I had a lovely little rant teed up for today that will undoubtable appear at a later date. But this morning I started, as I often do, at Eschaton (got to keep up with the urban hellhole). Duncan Black has been onto the bank/mortgage fraud for years and keeps a keen eye on the surrounding financial frauds as well.
You’ve just got to read this.
Quoting an article from the Washington Post:
In a notice recently released by the CFTC, Painter said Judge Bruce Levine, his longtime colleague, had a secret agreement with a former Republican chairwoman of the agency to stand in the way of investors filing complaints with the agency.
"On Judge Levine's first week on the job, nearly twenty years ago, he came into my office and stated that he had promised Wendy Gramm, then Chairwoman of the Commission, that we would never rule in a complainant's favor," Painter wrote. "A review of his rulings will confirm that he fulfilled his vow," Painter wrote.
A few items of clarification. The CFTC is the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. It oversees trading of the nation's most important commodities, including oil, gold and cotton. The agency's two administrative law judges handle cases in which investors allege that trading professionals or financial firms have violated the rules.
The quote is from CFTC judge George H. Painter, who recently retired after nearly 25 years in that position. Although I am glad this situation is being brought to light, I have no respect for Painter. While I don’t know much about his decisions, I know that for 20+ years he sat by and watched as investor after investor was defrauded and the perpetrators were not only not punished, they were rewarded. It never occurred to him to speak up until he had gotten his and was out the door.
Of course, Painter may be forgiven to some extent because he was certainly aware that nothing would come from his telling what he knew about Levine. Why do I think that? Because nothing came from the article about him the Wall Street Journal TEN YEARS AGO:
Levine was the subject of a story 10 years ago in the Wall Street Journal, which said that except in a handful of cases in which defunct firms failed to defend themselves, Levine had never ruled in favor of an investor.
Just in case you were still wondering how we got so deep into this financial morass, behold the level of corruption in the Bush administration. Corrupt officials could brag about their activities on the front pages of one of the nation’s largest newspapers without regulators even raising an eyebrow. Connections.
And who was this Wendy Gramm, the former CFTC Chairwoman? Well, the WaPo article sheds some light on that, too. She was unavailable when they called for comment, but:
Her husband, former senator Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), said he would pass along a message but added, "I doubt she's going to want to get involved in this."
Yup, that’s right. Old Mr. Deregulation, Phil Gramm. While he was busy in the Senate gutting regulation of the financial industries, his wife, Wendy:
Gramm was head of the CFTC just before president Bill Clinton took office. She has been criticized by Democrats for helping firms such as Goldman Sachs and Enron gain influence over the commodity markets. After leaving the CFTC, she joined Enron's board.
Of course, in case you have managed to drink enough in the past couple of years to forget Ol’ Foreclosure Phil, John McCain’s key financial advisor, here is a short summary from Mother Jones:
Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown.
...
In the 1990s, as chairman of the Senate banking committee, he routinely turned down Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt's requests for more money to police Wall Street; during this period, the sec's workload shot up 80 percent, but its staff grew only 20 percent. Gramm also opposed an sec rule that would have prohibited accounting firms from getting too close to the companies they audited—at one point, according to Levitt's memoir, he warned the sec chairman that if the commission adopted the rule, its funding would be cut. And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania.
Read the entire article – it is well worth your time to recall how Gramm slipped in the 266-page Commodity Futures Modernization Act into the omnibus budget just hours before the final vote. Not only did it allow the CFTC (chaired and later manipulated by his wife via "agreements" with Levine) to regulate credit default swaps and thus prevent "overregulation of financial institutions," it created the infamous "Enron loophole" that exempted energy trading from regulatory oversight, allowing Enron to run rampant, wreck the California electricity market, and cost consumers billions before it collapsed. Oh, and incidentally, generate nearly $1.8 million for the Gramms. Connections.
Even when they are gone from the political scene, the evil that they do lives on. (HINT TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is why you do have to look backward sometimes.) And speaking of evil, that brings us to Dick Armey, who the astute Molly Ivins characterized, together with Gramm, as "the Masters of Mean." Dick Armey, whose Freedomworks is bankrolling much of the pseudo-grassroots "teaparty movement." The darling of the teabagger set, of course, is Sarah Palin. Connections.
Which brings us to Fred Malak? Who? Fred Malak is Palin’s top advisor in Washington DC. And where did he get the experience for that job? Well, some of it may have rubbed off from the person he shares office space with – KKKarl Rove. But his roots go deep into RepubliCON dirty trick. Fred Malak began his political career in Richard Nixon’s employ. Often referred to as "Nixon’s jew counter," he was dispatched by Nixon to identify and sweep Jews out of government. Virtually everyone on the list he produced was fired.
And how did Malek leap to the forefront today? Well, as it turns out Fred is smack dab in the middle of the list of conspirators participants in the Koch brothers scheme to control the world thoughtfully compiled and formatted by Jim P. Although I doubt you will be surprised by many of the people on that list, one that caught my eye was Susie Coelhoe, long-time producer for HGTV. I’m starting to see why, contrary to its original focus, for the past five years HGTV has been little more than the "how to churn real estate" network. Connections.
