Free Republic

Imagine yourself to be the PM of the PC kingdom of Sweden, Northern Europe. You'd face a situation of non-european mass immigration gone out of hand, while you simultaneously dispose of government vaults bulging with money donated by/stolen from humane and well educated/obedient and brainwashed Swedish tax payers. What would your decision be? Bribery is immoral, but sometimes it's just too tempting. The article (the source is SR/SVT, Sweden's equivalent to BBC): "Few refugees here are taking advantage of money from the Swedish government to subsidize returns home. Individual asylum-seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia can get more than 3000...

It starts in his home state of Illinois, as Alec MacGillis reports for the Washington Post: Obama’s advisers have pointed to his success in winning over “downstate” Illinoisans as a sign of his electability, but political analysts question the claim. Obama lost most of downstate Illinois in his Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate in 2004, and his big win in the general election that year came against Alan Keyes, a black conservative with a Maryland address. In this year’s presidential primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) beat Obama in southern Illinois’ struggling coal counties, highlighting the same weakness he...

A federal judge has refused to dismiss bribery charges against Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.). Jefferson is accused of orchestrating a complicated, and multi-layered scheme to receive bribes from companies seeking business in Western Africa. Proving bribery against a lawmaker is difficult because prosecutors must show that the defendant provided an “official act” such as a voting a certain way or sponsoring legislation in return for money or items he received. His lawyers argued that Jefferson didn’t do anything in his capacity as a congressman that could be considered a bribe. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III turned that legal...

A federal court jury this afternoon acquitted former Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Jr. on charges of taking bribes in 2006 in return for his vote and influence on a development and billboard project. The jury of seven women and five men returned its verdict at about 4 p.m. after deliberating the better portion of two days. As a smiling Ford walked out of the federal court room, he said in a loud voice, “My Lord, the Savior is awesome. He is awesome. I just love my Lord.” Ford, 52, a mortician, was indicted on three counts of extortion...

The National Fraud Unit now believes Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made "personal use" of the funds he received from New York financier Morris Talansky, a senior law enforcement official confirmed, as a media-ban on the criminal investigation was lifted Wednesday evening. "Talansky transferred money to Olmert for personal use, and not just for campaign expenses," the official said. Olmert has claimed that the stream of cash envelopes he received from Talansky over a period of years was used to fund election campaigns, and to cover campaign deficits - but his assertion is now openly being challenged by police. The charge...

A New York financier was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in federal prison for laundering bribes to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. A tearful Thomas Kontogiannis apologized and pleaded for leniency, but District Judge Larry Burns ordered him to serve eight years and one month in prison. Prosecutors wanted the maximum 10-year sentence. "You caused people to think ... this (system) doesn't work," Burns told Kontogiannis. "I just hope the opportunity is given to me to make good to the people that I let down," Kontogiannis said. Kontogiannis, 59, pleaded guilty one count of money laundering in...

DNC Superdelegate Puts His Vote Up For Sale Steven Ybarra Wants $20 Million For His Vote SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS13) ― In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination we've heard a lot about the candidates courting superdelegates. But, one superdelegate is courting the candidates. He says he'll sell his vote for a price. A very high price: $20 million. Steven Ybarra of Sacramento says that eight-figure price is peanuts for the presidency.

TOP 14,500 RICHEST FAMILY The Clintons left the White House burdened by debt but have earned $109m (£55m) in the past eight years, putting them among the 14,500 richest families in the country and presenting a stark contrast to the impoverished families championed by her campaign. AIRFORCE 2 The former president reeled in at least $12.6m - and a possible further $2.7m last year - from a business partnership with his friend Ron Burkle, the supermarket magnate and financier. Bill Clinton has his own room in Burkle’s mansion in Los Angeles and travels so frequently on Burkle’s private jet that...

In 2006, former premier Lucien Bouchard and several business leaders blamed the not-in-my-backyard syndrome - NIMBY - for much of the Montreal metropolitan area's "immobilisme." The criticism followed the cancellation of two projects that had stirred public protests - a casino near Pointe St. Charles and the Suroît power plant. Despite the scolding, citizens remain unrepentant and as pesky as ever. Protests against noisy aircraft over the West Island, for example, are giving headaches to airport officials trying to accommodate increasing numbers of flights. Protests on the North Shore are also causing problems for the expansion of a smelly regional...

