Post by sandi66 on Sept 4, 2008 23:11:13 GMT -5
By: diamondguru-one
19 Jan 2007, 01:02 PM EST
Msg. 474627 of 760896
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CMKX......SHORTY GOT SMOKED BY THE BEST!!
Thread Started on Apr 23, 2006, 2:48am »
After talking to a few of my friends on how nice it would be to be a "fly on the wall" in Bob Maheu's office and find out what is really happening to CMKX. So, I decided to call a friend of mine "Frankie the wall fly". Frankie and I go a long way back......
Frankie, how are you doing man?
Hey, swather, what's up?
Frankie, I need a favour. Find out what is going on with CMKX.
Ah, swather, I can't. It is really hush, hush. But, I hear it is really big.
Frankie, ya, ya, I've heard that already. You owe me one ever since I scraped you off the fly swatter and nursed you back to health.
Ok, ok....I'll give my buddy, Tony the Fly a call. He moved to Washington after we were buddies hanging out around the pizza parlors in Brooklyn. He fell for all those SEC lawyer chicks in Washington.
Two weeks later, Tony called me. I hear you are interested in CMKX?
Yes, I said anxiously.
Well, sit down and listen......here is the whole story.
Several years ago, around 2001 I believe, The DoJ, Dept. of Justice, were completely pissed off at what was going on with the naked shorting in the markets and the subsequent theft from the financial markets of trillions of dollars. They knew these naked shorters ranged from large off-shore hedge funds to small groups of wealthy traders selling though brokers located outside the country in places such as Canada. Also, some of the major Wall St. brokers were carrying on massive naked shorting operations. It was massive fraud being carried on right under the nose of the SEC, DTCC, US Gov't officials, and Congress.
The DoJ wanted something done but they were not sure of the best way to get it done. It had to be done very quietly but efficiently.
The DoJ decided to call in Bob Maheu, probably the most experienced individual there was who could carry out such an operation.....the recovery of $trillions.
Many meetings were held with Bob Maheu until it was finally decided he would have complete control over the operation.
Bob went to his colleagues and discussed how they should put together this operation. It was decided that the only possible way they could recover all this money and not risk financial ruin nor loss of confidence in the market was to put together a good old fashion sting operation.
Impossible said his partners. Listen replied Bob. If we had a company that could attract a lot of buyers and naked short sellers at the same time, we could pull this off. It would be beautiful.
Again, impossible they said. We would need a company with billions of shares outstanding and the only companies that have that many o/s are worthless pink sheet companies, not companies of any value. Also, we would need a company with such a hot product that it would attract thousands of buyers in order to attract the naked shorters at the same time. It just doesn't happen. There is no company out there that meets all this criteria. Meeting ends with no decision.
A few weeks later, Maheu runs into his distant relative Urban Casavant. Urban tells Maheu that he is in Vegas trying to buy out a shell company. Urban explains about all these diamond claims he now controls in the Fort A La Corne area of Saskatchewan which is now the hottest diamond field in the world.
Maheu is overwhelmed and light bulbs are flashing in his head. Is this what he has been looking for?
Maheu sets up a meeting with Urban at his office with all his partners. They explain to Urban about what the DoJ wants and how Maheu has a free hand in carrying out the project. After a few weeks, Urban meets with Maheu and agrees to go along under certain conditions. Not only must Urban make a lot of money, but he wants his family and close friends to make money also. Urban is worried that all the money that can be made off the diamonds may be lost in this DoJ operation.
Maheu assures Urban that everyone will make millions in the end because they are going after $trillions. The agreement is made. Why did Maheu go after Urban's shell?
1/ potentially billions and even trillions of shares could be traded since it was a shell pink sheet stock.
2/ with the diamonds, properly promoted and with the FALC area becoming a hot area, it could attract thousands of buyers to the stock....something that was very important in order to get the number of traded shares thus naked short shares up into the billions and hopefully trillions.
3/ the stock could easily be shown to be a classic "pump and dump". This was important in order to attract the naked short sellers who hit the "pump and dumps" very hard.
With the agreement now in place, it is time to begin the "sting operation". But first, UC wanted to make sure everything was in place share wise. In the early months of 2003, Urban had the printing presses going and issued billions of shares to his close family, distant relatives, close friends, not so close friends, business friends, and anyone else that may have met him. Everthing was now ready to go.
Bob Maheu along with Urban's help was now ready for the operation to go into full swing.....he needed pumpers to spread the word on the chat sites and on RB. CMKX even acquired an IR person who hit the airwaves as well as the chat sites. The pump was on.
Next, Maheu felt that more visibility was required for those not on computers could see the company name. But what was the best method....newspaper ads, too expensive. NASCAR, to expensive and name not shown large enough. golf, tennis or any other sporting event, not satisfactory. Drag racing....hmmmm. It would allow for a cheap sponsorship in comparison, allow Urban to hang out with the car and shareholders, it would allow selected pumpers to hang out and disperse the "latest rumors".
The pump was on and the buyers were buying and the naked shorts were selling. Everything was shaping up.
The next move was to bring on one of the best people in securities law to set up the closure. Maheu brought in Roger Glenn to set the traps. First of all, he fed the naked shorts some more food to chew on by having Urban issue, in Aug/2004, 300 billion more shares. The naked shorts were being sucked in up to their eyeballs thinking this was a classic "pump and dump".
Aug., 2004.......a policy meeting with the DoJ had to be arranged but it had to be at a location where DoJ, Maheu, Roger Glenn, and supporting officials could not be identified.....Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was selected as the meeting place. A strategy was adopted for closing the noose.
1/ dividends of shares CMKX held in other companies would be given out to shareholders.
2/ a policy of non conforming with SEC rules would be adopted forcing the SEC lawyers to seek a revoking of CMKX's registration. This had to happen in order to lock the naked shorts into their position. They could not be allowed to escape through market action. Maheu was out for blood.
3/ Since the SEC and the DTCC were no involved with the DoJ (except, possibly, at the very top levels of the SEC), all actions of the company must make it appear to be a classic "pump & dump". This included the not issuing of any news or any SEC filings. Maheu wanted the appearance of a full fledged scam taking place.
However, shareholders have been getting restless because of the lack of news. Maheu could not explain what is going on for fear of tipping their hand. He could not give good news for fear of having naked shorters back off and he didn't want to give shareholders bad news for fear of losing the needed buying pressure required for the naked shorter's selling. A party was held in Oct/04 hoping to raise spirits. The opposite happened with a lot more questions being asked.
The old pumpers UC used were losing their effectiveness. 2005 was a year of "turmoil" for the company where bashers were coming on strong. The pumping at the drag races was losing its effect. A new pumper was hired to hit the chat sites and try to keep the shareholders calm. The new pumper was able to keep some spirits high while others just got more upset. Maheu needed to get the closure part of the sting underway.
2005, the SEC goes to court and begins the revocation process, just what Maheu was looking for. In the end, Maheu request revocation closing the book on the naked shorts.
Now, the negotiations. With the DoJ along side, Maheu has some power behind him.......
