Sharia Finance: Rapidly Increasing Inroads Via American Banks…With the Help of Our Treasury Department

(Editor’s Note:  IA has visited the subject of Sharia law several times…See below for earlier posts on the topic. The accepted spelling is Sharia or Shariah.)

~~By American Lassie

The first thing I’d like to state before I get into the meat of this article is the fact I hold the opinion that most Muslims are just like you and me, only believing in a different religion. Their everyday lives are much the same as ours. It is the fanatical Hanbali form of Islam that is so autocratic and dangerous and considered authoritative in Saudi Arabia and other areas around the Persian Gulf.

During the Bush Administration, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmett’s visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Persian Gulf states was with the purpose of recycling of petro dollars in the form of foreign investment in the United States to alleviate the financial crisis.  I’m sure Mr. Kimmett was told by the Saudis and others that in order to obtain their money, the banks would have to abide by Sharia Finance Law.  Whatever went on in his meetings with the Persian Gulf States, he came back to America and co-sponsored the Harvard University Law School’s Project on Islamic Finance.  The host of a seminar held at the Treasury Building was Neel Kashkari, Interim Secretary of The Treasury for Financial Stability and also administrator of the first of the TARP money while George Bush was President.  Kashkari was Henry Paulson’s top assistant.  Unfortunately Shariah-Compliant Finance seems to be the current party line in The Treasury Department.   (See: http://www.thebobofiles.com?p=632)

I’ll come back to this seminar later, but first I would like to present a little more background. This seminar is very important so please stay with me until the end of this article.

The United Kingdom is in deep trouble with all the concessions they have made to Sharia Finance and Sharia Law.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has caused a lot of turmoil in England with his pronouncements in favor of Shariah Law. Her Majesty’s government has allowed the establishment of at least five Shariah Courts to hear (initially) family law cases.  Polygamists in the UK can get welfare for each of their wives as long as all marriages beyond the first were performed overseas), Sharia promoting Islamists are seeking to achieve “parallel societies” here and elsewhere in the West.  Islamists secure footholds over other Muslims through “parallel societies” and then to non-Muslims.  This is an insidious industry meant to foist Islam on the policy community, the markets and western countries.

The differing views of Archbishop Williams and the Bishop of Rochester, England, Michael Nazri-Ali, are causing a rift in the Church of England. The debate over the path of the western sociopolitical system is the most pivotal in today’s world.  This is more and more evident in the crack it is causing in the Church of England.

Multiculturalism and universalism are fundamentally opposed beliefs.  The  level of danger to Britain, Europe, and the entire West created by homegrown Islamists  will be determined by which system prevails.

An op-ed by Dr. Nazir-Ali (January 11, 2008) discusses why he believes that “Britain’s campaign to reconstruct itself as a multicultural society has failed.” (See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574695/Extremism-flourished-as-UK-lost-Christianity.html)

Dr. Nazir-Ali has resigned his post to devote his time to working in communities where Christians are a minority.  He said he was inspired by the story of Hanna Shah, an imam’s daughter who faced being killed by her family for refusing an arranged marriage before she became a Christian.

Radical Muslims have became more militant as Britain has increasingly accomodated the strictures of Islam’s law:

“The death threats that followed Nazir-Ali’s essay only bolstered his thesis.  ‘The irony is that I had similar threats when I was a Bishop in Pakistan”,  he noted,  “but I never thought I would have them here.'”

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that official acceptance of some facets of Sharia not only “seems unavoidable” but could actually improve social cohesion. To Williams the idea that “there’s one law for everybody and that’s all there is to be said, and anything else is completely irrelevant in the process of the courts – I think that’s a bit of a danger.”
(See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm)

Michael Nazir-Ali witnessed the realities of Sharia Law as a man in Pakistan.  He came to Britain to escape this for himself and his family and now finds himself in the same situation in Britain.  And the cultural split becomes more prevalent as native Britons see more and more acquiescence to Islamic Law. There will be more strife.  It will be battling enclaves with more and more social unrest.

Discussion about Sharia Law

From the Middle East Forum: David J. Rusin, a research associate at Islamist Watch and a Philadelphia-based editor for Pajamas Media, writes:

“Historians may one day look back on these two prelates and the church they serve —- a body faced with plummeting attendance and approaching disestablishment  — as a symbol of the early twenty-first -century discourse over the future of the West.  For now, Michael Nazir-Ali and Rowan Williams illuminate the diverging paths before us: one paved with an ardent defense of Western Liberties, the other with a nihilism that leads inexorably to dhimmitude. (See: http://www.meforum.org/1890/a-schism-over-sharia-in-the-church-of-england)

Melanie Phillips in the Spectator newspaper offered this statement in her rebuttal to Williams’ comments. (See: http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/492106/the-archbishops-speech.thtml)

“One law for all is the very basis of legal and social justice and is the glue that binds a society together.”

DO WE WANT THIS FOR AMERICA? Our Treasury Department is inviting just this scenario because of the greed of our officials.  In the wake of all the brouhaha about the banks–the Wall Street crisis, the enormous bailouts, The Federal Reserve’s suspect bailouts of AIG–one thing troubling me is the lack of publicity on our government’s support of Islamic financing. Is it being done under cover of all this other money boondoggle so that the American people don’t know what is going on?

