Free Republic

Selling candy didn't raise much money last year, so a Goldsboro middle school is selling grades. A $20 donation to Rosewood Middle School will get a student 20 test points - 10 extra points on two tests of the student's choosing. That could raise a B to an A, or a failing grade to a D. Susie Shepherd, the principal, said a parent advisory council came up with the idea, and she endorsed it. She said the council was looking for a new way to raise money.

President Obama has opposed any expanded oil drilling off American shores largely on environmental grounds, turning a deaf ear to conservative cries of "Drill, Baby, Drill." But now Obama may start hearing cries of "foul" after the U.S. Export-Import Bank promised Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, $2 billion in loan guarantees to help finance lucrative drilling off the shores of Rio De Janeiro. Some see a contradiction in an executive branch agency, independent but with board members appointed by the president, facilitating abroad the very kind of energy exploration Obama opposes domestically.

<p>Where’s all that ‘Stimulus’ money going? We were told it was to create jobs, but we know with certainty that few to no permanent jobs were created. We also know that ‘Stimulus’ did nothing for ‘the economy’ – but did much to repress it.</p>

HELENA — As Sen. Max Baucus has taken the lead on health-reform legislation in the U.S. Senate, he's also become a leader in something else: Campaign money received from health- and insurance-industry interests. In the past six years, nearly one-fourth of every dime raised by Baucus, D-Mont., and his political-action committee has come from groups and individuals associated with drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical-supply firms, health-service companies and other health professionals. These donations total about $3.4 million, or $1,500 a day, every day, from January 2003 through 2008. Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that is drafting a major...

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

The prosecution in the corruption trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and others gave jurors a tantalizing glimpse of what authorities called a web of intrigue in which black leaders solicited bribes from white developers because, they said, it was time for those developers to pay. “The game has done changed,” defendant Darren Reagan is heard saying on an audio tape played during opening statements by the prosecution. Defense opening statements were taking place this afternoon. In a surprising development, Hill's attorney, Ray Jackson, said his client would take the stand during the trial. Prosecutors say Reagan...

(Select Local Story #4 - video only) All the media is carrying Roland Burris' prepared remarks, denying any "pay to play" allegations. But what this story shows is a frustrated and angry Burris yelling at WLS-TV reporter Jason Knowles when ambushed early in the day outside his home. That segment begins about 1 minute into the video.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday declined to file corruption charges against a former California lawmaker, clearing the way for his campaign for Oakland mayor next year. ... The announcement ends an investigation into former state Senate leader Don Perata that stretches back to 2004 and extended to his family and circle of political associates. ... Federal prosecutors released a statement saying only that they were declining to file criminal charges but did not say why. They said they could not "disclose our deliberative process."

SACRAMENTO -- Former state Senate leader Don Perata, who has been the target of a five year-long FBI corruption investigation, will not be charged with any crimes, sources told The Chronicle today. In declining to indict the 64-year-old Oakland Democrat, federal prosecutors in Sacramento put an end to a wide-ranging FBI probe into whether Perata had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars of kickbacks in return for actions he took as a legislator and as president pro tem of the Senate. Perata announced in March that he would run for mayor of Oakland in 2010. The government's decision not to...

Senator Suggested Contribution Before He Was Appointed, Later Decided Against It CHICAGO (CBS) ― Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate. The details of the conversation emerged after a federal judge said Tuesday he would allow the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to hear a federal wiretap of the former governor's brother, Rob, having a fund-raising conversation with Burris. Rob Blagojevich was running the campaign fund at the time.

Even as Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) faces calls for an ethics investigation into the connection between his earmarks and donations to his campaign, there is little evidence back home in southwestern Pennsylvania to signal that the controversy is affecting his standing. Despite a seemingly endless series of unfavorable stories concerning his earmarking practices and questions surrounding his involvement with the PMA Group, a Washington lobbying firm reportedly under federal investigation for funneling campaign contributions to lawmakers through bogus donors in exchange for earmarks, few think Murtha is in jeopardy of losing the seat he has held for 35 years. “Despite...

"He was saying, basically, that we have to pay to play," said Shawn Straughter, a member of the Minority & Independent Contractors Alliance who owns a marketing and public-relations business. "Play the game. That's how he labeled it, 'the game.' " Eight people who attended the meeting on April 3 said that Safford told contractors they need to contribute to Columbus officials' political campaigns if they expect to win contracts from City Hall.

The managing editor of Budget & Tax News says no money for education should have been included in the recently signed economic "stimulus" bill. In a recent press conference, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that if the economic stimulus bill did not pass, up to 600,000 education workers could lose their jobs as states face enormous budget shortfalls. But Steve Stanek of The Heartland Institute argues that the bill should not have included the allotted $87 billion for education. Stanek argues that the stimulus basically amounts to a payoff for teachers and teachers unions who supported Obama. "The teachers unions...

