Free Republic

The nation's pre-eminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans. But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group's substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals. The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name,...

Here is a video, released today by the Washington State DOT, of a computer simulation of what is expected to happen if a magnitude 7.0 quake hits the area near downtown Seattle..... YouTube video This video focuses on the effects such a quake would have on the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the seawall on the waterfront. Make no mistake about it...this video is designed to scare the heck out of anyone who uses the viaduct. Why release it? According the the WSDOT, a private citizen, name withheld, made a public disclosure request through the FOIA.

The House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee dispensed $636 billion this year to the Pentagon. Its members must look on the $103 million they earmarked for favored projects as mere crumbs from the table. Outside the defense budget, however, $100 million a year is a tidy sum, and getting a piece of the action is a regular part of Washington's political culture. At the center is a mutually beneficial connection between members of Congress, their former staff members turned lobbyists, and corporations or non-profits seeking federal money -- what some social scientists call "relationship circles." In this instance, it's better described as...

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...

While Michelle Obama fruitlessly pimped (oh ok, shilled, promoted) her corrupt, broke and now nationally known violent, native town, as a site for the 2016 Olympics, for the first time in her life she was seemingly proud of it. Her neighborhood "of working families -- families with modest homes and strong values.Sports were what brought our community together. They strengthen our ties to one another." It was also, and still is, a relatively high crime neighborhood. It is a testimony to Michelle and her parents that she emerged relatively unscathed except with a huge, but somewhat understandable, chip on her...

Two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Tribune today they have been notified that Christopher Kelly, a key figure in the federal corruption probe into former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is dead. The Cook County medical examiner’s office today confirmed that a body identified as Christopher Kelly was brought to the morgue from Stroger Hospital. The office would not provide any details, including his age, address and manner of death, because the family had not yet arrived at the office. Kelly’s attorney, Michael Monico, declined to comment today when reached by a Tribune reporter. Kelly is a former confidant...

NEW YORK (AFP) – A prominent Democratic fundraiser charged with defrauding Citibank to the tune of 74 million dollars and quickly returning his ill-gotten gains, engaged in yet another fraud to do so, prosecutors said Wednesday. New York financier Hassan Nemazee was charged August 25 with using fake documents to secure a 74 million dollar loan from Citibank. At the time, the authorities said that Nemazee, 59, promptly returned the funds. But in a letter to federal Judge Michael Dolinger in New York, prosecutors say his apparent contrition was faked, alleging that he all he really did was scam a...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Nick Rahall (D., W.Va.) is island-hopping this week in the Pacific. Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) is tweeting from Kenya. Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) is preparing for a three-week trip to Europe with his wife. More * Congress Retreats Over Jet Purchase 8/11/09 * Opposition Emerges to House's Jet Spree 8/10/2009 * Lawmakers' Global-Warming Trip Hit Tourist Hot Spots 8/8/2009 * Pentagon Takes Aim at Jets for Congressional Travel 8/8/2009 * Congress Gets a Plane Upgrade 8/7/2009 Journal Community * Discuss: How much of the official travel by members of Congress is justified? These are among...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Two key Democrat senators were cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee on Friday from year-long investigations about whether mortgages they obtained from Countrywide Financial Corp. violated the senate's rules on gifts. The bipartisan committee, which supported the decision unanimously, did scold the senior lawmakers, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., for not being more careful in their dealings. "While the committee finds no substantial credible evidence as required by committee rules that your Countrywide mortgage violated Senate ethics rules, the committee does believe that you should have exercised...

(CNSNews.com) - At a recent National Press Club luncheon, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) sarcastically said he is “a supporter of Sarah Palin” and “one of her great advocates.” Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate in 2008, recently resigned as governor of Alaska. “As a supporter of Sarah Palin for taking over the Republican Party, I’m one of her great advocates,” said Conyers. “I mean, what an attractive, young, neoconservative reactionary! Wow! There’s never been one like her.”

