What Lurks Behind The Edwards For President Facade

[reallyveryradical]

What Lurks Behind The Edwards For President Facade

We do not know but we are looking.
With your help perhaps we can find out before it is too late.We feel
certain that
Democrats will choose a candidate who fits the profile that has
provided Democrats
with Presidential election victories in the past.
Democrats have won the White House with "white" Southern men,
ranging from Jimmy Carter of Georgia in 1976, to JFK's Vice
President, Lyndon Johnson of Texas, who became President after JFK
was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963, and who
was overwhelmingly elected President in 1964.
Another "white" Southern man, FDR's Vice President, Harry Truman of
Missouri, who became President after FDR's death in 1945, held onto
the Presidency in the election of 1948.
Yet another "white" Southern man, former Vice President Al Gore, in
2000, won more popular votes than Republican George W. Bush.
We look at some of the history and people we have come across in our
continuing search
for What Lurks Behind The Edwards For President Facade as we seek to
examine
everything we can about the person we think Democrats will choose to
run for President
in 2008: former 2004 Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards (or
is it Jon Edwards?).
"Friedrich (Frederik) Weyerhäuser (November 21, 1834 in Nieder-
Saulheim, Rheinhessen - April 4, 1914 in Pasadena, California) was a
German-American timber mogul and founder of the Weyerhaeuser
Company, which possesses large forested areas as well as saw mills,
paper factories and other business enterprises.
At the age of 18, Weyerhäuser emigrated from Germany to the United
States and began as a worker in a sawmill, which he later bought. He
also began to acquire interests, some of which were majority
interests, in many other timber companies. In 1872, he established
the Mississippi River Boom and Logging Co., an alliance that handled
all the logs that were processed on the Mississippi River. In 1900,
Weyerhäuser bought 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of timberland in the
Pacific Northwest from James J. Hill and founded the Weyerhäuser
Timber Company. Weyerhäuser never changed the name of the company
which he controlled. One of the 30 factories in which he held an
interest was Potlatch, later Potlatch Corporation. He also owned
interests in the Boise Cascade Corporation. The Weyerhäuser Company
is still the world’s largest seller of timber.
In thanks to his home community of Saulheim, he established the
music hall there in 1904."
source for item above :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Weyerh%C3%A4user
"Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the
world; the world's largest private owner of softwood timberland; and
the second largest owner in the United States, behind International
Paper. Weyerhaeuser has approximately 41,000 employees in 18
countries, including United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
China, Mexico, Ireland, France, and Uruguay.
In January 1900, Friedrich Weyerhäuser founded the company as
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company with 15 partners and 900,000 acres
(3,600 km²) of Washington timberland.[2] In 1929, the company built
what was then the world's largest sawmill in Longview, Washington.
Weyerhaeuser's pulp mill in Longview, which began production in
1931, sustained the company financially during the Great Depression.
In 1959, the company eliminated the word "Timber" from its name to
better reflect its operations. In 1965, Weyerhaeuser built its first
bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. Weyerhaeuser implemented its
High Yield Forestry Plan in 1967 which drew upon 30 years of
forestry research and field experience. It called for the planting
of seedlings within one year of a harvest, soil fertilization,
thinning, rehabilitation of brushlands, and, eventually, genetic
improvement of trees.
Weyerhaeuser consolidated its core businesses in the late 1990s and
ended its services in mortgage banking, personal care products,
financial services, and information systems consulting. Weyerhaeuser
also expanded into South America, Australia, and Asia. In 1999,
Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited, a large Canadian
forestry company. Then in 2002 after a protracted hostile buyout,
the company acquired Willamette Industries, Inc. of Portland, Oregon.
[3] On August 23, 2006, Weyerhaeuser announced a merge with Domtar's
fine paper business in a $3.3 billion cash and stock deal.
Weyerhaeuser imports timber products from Malaysia, Chile, and
Brazil, and has timber operations or offices in 44 American states,
Canada, and 18 other countries. Weyerhaeuser is one of North
America's largest distributors of wood products; it owns more than
seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land in the U.S., and holds
logging rights to more than 35 million acres (142,000 km²) of land
in Canada. Weyerhaeuser has expanded beyond its roots in lumber and
wood products; it controls more than 100 subsidiaries in fields such
as construction, real estate sales, and development.
The company's operations are divided into five major business
segments:
Timberlands — Growing and harvesting trees in renewable cycles.
Wood Products — Manufacturing and distribution of building materials
for homes and other structures.
Pulp and Paper — Produces a variety of papers and the pulp used to
produce papers, absorbent products, photographic film, and several
others.
Containerboard Packaging and Recycling — Produces paper, boxes, and
bags to move products from factories to the household. The segment
collects and recycles wastepaper, boxes, and newsprint to make new
products.
Real Estate — Builds homes and develops land. Weyerhaeuser has six
subsidiaries collectively called WRECO, the largest of which is
Pardee Homes.
The company also operates an IT internship program to develop
professionals for employment in its IT department.
The Weyerhaeuser board of directors consists of: Richard Haskayne,
Robert Herbold, Martha Rivers Ingram, John W. Kieckhefer, Arnold
Langbo, Don Mazankowski, Nicole Piasecki, Steven Rogel, Richard
Sinkfield, D. Michael Steuert, James Sullivan, and Charles
Williamson.
References
Weyerhaeuser Company. Google Finance. Retrieved on 2006-12-1.
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=WY
Weyerhaeuser in Brief (PDF). Weyerhaeuser. Retrieved on 2006-11-
24.
Weyerhaeuser Welcomes Oregon Willamette Employees as Companies
Combine to grow Global Leader
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?
ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-18-2002/0001689036&EDATE=
External links
Weyerhaeuser Company Web Site http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/
iLevel by Weyerhaeuser : Structural Frame Business Web Site
http://www.ilevel.com/
Dryden Pulp & Paper Workers suffer from brain damage
http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/features/brain-poisoning/index.html?
dataPath=/photogallery/regions/thunderbay/gallery_339/xml/gallery_339
.xml
source for item excerpted from above:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyerhaeuser
as usual in such things we were curious about the Board of Directors
of this company
as we are curious about Boards of Directors of many companies
we clicked on the link in the wikipedia article for:
Richard (Dick) Francis Haskayne, O.C., A.O.E., B.Comm., LL.D.,
F.C.A., (born 1934) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist.
Raised in Gleichen, Alberta, he received a Bachelor of Commerce
degree from the University of Alberta in 1956 and became a Chartered
Accountant in 1959.
He spent more than twenty years with Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas
becoming President in 1980. He was Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Interhome Energy Inc. From 1996 to 1998, he was
Chairman of TransAlta Corporation. From 1996 to 1999, he was
Chairman of the Board of MacMillan Bloedel Limited when it was
acquired by Weyerhaeuser. From 1992 to 1998, he was Chairman of NOVA
Corporation when the company merged with TransCanada PipeLines
Limited. He retired from TransCanada Pipelines in 2005." and came up
with the above which may be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Haskayne
we found the item immediately below at
http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm
Robert J. Herbold, Heritage Trustee Since 2003
Retired Chief Operating Officer Microsoft
Herbold, Microsoft’s recently retired chief operating officer, runs
a consulting business and serves on the boards of Weyerhauser Corp.,
Agilent Technologies, Cintas Corp. and First Mutual Bank. Also,
President Bush recently appointed him to the President’s Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology.
He also works part time for Microsoft as an executive vice
president, assisting in the government, industry and customer areas.
He is also president of The Herbold Foundation, which focuses
primarily on providing college scholarships to science, mathematics
and engineering students."
for the record we liked what we read at
http://www.heritage.org/Research/MiddleEast/arab-israeli.cfm
The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington DC 20002-4999
ph 202.546.4400 | fax 202.546.8328
we hope that if enough people contact them they might prevail upon
good people like Robert J. Herbold, and others, to look more closely
at things like Weyerhauser's relationship to Fortress, and the
relationship of Fortress to John Edwards, or is it Jon Edwards?
we clicked on the link to Martha Rivers Ingram in the wikipedia
article
excerpted from above and came up with:Martha Rivers Ingram
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Rivers_Ingram
Martha Robinson Rivers Ingram (born 20 August 1935) is the widow of
Erskine Bronson Ingram, who inherited his father's petroleum and
barge empire in 1963. Martha inherited the fortune after Bronson's
death, and took Ingram Micro public a year later. She owns Ingram
Industries, a business run by her three sons... She is listed in the
Forbes 400.
She is the mother of businessmen David Ingram, Orrin H. Ingram III,
and John Rivers Ingram
She is a member of the boards of Baxter International, Inc., First
American Corporation, and Weyerhaeuser Company. She is also chairman
of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and a trustee of Ashley
Hall School and Vassar College."
now we are starting to notice something about some of these
Weyerhauser directors. Some of them at least, seem to have some ties
to the oil business. We wonder why that might be. Does anyone have
any ideas on that?

We Googled John Kieckhefer
and came up with the item below at:
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPer
sonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=877696
John I Kieckhefer
Director at
Weyerhaeuser Company
Federal Way, Washington
INDUSTRIAL GOODS / LUMBER, WOOD PRODUCTION
Director since 1990 62 years old
John I. Kieckhefer, 62, a director of the Company since 1990, has
been president of Kieckhefer Associates, Inc. (investment and trust
management) since 1989, and was senior vice president prior to that
time. He has been engaged in commercial cattle operations since 1967
and is a trustee of J.W. Kieckhefer Foundation, an Arizona
charitable trust."
We Googled Arnold Langbo and came up with the item below at:
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPer
sonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=937882

"Arnold G Langbo Director at Johnson & Johnson
New Brunswick, New Jersey
HEALTHCARE / DRUG MANUFACTURERS - MAJOR
Director since 1991 69 years old
Mr. Langbo, 69, was elected to the Board of Directors in 1991 and is
a member of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and
Chairman of the Compensation & Benefits Committee. Mr. Langbo
retired as Chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company (cereals and
convenience foods) in 2000. He had held that position since 1992
after having been President and Chief Operating Officer of Kellogg
since 1990. He also served as Chief Executive Officer from 1992
until 1999. Mr. Langbo joined Kellogg Canada Inc. in 1956 and served
in a number of management positions in Canada and the United States
before being named President of Kellogg International in 1986. Mr.
Langbo is a Director of Weyerhaeuser Company and Whirlpool
Corporation."
"GUTIERREZ “ONE OF THE MOST POTENT FORCES” BEHIND WH IMMIGRATION
PUSH: When Carlos Gutierrez became U.S. secretary of commerce in
2005, he had so little clout that the White House vetoed his choice
of his own senior adviser. Two years later, that perception is
changing. Gutierrez, 53, has emerged as one of the most potent
forces behind the Bush administration’s most contentious domestic-
policy initiatives: an overhaul of immigration laws that splits the
president from his Republican base. Gutierrez... has spent about
three afternoons a week at the Capitol for the last two months,
negotiating the compromise legislation the Senate is considering
this week. The issue has a personal resonance for Gutierrez, a Cuban
refugee who worked his way up to become chief executive officer of
Kellogg Co… Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who
helped forge the compromise, calls Gutierrez “sort of our moral
compass.” Bloomberg: Gutierrez Becomes `Moral Compass’ of Bush’s
Immigration Effort
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
pid=washingtonstory&sid=aiziYkWh50Bs
We clicked on the link for Don Mazankowski in the Wikipedia article
listing
the Board of Directors of Weyerhaeuser and found
Donald Frank Mazankowski, PC, OC, AOE (born July 27, 1935, in
Viking, Alberta) was a Canadian politician who served as a cabinet
minister under Prime Ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. He is
currently a consultant with the law firm Gowlings Lafleur Henderson.
He also serves as a director or trustee for a number of companies,
including Weyerhaeuser Co., ATCO Ltd., Shaw Communications Inc., and
Power Corporation of Canada.
Mazankowski was born to parents of Polish descent. He went into
business and became the manager of an auto dealership. Long
interested in politics, Mazankowski became an important member of
the Albertan Progressive Conservative Party, and in the 1968 federal
election, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the
Member of Parliament (MP) for Vegreville, Alberta.
During the short-lived Clark government, Mazankowski served as
Minister of Transport. When the Tories returned to power under
Mulroney in the 1984 election, Mazankowski again became Minister of
Transport. In 1986, he was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and
Government House Leader. Mazankowski became one of the most widely-
known public faces of the Tory government. He played an especially
important role as an advocate for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade
Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The Mulroney government became increasingly unpopular, however, but
Mazankowski was less severely affected than others. In 1991, he
became Finance Minister, replacing the extremely unpopular Michael
Wilson.
Mazankowski retired from politics on June 7, 1993. When Kim Campbell
succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister two weeks later,
Mazankowski was replaced as Finance Minister by Gilles Loiselle.
Mazankowski did not run in the 1993 election that saw his party
reduced to two seats in the House of Commons. Mazankowski returned
to the private sector, and served on the boards of several
organizations, including the University of Alberta. He declined an
offer of a Senate seat made by Brian Mulroney in his final days as
Prime Minister.
He has remained involved in politics. In 2002, he headed an
investigation in Alberta's health care system. He also played an
important role in the merger between the Progressive Conservative
Party and the Canadian Alliance party, and is a strong supporter of
the new Conservative Party of Canada.
He is one of the few Canadians to be given the title of "The Right
Honourable" without having held an office that would entitle him to
it.
In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2003, he
was awarded the Alberta Order of Excellence.
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mazankowski
Which really does not shock us at all. If you are a big North
American
Timber Company, or however it might be described these days
or, for that matter a big North American Company in just about any
business, you are sure to try to find some North American politicans
to sit on your board.
We wonder how some of those big companies, be they in North America,
or Germany, or wherever will cozy up to President Edwards and which
of them
already have or may be about to.
Now here is another interesting pattern. John Edwards, (or is it Jon
Edwards?)
likes to talk about something he describes as "Two Americas". It
seems, however, that Edwards association with Fortress, and the
association of Fortress with other big companies like Weyerhaeuser
Company speak more to
an America that really is very well entrenched indeed on the
corporate landscape of our little planet.
Which America does John Edwards (or is it Jon Edwards?) really
represent?
We Googled another Weyerhaeuser Company director Nicole Piasecki,
and came up with:
Boeing Appoints Nicole Piasecki as President of Boeing Japan
CHICAGO, Nov. 13, 2006 -- The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) today named
Nicole Piasecki vice president of Boeing International and president
of Boeing Japan. Based in Tokyo, Piasecki will be responsible for
developing and strengthening Boeing's presence and partnerships in
Japan. She will report to Laurette Koellner, president, Boeing
International....
Her previous career experience includes working for Piasecki
Aircraft Corporation; Cresap, a Towers Perrin Company; Weyerhaeuser
Japan, Ltd.; and United Technologies, Sikorsky Aircraft Division.
Piasecki is a member of the board of directors of the Weyerhinaeuser
Company and serves on the (U.S.) Federal Aviation Administration's
Management Advisory Council." at
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2006/q4/061113g_nr.html
We were able to find the $500 contribution below to one Maria
Cantwell
http://cantwell.senate.gov/ Official Web Site of Maria Cantwell -
(Democrat) US Senator from Washington State.

