Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Justice Department has retracted a second statement made to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  During a hearing last week, Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that his predecessor, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey, had been briefed about gunwalking in Operation Wide Receiver.  Now, the Department is retracting that statement and claiming Holder "inadvertently" made that claim to the Committee.  The Department's letter failed to apologize to former Attorney General Mukasey for the false accusation.  This is the second major retraction the Justice Department has made in the last seven months.  In December 2011, the Department retracted its claim that the ATF had not allowed illegally purchased guns to be trafficked to Mexico.  Sen. Chuck Grassley's letter and the Department's response can be viewed here.

In addition, the Justice Department released only one page of additional material prior to the Attorney General's meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.  It is a page of handwritten notes by a public affairs specialist for the Deputy Attorney General, which the Department says it "just recently discovered."  The notes indicate that when Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein met with senior ATF officials on April 28, 2010, regarding the problem of gunwalking in Wide Receiver, the Deputy Attorney General's public affairs specialist also attended the meeting. These notes can be viewed here.

The notes indicate that Fast and Furious was also a topic discussed at the meeting, in addition to Wide Receiver.  These notes further corroborate contemporaneous emails in 2010 that show Criminal Division Chief Lanny Breuer and Weinstein seemed to have been more concerned about the press implications of gunwalking than they were about making sure ATF ended the practice. (These emails can be viewed here.)  The notes also undermine the claim that senior DOJ officials failed to "make the connection" between the gunwalking in Wide Receiver?which Breuer admitted to knowing about?and gunwalking in Fast and Furious.  In fact, both cases were discussed by senior Department leadership and senior ATF leadership.

Grassley made the following comment on these developments.

"This is the second time in nearly seven months that the Department has gotten its facts wrong about gunwalking.  Attorney General Holder accused Attorney General Mukasey, without producing any evidence, of having been briefed on gunwalking in Wide Receiver.  The case Attorney General Mukasey was briefed on, Hernandez, is fundamentally different from both Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious since it involved cooperation with the Mexican government. Attorney General Holder's retraction should have included an apology to the former Attorney General.

"In his eagerness to blame the previous administration, Attorney General Holder got his facts wrong.  And his tactic didn't bring us any closer to understanding how a bad policy evolved and continued.  Bad policy is bad policy, regardless of how many administrations carried it out.  Ironically, the only document produced yesterday by the Department appears to show that senior officials in the Attorney General's own Department were strategizing about how to keep gunwalking in both Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious under wraps."

WEST BRANCH, Iowa - This week the National Park Getaway takes readers to east central Iowa to visit the birthplace of the 31st president of the United States.

Ten miles east of Iowa City, Herbert Hoover National Historic Site tells the story of Hoover's life and achievements, and how a small community opened a world of opportunity to a child of simple beginnings.

Visitors can tour the cottage where Hoover was born, a blacksmith shop, West Branch's first one-room schoolhouse, and the Friends Meetinghouse where the Hoover family worshipped. Also located on the grounds are the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, the gravesites of President and Mrs. Hoover and an 81-acre tallgrass prairie.

If you visit this summer, you'll find plenty of activities designed to entertain. The park is hosting a summer concert series on Thursdays through June and family day camps throughout July. If you're in the area, you won't want to miss the annual Hoover's Hometown Days festival, celebrated during the first weekend of August.

Visit www.nps.gov/getaways to learn about Herbert Hoover and the turbulent era of his presidency.

www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 397 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.

WASHINGTON - June 20, 2012 - Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ben Nelson of Nebraska today released a letter asking President Obama to prioritize Russia's compliance with scientific standards set for international trade of for beef, pork and poultry products as part of negotiations with Russia over international trade relations.

"As we look to possibly grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations to Russia as part of the WTO accession process, livestock producers in the United States needs the President to give attention to sanitary and phytosanitary issues," Grassley said.  "As it stands, Russians have standards that simply aren't supported by science for some U.S. meat and poultry exports."

"Nebraska livestock producers have seen a drop in sales from Russia imposing standards not based entirely on sound science," Nelson said. "Russia's restrictions on American livestock violate the WTO rules, and we must have assurances Russia will abide by all of its rules and standards before Russia joins the WTO."

On Thursday, the Finance Committee will hold a hearing on Permanent Normal Trade Relations for Russia.  Grassley, a former chairman of the committee, said he will ask questions of administration officials about Russia's treatment of U.S. agricultural goods.

The text of the Grassley-Nelson letter is below.  The following 32 senators joined them in signing the letter:  Mark Kirk of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, John Thune of South Dakota, Al Franken of Minnesota, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Michael Bennett of Colorado, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Kay Hagan of North Dakota, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Mark Udall of Colorado, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Dan Coats of Indiana, Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Boozman of Arkansas, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.

 

Click here to see a signed copy of the letter.

 

June 19, 2012

President Barack H. Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C.  20500

 

Dear President Obama:

As Congress is faced with a decision of whether or not we grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to Russia, there are a number of issues left to be resolved.  However, we want to raise a particular issue with you that is important to U.S. farmers and ranchers.  Among the outstanding issues yet to be addressed adequately is Russia's failure to bring its practices into compliance with unambiguous WTO sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards with respect to imports of meat and poultry products from the United States.

