Free Republic

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced its “endangerment finding� declaring that carbon dioxide, the very substance we humans exhale, is a danger to public health.  That this was done just before the president departed to attend the Copenhagen global warming summit is, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs assured us yesterday, completely coincidental. The Obama administration would like to to ignore the doctored “science� backing up anthropogenic global warming claims to discount the manipulated data exposed by Climategate documents.  Public confidence in the claims of the top climate scientists in the world has been shattered by the details of the 61...

Leader of Athens Democratic Party indicted on bribery charges Monday, November 30, 2009 6:10 PM By Randy Ludlow THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The embattled chairwoman of the Athens County Democratic Party was indicted today on charges she sought to buy the votes of some Ohio University students. A grand jury charged Susan Gwinn with two counts of election-related bribery, said Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost, the special prosecutor in the case. No one else, including members of the OU College Democrats, was indicted after grand jurors heard testimony and evidence today, Yost said. The indictment comes after authorities investigated a charge...

It has been almost a year that little Barry What’s-His-Name, the Kenyan- Indonesian-African-American lad has been going to school as President of the United States. This is an interim Report Card to his political parents, the voters of the United States. English Comprehension: Barry has the most extraordinary ability to speak in English than all but a small handful of students who have ever attended this school. However, this ability to speak in complete sentences, using words that seem appropriate to the subject at hand, is coupled with a near total lack of content in those speeches. A+ for delivery,...

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state. And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going...

This Congress is beneath contempt. What they are poised to pass today -- yes I know this is just a procedural vote, but everything turns on it -- is an abomination. Since Lincoln and Landrieu have been bought off it is now sure to pass. Landrieu's vote will cost the taxpayers $100 million. I wonder what we paid Lincoln to betray us? This bill will not merely ruin our healthcare system; it will impose economy-crushing taxes, pushing our already tottering economy ever closer to the abyss. No surprise there. Candidate Obama said that since we are only 4 percent of...

am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill. In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.) Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

Detroit (WWJ) -- A Detroit federal judge has sentenced a Detroit businesman and corruption figure to the maximum five years in jail for conspiracy to commit bribery. Rayford Jackson arranged the bribes for now-former city councilwoman Monica Conyers

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced the filing of an Indictment charging Fitzroy Salesman, 52, of Miramar, Florida, with committing mail fraud by depriving the citizens of his honest services, extortion under color of official right, and bribery in programs receiving federal funds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341, 1346, 1951, and 666, respectively. Salesman was arrested on September 23, 2009 on a criminal complaint in connection with these charges. He was released...

Late this afternoon the federal government move to seize the assets of the Alavi Foundation, a "charitable front" for Iranian terror activities. The Alavi Foundation claims that its goals are to "promote understanding and harmony among people of different religions"; "promote the study of the humanities, arts, and pure and applied sciences"; "giv[e] assistance to public charitable organizations during times of hardship and deprivation caused by war or natural disasters"; and "provid[e] financial assistance to not-for-profit organizations that are involved in the teaching of Islamic culture and the Persian language." Former FBI official Oliver Revell has stated that the Alavi...

The Democrats $283 Million Dollar Bribe Hidden in the Healthcare Bill Video explains why the dems stuffed a veterinarian loan forgiveness into the Healthcare bill

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is about to put her political future in the hands of a jury. Dixon goes on trial Monday on theft charges. She's accused of hitting up her wealthy developer pals to donate thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards to needy families. Prosecutors say she used those gift cards for her personal shopping instead.

Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, and Robert Parker, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, announced that defendant Jorge Delgado was sentenced on October 29, 2009 to two years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Delgado previously pled guilty to aiding and abetting an attempt to possess ecstasy with the intent to distribute. During the time at issue, Delgado was a Miami-Dade Police Officer assigned to uniformed road patrol. This charge arose from an undercover investigation...

