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Franklin Raines — the ousted cooked-books chief of mortgage giant Fannie Mae — is being accused of corrupting its directors by giving them $12M in charity checks to ignore his scandals. A federal shareholder suit yesterday claims that Raines lavished directors with generous donations to their favorite charities, funneled through a Fannie Mae charitable foundation he controlled for serving the needy......to "dominate his fellow board members" and prevent them from challenging his activities in a mounting $10.8 billion accounting scandal at Fannie Mae. Raines who was chairman of Fannie Mae's board and the its charitable foundation, directed the money to...

Task Force Fury and Task Force Catamount soldiers gathered to cheer on their teams or simply enjoy "a small slice of home." FORWARD OPERATING BASE ORGUN-E, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2006 — As the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks battled for American football supremacy in Detroit, around 60 of the U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika Province celebrated the United States’ biggest sports spectacle halfway around the world early Feb. 6. "Of course, you’d have your family and friends with you if you were watching the game in the states, but this is great too. I have no complaints at all."...

TUZ, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 10, 2006) – The Iraqi Army assumed responsibility of Forward Operating Base Bernstein in the northern Sallah-Dihn Province Jan. 5, as part of the transfer of security in Iraq from coalition forces to the Iraqi Army. The “Cobra” 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division took control of the base and responsibility for the security of the surrounding region from the “Balls of the Eagle” 2nd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during a transfer of authority ceremony. 600 joint missions paved way The transfer took place after many months of...

Here is a link to the article. Offering Abortion, Rebirth

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - What is it like to pal around with Bill Clinton? Rick Cleveland gives us the skinny in "My Buddy Bill," a fascinating and finely executed one-man show based on Cleveland's friendship with the former president. The friendship is over now, for reasons that become clear in the evening's most revealing episode. But no matter what you might have thought of Clinton going in, you're going to understand him much better on the way out. Cleveland met Clinton in 2000 when, as one of several writers on "The West Wing," he was taking a tour of...

David Gergen was questioned this morning during a CBS segment concerning the possibility of indictments to White House chief aide Karl Rove and Dick Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby. The “Early Show's” Bill Plante mentioned that the White House is behaving like it’s business as usual. Gergen responded: “Bill, I was in the Nixon White House during Watergate, and we pretended that we were all about business as usual. And we had a president who was talking to the portraits. It was not business as usual, but you have to say it.” Gergen later in the interview said: “This...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MICHAEL, Iraq, Aug. 29, 2005 — It has been nearly two months since the soldiers from 48th Brigade Combat Team have put “boots-on-the-ground” at Forward Operating Base Michael. The soldiers from Troop E, 108th Cavalry, 48th BCT, 3rd Infantry Division knew immediately what to do in order to become successful in accomplishing their mission: make the region safe for the Iraqi citizens south of Baghdad. To do this, they have worked on building a relationship based on trust with Iraq Army’s 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Division, said Capt. John H. Alderman, commander of the Griffin, Ga.-based...

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2005) — Governors from the Iraqi provinces of Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Diyala and Saladin met Aug. 24 at the Iraqi Army’s K-1 military installation near Kirkuk to discuss issues affecting north-central Iraq. Top coalition leaders from the region were also present at the event, including 42nd Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto and 116th Brigade Combat Team Commander Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, as well as the commanders of sister units in the 42nd division. Governors Mustafa Abdulrahman of Kirkuk, Dana Ahmed Majid of Sulaymaniyah, Raad Rashid Mullah Jowad of Diyala and Deputy...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HONOR, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 18, 2005) – Iraqi Army officers from the 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, trained on an important side of their profession during a coalition-sponsored exercise July 25. The U.S. military calls it Civil Military Operations, which includes missions such as providing humanitarian assistance to communities when needed, or conducting an economic assessment of a district in Baghdad. Civil affairs Soldiers from 4th Brigade Troops Battalion; 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment; and 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment, all of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, provided the training to the...

Conservatives can't stop whining about Hollywood, but the embarrassing reality is that they want to be hip, too. It's not easy. In the showbiz wrangling sweepstakes of 2004, liberals had Leonardo DiCaprio, the Dixie Chicks and the Boss. The right had Bo Derek, Pat Boone and Jessica Simpson, who, upon meeting the secretary of the interior, Gale Norton, congratulated her for doing "a nice job decorating the White House." Ms. Simpson may be the last performer in America who can make Whoopi Goldberg seem like the soul of wit. What to do? Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers have sunk,...

