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'Paulson's new 'Global Banking Corp.' IPO 2009 Forget Washington, forget Goldman: Our hero has global ambitions By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Last update: 7:05 p.m. EDT Oct. 6, 2008Comments: 108ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- What if: Hank Paulson doesn't return to Wall Street and Goldman Sachs? Builds a global banking empire? Competes head-on with Goldman, Morgan, and other domestic and foreign banks? What if the money comes from offshore, from Asia and the Gulf? He's a red-hot brand! Expect a mega-IPO in 2009.

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 04/20/2007 House Democratic Leaders Call President’s Attention to Crucial Facts in Iraq War Debate Washington, D.C. – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Majority Whip James Clyburn, Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, Caucus Vice Chairman John Larson, and Assistant to the Speaker Xavier Becerra sent a letter to President Bush today to call his attention to crucial facts regarding the funding of the troops in Iraq and the debate on a timetable for withdrawal. Below is the text of the letter: April 20, 2007 The President The White House Washington,...

CLICK HERE to listen to Audio of Speech (Requires Windows Media Player) PHX News reporter Lobo got this audio of Karl Rove's speech to the National Council of The Race (La Raza) on Tuesday.

Beginning a public relations offensive intended to prod divided Congressional Republicans into overhauling the nation's immigration laws, President Bush rebuked conservative opponents of his plan on Thursday and warned that there is "no excuse" for delay. ..In his speech, Mr. Bush took aim at House members who brand the Senate bill amnesty, though he did not mention any by name. "Some members of Congress argue that no one who came to this illegally should be allowed to continue living and working in our country," he said. The lawmakers are "are acting on deeply felt principles," he said, but added, "I...

Microsoft Corp disclosed the details of a deal signed with China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday. Microsoft's vice president and chief technology officer Craig Mundie arrived in Beijing to disclose the details of the MOU signed on Apr 18, according to which, Microsoft Corp will invest $100 million in setting up cooperation with China-based software enterprises and their subsidiaries, joint ventures outside China. It will place orders worth $100 million to software enterprises in China. Microsoft will place a 700-million-U.S.-dollar hardware export order with Chinese companies in each of the next...

Excerpts - Later [Hu] said to Gates: "I admire what you have achieved at Microsoft," Hu said. "Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I'm a friend of Microsoft," he said. "Also, I am dealing with the operating system produced by Microsoft every day," he added, amid laughter. "I certainly look forward to the extension of your cooperation with China," Hu said. Hu also said he would certainly welcome a further increase in Microsoft's investment in China. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to assure you, Bill Gates, that we will certainly our words in protecting...

GOP Chiefs Don't Want Immigrants Charged By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 29 minutes ago The two top Republicans in Congress, confronted with internal party divisions as well as large public demonstrations, said Tuesday they intend to pass immigration legislation that does not subject illegal aliens to prosecution as felons. A written statement by Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, did not say whether they would seek legislation subjecting illegal immigrants to misdemeanor prosecution or possibly a civil penalty such as a fine. "It remains our intent to produce a strong border security...

President Bush has proposed, and the Senate is currently considering, a guest worker program. While the issue has sparked a rancorous debate, there has been little discourse about the many ramifications of such a program. Here are some questions for which many Americans would like to hear some answers: 1. Will spouses and children be able to accompany the guest worker? Just minor children or adult ones as well? 2. Will any or all of the above be able to demand government services in the language of their choice, per President Clinton's Executive Order 13166? Will the workers be required...

PROTECTIONISTS, REJOICE! The dastardly United Arab Emirates company that would have presumed to unload containers of underwear and toothpaste on U.S. soil has backed down, and it will now divest its U.S. port interests to an American entity. Rest assured, the nation is now safe from dangerous Middle Eastern accountants and port logistics specialists. Dubai Ports World did what was necessary, if not necessarily fair, on Thursday by agreeing to give up the U.S. operations of its newly acquired British ports company. The House Appropriations Committee had voted 62 to 2 on Wednesday to block the deal; a similar bill...