TUCSON, AZ—A four-count federal indictment was unsealed today against former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Yamilkar Fierros, of Tucson, for allegedly accepting bribes. Fierros was arrested without incident by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, October 30, 2009, and made his initial appearance at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Glenda E. Edmonds. The indictment alleges that on September 30, 2009, Fierros accepted a $1,000 payment in return for providing a purported drug trafficker with a law enforcement sensitive map of San Rafael Valley, which reflects roads, trails, landmarks, and terminology used by Border Patrol to counter...

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA--Larry Langford, Birmingham's mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial. Langford was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre. Both pleaded guilty in the case and testified they made cash payments to Langford while he was the president of the Jefferson County Commission to ensure business for Blount's investment bank, Blount Parrish & Co.

PHOENIX—Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Jose Carmelo Magana, 46, of Yuma, Ariz., pleaded guilty today on charges of Attempting to Bring Illegal Aliens into the United States and Acceptance of a Bribe by a Public Official. Sentencing for Magana is set before U.S. District Judge James A. Teilborg on January 19, 2010. Magana admitted to have participated in an agreement with Brenda Covarrubias, Ana Bertha Calderon, Jesus Gastelum-Rodriguez, Guadalupe Milan de Gastelum and others, to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. through a lane at the San Luis Port of Entry in San Luis, Ariz., staffed at the...

It's hard to instill confidence in the U.S. economy when Washington keeps finding new and creative ways to spend money it doesn't have. Take President Obama's proposal to send additional $250 checks to Social Security recipients - on top of the $250 checks they already received as part of the president's $787 billion economic stimulus package. Because seniors don't need a cost-of-living increase, the president wants to give them a bonus. Don't even try to follow the logic. You can't find it. Last week, the Obama administration said that for the first time since automatic Social Security cost-of-living increases were...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member. "The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it." Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent names in the state Democratic Party to face corruption charges. Jury selection begins Monday. Prosecutors claim a...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2009 – Iraqi security forces, working with U.S. advisors, apprehended a bribery suspect and an associate of an alleged extortionist yesterday in Mosul, Iraq, military officials reported. Acting on a warrant, Iraqi forces searched several buildings for extortion ring members operating in the area. During the search, the team apprehended a man who identified himself as a lawyer who represents members of the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group in the area. While questioning the lawyer, the Iraqi forces determined he was wanted on a warrant for having suspected ties to the terrorist group’s extortion ring in...

The president of a national labor union was arrested Tuesday for allegedly taking $20,000 in bribes from a St. Louis lawyer, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Bruck’s message to President 0bama: Give it back. My first thought upon hearing that President 0bama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, or, I should say my first rational thought was, “couldn’t they find anybody who’s actually done anything for peace or human rights in the last year?” Well, of course there are many people working on various fronts, in the less sexy places of the world, toiling thanklessly against the ravages of poverty, genocide, human trafficking, and other scourges of the human condition. Perhaps in a future column I could highlight some of our modern human rights warriors whose...

President Barack Obama will donate the roughly $1.4 million award from his 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to charity, a White House spokesman said Friday.

Note: The following text is a quote: Thirty-Nine Individuals Charged with Conspiring to Bribe Chair of D.C. Taxicab Commission WASHINGTON—Yitbarek Syume, 51, of Silver Spring, Maryland, Berhane Leghese, 47, of Arlington, Virginia, and Amanuel Ghirmazion, 53, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were indicted on bribery charges on October 1, 2009, by a grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, announced Acting United States Attorney Channing D. Phillips and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Persichini, Jr. The indictments, unsealed today, allege that Syume, Leghese, and Ghirmazion, conspired to bribe the Chairperson of the District of...

Federal law-enforcement authorities Friday unsealed indictments against 39 D.C. taxicab drivers, charging them with conspiring to bribe the head of the city's taxicab commission in a widening criminal investigation into the industry. The indictments come just over a week after the chief of staff for D.C. Council member Jim Graham was charged with accepting bribes from a person with a financial stake in the taxicab industry to promote favorable taxicab legislation. * * * The indictments unsealed Friday charge that the men attempted to bribe Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon J. Swain Jr., who is identified by title but not by...

