Newt Gingrich: ANOTHER LYING SACK OF SHIT REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 17th, 2011
Good morning!
I watched this on Rachel Maddow’s show last night…or was it on Lawrence O’Donnell ?- no matter – the fact is I watched it…saw the lying sack of shit, Gingrich. HOPE you did as well. If not, as you can see, I’m featuring him today – Don’t ya love the title? Newt was a prime mover in the removal of Glass/Steagal and now we know why. He was on the payroll of Freddie Mac to the tune of $1 Million Dollars. Only seriously disturbed people (and they are out there) will vote for or support a person who says, “If anyone quotes what I said yesterday,
Here’s the write:
Newt Gingrich Long Advocated Home Ownership Push Prior To A Reported Freddie Mac $1 Million Payday
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has been one of the most influential conservative voices advocating the use of home ownership efforts to alleviate poverty. Although his work as a highly lucrative consultant for Freddie Mac may have been more political pomp than policy circumstance, Gingrich’s political clout was part of the mortgage giant’s push to grant bipartisan legitimacy to its epic housing gamble.
The former House speaker’s long record of pushing to expand home ownership casts significant doubt on his recent claim that he encouraged Freddie Mac to change its policies during the Bush era, when the mortgage giant shelled out roughly $30,000 a month for Gingrich’s work.
R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for the Gingrich campaign, confirmed the paycheck amount to HuffPost, but said the money went to Gingrich’s consulting firm, The Gingrich Group. “To say he was paid personally is inaccurate,” Hammond said. He went on to say that Freddie Mac paid the firm for “strategic advice on a wide variety of issues,” including dealing with the cost of employees’ health care. “He wasn’t brought in to help them with their lending practices,” Hammond said.
Gingrich’s work for Freddie Mac was lucrative. His consulting firm was paid between $1.6 million and $1.8 million over eight years to advise the mortgage giant, according to Bloomberg – a long time for an ex-lawmaker to work with a single client. And those ties have become extremely sensitive as the former House speaker’s polling numbers have improved. Many GOP primary voters loathe Fannie and Freddie, and Gingrich and his fellow Republican presidential contenders have attempted to blame the two mortgage giants — which played a destructive role in the housing bubble — for unrelated financial misdeeds on Wall Street that crashed the banking sector.
But dating back to Ronald Reagan’s first term, Gingrich pushed a conservative “Opportunity Society” platform that encouraged the ownership of property — particularly houses and corporate stocks — to promote individual responsibility and social progress. Gingrich has not sought to obscure his views on the matter. In several books, he has advocated for “property ownership.” In his 1995 book, “To Renew America,” Gingrich wrote:
“We want to ensure that, from day one, people who work hard can see their work pay off. Part of this process involves giving people control over their own housing. Poor people ought to be given a chance to buy the property they live in. “
When Gingrich resigned from Congress in 1998, both he and his top aide would move into the Fannie and Freddie fold. Gingrich was hired as a consultant for Freddie Mac in 1999.
Gingrich’s chief of staff, Arne Christenson, became a top lobbyist for Fannie Mae, where he boasted to reporters about providing low-down-payment mortgages, and penned at least one op-ed for the conservativeWashington Times newspaper defending Fannie Mae’s low-income housing efforts. Christenson wrote:
At least 50 percent of the units that Fannie Mae finances must serve low- and moderate-income people. Fannie Mae must also meet tough percentage-of-business goals for serving residents of underserved areas and for serving very low-income borrowers. For instance, in 2000, Fannie Mae provided $55.6 billion serving 675,000 households living in underserved census tracts – nearly 31 percent of the total households we served. With the exception of Freddie Mac, no other company in America faces the type of quantitative, targeted housing goals that Fannie Mae must meet. We have exceeded the HUD housing goals every year since 1994.
Christenson, who now works for American Express, did not return a call seeking comment. His op-ed was published in 2001, while Gingrich was being paid handsomely by Freddie Mac. Hammond said that Christenson had nothing to do with Gingrich getting the consulting job at Freddie Mac. “It’s kind of like one guy going to the Red Sox, and one guy going to the Yankees,” Hammond said.
During this period, President George W. Bush was promoting a platform to expand the conservative base dubbed the “Ownership Society,” an effort that Jackie Colmes of the Wall Street Journalnoted, at the time, was related to Gingrich’s long efforts to promote home ownership. Bush and Republican political strategists hoped to use home ownership to convert more middle-class and low-income voters into consistent Republicans. Owning a home, after all, comes with a host of tax liabilities — most notably property taxes and capital gains, if the home is sold. Making more voters wary of such tax rates would likely help enlist them in the conservative cause.
