow terrorists will be tried in a civilian court in New York City?

Yesterday, I wrote about the curious connection that major Obama and ACORN supporter Bruce Ratner has to the Department of Justice – the very department that refuses to initiate a criminal trial of ACORN. It just so happens that Bruce Ratner’s brother, Michael Ratner, shares the terrorist coddling sympathies of Attorney General Eric Holder.  As Michelle Malkin documents, Holder not only pushed for the pardoning of actual terrorists in his last stint at DOJ, but he was also a senior partner at a law firm representing detainees at Guantanamo. While Michael Ratner has not represented Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he did represent a handful of terrorists and won them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts under habeas corpus. This is just one of many legal “victories” that have paved the way for folks like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be tried in civilian court on our soil.

This particular example highlights the underlying notion that terrorists should be privy to the same rights as United States citizens. In this instance, President Obama did in fact exercise his discretion (if you can call it that) by allowing the trial to take place in civilian court.  Attorney Brian Levi serves as the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.  As Levi noted today, “As a legal matter President Obama could very well also have tried these five detainees before military tribunals, as five others are…”

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A provision within Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s health care measure passed by the House the other week rehashes a months-old intramural battle between powerful Democrats over how biologic drugs will face competition from generic drug manufacturers.

While the House bill provides a brand drug maker-backed 12 years of monopoly data protection for these next generation therapies, one component of the bill, buried on page 1,534, beginning on line 15 under the heading, “Restrictions on biological products containing dangerous ingredients,” might raise more than eyebrows.

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Welcome to Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca. Today we’d like to welcome first-time listeners at our new sponsor, BigGovernment.com.

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The Chamber of Commerce recently bowed to pressure from big member companies which have crafted schemes to pick your pocket under cap-and-trade, and cravenly pleaded for some form of global warming legislation. It defended this with the argument distilled as “we merely restated our position. A different way.” So it is with Congress, in a fashion, with its controversial Sec. 707 identically stuck in both the Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Boxer bills.

Some on Team Liberty insist there’s nothing to see here, because you’ll notice that the language says the President “shall” exercise “existing statutory authority”. QED. My former CEI colleague Jonathan Adler adopts Ed Morrissey’s position posted on Hot Air, phrasing it on Volokh:

“The above provision grants no new powers to the federal government, let alone the President. Zero. Zilch. Rather, it directs the President to have agencies use “existing statutory authority” to ensure greater greenhouse gas emission reductions.  In other words, it requires the President to ensure that agencies are using all the tools Congress has already delegated to them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — tools that such agencies could use even if the section is not triggered — and demands the President “submit to Congress” a request for additional authorities the President believes are necessary to ensure greater emission reductions.  Moreover, insofar as this provision constrains the Executive Branch’s discretion over what emission-reduction measures it wants to take, it actually reduces executive authority.”

That first part is true.

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Why ask why? National Science Foundation and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study why children ask so many “why” question

Harvest time: The Washington Apple Commission receives federal funds to educate retailers in China, Russia and other countries how to handle apples and other perishable products

NASA wants you to know that the world won’t end in 2012; U.S. space agency launches Web resource to counter fictional new movie

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Three months after Kenneth Gladney and Kelly Owens were assaulted in the Bernard school parking lot following Russ Carnahan’s town hall the charges still remain in hibernation at the County Counselor’s office. Upon contacting Bob McCullough, I was told that Gladney’s charges fall into Patricia Redington’s jurisdiction.

Redington was quick to file charges back in 2000, when a staffer for Democrat Richard Gephardt stalked serious contender Republican Bill Federer on a parade route. The staffer, James Larrew, tried to shove his camera into Federer’s face until Federer was forced to push the camera away. The staffer freaked, flagged down a cop and claimed that he had been assaulted. Larrew then called Gephardt’s office and spoke to Joyce Aboussie, Gephardt’s top political adviser, who then contacted Redington’s office. Two days later Redington filed assault charges against Federer, on Columbus Day, a national holiday; after which Redington, Aboussie, and Larrew conducted a media blitz, all arranged for by Gephardt’s office.

From an account of the incident:

Note that Redington is a Democrat-appointee with close ties to Gephardt’s closest adviser, Aboussie.

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When the winds were swirling in Washington, DC about the possibility of the Congress ‘defunding’ ACORN, its chief organizer Bertha Lewis shrugged it off, likely believing it would never happen.

When it did happen, she shrugged it off, telling an audience at the National Press Club that, “ACORN will still go on with its members and its donors,” according to CNSnews.com.

Now, devoid of the federal teat, ACORN is suing the federal government with the hopes of latching back on to continue sucking our tax dollars.

FOXnews.com reports that the Center for Constitutional Rights is suing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Director of the Office of Management and the Budget Peter Orszag, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

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With everyone focused on the “health care” bill and Afghanistan is anyone paying attention to the push for another government agency? The Consumer Financial Protection Agency is on the way.

“* Dodd Backs Obama proposal to create agency to regulate credit cards, mortgages, other financial products

* Strips consumer protection duties from existing agencies, including Federal Reserve, Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, National Credit Union Administration, Federal Trade Commission.

* Lets states pass tougher consumer protections, preventing federal regulations from preempting stronger state laws.”

