20081118
Ted
Stevens - 
Criminal
- 
Oil
- 
Money
- 
Federal
- 
Law
- 
Alaska
- 
History
- 
2008
Election
"Alaska
Sen. Ted Stevens loses re-election bid." ... "[Alaska
Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in
Senate history, narrowly lost his [2008 Election] re-election bid Tuesday,
marking the downfall of a Washington political power and Alaska icon who
couldn't survive a conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat
by Anchorage [Alaska] Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats within two
seats of a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority." ... "Stevens' ouster on
his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will
alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the
days of the [Democratic President] Johnson administration while holding
seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress." ... "Last
month just days before the election, Stevens was convicted by a federal
jury in Washington of lying on Senate disclosure forms to conceal more
than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from an oil field services
company. -By Michael R. Blood with contributions by
Jesse J. Holland, Andrew Taylor and Rachel D'Oro
-AP via -Yahoo
20081117
Children
- 
Food
- Poverty
- 
Health
- 
Safety
- Government
- Language
- 
Politics
-Economics
- 
Accounting
"50
percent more US children went hungry in 2007." ...
"Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close
to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even
before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department
reported Monday." ... "The department's annual report on food security
showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial
disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent
above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998."
... "Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger
during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2
percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough
food to maintain active, healthy lives." ... "Almost a third of those,
11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure
has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these
people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point
and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government
rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having
"food insecurity with hunger."" -By Michael J. Sniffen
-AP via -Yahoo
PDF:
USDA.gov Report: "Household Food Security in the United States, 2007."
20081116
Obama
- Government
- Law
- Enforcement
- Markets
- Accounting
- History
- 
Enron
- 
Eliot
Spitzer - 
New
York - 
US
- 
Global
"How
to Ground The Street: The Former 'Enforcer' On the
Best Way to Keep Financial Markets in Check." ... "[Democratic] President-elect
Barack Obama will soon face the extraordinary task of saving capitalism
from its own excesses, much as [Democratic President] Franklin D. Roosevelt
had to do 76 years ago. Up until this point in the crisis, policymakers
have appropriately applied the rules of triage -- Band-Aids and tourniquets,
then radical surgery -- to keep the global financial system alive. Capital
infusions, bailouts, mega-mergers, government guarantees of unimaginable
proportions -- all have been sought and supported by officials and corporate
chief executives who had until now opposed any government participation
in the marketplace. But put aside for the moment the ideological cartwheel
we have seen and look at the big picture: The rules of modern capitalism
have been re-written before our eyes." ... "The new president's team must
soon get to the root causes of the mistakes that have brought us to the
economic precipice. Yes, we have all derided the explosion of leverage,
the failure to regulate derivatives, the flood of subprime lending that
was bound to default and the excesses of CEO [Chief Executive Officer]
compensation. But these are all mere manifestations of three deeper structural
problems that require greater attention: misconceptions about what a "free
market" really is, a continuing breakdown in corporate governance and an
antiquated and incoherent federal financial regulatory framework." ...
"First, we must confront head-on the pervasive misunderstanding of what
constitutes a "free market." For long stretches of the past 30 years, too
many Americans fell prey to the ideology that a free market requires nearly
complete deregulation of banks and other financial institutions and a government
with a hands-off approach to enforcement. "We can regulate ourselves,"
the mantra went." ... "Those of us who raised red flags about this were
scoffed at for failing to understand or even believe in "the market." During
my tenure as New York state attorney general, my colleagues and I sought
to require investment banking analysts to provide their clients with unbiased
recommendations, devoid of undisclosed and structural conflicts. But powerful
voices with heavily vested interests accused us of meddling in the market."
... "When my office, along with the Department of Justice, warned that
some of American International Group's reinsurance transactions were little
more than efforts to create the false impression of extra capital on the
company's balance sheet, we were jeered at for attacking one of the nation's
great insurance companies, which surely knew how to balance risk and reward."
... "And when the attorneys general of all 50 states sought to investigate
subprime lending, believing that some lending practices might be toxic,
we were blocked by a coalition of the major banks and the [Republican President]
Bush administration, which invoked a rarely used statute to preempt the
states' ability to probe." ... "No major market problem has been resolved
through self-regulation, because individual competitive behavior doesn't
concern itself with the larger market. Individual actors care only about
performing better than the next guy, doing whatever is permitted -- or
will go undetected. Look at the major bubbles and market crises. Long-Term
Capital Management, Enron, the subprime lending scandals: All are classic
demonstrations of the bitter reality that greed, not self-discipline, rules
where unfettered behavior is allowed." ... "Those who truly understand
economics, as did Adam Smith, do not preach an absence of government participation.
A market doesn't exist in a vacuum. Rather, a market is a product of laws,
rules and enforcement. It needs transparency, capital requirements and
fidelity to fiduciary duty. The alternative, as we are seeing, is anarchy."
(1, 2)
-By Eliot L. Spitzer -WashingtonPost
20081114
Don
E Siegelman - 
Karl
Rove -
Michael
Mukasey - 
Leura
G Canary - 
Bob
Riley - Criminal
- US
Attorney - Politics
- Federal
- Law
- 
Alabama
- 
Georgia
- 
Michigan
"More
Allegations of Misconduct in Alabama Governor Case."
... "Next month in Atlanta [Georgia's capital], a federal court will hear
the high-profile appeal of former [Democratic] Alabama governor Don E.
Siegelman, whose conviction on corruption charges in 2006 became one of
the most publicly debated cases to emerge from eight years of controversy
at the [Republican President] Bush Justice Department. Now new documents
highlight alleged misconduct by the Bush-appointed [United States] U.S.
Attorney and other prosecutors in the case, including what appears to be
extensive and unusual contact between the prosecution and the jury." ...
"The documents, obtained by TIME, include internal
prosecution e-mails [PDF] given to the Justice Department and Congress
by a whistle-blower during the past 18 months. [Michigan Democratic Representative]
John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which investigated
the
Siegelman case as part of a broader inquiry into alleged political
interference in the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Justice
Department, last week sent an
eight-page letter [PDF] to Attorney General Michael Mukasey citing
the new material." ... "Conyers says the evidence raises "serious questions"
about the U.S. Attorney in the Siegelman case, who, documents show, continued
to involve herself in the politically charged prosecution long after she
had publicly withdrawn to avoid an alleged conflict of interest relating
to her husband, a top GOP operative and close associate of Bush adviser
Karl Rove. Conyers' letter also cites evidence of numerous contacts between
jurors and members of the Siegelman prosecution team that were never disclosed
to the trial judge or defense counsel." ... "Critics, including a bipartisan
group of 52 state attorneys general, have raised numerous questions, including
the allegation that Siegelman was prosecuted at the insistence of Bush-appointed
officials at the Justice Department and Leura G. Canary, a U.S. Attorney
in Montgomery [Alabama] whose husband [William "Bill" Canary] was Alabama's
top Republican operative and who had worked
closely with Rove for years." ... "The documents — whose authenticity
is not in dispute — include e-mails written by Canary, long after her recusal,
offering legal advice to subordinates handling the case. At the time Canary
wrote the e-mails, her husband — Alabama GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican
operative William J. Canary — was a vocal booster of the state's Republican
governor, Bob Riley, who had defeated Siegelman for the office and against
whom Siegelman was preparing to run again. Canary also received tens of
thousands of dollars in fees from other political opponents of Siegelman."
... "A key prosecution e-mail describes how jurors repeatedly contacted
the government's legal team during the trial to express, among other things,
one juror's romantic interest in a member of the prosecution team." ...
"What's more, when prosecutors conducted their own investigation of suspected
improper conduct by jurors after the trial, two of them were interviewed,
despite instructions from the judge that no contact with jurors should
occur without his permission. Those interviews were not publicly disclosed
until nearly two years later, when the head of the [Department Of Justice]
DOJ's criminal division belatedly wrote all parties, including the appeals
court in Atlanta, to inform them." ... "Further undisclosed evidence of
prosecution team members speaking with jurors following the verdict emerges
in [Justice Department staffer Tamarah] Grimes' written statement to the
DOJ." -By Adam Zagorin
-TIME.com
Auto
- 
Makers
- Federal
- Politics
- 
Unemployment
- Michigan
- 
Ohio
- 
Indiana
"GM
Collapse at $200 Billion May Exceed Bailout Plan (Update1)."
... "General
Motors Corp., seeking a federal bailout as its cash dwindles, would
cost the government as much as $200 billion should the biggest U.S. [United
States] automaker be forced to liquidate, a forecasting firm estimated."
... "A GM [General Motors] collapse would mean ``more aid to specific states
like Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and more money into unemployment and
extended benefits,'' Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight
Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said today in an interview. He prepared
the estimate for Bloomberg News." ... "The projected expense of $100 billion
to $200 billion covers funds for existing programs, such as unemployment
insurance, and new measures that would be needed to revive economic growth
after millions of auto-related job losses." ... "Such a sum would be an
eightfold increase over the $25 billion bailout package that will be debated
in Congress next week to help prop up Detroit-based GM, Ford
Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC amid the industry's worst sales year
since 1991." ... "A GM shutdown would cost jobs among suppliers as well
as at the automaker itself, pushing the U.S. unemployment rate next year
to 9.5 percent, compared with current projections of as high as 8.5 percent
due to the weakened economy, Behravesh said." -By
Alex Ortolani and Mike Ramsey -Bloomberg
AIG
- Workers
-Federal
- Politics
"AIG
to Pay Millions To Top Workers: Move Comes on Heels
Of Revised Bailout." ... "American International Group plans to pay out
$503 million in deferred compensation to some of its top employees, saying
it must tap the funds to keep valuable workers from exiting the troubled
insurance giant." ... "News of the payments to top AIG [American International
Group] talent comes as the federal government has just put more money into
saving the company from bankruptcy, beefing up the total public commitment
to $152 billion. Meanwhile, members of Congress are questioning the company's
expenditures -- including lavish business trips to resorts -- during a
time when taxpayers are on the hook for the bailout." ... "AIG's troubles
stem from bad bets it made guaranteeing and buying risky mortgage investments.
On Monday, the U.S. [United States] government announced that it would
have to expand its rescue of the company to nearly double the $85 billion
loan it first provided in September when AIG was unable to pay billions
of dollars in claims." ... "The company reported losses this week that
brought total losses to $37.63 billion for the first nine months of the
year." -By Carol D. Leonnig
-WashingtonPost
20081113
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Investigation
- Legislation
"Bailout
Lacks Oversight Despite Billions Pledged: Watchdog
Panel Is Empty; Report Is Unfinished." ... "In the six weeks since lawmakers
approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government
has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks
into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types
of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders." ... "Along the way,
the [Republican President] Bush administration has committed $290 billion
of the $700 billion rescue package." ... "Yet for all this activity, no
formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established
by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government
waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed,
though the initial deadline has passed." ... "The legislation grants the
special inspector, who is expected to be the primary overseer of the program,
a budget of $50 million. The measure calls for him to conduct audits and
investigations of how the government spends money under the bailout program,
including on equity investments in firms. In particular, he is to report
about any assets acquired and their value, plus an explanation of why they
were acquired and details on individuals or companies involved in the transactions."
... "The leading candidate for the post is Neil M. Barofsky, a federal
prosecutor in New York, and his nomination could come as soon as this week,
according to people familiar with the matter." ... "For their part, lawmakers
have yet to nominate the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel, though
leaders of both parties said they hoped they would be named by the end
of the month and start work by December." ... "The legislation also created
a body called the Financial Stability Oversight Board, whose five members
include [Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson
and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. But it has no staff of its
own, and few expect that policymakers can conduct oversight of themselves.
"It's sort of a joke in terms of oversight," a congressional aide said."
(1, 2)
-By Amit R. Paley -WashingtonPost
20081112
Henry
Paulson
- Government
- Emergency
- Politics
- AIG
"Washington's
$5 Trillion Tab: Fighting the financial crisis has
put the U.S. on the hook for some $5 trillion a report says. So far." ...
"For all the fury over [Republican President Bush's] Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson's $700 billion emergency economic relief fund, it seems downright
puny when compared to the running total of the government's response to
the credit crisis." ... "According to CreditSights, a research firm in
New York and London, the U.S. government has put itself on the hook for
some $5 trillion, so far, in an attempt to arrest a collapse of
the financial system." ... "The Fed has taken on much of that total, including
lending a cumulative $1 trillion in overnight or short-term loans since
March to primary dealers through its emergency discount window and making
a cumulative $1.8 trillion available through its term auction facility,
a series of short-term transactions it began making available twice a month
in January. It should be noted that a portion of the funds lent in these
programs has been repaid and that the totals represent what has been made
available." ... "The Fed also took on tens of billions in debt, including
$29 billion in debt of Bear Stearns, and made $60 billion of credit available
to American International Group (nyse: AIG
- news
- people
). It is committing $22.5 billion to set up a special purpose vehicle to
manage some of AIG's residential mortgage-backed securities, and it is
financing $30 billion of a second fund to hold $70 billion of multi-sector
collaterized debt obligations on which AIG wrote credit default swaps."
... "The Treasury, in addition to the $700 billion raised in the Emergency
Economic Stabilization Act, agreed to guarantee money market funds against
losses up to $50 billion, will inject $40 billion of capital into AIG and
is backing the conservatorship of Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM
- news
- people ) and
Freddie
Mac (nyse: FRE
- news
- people ), to
the tune of $200 billion." ... "The FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation],
meanwhile, is guaranteeing $1.5 trillion of senior unsecured bank debt."
... "Not included in the total are the Fed's long-existing discount window
lending to commercial banks, the mortgage modification plan announced by
regulators on Tuesday, support for the Federal Home Loan Banks and a myriad
of other programs." -By Elizabeth Moyer
-Forbes
Auto
- Makers
- Jobs
- Government
- History
- 
Military
- Politics
- Ohio
"Failure
of auto industry could set off catastrophe." ...
"Advocates for the nation's automakers are warning that the collapse of
the Big Three -- or even just General Motors -- could set off a catastrophic
chain reaction in the economy, eliminating up to 3 million jobs and depriving
governments of more than $150 billion in tax revenue." ... ""We've got
to do this because the cost of inaction is so high to communities, to workers,
to companies," said [Ohio Democratic Senator] Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat
from Ohio. He was among many lawmakers worried that an industry collapse
would be devastating for everything from school districts to small businesses."
... "Even if just GM [General Motors] collapsed, the failure could bring
down the other two companies -- and even the U.S. [United States] operations
of foreign automakers -- as parts suppliers run out of money and shut down."
... "Concern about the automakers hit new heights Friday when GM and Ford
reported they spent a combined $14.6 billion more than they took in last
quarter. GM said it could run out of money by the end of the year." ...
"Ford said it could last through 2009, but only because it arranged a hefty
credit line last year." ... "All this comes after tight credit and economic
uncertainty in October reduced U.S. auto sales to their lowest level in
25 years -- with no rebound in sight." ... "The Big Three have cut their
combined U.S. hourly work force more than 40 percent since 2005, from 244,000
to about 139,000." ... "Brown, the Ohio senator, said letting the industry
collapse would also be a national security risk, eliminating companies
that were essential in two world wars." -By Tom Krisher
and Ken Thomas -AP
via -Yahoo
Blackwater
- Corporate
- Military
- Federal
- Investigation
-
NC
- US
- 
Iraq
"Blackwater
likely to be fined millions in Iraq weapons case."
... "The State Department is preparing to slap a multi-million dollar fine
on private military contractor Blackwater USA for shipping hundreds of
automatic weapons to Iraq without the necessary permits." ... "Some of
the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country's black market,
department officials told McClatchy, but no criminal charges have been
filed in the case." ... "The expected fine is the result of a long-running
federal investigation into whether employees of the firm shipped weapons
hidden in shrink-wrapped pallets from its Moyock, N.C. [North Carolina]
headquarters to Iraq, where Blackwater is the State Department's largest
personal security contractor." ... "Since the arms shipment allegations
first became public 14 months ago, Blackwater, which has received $1.2
billion in federal contracts, according to the Web site fedspending.org,
has consistently denied involvement in illicit arms trafficking." ... "However,
the State Department found that Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq
without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations, one
department official said. Of that number, 119 were "particularly ... erroneous,"
he said." ... "Blackwater employees are also the subjects of a Justice
Department probe into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's [Iraq's
capital] Nisoor Square on Sept. [September] 16, 2007." ... "A federal grand
jury is weighing whether to indict the Blackwater guards who were involved
in the killings." -By
Warren
P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com
Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Investigations
- 
Massachusetts
-New
York
"Hard
Times, But Big Wall Street Bonuses." ... "For Wall
Street workers still employed, there could be a hefty bonus in their checks
next month." ... "According to a report from financial news agency Bloomberg,
Goldman Sachs, for example, has set aside $6.8 billion for bonuses, and
Morgan Stanley, $6.4 billion." ... "And the chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee, Massachusetts [Democratic Representative] Democrat
Barney Frank, isn't happy. "These are people who lost enormous amounts
of money," Frank observes. "How do you give a bonus to someone for having
failed so badly as many of these people did?"" ... "What's got many on
Main Street and Capitol Hill angry, [CBSNews correspondent Priya] David
says, is the possibility that some of the $700 billion government bailout
package could go into the pockets of Wall Streeters to pay their bonuses."
