(4/2/09 Author’s note: Debevoise? Nice Browser! And for Debevoise and Davis – why are you looking at the Bilderberg list when the Pilgrims are running the show?)
(4/1/09 Author’s 2nd note: Davis – you should donate to the Monster!)
(Author’s Note: Please refresh the page from time to time and go to the end to see the who’s who that has come by to see this post.)
On New Year’s Eve of 2008, I published the first article in the series ‘America’s Economic Collapse: An Intricate Web of Money, Power, and Political Agendas’ which I then moved to The Fed page at the top of this blog. In that series, I wrote about how the Federal Reserve System was formed, who was behind it, and how these same people moved onto start the Council on Foreign Relations and quite a few other big name players in the game. I stated somewhere in those four articles that I had not yet found the center of the web. A few weeks ago I stumbled on something that sent up red flags and now I am convinced I have found the center, but the scope of the web and it’s various threads is going to do what the Socialism series and The Fed series did not; your head will explode and many of the nagging questions you are having about everything currently happening in the world are going to be answered. The scope of the web is so great, I have decided to start writing about the different cast of characters so that when I present the web, you will already have some of the background. These particular characters are just the facilitators, not the main spiders. Let me just add that it is my belief that the Bilderberg Group, though powerful, is a red herring to attract and distract.
Debevoise & Plimpton have spent some time on my site and they were the first to let me know that something was afoot, and when Davis, Polk & Wardwell showed up, the confirmation was in hand. The attacks my site has suffered in the past two weeks are probably nothing to which will probably occur as soon as I post this, so be advised that if my site goes down or is running slow, it is because of the web. The areas bolded are my emphasis, and are your guideposts to the players involved.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, Debevoise has been a long established leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. In recent years, its practice has taken on an increasingly international component. The firm currently employs about 680 lawyers in eight offices throughout the world.
Debevoise & Plimpton is mentioned several times in the TV show The West Wing. In the show, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman’s father was a partner at Debevoise. Additionally, an assistant attorney general in the show was a Summer Associate at Debevoise and a prospective White House counsel candidate was interviewing for a position as an Associate at Debevoise.
Controversial Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili spent the six hours of his final day at the offices of Debevoise & Plimpton, meeting his lawyer Lord Goldsmith QC, shortly before being driven to Berezovsky’s office in Mayfair and then to his country mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey where he collapsed and died with heart attack at the age of 52.
Some of Debevoise’s clients include: American Airlines, AXA, BNP Paribas, CNN, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Airlines, Deutsche Bank, Gap, MetLife, JPMorgan Chase, NBC, SONY, The New York Times Company,Goldman Sachs, National Football League, National Hockey League, Prudential Financial, Shell Oil Company, Siemens, Universal Music Group, Verizon, Yahoo!, and Hasbro.
Debevoise & Plimpton is one of the United States’ major law firms. Clients such as American Airlines, the Democratic National Committee, the National Football League, and The New York Times receive advice from the Debevoise firm on intellectual property, tax, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and other legal specialties. Although the firm has relatively few foreign offices, its far-flung international practice makes Debevoise & Plimpton a major player in the globalization of the world’s economy. It also is a leading provider of pro bono services to those with limited resources.
Origins
In 1931 Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, two associates at the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, decided to form their own partnership. Two years later, Francis Plimpton joined them, and in 1936 Robert G. Page became the fourth name partner.
Initially the new partnership received work from some of New York City’s large law firms, including Davis Polk & Wardwell, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Milbank Tweed. Its early work for Phelps Dodge increased until it became their first corporate client. The firm’s bankruptcy work for Kreuger & Toll in 1932 also helped it get started. The partnership also represented the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in one of the first public stock offerings issued under the newly enacted Securities Act of 1933.
Starting in the Depression years, lawyers at the young firm did considerable reorganization work for the Florida East Coast, Central of Georgia, Norfolk Southern, New Haven, and Erie railroads, and also public utilities such as American Power & Light and General Gas & Electric. The 1930s also marked the beginning of the firm’s service for the St. Joe Lead Company that had mines in Missouri and New York State and also for the Consolidation Coal Company that eventually became the nation’s major bituminous coal company. In 1937 the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company came to the partnership to request assistance in a private securities placement, a new form of financing that was developed to avoid the strict requirements of public securities. Similar work for other insurance companies became a prominent part of the law firm. By 1940 the partnership gained as clients the investment counsel firm of Scudder, Stevens & Clark and also Tampax Inc., later renamed Tambrands Inc.
During World War II, the law firm lost several lawyers as they left to support the war effort. For example, Stevenson left to head the Red Cross. Although Debevoise remained with the firm, he spent many hours as the chairman of an Alien Enemy Hearing Board in New York City. At the time, because the firm’s attorneys were not specialists, they were able to handle work left by those who had joined the military. After the firm merged in 1943 with Hatch, McLean, Root & Hinch, it had 13 lawyers. At the end of 1944, the number had grown to 19 lawyers, increasing further as veterans returned in 1945.
Postwar Practice
In 1948 the young law firm gained American Airlines as a major client when it decided to move its headquarters to New York City from Washington, D.C. As the airline’s general counsel, the firm earned at least $150,000 in annual income, and American Airlines remained a client for several decades.
In the early years of the Cold War, firm partner Edward C. McLean defended Alger Hiss in what D. Bret Carlson called ‘undoubtedly the most publicized matter ever handled by the firm.’ Accused in 1948 by Whitaker Chambers of transmitting government documents to the Russians in the 1930s, Hiss demanded a public trial to defend himself. Although he was never convicted of spying, in 1949 he was convicted of perjury in a controversial case during the second Red Scare.
After World War II, the firm’s reputation increased from its partners’ work in government, higher education, and business. Phelps Dodge Corporation chose Page as its president in 1947. Debevoise became counsel to the high commissioner of West Germany in 1951 and served as the acting deputy high commissioner in 1952 and 1953. Stevenson was the American ambassador to the Philippines and later became the president of Oberlin College. In the 1960s Presidents Kennedy and Johnson appointed Plimpton as ambassador to the United Nations. In 1956 the law firm represented The Ford Foundation when it completed its first public offering of stock of the Ford Motor Company. According to George Lindsay, in the firm’s history, ‘That was the largest financing that had ever been held up to that time and was replete with new inventions in the law,’ and thus involved complex negotiations among the company, foundation, and Ford family members.
In 1959 Debevoise & Plimpton became general counsel for the First National City Trust Company that administered the pension fund of the affiliated First National City Bank, later renamed Citibank. In 1961 the law firm moved its offices to a new building at 320 Park Avenue constructed for the bank and trust company. After the trust company merged with and became a department of the bank, the law firm continued as its general counsel. Meanwhile, Debevoise & Plimpton represented the Rockefeller family in various matters, including the transition of Rockefeller Institute into Rockefeller University and the family’s real estate dealings through the Rockefeller Holding Company.
Growth of the Firm in the 1970s and 1980s
In 1980 the firm accepted a request by Chrysler to serve as its lead counsel in its struggle to survive financially. Following the Arab oil embargo of 1973, many Americans chose small foreign cars that used much less gas than did American cars. Thus, Chrysler lost market share, acquired a large inventory of unsold cars, and received over 400 loans from American, Canadian, Japanese, and European banks and other entities by the end of the decade.
