Keepin’ It in the Family

“In 1999, Cisco Systems issued a technical white paper, which described a new router that the company planned to sell to cable broadband providers. In describing advantages that these new “policy routers” offer cable providers, the paper explained that if the provider’s users want to subscribe to a service that “pushes” information to their computer: “You could restrict the incoming push broadcasts as well as subscribers’ outgoing access to the push site to discourage its use. At the same time, you could promote your own or a partner’s services with full speed features to encourage adoption of your services.”

In plain English, the broadband provider could inspect the packets flowing to and from a customer, and decide which packets would go through faster and more reliably, and which would slow down or be lost. Its engineering purpose was to improve quality of service. However, it could readily be used to make it harder for individual users to receive information that they want to subscribe to, and easier for them to receive information from sites preferred by the provider—for example, the provider’s own site, or sites of those who pay the cable operator for using this function to help “encourage” users to adopt their services. There are no reports of broadband providers using these capabilities systematically. But occasional events, such as when Canada’s second largest telecommunications company blocked access for all its subscribers and those of smaller Internet service providers that relied on its network to the website of the Telecommunications Workers Union in 2005,
suggest that the concern is far from imaginary.”

The Wealth of Networks- Yochai Benkler

More thoughts on the Jane Data Center anyone?

SDV: That was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this article. The second thing was that earlier,in the summer,I posted several entries about Penner and his connection to Baidu- this was prior to the Olympics.Incidentally,Penner is also affiliated with 99Bill Corporation which involves China’s online payment processing ,also credit installments through a bank of one’s choice. Wonder why WalMart hasn’t opened a bank in China,yet. Or have they?

Speaking of the Olympics, Greg Penner,newly installed member of WalMrt Board of Directors and Rob Walton’s son-in-law,is on the Board of Baidu,a Chinese internet search engine.~~~~~~~~: Baidu Signs Cooperative Agreement with China Netcom
BEIJING, April 8, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/—Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), the leading Chinese language Internet search engine, today announced the signing of an agreement with China Netcom Group.

According to the agreement, Baidu’s leading Internet search service will be leveraged to help CNC Internet users find information they need online more efficiently by powering a jointly designed search page that users will be redirected to after they attempt to visit an incorrect or nonexistent URL.

“We are determined to become the leading provider of broadband communications and multimedia services in China,” said Yiming Fang, CNC’s general manager of media business. “ The synergy between Baidu and CNC will be enormously valuable for all of our customers.”

“As one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games sponsors, CNC commands an extensive customer base and shares core values with Baidu, such as a commitment to providing user-oriented services. These commonalities served as the foundation of our partnership,” added Haoyu Shen, Baidu’s vice president of business operations.  Baidu is increasingly lending expertise in search and product design and development of business models to partners. We find these types of partnerships mutually beneficial.”

“CNC is the leading national telecom operator with dominant market share in northern China,” Shen continued, we are confident that this agreement will strengthen Baidu’s position as the search engine partner of choice for telecom operators seeking to improve services for customers.

China Network Communications Group Corporation (China Netcom) is a leading broadband communications and fixed-line telecommunications operator in China. The Company aims to pursue innovation and growth with a goal to be a “broadband communications and multimedia services provider”.

About Baidu

Baidu.com, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best way for people to find information. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu’s ADSs, each of which represents one Class A ordinary share, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ‘’BIDU’’~~~~~~~~~

ddrb in
Thursday, August 07 at 12:31 AM~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE: This is particularly interresting in light of the anti-trust action, and the criticism China received during the Olympics for its limiting Internet access to certain sites by members of world news organizations.

Wal-Mart moneyman backing Google rival Cuil
By Owen Thomas Jul 30 2008,
Silicon Valley’s press corps is wringing its collective hands over the botched launch of Cuil, a Web search engine. Instead of complaining about Cuil’s piss-poor search results, why is no one asking who paid for this debacle? The surprising answer: Wal-Mart.

More precisely, Wal-Mart family money. Madrone Capital Partners, which manages venture-capital investments for the heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, led Cuil’s most recent $25 million financing round in April. Madrone’s Greg Penner, who married Carrie Walton, Sam Walton’s granddaughter, is on Cuil’s board. And on Wal-Mart’s.