***

“JIHAD WITH MONEY”
“While America struggles with the sub-prime and credit market crisis, Sharia-Compliant Finance, is quickly infiltrating our financial markets – and bringing Islamic Shariah Law with it.  As one leading Islamic authority on Shariah-Compliant Finance has stated, “it is jihad with money.” In a new ACT! for America video, Joy Brighton, ACT! for America’s financial expert on Shariah Compliant Finance warns America of this chilling threat.” (See: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023435.php)

Sharia means “path” or  “path to water.”  It means God’s Law that will provide salvation if followed.  The Quran, Islam’s holy book is considered the literal word of God.  Unfortunately, the Quran is interpreted in different ways by different teachers.

Sharia governs all aspects of life, not just financial.  It governs men and women’s relations, education and inheritances.  Some Islamic nations temper the application of Sharia in criminal law, but Iran and Saudia Arabia are exceptions.  They fully implement Sharia in all areas of the law.
(See: www.cfr.org/publication/8034)

***

FROM:  Shariah, Law and ‘Financial Jihad’: How Should America Respond?
Analysis and Findings of a Workshop Co-sponsored by: The McCormick Foundation and The Center for Security Policy

(See: http://www.rrmtf.org/publications/JihadReport.pdf)

The primary purpose of Shariah is to promote Islam as the only legitimate theo-political system and to accomplish it’s dominance, through violent jihad if necessary, worldwide. (This is what is meant by the “Islamist” agenda.)  Shariah rules govern all aspects of life but are most notorious for the mandate they provide for–toning of adulteresses, execution of homosexuals, amputations for petty crimes, beheading of Muslim Apostates, institutionalized misogyny and myriad other violations of western values and international norms. For example, a popular poster from the Islamic region of Nigeria, shows the dire punishments of Shariah in a country torn in two by conflicts over new Shariah Courts.  In the top row, a woman is shown riding a bike with a man, and next is shown her punishment: being stoned to death. (Page 7)

SNIP

The Law of Shariah is the source of the command for faithful Muslims to practice jihads. For peaceable Muslims the term is usually interpreted to mean a personal, introspective “struggle” against Muslims own sins or temptations.  The authoritative rendering of Islamic jihad, however is a ‘just’ war against non-Muslims and Muslims who have gone astray.  “Shariah-adherent Muslims must engage in jihad to bring about the global Islamic state under a caliph who governs pusuant to Shariah. (Page 10)

***

Islamic Finance and the U.S. Treasury Department

The United States Treasury Department is opening the back door to Sharia Law in this country by wooing the money of the Muslim States. This wooing of Sharia began in the Bush Administration.  In addition to the Nov 6, 2008 seminar at the Treasury Dept. there was an earlier seminar on April 26, 2002. Following are the introductory remarks by John B. Taylor, undersecretary for International Affairs at the Islamic Finance 101 seminar at the Treasury Department (www.treas.gov/press/releases/po3068.htm).

“Welcome to Islamic Finance 101.  As the Undersecretary of Treasury I want to thank you for joining us at this seminar on the fundamentals of Islamic Finance….We are very  grateful that this diverse panel is here today to share their knowledge with us.  They have joined us from great distances – traveling from Bahrain, Houston, Boston, and New York to share their expertise with us”
***
Treasury’s Office of International Affairs implements the U.S. Government’s international and finance and economic development polcies and develops U.S. policy toward the World Bank and IMF.  We have had a growing interest (sic) Islamic finance because of its rapid growth and significant presence in many partners of the United States such as Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Pakistan.”
***
“Today’s seminar was inspired by a round table that Secretary O’Neill attended last month in Bahrain.  At the roundtable hosted by Citibank Bahrain’s Islamic Investment Bank”—
***
“The Secretary wanted to make sure that we hosted a similar event in the United States to “demystify” Islamic Banking for our colleagues in Washington who may not have exposure to this topic.”

MORE

Then on Nov 6, 2008 there was another seminar at the Treasury Deparment.  This was the first time I learned that this was planned by the Bush Administration.  It had to be with the knowledge of the man who had just been elected to replace George Bush.

ISLAMIC FINANCE 101, Nov. 6, 2008.

Welcome by Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary and custodian of the first TARP money.
PURPOSE: “This forum is designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic Financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry.
The Department of the Treasury, working with Harvard University’s Islamic Finance Project, will host speakers from academia and industry to share information on the development of Islamic Finance, both in the U.S. and globally.  The primary audience of this seminar is comprised of staff from U.S. Banking regulatory agencies, Congress, Department of Treasury and other parts of the Executive Branch.  For some in attendance this may be their first and only opportunity to learn formally about Islamic Finance.  We expect about 100 people in the audience.  The presentations will be short and focused, and directed toward policy makers rather than academics.
MORE
(See: www.saneworks.us/uploads/news/applications/7.pdf)

Representative Peter King, R-NY reacted, warning that “There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam.  We should be looking at them more carefully.”

While our Treasury Department is courting these people, they are teaching insurrection on our very soil.  Their mosques and schools and Islamic Centers across the country are inciting insurrection by Saudi trained imams.

THE RISKS OF ISLAMIC FINANCE:
“Of particular concern is the progress being made to establish Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF) within Western, and most recently, U.S. banks and other institutions that trade securities.  Islamic finance’s leading Shariah authorities have made plain that they consider SCF to be “jihad with money”, “financial jihad” and a means of promoting their objective of destroying the West’s economic system and replacing it with an Islamic one.