Gingrich was just one of dozens of political elites involved with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. William Daley, currently chief of staff for President Barack Obama — served on Fannie’s board for much of the Clinton years, and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel served on Freddie’s board. The companies not only spent millions on campaign contributions and lobbying — they appointed influential figures from both political parties to lucrative positions at the company.
“When it came to Fannie, Freddie lobbying dollars and political connections, there were probably only a handful of people related to financial services in Washington whose hands were genuinely clean,” notes Joshua Rosner, managing director at Graham Fisher & Co. and co-author of “Reckless Endangerment,” a history of the recent banking collapse.
Most of these appointees played almost no role in the mortgage giants’ policies, but seemed to lend political legitimacy to their activities by their very presence on the payroll. “Occasionally when there’s a threat, they’ll call their friends and say, ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to do this. Or, hey, Fannie’s opening a new multifamily development in your district, you should go to the ribbon cutting ceremony,’” Rosner said.
Several former Gingrich staffers declined to comment on Gingrich’s actual work at Freddie Mac. “I don’t know enough about it,” said Rick Tyler, who worked with Gingrich from July 1999 to June 2011, adding that he doesn’t remember Gingrich’s work on housing, despite the $1.6 million contract. A.J. Young, who served as CFO of The Gingrich Group, told HuffPost he could neither confirm nor deny the information in Bloomberg’s report. Nancy Desmond, a vice president with The Gingrich Group, did not respond to phone calls.
The official talking points for Gingrich’s campaign do not specify the candidate’s actual work with Freddie Mac. They state that Gingrich endorses government support for home ownership, but only “within a context of learning how to budget and save in a responsible way,” which the campaign says Freddie ignored during the housing bubble.
Despite advice that Gingrich may have provided to Freddie Mac, he was on the mortgage giant’s payroll during a massive accounting scandal at the company — which, along with a simultaneous Fannie Mae accounting disaster, was the largest in American corporate history. The company first began paying fines in 2002 to settle charges related to the 101 different violations detailed by its regulator, but continued to settle charges with authorities for years afterward. The debacle forced the company to re-state several years of corporate earnings and resulted in the ouster of Freddie CEO Leland Brendsel, along with an effort to regain his compensation. Gingrich continued to work for Freddie Mac, signing another contract with the company in 2006.
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Emily: In the midst of all of this, it’s nice to have a little laugh. Thanks.
AH: Hello. Happy to see you here. I remember watching a movie on Lizzie Borden, when I was very young, and the rhythmic song that went along…and stuck in my mind for weeks. Thanks for giving us the true bloody details.
Robert: Thank you. Between everything posted here and in the comments section, let’s keep this good thing going.
Clarence: Loved reading your comment. Yes, there is quite the team here, when it comes a variety of topics and aliens is certainly one that my readers enjoy. I am delighted that you have found what has been written by Howie, and PrP, Peter, etc., to be valuable, and inspiring. And to say that you are truly excited to be alive again…well, that is just wonderful. I HOPE that you’ll come back and share some of your 45 years of knowledge with us.
Zen Lill: Just wanted to say hello – Sounds like all is going well!
Alycedale: Excellent comment. I HOPE that you have inspired the stars to speak.
Note: Added 10:43 AM. Please let me be clear if my previous comment was not. What I meant Alycedale, was that I HOPE you have inspired the stars to confront their perpetrators publicly.
Mike: Thanks for your post.
Before I head out to start my day, it seems Glenn Beck thinks it is incredulous that bullets could hit the White House…in fact he finds the reports “laughable”. Can you say, “Ass”. I can say a whole lot more but I’ll leave it at that.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 17th, 2011 at 10:54 am
Newt left his wife on her sick bed to wed another woman. He was thrown out of the House for stealing and now we see his still BAPF.
The republicans are aways in your face about how principled they are. What hypocrites! Or maybe they are just desperate to put any white man up to run against Obama.
Luke
November 17th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Hi Mischa, I couldn’t stop laughing at your BOLD capped title…so appropriate : ) thanks for the shout out and yep, everything is going scary good, love it when the stars align like that.
Cookie, you and me both, babe, the nails aren’t long but they aren’t in my mouth anymore either, and it’s been decades…thanks for chiming in : )
AH, loved the Lizzie story, thank you for coming by, say hey to Bita, lucky woman, wish I could time travel like that.
Luv, Zen Lill
November 17th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/sleep-problems-fibromyalgia-women_n_1095338.html if you need help with this issue, come see me, I’ve got your solution. – ZL
November 17th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Luke if you think that is low for a republican check this link out where Hours after Pennsylvania State Police arrested a 21-year-old Idaho man for allegedly firing a semi-automatic rifle at the White House, the top student official for the College Republicans at the University of Texas tweeted that the idea of assassinating President Obama was “tempting.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/texas-college-gop-leader-obama-assassination-tempting/
November 17th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
So Obama saw something in Australia that made him feel that he should commit troops to the region. As if we got a chance wit aliens
November 17th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Some times a guy just wants to lay his woman. Cause shes so FINE and it rhymes with she’s mine.
