Free Republic

While it is not uncommon to see those who are climate change skeptics challenged in the media for having a pro-business financial interest in voicing their views, on Saturday's Fox News Watch, conservative columnist and regular panel member Cal Thomas made an observation that cuts in the opposite direction rarely given attention in the mainstream media -- that there are financial incentives that can also pressure scientists to voice agreement with the climate change theory that blames human activity for affecting climate patterns.After panel member Judith Miller argued that Climategate should have inspired more public debate among scientists -- which could then have...

Hub-Bub has been awarded a grant for $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Hub-Bub Artists-in-Residence program. Only 30 other artists' communities in the U.S. will receive funding from the NEA during this grant cycle. Hub-Bub will also receive funding in 2010 from the Dedalus Foundation, which fosters public understanding of modern art by facilitating research, publications and exhibitions in the field. Funding from Dedalus will be used to bring six visiting artists to Spartanburg over the next year for community-based art projects.

In his first year, President Obama has marshaled the largest infusion of cultural funding in decades -- despite a few stumbles. Though art advocates contend more support is needed, they have high hopes this president could transform cultural policy, funding and arts education for years to come. ``I think and feel he's very much in the John F. Kennedy tradition -- he embodies the humanities, essentially,'' said Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa whom Obama named chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. ``That doesn't mean a conservative leader can't also. Abraham Lincoln was a great conservative...

WASHINGTON — The federal government must continue to provide grant money to the national community organizing group Acorn, a federal court ruled Friday, saying that the House violated the Constitution when it passed a resolution barring the group from receiving federal dollars. A judge at the United States District Court in Brooklyn issued a preliminary injunction that nullifies the resolution and requires the government to honor existing contracts with the group and review its applications for new grants unless the Obama administration appeals the decision. The court ruled that the resolution amounted to a “bill of attainder,” a legislative determination...

House Approves Bill That Funds Abortions in Nation's Capital Washington, DC -- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an omnibus spending bill that would overturn a decades-long policy preventing taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation's capital. One pro-life group suggests overturning the policy could increase abortions by as much as 1,000 a year. The Senate will vote on this bill as soon as this weekend! Full story and action alert at: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5762.html

Gotta love this.....a Clinton appointed judge has ruled in favor (pdf) of ACORN in their suit to stop Congress from defunding them and in essence saying that once an organization gets payments from the federal government then Congress can no longer decide to stop those payments unless a court rules they are guilty of some law breaking. Rep. Darryl Issa: On the same day that ACORN’s violation of Delaware state lobbying laws was revealed, a liberal, Clinton-appointed activist Judge has ruled to usurp the prerogatives and authority of the United States Congress. This left-wing activist Judge is setting a dangerous...

AP - link only.

Judge stops ACORN funding ban By Eric Zimmermann - 12/11/09 06:21 PM ET A federal judge today issued an injunction preventing the implementation of a congressional ban on funding for ACORN. Judge Nina Gershon concluded that the ban amounted to a "bill of attainder" that unfairly singled out ACORN. "[The plaintiffs] have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process of adjudicating guilt," Gershon wrote in her decision. Gershon said ACORN had demonstrated "irreperable harm" from the ban,...

Senate Omnibus Funds Planned Parenthood, UNFPA, Ditches Abstinence Washington, DC -- The omnibus spending bill the Senate will consider this weekend could pave the way for funding abortions in the nation's capital for the first time in 13 years. There are other winners and losers in the legislation -- with Planned Parenthood and the UNFPA dining at the Congressional trough. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5768.html

The Man Who Quietly Bankrolled the ACLUOne man's annual donation apparently made up 25% of the operating budget of the American Civil Liberties Union. And that guy, David Gelbaum, had a bad year. So... hope you didn't need to sue the government in 2010. Gelbaum gave the ACLU $20 million, anonymously, every year. But he will be unable to make that donation this year, forcing the organization to scramble to solicit donations that they'll have to share with state chapters. Gelbaum is an ex-hedge funder who retired a couple years ago to become a reclusive investor in green technology and...

