Untitled Document

4-16-09

Rothschilds and Rockefellers Plotting Overthrow of US Government, Treason- Getting Internet Ducks in a Row

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller, along with the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and other bad guys own our banking system and these bad guys have taken at least $ 5 Trillion dollars from the US taxpayers tax free since they had this unConstitutional private bank established in 1913. These bad guys have developed $700 trillion in derivative markets to manipulate and control the world economic system. They are responsible for the recent world economic meltdown. Tim Geinther worked directly for the bad guys' and Geinther's bailout plan amounts to turning the taxpayer bailout money over to the bad guys. If Geinther allowed banks to fail then the Rothschilds and Rockefellers would not get paid for their derivative scam.

Jay Rockefeller, is connected with the bad guys as a Rockefeller, recently sponsored a bill which will give comrade Obama the power to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration. The only media the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and communi$t$' do not control completely now is the Internet. Although the bill states the presidential powers only come on line during an emergency, the power to control the Internet will occur as soon as the bill passes. This is because as soon as the machinery to control the Internet is in place, it can control the Internet without a declared emergency. Logic dictates the bad guys have the machinery in place now to control the Internet and are now waiting to make legal their done deal illegal activity. Rockefeller's seize the Internet bill is like the legislation which made NSA spying on Americans legal after illegal spying was set in place. The communi$t$' are taking over the Internet. Jay Rockefeller's bill is just making the illegal activity legal. Its cowardly and un American, but what could be more cowardly and un American than our private Rothschild/Rockefeller owned banking system.

Jay Rockefeller's steal the Internet and elimate free speech bill will give the bad guys the power to engage in cyber-crime, global cyber-espionage and cyber-attacks and we can go to the bank knowing once this bill passes the crimes it is meant to stop will just begin. Cyber-crime is a "he said, she said" event. Once the Rothschilds and Rockefellers control the Internet they will cause cyber-crime after cyber-crime to guarantee they control the Internet. Who is to say they are lying after they control the system? As it stands now when the Rothschilds and Rockefellers engage in cyber-crime they can be investigated and proven responsible for an attack. Once the bad guys control the investigation of cyber-crime, the bad guys can perpetrate cyber-crime and blame their dirty deeds on Iran, Russia, China or whomever they want to discredit. If the bad guys want to put the US under Martial Law, establish Obama as a Dictator, toss the US Constitution, once comrade Rockefeller's bill is passed to administer the Internet, they will be able to do so.

Conquering the Internet will be achieved the same way the bad guys conquer countries today. The bad guys first give the countries it wants to conquer, Pakistan, Mexico, and Somalia, money to build their military with the help of the US military. Then the US military engages the enemy it has financed, trained, and staffed. Then the US military conquers the enemy it has created. The US will give the Internet money to fight cyber-crime. Then the US government will engage the cyber enemies it has created. Then the US government will conquer the Internet cyber enemies it has created. Jay's scam is designed from the start to transfer to the Rothschilds and Rockefellers control of the Internet. A grown ups' version of a Play Station, with the lives of real people on the line.

A question which comes to my mind is the connect between Olympia Snowe and the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and the other bad guys who own our banking system and are engaging in treason making war on the USA. Is she a communi$t? Well I have read about Ms. Snowe, and it must be that the Rothschilds and Rockefellers have offered her something she wants really badly, or they may have dirt on her, to get her to sponsor this bill which is a clear violation of the First Amendment and clearly has communi$t leanings. Also Dennis Blair is from Maine. So what is the connect between Blair, Snowe and the bad guys? Blair is an interesting read. Both are a year younger than I and Blair went to St. Andrews which rings a bell. Maybe Snowe owes the communi$t$' a favor for appointing Blair Director of Intelligence? I hope they know they are making war on the USA when they get near the Rockefellers.

Jay Rockefeller is clearly a bad guy. The positions he has taken through the years as a Senator are clear violations of the US Constitution or just plain wrong.

On September 28, 2006, Rockefeller voted with a largely Republican majority to suspend habeas corpus provisions for anyone deemed by the Executive Branch an "unlawful combatant," barring them from challenging their detentions in court. Rockefeller's vote gave a retroactive, nine-year immunity to U.S. officials who authorized, ordered, or committed acts of torture and abuse, permitting the use of statements obtained through torture to be used in military tribunals so long as the abuse took place by December 30, 2005.[14] Rockefeller's vote authorized the President to establish permissible interrogation techniques and to "interpret the meaning and application" of international Geneva Convention standards, so long as the coercion fell short of "serious" bodily or psychological injury.[15][16] The bill became law on October 17, 2006.

In 2007, Senator Rockefeller began steering the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who were accused of unlawfully assisting the National Security Agency (NSA) in monitoring the communications of American citizens (see Hepting v. AT&T).[9]

In July 2007, Senator Rockefeller announced that he planned to introduce legislation before the August Congressional recess that would give the FCC the power to regulate TV violence. According to the July 16, 2007 edition of Broadcasting & Cable, the new law would apply to both broadcast as well as cable and satellite programming. This would mark the first time that the FCC would be given power to regulate such a vast spectrum of content, which would include almost everything except material produced strictly for direct internet use.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_Act_seeks_broad_powers_0413.html

Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' InternetGreg Fulton
Published: Monday April 13, 2009

A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.

The bill's draft states that "the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic" and would give the government ongoing access to "all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access."

Authored by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 seeks to create a Cybersecurity Czar to centralize power now held by the Pentagon, National Security Agency, Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security.

While the White House has not officially endorsed the draft, it did have a hand in its language, according to The Washington Post.

Proponents of the measure stress the need to centralize cybersecurity of the private sector. "People say this is a military or intelligence concern," says Rockefeller, "but it is a lot more than that. It suddenly gets into the realm of traffic lights and rail networks and water and electricity."

Snowe added, "America's vulnerability to massive cyber-crime, global cyber-espionage and cyber-attacks has emerged as one of the most urgent national security problems facing our country today. Importantly, this legislation loosely parallels the recommendations in the CSIS [Center for Strategic and International Studies] blue-ribbon panel report to President Obama and has been embraced by a number of industry and government thought leaders."

Critics decry the broad language, and are watchful for amendments to the bill seeking to refine the provisions. According to opencongress.com, no amendments to the draft have been submitted.

Organizations like the Center for Democracy and Technology fear if passed in its current form, the proposal leaves too much discretion of just what defines critical infrastructure. The bill would also impose mandates for designated private networks and systems, including standardized security software, testing, licensing and certification of cyber-security professionals.

"I'd be very surprised if it doesn't include communications systems, which are certainly critical infrastructure," CDT General Counsel Greg Nojeim told eWEEK. "The president would decide not only what is critical infrastructure but also what is an emergency."

