Previous bank closure information vanishes

Feds remove complete search list

It’s been a while since we visited the failed bank list. But bank closures in Scottsdale and Gold Canyon within weeks of one another are worthy of note.

Central Arizona Bank (click link for troubled asset ratio) was closed days ago by the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Western State Bank, Devils Lake, North Dakota, to assume all of the deposits of Central Arizona Bank. Presto! The Central Arizona Bank reopened as a branch of Western State Bank

Gold Canyon Bank failed on April 5, 2013. It was acquired by First Scottsdale Bank. 

The failed bank list for 2013, as of mid May (13), 2012 (50), 2011 (92), and 2010 (157).  The number of failures for each year are in parentheses. Arizona banks have appeared on three of the four lists.  The information is made available via an independent investigative reporting network.

Of significance is the fact that the list previously displayed all bank closures since October 1, 2000. The vast majority of bank failures have taken place since Barack Obama assumed office, January 2008. Interestingly, the list  no longer reflects years prior to 2010. Now the search goes back to 1934, but you need specifics which no one has in order to discover information.

On September 5, 2009 we noted the number of bank failures that year stood at 89 after regulators shut down banks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Arizona the previous day. Such information has mysteriously disappeared. All data has been scrubbed.

Anyone with a bank account has heard of the FDIC, but have you ever wondered who runs it and how they were put in their positions?  Scroll down this lengthy list for names and titles. While detailed information is difficult to locate, the FDIC proudly proclaims its Mission, Vision and Values along with its 2013 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan which “addresses the goals of President Obama’s executive order calling for federal agencies to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion” — an “important priority.”

All we wanted was the back list of bank closures going back to 2000. Apparently that information is not as important as “workplace diversity and sustainability.” Who’da guessed?

The FDIC is managed by a five-person Board of Directors, all of whom are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, with no more than three being from the same political party. Wanna hazzard a guess at which party controls the majority votes?

John McCain bashes pal Marco Rubio over debt limit

The nameless“my colleague from Florida” being accused of impeding senate business is none other than McCain’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty loyalist, Marco Rubio.   Listen as the usually mild mannered McCain* repeatedly hammers ”my colleague from Florida.”

*A stab at Thursday morning humor.

AZ Conservative Coalition: Newest legislator ratings

The Arizona Conservative Coalition’s (ACC) most recent legislator ratings, reflecting legislative actions as of 5/21/2013 is now available. Click here for the updated report.

Legislators are assigned to a group based on their latest rating. Bills used in the evaluation along with the summary of criteria used to weight bills can be seen here. There is also an excellent, concise analysis of each bill considered.

Check out the FAQs section, which answers the question, “Why is a particular legislator rated better or worse then I would have expected?”

Be sure to take time to review Howard Levine’s informative weekly narrative, which provides background on the tracking process.  

The folks at ACC provide individual grades for Arizona’s Republican Representatives and Senators. There is quite a variation. This week the Senate ratings range from a high of 92.4 down to the bottom-dragging RINO category of 38.5.

In the House of Representatives the top scorer received a 95.1 with the bottom of the list rating a weak RINO rating of 47.8.

Just days ago we witnessed a disgraceful act of Republican treachery, with 6 GOP state Senators colluding with and voting in tandem with the cohesive Democrats to endorse Arizona’s ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion, irresponsibly being pushed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

The Senate’s 13 Democrats hung together supporting the costly and unsustainable scheme. The 6 Republican collaborators voting with them are Rich Crandall (LD-16), Adam Driggs (LD-28), John McComish (LD18), Steve Pierce (LD-1), Michele Reagan (LD-23) and Bob Worsley (LD-25).

Remember their names when the upcoming elections roll around. Not one of these defectors is worthy of conservative support.

AZ Senate RINOs cave on OBrewerCare expansion

In a state budget vote taken Thursday night in the Arizona Senate, the focal point was the expansion of Medicaid — a key element of ObamaCare, oddly prioritized and embraced by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

The issue has been divisive, firmly placing those who ran and were elected as Republicans in the Democrat camp. Republican Majority Leader John McComish (LD-18) was instrumental in ensuring the Medicaid expansion was added onto the $8.8 billion budget bill.