In 1979 Congress had passed a law guaranteeing loans to Chrysler, but the automaker had to adhere to strict requirements for the law to be implemented. Debevoise partners, with the help of more than one-fourth of all its associates, helped Chrysler understand the complex federal law and then restructure its old loans and gain new ones. Although its operations were disrupted by a major fire in Debevoise’s New York office, the firm finally helped Chrysler avoid bankruptcy and eventually recover in what James B. Stewart described in 1983 as ‘the largest corporate rescue mission ever attempted.’ The firm continued to do work for Chrysler on other matters in the years to come.
In 1982 Debevoise & Plimpton joined the growing number of law firms with offices in Washington, D.C. The number of lawyers in the nation’s capital increased from 11,000 in 1972 to 45,000 in 1987.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Debevoise & Plimpton grew rapidly. From its origins with 2 lawyers in 1931, it had grown to employ 102 in 1970. By 1980 it employed 147 lawyers, and then in the 1980s it grew even faster, reaching a total of 368 lawyers at the end of 1990. Important corporate clients at the time included Prudential, Aetna, John Hancock, Equitable Mutual Life, Mass Mutual, American Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, St. John Minerals, Continental Corporation, Cooper Laboratories, Wheelabrator Frye, and Kelso and Company. The firm also represented the Ford, Russell Sage, and Hartford Foundations and Columbia and Princeton Universities.
Debevoise & Plimpton’s growth was part of a general trend that transformed many law firms. In the late 1970s two major developments spurred the changes. First, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that professional restrictions on advertising violated the First Amendment’s free speech provision. That led to more lawyers and other professionals openly soliciting clients. Second, legal journalism changed dramatically with the publication of two new periodicals, The National Journal and The American Lawyer, both of which covered the internal management practices and finances of law firms. With such data available, and attorneys becoming more aware of salaries and opportunities elsewhere, lateral hiring increased significantly in the 1980s as large law firms added literally hundreds of lawyers to their ranks. Intense competition for top talent, more formal management methods, the use of public relations experts, and the use of management consultants were also part of the transformation of America’s large law firms.
Practice in the 1990s and Beyond
In 1992 Debevoise & Plimpton represented Infinity Broadcasting Corporation when it became a public corporation. In 1996 the law firm helped the broadcasting corporation acquire TDI Worldwide, Grannam Holdings, and Alliance Broadcasting, then assisted Infinity when it was in turn acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
The law firm began to take on more work representative of the Information Age. Starting in 1994, it helped the Internet service provider CompuServe deal with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s rules concerning online intellectual property rights. Around 2000, the firm was involved in other major developments related to digital technology and the Internet. It represented The New York Times, Time Inc., and Newsday in Tasini v. New York Times, an important case that dealt with publishers’ rights to disseminate their work online. Its media and technology practice also served clients such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Dow Jones, Reuters, The Washington Post, Times Mirror, CNN, and USA Today that were concerned about the proper role of the Internet.
Like several other law firms, Debevoise & Plimpton cut the number of attorneys that it employed during the economic downturn of the early 1990s, decreasing from 397 attorneys in 1992 to 376 in 1993, when 307 worked in New York and the rest in branch offices in Washington, D.C., Paris, Los Angeles, London, and Budapest. According to Of Counsel of May 3-17, 1993, Debevoise & Plimpton assisted the Mexican telephone company Telmex and Bancomer, a large Mexican bank, when they were transformed from government to private businesses. The firm also participated in developing the oil and natural gas resources of Russia’s Sakhalin Island and in the privatization of the Prague Ruzyne International Airport. Later the firm closed its offices in Los Angeles and Budapest and opened its Moscow office.
In a 1996 survey by the Volunteers of Legal Service, Debevoise & Plimpton was one of the top New York law firms for pro bono work; it was one of only four New York firms that averaged 91 to 110 hours per lawyer and had increased its pro bono totals from 16,085 hours in 1995 to 30,714 hours in 1996. Debevoise & Plimpton’s pro bono activities ranged from international human rights and poverty law cases to prisoners’ rights, civil rights, and various environmental, educational, arts, and other nonprofit concerns.
The firm’s Washington, D.C., office, with about 30 lawyers in the late 1990s, operated differently from other firms. From that office’s 1982 beginning, ‘We had an odd-duck philosophy,’ said partner Ralph Ferrara in Of Counsel on October 18, 1999, explaining that the firm did not do legislative work for its corporate clients. He also said, ‘Washington lawyers do trade regulatory work. … We do [Securities and Exchange Commission] stuff, but it’s not regulatory, it’s disclosure.’ The Debevoise office represented financial, telecommunications, and other business clients in arranging mergers and dealing with complex litigation. For example, in the 1990s it helped insurance companies like New York Life and John Hancock deal with unprecedented class actions filed by policyholders.
In 1999 Debevoise & Plimpton provided counsel in over 135 mergers and acquisitions worth more than $435 billion. Merger and acquisitions clients included 1) the Jim Henson Company (Jim Henson was the creator of the Muppets) when it was purchased by EM.TV & Merchandising AG, 2) Lawrence Dolan in his purchase of The Cleveland Indians, 3) and Chrysler in its $38 billion merger with Germany’s Daimler-Benz. Fashion house Prada, LG Electronics, GlobeNet Communications, and AXA Financial, Inc. also used the Debevoise firm during 1999.
The firm’s litigators in 1999 won victories for Gap Inc. in a copyright/trademark case, General Electric in both British and American courts, and Showa Aluminum Corporation in a patent trial. It also represented American Home Products Corporation, American Express, Citibank, MetLife, the Council for Tobacco Research, and American Lawyer Media in litigation cases.
According to The American Lawyer, Debevoise & Plimpton was ranked as the nation’s 37th-largest law firm in 1999, based on its annual gross revenues of $269 million. Its revenue per lawyer was $670,000, which placed it at number 13 nationally, and its profits per partner of $1.225 million ranked the firm as number eleven in the United States. With an 80 percent increase in its profits per partner since 1990, the firm was considered one of the ‘Winners of the Nineties.’ Debevoise & Plimpton also was the nation’s 18th most prestigious law firm, according to a survey of 4,800 lawyers published in 2000 in the third edition of the Vault.com Guide to the Top 50 Law Firms. These statistics and surveys indicated that Debevoise & Plimpton was well prepared to confront the numerous legal challenges of the new millennium. However, the firm needed room to expand, so it planned to move its New York headquarters in summer 2001 to newly built offices at 919 Third Avenue.
Now aren’t you glad you know that? Probably not but it needs to be understood that there is no conspiracy theory here, just facts and you decide. Next up, the parent of Debevoise & Plimpton; Davis, Polk & Wardwell who should be paying my server’s fee considering how much time they have spent here.
Davis Polk & Wardwell is one of the largest U.S. law firms, ranked by its annual gross revenues. It represents some of the world’s largest corporations, including J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the modern companies founded by J. Pierpont Morgan, who first became a Davis Polk client in the late 1800s. The law firm’s other clients are found all over the world, including EMI Group in the United Kingdom, Telefonica in Spain, and Korea Electric Power. It consistently ranks as one of the top law firms involved in corporate and financial transactions, with expertise in securities, banking, taxation, antitrust, government regulation, and most areas of modern business law. Its litigation practice includes defending RJR Nabisco in much publicized lawsuits filed by smokers. In addition to its New York City headquarters, the firm maintains offices in Menlo Park, California, to serve Silicon Valley clients; offices in Washington, D.C., to help clients deal with government laws and regulations; and five overseas offices (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and Tokyo) in response to the increasingly globalized economy. The firm’s legacy includes participation in major American court cases, probably the most famous being the 1954 case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. That was also the last of 140 U.S. Supreme Court cases argued by John W. Davis, the most of any 20th-century lawyer at that time.
