are the democrats unrealistic?

What on earth this is doing on a RE thread is beyond me. Next are we going to discuss the absurd, let alone "unrealistic," Republican planning and execution of the Iraqi war? Aren't there news blogs or political forums for this kind of stuff?

Probably more realistic than the republicans which drove this country into the ground.

George W. Bush was probably the WORST and most incompetent person to be in the oval office for the past decade.

Probably more realistic than the republicans which drove this country into the ground.

Explain how the bad legislation that enabled this financial crises mostly occured under Bill Clinton's watch. commodity Futures Modernization Act anyone? Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act Anyone else?

How this gets thrown on the Republicans. The contributed in part but not in whole..

Riversider, GLB Act had absolutely nothing to do with the current crisis. It modernized antiquated Depression-era banking laws that separated investment banks from commercial. Passage of the bill actually helped today by enabling banks to acquire failing investment banks that would have otherwise gone bankrupt (Bear Stearns, Merrill). Canada never had such restrictions and its banks are currently among the strongest in the world.

The current crisis was the result of numerous factors, but this isn't one. There's plenty of blame to go around, but get the facts straight.

Gramm Leach Bliley was a republican bill passed while the republicans were in complete control of congress. it was passed with a veto proof majority of republican votes. Clinton had no choice but to sign it.

Anyone who doesnt believe this disaster is solely to blame on the republicans is a moron or a republican, most likely both.

I guess Larry Summers , Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton who signed it into measure were secret agents? Get REAL! This was a joint effort. Robert Rubin's role with respect to Citi is legendary..

what does veto proof mean?

please answer - were clinton, summers or Rubin able to veto the republican legislation?

what does veto proof mean
Petrfritz, Presidents veto legislation all the time regardless of the outcome of over-ride. You seem to have some information that Bill Clinton would have vetoed it if Congressional support was not as high as it was. Facts please? Nothing I am aware of would back up this claim.

On a related note, Rubin & Summers scolded Brooksley Born of the CFTC for attempting to regulate derivatives.

you seem to want to pass the blame from the guys who wrote, championed and voted on this legislation to the guy who had no choice to sign it.

same argument Repubs use on Iraq War - you guys championed it, voted on it in majority, cherry picked information, misled the congress and the American people, but ditto heads like you blame the Iraq fiasco on the democratic congressmen and senators who voted to support the president when he lied to them about immenent nuclear attack from iraq.

you guys championed it, voted on it in majority

This is an emotional appeal and unsubstaniated. Move on.

Glass-Steagall repeal was on deck for years but stalled in Congress during the time Senator Al D'Amato chaired the senate banking committee - he stalled it because he received lots of support from Wall St bankers, who didn't want the competition from commercial banks. But the law never made sense from a commercial standpoint - it affected American banks' ability to compete among global institutions and impeded internal risk management efforts.

After D'Amato left the Senate the bill was finally repealed when a Texan, with little ties to wall st, chaired the banking committe.

Republican or Democrat, it doesn't matter. It's all the same crap.

denier.

your team f'd everything up.

you implemented all your policies unfettered and they were a disaster. you guys are done.

Palin 2012! Woohoo. brilliant

Fricking Nancy Pelosi.

denier.

your team f'd everything up.

you implemented all your policies unfettered and they were a disaster. you guys are done.

Palin 2012! Woohoo. b

Sounds like what's going on right now behind closed doors in Albany.

Puerile...

Come on, Riversider. When presidents veto legislation knowing that the veto will be overriden that's a purely symbolic act-- and a tactically stupid admission of political powerlessness. Neither Summers nor Rubin had any constitutional power to veto anything. Now can we actually talk about something that has to do with New York real estate, please?

The Clinton administration had this country pointed the right way for the next decade. We were suppose to be running a surplus by 2011, instead we will be running 1.2 trillion deficit annually. If we would to just take a step back and see how this war in Iraq not only took the lives of our young Americans, it also put a financial burden for all of us and our future children. This war IS KILLING US. A war that was brought to us by lies and deceit from the Bush administration.