Senate President Andy Biggs (LD-12) and other conservative opponents offered numerous amendments to the expansion, which Brewer claims will bring Arizona $1.6 billion in “federal money” [read: taxpayer dollars]. Included was an amendment to block an unconscionable hospital bed tax, to pay the state’s costs of providing coverage to an additional 300,000 low-income and uninsured Arizonans. The expansion would stretch the coverage beyond the state’s income threshold to 133 percent of the poverty level, or $30,675 for a family of four.

As we have previously seen, the Senate’s 13 Democrats hung together supporting the costly scheme with six Republicans, including John McComish jumping ship to join them.  The other collaborators voting with the Dems are Rich Crandall (LD-16), Adam Driggs (LD-28), Steve Pierce (LD-1), Michele Reagan (LD-23) and Bob Worsley (LD-25).  Remember their names when election season rolls around.

In the end, the final vote ended up rolling the conservative leadership. The Majority Leader and Majority Whip violated their responsibility as part of the leadership team by voting against amendments presented by the Senate President. This level of treachery has not occurred in the state legislature since the notorious Randall Gnant, who brokered a deal with the Democrats against his own caucus in 2000 in order to become Senate President. A historical note that should be remembered is that Gnant was never elected to any other office in this state as a result of his treachery.

The Arizona House will take up the bill next week. Contact your Representatives (House roster here) and let them know of your strong opposition to OBrewerCare and those who vote for it.

A poll conducted last month by Magellan Strategies reveals public cynicism aimed at Brewer’s relentless push for Obama’s cornerstone program in Arizona. Although 49% had a “favorable” opinion of Gov. Brewer, and all but 2% were familiar with her, the percentage opposing her full implementation of Medicaid expansion skyrocketed to 58%. Equally significant is the fact that state legislators who joined with her are less likely to be retained by the voters within their districts by a whopping 43% — compared to only 30% who would be more likely to support them. 

Statewide, GOP legislative districts have been outspoken in their opposition to this governmental overreach.

For more information on this costly and ultimately unsustainable issue, the Heritage Foundation’s Alyene Senger has written 10 Myths About the ObamaCare Medicaid Expansion.

Puerto Rico: Obama’s perfect 51st state

Poverty, government reliance make welfare island liberal ideal

Last November 6, in a non-binding statehood referendum, a majority of Puerto Rican voters — 61% — indicated they want the island to become the 51st U.S. state.

And the Obama administration is all too happy to comply. In fact, White House spokesman Jay Carney called on lawmakers to take action. “Congress should now study the results closely, and provide the people of Puerto Rico with a clear path forward that lays out the means by which Puerto Ricans themselves can determine their own status,” Carney said after the vote.

More than 809,000 predominately Spanish speaking Puerto Ricans said they want the commonwealth to become a U.S. state. And why not? According to this report from CNS News THIRTY-SEVEN PERCENT of the island’s population already receive over $2 billion in food stamps — courtesy of U.S. taxpayers!  Previous elections indicated the Latin American nation supported independence from the United States. A poll released last month, conducted jointly by Suffolk University and the Puerto Rican University of Turabo shows 70% now favor statehood.

What’s changed?

Puerto Rico has a yearly median household income of $19,122, with the current unemployment rate exceeding 14 percent. Instead of operating the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Puerto Rico administers untraceable block grants, within which 25 percent of a person’s benefit can be paid in cash, making it impossible to track how the generous American money gift is spent.

A law passed in 1917 made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. But the Caribbean island’s approximately 4 million residents cannot vote for president. Under its status as a commonwealth, residents are exempt from paying federal taxes. Puerto Rico sends Pedro R. Pierluisi, a nonvoting representative known as a resident commissioner in Congress.

During the 2012 election a new Governor was chosen. In an exhibition of erratic behavior the incumbent, pro-statehood Gov. Luis Furtuno of the “New Progressive Party” was ousted by Alejandro Garcia Padilla a member of the “Popular Democratic Party.” The party names tell the rest of the story.

The name by which Puerto Ricans identify the island on which they live is “Borinquen” — often  referred to as la isla del encanto, meaning “the island of enchantment.”

There’s no disputing the feeling of “enchantment” knowing that this impoverished, Obama supporting island is costing us a fortune and now wants statehood.

We urge you to read this older but fact-filled report from the Economist, detailing the widespread dependency it refers to as “Crutch Disease.”  Pass on it if you already have elevated blood pressure.  This information could bring on “the big one.”