from Nicole Piasecki of Boeing in 2003 at http://www.opensecrets.org
PIASECKI, NICOLE
SEATTLE,WA 98112
BOEING COMMERCIAL
4/18/2003
$500
Cantwell, Maria
March 22, 2001
We looked at an article from
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By PHILIP SHENON
Published: March 22, 2001
at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9504E7D6163CF931A15750C0A9679C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%
20Topics%2fPeople%2fC%2fCantwell%2c%20Maria
which is excerpted from below:
Money for Campaigns Debated, Then Raised
By PHILIP SHENON
By day, the Senate approved a campaign finance overhaul proposal
that would assist Congressional candidates who face challenges from
self-financed millionaires.
By night, Senate Democrats repaired to the palatial Embassy Row home
of a millionaire senator, John Edwards of North Carolina, to raise
money for Maria Cantwell, who used $10.3 million of her Internet
fortune to win her Senate seat from Washington State in November.
The long, black sedans snaked up and down 30th Street on Tuesday
night to drop off guests willing to help Senator Cantwell pay off a
$4.2 million campaign debt that became even more worrisome after the
collapse of her high-tech stock portfolio. ''Please make checks
payable to Cantwell 2000 Debt,'' the invitation said. ''$1,000
maximum donation.''
The timing was hard to ignore. In a week in which the Senate had
begun its debate on overhauling the campaign finance system -- a
system, lawmakers complain, that forces them into a never-ending
hunt for cash -- a group of senators had left Capitol Hill and gone
straight to a big-money fund-
and the $500 contribution below to one Norm Dicks at
http://www.opensecrets.orgPIASECKI, NICOLE W
SEATTLE,WA 98112
BOEING/SR. VP
11/2/2004
$500
Dicks, Norm

http://www.house.gov/dicks/ is the Official web site for
Representative Norman D. Dicks (D - WA)
Like so many Distinguished Gentlemen and Ladies Congress person
Dicks likes
to travel, we excerpted the material below from some data regarding
that which we found at:
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/congtravel/member_
report.php?member=7039
DICKS, NORM D, Democratic Party
Washington
Total number of trips - 18
Total cost of trips - $71,020.73
Average cost per trip - $3,945.60
Total number of days spent traveling - 81 days
Rank of representative - 72 (Out of 638)
Sponsor(s) - Council on Foreign Relations
Dates - May 13, 2002 - May 13, 2002 (1 days)
Location(s) - New York, NY
Purpose - to speak at CFR panel event on "Bush's defense policy
proposal"
Notes - Transportation breakdown is $256 for shuttle, $78 for car
service.
Travel Cost - $335.00
Lodging Cost -
Meal Cost -
Other Cost -
Total Cost - $335.00
Sponsor(s) - Boeing Inc.
Dates - April 7, 2004 - April 8, 2004 (2 days)
Location(s) - Los Angeles, CA
Purpose - Briefing and tour of C-17 aircraft and aircraft protection
system. Tour of AF satellite production facilities
Notes - 04/09/2004 to 04/18/2004 was at his personal expense
Travel Cost - $210.20
Lodging Cost - $741.00
Meal Cost - $166.13
Other Cost -
Total Cost - $1,117.33
We clicked on Steven Rogel in the Wikipedia piece on Weyerhauser
directors and found :
"Steven R. Rogel has been Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer of The Weyerhaeuser Company since April 20, 1999. Rogel has
been a member of the company's board of directors since December 1,
1997.
A University of Washington graduate, he received his Bachelor of
Science degree in chemical engineering in 1965. He has also
completed executive education programs at Dartmouth College and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He was president and chief executive officer of Willamette
Industries until 1996. He later made sure the company was bought out
by Weyerhaeuser after becoming their CEO." at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Rogel
we looked at some campaign contributions from Weyerhauser's Steven
Rogel at
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Steven_Rogel.php
where we found :ROGEL, STEVEN R
TACOMA, WA 98499
WEYERHAEUSER/PRESIDENT AND CEO
contributed a number of politicians including:
LOTT, TRENT (R)
Senate - MS
TRENT LOTT FOR MISSISSIPPI $1,000
in the general election 10/19/2006
and to
BAIRD, BRIAN N (D)
House (WA 03)
BRIAN BAIRD FOR CONGRESS $500
in the general election on October 16th, 2006
http://www.house.gov/baird/ is the Official web site for
Representative Brian Baird (D - WA).
BRIAN BAIRD (D-WA)
Top Contributors at
http://opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?
CID=N00007936&cycle=2006
included Weyerhaeuser Co as number 8 and Microsoft Corp as Baird's
number 1 contributor. If you can recall Weyerhaeuser board of
directors member
Robert J. Herbold is listed as the Retired Chief Operating Officer
Microsoft at
http://www.heritage.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm
We Googled Weyerhaeuser board of directors member Richard Sinkfield
and came up with
Richard Sinkfield Director at
Weyerhaeuser Company
Federal Way, Washington
INDUSTRIAL GOODS / LUMBER, WOOD PRODUCTION
Director since 1993 64 years old
Richard H. Sinkfield, 64, a director of the Company since 1993, is a
senior partner in the law firm of Rogers & Hardin in Atlanta,
Georgia, and has been a partner in the firm since 1976. He was a
director of United Auto Group, Inc. (automobile retailer) from 1993
to 1999 and its executive vice president and chief administrative
officer from 1997 to 1999. He was a director of Central Parking
Corporation from 2000 to February 2005"
at
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPer
sonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=903074
We also found a
Richard Sinkfield Contribution List in 2004 at
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/richard-
sinkfield.asp?cycle=04
which included the following:
Sinkfield, Richard H III
WASHINGTON, DC
20002 Rogers & Harden/Attorney $250 07/12/2004 P JOHN KERRY FOR
PRESIDENT INC - Democrat
Sinkfield, Richard III
WASHINGTON, DC
20002 Rogers & Harden/Attorney $250 12/02/2003 P DEAN FOR AMERICA -
Democrat
Sinkfield, Richard
ATLANTA, GA
30315 Rogers & Hardin LLP Atlanta GA/Atto $250 09/25/2003 P EDWARDS
FOR PRESIDENT - Democrat
Sinkfield, Richard
ATLANTA, GA
30315 Rogers & Hardin LLP Atlanta GA/Atto $250 09/25/2003 P EDWARDS
FOR PRESIDENT - Democrat
we wonder if it is the same person described at
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/house/bios/Sinkfield,%
20Georganna%20T/sinkfieldGeorgannaBio.htm
in some material on Representative Georganna Sinkfield
HD 60 (D-Atlanta)
which states that "Representative Georganna T. Sinkfield...
her husband, Richard Sinkfield..." but we do not know if it is the
same person or not.
We Googled Weyerhaeuser board of directors member D. Michael
Steuert and found
D. Michael Steuert is senior vice president and chief financial
officer of Fluor Corporation, where he is responsible for
implementing successful global financial processes.
Prior to joining Fluor in 2001, Steuert served as senior vice
president and chief financial officer of Litton Industries Inc.,
where he created and managed a variety of corporate initiatives
leading to a significant improvement in shareholder value. Prior to
joining Litton, Steuert served as senior vice president of GenCorp
Inc., a diversified automotive, specialty chemicals and aerospace
company.
Steuert earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from Carnegie
Mellon University and has completed post graduate training at
Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
School of Business.
Active in a variety of professional and civic organizations, Steuert
serves as a trustee for ProLogis, a leading provider of distribution
facilities and services. He has served as president of the Board of
Trustees of the Mental Health Association of Summit County in Ohio,
regional director of the Financial Executives Institute, and as a
member of the Leadership Akron Alumni. He is a director of
Weyerhaeuser Company." at
http://www.fluor.com/about/eb_d_steuert.asp
The description of Fluor below is from
http://www.fluor.com/about/history.asp
"Fluor began as Fluor Construction Company in 1912 and quickly built
its reputation for applying innovative methods and performing
precise engineering and construction work within the emerging
petroleum industry. During the 1920s, Fluor developed expertise in
the oil and gas field in process construction. Incorporated in 1924,
the company began executing more complex engineering and
construction projects, which continue today to be a cornerstone of
Fluor's expertise.
During the 1930s, the company won contracts in Texas, Indiana,
Missouri, and Illinois that helped to establish Fluor as a major
competitor in the refinery construction field. The 1940's war effort
brought the company many opportunities for expansion. Even as its
domestic workload grew, the company secured contracts for refineries
and natural gas plants in Canada and Venezuela. Fluor's solid
reputation as a refinery engineering firm led to the company's first
Middle East assignment, in Saudi Arabia.
In the early 1950s, Fluor began working with the U.S. Government
executing contracts in the nuclear field. The company also
contracted for U.S. Air Force work at Dhahran Air Base, Saudi
Arabia, and for refineries in Puerto Rico. More projects followed,
and Fluor designed and built plants for the petrochemical industry
in Australia, Canada, Scotland, and South Africa. By the end of the
decade, Fluor had established offices worldwide, and was a publicly
traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's
reputation helped to win many energy-producing projects.
In the 1960s, Fluor continued its international expansion with the
construction of the first refinery in South Korea. The company also
diversified into offshore drilling and mining.
By the 1970s, the company's activities focused heavily on the
international natural resource industries. Fluor set up subsidiaries
and management organizations in Alaska, Europe, Indonesia, Saudi
Arabia, and South Africa. It was during the 1970s, that Fluor
completed work on the Alaskan pipeline and constructed the world's
largest offshore facility. In 1977, the company acquired Daniel
International Corporation, a leader in establishing the design-
build, single-responsibility concept that allowed the company to
deliver projects months ahead of schedule.
In the 1980s, Fluor Engineers, Inc., and Daniel International became
a single worldwide operating unit, Fluor Daniel. Although facing a
cyclical downturn during the 80s, Fluor restructured the company to
meet the challenges of a dramatically changed business environment,
preparing the company for growth worldwide.
Fluor expanded its international operations in the 1990s,
successfully completing many petrochemical, infrastructure, and
environmental projects in Indonesia, Venezuela, Mexico, Thailand,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Argentina. Fluor acquired ADP
Marshall and expanded its services to the electrical,
pharmaceutical, commercial and manufacturing industries.
In the new millennium, Fluor successfully completed the spin-off of
its coal business and several acquisitions to expand its services
with the U.S. government and strengthen its operations and
maintenance capabilities."
We Googled Weyerhauser board of Directors member James Sullivan and
found
James Sullivan Director at
Weyerhaeuser Company
Federal Way, Washington
INDUSTRIAL GOODS / LUMBER, WOOD PRODUCTION
Director since 1998
69 years old
James N. Sullivan, 69, a director of the Company since 1998, is the
retired vice chairman of the board of Chevron Corporation
(international oil company) where he was a director from 1988 to
2000. He joined Chevron in 1961, was elected a vice president in
1983 and served as its vice chairman from 1989 to 2000."
at
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPer
sonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=922112
hmmmmmm
There's yet another oil industry connected person listed....Wonder
what THAT means?
SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 -- Chevron Corp. today announced that Vice
Chairman James N. Sullivan has decided to retire Aug. 31 after a
highly distinguished 39-year career.
"Jim Sullivan personifies the values of integrity, partnership and
achievement that we treasure at Chevron," said Chairman and CEO Dave
O’ Reilly. "He played a major role in shaping today's Chevron.
During the merger with Gulf in 1984 -- then the world's largest and
most complex business deal -- Jim helped assemble the best business
assets of both companies and bond them together at a human level
into something much greater than the sum of the parts.....Sullivan
is active in numerous organizations outside of Chevron. He is a
director of Weyerhaeuser Co., the American Petroleum
Institute ....He is a member of the National Petroleum Refiners
Association, the World Trade Club, http://www.worldtradeclub.net/
the Commonwealth Club and the World Affairs Council...."
http://www.chevron.com/news/archive/chevron_press/2000/2000-05-31-
1.asp
"The World Trade Club is managed by an Executive Committee elected
by the Board of Directors. They are assisted by a Board of Directors
drawn from the membership of the Club. We welcome your inquiries
about membership and activities of the Club. Please contact the
World Trade Club office, members of the Executive Board and other
WTC Committees, or Board of Directors.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
President
Mike Trail Hitachi Consulting
Treasurer
Tina Farmer Microsoft Corporation" above was excerpted from
some material found at:
http://www.worldtradeclub.net/board_of_directors.aspx
oh gosh, Microsoft AGAIN ! small world isn't it?
we looked at
http://www.commonwealthclub.org/governors.html
where we found
Bob Saldich is the current Chair of the Board of Governors.
Robert Saldich
President and CEO (Retired), Raychem Corporation
http://www.raychem.com/
now that seems interesting too
we looked at http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-
0000932120-page.html
where we found: Raychem Saudi Arabia Ltd
Manufacturing: Manufacture and marketing of power and
telecommunication cable accessories and pipe protection products
we looked a bit further and found the material below at
http://www.unitedworld-usa.com/reports/saudiarabia/eajuffali.asp
one of the most inspiring examples of genuine diversified interests
and the way that Saudi companies can efficiently and successfully
enter into partnerships with foreign firms is E.A. Juffali &
Brothers. Established in 1946, the corporation began its business
activities in the electricity, communications and cement industries.
Soon after, Juffali moved into the field of commerce, becoming the
sole agency within the kingdom for some of the world’s largest firms
in various sectors. From agent, Juffali later turned to
manufacturing, producing these firms’ trademark items within the
country. Juffali purchased licenses from the original companies,
embarking on the production and assembly of trucks, tractors, air
conditioners, refrigerators, steel buildings, heat insulating
materials, industrial adhesives, sinks and hard surfaces, and cable-
welding material.
“We created the manufacturing plants for these companies wherever it
made sense. As well as cementing the relationship, this has served
the purpose of transferring the technology into Saudi Arabia,” says
Sheikh Khaled Al-Juffali, the corporation’s vice chairman and
managing partner.
The company has become involved in various collaborations, such as
printing with Heidelberg, computers with IBM, cars and trucks with
Mercedes-Benz, auto parts and accessories with Bosch, tires with
Michelin, and tractors and agricultural equipment with Massey
Ferguson. Likewise, they are working on petroleum well drilling with
Pool, prefabricated steel building with Butler, insurance with
Munich Reinsurance, cable welding with Raychem, medical equipment
with Siemens, and technical equipment used in workshops with Bosch,
among many others.
“Progress through diversity” has been the group’s motto, gaining
strength and credit through associations with big name companies
such as Kühne & Nagel, Ericsson, Carrier, Kelvinator, Electrolux and
Dow Chemical among others, and pursing projects in transportation,
telephones, air-conditioning, and chemicals. But profit is not the
firm’s sole motivator.
“We try to do something important by creating work rather than just
selling,” says Sheikh Al-Juffali. The corporation has established a
training center in association with several other companies,
providing technical training for young Saudis.
“For many years we have been advocating that the Saudi work force
needs to be working. It has paid off, for us as well,” is the vice
chairman’s view. “You have to train them. Sometimes you have to
retrain them. But the government today has supported Saudization
like never before by creating several avenues through which it
subsidizes salaries, encouraging companies like ours to increase the
percentage of Saudi staff as much as possible,” he adds.
the material above was found at material below at
http://www.unitedworld-usa.com/reports/saudiarabia/eajuffali.asp
"NEW SAUDI-GERMAN GROUP FORMED
"A new Saudi-German Business Group has been formed with Khaled
Juffali as chairman. The non-profit association, which has 12
members to begin with - six each from the Kingdom and Germany… …'The
group will serve the purpose of promoting bilateral business,
cultural and social ties and also improve the image of the Kingdom
in Germany'…"
http://www.arabialink.com/Archive/GWDigests/GWD2003/GWD_2003_05_26.ht
m#BS8
We also came across a rather interesting piece entitled: ISLAM AND
IDENTITY IN GERMANY which mentioned, among others: Sheikh Khaled
Juffali, as well as
Thomas Pickering Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Russia, India,
Israel, Jordan, El Salvador and Nigeria,George Soros Chairman,Open
Society Institute,
Zbigniew Brzezinski Former U.S. National Security Advisor to the
President,(Carter),James V.
Kimsey,Founder and Chairman Emeritus of America Online, Inc. (AOL)"
We Googled Weyerhauser Board of Directors Member
Charles Williamson who was listed as such at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weyerhaeuser
and came up with :
Charles R. Williamson Named to PACCAR Board
Business Wire, June 16, 2006
BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Mr. Charles R. Williamson has been named to
PACCAR Inc's (Nasdaq:PCAR) Board of Directors, effective July 1,
2006, according to Mark C. Pigott, PACCAR chairman and chief
executive officer.
Charles R. Williamson was chairman and chief executive officer of
Unocal, the California-based energy company, from 2001 until Unocal
merged with Chevron in August 2005. He served as a director of
Unocal from 2000 to 2005. During his excellent 28-year career with
Unocal, he served in a variety of technical and management positions
around the world including positions in the United Kingdom, Thailand
and the Netherlands. Mr. Williamson was the chairman of the US-ASEAN
Business Council from 2002-2005. He earned a Ph.D. in geology from
the University of Texas. He is a director of the Weyerhaeuser
Company (NYSE:WY) and Talisman Energy Inc. (NYSE:TLM).
"PACCAR is very pleased that Mr. Williamson will be joining the
Board. His thorough understanding of the Asian marketplace and his
background in operations provide a strong perspective that will
benefit PACCAR in its global growth," said Mark Pigott.
PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and
customer support of high-quality light-, medium- and heavy-duty
trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. It also
provides financial services and information technology and
distributes truck parts related to its principal business.
PACCAR shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, symbol PCAR,
and its homepage can be found at www.paccar.com.
so once again, there's that oil industry connection....hmmmmm
Thomas R. Pickering
http://www.cfr.org/bios/299/thomas_r_pickering.html
listed above is also listed at
http://www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html
as a member of the board of directors of the Council on Foreign
Relations and as
Vice Chairman, Hills & Company
an item at http://www.cfr.org/bios/299/thomas_r_pickering.html
also mentions Pickering Presiding over an event March 2, 2006 where
the speaker was none other than:
SSpeaker: Jimmy Carter, Chairman, the Carter Center; former
President of the United States
Presider: Thomas R. Pickering, Senior Vice President, international
relations, the Boeing Company
Boeing again? Interesting eh?