“Incredibly, in recent days, the Treasury Department has begun embracing Shariah-Compliant Finance.  Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmett has professed an interest in “studying the salient features of Islamic Banking to ascertain how far it could be useful in fighting the ongoing world economic crises”.  According to a press report out of Saudi Arabia he has declared that “experts in the Treasury Department are currently learning the important features of Islamic Banking.” (See: www.USAStopSharia.org)

STRINGS ATTACHED TO HANBALI MONEY:
Robert Kimmett and his crew in the Treasury Department had better be sure they read the fine print.  When you accept Shariah money, you must accept Shariah Law with it.  These greedy officials at Treasury can’t see beyond their noses.  Their stupidity is going to land us in the same soup pot as the United Kingdom is in if we don’t manage to stop them.

At least Peter King, R-NY sees the danger in what is happening here.  Maybe if enough of us contact him he will raise a ruckus in Congress.  It’s worth a try.

***

Hanbali Islam (From Overview of World Religions from the University of Cumbria)–
“Today the school is officially recognised as authoritative in Saudi Arabia and areas within the Persian Gulf.”

Wikipedia article on Hanbali

Hanbali Material in English

Related Posts:

The Scanner–Politics March 18, 2009: (Taitz-Supreme Court; Sharia Law in Minnesota re: Home Mortgages; Stimulus Money Wanders from the States; Privatizing Vets’ Healthcare)

The SCANNER-Politics 11/7/08: Newsweek Editors on Charlie Rose in the SCARIEST Description of Obama So Far…(Video/Partially Transcripted); Sharia Hits the Treasury Department/HARVARD Alert!; Hill the Shill (UPDATE 1X)

While Hillary and Sarah Get Trashed in the U.S., Muslim Women in Britain Get Sharia Law

Obama-Odinga:50-50 Split Demands Sound SOOOO FAMILIAR…(UPDATE 1X–Author of “The Obama Nation” Detained in Kenya; UPDATE 2X–Corsi Released, Odinga Official Website)

Eustace Mullins’ “Secrets of the Federal Reserve”: Read About what Ezra Pound Called “The Great Betrayal”

~~By American Lassie

(Editor’s Note: American Lassie has a background in tax accounting.)

(Please also note this disclaimer: Eustace Mullins has long been admired by the right; he has also been labeled as being  a “conspiracy historian” and “anti-Semitic.”  I’ve noted below various sites that offer his writings and comment, both positive and critical, about Mullins.  These days, we need to read and learn all we can…but with critical minds. The reader must make his own judgment on the ideas of Eustace Mullins. This site takes no position on Eustace Mullins at this point, nor the work of David Allen Rivera which is also mentioned.  Some readers might find some of the material interesting and links are provided for further exploration–InsightAnalytical-GRL)

***

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to rescue the U.S. financial system, all $2.5 trillion of it,  has sent markets tumbling. See Geithner’s  biography at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York site, where Geithner served as President from 2003 until his confirmation.  The bio also details his prior activities in international banking at Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, and his stint at the Bank for International Settlements.)

This leads me into the matter of The Federal Reserve.   In my opinion, the chairmen of The Federal Reserve, both past and present, have an unhealthy influence on this country.  While Geithner comes to Treasury from serving as President of the Federal Reserve in New York, Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve,  is head of Obama’s economic advisory panel of people from outside the Administration (although there are rumblings that Lawrence (Larry) Summers, Obama’s National Economic Council Director is slowing down the organization of this panel).  Seeing the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill with Henry Paulson in September 2008 brings to mind the stealthy way the Federal Reserve was established. (Editor’s Note: Reuters reported on September 21, 2008: Paulson: Foreign Banks Can Use U.S. Rescue Plan …”foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal….”  I don’t know if this provision is in any of the bailout/stimulus bills that have since passed.–IA-GRL)

An author by the name of Eustace Mullins has been writing about the formation of the Federal Reserve and international bankers for years.

Here’s a little background on Eustace Mullins and how he came to spend so many years of his life researching and trying to get published his works on the Federal Reserve System. (Some of this material is from the “Secrets of the Federal Reserve” site linked below.)  Mr. Mullins is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a native Virginian, educated at Washington and Lee University; New York University; Ohio University; University of North Dakota;  the Escuelas des Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Washington, D.C.  While researching his book, Mr. Mullins was on the staff of the Library of Congress.

His book, “Mullins on The Federal Reserve,” was commissioned by the poet Ezra Pound in 1950 and published in 1952 by Kaspar and Horton, New York.  This was the first nationally-circulated revelation of the secret meetings of international bankers at Jekyll Island, Georgia, from 1907-1910.  Dr. Ezra Pound was a political prisoner at St. Elizabeth’s hospital, held without trial.  Franklin Roosevelt had personally ordered him indicted on the demand of his three personal assistants, Harry Dexter White, Lauchlin Currie and Alger Hiss, all of whom were later identified as being connected with communist espionage.

Mr. Mullin’s research was aided by George Stimpson, founder of the National Press Club, who was known as “our walking Library of Congress” by Washington newspapermen.  Mullins was turned down by 18 publishers before one finally told him he would never get his book published.  After 2 years, the book was published in a small edition in 1952 by John Kaspar and David Horton using the title “Mullins on The Federal Reserve.”  In  1954 a second edition was published in New Jersey as “The Federal Reserve Conspiracy.”

In 1955 Guido Roeder brought out a German edition in Oberammergau, Germany.  The entire edition of 10,000 books was seized and burned. The burning of the book was upheld on April 21, 1961 by Judge Izrael Katz of the Bavarian Supreme Court.  The U.S. Government refused to intervene because James B. Conanat, the U.S. High Commissioner to Germany, had approved the initial book burning order.  In 1980 a new German edition appeared.  The identical book that was burned in 1955 now circulates freely.  The U.S. government no longer dictates the internal affairs of Germany.