Gelbaum said in a statement. "My investments in alternative, clean energy companies have placed me in a highly illiquid position as a result of the general credit crisis in the American and world financial systems." (Click link above for column) Oh goodness, I hope that someone else steps in and fills the gap because we desperately need someone to continue the desecration of everything we hold dear. We need more people to spit on the graves of our veterans by removing crosses that have served as war memorials for the past 75 years. We need someone to remove Christian symbols...

NEW YORK (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union has lost a quarter of its yearly donations after a major donor cut off $19 million in annual donations because of economic difficulties. David Gelbaum, a wealthy California conservationist, said he was indefinitely stopping the donations that had made him the New York-based group's largest anonymous donor

This probably won't surprise anybody. I only took time to search for this because I was asked by someone if GS has his hands in public radio and I couldn't find a direct answer. Well, I found it. I'm not surprised Soros has given money to NPR, what does surprise me is that I didn't see any conservative blogs with this. I'm also surprised that I could find it directly on NPR's site, though it's not often mentioned. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5476317 -----Mr. Soros, thanks so much for being with us. Mr. GEORGE SOROS (Financier, Soros Fund Management): It's my pleasure. SIMON(speaking to...

A Housing and Urban Development Department lawyer asked the Justice Department whether the new law meant that pre-existing contracts with Acorn should be broken. And in a memorandum signed Oct. 23 and posted online this week, Mr. Barron said the government should continue to make payments to Acorn as required by such contracts. The new law “should not be read as directing or authorizing HUD to breach a pre-existing binding contractual obligation to make payments to Acorn or its affiliates, subsidiaries or allied organizations where doing so would give rise to contractual liability,” Mr. Barron wrote. The deputy director of...

ACORN is the largest radical leftist group in America today. This radical group worked closely with the Obama camp during the election. But, the community organizing group was not open about this. The photo below was scrubbed from the ACORN website before the election: One of Barack Obama’s first big “community organizer” jobs involved ACORN in 1992. He has been working along side ACORN since before he became an elected official. Obama also trained ACORN employees. He represented ACORN in court. Obama worked with and protested with ACORN. His campaign donated $800,000 to ACORN in 2008 for voter registration efforts....

Obama's Justice Department really knows how to take care of the President's buddies especially the criminal enterprise ACORN. According to the NY Times, the Justice department has directed the Administration to continue to pay ACORN for any services whose contracts were signed before congress cut off funds. Section 163 of Division B (“Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2010”) of Public Law 111-68 does not direct or authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to breach a pre-existing binding contractual obligation to make payments to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations where doing...

The BBC has discovered that hundreds of millions of pounds promised to developing countries to help them tackle climate change cannot be accounted for.

ACORN and its affiliates received $200,000 in Justice Department grants between 2002 and 2009, according a report issued today by the department's Inspector General. No DOJ grants went directly to ACORN, but a handful of grants were awarded either to ACORN affiliates or to other organizations that sub-contracted with ACORN. The report, requested by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also found a few instances of ACORN mismanagement of federally contracted work. For example, ACORN received a $20,000 sub-contract to do community outreach on crime prevention in New York. The organization that contracted with ACORN has not...

Billionaire gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman gave away just $125,000 of her charitable foundation's $46 million in assets in its first year of operation — and tax records show the bulk of the money went to a surprising place. The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been the subject of political controversy. ... But it's the $100,000 to...

Gore’s Dual Role in Spotlight: Advocate and Investor JOHN M. BRODER November 2, 2009 WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner. The company, Silver Spring Networks, produces hardware and software to make the electricity grid more efficient. It came to Mr. Gore’s firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital providers, looking for $75 million to expand its partnerships with utilities seeking to install millions...

Breaking News: Sarah Palin Supports ACORN RefundingDoug Giles Saturday, October 24, 2009 The only way the fringe “news” outlets would ever report on ACORN in an antagonistic manner would be if Sarah Palin somehow supported this creepy cabal. Sarah, if you’re reading this column, maybe you should throw your name behind ACORN for a month or two just to get the White House/ACORN’s lap dogs to finally join with FOX and bark down the despicable ACORN clowns until they’re properly vilified, permanently defunded, and eternally ensconced in American history as nothing more than a bad, bad memory—a veritable proverb...