Something smells fishy. First the Obama administration announces $2 billion of financial support for Brazil’s offshore drilling efforts. And a month later Brazil spirits legally deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya back into the country, granting him sanctuary in its embassy. Are these two stories related? First from the Wall Street Journal, August 18, headlined Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling: The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery.... And from Reuters yesterday, headlined Lula faces criticism in Brazil over Honduras role: BRASILIA, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's...

Pelosi $pares Charlie: GOPBy DAPHNE RETTER, Post Correspondent Last Updated: 5:05 AM, September 10, 2009 WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel has donated more campaign cash to the House Democrats than virtually any other member of Congress -- and critics charge that's bought him protection from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Federal Election Commission reports show Rangel's campaign committee has forked over $2 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 1995. Only Pelosi (Calif.), Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (Maryland) and Democratic Whip James Clyburn (SC) have been more generous. Rangel also has donated $3.8 million from his campaign and leadership committees...

Has anyone stayed on this story?

Former New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was convicted today by a federal jury in Albany, N.Y., of attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge John F. Pikus of the FBI’s Albany office announced. Spargo, 66, was convicted following a three-day jury trial. Evidenced introduced at trial showed that on Nov. 13, 2003, Spargo solicited a $10,000 payment from an attorney with cases pending before him in Ulster County, while Spargo was serving as a state supreme court justice. The trial evidence showed...

HOUSTON—Former City of Hempstead Mayor Pro-Tem Larry Wilson and City Alderman Paris Kincade were sentenced to prison terms for accepting bribe money or kickbacks in exchange for awarding city contracts, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Larry Wilson, 42, and Paris Kincade, 53, both of Hempstead, Texas, pleaded guilty in February 2009 to conspiring to commit Federal Programs Fraud and were sentenced today. Both men have acknowledged they assisted a cooperating witness, a contractor, to obtain approved vendor status with the City of Hempstead in exchange for bribes. Beginning in December 2006, Wilson, the then Mayor Pro-Tem and City...

A former Kraft Foods purchasing manager was sentenced to two years and three months in prison Tuesday for taking $158,000 in bribes from a broker for a Central California tomato processor, the first prison term imposed in a federal investigation of corruption in tomato products sales. Robert Watson, 59, of White Plains, N.Y., pleaded guilty in January to defrauding his company by accepting the bribes between January 2004 and April 2008 from Randall Rahal, then a sales broker for SK Foods of Lemoore (Kings County). In exchange, prosecutors said, Watson made sure that Kraft bought processed tomato products and other...

After hearing evidence for more than one month in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., a jury found Jefferson guilty on 11 charged counts, including solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and conspiracy. Jefferson was acquitted on three counts of honest services wire fraud, an obstruction of justice charge and of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III accepted the verdict and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 30, 2009. Jefferson faces a maximum penalty of 150 years in prison and the jury will reconvene tomorrow to address whether he will additionally face...

Jefferson on camera taking briefcase full of cash from a trunk of Cadillac released from Foxnews

RENO, NV—Felony indictments have been returned against a former Washoe County Jail employee and a Hollywood video producer alleging that cash and gifts were provided to former jail employees in exchange for favorable treatment for a federal inmate who was housed at the jail during 2007 and 2008, announced Greg Brower, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada. Michon Mills, 39, of Carson City, Nevada, a former sergeant with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department, is charged with two counts of Gratuity Received By a Public Official. Aaron Weinstein, 45, of Woodland Hills, California, who works in the television and...

China’s “whole steel industry has been bribed” by Rio Tinto, suggested a lead article in the China Daily newspaper on Wednesday that marks a sharp escalation in a dispute rocking the global steel and iron ore industries. The state-owned China Daily quoted an unnamed “industry insider” claiming Rio bribed each of the 16 Chinese steel companies involved in this year’s negotiations to set the benchmark iron ore price, a process that brings together steelmakers and suppliers of iron ore, steel’s key ingredient.

