Free Republic

Focus: The Economic Development Administration, U.S. Commerce Dept....the Senate is currently seeking to increase EDA funding to $500 million a year from $300 million. Worse, this bill passed out of a Senate authorization committee with unanimous, bipartisan support. [snip] In April, the bureau reported that it gave a $2 million grant to build a "culinary amphitheater," wine tasting room, and gift shop at the Port of Benton and the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Richland, Wash. The same month, it gave $1.5 million to promote tourism in the Northern Mariana Islands. In January, it spent $1 million on...

Anthony Weiner, the US congressman who lied about lewd online exchanges with female admirers, was mired in further controversy on Tuesday, as women alleged he used his office to carry out the affairs. The married New York Democrat was under intense pressure as the reason he gave for not resigning – that he kept the sexual messages and pictures separate from his work – was challenged. A Las Vegas Blackjack dealer claimed he had called her for phone sex from a congressional line, while a pornographic actress alleged he offered to have someone from his "team" help her prepare misleading...

Rep. Anthony Weiner encouraged a porn star to lie about their on-line relationship and offered her the help of his public relations team, according to a report on Tuesday. Weiner sent emails to former X-rated performer Ginger Lee – to whom he’d previously acknowledged sending innocuous messages via Twitter – coaching her to deny that they had been communicating, reported TMZ, which obtained the messages and says the two had exchanged “scores of sexual emails over a long period of time.” “The key is to have a short, thought out statement that tackles the top line questions and then refer...

Rep. Charlie Rangel argues a House ethics panel violated his Constitutional due process rights in a 32-page submission to the committee. Rangel said the investigative subcommittee that brought charges against him did not give him enough time to provide a defense, violating the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause. The veteran lawmaker said he was prevented from answering the committee’s charges in a point-by-point repudiation of the allegations brought against him.

 “For forty years, Congressman Rangel has faithfully served the people of New York’s Fifteenth District,” Rangel said in the statement. “He has at all times acted in his constituents’ best...

Per Foxnews, a local affiliate is reporting Rangel has struck a deal. FNC is working to confirm...

Reports: Rangel Cuts Deal, Avoids Trial Embattled Representative Reportedly To Admit Ethical Wrongdoing NEW YORK (CBS) ― New York Congressman Charles Rangel has reportedly cut a deal to admit to ethical wrongdoing and avoid a potentially humiliating public trial. Harlem friends of Rangel tell CBS 2 they have been told that the details could be unveiled when the House Ethics Committee meets Thursday afternoon.

excerpt: "...the woman tells how Gore greeted her at the door of his room at the Hotel Lucia for the 11 p.m. appointment with a hug that "went on a bit long," then quipped "call me Al." Hotel staff had told the licensed therapist when booking her that the client was Al Gore, but that he was going under the name "Mr Stone." Gore allegedly asked her to focus on his abdominal area and adductors -- the inner thigh muscles -- as well as his back and other areas. While his lower body was covered with a sheet, she said,...