Adds Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Essentially, the Act would federalize critical infrastructure security. Since many systems (banks, telecommunications, energy)are in the hands of the private sector, the bill would create a major shift of power away from users and companies to the federal government."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_F._Geithner

Timothy Geithner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

75th United States Secretary of the Treasury
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 26, 2009
President Barack Obama
Preceded by Henry Paulson

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9th President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In office
November 17, 2003 – January 26, 2009
Preceded by William McDonough
Succeeded by William Dudley

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Born August 18, 1961 (1961-08-18) (age 47)
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Nationality American
Political party Independent
Spouse Carole M. Sonnenfeld
Children Elise and Benjamin Geithner
Alma mater Johns Hopkins University (M.A.)
Dartmouth College (B.A.)
Occupation Civil Servant
Timothy Franz Geithner [pronounced /'ga?tn?r/] (born August 18, 1961), is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. He was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Geithner's position includes a large role in directing the nation's economic response to the financial crisis which began after the last boom peaked in December 2007. Specific tasks include directing how $350 billion of Wall Street bailout money is allocated. He is currently dealing with multiple high visibility issues, including the survival of the automobile industry, the restructuring of banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, recovery of the mortgage market, demands for protectionism, Obama's new tax proposals, and relations with foreign governments that are dealing with similar crises.[1]

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early life and education
1.2 Early career
1.3 China
2 Secretary of the Treasury nomination
2.1 Tax problems
2.2 Confirmation
3 Bank bailout
3.1 AIG bonuses
4 Family
5 Memberships
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and education
Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York.[2] He spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok.[3] He attended Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires-for-boys, a summer camp located in western Massachusetts. He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.[4] He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985.[4][5] He has studied Chinese[4] and Japanese.[6]

Geithner's paternal grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from the German town of Zeulenroda to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908.[7] His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation's microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by S. Ann Dunham-Soetoro, President Barack Obama's mother, and they met in person at least once.[8] Timothy Geithner's mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner's maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company.[9]

[edit] Early career
After completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988. He went on to serve as an attaché at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).[5]

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.[5] Summers was his mentor,[10][11] but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.[11][12][13]

Treasury Secretary designee Geithner meets Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on November 25, 2008In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.[14] He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003) at the International Monetary Fund.[5]

In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[15] His salary in 2007 was $398,200.[16] Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.[17]

In March 2008, he arranged the rescue and sale of Bear Stearns;[10][18] in the same year, he played a pivotal role in both the decision to bail out AIG as well as the government decision not to save Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy, though claims were made after Geithner's nomination that distanced him from both AIG and Lehman Brothers.[19] As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s[12] in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.[13]

Geithner believes, along with Henry Paulson, that the United States Department of the Treasury needs new authority to experiment with responses to the financial crisis of 2008.[10] Paulson has described Geithner as "[a] very unusually talented young man...[who] understands government and understands markets."[18]

[edit] China
Wikinews has related news: Obama's choice for Treasury issues warning on China
Geithner, and the Obama administration, has adopted a confrontational stance towards China. Geithner, in written comments to the Senate Finance Committee, states that the new administration believes Beijing is "manipulating" its currency and that the Obama administration will act "aggressively" using "all the diplomatic avenues" to change China's currency practices.[20] The Obama administration would pressure China diplomatically to change this practice,[20] more strongly than the George W. Bush Administration did.[21] The United States maintains that China's actions hurt American businesses and contributed to the financial crisis.[22]

Geithner met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi shortly after he assumed his role as Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner told Yang that the U.S. attaches great importance to its relations with China and that U.S.-China cooperation was essential in order for the world economy to fully recover.[23]

[edit] Secretary of the Treasury nomination
Main article: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
On November 24, 2008, then-President-elect Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Geithner to be Treasury Secretary.[24][25] The Secretary of the Treasury earns $191,300 per year.

[edit] Tax problems
At the Senate confirmation hearings, it was revealed that Geithner had not paid $35,000 in self-employment taxes for several years,[26] even though he had acknowledged his obligation to do so, and had filed a request for, and received, a payment for half the taxes owed. The failure to pay self-employment taxes, in part due to the way his employer reported his wages which was not in accordance with tax law, was noted during a 2006 audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in which Geithner was assessed additional taxes of $14,847 for the 2003 and 2004 tax years. Geithner also failed to pay the self-employment taxes for the 2001 and 2002 tax years (for which the statute of limitations had expired) until after Obama expressed his intent to nominate Geithner to be Secretary of Treasury.[27] He also deducted the cost of his children's sleep-away camp as a dependent care expense, when only expenses for day care are eligible for the deduction.[28] Geithner subsequently paid the IRS the additional taxes owed,[29] and was charged $15,000 interest, but was not fined for late payment.[30] As President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner annually completed an ethics statement noting any taxes due or unpaid, along with any other obligations. Geithner's completed statement did not surface during confirmation hearings.

In a statement to the Senate panel considering his nomination, Geithner called the tax issues "careless," "avoidable" and "unintentional" errors, and he said he wanted to "apologize to the committee for putting you in the position of having to spend so much time on these issues."[29] Geithner testified that he used TurboTax to prepare his own return and that the tax errors are his own responsibility.[31] This statement is in conflict with statements by the Obama campaign that Geithner was advised by his accountant that he did not owe the taxes.[32] The Washington Post quoted a tax expert who said that TurboTax has not been programmed to handle self-employment taxes when the user identifies himself as being employed.[33] Geithner said at the hearing that he was always under the impression that he was an employee, not a self-employed contractor,[33] while he served as director of the Policy Development and Review Department of the IMF.[5] Geithner comments are contradicted by the Senate report that showed he was not only informed of his status, but that he actively applied for the allowance.[34]

[edit] Confirmation

Geithner is sworn in as Treasury SecretaryOn January 26, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Geithner's appointment by a vote of 60–34.[35][36] Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary by Vice President Joseph Biden and witnessed by President Barack Obama.[37]

[edit] Bank bailout
Geithner has the authority to decide what to do with the second tranche of $350 billion from the $700 billion banking bailout bill passed by Congress in October 2008. He does not need Congressional approval, but went to Congress on February 10-11 to explain his plans. He proposes to create one or more "bad banks" to buy and hold toxic assets, using a mix of taxpayer and private money. He also proposes to expand a lending program that would spend as much as $1 trillion to cover the decline in the issuance of securities backed by consumer loans. He further proposes to give banks new infusions of capital with which to lend. In exchange, banks would have to cut the salaries and perks of their executives and sharply limit dividends and corporate acquisitions.[38][39] The plan has been criticized by Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman[40] as well as fellow Nobel laureate and former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz[41]