It was also under the Bush administration that RATES plummeted into historical lows to drive the buying binge in housing and everything else.

carol, bush screwed up plenty, but direction we're going in now is beyond stupid - it's criminal
funny you not going after current admin for spending 15 trillion

Both bills had broad support, from within the white house and Congress. Rubin and his protege Summers are well known for believing in free markets and were believers in this legislation. In fairness to all parties derivatives had not yet evolved to their current state. The behind the scenes action with regards to Rubin & Summers & Greenspan marginalizing Brooksley Born who thought derivatives needed to be regulated is the stuff of legend. The story about how Citibank merger jumped the gun and how they lobbied Rubin is also well documented. I'm not sure why some Democrats think their parties drek doesn't stink as much as Republican brand.

Pelosi is a lot more like Cheney than people want to believe. It is just that her constituency is from California, whereas Cheney's constituency was from Montana.

The Clinton administration had this country pointed the right way for the next decade

Economic policies take a while to take effect. So you could argue that Clinton benefited from Ronald Regan and George Bush Sr.

If you're going to try and pin macroeconomic movements on specific individuals, then all the credit goes to Nixon who opened the doors to China and their cheap, cheap labor.

Thats right - Nixon = best president ever. It's either that or accepting the fact that none of these folks have as much influence as they think they have over the global economy and its just biased fingerpointing.

Nixon was a good president on many fronts, mostly foreign policy. But price controls were a disaster so I'd have to disagree.

nixon's major contribution to what we're dealing with today was the elimination of the gold standard (or whatever you want to call the diluted form of it was at the time)

Anyone who wants to argue that the problems are all the fault of one party is just biased and can't be taken seriously.

Imagine a country that discoves a new ore deposit. Nope that's wrong.

"George W. Bush was probably the WORST and most incompetent person to be in the oval office for the past decade."

True, but looks like Obama is a close 2nd & may actually exceed Bush & take that title.

IMO, Bush acted out of ignorance, stupidity & negligence, whereas Obama is intentionally dismantling & destroying this country as we know it before our eyes. The amount of Executive Orders & the bypassing of Congress (not that they're much help) is frightening. Gd knows what this country will look like at the end of his 4 years.

Midterm elections: vote to change Congress so that an equilibrium can be restored between Executive & Legislative branches.

The EU (European Union) just voted to the right and we are going to the left....how sad is this!

Do you think she meant the past century, not the past decade?

The Europeans know better than anyone that high taxes and excessive gov't involvment in industry do not promote growth. If it were France would be an economic super-power.

Maybe we need lower taxes, less gov't spending with some sensible regulation. Laisez Faire economics didn't work(sorry Greenspan), but having the gov't dictate everything is certainly no better(sorry Obama).

George W. Bush was probably the WORST

Africa loves George W
George W tried to reign in the GSE's

He aint the best, but I doubt he's the worst. And the u.s. didn't have a terrorist attack since 9/11

Riversider, you are correct in that Rubin, Sandy Weill and others involved with the Citi/Travelers mergere lobbied hard to get GLA passed, but it was also legislation that benefitted others in the industry.

Citi's demise was a result of bad management, not laws or lack thereof.

The problems in the US resulted in part from an ineffective regulatory framework enacted after the Depression, not blanket 'de-regulation' imposed by Bush (who, in fact lobbied hard for stricter oversight of Fannie & Freddie, only to be overruled first by republicans in Congress and later by Barney Frank, who ageed to some reform but not enough).

Citi's demise was a result of bad management, not laws or lack thereof

I would argue, though I would not have then, that the allowing off balance sheet vehicles and questionably legal methods of reducing regulatory capital should not have been allowed and did not really benefit the Economy. Citibank & AIG are two clear examples AIG through reinsurance and then CDS was a key user and promoter(reinsurance & CDS). Citi in a slightly different way through SIV,S etc.

Insurance companies would enter into reinsurance agreements to reduce regulatory capital and then enter into iliegal side letters negating that reinsurance. Spitzer amongst others caught on and that's when AIG and others moved on to CDS. This is probably why Goldman and others were made whole by the gov't on the CDS bets. More information is available on IRA's website..

I agree w what you say, Riversider, but these issues again have nothing to do w GLA - the "law" I was referring to.

AIG (the holding company) was an unregulated entity that wasn't subject to the same capital requirements as bank and took risks that nobody in that organization understood how to manage. Citi was a result of bad management decisions, one hand didn't know what the other was doing and only a (relative) handful of people made decisions that brought the place to its knees. The regulators were so focued on other issues with Citi they missed this one.

good point

dwell, you are so stupid and misinformed that I don't even know where to start.

goolsbee how do you know 914 sold for $870K...

