Free Republic

Two weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, the National Enquirer published a detailed story reporting that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had had an affair, and that the woman involved -- campaign videographer Rielle Hunter -- was pregnant, and that Edwards had arranged for an aide to falsely claim to be the father, and that Hunter and the aide and the aide's family were being taken care of financially by a wealthy Edwards supporter. It was, to say the least, explosive. At the time, Edwards was a serious contender in the Democratic presidential race, so when the story was published,...

These are chilly times for global warming. Climategate unmasked the international conspiracy to suppress climate data that undermines the bogus theory of man-made warming. Glaciergate exposed the junk science that went into the 2007 report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. More recently, scientist discovered the IPCC report contained gross errors about the depletion of tropical rain forests, giving rise to Amazongate. Even Britain's chief science adviser, John Beddington, spoke the other day of the "substantial uncertainties" inherent in "large-scale climate modeling," and of how warmists resort to exaggeration — he omitted prevarications — to paper over yawning...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A North Carolina judge wants security officers to accompany a former John Edwards aide as he goes to retrieve a sex tape of his former boss. Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones said in an order released Monday that the Orange County sheriff has appointed a security firm to help recover the video and other items. Former Edwards loyalist Andrew Young has said he has the original tape and copies stored in an Atlanta safety deposit box. Jones wants the security officer to accompany Young into the vault. Jones has declared Young was in contempt for not...

(AP) A former aide to John Edwards says in court documents that a copy of a sex tape featuring his former boss has been sent to the FBI. Andrew Young said Friday he has the original copy of the tape showing Edwards in a sexual encounter in a safe deposit box in Atlanta. He said a copy of the tape was sent to his Washington attorney, who turned it over to federal investigators. Young has said the tape shows Edwards and a woman he believes to be the two-time presidential candidate's mistress, Rielle Hunter. Federal investigators have been looking into...

The rumor mill is churning right now about a "big, damaging" New York Times "bombshell" story that supposedly features some ruinous dirt about the personal life of Governor David Paterson. Elizabeth Benjamin at the Daily News hears it "will be far worse than his acknowledged extramarital affair with a former state employee."

Here is video of Chris Matthews asking Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide who has written a tell-all book, "How do you feel about that, being basically a rat fink?" (Video)Matthews told Young that he "can't imagine being in politics working for a guy that I'd given up on, it seems to me that you ought to get out...don't work for somebody that you think is a louse, you did for a year." Young said what he did was not morally right but he said that he had "responsibilities."

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Air Force detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of US Air Force aircraft for Congressional Delegations (CODELs). According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Speaker’s military travel cost the United States Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol. The following are highlights from the recent release of about 2,000 documents related to Pelosi's travel: •Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average...

Reporting from San Francisco - A prominent Silicon Valley executive with ties to the Obama administration has admitted to an extramarital affair after his former mistress plastered romantic pictures of the two of them on giant billboards in three major cities. "I had an 8½-year serious relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins," said Charles E. Phillips, co-president of Oracle Corp. and a member of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. "The relationship with Ms. Wilkins has since ended, and we both wish each other well." Wilkins, a writer and actress, this week had a three-story-tall sign put up near Times Square in...

The former senator might be your attorney general today if our reporters hadn't stuck with the story. It took John Edwards two years to tell the truth. I was surprised; I thought it would take longer. The man who risked the fate of the Democratic Party to satisfy his political narcissism released a statement Thursday finally admitting paternity of Rielle Hunter's daughter. In part, he said: "To all those I have disappointed and hurt, these words will never be enough, but I am truly sorry." His sincerity was as egocentrically superficial as his infamous $1,250 haircut during the 2004 presidential...

An interesting PR strategy from the former presidential candidate: Now that I've finally been forced to admit everything, I'm going to be honest with you. So forgive me already. By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer Mike Baker, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 3 mins ago RALEIGH, N.C. – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted Thursday he fathered a child during an affair before his second White House bid, dropping long-standing denials just ahead of a book by a former campaign aide who initially took the fall. Edwards released a statement admitting paternity of the girl, Frances Quinn...

