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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (100029)	8/22/2011 1:48:36 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

Libyan operations demonstrated the superb leadership of this Administration Next tsp for Obama is Syria. Since Syria has a very strong missile system against aerial attacks, the surgical airstrikes by US or NATO will face a greater challenge than Libya. I would be surprised if NATO attacks Syria. Conditions on the ground are much different from Libya. Gaddafi didn't have as strong a control over eastern Libya as he did the rest of country. And frankly, I think eastern Libya must have been conspiring to revolt for years before it actually did. They chose to uprise very quickly. And the transitional gov't in Benghazi after some false starts seems to have become fairly functional in a very short period of time. I don't see anything like the equivalent in Syria. In fact, I have to say.....the Syrian people are probably the bravest of them all.....well maybe second after the Iranians. They have been fighting Bashar's guns with only rocks. I don't know where they find their courage.

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (100029)	8/22/2011 2:45:11 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 149317

I would hope we don't get involved in yet ANOTHER war, but as a practical matter no known air defense system can withstand a coordinated assault by cruise missiles, stealth choppers, stealth fighters, stealth bombers and conventional aircraft equipped with jamming equipment. The Syrian air defense system, along with its air force, would be inoperable within hours of any such assault. Since Syria has a very strong missile system against aerial attacks

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (100029)	8/22/2011 4:23:16 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

This is the big kahuna.........gov't works slow but eventually they get their man.......or corp. Exclusive: Goldman CEO hires high-profile defense attorney Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:39pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has hired Reid Weingarten, a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose past clients include a former Enron accounting officer, according to a government source familiar with the matter. Blankfein, 56, is in his sixth year at the helm of the largest U.S. investment bank, which has spent two years dodging accusations of conflicts of interest and fraud. The move to retain Weingarten comes as investigations of Goldman and its role in the 2007-2009 financial crisis continue. The Securities and Exchange Commission scored a $550 million settlement against the bank in a fraud lawsuit in July 2010, but other investigations continue. "Why do you bring in someone like that?" said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. "It says one thing: that they're taking it seriously." Blankfein has not been charged in any civil or criminal case, and it was not immediately clear why he hired Weingarten. David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman, declined to comment. Weingarten did not respond to requests for comment. A partner with Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Weingarten has represented a wide array of clients in criminal cases. They include former WorldCom Inc chief Bernard Ebbers, who was later convicted, and former Enron accounting officer Richard Causey, who pleaded guilty in exchange for a 5 to 7-year prison term. In May, Weingarten won the acquittal of former GlaxoSmithKline lawyer Lauren Stevens on charges of lying and obstructing a probe into the company's marketing practices. "I'm used to these monstrously difficult cases where everybody hates my clients," Weingarten told AmericanLawyer.com in May, although he described Stevens as a "beloved figure." Controversy has continued to swirl around Goldman Sachs and Blankfein in the aftermath of the credit crisis in which Goldman was accused of favoring some clients over other investors and of sometimes trading against the interest of clients. The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in April released a scathing report that criticized Goldman for "exploiting" clients by unloading subprime exposure onto unsuspecting clients in 2006 and 2007, and concluded that its top executives misled Congress during testimony in 2010. The company said it disagreed with many of the report's conclusions, but took seriously the issues addressed. In June, New York prosecutors subpoenaed the bank to explain some of its actions in the run-up to the financial crisis. It is also the target of probes by the Justice Department, the New York Attorney General and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was not immediately clear what charges, if any, Blankfein could face personally. One former federal prosecutor, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Blankfein may have hired outside counsel after receiving a request from investigators for documents or other information. The Senate report raised questions about inconsistencies between testimony from Blankfein and other Goldman executives to Congress and emails unearthed in the Senate investigation. The subcommittee's chairman, Senator Carl Levin, has said the question of whether Blankfein and others committed perjury is up to the relevant federal agencies. The former prosecutor cautioned that perjury cases were difficult to prove, adding that prosecutors would not bring charges unless they had a "rock solid case." Goldman earlier in August lowered its estimate for future legal costs to $2 billion from its $2.7 billion estimate three months earlier. It said it expects such costs to remain high for the foreseeable future. Goldman shares have lost a quarter of their value this year, underperforming the broader stock market and other bank shares. reuters.com