Origins and Expansion in the Early 20th Century
Davis Polk & Wardwell’s roots began in 1849 when Francis N. Bangs started a law practice in the days when relatively few businesses incorporated. Francis L. Stetson graduated from Columbia, fought against the corruption of New York City’s Democratic Party Boss Tweed, and then served New York City as its assistant corporation counsel before he joined Bangs as a partner in 1880.
Stetson brought the young partnership some of its most important early clients, most notably J.P. Morgan & Company, named for J. Pierpont Morgan, the famous banker and big businessman. In 1895, for example, Stetson went with Morgan to the White House to buy $65 million worth of bonds to help the federal government survive the depression that had started in 1893. In 1901 he helped Morgan create the United States Steel Corporation, the nation’s first billion-dollar corporation, which survived in the late 20th century as USX. Stetson in 1901 also served Morgan when he set up the Northern Securities Company, a railroad trust that later was split up because it violated the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. Stetson helped J.P. Morgan & Company on various mergers.
In addition, Stetson after 1900 reorganized the United States Rubber Company and helped establish the International Harvester Company. Thus ‘Stetson became one of the most prominent corporation lawyers in the nation,’ reported author William H. Harbaugh. ‘He pioneered in transforming the corporate mortgage from a simple real estate lien into a complex agreement running to as many as 200 pages, and he eventually became the country’s foremost specialist in corporate reorganization.’
Although Stetson had partners and associates at his firm, called Stetson, Jennings & Russell, he was not interested in expanding his partnership. The firm from 1896 to the start of World War I in 1914 had no more than seven partners. Its average annual income between 1911 and 1914 was just $287,197.
Younger attorneys became frustrated since they did the bulk of the routine legal work without receiving adequate compensation. The time was ripe for a major change, which happened in 1919, after Stetson had become senile and Jennings and Russell partially retired. The younger generation created the first ‘true partnership,’ according to Harbaugh, under such leaders as Allen Wardwell, who had joined the firm as a clerk after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1898.
Acting as the de facto head of the law firm, Wardwell recruited two key men in 1920. First he negotiated with Frank Polk, who in turn wrote to his friend John W. Davis about the advantages of joining the New York law firm. Davis was in the process of leaving public service as the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. Polk told Davis that the Stetson law firm represented Morgan and was general counsel to New York’s Guaranty Trust Company. It also represented the Associated Press, the International Paper Company, the Erie Railroad, and various others in trial and estates work. Admiralty and patent law were the only two areas it ignored.
John W. Davis, the law firm’s most prominent attorney for several decades, was born in 1873 in West Virginia. When he became the head of the firm in 1921, it was renamed Davis Polk Wardwell Gardiner & Reed, the last two name partners being George H. Gardiner and Lansing P. Reed. According to the 1932 Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the partnership at 15 Broad Street in New York City had 17 partners and one ‘of counsel’ member. It consistently received an ‘av’ rating, the highest available from the directory.
During the Great Depression, John Davis represented name partner Louis Levy of the New York City law firm of Chadbourne, Stanchfield & Levy, later named Chadbourne & Parke. In spite of Davis’s vigorous defense, Levy was disbarred after helping get Judge Martin Manton a $250,000 loan, which was never repaid, from American Tobacco’s ad agency at the same time American Tobacco faced a lawsuit before Judge Manton.
In a 1939 article, Ferdinand Lundberg described Davis Polk as one of the nation’s top ‘law factories,’ meaning it was ‘organized on factory principles and [grinded] out standardized legal advice, documents, and services …’ Lundberg mentioned how the nation’s top corporations tended to rely on the major law firms, thus concentrating wealth in just a few institutions. With 20 partners in 1939, Davis Polk Wardwell Gardiner & Reed for years had represented J.P. Morgan & Company and the Guaranty Trust Company. The law firm’s attorneys also served as 22 corporate directors.
Post-World War II Law Practice
After being delayed by World War II, the federal government finally brought a major antitrust lawsuit against the nation’s major investment banks, including Morgan Stanley and Harriman Ripley, who were represented by Davis Polk. The government accused the banks of price fixing, stifling competition from smaller investment banks, and several related charges. Whereas most banks and their lawyers wanted to settle the case, the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell took the lead in fighting the government. The trial ran from 1950 to 1953, when the judge accepted the defense motion to dismiss United States of America v. Henry S. Morgan, Harold Stanley, et al. doing business as Morgan Stanley & Co., et al., described by authors Nancy Lisagor and Frank Lipsius as ‘the granddaddy of modern antitrust cases.’
During the Korean War, President Harry Truman in April 1952 announced that he had seized control of the nation’s steel industry to prevent a threatened work slowdown or complete shutdown because of an industry-union dispute. John Davis represented Republic Steel in the steel industry’s fight to reverse the seizure. After many calls for President Truman’s impeachment, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952 heard arguments from Davis and others before ruling in a 6–3 decision that Truman had no constitutional or congressional authority to take control of the steel industry.
Although John Davis won in the steel case, he lost just two years later in one of the nation’s most famous court rulings, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Davis represented South Carolina in Briggs v. Elliott, which along with others was lumped together with the Brown case. Davis and other attorneys argued that the 1896 Plessey v. Ferguson ruling in favor of separate but equal schools should be upheld. Led by attorneys such as Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP won this court battle that led to school desegregation and was a major development in the postwar civil rights movement.
That was the last time John Davis argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Starting in 1913, Davis made oral arguments before the nation’s highest tribunal in 140 cases, the most of any 20th-century lawyer. Only two 19th-century lawyers exceeded that number: Walter Jones with 317 cases and Daniel Webster with at least 185 cases. Davis’s distinguished career brought him many honors before he died in 1955, including the United Kingdom’s highest award for a non-British citizen.
In 1954 the law firm included 26 members or partners, according to the Martindale-Hubbell Directory. It then was called Davis Polk Wardwell Sunderland & Kiendl. The last two name partners were Edwin Sunderland and Theodore Kiendl.
Four years later the firm had 30 partners and 67 associates when Spencer Klaw published his Fortune article on the large Wall Street law firms. Klaw mentioned that Davis Polk, ‘sometimes known as the Tiffany of law firms,’ was one of the so-called ‘white-shoe’ law firms where its lawyers wore ‘buckskin shoes that used to be part of the accepted uniform at certain eastern prep schools and colleges.’ Part of that law firm tradition involved hiring mostly prominent young associates listed in the Social Register.
By 1964 the law firm of 37 partners had added a Paris office and moved to its new headquarters at One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City. The firm, renamed Davis Polk & Wardwell, had overseas branches in both Paris and London in 1974 and included 43 partners and nine ‘of counsel’ lawyers.
In the 1970s some of Davis Polk’s major clients included Morgan Stanley & Company, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, International Telephone & Telegraph, International Paper, Johns-Manville, LTV Corporation, R.J. Reynolds, and McDermott, Inc.
