Now that the AIG 'cover up' has been deemed a 'National Security Issue' (you know, like a list of all the CIA Agents...and where they work, and what they do...you know, like Valarie Plame, the spy who got shoved out into the cold) 'we the people' are supposed to fully accept for the first time in our national history, that only 'two people' from the SEC will ever be allowed to 'view' these 'details' on AIG, because you know.....otherwise it would be the same as if we were receiving information on 'where' the nuclear bombs are being held, or where Dick Cheney's secret undisclosed location was located.

Unbelievable in this day and age, that we are getting our underwear all bunched up about some fucking idiot posing as a pimp for Acorn and now along with four other men were arrested and accused of trying to tamper with phones at Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office, when right under our noses, Hank Paulson and Timothy Geithner are getting away with murder and economic terrorism at a 'National Security Level.'

I mean, what the fuck is wrong 'with this picture?'

I hear on the news that they are comparing this 'Pimp for Acorn' as the new Watergate.  OMG.  

We have the biggest 'cover up' in our nations history staring us right in the face and tomorrow Hank Paulson and Timothy Geithner are testifying on the new 'National Security' cover up of AIG.  

Am I getting dementia or have I lost all perspective?  Somebody, please give me an "Amen" please.  Why do I feel like this 'New Fake Watergate' is the latest 'Natalie Holloway' decoy?  

After years of the Bush/Cheney 'putting out Fake Terrorists' warnings by color during major election times, I can tell you, there is no difference between that and what 'the Main Street Media' is trying to make us all buy into, so that we as the 'sheepeles' do not notice that this new 'fake economic terrorist alert' will hopefully take our eye off the ball of the greatest cover up in our nations history.  

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the Bush-era architect of the massive bailout of ailing financial firms, will testify alongside his successor Timothy Geithner at Wednesday's hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has accepted the committee's invitation to testify on his knowledge of the government's controversial decision to pay $27 billion to AIG's counterparties in 2008, says a spokesman for the committee's ranking Republican Darrell Issa.

In addition, former New York Federal Reserve chairman Stephen Friedman will testify. He resigned in May 2009 amid a controversy over his role as a director of Goldman Sachs and his purchases of the firm's shares.  Also scheduled to appear are Elias Habayeb, the former CFO of AIG's financial services division, and Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Habayeb spent months negotiating with the counterparties -- banks that had bought $62 billion of credit-default swaps from AIG -- to accept discounts of as much as 40 percent on the dollar, reported Bloomberg News in October. In the end, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par -- or 100 cents on the dollar -- a decision which has sparked endless debate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Sorry, I'm not taking the 'bait' on this lowlife 'conservative pimp' story.  If you want to ..................go for it.  I've got bigger fish to fry than that, I would hope that you do too.  

There is a lot of shit going down this week.  Three major events: President Obama will give his State of the Union Speech, Ben Bernanke's full Senate vote is due and now we have Hank Paulson (who stole $700 billion dollars with a gun to our heads and threat of Martial Law) giving away $ 13 Billion to his friends at Goldman Sachs, and now, there is this 'major' story on Hank Paulson and Timothy Geithner (both former and present Treasurer of these United States) testifying in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

You know what amazes me?  If you go to http://banking.senate.gov/... you cannot find any information what so ever on the upcoming full Senate vote on Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, although that has been in the 'netroots' and MSM news all week. Makes you wonder how when it will be 'such a surprise' to us all, at the very last minute....so the public will not be informed or allowed to view this travesty.  

Thank goodness we can at least rely on the House for the upcoming AIG/National Security 'Hearings"

Chairman Towns Announces Hearing to Examine AIG’s Federal Financial Assistance  

For Immediate Release: Friday, January 22, 2010
Contact: Oversight and Government Reform Press Office, (202) 225-5051
Chairman Towns Announces Hearing to Examine AIG’s Federal Financial Assistance

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing titled: "Factors Affecting Efforts to Limit Payments to AIG Counterparties."  The hearing will examine the collapse and federal rescue of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), in particular the compensation of AIG credit default swap counterparties.

The hearing will take place at 10:00 a.m. in room 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.  A live webcast of the hearing will be available on the Committee website: http://oversight.house.gov.  The witnesses invited to testify include:

Confirmed

The Honorable Timothy F. Geithner
Secretary
United States Treasury Department

Mr. Thomas C. Baxter
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Mr. Neil Barofsky Special
Inspector General
Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP)

Mr. Elias Habayeb
Former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer – Financial Services Division
American International Group, Inc.

Invited

Mr. Henry "Hank" Paulson
Former Secretary
United States Treasury Department

Mr. Stephen Friedman
Former Chairman
Federal Reserve Bank of New York

http://oversight.house.gov/...

I am not sure, how to run a 'live blog' and if anyone there can help me or is willing to in the morning, I sure would appreciate it:

A live webcast of the hearing will be available on the Committee website: http://oversight.house.gov.