The conspirators that caused Ezra Pound to spend thirteen and one half years in prison dropped charges in 1958. Ruthless international financiers had used their influence to imprison a man to keep his mouth shut.

“Here are the simple facts of the great betrayal.  Wilson and House knew that they were doing something momentous.  One cannot fathom men’s motives and this pair probably believed in what they were up to.  What they did not believe in was representative government.  They believed in government by an uncontrolled oligarchy whose acts would only become apparent after an interval so long that the electorate would be forever incapable of doing efficient to remedy depredations.” —-Dr. Ezra Pound (St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1950

[By “House,” he means Edward Mandell House (1858-1938) the son of British financier Thomas W. House, who made his fortune by supplying the South with supplies from France and England during the Civil War.
By “Wilson,” he means U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson wrote about House, “Mr. House is my second personalty.  His thoughts and mine are one.”]

An international banking group had secretly planned the writing of the “Federal Reserve Act” and Congress’ enactment of the plan into law.  International bankers held secret meetings at Jekyll Island, Georgia – 1907-1910 – where the draft of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was written.

Mr. Mullin’s book in it’s entirety is on the internet. Read “Secrets of the Federal Reserve.”  The international bankers are named – with pictures, charts, etc.  Another book by Mullins on the subject of “The New World Order” entitled  “A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism: The history and practices of the parasitic financial elite”  was published on the internet and is said to be “the most widely circulated book about the New World Order ever written is also still available here at the Modern History Project.

Nothing changes, it remains the same.  Taxpayer money is feeding the big banks, thanks to Henry Paulson AKA Mr. Goldman Sachs. And now, Timothy Geithner.

In the words of John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868 – January 12, 1936), was the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925:

“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like an octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation.  It seizes in its long and powerful tentacles, our executive officers, our legislative bodies our schools, our coourts, our newspapers, and every agency created for the public protection”…”The little coterie of international bankers virtually runs the United States Governmant for their own selfish purposes.”

***

More on Mullins:

Secrets of the Federal Reserve (site with text of Mullins’ book, with a  full index)

A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism: The history and practices of the parasitic financial elite“ (Modern History Project text of Mullins’ book)

An Afternooon with Eustace Mullins (transcript in which he discusses accusations re: Jews)

Final Warning:  A History of the New World Order –David Allen Rivera

Sites which debunk Mullins:

From the “New York City Activist” blog:

Please do NOT trust Eustace Mullins as an authority on the Federal Reserve System!

Some of the rhetoric against the Federal Reserve System

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY: “Fighting Dem”? Or Just Blowing Smoke for the Folks Back Home? (Guess…)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Yesterday, it really looked like we had a “Fighting Dem” as Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY went after the SEC over its failure to uncover the Madoff Ponzi scheme, didn’t it?  Ackerman is known for having a gift for making acerbic comments…but how much fight is really there?

First a bit of history on Ackerman. He was a supporter of Hillary Clinton during the primaries last year, endorsing her in late January 2008. On June 5, just a couple of days before Clinton suspended her campaign early on June 7, he endorsed Obama. (There were others who waited another day, by the way. Full list of who did what, when here.)

He showed real signs of life during the Caroline Kennedy/NY Senate saga. He was the first to question her qualifications with comments like these:

From the NY Post (December 11, 2008):

Rep. Gary Ackerman of Queens, a 25-year veteran of Congress, declared in a radio interview: “I don’t know what Caroline Kennedy‘s qualifications are.”

“Except that she has name recognition, but so does J.Lo,” Ackerman continued on Steve Malzberg’s radio show on WOR. “I wouldn’t make J.Lo the senator unless she proved she had great qualifications, but we haven’t seen them yet.”

He took the obligatory hit at Sarah Palin on Face the Nation as things moved forward (December 22, 2008):

WASHINGTON – A Democratic congressman compared Caroline Kennedy to Sarah Palin, saying the would-be senator hasn’t proved she has the “guts and the gumption” to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rep. Gary Ackerman of Roslyn Heights said on CBS‘ “Face the Nation” yesterday that the Kennedy legend and connections won’t be enough to make her a successful senator if Gov. David A. Paterson appoints her to the U.S. Senate.

So, the fireworks yesterday at the Madoff hearing seem to be pretty typical of Ackerman’s style. (The video at his website is a shorter version of this clip, without the reference to “dung”):

One thing to be aware of is the fact that a lot of the money that has disappeared once belonged to a lot of folks from Ackerman’s district, so Ackerman’s umbrage will certainly play well at home!

Kanjorski-led panel reviews $50 billion fraud scheme

By MARCY GORDON
Associated Press Writer

Published: Monday, January 05, 2009
Updated: Monday, January 5, 2009 6:28 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic House members said Monday that the alleged $50 billion fraud involving Wall Street figure Bernard Madoff reflects deep, systemic problems at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SNIP

The SIPC shortfall will only worsen the distrust of investors, already deepened by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y. His district encompasses the affluent north shore of Long Island, home to many of Madoff’s alleged victims

(Note the reference to the Great Depression, the party line these days as part of the “fear stimulus” being used to pass the pork-laden “stimulus”  package.)

But beneath the brash, confrontational style that plays well on TV, we see a typical Democrat who’s sticking with the crowd:

From November 19th, 2008:

Think Progress » Rep. Ackerman: Auto Execs’ Private Jet Travel Like Guy At ‘The Soup Kitchen In High Hat And Tuxedo’.