Northern Ireland In Uproar Over Lawmaker's Secret Affair With Teen Iris Robinson, [Pic in URL] family-values advocate and wife of First Minister Peter Robinson, not only carried on a sexual liaison with a 19-year-old but also allegedly helped funnel money his way. By Henry Chu January 10, 2010 Reporting from London - The threat of renewed sectarian violence is at its highest in years. But it's a seamy affair between Northern Ireland's most famous female politician and a man nearly 40 years her junior that has put the province's fragile peace pact between Roman Catholics and Protestants in danger of...

A political scandal riveting Northern Ireland has a certain cinematic feel: an affair by 58-year-old woman named Mrs. Robinson with a 19-year-old male lover. Five separate Facebook groups with hundreds of followers have sprung up, lampooning the affair and comparing it to the 1967 film, "The Graduate." But there is a serious side to the story of Iris Robinson, who also happens to be a member of Parliament and the wife of Peter Robinson — Northern Ireland's government leader. The BBC reported that Iris Robinson allegedly solicited 50,000 pounds ($80,000) from businessmen so her young lover could open a restaurant...

President Obama’s budget guru has a secret love child — with the woman he jilted before hooking up with his hot new fiance, The Post has learned. White House budget director Peter Orszag’s ex, shipping heiress Claire Milonas, gave birth to little Tatiana Zoe in New York Nov. 17. That was just six weeks before Orzsag and ABC news babe Bianna Golodryga gleefully announced their engagement on national TV and in the press. Orszag and Milonas, the daughter of New York-based Greek shipping magnate Spiros Milonas, were a serious item when he met the stunning Golodgryga at the White House...

Governor Bill Ritter and US attorney nominee Stephanie Villafuerte had an affair as early as 2006, confirming reports circulating among political "in-the-know" for years... The Senate Judiciary Committee will review Villafuerte's nomination for US attorney soon. Senator Max Baucus created controversy by nominating his mistress for a US attorney position, making the Villafuerte's relationship with the Governor relevant. Greg Kolomitz, Governor Ritter's disgraced former campaign manager, first made the allegations in 2006, when he traded insults with Jim Carpenter, Ritter's chief of staff at the time. Now more staff are admitting there was an affair. If there was an affair,...

Scandal-Plagued Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut retires at the lowest point in an overly long, 35-year, political career. The son of a career politician (his father occupied one of Connecticut's senate seats for 12 years), Dodd has seen his already overly long, Senate career deteriorate among many scandal-plagued issues in the last few years, thus leading to some of the worst poll numbers of his career and a near-impossible matchup against his potential, Republican challenger for his seat. Though Democrats gave Dodd a big role as one of the primary advocates of the ill-fated healthcare "reform" pushed by Obama—how they...

I won't reproduce the page because of copyright issues. Go to the lower right segment called "Featured" and you will see Palin's picture headlining 2009's biggest scandals.

What do you think is the biggest story the mainstream media ignored in the past year? and What Do You Think Is the Top Political Scandal of the 2000s?

NEW YORK - AT&T says it will no longer sponsor Tiger Woods, joining Accenture and Gillette in dropping support for the golfer after numerous allegations of infidelities.

If you work in Washington long enough, there are some things you get used to. One of them is the tradition of burying news by releasing it on a Friday afternoon. Or even better: on Christmas Eve. That's when the House Ethics Committee quietly announced the launch of an ethics probe into California Congressman Fortney 'Pete' Stark: The Chair and Ranking Republican Member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (the Committee) have jointly decided to extend a matter regarding Representative Pete Stark, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, for a 45-day period......

From President Barack Obama's historic inauguration to Tiger Woods' surreal fall from grace, 2009 has proved to be a tumultuous time in American history. As the year comes to a close, we take a look back at the political controversies, celebrity scandals, and public outrages that most defined the end of this decade. JanuaryOBAMA INAUGURATION STIRS RACIAL TENSIONS With the economy teetering on the edge of collapse, the nation's first African-American president is sworn into office under what many commentators consider the most difficult domestic circumstances since the Great Depression. His skin color continues to provoke debate: While Rush Limbaugh...

The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether it was just a coincidence that the august New York Times, for whom I’m proud to have written (including eight cover stories for the New York Times Magazine), published an an almost full-page Valentine to the gossip site TMZ this morning. On the very morning TMZ published what they seemed to think was the scandal scoop of the century (”The JFK Photos That Could Have Changed History”). This was an allegedly long hidden or lost photo supposedly taken on a yacht in 1956, supposedly showing JFK sunbathing while nude...