Richard N. Haass is listed as President of the Council on Foreign
Relations, (CFR), at
http://www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html
David Rockefeller is listed as Honorary Chairman.

Some other Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Board of Directors
listed at http://www.cfr.org/about/people/board_of_directors.html
include: Madeleine K. Albright and
Colin L. Powell and Christine Todd Whitman
and Fareed Zakaria and
Peter G. Peterson
Chairman; Senior Chairman and Co-Founder, The Blackstone Group
you do recall The Blackstone Group don't you?
and
Laura D'Andrea Tyson
Professor, Haas School of Business at the University of California,
Berkeley
The article below is excerpted from material found at:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?
UrlTitle=how_to_sell_anti-
semites_the_legitimization_of_dubai&ns=DickMorrisandEileenMcGann&dt=0
3/24/2007&page=2

"Laura Tyson, economic advisor to President Clinton, now speaking
for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. LAURA TYSON, Kerry-Edwards Economic
Advisor: The focus is on Two Americas. ...." source:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec04/economics_7-
26.html

"How to sell anti-semites: The Legitimization of Dubai
By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Bill isn't alone in legitimizing Dubai. Other Clinton pals -
including disgraced former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger,
ex-Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Al and Tipper Gore -
have attended highly publicized events there. So have some
Republicans - including former Bush Sr. Chief of Staff John
Sununu.....Republican ex-Sen. Bob Dole and Democratic ex-Rep. Tom
Downey lobby for Dubai; so does The Glover Park Group, home of
Hillary Clinton spokesman
All of this helps legitimize Dubai. And no one mentions the problem
with Israel.
Bill Clinton even created a Dubai Scholars Program at the American
University in Dubai under the sponsorship of the William Jefferson
Clinton Foundation. Laura Tyson, Clinton's chairman of the Council
of Economic Advisers, created a similar Dubai study program at the
University of London.
But not everyone is blind.
Last month the University of Connecticut correctly abandoned plans
to open up a campus in Dubai after serious complaints about Dubai's
state-imposed discrimination of people based on their national
origin and religion and its documented violations of human rights.
(For example, Human Rights Watch has said Dubai abuses tens of
thousands of migrant workers from India and Pakistan.)
The Clinton Foundation certainly wouldn't sponsor a program in
America that banned Israeli students. It shouldn't sponsor one in
Dubai, either.
It's time to stop legitimizing an anti-Semitic state.
Morris, a former political adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and
President Bill Clinton, is the author of Condi vs. Hillary: The Next
Great Presidential Race. To get all of Dick Morris’s and Eileen
McGann’s columns for free by email, go to http://www.dickmorris.com

The item excerpted from below was found at:
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/fm.clinton/

"In 1974 as well as 1992, candidate Clinton has actually embraced
powerful corporate interests and much of their agenda despite his
rhetoric against them. When Clinton ran for Congress in 1974, the
largest employer in the Third District of Arkansas was Tyson Foods,
based in Springdale, which was well on its way to becoming the
nation's largest poultry producer. In 1995, Tyson Foods
ranked "110th on the Fortune 500 list, and sold 6,000 products in 57
countries, from fresh chickens to taco fillings," according to an
August 1994 company profile in The New York Times.

The chairman, Don Tyson, is a colorful figure who in the late 1970s
designed his corporate office as a replica of the Oval Office in the
White House, with doorknobs shaped like chicken eggs. Tyson was
estimated to be worth $800 million. He supported Clinton in the 1974
race, and according to author David Maraniss, the Tyson family
donated a campaign telephone bank which was operated from an
apartment near the University of Arkansas, although it should be
noted that no such "in-kind" contribution was reported by the
campaign to the Federal Election Commission. Clinton never talked
much about the company itself publicly, but instead spoke
empathetically about the plight of chicken farmers.

The Tyson-Clinton relationship continued in Washington, of course,
and it grew out of a special culture. Probably no one has better
captured the real essence of the political-financial nexus in
Arkansas than journalist Michael Kelly, who wrote that Arkansas "has
been ruled for almost all of its existence, and is largely ruled
still, by a thin upper crust of Democratic party officials and
Democratic legislative leaders and important landholders and
businessmen."

"This elite, bound together not by party or even ideology but by
mutually advantageous relationships, holds sway over a small and
politically disorganized middle class and a large but well-beaten
population of the poor....

To the masses, Clinton was portraying himself as an outsider to the
seat of power and government. By contrast, in a study about the
presidential candidates and their campaign advisers issued a week
after the 1992 New Hampshire primary, the Center for Public
Integrity discovered that more than half of Clinton's unpaid
campaign advisers were from "inside the Beltway" of Washington. No
fewer than six advisers came from the DLC or PPI. During their "day
jobs," several of Clinton's unpaid policy advisers got handsome fees
from foreign corporations and governments, tobacco companies, the
insurance industry, oil and gas firms, investment banks and other
business interests.
Judging from the people around him it was plain to see that
candidate Clinton was continuing the bipartisan Washington practice
of putting lobbyists first. According to the Center for Responsive
Politics, lawyers and lobbyists were Clinton's biggest campaign
contributors in 1992, donating $3.1 million.
Banking and financial interests were not bashful about supporting
the Arkansas governor. In 1992, candidate Clinton received at least
$853,295 in campaign contributions from the financial sector,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Servicing Business
The Clinton Administration has pursued and serviced the American
business community more aggressively and more systematically than
any previous administration. Clinton assiduously courted corporate
support for his economic program after he arrived at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue....."

Honest John Edwards Or Is It Jon Edwards A Member of The Terrible
Trio
While Edwards is the main topic of this piece we also discuss the
other two members of the Terrible Trio, Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Barack Hussein Obama.
How Honest IS Honest John Edwards?
Or is it Jon Edwards?
We are never quite sure of anything with Edwards. So, our first
question is: Is it Jon Edwards or John Edwards? If anyone knows the
answer to that one please post it.