Two Democratic Party senators, Chris Doss and Kent Conrad have been "caught" receiving Sub-Prime "VIP" Loans from lender Countrywide Inc. The Loans were at favorable interest rates. Despite the fact that the lender has testified that both men knew that they were getting a sweetheart deal, Senator Dodd claims he didn't know he was getting favorable rates. This revelation came from Robert Feinberg, the official who handled their loans in testimony to congress. According to the Washington Post:Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad's two Countrywide mortgages in 2004...

Tammany Hall and its Influence Today In what would become one of the most influential political organizations in American history, Tammany Hall began life as the Tammany Society, founded by William Mooney a Revolutionary War Veteran, on May 12, 1789[i]. Mooney’s creation would become a political powerhouse in New York City and State beginning in the earliest years of the United States. From its founding until it ceased to exist in the 1960’s Tammany Hall shaped New York Politics and profoundly influenced what is today the Democrat Party; its tactics and organizational genius would eventually spread nationwide. Many of the...

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to make remarks on a proposed high-speed rail system in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, April 16, 2009. President Obama outlined his plan for developing "long overdue" high-speed rail on Thursday that would rival air travel, create jobs and help curb the U.S. transportation system's appetite for oil. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to audience members after delivering remarks on a proposed high-speed rail system in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, April 16, 2009. Vice President Joe Biden reacts to the audience after making remarks, with President Barack Obama, on expanding...

California consumer affairs chief resigns Carrie Lopez, director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, resigned Friday in the wake of disclosures about expenses she charged to taxpayers. Carrie Lopez quits when shown results of a state audit that found questionable expenses she incurred. The findings went beyond those reported earlier this month by The Times, an official says. By Michael Rothfeld March 28, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento -- The director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs resigned Friday in the wake of disclosures about expenses she charged to taxpayers, including for transportation to attend a Justin Timberlake concert...

imgae courtesy of our FRiends at Tom McMahon (The Strategy of Bingo. The Excitement of Chess.) You can't make this stuff up! I was checking USA Toady for the latest news from The Obama Crash & Depression, and on the front page is this story about PACs spent a record $416M on '08 federal election. Well, that's interesting, sez I, so I click on it, and lo & behold! According to USA Toady fiction writer John Fritze, Obama, the 46 Year-Old Political Virgin, is going to have trouble with those Nasty Special Interests on Capitol Hill, even though The Messiah...

DETROIT (AP) - Billions of dollars in government loans to prop up General Motors and Chrysler won't be enough. The companies, which have received $17.4 billion so far, filed plans with the government more than doubling that request to a staggering total of $39 billion. The requests, made in government-required restructuring plans filed Tuesday, were accompanied by plans for thousands more job cuts, slashing of models and brands, union concessions and the prospect of even further expense cuts. In a dramatic acknowledgment that conditions in the U.S. auto industry have grown significantly worse in just two months, GM alone said...

Reporting from Washington -- Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk) has collected tens of thousands of dollars in personal income by charging double-digit interest on money she lent her campaign 11 years ago and soliciting donations from Washington lobbyists at "debt retirement" fundraisers.

When the Massachusetts Port Authority needed help drumming up business in China, officials signed a relatively small $15,000 contract with consultant Jiansheng Li that was supposed to end after a couple of months work. Counting the costs That was eight years ago. Since then, Massport has paid Li more than $1.5 million in compensation and expenses, all without competitive bids, including $11,000 airfares to Beijing, rooms at luxurious hotels, even a night of karaoke.

They're both selling their wares (or repaying their debts) for political reasons. The "Stimulus" is mostly nothing more than a payback for Obama's supporters. Example: $50 million for grants through the National Endowment for the Arts. We're in a bad recession, maybe worse, and they have THIS in a STIMULUS package....among other things? Call your Senators and Reps.....esp. Republican's and tell them they better NOT vote for the Stimulus.

DECATUR, Ala. — "A federal judge ordered an Alabama sheriff locked up in his own jail Wednesday after holding him in contempt for failing to adequately feed inmates while profiting from the skimpy meals. ...Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens. The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate."

