The Observation Deck

Brian Pedaci wrote:Why should he? So right-wing mobs can follow their marching orders and disrupt the meeting?

Kucinich's job is to represent us in Congress by showing up to vote. In the current session, he's missed 3 votes (0.4% of the total votes tallied) Citation. What he does on his own time is his own business, but he's certainly doing the job he was hired for. Whether or not you personally approve of HOW he's doing that job is your opinion, and you're welcome to it. The facts, however, are not yours to make up.

Was this (in total or in part) for me?

If he truly wishes to represent his constituents, he should talk to us and learn what we want him to do. Could there be "right-wing mobs" at such a meeting? Possibly, but maybe there are some that want to honestly speak their mind. I know, that sounds unusual. If he can't handle honesty, he needs to be replaced.
Could there be "left-wing mobs" there too? Sure, why not?
Aren't we all Americans with the right to free speech?

I would submit to you that his job is not simply to "show up to vote". I've voted in every election and primary since I turned 18. I've voted for winners and for losers, but I always voted. Does that make me more qualified that Dennis?

He must be able to vote on bills intelligently and represent his people's wishes. How can he do that when:
a. no one in Congress has the time to read what they vote on and
b. he chooses to not listen to his constituents?

Kucinich Demands Further SEC Investigation
Documents Uncovered by Congressional Investigation Further Case Against BofA

Washington D.C. (August 4, 2009) – Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary Schapiro requesting that the SEC expand its investigation of Bank of America (BofA) for possible violations of securities laws. Kucinich, Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, transmitted several documents subpoenaed by Chairman Ed Towns of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in their joint investigation of the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger. The documents reveal that high ranking officials inside the Federal Reserve believed that Bank of America had withheld material information about deteriorating conditions at Merrill Lynch from shareholders in advance of the shareholder vote and that those actions could be violations of securities laws. Ordinarily, the SEC would not have access to these documents.

The full text of the letter follows:
The supporting documents are available <http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Appendices_to_letter_to_Schapiro_re_BofA_proxy_w_Fed_Docs.pdf>here.

August 4, 2009

Ms. Mary Schapiro
Chairman
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street NE
Washington, DC 20549

Dear Chairman Schapiro:

With the filing and settlement of charges yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Bank of America for withholding material information from shareholders concerning the payment of bonuses, I believe that the SEC has only begun enforcing the nation’s securities laws as they apply to Bank of America’s handling of its merger with Merrill Lynch. There is more for SEC to investigate.

The Domestic Policy Subcommittee, in conjunction with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been investigating the merger and the Federal government’s rescue of it. In connection with this investigation, we have reviewed over 10,000 pages of confidential documents obtained from the Federal Reserve (“Fed”). Of relevance to the SEC, our investigation has revealed:


Top staff at the Federal Reserve had concluded that Bank of America knew, as early as mid-November, about a sudden acceleration in the losses at Merrill Lynch, and



Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez believed that Bank of America could potentially be liable for securities laws violations for its failure to update its proxy solicitation and public statements it had made about the merger in light of information Bank of America possessed about Merrill’s deterioration before the shareholder vote.


These conclusions raise serious questions about the legality of statements to shareholders made by Bank of America before its merger with Merrill Lynch. During November 2008, Bank of America filed a proxy solicitation and made public statements advocating for the merger and referring to financials from the preceding years. At no time prior to the shareholder vote on December 5, 2008 did Bank of America file an amendment to its proxy solicitation correcting misimpressions investors received. Rather, Bank of America secretly began conversations with the U.S. Treasury Department and Federal Reserve about the company’s consideration of invoking the material adverse change clause in their merger agreement contract and, subsequently, about receiving federal assistance to insulate against the considerable losses the merger with Merrill was inflicting on Bank of America’s balance sheet.
As you know, the securities laws are designed to make accurate information available to the investing public, particularly proxy information distributed to investors prior to a shareholder vote. Thus, once a potential merger is disclosed by an issuer, a duty to “update opinions and projections may arise if the original opinions or projections have become misleading as the result of intervening events.’”<#_ftn1>[1] The Supreme Court has held that “an omitted fact is material if there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable shareholder would consider it important in deciding how to vote.”<#_ftn2>[2] I believe that the findings and opinions expressed by high ranking officials at the Fed about Bank of America’s withholding material information from investors are well founded and merit SEC review.   
I hereby request that the SEC expand its investigation into possible securities law violations committed by Bank of America in connection with its merger with Merrill Lynch. Under normal circumstances, SEC would not have access to internal Fed documents. But I believe it serves a public purpose to transmit to SEC the following documents obtained under subpoena issued by Chairman Edolphus Towns of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

An email from a senior adviser at the Federal Reserve to Chairman Bernanke: “[there are] clear signs in the data we have that the deterioration at ML has been observably under way over the entire quarter – albeit picking up significantly around mid-November.” (Appendix 1)
A restricted Federal Reserve analysis of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger: “BAC management’s contention that the severity of MER’s losses only came to light is problematic and implies substantial deficiencies in the diligence carried out in advance of and subsequent to the acquisition…These were clearly shown in Merrill Lynch’s internal risk management reports that BAC reviewed during their due diligence…The potential for losses from other risk exposures cited by management, including those coming from leveraged loans and the trading in complex structured credit derivatives products (‘correlation trading’) should also have been reasonably well understood, particularly as BAC itself is also active in both these products.” (Appendix 2)