But Tony, what about these ridiculous numbers I have heard for a settlement?
Well swather, lets put it this way.....there is one hedge fund located in the Cayman Islands that controls over $1 trillion in assets. That one alone has a lot of cash available to it and there are several thousand hedge funds out there let alone the large brokerage firms that carried out a policy of naked shorting. Yes, there is a lot of money out there......Just wait, the end is now near.
Thanks Tony (the wall fly)
not proof read....hope it reads ok
This is all in my opinion on what has happened to CMKX
Page 2
Frankie, are you out there? Give me a shout..
Frankie, world calling Frankie...
Swather, you again....what do you want this time?
Tell Tony to call me asap, will you..
Tony is a hard one to get a hold of....he's following that SEC lawyer chic around, you know the one....she gave you CMKX types a rough time at last July's court hearing....well, apparently she leaves a lot of left over lunches, a regular buffet for Tony.
Ya, ya,....just have him call..
ok, ok
To-day, Tony finally called..
Tony, I'm getting a lot of calls in the last few days. What's going on?
Well, swather. As I told you before, this whole thing is a good old fashion sting operation set up by Bob Maheu in order to trap the naked shorts. He was called in by the DoJ to do something about the drainage of $trillions of dollars from the US financial Markets.
Now, as I explained in my last report to you, UC and CMKX were to be the vehicle through which the sting would be preformed. UC and Maheu worked out a deal which would make UC and friends very wealthy with little cost to UC.
Ok, Ok, Tony. I know all that. You explained it in you last report. The confusing part is all the shares and what is to happen. If there is a naked short, what happens next? How can it be proved to keep the SEC happy?
Swather, ok, you want to know about all those shares.
Well, first of all, CMKX doesn't have to prove anything to anybody, not the SEC and not the DTCC......no-one...nobody..
You got that Swather?
But I thought that was what the cert pull was really about, Entourage and prove the naked short.
Surprise, surprise....the cert pull was to keep angry and restless shareholders occupied while negotiations went on. You must have heard the word on PalTalk and RB about some people trying to start a class action lawsuit and many others just upset that there was no news. Maheu has his hands tied. He could not let the word come out that he and the DoJ were in negotiation for a naked short settlement running into the "big bucks" category. The potential damage to the financial markets could be huge as well as the lawsuits issued. This had to be treated with kids gloves....very gently.
So, to divert attention away from the restless, Maheu had to create a diversionary tatic....pull the certs
Well Tony, what about all those shares and the share count? Are we naked shorted or what? and, if so, by how much?
Well swather, you have level 2 trading platform with "time of sales"?
Yes.
Did you watch all of your buy orders go through?
Yes, always..
Did you ever see the full amount go through?
Mostly but not all the time. When I placed a ten million share buy order, often only four or five million shares would go through on the "time of sales".
Correct swather. There is a hugh "off board" market for CMKX shares and not all shares would be shown. Sometimes, the "off board" market would be greater that the official market with billions traded daily. These "off board" trades could be such things as an "in house" trade where the broker just fills the order from his so called inventory long or an "in house" naked short or it can be an "off board" trade between two MMs.
So swather, these off board trades is where the real action was located and where the naked shorter really got caught.
The naked shorters were watching all the buying on the regular market and sold heavily into in. But, there were also firm bids in the off board market.
From who? From Urban. Urban was being financed by Bob Maheu who was being financed by the DoJ. Urban had all the money he needed from the DoJ to buy as much stock as he could find without tipping the market. Don't forget, Urban really didn't have that much money available to him and everyone knew it including the bad guys UC met along the way. That's why Urban was so perfect for the sting.
So, when the pump began in mid 2003, Urban entered the market and quietly began buying shares, both on board and off board. When the pump went big time in 2004 and Roger Glenn came on board, the trading was unbelievable. Urban bought and bought, particularly during the run up in June/04. The naked shorting was particularly strong during the following price fall.
So swather, during the three years of the sting operation, Urban and Bob Maheu were able to buy "trillions" of naked shorted shares with the funds advanced by the DoJ. How many? I don't know. They could have bought 3 trillion, 5 trillion 10 trillion, I just don't know.
So, Tony, what is going to happen to all these naked shorted shares? Is UC going to issue legal shares to legitimize the naked shorted shares?
Well swather, this is where the squeeze gets to be a lot of fun. Don't forget, this is really a DoJ operation. Do you remember what happened in late 1979 when terrorists in Iran seized a large group of Americans and refused to release them. What happened to Iran as punishment?
Iron had it's American assets seized by the American Government or really the DoJ.
That's right swather.
All naked shorters, regardless of who they are, whether off-shore or American, are under threat of having all their US holdings seized by the DoJ. They are forced to the table to negotiate, whether they came peacefully or had to be dragged in. These negotiations have not been easy with the large number of companies and their teams of lawyers involved.
Tony, and what will happen to all those naked shorted shares that Urban bought?
swather, once the deal with the naked shorters is finished and funds handed over, the naked shorted trades with UC with simply be canceled as if they did not exist.
Well Tony, why doesn't the DoJ just keep the money? You know how gov'ts are....any chance they could make money from the public, they will jump at the chance.
Correct swather, but in this case, Maheu and to a lesser extent Urban, made a deal with the DoJ that the shareholders would get the money. Since CMKX was going to be a diamond company in the first place, Maheu and UC made sure that the DoJ wasn't then going to turn around and screw the CMKX shareholders.
So swather, do you understand why Maheu has not been able to say anything? With so many lawyers and so many naked shorters involved, Maheu could not let a single word slip out as far as how negotiations are going.
And that is why the cert pull is such a beautiful cover. With the daily count, people's attention was diverted to the cert count away from Maheu. Potentially damaging class action law suits were placed on hold until the cert pull was over. The cert pull cover was so important to the final negotiations.
Tony, then what about CMKX? What will happen to it?
Swather, the company is just a shell now. Once the Entourage shares are passed out to shareholders, there is nothing left in it. What UC does with it is a good question now. Whether it becomes a holding company for a large position in CIM is a good question right now. We will have to wait until everything else settles first.
As for the bad guys, it appears they got a get out of jail free card by turning in their certs. I also believe that Urban received big bucks for not receiving any benefit of any settlement that may have been made by Bob Maheu against the naked shorters. This could leave the o/s smaller then expected.
As far as any settlement figure, that is hard to determine. If there is as much as 10 trillion shares naked shorted and the settlement calls for 0.05/share penalty, that would be $500 billion spread among 500 billion shares for example equals $1.00/share to shareholders.
Any other combination is also quite possible because nothing is known for sure.
The big play will be CIM. Urban, once he saw the naked short playing on CMKX, he diverted all the good holdings to CIM to be safe. He will IPO CIM away from naked shorters where he can build a good company free from all the bad guys. And UC will make it very profitable for CMKX shareholders to come with him into CIM.