During the Carter Administration, the United States suffered from its seeming inability to resolve the Iranian hostage crisis after Moslem fundamentalists captured Americans in Tehran. Carter froze Iranian assets in American banks, while millions in U.S. money was loaned to various Iranian institutions. The crisis finally was resolved in early 1981 when a group of lawyers from New York law firms representing the nation’s largest banks negotiated with attorneys representing Iranian interests. Davis Polk & Wardwell, on behalf of its historic client Morgan Guaranty, thus helped end one of the nation’s more humiliating episodes during the Cold War. Unfortunately, few history books mentioned such behind-the-scenes roles of law firms.
Practice in the Late 20th Century
Starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s the nation’s largest law firms began a major transformation. Part of the change came from a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said restrictions on professional advertising violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. At about the same time two new periodicals, the National Law Journal and the American Lawyer, began publishing articles on law firm management and finances. From that point on, law firms began to be more open about their operations, ending much of the secrecy of the past. In addition, lawyers gained competitive data about law firm profits, thus fueling more lateral hiring of experienced lawyers. The bottom line was that most big law firms became much larger in the 1980s, a time of rapid expansion in the American economy. They became more business-oriented as well, adding public relations personnel and hiring consultants for advice on better management practices.
As attorney salaries increased rapidly, law firms competed not only with each other for the top talents but also with corporations, including some of their clients. That happened relatively rarely in the 1980s, but by the mid-1990s more senior partners left for top corporate positions. Ellen Joan Pollock, in the September 11, 1996 Wall Street Journal, wrote, ‘What makes this recent spate of legal defectors noteworthy is the sheer number making the switch, and that they are moving into top corporate posts.’
A good example was Steven Goldstone, a senior partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell. In 1994 he earned about $1 million at the law firm. He had represented RJR Nabisco for several years, including a 1994 tobacco lawsuit. As the company’s outside general counsel, Goldstone said he spent more than half his time on business strategy, not legal issues per se. Then in late 1995 Goldstone accepted an offer to become the CEO of RJR Nabisco Holdings Inc.
In the so-called New Economy, high-technology firms required all kinds of legal support, so the nation’s largest law firms opened new offices to meet the demands of their clients. For example, in 1999 Davis Polk & Wardwell, along with two other New York firms, Shearman & Sterling and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, started branch offices in Silicon Valley. Davis Polk’s high-tech clients included ComCast, Compaq Computer, and Texas Instruments.
In March 2000 Davis Polk & Wardwell represented its long-term client Morgan Stanley & Company Incorporated and other underwriters of Crayfish Company, Ltd. in its initial public offering (IPO). Crayfish was a ‘Japanese e-mail hosting services provider,’ according to the Davis Polk web site.
Although Davis Polk & Wardwell continued to serve both Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan, the two firms formerly united as the House of Morgan, their relationships had changed. For decades Wall Street law firms had very close institutional ties to investment banks. ‘When I started 30 years ago, [these relationships] were virtually monogamous,’ said Francis J. Morison, Davis Polk’s managing partner in the Investment Dealers’ Digest of November 3, 1997. But as laws became more complex and law firms specialized, such long-term ties dwindled as clients turned to the firms that possessed the expertise they needed for specific situations.
In the 1990s Davis Polk & Wardwell advised clients in more than 700 mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures valued at more than $1 trillion. Some of its corporate clients in 2000 were Banco Santander Central Hispano; Comcast Corporation; Network Solutions, Inc.; ImClone Systems Incorporated; Quintus Corporation; Bass PLC; Mission Critical Software Inc.; Emerson Electric Company; Salomon Smith Barney; Merrill Lynch International; Warburg Dillon Read; Credit Suisse First Boston; Canadian National Railway; and Pharmacia & Upjohn.
Davis Polk & Wardwell continued to be one of the major law firms in the late 1990s. The American Lawyer in July/August 1998 ranked Davis Polk as the United States’ sixth largest law firm, based on its 1997 gross revenue of $390 million. At that point it had 447 lawyers.
In November 1998 the same magazine, in cooperation with London’s Legal Business, published its first ranking of the world’s largest law firms. Davis Polk ranked number eight based on its 1997 gross revenue, but it did not rank in the top 50 based on the number of lawyers. Its revenue per lawyer of $870,000 was the third highest in the world.
Based on its 1998 gross revenues of $435 million, Davis Polk & Wardwell ranked number five in the United States, according to the American Lawyer in July 1999. In 1999 the firm slipped to number eight based on its gross revenues of $460 million. Its profits per partner in 1999 were $1.61 million, a 63 percent increase since 1990 that made Davis Polk one of the ten most successful American law firms in the 1990s.
At the dawn of the new millennium, Davis Polk & Wardwell faced numerous challenges. Law firms were getting larger and larger, whether from mergers or internal recruiting, thus making management issues more crucial. Law firms faced competition from accounting firms that hired many lawyers, raising the possibility of the American bar allowing multidisciplinary practices involving lawyers, accountants, and other professionals. Rapid technological change, involving such issues as intellectual property conflicts and computer security for Internet transactions, also gave Davis Polk & Wardwell and other large law firms plenty to deal with in the Information Age.
Principal Operating Units: Corporate; Tax; Litigation; Trusts Real Estate.
That is not all of the lawyers, and for those of you interested, AIG is in the mix also.
(Author’s update: 3/31/09: Everyone please welcome back to the Monster; Debevoise & Plimpton and Shearman & Sterling…) (Also welcome Simpson Thacher & Bartlett who JUST joined us…think they are texting each other or calling?) (15 minutes have gone by and now it is time to welcome Baker & McKenzie; everybody wave.) (5 minutes have gone by; everybody wave to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Now I understand why these people started landing on my site 3 months ago.) (10 minutes later; please welcome the London Office of Debevoise & Plimpton.) (5 minutes later…please welcome Columbia University.) (The second Columbia U ip has shown up, and would any of my readers like to start digging on Stetson University College in Clearwater, Florida to find the link. They came in directly.) (Everyone please welcome The Monitor Group.) (Wow – it took Davis Polk & Wardwell almost two hours to show up – we know who the granddaddy is…)(Please welcome the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.)
Just a little visual reminder of the similarities between these two insecure male egos questing for love and recognition, yada, yada, yada…. and then we will get onto business because You Are Not Going to Freakin’ Believe IT!!!!
This must be chappin’ Hitler’s butt. Do you think the American public is footing the bill for the 500+ Entourage, shipping of “the Beast”, other limosines, and his decoy fleet of helicopters? I WANT MY PIECE OF THE PIE BACK!!!
Prospect of Barack Obama show causes UK to clear its decks
With an entourage of 500 staff, an armour-plated limousine and a fleet of decoy helicopters, America’s new president will arrive for his first visit to Britain amid huge razzmatazz on Tuesday for the G20 summit. But it will be his closed-door meetings with world leaders that are likely to prove the most significant of the trip.
Oh, don’t worry – it’s gets even better!
Britain will get its first chance to see Barack Obama this week when a White House cavalcade – complete with armoured limousines, helicopters, 200 US secret service staff and a six-doctor medical team – sweeps into the UK.
Please do not tell me that I am the only one that takes the Hitler 2.0 reincarnated bastard from hell theory seriously? Does somebody else want to stand up and say Zieg Heil!?
