aaammmmeeerrrriicccaaa, fuuuuccckkk yeaaa,  come to saaave the mutha fuuucckkkiin daaaayy nnaaoooww

i wish haha

how about we interview all those guys to make sure they are top quality... yea that will never happen

Add: George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke at the State Department.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-3064-0-9-9--.html

Obama Appoints Top Notch CFR, Bilderberg Members 
Published on 01-23-2009



Obama announces the appointment of CFR-Bilderberg members George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke at the State Department.

Israeli peace talks.

Obama tapped former ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and related issues.

George Mitchell is not simply a CFR member — he is a former director of the globalist organization.

Mitchell “got his start in Federal politics when appointed by President Jimmy Carter (CFR member),” writes Tom Kovach. “Mitchell is chairman of the second-largest law firm in the world, DLA Piper. You know, the firm that recently put a full-service, ‘multicultural’ office in Dubai. You know, the port city in a country that tried to buy American port operations with oil money. Mitchell’s law firm has a ’strategic alliance’ with a consulting group owned by former US Secretary of Defense William Cohen (CFR member), which did PR work on behalf of DP World, the Dubai company that tried to buy the ports.” DLA Piper represents more than half of the top 250 Fortune 500 clients and nearly half of the FTSE 350 or their subsidiaries.

Mitchell sits on the steering committee of the American Friends of Bilderberg along with such luminaries as Conrad Black, Henry Kissinger, and David Rockefeller,


Ditto Richard Holbrooke. He is on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations. A dedicated Clintonite and former ambassador to the United Nations, Holbrooke brokered the Dayton Peace Accords, the “peace agreement” that partitioned and reduced Bosnia to a NATO and IMF client state, a model of bankster privatization. Holbrooke’s “peace plan” was only realized after massive NATO bombardment of Bosnian Serb territory

Holbrooke is a consummate insider and global elite operative. Along with Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, and Paul Allaire, Holbrooke directs the American Friends of Bilderberg, an organization that takes money from Exxon, Arco, IBM, and other transnational corporations and has its meetings funded by the globalist Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and the Carnegie Endowment fund. 

It looks like the White House is shaping up to become a branch office of the CFR and Bilderbergers, but then this is simply business as usual. For years, the CFR — with its associate memberships in such international units as the Trilateral Commission, Club of Rome, and Bildebergers — has infested not only the White House, but the State Department, the NSC, the Pentagon, and much of the federal government.

“CFR membership is also inclusive of West Point Superintendents, Allied Supreme Commanders, Secretaries of Defense, and Military Policy members. Media memberships include Time, New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.,” writes Noah W. Hutchings. “The CFR also exerts influence on United States personnel at the various United Nations agencies, which is natural, because UN goals usually parallel CFR’s goals.”

The American people think they voted for change, but in fact they simply signed off on four or eight more years of globalist rule.


http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/obama_a_tool127.html
Obama a Tool of Bilderberg?

Senator suggests UN taxes on taxpayers in America not really such a bad idea

By Victor Thorn

As AFP has reported for years, Bilderberg has been trying since 1992 to “establish a UN tax” which would be used to finance their globalist-oriented programs. Of course, the brunt of this tax would fall on American workers, and it appears this is being spearheaded by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

On Feb. 14, 2008, an Obama-sponsored bill called the “Global Poverty Act” (S 2433) was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after passing the House. What this bill would do, in effect, is levy a global tax on the United States where an additional 0.7% of the gross national product would be earmarked to foreign aid (on top of what we already give).


https://secure.gn.apc.org/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2718

Hillary & Obama In Secret Bilderberg Rendezvous

We ought to add Eric Holder to this list since he holds a special place in all our hearts for the pardon of Marc Rich...  he's no Bilderberg, he just works for them...

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/15/holder-i-made-mistakes-in-marc-rich-pardon-incident/



Holder said he "made assumptions that turned out not to be true" during the Rich pardon process, which turned out to be the "most intense" and "searing" experience he "ever had as a lawyer."