So, swather, that's basically it. We now are just waiting for Maheu to finish all this. If you look at everything that has happened during the past 3 years and think of it in terms of this sting that Maheu has pulled off, everything will become much cleared to you. Why certain things happened. Why events happened such as the failure to pay for certain projects such as the American Mine project. They were all just necessary parts to the total plan, a sting operation carried out by the master himself.
swather....good night. I've got to get back to my lawyer chic.
Thanks Tony....
Of course this story is all just my humble opinion as to what may have happened based on the events of the past three years with CMKX. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed speculating on CMKX
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=474627
**********
CORRECTING and REPLACING Universal Express CEO Named Chair of Industry New Committee on Naked Short Selling
Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions in the fourth paragraph.
The corrected release reads: UNIVERSAL EXPRESS CEO NAMED CHAIR OF INDUSTRY NEW COMMITTEE ON NAKED SHORT SELLING Universal Express Inc. (OTCBB: USXP), based in New York and Florida, and a member of The National Small Public Company Leadership Council (Leadership Council) and the Microcap Company Political Alliance Corp. (MCPAC), CEO Richard Altomare has been appointed Chair of the Leadership Council/MCPAC Committee on Naked Short Selling. The new committee will be formally organized in Washington this spring concerning the issue, known as ‘naked shorting,’ and will then initiate a Policy Report research program over the summer months. A Report will be submitted to the Leadership Council/MCPAC Board of Directors in September for review and probable Congressional action.
“I look forward to working with members of MCPAC to ascertain how the practice of ‘naked shorting’ is causing smaller public companies to go out of business or impacting others’ market prices despite their good business developments, and then bringing the issue to the attention of the federal government,” said Mr. Altomare.
“The practice of ‘naked shorting’ is of growing concern among the membership of the Leadership Council and MCPAC and we welcome Richard Altomare to head our efforts,” said Frank Speight, Chairman of the Leadership Council and MCPAC. Both groups work jointly to represent the interests of small public companies and microcap public companies in Washington, D.C.. “This volunteer committee will bring together vital information for a MCPAC Policy Report as our initial effort to educate and inform members of Congress, the White House and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the practice and the effects it’s having on smaller public companies, their stockholders, investors and employees,” explained Mr. Speight.
Short Selling is the practice of borrowing stock then selling it in hopes that the price will go down and it can be bought back at a lower price, thereby generating a profit and allowing one to return like shares for the borrowed ones. Naked Short Selling is the practice of not borrowing stock, but selling it anyway with no intention of ever delivering real stock to the buyer.
The Leadership Council, which was formed in 2000, seeks to educate and inform the White House, U.S. Congress, federal agencies, industry trade groups and political organizations based in Washington about the economic contributions of the nation’s entrepreneurial public companies. Please visit our website: www.nspclc.com. MCPAC was formed in 2005 as the first advocacy group representing the interests of the nation’s microcap publicly-traded companies to securities regulators and policymakers in Washington. Please visit our website: www.microcappac.org.
About Universal Express Universal Express, Inc. is a 23 year old logistics and transportation conglomerate with multiple developing subsidiaries and services. For additional information please visit www.usxp.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein, which are not historical, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, certain delays beyond the Company's control with respect to market acceptance of new technologies, products and services, delays in testing and evaluation of products and services, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
www.advfn.com/news_CORRECTING-and-REPLACING-Universal-Express-CEO-Named-Chair-of-Industry-New-Commi_18708600.html
(on original link at bottom - Gotta love this CMKX Pic. lol Van Halen is in. lol, GO)
(Further information regarding CMKM Diamonds and associated companies can be found in Stockwatch articles dated Oct. 21, 2003; June 22; Sept. 16 and 24; Oct. 1, 15 and 20, 2004; Feb. 11, 14, 18, 22 and 23; March 1, 3, 4, 7, 14, 15, 16 and 21; June 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 29 and 30; July 1, 4, 6, 12 and 13; Aug. 2, 5 and 9; Sept. 7, 12, 27 and 30; Oct. 24, 26 and 31; Nov. 7, 11, 22 and 25; Dec. 1, 6, 9, 15 and 22, 2005; and Jan. 3, 2006.)
For something not worth anything, sure is lots of wasted energy now huh, lee? hahahahhahahhahhaha basher biotchhhes: Where are they? Maybe some getting hand cuffs put on? Lots moving maybe? Some scared to leave basements? We shall see and hear soon, I bet. Born Losers that will never get over their Stupidity.
Definition for :PAID BASHER: Definition for :SQUIRM: to twist about like a worm :
FIDGET Definition for :FIDGET: uneasiness or restlessness as shown by nervous movements.
Definition for :PAID BASHER
- loser: 1 : one that loses especially consistently Definition for :PAID BASHER
- loser: 2 : one who is incompetent or unable to succeed; also : something doomed to fail or disappoint
Definition for :
- PAID BASHER MOOCH: 1 : to wander aimlessly : AMBLE; also : SNEAK
- Definition for :PAID BASHER MOOCH: 2 : SPONGE, CADGE, to take surreptitiously : STEAL I would like to say thanks to everyone here for their countless hours of posting posts for us. Much appreciated-thanks. Bashers I would say, run for cover and cover up very well ok. As usual, the bashers have nothing but wasted words of desperation.
By: carmelbeach
21 Jan 2007, 08:21 PM EST
Msg. 475963 of 760896
(This msg. is a reply to 475887 by carmelbeach.)
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US Chamber of Commerce Hails Amendment to Executive Order
www.uschamber. com/press/releases/2007/january/07-14.htm
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Thursday, January 18, 2007
U.S. Chamber Hails Amendment to Executive Order On Regulations
Says Will Help Curb Excesses of $1 Trillion Regulatory Regime
WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today applauded President Bush for amending Executive Order 12866 to help tame an out-of-control regulatory system that costs the American public $1 trillion annually.
"President Bush's amendment is a paragon of common sense and good governance," said William Kovacs, the Chamber's vice president of Environment, Energy, and Regulatory Affairs. "It's the first truly significant attempt by an administration to hold federal bureaucrats to account and insist they act with discretion when imposing new and expensive burdens on businesses and consumers."
The amendment to Executive Order 12866, first issued by President Bill Clinton in 1993, would require federal agencies to identify the specific market failure the proposed regulation is intended to address before issuing it, as well as obtain the approval of the agency's Regulatory Policy Office. It would require agencies to assess the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all the regulations they plan to issue in a year. The amendment applies to both regulations and guidance documents.
"Regulations play an important role in ensuring the safety of our citizens and guarding against corporate abuses, which is why it's so important that we have a well-functioning, rational rulemaking process," said Kovacs. "That's not what we have today, and this amendment will go a long way toward fixing it."
There are currently 192,000 federal regulations on the books, and more than 500,000 guidance documents. The number of regulations has been increasing by approximately 4,000 annually, according to the Chamber.
The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475963
By: carmelbeach
21 Jan 2007, 06:22 PM EST
Msg. 475887 of 760896
(This msg. is a reply to 475569 by leowanta.)