UCD Study Shows Cost of Tiger Woods' Problems -- $12 billion Bill Lindelof Dec. 28, 2009 Two University of California, Davis, professors have pinned the loss to shareholders from Tiger Woods' marital infidelity at up to $12 billion. The researchers said the new study speaks to the question of whether celebrity sponsorship has an impact on a firm's bottom line. "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," said Victor Stango, professor of economics. Stango and fellow economics professor Christopher Knittel studied the...

From lobbyists he promised not to have, to numerous people with tax problems. From socialists to Mao-loving Communists! It's hard to narrow it down to ten, but we managed! On this Christmas Day, we present Obama’s Top 10 Appointment Scandals! Dishonorable mentions have to go to the following people who we could not manage to cram into the top ten: wacko liberal judges David Hamilton (ACLU Board, ACORN volunteer), Edward Chen ("Sometimes I cannot help but feel that there are too much injustice and too many inequalities that prevent far too many Americans from enjoying the beauty extolled in that...

Anchorage resident Lisa Moore says she traded sex with then-Veco boss Bill Allen in 1996 for an apartment, money and jewelry. He was 59; she was 19. She also says she introduced him to a 15-year-old girl who became his sex partner.

Tiger Woods Sex Scandal: Rachel Uchitel Denies She Is A 'Tramp' Rachel Uchitel, the first woman named in the Tiger Woods sex scandal, has broken her silence to insist: "I'm not a whore. I'm not a tramp." [Pic in URL] Anita Singh 09 Dec 2009 The 34-year-old nightclub hostess told OK! magazine in the US that she was not a "homewrecker". Without addressing the allegations directly, she said: "In every story you need a villain and a hero. I've been characterised as a villain. "People have called me a homewrecker, gold-digger, tramp, whore. I made mistakes, but I'm not those...

So, will the state-run media be bold enough to hide this, too? Obama’s socialist Science Czar John Holdren, who once said that forced abortions were needed to save the planet, is also involved in the Climategate Scandal. Holdren, another socialist in the White House, was pushing global cooling before he was pushing man-made global warming. NewsBusters and Canada Free Press are doing the work the state-run media would rather ignore and hide: New Climategate revelations made by the Canada Free Press about a White House connection to the scandal will soon make it much more difficult (and ridiculous) for the...

Senator Inhofe: Well, on this thing, it is pretty serious. And since, you know, Barabara Boxer is the Chairman and I’m the Ranking Member on Environment and Public Works, if nothing happens in the next seven days when we go back into session a week from today that would change this situation, I will call for an investigation. ‘Cause this thing is serious, you think about the literally millions of dollars that have been thrown away on some of this stuff that they came out with. Melanie Morgan: So what will you be calling for an investigation of? Senator Inhofe:...

A GOP congressional report accuses the White House of doing favors for Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and prominent ally of President Barack Obama. The report was spearheaded by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 
 The investigation also found evidence that D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee handled “damage control” after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct against Johnson, her now-fiancé. The probe was launched after an AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin, was abruptly fired...

Former actor and present White House associate director of public engagement Kalpen Modi was directly involved in planning the controversial conference call hosted by a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) flack to encourage tax-supported artists to create propaganda for President Obama, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The emails reveal that Modi worked with now-former NEA national communications director Yosif Sargant in planning the August 10 conference call that was first revealed by Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood.com web site. Participants in the conference call were encouraged to use their talents...

The chief of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, which came under fire for the botched prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, is stepping down from his position. The official, William M. Welch II, who became a subject of an internal inquiry into the handling of the Stevens case, will return to Massachusetts, where he was a longtime federal prosecutor, and resume his career in that role. William W. Taylor, a lawyer representing him, said in a statement Wednesday that Mr. Welch had decided to move back to Massachusetts “for family reasons.” “While the ultimate result in the Stevens...

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Hollywood hearts Obama. Obama hearts government-directed national service. That is why you won't be able to change the TV channel all week without getting lectured about the need to get off the couch and Do Something. (After your favorite shows are over, of course.) Creeped out? You should be. The entertainment industry, inspired by Obama's $6 billion expansion of government volunteerism spending, is coordinating plot lines and ads to push public service. "The message will be nearly ubiquitous, " reports the Los Angeles Times, "starting in the morning with programs such as �Today' and �The View,' and then...