[edit] AIG bonuses
Main article: AIG bonus payments controversy
Although President Obama expressed strong support for Geithner, the outrage over the AIG bonuses has undermined public support. AIG paid bonuses to executives in its Financial Services division after receiving more than $170 billion in federal bailout aid.[42] Even prior to the election, senior aides to Timothy Geithner have closely dealt with American International Group Inc. on compensation issues including bonuses, both from his time as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as Treasury secretary. In early November, 2008, a committee concluded that the bonuses, which were in contracts signed before the government takeover, couldn't be legally blocked. On March 3, 2009, appearing at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, asked him about the bonuses that AIG would be paying to financial-products employees "in the coming weeks." On March 11, Geithner called Mr. Edward Liddy, AIG chief, to protest the bonus payouts. Mr. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke attended a hearing by Congress on March 24, 2009.[43]

[edit] Family
He married Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner on June 8, 1985 at his parents' summer home in East Orleans, Mass. The Rev. Thomas Keehn, a United Church of Christ minister, officiated. Ms. Sonnenfeld Geithner was working as a research associate for Common Cause at the time of her marriage to Mr Geithner. Her father, Albert Sonnenfeld, was a professor of French and comparative literature at Princeton University, and her mother, Portia Sonnenfeld, was the conductor of the Chamber Symphony of Princeton. [44]

Timothy and Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner have two children, Elise (b. 1991) and Benjamin (b. 1994).

[edit] Memberships
Center for Global Development - (Board of Directors)[45]
Council on Foreign Relations[14]
Economic Club of New York (trustee)[45]
Group of Thirty[17]
Bank for International Settlements (chairman) - Committee on payment and settlement systems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers

Lawrence Summers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article may be inaccurate or unbalanced in favor of certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (February 2009)
Lawrence Summers

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8th Director of the National Economic Council
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2009
Preceded by Keith Hennessey

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27th President of Harvard University
In office
July 1, 2001 – June 30, 2006
Preceded by Neil L. Rudenstine
Succeeded by Drew Gilpin Faust
Derek Bok (acting)

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71st United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office
July 2, 1999 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by Robert Rubin
Succeeded by Paul H. O'Neill

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Born November 30, 1954 (1954-11-30) (age 54)
New Haven, Connecticut
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Profession Academic, economist
Signature
Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist and the Director of the White House's National Economic Council for President Barack Obama.[1] Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He is the 1993 recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal for his work in several fields of economics and was Secretary of the Treasury for the last year and a half of the Clinton Administration. Summers also served as the 27th President of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. Summers resigned as Harvard's president in the wake of controversy over a talk in which he speculated that women may statistically have lesser aptitude for work in the highest levels of math and science. Summers has been criticized by some liberals for the centrist economic policies he advocated as Treasury Secretary and in later writings.[2] Since returning to government in the Obama administration, he has come under fire for his numerous financial ties to Wall Street.

Contents [hide]
1 Family and education
2 Career
2.1 Academic economist
2.2 Public official
2.3 Chief Economist at the World Bank
2.3.1 'Dirty Industries'
2.4 Service in the Clinton Administration
2.5 President of Harvard
2.5.1 Cornel West affair
2.5.2 Sexism allegations
2.5.3 Summers' opposition and support at Harvard
2.5.4 Support of economist Andrei Shleifer
2.5.5 Resignation as Harvard President
2.6 Post-Harvard career
2.7 National Economic Council
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Family and education
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 30, 1954, Summers is the son of two economists, Robert Summers and Anita Summers, who are both professors at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the nephew of two Nobel laureates in economics: Paul Samuelson (sibling of Robert Summers, who, following an older brother's example, changed the family name from Samuelson to Summers) and Kenneth Arrow (Anita Summers's brother). He spent most of his childhood in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where he attended Harriton High School.

At age 16, he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he originally intended to study physics but soon switched to economics due to his strong interest in the matter (S.B., 1975). He was also an active member of the MIT debating team. He attended Harvard University as a graduate student (Ph.D., 1982), where he studied under economist Martin Feldstein. In 1983, at age 28, Summers became one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard's history. Summers has three children (older twin daughters Ruth and Pamela and son Harry) by his first wife, Victoria Perry. In December 2005, Summers married English professor Elisa New, who had three daughters from a previous marriage. He currently owns two houses, one in D.C. and one in Brookline, Massachusetts.

[edit] Career

[edit] Academic economist
As a researcher, Summers has made important contributions in many areas of economics, primarily public finance, labor economics, financial economics, and macroeconomics. Some of Summers' early papers concluded that corporate and capital gains taxes are an inefficient form of taxation.[citation needed] Cutting the capital gains tax rate, Summers found, could help the economy grow.[citation needed] Later, while working in the Reagan and Clinton White Houses, Summers was able to lobby successfully for cuts in both corporate and capital gains taxes.[citation needed] One of Summers' prominent findings in labor economics is that unemployment insurance and welfare payments are a major contributor to unemployment, and therefore should be scaled back. [3]

Summers has also worked in international economics, economic demography, economic history, and development economics. His work generally emphasizes the analysis of empirical economic data in order to answer well-defined questions (for example: Does saving respond to after-tax interest rates? Are the returns from stocks and stock portfolios predictable?, Are most of those who receive unemployment benefits only transitorily unemployed?, etc.) For his work he received the John Bates Clark Medal in 1993 from the American Economic Association. In 1987 he was the first social scientist to win the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation. Summers is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Official portrait as Secretary of the Treasury
[edit] Public official
Summers was on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan from 1982-1983. He also served as an economic adviser to the Dukakis Presidential campaign in 1988.

[edit] Chief Economist at the World Bank
Summers left Harvard in 1991 and served as Chief Economist for the World Bank until 1993.

[edit] 'Dirty Industries'
Further information: Summers memo
In December 1991, while at the World Bank, Summers signed a memo written by staff economist Lant Pritchett, which was leaked. The memo apparently argued that free trade would not necessarily benefit the environment in developing countries. An aside to the memo, leaked to the press, sarcastically suggested that "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that . . . I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted." [4]

[edit] Service in the Clinton Administration
In 1993 Summers was appointed Undersecretary for International Affairs and later in the United States Department of the Treasury under the Clinton Administration. In 1995, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under his long-time political mentor Robert Rubin. In 1999, he succeeded Rubin as Secretary of the Treasury.