OCTOBER 17, 2009 Rajaratnam Surfaced in U.S. Terrorism Probe By EVAN PEREZ and MATTHEW ROSENBERG WASHINGTON—The hedge-fund billionaire charged as part of a vast insider-trading case surfaced in an earlier, separate probe into U.S. fundraising by a Sri Lankan terrorist group, people familiar with the probe said. As part of that investigation, federal agents said they uncovered documents showing that Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, was among several wealthy Sri Lankans in the U.S. whose donations to a Maryland-based charity made their way to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, according to people familiar with the probe. Raj...

Date of Birth: August 12, 1930 Born: Budapest, Hungary Occupation: Hedge Fund Manager & Currency Trader George Soros, a key funder of the liberal extremist group MoveOn.org, recently told an Australian news organization that the current global economic mess has been “stimulating.” (Daily Mail 3/25/2009). While Americans try to make ends meet and struggle to pick up the pieces after financiers like Soros gamed the system, we thought you should know the truth about George Soros… FACT 1: Billionaire Financier George Soros Gave $2,500,000 To MoveOn.Org Voter Fund.1 FACT 2: Soros Called American Troops In Iraq “Perpetrators” And “Oppressors.”2 FACT...

David Bohnett Los Angeles, Calif., Oct 16, 2009 / 03:55 am (CNA).- Delivering an acceptance speech for a GLSEN award, a wealthy homosexual activist has attacked Catholic leaders, saying they are among his movement’s “greatest adversaries.” He called on his allies to combat “head-on” religious organizations opposed to homosexual causes and to take “active measures” against them. At its Oct. 9 Respect Awards event in Los Angeles, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) honored David Bohnett, the cable network HBO and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes with its Lifetime Achievement Award. They were awarded for what GLSEN called “their...

Former Vice President Al Gore will be coming to Virginia on Friday to give a last-minute boost to the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds, a party source said. Gore will headline a private fundraiser in McLean at the home of longtime Democratic supporters Al and Claire Dwoskin. The visit will provide positive publicity for Deeds in the days before the Nov. 3 election, when Deeds will face Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee.

Goldman Sachs is considering donating in excess of $1bn (£627m) to charity in an attempt to quell the growing furore over the likely size of its 2009 bonus pot. The investment bank which is set to report its results for the three months to September on Thursday, is understood to be giving serious thought to some form of large philanthropic donation. The aim of the donation, first disclosed by Henry Blodget's Business Insider blog, would be to deflect the likely row come at the end of the year. By then Goldman's total compensation pot is expected to be a record...

According to OpenSecrets.org, DeMaurice Smith contributed $2,300 to Barack Obama on Election Day, November 4, 2008. Why would someone give money to a candidate on election day? Isn't it a little late to campaign at that point? Curious, indeed.

Obama administration officials said Wednesday there is no chance that ACORN will get a Homeland Security grant it was awarded last month because of a provision in a bill signed into law last week prohibiting any federal funding to the controversial group. Several members of Congress said they were pleased that ACORN will not get the money, which would have come from funding typically earmarked for fire departments across the country, but they questioned why it had been awarded to ACORN in the first place. At least one also still wants official assurance of a permanent withdrawal of the $997,402...

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. has donated $100,000 to the campaign supporting more partnership rights for Washington state gay couples. That's the largest single donation in favor of Referendum 71, which asks voters to approve or reject a new law that expands domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples.

Not only did the four doctors who flanked President Obama at his White House press event on Monday recommend his plan; three out of four of them donated to his presidential campaign. It could be an ad slogan to put the toothpaste marketers who like to brag that nine out of ten doctors recommend their brand to shame. The four doctors who stood and clapped along with Mr. Obama’s plans were Dr. Mona Mangat of St. Petersburg, Florida, Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Dr. Richard A. Evans of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, and Dr. Amanda McKinney of Beatrice, Nebraska. Campaign finance...