 NOTICE:

In response to those who have inquired, Seeing Red AZ took the unusual step of closing comments to this post late Monday night because the arena for normal discourse had been hijacked by a rabid intruder who had written countless comments, jamming the inbox. The section is now open and the comments sent by that person will not appear again.

MoveOn demands Paul Ryan apologize for truth

Anchor babies are a fact of life in the world of illegal immigration. Birthright Citizenship is the costly, automatic granting of citizenship to children born within a nation’s borders or territories. The United States and Canada are the world’s only industrialized nations still offering such an extravagant gift to both tourists and illegal aliens.

Under current practice, these children are U.S. citizens at birth, simply because they were born on American soil. They are called “anchor babies” because, as U.S. citizens, they become eligible to sponsor for legal immigration most of their relatives, including their illegal alien mothers, when they turn 21 years of age, thus becoming the U.S. “anchor” for their extended  foreign family.

Such births have even forged an industry aside from the children born to foreign national parents illegally residing in the United States. As an example, Dr. Jose Duran, a gynecologist and obstetrician and his colleague, Dr. Marco Saucedo, both Nogales, AZ physicians have an unusual way of bringing in business.  The two doctors advertise their services on flashing digital billboards south of the border which read: “Do you want to have your baby in the United States?” They refer to the practice as “a tradition.”

For years, Tucson Medical Center’s “birth package” has actively recruited such business, encouraging what amounts to the purchase of U.S. citizenship.

Seeing Red AZ has written about what is called “Birth Tourism” with pregnant clients arriving from China and Middle Eastern nations.

In August 2010, we wrote that the issue of birthright citizenship — an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment — was getting another look by the most unlikely of people. Arizona’s own amnesty architects, Sens. John McCain and (now retired) Jon Kyl, along with Sen. Lindsey Gramnesty (R-SC) each said they intended to revisit the issue, and would look at the advisability of a constitutional amendment that would repeal the citizenship provisions. The amendment was adopted in 1868 after the Civil War. Its intent was to allow American-born children of freed African-born slaves to have all of the rights and privileges of citizenship. It was necessary then, but has no relevancy today.

We hope you weren’t holding your breath waiting for such actions from the amnesty loving senators.

With this as background, why would the far-left extremists at MoveOn.org be waging a war, complete with a petition drive, against U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, demanding that he apologize for using an “offensive anti-immigrant slur”– anchor babies — while discussing immigration reform.  In Racine, Wisconsin, a group of liberal Wisconsinites gathered at Monument Square to demand Ryan apologize.  As this video shows, these charming and well-informed folks have targeted him before.

Sorry. Anchor babies live and breathe.  They are a fact of life. Apologies are not in order.

Amnesty’s actual costs skyrocket to $6.3 trillion

Jeff Flake, when given clear choices, sides with far left

What a surprise! The Soros-backed “Media Matters” is running interference for the McCain/Flake Amnesty Gang. 

Media Matters (MM), a reliable arm of the Obama regime, with far reaching tentacles in every aspect of the left-wing MSM, goes to the mat attempting to undercut a new study by the conservative policy group Heritage Foundation which details the enormous costs — $6.3 trillion — associated with the implementation of the latest version of amnesty for those in our country illegally.

The radically liberal group (MM) then claims the report “has been repeatedly debunked, even by conservatives, and is a revision of a 2007 study that utilized “fatally flawed” methodology.” 

This blatant deception is an interesting position for Media Matters, which manipulates news by placing its talking points into the eagerly colluding hands of the liberal press. The group even orchestrated the pressuring of advertisers to drop their sponsorship of Glenn Beck’s former show on Fox News.

So why is this liberally biased site the go-to for Arizona’s junior senator Jeff Flake who professes to be a Republican? Here’s Flake, outfitted in his amnesty cloak offering his obnoxious tweet.

For the facts on amnesty’s unsustainable costs, check in with the Heritage Foundation and read the just released findings in the new report by scholars Robert Rector and Jason Richwine, Ph.D.: The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer.

Pay attention to Heritage President Jim DeMint’s analysis of this dire situation:

The $6.3 trillion number is the cost to taxpayers of supporting illegal aliens under amnesty, including any taxes they would pay into the system versus the amount of government benefits and services they would take out.

