Free Republic

President Barack Obama on Thursday tapped four big Democratic Party donors for plum ambassadorships in Europe and Latin America while naming six career diplomats to posts in Africa, the Mideast and the Pacific. Washington lawyer Howard Gutman, who raised more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign and personally contributed the maximum $4,600 to it, was nominated to be the next U.S. envoy to Belgium, the White House said in a statement. Gutman also contributed $2,300 to now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics. Obama...

Video - Rep. Ted Poe

When I heard this on the radio on the drive home the first thing I thought was, I’ll bet they’re democrats (socialist) and huge Obama supporters. Walter Kendall Myers, 72, aided by his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, used his Top Secret security clearance to pass on classified information to the Cuban government and at one point met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, according to court documents. The two were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to Cuba, the Justice Department said. They were also charged with wire fraud and...

Neal Cavuto is reporting that 79.6% of the Chrysler dealerships that were closed were GOP donors. 20.4% donated to the Democrat Party.

Published on 5/28/2009 in the Riverside Press The above ad appeared in several national newspapers this week including the The Wilmington News Journal on page A18, Thursday, May 28, 2009, and The Riverside Press. The ad is in support of the Chrysler National Dealer Council. Exit82 reported: The ad is a full page and reads like a BS account of why the elimination of dealers was necessary, good for Chrysler, so sorry it had to happen to some of our friends, blah, blah, blah. I believe this ad was part of a nationwide ad buy in many papers because it...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Despite his promises of change, President Barack Obama has kept tradition by naming top donors to plum ambassador posts, drawing fire from career US diplomats and causing dismay among some US allies. Obama has been criticized for naming fund raisers with no diplomatic experience -- and who together drummed up well over a million dollars for his record-shattering campaign -- to be ambassadors to Britain, France and Japan. "It's an 18th-century practice we are continuing which no other major democratic country does," said Ronald Neumann, a veteran ambassador and head of the American Academy of Diplomacy, a...

Politics: The government's bailout of Chrysler was key to saving a national icon too important to be lost. Or so we were told. But it's looking more like a way to punish political opponents.Earlier this month, Chrysler announced it was seeking permission from bankruptcy court to kill franchise agreements with 789 of its 3,181 dealers to save costs. Dealers, many of whom ran profitable businesses, told the media that the news was devastating. Aside from the loss of a business, many of these franchisees may have something else in common: It looks like all the dealers who are losing their...

The blogosphere has, once again, proven itself a worthy investigator. Unsurprisingly, that same investigatory spirit is nearly nonexistent in the mainstream media. This morning on Fox and Friends, Michelle Malkin gave an interview on a story that she and HotAir have been following for several days (video embedded to the right). Apparently, many of the Chrysler dealers that have been chosen for closing have made a habit of donating money to Republicans, or nobody at all – and those who donate to Democrats are miraculously safe. Why is it miraculous?

When people talk about the problems that have driven Chrysler to bankruptcy and General Motors to the brink thereof, they usually have in mind the companies' excessive commitments to those who build their cars: the high wages, lavish benefits and irrational work rules written into union contracts. *snip* Closing down dealers thus requires a big outlay of cash that produces dividends only in the long run: It cost GM $583 million to compensate its 699 Oldsmobile dealers after it decided in 2000 to phase out the brand. That's $840,000 per. . . . *snip* "What dealers need to do is...

Conspiracy alert! A faction of (conservative) bloggers has latched onto the idea that the decision on which Chrysler dealerships to close was based on which dealers donated money to Republican candidates. So far, the only evidence of this is very loose -- people are plucking names off the list and plugging them into donor registries. Several bloggers have joined in the effort, but it's obvious that's what's needed is a stats guy with a few hours on their hand to just run the numbers and ask the question: Is there a statistically significant correlation between a dealer's propensity to donate...