President Obama announced he plans to nominate Patrick Corvington to be chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Big Government readers will remember that “the Corporation” assumed a prominent role on the infamous NEA Conference call, where ”the Corporation’s” Nell Abernathy joined White House and NEA officials to nudge artists to produce works supporting the Obama Administration’s legislative priorities. cncs-logo_1 Although the charity Corvington works for, Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore, Maryland, has granted funding to ACORN during his tenure, it is unclear if Corvington has...

The Democratic National Committee is sending an additional $1 million to aid Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds’ campaign, POLITICO has learned. The money comes in addition to the $5 million the party committee has already committed to the Virginia race, one of two governors races in the country this fall. “We’re thrilled with the additional commitment from Governor Kaine and the DNC,” said Deeds senior adviser Mo Elleithee. “The fact that they are digging so deep shows that they’re fully committed to Creigh and to this race, and we’re appreciative of their continued support.” In addition to the cash,...

The liberal political organizing group ACORN, battered by the release of embarrassing videos and allegations of financial mismanagement and fraud, has also been losing support from several major foundations. The Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Bank of America have stopped funding the group and its affiliates over the past year and a half. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a network that helps low-income families with housing, voter registration and other issues, receives about 10 percent of its $25 million annual budget from federal grants, according...

Two Iowa lesbian activists who donated approximately $150,000 in the 2006 and 2008 federal election cycles, all (but one) to Democratic candidates, are caught up in a reported $5.9 million embezzlement scheme.Phyllis Stevens was arrested in Las Vegas last Friday on charges of money laundering and wire fraud after the exposure of the scheme by her employer, insurance giant Aviva USA .Her partner, Marla Stevens, has been sued by Aviva for benefiting from the embezzlement because the money was alledgedly deposited in an account shared by both women. Marla Stevens has not been criminally charged, however. According to CampaignMoney.com, Phyllis...

Democrats should be bitter that President Obama failed to secure the Olympic Games for the City of Chicago as major donors in the Unions and ACORN will be lacking the millions of dollars in donations that would come from the Olympic Projects. If Obama along with Mayor Daley had in fact secured the games, the deconstruction and construction of the Waterfront and Olympic Village would have put millions if not billions of dollars in the back pocket of Union Only Labor, who would ensured the projects would be riddled with cost overruns(remember Boston's Big Dig Project) Social Groups like ACORN...

This week’s Washington Times column: A telling event occurred on Sept. 15, Day 6 of the drip, drip, drip ACORN video rollout. President Obama met for lunch with former President Bill Clinton at trendy Il Mulino in New York City. For the second consecutive day, the New York Post featured the ACORN scandal on its cover – complete with James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles in their outrageous “pimp and ho” costumes. Does anyone think the president and the former president were unaware that the city in which they were dining was mesmerized by the ACORN scandal – especially since ACORN...

Obama made a big deal during the election that he didn't accept money from federal political action committees or lobbyists. But laws require individuals to disclose their occupation and their employer when they donate to federal political candidates. We checked with the Center for Responsive Politics, a well-respected nonpartisan group that specializes in analyzing campaign data. Their numbers include contributions from employees and their immediate families. Their analysis of the 2008 presidential campaign found that University of California employees were Obama's top donor, giving a collective $1.6 million. That system is run by the state of California, and hence is...

TIDE FOUNDATION: Overview Tides Foundation & Tides Center When is a foundation not a foundation? When it gives away other foundations’ money. Most of America’s big-money philanthropies trace their largesse back to one or two wealthy contributors. The Pew Charitable Trusts was funded by Joseph Pew’s Sun Oil Company earnings, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation got its endowment from the Hewlett-Packard fortune, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grew out of General Motors profits, and so on. In most cases, the donors’ descendants manage and invest these huge piles of money, distributing a portion each year to nonprofit groups of...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today urged President Obama to withdraw his Administration's request to provide $400,000 to Libya's Qaddafi Foundation, just weeks after they celebrated the release of a terrorist responsible for the murders of 189 Americans. Last month, when Scotland freed Abel Baset Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi greeted him with a hero's welcome. Qaddafi's son, Saif, was involved in the negotiation for Megrahi's release and accompanied the terrorist back to Libya. Despite the U.S. Administration's strong condemnation of Megrahi's release, the State Department...