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has released a list of $740 million in earmark requests he made in the past three years, and it includes $1 million for the hospital where his wife Michelle is a vice president. The request for $1 million for the University of Chicago Medical Center was to help pay for construction of a new pavilion. “I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that Michelle Obama was not part of our lobbying over the request, not in any way,” Kelly Sullivan, another vice president at the medical center, told the New York Times. In any case,...

Mark Twain once remarked that “America has no native criminal class, except perhaps the Congress.” He was exaggerating, but not by too much. I’ve spend long years in Washington, and worked with many people in the government, both elected and appointed. I’ve observed two central problems: it is so easy, once you’re in a position of power, to casually reach out and line your pockets with the flood of cash that is always flowing by your door, The other problem is that Washington is inhabited by a large number of people who pulled out all the stops, and skated close...

La. Rep. Jefferson appeals judge's ruling; trial to be delayedAssociated Press - February 20, 2008 6:24 PM ET McLEAN, Va. (AP) - The trial of Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson, who's charged with bribery, will be delayed so an appellate court can hear arguments on whether his status as a congressman protects him from prosecution. Jefferson's trial was scheduled to start Monday. Defense lawyers filed their appeal today in federal court in Alexandria. The appeal had been expected since earlier this month, when U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis the Third rejected the argument that the 16-count indictment should be tossed because...

SAN DIEGO A defense contractor has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for bribing former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with cash, meals, trips and other gifts in exchange for nearly $90 million in Pentagon work. Brent Wilkes showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Larry Burns delivered the sentence Tuesday in San Diego.

Jefferson strategies may be incompatible One defense Rep. William Jefferson has mounted to contest federal bribery charges against him might be undermining another defense he has raised. Jefferson contends he shouldn't be charged with public bribery because he never performed "official acts," such as voting or introducing legislation, to promote business ventures in Africa. He also has tried to get the bribery charges thrown out by saying the grand jury that indicted him in June heard details of his legislative activities in violation of the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause. But in a written ruling last week, U.S. District Judge...

February 10, 2008 Saudi royal Prince Bandar Bin Sultan's assets frozen Grant Ringshaw PRINCE Bandar Bin Sultan, the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to America, has been hit by a court order in effect freezing some of his US assets, as part of a class-action lawsuit over bribery allegations at British defence giant BAE Systems. A Michigan pension scheme ? the City of Harper Woods Employees’ Retirement System ? has been granted a restraining order, according to documents filed in the US district of Columbia and seen by The Sunday Times. The order, granted last Tuesday, blocks Bandar from transferring out...

SAN DIEGO – Federal probation officials are recommending that Brent Wilkes, the Poway defense contractor who was convicted of bribing former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, should be sentenced to 60 years in prison, according to court records. Wilkes was scheduled to be sentenced next Monday, but that has been postponed until Feb. 19 at the request of his lawyer, Mark Geragos. In court papers, Geragos said he needed more time to analyze and challenge the report from the federal probation office, which he received Jan. 15 – later than required under court rules. Such a lengthy sentence recommendation, even in...

A STUDY that claimed 650,000 people were killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq was partly funded by the antiwar billionaire George Soros. Soros, 77, provided almost half the £50,000 cost of the research, which appeared in The Lancet, the medical journal. Its claim was 10 times higher than consensus estimates of the number of war dead. The study, published in 2006, was hailed by antiwar campaigners as evidence of the scale of the disaster caused by the invasion, but Downing Street and President George Bush challenged its methodology. New research published by The New England Journal of...

Jefferson's help had a price, feds sayPair expected to testify on incinerator firm Monday, December 24, 2007 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- He is a former aide to the late Sen. Russell Long, D-La., who became an energy lobbyist. She is a Florida businesswoman who has invested in a number of struggling businesses with potential for big profits. What James Creaghan and Noreen Wilson have in common, according to the Justice Department, is a reliance on U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, to help win contracts in western Africa. The government says that in return for that help, the congressman...

A remix of hillary's 'Presents' television ad being shown non stop in Iowa and New Hampshire.

BILOXI, Miss. -- Court records showed through ties to attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, P.L. Blake will earn $50 million. The Sun Herald reported Blake is earning that money for clipping newspaper articles and alerting Scruggs to maneuvering in political "cloakrooms," as Scruggs put it, from Mississippi to Washington. Scruggs has said that Blake will earn $50 million in fees over 20 years from Scruggs' share of tobacco settlements. Mike Moore, who as Mississippi's attorney general guided the tobacco litigation, has said he was unaware Scruggs is paying Blake such a large sum. Accounts of how Blake earned the money are...

