Harry? Harry? Are you alright? Your face is looking a little strange, Harry.
What is Jeb Bush's role in the Lehman Brothers meltdown?
Leartis Julia – Opinion
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:16:00 +0000
LEHMAN BROTHERS was founded in 1850. The firm managed to get through the Civil War, WWI, and WWII, the Great Depression, and the attacks of September 11, 2001. Yet after hiring Jeb Bush in late August of 2007, the firm suddenly goes belly up in a year. It also should be noted that in 2006, George H. Walker IV was also hired by Lehman Brothers.Now, let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?Neil Bush: The brother of the current president, son of the elder Bush, was part of yet another huge financial meltdown. This was known as the Savings and Loan scandal (S&L). From Salon: Long before that, in the late 1980s, Neil Bush made bigger news for his controversial role as a director of Silverado Savings and Loan, which collapsed and cost taxpayers roughly $1 billion. (Federal regulators accused Bush of various conflicts of interests, but he was never charged. A civil suit against Bush and other Silverado officers was later settled for $26.5 million.)
http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/3376/2008-09-17.html
Lehman hires Jeb Bush as private equity advisor
Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:36pm EDT
NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers has hired Jeb Bush, brother of the President of the United States, as an advisor to its private equity business, a source familiar with the situation said.
Lehman hired another relative of U.S. President George W. Bush last year--George Walker, a second cousin, who heads up the bank's asset management business.
Jeb Bush is the former governor of Florida.
Lehman Brothers declined to comment.
(Reporting by Dan Wilchins)
http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSN3046902620070830
Facts say GOP caused market crisis
10/7/2008 8:05:38 AM
Last week's letter to the editor blaming the current financial crisis on the Democrats disregards Republican Party ties that have weakened our economy.
According to the FDIC, deregulation of the financial industry was supported by the Reagan administration Garn-St.Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. The S&L crisis of the1980s included Sen. McCain, who was part of the "Keating Five," and Neil Bush, director of the collapsed Silverado S&L.
The FDIC estimates that U.S. taxpayer losses due to the S&L government bailout amounted to $123.8 billion, or 81 percent of the total costs. Enron was the top contributor to George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign as well as to Sen. Phil Gramm, former co-chair of the McCain campaign.
In 2000, Sen. Gramm co-sponsored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act whose risky investment instruments were labeled by Warren Buffet as "financial weapons of mass destruction."
When President Clinton left office, there was a budget surplus of $128 billion. George W. Bush will leave a deficit of at least $401 billion. If Republicans want to continue to blame the current economic problems on Democrats, they need to have correct facts to support that claim.
Cecilia Dingledy
Rochester
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=23&a=365048
After a Breakup, Ring Disputes Sometimes Land in Court
Posted Oct 7, 2008, 10:08 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
...In a more recent case, billionaire investor Gerald Tsai, who has since died, was arguing over the return of a $243,000 engagement ring he gave to Sharon Bush, the former wife of the president’s brother Neil Bush.
Sharon Bush was represented by matrimonial lawyer Raoul Felder. “I can’t understand how a man is not embarrassed to ask for his ring back,” he told the Times. “It always amazes me what happened to chivalry.”
The case was resolved earlier this year. Raoul said he can’t disclose the terms, but his client has since been seen wearing the ring.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/after_a_breakup_ring_disputes_sometimes_land_in_court/
Woman sues oil exec over daughter's drug death
© 2008 The Associated Press
Oct. 6, 2008, 8:49PM
…Geneva Cloud sued Robert Pace Andrews for $2 million in a lawsuit filed Monday. Andrews is owner, president and CEO of Houston-based Andrews Technologies Inc., a provider and contractor to the oil industry. His ex-wife is married to Neil Bush, a brother of President Bush.
Andrews is serving two years' probation after pleading guilty in April to possession of less than a gram of cocaine. He was granted deferred adjudication, which means he will not have a conviction on his record if he successfully complies with the terms of his probation.
Geneva Cloud alleged that Andrews supplied cocaine to her daughter, 19-year-old Jessica Lynn Cloud.
On Nov. 2, Andrews called 911 to report that a guest at his town house became unconscious after ingesting cocaine. Jessica Lynn Cloud, a part-time dancer at Centerfold's nightclub, died the next day at a hospital. An autopsy found she died from complications of acute cocaine intoxication and her death was ruled an accident….