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Re: Amendments to Executive Order 12866
I don't think its what you think it is.
www.ombwatch. org/article/articleview/3685/1/132?TopicID=3
Undermining Public Protections: Preliminary Analysis of the Amendments to Executive Order 12866
On January 18, President Bush issued amendments to Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, which further centralize regulatory power in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and shift it away from the federal agencies given this power by legislative enactments.
Among the changes to the E.O.:
It shifts the criterion for promulgating regulations from the identification of a problem like public health or environmental protection to the identification of "…the specific market failure (such as externalities, market power, lack of information)…that warrant new agency action."
It requires guidance documents to go through the same OMB review process as proposed regulations before agencies can issue them.
It also requires "significant" guidance documents (those that are estimated to have at least a $100 million effect on the economy, among other criteria) to go through the same OMB review process as "significant" regulations.
It makes the agencies' Regulatory Policy Officer a presidential appointment and gives that person the approval authority for any commencement or inclusion of any rulemaking in the Regulatory Plan unless specifically authorized by the agency head.
It requires each agency to estimate the "combined aggregate costs and benefits of all its regulations planned for that calendar year to assist with the identification of priorities," which will be overseen by the Regulatory Policy Officer.
By-Passing Congress With New Policies
Through amending the regulatory process, the President is institutionalizing an anti-regulatory approach by using a market failure criterion in place of actually identifying threats to public health and safety. It diminishes standards Congress may have required agencies to use, such as the best control technology, by elevating a new market failure standard that Congress never required. This standard has been advocated by Susan Dudley, Bush's current nominee as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Dudley's extreme views on the use of free market standards were well-documented during her failed confirmation last year. Despite the failure to confirm her, the administration has used the Executive Order as a backdoor means to implement the Dudley philosophy.
The market failure criterion is yet another layer added to the agency analysis. The agency must comply with the statutory criteria (such as best available technology) as well as an analysis demonstrating market failures. If the agency meets OMB’s standards for assessing “whether any new regulation is warranted,” then the agency must also comply with other standards in the E.O., including cost-benefit analysis.
This new standard decidedly favors the regulated community and places yet another hurdle for agencies to issue regulations in pursuit of protecting the public.
More White House Control; More Delay
By requiring agency guidance documents to come under OIRA review, and to treat “significant” guidance in the same way as “significant” regulations, the E.O. amendments will lead to further delay in providing information to the public about compliance with regulations, as well as with general guidance on agency policies.
It may be true that more and more agencies are using guidance as a means of avoiding the regulatory process. But that should be a signal to Congress and the public that the rulemaking process is seriously flawed. Agencies are looking for faster ways of doing their job and have turned to guidance. The solution is certainly not to require guidance to go through the same regulatory process that agencies were trying to avoid in the first place.
In the end, this will simply result in more delay and more White House control over the substantive work of the agencies. It will inevitably lead to a usurpation of agencies' powers.
The Foxes Controlling the Hen Houses
The Bush administration has regularly appointed industry representatives or allies to oversee agency regulatory activities. Often this has been dubbed “foxes in the hen house.” The E.O. amendments add a new dimension by having the foxes control the hen houses.
The amendments require each agency to have a Regulatory Policy Office run by a political appointee and that “no rulemaking shall commence nor be included” for consideration without the political appointee’s approval. This will further politicize the rulemaking process and provide more White House control over the agency rulemaking process.
A similar approach was attempted by President Reagan through his E.O. 12498, the Regulatory Planning Process, which was issued January 4, 1985. Under E.O. 12498, agencies were to get approval from OMB prior to starting a rulemaking — a pre-rulemaking review. Many in the business community thought this would be a wonderful approach for choking off agency ideas before they ever really got going. That approach, however, proved too cumbersome and difficult to administer; in short order, it failed.
The new Bush E.O. amendments have the same objective, but put the chokehold in the agencies, instead of at OMB. To ensure that the process works, OMB grants authority to these new political appointees to be the eyes and ears for OMB.
Laying the Groundwork for a Regulatory Budget
The E.O. amendments also require regulatory proposals that are to be submitted to the Regulatory Policy Officer to include “aggregate costs and benefits” during the calendar year. Most experts agree that aggregating all costs and benefits is like comparing apples and oranges — and in the end has little value except to create large numbers intended to scare the public.
Another possible reason to require such information is to begin laying the groundwork for establishing a regulatory budget. This concept, proposed by conservatives since the Reagan administration, has been criticized by Congress and never approved. Yet the amended E.O. begins to move in this direction.
Pre-Rulemaking Review
The amendments to the E.O. allow OIRA to play an active role during the pre-rulemaking stage when agencies are formulating annual plans for regulatory activities. By having OIRA involved in agencies' planning process, OIRA can quash any contemplated regulatory or guidance issues before they get proposed for the Regulatory Plan. Under the amended E.O., OMB can now engage the agency, along with other government personnel (as provided for in one amendment), in reaching a “common understanding” on regulatory efforts.
Conclusion
The revised Executive Order that results from these amendments is a further threat to public protections from an administration committed to elevating special interests over public interests. It codifies regulatory delay, further removes agency discretion over legislative implementation, and centralizes control over the regulatory process into a small executive office. It substitutes free market criteria for the public values of health, safety, and environmental protections, and substitutes executive authority for legislative authority.
We can only speculate as to why the President has issued these amendments at this time in his presidency. With Congress now in control of Democrats, it is unlikely that further anti-regulatory efforts will be supported or ignored by a compliant Congress. It is a surprising action to take in light of the Dudley nomination now pending before the Senate. It may be an admission by the administration that the nomination is not likely to succeed, and that the President has decided to advance the Dudley philosophy through the back door.
Prepared on January 18, 2007
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www.ombwatch. org/article/archive/250
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ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475887
By: leowanta
21 Jan 2007, 11:00 AM EST
Msg. 475569 of 760896
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well.... here it is...THANK YOU President Bush, he took positive action>
the SEC does not have the power to promulgate the grandfather clause.... by this Executive Order first executed by President Clinton..... January 18, 2007, President Bush clarifies the Executive Order, forcing every agency to "shore up" their regulation by statuory law:
" "(g) "Guidance document" means an agency statement of general applicability and future effect, other than a regulatory action, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue...."
The SEC HAS TO ANSWER/ADHERE TO THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER.....THEIR "GUIDANCE DOCUMENT" MUST BE DEFINED IN SOLID STATUTORY LAW..... THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE FAILS....THE SEC MUST ELIMINATE IT......... AGAIN.... THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH FOR TAKING IMMEDIATE, CORRECTIVE ACTION. (There was no AP press release on is executive order... after waiting for this news, and no news release on the subject, i checked the Whitehouse webb site and found it... sorry for not bringing it sooner, as i just found it myself.)
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070118.html
leowanta
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475569
this all was posted on www.stockhouse.com/bullboards/MessageDetail.aspx?s=CMKX&t=LIST&m=14019197&l=0&pd=0&r=0 but was hard to read, but if you want the pics... go to this link.
ty badbassplayer for posting link
19 Jan 2007, 01:02 PM EST
Msg. 474627 of 760896
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CMKX......SHORTY GOT SMOKED BY THE BEST!!