Much of Summers's tenure at the Treasury Department was focused on international economic issues. He was deeply involved in Clinton administration's effort to bail out Mexico and Russia when those nations had currency crises.[5] Summers forced the Korean government to raise its interest rates and balance its budget in the midst of a recession, policies criticized by liberal economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz.[6] According to the book The Chastening, by Paul Blustein, during this crisis, Summers, along with Paul Wolfowitz, pushed for regime change in Indonesia.[6]

As Treasury Secretary, Summers led the Clinton Administration's opposition to tax cuts proposed by the Republican Congress in 1999. [7] Also during his stint in the Clinton Administration, Summers was successful in pushing for capital gains tax cuts.[citation needed] During the California energy crisis of 2000, then-Treasury Secretary Summers teamed with Alan Greenspan and Enron executive Kenneth Lay to lecture California Governor Gray Davis on the causes of the crisis, explaining that the problem was excessive government regulation.[8] Under the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Davis to relax California's environmental standards in order to reassure the markets.[9]

Summers hailed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which lifted more than six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial banking, insurance, and investment services (by repealing key provisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act): "Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century," Summers said.[10] "This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy."[10] Many critics, including President Barack Obama, have suggested the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis was caused by the partial repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.[11]

[edit] President of Harvard
He left the Treasury Department in 2001 when George W. Bush became President and returned to Harvard as its 27th President, serving from July 2001 until June 2006. He was Harvard's first Jewish president, and received praise from Harvard's Jewish community for his support. [12]

A number of his decisions at Harvard attracted public controversy:

[edit] Cornel West affair
In an October 2001 meeting, Summers criticized African American Studies department head Cornel West for missing three weeks of classes to work on the Bill Bradley presidential campaign, and complained that West was contributing to grade inflation. Summers also said that West's rap album was an embarrassment to the university, and that West needed to do more scholarly work. West denied the accusations.[13] West, who later called Summers both "uninformed" and "an unprincipled power player" in describing this encounter in his book Democracy Matters (2004), subsequently returned to Princeton University, where he taught prior to Harvard University.

[edit] Sexism allegations
In January 2005, at a Conference on Diversifying the Science & Engineering Workforce sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Summers described three hypotheses for explaining the higher number of males in high-end science and engineering positions. Summers claimed that he was adopting an "entirely positive, rather than normative approach" and that his remarks were intended to be an "attempt at provocation."[14] It was the second hypothesis, termed "different availability of aptitude at the high end" by Summers, that drew allegations of sexism.

According to Summers, the preponderance of males in high-end science and engineering positions could be explained by the following: first, that more men than women were willing to make the commitment in terms of time and flexibility demanded by high-powered jobs; second, and controversially, that there were differences in the intrinsic abilities of men and women at the extremes (3.5 to 4 standard deviations above the mean), as shown by higher variance in aptitude, abilities, or preferences relevant to science and engineering among men (see Gender differences); and third, that the discrepancy was due to discrimination or socialization.[14] He also stated his view that the order given reflected the relative importance of each of the three hypotheses.[14]

An attendee made Summers' remarks public, and an intense response followed in the national news media and on Harvard's campus.[15] Nancy Hopkins, a biologist at MIT, walked out during the talk in disgust.[15] It was claimed that Summers' perceived sexism cost him the job of Treasury Secretary in Obama's Administration.[16]

[edit] Summers' opposition and support at Harvard
On March 15, 2005, members of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which instructs graduate students in GSAS and undergraduates in Harvard College, passed 218–185 a motion of "lack of confidence" in the leadership of Summers, with 18 abstentions. A second motion that offered a milder censure of the president passed 253 to 137, also with 18 abstentions.

The members of the Harvard Corporation, the University's highest governing body, are in charge of the selection of the president and issued statements strongly supporting Summers.

FAS faculty were not unanimous in their comments on Summers. Influential psychologist Steven Pinker defended the legitimacy of Summers' January remarks. When asked if Summers' remarks were "within the pale of legitimate academic discourse," Pinker responded "Good grief, shouldn’t everything be within the pale of legitimate academic discourse, as long as it is presented with some degree of rigor? That’s the difference between a university and a madrassa. [...] There is certainly enough evidence for the hypothesis to be taken seriously."[17]

Summers had stronger support among Harvard College students than among the college faculty. One poll by the Harvard Crimson indicated that students opposed his resignation by a three-to-one margin, with 57% of responding students opposing his resignation and 19% supporting it.[18]

In July 2005, the only African-American board member of Harvard Corporation, Conrad K. Harper, resigned saying he was angered both by the university president's comments about women and by Summers being given a salary increase. (Some reports[who?] suggest Harper's support of Summers may have first started to erode earlier because of the Cornel West controversy.) The resignation letter to the president said, "I could not and cannot support a raise in your salary, ... I believe that Harvard's best interests require your resignation."[19][20]

[edit] Support of economist Andrei Shleifer
Harvard and Andrei Shleifer, a close friend and protege of Summers, settled a $26M lawsuit by the U.S. government over the conflict of interest Shleifer had while advising Russia's privatisation program. Summers' continued support for Shleifer strengthened Summers' unpopularity with other professors:

"I’ve been a member of this Faculty for over 45 years, and I am no longer easily shocked," is how Frederick H. Abernathy, the McKay professor of mechanical engineering, began his biting comments about the Shleifer case at Tuesday’s fiery Faculty meeting. But, Abernathy continued, "I was deeply shocked and disappointed by the actions of this University" in the Shleifer affair.

In an 18,000-word article in Institutional Investor (January, 2006), the magazine detailed Shleifer’s alleged efforts to use his inside knowledge of and sway over the Russian economy in order to make lucrative personal investments, all while leading a Harvard group, advising the Russian government, that was under contract with the U.S. The article suggests that Summers shielded his fellow economist from disciplinary action by the University.[21] Summers' friendship with Shleifer was well known by the Corporation when it selected him to succeed Rudenstine and Summers recused himself from all proceedings with Shleifer, whose case was actually handled by an independent committee led by Derek Bok.

[edit] Resignation as Harvard President
On February 21, 2006, Summers announced his intention to step down at the end of the school year effective June 30, 2006. Former University President Derek Bok acted as Interim President while the University conducted a search for a replacement which ended with the naming of Drew Gilpin Faust on February 11, 2007. After a one year sabbatical, Summers subsequently accepted the University's invitation to serve as the Charles W. Eliot University Professor, one of twenty select University-wide professorships, with offices in the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School.[22] He also joined the D. E. Shaw Group in October 2006 as a part-time managing director.[23] Summers also has been authoring a column for the Financial Times.[24]

[edit] Post-Harvard career
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.

President Barack Obama, on left, discusses with a group in the White House, including Larry Summers on far right (back to camera)On October 19, 2006, he became a part-time managing director of the investment and technology development firm D. E. Shaw & Co.