Just about everything the banking, financial and automotive industries touched in 2008 turned to dust, but they did get a quite handsome return — 267,208 percent — on one investment: politicians, including Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Christopher Murphy. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political greasings at opensecrets.org, says the $114.2 million those industries devoted to lobbying in 2008 and to campaign donations in the recently ended election cycle netted them $305.2 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, with more on the way. The center said the companies that donated the most got the most, and...

WASHINGTON -- The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms and from a firm that invests in contractors for federal national security agencies, according to financial disclosures released Wednesday. Mr. Panetta received $56,000 from Merrill Lynch & Co. for two speeches and $28,000 for a speech for Wachovia Corp., according to disclosures released ahead of Thursday's scheduled Senate hearing on Mr. Panetta's nomination.

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., the highest-paid non-judicial employee in the county court system, has agreed to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000 seized in illegal gambling cases over 10 years, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., the highest-paid non-judicial employee in the county court system, has agreed to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000 seized in illegal gambling cases over 10 years, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Sharkey is the third high-ranking court official snared in a wide-ranging, ongoing federal probe of the county court...

The worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression is not a natural phenomenon but a man-made disaster in which we all played a part.In the second part of a week-long series looking behind the slump,Guardian City editor Julia Finch picks out the individuals who have led us into the current crisis Alan Greenspan, chairman of US Federal Reserve 1987- 2006Only a couple of years ago the long-serving chairman of the Fed, a committed free marketeer who had steered the US economy through crises ranging from the 1987 stockmarket collapse through to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, was lauded with...

Eric Holder’s intercession on behalf of fugitive Marc Rich is so inexplicable that he has always viewed ignorance as his best defense. It’s as though Holder believes that a deputy attorney general looks better for having remained studiously unaware of critical facts in a criminal case before throwing his weight around. But that’s Holder’s story, and he’s sticking to it: even if it turns out not to be true. Holder is President Obama’s choice to become attorney general. That means the Rich case is a big problem for him today—just as it was in 2001, when an outraged Congress demanded...

Elite Obama Donors Receive Early Gifts and Privileges from Obama While Under Senate Investigation and After Accepting Millions in Taxpayer Paid Bailout So many of the Elite Obama Donors arrived at Dulles International Airport in their personal private jets that an active runway at Dulles International Airport had to be shut down and then converted into a make-do parking lot. * * * * * Surprisingly no PETA, Global Warming, nor Code Pink protesters are seen as the Elite Obama Donors arrive in chauffeur driven stretch limousines dressed in their finest furs. * * * * * Their gilded...

The Senate on Tuesday is expected to attempt unanimous-approval votes of President-elect Obama’s Cabinet nominees, but it is uncertain who will be cleared by the upper chamber on Inauguration Day. Senate Democratic leaders have circulated a unanimous consent request for 15 nominations at various departments, from Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton to United Nations Ambassador nominee Susan Rice. A senior Democratic aide cautions that leaders are uncertain how many will actually win unanimous approval, and that any roll-call votes that are necessary would be held on Wednesday. The 15 names also include Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, Agriculture...

Presidential autographs may go for $6K By: Carol E. Lee January 18, 2009 06:15 PM EST When Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office with his presidential brethren recently, he had already agreed to take part in one of this exclusive fraternity’s secret traditions: autographing a limited number of copies of the photograph that captured the moment. The former, current and future presidents’ pact — to create only 250 copies of the photograph with all of their signatures — upped the ante on an image that was a keepsake before it was even taken. Early estimates value the signed pictures...

FNC just announced that HBO paid BHO millions of dollars to run a 4-hour concert that will only be made available to those who have HBO or digital cable. There are also some other events that have been bought and paid for that millions of Americans will not be able to see as BHO has received money for exclusive rights. One of these programs is right on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The guest from MRC on Fox said that he doubts any other networds will report on this. So much for Obama's promise to be a president "for...

Bailout Recipients Headline Jesse Jackson FundraiserFalls Church, Virginia — Today the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) asked Neil M. Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), for a formal review of the sponsorship by Bank of America and Citigroup of the Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Conference currently taking place in New York City. The January 13-16 event is one of two of Jesse Jackson’s annual fundraisers. According to official conference materials, Citigroup is a “Gold Sponsor,” a designation costing $50,000. Bank of America is identified as a “Silver Sponsor,” a designation costing $30,000. Both...

On my way to another chapter in the oddball Odyssey of Burris and Blago—which could be outdated instantly—a friend sent the sad story of the University of Chicago Hospital. The hospital is about to trim $100 million or 7 percent of its budget by laying off hundreds of employees because of the economic downturn. Very sad. Who wants to see hundreds more unemployed in the Chicago area? But a bigger question comes to mind: The Tribune reports that the budget and job cuts—including 15 “senior executive” positions—will not affect medical care. If they don’t affect medical care, why the hell...

