One of the most amazing aspects of DailyKos and blogging in General is when issues we talked about weeks ago, finally filter their way into the MSM. BusinessWeek is just now reporting
Bush's authorization of waiving of SEC rules so that Telephone Companies and other corporation can legally lie in court. In the
June 5th issue of
BusinessWeek (
http://www.BusinessWeek.com)
In the document, Bush addressed Negroponte, saying: "I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended." A trip to the statute books shows that the act was amended in 1977 by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The amended version states that "with respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States," the President may exempt companies from certain critical legal obligations. These include keeping accurate "books, records, and accounts" and maintaining "a system of internal accounting controls sufficient" to ensure the propriety of transactions and the preparation of financial statements in compliance with "generally accepted accounting principles."
The memo, published in the Federal Register on May 12, seven days after Bush signed it, had the unrevealing title "Assignment of Function Relating to Granting of Authority for Issuance of Certain Directives: Memorandum for the Director of National Intelligence."
A search of DailyKos diaries shows we were on this story 2 week ago! Like I said one of the most amazing aspects of Daily Kos and blogging in General is when issue we talked about weeks ago, finally filters its way into the MSM. Once again we have pushed an issue from the fringe (who really reads the Federal Registery and also understands section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.) into the main stream. Getting a financial story into BusinessWeek or the Wall Street Journal means it has finally entered the mainstream business press.
Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel of the CIA, said a number of companies have been granted the waiver: "Pick any of the major defense contractors -- Lockheed (LMT ), Boeing (BA ), Raytheon (RTN ). They do a lot of classified work for the government, and I know it's not all reported."
Smith, now a partner at Washington law firm Arnold & Porter, added: "Some of [the contractors' work] is really black; that means really secret. Boeing might be building jet fighters for the federal government, but the building won't say Boeing on it. It will say something else. That type of thing you're not going to put in your SEC filings." Stressing that he isn't a securities lawyer, Smith said he believes defense contractors' revenue and costs still have "to be accounted for in some fashion."
Now we all here agree that defense contractors building top secret weapons deserve security protection. But as with everything Bush does he is now pushing the envelope. This is being used on Telecom companies, and if my hunch is HALLIBURTON
By invoking national security, the government can use a number of other legal tools to keep corporate activity secret. The Bush Administration has employed the so-called state-secret privilege to seek dismissal of a pending private lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco concerning the relationship between the NSA and major phone companies. The Administration separately has asserted that secrecy provisions in the National Security Act of 1959 preclude an investigation of the NSA's dealings with the telecom industry.
(emphasis mine)
The MSM has just woken up to the fact that they can't get the truth of a story because companies can now legally lie. This is a shock to the MSM press and further evidence how disconnected they have become from dealing with the larger job of new analysis and not just reporting (read. Parroting) what their interviewees say. Welcome to the reality based community BusinessWeek sorry it took you so long!
Now granted we all at DailyKos know this story so this diary really isn't NEW news. I just find it satisfying that our stories and research, are making it into the MSM. Not only into the MSM but Business News that has a largely conservative readership! We truly are Crashing the Gates!