... ""All of the money is to go into new loans," Frank points out. "None
of it is to go into compensation of any kind for the employees."" ... "[Democratic]
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened an investigation
into the Wall Street bonuses. He sent a letter to nine financial institutions,
demanding "a detailed accounting regarding your expected payments to top
management in the upcoming bonus season."" ... "Cuomo told CBS News, "These
are tax dollars that are going to these institutions, and I believe the
taxpayers have a right to hold the institutions accountable for what they're
doing with their money."" -CBSNews
20081110
Henry
Paulson
- Secret
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics- Emergency
- Law
"Fed
Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose [$2 Trillion in taxpayer
loans to banks] (Update2)." ... "The Federal Reserve
is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency
loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is
accepting as collateral." ... "Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury
Secretary Henry
Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional
demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system.
Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue
programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea
where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in
return." ... "``The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's
a big problem,'' said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles
& Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. ``In a liquid market,
this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very
thin.''" ... "Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under
the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7
seeking to force disclosure." ... "The Fed made the loans under terms of
11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst
of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression." ... "``It's
your money; it's not the Fed's money,'' said billionaire Ted Forstmann,
senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. ``Of course there
should be transparency.''" -By Mark Pittman, Bob Ivry
and Alison Fitzgerald -Bloomberg
Henry
M Paulson Jr
- Illegal
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics
"A
Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks: With Attention on
Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy." ... "The financial
world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the [Republican
President] Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of
the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury
Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public
attention." ... "But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous
implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American
banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion." ... "The sweeping change
to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several
days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When
they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff
members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they
have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank
mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper
tailspin." ... ""Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this?
I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said
George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation,
the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed
a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a backdoor way of providing aid
to banks."" ... "The story of the obscure provision underscores what critics
in Congress, academia and the legal profession warn are the dangers of
the broad authority being exercised by [Republican President Bush's] Treasury
Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in addressing the financial crisis. Lawmakers
are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific
banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers."
... "The change to Section 382 of the tax code -- a provision that limited
a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers -- came after a two-decade
effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials
to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential
tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial
meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp
the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according
to lobbyists." ... "More than a dozen tax lawyers interviewed for this
story -- including several representing banks that stand to reap billions
from the change -- said the Treasury had no authority to issue the notice."
... "Section 382 of the tax code was created by Congress in 1986 to end
what it considered an abuse of the tax system: companies sheltering their
profits from taxation by acquiring shell companies whose only real value
was the losses on their books. The firms would then use the acquired company's
losses to offset their gains and avoid paying taxes." ... "Lawmakers decried
the tax shelters as a scam and created a formula to strictly limit the
use of those purchased losses for tax purposes." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Amit R. Paley -WashingtonPost
Barack
Obama - 
E-Mail
- Database
- 2008
Election - 
People
- 
Communications
- 
Media
- Politics
- GOV
- Legislation
- 2010
Election
"Under
Obama, Web Would Be the Way: Unprecedented Online
Outreach Expected." ... "Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a
political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before
it, [Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama will enter the White House
with the opportunity to create the first truly "wired" presidency." ...
"Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House
communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters
they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream
media." ... "The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than
10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama
camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in
the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said.
At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama." ... "Millions
more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered
millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to
friends and neighbors. On Election Day [2008], they served as the backbone
of Obama's get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at
the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents
could stand in line at voting precincts." ... "After Obama declared victory,
his campaign sent a text message announcing that his supporters hadn't
heard the last from the president-elect. Obama conveyed a similar message
to his staff in a campaignwide conference call Wednesday, signaling that
his election was the beginning, and not the culmination, of a political
movement." ... "Accordingly, the president-elect's http://www.change.gov
transition Web site features a blog and a suggestion form, signaling the
kinds of direct and instantaneous interaction that the Obama administration
will encourage, perhaps with an eye toward turning its following into the
biggest special-interest group in Washington." ... "Once Obama is sworn
in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress
to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist
in administration-supported causes in local communities. Obama would also
be positioned to ask his supporters to back his favored candidates with
fundraising and turnout support in the 2010 midterm elections." (1, 2)
-By Shailagh Murray and Matthew Mosk with contributions
by Alec MacGillis -WashingtonPost
Child
- Labor
- Safety
- Enforcement
- Employers
- Politics
- Food
- 
Agriculture
- Plants
- 
Construction
- People
-Federal
- Immigration
-North
Carolina - 
South
Carolina - 
Iowa
"Child
labor going largely unchecked." ... "Nery Castañeda
tackled a job that was never intended for kids his age." ... "One afternoon
last fall, the 17-year-old Guatemala native ran a machine to grind damaged
pallets into mulch. When a co-worker at the Greensboro [North Carolina]
plant returned from another task, he didn't see Nery – until he looked
inside the shredder." ... "“A person shouldn't die like this,” said older
brother Luis. “…He came with a dream and found death.”" ... "Decades after
the enactment of regulations designed to prevent such tragedies, thousands
of youths still get hurt on American jobs deemed unsafe for young workers.
On a typical day, more than 400 juvenile workers are injured on the job.
Once every 10 days, on average, a worker under the age of 18 is killed,
federal statistics show." ... "Enforcement has waned, despite new evidence
that many employers are ignoring child labor laws. U.S. [United States]
Department of Labor investigations have dropped by nearly half since fiscal
year 2000." ... "“There are lots of kids being asked to do work that's
been prohibited for them – and it's been prohibited because it's dangerous,”
said Carol Runyan, who heads UNC's Injury Prevention Research Center. “…Our
system is failing them.”" ... "More than 3 million youths under age 18
have jobs. Regulations prohibit them from doing a variety of hazardous
jobs, including most meat-processing work." ... "But last month, at an
immigration raid at a House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville,
S.C. [South Carolina], six juveniles were among the workers detained. Three
young workers told the Observer they were under 18 when they held jobs
at House of Raeford plants requiring them to make thousands of cuts a day
with sharp knives. The company says it requires job applicants to present
identification showing their age, but not all the documentation is accurate."
... "At Agriprocessors, a large meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, authorities
recently charged owners with thousands of child-labor violations after
finding that teenage employees were asked to use circular saws, clean floors
with powerful chemicals and perform other dangerous tasks." ... "“The raids
in Postville and Greenville show that 15- and 16-year-old kids are doing
some of the most dangerous jobs in America,” says Reid Maki of the National
Consumers League. “ … It's time for the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate
slaughterhouses and poultry plants.”" ... "A study of 16- and 17-year-old
construction workers in North Carolina, published in 2006, found that more
than 80 percent did tasks that were clearly prohibited. A national survey
of young retail and service workers, published in 2007, found that more
than half of males and more than 40 percent of females performed prohibited
tasks." ... "Runyan, who co-authored both studies, says much of the blame
lies with employers." ... "“I suspect there are employers who flagrantly
disregard the law,” she said. “And I suspect there are others who are clueless.”"
... "Total federal penalties for child labor violations dropped 29 percent
from 2000 to 2007." -By Ames Alexander and Franco
Ordonez -Observer
Barack
Obama - Economics
- History
- Federal
- Politics
- 
Social
Security - Health
Care
"Franklin
Delano Obama?" ... "Suddenly, everything old is New
Deal again. [Republican President] Reagan is out; F.D.R. [Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, Democratic President] is in. Still, how much guidance does the
Roosevelt era really offer for today’s world?" ... "The answer is, a lot.
But [Democratic President-Elec] Barack Obama should learn from F.D.R.’s
failures as well as from his achievements: the truth is that the New Deal
wasn’t as successful in the short run as it was in the long run. And the
reason for F.D.R.’s limited short-run success, which almost undid his whole
program, was the fact that his economic policies were too cautious." ...
"About the New Deal’s long-run achievements: the institutions F.D.R. built
have proved both durable and essential. Indeed, those institutions remain
the bedrock of our nation’s economic stability. Imagine how much worse
the financial crisis would be if the New Deal hadn’t insured most bank
deposits. Imagine how insecure older Americans would feel right now if
Republicans had managed to dismantle Social Security." ... "Can Mr. Obama
achieve something comparable? Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff,
has declared that “you don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste.” Progressives
hope that the Obama administration, like the New Deal, will respond to
the current economic and financial crisis by creating institutions, especially
a universal health care system, that will change the shape of American
society for generations to come." ... "But the new administration should
try not to emulate a less successful aspect of the New Deal: its inadequate
response to the Great Depression itself." ... "Now, there’s a whole intellectual
industry, mainly operating out of right-wing think tanks, devoted to propagating
the idea that F.D.R. actually made the Depression worse. So it’s important
to know that most of what you hear along those lines is based on deliberate
misrepresentation of the facts. The New Deal brought real relief to most
Americans." -By Paul
Krugman -NYTimes
20081109
Radio
- 
- 
Opinion
- Politics
- People
- 2008
Election - Obama
- Government
- Retirement
- Money
"Right-wing
media feeds its post-election anger." ... "... [M]any
on the losing end of last week's [2008] election want to hold on to their
anger. And there are those in the media -- led by the likes of [radio talker
Rush] Limbaugh and [Fox tv talker Sean] Hannity -- only too ready to feed
that animus, along with their own ratings." ... "In a time when the nation
calls out for cool leadership and rational discussion, Limbaugh stirs the
caldron, a tendency he proved in a particularly grotesque way last week
when he accused Obama's party of plotting a government takeover of 401(k)
retirement plans." ... ""They're going to take your 401(k), put it in the
Social Security trust fund, whatever the hell that is," Limbaugh woofed.
"Trust fund, my rear end."" ... "A slight problem with Limbaugh's report:
Obama and the Democrats have proposed no such thing." ... "To broadcast
such a report -- so drained of context as to constitute a lie -- would
be a shameless act at any time. But Limbaugh needlessly stirred the fears
of the millions he holds in his thrall -- making the 401(k) thievery sound
like nearly a done deal. Shameless." -By James Rainey
-LAtimes
Nuclear
- 
Technology
- Industry
- Factories
- Government
- 
New
Mexico
"Mini
nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes." ... "Nuclear
power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes
will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos [New Mexico],
the US [United States] government laboratory which developed the first
atomic bomb." ... "The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain
no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible
to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground."
... "The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based
company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and
plans to start mass production within five years. 'Our goal is to generate
electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,' said John Deal,
chief executive of Hyperion. 'They will cost approximately $25m [£13m]
each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable
$250 per home.'" ... "The company plans to set up three factories to produce
4,000 plants between 2013 and 2023." ... "The reactors, only a few metres
in diameter, will be delivered on the back of a lorry to be buried underground.
They must be refuelled every 7 to 10 years." -By John
Vidal and Nick Rosen -Guardian.co.uk
20081108
Sarah
Palin -Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Rhetoric
- Politics
- Racist
- Federal
- Investigation
- 
Intelligence
"Sarah
Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack
Obama: [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate] Sarah Palin's attacks on [2008 Election Democratic President-Elect]
Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the
future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks
of the campaign." ... "The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted
criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing
his association with the sixties radical William Ayers." ... "The attacks
provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling
"terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone
down the rhetoric." ... "But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone
may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further."
... "The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they
had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic
candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks." ... "Michelle Obama, the
future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign
adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate
us?"" ... "Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report
last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he
is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate
Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain
under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many
more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist
ideologues."" -By Tim Shipman
-Telegraph.co.uk
20081106
Chinese
- Hackers
- US
- Government
- E-Mail
- 
Network
- Military
- Technology
- Intelligence
- Politics
"Chinese
hack into White House network." ... "Chinese hackers
have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions,
and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US [United
States] official told the Financial Times." ... "On each occasion, the
cyber attackers accessed the [Republican President Bush] White House computer
system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information
before US computer experts patched the system." ... "US government cyber
intelligence experts suspect the attacks were sponsored by the Chinese
government because of their targeted nature. But they concede that it is
extremely difficult to trace the exact source of an attack beyond a server
in a particular country." ... "The official said the Chinese cyber attacks
had the hallmarks of the “grain of sands” approach taken by Chinese intelligence,
which involves obtaining and pouring through lots of - often low-level
- information to find a few nuggets." ... "Some US defence companies have
privately warned about attacks on their systems, which they believe are
attempts to learn about future weapons systems." ... "The National Cyber
Investigative Joint Task Force, a new unit established in 2007 to tackle
cyber security, detected the attacks on the White House. But the official
stressed that the hackers had only accessed the unclassified computer network,
not the more secure classified network." ... "The US has increased efforts
to tackle cyber security, particularly since Chinese hackers believed to
be associated with the Peoples’ Liberation Army last year perpetrated a
major attack on the Pentagon." ... "US military computer experts battled
for weeks against a sustained attack that eventually overcame the Pentagon’s
defences. The cyber attackers managed to obtain information and emails
traffic from the unclassified computer system that supports Robert Gates,
the defence secretary. Pentagon IT technicians were forced to take the
network down for days to conduct repairs." -By Demetri
Sevastopulo -FT.com
20081105
Barack
Obama - 
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - 
Fashion
- Money
- Internet
-Hacking
- Federal
- Investigation
- 2008
Election - Technology
- Politics
- US
- 
Russia
- China
"Hackers
and Spending Sprees." ... "The computer systems of
both the [2008 Election Presidential Candidates] Obama and McCain campaigns
were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity,"
prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today." ... "At the
Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they
initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of
hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by
the next day, both the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and the Secret
Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem
way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You
have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off
your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard
from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have
a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's
aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been
similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that
the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become
involved." ... "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama
campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to
gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information
that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The
Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political
opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were
Russian or Chinese.)" ... "NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping
spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously
reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately
fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide
said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention
and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying
for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such
as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable
sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor,
who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers
to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found
out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that
she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that
$20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of
clothing have apparently been lost." (1, 2)
-Newsweek
20081030
Corporate
- Government
-Politics
- US
- 
Britain
- 
Germany
"Banks
to Continue Paying Dividends: Bailout Money Is for
Lending, Critics Say." ... "U.S. [United States] banks getting more than
$163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to
pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission,
over the next three years." ... "The government said it was giving banks
more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders
don't serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly
dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary
program." ... "Critics, including economists and members of Congress, question
why banks should get government money if they already have enough money
to pay dividends -- or conversely, why banks that need government money
are still spending so much on dividends." ... ""The whole purpose of the
program is to increase lending and inject capital into Main Street. If
the money is used for dividends, it defeats the purpose of the program,"
said [New York Democratic Senator] Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y. [Democratic-New
York]), who has called for the government to require a suspension of dividend
payments." ... "The 33 banks signed up so far plan to pay shareholders
about $7 billion this quarter. Companies generally try to pay consistent
dividends and, at the present pace, those dividends will consume 52 percent
of the Treasury's investment over the initial three-year term." ... "The
Treasury's approach contrasts with decisions by foreign governments, including
Britain and Germany, to require banks that accept public investments to
suspend dividend payments until the government is repaid. The U.S. government
similarly required Chrysler to suspend its dividend payments as a condition
of the government's 1979 bailout." (1, 2)
-By Binyamin Appelbaum -WashingtonPost
20081029
AIG
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- 
Housing
"A
Question for A.I.G.: Where Did the Cash Go?" ...
"The American International Group is rapidly running through $123 billion
in emergency lending provided by the Federal Reserve, raising questions
about how a company claiming to be solvent in September could have developed
such a big hole by October. Some analysts say at least part of the shortfall
must have been there all along, hidden by irregular accounting." ... "“You
don’t just suddenly lose $120 billion overnight,” said Donn Vickrey of
Gradient Analytics, an independent securities research firm in Scottsdale,
Ariz." ... "Mr. Vickery and other analysts are examining the company’s
disclosures for clues that the cushion was threadbare and that company
officials knew they had major losses months before the bailout." ... "Tantalizing
support for this argument comes from what appears to have been a behind-the-scenes
clash at the company over how to value some of its derivatives contracts.