The Official Obama Administration 'Scandals' List has hit a whopping total of 750 items! This is the ultimate tea partier’s reference guide to President Barack Obama!The Official Obama Administration “Scandals” List contains scandals, mistakes, mishaps, blunders, broken promises, flip flops, gaffes, lies, etc. That’s way too long of a name, so we call it the Scandals List. Okay? Check out the amazing 15 pages of items! President Chaos keeps us very busy! There are 80 different Obama Appointment Scandals, including the latest one: Communist-lover Anita Dunn! “Ali Obama and the 40 Lies”...is an amazing list of 40 whoppers the President...

Now David Letterman knows who his friends are – and there are plenty of them. At Monday night's New York City screening of the HBO documentary Good Hair, its star and co-director Chris Rock had nothing but the best to say about Letterman, blackmail scandal or no. "He's the greatest host in the world," said Rock, 44, at the Cinema Society event sponsored by Target. "I would never make a disparaging comment about David Letterman." Talk-show host Wendy Williams is also behind Letterman 100 percent. "I like him even more," she said. "He did a disgusting thing. But I thought...

Here is video of Jay Leno mocking the whole David Letterman Scandal. Leno makes light of it in a good-natured way. . . . (VIDEO)

There is more than a bit of gallows humor in the following Torah thought, which I've heard attributed to several gedolim over the years: Question: Why is it that our children do not ask "Four Questions" on Sukkos? After all, things are far from ordinary - arguably even more so than on Pesach - when we sit down to our first Yom Tov meal outdoors in the sukkah. Answer: Throughout our 2,000-year exile, it was not at all unusual for children to see their families leaving the comfort of their homes and sleeping outdoors. However, when they saw them sitting...

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is said to be ready to admit that he fathered a love child. But Hades may have a skating rink before his wife, Elizabeth, signs off on such a confession. A source close to Elizabeth Edwards says the former Senator's wife is sniping at former Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter via an online pseudonym. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_john_edwards_exmistress_rielle_hunter_targeted_by_elizabeth_edwards_in_blog_comm.html#ixzz0SL2aaST3 As a grand jury in North Carolina considers whether Edwards misused campaign funds to cover up the scandal, Elizabeth still can't abide his former mistress, Rielle Hunter. Word is Elizabeth vehemently opposed the plan, now in...

Madoff Victims Still Demanding That Taxpayers Reimburse Them For Fake Returns Yael BizouatiSep. 24, 2009, 5:15 PMMadoff’s victims will finally get their day in court Feb. 2. The victims have been fighting with Irving Picard, the bankruptcy trustee, about the right way to determine their losses. Now a judge will decide. The victims say their losses should be measured by the fictitious amount they thought they had in their accounts when the Ponzi scheme collapsed.[snip]

There are so many funky things going on with Obama and the people he surrounds himself with that it's hard to keep up. But the administration's transparent effort to squeeze artists dependent on NEA grants for support in pushing Obama's agenda is one to watch. At Powerline, John Hinderaker has a superb analysis, including consideration of the question whether criminal statutes (such as the Hatch Act) have been violated. Needless to say, if something like this happened during the Bush administration, there would already be congressional hearings and screams for the appointment of a special prosecutor. We're about to see...

John Edwards Promised to Wed Mistress; Dave Matthews to Play Ceremony Monday – September 21, 2009 11:51am John Edwards promised mistress Rielle Hunter that he'd marry her once his wife Elizabeth died of cancer, Edwards' former aide alleges in a shocking new book proposal. According to a copy obtained by the New York Times, Andrew Young claims Edwards told Hunter that the ceremony would take place on a New York rooftop and feature an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.

The ickiest detail in The New York Times story on John Edwards? Well, according to the paper, a book proposal by former Edwards aide Andrew Young says the one-time senator, one-time Democratic vice presidential candidate once promised Rielle Hunter they would marry on a New York City rooftop with the Dave Matthews Band making a special guest appearance. (While bands love publicity, I can imagine the DMB cringing at this particular association.) If I knew my husband was making plans with a girlfriend for wedding No. 2 – after my death – he could cancel any festivities because he would...

