Free Republic

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director U.S. Congress Washington, DC 20515 July 22, 2009 Honorable Steny M. Hoyer Majority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Leader: This letter responds to your request that we review an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2920, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009 (the amendment), provided to CBO on July 21, 2009. On July 14, 2009, CBO provided an analysis of the version of H.R. 2920 that was introduced on June 17, 2009, which would establish new statutory pay-asyou- go (PAYGO) requirements and authorize the Administration...

The plan would give the government new powers to seize key companies whose failure jeopardizes the financial system, as well as creation of a watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests. Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests. But critics say the easing of the financial crisis that gripped the country last year appears to have reduced the momentum for some of the most far-reaching proposals, such as merging several banking...

Feds seize Madoff's mansion, yacht, small boat By BRIAN SKOLOFF and By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writers 1 hr 1 min ago PALM BEACH, Fla. – Federal authorities seized disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach mansion, his vintage yacht and a smaller boat Wednesday, part of an effort to recoup assets to pay back investors he swindled. Barry Golden, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said about five marshals arrived at the 8,753-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion late Wednesday afternoon, hours after the boats were seized.

I cant' escape it. No matter where I turn I see news that makes no sense and has only a minimal attachment to reality - at least my reality. By that I mean the reality that I grew up with. The reality where America - the place I was born and raised - was a constitutional republic with a capitalist economic system. That's where I came from. That's my comfort zone. But now I'm not even sure we still have a constitution. If we do it must be in tatters. Today I read that my President is about to hand...

U.S. goes after Madoffs homes, boats, piano By Grant McCool NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors want swindler Bernard Madoff and his wife Ruth to forfeit more than $100 million worth of homes, cars, boats, securities, silverware and a piano following his March 12 guilty plea, according to court papers. Homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, Cap d'Antibes, France and on New York's Long Island, valued at a total of $22 million, $17 million in a bank account and at least $45 million in COHMAD Securities Corp, a brokerage part-owned by Bernard Madoff, are on the government's list seen on...

Mohamed Shommo, an engineer for Cisco Systems Inc., travels overseas several times a year for work, so he is accustomed to opening his bags for border inspections upon returning to the U.S. But in recent years, these inspections have gone much deeper than his luggage. Border agents have scrutinized family pictures on Shommo's digital camera, examined Koranic verses and other audio files on his iPod and even looked up Google keyword searches he had typed into his company laptop. "They literally searched everywhere and every device they could," said Shommo, who now minimizes what he takes on international trips and...

RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly. The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for...

Nicholas May Soon Fly on Gulfstream G-IV In a decision which could have wide-ranging implications for US law enforcement at all levels, US District Judge Cormac Carney told prosecutors pursuing drug and investment charges against Broadcom executive Henry T Nichols III that they went too far in seizing his Gulfstream G-IV and threatening to impound it indefinitely.As ANN reported last week, the California businessman asked the court's permission for his family to continue flying the bizjet...The 1993 Gulfstream, registry N2107Z, was seized in a July 16 raid at John Wayne Airport. The FBI asserts Nicholas "...distributed ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine and...

/begin my translation Kim Jong-il Experiencing Intermittent Irregular Seizure from Stroke Chinese Intelligence, "Will have long-term effect on his rule" Park Seung-joon, Beijing N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is said to be recovering from stroke, is experiencing intermittent and irregular seizure, which is why he could not attend the 60th anniversary celebration of N. Korean state's founding on Sept. 9, a reliable diplomatic source on N. Korea in Beijing said on Sept. 11. The source said that a senior Chinese official visited Pyongyang a few days before the anniversary and did meet Kim Jong-il, and he reported (his findings)...

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- A University of Idaho graduate student who is under investigation for suspected terrorism ties obtained unauthorized access to a campus lab containing radioactive material, court documents allege. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national working on his computer science doctoral degree, quietly moved his student office from the Computer Science Department into the school's engineering isotope lab, apparently without his adviser's knowledge, according to the documents. "The investigation of Sami Al-Hussayen has, from its outset, been focused on suspected material support to terrorism, particularly to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network," FBI agent Michael Gnecknow said in the...

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Today, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center located in Joliet, Ill., pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court in Chicago. U.S. Marshals seized all FDA-regulated animal food susceptible to rodent and pest contamination. The seized products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because it was alleged in a case filed by the United States Attorney that they were being held under unsanitary conditions. (The Act uses the term "insanitary" to describe...

World's biggest drug seizure in Afghanistan By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor Last Updated: 12:38AM BST 12/06/2008 Afghanistan's police claim to have made the largest drugs seizure in history after they discovered hashish worth at least £200 million. Afghan counter narcotics officials uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan About 260 tons of narcotics were found in trenches and bunkers in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. No previous haul comes close to matching this find, which weighed roughly the same as 30 double-decker buses. The previous record was set by Colombia's security forces when they uncovered...

BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's hospitalization after a seizure stretched to a third day Monday, raising questions about the severity of his illness. The senator's office announced that he is not expected to return to Washington this week, and a spokeswoman said the Massachusetts Democrat had not been available to take a call from President Bush earlier in the day. "Take care of my friend," the president told Vicki Kennedy, who answered the call from the White House to Massachusetts General Hospital, according to Kennedy spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. There was no word on how long Kennedy, 76, would...

‘Blake is having a seizure, and they’re hurting him’Blake Dwyer remembers pain: The agonizing burn of electrical shock. And shouting. And fear. “I thought a swarm of wasps was after me,” the 17-year-old Guyer High School athlete said. “I was trying to fight them off.” He doesn’t remember the epileptic seizure he suffered July 18, 2007, when he was 16. He doesn’t remember fighting to keep from being tied to a stretcher or hitting a paramedic. His brother, Travis Baker, 17, remembers all of it. He recalls screaming at Corinth police to stop shocking Blake with a Taser. His mother,...

BOSTON - A spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy says he is conscious and talking to family after he suffered a seizure in his Cape Cod home and was flown to a Boston hospital. The 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat fell ill at his home Saturday morning and was rushed to a local hospital. He later was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said he is "conscious, talking, joking with family." His wife, children and niece Caroline Kennedy are among those with him at the hospital. The second longest serving member of the Senate...

Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. ADVERTISEMENT But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images. The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons. The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that...

Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims. But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.

EL PASO — Customs agents found nearly $1.9 million hidden in the doors of a sport utility vehicle at an El Paso port of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Tuesday. Agents found the cash, wrapped in bundles and hidden in the doors of a 1992 Ford Expedition, after using a density meter to inspect the vehicle Monday morning, CBP spokesman Roger Maier said. "The driver was a little bit nervous, a little bit shaky," Maier said. "So the agents used ... a density meter. It registered higher than normal, consistent with contraband. They started looking closer at...

LIMA — Two robbers who broke into Luther Ricks Sr.’s house this summer may have not gotten his life savings he had in a safe, but after the FBI confiscated it he may not get it back. Ricks has tried to get an attorney to fight for the $402,767 but he has no money. Lima Police Department officers originally took the money from his house but the FBI stepped in and took it from the Police Department. Ricks has not been charged with a crime and was cleared in a fatal shooting of one of the robbers but still the...