An accountant brought in by the company because of an earlier scandal was
pushed to the sidelines on this issue, and the company’s outside auditor,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, warned of a material weakness months before the
government bailout." ... "The internal auditor resigned and is now in seclusion,
according to a former colleague." ... "These accounting questions are of
interest not only because taxpayers are footing the bill at A.I.G. but
also because the post-mortems may point to a fundamental flaw in the Fed
bailout: the money is buoying an insurer — and its trading partners — whose
cash needs could easily exceed the existing government backstop if the
housing sector continues to deteriorate." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mary
Williams Walsh -NYTimes
20081027
Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Federal
- Law
- Race
- 
Terrorism
- Politics
- 
Tenn
- 
Ark
"Feds
disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate Obama." ...
"Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree,
shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting [2008 Election]
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said
Monday." ... "In all, the two men whom officials describe as neo-Nazi skinheads
planned to kill 88 people — 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed
in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. [Tennessee.] The numbers 88 and
14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community." ... "The spree, which
initially targeted an unidentified predominantly African-American school,
was to end with the two men driving toward Obama, "shooting at him from
the windows," the court documents show." ... "Sheriffs' deputies in Crockett
County, Tenn., arrested the two suspects — Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells,
Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark. [Arkansas.]
— [October] Oct. 22 on unspecified charges." ... "An ATF [Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms] affidavit filed in the case says Cowart and Schlesselman
told investigators the day they were arrested they had shot at a glass
window at Beech Grove Church of Christ, a congregation of about 60 black
members in Brownsville, Tenn." -By Lara Jakes Jordan
with contributions by Erik Schelzig, Jon Gambrell, and Eileen Sullivan-AP
via -Yahoo
20081015
Corporate
-Government
- Politics
- Consumer
-Safety
- Law
- Language
- Health
- 
Medicine
- Auto
- 
Transportation
"Bush
Rule Changes Could Block Product-Safety Suits." ...
"[Republican President] Bush administration officials, in their last weeks
in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes
or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and
states." ... "The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting
product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle
brakes to pain medicine. The latest changes cap a multiyear effort that
could be one of the administration's lasting legacies, depending in part
on how the underlying principle of pre-emption fares in a case the Supreme
Court will hear next month." ... "This year, lawsuit-protection language
has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued [2008 October]
Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts
car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers
who didn't get to wear one." ... "These new rules can't quickly be undone
by order of the next president. Federal rules usually must go through lengthy
review processes before they are changed. Rulemaking at the Food and Drug
Administration, where most of the new pre-emption rules have appeared,
can take a year or more." ... "The use of rulemaking to protect corporations
from product liability was discussed from early in the Bush administration,
said former Bush domestic-policy adviser Jay Lefkowitz, who was instrumental
in the process." -By Alicia Mundy
-WSJ.com
20081014
John
McCain -
William
Timmons - Criminal
-Oil
- Money
- Terrorism
- Politics
-Government
- Iraq
- International
- Law
- 
South
Korea - US
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Transition Chief Aided Saddam In Lobbying Effort."
... "William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain has named to head his presidential
transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime." ...
"The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period
on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted
of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents
of Saddam Hussein's government." ... "During the same period beginning
in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and
Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis
in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi
oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if
the business deal went through." ... "Timmons' activities occurred in the
years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to
be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism." ... "Virtually everything
Timmons did while working on the lobbying campaign was within days conveyed
by Vincent to either one or both of Saddam Hussein's top aides, Tariq Aziz
and Nizar Hamdoon. Vincent also testified that he almost always relayed
input from the Iraqi aides back to Timmons." ... "Talking points that Timmons
produced for the lobbyists to help ease the sanctions, for example, were
reviewed ahead of time by Aziz, Vincent testified in court. Proposals that
Timmons himself circulated to U.S. [United States] officials as part of
the effort were written with the assistance of the Iraqi officials, and
were also sent ahead of time with Timmons' approval to Aziz, other records
show." ... "Vincent, an Iraqi-born American citizen with whom Timmons worked
most closely, pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in January 2005
that he had acted as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Tongsun Park, the second lobbyist who Timmons worked closely with, was
convicted by a federal jury in July 2006 on charges that he too violated
the Foreign Agent Registration Act." ... "At the time Timmons introduced
the two men, Park's notorious background was well known:" ... "In the 1970s,
Park had admitted to making hundreds of thousands in payments and illegal
campaign contributions to U.S. congressmen on behalf of the South Korean
government. Park was indicted on 36 counts by a federal grand jury, but
fled to South Korea before he could face trial. All of the charges were
later dismissed in exchange for Park providing information about which
public officials received funds from the South Korean government." -By
Murray
Waas with contributions by Patrick B. Anderson
-HuffingtonPost.com
Barack
Obama -2008
Election -Federal
- Law
- Politics
- Investigation
- 
Colorado
- Indiana
- Ohio
- Michigan
- 
Nevada
- North
Carolina - 
New
Hampshire
Wisconsin
"Obama
Campaign: Count Every Vote." ... "Republicans have
been raising a huge stink about voter
fraud in recent days, but the much bigger question on Election
Day [2008] is whether every vote (or at least most of them) will actually
be counted." ... "The New York Times published a shocking
story last week, reporting that "tens of thousands of eligible
voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or
have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal
law."" ... "The article continued: "Although much attention this year has
been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by
the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given
to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls." The paper
looked at six swing states: Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and
North Carolina. "Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls
within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when
voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or
have been declared unfit to vote. Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio
seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration
applications for new voters."" ... "The net effect: in Michigan 33,000
voters were removed from the rolls in August and in Colorado 37,000 voters
were purged in three weeks since mid-July. Imagine this scenario--on Election
Day thousands of voters will show up to the polls, only to be told they're
not registered, leading to chaos and confusion, perhaps in large enough
numbers to swing the results in crucial swing states." ... "It's a scary
thought--and one the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack]
Obama campaign says they're preparing for. On a conference call today,
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and legal counsel Bob Bauer laid out
their plans to ensure that every vote is counted." ... ""This has been
an election of enormous interest to the American people and we think that's
something that should be celebrated," Plouffe said. "Our opponents seem
to have a different view."" ... "Obama counsel Bob Bauer pointed to examples
in Montana, where Republicans have used change-of-address forms to improperly
challenge new Democratic registrants (a federal judge called the GOP's
tactics "political chicanery"); in Ohio, where Republicans challenged same-day
registration and absentee voting (the 6th circuit court said the claim
rested on "shaky ground"); in Michigan, where Republicans tried to use
foreclosure lists to purge voters; and in Wisconsin, where the Republican
Attorney General is suing the state's board of elections. (And just today,
a GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] operative was indicted
for lying to the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] about charges that
he jammed the phones of the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Election
Day 2002.)" -By Ari
Berman -TheNation.com
20081009
Joe
Biden - John
McCain - Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Consumer
- Regulation
- 
Mo
- 
Arizona
- Tennessee
- 2008
Election
"Biden
Accuses McCain of Waffling on Homeowner Help Plan."
... "[2008 Election] Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden started
his 24-hour swing through the Show-Me State [Missouri] Thursday with a
swipe at Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator]
Sen. John McCain for already changing the mortgage buy-up plan that the
GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] candidate introduced in Tuesday’s
presidential debate in Nashville [Tennessee]." ... "“John said he was going
to spend $300 billion of your tax money to buy from banks bad mortgages
that they now own. And he was going to buy them, though, at a discount,
an authority, meaning he wasn’t going to buy them for what the bank paid
for them -- he’s going to buy them for what their market value was," Biden
said at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo. [Missouri.]
"And then on Wednesday morning he said, his campaign said, 'No, we made
a mistake. We are going to buy them for exactly what the bank paid for
them.'" ... ""So, he’s going to spend $300 billion of your money so the
banks don’t lose a single penny!" Biden continued. "I’m not making this
up. I know it sounds like fiction, but I’m not making this up." ... ""That’s
not bailing out the homeowner," Biden added. "You’re bailing out the bank.""
... "“Ladies and gentlemen, in a matter of months, days, even hours, John
McCain has gone from first cutting regulation consumer protections from
banks –- that was his initial position, cut those protections -- then ignoring
the banks and lenders and not even talking about them, now to talking about
banks and lenders, and now he’s gone to the point of actually wanting to
reward banks and lenders for their greedy behavior," Biden continued. "Ladies
and gentlemen, this is not a steady hand, and the latest proposal is not
only
bad for taxpayers, it’s bad for homeowners and it’s bad for the economy,
and everybody seems to be aware of it this morning."" -By
Matthew Jaffe -ABCNEWS.com
John
McCain - 
Hillary
Clinton - Barack
Obama - Consumer
- Homeowners
-Bank
- Government
- New
York - 2008
Election
"McCain
Rebuked for Comparing Mortgage Plan to Clinton."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain was
rebuked by an aide to [New York Democratic Senator] Hillary Clinton on
Thursday for inaccurately comparing his [home] mortgage buy-up plan to
one proposed earlier this year by the former first lady." ... ""It's wrong
to suggest the new McCain plan is what Senator Clinton proposed ," said
Clinton spokesperson Kathleen Strand. "She and Senator Obama are focused
on helping struggling homeowners and holding bank lenders responsible.
. . Senator McCain's new plan calls for bailing out and rewarding irresponsible
bank and mortgage lenders, while sticking taxpayers with the bill."" -By
Teddy Davis and Arnab Datta -ABCNEWS.com
Noteworthy
-Sarah
Palin -Military
- Terrorism
- Alaska
- Federal
- Oil
- 
Land
- Money
- Politics
- 
- International
- Law
- US
- 2008
Election
"Alaskan
Independence Party: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel."
... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin,
it could be argued, following her own logic, thinks so little of America's
perfection that she continues to "pal around" with a man--her husband,
actually--who only recently terminated his seven-year membership in the
Alaskan Independence Party. Putting plunder above patriotism, the members
of this treasonous cabal aim to break our country into pieces and walk
away with Alaska's rich federal oil fields and one-fifth of America's land
base--an area three-fourths the size of the Civil War Confederacy." ...
"AIP's charter commits the party "to the ultimate independence of Alaska,"
from the United States which it refers to as "the colonial bureaucracy
in Washington." It proclaims Alaska's 1959 induction as a state "as illegal
and in violation of the United Nations charter and international law.""
... "AIP's creation was inspired by the rabidly violent anti-Americanism
of its founding father Joe Vogler, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American," reads
a favorite Vogler quote on AIP's current website, "I've got no use for
America or her damned institutions." According to Vogler AIP's central
purpose was to drive Alaska's secession from the United States. Alaska,
says current Chairwoman Lynette Clark, "should be an independent nation.""
... "Vogler was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives
that went bad. The prior year, he had renounced his allegiance to the United
States explaining that, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared
to my hatred for the American government." He cursed the stars and stripes,
promising, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is
an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Palin has never denounced
Vogler or his detestable anti-Americanism." ... "Palin's husband Todd remained
an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era
palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration,
she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft
constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent
nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that
she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience
so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006
convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention."
-By Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. -HuffingtonPost.com
20081008
John
McCain - Terrorism
- 
Women
- Abortion
- Clinics
- Federal
- Law
- Politics
- History
- Arizona
- 
Oregon
- 2008
Election
"Woman's
rights advocate: McCain sides with 'sympathizers and enablers of domestic
terrorism'." ... "The Arizona Senator [and 2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain] may not have directly consorted
with any clinic bombers, but his legislative record was certainly favorable
to them, and critics are hammering his association with sympathizers of
domestic terrorists who target abortion providers." ... "People For the
American Way encouraged McCain to "look in the mirror" after a RAW
STORY report revealed McCain's connection with Marylin Shannon, a Republican
official in Oregon who was a McCain delegate at this year's GOP [GOP=Grand
Old Party=Republican (2008 election)] convention. The two appeared together
at a 1993 fundraiser for an ultra-conservative organization where Shannon
praised a woman who was later convicted of attempted murder in the shooting
of an abortion clinic doctor." ... "“When anti-choice extremists were terrorizing
American women and their doctors, John McCain had multiple opportunities
to make what should have been an easy choice,” PFAW president Kathryn Kolbert
said
Tuesday. “But he chose political expediency over law and order." ...
""He didn’t say a word when Marylin Shannon sympathized with an attempted
killer. He voted against the clinic access bill even as everyday Americans
were being assaulted and besieged by domestic terrorists," continued Kolbert,
a longtime women’s rights advocate who successfully argued a crucial abortion
rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. "As someone who faced
repeated threats for work on behalf of reproductive rights, I am deeply
disturbed by John McCain’s willingness to stand with and side with sympathizers
and enablers of domestic terrorism.”" ... "McCain and Shannon appeared
together at a fundraiser for the Oregon Citizens Alliance in 1993, a gathring
of Christian right extremists that even fellow Republicans advised McCain
not to attend because the group was so far outside the mainstream." ...
"Speaking before McCain, Shannon offered some kind words for Shelley Shannon,
who was accused and later convicted of shooting an abortion doctor: "I'm
not related to Shelly Shannon, but I think she's a fine lady," the vice
chairwoman of the state Republican Party said. McCain apparently said nothing
to contradict that judgement, and less than three months later he voted
against a bill that would make abortion clinic bombings a federal crime."
-By Nick Juliano -RawStory.com
20081007
Sarah
Palin - Terrorism
- Politics
- Alaska
- 
Iran
-
- History
-US
- Federal
- Law
-Enforcement
- Earth
- 
Environment
- 2008
Election
"The
Palins' un-American activities." ... ""My government
is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."" ...
"The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the
Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for [2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah] Palin, that's the
very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd [Palin], belonged to
for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier
this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless
you.")" ... "AIP chairwoman Lynette
Clark told me recently that Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. "She's
Alaskan to the bone ... she sounds just like Joe Vogler."" ... "So who
are these America-haters that the Palins are pallin' around with?" ...
"Before his strange murder in 1993, party founder Vogler preached armed
insurrection against the United States of America. Vogler, who always carried
a Magnum with him, was fond of saying, "When the [federal] bureaucrats
come after me, I suggest they wear red coats. They make better targets.
In the federal government are the biggest liars in the United States, and
I hate them with a passion. They think they own [Alaska]. There comes a
time when people will choose to die with honor rather than live with dishonor.
That time may be coming here. Our goal is ultimate independence by peaceful
means under a minimal government fully responsive to the people. I hope
we don't have to take human life, but if they go on tramping on our property
rights, look out, we're ready to die."" ... "This quote is from "Coming
Into the Country," by John McPhee, who traipsed around Alaska's remote
gold mining country with Vogler for his 1991 book. The violent-tempered
secessionist vowed to McPhee that if any federal official tried to stop
him from polluting Alaska's rivers with his earth-moving equipment, he
would "run over him with a Cat and turn mosquitoes loose on him while he
dies."" ... "Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance
before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the
entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had
persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue."
... "That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American
hostages." ... "AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year
by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S.
before he could reach his U.N. platform." -By David
Talbot -Salon
Reporter
- Politics
- Government
-Financial
- Social
Security - Accounting
- 2008
Election
"If
Social Security Was a Private Corporation Then it Would Sue Tom Brokaw
for Every Penny He Has." ... "If a news reporter
deliberately makes a false statement claiming that a private company like
Boeing or Microsoft is going broke, the company has the right to sue the
reporter and the news agency. That is why reporters rarely make statements
like Microsoft or Boeing (or Lehman Brothers, AIG, or Goldman Sachs) are
going broke." ... "However, reporters can freely impugn the financial health
of a government program like Social Security because a government program
cannot sue for libel. That is why Brokaw knew that he could imply that
Social Security is going broke, even though it is not true. Social Security
cannot sue Brokaw even if he deliberately tells explicit lies about its
financial health." ... "Those who are interesting in learning about the
true state of Social Security's financial health can find out by looking
at the non-partisan Congressional
Budget Office's website [PDF]." -By Dean
Baker -Prospect.org
McCain
-Terrorism
-Finance
- History
- Secret
- Government
- Intelligence
- Military
- Politics
- Iran
- 
Nicaragua
- Foreign
- Arizona
- US
-2008
Election
"McCain
linked to private group in Iran-Contra case." ...
"GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee John McCain
has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas
seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra
affair." ... "The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international
organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death
squads in Central America." ... "The council's founder, retired Army [Major
General] Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the
organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career
in Arizona." ... "Covert arms shipments to the rebels called Contras, financed
in part by secret arms sales to Iran, became known as the Iran-Contra affair.