"I guess Larry Summers , Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton who signed it into measure were secret agents? "

LOL.

> The EU (European Union) just voted to the right and we are going to the left....how sad is this!

Because I think they figured out that with our new socialism here, we won't have any money left to pay for their socialism.

Now that mommy and daddy are broke, they realize they have to get off the couch and get some sort of job thing going. An economy would be nice.

Just more kabuki on the Potomac. Anyone catch the Democrats & Republicans fighting it out in Albany? How about sensible reform without going overboard.

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/133931

I just love that Smith got bitch-slapped!

I just love that Smith got bitch-slapped!
???

malcolm smith....

Ah justice.
The only other difference between our state legislatures and our Federal ones is the p.r. people they hire... Did anyone see Barney Frank get offended at CNBC?

Sen. Malcolm Smith is making good on his pledge to seek legal intervention in an effort to block the Senate Republicans and his two renegade members, Sens. Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate, from going into session this afternoon.

Attorneys representing the apparently deposed majority leader are right now in court in Troy, according to Smith spokesman Austin Shafran with whom I spoke very briefly this morning.

It's not clear to me what they're doing across the river from the Capitol (although it's kind of ironic, given that Rensselaer County is the home of former Majority Leader Joe Bruno, and Troy was once a political stronghold for him).

It appears to be one of two things: Either the judge tapped to hear expidited motions is sitting in Troy, or the Democrats are judge shopping.

All this was supposed to happen yesterday, but since Dean Skelos, Espada, Monserrate et al didn't follow through on their plans to hold a session (despite Espada's never-proved claim that he had obtained the key to the chamber doors that Angelo Aponte is refusing to open), it was sort of moot.

UPDATE: Apparently, what the Democrats are seeking is for a judge to declare that Smith is still the majority leader, which could be tricky given the whole separation of powers thing that generally makes the courts leery of interfering in legislative power struggles.

There's also some speculation among the Republicans that the Dems might be hoping to land Justice Eugene DeVine, who is close to Sen. Neil Breslin (both of them worked at the Albany firm of Girvin & Ferlazzo).

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/06/as-promised-smith-goes-to-cour.html#ixzz0IASCArQa&C

Actually, I forgot.... NY Mag covered that the NYS Senate hired a FORMER DJ to do PR! They want to be just as pathetic as Barney Frank!

this must be seen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JT8eGzEB-Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3DALBANY%2520SENATE%26sourceid%3Dnavclient-ff%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS308US309%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN%26ta&feature=player_embedded

Who elected these idiots?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/nyregion/12albany.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion

Has anyone been following Albany?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124485570492311713.html

A week of political theater in New York's capitol took a court-imposed intermission Friday, bringing down the curtain on shenanigans that began with an attempted state Senate coup by Republicans, and Democrats locking their rivals out of the chamber.

The upheaval was orchestrated by billionaire Thomas Golisano, founder of payroll processor Paychex. He said he recruited Messrs. Espada and Monserrate to join with Republicans, primarily to remedy what he viewed as excessive state spending.

But the two senators brought some baggage with them across the aisle.

Mr. Monserrate was indicted in March on three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of third-degree assault. Prosecutors said he cut a woman on her face with a piece of glass. A spokesman declined to comment, but Mr. Monserrate has pleaded not guilty and previously has characterized the incident as an accident.

Mr. Espada is being investigated by the Bronx District Attorney's office to see whether he lives in the Bronx, which he represents. Mr. Espada declined to comment.

http://brennan.3cdn.net/ec21bc2f8e70edb787_j9m6b0k88.pdf

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/still_broken_new_york_state_legislative_reform_2008_update/#summary

and the summary (and my summary WONDERFUL!!!)
* In both chambers, but especially in the Assembly, leadership maintained a stranglehold on the flow of legislation at all stages of the legislative process.

* Committee meetings were infrequent in both chambers and sparsely attended in the Senate, where members can vote without being physically present.

* Most standing committees in both chambers failed to hold any hearings on major legislation.

* There were no detailed committee reports attached to major bills in the Senate, and the Assembly rules do not require substantive reports to accompany bills reported out of committee.

* Legislators introduced an extraordinary number of bills in both houses during each session, while only a small percentage received a floor vote.

* 100% of the bills that leadership allowed to reach the floor of either chamber for a vote passed with almost no debate.

