Ignoring the "I" Word

Let's take a break from Iraq.... the White House blitz of propaganda about our "progress" in Iraq featuring fables from Gen. Petraeus, and bogus anniversary hype tying 9/11 to Iraq.... promise, that's the last time the "I" word will appear in this post.

How about some White House gossip? In "Rove Replacement Seen as Highly Partisan Go-Getter," by Michael Abramowitz (WaPo) he dishes some savory stuff.

Rove's replacement is.... his longtime deputy Barry Jackson described by a GOP acquaintance from Capital Hill as.... "none of this 'let's get along' kind of stuff...the man behind The Man." The man behind Turd Blossom's throne now has his own crappy attitude.

In his new book, "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush" by Robert Draper, he recounts that when the White House chief of staff Bolten approached Don Rumsfeld's old press secretary, Torie Clarke, about becoming White House press secretary, she told Clarke she would rather commit suicide. Guess that's a "no."

Draper also reported that when asked to help woo Henry Paulson to become Treasury secretary, our humble Boy George snapped, "He should be begging me."

And, the final word from our bike boy.... Bush, at the opening of his speech to business leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last week, told Australian Prime Minister John Howard.... "Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit..."

Just sit down George.... we're begging you.

The Rest of the Foreclosure Story....

There is more than meets the eye here.... "Bush to Offer Proposals To Ease Mortgage Crisis." (WaPo)

Yes, The Decider and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, will propose changes in the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program that will allow more people to refinance with FHA insurance if they fall behind on adjustable-rate mortgages.

You know, those are the mortgage loans made at an initial low interest rate...."come into my financial web" said the mortgage loan spider.... and then balloon to stratospheric rates after a few years.

In the next two years, it is estimated that 2 million more mortgage loans to risky, or sub-prime, borrowers will adjust upward fueling what is already a tsunami of foreclosures.... so the government is taking steps to rescue some financially floundering homeowners from opportunistic lenders and prop up our destabilized economy.

But there's a lot more to the story.

In April it was estimated that 50 percent of Blacks, and 40 percent of Hispanics had sub-prime loans.... loans usually made to people with low incomes and/or poor credit.... in the last decade, Hispanic home ownership has shot up by nearly 70 percent!

But, now sub-prime loans with either high interest rates or balloon payments have become unsustainable for those lured into them. Groups like the NAACP and National Council of La Raza have been calling for action, and pressuring the government.

And, herein is the story behind the story.

In 2005, CNN reported: "Banking on Illegal Immigrants." Are you surprised? Yes, banks want their business. A bad idea in more than one way, because besides sending the message to illegal immigrants: break our laws and we'll reward you with a home.... many worried that "lack of knowledge on the part of illegal immigrants could pave the way for abuse in the form of predatory lending."

Prescient.

How was this possible? The government issues ITIN's which are a nine-digit tax processing number, given by the IRS to people who don't qualify for a social security number. And, as legal residency isn't required to obtain an ITIN.... "many illegal immigrants use this form of identification to pay U.S. taxes and buy homes."

Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent, an independent research firm, said, "Illegal immigrants are here to stay and banks are recognizing that. If you do a niche market well and know how to price it, banks can have some attractive margins. Banks are counting on the fact that we do a lousy job with interior enforcement.... the chances of being deported are very slim. Banks are banking on that."

In other words, banks can make sub-prime loans with the full faith and knowledge that Bush's government, with a complicit Congress, won't enforce immigration laws, and in fact encourage illegal immigration with their ITINs and no-oversight of usury lending practices.

A back door amnesty policy... now a national financial albatross and a reality check on the American dream for the exploited illegal immigrants.

Oxymoron: Wolfowitz Ethics

In the back and forth between sugar-daddy CEO Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank over the obscene pay raise he engineered for his girlfriend Shaha Riza, Wolfowitz said he had to be the one to give her the raise because the Bank's ethics committee "members did not want to deal with a very angry Ms. Riza."

Ohhhhh.... she might get mad.... and the powerful ethics panel members are quaking under their mahogany executive desks.... give her whatever she wants.

Yep, that's Wolfowitz's defense.

According to Wolfowitz, the ethics committee told him after he arrived in 2005 that he couldn't directly supervise his girlfriend Riza, who also worked at the Bank, but declined to oversee her job transfer and compensation, instead ordering him to handle those tasks.

Seems reasonable, after all he is the World Bank's CEO. And, he could have delegated the task to a Bank Vice President.

So, just who is afraid of Virginia.... errr, Shaha Riza, and why.

Wolfowitz actually admitted Riza's "intractable position" in demanding a salary increase as compensation for her transfer forced him to grant one to avoid a lawsuit.

Hello? Doesn't that sound like blackmail. Could it be that Wolfowitz's pillow partner knows where the bones are buried. Like his role in the Big Lie leading to the invasion of Iraq? Like the inside scoop on The Decider's modus operandi? So, just give her a big ($50,000) raise to shut her up.

The Bush administration is going ballistic over the idea of Wolfowitz being canned by the outraged Bank board . Lead mouthpiece VP Cheney appeared on FOX news (where else) proclaiming Wolfowitz "is a very good president of the World Bank."

The White House is demanding Wolfowitz stay on the basis of executive privilege.... the self-proclaimed traditional right of the United States to name the head of this world institution, that his mistakes don't warrant his being fired. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is busy on the phone with overseas finance ministers pimping for the administration's favorite sugar daddy to keep his job.

Shortly we'll find out if the World Bank actually does have ethics (the dust-up over Riza isn't their only beef with Wolfowitz) or, if the Bush bully boys have now infected this once-respected world institution....

Then, the scary Riza gets to keep her job, her raise, her broom.... and, her secrets.