They proved to be the undoing of Singlaub's council." ... "In 1987, the
Internal Revenue Service withdrew the tax-exempt status of Singlaub's group
because of its activities on behalf of the Contras." ... "Elected to the
House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council,
McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the
Contras, a CIA[Central Intelligence Agency]-organized guerrilla force in
Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras."
... "Months before the cutoff, top [Republican President] Reagan administration
officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network and put
National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The
goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded
to resume CIA funding." ... "Singlaub's private group became the public
cover for the White House operation." ... "Secretly, Singlaub worked with
North in an effort to raise millions of dollars from foreign governments."
-By Pete Yost -AP
via -Yahoo
20081006
John
McCain - Terrorism
- Politics
- Women's- Medical
- Abortion
- Rights
-Federal
- Law
- Enforcement
- Colorado
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Voted To Protect Domestic Terrorists Who Carry Out Violence At Abortion
Clinics." ... "Referencing a recent New York Times
article, [spokesperson for 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
John McCain, Nancy] Pfotenhauer claimed that if McCain “hung out with somebody
who had bombed abortion clinics” it would be a legitimate topic of discussion."
... "Pfotenhauer’s invocation of abortion clinic bombers in defense of
McCain is ironic given that McCain has repeatedly voted against protecting
Americans from domestic terrorists in the anti-choice movement. On multiple
occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government’s
ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:"
"–
Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the
Jed Report notes, McCain voted
in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion
clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses
who perform abortions” federal crimes."
"–
Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s
“Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within
8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later
upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court."
"–
Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties
by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain
“voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health
clinics to avoid
paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring
bankruptcy.””
-ThinkProgress.org
John
McCain - Poor
-Families
- Seniors
- Federal
- Health
- Politics
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Plans Federal Health Cuts: Medicare, Medicaid Spending
Would Be Reduced to Offset Proposed Tax Credit." ... "[Republican Presidential
Candidate] John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions
to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts
estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government
programs." ... "The Republican presidential nominee has said little about
the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan "budget
neutral," as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn't given a specific
figure for the cuts, but didn't dispute the analysts' estimate." ... "In
the months since Sen. McCain introduced his health plan, statements made
by his campaign have implied that the new tax credits he is proposing to
help Americans buy health insurance would be paid for with other tax increases."
... "But Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain's senior policy adviser, said
Sunday that the campaign has always planned to fund the tax credits, in
part, with savings from Medicare and Medicaid. Those government health-care
programs serve seniors, poor families and the disabled." ... "In April,
when [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain gave a major speech about his health
plan, Mr. Holtz-Eakin, the senior policy adviser, said the tax provisions
alone were budget neutral -- meaning that health benefits would have to
be subject to both income and payroll taxes." -By
Laura Meckler -WSJ.com
20081004
Secret
- John
McCain - Terrorism
- History
- Money
-Politics
- Radio
- Federal
- Law
- Enforcement
- 2008
Election - Clinton
- New
York -Arizona
"Why
is the NY Times continuing to ignore McCain's "own Bill Ayers"?"
... "... [The New York[ Times has yet to mention, let alone
devote
an entire article to, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's relationship with radio host and
convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy [Republican President Nixon
associate]." ... "As
Media Matters for America has noted,
Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction
for his role
in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist
of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.
Liddy has acknowledged
preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary";
plotting
to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting
with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating
with investigators; plotting
to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting
to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention
-- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed
from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never
carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed
his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his
shooting targets after [Democratic President] Bill and [New York Senator]
Hillary Clinton." ... "Liddy has donated
$5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February
2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during
the presidential campaign, including as recently as May.
An online
video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07"
includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as
an "old friend." During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence
to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he
was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come
on your program."" ... "Additionally, in 1998, Liddy reportedly
held a fundraiser at his home for McCain. Liddy was reportedly scheduled
to speak at another fundraiser for McCain in 2000. The Charlotte Observer
reported on January 23, 2000, that McCain's campaign vouched for Liddy's
"character":"
"His
[McCain's] campaign officials said Liddy's character will appeal to many
voters because he was following orders from [Republican] President Nixon
and kept silent afterward."
""His
(Liddy's) judgment might be in question, but I don't think his character
is," said Ed Walker, the York County chairman of McCain's campaign. "He
was following orders just like any good soldier, and he didn't tell on
anybody. He felt like he was on a mission and kept his silence.""
"Liddy's
2000 speech was reportedly canceled due to bad weather." ... "In his May
4 [Chicago] Tribune column,
[columnist Steve] Chapman wrote:"
"What
McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form
of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent
more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary.
That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret
White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him,
McCain has embraced him."
...
"Last
November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend,"
and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family,"
he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon,
and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles
and philosophies that keep our nation great.""
"Which
principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break
into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and
photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war
activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention?
The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an
unfriendly newspaper columnist?"
"Liddy
was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history --
and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has
no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner
of war.""
[Chicago
Tribune columnist Steve Chapman]
"
-By Jon Sime -MediaMatters.org
20080929
Giuliani
- Paulson
- Corporate
-Government
- Law
- Politics
- History
"The
Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore."
... "The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place
as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are
being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars
to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five
years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over
a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, [Republican President]
Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting
the U.S. [United States] Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are
swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door."
... "No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use,
they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order
to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just
read the first four paragraphs of the lead
story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the
real deal is:"
""Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of
the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from
it."
""Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments
covered, not just those related to mortgages."
""At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the
assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions,
a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees."
""Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets
of financial institutions.""
"Unbelievable.
Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to
clean up like bandits. Even [Republican] Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for
his firm to be hired
(and paid) to "consult" in the bailout." ... "The problem is, nobody
truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even [Republican President
Bush's] Treasury Secretary [Henry] Paulson admitted he doesn't know the
exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out
of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't
figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone. " -By
Michael
Moore
20080925
Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
- Government
"Bailout
Could Deepen Crisis, CBO Chief Says: Asset Sales
May Lead to Write-Downs, Insolvencies, Orszag Tells Congress." ... "The
director of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the proposed
Wall Street bailout could actually worsen the current financial crisis."
... "During testimony before the House Budget Committee, Peter R. Orszag
-- Congress's top bookkeeper --said the bailout could expose the way companies
are stowing toxic assets on their books, leading to greater problems."
... ""Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures
of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled
assets on their books at inflated values," Orszag said in his testimony.
"Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent.""
... "In an interview later yesterday, Orszag explained using the following
example: Suppose a company has Asset X, whose value is recorded on the
books as $100. Because of the current economic decline, Asset X's real
value has dropped to $50. If the company takes part in the government bailout
and sells Asset X for $50, the company has to report a $50 loss on its
books. On a scale of millions of dollars, such write-downs could ruin a
company." ... "Such companies "look solvent today only because it's kind
of hidden," Orszag said. "They actually are insolvent" already, he said."
(1, 2)
-By Frank Ahrens -WashingtonPost
20080924
John
McCain -Financial
-Disaster
- Politics
- Government
- Massachusetts
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Democrats
claim Wall St. bailout breakthrough." ... "Democratic
[Massachusetts Representative] Rep. Barney Frank said on Wednesday Democrats
had reached an agreement to stem one of the worst U.S. financial disasters
in decades, and that there would be enough votes to pass the measure and
send it to [Republican] President George W. Bush to sign into law." ...
"Frank took a dig at [2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John
McCain, who interrupted his campaign to return to Washington on Thursday
to help work on a Wall Street bailout." ... ""All of sudden, now that we
are on the verge of making a deal, John McCain here drops himself in to
help us make a deal, Frank said." ... "He expressed fear that McCain, a
U.S. [United States] senator from Arizona who has spent much of the year
away from the Capitol campaigning, could end up slowing down work on the
bill." ... "The Massachusetts Democrat noted that a meeting on Capitol
Hill on Thursday will be interrupted for a "photo op" at the White House
with congressional Democrats and Republicans as well as Bush." ... ""We're
trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign," Frank said." ...
"Democrats blamed the crisis largely on the failure of Bush to adequately
regulate the financial industry." (1, 2,
3)
-By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro with contributions
by Doina Chiacu -Reuters
John
McCain - 
Rick
Davis - Corporate
- Politics
- Federal
- Housing
- 
Va
-Law
- 2008
Election
"Unsevered
Ties? Regulatory filings indicate that [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign chief Rick Davis
remains an officer with his lobbying firm." ... "Rick Davis, John McCain's
campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of
his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials
that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to
corporate records." ... "The McCain campaign this week criticized news
stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month
consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled [housing] mortgage giant
recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday
by
NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting
fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar
with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any
substantial work for the payments." ... "Filings made by "Davis Manafort
Partners" with the Virginia Corporation Commission as recently as April
1, 2008, show that Davis was still listed as one of only two corporate
officers and directors of the firm, according to records on the
commission’s Web site [PDF] reviewed by NEWSWEEK. That filing records
Davis as the "treas/clerk" of the firm; his business partner, Paul Manafort
is listed as the president and chief executive officer." ... "Another filing
by “Davis Manafort, Inc.” [PDF] (with the same Alexandria, Va. [Virginia]
address, and recorded on Oct. 17, 2007) also lists Davis as an officer
and director of the firm, reporting his position as "T/Clerk," a reference
to his formal title as corporate treasurer and clerk." ... "Both filings
are annual reports of basic corporate information that are required by
Virginia state law." -By Michael Isikoff
-Newsweek
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
- Government
- Law
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin:
US could face another Great Depression." ... "[2008
Election] Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday
that the United States could be headed for another Great Depression if
Congress doesn't act on the financial crisis." ... "Asked whether there's
a risk of another Great Depression if Congress doesn't approve a $700 billion
bailout package, Palin said, "Unfortunately, that is the road that America
may find itself on."" ... "Couric pressed Palin on examples of how McCain,
a 26-year congressional veteran, had led the charge for more oversight."
... "The Alaska governor cited [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
John] McCain's warnings about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago
as well as image as a maverick. Questioned again for examples, and reminded
that McCain had been chairman of the Commerce Committee, Palin said, "I'll
try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."" ... "McCain has insisted
Palin is ready to take over as president, but he made no mention of including
her in the meetings he wants in Washington to deal with the financial crisis."
-By Sara Kugler -AP
via -Yahoo
20080923
John
McCain - Rick
Davis - Corporate
- Politics
- Federal
- Housing
- Wisconsin
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Transition Head Lobbied for Freddie Mac Before Takeover."
... "The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential
transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing
Freddie
Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation's financial
crisis." ... "Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is
William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000
through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie
Mac and Fannie
Mae." ... "Newly available congressional records show Timmons's
firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred
under terms of the government rescue of the failed [housing] mortgage giant.
Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company's midyear
financial-disclosure form." ... "McCain has labeled Freddie Mac and Fannie
Mae as prime culprits in creating the financial storm that has roiled Wall
Street and Washington." ... "``At the center of the problem were the lobbyists,
politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the
administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac,'' he said last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin." ... "``Using money and
influence, they prevented reforms that would have curbed their power and
limited their ability to damage our economy,'' he said. ``And now, as ever,
the American taxpayers are left to pay the price for Washington's failure.''"
... "The McCain camp was also dealing with reports about the lobbying work
of campaign manager Rick Davis." ... "The New York Times reported yesterday
that Davis was paid almost $2 million in fees over five years by a group
primarily funded by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that was intended to help
stave off more stringent federal regulation of the housing companies. "
-By Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger
-Bloomberg
Henry
Paulson
- Financial
- Crisis
-Politics
- Legislation
"Bad
News For The Bailout: The [Republican President Bush
Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson Plan." ... "At a Senate Banking Committee
hearing Tuesday, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle complained of being
rushed to pass legislation or else risk financial meltdown." ... "In fact,
some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury
would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy." ... ""It's not based on any particular
data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted
to choose a really large number."" -By Brian Wingfield
and Josh Zumbrun with contributions by Liz Moyer
-Forbes
Dick
Cheney - Henry
Paulson
-Corporate
- Government
- Lawmakers- Politics
"White
House Dispatches Team to Push Economic Bill." ...
"The White House today is drumming up extraordinary pressure on Congress
to approve its plan to enact a $700 billion mortgage bailout fund, suggesting
the markets cannot wait much longer and dispatching Vice President Cheney
and other top officials up Pennsylvania Avenue to jawbone lawmakers." ...
"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke,
who collaborated in drawing up the proposal, are testifying this morning
on Capitol Hill in an effort to defend their handiwork." ... "[Republican
President Bush's Deputy Press Secretary Tony] Fratto insisted that the
plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over
previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged
lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should
be enough." -By Keith Koffler
-RollCall.com
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Legislative
- Politics
"Good
ideas and lies." ... "So, this morning [Republican
President Bush's Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson told
a whopper:"
[Hank
Paulson:] "We gave you a simple, three-page legislative outline and I thought
it would have been presumptuous for us on that outline to come up with
an oversight mechanism. That’s the role of Congress, that’s something we’re
going to work on together. So if any of you felt that I didn’t believe
that we needed oversight: I believe we need oversight. We need oversight."
"What
the proposal actually
did, of course, was explicitly rule out any oversight, plus grant immunity
from future review:"
"Sec.
8. Review."
"Decisions
by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable
and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court
of law or any administrative agency."
"I’m
not playing gotcha here. This is telling: if Paulson can’t be honest about
what he himself sent to Congress — if he not only made an incredible power
grab, but is now engaged in black-is-white claims that he didn’t — there
is no reason to trust him on anything related to his bailout plan." -By
Paul
Krugman/Blog
-NYTimes
20080921
John
McCain - Corporate
- Government
- Disaster
- Politics
- US_Debt
- Healthcare
- Social
Security - Rights
-
Book- 2008
Election
"Naomi
Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'."
... "The bailout of Wall Street’s largest players by the federal government
is another example of the [Republican President] Bush administration pursuing
a corporate agenda at the expense of average Americans, a prominent author
argued on Friday." ... "In a Friday night interview on HBO's Real Time
with Bill Maher, Naomi Klein said President Bush’s $700
billion proposal to rescue the financial sector stems from a profiteering
streak that has dominated the last eight years." ... ""The disaster is
far from over," Klein said. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have
moved the disaster to Main Street."" ... "Referring to the bailout, Klein
said the "bomb has yet to detonate" and that the real crisis will strike
when tax payers are overwhelmed when faced with the debt from the bailouts."
... "According to Klein, the bomb will detonate if
Sen. John McCain becomes president and "rationalizes" that it is necessary
to privatize government programs like social security and healthcare because
neither the government nor Americans can afford them." ... ""The real disaster
has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode
on American tax payers," Klein said." ... "Klein’s book, "The Shock Doctrine:
The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," outlines how crises, real or perceived,
have been used by governments, especially the United States under George
W. Bush, to strong-arm
a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its
government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept." -By
David Edwards and Andrew McLemore -RawStory.com
WATCH:
Naomi Klein on Republican Bush's "Shock Doctrine"
Henry
Paulson
-Government
- Politics
- US
-Foreign
"Foreign
Banks Can Unload Bad Debt Too: Paulson." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that foreign
banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion
U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis."
... ""Yes, and they should. Because ... if a financial institution has
business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States,
if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on
the American people as any other institution," Paulson said on ABC TV."
-CNBC
20080919
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Illegal
- Accounting
- Politics
- History
- US
- Global
"Can
you trust a Wall Street veteran with a Wall Street bailout?"
... "Making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, [Republican President
Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeatedly said today's financial
problems were long in the making. He should know. He was part of the Gold
Rush that has brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse."
... "Paulson presided over one of the most profitable runs on Wall Street
as chairman and chief executive officer of investment banking titan Goldman
Sachs & Co. from 1999 until [Republican] President Bush nominated him
on May 30, 2006 to take over the Treasury Department." ... "But with Paulson
now seeking virtually unfettered authority to administer the largest bailout
of the financial industry in U.S. [United States] history, many are wondering
whether Paulson also doesn't come with enormous potential conflicts of
interest." ... "Paulson has surrounded himself with former Goldman executives
as he tries to navigate the domino-like collapse of several parts of the
global financial market. And others have gone off to lead companies that
could be among those that receive a bailout." ... "The administration's
draft law also would preclude court review of steps Paulson might take,
something Joshua Rosner, managing director of economic researcher Graham
Fisher & Co. in New York, said could be used to mask previous illegal
activity." ... "The Treasury proposal sent to Congress also offers no process
to hire asset managers in an open and competitive process. That's particularly
questionable given that Wall Street players are now hiring Wall Street
players, Rosner said." ... ""This seems to invite a risk of collusion between
sellers and buyers to the detriment of the taxpayer," he wrote." ... "At
a minimum, there's irony in Paulson being in charge of so large a bailout."