Watch: 'I've made mistakes,' Holder says

Holder said that he learned from the Rich pardon incident and will "be a better attorney general" as a result.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder

[edit] Deputy Attorney General
In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the next Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/17878/eric_h_holder_jr_attorney_general_nominee.html

At his confirmation hearing on January 15, he pledged to use all available tactics "within the letter and spirit" of the U.S. Constitution to defeat enemies of the United States. "Adherence to the rule of law strengthens security by depriving terrorist organizations of their prime recruiting tools," Holder said.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1999/June/257dag.htm

STATEMENT BY DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC H. HOLDER, JR.
 My concern about easy access to guns in our society is built on my professional experience and the tragedies I have encountered in my work day life. But even more important, I am a father, and I want to be sure that we here in Washington do everything we can -- everything in our power -- to make our communities, our schools and our nation a safer place for our kids.

"Five years ago, Congress came together in a bipartisan way and passed one of the most important gun control measures ever -- the Brady bill. Yesterday, the President announced that since this law went into effect, more than 400,000 criminals and others who are not legally eligible to have guns, have been stopped from buying guns.

"Four hundred thousand. That's a lot of guns. Particularly if those guns were in the hands of fugitives or felons.

"But while the Brady law has done a lot to make this country safer, the law has a dangerous loophole that criminals and others who cannot legally buy guns at a licenced gun shop exploit. While everyone who buys a gun through a licenced dealer must undergo a background check to determine if they are eligible to buy a gun, the current law allows unlicenced sellers at gun shows to sell to anyone -- with no questions asked.

http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2008m11d19-Eric-Holder-drug-warrior-and-gun-banner

You can probably toss out those fondly held hopes for drug-law reform under the incoming Obama administration. Eric H. Holder, Jr., President-Elect Barack Obama's choice for Attorney General, is undoubtedly a competent nominee with significant Justice Department experience under his belt, but he's an enthusiastic supporter of drug prohibition even when it comes to simple marijuana possession. And if you were bitterly clinging to Obama's professed support for the Second Amendment, let the scales fall from your eyes. The likely AG-to-be is a long-time opponent of the right to bear arms.

Before he became Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno in 1997, Holder was United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. In that office, he complained to the Washington Post that laws against marijuana in the nation's capital were too lenient.

The Washington Times reported on his charges that D.C.'s repeal of mandatory minimum sentences was "misguided" and his plans to make marijuana distribution a felony. He proposed "setting minimum sentences of 18 months for first-time convicted drug dealers, 36 months for the second time and 72 months for every conviction thereafter."

Holder is just as hostile to firearms possession as he is to the use of marijuana. As Deputy Attorney General, he put forward Clinton administration proposals for imposing draconian restrictions on private individuals who want to sell a gun or two from their personal collections at gun shows and flea markets. "Under our proposal, Brady background checks would be required for all guns that are sold at gun shows, even if the gun is sold by a vendor who is not licensed."
...
Even after he left government, Holder signed on to former Attorney General Janet Reno's amicus brief (PDF) in the case of D.C. v. Heller, opposing the position that the Supreme Court finally adopted: that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. The brief Holder signed explicitly asserted, "The Second Amendment does not protect firearms possession or use that Is unrelated to participation In a well-regulated militia."

http://loudobbsradio.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=445&PN=2

Obama and the Bildebergers -PROOF!

The main stream media is never going to tell you what you're about to read here. Please read this with an open mind and visit the link I've provided at the bottom of this post.

James A. Johnson is the person selected by Obama to head his Vice-Presidential Search Committee. The main stream media hasn't told you much about Johnson other than the fact that he lead John Kerry's VP search committee.

But why?

Because James A. Johnson is a Vice-Chairman of a multi-billion dollar hedge fund and merchant bank, and a business partner of George Soros. Johnson also was the chairman of investment house Lehman Brothers. Johnson is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

So if a powerful man like Johnson is Vice-Chairman of this investment fund, then who is the Chairman?

Try Frank Pearl, who not surprisingly is also a member of the CFR. Even more astounding, Frank Pearl's biography on his own web site identifies him as an active member of the Americans for Bilderberg group. There is now a proven, direct link between Obama and the Bilderbergers. What may be even more astounding is that nobody in the main stream media has reported on this.

So now we know how an unknown African-American, a former street organizer made his way from Trinity Church in Chicago to being the Democrat candidate for President of the United States. He was backed by the Trilateralists and the Bildeberg group, following in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter.