Increasing numbers of Chrysler dealers are disputing the bankrupt automaker’s claim that it selected dealerships for closure on purely economic grounds, and they have filed a suit against the automaker in U.S. bankruptcy court. "My business is being stolen from me under the guise of the bankruptcy laws [and] given to another dealer down the street," Jim Anderer, owner of Island Jeep in Lindenhurst, N.Y., told Reuters. Like many of the 789 Chrysler dealerships slated for closure, Anderer claims his retail outlet was profitable. Many of the closed dealers were also major donors to Republican candidates and political action committees,......

The investigation into how the apparent redistribution of Chrysler dealer franchises we reported on here and here continues. Joey Smith, Gateway Pundit, Reboot Congress and Libertarian Republican are just some of the blogs that are on the case. What the intrepid bloggers are sifting through is the toxic fallout from the Obama administration's journey to the dark side of corporatist policy - economic fascism: From an economic perspective, fascism meant (and means) an interventionist industrial policy, mercantilism, protectionism, and an ideology that makes the individual subservient to the state. "Ask not what the State can do for you, but what...

Are we looking at the biggest political scandal since Watergate? Big Dem Donor Group allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... Local competitors eliminated by Obama's task force!! Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors. Now there's this... RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men. One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton. One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter. All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open. And, get this... Their local competitors...

Is the Obama administration punishing Chrysler dealers for their politics? A preliminary analysis by Doug Ross suggests that could be the case. There were too many things about the selection of dealerships to be closed that just didn’t add up. Some of the dealers chosen to be terminated were among the more successful outlets in the Chrysler dealership network, and many of them had been loyal Chrysler and Dodge agents who had maintained an excellent working relationship with the Detroit automaker for decades. Some dealers who got a thumbs down from Obama’s automotive panel told compelling stories about their situations...

I’m skeptical that this is as bad as it looks — it’d be politically suicidal, for no benefit greater than petty revenge — but consider it your must-read of the day. Don’t stop before the updates either or you’ll miss profitable dealers scratching their heads trying to figure out what mysterious sin they could have committed to warrant termination. To quickly review the situation, I took all dealer owners whose names appeared more than once in the list. And, of those who contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates. While this isn’t an...

There have been several interesting and informative blog posts published recently on the Chrysler dealership closure “hit list.” Posts by Joey Smith, Doug Ross, and on Free Republic shed light on the campaign contributions of the targeted dealers — who happen to lean Republican. Is Obama capable of such Chicagoland thug tactics? Of course he is, and I’ve pointed out many cases of it over the past two years. But I would caution against carried away with “Nixon enemies list” rhetoric until a thorough vetting of the dealers on the list is done — which may take a while, but...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a declared Democratic 2010 California gubernatorial candidate, has decided to return a hefty $25,000 campaign contribution -- from the son of controversial conservative talk show host, Michael Savage. As we reported earlier this month, Savage was one of 16 individuals on a "name and shame" list who was banned from the United Kingdom. U.K. Home Secretary Jaqui Smith charged that Savage's right wing controverial broadcasts constituted "hate speech" and could promote violence, and did not represent the "values" of Britian.Now, the move at home against Savage comes after a progressive activist in San Francisco, Aaron...

Today Reuters reported the story "Democrat fundraiser guilty of illegal donations." Author Christine Kearney begins: A former U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser whose 2007 arrest prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in campaign contributions was found guilty on Tuesday of breaking federal campaign laws

In one of the largest sums ever donated to charity by a U.S. public official, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne gave away nearly $7 million last year to help the poor and to medical research. According to income tax information released by the White House on Friday, the Cheneys' adjusted gross income in 2005 was $8,819,006. The sum was largely the result of Mr. Cheney's stock options from Halliburton and royalties from three books written by Mrs. Cheney. The Cheneys gave more than three-quarters of their income - $6,869,655 - to several charities, including George Washington University's...

Rockstar energy drink founder and CEO Russell Weiner - son of Michael Weiner, aka Bay Area-based, nationally broadcast conservative talk radio talk host Michael Savage - on Monday made a $25,000 contribution to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2010 gubernatorial campaign. Yes, the son of Michael Savage, who just last October was saying Newsom is "in love again with the gay mafia" and "a whack-job as a mayor - 'Any-twosome' Newsom." Y’know, Savage — the guy the Brits don’t care to have around. Is this a case of the apple falling far from the tree? It's not as if the...