William F. Weld, a popular former governor of Massachusetts and prodigious fund-raiser, said yesterday that he was seriously considering running for governor of New York in 2006 if Gov. George E. Pataki and Rudolph W. Giuliani did not. Mr. Weld, a moderate Republican, is relatively unknown to many New Yorkers, yet his multimillion-dollar fortune and his colorful personality would clearly be assets for such a race. He was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, and Republican leaders in New York have said they will welcome his candidacy if Mr. Pataki does not run again, but until...

Ousted Fannie Mae CEO Franklin D. Raines has quite the gilded parachute to soften his landing. In addition to $19 million in severance payments, Raines, 55, gets a lifetime salary of $1.37 million. If he lives until 75, that's $27.4 million. Add: $21 million in stock already awarded, $23.8 million in future stock payouts, a life insurance policy, and an additional $23.8 million in performance-based options. That's on top of more than $17.5 million paid to Raines since 1999. The grand total is worth $140 million -- not bad for just six years on the job.

LITTLE ROCK — Linda Bloodworth Thomason hasn't been to Paris, Ark., but the town's name had a "poetic appeal" that prompted to her to use it as the setting of her first novel. "I've made it to Paris, France, but not to Paris, Arkansas," she joked. Thomason, co-creator of the television series "Designing Women" and "Evening Shade," says her novel about six friends who re-evaluate their lives around the time of their 40th birthdays is "an homage to people who live between New York and Los Angeles." The book is about Southerners adapting to social change and its intent...

An Army of OneWhy Wes Clark's coworkers hated him. It appears that Wesley Clark's political career will be remembered as one of those inexplicable and regrettable momentary fads, like flash mobs, the XFL, or Tickle-Me-Elmo. Or New Coke, although even that syrupy misstep probably could have gotten more than 13 percent in New Hampshire.So there's less need to understand why Clark was so hated by so many people he worked with in the Army than when he was a potential viable candidate. Nonetheless, Clark is, at press-time, ahead in Oklahoma — he could still add himself to the list of...

Dh back from his IBEW Local 43 Union Meeting states "Uncle Buck" (Bill Towsley) announced that Bill and Hillary Clinton would be appearing/attending the Annual Clambake held at The Spinning Wheel in N. Syracuse, NY. Members were admonished to refrain from sloppy drunkeness and mind their manners. The Annual Clambake is to be held on July 12th, 1-6pm. Spinning Wheel Pavilion, 7384 Thompson Rd., N. Syracuse Members $20.00, Non-members $50.00 Tickets must be purchased by July 2nd. Tickets will not be sold at gate!

MARCH 12, 2003 WASHINGTON WATCH By Richard S. Dunham General Clark: Marching on Washington? The former NATO commander may vie for the Democratic Presidential nod. Lots of insiders like his credentials, but he doesn't have much time As the field of Democrats jockeying for the chance to take on President George W. Bush in 2004 grows, party activists have an eye on one prospective candidiate who hails from Arkansas, is a former Rhodes Scholar, and grew up humbly in an adoptive home. Sound familiar? This time the fresh face from Little Rock is retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark,...

RNC RESEARCH WHO IS AL SHARPTON? A Liberal Democrat Out Of Touch With America “In the last decade it is hard to tell what a Democrat stands for. It is time for Democrats to be Democrats to be Democrats. And that’s one of the reasons I am embarking on this race.” (Rev. Al Sharpton As Quoted In Mike Glover, “Sharpton Vows To Engage In All Early Tests,” The Associated Press, 2/10/03) THE FACTS ABOUT AL SHARPTON (D-NY) SHARPTON HAS AN ULTRA-LIBERAL AGENDA FOR AMERICA * Sharpton Is Against The Bush Tax Cut, Welfare Reform, The Death Penalty, Opportunity Scholarships And...

I just stumbled upon CNN's Crossfire. Chief hatemonger James Carville put up a quote of Franklin Graham that said Islam was an evil religion. Carville asked his conservative "guest" if she agreed.When the guest said yes, Carville blew a gasket. She said, "But James, they killed 3,000 of our citizens." Carville went through one of his usual idiotic, hate-filled rants, saying, "They pray in their mosques, they work, pay taxes, and Godd****it, I don't want you telling me to hate them!" (paraphrase)As usual, the liberal audience nearly gave him a standing ovation. The "Christian Arab" liberal guest with him also...