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6043550.html
Schumer asks feds to include student loans in bailout
BY KARLA SCHUSTER
karla.schuster@newsday.com
October 7, 2008
Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on the federal government to protect college students and their families from the credit crunch by expanding the economic bailout to include student loans."We have to build a wall around the student loan market to protect our kids from the credit crisis," Schumer said at a news conference yesterday in Massapequa outside Plainedge High School, where students from a senior government class peppered him with questions about college costs and loan availability."My parents tell me I have to be realistic about where I want to go, and money is nearly as important as how good my grades are," said Marianne Kennedy, 17, of Seaford, who is applying to both public and private schools. "They don't want me having huge debt when I graduate."
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/tuesday/business/ny-bzloan075873054oct07,0,5924441.story
5 killings in 2 days in New Orleans
10/7/2008, 4:15 p.m. CDT
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans has been rocked by multiple killings — five in two days — pushing the number of people slain in the city this year to 151.
The killings began Sunday afternoon when Kendrick Sherman, 18, and Durrell Pooler, 23, were gunned down on a city street.
Two cars sped away from the scene. Sherman died on the sidewalk and Pooler died across the street.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1223408347147570.xml&storylist=louisiana
No more freebie club memberships for Supremes, federal judges
By Carol Eisenberg
October 7, 2008 at 2:21pm
The perks of being a federal judge just got fewer.
With most of the media’s attention fixed on the financial rescue package these last 10 days, few noticed that Congress had passed a bill barring Supreme Court justices on down from accepting honorary club memberships worth more than $50.
http://news.muckety.com/2008/10/07/federal-judges-will-have-to-pay-for-golf-like-everyone-else/5571
Kosmas is honorable alternative to Feeney
Republican Congressman Tom Feeney is the local manifestation of the politics of division.Under FBI investigation for alleged ethics violations surrounding his association with jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Feeney has shared in the Karl Rove/George Bush ascendency and ought now to share in its long-overdue demise.If we are to fully embrace the possibility of a new and better day, we must repudiate the extremist partisan spirit embodied by Feeney and others and choose a new direction. Reason dictates that change is needed now.There is a clear, honorable and common sense alternative in Democrat Suzanne Kosmas.I would urge readers to consider their choice carefully in the light of present circumstances and vote on the evidence for the lady who is, in my humble opinion, the better candidate.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/OPINION/81006039/1006/news01
McCain on Keating
10/6/08, 1:17 pm EST
I address John McCain’s dealings with the felonious financier Charlie Keating in this section of Rolling Stone’s cover story.
But there’s quite a bit more about their relationship that comes from McCain himself, in his memoir Worth the Fighting For.
His account is replete with details of unrepentant entanglements and top-dollar favors that would make Jack Abramoff blush.
They were much more than “social friends” as McCain’s lawyer said on a conference call today.
Charlie Keating, his family and associates raised over $100,000 for my first campaign, and for each of the two that followed. That was a hell of a lot of money in those days…. Supporters like Charlie were not easy to come by for a first-time candidate, and I made damn sure that he knew how much I appreciated his support.
More important, I became friends with Charlie, his family, and many of the top executives and employees of his company. [pp. 59]
And…
He was as close to the archetype of the high-flying eighties chief executive as anyone I had encountered, and he was a hell of a lot of fun to be around.
On several occasions, he invited Cindy and me to his beautiful vacation retreat at Cat Cay in the Bahamas, flying us there, with our infant daughter, Meghan, and her nanny, on his private jet….
He entertained us lavishly, as was his style. We would all crowd on his yacht, off for a day of swimming and snorkeling, and then return for another extravagant party with the best wine, food, and entertainment available…
I would be lying if I were to deny… just how eagerly I awaited invitations to Charlie Keating’s Shangri-la. [pp. 60]
http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2008/10/06/mccain-on-keating/
Busansky Would Restore Faith In Elections Office
The Tampa Tribune
Published: October 5, 2008
Since becoming Hillsborough's Supervisor of Elections five years ago, Buddy Johnson has been steeped in controversy, secrecy, wasteful spending and outright bungling.
Johnson was appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush after then-supervisor Pam Iorio resigned to run for mayor in 2003, though he has subsequently been elected. But never has Johnson seemed comfortable in his role, committed to the daily job or in command of the details.