“We encourage free speech and defend everyone's right to express unpopular points of view…” This statement can be found on YouTube's Community Guidlines page, and in general this statement holds true. Take, for example: the animalistic view of women that rappers promote amongst the youth of this nation, or the violent street fighting clips that develop fanbases. These videos are popular because they raise some level of controversy, and aren't considered “socially” acceptable in America.

The Edwards Drama Awaits a Denouement By NEIL A. LEWIS CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The story of the spectacular rise and fall of John Edwards, with its sordid can’t-look-away dimensions, is moving slowly but deliberately to its conclusion here in North Carolina. Mr. Edwards, the one-term senator who came close to being elected vice president in 2004 and ran a credible campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, remains largely secluded at his 100-acre estate here. But a federal grand jury in nearby Raleigh is investigating whether any crimes were committed in connection with campaign laws in an effort...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The fireworks just keep coming in the ACORN case. Another official was fired Friday. ACORN employees were secretly recorded giving advice on everything from how to smuggle in illegal immigrants to setting up brothels for teen prostitutes. Conservatives paid for a sting that secretly videotaped employees of ACORN. The employees appeared willing to help two undercover actors, even though the two said they were setting up a brothel for teen-aged prostitutes. Posing as a female madam and a male pimp, the actors recorded ACORN employees in Maryland, New York, California, D.C. and other places – but not...

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a scandal. This story has become breaking news lately thanks to some recent guerilla journalism. But the problems of ACORN represent a broader, and even more scandalous idea: the conventional acceptance of the left's self-righteous claims to having a monopoly on all politics, policy and lifestyles that are good. ACORN, if you haven't heard, is a radical organization that devotes itself with laser-like intensity to the maxim that all politics is local. The group supposedly exists to find affordable housing and provide social services for low-income families. But when two...

Statement from Assemblyman Mike Duvall regarding his resignation from office today: September 9, 2009 "I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state. I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work."

WASHINGTON – Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said in a new book that he was not romantically involved with young Mary Jo Kopechne and that he never escaped the despair he felt after she died in the 1969 car crash that has been seared into the national consciousness as "Chappaquiddick." He acknowledged that he enjoyed women and drink — sometimes too much so — but said reports of wild Kennedy excesses were exaggerated. Yet it was the specter of Chappaquiddick that Edward Kennedy, the youngest brother, never could shake. "That night on Chappaquiddick Island ended in a horrible tragedy that haunts...

Barack Obama said the Waxman-Markey carbon tax would help create "green energy" jobs in the U.S. He is now using taxpayer dollars to fund jobs in Spain.Barack Obama sold the Waxman-Markey "American Clean Energy and Security Act" to Congress and the American people by saying that investment in so-called "green energy" would create millions of high-wage American manufacturing jobs. We received an E-mail from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (nonpartisan professional organization) that exposed Barack Obama as a blatant prevaricator who is shamelessly using our tax dollars to create jobs not in the United States but in foreign countries. We...

Potential readers should not be deterred by the vaguely Hallmarkish cover—and subtitle—of this book, both of which may be blamed on the publisher. I’m assuming that Broadway Books has a packaging-and-editing style all its own, because on page 88 it makes Elizabeth Edwards tell us something that “Edmund Wilson, the incomparable twentieth-century literary critic, said.” Perhaps someone at the firm felt that this would explain just exactly who Wilson was to a reader who didn’t know, but the effect is to be condescending and to diminish the impact of reading a senator’s wife who is well able to cite Edmund...

Colleges are generally known as safe, distinguished spaces for young people to explore their interests, prepare for a fulfilling career, and experience invaluable growth in their social, intellectual, spiritual, personal and professional lives. Sometimes, though, even the most reputable colleges are vulnerable to unethical, unfair practices that compromise the safety of students and integrity of the school’s reputation. Here, we’ll take a look at the top 10 college scandals of all time.

Only one recently-wronged political wife—Elizabeth Edwards—has written a book discussing her ordeal. But in its segment today on "forgiveness," Good Morning America ignored John Edwards and his wandering ways. When it came to polyamorous politicans, ABC focused exclusively—surprise!—on two Republicans: Mark Sanford and David Vitter. The release of the Libyan Lockerbie murderer, the Manson murders anniversary and the re-entry into the NFL of Michael Vick were the jumping-off points for the segment. But when politics popped up, the only examples bore the GOP label . . . View video here.