Free Republic

DETROIT LAKES — The math didn’t add up during the first day of the U.S. Senate recount in Becker County on Monday. In addition to 61 ballots that weren’t counted on Election Day on Nov. 4, there were four less ballots counted from Holmesville Township during the recount than was reflected on Election Day. “It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Becker County Auditor-Treasurer Ryan Tangen said. He said that the ballots were overlooked and not transferred to the counting area on election night. They did arrive at the county courthouse by 8 p.m., Tangen said. Fifty-three of the ballots came from...

Rep. Charles Rangel asked the House Ethics Committee yesterday to investigate allegations that he improperly received sweetheart deals on four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace in Harlem. While denying any wrongdoing, Rangel is taking the matter seriously. He has tapped hot-shot Washington defense lawyer Lanny Davis to try to handle the controversy. In a letter to House ethics-panel chair Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), Rangel requested a review of "unfounded allegations against me with respect to apartment units that I have rented in my congressional district in Harlem." "Some in the press have repeatedly - and erroneously - insinuated wrongdoing...

Rep. Rangel Files Ethics Charges Against Himself Wednesday, July 23, 2008 WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., filed an ethics complaint against himself Wednesday with the House Ethics Committee. The move is believed to be unprecedented. The Washington Post recently ran articles and an editorial raising questions about Rangel's potential involvement in raising money for an academic center named in his honor at City College of New York.

Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, says he plans to file an ethics complaint — against himself. The move comes after a Washington Post reporter wrote a story raising questions about the New York Democrat’s efforts to raise money for an academic facility in Harlem that will bear his name. The story suggested that Rangel violated House rules by sending out letters bearing an official congressional letterhead seeking funds for the Rangel Center, to be located at the City College of New York, from Donald Trump and other wealthy individuals. At a press conference...

Convention Chaos Theory (Note: this is crossed-posted from TPMCafe.com). Now that an extended Democratic nomination contest appears almost certain, there's been an explosion of renewed interest in the "brokered convention" scenario, which really just means a nomination that's in doubt after the primaries and caucuses are over. The big topics (explored especially well at OpenLeft.com) have been the battle over the 796 superdelegates, who are not bound by election results, and the possibility of a pre-convention or convention credentials fight over the Michigan and Florida delegations, who currently have no seats (or even hotel rooms) in Denver. There's a more...

Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred "diamonds or pearls" at last night's debate wrote on her MySpace page this morning that CNN forced her to ask the frilly question instead of a pre-approved query about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. "Every single question asked during the debate by the audience had to be approved by CNN," Luisa writes. "I was asked to submit questions including "lighthearted/fun" questions. I submitted more than five questions on issues important to me. I did a policy memo on Yucca Mountain a year ago and was the finalist...

One of President Bush's closest advisers has a brutally candid analysis of the Republican nomination battle [...] Bartlett spent 14 years channeling Bush and remains virtually his alter ego, so his views could be seen as a revealing look into the thinking within the president's inner circle. [...]The only top-tier candidate Bartlett did not criticize was Rudy Giuliani

At the end of each witness's testimony in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, after prosecutors and defense attorneys examined and cross-examined, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton asked jurors to write down any questions they had. Walton would then look through the papers, decide which questions were appropriate and pose them to the witness. Now, as the case heads to the jury, those queries are our best hints about what jurors are thinking. But last week there was a moment when we got a hint, not from a question that Walton asked, but from one he...

Steelers win Super Bowl XL, 21-10 Tribune-Review Sunday, February 5, 2006 Steelers win Super Bowl XL, 21-10 -- their fifth.

Schröder in surprise comeback to close poll gap with Merkel · Likelihood of left-right 'grand coalition' grows · Germany in danger of drift into political instability Luke Harding in Berlin Monday September 12, 2005 The Guardian Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is closing the gap on his conservative rival, Angela Merkel, according to the latest opinion polls, making it increasingly possible that the challenger could be forced into a "grand coalition" with the ruling Social Democrats (SPD). Tony Blair made a controversial intervention last night. In a statement released by the SDP he described Mr Schröder as "prudent and at the same...