Excerpt - The two Bills, Clinton and Gates, took the stage this afternoon at the Time Global Health Summit. For two men who spend their lives in the klieg lights, this was a rare opportunity for what could almost pass for a schmooze. TIME managing editor Jim Kelly asked them a wide range of questions, many of them posed in writing by conference attendees. Some of the highlights: [snip] The leadership question: Kelly began to ask Gates what he'd do if he were the leader of the World health organization, but the question elicited some inadvertent laughter, when it sounded...

BEIJING, Sept. 27 -- Microsoft invested US$20 million in a Beijing-based domestic software firm yesterday, aiming to strengthen its commitment to the Chinese market and tap into the nation's software engineering talent pool. International Finance Corp (IFC), an investment arm of the World Bank, also invested US$15 million in the same firm, ChinaSoft International Ltd. The company is under the control of the State-owned China National Software and Service Co Ltd (CS&S). The parties involved declined to disclose how big the stakes of Microsoft and IFC are. ChinaSoft International is valued at HK$788 million (US$101 million) on the Growth...

US and China should break the "old economy" - Clinton By John Liu Hangzhou September 10. INTERFAX-CHINA - Former US President Bill Clinton has said that China had no choice but to develop renewable sources of energy, saying that if new alternatives were not found to traditional modes of economic growth, international conflicts over scarce resources would become increasingly likely. Clinton, attending the China Internet Summit at the West Lake, organized by the e-commerce portal Alibaba in the coastal resort city of Hangzhou, noted that in an "interdependent" world, growing nations such as China and India had to find...

Former Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee has accused the software giant of incompetence in its plans to gain a business footing in China, and testified that an expletive-filled tirade from chairman Bill Gates was a low point before he defected to rival Google. In testimony during a hearing on Microsoft's lawsuit against Lee and Google, Lee said on Tuesday he wrote a memo to another Microsoft executive saying he was "deeply disappointed at our incompetence in China - that we have wasted so many years in China with little to show for it." Lee went on to say in the email...

Excerpt - Microsoft is on track to outsource more than 1,000 jobs a year to China, according to blistering evidence released yesterday in Microsoft's increasingly nasty spat with Google over an employee who jumped ship in July. In a revelation that highlights the complexity of China President Hu Jintao's visit to Seattle and Microsoft on Monday, legal filings detailed claims of how Microsoft had offended the Chinese government by not outsourcing as many jobs as promised to Chinese technology vendors. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer visited China in 2003 and promised to step up the pace, from $33 million worth of...

The Monday night agreement to avert a showdown vote over judicial filibusters not only spared the Senate from a potentially ruinous clash, but also certified John McCain as the real leader of that body. In contrast to Majority Leader Bill Frist, who was unable to negotiate a compromise with Minority Leader Harry Reid or hold his Republicans in line to clear the way for all of President Bush's nominees to be confirmed, McCain looks like the man who achieved his objectives. U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) talks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 24, 2005. Fourteen U.S....

Microsoft is advancing its outsourcing partnership with India-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to extend Microsoft's Connected Services Framework (CSF) to additional international locations. ADVERTISEMENT Microsoft Consulting Services unit has teamed up with TCS to deliver an integrated IT solution to BT (British Telecom) Retail that the providers view as a model for the outsourcing offerings it plans to offer globally, Microsoft said. The companies noted that TCS operates a Microsoft Solutions Center in Hungary that serves customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. TCS has said that it likewise sees opportunities for the combined outsourcing effort in the Asia...

BEIJING, Feb. 28 -- Zhejiang Golden Eagle said Friday that a charitable body launched by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife had bought into the Shanghai-listed textile maker, the second time the Gates foundation making investments in the A-share market on the Chinese mainland. The Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province-based Golden Eagle said in its 2004 financial statement that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had owned 607,040 shares as of the end of December 31 to become its fourth-largest shareholder. The Golden Eagle purchase followed earlier announcement by Shanghai-listed water utility Nanhai Development Co. that the Gates foundation...