Chicago public school bureaucrats skirted public competitive bidding rules to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for $67,000, with most of the machines going unused because the schools they were ordered for had not asked for them, according to a report by the CPS Office of Inspector General. That was just one example of questionable CPS actions detailed in the inspector general's 2008 annual report. Others included high school staffers changing grades to pump up transcripts of student athletes and workers at a restricted-enrollment grade school falsifying addresses to get relatives admitted. In the case of the cappuccino machines, central office administrators...

Lawyer at firm where Democrat worked receives property tax bill An attorney for convicted fundraiser Tony Rezko is listed as the owner and taxpayer for Barack Obama's Chicago mansion, according to records obtained by WND. William Miceli is a lawyer at the Chicago law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which also formerly employed Obama. The controversy began when a website called News and Commentary for Thinking People published a 48-page document that lists Miceli as the owner of the Obama home at 5046 S. Greenwood. Miner, Barnhill & Galland was Obama's employer when he did extensive legal work for Rezko,...

Obama’s Secretary of Commerce designate doesn’t even live in Chicago. Must be a Democrat “culture of corruption!” Grand Jury Probes Richardson Donor’s New Mexico Financing Fee By Martin Z. Braun and William SelwayBlomberg News Dec. 15, 2008A federal grand jury is investigating how a company that advised Jefferson County, Alabama, on bond deals that threaten to cause the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, did similar work in New Mexico after making contributions to Governor Bill Richardson’s political action committees. The grand jury in Albuquerque is looking into Beverly Hills, California-based CDR Financial Products Inc.,

Rod Blagojevich has given warning that he is preparing for a long and bitter fight against charges that he tried to “sell” Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. The embattled Governor of Illinois held a four-hour meeting on Saturday with Ed Genson, the Chicago defence lawyer who represented Lord Black of Crossharbour, the disgraced Daily Telegraph chairman, at his fraud trial last year. The move raises the prospect of a protracted legal battle culminating in an ugly trial: Mr Genson, who successfully defended the R&B singer R. Kelly against child pornography charges, is a veteran who rarely takes cases that result...

Blagojevich refuses to budge NBC Nightly News VIDEO: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/28200681#28200681&gt1=43001

The Other American Auto Industry Plenty of car makers make a go of it in this country--they're just non-union and not headquartered in Detroit. West Point, Georgia Drew Ferguson IV is a 42-year-old dentist whose family has lived in this town, population 3,300, "since God put us here." To be precise, the family arrived eight generations ago. Ferguson went off to the University of Georgia, then on to dental school, after which he came back to West Point. He and his wife, whom he met in college, have four kids. A year ago, Ferguson was elected mayor. "There's a reason...

WXYZ) Sources tell Action News that the White House and U.S. automakers have reached a deal that could prevent a collapse of the industry. IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE RIGHT, ACTION NEWS REPORTER TOM WAIT SAYS THAT A DEAL HAS BEEN REACHED BUT THAT AN ANNOUNCEMENT WILL NOT COME FRIDAY NIGHT Our source says the agreement with the Bush administration will mirror the bill that passed the House. We do know the White House and officials from GM have been in talks for several hours. The negotiations may also involve the Federal Reserve. President Bush is back in Washington...

The response of Kathryn Jean Lopez (National Review Online) to the arrest of Rod Blagojevich was priceless. "Finally, a political scandal you can talk to your children about. No room at the Mayflower. No myspace page. No Gay-American announcement. Just good and evil and money and power corrupting." Rod Blagojevich is part of a storied American tradition. Continues...================================================================== Obama hits 'Reboot Image', activates Blago transfer file software At the rate this is going, there may be no unindicted Democrat left in Illinois to fill Obama's seat. There's so much Democrat corruption in Illinois that even a Republican could win an...

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together&something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant U.S. Senate seat, according to a FBI affidavit unsealed following the governor's stunning arrest. "I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on Nov. 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit. Click here...