Penner, who lives in Atherton, has ensconced himself in Silicon Valley society, despite an atypical background for the liberal Bay Area: His parents are evangelical sex therapists who believe in counseling gays into heterosexuality. He is a protege of Stanford Business School’s Jack McDonald, and served as an executive at Walmart.com, a short-lived dotcom spinoff of Wal-Mart backed by Accel Partners and later folded back into the retailing giant.

Most significantly, he’s also a board member of Baidu, a Chinese search engine which is eating Google’s lunch in that country. The Waltons’ investment in Cuil could be written off as simply an attempt to make money. But with Penner involved in two prominent Google’s rivals, it’s hard not to wonder if the Bentonville gang isn’t hoping to do more than just add to its pile~~~~~~~~~~~~Valley Wag

Wal-Mart names new CEO

Beam yourself up, Scotty!

The delicious irony here is the new CEO is Mike Duke and the little lady that initiated the largest class action suit against Wal-Mart is Betty Dukes.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/21/news/companies/walmart/?postversion=2008112109

Wal-Mart is the exemplar of a form of corporate colonialism, which is to say, organizations from one place going into distant places and strip-mining them culturally and economically. ~ James Howard Kunstler

“The stock rose 6.7 percent in this year through yesterday, adding to last year’s 2.9 percent increase. Since Scott took over, the retailer has lost 22 percent of its stock-market value.” Bloomberg 11/21/2008

“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.”
Abraham Lincoln

“The delicious irony here is the new CEO is Mike Duke and the little lady that initiated the largest class action suit against Wal-Mart is Betty Dukes”

Just Like Obama appointing Clinton!

Cintons loyalty to Wallyworld will go a long way to helping the company stay out of Obamas crosshairs.

You liberals are really in for some “Change” probably not the change you want or anticipated. When things go to hell in a hand bag your song & dance will be “I didnt vote or I voted for Ralph Nader”

Coming soon-Business worse than usual in the White House- and in congress- Liberals will get their “change” its coming Hold ON! BEND OVER & GRAB YOUR CHEEKS !

Ken V; Another synchronistic irony. Lee Scott and George Bush assumed the reins of their respective posts at the same time,in the year,2000. And, they are being dethroned at the same time, too.By-bye,George and Lee, Scoot!

When things go to hell in a hand bag...

Wake up and smell the recession, Ken W. You right wing-nuts have four years to adjust. In the meantime you just sound bitter.

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey. ~ John Ruskin

I guess Ken V’s diverticulosis of the mouth hasn’t gotten any better!

Although your not spouting to much about the “same’ or “change”

Could it be the Clinton Cronies that are getting appointed in record numbers cause you to eat your words- Here comes more of the “same” for you liberal hogwash talkers! Including The Old/New Attorney general! A Janet Reno clone!

Remember WACO! The Old/New Attorney General isnt to fond of Texans.

Hope this country doesnt see more of the “same” from that bunch of Liberals!

Back to the original subject of this thread-Penner and Madrone Capital. Seems that Penner[and WalMart] have some significant investment ties to one of Obama’s TOP Chicago fundraisers-Penny Pritzker. There was speculation this past week that she was up for Commerce Secretary to the new administration. However, Ms., Pritzker declined .Here is an earlier post regarding the Waltons, the Pritzkers, and Goldman Sachs:~~~~~~~Hyatt Sells $1 Billion Stake
by Portfolio Staff Aug 30 2007
The deal puts the Pritzkers and the Waltons in same boardroom.

The Pritzker family sold a $1 billion stake in Global Hyatt, the hotel company it controls, to Goldman Sachs and Madrone Capital Partners.

The deal was reached as the Pritzkers attempt to divide their assets among 11 adult children, as required under a 2001 agreement that was made in an attempt to quell intense family feuding.

The sale also brings a new family into to the mix, as Madrone Capital Partners is the investment firm affiliated with S. Robert Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart. Madrone and Goldman Sachs will each gain a seat on the Hyatt board.