This is not speculation. This is not rumor. This is not some wild conspiracy theory. This is documented.

And now we can understand why the main stream media has been obsessed with Obama's associations with Rev. Wrigth and William Ayers, and has been silent on Obama's association with James Johnson and Frank Pearl. Rev. Wright and William Ayers, and the "Michelle tape" that's been rumored are designed distractions to keep the public from focusing on Obama's associations with groups like the Trilateral Commission, the CFR, and the Bilderberg group.

And by the way, the name of Johnson and Pearl's investment bank, which he founded in 1995? Perseus, LLC. And for those of you who might have forgotten your greek mythology, Perseus became a hero for cutting off the head of Medusa.

Coincidence? There's no such thing as coincidence. On their web site they have images of Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa.

Wait... did I mention that James Johnson is on the board of Goldman Sachs? Or that former Clinton cabinet member Richard Holbrooke is also a Vice-Chairman of Perseus? Or that that the Vice President of Finance at Perseus LLC held a similar position at the Carlyle Group? Or that the Managing Director of Perseus was formerly a Vice President at Enron?

So for everybody who has fallen in love with Obama and who has bought into his speeches about changing the culture in Washington, know that you are supporting the candidate hand-picked by the most elite, powerful men in the world, who literally are members of the Bildeberg group.

Are you sure you want these people in the White House? Do you think the masses who show up and cheer Obama have any idea of these connections?

Go Here to Discover Who is Backing Obama

http://www.perseusllc.com/bios.htm


Frank H. Pearl (Washington, D.C.), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Perseus, founded the firm in 1995....

Mr. Pearl is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for International Economics, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a participating member of the American Friends of Bilderberg.

James A. Johnson (Washington, D.C.) is a Vice Chairman of Perseus. Mr. Johnson was a Managing Director in Corporate Finance at Lehman Brothers. Mr. Johnson was Executive Assistant to Vice President Walter F. Mondale, where he advised the Vice President on domestic and foreign policy and political matters.

Mr. Johnson also serves on the Boards of Directors of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., KB Home, Target Corporation, Temple-Inland, Inc., and UnitedHealth Group. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Trilateral Commission.


And one more thing. Obama also named African-American Eric Holder to his VP search committee. You will hearing a lot about Holder because he was involved in pardoning Mark Rich and the two members of the Weather Underground when Clinton left office.

Why did Obama pick Holder?

So the media can focus on Holder's dubious past, and that fact that he's a black man, while failing to mention anything about James Johnson and Frank Pearl.

I will promise you you're not going to hear one mention about Johnson being the Vice-Chairman of Perseus, but you'll hear about Holder and the Weather Underground for weeks. It's part of the plan.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread360930/pg1&addstar=1&on=4438616#pid4438616

 Dawn Johnsen Not Bilderberg but a Bill Clinton Crony, so let's add her.... plus ex Clinton cronies...David Ogden, Elena Kagan and Tom Perrelli

So we now will have the justice dept that brought us Janet Reno, WTC93 and Waco....

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/1/6/141746/1358
Big Changes at the Office of Legal Counsel
by NLinStPaul at DocuDharma.com, Mon Jan 05, 2009
Obama announced that he has chosen Dawn Johnsen to lead the Office of Legal Counsel, the same position once held by the infamous John Yoo.

In filling four senior Justice Department positions Monday, President-elect Barack Obama signaled that he intends to roll back Bush administration counter-terrorism policies authorizing harsh interrogation techniques, warrantless spying and indefinite detentions of terrorism suspects.

The most startling shift was Obama's pick of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to take charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit that's churned out the legal opinions that provided a foundation for expanding President George W. Bush's national security powers.

Johnsen, who spent five years at the Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton administration and served as its acting chief, has publicly assailed "Bush's corruption of our American ideals.'' Upon the release last spring of a secret Office of Legal Counsel memo that permitted the aggressive interrogations of terrorism suspects, she excoriated the unit's lawyers for advising Bush ``that in fighting the war on terror, he is not bound by the laws Congress has enacted.''

Other Obama/{Clinton) appointees to the Justice Department include:

_ David Ogden, a top Justice Department official during the Clinton administration, as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 figure under Attorney General-designate Eric Holder.