An email from the Fed’s General Counsel to Chairman Bernanke: “Lewis should have been aware of the problems at ML earlier (perhaps as early as mid-November) and not caught by surprise. That could cause other problems for him around the disclosures BA made for the shareholder vote.” (Appendix 3)



An email from the Fed’s General Counsel to Chairman Bernanke: “A different question that doesn’t seem to be the one Lewis is focused on is related to disclosure. Management may be exposed if it doesn’t properly disclose information that is material to investors… His potential liability here will be whether he knew (or reasonably should have known) the magnitude of the ML losses when BA made its disclosures to get the shareholder vote on the ML deal in early December.” (Appendix 4)


I also transmit a statistical study submitted to our committees by an independent statistics expert finding that Bank of America had strong statistical reasons to believe that the losses evident in mid-November would continue through the end of the year. (Appendix 5).

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives with broad and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X.
          

Sincerely,

                                              
Dennis J. Kucinich
Chairman
Domestic Policy Subcommittee

JOB aka J-sn and J-jr

Brilliant - why not post Congressional Record - equally useless as denny do nothing letters for LOCALS or for that matter anyone in Ohio-10 except denny .

By the way where in Lakewood is the BofA branch - or is that too hard a question for J-sn ?

How is the answer to when/where/why etc for the new? Parma Observer aka SEUCT-O coming? or is that info on a need to know basis ?

Another highlight for the jim's and the LO - ( LOL )

Kampe,

Why the rash of posts all of a sudden? Did your babysitter fall asleep, allowing you to sneak on to a computer and use the internet?

Back to your Brownie camera

What happened to your past promise to stop posting on the LO website or have you forgotten that (and others?) promises you made OR promises/your word means nothing to a teenage child?

Dennis J Kampe wrote:By the way where in Lakewood is the BofA branch - or is that too hard a question for J-sn ?

Dr. Kampe

Congressman Kucinich heads up this committee, which has much to do with his seniority.

Should he also neglect the much larger issue which in the ends has a direct impact on
the 10th District.

Oh I see, you are a person that thinks people should eat everything they want because
you could use liposuction to get rid of the fat.

Well the Congressman is one that thinks you should treat the person, and thereby fix
the problem.

Had congress and the senate had anywhere near the vision Congressman Kucinich has,
the country would not be bankrupt, and the jobs would be more plentiful.

But you and your peeps, wanted, no needed to spend trillions on wars, and bailouts that
did nothing but kill this region and the country.

As always love kicking it with you.

peace


.

J(sn) aka JOB to separate you from J(jn) who offers his unsupported opinions about me for which I could respond with similar juvenile comments but not worth my time to "play" on J(jn) level .

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

J(sn)

Claim what you want ( about denny , lakewood , LO etc ) since ALL are only your unsupported opinion(s) .

re denny power and seniority - Last poll denny 379? out of 435 in power / position . Pretty poor for 6? term member since comparisons include 1st term freshmen etc . Actually PRETTY PATHETIC for someone in Congress for decade or more .

re neglecting larger issues which have a direct impact on Ohio-10 - What's your best buddy position aside from being in another UFO on "Earth collision with comet" etc - This is DIRECT IMPACT on Ohio-10 etc not denny do nothing words or letters on denny issues . Much like his cruise ship investigation on crime commited during cruises - As always what if anything has denny done exclusively or nearly only FOR OHIO-10 residents in his 12? years in DC ?

denny vision = denny as Pres based upon his shinning experience as Mayor of Cleveland ?

Who are my peeps? ( peers?) - As you have clearly forgotten (again) I want BEST PERSON for whatever position - be he/she a dem or a rep or indep or Buddhist or Nudist and clearly IMO denny ain't the man for anything local - hopefully he will return to Shirley M ranch ASAP

Would check Parma Observer aka SE Uncivilized Terrorities Observer (SEUCTO) but am having problems finding either hard copy paper or on-line version . LO organization using a Different Name? or PO only for the selected few - on a need to know basis ?

Finally any idea when "on vacation" denny will return to his Cleveland mailing address besides the obvious LABOR DAY parades in early Sept ?

DJK

Dennis J Kampe wrote:Back to your Brownie camera

What happened to your past promise to stop posting on the LO website or have you forgotten that (and others?) promises you made OR promises/your word means nothing to a teenage child?

Wahh.
Kampe,
If I would've stopped posting, I would've given up the pleasure of reminding you how delirious you are.
Take your thumb out of your mouth and attempt to type with two hands, because your word salad typing reminds me of ESL class in elementary school.

To mr 2.1 GPA for LHS - Did that score make the top 80% of the graduating class or not quite?