The Pritzkers have been “trying to build Global Hyatt into a worldwide, world-class player in the hospitality industry,” Hyatt chairman Thomas Pritzker told the Wall Street Journal. “And we’re also trying to restructure the family entity. This transaction supports both of those goals at the same time.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE:Goldman Sachs seems to be prominent in many WalMart related stories.

ddrb,

Recent materials I’ve seen indicate that the Shenzhen Development Bank is WalMart’s main financial connection along with GE in China having issued credit cards there in 2006.

If anyone was wondering where the $700 billion bailout money was going, this excerpted item about Bank of America will clear up about $15 billion they received and did not even use in the United States financial markets.

Bank of America Plans to Double China Construction Bank Stake

By David Mildenberg

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg)—Bank of America Corp. will almost double its stake in China Construction Bank Corp., ending speculation it would dump part of its three-year-old investment in China’s No. 2 bank to blunt effects of the global financial crisis.

Bank of America, which last month raised $10 billion to help fund the purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., is lifting the stake to 19.1 percent, or 44.7 billion shares, from 10.8 percent, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender said today. Exercising an option, it will buy the shares from China SAFE Investments Ltd., a state investment arm that is the Beijing bank’s biggest stakeholder.

``China Construction Bank is tightly tied to the government and they are a preferred bank,’’ said Richard Wottrich, managing director of Dresner Partners, a Chicago-based investment banking firm. ``China will probably return the favor someday by doing something for Bank of America if they need help.’’

Bank of America, which received $15 billion from the U.S. government as part of a $250 billion package to shore up lenders and thaw frozen credit markets, first invested in China Construction in June 2005, buying a $3 billion stake before the lender was publicly listed. The value of that holding almost tripled, to $14.5 billion, as of Sept. 30, a regulatory filing showed.

Scott Silvestri, a spokesman for Bank of America, declined to comment on a report by the Chinese news agency Xinhua that the bank will pay the equivalent of 36 U.S. cents a share to increase its stake. That price would represent a 40 percent discount to the Chinese bank’s closing price in Hong Kong today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOAV7oRp07_8&refer=home

WalMart- If only we could pay our Chinese workers in WalMart script like we tried with the Mexicans.

SDV: Thanks for the tip. GE Capital has been at the forefront of MUCH subprime mortgage meltdown OUTSIDE of the US for some time now. I commented about this in previous posts here. Specifically,Australia and Ireland. An excellent site called Inner City Press has done yeoman’s work for YEARS now discussing much about the WallStreet activities that are underrreported by the MSM news /propaganda machine here in the US. In fact, this non-profit,Inner City Press, was the recipient of a blockout on the net,for a time,although it also covers the U.N. Here’s a few entries form Inner City Press relating to Shenzhen Bank:

Inner City Reporter’s Bank Beat: Mergers, Community Reinvestment ...And on October 10, Reuters reported that Newbridge Capital has become the first foreign firm to run a Chinese bank by taking effective control of Shenzhen ...
www.innercitypress.org/bankb102.html - 185k - Cached - Similar pages

Inner City Press Bank Beat Archive 2005-2006In October, GE Money teamed up with Shenzhen Development Bank and Wal-Mart ( China) Investment Co Ltd for the joint issue of a Visa and China UnionPay ...
www.innercitypress.org/bankb106.html - 315k - Cached - Similar pages

The Movement(s): Anti-Corporate Globalization coverage from Inner ...News we were glad to see: the announcement by China’s Shenzhen Development Bank, on May 12, that it has dissolved a management team led by potential ...
www.innercitypress.org/movement.html - 154k - Cached - Similar pages

Inner City Reporter’s Bank Beat: Mergers, Community Reinvestment ...In October, GE Money teamed up with Shenzhen Development Bank and Wal-Mart ( China) Investment Co Ltd for the joint issue of a Visa and China UnionPay ...
www.innercitypress.org/bankbeat.html - 254k - Cached - Similar pages