But by December 5, 2008:

Automakers’ fourth-and-long plea

Last Updated: December 5, 2008: 8:06 PM ET

Even Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., who was the first to raise the issue of corporate jets at the earlier hearing, seemed more open to helping the auto industry in his opening comment this go round.

“One does not always have a second chance to make a first impression. Welcome back,” Ackerman said. “The last time you didn’t get it. By coming up with this plan, maybe you do.”

From September 11, 2008:

Mortgage Mess Unleashes Chain Of Lawsuits

By Tomoeh Murakami Tse and Carrie Johnson

Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 11, 2007; 10:34 AM

Credit agencies, which graded billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities as safe investments throughout the recent housing boom, are also feeling the heat.

Members of Congress are calling for hearings and oversight, saying the rating agencies are conflicted because they are paid by investment banks that issue the securities the agencies rate. Institutional investors accuse the rating firms of being slow to downgrade securities.

“Essentially, the originators and credit raters shoved enough pigs and laying hens in with the beef herd that investors expecting prime ribs on their silver platter and money in their pocket ended up with pork ribs on their paper plate and egg on their face,” Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said in an opening statement during a Financial Services Committee hearing last week.

Nice, but what was 13 term Congressman Ackerman doing when there were calls for “oversight” when Democrats took charge of Congress a couple of years ago?  I don’t see any mention of a crusade for oversight in Ackerman’s bio and list of accomplishments at his website. I don’t have the time or inclination at this point to see how he voted when the whole business of pushing bad loans was originally put together way back when, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ackerman went along with it all then…(See his new legislation introduced January 27, below.)

And he’s right in line with all the rest on other aspects of current economic issues (Also, seee voting pattern, below):

LI House delegation to back $700B bailout

BY JENNIFER MALONEY |jennifer.maloney@newsday.com

September 29, 2008

“We, the taxpayers, will get back our investment,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights). “Any shortfall where we don’t get our money back is going to be paid for by Wall Street.”

Really???

Ackerman Running for Re-election to Congress

Manhasset Press  October 24, 2008

Following his interview with the Great Neck Record, Congressman Ackerman was to head to Washington to vote on the “bailout.” With the financial crisis at the forefront, he was quick to note: “We have to correct the errors of the past.” He emphasized that the country must “restore confidence and put liquidity in the market” so that “people can pay for education, pay bills, pay mortgages, run businesses …”

With his background on financial service committees, the congressman emphasized that the country “must come up with solutions even before a crisis.”

Congressman Ackerman told how he had put in financial legislation even before this current financial crisis came to a head. His bill calls for credit agencies to be required to put like loans in a package, and prohibiting them from “rating what is not ratable.” And he emphasized that “We must hold credit agencies responsible for what they do.”

Congressman Ackerman termed this “common sense regulation.”

Blah, blah, blah…”correct the errors of the past”…Not without oversight, I’m afraid.

And in the run-up to the now “Bad Bank” which is in the works, we saw how Ackerman was already on board:

Rep. Steve LaTourette seeks help from President Bush to stop National City sale

Posted by Sabrina Eaton, Stephen Koff and Teresa Dixon Murray/ Plain Dealer Reporters November 18, 2008 09:51AM

Other committee members grilled Paulson on his failure to use money in the $700 billion bailout package to reduce mortgage foreclosures. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the committee, put in the hearing record a letter from Rep. Dennis Kucinich in which the Cleveland Democrat urged Congress to withhold more TARP money from the Treasury Department because of its failure to act on foreclosures.

New York Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman called the Treasury Department’s decision to avoid buying troubled mortgages from banks, as it originally promised, “the second-largest bait-and-switch scheme that history has ever seen, second only to the reasons given us to vote for the invasion of Iraq.”

Paulson said that the money had to be used to prevent a collapse in the financial system and that the Treasury Department is still looking for ways to reduce foreclosures.

Rep. Ackerman can display all the “righteous anger” that he wants for the TV cameras and the folks back home, but I have to ask–isn’t he really just part of “diversion” along with all the huffing and puffing about capping executive salaries?  The Madoff  issue is important, of course, but Ackerman’s brash style seems to be only style when it comes to many economic issues and, like others,  late to the party with his protests.

Eleven Democrats in the House voted against the stimulus bill…you won’t find Ackerman’s name among them.

***

ADDENDA

Rep. Gary Ackerman’s Official Website biography

According to GovTrack.us, Ackerman is a “rank and file” Democrat; OpenCongress cites a 98% record of voting with party (Votes most often with Ellen Tauscher, D-CA)

Rep. Ackerman introduced this bill on January 27, 2009 Source: GovTrack.us

H. R. 710

To secure additional Tier I capital for the United States banking system from parties other than the Federal Government by providing authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to guaranty certain new preferred stock investments made by public pensions acting in a collective fashion, and for other purposes.

If you have a public pension, watch this bill:

(2) INSTITUTION ELIGIBLE FOR INVESTMENTS- Only an investment in preferred stock that meets the requirements of subsection (e) and has been issued by a financial institution which meets the definition of a qualifying financial institution under the TARP Capital Purchase Program established under the authority of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 may be treated as an eligible investment for purposes of this Act.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-710

The Past Week: December 7-13, Recaps and Random Thoughts (Blago in the Can and ON the Can; Obama License Plates in IL?; Reality-Based Black Commentary; Canada & the Auto Bailout; Live Blog of The History Channel on “Crash: The Next Great Depression?”– No Surprise, A Waste of Time; Ignored Science) (Updated 1X)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

We haven’t really discussed the Blago case on this blog over the past week, but we have to chime in with a couple of bits about this case and other Obama-related insanity.  Both these nuggets come from our Chicago Correspondent Leslie.