We know you understand the importance of beef, pork, and poultry to the U.S. and Russia trade relationship.  Last year, U.S. meat and poultry exports collectively ranked second only to aircraft engines in total U.S. export value to Russia.  We appreciate our trade officials' efforts in obtaining strong tariff and quota access provisions from Russia in the accession talks.

However, U.S. meat and poultry exports have been steadily falling in recent years due to Russia's non-science based sanitary measures.  Russia's restrictions are numerous and range from the unjustifiable de-listing of U.S. meat processing facilities to arbitrary SPS actions that lack scientific justification to limit or even halt poultry and meat imports.  Judging by Russia's past and current practices on SPS issues, we lack confidence that Russia will all of a sudden treat U.S. pork and poultry products equitably upon entry into the WTO.  Furthermore, while U.S. beef does not currently face the challenges U.S. pork and poultry are dealing with, given Russia's track record on U.S. pork and poultry, we have little reason to believe U.S. beef won't eventually face its own issues with non-science based SPS measures instituted by Russian officials.

Officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Agriculture are well acquainted with the Russian measures we are referring to, and they appreciate the fact Russia's approach is not supported by science.  Our trade officials must keep up the pressure on Russia to lower these non-science based SPS barriers, and urge Russia to take these steps prior to formal entry into the WTO.  If we are not able to adequately address the SPS issues, it will undermine the commitments we obtained on tariffs and quotas.

We ask that you direct our trade officials to continue every effort to obtain firm, science-based commitments from Russia on the outstanding SPS issues prior to their formal entry into the WTO.  The commitments we are asking for from Russia are reasonable and achievable and are within the scope of the type of commitments made to the United States by both China and Vietnam in the context of their accessions to the WTO.  In addition, we urge you to address these issues with President Putin at your earliest opportunity.

We hope you will agree every effort should be made to lower these unjustifiable barriers hurting U.S. farmers, and that it should happen prior to Russia's formal entry into the WTO.  We stand behind our farmers and products they produce, and they deserve to be treated equitably by our trading partners.  While this is only one of many issues that needs to be addressed by Russia, it is a key issue. If it were resolved in a satisfactory manner it would certainly be a crucial step forward in our trade relationship with Russia.

Sincerely,

Chuck Grassley

Ben Nelson

Mark Kirk

Tom Harkin

Jeff Sessions

Claire McCaskill

Richard Burr

Amy Klobuchar

John Thune

Al Franken

Jon Kyl

Sherrod Brown

Pat Roberts

Michael Bennett

Mike Johanns

Herb Kohl

Tom Coburn

Joe Manchin

Richard Lugar

Debbie Stabenow

Mike Enzi

Kay Hagan

Roy Blunt

Mark Udall

Jerry Moran

Tim Johnson

Saxby Chambliss

Mark Pryor

John Hoeven

Richard Durbin

Dan Coats

Orrin Hatch

John Boozman

Jim Inhofe

-30-

When it comes to the best ways to use money, too many Americans operate under a key misconception, says investment adviser and financial planner Ike Ikokwu.

"Money is opportunity, and having a blind spot for maximizing investment can drastically reduce one's future options," says Ikokwu, author of Winning the Money Game: Separating the Myths from the Truth (www.winningthemoneygame.net).

That blind spot is debt, he says. Just as Americans have learned that are such things as good fats and good cholesterol, so too is there good debt for a prosperous financial future.

"The three most common ways people in this country get rich all involve using debt," he says. "They use it to launch businesses, invest in real estate, or pay for advanced degrees in order to become high-income earners."

Some myths born from the idea that all debt is bad include :

• Paying off your home mortgage provides financial security.
• A 15-year mortgage is always the quickest way to pay off your home.
• Putting money in your 401K or other qualified plan saves you taxes.
• The stock market is the only place to generate high, double-digit returns.

Admonishments to "stay out of debt" prevent people from gaining financial independence, Ikokwu says. Investing in education, a new career in another state or a new business may be more lucrative than paying down a mortgage.

"My definition of being 'debt-free' is to have enough money so that you can pay off your debt at any time - if you need to,'' he says. "But you don't necessarily want to do that. Good debt can save you money on taxes, increase your investment gains and allow you to take advantage of wealth-building opportunities. Bad debt, on the other hand, is like having a big hole in your money bucket."

Ikokwu developed a new personal financial plan after a period of successful investing imploded following the market crash in 2001. After filing for bankruptcy in 2003, he rebuilt his wealth - using his new plan - in five years. Today he is financially independent and his wealth secure.

"To a greater extent than many Americans suppose, money is plastic," he says. "That means you do not have to be rich in order to gain more wealth, and we do not have to follow old, outdated paths. We can all mold the money we have to a shape that yields better return."

About Ike Ikokwu

Ike Ikokwu, "The Financial Independence Coach," is a CPA, CFP and registered investment adviser. He holds a bachelor's in accounting and a master's in personal financial planning. Ikokwu is president and CEO of Winning the Money Game with Ike, a tax and financial advisory firm in Cumming, Ga. While working for "Big 6" tax firms and buying real estate, Ikokwu funneled his profits into domestic and international investments, only to realize too late that they were Ponzi schemes. Forced to declare personal bankruptcy in 2003, he rebuilt his wealth by changing his approach to finances. Tune into Atlanta's WGUN-1010 (AM) at 11 a.m. Saturdays for his weekly show.