The GE Watch, from Inner City Press / Fair Finance WatchIn October, GE Money teamed up with Shenzhen Development Bank and Wal-Mart ( China) Investment Co Ltd for the joint issue of a Visa and China UnionPay ...
www.innercitypress.org/ge.html - 225k - Cached - Similar pages

For reporting about banks, predatory lending, consumer protection, money laundering, mergers or the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), click here for Inner City Press’s weekly CRA Report. Inner City Press also reports weekly concerning the Federal Reserve, environmental justice, global inner cities, and more recently on the United Nations, where Inner City Press is accredited media. Follow those links for more of Inner City Press’s reporting, or, click here for five ways to contact us, with or for more information

SanDiegoView in WalMart (WMT) stock is a total loser

Really?

Looks-like it’s doing way better than the stock of its’ retail brothers/sisters as well as the stocks of the nation’s big banks.

Did the words “Citigroup rescue by your tax dollars” mean anything to you when you woke-up, this morning, oh wise SVD?

Keep living in denial, pal...your “Wal-Mart is bad” train already came and went…

“The stock rose 6.7 percent in this year through yesterday, adding to last year’s 2.9 percent increase. Since Scott took over, the retailer has lost 22 percent of its stock-market value.” Bloomberg 11/21/2008

Your problem is with the facts again bbrd. Take it up with Bloomberg or any other review of WMT stock for the Lee Scott reign. The same period shows exceptional gains in Costco stock performance.

As for Citigroup being rescued by Bushco, why are you just now coming to terms with financial fraud and the right wing complicity to it? It reminds me of the billions in public taxpayer subsidies going to WalMart over the years and your inability to recognize that either.

It would be helpful if you attained consciousness bbrd about what has happened, the Bushco/WalMart alliance is economic theft and culture distortion just now coming under national examination by an exhausted and desperate American workforce.

Apparently you still have not realized that WalMart/McSame lost in a landslide to the Democratic Party. The train you speak of is the one that just ran you over.

WalMart- Desperate America’s store of last resort, economic courtesy of George W. Bush.

Buried in all this muck is the thread running through all these financial scandals – from Keating to Silverado to First RepublicBank to BCCI to Enron—has been corrupt management, corrupt officials, corrupt intelligence operatives, and corrupt auditors. See, http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/92jan/st…

As the group’s scams became more sophisticated and wide-ranging, the price tag for bail-outs escalated. The federal rescue of Neil Bush’ Silverado S&L;cost the taxpayer $1.3 billion. The price tag for Charles Keating’s Lincoln Savings & Loan bailout eventually reached $2.6 billion. http://www.slate.com/id/1004633 BCCI was termed “the $20-billion-plus heist.” (Beatty, Jonathan; S.C. Gwynne. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI Beard Books (1993)). Finally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) estimated that Enron fleeced ratepayers of $30 billion, creating the 2001 California energy crisis. On November 15, 2005, FERC settled with Enron’s receivers for a mere $1.5 billion. http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/in…

The Keating S&L;scandal was part of a now-familiar pattern of transnational commodities price-fixing, land grabs, stock-price rigging, fraudulent audits, financial panic, and public bailouts, all carried out by an overlapping cast of characters with ties to foreign and domestic intelligence agencies. Amidst the financial panic of 1986-88 that followed the drop of a barrel of oil from $39 to $13, many of these banks and S&Ls;(and their land deeds and oil rights) were bought out for pennies on the dollar. More than a thousand deregulated financial institutions went belly up and were looted. Deregulation allowed crooked bank managers to cash in on the junk bond craze that was sweeping Wall Street. Banks and S&Ls;issued unsecured notes and plots of land and traded them in circles with other institutions to ring up the notional value to support cash-out loans for themselves and their partners.