Dodd and Obama want a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect you from fraudulent and deceptive lending practices that they claim created our financial crisis. Fraud and deception are already illegal. This is really to protect you from being stupid. See, if you were smart enough to understand the terms, you would never have bought that huge house with 0% down and a five year adjustable, interest only loan. Yeah, right.

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I was driving to my local OSH hardware store in West L.A. yesterday to buy some tools for the house where I spotted an ACORN rally across the street at some FOX studio.  After buying some supplies, I went into my car to get the brand new hand-held HD video camera I had purchased just the night before for an upcoming vacation.  With camera in hand, I walked towards the protesters to gather some pictures and video footage of the rally.  I also called my friend Andrew Breitbart and suggested he come down. I had a feeling he’d be interested.

But before he could make it to the rally, an ACORN organizer had crossed the street and approached me with an ACORN flyer in her hand.  As she started to talk, I clicked the record button of the new camera I had bought on a whim, not knowing what it would capture or how it even worked, for that matter. I heard the same things you will now hear on this recording.  Three minutes later I walked away in shock.  I started to tremble from what she admitted to me with utter nonchalance.  I walked inside a nearby store and found a quiet place to play the tape for myself and realized that I had wintessed something maybe no one was ever supposed to hear:

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Follow along with the transcript:

Have you seen this organizer?

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They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.

Washington News Observer interviewed Congressman Steve King (R-IA) on Obama’s senior advisor – Valerie Jarrett.

Ms. Jarrett has known President Obama for several decades and moved to Washington, DC following the successful election of her candidate. Currently, Ms. Jarrett is is a senior advisor and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Today I received a phone call from my friend, Gary H., who said that ACORN was staging a protest outside the Fox News studios in West Los Angeles. I called someone at the Fox News bureau to find out that there were no protesters there, but quickly realized ACORN had gotten that wrong too. They were protesting in front of FOX Television Center, the home of local affiliate KTTV.

Since I woke up to the news that ACORN had sued the U.S. government to get its federal funding back, it struck me as obvious that ACORN is in the process of trying to get its mojo back absent any real investigations by the Holder Justice Department, the Democratic-controlled Congress, and the Jerry Brown sham investigation in California – not to mention the  so-called “internal investigation” whose chief investigator was picked by number one ACORN defender, John Podesta, and SEIU head Andy Stern, whose union is deeply aligned with the troubled “community organizing” group.

Despite all the evidence we have published that exposes ACORN as both corrupt and criminal, no other mainstream media organization has shown any signs of investigating ACORN despite countless angles and document trails.  So I knew I had to go down to the protest on Bundy Drive to ask ACORN protesters a few questions.

With very little time I got in the car with Big Government Associate Editor Alex Marlow to meet Gary H. down at the protest. When we arrived, the protesters were fifty or so strong, monitored by a few police units standing to the side. Given that the police made me feel safe, I walked straight toward the chanting protesters while accepting an ACORN full-color single page handout entitled, “ACORN MEMBERS — MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN  THEIR COMMUNITIES,” which sung the praises of the organization. (more…)

Following the courageous expose by two young investigative journalists released on the pages of this very blog, there were widespread calls for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the criminal enterprise that is ACORN. One would think there would be swift, decisive action from the administration that promised to be the most transparent in history. Despite the urging of some in congress and action on the regional level, and an internal investigation into funding, terrorist sympathizer U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to appoint a special prosecutor to oversee a criminal investigation of ACORN. There’s no evidence that any internal investigation is ongoing or making any progress since a 2008 request from Indiana’s Secretary of State. Instead, President Obama’s political arm is attempting to dismiss it as a “fear campaign” while ACORN insinuates that it is racist. Yes, they are still playing that card.

What’s Holder’s hold-up?  One major factor of course is that ACORN serves as a taxpayer-funded Democrat army.  As with unions, it behooves Democrats to ignore corruption amongst the ranks of the powerful forces that elect them. What appears on the surface to be mere political payback for a job well done is in fact much more insidious.  One family’s involvement with ACORN and the Obama administration is of particular interest and elucidates the complicated web of connections and cash behind ACORN and this President.

Meet the Ratners.

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People that know him, and know him well, have described him as an “organic genius” and a “diabolical genius”. He’s become a lightning rod and a polarizing figure, and he’s at the center of a national debate. Wade Rathke is the former long time CEO, or Chief Organizer, of ACORN, the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now. He’s now running Community Organizations International, the former ACORN International. When I emailed Wade Rathke  Friday October 23rd, I was surprised that he agreed to an interview. I was even more surprised that he was familiar with my work. Yet, he was willing to give me some time on the afternoon of the 26th of October. What follows are some of my thoughts following an interview that lasted about an hour.

The campaign that COI is most involved in, or at least featured on their main page, is the campaign to reform global remittance. Global remittance is the process by which ex patriates send money back to family in their home country. For instance, it’s been well documented that Mexico’s main economic source is actually money sent back home from the USA. According to Rathke, this is an industry that topped $300 billion, and far too many of its players practice predatory lending practices. For instance, Rathke has seen fees up to 20% of the amount to be wired. So, if someone were to send $1000 back home, they would be charged $200 to process this transaction. Rathke stressed that such fees were an “outlier” but fees of 5% are about the norm. In his view, this is far too much, and the poor are being taken advantage of by predatory lending practices in this area. Furthermore, with these rates, it also leads to a black market. That’s what’s happening. Often people send money home with all sorts of strangers because they’re promised that it will get there with no charge.

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