Obama will fly into London for his first visit to the UK as president of the United States on Tuesday to take part in the G20 summit in the capital’s Docklands area. He will not be travelling light.
And why not, since we are in a drastic recession on it’s way to a depression?
More than 500 officials and staff will accompany the president on his tour this week – along with a mass of high-tech security equipment, including the $300,000 presidential limousine, known as The Beast. Fitted with night-vision camera, reinforced steel plating, tear- gas cannon and oxygen tanks, the vehicle is the ultimate in heavy armoured transport.
Looks like The Beast is as state of the art for this time as Hitler’s vehicles were for his time; remember, no expense must be spared to protect the Fuhrer.
In addition, a team from the White House kitchen will travel with the president to prepare his food. As one official put it: “When the president travels, the White House travels with him, right down to the car he drives, the water he drinks, the gasoline he uses, the food he eats. America is still the sole superpower and the president must have the ability to handle any crisis, anywhere, any time.”
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? Do you think Hitler 2.0 is worried somebody is going to poison him, or is it that the Brits can’t make a good fried chicken? He has to bring his own gasoline? WTF?
US security teams have already carried out three visits to prepare for Obama’s first official visit to Britain. The first was a “site survey”, the second a “pre-advance visit” which was carried out to pick sites that the president would visit. Finally there was the “advance trip”, which took place last week. Its purpose was to set up equipment, sweep venues for electronic bugs, test food for poison and measure air quality for bacteria.
Sounding more like Hitler yet?
Obama will start his first presidential visit to Europe when he steps down from the US presidential jet, Air Force One, at Stansted airport on Tuesday. The Boeing 747-200B is fitted with its own gym, electronic defence units and shielding to protect its complex communication devices from radiation from nuclear blasts. Among the officials on the flight will be a military officer carrying America’s nuclear missile launch codes.
Obama will then be flown to central London in a VH-3D helicopter known as Marine One. Again, high-tech security will dominate his journey. Marine One is fitted with flares that can be fired to confuse heat-seeking missiles and always flies in groups containing several identical decoy helicopters.
While in town, the president will be guarded by more than 200 US secret servicemen – easily identifiable by their shirt-cuff radios and Ray-Ban sunglasses. Obama has already had some time to get used their attention. It was decided 18 months ago, when he was still a presidential candidate, that his African-American background put him at particular risk of an assassination attempt and he was provided with his security guards.
And should anything befall the President, a White House medical unit will be at hand to provide emergency care. The team consists of surgeons, nurses and other medical personnel and carries supplies of blood of the type AB, the president’s blood group. At the same time, Obama will be constantly minded by his personal aide Reggie Love, who dials his BlackBerry, fetches his jacket and tie and supplies him with snacks. First Lady Michelle Obama will also have a coterie of assistants, including a secretary, a press officer and several bodyguards.
This is sounding more like Hitler crossed with the French Aristocracy…
This post has been a few days in the writing, but now is a very good time to put these ideas out because now I have a great segue into it. We have reached the crossroads folks, and we have to make a decision. More and more people are becoming “awake” to the fact that our government stopped listening to us awhile back. We did not want a bank bailout; it happened, and over half the money went to foreign banks. We did not want the stimulus plan; a $1.2 Trillion fiasco; they did not read it and passed it anyways. We said “let the corrupt companies fail”, that did not happen. We do not want the $3.7 Trillion Budget being put forth by the fascists in charge, and Nazi Nancy and her buddy, Prince Harry, “I need you to believe that we can do anything we want, so why fight?”, are going to make that happen too. We do not want our taxes to be increased anymore, that’s definitely on the way. It is abundantly clear to me that the people we elected to govern the country have decided to no longer listen to us and follow our wishes as was laid out in the Constitution of the United States. How much more blatant does it have to be?
A tea party scheduled for April 1st has been cancelled because the City of Cape Coral, Florida felt more than 500 people were going to attend, therefore requiring the organizer to obtain a permit AND insurance. The news article makes it seem like the city cancelled the tea party, but fair is fair, and technically the organizer, Lynn Rosko made the decision. Did the City of Cape Coral box her into a corner? Well if it looks like a duck….
CAPE CORAL, Fla. – A tea party to protest government spending and taxing is canceled. Canceled by the government.
Why? They feel too many people could show-up.
Lynn Rosko planned to hold a tax payer tea party at Jaycee Park in Cape Coral on April 1st. The idea was announced at a Cape Coral City Council meeting, then an e-mail blast by the Republican Party and it was mentioned in the local media.
With all of that attention, the City of Cape Coral felt there could be more than 500 people attending the tea party.
Therefore Rosko needed to get a permit and insurance for the event. Rosko says she’s not willing to get insurance and accept liability for something that a stranger could do. Rosko told WINK News, “I have rescinded any organizing or supervision or what ever you want to call it over this tea party on April 1st.”
WINK News spoke to the director of parks for Cape Coral. He says that even now if Rosko is willing to get insurance for the event he’ll likely re-authorize it.
For now Rosko’s event is canceled, she’s encouraging people to attend the April 15th Tax Payer Tea Party in Centennial Park in Fort Myers.
Do you recognize this? I just re-read the Constitution and Bill of Rights AGAIN because I was looking for the exact wording of this amendment:
Congress shall make no lawrespecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The clause the states wanted added into the Constitution is right there in black and white. “Congress shall make no law… abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” There is nothing in there about permits and insurance, and the city laws passed requiring permits and insurance, (in hopes of deterring ‘the people’), are an abridgement just as much as the permit that I had to obtain to have a firearm.
Our Constitution was put in place to constrict the power of the federal government, not control our every action.
We now have another prime example of how our Constitution has been eroded by the powers that be in hopes of controlling us and turning us into serfs, and according to Dr. Bob Basso/Thomas Paine, they have done a fantastic job of turning us into spectators to our own demise.
So here we all are milling about at the “crossroads” between losing our Constitutional freedoms and taking back our country, wondering what exactly we are supposed to do because the people we elected to govern wisely have all gone off a power/money/sex cliff with a moral compass that has become a gyroscope. We entrusted them with the governing of our country so that we could get the actual work of making the country prosper accomplished for ourselves and future generations. What have they been doing while we have been building a nation? Once again, if it looks like a duck….or…(insert your own word here…)
For months I have felt that a 50 million person march (or more) on Washington, D.C., shutting down the business of the capital might just get our elected officials attention. Maybe. Mr. Basso is correct in that every single Congressman and Senator that DID NOT READ THE 1100 PAGE STIMULUS BILL SHOULD BE FIRED, and I do not think waiting until next year sends the right message – you are fired now! Go home, your services are no longer required. When was the last time that they actually passed meaningful legislation that helped everyday Americans? Women got the vote in 1920? The repealment of Prohibition? Don’t even start with FDR and his ponzi scheme of Social Security.
All of that being said, here are some suggestions that I urge everyone to tell their friends and family about, and then make it happen!
Fly a Gadsen “Don’t Tread On Me Flag” at your home. (Look in the sidebar carousel for the $1.99 item.)
Get a copy of the Constitution and put it in the front window of your home.
Print out copies of the following pictures of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Send the Constitution to your congressmen and senators with the message, “The Declaration Is Coming Next”. Don’t waste your postage sending it to the White House, he is too busying partying, and he has proven that he does not have your best interests at heart with his additions to the $78.6 TRILLION Deficit.