Thread Started on Apr 23, 2006, 2:48am »
After talking to a few of my friends on how nice it would be to be a "fly on the wall" in Bob Maheu's office and find out what is really happening to CMKX. So, I decided to call a friend of mine "Frankie the wall fly". Frankie and I go a long way back......
Frankie, how are you doing man?
Hey, swather, what's up?
Frankie, I need a favour. Find out what is going on with CMKX.
Ah, swather, I can't. It is really hush, hush. But, I hear it is really big.
Frankie, ya, ya, I've heard that already. You owe me one ever since I scraped you off the fly swatter and nursed you back to health.
Ok, ok....I'll give my buddy, Tony the Fly a call. He moved to Washington after we were buddies hanging out around the pizza parlors in Brooklyn. He fell for all those SEC lawyer chicks in Washington.
Two weeks later, Tony called me. I hear you are interested in CMKX?
Yes, I said anxiously.
Well, sit down and listen......here is the whole story.
Several years ago, around 2001 I believe, The DoJ, Dept. of Justice, were completely pissed off at what was going on with the naked shorting in the markets and the subsequent theft from the financial markets of trillions of dollars. They knew these naked shorters ranged from large off-shore hedge funds to small groups of wealthy traders selling though brokers located outside the country in places such as Canada. Also, some of the major Wall St. brokers were carrying on massive naked shorting operations. It was massive fraud being carried on right under the nose of the SEC, DTCC, US Gov't officials, and Congress.
The DoJ wanted something done but they were not sure of the best way to get it done. It had to be done very quietly but efficiently.
The DoJ decided to call in Bob Maheu, probably the most experienced individual there was who could carry out such an operation.....the recovery of $trillions.
Many meetings were held with Bob Maheu until it was finally decided he would have complete control over the operation.
Bob went to his colleagues and discussed how they should put together this operation. It was decided that the only possible way they could recover all this money and not risk financial ruin nor loss of confidence in the market was to put together a good old fashion sting operation.
Impossible said his partners. Listen replied Bob. If we had a company that could attract a lot of buyers and naked short sellers at the same time, we could pull this off. It would be beautiful.
Again, impossible they said. We would need a company with billions of shares outstanding and the only companies that have that many o/s are worthless pink sheet companies, not companies of any value. Also, we would need a company with such a hot product that it would attract thousands of buyers in order to attract the naked shorters at the same time. It just doesn't happen. There is no company out there that meets all this criteria. Meeting ends with no decision.
A few weeks later, Maheu runs into his distant relative Urban Casavant. Urban tells Maheu that he is in Vegas trying to buy out a shell company. Urban explains about all these diamond claims he now controls in the Fort A La Corne area of Saskatchewan which is now the hottest diamond field in the world.
Maheu is overwhelmed and light bulbs are flashing in his head. Is this what he has been looking for?
Maheu sets up a meeting with Urban at his office with all his partners. They explain to Urban about what the DoJ wants and how Maheu has a free hand in carrying out the project. After a few weeks, Urban meets with Maheu and agrees to go along under certain conditions. Not only must Urban make a lot of money, but he wants his family and close friends to make money also. Urban is worried that all the money that can be made off the diamonds may be lost in this DoJ operation.
Maheu assures Urban that everyone will make millions in the end because they are going after $trillions. The agreement is made. Why did Maheu go after Urban's shell?
1/ potentially billions and even trillions of shares could be traded since it was a shell pink sheet stock.
2/ with the diamonds, properly promoted and with the FALC area becoming a hot area, it could attract thousands of buyers to the stock....something that was very important in order to get the number of traded shares thus naked short shares up into the billions and hopefully trillions.
3/ the stock could easily be shown to be a classic "pump and dump". This was important in order to attract the naked short sellers who hit the "pump and dumps" very hard.
With the agreement now in place, it is time to begin the "sting operation". But first, UC wanted to make sure everything was in place share wise. In the early months of 2003, Urban had the printing presses going and issued billions of shares to his close family, distant relatives, close friends, not so close friends, business friends, and anyone else that may have met him. Everthing was now ready to go.
Bob Maheu along with Urban's help was now ready for the operation to go into full swing.....he needed pumpers to spread the word on the chat sites and on RB. CMKX even acquired an IR person who hit the airwaves as well as the chat sites. The pump was on.
Next, Maheu felt that more visibility was required for those not on computers could see the company name. But what was the best method....newspaper ads, too expensive. NASCAR, to expensive and name not shown large enough. golf, tennis or any other sporting event, not satisfactory. Drag racing....hmmmm. It would allow for a cheap sponsorship in comparison, allow Urban to hang out with the car and shareholders, it would allow selected pumpers to hang out and disperse the "latest rumors".
The pump was on and the buyers were buying and the naked shorts were selling. Everything was shaping up.
The next move was to bring on one of the best people in securities law to set up the closure. Maheu brought in Roger Glenn to set the traps. First of all, he fed the naked shorts some more food to chew on by having Urban issue, in Aug/2004, 300 billion more shares. The naked shorts were being sucked in up to their eyeballs thinking this was a classic "pump and dump".
Aug., 2004.......a policy meeting with the DoJ had to be arranged but it had to be at a location where DoJ, Maheu, Roger Glenn, and supporting officials could not be identified.....Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was selected as the meeting place. A strategy was adopted for closing the noose.
1/ dividends of shares CMKX held in other companies would be given out to shareholders.
2/ a policy of non conforming with SEC rules would be adopted forcing the SEC lawyers to seek a revoking of CMKX's registration. This had to happen in order to lock the naked shorts into their position. They could not be allowed to escape through market action. Maheu was out for blood.
3/ Since the SEC and the DTCC were no involved with the DoJ (except, possibly, at the very top levels of the SEC), all actions of the company must make it appear to be a classic "pump & dump". This included the not issuing of any news or any SEC filings. Maheu wanted the appearance of a full fledged scam taking place.
However, shareholders have been getting restless because of the lack of news. Maheu could not explain what is going on for fear of tipping their hand. He could not give good news for fear of having naked shorters back off and he didn't want to give shareholders bad news for fear of losing the needed buying pressure required for the naked shorter's selling. A party was held in Oct/04 hoping to raise spirits. The opposite happened with a lot more questions being asked.
The old pumpers UC used were losing their effectiveness. 2005 was a year of "turmoil" for the company where bashers were coming on strong. The pumping at the drag races was losing its effect. A new pumper was hired to hit the chat sites and try to keep the shareholders calm. The new pumper was able to keep some spirits high while others just got more upset. Maheu needed to get the closure part of the sting underway.
2005, the SEC goes to court and begins the revocation process, just what Maheu was looking for. In the end, Maheu request revocation closing the book on the naked shorts.
Now, the negotiations. With the DoJ along side, Maheu has some power behind him.......
But Tony, what about these ridiculous numbers I have heard for a settlement?