First, CC Leslie gives us this bit from WBBM 780 in Chicago:

Obama Senate Seat Listed On eBay

Posted: Wednesday, 10 December 2008 8:28AM

(WBBM/STNG) – Governor Blagojevich was unsuccessful at trying to sell the vacant Illinois Senate seat, federal prosecutors say.

But that hasn’t stopped other people from trying to seal the deal.

There are at least a dozen tongue-in-cheek offerings of President-elect Barack Obama’s senate seat on eBay.

The items up for bidding range from a replica of the state seal to photoshopped pictures of Governor Rod Blagojevich.

One of the created images shows him sitting on a toilet with graffiti on the wall around him. It’s a direct quote from the criminal complaint by federal prosecutors, reading “This seat will go to the highest (bleeping) bidder.”

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A couple of days earlier, CC Leslie posted this comment at IA:

Leslie, on December 8th, 2008 at 2:47 PM Said: Edit Comment

This is sooo OT I hope you don’t all throw your hands up and bar me from commenting any more ………..

Today, on Radio News Chicago, the most recent crass report is that the State of Illinois (”Land of Lincoln”) is considering creating a license plate with “Land of Obama” or some such oddity because “there is such a HUGE demand” for those plates. And they will raise MILLIONS of $$ for the state !!

I guess with all the “Change” anticipated, we will have to change the way we identify ourselves here in the Obama-nation !

If I don’t buy one of those plates, will that make me racist? or a terrorist?

There are no more words.

Here’s the link to the Chicago SunTimes report:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/1319012,CST-NWS-watchdog08.article

I can’t stand much more of this…I feel a migraine coming on.

My suggestion to Leslie is to get out of Chicago if she values her health!!

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Meanwhile, in the reality-based black community, Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford unloads a MASSIVE barrage of whoop-ass I-told-you-so” that shouldn’t be missed:

Obama’s ‘Center-Right’ Presidency: The Die is Cast

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“Black folks desperately needed the Obama of their imaginings.”

We already know enough. There is no more mystery as to what makes Barack Obama tick. He is your garden variety “center-right” American politician, as rated by no less an authority than the New York Times – the folks who practically invented the standards by which one is located in the corporate political spectrum.

There are lots of political appointments to go before Obama’s roster is complete, but the heavy lifting is done. The ideological pillars of America’s first Black presidency have been planted wholly within the parameters of governance allowed by big capital and the imperial military. Obama’s “transition” is more accurately seen as a “continuity” of rule by the lords of finance capital and their protective screen of warriors and spies. The Obama regime, still incomplete, already wreaks of filthy rich thieves and gore-covered war criminals.

Obama’s “national security” and economic lineup is an infinity of ugliness, more repulsive than I could have imagined back in the summer of 2003, when Obama’s rise to glory was about to begin. The supremely talented actor/state senator’s capacity for obfuscation; his refusal to take a firm position on any subject of real controversy; his transparently false denials of fealty to the corporate Democratic Leadership Council, which had publicly claimed him – all this should have marked Obama as bad news for Black America. But his was a fatally attractive package, like the shiny little cluster bomblets that kids pick up in places like Afghanistan.

“The ideological pillars of America’s first Black presidency have been planted wholly within the parameters of governance by finance capital and the imperial military.”

My colleagues and I were most fearful of the effect Obama’s corporate-rigged explosion onto the national scene would have on the Black polity – both the masses and leadership circles. Obama’s phony progressivism didn’t fool us for a second – although we yearned as much as other African Americans for the appearance of a Great Black Hope. Obama wasn’t “The One,” no matter what Oprah said. Rather, he became a menace to Black folks’ collective mental health.

We knew that a mass hallucinatory phenomenon was about to occur, that would loosen many Black folks’ grips on reality no matter how often and loudly we warned that Barack Obama was a cynical corporate striver who encouraged whites to believe that his election would mark the end of Black politics as we have known it. (Take breath, here.) He was the anti-Jesse, the anti-Sharpton, a fraudulent peace candidate, an eager servant of the rich. We diligently provided evidence of Obama’s true political nature, and at every juncture before and during the primaries we were proven correct in our analysis. But no matter. African Americans’ pent up hunger to see a (pretty) Black face in the highest place, would not be denied. They desperately needed the Obama of their imaginings, and would draw and quarter anyone that questioned the senator’s sainthood.

Were Black folks “losing their damn minds,” as comedian David Alan Grier puts it on Comedy Central’s Chocolate News?

Yes, they were.

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OUCH!

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Even though the auto bailout package appears dead for now, the Canadian government apparently thinks something is going to be done “soon” and is also involved, trying to pre-emptively protect its own auto jobs. Stay tuned…

Federal government, Ontario agree on $3.3B auto bailout package

Deficit now ‘likely,’ finance minister acknowledges

Last Updated: Friday, December 12, 2008 | 9:31 PM ET

The federal government and Ontario have reached a deal to offer proportional funds to Canada’s auto industry if a proposed $14-billion US aid package is approved in Washington, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Friday.

Speaking to reporters in Toronto, Clement said the proposed aid to Canada’s ailing auto sector would amount to approximately 20 per cent of the U.S. proposal, or about $3.3 billion Cdn.