If they send you one of those patronizing, condescending form letters back, start sending them a copy of the Declaration as often as you would like.
Start talking to everybody you know about going to Washington DC – and soon.
It is our duty and moral obligation to the Founding Fathers, every man or woman who has fought and DIED for our liberties, every legal immigrant that has made this country great, our parents and grandparents that made this country flourish, and OUR CHILDREN, to reign this suicidal, Constitution shredding, government in. I, for one, do not want to slide off the fascist cliff that we are being so slowly led to. How many of you think twice about what you say or write? There is your indication! This also includes the abolition of the Federal Reserve System so that we no longer have to pay interest on money that OUR TREASURY requested be printed. A central bank system set up by the very corrupt bankers that are ruining our country right now is enough reason to get our sorry behinds off our couches and out into the streets!
The Tax Day Tea Parties are a great start, but we must think BIG!
I do not know too many people that could have said this better. What is it going to take people? The Government taxing us into complete submission, or coming to your door to take your children away for their “mandatory service requirement”? By then, it will be too late. If Canada Free Press has a problem with me shamelessly reprinting the whole article, they can let me know – but I don’t think that is going to happen.
Two recent columns have generated millions of hits and thousands of reader comments web wide, all with a single common sentiment expressed and a single question asked…
America needs a second FREEDOM revolution, a Tea Party… Who will lead the Second American Revolution?
In case you have not read the columns generating so much reaction, here are the links to the subject columns for your convenience…
Millions of Americans see what is happening to their nation. Many saw it coming and did their civic duty, campaigning and voting against it in 2006 and 2008, but to no avail.
With the people paralyzed by the post-election prospect of their worst fears coming true, economic calamity, explosive growth of a dangerously abusive power-drunk federal government, a multi-generational future of record breaking taxpayer debt as far as the eye can see, and an administration rushing to confiscate control of private industry after private industry, individual freedom and liberty seem nothing more than lost ideas of the past.
Confused by a daily diet of media contrived propaganda supporting leftist Ivy League lies and a global push for international socialism, the average American feels cornered, powerless and alone in their depressed anguish over the loss of the freest, most prosperous and powerful nation ever known to mankind.
They are desperate and looking for a leader to organize their march against federal tyranny under Democratic Socialists, soon to leave the freest nation on earth in a third world state of mandatory servitude under a Saul Alinsky – Bill Ayers and Barack Obama version of modern Democratic Marxism by mob rule.
So far, no such Leader has Emerged!
Even if congressional Republicans had the numbers to make a difference, which they don’t now, there appears to be not a single congressional Republican with the fundamental American principles and values, let alone the backbone, to lead such a charge in the face of an exploding international effort to slaughter all things American.
Leadership from anyone in Washington DC can be ruled out today. Turning things around in 2010 or 2012 can also be ruled out, as national elections will never be legitimate again after 20 million illegal aliens are given amnesty with full voting rights, along with lifetime membership in a labor union, the Democrat (socialist) Party and ACORN.
That leaves the pool of angry average Americans from which to rise up a leader of the Second American Revolution. The next leader of American freedom and liberty will come from the people, not from the halls of an overtly corrupt congress.
Who in their right mind, would sign up for such a daunting task, full of real personal risks?
Can the Average American be Trusted to Follow?
The 2006 and 2008 elections revealed a few very disturbing trends in American society.
The majority of Americans now prefer the promise of free-stuff over freedom
The half of Americans that pay only 2.99% of all federal taxes consistently attempt to vote themselves access to other people’s earnings, no matter the cost to freedom
The half of Americans that pay 97.01% of all federal taxes find themselves the unrepresented defenseless target of every new Washington DC initiative
Half of voting Americans are completely brainwashed against all things American
The other half are too busy getting through life to notice, too frightened, or too baffled by Ivy League B.S. to know what to do about it
Constitutional Republicans are indeed the new American minority
But even so-called conservatives have clearly lost their way…
When conservatives have to ask, “What can I do?” – this means that they have either already lost sight of what the Founders told them to do under such conditions, or they have lost the will to do it…
The mere fact that so many “conservatives” are now searching for a “messiah” of their own, to lead them out of the all consuming darkness, is yet another indication that even conservatives have lost touch with the founding American principles and values established for just such an occasion.
We the People!
Never in the history of mankind has government, made up of corrupt career politicians forever pandering for personal power, ever been the solution to any problem. In fact, almost every problem on earth, and certainly every problem our country faces today, was caused by career politicians that make up an increasingly corrupt government.
WE the PEOPLE have always been the ONLY solution!
But the people lost control of their government and they know it. They are scrambling in search of a means to regain control before it’s too late, and after decades of being misinformed and lied to, they are having trouble seeing through the smoke and mirrors of Washington politics.
The People ALWAYS have the POWER!
But if they don’t know that they have the power, have forgotten or are afraid to use that power, then they are indeed powerless.
There is no conservative messiah coming to your rescue. The leader you are looking for is YOU! You are the ONLY one who can lead a charge against a government which no longer represents your constitution, your republic, or your individual freedom and liberty.
Stop asking for someone else to do the heavy lifting for you. Collectively, YOU have the power that NO individual has, alone.
Radio and TV personality Glenn Beck is attempting to help the people organize in his “We Surround Them” initiative. Others have suggested that Rush Limbaugh should lead the charge, with his twenty million listeners. Some have even asked if I would be willing to lead… as if I have any more power than they do.
Michelle Malkin and others have organized protest events under “Tea Parties” scheduled for the 2009 tax day. Sean Hannity and Mark Levine have tried to lead the American people back to their constitutional foundation.
What are you asking any of these people to do? What do you expect them to do, that you won’t do yourself? Why do you think that any of these people have more power than you?
What are you Prepared to do?
If I, or Rush, or Beck set up a freedom foundation to organize a real people’s revolt against the current destruction of our constitutional republic, how much money, time and effort are you prepared to sacrifice to support that effort? What are you willing to sacrifice for the future of your country, for your own personal freedom?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” – Declaration of Independence
Are we there yet? Has the federal government become destructive of these ends? If so, what are the people prepared to do about it?
YOU are the ONLY Solution?
Whether by peaceful means or violent action, only YOU can alter the current course of events.
I was recently asked to write a column covering the subject of the Tea Party initiative. I warned the publisher that I might not have the take on the subject he was looking for, but it was my take he was interested in hearing. Here’s what I wrote… Tea Party vs. Real Tea Party, Rhetoric vs. Real Action
Many Americans not yet so indoctrinated in leftist drivel as to foolishly believe that communism is some progressive idea, are indeed beginning to wake up and not a moment too soon. But are they doing all they can to prevent the imminent collapse of the nation they have always known? Or, like their messiah seeking leftist counterparts, are they paralyzed with fear of their overly powerful government, hoping for a conservative messiah to lead them from darkness?
YOU are the Solution!
You have the power to stop the destruction of your country. But you have bought into the lie that you don’t. You have accepted the notion that you are powerless against the unconstitutional DC elitists. You have bought hook, line and sinker into the rhetoric that our current problems are too complex for you to comprehend and that therefore, only Ivy League lawyers are able to save you and your nation from yourselves…
Yet, you are the only possible solution to what is happening in America today. The Founders made certain to give us the power to right all wrongs, to defend the constitutional republic against all enemies, both foreign and DOMESTIC!