This is precisely the sort of round-robin games that Neil Bush, Director of Silverado S&L;played with Charles Keating and his partners, Saudi European Investment Corp’s board and officers – Roger Tamraz, Tolat Othman, Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, Abbas Gokal—along with other BCCI players. All told, the S&L;scandal left the American taxpayer holding the tab for an estimated $1 trillion bailout. See, Steven Wilmsen: Silverado: Neil Bush and the Savings & Loan Scandal, p. 81; http://www.netmagic.net/~franklin/SS1.html ;
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:IpskRJ… ;
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getc…

It was DURING THIS PERIOD that the Saudis and Gulf states leveraged their earnings from American bank acquisitions through junk-bond mills, and then moved on to the 1996 Chemical-Chase and Citi banks consolidations in New York. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html… Today, Prince Alaweed’s Kingdom Holdings owns a substantial and growing share of Citicorp, the largest bank in America, along with a portfolio of the nation’s largest financial, technology and media corporations. A similar process of slash and burn acquisition of the U.S. financial industry is now going on with the collapse of the U.S. mortgage and derivatives markets. See, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/week… ; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/business...~~~~~NOTE: HRH Prince Alaweed bin Talal holdings include HUGE investments in Newscorp,Time Warner and Disney.

Interesting this,pubkished FOUR days ago,BEFORE the Busco “rescue” of Citibank~~~~~~~~Alwaleed Plans to Increase His Stake in Citigroup Back to 5%
By Steve Dickson

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg)—Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal plans to increase his stake in Citigroup Inc. to 5 percent after the U.S. bank lost almost a quarter of its value yesterday.

``Prince Alwaleed began buying Citi shares, as he strongly believes that they are dramatically undervalued,’’ he said today in a statement. ~~~~~~~~Courtesy ,Jessie’s American Cafe’.~~~~~~~~~NOTE: It’s SO nice to have friends in high places.

SDV,

“Since Scott took over, the retailer has lost 22 percent of its stock-market value.”

If the stock-market value is the way to judge the performance of it’s CEO, then the fact that Costco’s stock-market value has dropped 24 percent in the last YEAR, it must mean that Jim Sinegal is a ‘terrible’ CEO!!  But, in that same period, Wal-Mart’s stock-market value, has risen by 20 percent with Lee Scott at the helm, so, ‘he’ must have gotten a lot better!!

RDS,

This where economic manipulation and fraud against the American people continues to go unnoticed by your kind. Bush for example believes that what he has pulled went unseen by all of heaven above let alone the earth and that their are neither personal consequences to him or those that stole and murdered in league with him.

However on a note to a foot solider WalMart troll such as yourself, it must have been difficult for you to realize the excellence of Costco outdoing WalMart over the years as a stock value. Even with the last year of Scott leadership, WalMart has been a total loser to those investors who believed Scott was going to lead them to profit given 8 years of opportunism, government subsidies and labor exploitations.

WalMart- Only a totally screwed over American economy helps our stock price. We love impoverishment of the American people!

Apparently you still have not realized that WalMart/McSame lost in a landslide to the Democratic Party. The train you speak of is the one that just ran you over.

Who said anything about politics??

Actually, I’m looking-forward to the day when your cohorts throw you under the bus (for making them look foolish).

Morning Read
How Many Billions Will Gov’t Lose in Citi Deal?
by Paul Kiel, ProPublica - November 24, 2008

Credit: Chris Hondros/Getty ImagesIt’s tough keeping up with the bailout: the alphabet soup of last-ditch government programs and growing list of companies saved from oblivion. It’s not made any easier by the fact that every time the government steps in to save a company that’s too big to fail, the strategy changes.

The government’s bailout of Citigroup is different from the Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and AIG bailouts. It’s most clearly put this way: The government has agreed to absorb up to $247.5 billion in losses in exchange for a $7 billion fee.

The losses would stem from the government’s guarantee of Citi assets worth up to $306 billion—these are loans and securities “backed by residential and commercial real estate and other such assets,” according to the government’s term sheet. Citi is on the hook for the first $29 billion in losses. After that, the government would absorb 90 percent of the losses. For that service, Citi has issued $7 billion worth of preferred stock to the government.

The big question, of course, is whether that will be enough. Since late last year, Citi has taken about $30 billion in losses in its subprime mortgage-related holdings. But the losses on assets actually on Citi’s books aren’t the ones investors have been worried about. From the Wall Street Journal:

In addition to $2 trillion in assets Citigroup has on its balance sheet, it has another $1.23 trillion in entities that aren’t reflected there. Some of those assets are tied to mortgages, and investors have worried they could cause heavy losses if they are brought back on the company’s books ...