Well swather, lets put it this way.....there is one hedge fund located in the Cayman Islands that controls over $1 trillion in assets. That one alone has a lot of cash available to it and there are several thousand hedge funds out there let alone the large brokerage firms that carried out a policy of naked shorting. Yes, there is a lot of money out there......Just wait, the end is now near.
Thanks Tony (the wall fly)
not proof read....hope it reads ok
This is all in my opinion on what has happened to CMKX
Page 2
Frankie, are you out there? Give me a shout..
Frankie, world calling Frankie...
Swather, you again....what do you want this time?
Tell Tony to call me asap, will you..
Tony is a hard one to get a hold of....he's following that SEC lawyer chic around, you know the one....she gave you CMKX types a rough time at last July's court hearing....well, apparently she leaves a lot of left over lunches, a regular buffet for Tony.
Ya, ya,....just have him call..
ok, ok
To-day, Tony finally called..
Tony, I'm getting a lot of calls in the last few days. What's going on?
Well, swather. As I told you before, this whole thing is a good old fashion sting operation set up by Bob Maheu in order to trap the naked shorts. He was called in by the DoJ to do something about the drainage of $trillions of dollars from the US financial Markets.
Now, as I explained in my last report to you, UC and CMKX were to be the vehicle through which the sting would be preformed. UC and Maheu worked out a deal which would make UC and friends very wealthy with little cost to UC.
Ok, Ok, Tony. I know all that. You explained it in you last report. The confusing part is all the shares and what is to happen. If there is a naked short, what happens next? How can it be proved to keep the SEC happy?
Swather, ok, you want to know about all those shares.
Well, first of all, CMKX doesn't have to prove anything to anybody, not the SEC and not the DTCC......no-one...nobody..
You got that Swather?
But I thought that was what the cert pull was really about, Entourage and prove the naked short.
Surprise, surprise....the cert pull was to keep angry and restless shareholders occupied while negotiations went on. You must have heard the word on PalTalk and RB about some people trying to start a class action lawsuit and many others just upset that there was no news. Maheu has his hands tied. He could not let the word come out that he and the DoJ were in negotiation for a naked short settlement running into the "big bucks" category. The potential damage to the financial markets could be huge as well as the lawsuits issued. This had to be treated with kids gloves....very gently.
So, to divert attention away from the restless, Maheu had to create a diversionary tatic....pull the certs
Well Tony, what about all those shares and the share count? Are we naked shorted or what? and, if so, by how much?
Well swather, you have level 2 trading platform with "time of sales"?
Yes.
Did you watch all of your buy orders go through?
Yes, always..
Did you ever see the full amount go through?
Mostly but not all the time. When I placed a ten million share buy order, often only four or five million shares would go through on the "time of sales".
Correct swather. There is a hugh "off board" market for CMKX shares and not all shares would be shown. Sometimes, the "off board" market would be greater that the official market with billions traded daily. These "off board" trades could be such things as an "in house" trade where the broker just fills the order from his so called inventory long or an "in house" naked short or it can be an "off board" trade between two MMs.
So swather, these off board trades is where the real action was located and where the naked shorter really got caught.
The naked shorters were watching all the buying on the regular market and sold heavily into in. But, there were also firm bids in the off board market.
From who? From Urban. Urban was being financed by Bob Maheu who was being financed by the DoJ. Urban had all the money he needed from the DoJ to buy as much stock as he could find without tipping the market. Don't forget, Urban really didn't have that much money available to him and everyone knew it including the bad guys UC met along the way. That's why Urban was so perfect for the sting.
So, when the pump began in mid 2003, Urban entered the market and quietly began buying shares, both on board and off board. When the pump went big time in 2004 and Roger Glenn came on board, the trading was unbelievable. Urban bought and bought, particularly during the run up in June/04. The naked shorting was particularly strong during the following price fall.
So swather, during the three years of the sting operation, Urban and Bob Maheu were able to buy "trillions" of naked shorted shares with the funds advanced by the DoJ. How many? I don't know. They could have bought 3 trillion, 5 trillion 10 trillion, I just don't know.
So, Tony, what is going to happen to all these naked shorted shares? Is UC going to issue legal shares to legitimize the naked shorted shares?
Well swather, this is where the squeeze gets to be a lot of fun. Don't forget, this is really a DoJ operation. Do you remember what happened in late 1979 when terrorists in Iran seized a large group of Americans and refused to release them. What happened to Iran as punishment?
Iron had it's American assets seized by the American Government or really the DoJ.
That's right swather.
All naked shorters, regardless of who they are, whether off-shore or American, are under threat of having all their US holdings seized by the DoJ. They are forced to the table to negotiate, whether they came peacefully or had to be dragged in. These negotiations have not been easy with the large number of companies and their teams of lawyers involved.
Tony, and what will happen to all those naked shorted shares that Urban bought?
swather, once the deal with the naked shorters is finished and funds handed over, the naked shorted trades with UC with simply be canceled as if they did not exist.
Well Tony, why doesn't the DoJ just keep the money? You know how gov'ts are....any chance they could make money from the public, they will jump at the chance.
Correct swather, but in this case, Maheu and to a lesser extent Urban, made a deal with the DoJ that the shareholders would get the money. Since CMKX was going to be a diamond company in the first place, Maheu and UC made sure that the DoJ wasn't then going to turn around and screw the CMKX shareholders.
So swather, do you understand why Maheu has not been able to say anything? With so many lawyers and so many naked shorters involved, Maheu could not let a single word slip out as far as how negotiations are going.
And that is why the cert pull is such a beautiful cover. With the daily count, people's attention was diverted to the cert count away from Maheu. Potentially damaging class action law suits were placed on hold until the cert pull was over. The cert pull cover was so important to the final negotiations.
Tony, then what about CMKX? What will happen to it?
Swather, the company is just a shell now. Once the Entourage shares are passed out to shareholders, there is nothing left in it. What UC does with it is a good question now. Whether it becomes a holding company for a large position in CIM is a good question right now. We will have to wait until everything else settles first.
As for the bad guys, it appears they got a get out of jail free card by turning in their certs. I also believe that Urban received big bucks for not receiving any benefit of any settlement that may have been made by Bob Maheu against the naked shorters. This could leave the o/s smaller then expected.
As far as any settlement figure, that is hard to determine. If there is as much as 10 trillion shares naked shorted and the settlement calls for 0.05/share penalty, that would be $500 billion spread among 500 billion shares for example equals $1.00/share to shareholders.
Any other combination is also quite possible because nothing is known for sure.
The big play will be CIM. Urban, once he saw the naked short playing on CMKX, he diverted all the good holdings to CIM to be safe. He will IPO CIM away from naked shorters where he can build a good company free from all the bad guys. And UC will make it very profitable for CMKX shareholders to come with him into CIM.
So, swather, that's basically it. We now are just waiting for Maheu to finish all this. If you look at everything that has happened during the past 3 years and think of it in terms of this sting that Maheu has pulled off, everything will become much cleared to you. Why certain things happened. Why events happened such as the failure to pay for certain projects such as the American Mine project. They were all just necessary parts to the total plan, a sting operation carried out by the master himself.
swather....good night. I've got to get back to my lawyer chic.