What are you doing with that power?
If you fail to use that power in a peaceful resistance today, you will leave yourself with only violent options tomorrow.
If you understand what I’m trying to say here, and are truly prepared to do something real to save this nation from the people who like nothing about America, its founding principles and values, those who now refer to all freedom loving patriots as nothing more than “domestic terrorists” or “right-wing extremists,” then you must begin to act…
To put a very fine point on the matter, the ONLY peaceful solution at this late hour is a full scale massive tax strike, a real Tea Party, in which a massive number of Americans simply refuse to continue funding what they believe wholeheartedly to be an evil corrupt government hell bent upon destroying their nation.
65 million Americans were smart enough to vote against the people now dismantling America, individual right by individual right. What if all 65 million were also courageous enough to take a serious (but peaceful) stand against the current march into unbridled Marxism, by standing together, refusing to fund one more minute of the evil in Washington DC? Can you even begin to imagine the events that would follow such a massive stand? There would be some 500 new job openings in Washington DC soon after…
If the people fail to take peaceful action by defunding the evil befalling our nation, only violent options will remain. If they wait until they are broke, living a soup line existence, stripped of their Second Amendment rights, then they will have waited too long and they will no longer have the power to reverse any of it.
All complex problems require the simplest of solutions. Socialism always ends once government runs out of access to other people’s money. You can make them run out of money now, or wait until they make you run out of money first… Sooner or later, socialism will fail, just as it has everywhere it has ever been tried.
Or, you can wait until there is no option left but to take your country back by force.
But let’s not kid each other here… Leftists know something you are not yet ready to admit…
If you don’t have the courage to take peaceful action, you won’t have the courage to take violent action either.
If you are still looking for a leader, find a mirror…
JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. He is published nationwide and in many countries around the world. JB Williams’ website is jb-williams.com/
JB Williams can be reached at: JB_Williams@comcast.net
I just received this email and am going to reprint it in it’s entirety because this average American woman is so devastatingly on the mark, it is scary. My readers know that my grandparents came through Ellis Island, and these are the patriots this writer is speaking about, and you and I are the people she is speaking to!
My father was a first generation American who enlisted at age 17 to fight in the Pacific in WWII. Was he proud of his Romanian heritage and ancestry; sure, but he was much more proud that he was an American and BORN in the greatest country in the world.
Are we going to continue to allow our deaf elected officials to spit all over their memories? Are we going to stand by and watch Lady Liberty weep more? (More on that later….coming soon.)
This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper………
Newspapers simply won’t publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they’re pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace!
From: ‘David LaBonte’ My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to ‘print’ it myself by sending it out on the Internet.. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the OrangeCounty Register:
Dear Editor: So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry..
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented . Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.
They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmansh ip they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France , and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people.
When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German- American or the Irish-American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were.. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2008 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges, only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I’m sorry, that’s not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900’s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!! LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!!
The 21st century Thomas Paine, Bob Basso, has been summoned to the White House by the Usurper-In-Charge, “to discuss the disturbing nature of the videos.” Common sense and a free republic have become “disturbing”? You have to give Bambi credit for seeing someone that can steamroll his fascist conversion of our country when he sees it. Bob Basso may not be the “leader” that Americans are looking for right now, but he definitely is the voice.
I have a feeling that silencing Dr. Bob Basso is going to be a little harder to do than making a deal with the Republican Party to get into the WH.
The man who created two phenomenally successful “We The People” YouTube videos urging Americans to stand up against Congress and reclaim their republic now – or perhaps lose it forever – reportedly has been summoned to the White House by President Obama to discuss the subject matter of the short films.
Bob Basso, who posts videos under the name funbobbasso on YouTube, has created videos in which he portrays Thomas Paine, author of the “Common Sense” pamphlet that made the case for independence during the American Revolution.
Basso, whose website offers his services as a motivational speaker, uses the YouTube presentations to condemn “non-representing representatives” and warns, “Only when they feel the almighty wrath of ‘We The People’ marching in the streets from California to New York shouting ‘We’re mad as hell and we want our country back’ will they get the message they work for you.”
He was scheduled this week to appear on the “Jerry Doyle Show” when he told the radio host that Obama had personally invited him to meet in the White House “to discuss the disturbing nature of the videos.”
According to a spokesman for Doyle’s show, at the time when Basso was supposed to be calling in for the show, he was unavailable. Basso reached the show several hours later, explaining he had been flooded by media calls and literally was unable to call out.
The result, the spokesman said, was that Basso promised to provide Doyle with the first exclusive interview after he meets with Obama, provided the invitation still stands after the was leaked to the press.
The spokesman said information about the meeting has not been made public, and show producers are waiting to see what develops. A WND message left for Basso was not immediately returned.
The Doyle show reaches about 3 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, and is the fastest growing show in Talk Radio Enterprises’ history with more than 240 stations
In his second video, which has been seen more than 1.1 million times, Basso challenges people to let Congress know their displeasure by sending tea bags.
He criticizes Congress for approving the “largest spending bill in history without reading it” and criticizes American citizens, because “you did nothing.”
He raises the issue of billions of dollars for benefits for illegal aliens, the exportation of U.S. jobs overseas and others.
“If your self-serving Congress were a business they’d all be in jail now,” he said.
“Wake up, America. While you were playing with the toys of your consumer wealth, you lost much more than your bloated economy of living beyond your means. You lost your representative democracy. Your servants have become your masters. Taxation without representation is tyranny,” he said.
Ladies and Gentlemen, some common sense for your consideration.
A special thank you to a reader, Kathy, for dropping the link and stating “Maybe he can explain the Constitution to the White House.” I am thinking that we ALL are going to have to do that.
I am going to be putting up the videos here and there, and informing those that want to know how to join a tea party in their city, to go here. For those of you looking for Glenn Beck’s 912 Project, go here.
Our elected officials have stopped listening to us and will not pay attention until we show up and are present -PEACEABLY Protesting Their Deafness!
For those of you wondering about the truth of the mandatory service requirement (notice the word volunteer has been taken out) section of this bill, here are the facts. “Mandatory service requirement” is back on the table.
This is the actual paragraph from HR1388 that was introduced into the House. When I originally looked at this bill earlier in the week, I could have sworn it was still in the passed House version that went onto the Senate, (and the bookmark for that page no longer works), but no more; a little scrubbing perhaps? From Thomas:
(6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
This whole section; Congressional Commission on Civic Service was removed when it went over to the Senate. There was quite a bit of tuck and hide with this bill starting out as S3577 and then ending up bundled under Ted Kennedy’s S277 Serve America Act; which has now been renamed, “The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws.” Do not even get me started on the ridiculousness of naming this bill after good, ‘ol Ted.
Now for more facts. The “reasonable mandatory service requirement” section of this bill has now been reintroduced by Rep. James McDermott (D-WA) as H.R. 1444; Congressional Commission on Civic Service Act; to establish the Congressional Commission on Civic Service to study methods of improving and promoting volunteerism and national service, and for other purposes.
If you go to the link above and click on text, you will find what I just read:
SEC. 4. DUTIES.