   BEIJING, Feb. 1 -- A Charitable body set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife has bought into Shanghai-listed water utility Nanhai Development Co., the latest foreign investor seeking to tap into the potential of China’s water industry.     Foshan, Guangdong-based Nanhai Development said in its 2004 financial statement the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation purchased 523,501 shares during November and December last year to become its ninth-largest shareholder.     Nanhai Development did not disclose how much the Gates charity paid for the shares, but domestic media reported the foundation had bought Nanhai Development shares at about eight...

Bill Gates is betting on America's decline and putting his money on China's rise. Or so the Microsoft founder seemed to say last month at the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. "I'm short the dollar," he said. "The ol' dollar is going down." At the same meeting, Gates linked his pessimism about the United States to optimism about China. He commended China as the great "change agent" in the world over the next 20 years and praised its "brand-new form of capitalism." Gates isn't the only titan talking down the dollar and linking it to America's decline. Warren...

China has created brand-new form of capitalism: Bill Gates DAVOS, Switzerland, (AFP) - US software giant Bill Gates has high praise for China, which he says has created a brand-new form of capitalism that benefits consumers more than anything has in the past. "It is a brand-new form of capitalism, and as a consumer its the best thing that ever happened," Gates told an informal meeting late Friday at the World Economic Forum in this ski resort. He characterised the Chinese model in terms of "willingness to work hard and not having quite the same medical overhead or legal...

The latest barfer from Bill Gates is excerpted from his interview with Peter Jennings of ABC News - JENNINGS: Is there any part of the world that intimidates you? GATES: Well I could say that every time I go to China I am amazed by the level of energy and activity there. And you know its like super charged capitalism where they're creating new jobs and they are being very efficient. And you know that's daunting. It's a challenge to the rest of the world that we got this great opportunity that they're going to build good products, but we...

Back in 2001, George W. Bush, a newly elected president from a border state, had immigration on his mind. Within weeks of his inauguration, Bush vowed to extend a hand to Mexico, making an ambitious guest-worker proposal a hallmark of his administration. The president's dream was dashed by 9/11; tightening border controls, not loosening them, became the priority. He must have been serious, though, because just weeks after winning a second term, Bush has embraced the guest-worker proposal anew. Secretary of State Colin Powell and White House counselor Karl Rove have called the initiative a high priority. And Bush pledged...

. China Gets More U.S. Secrets Another un-ratified U.N. treaty has benefited communists at the expense of the U.S., thanks once again to the Clinton administration's 'legacy.' In yet another example of how the former president sold out America's security to Red China, a defense department official tells Insight magazine how the Clinton administration handed over technology in order to keep within the "spirit" of the controversial Law of the Sea Treaty. Senior strategic adviser Peter Leitner says giving away highly sensitive underwater technology -- which the Chi-coms 'demanded' under the pretense of needing it for manganese mining on the...

No American had more sway over Clinton administration foreign policy than Loral honcho Bernard "Bernie" Schwartz. His money spoke with such clarity that, in early February 1996, the White House dispatched Ron Brown to collect a major chunk of it in person. No doubt, Schwartz could have mailed it in. But by sending a Cabinet member, the White House signaled both its respect for Schwartz and its recognition of his intent, namely to secure waiver approval for Loral's satellite launches. In return for staying "on board" Brown's sinking ship, his confidante Nolanda Hill, who had also been targeted by Brown's...

As reported by ABC News and others, the American recipients of Saddam's "Oil for Food" bribes were: Samir Vincent: 7 million Shakir Alkhalaji [sic]: 10.5 million (Most other reports spell the second name "Al-Khafaji"). The Seattle Times reported on Saturday that Al-Khafaji had made a (now returned) donation of $5,000 to Congressman Jim McDermott's legal defense fund and also gave an unspecified amount of money to the "charity" that paid for McDermott's 2002 trip to Baghdad. This led me to wonder what other American politicians might have benefited from laundered "Oil for Food" bribes. According to the Center for Responsive...