Barack Obama's rich supporters fear his tax plans show he's a class warrior Some of Barack Obama's richest supporters fear they have elected a "class warrior" to the White House, who will turn America's freewheeling capitalism into a more regulated European system. By Leonard Doyle in Washington 09 May 2009 Barack Obama: some of his rich supporters fear he is becoming a class warrior Wealthy Wall Street financiers and other business figures provided crucial support for Mr Obama during the election, backing him over the Republican candidate John McCain as the right leader to rescue the collapsing US economy. But...

RALEIGH Federal investigators are sifting through the records of money that helped John Edwards' presidential campaign to determine if any was used to keep quiet his affair with Rielle Hunter. Edwards, a Democrat and former U.S. senator, acknowledged the investigation to The News & Observer. “I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,” Edwards said in a statement. “However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved...

Campaign supporters disappointed by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch parties can have their donations refunded if they choose, the senator said Friday. Specter, making his first appearance in the state since becoming a Democrat earlier this week, said he was unaware if anyone had asked for refunds. But he noted he has ''already had the checks cut'' to return contributions Senate colleagues made to his political action committee. Specter said he would not ask fellow senators to return donations that his committee made to their campaigns.

Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is prompting his campaign donors large and small to demand their money back, including several Republican senators whose political action committees gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Pennsylvania lawmaker. Sen. Johnny Isakson didn't waste any time putting himself at the front of the refund line. The Georgia Republican asked Mr. Specter for a return of his leadership political action committee's $5,000 contribution Tuesday on the Senate floor - just hours after Mr. Specter announced he was changing his political stripes. "Senator Specter readily agreed to return the contribution," said Isakson...

This morning, at least one news organization and one citizen advocacy group was mulling filing a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the release of the manifest for the Air Force One New York flyover to determine if any Obama donors or other interested parties were on board the flight. *** The White House is already on record as saying that only Air Force personnel were on Air Force One. Yesterday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: "I'm told that -- keep in mind this was a -- this was two training missions that, in the end, became a...

The effort of some Notre Dame alumni to discourage donors from supporting the university because of its commencement invitation to Barack Obama is bearing some fruit. The alumni leading the effort just sent out this release:

President Barack Obama's prolific fundraising carried on through Inauguration Day: His inaugural committee raised at least $53 million from donors for his swearing-in festivities. That's about $11 million more than President George W. Bush raised for each of his two Inauguration Days. Obama's inaugural committee filed a report Monday with the Federal Election Commission listing donors who gave $200 or more. The FEC requires inaugural committees to identify those contributors, but doesn't make them detail other fundraising or their spending. Obama had already voluntarily disclosed his biggest donors on the inaugural committee's Web site. The committee accepted donations of up...

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd raised $4,250 from five state residents in the first three months of 2009. Close to 400 donors outside Connecticut made up the rest of the donations, according to the Connecticut Post.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the first three months of the year while raking in $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals living outside the state. While incumbents often turn to special interests for early campaign fundraising, Dodd's out-of-state total seems unusually high and comes at a time when he has been plagued by poor approval ratings among state voters. Massie...

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the first three months of the year while raking in $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals living outside the state. While incumbents often turn to special interests for early campaign fundraising, Dodd's out-of-state total seems unusually high and comes at a time when he has been plagued by poor approval ratings among state voters. SNIP Overall, Dodd's...

Thursday April 16, 2009 Letter Reveals another $200,000 Donation from Notorious Abortionist Tiller to Help Elect Sebelius By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A second financial revelation has cast further doubt on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' representation to the Senate Finance Committee of the nature of her relationship with late-term abortionist George Tiller.  Sebelius is President Obama's nominee for the secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS). She is currently seeking Senate confirmation.After Sebelius was recently found to have reported only a fraction of Tiller's $38,450 in donations to her insurance commissioner campaign, Operation Rescue yesterday released a...