He is a former minister from Hope, Arkansas (yes of course we know who else came from Hope and it is not a fun coincidence). He makes jokes that he knows nothing about foreign policy. It is not funny. He just proved how little he does know. If he ever wants to be taken seriously by anyone, he should not delegate his articles on the topic to neophyte and left-leaning ghost writers. An article supposedly under his byline in the new issue of Foreign Affairs says: "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach...

Delay sought in feds' bribery trialJefferson team cites mounds of evidence Wednesday, By Bruce Alpert December 05, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Attorneys for Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, asked a federal judge Tuesday to delay the congressman's scheduled Jan. 16 public corruption trial, arguing that the volume of material produced by prosecutors -- including hours of secretly recorded conversations -- doesn't provide sufficient time for an adequate defense. "The defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and his right to counsel will be nothing but hollow promises if his lawyers are not accorded a fair opportunity to digest the vast...

63-year-old Hanford man on Thursday pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he solicited bribes from contractors doing work at Fresno's Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Federal officials allege that on numerous occasions between 2001 and 2004, Rodolfo Mallari Pagsanjan accepted cash payments from two contractors to certify construction work at the Fresno VA, promised future work to them and allowed them to inflate the value of change orders for construction contracts. One of the contractors accused of involvement with Pagsanjan also was in federal court Thursday. Clovis resident Masoud Mirhadi, 65, pleaded not guilty to charges that he bribed Pagsanjan....

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- An electronic privacy group challenging President Bush's domestic spying program scored a minor victory after a judge ordered the federal government to release information about lobbying efforts by telecommunications companies to protect them from prosecution. The Electronic Frontier Foundation in January 2006 filed a class-action suit against AT&T Inc., accusing the company of illegally making communications on its networks available to the National Security Agency without warrants. Congress is now considering changing the law to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that would protect them from such court challenges. "Any attempt for immunity is aimed at...

Prosecutors say Jefferson used CBC position in schemeBy Susan Crabtree November 20, 2007 Federal prosecutors are accusing Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) of using his position as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to further an additional bribery scheme that was not previously disclosed. Prosecutors allege Jefferson wrote to a NASA administrator on Congressional Black Caucus Foundation letterhead to ask that it consider doing business with a U.S. rocket technology company. In a seven-page document filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, prosecutors said Jefferson recommended that NASA give “close consideration” to the company, which allegedly agreed to...

Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) of soliciting bribes in two alleged schemes that had not been previously disclosed. The allegations, detailed in a seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, will not result in new charges, prosecutors said, but they plan to present them during Jefferson's federal bribery trial as evidence of a pattern of intentional wrongdoing. In 2002, the government alleges, Jefferson asked a lobbyist of a U.S. oil service company for $10,000 a month for a family member in exchange for Jefferson's assisting the company in promoting business in Africa. The...

Jefferson case could change bribery lawsCongress moves to redefine 'official acts' Wednesday, November 14, 2007 By Bill Walsh WASHINGTON -- Bribery has been around as long as politics, but recent provocative legal challenges have prompted Congress to look at rewriting the laws to spell out more clearly what it means to be on the take. Bipartisan legislation moving in the Senate would substantially lengthen the list of forbidden favors that could expose a member of Congress to charges of bribery. The move comes as Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, battles federal charges with a defense that his actions on behalf...

And that is the wonderful part of it. Saudis are beginning to be held accountable. The Saudi King’s visit was carefully managed. Aware that the best defense is an offense, he charged the British government with ignoring his warnings prior to 7/7. I am sure he was right. Londonistan is barely even Londonistan-even now. Responding to the charges of British bribery of high placed Saudis including the Yamanis, a Saudi officials argued that the fault was with the bribers not those bribed. At issues is the 43-billion-pound arms deal with Saudi Arabia which the British Fraud Office investigated until Blair.........

The bribery charges against Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who was videotaped accepting $100,000 in cash, should be dismissed because such an act is technically closer to influence-peddling, defense argued yesterday in an Alexandria courtroom. Jefferson's attorneys made no admission that he engaged in improper conduct, but one, Amy Jackson, argued that even if the government's allegations are true, they do not constitute bribery under federal law. "We think using influence is not a bribe," Jackson told U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in seeking to have some of the charges dismissed. Prosecutors scoffed at the argument, and Ellis seemed...

Defense: Jefferson should be charged with influence peddling, not bribery06:15 PM CDT on Friday, October 12, 2007 Matthew Barrakat / Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A Louisiana congressman caught on tape accepting a $100,000 cash payment should not have been charged with bribery because the alleged conduct was more akin to influence peddling than actual bribery, defense lawyers argued Friday. Congressman William Jefferson At a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court, lawyers for Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., made no admission that Jefferson engaged in any kind of improper conduct. But defense lawyer Amy Jackson argued that even if the...