Roland Burris, the former Illinois Attorney General named by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the U. S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, is a lobbyist who has contributed over $15,000 to the governor’s campaign while also receiving contracts from the state of Illinois. The Friends of Blagojevich campaign organization Burris donated to is the entity federal prosecutors bugged for evidence that Blagojevich was putting Obama’s seat up for sale to the highest bidder. Transcripts from FBI listening devices and wiretaps suggest the governor repeatedly tried to leverage influence in return for contributions to his campaign committee. Good...

As Mata wrote about here, Bill Richardson was jettisoned from the Obama camp because of another “pay to play” scheme. But there is another one coming down the pike and this one involves the Clintons. I know…big shocker! Apparently in October of 2004 Hillary pushed through some bond legislation that allowed a developer named Robert Congel to use tax-exempt bonds to help construct an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse called the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex.So what you say? Well, the next month a hundred grand shows up as a donation to the Clinton Foundation.

It was a recipe for a typical New Mexico political stew: Start with two lucrative contracts worth $1.4 million, stir in at least $100,000 in political contributions, add a dash of questionable bid procedures and top it off with a heaping tablespoon of suspicious timing. This is the concoction that boiled over into the federal investigation that has derailed, at least for now, Gov. Bill Richardson's ambitions for a seat in President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet. ~~snip~~The big picture is fairly simple. CDR Financial Products LLC of Beverly Hills was paid $1.4 million from work it did on behalf of the...

In its opening half-hour, Good Morning America told us--twice--that Pres.-elect Obama choked up with emotion as he was packing up his old house. But somehow ABC couldn't find time to mention that a possible pay-to-play scheme was behind Bill Richardson's bye-bye as Commerce Secretary nominee. After the show-opening roll in which the president elect was shown heading to DC, Robin Roberts literally bounced in her co-anchor's chair: "so excited, so excited, so excited . . . It's a new day, new year, new everything going on." Added Diane Sawyer helpfully: "And a president-elect." "Yes," concurred Robin, as if it wasn't...

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he is not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing and plans to stay on the job. In his first official statement since his arrest on corruption charges last week, Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-Uh-vich) says he will fight until he takes his "last breath." ... The Democratic governor says he intends to "answer every allegation in a court of law."

Extorting Children's Hospital is a new political low. Chicagoans and Illinoisans love political scandal the way that Milanese love opera. We trade recollections, like baseball cards, about the secretary of state (Paul Powell) who stashed money in shoeboxes, and the Chicago mayor (Harold Washington) whose birthday was April 15 but never filed his income tax return. Rod Blagojevich stands a chance to be the fourth Illinois governor in recent history, and the second in a row, to wind up in prison. This run suggests that Illinoisans are indifferent to political corruption, and it's hard to argue with such an impressive...

America wanted change and we sure got it. We elected a politician who looked and sounded fresh and new and different (and don't forget "clean" as Senator Biden once remarked), and promised that magic word "change." Aren't we lucky? It appears that the change we got is that we've moved Chicago machine-style politics into the White House. We found out on Tuesday what that business model consists of- the good Governor of Illinois was arrested for allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama's United States Senate seat. Yes, I said sell Obama's seat to the highest bidder. It's nice to know...

On Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith interviewed actor James Franco, who stars opposite Sean Penn in a new movie about gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk: "Actor James Franco is here to talk about his role in the much-talked-about new movie, 'Milk.' He is amazing in it." At the end of the show, Smith thanked Franco for being a guest and offer this review of the movie: "James Franco in 'Milk,' amazing performance. Sean Penn, off the charts. It's a must-see for everybody." On November 30, CBS’s Sunday Morning offered a similar glowing description of the film, describing...

Top recipients of Fannie/Freddie donations: #1 Chris Dodd #2 John Kerry #3 Barack Obama #4 HIllary Clinton For the record, that's two Democratic presidential nominees, two also-ran presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, at least the second most significant Democrat in the country.

It seemed an ideal marriage, a scientific partnership that would attack mental illness from all sides. Psychiatrists would bring to the union their expertise and clinical experience, drug makers would provide their products and the money to run rigorous studies, and patients would get better medications, faster... --snip-- An analysis of Minnesota data by The New York Times last year found that on average, psychiatrists who received at least $5,000 from makers of newer-generation antipsychotic drugs appear to have written three times as many prescriptions to children for the drugs as psychiatrists who received less money or none. The drugs...

Our reporting partners at the Detroit News are reporting that the FBI has electronic surveillance that links Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers to the Synagro scandal. The evidence reportedly proves that Conyers received either a payment or payments in connection with the city-approved sludge contract.

