I shouldn't be surprised, I guess, after all this time following Barney Franks and his legacy of corruption. But somehow I was caught by surprise when I found out that Franks was DEMANDING that Liddy "name names" of officers who received bonuses from AIG. Or else, he was going to have his committee subpoena the names.

Liddy rightly stated his fear that AIG execs' names would be leaked and their families threatened. He read some actual blog posts and hate mail threatening the execs of AIG with bodily harm.

What gets me is that Franks still heads up the committee that oversees Fannie and Freddie... which have both announced that they are going to be giving out huge bonuses to their execs too, despite the fact that Fannie and Freddie have had to be bailed out just as much as AIG has been bailed out. There doesn't seem to be any outrage on Franks' part with regard to Fannie and Freddie.

Furthermore, you don't subpoena companies for the names of private citizens who haven't broken any laws. To do so is an abuse of Congress' legal powers and a violation of the laws regarding due process. Keep in mind that as much as we may not like the fact that AIG execs got large bonuses, those bonuses were LEGAL. There was no theft, fraud, or any other sort of illegal activity committed by these individuals. They are not criminals. There is no legal reason to subpoena names of people that you have no reason to investigate and prosecute. Since there was no crime committed, there is no legal reason for a subpoena.

The only reason that Barney Franks could possibly have for wanting those names is so that they can be leaked, and pressure brought to bear to force those innocent men and women to return bonus monies. It is an odious trick he is trying to pull, and exactly the type of thing I should have come to expect from Franks, who is an odious creature. But I thought that the potential danger to innocent individuals he would cause by riling up millions of Americans who are distraught, scared and angry over their financial losses would have been enough to keep even Franks from doing something so perilously stupid.

It seems I constantly underestimate the depths of depravity that Barney Franks will stoop to.

Congratulations, Barney. You have again caused me to underestimate your abilities.

Elliot

What was your question?

I apologize. I did not see that this was a "discussion" area. I think it's wrong to make public the names of the executives who received the bonuses, for the same reasons you mentioned. Barney Frank looks like a complete buffoon.

With that said, it's insane that a group of people drove a business completely into the ground, yet they're receiving "retention" bonuses? Absolutely crazy! Obama and his administration knew about these bonuses, too. Obama looks ridiculous to me, pretending to be outraged over these bonuses.

His name is Barney Frank. He represents the 4th District of Massachusetts. How about we publish the names of Democrats in the 4th District that have made the nuisance the negative influence he is in the U.S..
Says Neal Boortz: "Barney Frank has been a fierce defender of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .. considering he was sleeping with a Freddie Mac executive when ...... well never mind. I don't want you to lose your breakfast. But he has also when one of the most outspoken (if that is what we can call that mumbo-jumbo coming out of Barney's mouth) critics of these AIG bonuses." Nealz Nuze on boortz.com (http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/index.html)

"It's very disturbing and very troubling," said U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

The government has no right to compile information about all the "inconvenient, embarrassing and uncomfortable" yet legal things that Americans make calls about on their telephones, he said.

That was Barney on Bush's warrantless wiretapping (http://www.barneyfrank.net/node/136). It's an outrage to listen in on possible terrorist communications originating overseas, but let's name those $#*&! AIG people and put them and their families at risk.

Wrote this earlier today

yesterday Barney Frank ,in his best Joe McCarthy impersonation ...or was that Madame Defarge ..... was asking for names of AIG employees who received bonuses. Dust off the guillotines!! When asked if he would keep the names confidential he said NO ...that it was his intent to haul their a$$es up to Capitol Hill for some bullying . It did not disuade him to hear that AIG employees were already receiving death threats.

Does Bwaney intend to return the over $40,000 in campaign donations he has received from Fannie since 1989 .

As Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee he is a top recipient of donations from mortgage bankers ; brokers and credit Unions. During the previous election cycle Frank ranks 1st in contributions from mortgage bankers and brokers and 2nd in contributions from credit Unions.

Frank has received $499,348 in contributions from finance, insurance and real estate interests... the very interests which his committee is suppose to be supervising.

I apologize. I did not see that this was a "discussion" area. I think it's wrong to make public the names of the executives who received the bonuses, for the exact same reasons you mentioned. Barney Frank looks like a complete buffoon.

With that said, it's insane that a group of people drove a business completely into the ground, yet they're receiving "retention" bonuses? Absolutely crazy! Obama and his administration knew about these bonuses, too. Obama looks ridiculous to me, pretending to be outraged over these bonuses.

Ren,

I don't disagree with you in saying that it is nuts for a company to pay large bonuses after losing billions and getting government aid. It's dumb, stupid, insane and a whole bunch of other adjectives.

However, it is not illegal.

Not only did Obama, Franks, Dodd and the rest of the bufoons in government know about it, they AUTHORIZED it in their spendulus bill. And then they rushed the bill past congress without time to read the bill because they knew that if congress read the bill and had time to think about it, they would have voted the bill down.

Elliot

His name is Barney Frank. He represents the 4th District of Massachussetts. How about we publish the names of Democrats in the 4th District that have made the nuisance the negative influence he is in the U.S..
Says Neal Boortz: "Barney Frank has been a fierce defender of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .. considering he was sleeping with a Freddie Mac executive when ...... well never mind. I don't want you to lose your breakfast. But he has also when one of the most outspoken (if that is what we can call that mumbo-jumbo coming out of Barney's mouth) critics of these AIG bonuses." Nealz Nuze on boortz.com (http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/index.html)

Yes, well, we know that Barney Frank supports Fannie. He's very into Fannie and he likes a big Fannie. He has no problems with big bonuses for a large Fannie. The one thing that he says, though, is that he has to tighten up Fannie so that it's leaner than it is now. But he believes that if we all get into Fannie, Fannie can give us what we all need to be satisfied. As for the bad loans on their books, well of course Fannie needs to be spanked for that and Frank will surely be the one to handle that, as head of the Banking Committee. But then he can just give Fannie a pat and support Fannie for everything Fannie has had to take recently.