... "In the last annual report at Goldman that Paulson signed off on in
November 2005, a year in which he received $38 million in compensation,
investors were clearly told that the federal government wouldn't be there
to save them from bad investments." ... "In 2002, Paulson received $12.1
million in compensation, including a $6.3 million bonus — an improvement
over the previous three years when Wall Street accounting scandals unsettled
investment banks, including a $1.5 billion settlement Goldman and other
banks paid for issuing overly bullish research reports that promoted deals
the banks themselves were involved in." ... "Published reports said Paulson
received $30 million in compensation and salary in 2003." -By
Kevin
G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com
Henry
Paulson
- Government
- Money
- Politics
- Law
- American
International Group - 
Calif
"Bush
Asking For $700 Billion Bailout." ... "Struggling
to stave off financial catastrophe, the [Republican President] Bush administration
on Friday laid out a radical bailout plan with a jawdropping price tag
_ a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages
and other bad debt held by tottering institutions." ... "Congressional
officials said they expected a request for legal authority to buy up the
bad loans, at a cost in excess of $500 billion to the government." ...
"The federal government already has pledged more than $600 billion [Reuters
reports: $900 billion] in the past year to bail out, or help bail out,
some of the biggest names in American finance. That includes the rescue
of investment bank Bear Stearns in March, the takeover of mortgage giants
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this month and the takeover of the world's
largest insurance company, American International Group, just this week."
... "In a session with House Democrats, they described a plan where the
government would in essence set up reverse auctions, putting up money for
a class of distressed assets _ such as loans that are delinquent but not
in default _ and financial institutions would compete for how little they
would accept for the investments, said [California Democratic Representative]
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. [Democratic-California], who participated in
the call." ... ""You give them good cash; they give you the worst of the
worst," Sherman said of the plan, which he complained that Bush and his
economic advisers were trying to panic lawmakers into rubber-stamping."
... "[Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson rejected
Democrats' calls to include tighter regulations, corporate reforms or limits
on executive compensation as part of the measure, Sherman said. "He's doing
his best to paint a picture of the sky falling, and then he says, because
the sky's falling, you have to do it my way."" -By
Tom Raum and Jeannine Aversa with contributions by Julie Hirschfeld Davis,
Martin Crutsinger, Andrew Taylor, Marcy Gordon, David Espo, Jim Abrams,
and Joe Bel Bruno -AP
via -HuffingtonPost.com
John
McCain - Banking
- Health
- Politics
- Government
- Law
- 2008
Election
"McCain
on banking and health." ... "Here’s what [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and John] McCain has to say about the
wonders of market-based health reform:"
"[McCain:]
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition,
as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices
of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based
regulation.""
"So
McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial
deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health
care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!"
-By
Paul
Krugman/Blog
-NYTimes
20080917
Finance
- American
International Group
"S&P
says pressure building on U.S. "AAA" rating." ...
"Pressure is building on the pristine "AAA" rating of the United States
after a federal bailout of American International Group Inc, the chairman
of Standard & Poor's sovereign ratings committee said on Wednesday."
... "The $85 billion bailout of AIG on Tuesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve
"has weakened the fiscal profile of the United States," S&P's John
Chambers told Reuters in an interview." (1, 2,
3)
-By Walden Siew with contributions by Jan Paschal
and Chizu Nomiyama -Reuters
American
International Group - Government
-Politics
- Housing
"Tab
for Government Rescues Rises to $900 Billion." ...
"The U.S. [United States] Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue insurance
giant American International Group from bankruptcy with an $85 billion
loan on Tuesday, the latest in a series of bailouts and loans for the financial
and housing sectors." ... "The action brings the total tab for government
rescues and special loan facilities this year to more than $900 billion."
-Reuters via -CNBC
20080916
Money
- Politics
- Jobs
- Federal
- History
"Democrats
are better for the economy than Republicans." ...
"The figures below are all from the annual Economic
Report of the President, and the analysis is primitive. Nevertheless,
what these numbers show almost beyond doubt is that Democrats are better
at virtually every economic task that is important to Republicans." ...
"This exercise implicitly assumes that lower taxes are always good and
higher government spending is always bad. " ... "The only point is that
if you find the Republican mantra of lower taxes and smaller government
appealing, and if you care only about how fast the economy is growing,
not how that growth is shared, you should vote Democratic." ... "On average,
in years when the president is a Democrat, the economy grows faster; inflation
is lower; fewer people can't find a job; the federal government spends
a smaller share of GDP, whether or not you include defense spending; and
the deficit is lower (or—sweet [Democratic President] Clinton-years memory—the
surplus is higher)." -By Michael Kinsley
-Slate
Money
- Politics
- Calif
"Federal
bank insurance fund dwindling." ... "Banks are not
the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established
to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer may
be the lender of last resort." ... "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.,
whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by
Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department
loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest thrift, or another
struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said Tuesday."
... "Eleven federally insured banks and thrifts have failed this year,
including Pasadena, Calif. [California]-based IndyMac Bank, by far the
largest shut down by regulators." ... "The [FDIC] fund, which is marking
its 75th anniversary this year with a "Face Your Finances" campaign, is
at $45.2 billion — the lowest level since 2003." ... "The failure of IndyMac
Bank in July cost $8.9 billion." ... "There were 117 banks and thrifts
considered to be in trouble in the second quarter, the highest level since
2003, according to FDIC data released last month." -By
Marcy Gordon with contributions by Christopher S. Rugaber
-AP via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin - 
Don
Young - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Transportation
- Construction
- 
Animals
- Environment
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
supports $600 million 'other' bridge project." ...
"[Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said
"no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere [after supporting it
even after Congress had stopped it]." ... "But a bridge to her hometown
of Wasilla [Alaska], that's a different story." ... "A $600 million bridge
and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000
residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could
worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales." ...
"Local officials already have spent $42 million on plans to route traffic
across the Knik Arm inlet, a narrow finger of water extending roughly 25
miles northeast of Anchorage toward Wasilla. The proposal exists thanks
to an earmark request by Republican [Alaska Representative] Rep. Don Young,
whose son-in-law has a small stake in property near the bridge's proposed
western span." ... ""This is basically an incredibly expensive project
that doesn't help commuters, doesn't help create jobs and may drive whales
to extinction," said Justin Massey, an attorney advising environmentalists
opposed to the proposal. "It is also a project that serves the area where
the governor is from, which is near and dear to her heart."" ... "Palin
still supports the second bridge, officially named Don Young's Way in honor
of the congressman." -By Garance Burke
-AP via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin - Criminal
- Money
- Politics
- Women
- Children
-Law
- Federal
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Source:
Sex Assault Program Cited in Monegan Firing Targeted Child Abusers."
... "So [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor]
Sarah Palin's latest explanation
for why she fired Walt Monegan is that he had gone over her head in seeking
federal money for an initiative to combat sexual assault crimes, before
she had approved the program." ... "But it now appears that the program
in question is one that most elected officials would be wary of admitting
they hadn't strongly backed. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska
Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use
the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials,
and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault
-- including those against children." ... "In other words, if Palin's new
story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going
after child molesters." ... "ABC News reported
yesterday that, although Alaska leads the nation in reported rapes
per capita, Palin hasn't made the issue a priority as governor." ... "Monegan,
however, appeared eager to change that. "He seemed to get the issue and
really took it seriously," Brown told TPMmuckraker." ... "According to
the Palin camp, too seriously." -By Zachary Roth
-TPMMuckracker
.TalkingPointsMemo
Noteworthy
- Emergency
- Money
-Politics
- Legal
- History
- AIG
"U.S.
to Take Over AIG in $85 Billion Bailout; Central Banks Inject Cash as Credit
Dries Up: Emergency Loan Effectively Gives Government
Control of Insurer; Historic Move Would Cap 10 Days That Reshaped U.S.
[Unijted States] Finance." ... "[Under Republican President Bush] The U.S.
government seized control of American International Group Inc. -- one of
the world's biggest insurers -- in an $85 billion deal that signaled the
intensity of its concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the
financial system." ... "The step marks a dramatic turnabout for the federal
government, which had been strongly resisting overtures from AIG for an
emergency loan or some intervention that would prevent the insurer from
falling into bankruptcy. Just last weekend, the government essentially
pulled the plug on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., allowing the big investment
bank to go under instead of giving it financial support. This time, the
government decided AIG truly was too big to fail." ... "Under terms hammered
out Tuesday night, the Fed will lend up to $85 billion to AIG, and the
U.S. government will effectively get a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer
in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. The two-year
loan will carry an interest rate of Libor plus 8.5 percentage points. (Libor,
the London interbank offered rate, is a common short-term lending benchmark.)"
... "The loan is secured by AIG's assets, including its profitable insurance
businesses, giving the Fed some protection even if markets continue to
sink. And if AIG rebounds, taxpayers could reap a big profit through the
government's equity stake." ... "It puts the government in control of a
private insurer -- a historic development, particularly considering that
AIG isn't directly regulated by the federal government. The Fed took the
highly unusual step using legal authority granted in the Federal Reserve
Act, which allows it to lend to nonbanks under "unusual and exigent" circumstances,
something it invoked when Bear Stearns Cos. was rescued in March." ...
"The U.S. on Sept. 6 took over mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac as they teetered near collapse." ... "In bailing out AIG, the Federal
Reserve appeared to be motivated in part by worries that Wall Street's
financial crisis could begin to spill over into seemingly safe investments
held by small investors, such as money-market funds that invest in AIG
debt." ... "Indeed, on Tuesday the $62 billion Primary Fund from the Reserve,
a New York money-market firm, said it "broke the buck" -- that is, its
net asset value fell below the $1-a-share level that funds like this must
maintain. Breaking the buck is an extremely rare occurrence. The fund was
pinched by investments in bonds issued by now collapsing Lehman Brothers."
... "Money-market funds are supposed to be among the safest investments
available. No fund in the $3.6 trillion money-market industry has lost
money since 1994, when Orange County, Calif., went bankrupt. A number of
money-market funds own securities issued by AIG. The firm is also a big
insurer of some money-market instruments." -By Matthew
Karnitschnig, Deborah Solomon, Liam Pleven and Jon E. Hilsenrath with contributions
by Diya Gullapalli, Serena Ng, Damian Paletta and Ashby Jones-WSJ.com
20080915
Federal
- Law
- Politics
- History
"Wall
Street crisis is culmination of 28 years of deregulation."
... "On Monday, one Wall Street bank, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy
protection and another, Merrill Lynch, sought comfort by selling itself
to Bank of America for $50 billion. Earlier this year, the government helped
enable the sale of faltering investment bank Bear Stearns to J.P. Morgan
Chase, and more recently took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac." ... "Such troubles were supposed to have been prevented, or at least
mitigated, by regulatory systems that the nation began to put in place
after the banking system collapsed at the start of the Great Depression."
... "Many banks at the time were badly wounded by their personal and financial
ties to securities trading. The 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, and later the
1956 Bank Holding Company Act, mandated the separation of banks, insurance
companies and securities firms." ... "Those and many other federal laws
stabilized the banking and securities markets, but by the 1970s, a stumbling
U.S. [United States] economy led to a change in America's political-economic
values. [Republican President] Ronald Reagan led a movement that came to
power in 1980 proclaiming faith in free markets and mistrust of government.
That conservative philosophy has dominated America for the past 28 years."
... "Even after taxpayers had to rescue deregulated savings and loans,
or S&Ls, with a $200 billion bailout in the late 1980s, the push to
loosen regulation paused only briefly." ... "In 1999, [Democratic] President
Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act, which tore down
Glass-Steagall's reforms by removing the walls separating banks, securities
firms and insurers." -By David
Lightman -McClatchyDC.com
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Immigration
- Religion
-US
- Alaska
- Russia
- Iraq
- Military
- 2008
Election
"John
McCain's Journey From Maverick to Liar." ... "When
Jon Stewart asked [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John]
McCain last year, "Are you going into crazy base world?" the celebrated
maverick acknowledged, "I'm afraid so."" ... "McCain flip-flopped on the
[Republican President] Bush tax cuts. He abandoned immigration reform.
He reached out to Jerry Falwell and other religious conservatives." ...
"It wasn't enough. And so, in a move that even one of his longtime advisers
conceded (in a remark captured by an open microphone) was disturbingly
"cynical," McCain gave the base [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate] Sarah Palin." ... "So far, the main "maverick" actions that
McCain has promised as the next Republican president are to trim nonmilitary
Democratic spending and continue the Iraq war. You can't get more conventional
than that." ... "And even that message has been somewhat undermined by
disclosures that Palin was a champion of those costly federal earmark projects
she has lobbied for in Alaska—where, you know, you can see Russia." ...
"At this point, McCain has taken the obvious way out—launching a series
of distracting attacks on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate]
Barack Obama, with slim regard for truth." ... "The ads have spurred a
backlash, the consequences
(or lack) of which may well decide the election." ... "For 18 months,
Obama has wagered all his chips on the (quaint? idealistic? brilliant?)
idea that the American people are tired of the same old sleazy and divisive
politics. McCain has now chosen to bet against him." ... "And we are the
cards." -By John Aloysius Farrell
-usnews.com
Sarah
Palin -John
McCain - Money
-Politics
- Federal
- Alaska
- Oil
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
Project List Totals $453 Million." ... "Last week,
[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate [and Arizona Senator]
Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov.
Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress,
presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin
has asked U.S. [United States] taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific
Alaska projects over the past two years." ... "These projects include more
than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing
industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She
also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island
that has a year-round population of less than 100." ... "During an appearance
Friday on ABC's "The View," Sen. McCain said Gov. Palin shared his views,
and hasn't sought congressional earmarks. "Not as governor she hasn't,"
he said." ... "In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197
million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first
year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging
from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation
and obesity prevention." ... "The state's earmark requests stand out in
part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush
with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In
fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got
a check for $3,200." ... "The McCain campaign has also come under fire
for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial
"Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely
populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed
it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use
the funds for other projects." -By Laura Meckler and
John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
20080914
John
McCain -William
E. Timmons, Sr. - Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Oil
- Drug
- Housing
- Consumer
- Investigation
- Law
- Foreign
- 
Japan
- US
- 2008
Election
"Obama
Memo on a [Republican McCain] "Lobbyist-Run White House"."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain's Team
of Lobbyists Grows, As They Plan for a Lobbyist-Run White House" ... "Joining
the ranks of the seven lobbyists running McCain's campaign, William Timmons,
a top Washington lobbyist, has been named to plan McCain's transition effort.
With at least 177 lobbyists helping advise, raise money and run his campaign,
there was little doubt who would be influencing McCain's White House, should
he win, but this appointment just confirms: a John McCain White House will
be organized, managed and influenced by lobbyists and the same old Washington
politics John McCain has decried. Campaigning on reform while surrounding
himself with lobbyists for the oil industry, big drug companies and foreign
interests doesn't seem much like change, and nothing shows that more than
naming a top Washington lobbyist to plan his transition." ... "SEPTEMBER
2008: TIMMONS JOINS MCCAIN TEAM" ... "One Of DC's “Most Senior Inside Players,”
A Special Interest Lobbyist To Help McCain Transition Planning Effort.
William E Timmons, Sr., the McCain campaign's new senior advisor of a hypothetical
transition, is a “prominent Washington lobbyist who has worked for every
Republican president since Richard Nixon” pointed out Time magazine. This
year alone, he is registered as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, Anheuser-Busch,
an insurance industry trade group, an oil industry group, and a pharmaceutical
company. Time called him one “of Washington's steadiest and most senior
inside players.” [Time, 9/12/08; Senate Office of Public Records]" ...
"Timmons, A Former Nixon Aide, Founded Lobbying Shop In The Aftermath Of
Watergate. “Aftershocks of the Watergate scandal were still rumbling in
1975 when William Timmons and three other former Nixon aides decided to
launch their own lobbying shop. ‘We figured if we got 10 clients to pay
us $100,000 a year, we'd be in the clover,' recalls the 76-year-old Timmons.”
[Politico, 3/7/07]" ... "WHILE MCCAIN CRITICIZED FREDDIE MAC'S LOBBYISTS,
TIMMONS EARNED MILLIONS LOBBYING FOR FREDDIE MAC." ... " ... Timmons Earned
More Than $2.7 Million for His Firm Lobbying for Freddie Mac from 2000-2008.