Upon the death of his hero, libertarian economist Milton Friedman, Summers wrote an Op-Ed in The New York Times entitled "The Great Liberator" arguing that "any honest Democrat will admit that we are now all Friedmanites." Summers wrote that while Friedman made real contributions to monetary policy, his real contribution was "in convincing people of the importance of allowing free markets to operate."[25]

Henry Kissinger once said that Larry Summers should "be given a White House post in which he was charged with shooting down or fixing bad ideas." [26]

In 2006 he was a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons which reviewed the work of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

He is currently the director of the White House National Economic Council[1][27].

[edit] National Economic Council
In January 2009, as the Obama Administration tried to pass an economic stimulus spending bill, Oregon Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio criticized Summers, saying that he thought that President Barack Obama is "ill-advised by Larry Summers. Larry Summers hates infrastructure." [28]. DeFazio, along with liberal economists including Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, has argued that more of the stimulus should be spent on infrastructure,[29] while Summers has supported tax cuts.[citation needed]

Relations between Summers, President Obama's top economic adviser, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker have also been strained recently, as Volcker has accused Summers of delaying the effort to organize a panel of outside economic advisers, and has cut Volcker out of White House meetings and has not shown interest in collaborating on policy solutions to the current economic crisis. [30]

Summers has recently come under fire for accepting perks from Citigroup, including free rides on its corporate jet last summer.[31] According to the Wall Street Journal, Larry Summers called Chris Dodd asking him to remove caps on executive pay at firms which have received stimulus money, including Citigroup. [32]

On April 3rd, 2009 Summers came under renewed criticism after it was disclosed that he was paid millions of dollars the previous year by companies which he now has influence over as a public servant. He earned $5 million from the hedge fund D. E. Shaw, and collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from Wall Street companies that received government bailout money

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_Snowe

Olympia Snowe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

United States Senator
from Maine
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 4, 1995
Serving with Susan Collins
Preceded by George J. Mitchell

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Lady of Maine
In office
February 24, 1989 – January 9, 1995
Preceded by Constance Brennan
Succeeded by Mary King

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Representative
from Maine's 2nd district
In office
January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by William Cohen
Succeeded by John Baldacci

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by John Kerry
Succeeded by John Kerry

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born February 21, 1947 (1947-02-21) (age 62)
Augusta, Maine
Political party Republican
Spouse (1) Peter Snowe (deceased)
(2) John R. McKernan, Jr.
Residence Auburn, Maine
Alma mater University of Maine
Occupation Senator
Religion Greek Orthodox
Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe McKernan, usually known as Olympia Snowe (born February 21, 1947) is the senior United States Senator from Maine.

Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes and Senatorial filibusters, in part making her one of the most influential modern U.S. Senators.[1]

In 2006, she was named one of "America's Top Ten Senators" by Time Magazine.[2] Congressional Quarterly noted that her presence at the negotiating table in the 107th Congress was "nearly a necessity." Her political popularity in her home state is the highest of any current U.S. Senator; as of November 22, 2006, she enjoyed a 79 percent approval rating in her home state of Maine.[3]

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career in politics
3 Senate career
3.1 Voting Record
3.2 A woman of firsts
3.3 Gang of 14
3.4 Committee assignments
3.5 2006 re-election campaign
4 Political views
5 Electoral history
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

[edit] Early life
Snowe was born Olympia Jean Bouchles in Augusta, Maine, the daughter of Georgia Goranites and George John Bouchles. Her father immigrated to the United States from Sparta, Greece.[4] She is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.[5][6]

Snowe's early life contained much tragedy; her mother died of breast cancer when she was eight, and her father died of heart disease barely a year later. Orphaned, she was moved to Auburn, Maine, to be raised by her aunt and uncle, a barber and a textile mill worker respectively, along with their five other children. Her brother John was raised separately, by other family members. Within a few years, illness would also claim her uncle's life.

Following her mother's death, Snowe was sent to St. Basil's Academy in Garrison, New York, where she remained from the third grade to the ninth, and she was taught by Athena Hatziemmanuel. Returning to Auburn, she attended Edward Little High School, before entering the University of Maine in Orono, Maine in 1969, where she earned a degree in political science. Shortly after graduation, Bouchles married her fiancé, Republican state legislator Peter Snowe. She later received an honorary degree from Bates College in 1998, and another from the University of Delaware in 2008.

[edit] Career in politics

Snowe in the Maine Senate, 1977Snowe entered politics and rose quickly, winning a seat on the Board of Voter Registration and working for Congressman (later U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of Defense) William Cohen. Tragedy struck Snowe again in 1973, when her husband was killed in an automobile accident. At the urging of family, friends, neighbors and local leaders, Snowe ran for her husband's Auburn-based seat in the Maine House of Representatives at the age of 26 and won. She was re-elected to the House in 1974, and, in 1976, won election to the Maine Senate, representing Androscoggin County. That same year, she was a delegate to both the state and national Republican conventions.

Snowe was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, and represented Maine's 2nd Congressional District from 1979 to 1995. The district takes in most of the northern two-thirds of the state, including Bangor and her hometown of Auburn. She served as a member of the Budget and International Relations Committees.

Snowe married John "Jock" McKernan, then-Governor of Maine, in February 1989. Snowe and McKernan had served together in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1986, when McKernan represented the 1st District. Snowe was First Lady of Maine from 1989 to 1995, while also a U.S. Representative.

[edit] Senate career
In 1994, when Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell declined to run for re-election, Snowe immediately declared her candidacy for the seat. The Democratic nominee was her House colleague, 1st District Congressman Tom Andrews. Snowe defeated Andrews 60–36%, carrying every county in the state. Snowe was part of the Republican sweeping elections of 1994, where the Republican party would capture the House and Senate for the first time since 1954. Snowe was easily reelected in 2000 over State Senate President Stephen Krause, increasing her winning margin to 69%-31%.

Snowe was an important voice during the Senate's 1999 impeachment trial of then-President Bill Clinton. She and fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins sponsored a motion that would have allowed the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy — a "finding of fact" resolution. When the motion failed, Snowe and Collins voted to acquit, arguing that Clinton's perjury did not warrant his removal from office.

Her occasional breaks with the Bush administration drew attacks from other conservative Republicans; the Club for Growth and Concerned Women for America label her a "Republican In Name Only" (RINO).[citation needed]

In February 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org named Olympia Snowe one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly run and/or be elected president in 2008.[7]

In April 2006, Snowe was selected by Time as one of "America's 10 Best Senators."[8] She was the only woman so recognized. Time praised Snowe for her sensitivity to her constituents, also noting that: "Because of her centrist views and eagerness to get beyond partisan point scoring, Maine Republican Olympia Snowe is in the center of every policy debate in Washington."