We start off with a little blurb on Edwards below:
"May 18, 2007, c.e. Edwards's Hedge-Fund Tie Hurts Populist Campaign
John Harwood reports from the Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau.
HEDGE-FUND MONEY fattens Edwards's wallet but hurts populist message.
The Democratic presidential candidate's $1.7 million in pay and
investment income from Fortress Investment Group gives target for
rivals after his campaign emphasis on poverty. Edwards has explained
Fortress affiliation as part of effort to learn about financial
markets.

"What will get him in trouble is not the amount but rationales that
seem false and weaselly to the voters," says Democratic pollster
Geoff Garin. Edwards's campaign says he paid regular personal-income-
tax rates on his $479,512 salary, not preferential "carried
interest" rates some hedge-fund principals use.
Of $29.5 million in assets Edwards reported to FEC, aides say
investments in Fortress represent $16.1 million.
John Edwards for President "
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/05/18/edwardss-hedge-fund-tie-
hurts-populist-campaign/

OK, so who is Fortress Investment Group ? http://www.fortressinv.com/
"Fortress Investment Group is a leading global alternative asset
manager with approximately $36 billion in assets under management as
of March 31, 2007. Fortress is headquartered in New York and has
affiliates with offices in Dallas, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong,
London, Los Angeles, Rome, San Diego, Sydney and Toronto.
Fortress was founded in 1998 as an asset-based investment management
firm with a fundamental philosophy premised on its alignment of
interests with the investors in its funds. Fortress raises, invests
and manages private equity funds, hedge funds and publicly traded
alternative investment vehicles. Fortress intends to grow its
existing businesses, while continuing to create innovative products
to meet the increasing demand by sophisticated investors for
superior risk-adjusted investment returns.....

Wesley R. Edens
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mr. Edens is the Chairman of the board of directors and the Chief
Executive Officer of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edens has
been a principal and the Chairman of the Management Committee of
Fortress since co-founding the Company in May 1998. Mr. Edens is
responsible for the Fortress private equity and publicly traded
alternative investment businesses. He is also the Chairman of the
board of directors of each of Aircastle Limited, Brookdale Senior
Living Inc., Eurocastle Investment Limited, GateHouse Media, Inc.,
Mapeley Limited and Newcastle Investment Corp. and a director of
Crown Castle International Corp. and GAGFAH S.A. Mr. Edens served as
the Chief Executive Officer of Newcastle Investment Corp. since
inception until February 2007. Mr. Edens was the Chief Executive
Officer of Global Signal Inc. from February 2004 to April 2006 and
the Chairman of the board of directors from October 2002 to January
2007. Mr. Edens serves in various capacities in the following five
registered investment companies: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
and Trustee of Fortress Registered Investment Trust and Fortress
Investment Trust II; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Fortress Brookdale Investment Fund LLC and Fortress Pinnacle
Investment Fund LLC and Chief Executive Officer of RIC Coinvestment
Fund GP LLC. Prior to forming Fortress, Mr. Edens was a partner and
a managing director of BlackRock Financial Management Inc., where he
headed BlackRock Asset Investors, a private equity fund. In
addition, Mr. Edens was formerly a partner and a managing director
of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Edens received a B.S. in Finance from Oregon
State University."

We were curious about those firms so we did a little research on
them and came up with:
"Prison Realty Announces Restructuring Led By Fortress And
Blackstone
Investor Group
$350 Million Preferred Issue to Complement New $1.2 Billion Credit
Facility; Company to Terminate REIT Status, Convert to Taxable
Subchapter C Structure; New Management to Be Installed
and New Board to Be Created NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec.
27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Prison Realty Trust,
Inc. (NYSE: PZN), today announced a comprehensive strategic
restructuring program designed to reposition the company by
strengthening its financial position, simplifying its corporate
structure and creating a new management team and board of
directors.

As part of the program, which requires shareholder
approval, the company said an Investor Group led by an affiliate of
Fortress Investment Group LLC and affiliates of The Blackstone
Group, together with an affiliate of Bank of America, would
purchase $315 million in securities at closing and commit to
purchase an additional $35 million in securities (for a total of up
to $350 million) in a newly configured company that would be
created through the merger of Prison Realty and the companies
collectively operating under the name Corrections Corporation of
America.

Existing Prison Realty shareholders would be offered
the opportunity, through a rights offering, to "co-invest" up to
$75 million with the Investor Group and to receive preferred stock
and warrants with terms identical to the securities being purchased
by the Investor Group (with the exception of certain types of
voting rights).
The Investor Group has agreed to acquire those
securities and warrants not subscribed for by current shareholders
to ensure the $350 million total. The combined company, which
would operate under the Corrections Corporation of America name, is
expected to be a taxable subchapter C corporation, as Prison Realty
would terminate its status as a REIT, in connection with the
restructuring. As part of the combination with CCA, outside, or
non-management, shareholders of CCA will receive cash equal to
their original investment. Management and other employees of CCA
will receive shares of the new public company in exchange for their
interest. The per share value to be received by them is
approximately 40% of the per share value received by the outside
shareholders, and their shares will be subject to certain vesting
and lock up provisions.
The transaction, upon completion, will
have the effect of eliminating liquidity concerns of CCA, Prison
Realty's primary tenant.
"This is a highly focused, decisive action on behalf of this
company," said Joseph V. Russell, Chairman
of the Special Committee of the Board of Directors, which was
created in August 1999 to identify a strategic investor to invest
in Prison Realty and to review the company's financial alternatives
and organizational structure.

"We are returning this company to the
corporate structure under which it achieved its greatest growth and
success and through which it became the leading company in the
private prison industry."
"Importantly, we also believe the new
credit facility and the investment by Fortress and Blackstone, will
ensure that the company has the financial resources to prosper.
Finally, as part of the restructuring, our new investors and we
have concluded that meaningful changes are necessary in the
composition of our management team and in the creation of a new
Board of Directors. These actions directly address the Company's
desire to re- establish credibility with shareholders and with the
financial community."

Additionally, the company announced that,
pending shareholder approval of the transaction, no further
dividends of any kind would be paid on its common stock.
Management Changes As part of the restructuring, the Special
Committee announced that Doctor R. Crants, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Prison Realty, would resign as CEO upon
closing of the transaction. In addition, he is stepping down as
Chairman, effective immediately.

Following his resignation, Mr.
Crants will be named to the non-executive position of Vice Chairman
of the company and will serve as an advisor to the Board.
Thomas W. Beasley, the former Chairman of the Board and one of
three founders, along with Mr. Crants, of the original company in
1983, will assume the position of Interim Chairman immediately and
interim Chief Executive Officer following the closing of the
transaction. J. Michael Quinlan will remain as President and Chief
Operating Officer of CCA and will also serve as Interim President
of Prison Realty, replacing D. Robert Crants, III, who also has
resigned effective immediately.

In addition, Mr. Beasley, along
with Fortress and Blackstone, will oversee a nationwide search for
a new Chief Executive Officer and a new Chief Financial Officer for
the combined company.

Financing Arranged upon completion
of the restructuring, the combined company will have a $1.2 billion
new term loan and revolving credit facility from a group led by
Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. The facility would
replace Prison Realty's existing $1 billion credit facility.
In addition, up to $350 million will be generated from the sale of a
new issue of 12% cumulative convertible preferred stock and
warrants, primarily to the Investor Group.

The new issue would be
convertible into the combined company's common stock at a price of
$6.50 per share and the warrants would be exercisable at $7.50 per
share. Depending on the degree to which existing shareholders
participate in the rights offering, the Investor Group would own
approximately 20% to 25% of the combined company and warrants to
purchase between 11% and 14% of the combined company's common
stock, on a fully diluted basis. Proceeds from the debt and
equity financings will be used to refinance the company's existing
bank debt and to provide capital to fund the company's continued
growth. "We are extremely pleased with this important
restructuring," stated Mr. Beasley.

"The new credit facility is
not only larger than the one it replaces, it also has more
favorable terms, reflecting the lending community's renewed
confidence in CCA. "In addition to providing a sizable infusion
of new equity capital, our Board of Directors -- and the daily
operation of our company -- will be enhanced by the active
involvement of two of the nation's most successful investment
groups.

We view these as positive steps and we are looking forward
to working closely with our new partners." "This transaction is
intended to position CCA once again as a growth company with
tremendous prospects and re-establish transparency to shareholders
regarding the fundamental strength of CCA's business. Our belief
is that a greatly simplified and more efficient capital structure
will allow the company to fund future growth internally and will
assist the company in maximizing shareholder value," said Wesley R.
Edens, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fortress. Added
Thomas J. Saylak, Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone
Group, "CCA is the market leader in a growing industry. We believe
this capital infusion and CCA's new corporate structure will allow
the company to realize enhanced financial flexibility to maximize
growth prospects.

Over time, we believe this new direction will
be recognized and rewarded by investors." Board of
Directors As part of the restructuring, the new CCA would have
a 10-person Board of Directors. Four persons would represent the
Investor Group, and four persons, including Mr. Beasley, Mr.
Russell, and Jean-Pierre Cuny, would be drawn from the existing
Prison Realty Board. Two new independent directors, subject to the
approval of the Investor Group and the current board, also would be
appointed.

Conditions
In addition to being subject to
the approval of Prison Realty's shareholders, the transaction is
subject to certain financial and non- financial conditions, which
the company expects to be satisfied prior to the closing. The
transaction will also require customary regulatory review. It is
expected that the shareholder vote would take place in March or
April 2000, and that the transaction would close in the second
quarter of 2000.

About the Companies Prison Realty's
business is the ownership of correctional and detention
facilities. The company provides financing, design, construction
and renovation of new and existing jails and prisons that it leases
to both private and governmental managers. At September 30, 1999,
the company owned, or was in the process of developing, 51
correctional and detention facilities, of which 40 facilities were
operating, eight were under construction or expansion and three
were in the planning stages.

At September 30, 1999, CCA leased 32
facilities from the company, government agencies leased five
facilities, and private operators leased three facilities.
Fortress Investment Group LLC is a real estate investment and asset
management company with headquarters in New York City. Fortress was
founded in April 1998 by a group of senior professionals led by
Wesley R. Edens. Fortress manages approximately $760 million of
private equity, and invests primarily in undervalued real estate-
related assets and companies on a domestic and international
basis.

The Blackstone Group is a private investment bank in New
York City. It was founded in 1985 by its Chairman, Peter G.
Peterson, and its President and CEO, Stephen A. Schwarzman.
Blackstone is engaged in six business areas including Corporate
Principal Investing, Private Equity Real Estate Investing, Mergers
and Acquisition Advisory, Restructuring and Reorganization
Advisory, Private Mezzanine Investing, and Liquid Alternative Asset
Investing. Merrill Lynch & Co. acted as advisor to the Board of
Directors and Special Committee of Prison Realty, as well as the
Board of Directors of CCA.
Disclaimer on Forward Looking
Statements This news release contains statements that are
forward looking, including statements relating to the amount and
timing of the proposed offering transactions. These statements are
not projections or assured results. Actual results may differ
materially from the results anticipated in the forward looking
statements due to a variety of factors, including but not limited
to, changing market conditions.

Additional factors will be
described in the company's filings with the SEC. The company does
not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking
statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Accordingly,
individuals should not place undue reliance on such
statements. Note: The company will schedule a conference call
with analysts and the media the week of January 3 to further
discuss the transaction.

SOURCE Prison Realty Trust, Inc."
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?
ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-27-1999/0001103950&EDATE=
So let us get this straight, If we follow the money of Honest John?
or is it Jon? Edwards?

"Of $29.5 million in assets Edwards reported to FEC, aides say
investments in Fortress represent $16.1 million." Seems like a
pretty big chunk to us.
And Fortress is involved with Prison Realty per the material above.
And Edwards, let's forget about whatever his first name actually
turns out to be, Edwards wants to be President of the United States.
In that job Edwards could really influence a lot of things,
including, for instance things affecting prisons. Hmmmm? Did anyone
say "conflict of interest"?

Now let's take a little look at a few other things:
Wesley R. Edens
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors and
the Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Investment Group LLC is also
the Chairman of the board of directors of each of Aircastle Limited,
http://www.aircastle.com/aircastle-clients.html
aircastle clients
› Aerosvit
› Aigle Azur
› Air Canada
› Air India
› Air Italy
› Air One
› Air Europa
› Air Sahara
› British Airways
› Capital Aviation Services
› China Eastern
› Excel Airways
› Futura
› GOL
› Hainan
› Icelandair
› Jet Airways
› KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
› Korean Air
› Lan Chile
› LOT
› Lotus Air
› Magnicharters
› Malaysian Airlines
› Martinair
› Monarch Airlines
› SAS Braathens
› Sibir
› Skyservice Airlines
› SN Brussels
› Southwest Airlines
› SriLankan
› Sterling Airlines
› Swiss International
› TAM
› Thomsonfly
› TUI AG
› Turk Hava Yollari
› Ukraine International
› US Airways
As President of the United States Edwards could affect a lot of
things, including American
relations with the nations that run some of those airlines. There's
that "conflict of interest"
phrase again.
Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also the Chairman of
the board of directors of
Brookdale Senior Living Inc. Hmmmm, wouldn't the President of the
United States be able to affect policy concerning senior citizens?
Say regarding Health Care and Social Security for starters? There's
that "conflict of interest" phrase again.
Fortress Investment Group
LLC's Mr. Edens is also the Chairman of the board of directors of
Eurocastle Investment Limited
http://www.eurocastleinv.com/
"Eurocastle Investment Limited is a
Euro denominated Guernsey closed-end investment company that invests
in and manages a diverse portfolio consisting primarily of German
commercial real estate assets. Eurocastle is traded on Euronext
Amsterdam Exchange under ticker symbol "ECT". The Company is managed
by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC." Ah ha! As
President of the United States
Edwards could sure affect things like U.S.- German relations, which
in turn could impact on the value of those assets. There's
that "confict of interest" phrase again.

Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also the Chairman of the
board of directors of GateHouse Media, Inc.
http://www.gatehousemedia.com/
"GateHouse Media, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, New York, is one
of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media.
GateHouse Media currently serves local audiences of more than 10
million per week across 20 states through hundreds of community
publications and local websites.
GateHouse Media is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol "GHS."
Ahh! The better to get you nominated, elected, and re-elected, with
nary a peep about
"conflict of interest" to be read by our truly well-informed
electorate, Honest John? or is it Honest Jon? Edwards?
"More than 70 percent of our daily newspapers have been published
for more than 100 years and 93 percent have been published for more
than 50 years. If you click the headline above, you can view a list
of all of our daily newspapers and click through to the detail page
for each individual publication."
http://www.gatehousemedia.com/publications/
Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also the Chairman of
the board of directors of Mapeley Limited
http://www.mapeley.com/ "Mr Edens, the Chairman may not be regarded
as `independent' since he is the Chairman of Fortress Investment
Trust which has a controlling interest in the Company."
Mapeley was formed in 1999 to invest in UK real estate leased to
high quality tenants, initially by capitalising on the growing trend
of UK government and corporate occupiers of selling property
portfolios and outsourcing the management of their leasehold
estates.

Mapeley's first two major acquisitions were Abbey National's UK
occupational portfolio (2000) and the HMRC portfolio (2001) - the
portfolio of the departments of the Inland Revenue, HM Customs &
Excise, and Valuation Office Agency.
In 2004 Mapeley made its first direct property investment and has
since then acquired properties at a cost of approximately £840
million.

In March 2006, Mapeley was awarded its second outsourcing contract
with the government, with the Identity and Passport Service. This
contract is to acquire, fit-out and service 69 interview offices
across the UK."
As President of the United States Edwards could certainly influence
U.S.-British relations,
which in turn could have all sorts of impacts on the value of thoe
investments now couldn't it? There's that "conflict of interest"
phrase again.

Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also the Chairman of
the board of directors of Newcastle Investment Corp.
http://www.newcastleinv.com/ "Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT)
is a publicly traded real estate investment and finance company that
invests in and manages a diverse portfolio consisting primarily of
real estate securities.

Newcastle Investment Corp. is a real estate investment and finance
company located in New York City. The Company invests in a
diversified portfolio of real estate securities and other real
estate-related assets with a disciplined approach to managing assets
and financing.
The Company, which is taxed as a real estate
investment trust, seeks to deliver a strong dividend and superior
risk-adjusted returns on equity to stockholders in varying interest
rate and credit cycles. In October 2002, Newcastle completed the
initial public offering of its common stock, which is listed on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NCT.
Newcastle is managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group
LLC, a premier investment and asset management firm. Fortress has
provided a dedicated Newcastle executive management team with
extensive experience across the key disciplines necessary to
successfully execute our business model.

Newcastle also benefits
from its manager's investment and structuring expertise as well as a
consistent track record of delivering high returns to investors. In
addition, Fortress has a significant equity investment in
Newcastle."
As President of the United States Edwards could sure
have an impact
of the value of those goodies. Ahh, there's that "conflict of
interest" phrase again.
Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also a director of
Crown Castle International Corp. http://www.crowncastle.com/
"Crown Castle International rules over a kingdom of radio towers.
Its subsidiaries and joint ventures provide broadcast, data, and
wireless communications infrastructure services in Australia, Puerto
Rico, and the US. The company's clients include AT&T Mobility
(formerly Cingular), Optus, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless, and
Vodafone Australia. They lease antenna space on Crown Castle's more
than 24,000 owned or managed towers. The company has sites primarily
in the US and Puerto Rico, and has about 1,400 towers in Australia.

It also designs networks, selects and develops sites, and installs
antennas."
http://www.hoovers.com/crown-castle-international/--ID__57353--/free-
co-factsheet.xhtml
Wouldn't President Edwards have some influence on regulating lots of
that stuff?
Fortress Investment Group LLC's Mr. Edens is also a director of
GAGFAH S.A. http://www.gagfah.de/en/about_us.html "About Us
We are a nationwide Group that owns and manages a portfolio of
approximately 159,000 residential units. That makes us one of the
largest landlords in Germany." As President of the United States
Edwards could sure affect things like U.S.- German relations, which
in turn could impact on the value of those assets. There's
that "confict of interest" phrase again.

Mr. Edens was the Chief Executive Officer of Global Signal Inc. from
February 2004 to April 2006 and the Chairman of the board of
directors from October 2002 to January 2007.On October 6, 2006,
Crown Castle announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to
acquire Global Signal Inc. (NYSE: GSL)
http://investor.crowncastle.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=218828
Edens serves in various capacities in the following five registered
investment companies: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee
of Fortress Registered Investment Trust and Fortress Investment
Trust II; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fortress Brookdale
Investment Fund LLC and Fortress Pinnacle Investment Fund LLC and
Chief Executive Officer of RIC Coinvestment Fund GP LLC. Prior to
forming Fortress, Mr. Edens was a partner and a managing director of
BlackRock Financial Management Inc., where he headed BlackRock Asset
Investors, a private equity fund.

In addition, Mr. Edens was
formerly a partner and a managing director of Lehman Brothers. Mr.
Edens received a B.S. in Finance from Oregon State University."
"Fortress Brookdale Investment Fund, LLC (the "Company") was formed
on September 6, 2000 ...The members of the Company include
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company ("Northwestern"),
Weyerhauser Company Master Retirement Trust
("Weyerhauser"), and FIG Advisors LLC ("FIG", and together with
Northwestern and Weyerhauser, the "Members"), with FIG acting
as Advisory Member."
http://www.secinfo.com/dsvr4.389t.htm
http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ "Weyerhaeuser Company is an
international forest products company with annual sales of $21.9
billion. Our company was founded in 1900 and currently employs about
41,000 people in 18 countries. We've ranked in the Fortune 200 since
1956"
Timberlands: Australia Canada New Zealand United States Uruguay."
Wonder what President Edwards policy towards firms like Weyerhaeuser
will be?

"Fortress Pinnacle Investment Fund LLC (the "Company") was formed on
July
24, 2002 The members of the Company include Weyerhauser Company
Master Retirement
Trust ("Weyeryauser"), Aurora Cayman Limited ("Aurora"), Morgan
Stanley
Private Markets Fund I ("Morgan Stanley"), Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
("HHMI") and FIG Advisors LLC ("FIG" and together with Weyerhauser,
Aurora, Morgan Stanley and HHMI, the "Members"), with FIG acting as
Advisory Member."
http://www.secinfo.com/dsvr4.22aw.htm

"Published on June 15, 2006 By Don Bauder...When taking control of
companies, Aurora Capital set up entities in the Cayman Islands
controlled by the Aurora partners...

"Published on June 15, 2006
By Don Bauder
..... Aurora Capital set up entities in the
Cayman Islands controlled by the Aurora partners, This strategy
raises numerous questions, as do most corporate
adventures in offshore tax and secrecy havens. There are no capital
gains taxes in the Caymans. Nor are there corporate or personal
income taxes, withholding taxes, gift or inheritance taxes, sales
taxes, or employment taxes.
I asked one of San Diego's foremost securities lawyers, who did not
want to be identified, about Aurora's Cayman Islands entities. The
response: "It probably means hidden ownership or tax avoidance,"
although there could be other explanations....

David Dunn of La
Jolla's Idanta Partners has long been San Diego's most prominent
venture capitalist. ...I described to Dunn the Caymans
structures. "There are several reasons people locate over there. I
have never done it," says Dunn. "Lack of disclosure requirements is
one, and two is tax avoidance." Such an offshore operation can
relieve a U.S. company of "a lot of securities regulations in the
U.S. and a lot of disclosure rules." The company may be able to
delay disclosure of deals. Use of offshore havens can facilitate
asset transfers within families too.

"It's bad to generalize," says Dunn. "There may be other reasons and
valid reasons." The big tax advantage could be on relief from
capital gains taxes when shares are sold, he says....
I scoured documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In 1994, Aurora Capital organized a company called
Aftermarket Technology, which distributes rebuilt auto and truck
parts. To put the company together, Aurora purchased four auto parts
companies. Aftermarket is now based near Chicago.
In late 1996, Aurora made a public offering of the shares. Aurora
Equity Partners, based in the United States, had 10.7 million
shares. A group of Cayman Islands-based entities with the
name "Overseas" in them had 4.5 million shares. ...

The insiders such as Aurora paid $1.67 per share, and outside
investors paid $13.50 each.
By late March of 2005, the Aurora entities, including those based in
the Caymans, had sold all their shares for between $14 and $18....
In late 2004, the Aurora group paid $1 billion for K&F Industries,
which makes aircraft wheels, brakes, and brake-control systems. It's
the largest supplier of wheels and brakes to the U.S. military.
Aurora financed the buyout mainly with debt and in 2005 took the
company public. Most of the proceeds from the offering went to pay
off the debt incurred for the buyout and to pay a fat dividend to
the insiders. The prospectus warned, "We do not intend to use any of
the proceeds of this offering to grow our business or develop new
products, which could negatively impact the value of your
investment."

In short, the leveraged buyout had little economic
purpose other than to enrich the insiders. It's called financial
engineering.
K&F had been spun off by Loral, a bankrupt aerospace company. When
Aurora took K&F public, there were accounting changes made. "It's
buyer beware on this kind of stuff," analyst Francis Gaskins of
Ipodesktop.com told Reuters at the time. In addition, he was
concerned about the debt piled up in the buyout. K&F warns in its
filings that it has "substantial debt," now two-thirds of its
capitalization....The Aurora partners...own more than half of K&F
(now called K&F Industries Holdings) through both domestic and
Cayman Islands entities. The Caymans units have names like Aurora
Overseas Equity Partners II and Aurora Overseas Capital Partners II.
The K&F insiders, including the Caymans units, paid $2.16 a share,
and the new investors paid $17.50.

When Aurora partners start
selling their shares, questions will be raised: Are capital gains
taxes being paid? Is Aurora taking advantage of other offshore tax
breaks? Is Aurora dodging some disclosure requirements? Are there
hidden partners taking shelter in the Caymans? If Aurora is not
using the tax and secrecy advantages offered by the Caymans, why
bother setting up these entities?"
http://www.sdreader.com/php/cityshow.php?id=20060625
"BlackRock is a premier provider of global investment management,
risk management, and advisory services. As of March 31, 2007, the
firm manages US$1.1 trillion across fixed income, equity, liquidity,
asset allocation/balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies.
Clients include corporate, public, and union pension plans,
insurance companies, mutual funds, endowments, foundations,
charities, corporations, official institutions, and individuals
worldwide.

Through BlackRock Solutions, the firm offers risk management and
advisory services that combine capital markets expertise with
proprietarily-developed systems and technology. BlackRock Solutions
provides risk management and enterprise investment services for
US$4.5 trillion in assets.

BlackRock's story has always been one of evolution. Since our
founding in 1988 as a primarily institutional fixed income manager,
we have continually looked for ways to enhance our ability to serve
clients. Not only have we sought to broaden and deepen our general
capabilities, we have also tried to capitalize on the key macro
trends that are shaping the future of asset management. The most
recent step in our development is our merger with Merrill Lynch
Investment Managers, which closed September 29, 2006, significantly
increasing our assets under management and, more important,
transforming our business into a truly global one.
In Merrill Lynch Investment Managers we found a partner that gives
us extraordinary global scale and enhances our collective ability to
serve institutions, financial intermediaries and individuals.
Learn more about our combination with Merrill Lynch Investment
Managers.BlackRock has long focused on a cross-disciplinary team
approach in which clients benefit from the pooled expertise of the
firm's resources: our investment and risk management professionals
and our proprietary analytical tools. In addition to excellent
performance, BlackRock is committed to delivering a high level of
service tailored to the needs of each client.