William Timmons earned $2,795,000 in lobbying fees for his firm lobbying
from 2000 through the 2nd Quarter of 2008. His firm lobbied for Freddie
Mac on housing issues. [Timmons and Company Lobbying Disclosures, 2000-2008]"
... "TIMMONS ALSO EARNED MILLIONS FOR HIS FIRM LOBBYING FOR OIL COMPANIES"
... "Timmons Earned $2.1 Million for His Firm Lobbying for Unocal and Also
Lobbied for Chevron. William Timmons lobbied for Unocal from 1999-2005
and then briefly lobbied for Chevron in 2005 after the firm purchased Unocal.
[Timmons and Company Senate Lobbying Disclosures, 1999-2005]" ... "Timmons
Lobbied on Two Price Gouging Prevention Bills For Oil Industry. According
to lobbying disclosure forms, William Timmons – on behalf of the American
Petroleum Institute – lobbied on S. 94 and S. 1263 in 2007, two bills which
dealt with prohibiting price gouging by merchants. Timmons continued his
registration, which began in 1999, into the summer of 2008. [Timmons and
Company Senate Lobbying Disclosures]" ... "HITACHI: Timmons Contract Came
As US Government Opened Investigation" ... "8/2/85: Justice Dept. Opens
Investigation Of Hitachi For Antitrust Violations. In early August 1985,
the US Dept. of “investigation of Hitachi Ltd. for alleged unfair pricing
practices.” The probe “accused the Japanese of closing their doors to U.S.-produced
goods while using unfair tactics to make gains in the domestic U.S. marketplace.”.
[San Diego Union Tribune, 8/7/85]" ... "8/27/85: Hitachi Hires Timmons's
Firm. The $75,000 contract (one year) was to “represent the interests of
Hitachi before the legislative and executive branches.” [FARA, Exhibit
AB, http://www.fara.gov/docs/3489-Exhibit-AB-19850901-D0V9DI01.pdf
]" ... "[FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) filings, US Dept. of Justice
(fara.gov)]" -From the
capaing of Barack Obama
-TIME.com
McLobbyist.com
Sarah
Palin - Rove
- 
Abramoff
- E-Mail
- Secrecy
- Government
- 
Archive
- Politics
- Legal
- Investigation
- 
Computer
- Internet
- Tech
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Even
before VP nomination, Palin's e-mail use questioned."
... "Moments after [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican [2008
Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, she sat with
her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always
with her." ... "The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow
users to read and send e-mails) for state business and another for personal
matters, but those worlds intertwine." ... "Palin routinely uses a private
Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's
office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." ... "The practice
raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed
during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."" ... "Even before
the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing
over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to
get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail
accounts?" ... "The governor's Yahoo account is "the most nonsensical,
inane thing I've ever heard of," said Andree McLeod, who is appealing the
administration's decision to withhold e-mails." ... ""The governor sets
the tone and the tone that has been set by this governor is beyond the
pale," McLeod said. "Common sense tells you to use an official state e-mail
account for official state business."" ... "State lawyers say that the
governor's e-mails about public business should be treated like any other
public record, even if she's sent them through a private account such as
Yahoo." ... "Some of her aides also routinely use Yahoo, but even messages
sent from one private account to another should be public, if they concern
public business, said Dave Jones, an assistant attorney general." ... ""The
difficulty is finding out they exist," Jones said." ... "The [Republican
President] Bush administration has drawn heat over revelations that more
than 80 White House aides, including senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, used
private GOP e-mail servers for government business. The controversy surfaced
during congressional investigations into White House contacts with convicted
lobbyist Jack Abramoff and into the firings of U.S. attorneys." -By
Lisa Demer -ADN.com
via -McClatchyDC.com
20080913
Sarah
Palin - Ted
Stevens - Don
Young - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Transportation
- Construction
- Architecture
- Alaska
- Nevada
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Administration Still Pursuing ‘Nowhere’ Project."
... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor
of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has portrayed herself as a foe of pork-barrel
spending, pointing in particular to her role in killing the $398 million
"Bridge to Nowhere” between Ketchikan (pop. 7,400) and its airport on Gravina
Island (pop. 50). I "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" she said
in her speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. "If
our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.""
... "But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing
a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of
as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original
project." ... ""What the media isn't reporting is that the project isn't
dead," Roger Wetherell, spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Transportation,
said. In a process begun this past winter, the state’s DOT is currently
considering (PDF) a number of alternative solutions (five other
possible bridges or three different ferry routes) to link Ketchikan and
Gravina Island." ... "The DOT has not yet developed cost estimates for
those proposals, Wetherell said, but $73 million of the approximately $223
million [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK [Republican-Alaska])
and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska])
earmarked for the bridge in 2005 has been set aside for the Gravina Access
Project." ... "In an
interview that aired Friday night, ABC’s Charles Gibson challenged
Palin about the fact that she’d initially
supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” during her 2006 run for governor.
“I was for infrastructure being built in the state,” she said, but repeated
her line that Alaska would “find a way to build [the bridge] ourselves."”
... "The massive $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere" was to replace ferry
service from the airport to Ketchikan (departing every half-hour),
a 15-minute
ride -- meaning that air travelers are assured of reaching Ketchikan
in no more than 45 minutes. It would have done so in grand style: the planned
structure would
have been nearly as long as the Golden Gate and higher than the
Brooklyn Bridge." -By Paul
Kiel -ProPublica.org
20080912
John
McCain - William
Timmons - Rick
Davis - Corporate
-Government
- Political
- History
- Oil
-
- -
-
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Taps Lobbyist for Transition." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain transition planner William]
Timmons is the chairman emeritus of Timmons and Company, a small but influential
lobbying firm he founded in 1975 shortly after leaving the [Republican
Nixon-Ford] White House. According to Senate records, he registered to
lobby in 2008 for a wide range of companies and trade groups, including
the American Petroleum Institute, the American Medical Association, Chrysler,
Freddie Mac, Visa USA and Anheuser-Busch." ... "His registrations include
work on a number of issues that have become flashpoints in the presidential
campaign. He has registered to work on bills that deal with the regulations
of troubled [home] mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, a bill
to provide farm subsidies and bills that regulate domestic oil-drilling."
... "By tapping Timmons, McCain has turned to one of Washington's steadiest
and most senior inside players to guide him in the event of a victory —
but also to someone who represents the antithesis of the kind of outside-of-Washington
change he has recently been promising. One Republican familiar with the
process said the decision to involve Timmons could become a political liability
for the campaign's reformist image, especially in the wake of the controversies
over the lobbying backgrounds of other McCain staffers, including campaign
manager Rick Davis. "It's one more blind spot for Rick Davis and John McCain,"
the person said." -By Michael Scherer
-TIME.com
20080911
Corporate
- Oil
- Government
- Political
- Accounting
- Legal
- Investigation
- Drugs
"Sex,
drug use and graft cited in U.S. agency scandal."
... "As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned
coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas
royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal — including
allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies,
cocaine use and sexual misconduct." ... "In three reports delivered to
Congress on Wednesday, the department's inspector general, Earl E. Devaney,
found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals
Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually
and is one of the government's largest sources of revenue other than taxes."
... ""A culture of ethical failure" pervades the agency, Devaney wrote
in a cover memo." ... "The reports portray a dysfunctional organization
that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior
and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the [Republican President] Bush
administration's watch." ... "The highest-ranking official criticized in
the reports is Lucy Denett, the former associate director of minerals revenue
management, who retired earlier this year as the inquiry was progressing."
... "One former official named in the report, Jimmy Mayberry, pleaded guilty
to a felony conflict-of-interest charge in August and faces a sentence
of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine." ... "In late 2002,
when he was about to retire from the government, Mayberry drafted a "statement
of work" for a consulting contract to perform essentially identical functions
to his own. He then retired, started a company, and in June 2003 won the
contract with the help of Denett and Milton Dial, another friend at the
agency who later went to work for Mayberry." ... "Denett did not return
a message left at her home on Wednesday with her husband, Paul Denett,
who was the top procurement official in the [President Bush] White House
Office of Management and Budget until he resigned this month. He declined
to comment." ... "The other high-ranking official the Justice Department
has declined to prosecute is Gregory Smith, the former program director
of the royalty-in-kind program." ... "Some 19 officials — a third of the
program's staff — took gifts from oil and gas executives, some with "prodigious
frequency."" ... "On one occasion, the report said, the royalty-in-kind
program allowed a Chevron representative who won a bid to purchase some
of the government's oil to pay taxpayers a lower amount than his winning
offer because he said he had made a mistake in his calculations. A report
from Devaney's office earlier this year found that the program had frequently
allowed companies that purchase the oil and gas to revise their bids downward
after they won contracts. It documented 118 such occasions that cost taxpayers
about $4.4 million in all." (1, 2,
3)
-By Charlie
Savage -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
20080908
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Housing
- Market- Government
- Alaska
- Colorado
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Makes Her First Gaffe." ... "[2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin made
her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene
while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past
weekend." ... "Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs [Colorado], the
Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers."
The companies, as
McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private
companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization.""
... "Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, which came before
the government had spent funds bailing the two entities out, saying it
demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues
likely to face the next administration." ... ""You would like to think
that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president
would know what Fannie and Freddie do," said Dean Baker, co-director of
the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "These are huge institutions
and they are absolutely central to our country's mortgage debt. To not
have a clue what they do doesn't speak well for her, I'd say."
"
-By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
WATCH:
Palin falsely asserted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "too big and too
expensive to the taxpayers." John McCain applauded the false assertion.
20080907
Henry
Paulson
-Government
- Money
- Housing
- Politics
- Historic
"U.S.
seizes Fannie and Freddie: Treasury chief Paulson
unveils historic government takeover of twin mortgage buyers. Top executives
are out." ... "Federal officials on Sunday unveiled an extraordinary takeover
of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the government in charge of the
twin mortgage giants and the $5 trillion in home loans they back." ...
"The move, which extends as much as $200 billion in Treasury support to
the two companies, marks Washington's most dramatic attempt yet to shore
up the nation's housing market, which is suffering from record foreclosures
and falling prices." ... "The sweeping plan, announced by Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance
Agency, places the two companies into a "conservatorship" to be overseen
by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under conservatorship, the government
would temporarily run Fannie and Freddie until they are on stronger footing."
... "Freddie CEO Richard Syron and Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd will no longer
run the agencies, while the FHFA will assume control of the boards." ...
"The government, in agreeing to backstop the firms, said it would receive
$1 billion in each company's senior preferred stock. The government will
also receive a quarterly dividend payment and the right to own 79.9% of
each company." ... "Fannie and Freddie have become virtually the only source
of funding for banks and other home lenders looking to make home loans.
Their ability to do so is crucial to the recovery of the battered home
market and the broader U.S. economy." ... "The two firms buy loans, attach
a guarantee, then sell securities backed by the loans' income stream. All
told, they own or back $5.4 trillion worth of home debt - half the mortgage
debt in the country." ... "The cost of the government intervention remains
unclear however. Experts argue that it will depend in large part on the
structure of the rescue, the direction of home prices and mortgage default
rates." ... "Still it seems almost certain it will run into the billions
and will most likely eclipse such other high-profile government bailouts
including than the Federal Reserve's $29 billion backing of Bear Stearns
assets when it was taken over by J.P. Morgan Chase." -By
David Ellis with contributions by Tami Luhby and Patricia Sellers
-CNN
20080904
Sarah
Palin - Money
- Politics
-Federal
- Transportation
- Construction
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Also Supported The "Road To Nowhere" (And May Still)."
... "While a debate rages over how honest [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] Sarah Palin has been in stating her opposition to the infamous
Bridge To Nowhere, another massive, widely-criticized transportation project
is lingering in Alaska." ... "The "Road
To Nowhere" is a $375 million "mega-project" designed to connect Juneau
[Alaska's capital] to the [Alaskan] towns of Haines and Skagway via 50
miles of new road along the steep slopes of an avalanche-battered canal,
ending at a ferry terminal at the Haines river." ... "As of 2005, Haines
had a population of 2,400, while Skagway had 870 residents." ... "According
to the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, a group promoting "sensible
transportation systems in the state," the Road to Nowhere is an irresponsible
waste. The project has received more than $100 million in federal and state
funding. This includes a $15 million dollar federal earmark and approximately
$24 million in federal dollars passed through to the state. But it remains
far from completion - hampered by opposition, environmental and safety
concerns, and general wariness over its utility." ... "Palin has been anything
but a steady fiscal hawk on the matter. The Governor came into office saying
she supported the road, which was started under her predecessor Frank Murkowski.
In an October 2006 questionnaire by Anchorage Daily News, she
simply wrote "Yes" when asked "Do you support building a road from
Juneau to Skagway?"" -By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
20080903
Sarah
Palin - Federal
- Money
-Politics
- Oil
- Alaska
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Sarah
Palin: Earmark Queen Of The Earmark State." ... "In
2000, [Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin, as mayor of
the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired
a Washington lobbyist to secure federal earmarks for her community."
... "This is not totally atypical in her state. Alaska’s government receives
more
money per capita in federal earmark money than any other state, despite
being the
only state in the union with no income tax and no sales tax. They fund
their government primarily with petroleum money, and recently distributed
oil profits to its citizens in the form of rebate
checks." ... "But even in her heavily earmarked state, Sarah Palin
was the earmark queen." ... "From 2000 to 2003, she secured over $27
million in earmarks, averaging $6.7 million in federal money every
year for her town of about 6,700 people." ... "An analysis
of the databases of Taxpayers for Common Sense by Center for American Progress
Action Fund Senior Fellow Scott Lilly puts these numbers in perspective."
"Per
Capital Federal Earmark Funding"
"(All
figures for 2008 except Wasilla, which is for 2002)"
"Arizona:
$18.70"
"National
Average: $51.19"
"Alaska:
$506.34"
"Wasill,
AK: $1,000.00"
"He
notes the following amounts:"
"–$50:
The amount the average state received in earmarked funds, per capita in
2008"
"–$506:
The amount received by Alaska’s citizen per capita in 2008, represented
by the Senate’s earmarker in chief, Ted Stevens, ten times the national
average"
"–Over
$1000: The annual amount received per capita in Wasilla between 2000
and 2003, twice the 2008 Alaska state average"
"Some
of these earmarks drew the scorn of Senator John McCain. The LA Time reports
that, “three times in recent years, McCain’s catalogs of ‘objectionable’
spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by
its mayor at the time — Sarah Palin.”" ... "As Scott Lilly writes,
“Palin has advertised herself as a reformer and a skeptic of earmarking
while maneuvering to become the earmark queen of the earmark state.”"
-ThinkProgress.org/Wonk
Room
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Ted
Stevens - Federal
- Money
-Legislative
- Politics
- Alaska
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"McCain
had criticized earmarks from Palin." ... "Three times
in recent years, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John]
McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for
this small Alaska town [Wasilla], requested by its mayor at the time --
[Republican Politician] Sarah Palin." ... "Now, McCain, the likely Republican
presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her
as a reformer just like him." ... "But records show that Palin -- first
as mayor of Wasilla and recently as governor of Alaska -- was far from
shy about pursuing tens of millions in earmarks for her town, her region
and her state." ... "This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly
22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system.
"The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important
to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship,"
she wrote in a newspaper column." ... "Wasilla had received few if any
earmarks before Palin became mayor. She actively sought federal funds --
a campaign that began to pay off only after she hired a lobbyist with close
ties to [Alaska Republican Senator]] Sen. Ted Stevens (R[Republican]-Alaska),
who long controlled federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee. He made funneling money to Alaska his hallmark." ... "This year
she submitted to Congress a list of Alaska projects worth $197.8 million,
including $2 million to research crab productivity in the Bering Sea and
$7.4 million to improve runway lighting at eight Alaska airports." ...
""So while Sen. McCain was going after cutting earmarks in Washington,"
said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, "Gov. Palin was going after
getting earmarks."" -By Tom Hamburger, Richard Simon
and Janet Hook -LAtimes
via -ChicagoTribune
20080902
Sarah
Palin - Ted
Stevens - Don
Young - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Alaska
- Oil- Law
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
earmark requests: more per person than any other state:
GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] vice presidential candidate Alaska
[Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin touts her record as a reformer who worked to
end the "abuses of earmark spending in Congress." But Palin has embraced
earmarks from early on in her career as a mayor of Wasilla [Alaska] to
the governor's mansion in Juneau [Alaska's capital]. Just this year she
sent to [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted. Stevens a proposal for 31
earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state."