Johnson's personal problems and inept management style have made too many headlines. He's failed to pay his taxes and is in a conflict over his debt on a condo. And though he spends taxpayer money with abandon, he cut his own property taxes by $11,000 by arranging to have 17 cows graze on his land.
Voters deserve better and can demand it this Election Day when Johnson, a Republican, faces former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky, a Democrat.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/05/busansky-would-restore-faith-in-elections-office/
Now I Understand Why Palin Was Sequestered! (Anti-Intelligence Movement Backfires
…I don't think more than five minutes passed before I was sitting in front of the television with my mouth open. I just could not believe what I was seeing and hearing! Putting partisanship aside for a moment, if you are a rational, objective and intelligent human being, you cannot in good conscience say that you believe this woman is ready to be Vice President - and definitely not President (considering John McCain's age and medical history).
Yes, when a person must attend five schools (one a repeat) just to obtain one undergraduate degree, their intelligence comes into question! (Source) Sadly, Gov. Palin's interview proves that her lack of intelligence and lack of intellectual sophistication on a range of issues is no longer questionable, but rather an obvious fact! I thought we could expect more from the war hero, the experienced politician, the Maverick who chose her. Maybe I expected too much from the US Naval Academy graduate who graduated at the bottom of his class (Rank 894 of 899). (Source)
Naturally, some will call me elitist for pointing out such facts (the latest Republican talking point and manufactured insult). Like many Americans, I'm simply tired of the dumb-down politics and anti-intelligence movement of recent years. It is what gave us George W. Bush yesterday and it is threatening to give us McCain/Palin today.
Sometimes, I wonder if those on the Right (or those who support the Right) ever ask themselves, particularly the NON-white collar voter, why the following demographics support Senator Obama in extremely high numbers:
Young (under 40)
Educated (college degree or higher)
Middle & Higher Incomes
Blue Collar (especially minorities)
Metropolitan Residents
ALL Races & Ethnicities (which also fall into one or more of the categories listed above)
Arguably, Senator Obama's coalition looks more like America. And when people say Obama is "inexperienced," "only a good speaker," "lacks substance," or has "no good ideas," then why are the educated and higher income earners (typically highly educated) flocking to him in high numbers? What are the smart people missing that the others are not? I'd like to know. Of course, intelligence is not measured by education alone, although it IS a strong indicator. It is also built from life experience, particularly in a diverse environment. But wait! Senator Obama has a lock on this demographic too. They're the youth (growing up in diverse communities) and metropolitan residents (living and working in diverse environments).
In contrast, the Republican Party consists of only higher income/educated whites and non-educated/blue collar whites. Of course, there are a few minority members and supporters, but they're numbers are not statistically significant. In other words, it's as if they don't exist in the party at all. In essence, the Republican Party is a "Whites Only" club consisting of the haves and have nots. I understand why the "haves" belong to the Republican Party - it serves their interests. Sadly, the "have nots" haven't learned that the party doesn't serve theirs, despite how comforting the party's color may be. Perhaps this is why they are willing to blindly embrace Gov. Palin - to their detriment…
http://www.thesaudavoice.com/the_sauda_voice/2008/09/now-i-understan.html
Why Do Republicans Hate America?
North Star Writers Group
We are a syndicate based in Michigan that distributes our 19 columnists' material to thousands of publications daily.