(a) General Purpose- The purpose of the Commission is to gather and analyze information in order to make recommendations to Congress to–
(1) improve the ability of individuals in the United States to serve others and, by doing so, to enhance our Nation and the global community;
(2) train leaders in public service organizations to better utilize individuals committed to national service and volunteerism as they manage human and fiscal resources;
(3) identify and offer solutions to the barriers that make it difficult for some individuals in the United States to volunteer or perform national service; and
(4) build on the foundation of service and volunteer opportunities that are currently available.
(b) Specific Topics- In carrying out its general purpose under subsection (a), the Commission shall address and analyze the following specific topics:
(1) The level of understanding about the current Federal, State, and local volunteer programs and opportunities for service among individuals in the United States.
(2) The issues that deter volunteerism and national service, particularly among young people, and how the identified issues can be overcome.
(3) Whether there is an appropriate role for Federal, State, and local governments in overcoming the issues that deter volunteerism and national service and, if appropriate, how to expand the relationships and partnerships between different levels of government in promoting volunteerism and national service.
(4) Whether existing databases are effective in matching community needs to would-be volunteers and service providers.
(5) The effect on the Nation, on those who serve, and on the families of those who serve, if all individuals in the United States were expected to perform national service or were required to perform a certain amount of national service.
(6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
(7) The need for a public service academy, a 4-year institution that offers a federally funded undergraduate education with a focus on training future public sector leaders.
(8) The means to develop awareness of national service and volunteer opportunities at a young age by creating, expanding, and promoting service options for primary and secondary school students and by raising awareness of existing incentives.
(9) The effectiveness of establishing a training program on college campuses to recruit and educate college students for national service.
(10) The effect on United States diplomacy and foreign policy interests of expanding service opportunities abroad, such as the Peace Corps, and the degree of need and capacity abroad for an expansion.
(11) The constraints that service providers, nonprofit organizations, and State and local agencies face in utilizing federally funded volunteer programs, and how these constraints can be overcome.
(12) Whether current Federal volunteer programs are suited to address the special skills and needs of senior volunteers, and if not, how these programs can be improved such that the Federal government can effectively promote service among the ‘baby boomer’ generation.
(c) Methodology-
(1) PUBLIC HEARINGS- The Commission shall conduct public hearings in various locations around the United States.
Add McDermott’s name and the names of his four co-sponsors; Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), and Rep. James Moran (D-VA), to the list of elected government officials that are not upholding their oath to protect the Constitution.
When I have finished reading the whole bill, I will let you know if there are any other goodies inside that we need to start attending to. Are you aware of H.R. 875 and the 40 traitors backing that one?
On a lighter note, I would have to say that Michelle Obama was right about a few things:
Barack Obama will require you to work.
I have been working my butt off since March 2008.
He is going to demand that you shed your cyncism.
Not so much.
That you put down your division.
Uniting the country against the very people that are not upholding their Constitutional oath.
That you come out of your isolation.
I have made so many more new friends and contacts. Networking is gonna be a b**ch, Bambi.
That you come out of your comfort zone.
The trust comfort zone? That one Mishy? Where we believed that our elected officials would actually represent us and uphold the Constitution?
That you push yourselves to do better, and that you engage.
I would say that I am fully engaged as an American Patriot – are you?
Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed…
Thanks for that Bambi! I have learned more about the corruption in Washington, the UN, and the Central Banks than I can stomach.
Officer Robert Powell actually looks like Reinhard Heydrich
…Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell for delaying 26-year-old NFL running back Ryan Moats, and threatening him with arrest for running a traffic light while he was driving his wife and another relative to see his dying mother-in-law, Mr. Moats was detained in the parking lot and while speaking with Officer Powell, his mother-in-law died.
Remember folks – according to the police, we are all criminals that they just haven’t caught yet; and if you read the Constitution or have a Ron Paul bumper-sticker, you may be a domestic terrorist.
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle stood in front of a dozen news cameras this afternoon at police headquarters to apologize for the behavior of an officer who stopped a family outside a hospital emergency room.
Kunkle said Officer Robert Powell has been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with an incident last week in which he stopped a family rushing to visit a dying mother, detaining them for 13 minutes to write a traffic ticket
“His behavior in my opinion, did not exhibit the common sense, discretion, the compassion that we expect our officers to exhibit,” the chief told a packed audience of media outlets that included Inside Edition.
During the traffic stop, caught on the officer’s in-car camera, Powell berated the driver, 26-year-old NFL running back Ryan Moats, and threatened him with arrest for running a traffic light.
“I can screw you over,” said Powell, 25. “I’d rather not do that.”
At one point during today’s news conference, Kunkle seemed to restrain himself from being even more candid with his views on the incident.
“When we in the command staff reviewed the tapes,” he said, “we were embarrassed, disappointed — it’s hard to find the right words and still be professional in my role as a police chief.”
The chief also praised Moats and his family for how they handled the officer’s behavior.
“They exercised extraordinary patience, restraint, dealing with the behavior of our officer,” Kunkle said. “At no time did Mr. Moats identify himself as an NFL football player or expect any kind of special consideration. He handled himself very, very well.”
These instances of fascist police officers are NOT few and far between, and while our Founding Fathers are SPINNING IN THEIR GRAVES, the dead Nazis and SS are partying! Welcome to Fascist America! ….and they wonder why gun sales are soaring?
From time to time I have received this email message from FeedBlitz; in fact all of the few people that have unsubscribed have had this message:
XXXX has unsubscribed from “Logistics Monster”
The reason is: 08: ISP requested removal
I am currently working with support at my most outstanding server, Media Temple to find out what actually is going on here. Considering the volume and type of visitor I have had over the last three days because of HR1388, I am not surprised that somebody is trying to red flag my site.
My three virus programs are not flagging my site. Let me know if you are running into any kind of problem with this.
I thought you might like to see what happened to Atlas Shrugs who has the same problem:
A reader forwarded me this exchange. Does anyone have information on how this is generated? It is jaw dropping, the lengths the bots will go through just to suppress information.
-Forwarded Message Attachment– From: XXXXX To: XXXXX Subject: Atlas Shrugs Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 06:55:46 -0500
What the ? I got an instant message that this a fraud site from AT & T and if I continue, I do so at my own risk?
——————————————————————————–
–Forwarded Message Attachment– From: XXXXX To: XXXXX Subject: Atlas Shrugs Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 06:55:46 -0500
H, I don’t know if you know about this blog. It is by Pamela Geller, a Jewish woman from New York. She is about my age. She is very good. She has lots of people from all over who send her video and information about things that are going on all over the world. For example, I know who Hugo Chavez is, but I did not know about the anti-semitism that is going on in Venezuela right now. Two and three weeks ago, she had video and photos from every anti-jewish rally from all over. Anyway, this is a good place to get your news that you won’t hear or see on TV. Marlene http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/
Just for knowing, I have been getting a lot of subscribers writing me that their daily updates have stopped coming. And why? The notifications I have been getting from Feedblitz (the subscriber list company) say Reader XXX has unsubscribed from “Atlas Shrugs.” The reason is: 08: ISP requested removal.
“ISP requested removal” WTF?
UPDATE: D’vorah adds:
“Pamela; that’s been happening to me also; you surf to website that gives you a warning that if you continue on it will load a virus into your computer. I don’t know how an ISP (Internet Service Provider) for example, Time Warner or RCN, would have the “nerve” to block a site, unless the site actually has been “hacked” and that makes it impossible for others to continue on or continue on despite a scary warning.
If you get a chance, stop by that post and read the comments.