Despite the unprecedented scope of the rescue plan, it’s not clear whether it will be enough to stabilize Citigroup. The roughly $300 billion pool of assets that are included in the rescue plan represent only a sliver of the company’s more than $3 trillion in assets, including its holdings in off-balance-sheet entities.

Jitters about such “hidden” assets helped trigger the nose-dive in Citigroup’s stock last week. Among the off-balance-sheet assets are $667 billion in mortgage-related securities.

The guarantee is the centerpiece of the government’s rescue plan, but there’s another major piece: The Treasury will purchase another $20 billion in preferred stock. Together with the $25 billion the Treasury purchased last month, that brings the government’s stake in Citi to $45 billion. As you can see from our growing Bailout Bucks to Banks list, that amount dwarfs the amount invested in any other bank. Add the $7 billion “fee,” and the government’s stake rises to $52 billion in preferred stock.

Despite this new “radical plan,” as the New York Times calls it, Citi’s executives and stock holders emerge from this deal much better off than those at AIG or Fannie and Freddie. Citi’s CEO will remain in place, and the government does not have the option of seizing 80 percent of the company’s common stock, as it does with AIG. Some sort of limits on compensation for Citi’s execs will be devised and Citi’s dividend has been slashed to $.01 for the next three years—but that’s it. The reason for the difference, reports the Washington Post, is that in the cases of AIG and Fannie and Freddie, “the institutions were considered insolvent, justifying action by federal officials to punish shareholders and fire the chief executives.”

Given Citi’s grave problems, however, there is already broad skepticism that this move will save Citi from that fate~~~~~~~~~ProPublica

SDV,

“Bush for example believes that what he has pulled went unseen by all of heaven above let alone the earth and that their are neither personal consequences to him or those that stole and murdered in league with him.”

Gee, and I thought we had a government that had a Congress, to keep the President in check!!  I didn’t know we had a KING!!  It must be nice, to have in your MIND, that ALL our problems rest soley on BUSH and Wal-Mart, that must make life a lot easier for a ‘simple’ mind to comprehend!!  Take the current ‘bailout/rescue’ plan, it was the Democrats that ‘voted’ most FOR it, Bush didn’t do it on his own, but, if it ‘fails’, BUSH will be given the ‘blame’ because he was in office when it passed!!  But, if it ‘succeeds’, Obama and the Democrats will take the CREDIT for it!!

SDV: “Bush for example believes that what he has pulled went unseen by all of heaven above let alone the earth and that their are neither personal consequences to him or those that stole and murdered in league with him.” ~~~~NOTE: That’s what PARDONS are forSDV. I have read that Bush may just pardon himself before he leaves office. There is some current stories today about his latest round of current pardons. Several banking related pardons. The entire list is at the Department of Justice website,or at The Swamp website. Several to Texans.Duh!

SDV: Actually, I’m looking-forward to the day when your cohorts throw you under the bus (for making them look foolish)....~~~~~~~~~NOTE: Isn’t that exactly what the McCain camp did to Sarah Palin,with the double-talk express AFTER they drove their campaign bus right into the ditch...LOSING the election? You betcha!

ddrb,

“...LOSING the election”

You liberals will never understand, Obama didn’t WIN the election, angry conservatives GAVE it to him, to teach the Republicans a lesson!!

RDS: Apparently the GOP has a learning disability.