Snowe did not miss any of the 657 votes on the Senate floor during the 110th Congress from 2007 to 2009.[9] She was one of eight senators to not miss any votes.[9]

[edit] Voting Record
On January 29, 2009 Snowe voted in favor of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2).[10] The bill, which extends funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, will result in an over 2000% tax increase on the poorest Americans by increasing the tax on loose (or roll-your-own) tobacco from $1.09 to $24.78 per pound.[11]

[edit] A woman of firsts
Snowe is the fourth woman to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the first to chair its seapower subcommittee, which oversees the Navy and Marine Corps. In 2001, Snowe became the first Republican woman to secure a full-term seat on the Senate Finance Committee.

Snowe was the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the United States House of Representatives; she is also the first woman to have served in both houses of a state legislature and both houses of the U.S. Congress. Additionally, she is the first Greek-American congresswoman. With her 1989 marriage to McKernan, she became the first person to simultaneously be a member of Congress and First Lady of a state. She has never lost an election in 35 years as an elected official, and in the 2006 midterm senatorial elections, Snowe won with a reported 73.99% of votes. Seven months ahead of the election, she had already raised $2.1 million.[12]

[edit] Gang of 14

Snowe meets with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.On May 23, 2005, Snowe was one of fourteen senators dubbed the Gang of 14, who defused a confrontation between Senate Democrats (who were filibustering several judicial nominees deemed unacceptable) and the Senate Republican leadership (who wanted to use the nominations as a flashpoint to eliminate filibusters on nominees through the so-called nuclear option). The Gang-brokered compromise precluded further filibusters and the implementation of the nuclear option for the remainder of the 109th Congress; under its terms, the Democrats retained the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee in an "extraordinary circumstance," and nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) received a simple majority vote by the full Senate.

The Gang later played an important role in the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, as they asserted that neither met the "extraordinary circumstances" provision outlined in their agreement. Snowe ultimately voted for both Roberts and Alito.

[edit] Committee assignments
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Science and Space
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
Committee on Finance
Subcommittee on Health Care
Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-term Growth
Subcommittee on International Trade and Global Competitiveness
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Ranking Member)
Select Committee on Intelligence

[edit] 2006 re-election campaign
Main article: United States Senate election in Maine, 2006
Snowe was re-elected to a third term in 2006. In the November 2006 election, Senator Snowe was faced by Democratic candidate Jean Hay Bright, and Independent candidate Bill Slavick. In August 2006 she was polling at 68% vs 20% for Bright;[13] in the election she won by an even wider margin. Snowe, garnering 74% of the votes, won by the second-largest margin (after Richard Lugar of Indiana, who didn't have a Democratic opponent) of any U.S. Senate candidate in the country.

[edit] Political views
This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2006) (Find sources: "Olympia Snowe" — news, books, scholar)

Snowe meets with sailors returning from Iraq, at Maine's Naval Air Station Brunswick.Snowe is a moderate Republican, as has long been typical for Republicans from New England. She is fairly liberal on social issues, for instance supporting legalized abortion and gay rights. However, she supports the death penalty. She is also a strong supporter of the war on drugs and the embargo on Cuba.

In fiscal matters and on defense particularly, Snowe is generally conservative. She has been long-regarded as a hawk on foreign affairs, supporting both President Clinton's involvement in Kosovo and President George W. Bush's invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq. On fiscal matters, she has voiced support for cutting taxes as economic stimulus, although she joined fellow Republicans Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Sen. John McCain in voting against the Bush tax cuts in 2003. In 1992 she was the only Republican in Congress to vote for the Tax Fairness and Economic Growth Act, which provided some tax refunds to select taxpayers while also increasing non-corporate capital gains tax rates (among other provisions). It was vetoed by President George H.W. Bush. Snowe voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and most free trade measures. She is a strong supporter of environmental protections. Both Snowe and fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins have embraced strong gun control measures following the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.

Snowe lists her top legislative priorities as assisting the growth of small businesses, prescription drug coverage, and student loan and child care funding.

In the 110th Congress, Snowe worked to ensure passage of a genetic non-discrimination act, which she had previously worked to pass for nearly eight years; opposed cutting loans through the Small Business Administration; offered legislation aimed at reducing the price of prescription drugs and insurance costs for small businesses; and became a leading voice among Congressional Republicans expressing concerns over President Bush's plans for the privatization of Social Security.

With fellow Maine Senator Susan CollinsSnowe is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research. She is also a member of Republicans for Environmental Protection, the Republican Majority for Choice, Republicans for Choice and The Wish List (Women In the Senate and House), a group of pro-choice Republican women.

In 2008, Snowe endorsed Republican candidate John McCain for president of the United States.[14]

In the 111th Congress Snowe has been supportive of the Obama administration, notably backing him on the release of additional TARP funds and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Whilst she opposed Obama's budget resolution, she has nonetheless pledged to work in a bipartisan manner on the issues of healthcare and energy. [15

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Rockefeller

Jay Rockefeller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

United States Senator
from West Virginia
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 15, 1985
Serving with Robert Byrd
Preceded by Jennings Randolph

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

29th Governor of West Virginia
In office
January 17, 1977 – January 14, 1985
Preceded by Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Succeeded by Arch A. Moore, Jr.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2009
Preceded by Daniel Inouye

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
In office
January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by Pat Roberts
Succeeded by Dianne Feinstein

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by Alan Cranston
Succeeded by Alan Simpson
In office
January 3 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by Arlen Specter
Succeeded by Arlen Specter
In office
June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by Arlen Specter
Succeeded by Arlen Specter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22nd Secretary of State of West Virginia
In office
1969 – 1972
Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr.
Preceded by Robert D. Bailey, Jr.
Succeeded by Edgar F. Heiskell, III

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born June 18, 1937 (1937-06-18) (age 71)
New York City, New York
Political party Democratic
Spouse Sharon Percy Rockefeller
Children John D. Rockefeller V
Valerie Rockefeller
Charles Rockefeller
Justin Rockefeller
Residence Charleston, West Virginia
Alma mater Harvard University
Occupation Politician, College Administrator
Religion Presbyterian
John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born June 18, 1937), generally known as Jay Rockefeller, has served as a Democratic U.S. Senator from West Virginia since 1985. He was Governor of West Virginia from 1977 to 1985. As a great-grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, he is the only current politician of the prominent six-generation Rockefeller family and the only Democrat in what has been a traditionally progressive Republican dynasty.[1]

He is related to several prominent Republican supporters and former officeholders: he is a great-grandson of Rhode Island Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, a nephew of banker David Rockefeller and Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller and of former U.S. Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, son-in-law of former Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, and cousin of Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Paul Rockefeller.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life, education, and family
2 West Virginia state politics
3 United States Senate
3.1 Senate Committee Assignments
3.2 Iraq War
3.3 Television violence
3.4 Retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies
3.5 Retroactive immunity for torture
4 Controversy
5 Further reading
6 Electoral history
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
9.1 Articles

[edit] Early life, education, and family
Born in New York City to John D. Rockefeller III and Blanchette Ferry Hooker, Jay Rockefeller graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1954. He graduated from Harvard University in 1961 with a B.A. in Far Eastern Languages and History after having spent three years studying Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo.