In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country’s poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. There is even a name for these electoral soldiers of fortune: politiqueras. So when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against Senator Barack Obama, Ms. Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and...

He is Steve Ybarra. He's a superdelegate in California and he, now, says he's willing to take either Clinton or Obama's side but for a big price. -snip For the last eight years, I've been trying to get the Democratic Party to pay attention to the needs of voter registration and education and get out the vote to the Mexican-American community. And guess what? We managed to lose two elections because of it. So, we're coming up on an election where the Mexican-American voter will be the person who makes the decision in this upcoming election. HEMMER: How did you...

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.

Fourteen months into a campaign that has the feel of a movement, Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up. The dispute centers on the dispensing of "street money," a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates deliver cash to the city's Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote. Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot...

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors say Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion. An indictment in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary. In exchange, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil. The lawmakers are not mentioned but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and...

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,...

All right, let’s talk about the money. After I asked readers to focus on the substance of the skeptics’ arguments at this week’s conference on global warming, readers insisted that I should have focused on the financing of the sponsor, the Heartland Institute. Others objected to my (and my colleague Andy Revkin) even writing about a conference sponsored by this group. I’m used to this sort of criticism, but I still find it baffling. Do the critics really think there’s more money and glory to be won by doubting global warming than by going along with the majority? I ask...

Breaking with tradition for presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee is continuing to accept paid speaking engagements in the thick of his insurgent presidential campaign, although churches get a break from his usual fee of up to $25,000. It's not surprising that Huckabee, as a former Arkansas governor who has wowed audiences in debates, would charge for speeches. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, one of Huckabee's rivals for the nomination, made a fortune doing just that. But Giuliani and other major candidates have put their paid speaking careers completely on hold to focus on the flurry of early nominating contests. Huckabee,...

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...

According to The Politico, New York Post columnist and FOX News contributor Dick Morris has been secretly advising former client Mike Huckabee on his Presidential campaign. Morris claims he is acting in an entirely voluntary capacity by simply offering free advice. Keep in mind that nationally syndicated columnist George Will was pilloried by the media when it became public that he had secretly and voluntarily helped Ronald Reagan prepare for his Presidential debates in 1980. A prominent national GOP insider tells Politics1 that he believes Morris -- despite his claims to the contrary -- is paid for his services through...

Republican presidential candidates have pulled out their knives for Mr. Nice Guy. A surprising surge of support for Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, who had long seemed a rank outsider in the 2008 presidential race has turned him into a target six weeks before voting in Iowa. The Times of London reports that “running on a shoestring budget as an affable conservative with unrivalled religious qualifications (he is a former Baptist minister), Huckabee has been previously dismissed as an under-funded no-hoper. He is mostly known for a quirky sense of humor and his skills on bass guitar -...

Mike Huckabee's most vigorous and able nemesis in Arkansas is the unabashedly liberal and uncommonly activist editor of the weekly free tabloid in Little Rock. I've been knowing and admiring Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times for 30 years, since we were lads breaking in at the late, lamented Arkansas Gazette. He went to bat with higher-ups to make me a columnist. Then, when I up and quit one day, they made him the columnist. There wasn't any drop-off that I could tell, and I'm being kind to myself. He's one of the smartest people I know. He's one of...

Having a graduate in the U.S. Senate is not only a source of pride for colleges and universities, it can also mean wads of cash from the federal government. A major spending bill under consideration in Congress provides more than $70 million in earmarks for the alma maters of 30 senators, roughly 40 percent of the higher education money earmarked in the legislation, an analysis by The Examiner shows. The earmarks are tacked on to a $606 billion appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education that was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate last week and that now...

Big Paychecks for U2 Millionaires Oct. 26, 2007 The Associated Press U2 Ltd., the Irish band's music publishing company, raked in $30 million-plus last year — and $25.8 million of it went to five unidentified "employees," according to documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press. Those "employees" are suspected to be the band members and their longtime manager, Paul McGuinness. But U2's public relations firms in Dublin and London refused to confirm that. While Bono has won accolades worldwide for raising awareness of Third World poverty, he has been criticized for moving U2's corporate offices out of Ireland to avoid...

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A politically conservative student armed with a video camera and a Web site is trying to force a Democratic congressional candidate out of his teaching job at Central Michigan University. Dennis Lennox, a 23-year-old junior, has posted videos on YouTube of himself questioning assistant professor Gary Peters about campaigning for office while holding a prestigious position at the university. Some say Lennox is persistent. Others accuse him of pandering for attention. "What I'm doing isn't about getting media attention," said Lennox, a political science major. "I'm speaking for the hundreds of students, alumni, taxpayers and even...