But before you rush off to see who else is on the list (pay careful attention to the ones whose business is "media," a word from our sponsors. . . .
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
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Tonight’s Top Comments. . . .
From Nurse Kelley:
Today's KosAbility diary by plf515 was about learning disabilities and what's considered "normal." This comment by Alexandra Lynch may have been written for the KA crowd, but it resonates deeply in our communal sadness following the suicides of so many gay teens.
From sardonyx:
In Eclectablog's diary about Rolling Stone: The Case for Obama - A 'Must Read', RandomActsOfReason's comment entitled It was an excellent, informative article impressed many, and there were requests that it be turned into a diary.
entlord points out that what our press refers to as Taliban is actually a far more diverse and disparate group. Dbug adds further information downthread.
Fonsia has a good suggestion for CNN, though I have my doubts they'll have the smarts (or decency) to take it.
Bindle takes on the Professional Left meme.
From Progressive PST:
From Adam B's front page story on McCain and the FEC complaint, darthstar gets a little snarky about McCain's value.
From me:
ZedMont sums up the irony perfectly in *Ministry of Truth's must-read Memo LEAKED! diary.
In that same diary, zane has a list of product that enrich the Koch brothers. I can't stop them, but I can try keep from enriching them with my hard-earned dollars.
Tonight’s Top Mojo . . . .
Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and Mojo Friday:
1) Or distraction, distraction, distraction. by blueoasis — 180
2) Let me reiterate this: by blue jersey mom — 124
3) great diary, but one little nix.... by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse — 124
4) Koch brothers control Supreme slimes by MD patriot — 107
5) both legitimate points, but this diary still... by kalmoth — 105
6) I don't feel the least bit by gchaucer2 — 103
7) Did you see the creepy front pg. story on Huff--- by dotster — 101
8) Great quotes by James Madison to consider. by The Erratic Synapse — 96
9) Something tells me this will end in tears. by Pluto — 93
10) You need to warn people that by KateCrashes — 91
11) i think anita hill has proven... by nonnie9999 — 91
12) Look at the rec list by gjohnsit — 89
13) Yes, by bmaples — 87
14) Deliberate Obfuscation by MrMichaelMT — 87
15) In a day filled with WTF's... by Danno11 — 85
16) Very creepy. What absolute unmitigated gall. by AuroraDawn — 84
17) Scalia told Ginny Thomas to call by MD patriot — 83
18) That's not even covering the weirdness: by Publius2008 — 82
19) They are the real enemy. by TomP — 81
20) Which is all the more reason to look for the by JesseCW — 81
21) Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant by MinistryOfTruth — 80
22) The Diary Ignores This Reality by JekyllnHyde — 80
23) Welcome to my world.... by RLMiller — 79
24) How about Harry keeps his seat but not his gavel? by lineatus — 79
25) Yup. And the voices on our side... by punditician — 78
26) Senator Max Cleland by Jack Conway for Senate — 75
27) Anita Hill should get a restraining order by Jeff Y — 72
28) Claire was on Hardball yesterday, walking it by elwior — 70
29) Sorry for Thomas? by RamblinDave — 68
30) Apart from being poor reporting by seanflynn — 67
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tips for ThinkProgress.org by MinistryOfTruth — 547
2) Tip Jar by Eclectablog — 471
3) Tip Jar by desraye — 426
4) Tip Jar by Alexi for Illinois — 372
5) Tip Jar by Jack Conway for Senate — 368
6) Tip Jar by Troutfishing — 334
7) Tip Jar by gjohnsit — 316
8) Tip Jar by SJPT — 310
9) Tip Jar by TomP — 243
10) Say Buck No by Irish Patti — 207
11) Tip Jar by not2plato — 196
12) Or distraction, distraction, distraction. by blueoasis — 180
13) Tip Jar by Tommy Ates — 166
14) Tip Jar by Troubadour — 162
15) Tip Jar by TJPHILLY2 — 147
16) great diary, but one little nix.... by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse — 124
17) Let me reiterate this: by blue jersey mom — 124
18) My favorite phonebanking quote of the night: by angelajean — 111
19) Koch brothers control Supreme slimes by MD patriot — 107
20) both legitimate points, but this diary still... by kalmoth — 105
21) I don't feel the least bit by gchaucer2 — 103
22) Did you see the creepy front pg. story on Huff--- by dotster — 101
23) Tip Jar by jpmassar — 98
24) Great quotes by James Madison to consider. by The Erratic Synapse — 96
25) Something tells me this will end in tears. by Pluto — 93
26) You need to warn people that by KateCrashes — 91
27) i think anita hill has proven... by nonnie9999 — 91
28) Look at the rec list by gjohnsit — 89
29) Deliberate Obfuscation by MrMichaelMT — 87
30) Yes, by bmaples — 87
31) Tip Jar by Darnell From LA — 87