After college, Rockefeller worked for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., under John F. Kennedy, where he developed a friendship with Robert Kennedy and worked as an assistant to Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. He served as the operations director for the Corps' largest overseas program in the Philippines. He continued his public service in 1964–1965 as a VISTA volunteer, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, during which he moved to Emmons, West Virginia.

Rockefeller, along with his son Charles, is a trustee of New York's Asia Society, established by his father in 1956; he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He voted against the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, which was heavily backed by his uncle, David Rockefeller.

Since 1967, Rockefeller has been married to the former Sharon Percy, the chief executive officer of WETA-TV, the leading PBS station in the Washington, D.C., area, which broadcasts such notable programs as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and Washington Week.

Sharon is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, who had an association with the Rockefeller family. They have four children: John D. Rockefeller V ("Jamie"), Valerie, Charles, and Justin. Jamie's wife Emily is the daughter of former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

The Rockefellers reside in Charleston, West Virginia. They also, like other members of the family, have a ranch in the Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bill Clinton (a friend of Rockefeller's) and his family spent their summer vacation in August, 1995, at the ranch.[2]

[edit] West Virginia state politics
He was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966, and to the office of West Virginia Secretary of State in 1968. He won the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1972, but was defeated in the general election by the Republican incumbent Governor Arch Moore. Rockefeller then served as president of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1976.

Governor Rockefeller giving a speech aboard the USS Stump, July 1984Rockefeller was elected Governor of West Virginia in 1976 and re-elected in 1980. He served as Governor when manufacturing plants and coal mines were closing as the national recession of the early 1980s hit West Virginia particularly hard. Between 1982 and 1984, West Virginia's unemployment rate hovered between 15 and 20 percent.

[edit] United States Senate
In 1984, he was elected to the United States Senate, narrowly defeating businessman John Raese as Ronald Reagan narrowly carried the state in the presidential election. As in his 1980 gubernatorial campaign against Arch Moore, Rockefeller spent over $12 million to win his Senate seat. To date, this has been the last competitive Senate race in West Virginia. Rockefeller was re-elected in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008 by substantial margins. He was chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs (1993–1995; January 3 to January 20, 2001, and June 6, 2001–January 3, 2003).

In April 1992, he was the Democratic Party's finance chairman and considered running for the presidency, but pulled out after consulting with friends and advisers. He went on to strongly endorse Clinton as the Democratic candidate.[3]

He was the Chairman of the prominent Senate Intelligence Committee (retiring in January 2009), from which he commented frequently on the war in Iraq. He now serves as a member of the Committee, taking on the role of Chairmanship at the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

In 1993 Rockefeller became the principal Senate supporter, with Ted Kennedy, behind Bill and Hillary Clinton's sweeping health care reform package, liaising closely with the First Lady, even opening up his mansion in Rock Creek Park for its first strategy meeting. The reform was subsequently defeated by an alliance between the Business Roundtable and a small-business coalition.[4]

In 2002, Rockefeller made an official visit to several Middle Eastern countries, during which he discussed his personal views regarding United States military intentions with the leaders of those countries. In October of that year, Rockefeller strongly expressed his concern for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction program while addressing the U.S. Senate,

"There has been some debate over how 'imminent' a threat Iraq poses. I do believe that Iraq poses an imminent threat, but I also believe that after September 11, that question is increasingly outdated. It is in the nature of these weapons, and the way they are targeted against civilian populations, that documented capability and demonstrated intent may be the only warning we get. To insist on further evidence could put some of our fellow Americans at risk. Can we afford to take that chance? We cannot!"[5]
In November 2005 during a TV interview, Rockefeller stated: "I took a trip...in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq, that that was a predetermined set course that had taken shape shortly after 9/11."

Rockefeller noted that this was his personal opinion, and that he was not privy to any confidential information indicating that such action was planned.[6] On October 11 of that year, he was one of 77 Senators who voted for the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq invasion.

On February 29, 2008 he endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States, citing Obama's judgment on the Iraq war and national security issues, and calling him the right candidate to lead America during a time of instability at home and abroad. This endorsement stood in stark contrast from the results of the state primary.

[edit] Senate Committee Assignments
As of 2009, Rockefeller serves on the following:

United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (Chairman)
As chair of the full committee, Sen. Rockefeller is an ex officio member of all subcommittees
Committee on Finance
Subcommittee on Health Care (Chairman)
Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
Select Committee on Intelligence
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Joint Committee on Taxation

[edit] Iraq War
Rockefeller has been an outspoken critic of President Bush and the Iraq war in the past years, especially starting in late 2003. As chair of the Intelligence committee, he has indicted the President for his handling of intelligence and war operations. The previous year, however, Rockefeller was very much in line with Bush and those pushing for strong action – military, if necessary – against Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

On October 10, 2002, he said that "There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years... The global community – in the form of the United Nations – has declared repeatedly, through multiple resolutions, that the frightening prospect of a nuclear-armed Saddam cannot come to pass. But the U.N. has been unable to enforce those resolutions. We must eliminate that threat now, before it is too late... Saddam Hussein represents a grave threat to the United States, and I have concluded we must use force to deal with him if all other means fail."[5]

Rockefeller and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the final two pieces of the Phase II report on Iraq war intelliegence on June 5, 2008.[7] Senator Rockefeller said, "The president and his advisers undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the attacks to use the war against Al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein."[8]

[edit] Television violence
In July 2007, Senator Rockefeller announced that he planned to introduce legislation before the August Congressional recess that would give the FCC the power to regulate TV violence. According to the July 16, 2007 edition of Broadcasting & Cable, the new law would apply to both broadcast as well as cable and satellite programming. This would mark the first time that the FCC would be given power to regulate such a vast spectrum of content, which would include almost everything except material produced strictly for direct internet use. An aide to the senator said that his staff had also been carefully formulating the bill in such a way that it would be able to pass constitutional scrutiny by the courts.

[edit] Retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies
In 2007, Senator Rockefeller began steering the Senate Intelligence Committee to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who were accused of unlawfully assisting the National Security Agency (NSA) in monitoring the communications of American citizens (see Hepting v. AT&T).[9]

This was an about-face of sorts for Senator Rockefeller, who had hand-written a letter to Vice President Cheney in 2003 expressing his concerns about the legality of NSA's warrantless wire-tapping program. Some have attributed this change of heart to the spike in contributions from telecommunications companies to the senator just as these companies began lobbying Congress to protect them from lawsuits regarding their cooperation with the NSA[10].