* Senate records indicate that many of the bills that received a floor vote lacked critical and required information about their fiscal impact, usually passing the full chamber without any meaningful debate or dissent.

* The use of conference committees to reconcile similar bills in each chamber remained the exceedingly rare exception, rather than the rule.

* Member resources were distributed inequitably in both chambers on the basis of party, loyalty and seniority.

* Much of the legislative process remains opaque; records are difficult to obtain without burdensome "freedom of information" requests, and key records of deliberation—such as "no" votes on procedural motions in the Senate—are not maintained.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/opinion/13sat2.html?scp=3&sq=ny%20senate&st=cse

Have I not been calling for removal of these idiots since I've been on the board.

We're SURPRISED by this?

A former director at the federal Commodity Future Trading Commission says President Obama's overhaul of the nation's financial regulation has one flaw.

Michael Greenberger, now a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, says the president has granted extended power to the Federal Reserve in part to protect large banks and other institutions that are considered to be "too big to fail."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0609/ObeyWaters_shouting_match_on_floor.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24167.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvnL3npQgY

Does Pelosi want the u.s. to import more oil? If we punish American coal we'll import more oil(that's my Pelosi-math). I'm all for cleaner air, but I can't see it any other way...

http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/2009/06/waxmanmarkey-flunks-math.html
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/29/aces-up-her-sleeve

In the U.S., electricity is produced from these sources. If you are reading this on a handheld and can't read Wikipedia's wonderful pie chart, here is the breakdown:

48.9% -- Coal
20% -- Natural Gas
19.3% -- Nuclear
1.6% -- Petroleum

If France can get 80% of their energy needs from nuclear, the US should be able to get a lot more than 19.3%. Clearly, there are problems with nuclear power, then again, there are problems with every source of energy (just ask Teddy Kennedy - those nasty wind turbines off the coast of Martha's Vineyard spoiled his view - but I digress). We do know that relying on oil from the Middle East and people that have a visceral hatred of the US is not a sustainable strategy. Weren't 15 or so 9/11 hijackers Saudis (our allies??). Additionally, it would significantly reduce our commitment to that volatile region because if we didn't need oil, who really cares what happens there.

Nuclear is the best option, Short term the cap & trade bill will push us to import more oil and refined petroleum products. This is probably more about generating revenue for treasury than clean air.

Hey Riversider - I dont remember you ever criticising the Bush Administration. Do you think that the Obama Administration is doing a worse job than the republicans did under George W?

Hey Riversider - I dont remember you ever criticising the Bush Administration. Do you think that the Obama Administration is doing a worse job than the republicans did under George W?

Good question.
I think the Obama is actually performing worse than the public perception and Bush perfromed better than perceived. That said, I think Obama has gotten a number of things right and Bush a number of things wrong. On the regulation front, Bush Gave us Christopher Cox and failed to do the right thing with regards to OTS. Bush does get credit for trying to reign in the GSE's. I fault Obama for doing too much at once, My criticisms of Obama are really more aimed at Rubin, Summers & Geithner along with Pelosi & Barney Frank. And I do think that Rubin is a behind the scnenes influence.

The fact that Obama has chosen Summers & Geithner to clean up the financial mess is kind of like hiring the arsonissts as firemen(Gerstner quote). They are very smart people, but laid the ground work that contributed much to our current crises. Plus they are "wasting a good crises" to quote Hillary & Rahm.
They should be shrinking citi, giving more power to the FDIC, reigning in derivatives more and not making the Fed a super-regulator, considering the Fed doesn't rally answer to anyone and is a bank trade group...

Plus by increasing taxes at this juncture, Obama administration risks putting us in a protracted recession. The stimulus package was not really about job creation..

isn't blaming obama for doing "too much" kind of like yelling at your kid for doing the extra credit question on his math test?

isn't blaming obama for doing "too much" kind of like yelling at your kid for doing the extra credit question on his math test?

No, it is more like questioning his ability to be an effective manager. Being President is like being the CEO of large company. You make choices and prioritize. When everything is a priority , nothing is.

It will be interesting to see how all these priorities get carried out. Will they be effectively managed and resources spent wisely.

"isn't blaming obama for doing "too much" kind of like yelling at your kid for doing the extra credit question on his math test? "

I think its more like your kid cleaning out your bank account and giving it all to charity.

people, do you really think Obama does everything himself? He has an entire cabinet and not to mention a bunch of Czars.