Let us focus on the 'real issues' here.  This 'decoy' is just that, and we cannot let another 'color coded' economic terrorist event keep us away from focusing on holding those accountable, that have had the unprecedented audacity, and unconstitutional 'power grab' to keep us from deeming the AIG scandal 'secret'...let alone being put under the 'National Security Umbrella' for the first time in our history as a nation.  

This is nothing more than another fake 'Valerie Plame' story.  A decoy of the 'worst sort'...

Do not be 'sucked into' the James O'Keefe as the new 'decoy' for the latest Natalie Holloway story.

Once again:

We have this week three major events that will affect out national political body:

  1.  President Obamas' State of the Union Speech
  1.  Ben Bernanke's full Senate Vote 'yet to be announced'
  1.  One former Treasurer and the current Treasurer being questioned along with very important Oversight questions....

Yet, what are we being 'fed' like pigs to the trough?  

The Big Decoy, the new fake 'don't look over here, so instead, they are feeding us a cheap crappy story, that is meaningless, while they hope to continue to 'maintain the cover up'........

Again, I am asking you to think an think hard about the 'events' that are about to take place this week, and remember, why this 'cheap little pimp' story is being feed to us instead of looking at the real problems, the real crooks, thieves and liars, that will be ignored this week:

 

As Ryan Grim notes, these are basically unprecedented steps to keep secret the details of the AIG deal with counter-parties. The emails tell a story of strictly enforced secrecy and massive PR efforts to get securities regulators and Congress to stand down on disclosure. It paints a picture of the Federal Reserve as evading not only the oversight responsibilities of Congress, but any effort to offer insight into their activities whatsoever. And the SEC eventually agreed to the request:

      The SEC, according to an email sent by a New York Fed lawyer on January 13, 2009, agreed to limit the number of SEC employees who would review the document to just two and keep the document locked in a safe while the SEC considered AIG’s confidentiality request.  I'm ill just reading that. Someone email the DoJ. Tweet that shit. Something.

Business Week:

   American International Group Inc., the bailed-out insurer, included the word "redacted" more than 1,000 times in regulatory filings tied to agreements for paying banks that bought credit-default swaps from the company.

   The insurer, asked by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to limit disclosure, excluded a list of banks and collateral postings from a pair of 2008 filings, and then sought confidential treatment for the document in 2009 before making redacted versions available to the public.

   The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has ordered the New York Fed to turn over e-mails and phone logs from Timothy F. Geithner tied to AIG’s rescue in 2008, when he led the regulator. Lawmakers have criticized AIG’s rescue, which swelled to $182.3 billion, as a "backdoor bailout" of banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Geithner, now Treasury secretary, agreed to testify before the panel.

Business Week also has the timeline:

   Dec. 2, 2008: AIG submits a regulatory filing detailing the terms of the Maiden Lane III agreement.

   The filing contains a so-called shortfall agreement between Maiden Lane III and AIG listing terms of payments should the vehicle need more funds. The accord refers to Schedule A, the document listing counterparties, collateral postings and market declines on the derivative contracts. The Schedule A isn’t included.

   The filing states that on Nov. 25, "ML III bought approximately $46.1 billion in par amount of Multi-Sector CDOs through a net payment to CDS counterparties of approximately $20.1 billion, and AIGFP terminated the related CDS with the same notional amount. The aggregate cost of the purchases and terminations was funded through approximately $15.1 billion of borrowings under the Senior Loan, the surrender by AIGFP of approximately $25.9 billion of collateral previously posted by AIGFP to CDS counterparties in respect of the terminated CDS and AIG’s equity investment in ML III of $5 billion."

   Dec. 21, 2008: AIG sends a draft of its regulatory filing detailing the purchase of additional CDOs to New York Fed lawyers. "Counterparties received 100 percent of the par value of the Multi-Sector CDOs sold and the related CDS have been terminated," the draft says.

   Dec. 23, 2008: The New York Fed sends AIG a marked-up version of the filing draft, crossing out the explanation of AIG paying 100 percent.

   The New York Fed also crosses out a reference to an amendment of the company’s shortfall agreement and asks if including the amendment is "necessary or helpful?"

   Dec. 24, 2008: AIG submits filing saying it retired another $16 billion in credit-default swaps after buying the underlying securities through Maiden Lane III, bringing the total collateralized debt obligations purchased to about $62 billion.

   The filing omits the sentence that said "counterparties received 100 percent."

   The filing has the amendment to the shortfall agreement, which mentions Schedule A without including it.

http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/

BTW, I don't agree with all of what Jr. Deputy Accountant has to say, or who she puts on her links, but what I do agree with is what I've written in this diary:

Don't let yourself be sucked into the 'new fake decoy' when so much this week is going on.  Pay attention to what other major 'life changing political body' events are taking place...