Mon Nov-24-08 11:35 PM
Original message
Former Repub Congressman Calls For “Thorough Investigation” Of Bush Admin Edited on Mon Nov-24-08 11:37 PM by kpete
Mickey Edwards:

There should be a thorough investigation of the ways in which the current Administration may have disregarded the Constitution (examples: under the Constitution, the suspension of habeas corpus rights—for anybody—is flatly prohibited; the Constitution gives to the Congress, not the Executive, the sole authority to determine the treatment of captives; surveillance of American citizens requires a warrant). But that investigation should—no, must—be carried out not by an independent commission but by the Congress, just as Harry Truman, a Democratic Senator, investigated the War Department in a Democratic Administration and just as a Congress controlled by Democrats investigated the Watergate break-in during a Republican Administration. Party considerations must not trump legislative responsibility. The Congress has the obligation to examine whether laws were broken or new laws are needed. Members of Congress have taken an oath to defend the Constitution. During the Bush Administration, the Congress receded further and further into irrelevancy; it is up to its new members to ensure that it regains its position as the First Branch of government. The original post begins with the wrong premise: the competing forces in this drama are not Republicans and Democrats but the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch and it’s high time that the legislative branch re-established itself as a separate, independent and equal check on the presidency.

more at:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/24/_presid…

Marvin Henry “Mickey” Edwards (born July 12, 1937) is a former Republican congressman who served Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district .

“Apparently the GOP has a learning disability.” ~ddrb

Didn’t you know that GOP stands for George (Bush) is Our Problem, ddrb?

ddrb,

“RDS: Apparently the GOP has a learning disability.”

Guess you are right, the problem was, that they started to act like Democrats, instead of conservatives!!  They need to start acting like conservatives again!!  That is why a number of states that were formerly Republican, ‘voted’ against McCain this time!!

waaagh war warhammer online

...they started to act like Democrats...

Get real, RDS! They put the Democrats to shame when it came to borrowing and spending!

I see where it’s fallen to Mary Matalin to rewrite the Bush Legacy. Good luck, Mary.

Ken V: That’s right,she’s the one who was the editor for that Obama smearfest book that attempted to swiftboat him.Turned out to be a slow boat....a slow boat that was torpedoed ...and sunk to the bottom of the best seller list.

Ken V,

“borrowing and spending!”

What’s the difference between that and ‘taxing and spending’?  Either way, the taxpayers end up paying the bill!!  Do you think the $700 billion the Democrats just spent on the TARP, wasn’t ‘borrowed’ from ‘future taxpayers’?  And, if they ‘bail-out’ the automakers, where will that money come from?  Do you think they just have $25 billion lying around to pay for it?

...Either way, the taxpayers end up paying the bill!!

The only question is, should we pay as we go through taxation, or pile it on ‘future taxpayers’ by borrowing from China, Saudi Arabia, etc. and compounding the debt with interest?

I like the Republican/Conservative theory that we really don’t have to pay all this debt back but as the current economy illustrates, it doesn’t work!

I also find it interesting, RDS, that you support a political party with a fiscal policy in direct ooposition to your own.

Live Better In Cheap Underwear

Ken V: Maybe RDS supports the GOP, in direct opposition to his own financial interests, because it is really now represents the party of Gray Old Prejudice.

Ken V: I don’t know if you have read anything by Lucy Komisar. She has been writing about the offshoring and tax hijinks of the global economic empire for some time now. She has done seminal work on these issues for years-yet little MSM coverage of her extremely well researched and lucid explanations of these convoluted financial schemes have been offered to the general public. Her repost on AIG is superb and done a few years back-BEFORE the rupture of the derivatives market.Well worth a look at some of these sites listed:~~~~~~~~~The Komisar ScoopReports & analysis by investigative journalist Lucy Komisar ... Lucy Komisar writes about the criminal offshore bank BCCI and the way it connected the ...
thekomisarscoop.com/ - 399k - Cached - Similar pages
Lucy Komisar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaOct 10, 2008 ... Lucy Komisar is a New York City-based investigative journalist. She writes about offshore banking, corporate secrecy, ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Komisar - 35k - Cached - Similar pages

Author: Lucy Komisar | AlterNetApr 17, 2007 ... Lucy Komisar, a New York-based journalist, is writing a book on the offshore bank & corporate secrecy system and international money ...
www.alternet.org/authors/3779 - 18k - Cached - Similar pages
Lucy KomisarWeekly journal of opinion, featuring analysis on politics and culture. Founded in 1865.
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For The Record: Repost: FTR #531 Interview with Lucy Komisar about ...Sep 23, 2008 ... Featuring the brilliant investigative journalist Lucy Komisar, this program highlights the use of “Offshore” entities to evade taxes, ...
ftrsummary.blogspot.com/2008/09/repost-ftr-531-interview-with-lucy.html - 323k - Cached - Similar pages~~~~~NOTE: This repost#531 is the one involving the background on AIG. A must read,imho.

