Schumer The Market Manipulator

In an unprecedented “Leaky Leahy” maneuver, New York Senator Chuck Schumer released to the press a letter that he had penned, specifically noting the financial instability of the failing IndyMac Bancorp:

[D]epositors may have been spooked by a letter late last week from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, saying he was “concerned that IndyMac’s financial deterioration poses significant risks to both taxpayers and borrowers.”

The letter stunned some Wall Street analysts, who said Schumer was in effect sealing the lender’s fate by raising the prospect of its failure. Schumer’s response? Don’t kill the messenger. “Make no mistake about it: IndyMac’s problems were caused by IndyMac’s management and no one else,” Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon said in an email. “The home loan bank system has an obligation to lend responsibly and police its members. But it has not been doing its job. We have found the only way to get the home loan bank system to act appropriately and positively is to make public the concerns we’ve already expressed privately.”

The letter has irritated both bank regulators and bankers alike. John M. Reich, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision responds to the letter:

“Dissemination of incomplete or erroneous information can erode public confidence, mislead depositors and investors, and cause unintended consequences, including depositor runs and panic stock trades. Rumors and innuendo cause damage to financial institutions that might not occur otherwise and these concerns drive our strict policy of privacy.”

I think that statement explains Schumer’s motivations right there. Schumer, who clearly hails from the far-left would jump at any opportunity to erode public confidence during a Republican administration - especially during an election year. In any event, Schumer acted irresponsibly in leaking such a letter. After all, aren’t professional bank regulators supposed to do the regulating?  Schumer’s actions may vary well do irrevocable harm to the already failing loan industry.

All of this aside, John D. Hawke, the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency from 1998 to 2004 responds:

“If Schumer continues to go public with letters raising questions about the condition of individual institutions, he will cause havoc in the banking system,” Hawke said.

“Leaking his IndyMac letter to the press was reckless and grossly irresponsible. I don’t see how he can be trusted with confidential information in the future. What this incredibly stupid conduct does is put at risk the willingness of regulators to share any information with the [congressional] oversight committees. After this, you’d be crazy to share information with Schumer.”

Reckless. Grossly irresponsible. Can’t be trusted with confidential information. Stupid conduct. Mr. Hawke, I think you nailed it. The Democrats prove again that they cannot be trusted with confidential information.

Obama Strangles Old Lady

Well, not really… but in his latest 30 second campaign ad titled “Dignity,” he appears to strangle an old lunch lady at the end of the video. It’s pretty funny if you watch the very end (oh, and with the sound off)…

Inhospitible Hospital

According to this AP report, 49-year-old Esmin Green had been admitted to the Emergency Room of Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital. After nearly 24 hours of waiting and waiting and waiting for treatment, the woman collapsed face-down onto the floor - died - and remained on the floor for more than an hour, while hospital staff and patients went about their business: 

[She] had been waiting in the emergency room for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5:32 a.m. on June 19, falling face down on the floor.She was dead by 6:35, when someone on the medical staff, flagged down by a person in the waiting room, finally approached, nudged Green with her foot, and gently prodded her shoulder, as if to wake her. The staffer then left and returned with someone wearing a white lab coat who examined her and summoned help.Until the staffer’s appearance, Green’s collapse barely caused a ripple. Other patients waiting a few feet away didn’t react. Security guards and a member of the hospital’s staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times, but made no visible attempt to see if she needed help.

In response to these horrific events, the hospital announced that it had fired six staff members, including health care and security employees. Yep. Fired. That’s it? What about negligent homicide? Where are the criminal charges in this case?Want outrage? Here is a link to the security video showing the ordeal. (Note: check out the security guard who stares idly at the body on the floor, and then rolls past the scene in a desk chair — DOUCHEBAG!)

Update: Democrats for Satan

If Democratic strategist Paul Begala is going to call Republican donors “dirtbags,” then we can play that game too… Let’s see… Uh… Democratic Party officials are big, fat, ugly, kidnappin’, keep-people-in-dog-cagin’, shackle-people-to-bed, rapin’ satanists. No, seriously. According to this WorldNetDaily report:

Joy Johnson, 30, a vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, made an appearance in court yesterday after she and her spouse, Joseph Craig, were arrested Friday.Craig, 25, is charged with second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for an incident in January and another in May. Johnson is charged with two counts of aiding and abetting.According to published and broadcast reports, prosecutors said a man and a woman met Craig through a shared interest in Satan worship, although the couple never consented to any physical abuse.Craig allegedly shackled his victims to beds, kept them in dog cages and starved them inside his home. Police say he beat the man with a cane and a cord, and raped the woman.

Silly democrats. Don’t you read your own party platform?

The Democratic Party has a long and proud history of representing and protecting the interests of working Americans and guaranteeing personal liberties for all. One of the places we articulate our beliefs is in the Party’s National Platform, adopted every four years by the Delegates at the National Convention.

Now, be good democrats: say you’re sorry, blame the Bush administration, and get on with things.

Update (2 Jul 2008):

Apparently, Democrats who torture others in the name of satan are everywhere:

The North Carolina case of an alleged satanic torture involving a Democratic Party official and her husband has now expanded to include a third suspect, an even higher-ranking Democrat.

Diana Palmer, the first vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party, joins her political colleague Joy Johnson, the third vice-chairwoman of the party, and Johnson’s spouse, Joseph Craig, in facing charges.

Palmer, 44, surrendered to police in Durham, N.C., this afternoon and was charged with being an accessory after the fact of assault with a deadly weapon. She’s being held at the Durham County Jail under $95,000 bail.

Muslims Bark About Bullshit

According to the Daily Mail, a group of Scottish Muslims are up in arms over a postcard featuring a six-week-old puppy. The cards, which were designed to advise locals of a telephone number for non-emergency calls, instead shocked and outraged the Muslim community:

Postcards showing police dog-in-training Rebel, a German shepherd born in early December, are causing a furor among the region’s Muslims who believe dogs are ‘ritually unclean.’

A Muslim calling something else unclean? Gee, that’s rich. What are the police supposed to use instead? A pig? I don’t think so.  In any event, it gets worse. A Muslim city councilman is calling for an investigation:

“My concern was that it’s not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards,” said Dundee councilor Mohammed Asif, according to the report.

It sounds like these guys are barking up the wrong tree on this one. I’d say let sleeping dogs lie on this one, and find some real issues to bitch about.

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