Steven Camarota....director of research for Immigration

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By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ

November 7, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama's newly appointed chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, served on the board of directors of the federal mortgage firm Freddie Mac at a time when scandal was brewing at the troubled agency and the board failed to spot "red flags," according to government reports reviewed by ABCNews.com.

According to a complaint later filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie Mac, known formally as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, misreported profits by billions of dollars in order to deceive investors between the years 2000 and 2002.

Emanuel was not named in the SEC complaint (click here to read) but the entire board was later accused by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) (click here to read) of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention."

In a statement to ABCNews.com, a spokesperson said Emanuel served on the board for "13 months-a relatively short period of time."

The spokesperson said that while on the board, Emanuel "believed that Freddie Mac needed to address concerns raised by Congressional critics."

Freddie Mac agreed to pay a $50 million penalty in 2007 to settle the SEC complaint and four top executives of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation were charged with negligent conduct and, like the company, agreed to settle the case without admitting or denying the allegations.

The actions by Freddie Mac are cited by some economists as the beginning of the country's economic meltdown.

The federal government this year was forced to take over Freddie Mac and a sister federal mortgage agency, Fannie Mae, pledging at least $200 billion in public funds.

Freddie Mac records have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of its investigation of the suspect accounting procedures.

Emanuel was named to the Freddie Mac board by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and resigned his position when he ran for Congress in May, 2001.

Freddie Mac Misrepresented Income, Says SEC

During the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to the SEC, Freddie Mac substantially misrepresented its income to "present investors with the image of a company that would continue to generate predictable and growing earnings."

The role of the 18-member board of directors, including Emanuel, was not addressed in the SEC's public action but was heavily criticized by the oversight group (OFHEO) in 2003.

The oversight report said the board had been apprised of the suspect accounting tactics but "failed to make reasonable inquiries of management."

The report also said board members appointed by the President, such as Emanuel, serve terms that are far too short "for them to play a meaningful role on the Board."

As a Congressman, Emanuel recused himself from any votes dealing with Freddie Mac until just this year.

In dealing with the nation's economic crisis, the new White House chief of staff will almost certainly be involved in discussions about the house and mortgage markets.

Emanuel's spokesperson said, "As White House chief of staff he will work with President-elect Obama and his economic advisers to help ensure we protect taxpayers and homeowners."

WASHINGTON � Director Leon Panetta says agency records show CIA officers briefed lawmakers truthfully in 2002 on methods of interrogating terrorism suspects, but it is up to Congress to reach its own conclusions about what happened.

Panetta's message to agency employees came one day after Speaker Pelosi said bluntly the CIA had misled her and other lawmakers about the use of waterboarding and other harsh techniques seven years ago.

Panetta wrote that the political debates about interrogation "reached a new decibel level" with the charges.

He urged agency employees to "ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/15/cia-director-panetta-reco_n_204005.html

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday accused the CIA of misleading Congress about its use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terror detainees.

"Yes I am saying the CIA was misleading the Congress, and at the same time the (Bush) administration was misleading the Congress on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to which I said that this intelligence doesn't support the imminent threat," Pelosi said at her weekly news conference.

"Every step of the way the administration was misleading the Congress and that is the issue and that's why we need a truth commission," she said.

Under a barrage of questioning, Pelosi adamantly insisted that she was not aware that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques were being used on terrorism suspects.

"I am telling you they told me they approved these and said they wanted to use them but said they were not using waterboarding," she said.

Growing increasingly frustrated throughout the briefing, Pelosi slowly started backing away from the podium as she tried to end the questioning.

As she backed out, she continued to accuse the CIA of not telling Congress that dissenting opinions had been filed within the administration suggesting the methods were not lawful.

The CIA immediately disputed Pelosi's accusation, saying the documents describing the particular enhanced interrogation techniques that had been employed are accurate. CIA spokesman George Little noted that CIA Director Leon Panetta made available to the House Intelligence Committee memos from individuals who led the briefings with House members.

"The language in the chart -- 'a description of the particular EITs that had been employed' -- is true to the language in the agency's records," Little said. "The chart I'm referring to is, of course, the list of member briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques."

"It's hard for me to imagine anyone in our intelligence area would ever mislead a member of Congress," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said at his weekly news conference. "They come to the Hill to brief us because they're required to under the law. I don't know what motivation they would have to mislead anyone."

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., told FOX News that Pelosi's accusation against the CIA is "not credible."

"I am afraid she has disremembered what she went through," he said. "We have had not only the records from the CIA but the contemporaries who were there with her had other views on it, so I am afraid that this is not a credible explanation."

Pelosi said she was briefed only once on the interrogation methods in September 2002. She acknowledged that her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, informed her about another briefing five months later in which Bush officials said waterboarding was being used on CIA terror detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Pelosi said she supported a letter drafted by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who also attended the briefing in February 2003, and sent to the Bush administration, raising concerns over the technique.

Pelosi's account has changed several times in recent weeks as she has sought to clarify what she did or didn't know about the interrogation methods that she is pushing to investigate.

Pelosi said last month that she was never told that the controversial interrogation methods were being used. But a national intelligence report later showed that she was briefed seven years ago on the tactics while she was on the House Intelligence Committee.

Her spokesman then said the speaker thought the techniques were legal and that waterboarding was not used.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation.

While Democrats want the hearings to focus on what they call torture, Republicans have tried to turn the issue to their advantage by complaining that Pelosi and other Democrats knew of the tactics but didn't protest.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/pelosi-reiterates-didnt-know-waterboarding-use/

As we prepare for the expected Congressional battles over immigration numbers this fall, it�s a good time to take stock of the urgency of our cause and the tools we have available to help fight for lower immigration numbers.