Hey, perfitz is back!

Perfitz, you never commented on your fantastic Lake Las Vegas investment going bankrupt. How is that going?!?!?

"Probably more realistic than the republicans which drove this country into the ground."

Do tell -- which Republicans were those?

You realize, of course, that all spending bills come out of CONGRESS, which has had a Democratic majority since the mid-90s.

reminder - includes fights between nyc10022 and Petrfitz
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/11716-all-fights-between-nyc10022-and-someone-else-should-just-be-here

this one is a special case though... perfitz has been "missing" for months....

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/08/06/pelosis-imperial-speakership-gulfstream-jets-for-her-congressional-air-force.html

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California is letting her position go to her head. As the head of "the people's house," she is second in the line of presidential succession, behind only the vice president, in the event an unexpected vacancy opens up, midterm, inside the Oval Office. That no House Speaker has ascended to the presidency since James K. Polk did it in 1844 (having first been governor of Tennessee and then actually running for and winning the presidency in a national election) has apparently not escaped Pelosi's notice because she is creating around her all the trappings of an "imperial speakership."

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/unamerican-attacks-cant-derail-health-care-debate-.html

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08222009/news/regionalnews/paterson_whines__racism__185821.htm

The state's first black governor yesterday blamed his political woes -- and those of President Obama -- on a white-dominated media that he accused of taking part in an "orchestrated" attack campaign.

"We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said in a freewheeling interview on the liberal talk-radio station WWRL. "My feeling is it's being orchestrated, it's a game, and people who pay attention know that."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26356.html

A committee spokeswoman defended the probes — saying lawmakers need to know that private insurance money is being spent effectively as part of the effort to control costs
. But the trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is crying foul, saying Waxman is merely trying to bring it in line behind his version of the health reform bill.

“Congressional oversight is not a tool that should be used to chill dissent,” said AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach. “These investigations are nothing more than politically motivated, taxpayer-financed fishing expeditions designed to intimidate and silence health plans.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26356.html#ixzz0OuM688fP

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57K4XE20090821
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.

I thought Obama is the worst president on earth's history as his spending is beyond outrageous.
All his programs had failed without any results. His poll is dropping like comets from space.
Bottom feeders and illegals continue to leech off of the middle class and above.

Yes, but everything is turning around and everything will be free and easy for one and all. Don't you read the papers and watch CNN?

Riversider, you are so wrong, and so invested in being wrong, and so maniacal in your hate....half of this thread (yes, 50%) consists of posts by you. People here are in general just not interested in your right wing rants.
Go spread Fox toxic fumes somewhere else.
People, remember where we were last year and where we are today. ba294, until Obama gets to be the worst president in history, you might want to check your high school books again (if you ever did) and revise your concept. Many presidents have conducted genocides.

All democrats when first joining the party are issued 'democraic shoes'. Prehaps you have seen them or prehaps you have a pair in the closet. If you've fogotten which pair they are, it's the one with targets painted on them so you don't miss when you shoot.

Is Obama an effective CEO? This seems unheard of..

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/us/politics/24confirm.html?hp

WASHINGTON — As President Obama tries to turn around a summer of setbacks, he finds himself still playing without most of his own team. Seven months into his presidency, fewer than half of his top appointees are in place advancing his agenda.

Of more than 500 senior policymaking positions requiring Senate confirmation, just 43 percent have been filled so far — a reflection of a White House that grew more cautious after several nominations blew up last spring, a Senate that is intensively investigating nominees and a legislative agenda that has consumed both.

The sluggish pace has kept Mr. Obama from having his own people enacting programs central to his mission. He is trying to fix the financial markets but does not have an assistant treasury secretary for financial markets. He is spending more money on transportation than anyone since Dwight D. Eisenhower but does not have his own inspector general watching how the dollars are used. He is fighting two wars but does not have an Army secretary.

If you’re running G.M. without half your senior executives in place, are you worried? I’d say your stockholders would be going nuts,” said Terry Sullivan, a professor at the University of North Carolina and executive director of the White House Transition Project, which tracks appointments.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/25743.html
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003194205&parm1=5&cpage=1

Riversider,

Is Bloomberg realistic?

This can help the US economy...