Bernard Kerik's legal nightmare is about to get worse, with federal prosecutors expected to file charges against the former police commissioner that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned. The indictment, expected next month, could prove to be an embarrassing obstacle for Kerik's former mentor Rudy Giuliani, who is cruising at the top of the polls heading into the presidential primary gauntlet. The bribery allegations against Kerik stem from a secret meeting at a bar in Tribeca, according to two sources familiar with the federal probe.

Robert Zoellick outlined a vision for the World Bank yesterday, at a speech marking his 100th day as president. His theme: "inclusive and sustainable globalization." Whatever that means. We long ago became accustomed to the toothless catchphrases by which the bank shovels money (now more than $30 billion a year) out the door, and it remains to be seen if Mr. Zoellick's agenda will amount to more than a high gloss on the status quo. To his credit, the former U.S. Trade Rep is emphasizing the importance of free trade to economic development, still a controversial point at an institution...

Indictment of Black Civic and Political Leaders in Dallas Raises Racial Tensions The Associated Press By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press Writer DALLAS Oct 3, 2007 (AP) A sweeping City Hall corruption probe that has produced federal charges against a dozen black civic and political leaders is renewing suspicions of racism in a city with a long history of combative minority relations. "It makes Dallas looks bad," said Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who is black, "because people just have the general sense of the city being unfair to people of color." Sixteen people 12 of them black were...

DETROIT (AP) - Officials say a U.S. immigration official linked to $640,000 in bribery and theft accusations took money and gifts in exchange for freeing numerous illegal immigrants. A spokeswoman for Detroit's U.S. attorney says that one alien freed by the official went on to murder a Wayne State University graduate student from Jordan.

Yet Again, US Atty Abu Porno Let Key Hezbo Perpetrators Flee USA Correction: Earlier today, I wrote that the report below was wrong and that Roy Bailey was placed on leave in 2003. I've since learned that this was in "incorrect correction" and that Bailey was placed on leave on February 5, 2004. Executive Summary: A top U.S. Immigration official has been accepting bribes from Hezbollah operatives in America for years. But the U.S. Attorney--Stephen Murphy III, the Justice Department's top official in Eastern Michigan--delayed indictment for FOUR Years(!), while he quietly allowed the Hezbollah criminals involved to flee the...

When it comes to Hillary's baby bond scheme, she failed to mention that it would cost taxpayers $20 billion annually. But that's besides the point … A Rasmussen telephone poll found that 60% of likely voters oppose Hillary's plan to give every new born baby a $5,000 savings bond. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/voters_reject_clinton_baby_bond_proposal_by_2_to_1_margin Curiously, 65% of whites opposed the baby bond idea. 52% of minorities favored the baby bond idea. Well --- maybe that's not so curious – but I don't want to step on any ethnic toes here, do I? Now that this poll is out there, let's see if Hillary Rodham...

.."The government says the principals in the case took public money that was intended for affordable housing projects and pocketed it for themselves."

John Ford will not have to report to prison on Oct. 17 as scheduled. The former state senator was granted additional time this morning for his appellate attorney to obtain and review several thousand pages of transcripts from his bribery trial. Ford, 65, who was convicted in April of taking $55,00 in bribes as a state legislator, was sentenced last month to 5 ½ years to be served in a federal prison near El Paso, Texas. U.S. Dist. Court Judge J. Daniel Breen, however, continued the report date and set a hearing for Nov. 28 to determine whether he Ford...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and 12 House colleagues plan to fight subpoenas issued to them in the federal trial of a defense contractor accused of bribing jailed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif... ...Others who received subpoenas are former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; California Republicans John Doolittle, Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Jerry Weller, R-Ill.; Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas; Ike Skelton, D-Mo.; John Murtha, D-Pa.; Republicans Peter Hoekstra and Joe Knollenberg, of Michigan... ...Wilkes' attorneys also are seeking documents from Hunter, Lewis, Reyes, Murtha and Skelton....

Drug addicts in the town of Drammen say they were offered money or free kebabs to vote for the Labour Party in the local election last week. Bent Sandberg was offered NOK 50 (about USD 9) to vote for the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) in the local election last week. He declined the bribe.

WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — Nearly 100 drunken-driving suspects in this southern Ohio town avoided convictions or jail time last year after making voluntary $1,000 donations to the police department, county records show. More than a third of the drunken-driving cases filed by Waverly police in Pike County Court last year were dismissed, according to a report published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch.

Jefferson asks judge to toss 14 chargesAnd he wants trial moved to Washington Saturday, September 08, 2007 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- Accusing the Bush Justice Department of mounting a bogus bribery case and employing race-based tactics, attorneys for Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, asked a federal judge Friday to throw out 14 of the 16 charges against the nine-term congressman and to move his trial to Washington, D.C., from northern Virginia. **SNIP** Legal scholars said some of the motions have a chance to prevail. In the most provocative challenge, lead attorney Robert Trout accused the government of choreographing events,...

Many of us here, of course, take it for granted that the news media focuses far more on any scandals or troubles that occur with Republicans while at the same time they try their level best to ignore those that are perpetrated by Democrats. But, it's always helpful to get as many statistics as possible to buttress our case. I have here another small indication of how the GOP is treated unequally with the Democrat Party revealing Media Bias in the form of a Nexis* search of two ongoing, but not equally treated, scandals in the news. Our search parameters...

NEW YORK -- Eleven public officials were charged Thursday in a widespread FBI corruption investigation, officials said. At least one state assemblyman, several local mayors and school board officials were arrested by FBI agents in early-morning roundups. The officials are expected to be arraigned on corruption charges in Trenton Thursday afternoon. United States attorney Chris Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun are expected to explain the charges at a 3:30 p.m. press conference in Trenton. WNBC.com has learned that several of the officials were allegedly caught accepting payoffs from undercover agents in a sting operation. Others were...

Judge not convinced Ford truly believes he did anything wrong - John Ford was sentenced to 66 months in prison this morning for his April conviction of accepting $55,000 in bribes in the FBI's Tennessee Waltz public corruption investigation. U.S. Dist. Court Judge J. Daniel Breen carefully noted his interpretation of advisory federal guidelines that suggest enhanced punishment for factors such as the amount and number of bribes, threatening witnesses, acceptance of responsibility and the fact that Ford was an elected official. The judge said he was not convinced that Ford truly believes he did anything wrong and that the...

July 19, 2007 LONDON: British MP George Galloway personally thanked Saddam Hussein for his regime's financial backing in a campaign against sanctions on Iraq, and even asked him to raise the payments, it emerged yesterday. Mr Galloway also offered to help set up with Saddam an Iraqi satellite television channel, broadcasting in English, months before the beginning of the Iraq war. An account of their meeting, published for the first time in a House of Commons report into Mr Galloway's failure to declare his financial backers, contradicts the MP's insistence that he was unaware of receiving money from the former...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The last of five lawmakers indicted in an undercover public corruption probe dubbed Tennessee Waltz pleaded guilty Monday to bribery. Former state Sen. Kathryn Bowers, 64, a Memphis Democrat, pleaded guilty to one federal count accusing her of splitting $11,500 with an accomplice who served as a go-between with FBI agents posing as dishonest businessmen. She had insisted for two years that she was innocent. "I needed to go on and admit that I'd made some mistakes so that I can go on and try to move on with my life," Bowers said outside court. In exchange...

GEORGE GALLOWAY, the MP who campaigned against the Iraq war, is to be suspended from parliament over his links to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq. The parliamentary standards watchdog will rule this week that Galloway failed properly to declare his links to a charitable appeal partially funded from money made by selling Iraqi oil under Saddam Hussein, according to a source close to the inquiry. The one-month suspension for Galloway, often referred to as

Ten men suspected of being in the United States illegally have been arrested in Omaha on allegations they attempted to bribe a state employee to obtain drivers licenses and state identification cards, authorities announced Thursday. Lt. Chuck Phillips of the Nebraska State Patrol in Omaha said the 10 men are in the Douglas County Detention Center awaiting prosecution in state court on the bribery charge, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Phillips said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department, which participated in the eight-month investigation, has placed detainers on the 10....

Nigeria: Jefferson/Atiku - Where Does Facilitation End And Bribery Begin?This Day (Lagos) COLUMN 18 June 2007 Posted to the web 19 June 2007 Ayuli Jemide Lagos The recent bribery allegation involving United States Congressman Jefferson and Nigeria's former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, brings to the fore the mine fields that any transactional lawyer may have to navigate in acting as a midwife for a foreign investment type transaction or acting for a multinational under a strict anti-corruption regiment. How serious is the global village about bribery in the market place? The United States Federal Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") 1977 has...