AP Standards: Obama's Top Contributors Linked to Investments in Sudan
By Terry Trippany | May 15, 2008 - 08:52 ET
Applying the AP's McCain Standard to Barack Obama Shows Sudanese
Connections
to His Campaign
It's a strange one sided sort of game the Associated Press is playing in
its
latest attack against John McCain. AP writer Jim Kuhnhenn is applying a
six
degrees of separation style standard in trying to accuse John McCain of
investing in the Sudan because his wife owned some mutual funds that had
holdings in an Indian company that allegedly does business in the Sudan.
The
far left has picked up on this "AP newsbreak" as evidenced by its front
page
status at The Huffington Post.
So I decided to play the game myself by looking at the mainstream media's
favorite target of obsessive adulation, Barack Obama. My my, would you
look
at that? When I applied the McCain standard to Barack Obama I quickly
discovered that Obama's top contributors are being targeted by activists
that are targeting financial companies to divest in the Sudan. Surprised?
According to OpenSecrets.org Barack Obama received $544,000 from people
associated with or employed by Goldman Sachs. Not good. In 1998 China was
set to make its first public offering on the New York Stock exchange via a
company called the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC). The deal
quickly
came under fire because China was financing arms sales to the Sudan and
allegedly used Chinese prison laborers to build oil pipelines in the
region.
(Src. Human Rights Watch)
In response to the outcry Goldman Sachs, Barack Obama's number one
contributor, restructured the deal to create a spin off of CNPC called
PetroChina Co. The new structure was created to ensure that the IPO would
involve a company that was limited to only operating inside China.
Unfortunately that was not the case. (all emphasis mine)
PetroChina would rank as China's largest company, with 70 percent of the
country's petroleum reserves and accounting for two-thirds of its oil and
gas production. It would immediately become the world's fourth-largest
publicly traded oil and gas company, although the Chinese government,
through CNPC, would still own 80 to 90 percent of PetroChina's stock after
the public offering.
PetroChina maintained it was neither a U.S. nor a Sudanese company nor
would it have direct business dealings with Sudan. Upon closer
examination,
this was not the divorce it first appeared to be for at least two reasons:
income and debt. Critics charged that the CNPC, as the parent company,
would
receive 90 percent of PetroChina's income, including funds raised in the
IPO. PetroChina's chairman denied the company would use proceeds from its
stock offering to fund projects in Sudan.
The deal came under wide protest by activists and special interest groups,
including the AFL-CIO.
On March 22, 2000 the AFL-CIO and the NGO Free Tibet co-sponsored a
protest at the office of PetroChina's investment banker Goldman Sachs in
New
York City. Bill Patterson, director of AFL-CIO's office of investments,
was
convinced that political opposition and subsequent negative press reduced
interest in PetroChina's IPO: "We haven't found a single fund yet that
even
wants to get near this deal."
Considering that the Associated Press is so obsessed with the minutiae of
John McCain's wife's mutual funds you would think that they would be
concerned about this dubious relationship between China, Sudan, Goldman
Sachs and Barack Obama. Strangely however the AP doesn't go down that
route.
Let's keep going here. Would you like to know who else has come under
criticism for investing in the Sudan? That's easy.
Barack Obama's number 2 contributor the University of California held
pensions and endowment funds that were partially held in the Sudan until
the
middle of 2006 when it announced its plans to divest. This announcement
came
a full 2 years after the U.S. labeled Darfur a genocide and nearly 6 years
after President Clinton extended the 1997 U.S. sanctions on Sudan. Not
exactly divestment at the speed of sound.
Yet we are just beginning. The human rights group savedarfur.org has an
active campaign against JPMorgan Chase , Barack Obama's number 3 top
contributor, for investing in the Sudan. The anti-corporate green group
Co-Op America spells out the criticism against Chase.
JP Morgan, along with Vanguard and Fidelity, has been criticized by
human
rights groups, politicians and the public for continuing to invest in
PetroChina. PetroChina is one the largest players in the Sudanese oil
industry, and the proceeds from Sudan's oil exports go overwhelmingly to
fund the Sudanese army.
Should I stop there? Nah. The mainstream media wouldn't if it were
applying
this standard to a republican like John McCain. Let's look at Barack
Obama's
fourth largest contributor, Citigroup Inc.
Citigroup is getting flak by activists because they claim that Citigroup's
shareholders rejected proposals by amnesty international and other human
rights groups to use their investments as a way to manipulate the
situation
in Sudan.
I could go on but there are some practical limitations; I have limited
space
and I think you get the point. If I applied the AP's McCain standard to
Barack Obama then I can assume that Obama is party to investing in the
Sudan
big time. But that would make me stupid.
As an example of such stupidity I would like all you investors and 401K
holders out there to list for me the individual holdings in your funds.
Tell
me off the top of your head if any of those companies do business with or
are related to companies that invest in Sudan. Go ahead, look them up if
need be. Anyone? No? Thought so.
The standard is bogus and would apply to all politicians somewhere along
the
line if we dumb it down enough.
However, since it is the AP's game I will do them one better. I call on
Barrack Obama to fully divest from any contributor even remotely tied to
investments made in the Sudan. Do it tomorrow, don't wait any longer than
John McCain's wife did. I also call on the AP to get back to me and report
on it the minute that happens.
Don't worry if you continue to go all hypocritical on me AP people because
I
won't be holding my breath.
Terry Trippany is the editor and publisher of Webloggin.
--
"I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus," Obama told ABC News, "but I
would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working
for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group.
And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude."
April 11 2007 B.Hussein Obama
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