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Algeria sez Qaeda in North Africa emir ''cornered''
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Economy
Obama accused of playing politics with the law over Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs was at the centre of a political storm last night as senior Republicans began an investigation into the possibility that the White House colluded with Wall Street's regulator over the decision to sue the bank for alleged fraud.

They are demanding proof that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not communicate improperly with the White House, the Democratic Party or any Democrats in Congress before suing the bank last Friday for allegedly withholding vital information from investors in the build-up to the crash of 2008.

Wall Street and its allies have claimed with increasing anger that the Goldman suit was timed to help the Obama Administration to force Republicans into backing a financial regulatory reform Bill designed to prevent banking crises in the future.

However, a letter addressed to the SEC's chairman yesterday, and seen by The Times, is the first formal accusation of wrongdoing by the commission or complicity by the US Administration.

The timing of the lawsuit “has created serious questions about the commission's independence and impartiality', the letter states. It was drafted by Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and signed by seven other Republican members of the committee.

The letter adds that subsequent revelations — including details of a vote along party lines within the SEC to approve the lawsuit — have fuelled “legitimate suspicion' that the commission was trying to help the White House, breaching its own ethics guidelines in the process.

Mary Schapiro, the SEC's chairman, who was appointed by President Obama, joined two Democrats on a five-member panel within the commission to approve the decision to sue the Wall Street powerhouse instead of seeking to settle out of court — a more normal practice in such cases. In another break with convention, the bank says that it was given “no clue' of the impending litigation.
Posted by: tipper || 04/21/2010 03:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have to say one thing about Obama. He is not beholding to the folks who put him in office. Wallstreet leadership backed him solidly in 2008 and now they are not getting what they paid for. Last week discontent from Jewish American voters was noted. Even Gays were heckling him about don't ask and don't tell policy
Posted by: airandee || 04/21/2010 7:47 Comments || Top||

#2  We've seen this movie before.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/21/2010 8:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Here's an old favorite for you Goldman Sachs.

Link
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/21/2010 9:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Airandee, this is all for show. Goldman will pay a 'fine': something in the low eight figures, to be contrasted with the low ten figure profits they've salted away over the years. The Goldman execs will sniffle for the cameras, Bambi and the Dhimmicrats will jam the new financial bill down our throats, and everyone on the left will be happy, most especially Rahm.

That's how it works.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/21/2010 9:14 Comments || Top||

#5  What Steve said. The real scandal, about which no regulatory or law enforcement agency will do anything, is Government Sachs' $1B sweetheart deal courtesy of Tiny Tim and Barry in which GS was made whole on its entire counterparty obligations, aka losses, to AIG FP.

Heads they win; tails we lose.
Posted by: lex || 04/21/2010 14:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Here's something very few noticed the other day...

ABC News' Ann Compton reports: Goldman Sachs has reached into the ranks of the Obama White House alumni for some political protection. Former White House counsel Greg Craig has been hired to advise the Wall Street giant after it was charged by the government last Friday with fraud and misleading its own investors. Politico first broke the story Monday night.

Officials at the White House say Craig did not alert them about his decision to take on Goldman Sachs as a client at the law firm Skadden Arps, where Craig now works.

Federal ethics rules prohibit lobbying, but Craig may have avoided complications. An administration official explains, "a former White House employee cannot appear before any unit of the Executive Office of the President on behalf of any client for 2 years -- one year under federal law and another year under the pledge pursuant to the January 2009 ethics executive order” signed by President Obama. But the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed the civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, is an independent agency and West Wing advisors believe Craig’s work would not run afoul of the rules IF Craig does not contact the White House.


Winky-winky...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/21/2010 20:00 Comments || Top||

#7  "Obama accused of playing politics with the law over Goldman Sachs"
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/21/2010 22:29 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US official: Iran military strike 'off the table'
The U.S. has ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program any time soon, hoping instead negotiations and United Nations sanctions will prevent the Middle East nation from developing nuclear weapons, a top U.S. defense department official said Wednesday.