This video captures the essence of NumbersUSA and is a must-see for anyone who wants to fully understand the basic information behind our work.

Or, you can cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/resources/video/recommended/immigration-numbers.html

There is, perhaps, no better way to quickly understand the essence of NumbersUSA than to watch

this video. If you haven�t already seen it, you must watch. If you have, I recommend taking another look or forwarding it on to your friends and family.

For more information and feedback on the video, please see my recent blog entry: http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/bealea/august-25-2008/13-minute-video-heart-numbersusa.html.

This is a major bone of contention with me and unfortuately both candidates want to give these illegals a "path to citizenship"......er amnesty. I believe this is a large part of what is wrong with the economy:

2. Big business wants cheaper labor. Illegals work for less with no benefits so what follows? They depress wages for American workers. Remember Bush's favorite saying (haven't heard him say that in awhile) "they do jobs Americans won't do." There is no job American workers won't do if the pay is right. Cherokee Casinos have obvious American citizens doing work, including cleaning the bathrooms, they don't employ....well, I'll say it...Mexicans. I believe they pay them around $9 an hour. Cleaning bathrooms isn't a job that I would like to do but Americans are doing it. Most of the construction jobs are done by Latinos. Those jobs used to pay well but now an American citizen is passed over in favor of hiring illegals.

3. A lot of our economic problems I think are because banks gave loans to illegals, knowing full well they might default on the loans.

From what I see we are not getting the cream of the crop immigrants, we are getting the bottom of the barrel that tax our welfare system and get free medical care while LEGAL citizens go without. Your neighbor is a classic example, come here illegally, have a kid and you're here to stay. The first thing that needs to go is the "anchor baby" thing. How the heck can a child born to ILLEGAL parents become a citizen automatically. Ridiculous.

Please note, these are from 2008 before the election, but I think they still hold true.

In fact, you can also check out Emanuel, Holder, McCain, Napolitano, Clinton, here:

Sensenbrenner: Bush Turned Back on Bill

Key House Republican Jim Sensenbrenner says Bush turned his back on immigration bill

(AP) Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who has pushed a tough border security bill through the House, accused President Bush on Wednesday of abandoning the legislation after asking for many of its provisions.

He basically turned his back on provisions of the House-passed bill, a lot of which we were requested to put in the bill by the White House, Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., angrily told reporters in a conference call. That was last fall when we were drafting the bill, and now the president appears not to be interested in it at all.

Sensenbrenner chairs the House Judiciary Committee and would be the House's chief negotiator on any final immigration package for Bush's signature. He said it was the White House that had requested two controversial felony provisions in the bill the House passed last winter.

We worked very closely with White House in the fall in putting together the border security bill that the House passed, he said. ... What we heard in November and December, he seems to be going in the opposite direction in May. That is really at the crux of this irritation, he said of Bush.

Perhaps there are SOME out there who are beginning to get 'the picture'.
The following is a narrative taken from Sunday Morning's televised "Meet The
Press'. and the author is employed by none other than the Washington Post!!
Yeah......the Washington Post of New York and Los Angeles Times fame!! Must
say that I'm dually impressed..................

Obama to explain why he doesn't follow protocol when the National Anthem is
played. The General also stated to the Senator that according to the United
States Code,

when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform are expected
to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. At
the very least, "Stand and Face It"
Senator Obama Live on Sunday states, "As I've said about the flag pin, I

don't want to be perceived as taking sides, Obama said. 'There are a lot of
people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And
the anthem itself conveysa war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in
air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less
bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing.' If that
were our anthem, then I might salute it."We should consider to reinvent our
National Anthem as well as to redesign our Flag to better offer our enemies
hope and love. It's my intention, if elected, to disarm America to the

level of acceptance to our Middle East Brethren. If we as a Nation of
warring people, should conduct ourselves as the nations of Islam, whereas
peace prevails. Perhaps a state or period of mutual concord between our
governments. When I become President, I will seek a pact or agreement to end
hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity, and
a freedom from disquieting oppressive thoughts. We as a Nation have placed
upon the nations of Islam anunfair injustice. My wife disre spects the Flag
for many personal reasons. Together she and I have attended several flag
burning ceremonies in the past, many years ago. She has herviews and I have
mine". Of course now, I have found myself about to become the President of
the United States and I have put aside my hatred. I will use my power to
bring CHANGE to this Nation, and offer the people a new path of hope. My
wife and I look forward to becoming our Country's First Family. Indeed,
CHANGE is about to overwhelm the United States of America.
WHAAAAAAAT the HEL**!!!

things brought up in the film. As far as believing if our government is capable of risking and taking lives of their own people, I absolutely do believe that it has been done many times in the past, so Bush and Cheney are by far not the only potential villains to the story. I have a good friend who is writing a book based on her brother's life (he died last year) detailing some of his experiences being involved as an operative connected to the US Military as well as the CIA. and he confided these goings on to her before he died, and she said it is extremely explosive stuff. I had her watch the movie just to get her opinion, and she related to me that this stuff is not at all surprising to her, based on the stories she heard from her brother.

Regardless of what you might believe or not believe about this movie, it is provocative and thought provoking and very interesting in all the "coincidences" that seem to be wrapped around these events and bears more than just a glancing interest by anyone who is concerned about the state of our country today.

So thank you for at least checking it out for yourself and not jumping on me for just trying to open up some sort of grown-up dialogue on this.

Steven Camarota....director of research for Immigration

Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal

New Obama Chief of Staff, Others on Board, Missed "Red Flags" of Alleged Fraud Scheme

Freddie Mac Misrepresented Income, Says SEC

Sensenbrenner: Bush Turned Back on Bill

Key House Republican Jim Sensenbrenner says Bush turned his back on immigration bill