The Dirt on the Bushies

George H.W. Bush sure gets around:

The Kennedy Assassination

Watergate

Ambassador to the United Nations

CIA head

Vice-President

President

Son as President

Russ Baker says it is all because he is a ruthless insider.

Lew Rockwell interviews Baker about his new book, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America.

The Bushies Show Blagojevich How It's Done

There are no tapes of how this deal went down, but my bet is that it went down something like this.

Hank Paulson and The President, back in September:

Paulson: Lehman's a bunch of asssholes, lets take'm down.

The President: Ah, I dunno. My cousin George Herbert Walker works there and my brother, Jeb, is an advisor.

Paulson: Come on , outside of your cousin and your brother, they're assholes. I'll even let your cousin and your brother grab the crown jewel, Neuberger, from Lehman once it is in bankruptcy, and they won't have to put up any cash.

The President: Yeah?

Paulson: Yeah, consider Neuberger a new family jewel.

The President: What if somebody else tries to bid for Neuberger with cash?

Paulson: Fuck em. If anybody tries, we'll send them in an envelope an annonymous post card from Guantanamo saying "Wish you were here" and enclose a picture of former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld. They'll get the message.

Laughter all around.

High fives all around.

Bloomberg reports Wednesday:

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s planned sale of its investment-management division is valued at about $1.2 billion in stock, according to two people familiar with the transaction.

Lehman, in bankruptcy, was forced to deal away Neuberger Berman for no cash last week...

Analysts valued the money-management division at as much as $7 billion earlier this year, before market declines eroded its assets...When the business was valued at around $7 billion in August by Sanford & Bernstein analysts, it initially drew interest from some of the world’s biggest private-equity firms, including Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co. Neither one ultimately bid...

The Walker [Group also] beat a bid of $2.15 billion for the whole division by private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC.... Carlyle Group [with $40 billion in cash on the sidelines]...weighed a bid... though it didn’t make an offer.

“Neuberger management [Lead by George Herbert Walker] received the deal of a lifetime by obtaining 51 percent of the common stock for no cash, because that will take control of Neuberger away from the Lehman bankruptcy,” said Martin Bienenstock, who heads the restructuring group at the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf and represents Lehman creditors, today in a telephone interview.

In addition to cousin George Herbert Walker as CEO, GW's brother Jeb will remain an advisor. Plus they both most assuredly received tons of stock, no money down.

Blago, eat your heart out.

George H. W. Bush Call Your Offce

Carlyle Group said it dropped its plan to invest in China's Xugong Group Construction Machinery Co., citing "significant changes in the market environment."

"Both parties have decided not to proceed with the investment and Xugong will embark independently on its restructuring," Carlyle said in joint statement with the Chinese building machinery maker, without elaborating.

Carlyle was forced to abandon the purchase after its failure to gain approval from China's government for the transaction even after changing its bid three times and cutting the size of the stake.

But, Carlyle isn't completely taking no for an answer, "We believe that Xugong's expansion will create opportunities for partnership with both Carlyle and its portfolio companies worldwide," today's statement said.

Carlyle, said it has invested more than $1.3 billion in China during the past two years. It has stakes in 30 different Chinese companies.

China's government raised scrutiny of foreign buyouts after Carlyle signed an agreement to buy 85 percent of Xugong for $375 million, the first offer by a private-equity company for a major government-owned enterprise in China. A year later, the buy-out firm offered to cut the size of the planned purchase to 50 percent for about $230 million. The last offer, for 45 percent of Xugong, was made in March last year.

China's government in August 2006 decreed that overseas investors would need Ministry of Commerce clearance to buy controlling stakes in key industries, well-known trademarks or ``old Chinese brands.'' Deals can be vetoed or scaled back if they affect the ``security'' of China's economy.

Hogarth With The Same Scary Thought

As we have pointed out before about Obama:

It's one thing to pose and posture to get elected, but what is a man really going to do after he is elected, when he is clearly a very calculating man, who through out his life has associated with and befriended the most extreme left wing, anti-American, communist sympathizers, in the United States.

If he can switch toward the right, and move to the center to get elected, he sure has the potential to swing extreme left once he has been elected, especially since that's the nest he had lived in his entire life.

Indeed, Paul Hogarth, over at Huffington Post, seems to be thinking the same way, Obama is just lying when he moves to the center:

In recent weeks, some progressives have been alarmed at Barack Obama - who they fear has "moved to the center" for the general election... But unlike Bill Clinton's right-wing capitulations in 1996, it's hard to conclude from Obama's recent "shifts" any long-term policy consequences.For those who fear that Obama's posture signals another Clintonian "sell-out," the time to hold him accountable will be after the election - when as President he will be in a position to bring about change. But for now, there hasn't been much to signal such an alarm.

Under the current election system, you never know what you get until the elected are already in office, since most politicians will do and say anything to get elected.Until, politicians are thrown in jail for lying to the public, the lies shall continue. Bush I should be in jail for his "Read my lips, no new taxes" lie. Bush II should be in jail for his promise to run a "humble foreign policy."

The Invasion of Panama: "There was something else going on."

With George Bush I as Commander and Chief, the United States invaded Panama in December 1989.It has been a long time since I have thought about this invasion but, my curiosity about the deeper reasons for this invasion have recently been awakened.

A few days ago I spoke to a former marine who was one of the first marines leading the U. S. invasion. This guy is a pretty red, white and blue kind of guy and gave me some patriotic reasons for the invasion. You know, the normal "Noriega was a bad guy kind of stuff".

But after careful probing and questioning, it became obvious that even he had some reservations about what the invasion was all about.

This is what he finally said to me:

"You know there was something else going on when that invasion took place. We had some target buildings we were given to destroy. The buildings weren't any type of military threat to us and we kind of looked around at each other and said 'What the hell is this all about?', but we followed orders and blew the buildings up. I really think that grabbing Noriega was a secondary reason for the invasion. There was something else going on."

He had a very puzzled look on his face at this point.

-RW