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, the well-known forensic pathologist and coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., told listeners of a morning radio show that he was denied permission to observe Terri Schiavo's autopsy, despite the wishes of her parents. A medical examiner in Pinellas County, Florida, is conducting an autopsy that could help determine what Schiavo's state of consciousness was and whether she was abused by her husband, as the Schindlers allege. Wecht, appearing on the syndicated America's Morning Show with Quinn and Rose, based in Pittsburgh, said that an investigator working for the Schindler's law firm had called him on Thursday...

Pete Williams just reported former national security advisor has entered a guilty plea - misdemeanor charge of mishandling documents.

DES MOINES, Sept. 26 - They're off and voting in Iowa, even before all the corn has been harvested. In the state's 20 most populous counties, which account for about 60 percent of the vote, more than 140,345 absentee ballots had been applied for as of last Wednesday, according to a survey of county auditors by The Des Moines Register. Under Iowa law, anyone can request an absentee ballot, no questions asked, and roughly three times as many Democrats as Republicans did so in the counties studied by The Register. Early voting began on Thursday, 40 days before Election Day....

A Republican state senator from Roswell and several people from other political parties on Saturday called for state District Court Judge Wendy York to resign. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's federal disclosure records show a $1,000 campaign contribution earlier this year from Wendy E. York of Albuquerque. Meanwhile, the judge ruled Friday that Ralph Nader cannot run in New Mexico as an independent presidential candidate, knocking him off the state's Nov. 2 ballot. State judges may contribute to a political organization, according to New Mexico's Code of Judicial Conduct. But York should have recused herself from the Nader case, state...

A new poll commissioned by the National Jewish Democratic Council says American Jews will still vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, despite US President George W. Bush's policies toward Israel, which have been widely praised by the Jewish community. The poll, released on Monday, said American Jews preferred Kerry to Bush by a 75 to 22 percent margin. The survey of 817 likely Jewish voters was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research between July 26 and 28, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent. Respondents said in 2000 they had voted for Vice President...

According to some Democratic lawmakers, you aren't capable of voting this year without a United Nations monitor making sure you get it right. Nine prominent Democrats, elected members of the House of Representatives, have sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, begging him to send UN monitors to oversee the 2004 election. Florida representative Eddie Bernice Johnson led the latest effort to subvert the sovereignty of the United States and place us under the control of the increasingly-corrupt United Nations. Let me get this straight. A group of Democrats want to bring some people from countries like North Korea,...

I don't do this very often, so forgive me. I was watching the ABC program tonight on Donald Rumsfeld at 8 P.M. EST. Right in the middle of the show, here appears Richard Clarke, and down in the corner is the little ABC logo with the words ABC (SOMETHING) CONSULTANT. (Not sure what TYPE of consultant, but definitely CONSULTANT.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican National Committee on Friday asked about 250 television stations to pull a liberal group's ads critical of President Bush. The RNC sent the stations a letter Friday suggesting the outlets may be complicit in breaking campaign finance laws if they air the MoveOn.org Voter Fund ads. It asked them to decline to broadcast the ads. The RNC argues that the group, financed by so-called "soft money," is spending it on ads to influence a federal election. The campaign finance law broadly bars the use of such corporate, union and unlimited donations to influence federal elections....

California Appeals Court - Recall should be blocked!!!

Posting this belatedly, but toward the close of the show when discussing the NJ decision, Novak half-jokingly proposed that since Fisher is so far behind in the Pennsylvania Governor's polls, maybe Governor Schweiker, who has turned out to be somewhat of a hero after the Pennsylvania mine situation, should replace Fisher on the ballot.

CARACAS, Venezuela - A Venezuelan judge has dismissed homicide charges against three men accused of shooting from a bridge at an opposition march in April that provoked a brief coup against President Hugo Chavez. Judge Norma Sandoval ruled that videotape allegedly showing the men shooting at protesters was inadmissible as evidence, Maikel Moreno, a lawyer for one of the defendant, Richard Penalver, said Friday. In her ruling issued late Thursday, Sandoval ordered Penalver, who is a Caracas city councilman, Rafael Cabrices and Henry Atencio released from custody. The three are members of President Hugo Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party. The...