Democrats Rush Holder Confirmation

In two days, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) will begin the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Eric Holder, former Clinton deputy attorney general who is President-elect Barack Obama’s highly controversial nominee to the office of Attorney General. Holder, best known for playing a major role in the Clinton pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, will face skeptical Republicans, including ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Specter has run into a Leahy roadblock in his attempts to get some of the background documents on the nomination. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has refused to sign off on document requests by Republicans relevant to the hearing from the Department of Justice and the Clinton administration archives at the library in Little Rock.

This is -- according to Republican staff sources -- enormously frustrating to Specter. He cannot make document requests unilaterally using the power of the Committee. Only if Leahy joins in the request will it likely even be answered. Those staffers said that they cannot recall any instance in which Specter refused a Leahy request when the Republican was chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

According to Republican committee staffers, Leahy declined to sign these requests for production of documents. The initial letters were sent in early December. Late Monday, the DOJ finally dumped 600 pages of documents in response, noting that Republicans on the committee could receive more documents “in the future” related to this request. There have to date been literally no documents produced by Republican requests to the Clinton presidential archives. Under this shadow of the appearance of a possible cover-up, Senate Democrats are still attempting to expedite Holder’s nomination.

Chairman Leahy should be aware that his refusal to put the force of his committee chair behind the Republican request for documentation results in the request carrying little more weight than a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request from the general public -- which has proven in the past to take as long as 10 years for fulfillment. Republican Judiciary Committee staffers could not recall any instance where then Chairman Arlen Specter denied Democrats any request for documentation on a Bush nominee.

Another Clinton administration retread, Holder was at the epicenter of some of the largest Clinton presidential scandals. Document requests to the DOJ and Clinton archives include information on Holder’s role in matters such as the Waco-Branch Davidian massacre, the Elian Gonzales snatch and grab, pardons of Weather Underground domestic terrorists and FALN Puerto Rican terrorists, the DOJ investigation into fundraising activities involving representatives of the Chinese government by then Vice-President Al Gore, and the DOJ investigation by the Clinton administration into the dual-use nuclear and communications technology transfer to China by top Democrat donor Loral Space Corporation.

Most notable of Holder’s pardon scandals was his leading role in the Marc Rich pardon; Rich -- on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for millions of dollars in federal income tax evasion and violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act for Rich’s business dealings with Iran -- was pardoned by President Clinton on his last day in office.

Adding further appearance of impropriety, according to Senate staffers, Holder has also neglected to fully complete his nominations questionnaire in areas related to his opinions and published opinions.

To further complicate matters, reports came to light on Monday evening of a more extensive connection between Holder and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich which Holder did not fully disclose. Holder claims that he did not perform any “substantive” work for the disgraced Illinois governor in a gaming board licensing matter that was clouded by charges of corruption. Yet in response to a request for documentation from Republican Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the Illinois governor’s office has produced an April 22, 2004 letter from Holder himself on his firm’s letterhead which states that Blagojevich hired him for oversight on the entire investigation. Reports show Holder’s firm was paid $300,000 in legal fees. This latest development may be the first crack in the wall of secrecy erected by Senate Democrats around Holder’s confirmation process.

From the truth is stranger than fiction file, Holder in private practice was the attorney for Fernando Aquirre, CEO of Chiquita Brands International wherein Holder acquired a $25 million settlement for the corporation when its top executive was charged with paying $1.7 million to a Columbian death squad that killed thousands of people, including hundreds of labor leaders and workers organizing banana picking laborers in Columbia.

Given the extent of the multitude of controversies swirling around this nominee, it is fair to ask why Senate Democrats are attempting to push this nomination through in an expedited manner while withholding participation in the fulfillment of requests for documentation. What are Senate Democrats trying to hide?

Connie Hair is a freelance writer, a former speechwriter for Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and a former media and coalitions advisor to the Senate Republican Conference

Thank you for posting all that. All I ever needed to see to loathe Kerry was the look in my brother's eyes when Kerry was running for President. This decorated 101st Airborne Ranger Vietnam Vet was livid at the thought of a Kerry presidency.