Thursday April 16, 2009 Letter Reveals another $200,000 Donation from Notorious Abortionist Tiller to Help Elect Sebelius By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., April 16, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A second financial revelation has cast further doubt on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' representation to the Senate Finance Committee of the nature of her relationship with late-term abortionist George Tiller.  Sebelius is President Obama's nominee for the secretary of the Health and Human Services (HHS). She is currently seeking Senate confirmation.After Sebelius was recently found to have reported only a fraction of Tiller's $38,450 in donations to her insurance commissioner campaign, Operation Rescue yesterday released a...

Tuesday April 14, 2009 Sebelius Caught Underreporting Campaign Contributions from Notorious Abortionist: HHS Nomination May be in Jeopardy By Kathleen GilbertWASHINGTON, D.C., April 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Washington career of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may be in danger after it was revealed that the Health nominee reported only a fraction of her campaign contributions from Kansas' late-term abortionist George Tiller. At least one GOP senator reportedly said the issue has raised doubts among Republican senators about the governor, a well-known champion of abortion that Obama picked to head the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS). After...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama’s nominee for Health Secretary is coming under criticism for apparently deceiving members of a Senate committee about her close relationship with an abortion practitioner. Sebelius received nearly three times more money from late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller than she disclosed. Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee published written answers Sebelius submitted during her examination for confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services. In response to a question from pro-life Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, Sebelius stated that she received $12,450 from Tiller during her campaign for Insurance Commissioner. However, contribution and expenditure...

President Barack Obama's health secretary nominee got nearly three times as much political money from a controversial abortion doctor as she told senators. The Health and Human Services Department said Monday that the omission was an oversight that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would correct. In a response to questions from the Senate Finance Committee made public last week, Sebelius wrote that she received $12,450 between 1994-2001 from Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers. But in addition to those campaign donations, records reviewed by The Associated Press show that Tiller gave at least $23,000 more from...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health secretary nominee, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, got nearly three times as much political money from an abortion doctor as she told senators.

Under ousted chief executive Rick Wagoner, General Motors and its political action committee gave twice as much to Republicans as they did to Democrats. From 2000, when Wagoner took over the Detroit-based auto-maker, through the end of last year, GM and its PAC contributed $1.7 million to Republican candidates and committees, compared only $815,000 to Democratic ones, according to a POLITICO analysis of Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records.

As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give. Getty Images Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has lost some political standing heading into re-election because of his ties to American International Group Inc. The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in...

Just as news breaks that political fundraising is down for both parties, Republicans have lost one of their more generous contributors. In what one might call a biblical move, Christian philanthropist Howard Ahmanson -- one of three major funders of the campaign for California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages -- has abandoned the GOP for the Democratic Party. No one ever said the multimillionaire isn't idiosyncratic. In a rare interview Thursday, Ahmanson shared some of his thoughts about why he switched parties. In a word, taxes. Specifically, he was offended by the California Republican Party's insistence during a recent...

President Obama continued collecting money for his 2010 Senate re-election campaign even after he resigned his seat from Illinois, including a maximum $2,300 donation the day after Christmas from a top executive of a Wall Street firm that had received a government bailout. Four contributions - $4,800 in all - were donated to the Obama 2010 fund on Dec. 26, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The money came from some of Mr. Obama's top presidential fundraisers: Bruce A. Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion bailout last year; Steven Koch, vice chairman at Credit Suisse...

A top executive of a Wall Street firm that had received federal bailout money was among the donors who contributed to President Obama's 2010 Senate re-election campaign after he resigned his Illinois seat, the Washington Times reported. Bruce A. Heyman, managing director at Goldman Sachs, which received a $10 billion bailout last year, donated a maximum $2,300 to the Obama 2010 fund the day after Christmas, the newspaper reported. In all, the fund received four contributions totaling $4,800 on Dec. 26, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What is Sharia? Islamic law based on Quran and the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) What is Takaful? Takaful means mutual protection through co-operative risk sharing. Insurance that avoids prohibited elements in accordance with the sharia law. Who is a Participant? Policyholders who take protection against a named peril. Who is an operator? The company that invests the capital (aka shareholder) and manages the operations in a Takaful company is referred to as an Operator. What is Haram? Prohibited elements in Islam according to Sharia. What is Family Takaful? Islamic equivalent of Life Insurance. What is...