"Military force is an option of last resort," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy said during a press briefing in Singapore. "It's off the table in the near term."

The U.S. and its allies fear Tehran is using its nuclear program to build arms. Iran denies the charges, and says its program only aims to generate electricity.

"Right now the focus is a combination of engagement and pressure in the form of sanctions," Flournoy said. "We have not seen Iran engage productively in response."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted Wednesday by Iran's state media saying the country won't give in to U.S. pressure. Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard is preparing to hold large-scale military maneuvers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"We've said time and again that we are not after weapons of mass destruction but the Iranian nation won't give in to such threats and will bring those threatening it to their knees," Khamenei said.

Iran has rejected a 2009 U.N.-backed plan that offered nuclear fuel rods to Tehran in exchange for Iran's stock of lower-level enriched uranium. The swap would curb Tehran's capacity to make a nuclear bomb.

But Iran has proposed variations on the deal, and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday that a fuel agreement could be a chance to boost trust with the West.

Earlier this week, he said Iran wants direct talks about the deal with all the U.N. Security Council members, except one with which it would have indirect talks — a reference to the United States, which with Tehran has no relations.

The U.S. is lobbying heavily in the Security Council for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
It need to be said loud and clear *now*, that if there is a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel, it is officially Obama's fault for not acting. He needs to have his feet held to the fire, *now*, while it still matters.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/21/2010 12:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stock up on iodine.
Posted by: Perfesser || 04/21/2010 15:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Insanity: Doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Our Foreign Policy under OBumbles is insane.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/21/2010 16:51 Comments || Top||

#3  And then there's ADM MIKE MULLEN...

To wit,

WAFF > WIRED NEWS > WILL THE US SHOOT DOWN AN ISRAELI JET, TOP OFFICER WON'T SAY!? | ADM. MULLEN WON'T RULE OUT US SHOOTING DOWN ISRAELI AIRCRAFT IFF THEY ATTACK IRAN.

The sound you hear are whole generations of US COLD WAR-ERA AMERICANS INCLUD VETS + RETIREES SAYING "WHOA" ANDOR "WTF" IN RIGHTEOUS DISBELIEF.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/21/2010 21:37 Comments || Top||

#4  "The U.S. has ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear program any time soon, hoping instead negotiations and United Nations sanctions will prevent the Middle East nation from developing nuclear weapons"

Didn't stop North Korea, did it? Won't stop Iran either. We have elected a pack of third-graders to the White House.
Posted by: crosspatch || 04/21/2010 22:57 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
44[untagged]
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Commies
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Syria
1Jemaah Islamiyah
1Pirates
1TTP

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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2010-04-21
  Algeria sez Qaeda in North Africa emir ''cornered''
Tue 2010-04-20
  Iraq announces killing of another senior al-Qaida leader
Mon 2010-04-19
  Abu Ayub al-Masri, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi: dead again
Sun 2010-04-18
  Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claim responsibility for Quetta blast
Sat 2010-04-17
  Suspects in Quantico terror plot appear in court
Fri 2010-04-16
  Hospital kaboom kills 10 in Quetta
Thu 2010-04-15
  Missile strike kills 4 in NWA
Wed 2010-04-14
  Syria arms Hezbollah with Scud missiles: Israel
Tue 2010-04-13
  Dronezap kills 5 in N.Wazoo
Mon 2010-04-12
  Hamid Gul's house bombed in Tirah, 60 deaders
Sun 2010-04-11
  Strikes in Orakzai, Khyber kill 96 militants
Sat 2010-04-10
  Qaeda Threatens World Cup
Fri 2010-04-09
  Suicide bomber attempts to shoot North Caucasus Ingush police chief, blows self up
Thu 2010-04-08
  Iraq sez ''open war'' with Qaeda after kabooms
Wed 2010-04-07
  Aide denies Karzai threatened to join Taliban

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