The U.S. bailout appeared to have died late Thursday night after hours of heated negotiations between lawmakers, representatives from automakers and unions. But lawmakers said they still hope an agreement on the Democratic- and White House-backed plan could be reached.

The Canadian subsidiaries of the Detroit Big Three automakers had asked Ottawa and Ontario for financial aid that could total as much as $6 billion.

Clement said the deal was contingent on GM, Ford and Chrysler working together with parts suppliers and unions for a long-term solution for their industry, as well as the American proposal going forward.

“Governments can decide to help, but these decisions will only be made in the best interests of the taxpayer,” Clement told reporters.

The minister also said the Canadian government expects U.S. President George W. Bush to announce something “very soon.”

“What we’re signalling here tonight, both the governments of Ontario and the government of Canada, is that we want to be part of the solution as well, and it will be commensurate with the production that takes place here in Canada,” Clement said.

The pre-emptive move by Ottawa and Ontario will make it harder for U.S. lawmakers to strike a deal that protects American jobs at the expense of Canadian ones, said veteran auto analyst Dennis DesRosiers.

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After sitting through Greta’s hour on Blago-gate (which was a limited rundown, with very little dot-connecting), I decided to see how the History Channel covered the current financial crisis.

Live-blogging the History Channel …Saturday night 12/13…

As  I put together this roundup, I’ve got one eye on the History Channel’s special, “Crash: The Next Great Depression?” which is contrasting the present financial crisis with the 1929 stock-market crash and the Great Depression which followed. The program has traced the ripple of the bad credit/loans and the boom and the bust.  Sort of.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have come and gone with nothing about Raines and the skulduggery there.  So far, I’ve heard Ronald Reagan on getting rid of regulation; how starting in 2000 Phil Gramm pushed for deregulation;  how Bill Clinton how kept Alan Greenspan on and urged the loosening of regulations; and how George Bush espoused the importance of home ownership. Then, onto about how people wanted a “change” after the 1929 crash just like now and how FDR along with the new Democratic majority in 1933 took action by announcing  the “New Deal”  and creating a “flurry” of new programs.  It’s now showing Barack Obama’s December 7 press conference unveiling a lot of “flashy” names and pushing for lots of stimulus.  In juxtaposition, Jerry Stiller is talking about how the  “whole country was lifted, happy days were here again” because of  the New Deal.  YES, Jerry Stiller.  The experts are talking about the first 100 days and the restructuring of the banks which included inspection of the banks and the creation of the FDIC.  And, yes, Henry Paulson is doing the same thing (??).  Now we see the Depression work programs and how Obama is proposing similar projects.  An expert talks about how government will be the driving force from now on. But we then hear how the New Deal didn’t solve the problem, that it was the war that brought the economy back to life and pre-crash levels.  There’s the hope that we won’t have a world war to solve the current predicament. Guess what the next ad is?–the Capital One credit card, after all the talk about the irresponsible credit spending of consumer at the start of the program.

Andy Serwer, Editor of Fortune Magazine* and one of the often-quoted experts, opines that we learned a lot from the 1930’s and how important it is to pump money into the system. Banks, auto industry bailouts in the face of accelerating  job loses, no lending, pressure on non-bank auto loans, credit cards…But, we can’t go back to the highly-regulated system created in the 30’s by FDR — we have to make the current system “better.”   Last word, it’s bad but won’t turn into the next Great Depression, even though all the scary music sure makes it seem that way.  I guess FAITH will overcome…

So, that’s it.  Great job..NOT!  NOT ONE WORD about the politics behind the bad loans, the lack oversight and the Democrats’ culpability. What there seemed to be was a not-s0-subtle link created between FDR and Obama.  There’s also the message from one of the “experts” that government is going to take over the driving force of job creation and the economy.  We even get the “change” message. We see a smiling Obama…the image of all that “happy days are here again” stuff…

There you have it. The incomplete and subtly biased by omission, “in-depth reporting” from the History Channel.  Just enough to make an unsuspecting viewer think he or she is getting the full story, while all it is is a rehash of the spin being shipped out on a daily basis by the media. Served up nice and clean.  All neat and tidy for the arrival of Barack Obama.  It’s all gonna be OK, even though one guy who actually runs a plumbing supply place seems to think there will be a greater challenge in 2009 as current orders drop and promised government contracts are on hold or just drying up..  But the expert says not to worry, government will take over.

Frankly, I’m sticking with the plumbing supply guy.  (What is it about plumbers this year??)

(*Fortune Magazine: Part of Time, Inc, which in turn is part of Time Warner, which also controls AOL, HBO, Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting System, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Time Warner Investments, and Time Warner Global Media Group.  Feeling better now???)

***

Earlier this week we discussed the “healthcare reform” push started by the Obama Transition Team (see post listed below). We’re wondering how the concerns raised by the folks at The American Association for Health Freedom will be addressed under an Obama healthcare team headed by a lobbyist (Tom Daschle) and in light of  the “positive response” by Ted Kennedy to the insurance industry writing up their own proposals, just the way Big Pharma wrote the Medicare Part D legislation.

What Happened to the Promise to Save This Nation Billions in Healthcare Costs?

One of the biggest clinical trials ever organized by our federal government indicated that generic medication for high blood pressure in use since the 1950s worked better than the newer drugs costing more than twenty times more. Yet Dr. Curt Fuberg, the chair of the $130 million ALLHAT trial, resigned in frustration in August 2004, citing the lack of effort put into diseeminating “the ALLHAT message.”

