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To: FJB who wrote (437466)	7/27/2011 1:58:19 PM
From: TideGlider	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793838

GOPers chant 'fire him' at Paul Teller 30 Comments RSS Email Print 'It was an unbelievable moment,' said one GOP insider. \| Jay Westcott/POLITICO Close By JOHN BRESNAHAN & JAKE SHERMAN \| 7/27/11 12:00 PM EDT Updated: 7/27/11 1:26 PM EDT House Republicans on Wednesday morning were calling for the firing of the Republican Study Committee top staffer after he was caught sending e-mails to conservative groups urging them to pressure GOP lawmakers to vote against a debt proposal from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Infuriated by the e-mails from Paul Teller, the executive director of the RSC, members started chanting “Fire him, fire him!” while Teller stood silently at a closed-door meetings of House Republicans. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Listen Latest on POLITICO Affleck in the debt debates Clinton tries to stop House aid bill Frosh coalesce around Boehner plan Debt story drives media numbers Clyburn: Invoke the 14th Amendment S&P exec cautions against pressure POLITICO 44 “It was an unbelievable moment,” said one GOP insider. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Teller and other RSC aides sent a Tuesday e-mail to outside conservatives seeking to “kill the Boehner deal.” The RSC emails were sent to a listserv with conservative activists. “We need statements coming up to the Hill every hour of the day in mounting opposition to the plan,” RSC staffer Wesley Goodman wrote to a Google email group called “CutCapBalance.” That group included Teller. RSC Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio), who opposes the Boehner plan, apologized for the incident. Teller did not respond to a request for comment following the GOP Conference meeting. In a brief interview with POLITICO Wednesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he’s “an RSC member and I don’t like to see Republicans attacking other Republicans.” A steady stream of Republicans stood up at the meeting to heap abuse on Teller and the RSC. House Republicans were particularly peeved that that the RSC was targeting some of its own dues-paying members. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a member of leadership and one of those targeted in an RSC e-mail, stood up, read the message aloud and demanded Teller explain himself. “If we keep this from ever coming to the floor, we have a greater chance of victory than defeating on a vote on the floor.” Goodman ended his email saying: “Here are the people we need to reach today who are undecided or only leaning one way right now,” according to the e-mail, which was obtained by POLITICO. Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), an RSC member and one of those on the RSC “target list,” said that leadership has given the RSC “everything that we have asked for.” Ellmers said she may quit the group. “Yet when it comes time for a little bit of compromise on the RSC’s part, they’re not willing to compromise. And that’s just not the way to go about this,” Ellmers said Ellmers said there “seems to be a little bit more than a connection” between the RSC and outside conservative groups. The RSC controversy comes as Boehner and the GOP leadership are twisting arms to get their members in line behind the debt package, which is supposed to come to the House floor on Thursday. Jordan and other conservatives are opposed to the measure, saying it does not go far enough in cutting government spending. The Congressional Budget Office ruled on Tuesday that the Boehner plan falls $150 billion short of the $1 trillion goal set by Boehner, forcing House leaders to delay the vote by a day to revise the bill. The CBO announcement worried some conservatives, who don’t believe Boehner and the leadership have gone far enough in proposing spending cuts. Yet the RSC fight was the focus of many members’ attention on Wednesday morning. “There are a lot of members really ticked off at this,” said a GOP lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60035.html#ixzz1TKUoizon

To: FJB who wrote (437466)	7/27/2011 2:27:55 PM
From: Alan Smithee	4 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793838

If he does that, the House Republicans should begin immediately drafting articles of impeachment. We fought a war to get rid of the King 235 years ago. Rep. James Clyburn and a group of House Democrats are urging President Barack Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress can’t come up with a satisfactory plan before the Tuesday deadline.

To: FJB who wrote (437466)	7/27/2011 5:54:35 PM
From: Tom Clarke	2 Recommendations Respond to of 793838

Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions Rajeev Syal The Observer, Sunday 13 December 2009 Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result. This will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said. Some of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said. "Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered. "That was the moment [last year] when the system was basically paralysed because of the unwillingness of banks to lend money to one another. The progressive liquidisation to the system and the progressive improvement by some banks of their share values [has meant that] the problem [of illegal money] has become much less serious than it was," he said. The IMF estimated that large US and European banks lost more than $1tn on toxic assets and from bad loans from January 2007 to September 2009 and more than 200 mortgage lenders went bankrupt. Many major institutions either failed, were acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover. Gangs are now believed to make most of their profits from the drugs trade and are estimated to be worth £352bn, the UN says. They have traditionally kept proceeds in cash or moved it offshore to hide it from the authorities. It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the US. British bankers would want to see any evidence that Costa has to back his claims. A British Bankers' Association spokesman said: "We have not been party to any regulatory dialogue that would support a theory of this kind. There was clearly a lack of liquidity in the system and to a large degree this was filled by the intervention of central banks." guardian.co.uk