BlackRock's client base includes corporate, public and Taft-Hartley
pension plans, insurance companies, mutual funds, endowments,
foundations, nuclear decommissioning trusts, corporations, banks and
individuals across the globe. Headquartered in New York, BlackRock
has offices around the globe, and maintains a major presence in key
markets in Asia, Australia, Europe, Japan, the Middle East, the
United Kingdom, and the United States.
BlackRock is independent in ownership and governance, with no single
majority stockholder and a majority of independent directors. In
terms of equity, Merrill Lynch's stake is approximately 49%, while
PNC Financial Services Group retains an interest of about 34%; the
remaining 17% is held by BlackRock employees and the public."
http://www2.blackrock.com/global/home/AboutUs/index.htm
http://www2.blackrock.com/global/home/index.htm

President Edwards could sure affect lots of those things now
couldn't he?
"Mr. Edens serves in various capacities in the following five
registered investment companies: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
and Trustee of Fortress Registered Investment Trust and Fortress
Investment Trust II; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Fortress Brookdale Investment Fund LLC and Fortress Pinnacle
Investment Fund LLC and Chief Executive Officer of RIC Coinvestment
Fund GP LLC."
We do not know if the firm called Fortress Pinnacle Investment Fund
LLC has any connection whatsoever with Pinnacle Development Partners,
LLC ("Pinnacle"), a purported real estate investment fund based in
Atlanta. If anyone knows please post
that information one way or another. We are seeking the truth here
and could use your help to find out if there is any connection at all
between these firms.

"March 8th, 2007 ATLANTA, GA - GENE A. O'NEAL, 36, of Atlanta,
Georgia, made an initial appearance today before a United States
Magistrate Judge on federal charges of mail and wire fraud. O'NEAL
allegedly ran a scheme that defrauded investors in Pinnacle
Development Partners, LLC ("Pinnacle"), a purported real estate
investment fund based in Atlanta.
HEAD OF PURPORTED REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT FUND INDICTED IN $69
MILLION PONZI SCHEME; MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE IN COURT"
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/index.html
" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, March 8, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/GAM CONTACT: Patrick Crosby
PHONE: (404) 581-6016
FAX: (404) 581-6160
HEAD OF PURPORTED REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT FUND INDICTED IN $69
MILLION PONZI SCHEME; MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE IN COURT
Defendant Gene O'Neal Guaranteed A 25% Return On Investment In 60
Days
Atlanta, GA - GENE A. O'NEAL, 36, of Atlanta, Georgia, made an
initial appearance today before a United States Magistrate Judge on
federal charges of mail and wire fraud. O'NEAL allegedly ran a
scheme that defrauded investors in Pinnacle Development Partners,
LLC ("Pinnacle"), a purported real estate investment fund based in
Atlanta. O'NEAL was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charges
earlier this week.

"O'Neal's promises of huge returns in a short period opened the
floodgates to investment," said United States Attorney David E.
Nahmias. "He allegedly raised more than $69 million in 15 months by
making promises of exorbitant returns from the purchase, improvement
and sale of real estate. He then used the capital contributions of
later investors to pay the returns promised to earlier investors.
Contrary to what he told his investors, O'Neal allegedly did not
realize the hefty returns he guaranteed but rather continued to draw
in everincreasing amounts of investment from other investors and
therefore ever-increasing amounts of unsustainable but undisclosed
debt."

FBI Special Agent In Charge Greg Jones said, " This case not only
demonstrates that the FBI is well suited to pursue such cases of
large scale fraudulent investments or ponzi schemes, with their
victims scattered over many states, it also demonstrates that we are
committed to such a pursuit. The economic losses sustained by the
victims of such schemes reverberates throughout our community in
many ways. We hope that this investigation and the resulting
indictment will serve notice to others contemplating any similar
type financial schemes."

Inspector-in-Charge Martin D. Phanco said, "From the boiler room to
the boardroom, United States Postal Inspectors work around the clock
enforcing more than 200 federal laws in support of its mission by
protecting the nation's mail system from criminal misuse. We will
always remain steadfast in our efforts to investigate those 2
individuals or corporations who are responsible for illegally using
the U.S. Mail in the furtherance of their fraudulent schemes."
According to the indictment and the documents and information
presented in court: Beginning in July 2005, Pinnacle, which was
founded by O'NEAL and headquartered in Atlanta, allegedly began
telling investors they could make a 25% profit in 45 days, which
later became a 25% profit in 60 days, upon investment in
partnerships Pinnacle formed to acquire real property. Investors
were told that Pinnacle was in the business of purchasing
distressed, foreclosed or bank-owned real estate, which Pinnacle
intended to "flip" for a profit after making minor repairs and
cosmetic improvements.

Pinnacle solicited investment by running more
than $2.5 million worth of advertising in national and local media
publications.
As a result of his aggressive advertising campaign
promising 25% returns in either 45 or 60 days, O'NEAL induced more
than 2,000 investors from throughout the United States and some
foreign countries to invest more than $69 million in just 15 months.
Pinnacle allegedly represented in its offering materials that its
real property had been and continued to be sold at a substantial
profit to third parties, that it contributed 50% of its own capital
to the acquisition costs of its real property and that its investors
were secured by being individually named on the deeds to Pinnacle
real estate.
The indictment alleges that, in fact, Pinnacle never
sold, or for that matter significantly developed or improved, any of
the real property it bought with investor funds and therefore never
generated any income with which to pay the 25% profits, plus a
return of principal, O'NEAL had guaranteed his investors. To pay the
false returns promised to Pinnacle investors, which upon
reinvestment was compounding 25% every 60 days, O'NEAL
allegedly "recycled" more than $25 million in invested capital from
later investors to earlier investors, who were falsely told that
their returns were being paid from the development and sale of
Pinnacle real property.

According to the indictment, over a period of time, as huge amounts
of investment poured in, Pinnacle allegedly acquired larger and
considerably more expensive, both in terms of acquisition and
development costs, parcels of real estate. Investors were told that
this real estate would be developed in phases, with Pinnacle
partnerships holding the properties, for 60 days at a time, during
the various stages of development.

In fact, however, of the 21 real
estate parcels Pinnacle bought, only half were assigned to a
Pinnacle partnership and less than half of the partnerships Pinnacle
formed ever appeared as record owners or partial record owners of
Pinnacle real property, meaning that investors associated with the
majority of Pinnacle's partnerships were never assigned to a
property, much less individually named on its deed.
In addition, the multi-family structures and raw land Pinnacle
purchased (using 100% investor assets) required extensive and
lengthy
rehabilitation and development to ever generate income or be sold at
a profit.
To conceal the fact that Pinnacle was neither selling nor otherwise
developing its properties, O'NEAL allegedly directed that certain of
them be transferred between and 3 among Pinnacle partnerships.
Although these were merely paper transactions and did not involve an
actual sale, the transfer prices were as much as 10 times the
initial acquisition price, thereby fostering the illusion that
properties were being developed and sold at significant profits.
Aside from the $2.5 million spent on advertising, O'NEAL also
allegedly used investor assets to pay more than $2.5 million in
salary and commissions, more than $700,000 to furnish Pinnacle's
offices, and more than $3.5 million in general and administrative
expenditures. Pinnacle's investors also bought, among other things,
a $72,000 Land Rover, a $69,000 Cadillac Escalade and, for O'NEAL's
personal benefit, a $117,000 Maserati and $26,000 worth of jewelry.
The indictment's 19 mail and wire fraud counts each carry a maximum
term of imprisonment of 20 years and a maximum fine of $250,000 per
count.

The indictment also seeks forfeiture of all proceeds of the
alleged fraud.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against
the Defendant and Pinnacle Development Partners, in October 2006,
seeking an injunction against the alleged fraudulent activity,
appointment of a receivership, and other relief. A federal judge in
Atlanta issued a preliminary injunction and appointed a receiver,
who has taken charge of the business and assets of Pinnacle
Development Partners.

The pleadings and reports filed by the
receiver are publicly available in the court's docket, under the
civil action entitled U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v.
Pinnacle Development Partners LLC and Gene O'Neil, 1:06-CV-2431-JTC
(N.D.Ga October 11, 2006).
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains
charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it
will be the government's burden to prove the defendant's guilt
beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and Postal Inspectors with the United States
Postal Inspection Service.

Assistant United States Attorneys Justin Anand and Paul Monnin are
prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced
NAH-meus), United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander,
Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby,
Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016.
The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office
for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.
http://atlanta.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/ponzischeme030807.htm

GENE A. O'NEAL
Office Address: 2221 D. PEACHTREE ROAD, N.E.
SUITE 476
Atlanta GA 30309

If it helps we were able to find an address for GENE A. O'NEAL
However keeping track of who is who here is not an easy thing. There
may be no connection whatsover between Pinnacle Development
Partners, LLC ("Pinnacle"), a purported real estate investment fund
based in Atlanta, and the firm called Fortress Pinnacle Investment
Fund LLC.

Please post your findings one way or the other.

"Harry Macklowe paid $7 billion for the 568,060-square-foot Park
Avenue Tower at 65 East 55th Street; the 465,173-square-foot 717
Fifth Avenue; the 1.8-million-square-foot 1301 Sixth Avenue; the 1.7-
million-square-foot Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue; the
215,322-square-foot 527 Madison Avenue; the 906,287-square-foot 1540
Broadway; the 562,567-square-foot 850 Third Avenue; and the 182,000-
square-foot Tower 56 at 126 East 56th Street. Financing was provided
by Deutsche Bank and Fortress Investment Group, ... The deal came
just before the Blackstone Group closed on its $39 billion
acquisition of Equity Office Properties, saving Blackstone $212
million in transfer taxes."
http://www.therealdeal.net/deals/sales.php?
deals_sales_sort_order=DESC&deals_sales_sort_field=price

We wonder what the conflicts of interest, if any might be on things
like "Federal Contracts for Lease or rental of facilities, FY 2001,
list ...FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP LLC, FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP
LLC; FORTRESS GSA PARFET ... CMD REALTY INVESTMENT FUND III, RMI
CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO LTD, $954000 ...
www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?
database=fpds&reptype=r&detail=0&datype=T&sortby=f&... - 157k

"Federal Contracts for Lease or rental of facilities, FY 2002,
list ...
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, CITY OF ATLANTA, $22573258 ...
FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP LLC, FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP LLC;
FORTRESS GSA PARFET; ...
www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?
database=fpds&reptype=r&detail=0&datype=T&sortby=f&... - 157k -
and how those alleged "conflicts of interest", if they existed,
would be handled by President Edwards.

"Edwards Discusses Time at Hedge Fund
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 8, 2007; 9:48 PM
WASHINGTON -- Democrat John Edwards said Tuesday that he worked for
a hedge fund between presidential campaigns to learn about financial
markets and their relationship to poverty _ and to make money too.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the former North Carolina
senator said his yearlong, part-time position with Fortress
Investment Group helped his understanding of the connection but he
has more to learn. Edwards has made eradicating poverty a focus of
his second White House bid.

Edwards, a multimillionaire after years as a trial lawyer, would not
disclose how much he got paid for a year of consulting beginning in
October 2005. He said the amount will be revealed when he releases
his financial disclosure forms due May 15.

Asked if he had to join a hedge fund to learn about financial
markets, Edwards replied, "How else would I have done it?"
He said he considered going to an investment firm such as Goldman
Sachs, but Fortress was the most natural fit. Presented with the
suggestion that he could have taken a university class instead, he
said, "That's true.""It was primarily to learn, but making money was
a good thing, too," the 2004 vice presidential nominee said in an
hourlong interview with AP reporters and editors.
Hedge funds, now numbering more than 9,000 in the U.S. with assets
estimated to exceed $1 trillion, traditionally cater to the rich, as
well as pension funds and university endowments, but are
increasingly luring less wealthy investors.

Fortress Investment Group, founded in 1998, describes itself as "a
leading global alternative asset manager" with approximately $35.1
billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2006. The
company is headquartered in New York with affiliates around the
world.
Fortress was the single biggest employer of Edwards donors during
the first three months of the year. Donors who listed "Fortress" as
their employer contributed $67,450 to Edwards' campaign and
supporters who identified their employer as "Fortress Investment
Group" gave $55,200 to the campaign, according to Federal Election
Commission records.

Hedge funds also have another connection to the Democratic
presidential race _ Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Edwards' rival Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, works for a firm called Avenue Capital Group.
Edwards said it's fair to ask questions about whether there is a
contradiction between campaigning against poverty while working for
a hedge fund designed to make rich people richer. But he said the
job was a complement to his position as the head of a poverty center
at the University of North Carolina, something he said he didn't
describe adequately when asked about the hedge fund during the first
Democratic debate last month."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2007/05/08/AR2007050800899_2.html
Fortress Buying Florida's Flagler Development in $3.5B Deal
Sale of Florida East Coast Industries Inc. Includes 8.8M-SF
Portfolio of Office, Industrial Assets
One day after announcing it had $2.84 billion in commitments for a
newly launched private equity fund, Fortress Investment Group LLC
(NYSE:FIG) struck a deal to acquire Florida East Coast Industries
Inc. (NYSE: FLA), a Jacksonville, FL-based real estate developer and
railway owner in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.5 billion.
Funds managed by Fortress will pay about $84 per share for Florida
East Coast Industries, broken out into a special dividend of $21.50
and $62.50 per share. The total price represents a 13.3% premium to
the stock's closing price on Monday. The deal also includes the
assumption of debt.

Fortress, a hedge fund manager and private equity investor that
recently went public, said the new fund will invest in asset-based
businesses and asset portfolios, primarily in North America and
Western Europe.

Florida East Coast Industries owns and operates Flagler Development
Group, one of the premier developers in the state with a portfolio
of office and industrial properties totaling about 8.8 million
square feet, primarily located in Jacksonville, Ft. Lauderdale,
Orlando and Miami. Flagler also provides construction, consulting,
brokerage and property management services.