_ Elena Kagan, the dean of the Harvard University Law School and a former Clinton White House aide, as solicitor general.

_ Tom Perrelli, counsel to Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno from 1997 to 1999, as the associate attorney general who oversees civil matters.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/01/kagan_nominated.html

Dawn Johnsen, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
Johnsen is currently a Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law—Bloomington, where she teaches and writes about issues of constitutional law. Her recent publications on issues of presidential power include Faithfully Executing the Laws: Internal Legal Constraints on Executive Power, 54 UCLA L. Rev. 1559 (2007) and What's a President to Do? Interpreting the Constitution in the Wake of the Bush Administration's Abuses, 88 Boston U. L. Rev. 395 (2008). She serves on the board of directors of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

She served in the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, as the acting assistant attorney general heading that office (1997-98) and as a deputy assistant attorney general (1993-96). In that capacity, she provided constitutional and other legal advice to the attorney general, the President Clinton, and the general counsels of the various executive branch agencies.

 From 1988-93, she was the legal director of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL). She clerked for the Honorable Richard D. Cudahy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She received a B.A from Yale University in 1983 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1986.

Obama has a long way to go before catches up with Hillary

Hillary replaces Mao

Let's spend a moment with Janet Napolitano our new Homeland Security lady.
Is she tough? oh she's tough...



http://feetin2worlds.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/immigration-implications-what-does-janet-napolitano-at-homeland-security-mean-for-reform/

As Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano appears ready to become the first Democratic secretary of Homeland Security, pro- and anti-immigration observers are trying to decipher what her designation will mean for the future of immigration laws under President Barack Obama.

Napolitano, Spanish wire Agencia EFE remembered today, declared a state of emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and was the first governor to ask for National Guard troops to be deployed to secure the border between the two countries. She has also vetoed tough immigration enforcement bills put forward by state Republicans and advocated measures like the prosecution of companies that hire undocumented workers. Overall she is seen as more of a hardliner on immigration than most Democrats.
...

http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/001095.html
Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano Faces Backlash For Vetoing Illegal Immigration Bills

Having vetoed nearly 60 bills in her term, including some key bills to cut benefits and the flow of illegal aliens into the state, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is facing a political backlash that could cost her re-election in 2006. The nearly 60 vetoes is the most by any Governor in the states history.

Bills she has vetoed include one denying in-state tuition and day care for illegal aliens and one allowing law enforcement to enforce immigration law on May 20. On May 10 she also vetoed a bill making English the official state language which would have allowed the state to save money by not having to provide all official documents in multiple languages and would have encourage assimilating immigrants into the American culture more effectively.

She also vetoed a bill that would have officially rejected the Matricula Consular from Mexico as a valid form of identification which an FBI official has said are "easy to forge" and a "major item on the product list of fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world.".

Napolitano said none of those bills would have solved immigration-related issues. She added that the immigration law enforcement bill did not include federal funding, so it would have cost the state millions of dollars.
"She is going to regret it," said Kathy McKee, founder of Protect Arizona Now. Her group played a major role in the passage of Proposition 200, which denies many public benefits to undocumented immigrants.

Kat Rodriguez, Tucson's Coalicion de Derechos Humanos coordinator , said Napolitano sent a strong message by not giving in to anti-immigrants while recognizing that "these bills would've been destructive to our community."

The coalition, however, regretted Napolitano's signing of a bill that prohibits use of taxpayer money for the construction of day-labor centers. She approved the legislation the same day she vetoed the most recent anti-immigrant bills.

"Day laborers won't go away," Rodriguez said, stressing the centers provide the workers some protection from exploitation.

It should be an interesting election in Arizona in 2006.