So your posted word is worthless - Brilliant and speaks for itself and the logic contained within .

re your ESL comment - tried to dumb-down my previous response to you but it and this post are apparently still way over your head intellectually . Perhaps you can ask one of your 2.2 or 2.3 GPA x LHS classmates for help before you next post anything further on this website ie what a closed/no "brain" , open mouth , start typing response looks like .

Now I can understand why you focus on "point and shoot" - Not much needed beyond or above your finger for that activity .

If/when you enter the real world - your educational background or lack thereof will quickly become apparent to your employers. Maybe min wage will be upto $8/hr - no benefits by that time .

Truly useless to attempt to educate you on anything since you know it all already . As such get your last "shot" in , as it provides amusement to me and possibly others on this website .

Dennis J Kampe wrote:To mr 2.1 GPA for LHS - Did that score make the top 80% of the graduating class or not quite?

So your posted word is worthless - Brilliant and speaks for itself and the logic contained within .

re your ESL comment - tried to dumb-down my previous response to you but it and this post are apparently still way over your head intellectually . Perhaps you can ask one of your 2.2 or 2.3 GPA x LHS classmates for help before you next post anything further on this website ie what a closed/no "brain" , open mouth , start typing response looks like .

Now I can understand why you focus on "point and shoot" - Not much needed beyond or above your finger for that activity .

If/when you enter the real world - your educational background or lack thereof will quickly become apparent to your employers. Maybe min wage will be upto $8/hr - no benefits by that time .

Truly useless to attempt to educate you on anything since you know it all already . As such get your last "shot" in , as it provides amusement to me and possibly others on this website .

Dr. Kampe

A truly impressive stream of drivel.


But

Dennis J Kampe wrote:as it provides amusement to me

brought a real smile to my face.


.

Dennis J Kampe wrote:Truly useless to attempt to educate you on anything since you know it all already .

Kampe,

You've taught me a great deal. You're living proof that having "Dr." in front of your name has very little to do with your intelligence. I think the world was under the assumption that someone with a PhD would have the ability to string more than one complete sentence together. You've let us all down in that regard as well. The fact that the 2.1 GPA kids you're making fun of understand/use punctuation and the English language better than you really makes you look like a buffoon.

You never cease to amaze, Kampe. The anticipation of your next childish string of words is excruciating. You remind me of a circus act, but instead of a clown tripping and making animals out of balloons, I get to watch a PhD graduate struggle to put a proper sentence together.

If you put on a rubber nose, some make up and a wig, you might have a way to put that well-earned PhD to use.

So Jim.......

Is it time for an Observer summit here?

Cola and pretzels perhaps?

Or maybe ice cream sodas?

Beer might REALLY not be a good idea in this case.

I think that it's time for a truce to this sort of thing.

It's one thing to critize a public official, and quite another to have dissension between 'deckers.

Time to cool down...I do believe...

Back to the banjo...

I guess the question is here what do we expect of our Representatives? Congressman's Kucinich's office does a great job of helping citizens that contact it. That is very positive.

He hasn't blown me away with bringing home the bacon for this district. I agree. I'm not sure if that is his fault or the fault of the locally elected officials who aren't asking him to do so. But I'm willing to give him a negative on that. Plus, I am still a little hurt that this man who stands up for injustice everywhere, refused to stand up against eminent domain abuse, saying he didn't get involved in local issues. This is a man that was always involved in local issues. So I give him a negative here - he is not perfect.

On issues of national importance. Kucinich has been in my opinion spot on. I often smile at how often both Ron Paul and Dennis agree. They are in my opinion with the eminent domain issue excluded, men of integrity. Goes to show that bipartisanship can work.

I am so pleased that I have some one fighting against abuse of power, for national health care, against the war and for the little guy. Big huge plus. HUGE. This is the number 1 reason I have voted for him.

So I can't agree with you that he hasn't done anything, he has been a very positive Congressman. And I have never worked for Dennis in my life. Not one of his fan club either.

Gary

Dr. Kampe is an old friend of the Deck from Parma.

A well known Congressman Kucinich hater, mostly because he will not
be replaced by any Republican in the near future or until the very effective
Congressman steps down.

I feel my good friend and near son Ivor made some valuable points, about the
good doctor's bedside manor which I just find so typical of the blind hatred a
true American hero like Congressman Kucinch musters within the lords of hate
and twisted thinking that Dr. Kampe must hang with.

But he really serves a valuable point here. If someone is missing from the deck it
is not because of personal attack, or for thinking different than I. It must have been
something very very different from that.

Shucks, he tires pretty quickly, I guess he is getting old too.

But would love to have a soda with you and dad soon.

peace


Lynn

His vote on Iraq was worth about $1 billion to the Cleveland area. Of course he did not
have the support of the house and congress. But I know that we both supported that vote.

I will take less blood, and $1 bill over a bridge to nowhere, or a private 6 lane road
to a senator's apartment complex.

The guy is 100% American hero.


.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Had congress and the senate had anywhere near the vision Congressman Kucinich has,
the country would not be bankrupt, and the jobs would be more plentiful.

Thanks Jim...I needed a good laugh