... "Palin's requests to Congress came at a time of huge federal deficits,
while Alaska state revenue was soaring due to rising oil prices and a major
tax increase on oil production that Palin signed into law in late 2007."
... "As a result, Alaska this year was in such a money-flushed condition
— with no state income tax or sales tax and total state revenues of $10
billion, double the previous year's — that Palin gained legislative approval
for $1,200 cash payments to every Alaskan." ... "In addition, each Alaska
resident gets an annual dividend check, about $2,000 this year, from Alaska's
oil-wealth savings account, known as the Permanent Fund, now fattened to
more than $35 billion." ... ""She was hungry for earmarks just like everybody
else," said Larry Persily, who worked at the Alaska state office in Washington,
D.C., until earlier this year. "Everyone was feeding at the trough."" ...
"Before she left office, Wasilla, with aid of the lobbyist and the blessing
of Stevens and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young, got $27
million in earmarks, according to the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common
Sense." ... "During her fall 2006 campaign for governor, Palin appeared
to embrace the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," even after Alaska had been
held up for ridicule by McCain and others for what was seen as a wasteful
boondoggle, a $233 million bridge that would replace ferry service connecting
[Alaska's] Gravina Island and its Ketchikan airport to mainland Ketchikan
[Alaska]." ... "In a debate, Palin said she would fight for the earmark
to build the bridge." ... "Last year, Palin requested $254 million in earmarks[....]"
-By Hal Bernton and David Heath-SeattleTimes
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain -Don
Young - Ted
Stevens - Illegal
- Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Alaska
- Transportation
- Construction
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds." ...
"Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm
to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents
while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government
watchdog group." ... "There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million
for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for
a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla [Alaska],
located about 45 miles north of Anchorage [Alaska]." ... "In introducing
Palin as his running mate on Friday, [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot
in his battle against wasteful federal spending." ... "As mayor of Wasilla
[Alaska], however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle &
Eastaugh, an Anchorage[ Alaska]-based law firm with close ties to Alaska's
most senior Republicans: [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young
and [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July
on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled
by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner
in the firm." (1, 2)
-By Paul Kane -WashingtonPost
20080901
Sarah
Palin - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Alaska
- Transportation
-Construction
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Received Millions In Earmarks, Clouding Reformer Image."
... "The presentation of [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
Sarah] Palin as an anti-earmark, fiscally conscious pol is challenged by
a review of recent political records. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she
hired the firm of Hoffman Silver Gilman & Blasco to help secure spending
projects for her town. The expenditure apparently paid off. From 2000 through
2002, Wasilla received more than $5.5 million in federal cash for transportation
and social service projects." ... "The use of the earmark system that --
as a vice presidential candidate -- Palin now criticizes continued into
her tenure as governor. As the
Los Angeles Times reported, the state of Alaska requested 31 earmarks
worth $197.8 million for next year's federal budget. And according to Citizens
Against Government Waste, Alaska received $379,669,715 in pork during fiscal
year 2008, nearly $100 million more than any other state."
-By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
Sarah
Palin - Ted
Stevens - John
McCain - Corporate
-Politics- Government
- Alaska
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Was a Director of Embattled Sen. Stevens's 527 Group."
... "Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout
in her state's political circles in part by serving as a director of an
independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska [Republican
Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens." ... "Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation
papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group
that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed
to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She
served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced
on state filings." ... "Palin's relationship with Alaska's senior senator
may be one of the more complicated aspects of her new position as [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John
McCain's running mate; Stevens was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts
of corruption." ... "At the time Stevens revealed the existence of the
527 group -- a type of independent political corporation named for its
the section of the tax code -- ethics experts questioned whether it was
appropriate." ... "The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that several
experts called the group an example of the fine legal line between a legal
effort to conduct political activity and then-new prohibitions against
raising unlimited soft-money." ... "Board members of Ted Stevens Excellence
in Public Service were legally allowed to raise as much money as they wanted
from corporations or unions or unlimited donations from individuals --
all of which would have been illegal for Stevens to do himself." -By
Paul Kane -WashingtonPost
Sarah
Palin -John
McCain - Ted
Stevens - Federal
- Legislative
- Money
- Politics
- Alaska
-2008
Election
"Palin
relied on earmark system she now opposes." ... "Alaska
[Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin presents herself as an ally of [2008
Election Republican] presidential candidate John McCain when it comes to
curbing wasteful government spending." ... "On Friday, when McCain introduced
her as his running mate, she said she "championed reform to end the abuses
of earmark spending," the legislative technique used to slip projects into
appropriations bills without rigorous congressional review." ... "But under
her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8
million in next year's federal budget, according to the website of [Alaska
Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens (R[Republican]-Alaska), the former
chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee." ... "Palin has recently
been publicly critical of requests made in past years by Stevens and others
for $223 million in federal funds for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska,
to Gravina Island, calling it "the Bridge to Nowhere," a derogatory label
critics attached to the project." ... "As a candidate for governor in 2006,
she backed funding for the bridge." -By Tom Hamburger
-LAtimes
20080831
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Ted
Stevens - Money
- Politics
- Government
-Alaska
- Transportation
- Construction
- History
- Ohio
-2008
Election
"Palin
backed 'bridge to nowhere' in 2006." ... "In her
nationally televised speech accepting the job as [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, Alaska [Republican
Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin said she "championed reform to end the abuses
of earmark spending by Congress" and opposed federal funding for a controversial
bridge to a sparsely populated island." ... "[However] While running for
governor in 2006, though, Palin backed federal funding for the infamous
bridge, which McCain helped make a symbol of pork barrel excess." ... "And
as mayor of the small town of Wasilla [Alaska] from 1996 to 2002, Palin
also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in
congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according
to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against
Government Waste and lobbying documents." ... "Wasilla's lobbying firm
was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska [Republican
Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project." ...
""We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are
on the table like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this
project or any other into something that's so negative," Palin said in
August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News."" -By
Ken Dilanian -USATODAY
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Federal
- Money
- Alaska- Transportation
- Construction
- 2008
Election
"Palin
touts stance on 'Bridge to Nowhere,' doesn't note flip-flop."
... "When [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain
introduced [Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin as his running
mate Friday, her reputation as a tough-minded budget-cutter was front and
center." ... ""I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to
nowhere," Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to [Alaska's]
Ketchikan's Gravina Island bridge." ... "But Palin was for the Bridge to
Nowhere before she was against it." ... "The Alaska governor campaigned
in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she
felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere." They're still feeling
pain today in Ketchikan [Alaska], over Palin's subsequent decision to use
the bridge funds for other projects -- and over the timing of her announcement,
which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national
[Eastern] news deadlines." ... ""I think that's when the campaign for national
office began," said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday." ... "Alaska's
congressional delegation endured withering criticism for earmarking $223
million for Ketchikan and a similar amount for a crossing of Knik Arm at
Anchorage [Alaska]." ... "Congress eventually removed the earmark language
but the money still went to Alaska, leaving it up to the administration
of then-[Alaska Republican Governor ]Gov. Frank Murkowski to decide whether
to go ahead with the bridges or spend the money on something else." ...
"In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial
campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town's prosperity."
-By Tom Kizzia -ADN.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Political
- Investigation
- Attorney
- Government
-Transportation
- Construction
- Money
- Alaska
-Oil
- Global
- 
Climate
- 2008
Election
"What
McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin." ... "They've
[the 2008 Election Republican Presidential campaign of John McCain] bragged
that [Alaska Republican Governor Sarah] Palin opposed the famous "Bridge
to Nowhere," only to learn that Palin
supported the project and even told residents of Ketchikan [Alaska]
that they weren't "nowhere" to her. After the national outcry, she decided
to spend the funds allocated to the bridge for something else. Actually,
maybe it's more fair to say that coincident with the national outcry, she
changed her mind. The story shows her political judgment, but it is not
a reformer's credential." ... "Likewise, though she cut taxes as mayor
of Wassila [Alaska], she raised the sales tax, making her hardly a tax
cutter." ... "She denied pressuring the state's chief of public safety
to fire her sister-in-law's husband even though there's mounting evidence
that the impetus did indeed come from her. Ostensibly to clear her name,
Palin
asked her attorney general to open an independent investigation—the
legislature had already been investigating. (I am told that the campaign
was aware of the ethics complaint filed against her but accepts Palin's
account.)" ... "McCain's campaign seemed unaware that she supported a windfalls
profits tax on oil companies and that she is more skeptical about human
contributions to global warming than McCain is." ... "They did not know
that she took trips as the mayor of Wasilla to beg for earmarks." ... "They
did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she
did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does." -By
Marc
Ambinder -TheAtlantic.com
John
McCain -Joe
Biden - Barack
Obama - Hillary
Clinton - Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- Emergency
-Investigation
- Legislation
- Politics
- History
- Federal
- NY
- New
Orleans - 
Louisiana
-Communications
- Funds
- Children
- Transportation
- 2008
Election
"McCain
To Katrina Victims In 2005: You're On Your Own."
... "It doesn’t really come as a surprise to those of us who have watched
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain over the
years that he's about to make a campaign
stop in New Orleans [Louisiana] after Hurricane Gustav hits this week.
After all, he's been exploiting the troops for years, what's a few hurricane
victims after that?" ... "What does seem odd is that McCain thinks Gulf
Coast residents will forget how he, [Republican President] George W. Bush
and the then-Republican Congress turned their backs on them so many times
in the months after Katrina thundered ashore in 2005." ... "Too bad he
spent the months to follow leading the Republican charge against every
Senate bill that would have actually helped Katrina victims or mandated
investigations on how the Bush administration could have blown disaster
response so thoroughly." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic Vice Presidential
nominee Joe Biden jumped immediately to the aid of hurricane victims in
the week after the 2005 disaster, authoring S.Amdt.
1661 "…to provide emergency funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina.""
... "Biden's legislation would have provided many things including money
to purchase interoperable communications equipment to help first-responders
dealing with the disaster, $10 million "to find, unite, and transport children
impacted by Hurricane Katrina to their parents, legal guardian, or next
of kin" and funding to assist victims of domestic violence in affected
areas." ... "But with John McCain's help, the Republican-led Senate shot
down the funding on a 41-56
vote with McCain voting against, while Biden and Democratic Presidential
nominee Barack Obama voted for the funding." ... "When [New York Democratic]
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY[ Democratic-New York]) proposed the creation
of a Congressional Commission to "examine the Federal, State, and local
response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.. and make immediate
corrective measures to improve such responses in the future," John McCain
was once again exactly where [Republican President] George W. Bush wanted
him to be: On the "nay" side of a straight party-line vote (44-54)
that killed that legislation." ... "And lest you think it was McCain taking
a stand against what might become a Democratic witch hunt on the failures
of his bosses in the White House, the bill called for a wholly bipartisan
panel, stating
specifically of the 10-member group that "not more than 5 members of
the Commission shall be from the same political party."" ... "Unlike McCain,
Barack Obama was one of the cosponsors of that bill and both he and Biden
voted for immediate oversight on the bungled Katrina response." ... "But
that's not all." -By Bob
Geiger
20080829
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Politics
- People
- Family
-Drugs
- Health
- Federal
- US
- Foreign
- Military
- Terrorism
- Alaska
- 
Idaho
- 2008
Election
"On
Sarah Palin." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] John McCain has selected Alaska [Republican] Governor Sarah
Palin as his running mate. [Governor] Gov. Palin was first elected to the
position in 2006 and previously served as the mayor of Wasilla (pop. 5,470)
[Alaska]. She also served on the town's city council. She has a degree
from the University of Idaho where she minored in political science. That
is the extent of her political experience." ... "Her biography is fascinating.
She is only 44 years-old. She eloped with her highschool sweetheart, a
Yup'ik Eskimo. They have five children named: Track 18, Bristol, 17, Willow,
13, Piper, 7, and Trig (who was born on April 18th). Trig has Down's Syndrome.
The Palins knew that Trig had an extra chromosome but decided to go ahead
with the pregnancy." ... "She has admitted to smoking the ganja [marijuana]
but says she didn't enjoy it. She was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska
contest." ... "I am not aware of Palin having any knowledge or experience
with foreign affairs, terrorism, the armed forces, or the federal bureaucracy."
... "Considering [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John
McCain's age and history with cancer, this pick has extra importance. It's
hard to envision Gov. Palin becoming president on short notice. It also
undermines McCain's focus on foreign policy and experience." -By
BooMan
Tribune
20080826
Money
- History
"FDIC
Warns of More Bank Troubles: The Government Insures
Depositors When Banks Fail, But Does It Have Enough Cash?" ... "The health
of U.S. banks is quickly deteriorating, and the government fund set up
to protect depositors might not have enough money to insure everybody,
analysts told ABCNews.com." ... "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
or FDIC, insures bank deposits of up to $100,000 at nearly 8,500 of the
nation's banks and also keeps a watch list of banks that it considers in
trouble." ... "At the beginning of the year, 90 banks were on the FDIC
watch list. There are now 117, FDIC chairwoman Sheila C. Bair announced
at a news conference this afternoon. That is the highest number in five
years, but some analysts expect the list to grow even more in coming months."
... ""I think there's going to be a steady drip, drip, drip of bad news,"
said Sean Ryan, a banking analyst with Sterne Agee. "We've only seen the
very tip of the iceberg in terms of bank failures."" ... "The FDIC, created
in 1933 during the Great Depression to help restore the public's confidence
in the nation's banking system, receives no federal tax dollars and is
funded through the institutions that it insures. Currently it has $50.2
billion set aside to cover bank failures, nearly 20 percent of which is
likely to be depleted in the IndyMac insurance payback alone." (1, 2,
3)
-By Scott Mayerowitz -ABCNEWS.com
20080806
Hillary
Rodham Clinton - Dick
Cheney - Halliburton
KBR - Blackwater
- Corporate
- Government
- Disaster
- Politics
- Military
- Peoples
- Health
- Investigators
- Hurricane
Katrina -Housing
- US
- Iraq
- 
Cayman
Islands
"No
Crisis Is Immune From Exploitation Under Bush." ...
[By
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:] "Tucked away on the Cayman Islands sits Ugland
House, an unassuming, nondescript building of modest scale and size. However,
according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO),
this five-story office building is home to more than 18,000 corporate entities,
nearly half of which have U.S. [United States] ties." ... "In the past
few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman
Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, [Republican
Vice President Dick Cheney's] former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used
offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in
federal taxes. To no one's surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the
[Republican President] Bush administration has rewarded the company in
April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq." ...
"There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation
under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse
are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has
resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon
and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who
dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same
company. In another scam, the Pentagon awarded a $300 million contract
to AEY, Inc. [Incorporated], a company run by a 22-year-old who fulfilled
an ammunition deal in Afghanistan by supplying rotting Chinese-made munitions
to our allies." ... "But the fraud and waste are not limited to the war.
In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA [Federal Emergency
Management Agency] awarded a contract worth more than $500 million for
trailers to serve as temporary housing. The contractor, Gulf Stream, collected
all of its money even though they knew at the time that its trailers were
contaminated with formaldehyde." ... "While touting fiscal responsibility,
[Republican] President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets
of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for
earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting
throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1
ratio." -By Hillary Rodham Clinton
-WSJ.com
20080805
Political
-Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Crime
- Noteworthy
- Government
- Law
-US
- Iraq
- Military
- History
- Journalist
"Author
claims White House knew Iraq had no WMD: Journalist
Ron Suskind says [Republican President] Bush ordered forgery linking Saddam,
al-Qaeda." ... "President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering
the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] to to manufacture a false pretense
for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims." ... "The charge
is made in “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of
Extremism” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, released today."
... "Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. [United States] intelligence
officials who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003
that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, his book relates,
Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later — with the forged letter
from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam bolstering the U.S. [United
States] rationale to go into war." ... "“It was a dark day for the CIA,”
Suskind told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira on Tuesday. “It was the kind
of thing where [the CIA] said, ‘Look, this is not our charge. We’re not
here to carry forth a political mandate — which is clearly what this was
— to solve a political problem in America.’ And it was a cause of great
grievance inside of the agency.”" ... "The author writes that Bush’s action
is “one of the greatest lies in modern American political history” and
suggests it is a crime of greater impact than Watergate." ... "The letter"
... "On page 371 of “The Way of the World,” Suskind describes the [Republican
President Bush's] White House’s concoction of a forged letter purportedly
from the hand of [Iraqi intelligence chief Tahir Jalil] Habbush to Saddam
Hussein to justify the United States’ decision to go to war." ... "CIA
officers [Bob] Richer and John Maguire, who oversaw the Iraq Operations
Group, are both on the record in Suskind’s book confirming the existence
of the fake Habbush letter." -By Bob Considine
-MSNBC
WATCH:
Ron Suskind interview on TODAY show.