Ken V,

“I also find it interesting, RDS, that you support a political party with a fiscal policy in direct ooposition to your own.”

I don’t support a political PARTY, I support the ‘conservative’ view!!  If the Democrats would act ‘conservatively’ I would support their views!!

“The only question is, should we pay as we go through taxation, or pile it on ‘future taxpayers’”

I would rather the government ‘control spending’ period!!  And, I would like to see them, not be willing to TOSS money at everything that comes down the pike!!  I prefer that people take more ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives and not ask government to do everything for them!!

For example:  When a hurricane hits, who should be responsible for your financial losses, you and your insurance company or the Federal Government (FEMA)?  Why shouldn’t people recieving disaster aid from FEMA be required to pay it back?  Why shouldn’t anyone or anything be required to pay back the aid they recieved?  Why should giving anyone or anything aid, be at the taxpayers expense?  Think about government grants to students, who go on to be ‘highly paid’ in their work lives, why shouldn’t they have to pay those GRANTS back?

How many sectors of government, other than the United States Post Office, try to make a ‘profit’ on anything?  And, how many are just engaged in spending and giving things away for FREE?  What about the government, forgiving Foreign Aid Loans?  The budget keeps getting bigger and bigger every year, no matter which PARTY is in control!!

I saw a show on the White House wednesday and it is unbelievable how much the taxpayers are going to have to shell out, just for the transition from Bush to Obama!!

RDS: I prefer that people take more ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives and not ask government to do everything for them!!

For example:  When a hurricane hits, who should be responsible for your financial losses, you and your insurance company or the Federal Government (FEMA)?  Why shouldn’t people recieving disaster aid from FEMA be required to pay it back?  Why shouldn’t anyone or anything be required to pay back the aid they recieved?  Why should giving anyone or anything aid, be at the taxpayers expense?  Think about government grants to students, who go on to be ‘highly paid’ in their work lives, why shouldn’t they have to pay those GRANTS back? ~~~~~~~~~~NOTE: It is abundantly clear you have NO problem with “Free Market” federally subsidized taxpayer bailouts to private banks and privately owned insurance companies ,nor with taxpayer based welfare and subsidies for corporate entities,including those who offshore their accounts,and American jobs.. Its just that you resent “indviduals” getting any taxpayer help.People don’t count,just the corporations,according to your statements.Even if the corporations are fleecing the entire economic status of this country,you continue to defend the indefensible.

U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit

The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday.

Webmaster’s Commentary:
Umm, did anyone think to ASK the American taxpayers their permission befopre sticking us with roughly $100,000 per household of new debt (plus accruing interest)?

I mean this is just plain silly. The US Government is taking $7.7 trillion (some put the number higher, at $8.3 trillion) away from us and handing it to the banks, so that they can loan it back to us at interest.

Let me repeat that one more time.

The US Government is taking $7.7 trillion (some put the number higher, at $8.3 trillion) away from us and handing it to the banks, so that they can loan it back to us at interest.

Just @#$%ing boggles the mind, doesn’t it?~~~~~~~~What Really Happened

ddrb,

“It is abundantly clear you have NO problem with “Free Market” federally subsidized taxpayer bailouts to private banks and privately owned insurance companies ,nor with taxpayer based welfare and subsidies for corporate entities,including those who offshore their accounts,and American jobs..”

When did you ever hear me say something remotely like that?  Yes, I am for the ‘free market’ and that means, if you can’t ‘compete’, you deserve to fail!!  I just recently said that the government should NOT give the automakers a ‘bailout”!!  All I have ever said, was that if the ‘government’ makes laws or offers incentives to subsidize a ‘business’, it is The governments fault, if the businesses take advantage of them!!

If I had my way, everybody would be paying their way through life, even corporations!!

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