<p>If there is a shadow behind the "shadow campaign" of independent Democratic groups opposing the re-election of President Bush this fall, it is former President Bill Clinton.</p> <p>Denied a meaningful role in the 2000 presidential campaign of his vice president, Al Gore, Mr. Clinton is the common denominator in the major political organizations established to help level the financial playing field against Mr. Bush for this year's presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.</p>

... on Feb. 8, the Tehran Times published in full an e-mail sent by the Kerry campaign to a government news agency promising that a President Kerry would try to restore relations "at risk" due to "the actions and attitudes" of the Bush administration. "Disappointment with the current U.S. leadership is widespread," the e-mail said, "extending not just to the corridors of power and politics, but to the man and woman on the street as well." If that's not giving aid and comfort to an enemy, it's certainly meddling with U.S. diplomacy in a time of war.

<p>A blogger on the official John Kerry campaign Web site has offered a telling insight into the Kerry campaign in her account (since removed) of a December campaign party.</p> <p>"We had 200 guests eating, drinking, and watching the MoveOn documentary 'Uncovered,' featuring Joseph Wilson and Rand Beers from the Kerry campaign," wrote blogger Pamela Leavey, describing a Kerry event that did not include Mr. Kerry himself. "When Theresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: 'Asses of Evil' with 'Bush,' 'Cheney,' 'Rumsfeld,' and 'Ashcroft' surrounding it."</p>

<p>March 11, 2004 -- I had to laugh when I read about John Kerry's boast that unnamed "foreign leaders" were whispering words of encouragement in his ear ("World 'Leaders' Praying I'll Win: Kerry," March 9).</p> <p>I sure hope they aren't the same despotic tyrants who were able to obtain sensitive defense information from the United States while illegally contributing political campaign money, with virtually no one being held accountable.</p>

Even as John Kerry prepared to position himself before a national electorate as the arch enemy of “special interests,” he was exposed for receiving more campaign cash from lobbyists than any senator over the past 15 years. Since 1989 Kerry has received $638,358, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit organization that analyzes Federal Election Commission campaign records. Add to that reports that Kerry’s largest contributor, the Boston law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Golovsky and Popeo, represents telecommunications interests and that he has carried its legislative water while interceding with government agencies on its...

Without naming anybody, Kerry said he had received words of encouragement from leaders abroad who were eager to see him defeat Bush on Nov. 2. "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,' things like that," he said.

Kerry launches first election website in Chinese With the North Carolina Senator Edwards' decision to withdraw from the election campaign on March 2, John Kerry, the Massachusetts Senator won the Democratic Party's nomination as candidate for the White House. Kerry is now actively selecting his election mate and assuming the posture of readiness to compete with Bush for the next presidential throne. With continuous increase in population of Chinese origin in the U.S., Chinese Americans have become a force that cannot be neglected in election. It is reported that Kerry has set up an election website in Chinese, the first...

By Kenneth R. Timmerman© 2004 Insight/News World Communications Inc. Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York. Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties. Nemazee was a major Clinton donor, giving $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 election cycle and attending at least one of the famous...

Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York. Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties. Nemazee was a major Clinton donor, giving $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 1996 election cycle and attending at least one of the famous White House fund-raising coffees. In 2001,...

Among Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who consider the mullahs the good guys in Iran Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York. Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties. Nemazee was a major Clinton donor, giving $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 1996...

Kerry Defends His National Security Voting RecordSat February 21, 2004 11:06 PM ET By Patricia Wilson ATLANTA (Reuters) - Democratic White House front-runner John Kerry on Saturday forcefully defended his record on national security and drew a sharp contrast between his service in Vietnam and "Republicans who didn't serve in any war." Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a leading Georgia Republican speaking for President Bush's re-election campaign, predicted Kerry's "32-year history of voting to cut defense programs and cut defense systems" would not play well in the state's primary on March 2. In a conference call arranged by the Bush campaign, Chambliss...