Impose a 10% tax on ALL RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS including their properties!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aBusmy.JWs_Q

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A federal court rejected an attempt by two Ohio residents to use the so-called TurboTax defense that Timothy Geithner relied on to help win Senate confirmation as U.S. Treasury Secretary.

The U.S. Tax Court in Washington rejected an appeal of accuracy-based penalties assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on Kenneth and Linda Hopson, who claimed they relied on tax-return preparation software that failed to detect income they had omitted from their 2006 federal tax returns.

Don't worry about that pesky little U.S. Constitution prada . . .

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278298

"Pelosi, one of Obama's top Democratic allies, was reminding Americans that reforming the health care system was a cause dear to the heart of Kennedy, who died late Tuesday after losing a long battle with brain cancer," AFP reported. 'Sadly, Senator Kennedy left us exactly one year after he inspired the nation with his speech of optimism, vitality, and courage at the Convention in Denver,' she said."
Senator Kennedy described his pursuit of government-sponsored health care as "the cause of my life," saying also that "the dream lives on" in the Obama presidency - with regard to passing health care legislation.
"Today, with the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the American people have lost a great patriot, and the Kennedy family has lost a beloved patriarch," Pelosi said, according to AFP. "Over a lifetime of leadership, Senator Kennedy's statesmanship and political prowess produced a wealth of accomplishment that has improved opportunity for every American."

Wow , just heard about this.... Of course there are many interpretations....

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2326939/posts

http://law.jrank.org/pages/8357/Logan-Act.html

The Logan Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 953 [1948]) is a single federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Specifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization.

Congress established the Logan Act in 1799, less than one year after passage of the ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS, which authorized the arrest and deportation of ALIENS and prohibited written communication defamatory to the U.S. government. The 1799 act was named after Dr. George Logan. A prominent Republican and Quaker from Pennsylvania, Logan did not draft or introduce the legislation that bears his name, but was involved in the political climate that precipitated it.

In the late 1790s, a French trade embargo and jailing of U.S. seamen created animosity and unstable conditions between the United States and France. Logan sailed to France in the hope of presenting options to its government to improve relations with the United States and quell the growing anti-French sentiment in the United States. France responded by lifting the embargo and releasing the captives. Logan's return to the United States was marked by Republican praise and Federalist scorn. To prevent U.S. citizens from interfering with negotiations between the United States and foreign governments in the future, the Adams administration

Read more: http://law.jrank.org/pages/8357/Logan-Act.html#ixzz0PaQ32hA5

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/56789-afl-cio-dems-push-new-wall-street-tax

IT IS ONE THING TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD.. ANOTHER THING TO TAX IT

The nation’s largest labor union and some allied Democrats are pushing a new tax that would hit big investment firms such as Goldman Sachs reaping billions of dollars in profits while the rest of the economy sputters.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26672.html
Is Obama "realistic"

On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

Democrats play solitaire apparently...
http://www.courant.com/

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, far right, speaks while colleagues Rep. Barbara Lambert, D-Milford, and Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, play solitaire Monday night as the House convened to vote on a new budget. (AP)

mimi, Riversider, you are so wrong, and so invested in being wrong, and so maniacal in your hate....half of this thread (yes, 50%) consists of posts by you. People here are in general just not interested in your right wing rants.
Go spread Fox toxic fumes somewhere else.

Who made you in charge of deciding on streeteasy discussion topics? You got through 70-80 posts, "half of this thread" by Riversider who offends you with "toxic fumes", and still kept reading and are weary of Riversider and his position? I bet you were Fuming. Livid. Why subject yourself to it? Huh? Maybe you ought to reconsider where you stand in this whole mess, a non U.S. resident without a stake who can just jaunt off to your South American paradise and look at all the poor people you pass by on the streets on the way to your hair and nail appointment.
Maybe put Riversider on ignore, or better yet, after reading two or three posts on a thread you don't like, or even better than that, after seeing a discussion header you don't like, MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE.

why does anyone with an iota of intelligence even bother responding to any of this? whaddabuncha illiterates! is Streeteasy the Hub for unemployed morons with nothing to do? guess I better logoff before I, too, am guilty by association.