North Star Writers Group
October 06, 2008
By David B. LivingstoneIt wasn´t really a surprise when George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their neocon accomplices exploited the tragedy of September 11 to lead the nation into a disastrous, unprovoked and morally indefensible war of aggression in the oh-so-coincidentally oil-rich nation of Iraq. Nor was it especially shocking when this same administration exploited the same tragedy to ramrod through a succession of Constitution-gutting pieces of legislation – the FISA bill, the Patriot Act, Patriot II – designed to subvert a baker´s dozen of the previously inalienable rights Americans had held dear. And who can claim astonishment that this same administration would, over the course of eight disastrous years, preside over the savaging of the environment, the corruption of the U.S. attorney system and the federal judiciary, the doubling of the national debt and the irreversible diminishment of America´s standing in the eyes of virtually all of its global neighbors?This is, after all, Republicans doing what Republicans have always done – unflinchingly serving their twin masters of power and profit, pursuing both at all costs regardless of the consequences to the nation or the people that they pretend to love. Since the Nixon era, Republicans have known that they could get the American public to accept even the most egregious, exploitative and downright insane polices and practices, provided they were sufficiently cloaked in obfuscating layers of patriotism and paranoia.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/76626
Hanford Workers Concerned Financial Crisis Could Affect 2009 Budget
Oct 7, 2008 03:26 AM EDT
RICHLAND, Wash-- With the recent financial crisis many Hanford workers are wondering if this will affect the 2009 budget. KNDU met with Bechtel leaders Monday, they say there should be no effect on next years budget. Bechtel holds the Vitrification Plant contract.The plant is about 45 percent complete and once finished it will turn nuclear waste into glass logs. Its one of the biggest federally funded construction projects in the country. The only concern for leaders at Bechtel is the Tri-Party Agreement, which they hope happens before the election. If it does not happen before, the head of the Department of Energy could change and the budget could be altered.
http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=9134554&nav=menu484_2_7
Bechtel wins Saudi smelter deal
MEED reported that US based Bechtel has clinched a key aluminum smelter project in Saudi Arabia.Meed without saying how it got the information reported that Betchel has been appointed as the engineering, procurement and construction management contractor for Al-Zabirah smelter project at Ras al Zour.The smelter is being developed by Alumco a joint venture of Saudi Arabian Mining Company and the British Canadian company Rio Tinto Alcan.
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2008/10/07/NjU1OTQ%3D/Bechtel_wins_Saudi_smelter_deal.html
Franken, Coleman ads cross line between fact, fiction
A Franken ad criticizing Coleman for holding no hearings into Iraq contract abuse isn't entirely accurate, but neither is a rebuttal ad Coleman is airing about his successes.
By
PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune
Last update: October 6, 2008 - 9:46 PM
In Oct of 2006 (immediately preceeding the change of congressional leadership, coincidentally?), tucked away in a HUGE military … read more authorization bill was an obscure provision that set a specific termination date for this federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, as Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation.... Now after hearing Coleman's claims of being a "watchdog" and not a lapdog, he was STRANGELY SILENT about the need to continue SIGIR, a program he supposedly championed, beyond 2007. It was actually Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat due to become chairman of the House
U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman's role in addressing alleged contract abuse in the Iraq war is the focus of an ad by his challenger, Al Franken, and a counterattack ad by Coleman.
Franken's ad is blunt: "As chairman of the most powerful investigative committee in the Senate, Norm Coleman had the perfect perch to look into no-bid contracts in Iraq. But Coleman did nothing."
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/30548389.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
Coleman and corruption
by Ed Felienpublished
October 6, 08
…But, by 1998, Dresser Industries ceased to exist. George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. took Dick Cheney, then CEO of Halliburton, on a hunting trip and sold him on the idea of Halliburton buying Dresser. Cheney called it a “win-win.” The stock market thought otherwise and the stock plummeted. It was a stock transfer. Halliburton bought Dresser for $7.7 billion when Halliburton was worth only $8 billion at the time. What that means is that the Bush family ended up owning controlling interest in Halliburton.When Cheney quit Halliburton to become Bush’s vice president he continued to receive a deferred salary of around $200,000 a year from Halliburton and his stock options grew from about $250,000 to $8 million in 2005. Senator Frank Lautenberg served on Coleman’s subcommittee: “I was eager to get to the bottom of the serious allegations against Halliburton and other contractors—potentially the biggest wartime rip-off in our country’s history. But Norm Coleman and the Republican leadership of the committee simply refused to investigate. Even after multiple requests from me and my colleagues to get the committee to do its job and get to the bottom of it—they refused. As an Army veteran, the committee’s failures were infuriating, especially because it was undermining the well-being of our troops in Iraq. By turning a blind eye to Halliburton’s transgressions in Iraq, Norm Coleman refused to protect billions in taxpayer dollars. And the reason he refused is tragic: merely to protect Vice President Cheney from embarrassment….
http://www.southsidepride.com/2008/10/articles/coleman.html
High court refuses to hear racial profiling case
Jose Cerqueira had sued American Airlines for discrimination after being removed from a flight in 2003.