Thanks Tony....
Of course this story is all just my humble opinion as to what may have happened based on the events of the past three years with CMKX. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed speculating on CMKX
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=474627
**********
CORRECTING and REPLACING Universal Express CEO Named Chair of Industry New Committee on Naked Short Selling
Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions in the fourth paragraph.
The corrected release reads: UNIVERSAL EXPRESS CEO NAMED CHAIR OF INDUSTRY NEW COMMITTEE ON NAKED SHORT SELLING Universal Express Inc. (OTCBB: USXP), based in New York and Florida, and a member of The National Small Public Company Leadership Council (Leadership Council) and the Microcap Company Political Alliance Corp. (MCPAC), CEO Richard Altomare has been appointed Chair of the Leadership Council/MCPAC Committee on Naked Short Selling. The new committee will be formally organized in Washington this spring concerning the issue, known as ‘naked shorting,’ and will then initiate a Policy Report research program over the summer months. A Report will be submitted to the Leadership Council/MCPAC Board of Directors in September for review and probable Congressional action.
“I look forward to working with members of MCPAC to ascertain how the practice of ‘naked shorting’ is causing smaller public companies to go out of business or impacting others’ market prices despite their good business developments, and then bringing the issue to the attention of the federal government,” said Mr. Altomare.
“The practice of ‘naked shorting’ is of growing concern among the membership of the Leadership Council and MCPAC and we welcome Richard Altomare to head our efforts,” said Frank Speight, Chairman of the Leadership Council and MCPAC. Both groups work jointly to represent the interests of small public companies and microcap public companies in Washington, D.C.. “This volunteer committee will bring together vital information for a MCPAC Policy Report as our initial effort to educate and inform members of Congress, the White House and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the practice and the effects it’s having on smaller public companies, their stockholders, investors and employees,” explained Mr. Speight.
Short Selling is the practice of borrowing stock then selling it in hopes that the price will go down and it can be bought back at a lower price, thereby generating a profit and allowing one to return like shares for the borrowed ones. Naked Short Selling is the practice of not borrowing stock, but selling it anyway with no intention of ever delivering real stock to the buyer.
The Leadership Council, which was formed in 2000, seeks to educate and inform the White House, U.S. Congress, federal agencies, industry trade groups and political organizations based in Washington about the economic contributions of the nation’s entrepreneurial public companies. Please visit our website: www.nspclc.com. MCPAC was formed in 2005 as the first advocacy group representing the interests of the nation’s microcap publicly-traded companies to securities regulators and policymakers in Washington. Please visit our website: www.microcappac.org.
About Universal Express Universal Express, Inc. is a 23 year old logistics and transportation conglomerate with multiple developing subsidiaries and services. For additional information please visit www.usxp.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained herein, which are not historical, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, certain delays beyond the Company's control with respect to market acceptance of new technologies, products and services, delays in testing and evaluation of products and services, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
www.advfn.com/news_CORRECTING-and-REPLACING-Universal-Express-CEO-Named-Chair-of-Industry-New-Commi_18708600.html
(on original link at bottom - Gotta love this CMKX Pic. lol Van Halen is in. lol, GO)
(Further information regarding CMKM Diamonds and associated companies can be found in Stockwatch articles dated Oct. 21, 2003; June 22; Sept. 16 and 24; Oct. 1, 15 and 20, 2004; Feb. 11, 14, 18, 22 and 23; March 1, 3, 4, 7, 14, 15, 16 and 21; June 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 29 and 30; July 1, 4, 6, 12 and 13; Aug. 2, 5 and 9; Sept. 7, 12, 27 and 30; Oct. 24, 26 and 31; Nov. 7, 11, 22 and 25; Dec. 1, 6, 9, 15 and 22, 2005; and Jan. 3, 2006.)
For something not worth anything, sure is lots of wasted energy now huh, lee? hahahahhahahhahhaha basher biotchhhes: Where are they? Maybe some getting hand cuffs put on? Lots moving maybe? Some scared to leave basements? We shall see and hear soon, I bet. Born Losers that will never get over their Stupidity.
Definition for :PAID BASHER: Definition for :SQUIRM: to twist about like a worm :
FIDGET Definition for :FIDGET: uneasiness or restlessness as shown by nervous movements.
Definition for :PAID BASHER
- loser: 1 : one that loses especially consistently Definition for :PAID BASHER
- loser: 2 : one who is incompetent or unable to succeed; also : something doomed to fail or disappoint
Definition for :
- PAID BASHER MOOCH: 1 : to wander aimlessly : AMBLE; also : SNEAK
- Definition for :PAID BASHER MOOCH: 2 : SPONGE, CADGE, to take surreptitiously : STEAL I would like to say thanks to everyone here for their countless hours of posting posts for us. Much appreciated-thanks. Bashers I would say, run for cover and cover up very well ok. As usual, the bashers have nothing but wasted words of desperation.
By: carmelbeach
21 Jan 2007, 08:21 PM EST
Msg. 475963 of 760896
(This msg. is a reply to 475887 by carmelbeach.)
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US Chamber of Commerce Hails Amendment to Executive Order
www.uschamber. com/press/releases/2007/january/07-14.htm
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Thursday, January 18, 2007
U.S. Chamber Hails Amendment to Executive Order On Regulations
Says Will Help Curb Excesses of $1 Trillion Regulatory Regime
WASHINGTON, DC-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today applauded President Bush for amending Executive Order 12866 to help tame an out-of-control regulatory system that costs the American public $1 trillion annually.
"President Bush's amendment is a paragon of common sense and good governance," said William Kovacs, the Chamber's vice president of Environment, Energy, and Regulatory Affairs. "It's the first truly significant attempt by an administration to hold federal bureaucrats to account and insist they act with discretion when imposing new and expensive burdens on businesses and consumers."
The amendment to Executive Order 12866, first issued by President Bill Clinton in 1993, would require federal agencies to identify the specific market failure the proposed regulation is intended to address before issuing it, as well as obtain the approval of the agency's Regulatory Policy Office. It would require agencies to assess the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all the regulations they plan to issue in a year. The amendment applies to both regulations and guidance documents.
"Regulations play an important role in ensuring the safety of our citizens and guarding against corporate abuses, which is why it's so important that we have a well-functioning, rational rulemaking process," said Kovacs. "That's not what we have today, and this amendment will go a long way toward fixing it."
There are currently 192,000 federal regulations on the books, and more than 500,000 guidance documents. The number of regulations has been increasing by approximately 4,000 annually, according to the Chamber.
The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475963
By: carmelbeach
21 Jan 2007, 06:22 PM EST
Msg. 475887 of 760896
(This msg. is a reply to 475569 by leowanta.)