Myerbarrak, you made me laugh today! Here, from my south-american paradise, i stand proud. Enjoy it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/02/AR2009090203082_pf.html

FOR POLITICIANS with major bad news to release or to make public, there's no time like the dead of August to do it. The thinking goes that the public won't remember a thing come September. We hope Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) will have no such luck. His belated revelation of previously unreported income, property and bank accounts demands that he step aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Mr. Rangel's amended financial disclosure form, which exposes omissions from his 2002 through 2006 records, is a treasure trove of outrage. He neglected to report a checking account with the Congressional Federal Credit Union and one with Merrill Lynch, each valued between $250,000 and $500,000; the tens of thousands of dollars he's earning from dividends from a number of mutual funds and stocks; and the money made from the sale of a Harlem townhouse. As a result, Mr. Rangel's reported net worth doubled, from between $516,015 and $1,316,000 to between $1,028,024 and $2,495,000.

Kabuki on the Potomac
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26783.html

Stripping the Harlem Democrat of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee would force Pelosi to make a series of unpalatable decisions about Rangel’s successor that would create a ruckus in the Democratic caucus.

It would also infuriate the Congressional Black Caucus, which is still sore over Pelosi’s decision to strip committees from former Louisiana Rep. Bill Jefferson – even after Jefferson had been found with a wad of tainted cash in his kitchen.

“Unless they find $90,000 in his freezer
, like they did with Jefferson, we’re going to wait [for the outcome of a House ethics probe],” said a Democratic aide familiar with Pelosi’s thinking on the matter.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26783.html#ixzz0QHBwRxSB

Democrats thought, hey we won and we've got this great President everyone loves. Therefore we don't need to explain why America needs a healthcare system overhaul. They also thought that you could just tack on healthcare along with Union Card Check and a bit spending stimulus and all of this would pass because everyone supports the Democrats and will do what they say.

Yes they are all unrealistic. They all want to take from someone else and give to no one. Housing, healthcare, green jobs.

Ayn Rand on Socialism

"Socialism is the doctrine that man has no right to exist for his own sake, that his life and his work do not belong to him, but belong to society, that the only justification of his existence is his service to society, and that society may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good."
- From The New Intellectual

"The essential characteristic of socialism is the denial of individual property rights; under socialism, the right to property (which is the right of use and disposal) is vested in 'society as a whole,' i.e., in the collective, with production and distribution controlled by the state, i.e., by the government. Socialism may be established by force, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - or by vote, as in Nazi (National Socialist) Germany. The degree of socialization may be total, as in Russia - or partial, as in England. Theoretically, the differences are superficial; practically, they are only a matter of time. The basic principle, in all cases, is the same."
- From "The Monument Builders"

"There is no difference between the principles, policies and practical results of socialism - and those of any historical or prehistorical tyranny. Socialism is merely democratic absolute monarchy - that is, a system of absolutism without a fixed head, open to seizure of power by all comers, by any ruthless climber, opportunist, adventurer, demagogue or thug. When you consider socialism, do not fool yourself about its nature. Remember that there is no such dichotomy as 'human rights' versus 'property rights.' No human rights can exist without property rights. Since material goods are produced by the mind and effort of individual men, and are needed to sustain their lives, if the producer does not own the result of his effort, he does not own his life. To deny property rights means to turn men into property owned by the state. Whoever claims the 'right' to 'redistribute' the wealth produced by others is claiming the 'right' to treat human beings as chattel."
- From "The Monument Builders"

"There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism - by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide."
- From "Foreign Policy Drains U.S. of Main Weapons"

"Both 'socialism' and 'fascism' involve the issue of property rights. The right to property is the right of use and disposal. Observe the difference in those two theories: socialism negates private property rights altogether, and advocates the 'vesting of ownership and control' in the community as a whole, i.e., in the state; fascism leaves ownership in the hands of private individuals, but transfers control of the property to the government. Ownership without control is a contradiction in terms: it means 'property,' without the right to use it or to dispose of it. It means that the citizens retain the responsibility of holding property, without any of its advantages, while the government acquires all the advantages without any of the responsibility. In this respect, socialism is the more honest of the two theories. I say 'more honest,' not better - because, in practice, there is no difference between them: both come from the same collectivist-statist principle, both negate individual rights and subordinate the individual to the collective, both deliver the livelihood and the lives of the citizens into the power of an omnipotent government - and the differences between them are only a matter of time, degree, and superficial detail, such as the choice of slogans by which the rulers delude their enslaved subjects."
- From "The New Fascism: Rule by Consensus"