The company currently has about 1.8 million square feet under
construction and also owns about 853 acres of entitled land in
Florida, which could accommodate about 16.1 million square feet of
development. In addition, Flagler has more than 3,000 acres of
Florida real estate in its land bank that is not yet entitled.
The company's other line of business is the Florida East Coast
Railway LLC, a regional freight railroad that operates 351 miles of
mainline track between Jacksonville and Miami.

The buyout, which is scheduled to close in the third quarter of
2007, comes at an opportune time for Florida East Coast Industries,
which suffered a drop in earnings by about 50% in the first quarter
of the year. Net income plummeted by 50% to $9.04 million from $18.7
million for the first three months of 2006. Revenue during the
quarter dropped to $108 million from $136 million.
The company attributed the decline in revenue to a $43.9 million
decrease in land sales and a $7.3 million dip in railway revenue.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal advisor to
Fortress."
http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?
id=59003BE247EF59D01FB5A1E23434E674&ref=1

AND CONSIDER THIS FROM ANOTHER SOURCE:
"Kerry's top contributor, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, has
given nearly $106,000 to his campaign."

AND THIS FROM YET ANOTHER SOURCE:
"Trouble With Uranium Processing Co. H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press April 11, 2000 WASHINGTON (AP) - Less than two
years after the government sold its uranium business, the private
company it created to take on the job is mired in financial
quicksand. The deal is also jeopardizing a crucial nuclear security
agreement with Russia , critics say. USEC Inc.'s (NYSE:USU -news)
first 20 months as a private company have been anything but smooth.
Its stock has dropped 70 percent, its credit rating is in junk bond
territory, and its earnings have nose dived. Amid the financial
turmoil, lawmakers and others are questioning the sale.

A congressional investigation has been under way for a year, with the
first public hearings scheduled this week. While investors have lost
millions of dollars, some of the people who pushed hardest for an
initial stock offering have profited handsomely.
"A number of lobbyists, company insiders and investment bankers made
a killing financially," said Charles Lewis, director of the Center
for Public Integrity, a private government watchdog.

In all, Wall Street bankers, Washington lawyers and lobbyists – many
with close ties to the Clinton administration – earned more than $75
million on the $1.9 billion sale, according to contracts and
interviews. Among those talking up the stock offering in 1998 on
Capitol Hill and in the White House were Susan Thomases, a New York
lawyer and confidante of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Greg Simon,
formerly Vice President Al Gore's domestic policy adviser. The law
firm of Skadden Arps, which represented President Clinton in the
Paula Jones case, was USEC's lead attorney in the deal.....

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY)
Top Contributors source:
http://www.opensecrets.org
Citigroup Inc $205,160 2 Goldman Sachs $171,290 3 Metropolitan Life
$154,350 4 Corning Inc $133,900 5 Time Warner $128,410 6 JP Morgan
Chase & Co $115,350 7 Morgan Stanley $110,010 8 Skadden, Arps et al
$91,030 9 International Profit Assoc $88,400 10 Ernst & Young
$88,225 11 New York Life Insurance $86,250 12 Viacom Inc $84,380 13
Cablevision Systems $82,800 14 Kirkland & Ellis $73,150 15 Cendant
Corp $72,450 16 Akin, Gump et al $64,250 17 Lehman Brothers $57,190
18 Patton Boggs LLP $54,138 19 Debevoise & Plimpton $51,500 20
Verizon Communications $51,020 We hope that you will remember the
name of Skadden, Arps et al in the list of contributors to Hillary
Rodham Clinton from http://www.opensecrets.org above can you find
any other contributors to Hillary from the list above in the list of
clients of SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER, & FLOM LLP
below?

"SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER, & FLOM LLP" is the lobbyist.
The following were listed as their clients:
AK STEEL CO
ALCATEL NORTH AMERICA
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LIFE INSURERS
AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSN
AMERICAN INTL GROUP
AOL-TIME WARNER
AX THE DOUBLE TAX COALITION
BEAR STEARNS & CO
BELL ATLANTIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS
BETHLEHEM STEEL CORP
BOND MARKET ASSN
BURLINGTON RESOURCES OIL & GAS CO
CHICAGO DEFERRED EXCHANGE CORPORATION
CINERGY CORP
CITIGROUP MANAGEMENT CORP
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE CO
COMSAT CORP
COOLGAS INC
CORNING
COUNTY OF WILL , IL
DIAGNOSTIC RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS
ENRON CORP
ENTERGY CORP
ENTERGY-KOCH LP
EVANS, BILLY LEE
EVERGREEN INTL AVIATION
FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND
FMR CORP
FORT HOWARD CORP
FRUIT OF THE LOOM
FSC COALITION
GLAXO SMITH
GLOBAL CROSSING
GRANITE BROADCASTING
GREATER MEDIA
INSCAP
ISPAT INLAND INC.
KIEWITS SONS,
LOCKHEED MARTIN GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS INC
LTV STEEL
MCI TELECOMMUNICATIONS
MERRILL LYNCH
MEYER-CHETFIELD3
NATL ASSN OF BROADCASTERS
NATL ASSN OF ENERGY SERVICE COS
NATL STEEL
NBC AFFILIATES BOARD
NEW WORLD COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
NEWS CORP
NOL COALITION
PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH & MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA
RAYON YARN CORP
SARA LEE CORP
SEQUENT COMPUTER SYSTEMS
SIGNET GROUP PLC
STANLEY WORKS
TAX FAIRNESS COALITION
TELIGENT
TEMPLE-INLAND
TENANT IN COMMON ASSN
TOSHIBA POWER SYSTEMS
UNION PACIFIC
US AIRWAYS
US STEEL GROUP
VERIZON COMMUNICATION
Source:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_te
asers/clientlist_page_S.htm
"Nature of Practice
Established in 1990, the Paris office of Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates ("Skadden, Arps" or "Skadden") has
four partners, one of counsel, four counsel and 20 associates. The
Paris office advises clients principally in the areas of mergers and
acquisitions, corporate and structured finance, taxation,
litigation, and international arbitration, banking and real estate.
The Paris office is registered with the Paris Bar and most of its
attorneys are admitted as avocats with the Paris Bar. A number of
the attorneys in the Paris office are also qualified in New York .
Practice Areas Mergers and Acquisitions Corporate and Structured
Finance General
Corporate" "
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2006/09/allen_
critics_e.html
http://newsbusters.org/node/8893
BARACK OBAMA (D)
Top Contributors
UBS Americas $162,200
Exelon Corp $159,800
Goldman Sachs $146,100
Sidley Austin LLP $105,750
Jenner & Block $81,322
Jones, Day et al $76,000
Kirkland & Ellis $72,251
Time Warner $63,300
Williams & Connolly $58,350
Harvard University $57,500
Citigroup Inc $56,000
Credit Suisse Securities $47,500
Skadden, Arps et al $43,550
WilmerHale $41,950
Morgan Stanley $41,850
Level 3 Communications $38,900
Viacom Inc $38,700
Lehman Brothers $38,400
Ariel Capital Management $37,900
Pajcic & Pajcic $36,800
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008
"From the NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 9:07 p.m. EDT
John Edwards is Stakeholder in Sunken Treasure
TheStreet.com was questioning Wednesday how much of the $500 million
sunken treasure found in the Atlantic last weekend belongs to
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
The treasure ship, brimming with gold and silver, was found at the
bottom of the Atlantic by exploration company, Florida-based Odyssey
Marine Research (OMR).
TheStreet.com has ferreted out that Edwards is the senior advisor
and major investor in the major shareholder of OMR, New York-based
Fortress Investments, a private equity and hedge fund manager.
Furthermore, according to TheStreet, Edwards' personal financial
disclosures show he's an investor in the exclusive Drawbridge Global
Macro Fund, which owns the 9.9 percent stake in OMR.
In a complex holding, Fortress owns 3.1 million shares, plus
millions more in preferred stock and warrants. Total economic
interest is the equivalent of 6.98 million shares. Profits in the
last week already come to $19 million, reported TheStreet.
OMR stock, which closed at $4.60 before news of the discovery, has
climbed to $7.35. The value of Fortress' stake could be as much as
$51 million.

While OMR stock peaked Monday morning at just over $9, valuing the
company at well above $400 million, the shares have come off sharply
since claims by the Spanish government that the treasure might be
Spanish and they may elect to sue for ownership. "
Speaking of Fortress
"Dr. Richard N. Haass
Director
Dr. Haass has been a member of Fortress Investment Group's board of
directors since February 2007. Dr. Haass is president of the Council
on Foreign Relations, a position he has held since July 2003. Prior
to his current position, Dr. Haass was director of policy planning
for the U.S. Department of State, where he was a principal adviser
to Secretary of State Colin Powell on a broad range of foreign
policy concerns, and acted as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the
future of Afghanistan and the lead U.S. government official in
support of the Northern Ireland peace process. From 1989 to 1993,
Dr. Haass was special assistant to President George Bush and senior
director for Near East and South Asian affairs on the staff of the
National Security Council. Previously, he served in various posts in
the United States Departments of State and Defense. Dr. Haass has
received the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award and the
Presidential Citizens Medal.

Dr. Haass has been director of foreign
policy studies at the Brookings Institution and taught at or been
associated in various capacities with Hamilton College, the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, Harvard University's Kennedy
School of Government and the International Institute for Strategic
Studies. Dr. Haass holds a bachelor's from Oberlin College and both
a Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University."
http://www.fortressinv.com/site_content.aspx?s=17

"ZOA Disappointed That Richard Haass, Who Has Blamed Israel For Arab
Violence, Is Keynote Speaker At Y.U. Dinner
March 29, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morton A. Klein, 212-481-1500
NEW YORK - The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is disappointed
that Yeshiva University has chosen as the keynote speaker for a Y.U.
dinner this week Richard Haass, a veteran State Department official
who during his years in office repeatedly criticized and pressured
Israel and justified the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and more
recently blamed Israel for "provoking" Palestinian Arab terrorism.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein has sent a letter to Yeshiva
University president Richard Joel, expressing the ZOA's strong
disappointment over the choice of Haass, in view of Haass's record
on Israel.

Haas is scheduled to be the featured speaker at Yeshiva University's
dinner at the Park East Synagogue in New York City on March 31,
2004.

Blamed Israel for "provoking" Palestinian Arab terrorism: In a June
1997 policy brief that he authored for the Brookings Institute,
Haass said that Israeli housing construction in the Jerusalem
neighborhood was a "provocation" that was to blame for Palestinian
Arab terrorism—ignoring the countless terrorist attacks that took
place in the weeks and months prior to the Har Homa controversy.
Haass wrote: "Violence does not occur in a vacuum. What has provided
a context or even impetus for the latest surge in Palestinian acts
of violence are Israeli decisions. The most provocative was the
decision in February to break ground for new housing at the Har Homa
settlement in eastern Jerusalem." (Forward, Jan. 28, 2000)
Authored Bush's infamous `91 speech against loan guarantees for
Israel: According to Newsweek (June 1, 1992), Haass "wrote Bush's
comments last September [1991] attacking Israel's congressional push
for loan guarantees."

The Long Island Jewish World reported that "Jewish leaders and rank
and file" regarded Bush's comments "as one of the most mean-spirited
addresses by an American president in recent memory." Shoshana
Cardin, chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, called Bush's remarks "disturbing." Dr. Daniel
Pipes, then of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that "Jew-
haters will cite [Bush's speech] as a reference point for years to
come." After Bush made his statements, "the White House received a
rush of congratulatory letters with decidedly anti-Semitic
overtones," according to the Metro West Jewish News (Oct. 2, 1992)
Tried to stifle Jews' criticism of Bush: In April 1992, when many
American Jews were expressing concern over the Bush-Baker policy of
pressuring Israel, Haass appeared at a meeting with Jewish leaders
in New York City and urged them "to make special efforts to `cool
the rhetoric' over U.S. policy in the Middle East." (New York Jewish
Week, April 24-30, 1992)

Justified Syria's occupation of Lebanon: Speaking at the University
of Miami in 1992, Haass "asserted that Lebanon was better off now,
with Syria having imposed de facto control, than it was two years
ago with chaos caused by Lebanese militia." (Miami Jewish Tribune,
April 10-16, 1992)

Moment Article Called Haass a "Jewish Arabist": Haass was described
as a "Jewish Arabist" in an article in Moment magazine (April 1991)
by former Near East Report editor Eric Rozenman. He wrote that Haass
was one of those responsible for shaping the Bush-Baker policy that
was "indifferent to what Israel claimed as vital interests and
undiplomatically hostile to Israel's prime minister" and had made
it "the least sympathetic American government toward Israel in that
country's 43 years."
* * *
The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1897, is the oldest
pro-Israel organization in the United States. The ZOA works to
strengthen U.S.-Israel relations, educates the American public and
Congress about the dangers that Israel faces, and combats anti-
Israel bias in the media and on college campuses. Its past
presidents have included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and
Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver."
http://www.zoa.org/2004/03/zoa_disappointe_6.htm

"John Edwards Calls War on Terror Bush's 'Bumper Sticker' Slogan
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
NEW YORK — Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards, in a major
foreign policy speech Wednesday, minimized the Bush administration's
War on Terror as nothing more than a "bumper sticker slogan" used to
justify the war in Iraq and "bludgeon political opponents."

