But other lawmakers criticized the provisions of the legislation aimed at discouraging community groups from pressing banks to make more loans to the disadvanta

But other lawmakers criticized the provisions of the legislation aimed at discouraging community groups from pressing banks to make more loans to the disadvantaged. Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, said during the House debate that the legislation was ''mean-spirited in the way it had tried to undermine the Community Reinvestment Act.'' And Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, said it was ironic that while the legislation was deregulating financial services, it had begun a new system of onerous regulation on community advocates. What really gets me, is that the very people that were pushing for banks to loan money to people who couldn't afford the loans (ie Barney Frank), are out there in the media as the biggest decriers of the financial mess we are in. They are so eager to lay the blame on others, including big, nasty Wall Street. Everyone is culpable here. Can a brother get a "My Bad!"