A federal Indictment charging Samuel L. Riddle, Jr., of Detroit, Michigan, with conspiring with former Detroit City Council President Pro Tempore Monica Conyers to use her positions on the City Council and the Board of Trustees of the City’s General Retirement System and Riddle’s position as Conyers’ Chief of Staff to extort money from individuals having business before the Council and the pension board was issued by a federal Grand Jury, United States Attorney Terrence Berg announced today. Berg announced that Riddle also is charged with aiding and abetting Conyers in receiving bribes relating to the Synagro sludge hauling contract...

Politics: The career of Roland Burris, a political cipher from Illinois who became a U.S. senator and the lamest of ducks, is over. He can now retire into the obscurity he so richly deserves.Having obtained the seat under a cloud of typical Illinois corruption, Burris announced Friday he won't run for a full term in 2010. He was appointed by the former and recently impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich who, among his other accomplishments, tried to auction off the seat formerly held by Barack Obama. Blagojevich was forced out of office and may soon join other Illinois governors who went on...

L'AQUILA, ITALY -- In a meeting this morning with the leaders of Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Libya and Ethiopia, President Obama spoke about his personal connections to both Africa and poverty, and according to a top White House aide, "you could have heard a pin drop." As the president put it, Froman went on, "his cousin in Kenya cant find a job without paying a bribe, and that’s not the fault of the G-8. And when companies can’t operate without paying, in some parts of Africa, without paying the 25 percent fee off the top in bribes, that’s not colonialism."...

SAN DIEGO—U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced today the unsealing of a 25-count indictment charging six individuals with corruption and fraud charges related to defense contracting at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), a government organization based in San Diego that is responsible for the development of technology to collect, process, display and manage information essential to successful military operations. A federal grand jury sitting in San Diego handed up the indictment on June 30, 2009, which was sealed until their arrests earlier today. According to the indictment, federal employees Gary Alexander and his wife, Kelly Alexander, worked at...

August 14, 2005 -- LONDON — The $21.3 billion United Nations oil-for-food scandal has now widened to include the brother of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, is said by investigators to be "connected" to an African businessman at the center of the scandal. The probe into Kobina's dealings are at an early stage and he has not been interviewed. However, investigators are understood to suspect that Michael Wilson, an African businessman, and Kobina had a business relationship at the time of the scandal. A source close to the investigation said: "We believe Kobina Annan...

Note: The following text is a quote: Smart Online CEO and Two Others Found Guilty of Manipulation of Company Stock LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that DENNIS MICHAEL NOURI, the former Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and President of Smart Online, REZA ERIC NOURI, a former Smart Online employee and brother of the CEO, and stock broker ANTHONY MARTIN were found guilty today, after a three-week jury trial before United States District Judge DENNY CHIN. According to the Superseding Indictment and the evidence at trial: From May 2005 through July...

NEW ORLEANS, LA—WAYNE G. CRESAP, an elected judge of the 34th Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Bernard, and attorneys NUNZIO SALVADORE “Sal” CUSIMANO, JR and VICTOR J. (V.J.) DAUTERIVE, were charged jointly in a bill of information with conspiracy to deprive the citizens of St. Bernard Parish of their right to receive the honest services of Judge WAYNE G. CRESAP, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten and Special Agent in Charge David Welker, Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the bill of information, CRESAP entered into an illegal agreement with lawyers CUSIMANO and DAUTERIVE, in which CRESAP...

TOPEKA, KS—Former Junction City Commissioner Michael R. “Mick” Wunder, 52, Junction City, Kan., is charged in a federal indictment unsealed today with bank fraud, perjury, conspiracy, and unlawful monetary transactions, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today. The indictment, which has been under seal by court order since it was filed June 9, charges the former commissioner with 11 counts including: * One count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, violate the Hobbs Act and structure financial transactions to evade federal currency reporting requirements. * One count of structuring financial transactions to evade the Bank Secrecy Act requiring reports on transactions...