She calls he answers and bingo Instant hard-on. Yeah, he could use some control. But what the hell She’s FINE
and she’s mine.
November 17th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
“It would be so easy to say, ‘Well I’m going to retire, I’m going to sit around, watch television or eat bonbons,’ but somebody’s got to keep ’em awake and let ’em know what is really going on in this world.”
http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/occupy-seattle-octogenarian-activist-dorli-rainey-on-being-pepper-sprayed-by-seattle-police-importance-of-activism
Dorli, you go girl!
November 17th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Love the title Michelle. And never was one more apply given.
I’m white, but I guess I not that white because I wouldn’t vote for this creep if my life depended on it.
Donna
November 17th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Oscar:
Probably, only Howie would know for sure but I would venture to guess that Obama will stop in Guam before he heads back because we must have a ton of Alien stuff to show him
Lex
November 17th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Tsarmi:
Are you in Europe or in America or where? I mean this girl has some time and I am not shy.
So let me be you guide to the pleasures of amour.
Heidi
PS, bring your dental dam because this girl likes to be eaten.
November 18th, 2011 at 12:24 am
Eleven-year-old Margaret Morkill of Calgary, Canada was proud of father that day when he came home from the golf course with the big news. Margaret decided to celebrate the achievement in verse and turned out the following:
HOLE IN ONE
H.S. Morkill scored an ace.
It was a great race.
To see who would succeed it first.
Every man and woman cursed.
Because it can to H.S. first.
He won a cup that caused a great thrill
For dear old H.S. Morkill
H.S. Gillies, Eric Richardson, Norman Hanley played with him.
November 18th, 2011 at 1:32 am
We wanted to check in with Tyna but the boost is off. The chatter suggest a landing in south america? We would prefer one nearer the Owl. Our propulsion system requires radon gas. The more we use the less humans have to fear cancer growth we are told. So where do we start to accomplish this help for the surface dwellers?
Do we address Tyna directly? We lost communication as the solar winds caused a bit of interddih between interchange.
Oh, Howie say hello to CARR. We have come to monitor and study your God. No aggression intended we are a scientific vessel.
glma/c1
November 18th, 2011 at 7:39 am
Vina Fields runs a house of Ill-fameOn custom house place, Chicago, has for several years been the largest in the city, employing 40 girls. For this year’s World’s Fair, Vina has doubled the number and trade is booming.
Vina is a black lady, and all her girls are black, though her clientele is exclusively white. It is normal for black harlots to be wickedly exploited by American brothel madams.
But Vina pays her women an excellent percentage of the take, and in return they except the extraordinary discipline which has made her house safe and successful.
Every three days Vina holds a court of enquiry. Girls who have been drinking, soliciting from the windows, lounging the room in a state of disordered undress, or otherwise misbehaving, are fined or given domestic duties to preform.
Serious offenders are dismissed. It is Vina’s proud and true – boast that no client has ever been robbed or cheated in her house.
In addition, Vina uses her personal wealth to alleviate the suffering of others. She supports her own sisters and their husbands in the “Jim Crow” south.
And with a notably severe winter setting in, she has opened her house to the homeless of Chicago in the evenings, Providing free meals for the destitute.
As many as 200 men at one time have eaten from her benevolence.
Mr. W.T. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, has been visiting Chicago and its infamous red light district to collect material for his continuing crusade against prostitution and the white slave trade.
And yet even he remarks, “She is probably as good as any woman can be who conducts so bad a business.”
November 18th, 2011 at 7:53 am
Hafa adai
I just want to send a personal shout out to President Obama’s staff and thank him personally for he has done and what he is doing to help the people of Guam towards self-determination.
No other President has even considered our cause. This is another reason why Mr. Robert was correct when he stated that having a country run by only WHITE MEN has left most OTW issues non existent in the eyes of the country.
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Guam – The commission on decolonization met today to discuss it’s plans for educating the public on self-determination. these plans all hinge on one major thing…money.
The meeting began with the welcoming of it’s newest member, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua will now head the task force on independence after Trini Torres handed over the reigns saying she would like to pass the torch to the younger generation.
The commission spent the day discussing how they plan on educating the public about decolonization also known as self-determination.
Self-determination is the selection of Guam’s political status something that will take a vote known as a plebiscite to accomplish.
Guam law provides that the island choose between statehood, free association or independence. Currently the island is an unincorporated territory of the United States.
In order to educate the public on self-determination the commission is planning on moving forward with an aggressive public outreach an educational campaign but this campaign will cost money. A lot of money.