Between 2001 and the start of this lobbying effort, AT&T employees had contributed $300 to the senator.[10]. After the lobbying effort began, AT&T employees and executives donated $19,350 in 3 months[10]. The senator has pledged not to rely on his vast fortune to fund his campaigns[11], and the AT&T contributions represent about 2% of the money he raised during the previous year[10].

[edit] Retroactive immunity for torture
Though publicly deploring torture, Rockefeller was one of two Congressional Democrats briefed on waterboarding and other secret CIA practices in the early years of the Bush Administration, as well as the existence of taped evidence of such interrogations (later destroyed).[12] In December 2007, Rockefeller opposed a special counsel or commission inquiry into the destruction of the tapes, stating "it is the job of the intelligence committees to do that."[13]

[edit] Controversy
On April 7, 2008 in an interview for The Charleston Gazette, Rockefeller criticized John McCain's Vietnam experience:

“McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.”[17]

The McCain campaign called for an apology from Senator Rockefeller and for Barack Obama, whom Rockefeller has endorsed, to denounce the comment. Rockefeller later apologized for the comment[18] and the Obama campaign issued a statement expressing Obama's disagreement with the comment. Senator Lindsay Graham (R) of South Carolina noted that "John didn't drop bombs from 35,000 feet....the bombs were not laser guided (in the 1960 and 1970s)".[19]

[edit] Further reading

Dennis C. Blair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3rd Director of National Intelligence
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 29, 2009
President Barack Obama
Preceded by John Michael McConnell

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born 1947
Kittery, Maine
United States
Profession Naval / Intelligence officer
Military service
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1968 – 2002
Rank Admiral
Battles/wars War on Terrorism
Dennis Cutler Blair (born 1947), is the third and current Director of National Intelligence and a retired United States Navy four-star admiral. He was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve in the Obama administration as DNI on 28 January 2009, and took office the next day.[1][2][3]

Contents [hide]
1 Early years
2 Naval career
2.1 Reports of disobeying orders
2.2 Conflict of interest
2.3 Decorations and notability
2.4 Retirement
3 Director of National Intelligence
3.1 Nomination
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early years
Blair was born in Kittery, Maine in 1947, and was a 6th generation naval officer and Great-Great-Great Grandson of Confederate Chief Engineer William Price Williamson of North Carolina, credited with first suggesting that the hull of the USS Merrimack be used to build the Confederate ironclad C.S.S. Virginia.[4] He attended St. Andrew's School (1964), and, as a classmate of Oliver North and James H. Webb, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1968.

[edit] Naval career

Admiral Dennis C. Blair, USN
Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific CommandFollowing his graduation from the Naval Academy, he was assigned to the guided missile destroyer USS Tattnall (DDG-19). He then received a Rhodes Scholarship, majoring in Russian studies at Oxford University, attending during the same time future president Bill Clinton studied there. He served as a White House Fellow from 1975-76 with Wesley Clark and Marshall Carter, who later became chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

Blair spent over 34 years in the United States Navy. He served on guided missile destroyers in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and commanded the Kitty Hawk Battle Group.

His last job in the military was as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, the highest-ranking officer over most of the U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, he was Director of the Joint Staff in the Office of the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and served in budget and policy positions on several major Navy staffs and the National Security Council staff. He was also the first Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support. He retired from the Navy in 2002.

[edit] Reports of disobeying orders
According to journalist Alan Nairn, Blair disobeyed orders from civilians in the Clinton Administration during the 1999 East Timorese crisis during his tenure as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command. Amid growing international concern over violence against the independence movement in Indonesian-occupied East Timor, Blair was ordered to meet with General Wiranto, the commander of the Indonesian military, and to tell him to shut down the pro-Indonesia militia. According to Nairn, two days after the Liquiçá Church Massacre, Blair failed to deliver this message; instead he presented Wiranto with an offer of military assistance and a personal invitation to be Blair's guest in Hawaii.[5] Consequently, Wiranto’s "forces increased the Timor killings".[6] During his confirmation hearing as Director of National Intelligence, Blair responded to the accusations: "In our conversations with leaders of Indonesia, both military and civilian, we decried and said that the torture and killing that was being conducted by paramilitary groups and some military groups in East Timor had to stop"; "those who say that I was somehow carrying out my own policy or saying things that were not in accordance with American policy are just flat wrong."[7]

[edit] Conflict of interest
His membership on the board of directors of EDO Corporation, a subcontractor for the F-22 Raptor fighter program, and ownership of its stock was raised as a potential conflict of interest after the IDA issued a study that endorsed a three-year contract for the program. Blair told the Washington Post, "My review was not affected at all by my association with EDO Corp., and the report was a good one." He originally chose not to recuse himself because he claimed his link to EDO was not of sufficient "scale" to require it, but subsequently resigned from the EDO board to avoid any misperceptions.

However, on December 20, 2006 the Washington Post reported that the US Department of Defense Inspector General's investigation into the affair found Blair had violated IDA's Conflict of Interest rules but did not influence the result of IDA's study. Blair observed, "with all due respect to the Inspector General, I find it hard to understand how I could be criticized for violating conflict of interest standards when I didn't have any influence on the study."[8]

[edit] Decorations and notability
His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters (4 awards), Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal with one star (2 awards), as well as numerous other campaign and service awards. He has been decorated by the governments of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand and Taiwan.[9]

Blair is somewhat renowned in U.S. Naval circles for attempting to water ski behind his destroyer the USS Cochrane (DDG-21) when he was the Skipper.[10]

[edit] Retirement
After retiring from the Navy, Blair held the John M. Shalikashvili Chair in National Security Studies at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR)[11] and the General of the Army Omar N. Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at Dickinson College[12] and the U.S. Army War College[13]. He was also the President of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a U.S. Government think tank in the Washington D.C. area focused on national security. He also served as Deputy Executive Director of the Project on National Security Reform.

[edit] Director of National Intelligence

[edit] Nomination
Dennis C. Blair became the third Director of National Intelligence on January 29, 2009.[14]

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network opposed Blair's nomination for Director of National Intelligence, saying "His actions demonstrate the failure of engagement to temper the Indonesian military’s behavior and his actions helped to reinforce impunity for senior Indonesian officials that continues to this day."[15][1]

During his confirmation, Director Blair indicated he did not support a domestic intelligence agency separate from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[16] He has also promised to end special interrogation regimes and believes the Intelligence Community must conduct analysis on opportunities as well as threats.[17][18][19] [20]