Friday, January 18, 2013

Guilty Pair Seek Executive Privilege

Source for the following: Breitbart
Attorney General Eric Holder and his Department of Justice have asked a federal court to indefinitely delay a lawsuit brought by watchdog group Judicial Watch. The lawsuit seeks the enforcement of open records requests relating to Operation Fast and Furious, as required by law.
by Matthew Boyle

Obama and Holder worries not over
 
Judicial Watch had filed, on June 22, 2012, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking all documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious and “specifically [a]ll records subject to the claim of executive privilege invoked by President Barack Obama on or about June 20, 2012.”
The administration has refused to comply with Judicial Watch’s FOIA request, and in mid-September the group filed a lawsuit challenging Holder’s denial. That lawsuit remains ongoing but within the past week President Barack Obama’s administration filed what’s called a “motion to stay” the suit. Such a motion is something that if granted would delay the lawsuit indefinitely.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said that Holder’s and Obama’s desire to continually hide these Fast and Furious documents is “ironic” now that they’re so gung-ho on gun control. “It is beyond ironic that the Obama administration has initiated an anti-gun violence push as it seeking to keep secret key documents about its very own Fast and Furious gun walking scandal,” Fitton said in a statement. “Getting beyond the Obama administration’s smokescreen, this lawsuit is about a very simple principle: the public’s right to know the full truth about an egregious political scandal that led to the death of at least one American and countless others in Mexico. The American people are sick and tired of the Obama administration trying to rewrite FOIA law to protect this president and his appointees. Americans want answers about Fast and Furious killings and lies.”
The only justification Holder uses to ask the court to indefinitely delay Judicial Watch’s suit is that there’s another lawsuit ongoing for the same documents – one filed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Judicial Watch has filed a brief opposing the DOJ’s motion to stay.
As the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was voting Holder into contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with congressional investigators by failing to turn over tens of thousands of pages of Fast and Furious documents, Obama asserted the executive privilege over them. The full House of Representatives soon after voted on a bipartisan basis to hold Holder in contempt.
There were two parts of the contempt resolution. Holder was, and still is, in both civil and criminal contempt of Congress. The criminal resolution was forwarded to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen–who works for Holder–for prosecution. Despite being technically required by law to bring forth criminal charges against Holder, under orders from Holder’s Department of Justice Machen chose to ignore the resolution.
The second part of the contempt resolution–civil contempt of Congress–allowed House Republicans to hire legal staff to challenge President Obama’s assertion of the executive privilege. That lawsuit remains ongoing despite Holder’s and the DOJ’s attempt to dismiss it and settle it.
It’s unclear what’s in the documents Obama asserted privilege over, but the president’s use of the extraordinary power appears weak. There are two types of presidential executive privilege: the presidential communications privilege and the deliberative process privilege. Use of the presidential communications privilege would require that the president himself or his senior-most advisers were involved in the discussions.
Since the president and his cabinet-level officials continually claim they had no knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious until early 2011 when the information became public–and Holder claims he didn’t read the briefing documents he was sent that outlined the scandal and how guns were walking while the operation was ongoing–Obama says he’s using the less powerful deliberative process privilege.
The reason why Obama’s assertion of that deliberative process privilege over these documents is weak at best is because the Supreme Court has held that such a privilege assertion is invalidated by even the suspicion of government wrongdoing. Obama, Holder, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and virtually everyone else involved in this scandal have admitted that government wrongdoing actually took place in Operation Fast and Furious.
In Fast and Furious, the ATF “walked” about 2,000 firearms into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. That means through straw purchasers they allowed sales to happen and didn’t stop the guns from being trafficked even though they had the legal authority to do so and were fully capable of doing so.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican citizens–estimates put it around at least 300–were killed with these firearms.


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Honesty The Best Policy Pays Off

From The Daily Mail
Wall Street bosses hail 'best cover letter ever' from humble student at 'average' university with no 'special' skills
By Snejana Farberov
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When it comes to cover letters, self-aggrandizement is the prevailing attitude among young, ambitious job seekers, but one applicant bucked the trend, going instead for brutal, unflinching honesty.
An undergraduate finance student penned a refreshingly sincere cover letter this week asking for an internship at a boutique investment bank on Wall Street.
Rather than inflating his qualifications and bragging about his grades or past job experiences, the humble applicant simply stated his case and matter-of-factly asked for a position.
Scroll down to read the full letter
Shockingly candid: An undergraduate finance student surprised the investment banking community by sending a cover letter to a boutique bank in which he admits that he comes from an average college and has no special skills
Shockingly candid: An undergraduate finance student surprised the investment banking community by sending a cover letter to a boutique bank in which he admits that he comes from an average college and has no special skills
In the missive which was published Monday by Business Insider, the unnamed student admits that he comes from 'an average' university, and has no 'unbelievably special skills or genius eccentricities.'
The unpretentious applicant goes on to say: 'I have no qualms about fetching coffee, shining shoes or picking up laundry, and will work for next to nothing.
'In all honestly, I just want to be around professionals in the industry and gain as much knowledge as I can.'
And it appears that the student’s bold approach has paid off, reaffirming the old adage that honesty is indeed the best policy.
The clear-eyed, candid letter instantly went viral, being forwarded to other investment firms, some as far as Houston, Texas.
Business Insider shared a list of promising replies, among them: ‘This might be the best letter I've ever received.’
The response to the letter has been overwhelmingly positive, with some recipients describing it as ‘hilarious but bold’ and ‘instant classic.’
Without dropping names and boasting of his smarts, the student managed to pique the interest of the jaded finance community, which is likely going to land him an interview or two.
One of the recipients wrote: ‘I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets at least a call from every bank out there.’

FULL TEXT OF COVER LETTER SENT TO INVESTMENT BANK:

From: *******
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 1:14PM
To: ******
Subject: Summer Internship

Dear ***

My name is **** ***** and I am an undergraduate finance student at ****** ********* I met you the summer before last at Smith & Wollensky's in New York when I was touring the east coast with my uncle, ***** ****** I just wanted thank you for taking the time to talk to me that night.

I am writing you to inquire about a possible summer internship in your office. I am aware it is highly unusual for undergraduates from average universities like ***** to intern at ******, but nevertheless I was hoping you might make an exception. I am extremely interested in investment banking and would love nothing more than to learn under your tutelage. I have no qualms about fetching coffee, shining shoes or picking up laundry, and will work for next to nothing. In all honesty, I just want to be around professionals in the industry and gain as much knowledge as I can.
I won't waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles, or feeding you a line of crapp about how my past experiences and skill set align perfectly for an investment banking internship. The truth is I have no unbelievably special skills or genius eccentricities, but I do have a near perfect GPA and will work hard for you. I've interned for Merrill Lynch in the Wealth Management Division and taken an investment banking class at *** for whatever that is worth.
I am currently awaiting admission for *** Masters of Science in Accountability program, which I would begin this fall if admitted. I am also planning on attending law school after my master's program, which we spoke about in New York. I apologize for the blunt nature of my letter, but I hope you seriously consider taking me under your wing this summer. I have attached my resume for your review. Feel free to call me at ****** or email at ******. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
**** ********

Monday, January 14, 2013