"It is now clear that George Bush's misnamed 'War on Terror' has
backfired — and is now part of the problem," Edwards told the
Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275028,00.html

"Critics heap scorn on Edwards
Speaking fee, remarks draw fire
CHARLOTTE - Critics have blasted Democratic presidential candidate
John Edwards for calling the "war on terror" "a slogan designed only
for politics" and "a bumper sticker, not a plan."
Edwards made the comments Wednesday in a speech to the Council on
Foreign Relations in New York. He offered a stinging critique of the
Bush administration's global war on terrorism.
"He has used this doctrine like a sledgehammer to justify the worst
abuses and biggest mistakes of his administration," Edwards told the
council. "The war on terror has damaged our alliances and weakened
our standing in the world."
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, the former New York
mayor, said Wednesday, "When you go so far as to suggest the global
war on terror is a bumper sticker or a slogan, it kind of makes the
point that I have been making over and over again, that the
Democrats, or at least some of them, are in denial. There is not a
global war on terror because of George Bush."
Commentator Rush Limbaugh called Edwards' comments "truly dangerous
and just ignorant." S.C. GOP Chairman Katon Dawson said
Edwards "endangers the lives of Americans at home and abroad by
trivializing terrorist threats." read the rest at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/579509.html
" Friends of Jimmy Carter
In a Newsweek interview, a Mideast leader has kind words for a
former president and several other prominent Americans:
You weren't encouraged at all by the recommendations of the Baker-
Hamilton report?
[President] Bush ignored the Baker-Hamilton report and the positions
and reports of a number of American figures and former officials,
such as [former national-security adviser Zbigniew] Brzezinski,
[Council on Foreign Relations president] Richard Haass and former
U.S. president Carter. Bush continues to adopt the same philosophy:
if power does not succeed in achieving the objective, then more
power will.
Still, some Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer seem to be
making an effort to reach out.
I believe [Pelosi's recent visit to Syria] was a step in the right
direction. Wise people in the U.S. should realize that Israel and
the fundamentalist American conservative right have both become
burdens on the interests and the future of America.
And who's saying this? Khaled Meshal, described by Newsweek as
the "most powerful figure" in the terrorist group Hamas. With
friends like these . . .
http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110010052
"Khaled Meshal prays with Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniya yesterday
in Mecca"
http://fpwatch.blogspot.com/2007/02/khaled-meshal-prays-with-mahmoud-
abbas.html

Hamas and Israel
12 July 2006
Khaled Meshal, a leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas,
says that Israel should free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for
Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier whom Hamas kidnapped two
week ago. From his safe haven in Syria, Mr. Meshal says this is what
the Palestinians want.
U.S State Department spokesman Sean McCormack questions how Khaled
Meshal "knows exactly what the Palestinian people want":
"It might be easy for him to dictate from Damascus and to speak on
behalf of the Palestinian people, but it is really the Palestinian
people themselves who suffer as a result of the fact that Khaled
Meshal and Hamas are now head of the Palestinian Authority that is
not a negotiating partner for the Israeli government or the rest of
the world."

Hamas, says Mr. McCormack, is "not interested in turning away from
terror":

"They're not interested in recognizing Israeli's right to exist. So
it is really Khaled Meshal and the Hamas-led government that is
standing in the way of a better way of life for the Palestinian
people. So, you know, it's easy for him to sit up in Damascus and
make pronouncements, but he and his organization are the ones who
are standing in the way of a better way of life and a better future
for the Palestian people."

In response to the capture of one of its soldiers, Israel has sent
troops into Gaza to search for him. Mr. McCormack says the
kidnapping of Corporal Shalit is "the root cause of the current
situation."

"We're working towards -- and the states in the region are working
towards – gaining his release. Israel. . . .certainly has the right
to defend itself. We have called upon Israel to avoid any civilian
casualties that it possibly can in its activities."

The Palestinian Authority has "certain internationally recognized
responsibilities to stop terror and to dismantle terrorist
networks," says State department spokesman Sean McCormack. The
U.S. "call[s] upon them to do so."

The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United
States Government. "
http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/archive/2006-07/2006-07-12-voa2.cfm
And what will the views of the United States Government be under
President Edwards?

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
Here is Peter Bart's direct quote about Edwards: "Perhaps the
greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the
possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities." The
Edwards campaign is now attempting to tamp down the damage of Bart's
report and is, accordingly, retracting the quote. According to the
Associated Press, "Edwards says one of the greatest short-term
threats to world peace is Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon."
I find it interesting that the Edwards Campaign is disputing the
accuracy of an essentially friendly story.

As far as the language characterizing Edwards remarks as "labeling
Israel the greatest threat to world peace," that characterization is
indeed mine as Jonah Goldberg states, and not the direct quote taken
from Peter Bart above. If the Bart version of the facts is true —
and the AP reports that Bart and Variety are standing by his story —
I stand by my analysis below.
Posted in Blogs and the NetRoots, Jews and Judaism, Middle East
Politics |
Wonkette Jumps the Shark; John Edwards, Empty Suit

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
It's encouraging to read the kind of thoughtful, intelligent
discussion of foreign affairs, I discovered on Wonkette today. Over
the years, I have found that Wonkette has done an admirable job of
dishing up a tasty mix of political gossip and Washington-based
insight. Today, I visit the site to see what it has to say on John
Edwards jaw-droppingly appalling remarks labeling Israel, in effect,
the greatest threat to world peace.
(In case you missed it, Peter
Bart of Variety wrote the initial story here.)
Wonkette suggests, in response to critiques on NRO and elsewhere,
that Edwards' act of "stating the obvious" is impossible in today's
world and "requires taking your lips off Israel's ass for a few
seconds, and that's fatal for any American politician with
presidential ambitions. This isn't because Jews get upset or
Israel's feelings will get hurt or anything. It's because of batshit
insane evangelical American Jesus Freaks who have to love and
protect Israel so Jesus will come back and destroy it."

Wonkette is incorrect here on a couple of things. First, it is a
canard to suggest as Wonkette and others that supporters of Israel
block debate on Israeli policy.
The very smart and up-and-coming
writer James Kirchick offered a devastating rebuttal to this notion
in a Washington Examiner piece.

Here is Kirchick's point in relevant
part:
"When prodded to identify an instance in which legitimate criticism
of Israel has been labeled "anti-Semitic," the promoters of this
meme come up with nothing. Indeed, the debate in the United States
could not be more fair and vigorous, especially compared to how the
subject is discussed in the rest of the world. In Europe, Israel is
always to blame for whatever trouble boils in the Middle East; in
Arab and Muslim nations, there is little deviation from the
viewpoint that Israel itself is illegitimate and should be
destroyed. The United States is the only place where Israel gets a
fair hearing. To claim that critics of Israel are unfairly maligned
and silenced is a pathetic means of avoiding debate on the actual
issues that matter."
Second, the appalling thing about Edwards comment is that it is just
another way of blaming the victim. Here we have Iran, a nation whose
leader has sponsored a hateful Holocaust denial conference and has
vowed to wipe out Israel on the brink of developing a weapon to
destroy Israel, and, for Edwards and Wonkette, the nation that seeks
to protect itself is the "threat". What would Edwards and Wonkette
have Israel do? Vote itself out of existence perhaps? (At least,
Israel's citizens, including Arabs can vote, which they aren't
allowed to do in other parts of the Middle East.)

Regarding Edwards, the former senator's comments are just the latest
sign that this guy is an absolute empty suit who has been in search
of a political identity since 2000. I first encountered this guy at
a Democratic breakast at the Beverly Hilton during the 2000 DNC in
Los Angeles. The room filled with Massachusetts's seasoned politicos
didn't give him a second look. Everybody at the level of City
Councillor and above saw him for what he was — a shallow neophyte.
In 2002, I went up to New Hampshire to see him again and came away
only marginally more impressed.
"When he got to the subject of income disparity between the rich and
poor, Edwards seemed ready to discuss a substantive problem in
depth — as if he were going to deliver some innovative solution that
would restore the vital center of American politics. He started out
promisingly: `I think you could ask the American people tomorrow —
and I'm talking about people who live in rural North Carolina, who
sometimes vote Democratic and sometimes vote Republican, I think we
can convince them tomorrow — that every child in America ought to
get a first-class education.'

And then … nothing. While packaged as
a unique statement delivered by a Democrat who managed to win an
election in Jesse Helms's own state, Edwards's comment scaled the
pinnacle of banality, if such a thing is possible. Who among serious
Americans — including the Republicans — doesn't think students ought
to receive the best possible education? Policy fights involve how
best to achieve this — not the general principle, which was all
Edwards had to offer."
In the beginning, he was a DLCer in the mold of Bill Clinton. Then,
he was an economic populist. Now, he is going after the NetRoots.
In search of a political identity, he hired David Bonior, a longtime
critic of Israel, as his campaign manager. Ben Smith of Politico has
already reported on the striking similarity between a 1996 Bonior
speech and Edwards' address to the DNC last month. Now, Edwards is
taking on Bonior's anti-Israel portfolio as well.

To Wonkette, my suggestion is to tread on familiar territory. In
other words, keep it light.
I fear, however, that Edwards is too light to be considered a
serious candidate for the presidency.

CLARIFICATION: The phrasing "labeling Israel the greatest threat to
world peace" is my own. Peter Bart direct quote is as
follows ""Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace,
Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's
nuclear facilities." For more on Edwards statement today see above.
Posted in Blogs and the NetRoots, Jews and Judaism, John Edwards,
National Politics | 37 Comments »
http://gitell.wordpress.com/tag/jews-and-judaism/
In our view Edwards will end up as the nominee of the Democrats for
President in 2008
and in our view Edwards will win the election and be sworn in as
President of the United
States at noon on January 20th, 2009.
We need your help to spread the word about Edwards before it is too
late. We need
to stop Edwards from being nominated, and failing that, if he is
nominated, we need to stop
Edwards from being elected.

This does not mean that we support any of the other Democrats
running for President at
this writing. In fact we oppose all of the other Democrats running
for President at this writing.
However, we could support the person Al Gore chose as his Vice
Presidential running mate in 2000. Senator Joe Lieberman of
Connecticut. Senator Lieberman ran as an Independent when he was
defeated in the Senate primary in 2006 but he is currently caucusing
with the Democrats.

If Senator Lieberman ran for President in 2008,
as he did in 2004 he would be the only one running for his Party's
nomination who currently supports the liberation of Iraq.

Clearly he is not running yet but a DRAFT LIEBERMAN movement should
not be entirely ruled out. It should be noted that AL GORE is also
not running yet and neither are Fred Thompson or Newt Gingrich, yet
all 3 of them would make formidable competitors for their Parties
Presidential nominations in 2008 if they did run.

While we could easily have supported the AL GORE who was a hawk in
2000 and who chose an even bigger hawk: Joe Lieberman, as the person
he wanted to become President of The United States of America if
anything were to happen to AL GORE, we can no longer support AL GORE
for President because he has turned into a dove. We do not support
surrender.
If you want to contact Senator Lieberman to urge him to enter the
race for his Party's Presidential nomination you may reach him at:
his Washington, D.C. Office
706 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4041 Voice
(202) 224-9750 Fax
or at his Connecticut Office
One Constitution Plaza
7th Floor
Hartford, CT 06103
(860) 549-8463 Voice
(800) 225-5605 In CT
(860) 549-8478 Fax
In fact if Senator Lieberman decides to switch Parties you might
find
yourself supporting him for the Republican Presidential or Vice
Presidential nomination. If John Kerry had been wise enough to
choose
Senator Lieberman as his running mate in 2004 John Kerry would be
President of the United States of America today because Senator
Lieberman would have brought that Kerry-Lieberman ticket Florida's
27 electoral votes, more than the 20 electoral votes Ohio might have
brought if the voters of Ohio had switched to Kerry.

In 2008 Senator Lieberman running as Vice President in either Party
might make the difference in who carries Florida and in who carries
New Jersey.
We could easily see a situation in which a Republican dove like
Senator Hagel got the Republican nomination in 2008, and a hawk like
Senator Lieberman was nominated for President by the Democrats in
2008, so hold onto your hats, and everything else, the 2008
nominations are far from locked up by anyone yet in either Party.

If Senator Lieberman did enter the Presidential primaries of his
Party, as the only Democrat running as a supporter of the liberation
of Iraq running in his Party, he could easily get a very substantial
portion of the votes from Democrats in his party who support the
liberation of Iraq.

It should be noted that Senator Lieberman was able to beat
BOTH the Democrat AND the Republican when he ran for re-election to
the US Senate in Connecticut in 2006 as a hawk who fully supported
the liberation of Iraq.

So,if anything, the vote for Senator Lieberman by Connecticut voters
in the general election in 2006 was A MANDATE FOR THE CONTINUATION
OF THE U.S. ROLE IN IRAQ AND FOR THE LIBERATION OF IRAQ.

It also represented a DRAMATIC DEFEAT for the cut and run surrender
crowd of Democrats who backed Senator Lieberman's opponent in the
general election.