According to the Grassley report, charities "are being used to raise monies which are then funneled to other charities or to other organizations for purposes other than what the donor may have intended. . . . Dollars raised for charitable [purposes] appear to be used for impermissible lobbing and political activity."

George Soros is one of the big sugar daddies of the Democratic Party. He also is the ruler of an archipelago of so-called 527 groups that pose as non-partisan activists groups, but in fact are often hyper-partisan (such as MoveOn.Org), and are often employed by Democrats to influence elections. Soros, for years, has been the top funder of such groups. His influence among Democrats is widespread and enduring (and was well-documented by David Horowitz and Richard Poe in their book, The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party). His pet think-tank,...

When the list of donors to the Van Jones “Green for All” organization is examined, one name stands out — the Open Society Institute of billionaire George Soros. The Green for All 2008 annual report is also notable for the pictures of the powerful people who associated with Jones, a known communist. They include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Al Gore. While the Open Society Institute was supporting Green for All in 2008, when Jones was running it, the Soros-funded organization was also financially underwriting the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights when Jones was in charge...

As an update to yesterday’s post, here is the link to the Big Hollywood expose by Patrick Courrielche on the National Endowment for the Arts using federal funds to promote Obama administration policies and projects. Is this a blockbuster? You make the call… From BigHollywood.com…

Obama yesterday expressed concern at the sorry state of the news industry and said that he will look at a news paper bailout, because otherwise, blogs will take over the world, and that would be a threat to democracy, The Hill reports. "I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," he said.

It was one of the most popular topics among the questions you submitted to me for my interview with President Obama – the controversy involving ACORN. While the President said that ACORN "deserves to be investigated" in light of the "inappropriate" video that's gone viral, he did not endorse recent votes in Congress to cut off federal funding for the community group. Here’s our FULL exchange: STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the funding for ACORN? OBAMA: You know, if -- frankly, it's not really something I've followed closely. I didn't even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money....

A woman carrying a clipboard knocks on a door in Park Heights. Her pitch is direct: "I'm Michelle from ACORN. We're fighting for change in the neighborhood. I wanted to know what you want to see changed." The owner, who has lived in this well-worn rowhouse on Shirley Avenue for 50 years, lets her inside. Soon, Michelle Moore is talking rapid-fire about trash piles and abandoned properties and how elected officials would never allow this sort of thing to happen in stately Roland Park. SNIP Katzenberg and state officials say Maryland ACORN has never received state funding. The bulk of...

U.S. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, is demanding a straight up-or-down vote on a bill dedicated to removing ACORN from the list of recipients of federal largesse, or says he'll force the issue. And a key conservative vote, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., says unless there is such an action, it will mean the recent votes on that very issue were nothing but "cover." ... The result has been that the U.S. Census Bureau has cut ties to Acorn and both houses of Congress have taken votes to halt funding to...

Seizing on an issue that has been trumpeted by conservative media, Republican congressional leaders have launched an all-out campaign to choke off any federal dollars from going to ACORN, the scandal-plagued anti-poverty group. After the Senate voted on Monday to bar any new federal money for ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — from the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other top Republicans began pressing President Barack Obama to use his executive authority to extend the ban to all federal agencies. "It is evident that ACORN...

The ACORN vote in the House is stunning news. Just 48 hours after Republican Leader John Boehner introduced the "Defund ACORN Act," the bill -- which most Republicans thought Democrats would do anything to block -- passed by a resounding 345-75 vote. It would never have made it to a vote had not the Democratic leadership decided to allow it, and the winning total included 172 Democrats. Yes, 172 House Democrats voted to totally cut off funding for an organization that has worked for years on behalf of Democrats nationwide. Couple that with the 83-7 Senate vote to cut off...

The House yesterday by a vote of 345-75 denied all federal funding for ACORN, the beleaguered community organizing group at the center of yet another series of scandals.  All 75 votes against stripping ACORN funding were from Democrats, with two Democrats voting “present.�  The full vote breakdown is at the link. House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio offered the Motion to Recommit on an unrelated bill yesterday that stripped the funding.  The shocker was how quickly the House Democrat majority leadership threw ACORN under the bus. “There were points of order that lie against [the motion], but I think...