Congressman John Conyers Jr has had a very rough week, his wife, a member of the Detroit City Council pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, not only did she have to resign her office but she faces up to five years in prison. She was also implicated in another potential bribery case involving a controversial deep injection waste well near Romulus. Here is the coincidence, in 2003 and 2004, before Monica Conyers was elected, John Conyers and his staff raised environmental concerns about the well project. Monica Conyers' former aide, Sam Riddle, told The...

(WXYZ) - By her own admission, Councilwoman Monica Conyers pocketed cash just before she changed her position on an important issue before the council. Tonight, others are questioning why her husband, Congressman John Conyers, changed his position on another issue.

Detroit (WWJ) -- Effective July 6, Monica Conyers will resign her seat on the Detroit City Council. The 44-year-old Conyers, the wife of Democratic congressman John Conyers, admitted Friday in federal court to taking cash from a Houston company in exchange for her vote on a $47 million sludge treatment contract.

(WXYZ) - Action News has learned that Monica Conyers has resigned from Detroit City Council. She submitted her resignation letter to Wayne County Clerk Janice Winfrey. Her resignation will take effect July 6. Conyers' staff will be on the payroll until December 31. They will reportedly be available to assist other Council members until then. Conyers' resignation comes on the heals of a call by Council President Ken Cockrel, Jr. for Conyers to step down. He said she had forfeited her office by pleading guilty to corruption charges on Friday. Stay with Action News and WXYZ.com for the latest on...

The first week of former Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) corruption trial was dominated by testimony from the head of a telecommunications firm who said he paid thousands of dollars to the lawmaker for his influence. Kentucky businessman Vernon Jackson said Jefferson used his office to secure multimillion-dollar deals for the telecommunications firm iGate, and enriched himself in the process. Jackson is a star witness for the prosecution, which claims Jefferson used his office to help iGate in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Jefferson faces a maximum of 235 years in prison if convicted on all counts....

TRENTON, NJ—Former Passaic City Council member Marcellus Jackson and former Paterson Board of Education member Chauncey I. Brown, III, were sentenced today to federal prison terms of 25 and 20 months, respectively, for accepting bribes in exchange for their official assistance in attempting to steer public insurance brokerage contracts to an FBI undercover business, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. announced. U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson also ordered Marcellus Jackson, 39, to pay a $15,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. Judge Thompson similarly ordered Brown, 49, to...

John E. Murphy, Acting United States Attorney, announced that in Midland, two more former employees of the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos face federal prison terms after pleading guilty to charges they accepted bribes in exchange for smuggling contraband items to prisoners. Velma Jean Payan, 41, and Jerri Diaz Ornelas, 40, each of Pecos, face up to 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when they are sentenced in September. Appearing before United States Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Bommer this morning, Payan, a former Life Skills Instructor at the prison, admitted that she received more than $2,000...

"Months of moral grandstanding and intense diplomacy are finally yielding dividends: President Obama has convinced Palau, a Pacific archipelago and long-standing U.S. ally, to resettle a small group of the least dangerous Guantanamo detainees. All it took was $200 million in foreign aid to a country with 20,000 residents and a GDP of about $164 million," the Wall Street Journal said Thursday in an editorial. "Headed to Palau are the Uighurs, ethnic Chinese Muslims who were picked up in 2002 near Tora Bora. ... "Palau deserves credit for its 'humanitarian gesture,' as Palau President Johnson Toribiong called it, though the...

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GEORGE ORTIZ, a former employee of the New York City Department of Education ("DOE"), was sentenced today by United States District Judge BARBARA S. JONES in Manhattan federal court to 30 months in prison. ORTIZ pleaded guilty on February 6, 2009, to extortion; extortion conspiracy; soliciting, receiving and accepting bribes; and conspiracy to solicit, receive, and accept bribes. According to the Indictment, statements made at the guilty plea and sentencing proceeding, and other documents filed in the case: ORTIZ worked as a supervisory...