ALBANY (AP) ― New York's Republican Party said the Democrat-controlled state government is stonewalling attempts to investigate a $100,000 donation to the Democratic Party from American International Group days before state officials initiated the bailout of AIG. State Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello accuses Democrats of a duck-and-cover response to the 2008 donation first reported Thursday by The Associated Press. AIG and the state Democratic Committee say Gov. David Paterson and his insurance superintendent knew nothing of the Aug. 29 donation by AIG before initiating marathon sessions in the first week in September to save AIG. Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball of...

ALBANY, N.Y (AP) -- New York's Republican Party says the Democrat-controlled state government is ignoring calls for an investigation into a $100,000 donation to the state Democratic Party from American International Group days before officials initiated the bailout of the insurance giant.----snip---- Campaign finance records show AIG donated $100,000 on Aug. 29 to the Democrats, by far its largest donation to the party since at least 1999. Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo said he started negotiating with AIG and federal officials days later, but the governor hadn't been informed. On Sept. 16, Gov. David Paterson in a televised news conference announced...

When it comes to donating to politicians and filling their coffers, bonus-and-bail-out embattled American International Group Inc.'s Financial Products unit in Wilton has a stimulus record of its own, providing Sen. Christopher Dodd's presidential campaign with more than $103,000 during the 2008 election cycle. AIG's contributions to Dodd outpace the financial firm's $101,000 contribution to President Barack Obama's election bid. Altogether, AIG executives raised $630,000 during the past election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, as the company was coming under fire. At least $120,000 of those contributions were made after September when Congress awarded AIG the first...

When it comes to donating to politicians and filling their coffers, bonus-and-bail-out embattled American International Group Inc.'s Financial Products unit in Wilton has a stimulus record of its own, providing Sen. Christopher Dodd's presidential campaign with more than $103,000 during the 2008 election cycle. AIG's contributions to Dodd outpace the financial firm's $101,000 contribution to President Barack Obama's election bid. Altogether, AIG executives raised $630,000 during the past election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, as the company was coming under fire. At least $120,000 of those contributions were made after September when Congress awarded AIG the first...

Sir Allen Stanford is a man with many connections: to tax havens, to glamourous sporting events and also to Washington DC. The list of US politicians who have received campaign contributions from Sir Allen, reads like a who’s who of the great and the good. Prominent names include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, John McCain and George W. Bush. Leading members of the congressional committees with oversight for the banking and financial systems were also among the biggest beneficiaries of Sir Allen’s largesse.Many on the list have scrambled to distance themselves from the Texan billionaire as federal authorities have widened...

I'm sure the media was going to get around to telling us sometime...

Bailout firms pay big to D.C.Members of Congress are reluctant to swear off campaign donations from rescue recipients. By Karen E. Crummy The Denver Post Posted: 03/08/2009 12:30:00 AM MST After the biggest federal bailouts in U.S. history, top Washington lawmakers are largely unwilling to say whether they will continue to accept campaign contributions from some of their biggest donors: political action committees and employees of institutions that received the money. Companies that collected bailout money — General Motors, Goldman Sachs, AIG, to name a few — contributed $37 million to federal campaigns last year, with 57 percent of that...

Ponzi schemer Madoff gave Dems $1000's of dollars. Sen. Charles Schumer tops list with $29,300 from Madoff and family; Schumer's office said it donated $8,000 to police and fire endowments. Madoff or family gave $11,600 to Sen. Frank Lunenburg (D-NJ); Hillary Clinton got nearly $9,000 for Senate and presidential campaigns; Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) received $2,000.