By
Warren Richey
October 7, 2008 edition
WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of a man who was kicked off an American Airlines jetliner in Boston because a flight attendant thought he looked like a Middle Eastern terrorist.
John Cerqueira is an American citizen of Portuguese heritage who was trying to fly home to Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 28, 2003. Instead, he was escorted off the jetliner and questioned by police for two hours because American Airlines personnel thought his dark hair and olive complexion made him look Middle Eastern.
When police realized the mistake, they reported back that Mr. Cerqueira was cleared to travel. But American refused to issue him a ticket on any of its flights.
Cerqueira sued American Airlines for discrimination and won. An appeals court in Boston reversed that decision.
On Monday, the Supreme Court announced it would not examine the case. The justices offered no explanation for their decision. The action means the appeals court ruling throwing out Cerqueira's case remains undisturbed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1007/p25s15-usju.html
Justices criticize FTC in cigarette case
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Two U.S. Supreme Court justices said the federal government may be partially to blame for a claim that cigarette companies deceptively call some smokes light.
During oral arguments Monday in Altria Group (
NYSE:MO) et al vs Good et al, Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia suggested the Federal Trade Commission knew for years the ads were founded on flawed claims and did little or nothing, ScotusBlog.com reported.
Talking to an FTC lawyer, Alito said, "You created this whole problem. You have misled everyone who has bought these cigarettes for a long time."
Assistant to the Solicitor General Douglas Hallward-Dreimeier of the Justice Department said the tobacco industry knew as early as 1967 that its claim of low tar and nicotine in "light" cigarettes was invalid.
Scalia countered, however, that knowledge of the claim being invalid was known for some time and "the FTC has done nothing."
The case asks whether federal law bars individual smokers from suing under state law, alleging ads deceptively promoting "light" cigarettes as being low in tar and nicotine. The tobacco industry claimed federal law on cigarette labeling and marketing expressly pre-empts state law claims and the FTC allowing the ads during the years implicitly pre-empts such claims.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/10/06/Justices_criticize_FTC_in_cigarette_case/UPI-35721223332255/
Rice leaves US-India nuclear deal unsigned
By James Lamont in New Delhi
Published: October 5 2008 18:27
Last updated: October 5 2008 18:27
Last-minute administrative hitches forced Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to leave New Delhi at the weekend without signing the US-India nuclear deal to end more than three decades of isolation for India’s nuclear programme.
Ms Rice’s visit, on the heels of US Senate approval of the civil nuclear deal last week, had been widely billed as concluding the agreement after three years of tough negotiations. Opposition parties in India had even intended to make Saturday a day of mourning for what they perceive to be India’s capitulation to the US.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8aa7beb0-9300-11dd-98b5-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
Obama gains as economy weakens
By DAMIEN CAVE
The New York Times
Published: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 9:40 p.m.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Jim Piccillo lost his job as a bank vice president in August, applied for food stamps to support his two young daughters and swore off a life of loyalty to the Republican Party. He now volunteers here in Pasco County for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
Madeline Aquanno's change of heart came more recently. Two weeks ago, she said, she had planned to vote for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican, who impressed her with his knowledge of the world. But as the economy began to scare her more than terrorism, she reconsidered.
"Obama is more for the people," she said, near the pool at her middle-class retirement community in Broward County. "I'm worried about the jobs that are being lost, for my son, my daughter, my granddaughter. You have to look down the line."
http://www.ocala.com/article/20081006/NEWS/810050345/1402/NEWS?Title=Obama_gains_as_economy_weakens
President Bush no doubt knows that his commutation of the prison sentence of I. Lewis
Published:Saturday, October 4, 2008
President Bush no doubt knows that his commutation of the prison sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the top aide of Vice President Dick Cheney, in the C.I.A. leak case will forever be a part of his legacy. Libby had been ordered to serve 30 months in prison for his convictions on perjury and obstruction charges in the case related to the leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity.
Bush’s commutation was roundly criticized because it was viewed as executive branch interference in the work of the judicial branch. Libby had just lost a bid before an appellate court to remain free pending further review of his convictions when Bush stepped in.
It would certainly be an abuse of power if the Oval Office got involved in another case involving the executive. We would hope the president uses the remaining months in his tenure to mend his reputation, not further damage it.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/04/president-bush-no-doubt-knows-that-his-commutation/