An Open Letter To Senator John Kerry SMCCDI (Public Statement) Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) ________________ February 19, 2004 Dear Senator Kerry: For the past few months we have listened and observed with apprehension and dismay to your statements and views regarding the terrorist theocracy in Iran. Yet, we had remained silent! We have read how you refer to the theocratic regime in Iran as a "democracy;" we have heard how, if elected, as the president of the United States you intend to "engage" this barbaric regime; this very terrorist regime that your own State Department...

John Kerry's primary victories are mounting and "anyone-but-Bush" voters are hankering for a show-down with the Resident. The Massachusetts Senator's "bring it on" victory speeches get big-d Democrats fired up, but when it comes to foreign policy, Kerry is hardly the anti-Bush many are longing for. As the jockeying begins among those who fancy a government job should Kerry beat Bush in November, it's never too early to give the hopefuls currently advising the candidate a serious look. Consider Kerry's foreign policy advisers. Ask the candidate's supporters, and the advisor they mention first is Joe Wilson, the Clinton-era National Security...

Sen. John Kerry wants to be president of the United States so he can promote a brand of multi-nationalism as the solution to the world's problems. In fact, his views on that subject haven't changed that much since he came back from Vietnam in 1970, urging the United Nations take over command of the U.S. military forces. In April 1985, Kerry, along with Sen. Tom Harkin, ventured to Nicaragua to meet with President Daniel Ortega, a Marxist revolutionary who idolized Fidel Castro and received aid from the Soviet Union. Kerry saw another Vietnam in the making because then-President Reagan was...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Being more popular in Europe than George W. Bush is scarcely the hardest task facing his presidential challengers but John Kerry (news - web sites) is off to a particularly good start among Europeans anxious to repair trans-Atlantic ties. Don't expect the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" so loudly derided by Bush's Republican allies over the Iraq (news - web sites) war to endorse the Democratic frontrunner in public -- French, German and other EU leaders know they may well face four more years trying to get along with a Bush who can seem indifferent to their concerns. But...

In an alarming assessment of the dangers America faces from al Qaeda, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, upon being asked in a debate on January 29th if President Bush was overstating the terrorist threat, said, “"I think there has been an exaggeration. They are misleading all Americans in a profound way." Kerry seems to have forgotten the horrific events of 9-11-2001, or perhaps in his staggering wealth he simply doesn’t give a damn. Kerry loved the disgusting insult the cover of his book, The New Soldier, delivered to the thousands of United States Marines and sailors who died on Iwo...

According to an article published in the Tehran Times, the office of U.S. Senator and leading Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry sent an email message to the Mehr News Agency. The following is the article as it appeared in English:(1) "The office of Senator John Kerry, the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary in the U.S., sent the Mehr News Agency an email saying that Kerry will try to repair the damage done by the incumbent president if he wins the election. The text of the e-mail follows: "'As Americans who have lived and worked extensively overseas, we have personally...

Iranian News Agency Alleges Presidential Candidate John Kerry Sends Email Message According to an article published in the Tehran Times, the office of U.S. Senator and leading Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry sent an email message to the Mehr News Agency. The following is the article as it appeared in English:(1) "The office of Senator John Kerry, the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary in the U.S., sent the Mehr News Agency an email saying that Kerry will try to repair the damage done by the incumbent president if he wins the election. The text of the e-mail follows: "'As...

Iran's Mehr News Agency reports it has received an e-mail from the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry pitching the candidate as one who will "repair the damage done" to international relations by President Bush. According to a report in the Tehran Times, the front-runner's campaign office sent the following note to the news agency: As Americans who have lived and worked extensively overseas, we have personally witnessed the high regard with which people around the world have historically viewed the United States. Sadly, we are also painfully aware of how the actions and the attitudes demonstrated by the U.S....

WASHINGTON (Mehr News Agency) -- The office of Senator John Kerry, the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary in the U.S., sent the Mehr News Agency an e-email saying that Kerry will try to repair the damage done by the incumbent president if he wins the election. The text of the e-mail follows. As Americans who have lived and worked extensively overseas, we have personally witnessed the high regard with which people around the world have historically viewed the United States. Sadly, we are also painfully aware of how the actions and the attitudes demonstrated by the U.S. government over...