While we are all being fed, this crappy 'story...this fake Watergate cheap Pimp story' so hopefully we won't pay attention as the what is really taking place:

The continued greatest cover up and transfer of wealth our nation has ever know by a bunch of 'mafia Oligarchy' masters, that would rather have us all get upset by just another 'pasty' like this asshole being called the 'New Watergate story'...James O'Keefe is just another Natalie Holloway story....In other words: Look over at this 'cheap little story, so you might not notice everything else that is taking place....

Anything to keep 'we the people' from paying attention to what is really happening 'behind the curtain'...

The 'manipulation' of our so called leaders seems to be working because today, it's all about 'the New Watergate' while we can all run to the latest piece of 'decoy shark bait' that they feed us.

Instead, I am asking you all, as Democrats, as perhaps the most intelligent body of people I have ever met on Kos, to please, pay attention to what is 'really going on' now.

Don't be suckered in, especially 'this week of all weeks' and let's get back to the 'ones that led us where we are' in the first place.'

How many times, have we 'fell' for this new 24 hour crappy 'decoy' that has kept us away from viewing and calling our Senators and House members to demand 'accountability' for the absolute destruction of our entire economic destruction?

I am asking you to do this tonight:  Call or fax every member of the House on Oversight and Government Reform by Mail, Fax or Phone before or in the morning to 'refuse' to go away from that hearing without specific answers as the how the hell this is now a 'National Security Issue'.  We deserve answers.

We have in fact become now, whether you admit it or not, a 'mainline vein' into Bailing Out Wall Street and the Banks with our tax dollars' regardless of if they fail or succeed.  And when they fail we pay, and when they succeed from 'their from insuring we are failing' we still pay.  That is taking our so called Democracy into pure unadulterated Oligarchy.  There is no in between on this 'bet' that we do not have a say in at this point.  If you think we do have a 'say' in it, please, enthrall me with your acumen.

..NOW IS THE TIME TO CALL OR FAX OR EMAIL.
 

By Mail or Phone:
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5051

Most of all I hope that Congressman Alan Grayson, will demand that the AIG cover up, now deemed as a 'National Security Risk' must no matter what the political implications are, should and must immediately to 'blow the lid' off what has taken place in our government.

This kind of National Security cover up to be used against our Congress rights in our Constitution, has never in the history of our government has been allowed to stand, it was never to be meant as a 'cover up for financial matters'......

The Federal Reserve does not want to reveal secrets about the US Governments Bailout of Wall Street and it is asking the U.S. Appeals Court to block a ruling that would "force the central bank to reveal secret identities of financial firms that might have collapsed with the larges" bailout in American history, according to Bloomberg News.

The Bloomberg news service "argues that the public has the right to know basic information about the 'unprecedented and highly controversial use of public money. Banks and the Fed warn that bailed-out lenders may be hurt if the documents are made public, causing a run or sell-off by investors.'"

The Government argues that "This case is about the identity of the borrower," said Matthew Collette, a lawyer for the government, in oral arguments today. "This is the equivalent of saying ‘I want all the loan applications that were submitted.’"  Round One of the U.S Federal Reserve vs Bloomberg occurred in August with a judges' ruling that secret records fill under the Freedom of Information Act and should be disclosed.  Now, with the appeal, the Federal Reserve says the court must protect the confidentiality of borrowers.

http://www.nowpublic.com/...

I beg you please, do not let this 'fake Watergate conservative pimp' story keep us from paying attention to the issues at hand this coming week.

If we do, then we have proven once again, that the Shock Doctrine is working just the way they hoped it would, and we we be all the more, fools for not standing up for the reality of the 'greatest cover up and Corporate take over' our nation has been duped into the 'decoy' that we all will be willing to by into.

Thanks for at least letting me put it out there.  

UPDATE:  Hat tip to losty:

We may be in for a huge surprise come the full confirmation of Ben Bernanke:

The take home message: the Fed has finally produced a whistleblower. Could this be the catalytic event that brings the house of cards down.

One only wonders at this point how deep the rabbit hole runs: if one declassified document confirms that recent testimonies by various bankers and Head of Treasury Departments may have bordered on perjury, one can only imagine the impact of not only the 250,000 pages of AIG docs already in Commission possession are released for crowdsourced analysis, but also what would happen if there is finally disclosure around the second bailout of AIG in February of 2009, which as we have repeatedly noted, was an even closer call for AIG bankruptcy than before. Oddly, with Goldman having no more risk exposure to AIG whatsoever then, courtesy of ML III, the insurer was still not allowed to fail. The question remains - why?

http://www.zerohedge.com/...

At this point, I believe above all that the American people deserve the truth.  They deserve to know, why we are now in a new and severe Depression based on a long and hideous set of 'controlled fraud' that was allowed to take place, so that the 'shadow elite' would be allowed to conduct criminal activities behind protections from our own government.

UPDATE TWO:  To fully understand the implications and full story of the AIG cover up, as a primer, or just for probably the best story ever written on the subject go here and a special thanks to sabredance for this great article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...