Obama Calls on the Bush Administration to Guarantee Taxpayers Do Not Pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO Severance Packages

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, calling on them to address news reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs will receive millions of dollars in severance packages even as they are removed from their posts. When Congress originally approved the authority for the Treasury Department to step in and rescue these companies this summer, it explicitly included a provision that gave the new regulator the authority to block golden parachute payments to CEOs. As the Bush Administration now takes unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer dollars, it would be highly inappropriate and a violation of the public trust to allow windfall CEO severance pay packages.

In the letter, Senator Obama calls on the Administration to provide him with the steps being taken to ensure that these companies fulfill their important missions without wasting taxpayer dollars or rewarding poor leadership.

The text of the letter is below:

Dear Secretary Paulson and Director Lockhart,

News reports indicate that the chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will stand to reap millions of dollars in severance payments when they are removed from their posts. Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources. I urge you immediately to clarify that the agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac voids any such inappropriate windfall payments to outgoing CEOs and senior management.

When Congress granted the Department of the Treasury the authority to step in and rescue Fannie and Freddie, we explicitly included a provision that gave the new regulator the authority to block "any" payments made to CEOs that were "contingent on the termination" of their affiliation with the organization. It would be a gross violation of the public trust to fail to use this authority now, while American taxpayers and American homeowners, already struggling in a weak economy, are being asked to accept an historic intervention to rescue these institutions.

I recognize that intervention is necessary to maintain liquidity for the housing market so that homeowners can continue to get affordable mortgages and homes can be bought and sold in neighborhoods across the country. Yet one of the central requirements that I have consistently set in evaluating any intervention under this new legislation is that such action protect taxpayers and not bail out senior management from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Multi-million dollar severance payments for the executives who helped steer these institutions into the current crisis situation would violate the spirit of the authority granted by Congress to the Treasury Department and would violate the public's trust.

I understand that details of the agreement are still being worked out. Please let me know right away what steps are being taken to ensure that the agreement is responsible and that Fannie and Freddie can continue to fulfill their important missions without wasting taxpayer dollars or rewarding poor leadership. The American people are watching and have put their trust in us to look out for their interests.

U.S. military targets al-Qaida in Iraq

BAGHDAD - U.S.-led forces arrested 25 people during operations against al-Qaida in Iraq this weekend, the American military said Sunday. Suicide bombers struck police targets in northern Iraq, killing four people and injuring dozens in the latest sign that extremists, though weakened, are still capable of devastating attacks.

The U.S. military said those detained included alleged members of car bomb cells and financial networks, and a suspect who allegedly assisted in the movement of suicide bombers from Iran to Iraq. Most of the suspects were detained in Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, which remain volatile despite improvements in security in many parts of the country.

The U.S. military believes al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group, has received financial aid and weapons from sources in Shiite-dominated Iran, even though Sunni extremists view Shiites as renegade Muslims and much of Iraq's violence has been sectarian.

U.S. officials have accused Tehran of supporting Shiite militias in Iraq as part of its power struggle with the United States for influence in the Middle East, though militia activity has dropped sharply. Some observers believe there have been links between Iran and Sunni extremists seeking a common goal of undermining the United States despite their traditional animosity.

"Coalition forces will continue to target the al-Qaida network to further diminish its ability to conduct terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people," said Maj. John C. Hall, a U.S. military spokesman.

One suicide attack occurred in Kirkuk, a northern city with a volatile population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen whose disputed status has prevented parliament from passing a provincial election law that is key to reconciliation in Iraq. Kurds want Kirkuk incorporated into their self-ruled northern region, but Arabs and Turkomen want it to stay under central government control.

A policeman was among three people killed in the truck bombing at a police checkpoint, and 15 policemen were among the 23 injured, said Brig. Sarhad Qadir, head of Kirkuk's police. The attack happened in a Sunni Arab area.

Another suicide truck bombing hit a police headquarters in the city of Mosul, killing one policeman and injuring 25, half of them police. The building sits in a residential area and many houses were damaged, said an official in the operations command of Ninevah province who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Also in Mosul, gunmen killed two brothers and injured a third, police and hospital officials said.

Gunmen in western Baghdad killed Brig. Gen. Adel Abbas, an Interior Ministry official, and his driver as they drove to work Sunday morning, police said. Abbas worked in the ministry's criminal investigation department.

South of Baghdad, officials in the Shiite holy city of Najaf stepped up security measures ahead of Monday's anniversary of the death of Imam Ali, the seventh century cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and the founder of the Shiite faith.

About 15,000 Iraqi policemen and soldiers were deploying in and around the city to protect hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims, said Col. Ali Nomas, the Iraqi army spokesman. Insurgents have targeted Shiite pilgrims in the past.

Global Warming(Pemanasan Global)

Pemanasan global adalah adanya proses peningkatan suhu rata-rata atmosfer, laut, dan daratan Bumi.

Suhu rata-rata global pada permukaan Bumi telah meningkat 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) selama seratus tahun terakhir. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) menyimpulkan bahwa, "sebagian besar peningkatan suhu rata-rata global sejak pertengahan abad ke-20 kemungkinan besar disebabkan oleh meningkatnya konsentrasi gas-gas rumah kaca akibat aktivitas manusia"[1] melalui efek rumah kaca. Kesimpulan dasar ini telah dikemukakan oleh setidaknya 30 badan ilmiah dan akademik, termasuk semua akademi sains nasional dari negara-negara G8. Akan tetapi, masih terdapat beberapa ilmuwan yang tidak setuju dengan beberapa kesimpulan yang dikemukakan IPCC tersebut.

Model iklim yang dijadikan acuan oleh projek IPCC menunjukkan suhu permukaan global akan meningkat 1.1 hingga 6.4 °C (2.0 hingga 11.5 °F) antara tahun 1990 dan 2100.[1] Perbedaan angka perkiraan itu dikarenakan oleh penggunaan skenario-skenario berbeda mengenai emisi gas-gas rumah kaca di masa mendatang, serta model-model sensitivitas iklim yang berbeda. Walaupun sebagian besar penelitian terfokus pada periode hingga 2100, pemanasan dan kenaikan muka air laut diperkirakan akan terus berlanjut selama lebih dari seribu tahun walaupun tingkat emisi gas rumah kaca telah stabil.[1] Ini mencerminkan besarnya kapasitas panas dari lautan.

Meningkatnya suhu global diperkirakan akan menyebabkan perubahan-perubahan yang lain seperti naiknya permukaan air laut, meningkatnya intensitas fenomena cuaca yang ekstrim,[2] serta perubahan jumlah dan pola presipitasi. Akibat-akibat pemanasan global yang lain adalah terpengaruhnya hasil pertanian, hilangnya gletser, dan punahnya berbagai jenis hewan.

Beberapa hal-hal yang masih diragukan para ilmuan adalah mengenai jumlah pemanasan yang diperkirakan akan terjadi di masa depan, dan bagaimana pemanasan serta perubahan-perubahan yang terjadi tersebut akan bervariasi dari satu daerah ke daerah yang lain. Hingga saat ini masih terjadi perdebatan politik dan publik di dunia mengenai apa, jika ada, tindakan yang harus dilakukan untuk mengurangi atau membalikkan pemanasan lebih lanjut atau untuk beradaptasi terhadap konsekwensi-konsekwensi yang ada. Sebagian besar pemerintahan negara-negara di dunia telah menandatangani dan meratifikasi Protokol Kyoto, yang mengarah pada pengurangan emisi gas-gas rumah kaca.