“It’s gonna be an expensive campaign as we all know advertising is not cheap and we definitely have to have print and media in this campaign grass roots is good too but print and media will get a lot more mileage but it’s gonna be expensive it’s gonna be well over two million dollars,” said Commission Director Ed Alvarez.
Obama has committed $250 thousand dollars to assist Guam in education efforts but other than this the commission really has no money.
Governor Eddie Calvo explains. “Understanding the budgetary issues that are affecting the community that budget request was slashed by about $140 thousand dollars and we are having some difficult times in terms of budgetary constraints,” explained the governor.
So there is essentially no money for the commission for this fiscal year. The governor says that this means the work the commission does will be primarily happy labor and soft work until the commission gets properly funded something he hopes will happen by next fiscal year.
In the meantime they will try to educate the public via PBS, the legislative channel, and any other free mediums they can utilize. Former senator and commission member Eddie Duenas asked his fellow members to pin down a date for the plebiscite or vote for political status.
“Personally and I’ve stated publicly a timetable for 2014 particular to a general election that is something that I would see as I would be favorable to as if it were to be a vote that was taken,” said Governor Calvo.
Ultimately the commission didn’t vote on a particular date for the election as commission members had more questions as to the ability to properly educate and register enough people before 2014.
The commission will meet on every first and third Thursday of the month at four p.m.
=======================
Thank you Mr. President for all you have done for Guam and for the unbiased way you have led the nation.
Peter
November 18th, 2011 at 8:12 am
DOES BOTOX CAUSE WRINKLES?
Have you heard the news? The media has been reporting that Botox, the extremely popular wrinkle reducer, actually can cause wrinkles!
The truth is, this “news flash” originated in a 2002 paper written by dermatologist David Becker, MD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
It appears that Dr. Becker’s paper has surfaced again, all these years later, to the dismay of some dermatologists — and their patients — worried about whether their efforts to look younger might end up making them look older.
IT’S TRUE…
Given the millions of dollars being spent each year on Botox, I thought it important to find the truth, so I checked in with Ellen Marmur, MD, who has worked closely with Dr. Becker and is now the chief of dermatologic and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
She is also the author of the book Simple Skin Beauty.
Why Botox causes wrinkles: Dr. Marmur explained to me that our faces have about 40 muscles, many of which are in interlaced groups.
Dr. Becker’s theory is that when Botox is injected to deaden one group (thereby eliminating certain wrinkles), the patient’s brain sometimes adjusts by “recruiting” other muscle groups in the same part of the face to frown or laugh or do whatever the treated muscles once did.
The temporary result is… new wrinkles! Dr. Marmur told me that this happens most often after Botox injections between the brows — when the person attempts to frown, the brain recruits muscles next to the upper nose creating what’s been described as “bunny lines” on either side.
Why bunny lines? Because the face looks like a sniffing rabbit. Other unwanted new visitors to your face may include vertical lines above the middle of the eyebrow or a deepened horizontal forehead line right above the eyebrows.
Dr. Becker suggests for patients who already have this problem that an additional shot of Botox (or two) targeting the new problem area may be the solution.
Dr. Marmur concurs… but added that for a dermatologist working with a new patient, the best strategy is to start with a “less is more” approach to learn the minimum amount of Botox needed to smooth out wrinkles.
Botox can take a few weeks to achieve its full effect, so starting with a minimal amount can let doctors see which patients develop bunny lines or other new wrinkles and then try to eliminate them with small additional injections.
Dr. Marmur noted that, when it’s all done right, you will have a natural, refreshed look — but that Botox therapy is always a work in progress.
So expect that a touch-up about two weeks after the initial injection might be necessary… or even that you might let one area wear off and not do that site next time. As our faces age, the treatments are likely to change.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE
Choosing to have Botox for cosmetic purposes is a personal decision, but it should not be a casual one.
If you are interested, be sure to select a dermatologist who is highly professional about medical procedures and the use of Botox.
This would include taking your complete medical history… advising you on what to expect as well as alternative noninvasive treatments that might be more appropriate…
performing the procedure at a facility that is appropriate for medical procedures and capable of handling medical emergencies.
You should have Botox done only by a trained cosmetic doctor, such as a dermatologist.
There are a lot of nondoctors administering Botox these days in spas and kiosks at the mall, and there even are self-injections that you can buy off the Internet — as if getting Botox is just a breeze.
It isn’t — it’s a toxin that’s injected into the body… safe for most people, but only if administered correctly.
Source(s):
Ellen Marmur, MD, chief of dermatologic and cosmetic surgery, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City, and author of Simple Skin Beauty (Atria).
November 23rd, 2011 at 2:35 pm
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December 2nd, 2011 at 5:25 am
take a look at what this guy is doing with sapphire titanium rings over on his website, theyis really making a great deal of superior work…
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