The Brzezinski policy is to foment destabilization and chaos in Africa under the auspices of the new United States African command (US-AFRICOM), all for the purpose of driving the Chinese out of Africa.  As Zbigniew announced on November 30,2007 in the Washington Post, he intends to cut off Chinese access to oil, other energy sources, and strategic raw materials on the African continent.  Since the Anglo-Americans control the Persian Gulf by direct military occupation, this is tantamount to a policy of driving the Chinese in on Eastern Siberia.  Brzezinski believes that if the Chinese cannot get their oil from Africa they will be forced to attempt the military seizure of Russia's oil wells in the Far East, where there is much oil and very few Russians.  Both Moscow and Beijing know exactly what Brezezinski is doing in this regard.  This is the kind of harebrained scheming by Lord Astor, Lady Astor, and Sir Neville Chamberlain which helped to bring about World War II.  The idea then was to play Hitler against Stalin and get rid of both of them that way.  When that blew up in the faces of the British, the result was World War II.  This time, it may well be thermonuclear World War III.    pg. 157 Obama, the Postmodern Coup Webster Tarpley

Some of the other Obama Staff characters we should become familiar with for future reference and one. Mona Sutphen  with some connections to Sandy Berger and George Soros... so I got a Bilderberg connection in there... Hah

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/17/obama_adds_3_to_white_house_staff/
November 17, 2008

Pete Rouse, Obama's chief of staff in the Senate and former chief of staff to former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, will be a senior adviser, Obama said in a statement. Jim Messina and Mona Sutphen will both serve as deputy chief of staff. All are on Obama's transition team.

Messina, former chief of staff for Democratic Senators Max Baucus of Montana and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York, is currently the transition team's personnel director.

Sutphen, a former US Foreign Service officer, has also been managing director of the international consulting firm Stonebridge International LLC.

Obama has chosen Washington lawyer Gregory B. Craig, who was President Clinton's lead attorney during the 1998 impeachment proceedings, to be his White House counsel, according to an individual involved with the transition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rouse

On October 15, 2001, Rouse was the Daschle staffperson to call the police about a letter that tested positive for anthrax powder (Boyer 2001) Twenty of Daschle's staff subsequently tested positive for exposure to anthrax spores; it is not known if Rouse was exposed along with his workmates.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Craig

Gregory Bestor Craig (born March 4, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia) is a Washington-based lawyer and current White House Counsel to President Barack Obama. He has represented numerous high-profile clients, including John Hinckley, Jr., who was acquitted of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. As assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton, Craig directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. He was a foreign policy advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Gregory B. Craig, who was President Clinton's lead attorney during the 1998 impeachment proceedings, to be his White House counsel, according to an individual involved with the transition. Craig has been a longtime adviser to Clinton and his wife, but became a close adviser to Obama during the campaign, reportedly serving as the stand-in for Senator John McCain during debate preparations.

Craig has defended high-profile clients, including John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Reagan, and Kennedy nephew William Kennedy Smith, who was accused of rape.

But let's concentrate on Mona Sutphen and her connection to Sandy Berger  and their connections to George Soros....

http://www.stewwebb.com/obama_latest_appointment_linked_to_stonebridge_and_traitor_sandy_berger.htm

Obama Latest Appointment Linked to Stonebridge LLC and TRAITOR Sandy Berger
by Tom Heneghan

What makes this interesting and borders, one again, on possible treason, is that Sutphen, who worked on the National Security Counsel in the Clinton White House, has been a Managing Director of Stonebridge International, a strategic consulting firm tied to the parent company Civitas Stonebridge LLC.

Guess who is the co-chairman and co-founder of Stonebridge International LLC? None other than Mossad agent and former Clinton Administration National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.

Stonebridge International LLC has also had Madeleine Albright aka Halfbright, along with neocon Richard Perle, sitting on its Board of Directors.

http://www.aim.org/aim-column/soros-flunky-runs-obamas-pro-u.n.-policy/

In violation of Barack Obama’s promise to run an open and transparent transition to the next administration, an associate of convicted document thief Sandy Berger has been secretly meeting with far-left groups under the auspices of the Obama-Biden Transition Project to develop a range of pro-U.N. policies.

These include placing “more [U.N.] blue helmets on U.S. troops” and forcing the U.S. to join the U.N.’s International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Berger associate, Eric. P. Schwartz, is the executive director of the U.S. Connect Fund and represents several liberal and leftist foundations, including and most notably the Open Society Institute of financial hedge-fund operator George Soros.

Soros is considered by some the virtual owner of the Democratic Party, having contributed lavishly to the party, its causes and candidates, including Obama. He personally contributed $50,000, the maximum allowed, to the Obama inauguration.
Other members of the secretive Obama group include Samantha Power, the Harvard academic and one of Obama’s closest foreign policy advisers who left the Obama presidential campaign temporarily after calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.” A self-described “humanitarian hawk,” Power believes in using the United Nations to confront “genocide” in the world, despite the corruption scandals involving U.N. peacekeepers in human rights violations and sexual child abuse.