OCTOBER 16, 2008 AIG Still Lobbies to Relax Oversight Rules After Receiving Federal Aid, Insurer Focuses on Laws Aimed at Keeping Tabs on Mortgage OriginatorsBy ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON WASHINGTON -- Even after receiving an emergency loan that gave the government an 80% ownership stake, American International Group Inc. is spending money to lobby states to soften new controls on the mortgage industry. When the U.S. took control of failing mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it prohibited them from lobbying. But it hasn't banned the practice at AIG, a huge insurer that is still 20%-owned by public shareholders. AIG is...

McCain, Obama, Lieberman, and Biden have voted for the bailout. No word yet on Graham.

Is the Congressional Black Caucus still "The Conscious of the Congress?" If American voters were to visit the caucus' Web site, they would learn that what black lawmakers are not saying is far more crucial to their interests than what they have said. The Aug. 20 caucus comments on the death of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones notwithstanding, much is lacking. There are no official statements on America's financial crisis. Visitors are not directed to a post-convention agenda. In fact, when inquiring minds want to know what, precisely, the caucus has been up to during the 110th Congress, and how effective...

Why not just give everyone a check and let the public spend our way out of this. Kind of like a mega tax cut. Why bail out the greedy risk takers?

NEW YORK (CNN) -- "I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty but leading them or driving them out of it." What hate-mongering politician would be so politically incorrect as to suggest that things like higher minimum wages and more government handouts don't actually help the poor? I'll identify the culprit at the end of this column, but for now, I'm more interested in figuring out why that statement sounds so controversial. Poverty is one of the few national issues that, at least on the surface, unites us all. It's...

The Democratic National Committee may be trying to get some mileage out of recent news about oil industry contributions to Republican Sen. John McCain, launching a web site spoofing the idea of McCain sharing his presidential ticket with Exxon. But they may have found an unwelcome surprise in a just-released analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. Turns out, the biggest recipient of contributions from Exxon executives and employees during this campaign is not McCain. It's Obama. The non-partisan center writes: "Through June, Exxon employees have given Obama $42,100 to McCain's $35,166. Chevron favors Obama $35,157 to $28,500, and Obama...

PIETERMARITZBURG, South Africa (AFP) - South Africa's ruling party head Jacob Zuma entered the dock Monday for a long-awaited graft trial which could make or break his chances to become the country's president next year. Thousands of supporters of the 66-year-old African National Congress leader gathered outside the courthouse, dancing before a stage equipped with a giant screen while denouncing the case against him as a political vendetta. Protesters had vowed to shut down the sleepy city of Pietermaritzburg, where the trial of the immensely popular politician -- a native of the region -- is being held. But despite the...

NEW YORK TIMES: "About that Mortgage, Senator . . ." It turns out that the chieftain of Countrywide -- which is smack in the middle of the mortgage mess -- extended privileged borrowing status to two Senators, Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota. Both Senators deny any ethical violations.   The disclosure of the V.I.P. arrangments by the political website Politico.com left constituents angry and suspicious -- particularly because the revelations came just as Congress was rousing itself to do something about the mortgage foreclosure crisis.   It would be nice to think that...

LegiStorm launched in September 2006. Our web site is dedicated to providing a variety of important information about the US Congress. Based on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, LegiStorm's first information product was a database of congressional staff salaries but we have now added other valuable information, such as the most comprehensive database of all privately financed trips taken by members of Congress and congressional staffers. The information is provided in a strictly factual, non-partisan fashion. We have no political affiliations and no political purpose except to make the workings of Congress as transparent as possible. We expect this resource...

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...

The president of the Illinois Senate is sitting in his statehouse office, talking in gravelly tones about political strategies and counter-strategies. Out of nowhere, the theme from "The Godfather" begins playing. It turns out to be the ringtone on his cell phone - an appropriate song for the man who amounts to Barack Obama's political godfather. Emil Jones Jr. helped Obama master the intricacies of the Legislature. When Democrats took control of the state Senate, Jones, though he risked offending colleagues who had toiled futilely on key issues under Republican rule, tapped Obama to take the lead on high-profile legislative...

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,...

Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

Feds spell out names in graft caseJefferson's wife, brother and son-in-law listed Tuesday, January 08, 2008 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is for the first time disclosing the names of business executives and family members it says are connected to the public corruption case against Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. **SNIP** Among the allegations in the Justice Department's brief: -- The congressman's son-in-law Philip Jones had a 2003 contract for 5 percent of each $7 million garbage-to-energy incinerator he helped LETH Energy, now Global Environmental Inc., sell in Nigeria. Jones' agreement called for him to provide the...

Illegal Worker Hiring Sites Promote Racketeering by Bridget Geegan Blanton Mexico is notorious for corruption... ...and is nearly unresponsive to a persistent, staggering poverty suffered by millions of Mexicans. At the top of the Mexican power structure is an elitist, wealthy ruling class that vehemently resists even a modest level of taxation while supporting the status of Mexico as a nation dependent on American financial aid. Onerous taxation and big government is never a solution, but at the other extreme is the Mexican ruling class who has shunned any responsibility for the dire economic state of their country. In a...

Rudy Panic set in for many Republicans this week, with conservative leaders both nationally and in Iowa concluding they need to settle on a single champion to prevent Rudolph W. Giuliani from winning the GOP presidential nomination. They fear that victory by the socially liberal former New York mayor could permanently shatter the largely successful coalition of social, religious, economic and national defense conservatives that, more often than not, has worked electoral magic for Republican candidates at all levels. "The main driving force behind all of that is a belief that Rudy Giuliani is positioned to win the nomination and...

Huckabee's Record: Freed a Rapist Who Became a Killer, Destroyed Gov't Hard Drives, Raised Taxes, Misappropriated Funds Extremist Religious Views Appeal to Christian Nationalists But Will Repel Normal Voters in the General Dems Should Pray He's on the Ticket Recent polls show that Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and Baptist preacher, is rising in popularity in Iowa, where he is cutting into Mitt Romney's lead. (Romney has 28 percent, Huckabee has 24 percent in the ABC news survey; Romney is at 27 percent and Huckabee's at 18 percent in the local KCCI-TV poll.) He's also moving up in...

Firings are urged over misuse of foster kids' money L.A. County supervisors also want child welfare workers to return funds spent on lunches, musical events. By Jack Leonard Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 8, 2007 Los Angeles County child welfare workers who misused thousands of dollars meant for foster children should be fired and forced to return the money, county supervisors said Wednesday. Supervisor Gloria Molina described the practices highlighted in a county audit released a day earlier as a "new version of taking candy from children." The audit showed some employees bought themselves lunches and attended musical events...

L.A. workers use gift cards meant for foster children Audit shows that child welfare employees spent thousands on meals and tickets to musical events. By Jack Leonard Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 7, 2007 Los Angeles County's child welfare workers spent thousands of dollars in gift cards and entertainment tickets earmarked for foster children to buy themselves meals and attend musical events, according to an audit released Tuesday. Among the most serious problems cited by auditors, county workers bought 160 tickets in July to see the hit musical "Wicked." County officials said the purchase was part of a gala...

The mainstream media are focusing on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's increasing popularity among Republican Iowa caucus-goers and his showing this past weekend at the annual Reagan Dinner in Iowa: Three of the top-tier Republican presidential candidates—Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain—failed to show at the seventh annual Reagan Dinner in Iowa Saturday night, unwisely ceding the floor to the six remaining GOP hopefuls. Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson took advantage of the absences.... Rising in the Iowa polls, Huckabee used his time on the stage to assure the crowd against one of his biggest criticisms by some in...

Here is how I have viewed politics the past couple decades: Politicians and their political parties cannot legally dip directly into the federal treasury to extract money to fund their campaigns and pay the hefty salaries of their campaign staff members, consultants, strategists, speech writers, poll takers, plus travel expenses, phones, mail, office supplies, signs, bumper stickers, campaign buttons, and whatever else strikes their fancy. There is an alternative legal means the politicians employ. They must first find a way of getting treasury money out of government and into the hands of special interests that will share a small portion...