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Re: Amendments to Executive Order 12866
I don't think its what you think it is.
www.ombwatch. org/article/articleview/3685/1/132?TopicID=3
Undermining Public Protections: Preliminary Analysis of the Amendments to Executive Order 12866
On January 18, President Bush issued amendments to Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, which further centralize regulatory power in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and shift it away from the federal agencies given this power by legislative enactments.
Among the changes to the E.O.:
It shifts the criterion for promulgating regulations from the identification of a problem like public health or environmental protection to the identification of "…the specific market failure (such as externalities, market power, lack of information)…that warrant new agency action."
It requires guidance documents to go through the same OMB review process as proposed regulations before agencies can issue them.
It also requires "significant" guidance documents (those that are estimated to have at least a $100 million effect on the economy, among other criteria) to go through the same OMB review process as "significant" regulations.
It makes the agencies' Regulatory Policy Officer a presidential appointment and gives that person the approval authority for any commencement or inclusion of any rulemaking in the Regulatory Plan unless specifically authorized by the agency head.
It requires each agency to estimate the "combined aggregate costs and benefits of all its regulations planned for that calendar year to assist with the identification of priorities," which will be overseen by the Regulatory Policy Officer.
By-Passing Congress With New Policies
Through amending the regulatory process, the President is institutionalizing an anti-regulatory approach by using a market failure criterion in place of actually identifying threats to public health and safety. It diminishes standards Congress may have required agencies to use, such as the best control technology, by elevating a new market failure standard that Congress never required. This standard has been advocated by Susan Dudley, Bush's current nominee as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Dudley's extreme views on the use of free market standards were well-documented during her failed confirmation last year. Despite the failure to confirm her, the administration has used the Executive Order as a backdoor means to implement the Dudley philosophy.
The market failure criterion is yet another layer added to the agency analysis. The agency must comply with the statutory criteria (such as best available technology) as well as an analysis demonstrating market failures. If the agency meets OMB’s standards for assessing “whether any new regulation is warranted,” then the agency must also comply with other standards in the E.O., including cost-benefit analysis.
This new standard decidedly favors the regulated community and places yet another hurdle for agencies to issue regulations in pursuit of protecting the public.
More White House Control; More Delay
By requiring agency guidance documents to come under OIRA review, and to treat “significant” guidance in the same way as “significant” regulations, the E.O. amendments will lead to further delay in providing information to the public about compliance with regulations, as well as with general guidance on agency policies.
It may be true that more and more agencies are using guidance as a means of avoiding the regulatory process. But that should be a signal to Congress and the public that the rulemaking process is seriously flawed. Agencies are looking for faster ways of doing their job and have turned to guidance. The solution is certainly not to require guidance to go through the same regulatory process that agencies were trying to avoid in the first place.
In the end, this will simply result in more delay and more White House control over the substantive work of the agencies. It will inevitably lead to a usurpation of agencies' powers.
The Foxes Controlling the Hen Houses
The Bush administration has regularly appointed industry representatives or allies to oversee agency regulatory activities. Often this has been dubbed “foxes in the hen house.” The E.O. amendments add a new dimension by having the foxes control the hen houses.
The amendments require each agency to have a Regulatory Policy Office run by a political appointee and that “no rulemaking shall commence nor be included” for consideration without the political appointee’s approval. This will further politicize the rulemaking process and provide more White House control over the agency rulemaking process.
A similar approach was attempted by President Reagan through his E.O. 12498, the Regulatory Planning Process, which was issued January 4, 1985. Under E.O. 12498, agencies were to get approval from OMB prior to starting a rulemaking — a pre-rulemaking review. Many in the business community thought this would be a wonderful approach for choking off agency ideas before they ever really got going. That approach, however, proved too cumbersome and difficult to administer; in short order, it failed.
The new Bush E.O. amendments have the same objective, but put the chokehold in the agencies, instead of at OMB. To ensure that the process works, OMB grants authority to these new political appointees to be the eyes and ears for OMB.
Laying the Groundwork for a Regulatory Budget
The E.O. amendments also require regulatory proposals that are to be submitted to the Regulatory Policy Officer to include “aggregate costs and benefits” during the calendar year. Most experts agree that aggregating all costs and benefits is like comparing apples and oranges — and in the end has little value except to create large numbers intended to scare the public.
Another possible reason to require such information is to begin laying the groundwork for establishing a regulatory budget. This concept, proposed by conservatives since the Reagan administration, has been criticized by Congress and never approved. Yet the amended E.O. begins to move in this direction.
Pre-Rulemaking Review
The amendments to the E.O. allow OIRA to play an active role during the pre-rulemaking stage when agencies are formulating annual plans for regulatory activities. By having OIRA involved in agencies' planning process, OIRA can quash any contemplated regulatory or guidance issues before they get proposed for the Regulatory Plan. Under the amended E.O., OMB can now engage the agency, along with other government personnel (as provided for in one amendment), in reaching a “common understanding” on regulatory efforts.
Conclusion
The revised Executive Order that results from these amendments is a further threat to public protections from an administration committed to elevating special interests over public interests. It codifies regulatory delay, further removes agency discretion over legislative implementation, and centralizes control over the regulatory process into a small executive office. It substitutes free market criteria for the public values of health, safety, and environmental protections, and substitutes executive authority for legislative authority.
We can only speculate as to why the President has issued these amendments at this time in his presidency. With Congress now in control of Democrats, it is unlikely that further anti-regulatory efforts will be supported or ignored by a compliant Congress. It is a surprising action to take in light of the Dudley nomination now pending before the Senate. It may be an admission by the administration that the nomination is not likely to succeed, and that the President has decided to advance the Dudley philosophy through the back door.
Prepared on January 18, 2007
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www.ombwatch. org/article/archive/250
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ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475887
By: leowanta
21 Jan 2007, 11:00 AM EST
Msg. 475569 of 760896
Jump to msg. #
well.... here it is...THANK YOU President Bush, he took positive action>
the SEC does not have the power to promulgate the grandfather clause.... by this Executive Order first executed by President Clinton..... January 18, 2007, President Bush clarifies the Executive Order, forcing every agency to "shore up" their regulation by statuory law:
" "(g) "Guidance document" means an agency statement of general applicability and future effect, other than a regulatory action, that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue...."
The SEC HAS TO ANSWER/ADHERE TO THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER.....THEIR "GUIDANCE DOCUMENT" MUST BE DEFINED IN SOLID STATUTORY LAW..... THE GRANDFATHER CLAUSE FAILS....THE SEC MUST ELIMINATE IT......... AGAIN.... THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH FOR TAKING IMMEDIATE, CORRECTIVE ACTION. (There was no AP press release on is executive order... after waiting for this news, and no news release on the subject, i checked the Whitehouse webb site and found it... sorry for not bringing it sooner, as i just found it myself.)
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070118.html
leowanta
ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=CMKI&read=475569
this all was posted on www.stockhouse.com/bullboards/MessageDetail.aspx?s=CMKX&t=LIST&m=14019197&l=0&pd=0&r=0 but was hard to read, but if you want the pics... go to this link.
ty badbassplayer for posting link