On an individual level, the number is just as stunning. The study by Heritage reveals, “the average adult unlawful immigrant would receive $592,000 more in government benefits over the course of his remaining lifetime than he would pay in taxes.”

With amnesty, unlawful immigrants become lawful — and eligible for ObamaCare benefits, Social Security, welfare, and Medicare. The study addresses the massive costs after the Gang of Eight’s 13-year waiting period for benefits. As a result, government spending and fiscal deficits would increase dramatically – clearly not a concern to the deceptive “Gang of 8” gangsters, including Arizona Sen. John McCain and his open-borders seatmate protégé Jeff Flake. These nominal Republicans will also be opening the floodgates for millions of new Democrats, ensuring a path to oblivion for the GOP.

Valley Interfaith’s leftward “social justice” lurch

Valley Interfaith again shows its true liberal colors with this Medicaid expansion community propaganda fest.  Check out the confirmed guests here.

As examples, Rep. Heather Carter (LD15) is one of only two GOP House members earning the Arizona Conservative Coalition’s infamous RINO designation. The Pres. and CEO of the socialist leaning AZ Chamber of Commerce, Glenn Hamer, is perhaps best known for his extreme leftwing views, and overseeing the group’s endorsement of liberal Democrat Janet Napolitano immediately after leaving his ED position at the state GOP.

Obama to Planned Parenthood: “God bless you!”

Largest abortion provider gets sanctification from Obama:

They do such good work, after all. If you’ve read anything at all about the Kermit Gosnell infanticide trial, you’d realize why abortions are worthy of this president’s commendation. Not surprisingly, Barack Obama is the first sitting President to ever appear at such a gala. This event took place Friday in Washington, D.C.

Vowing he would never allow Republicans to cut taxpayer funds for the nation’s largest abortion provider, Obama said, “If there’s one thing the past few years have shown, it’s that Planned Parenthood isn’t going anywhere.” The crowd cheered wildly, presenting him with a standing ovation. “It’s not going anywhere today, it’s not going anywhere tomorrow.” 

“Everybody sit down,” Obama demurred. “You’re making me blush.”

In its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood bragged that it performed 333,964 abortions in 2011 – a record year for the group.

The abortion profiteers have received a record $542 million in taxpayer funding — in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements — according to a Susan B. Anthony List analysis of the report. The amount is 45 percent of Planned Parenthood’s annual revenue.

Charlie Spiering writing for the Washington Examiner has more here.

Flores v. AZ: Tim Hogan’s never ending case

Back in 2009, in a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court took a major step toward ending what was then a 17-year legal battle in the Flores v. Arizona case. In their opinion, the justices wrote that lower courts erred by placing extraordinary focus on forcing Arizona to spend more money to assist English Language-Learner (ELL) students.

At the time, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote, the Court of Appeals “improperly substituted its own policy judgments for those of the state and local officials entrusted with the decision.”

Flores was sent back to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with instructions to consider whether Arizona had complied with civil-rights law by improving both English-learner programs and K-12 education policies.

The case was argued by Arizona’s then-Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne. He served in that capacity from 2003 – 2011. Horne was elected Arizona Attorney General in 2010. He and Jim Weiers, then-Speaker of the Arizona House were listed as petitioners.

The majority opinion was issued by Justice Alito and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Justice Stephen Breyer filed the 47-page dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens and David Souter. If you’re so inclined, the Supreme Court’s 89-page opinion can be read here.

Fast forward to 2013. The lawsuit has reached the ripe old age of 21. And whad’ya know? A federal court decision last month upholding the state’s English Language Learner programs is being appealed by Tim Hogan of the left-of-center Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest. The case is now renamed Flores v. Huppenthal. Associate Justices Souter (replaced by Sonia Sotomayor) and John Paul Stevens (replaced by Elena Kagan) have retired.

Today the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is fomer state senator John Huppenthal. He contends ELL students are making progress in the English program. Most test out of the program within three years. He believes the state will prevail in the lawsuit.

Tim Hogan remains, still representing the plaintiffs. Of his career-long case, Hogan has this to say. “We just think the district court judge has gotten the law wrong.”

The Center for Law in the Public Interest refers to itself as a “non-profit.” Obviously Hogan has been making a living from this long-in-the-tooth case.  What’s the funding source?

The daily’s coverage of this ongoing bonanza can be read here.