Government- Intelligence
- Secretly
- Marketing
- Media
- Opinion
- Noteworthy
- Military
- Terrorism
- Political
- History-Book
- US
-Iraq
"Book
says White House ordered forgery." ... "A new book
by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the
head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein." ... "Suskind writes in “The
Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery –
adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link
between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war."
... "Suskind writes in his new book that the order to create the letter
was written on “creamy White House stationery.” The book suggests that
the letter was subsequently created by the CIA and delivered to Iraq, but
does not say how." ... "The author claims that such an operation, part
of “false pretenses” for war, would apparently constitute illegal White
House use of the CIA to influence a domestic audience, an arguably impeachable
offense." ... "Suskind writes that the White House had “ignored the Iraq
intelligence chief’s accurate disclosure that there were no weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time
to stop an invasion." ... "“They secretly resettled him in Jordan, paid
him $5 million – which one could argue was hush money – and then used his
captive status to help deceive the world about one of the era’s most crushing
truths: that America had gone to war under false pretenses,” the book says."
... "Suskind writes that the forgery “operation created by the White House
and passed to the CIA seems inconsistent with” a statute saying the CIA
may not conduct covert operations “intended to influence United States
political processes, public opinion, policies or media.”" ... "“It is not
the sort of offense, such as assault or burglary, that carries specific
penalties, for example, a fine or jail time,” Suskind writes. “It is much
broader than that. It pertains to the White House’s knowingly misusing
an arm of government, the sort of thing generally taken up in impeachment
proceedings.”" -By Mike Allen
-Politico.com
20080804
US_Debt
- Government
- Money
- Countrywide
Financial Corporation -Real
Estate - North
Carolina - New
York - US
- United
Kingdom
"Fewest
Treasury Traders Since 1960 Hit Taxpayers (Update4)."
... "For the first time since 1960, when it created the network of securities
firms obligated to buy and sell Treasury bonds, the U.S. government has
the fewest bond traders making markets in its debt and a bigger burden
for American taxpayers financing record federal deficits."
... "The number of so-called primary government securities dealers declined
to 19 last month when Bank of America Corp., based in Charlotte, North
Carolina, acquired the troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. The sale was
the climax of dozens of bank failures, triggered by the biggest decline
in residential real estate since the Great Depression and the seizing up
of credit markets from New York to London [United Kingdom's capital]. The
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the agent of the U.S. Treasury, plans
to shrink the dealers again when JPMorgan
Chase & Co. completes its takeover of Bear Stearns Cos." ...
"The paucity of primary dealers coincides with the largest borrowing requirement
in American history and the acknowledgment by the administration of [Republican]
President George W. Bush that the U.S. will finance a budget deficit totaling
a record $482 billion next year. When the dealer system began 48 years
ago with 18 firms, the U.S. had a $300 million surplus. The group has shrunk
from a peak of 46 in 1988. " -By Sandra Hernandez
-Bloomberg
20080729
US_Debt
- History
- Government
- Politics
- 
SD
- SC
"Bush
to leave a record budget deficit of $482 billion:
[Republican President Bush] White House officials say the economy and a
bipartisan stimulus package caused the worsening picture for 2009, but
Democrats blame Bush's tax cuts and fiscal management." ... "Democrats
on Capitol Hill blamed the revised deficit figures on Bush's large tax
cuts and freewheeling spending." ... ""If we gave Olympic medals for fiscal
irresponsibility, President Bush would take the gold, the silver and the
bronze, because he's got the three highest record deficits ever," said
[South Dakota Democratic Senator] Sen. Kent Conrad (D-S.D.), chairman of
the Senate Budget Committee. "He sets records in every single category:
2009 would be the gold; 2004 the silver; 2008 the bronze."" ... "[South
Carolina Democratic Representative] Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) noted
that Bush inherited a budget surplus from his Democratic predecessor, so
the blame for the poor fiscal performance rests with him." ... ""Mr. Bush
came to office with the biggest surpluses in history and he will leave
office with the biggest deficit in history. That's the bottom line," said
Spratt, chairman of the House Budget Committee." -By
Maura Reynolds -LAtimes
20080728
Jim
Adkisson - Terrorism
- Politics
- Tennessee
- Church- Gays
- Jobs
-Government
- Food
- Money
"Tennessee
church shooter angry at "liberals"." ... "A man [Jim
Adkisson] who opened fire inside a church, killing two people with a shotgun
hidden in a guitar case, was frustrated at being unable to find a job and
blamed liberals and gays, police said on Monday." ... ""It appears that
what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain
a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred of the liberal
movement," Knoxville [Tennessee] Police Chief Sterling Owen told reporters
of Sunday's incident at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church."
... "Suspect Jim Adkisson...." ... "... described his violent plans in
a four-page letter found at his home, which also explained that his age
and "liberals and gays" taking jobs had worked against him." ... "Another
recent setback was that Adkisson's allotment of government-issued food
stamps had been reduced, Owen said." -By Andrew Stern
with contributions by Michael Conlon and Jackie Frank
-Reuters via -IHT.com
20080718
Hillary
Clinton - Women's
- Medical
- Science- Abortion
- Language
- Politics
- Family- Federal
- Money
- New
York
"Clinton
vows to fight "insulting" abortion plan." ... "A
[Republican President] Bush administration plan to define several widely
used contraception methods as abortion is a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult"
to women and faces tough opposition, [New York Democratic Senator] Sen.
Hillary Clinton said on Friday." ... "The former Democratic presidential
candidate joined family planning groups to condemn the proposal that defines
abortion to include contraception such as birth control pills and intrauterine
devices." ... "It would cut off federal funds to hospitals and states where
medical providers are obligated to offer legal abortion and contraception
to women." ... ""We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda
to turn the clock back on women's rights," the New York senator told a
joint news conference with New York [Democratic Representative] Rep. Nita
Lowey, also a Democrat, at Bellevue Hospital." ... ""Women would watch
their contraceptive coverage disappear overnight," said Clinton." (1, 2)
-By Michelle Nichols with contributions by Ellen Wulfhorst
and Eric Beech -Reuters
20080714
Barack
Obama - Military
-Police
-US
-Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- Iran
- 
Pakistan
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Government
-Money
- Political
-McCain
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"My
Plan for Iraq." [By 2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Canidate Barack Obama] ... "The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki
for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an
enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment
of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term
success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States." ... "The
differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike [2008 Election Republican
Senator and Arizona] Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before
it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake
to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and
the Taliban [in Afghanistan] by invading a country [Iraq] that posed no
imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then,
more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion.
Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan
to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown." ... "In the 18 months since [Republican]
President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically
in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the
Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly
weakening its effectiveness." ... "But the same factors that led me to
oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown,
the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200
billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to
invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their
own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that
was the stated purpose of the surge." ... "The good news is that Iraq’s
leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a
timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant
General] James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s
security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready
to assume responsibility for security in 2009." ... "Only by redeploying
our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation
and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for
the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment
and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator
McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous
commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government." ... "Ending
the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has
a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and
it never has been. As Adm. [Admiral] Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources
to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq."
... "As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing
at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan.
We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and
more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not
hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided
desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq. " -By
Barack Obama -NYTimes
20080710
John
Cowdery - 
Kott
- 
Kohring- 
Weyhrauch
- Oil
- Money
-Politics
- 
VECO
-Federal
- Crimes
- Alaska
"Cowdery
indicted on two corruption charges." ... "The federal
indictment filed today against state [Alaska state Republican Senator]
Sen. John Cowdery revolves around the oil tax legislation pushed so hard
by Veco Corp. [Corporation] and its executives in 2006." ... "The Anchorage
Republican is charged with conspiracy and bribery, accused of scheming
with Veco executives to win over another senator in the battle for the
tax favored by North Slope oil producers." ... "According to the 16-page
indictment, Cowdery and others conspired to give the other state senator
$25,000, characterized as campaign contributions." ... "[Veco chief executive
Bill] Allen and Veco vice president Rick Smith have pleaded guilty to bribing
legislators, including Cowdery, to push through a version of an oil tax
favored by North Slope producers." ... "Two former legislators, [Republican]
Pete Kott of Eagle River [Alaska] and [Republican] Vic Kohring of Wasilla
[Alaska], are serving federal prison sentences after being convicted of
corruption charges related to the push for the tax. A third former legislator,
[Republican] Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau [Alaska's capital], was indicted
too and is awaiting trial while courts consider an appeal on what evidence
can be heard." -By Lisa Demer
-ADN.com
20080706
Don
Young - Ted
Stevens -
Tom
DeLay - Federal
- Investigation
- Legislative
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Alaska
-
Texas
- Virginia
- 
Florida
- Transportation
- Construction
"When
Alaska's Young needed help, lobbyists ponied up."
... "Facing bad publicity and a dwindling campaign account, [United States
Alaska Republican Representative] U.S. Rep. Don Young last year turned
to the "AK Wolfpack," a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former
Young staffers and retired former congressmen, with close ties to the Alaska
Republican." ... "Young's chief of staff, Mike Anderson, sent the Wolfpack
an e-mail to tell them that national Democrats planned aggressive fundraising
and claims of misconduct by Young to topple the 35-year incumbent congressman
and his fellow Alaska Republican [Senator], U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens." ...
"If they succeed, Anderson warned, "you and your clients will be impacted.""
... "They include Rick Alcalde, the lobbyist at the heart of a Young earmark
that is under federal investigation. They also include lobbyists Colin
Chapman, Anderson's immediate predecessor as Young's chief of staff, and
Randy DeLay, the brother of former Republican House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay of Texas. Randy DeLay lobbied on a Virginia highway project before
Young's transportation committee." ... "Anderson e-mailed his note a day
after The New York Times ran a front-page story about Young's earmarking
$10 million to study a Florida interchange that would benefit a developer
who had raised money for an earlier Young campaign. The paper described
the earmark as an "obvious" trade of campaign contributions for legislative
favors." -By Sean Cockerham and Erika
Bolstad -McClatchyDC.com
20080702
John
McCain - Carl
H Lindner Jr - Terrorism
- Money
- Illegal
- Military
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
-International-Food
- 
Colombia
- US
- Arizona
- Ohio
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia."
... "The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain oversaw the
payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that
is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States." ...
"Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati [Ohio] businessman, was
CEO [Chief Executive Officer] of Chiquita Brands International from 1984
to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002.
Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the
Spanish acronym AUC), which is described
by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal
right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious
civilian massacres."" ... "Following a Justice Department indictment
[pdf] last year, Chiquita admitted
to illegally funding the paramilitaries and agreed to pay a $25 million
fine. Chiquita's payments to the AUC began in 1997 and lasted seven years;
roughly half of the funds came after the group was designated
a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001."
... "According to the Justice Department, the payments "were reviewed and
approved by senior executives" of Chiquita, who knew by no later than September
2000 "that the AUC was a violent, paramilitary organization."" ... "Late
last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain
and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati,
Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's
Ohio Victory Team." ... "While Lindner was CEO of Chiquita, the company
began sending money to the AUC through its shipping subsidiary Banadex.
A report
by the Organization of American States states that Banadex also engaged
in arms trafficking, helping to deliver 3,000 Nicaraguan AK-47 rifles and
millions of rounds of ammunition to the AUC in 2001. According to federal
prosecutors, when company officials realized the arrangement was illegal,
they switched to making the payments in cash." -By
Nico
Pitney -HuffingtonPost.com
20080630
John
McCain -
Tom
Loeffler - Susan
E Nelson - 
Gordon
England - 
EADS
- 
European
- Military
- 
Aircraft
- Manufacturing
- Politics
- Government
- Auditors
- US
- 2008
Election
"McCain’s
Boeing Battle Boomerangs." ... "Government auditors
ruled that the Air Force made "significant errors" when it rebid the [aerial
refueling tanker] contract and awarded the $35 billion project to Boeing's
chief rival, partners European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. [Company]
(or EADS) and Northrop Grumman. It's likely the Air Force will have to
redo the bid yet again, which analysts say will delay the replacement of
the fleet's 1950s-era refueling tankers. The auditors' ruling has also
cast light on an overlooked aspect of [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate John] McCain's crusade: five of his campaign's top advisers and
fund-raisers—including Tom Loeffler, who resigned last month as his finance
co-chairman, and Susan Nelson, his finance director—were registered lobbyists
for EADS." ... "Critics, including some at the Pentagon, cite in particular
two tough letters McCain wrote to Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England
in 2006 and another to Robert Gates, just prior to his confirmation as
Defense secretary. In the first letter, dated [September] Sept. 8, 2006,
McCain wrote of hearing from "third parties" that the Air Force was about
to redo the tanker competition by factoring in European government subsidies
to EADS—a condition that could have seriously hurt the EADS bid. McCain
urged that the Pentagon drop the subsidy factor and posed a series of technical
questions about the Air Force's process. "He was trying to jam us and bully
us to make sure there was competition by giving EADS an advantage," said
one senior Pentagon official, who asked for anonymity when discussing a
politically sensitive matter. The assumption within the Pentagon, the official
added, was that McCain's letters were drafted by EADS lobbyists. "There
was no one else that would have had that level of detail," the official
said." -By Michael Isikoff
-Newsweek
20080623
Media
-
- Radio
-Communications
- Corporations
- Government
- Politics
"July
18 Deadline for Cross-Ownership Move Requests: Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals Gives Broadcasters, Media Activists Until July
18 to File Requests for Moving Appeal of FCC Decision." ... "The Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals gave broadcasters and media activists
until July 18 to file their requests for moving the appeal of the Federal
Communications Commission's decision
to loosen the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership." ...
"That's according to one of the parties involved." -By
John Eggerton -BroadcastingCable.com
20080622
Blackwater
- Corporate
- Military
- Federal
- Crime
- North
Carolina
"Blackwater
using cache of AK-47s: Rifles given to sheriff in
deal that skirts law." ... "The private military company Blackwater [owned
by Erik Prince] has found an unusual way to skirt federal laws that prohibit
private parties from buying automatic weapons. Blackwater bought 17 Romanian
AK-47s and 17 Bushmasters, gave ownership of the guns to the Camden County
[North Carolina] sheriff and keeps most of the guns at Blackwater's armory
in Moyock [North Carolina]." ... "Tiny Camden County -- population 9,271
-- is one of the most peaceful in North Carolina. In the last 10 years,
there have been two murders, three robberies and seven rapes reported.
The sheriff has just 19 deputies." ... "Sheriff Tony Perry said his department
has never used the 17 AK-47s outside of shooting practice at Blackwater.
None of his 19 deputies are qualified to use the AK-47s, Perry said, and
his department's need for automatic weapons is "very minimal."" ... "In
the summer of 2005, Blackwater CEO Gary Jackson signed two agreements with
[Major] Maj. Jon Worthington of the Sheriff's Office. Worthington has worked
as a firearms instructor for Blackwater." ... ""Blackwater has financed
the purchase of 17 Romanian AK-47 rifles for the Camden County Sheriff's
Office for use by Sheriff's Office," the agreement says. "The Camden County
Sheriff's Office will have unlimited access to these rifles for training
and qualification, and state of emergency use." Worthington and Jackson
also signed an agreement for the purchase of 17 Bushmaster XM15 E2S automatic
rifles." ... "Why did Blackwater strike this deal with the Camden County
sheriff?"
... ""Because they needed guns, I imagine," Jackson said." ... "Under federal
law, it is illegal for a person to receive or possess an automatic weapon
that is not registered to that person in the National Firearms Registration
and Transfer Record." -By Joseph Neff
-NewsObserver.com
20080621
China
- Hackers
- US
- GOV- Lawmakers
-Human
Rights - Politics
- Military
-Intelligence
- Investigation
- Va- 
NJ
- 
Ill
"More
congressional computers hacked from China." ... "More
Members of Congress have had their computers infiltrated by hackers within
China than initially suspected, a lawmaker has revealed." ... "[Representatives]
Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va. [Republican-Virginia), Chris Smith (R-N.J. [Republican-New
Jersey), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill. [Republican-Illinois]) admitted to having
data removed from their Capitol Hill computers last week, but Wolf says
there are more." ... "“I would suspect that the Foreign Affairs, Armed
Services, Intelligence, (and) Appropriations committees would all be top
targets,” Kirk said." ... "Wolf and Smith said they believe the hackers
focused on them because of their continued objections to China’s human
rights violations, and suspected that the hackers were looking for information
on dissidents." ... "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] as
- Government Archive