A similar situation has existed since the 1997 publication of the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) research study at Harvard. DASH emphasized a diet rich in potassium-containing foods such as fruits and vegetables, and more physical activity; these approaches, they found, could lower blood pressure in up to 90% of hypertensive patients without medication. Yet this too has fallen on deaf ears.

(SNIP)

The money spent on the direct-to-consumer drug ads that dominate the American media is dwarfed by the $21 billion dollars spent annually to sway doctors prescribing habits. Dr. Jerome Kassirer, professor of medicine at both Yale and Tufts and former editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, describes conventional physicians as paid prostitutes for drug manufacturers.

It has progressed to the point that the standard treatment offered by international physicians after a patient suffers a heart attack—high doses of fish oil—is ignored or even rejected in the U.S. Here, prescriptions and procedures dominate cardiac care, and heart blockage is viewed as a plumbing or structural abnormality. Yet science has proven that patients do not live longer or better when heart disease is addressed by surgically opening or bypassing closed arteries.

As Arizona psychiatrist Ed Gogek wrote in the Buffalo News, the new Surgeon General should back alternative medicine. Dr. Gogek indicates that the public is far ahead of medical experts and politicians on alternative medicine. Isn’t it time they caught up?

A related article at the site is also worth a look; see The Science of Prevention.

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UPDATE:

CNN is owned by AOLTimeWarner… For more info on media incest, visit the Columbia Journalism Review. According to an archived article there, The History Channel is owned by The Walt Disney Company, GE, and Hearst.  Figures!!!! So that’s where the fairy tales come from…

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Finally, a busy week in the garden harvesting loads of mustard and collards. Today, I did the final cleanup of all the pots I used to grow peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes on the patio. This involved taking off the bark mulch and bagging it, putting the dead plants into the composter, bagging up the potting soil to use in the spring, washing out all the pots and lugging them all into the garage. I use only clay pots from Italy to grown vegetables in and they do last a lot longer if they’re protected from the winter extremes. I also cleaned out the glazed pots I use for flowers.  It was a big job that I kept putting off, but with milder temperatures today, it was now or never.

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THE PAST WEEK

*By Grail Guardian

**By kenosha Marge

These Gray Days of December

An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy–July 13, 2008 (Reposted and Updated 12/11/08)

*How Long Has This Been Going On? (”What They Want is the World”…The Roots of Our Current Coup d’Etat)

“The Night Before Fitzmas” (Or… “A Visit from Saint Fitz”)

**Why, Oh Why? Melamine in Infant Formula?

“Healthcare Reform” PR Blitz, Screw Job on the Way–And YOU Can Join In!

The Past Week: November 30-December 6, Recaps and Random Thoughts (Freepers “Heart” GG; Obama & Chester Arthur; Healthcare “Reform”; Montana-Yes, MONTANA-Legalizes Assisted-Suicide; Greens Pic)

The $700 Billion Bailout Bait and Switch

~~By American Lassie

In an earlier post, on November 4, 2008 before the Presidential race was called, I expressed a worry about where the $700 billion bail-out money was going. It didn’t seem to be going where we were told it was intended to go.

Now Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma is addressing this in same manner.  On Saturday, November 15, he said we should take back the remaining money given to Henry Paulson in that “blank check.”

First we were told it was to buy mortgage-backed securities.  Then Paulson shifted gears and said it was to use $250 billion to buy stakes in banks.  The “Troubled Asset Relief Program” (TARP) would enable ailing banks to start lending money again and thus boost the economy.

-No homeowner has yet been helped and foreclosures are multiplying.
-Senator Chris Dodd said Paulson’s actions are “beyond belief.”
-Paulson told Charlie Rose  – “The driver is to have healthy banks be well capitalized so they can play for our country right now.”
-Paulson diverted $250 billion to buy stakes in healthy banks to spur lending, but they are not doing this with the money.
-Charles Schumer, Democrat-NY, fears the banks might stuff the money “under the proverbial mattress”.  It appears this is exactly what they are doing.
-Treasury hired the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as “custodian” of the TARP program.  They also picked Mellon to receive a $3 Billion investment as part of the Capital Infusion Program.

Heads should roll !!!  Greed, corruption, and incompetence – where does it end?
Martha Stewart was imprisoned for lying – but then, she is a woman. Administrators’ neglect brought on this crisis.  It has been coming on for some time.  There were ample warnings (Bush and McCain) but Congress did nothing.  Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is one of the prime culprits.  When warned about Fannie Mae he said there was no problem there.  At the time his live-in partner, Herb Moss, was an administrator at Fannie Mae.  Conflict of interest?  I’d say so, but to paraphrase Katie Couric, “Who am I to judge anyone?”

Now everybody wants a bail-out.  The auto industry appears to be next on the list and Governor Schwarzenegger of California thinks that his state should be bailed out because California has shown discipline. (This has nothing to do with the fire – this is another matter).  Give me a break – when has California shown any discipline?  And why should that entitle them to bail-out money from us tax payers in the rest of the country?  What’s next?  The health industry, the remaining 49 states?  (Except for Alaska which seems to be doing fine, thanks to a smart governor).  Next we will have government-owned 7-11 stores.

I’m with Jim Inhofe.  Let’s demand our money back. It’s our money and we didn’t agree to this giveaway.  In my opinions, bankers can’t be trusted.  Remember Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life”?  Greedy, crooked, conniving piece of scum…

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Check out BailoutSleuth.com to keep up with the bailout developments and who’s getting what…