You're welcome. Not a whole lot of people, even here, know these sorts of 'minor' details about these two. Or, for that matter, that the Black Panthers were a *revolutionary communist* organization. They just think of them as being racists. In fact, Reverend Wright's Black Liberation Theology (President-Elect Obama spent more than 20 years in his 'church') is a revolutionary-communist political ideology which Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground also advocated, along with their close allies, the Black Liberation Army. These two groups, working together, launced many bombing attacks and killed several police officers over a 2 decade period.
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"Their founding document [the Weather Underground's] called for the establishment of a "white fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other "anti-colonial" movements[1] to achieve "the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism."..."-Berger, Dan (2006). Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity. AK Press, 95.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_Underground#cite_ref-Berger_0-0

Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (Paperback) by Dan Berger
http://www.amazon.com/Outlaws-America-Underground-Politics-Solidarity/dp/1904859410
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From the New York Times, August 24, 2003

"they [the Weather Underground] employed revolutionary jargon, advocated armed struggle and black liberation and began bombing buildings, taking responsibility for at least 20 attacks. Estimates of their number ranged at times from several dozen to several hundred."

Article: Quieter Lives for 60's Militants, but Intensity of Beliefs Hasn't Faded
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E4DE1539F937A1575BC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

That’s EXACTLY what I thought, too. YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD DODD....FAWNING ALL OVER HILLARY...WE’RE SO EXCITED TO HAVE YOU HERE....like they would EVER say that to Rice!!!!!!!

Re: Senator Chris Dodd and Obama's pick for CIA chief, Leon Panetta:

"In April 1985 [Leon] Panetta joined with 13 of his leftist congressional colleagues — including Ron Dellums, Don Edwards, George Miller, Christopher Dodd, and Les Aspin — in sponsoring a 20th anniversary fund-raising gala for the pro-Marxist Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), which had been described by Brian Crozier, director of the London Institute for the Study of Conflict, as the "perfect intellectual front for Soviet activities which would be resisted if they were to originate openly from the KGB." The IPS was originally funded with millions of dollars from the Faberge perfume magnate and Communist Party member Samuel Rubin and his wife."

"Readers who recall the movement to impeach Bill Clinton remember that one of the charges raised by Clinton's critics was the conflict of interest created when individuals connected with the Chinese Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO) — such as John Huang, Charles Trie, and James and Mochtar Riady — helped funnel contributions to the Clinton reelection campaign. Afterwards, the Clinton administration lobbied for granting COSCO a 10-year lease on the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California. During a March 1997 edition of CNBC's Equal Time program, California Republican State Senator Dick Mountjoy noted that COSCO-linked arms dealer Wang Jun had been granted personal access to President Clinton, and that Wang's business associates had smuggled illegal assault weapons into California for delivery to street gangs by making use of a ship owned and operated by COSCO. Mountjoy then stated:

The next thing you know, (then-Chief of Staff) Leon Panetta is down here negotiating that port for the Chinese.

There is much more to the COSCO-Long Beach connection than we have room for here, but a good summary of the threat the arrangement made to U.S. security may be found in an item inserted into the Congressional Record by Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon on May 20, 1997.

Even the most unbiased of observers may legitimately ask: Why on Earth is an individual who helped negotiate the turnover of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard to the communist Chinese, thereby creating the threat to U.S. national security described in the Washington Times article by Rowan Scarborough and inserted into the Congressional Record by Rep. Solomon, being considered for a top position at one of our nation's most critical intelligence agencies?"

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/election/655

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From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: Institute For Policy Studies (IPS)

IPS’s [Institute For Policy Studies] Washington, DC headquarters quickly became a resource center for national reporters and a place for KGB agents from the nearby Soviet embassy to convene and strategize. Cora Weiss headed one of the IPS's most successful forays -- into Riverside Church in Manhattan. She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of "peace." In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations. During her decade-long tenure at Riverside, which became home to the National Council of Churches, Weiss regularly received Russian KGB agents, Sandinista friends, and Cuban intelligence agents. Weiss became infamous for her role in the psychological warfare conducted against U.S. prisoners of war held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War.

The Liberation News Service, which is a news source for hundreds of "alternative" publications nationwide (with antiwar, Marxist-oriented perspectives), was founded in 1967 with IPS assistance."

[lots more at link...]

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991

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This next one is from the Institute For Policy Studies itself...