Soros, who backed Obama during the presidential campaign, is a well-known advocate of a “New World Order” in which the U.S. refuses to act unilaterally in its own interests but works through international organizations such as the U.N. on foreign policy matters. Critics note that such an approach gives the U.N. and other nations a veto over what the U.S. can do militarily.

This is bound to find a favorable response, since the co-chair of the Obama-Biden Transition Project, John Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff, comes from another Soros-funded group, the Center for American Progress.
Clinton had ordered U.S. troops to serve the U.N. under the still-secret Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 25, which has never been repealed by President Bush. Although Bush had promised never to assign U.S. troops to U.N. command, American soldiers have continued to be inducted into U.N. “peacekeeping” operations during his administration. He has also begun to cooperate with the ICC and on January 5 ordered the airlift of military supplies to Darfur in support of a U.N. military force.

Officially, Schwartz is identified merely as a “member” of the Obama-Biden “working group” on national security with jurisdiction over U.N. issues. In addition to Power, members of the “national security team” on “US/UN” issues are Michael Pan, Jennifer Simon, Elizabeth Cousens, Grant Harris, and Victoria Holt. No detail about these individuals or their backgrounds is officially provided, but some information is available through research conducted from public Internet sources. Many have links to the U.N., leftist think tanks, or Congressional Democrats.

http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=1681

What with seeing the damage Chris Cox  could do in a few short years, lets look at Obama's choices for the future .... Mary L. Schapiro

Obama Names CFR Member, Goldman Sachs Insider to Top Economic Posts
by Sharon Otterman NY Times Via Infowars December 19, 2008



In the morning news conference, Mr. Obama named Mary L. Schapiro, 53, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency has come under sharp criticism for its failure to detect signs that major Wall Street banks were in trouble before the financial crisis, and more recently, for gaps in its oversight of the New York financier Bernard Madoff, who the authorities say has confessed to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

The Madoff scandal, Mr. Obama said, “reminds us yet again how badly reform is needed when it comes to regulations that govern our markets.”

Ms. Schapiro has headed the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulator, since 1996. She has also served as a commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Republican and Democratic administrations alike.

Mr. Obama also announced the selection of two former Clinton administration economic officials, Gary Gensler and Daniel K. Tarullo, to leading economic posts.

Mr. Gensler, who will head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was a Treasury official in the Clinton administration. He also worked as a senior adviser to former Sen. Paul Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat, who wrote legislation to increase oversight of the accounting industry and reform corporate governance.

Mr. Tarullo, a law professor at Georgetown University who was also an economic advisor to President Clinton, will fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve board in Washington. He is currently leading Mr. Obama’s transition team at the Treasury Department, and is considered an expert in international economic regulation.

In announcing the appointments, Mr. Obama was harshly critical of the “disdain for regulation” shown by regulatory agencies in recent years and said the country needed “regulatory agencies ready and willing to enforce the law.”

He pledged to remake the financial regulatory system to adapt to the challenges of a new century. “We will be releasing a very detailed plan on how that regulatory upgrade will take place,” he said.

Mr. Obama also called for a shift in ethics on Wall Street. “We can have the best regulators in the world, but everyone is going to have to ask themselves, not only is this profitable, not only will it lead to a big bonus, but is it right?” he said. “Does it conform to higher standards in terms of how we operate?”

In addition to serving at the S.E.C., Ms. Schapiro was chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission during the Clinton administration, an independent agency created by Congress to regulate trading in commodity futures and the option markets. Her service at both agencies could suggest that Mr. Obama is considering combining the two regulators, a structure long supported by many experts to streamline market oversight.

Ms. Shapiro, who would be the first woman to head the S.E.C. for a full term, said that the current crisis on Wall Street “requires an aggressive, systemic response” to restore trust and protect investors. She pledged forceful enforcement of current law and said “thoughtful reform of our regulatory structures” would be her top priority.
The selection of Mr. Tarullo to fill one of two vacant seats on the Fed’s board, which is also subject to approval by the Senate, will allow Mr. Obama to begin making his mark on the nation’s bank. All of the current board members, including the chairman Ben S. Bernanke, were hand-picked by President Bush.

On Friday, Mr. Obama is expected to announce that Representative Ray LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, will be his transportation secretary.

Mr. LaHood, who is retiring after seven terms in the House, has overseen major spending projects as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Known for his bipartisan alliances and his moderate views, he will be the second Republican named to the cabinet, after Robert M. Gates, the current defense secretary who has agreed to stay on.

Mr. Obama is also expected to nominate Representative Hilda Solis, Democrat of California, as his labor secretary and Ron Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, as his trade representative, transition aides said Thursday.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008641550_schapiro18.html

Mary Schapiro at SEC is no Joe Kennedy — and that's too bad


Obama's nomination of Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission is as safe and predictable as it is disappointing. What it means is that we will have lost the best opportunity yet to root out the deeply embedded cynicism and corruption that have spawned one scandal after another on Wall Street over the past 20 years.

For the top SEC job, Obama needed to mount a determined search outside the establishment — someone willing to question everything about the way the industry does business and the way the government regulates it, someone so capable of channeling the outrage the country now feels that he or she would have industry insiders quaking in their handmade wingtips.

Instead, what we got was someone who not only has been at the center of a failed regulatory process for the past two decades but has emerged from it well-liked and acceptable to everyone.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-solin/mary-schapiro-should-not_b_152641.html

Mary Schapiro Should Not Be Confirmed as SEC Chief
Dan Solin
December 23, 2008

Barack Obama's selection of Mary L. Schapiro to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission is a bitter disappointment to investors. Her appointment will do nothing to reinvigorate an agency that has been a toothless tiger and a puppet of the industry it is supposed to regulate.

Here are some questions she should be asked at her confirmation hearing:

1. You have been a career bureaucrat. You have never held a job in the private sector. You have only held positions with industry dominated organizations. Isn't this the time to have someone running the SEC who has extraordinary judgment and an instinct for the jugular when it comes to protecting investors?

2. You have been Chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and its predecessor, the NASD, since 2006. You were the President of NASD Regulation starting in 1996. These are industry dominated organizations who most often act to protect the industry from investors. Should we expect you to switch allegiances if you are confirmed?

3. Under your stewardship, FINRA missed the Madoff scandal, the Auction Rate Bond fraud, and the credit swap fiasco, which caused Wall Street to meltdown and threw the global economy into an unprecedented financial panic. Why should we assume you will be any more vigilant at the SEC?

4. Leadership in vigorously pursuing these frauds has been largely taken over by state regulators, like William Frances Galvin, the highly respected Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts , Joe Borg, the Commissioner of Securities in Alabama, and Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of New York. FINRA's role has been reluctant at best. Is this the kind of foot-dragging leadership you will bring to the SEC?

5. FINRA runs a mandatory arbitration system that requires investors to submit all disputes with their brokers to arbitration run by FINRA for the benefit of the industry. Secretary Galvin testified before Congress that this system represented "an industry sponsored damage-containment and control program masquerading as a juridical proceeding." Investors who have been victimized by their brokers are often re-victimized by this process. Is this the way you intend to protect investors at the SEC if you are confirmed?

6. FINRA has refused to provide copies of its database of awards to academics and others who want to review them and publish findings on the fairness of the process. A request by the authors of the Solin/O'Neal study for this information was denied by FINRA. In fact, FINRA hired a major law firm to fight this request. The SEC supervises the mandatory arbitration process. Will you continue to support hiding this data or do you believe in Justice Brandeis' observation that "sunshine is the best disinfectant"?

7. The Fairness in Arbitration Act of 2007 would ban mandatory arbitration clauses in consumer agreements, including agreements with stock brokers and advisors. FINRA is opposed to it under your leadership. Can we expect you to continue to advocate depriving investors of their constitutional right to access to a jury trial if you are confirmed, or will you support this legislation?

While the securities industry is salivating that Ms. Schapiro has somehow slipped through the cracks of otherwise stellar Obama appointments, investors are deeply concerned. Blocking her confirmation will not be easy, but we simply cannot afford to have more years of business as usual at the SEC.