Obama’s Agenda for Change and the 2009 Summit of the Americas

excerpt:

'Yes We Can' — Change for the Americas Coming from Below

Hemispheric resistance to the first attempt by the U.S. to force the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on every nation on this continent led to its eventual defeat at the IV Summit of the Americas, held in Argentina in 2005. The organizers of the April 2009 V Summit of the Americas had hoped to focus on a social agenda of providing a decent living for all those who call the “Americas” their home. The emergence of the PPA, or Bush’s Plan B for the FTAA, represents a threat to the urgent need of having all nations in the hemisphere focus on tackling the disparities that make the region the most unequeal in the world.

According to Obama, “what's good for the people of the Americas is good for the United States.” Among the specific proposals Obama has made (political freedom and democracy; freedom from fear and security; freedom from want and opportunity) in the “New Partnership for the Americas” document, he says that “it’s time for a new alliance of the Americas” that leaves behind “eight years of failed policies” and “top down reforms”, and puts forward instead an “agenda that advances democracy, security, and opportunity from the bottom up”. For Obama to make good on his vision for a new "partnership" in the Americas, the divisive Bush PPA initiative must be laid to rest well before the April V Summit of the Americas gets underway.

The 2009 IV Peoples’ Summit in Trinidad and Tobago

On April 17-19, 2009, the IV Peoples Summit will be taking place in Port of Spain, Trinidad (while heads of state are simultaneously meeting at the V Summit of the Americas).The message of a "change agenda" for the hemisphere will be brought to the island nation by social movements coming from all points in between Alaska and Tierra del Fuego. A key focus for discussions during the People’s Summit will be the economic meltdown hitting the capitalist system, and the opening that this provides for the implementation of a peoples’ agenda promoting sustainable development, social justice, equity, and peaceful coexistence.[ie, communism/socialism -etl]

In conjunction with the Hemispheric Social Alliance, social movements present in Trinidad and Tobago will be providing a "change agenda" that, in large measure, will likely be echoed by representatives from many of the newly elected governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. The V Summit of the Americas will be an ideal setting for Obama to signal a new respectful and consultative role for the US in the Americas as well. Will Obama avail himself of the opportunity to take this courageous step forward? Ojalá!

http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/933

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The Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy

http://www.panettainstitute.org/index.htm

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/06/09/343974/index.htm

Spare The Rod And Save The Company
(FORTUNE Magazine)
By Geoffrey Colvin
June 9, 2003

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Amid all the front-page hoopla over MCI’s agreement with the feds to settle fraud charges for $500 million—the largest penalty ever sought by the SEC—did you notice anything ... missing?

(snip)

http://slw.riskmetrics.com/2003/09/mci_names_5_new_board_members.html

Monday, September 1, 2003

MCI Names 5 New Board Members

http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/document.asp?doc_id=39385

MCI Adds Five to Board

ASHBURN, Va. — MCI (WCOEQ, MCWEQ) today appointed five new members to its board of directors, increasing the total number of directors to nine. The new members include: former Touche Ross Chairman W. Grant Gregory, retired Bell Atlantic executive Judith Haberkorn, Patton Boggs Partner Laurence Harris, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, and MatlinPatterson Global Advisers LLC CEO David Matlin.

“The appointment of our newest board members is yet another positive step in the rebuilding of our company,” said MCI Chairman and CEO Michael D. Capellas. “By attracting a broad range of talent on the board as well as the management team, we will continue to chart a new course for MCI, one in which our customers, employees and stakeholders can be proud.”

The new board appointments will become effective on the day MCI formally emerges from Chapter 11 protection. The first order of business for the new board will be to elect a non-executive chairman among its independent directors. Once the non-executive chairman is named, Capellas, who supports the separation between chairman and CEO as an element of good governance, will retain the title of MCI’s chief executive officer. Additionally, the company expects to name as many as three more board members prior to its emergence.

“Michael and the entire management team are focused on restoring the company’s credibility and they are making every effort to build a winning team,” said Irwin Gold of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, financial advisors to MCI’s Unsecured Creditors Committee. “The new board is a clear indication of the value the management team places on depth of experience and commitment to the company’s values of integrity, customer service and innovation.”

The new directors satisfy the requirements of the company’s new corporate governance standards announced this week by Corporate Monitor Richard Breeden. These new board members join Capellas and other previously existing MCI Board members, including former Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Dennis Beresford, former U.S. Attorney General and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach, and former Equifax Chairman and CEO C.B. “Jack” Rogers.

(snip)

Eric Holder’s MCI stock options

http://sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar?text=holder+eric&first=1994&last=2008

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