Free Republic

The Detroit Lion Sunday became the first NFL team since the 2002 re-alignment to lose 100 games. Since 2002 re-alignment, the Lions are 31-100. The best team since the 2002 re-alignment, the Indianapolis Colts, last week became the first team to win 100 games. The Colts are 101-30, with 1 Super Bowl win, since the beginning of the 2002 season. The second worse team is the Oakland Raiders who are 41-90 since 2002. The second best team is the New England Patriots who are 98-33 since 2002.

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Army Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III will accompany Gerald R. Ford's family during the next several days of mourning, from Friday's services in California to the presidential burial on Wednesday, military officials said. As military escort, Swan will stay with Ford's immediate family throughout services in Palm Desert, at the Capitol in Washington and the final ceremonies in Grand Rapids, Mich. Swan, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1976, is commanding general of the Army Military District of Washington and Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. During the California services Friday and Saturday,...

Prosecutors eye Rolex to show a pattern of payoffs. Just when it seemed John Ford's legal troubles couldn't get worse, enter a $40,000 wristwatch of questionable origin. Federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday that Ford received the watch -- a diamond-studded Rolex Masterpiece -- in 2004 from prominent Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman. Ford once asserted he got the watch free of charge after using his influence to try to reduce state pollution fines levied against Hyneman, prosecutors said. Neither Hyneman nor Ford has been charged in connection with the watch transaction, yet prosecutors plan to use it as evidence that Ford, who...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Former state Sen. John Ford, already awaiting trial in a public corruption case, has been indicted on new charges over consulting deals he had with state contractors while serving in the Legislature, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Ford, a Memphis Democrat, resigned from the Legislature after he was indicted on charges of taking bribes in 2004's Tennessee Waltz undercover corruption investigation. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, and no trial date has been set. The latest charges claim that Ford was serving as a consultant to two contractors with TennCare, the state's expanded Medicaid program,...

It wasn't music but mudslinging that brought a national news team to Memphis Thursday to cover what "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams called one of the "hottest and dirtiest races of them all." Williams broadcast live from Beale Street, entering the Senate showdown between Democrat Harold Ford and Republican Bob Corker only to get caught in the middle. Advertisement Corker backers complained that the network was favoring the Democrat by broadcasting from what most consider Ford country. "It's such a crucial race, and the emotions are running so high," said Williams. "I just read an e-mail in the trailer...

Two city councilmen, including the uncle of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., were charged Thursday with taking thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for their votes to allow new billboards in the city. Memphis council members Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete face federal charges that they took nearly $7,000 and $12,000, respectively, from an informant. Edmund Ford comes from a prominent political family in Memphis: His brother is former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., the first black congressman in Tennessee, and his nephew is Ford Jr., the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in November. The informant paid the...

Memphis, Tenn. (WHBQ)- Even before the ink dried on the last criminal complaint, two more Memphis City Council members have an appointment with the law. The two council members were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury Friday afternoon, eight days after two other councilmen were accused of bribery.

Today I'd like to award my first "On the Pipe" awards to Memphis City Councilmen Rickey Peete and Edmund Ford, both arrested Thursday on public corruption charges. No insult to addicts intended, this award goes to anyone whose behavior is so bizarre, so devoid of any common sense, so head-scratchingly stupid that the only explanation is a serious addiction to the crack pipe. What makes Ford's and Peete's stupidity so memorable, so worthy of the "On the Pipe" award is the timing. In August and October, federal prosecutors say Ford took a total of $6,900 in bribes to get the...

With a hidden video camera rolling, Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford allegedly pocketed a $1,900 payoff from a government informant in October, then promised results. "I'll drum up seven (votes) or make somebody walk out." That was among allegations levied Thursday against council members Ford and Rickey Peete, who were arrested by FBI agents on federal bribery charges accusing them of accepting thousands of dollars from an informant in exchange for their votes. In the second major local public corruption investigation in two years, authorities say secret audio and video recordings show the pair received cash payments -- $12,000 for...

HERE'S THE COPY OF THE CITATIONIn June, police received a "Officer is Down" call at Poplar and Edgewood. Naturally police officers from all over were alerted to the scene. Upon arriving police started to direct traffic to allow squad cars to get into the area to find the downed policeman. A citation in lieu of arrest document shows that a Newton Ford was blocking the street. I might add that the name of one of the candidates for the 9th congressional district is Newton Jake Ford. The address was given for Newton Ford is the home address of County Commissioner...

Was the matriarch of a Memphis political dynasty a white woman who married into a black family? Or was she a black woman with a white forefather buried in her lineage, a past shared with millions of black people?And why does it matter?Vera D. Ford The race of Vera Ford, the paternal grandmother of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., came up when Harold Jr. declared she was white while campaigning for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee. His statement, first reported in December in a USA Today profile of the congressman, surprised many longtime Memphians who knew the Ford family and...

This Crime Family Has Certain Bragging Rights: This crime family can boast of having paid FBI Informant Tim Willis $33,000 Has it's own chaplain,(black cap) who endangered over 100 children in an unlicensed day care. Has a member (short fellow) who went from being a janitor,and security guard to a administrator at Juvenile Court. Has a member (wide black hat) who has been a part of many political camps, including now being a part of Redwing for Congress. And for fun they like to play cards. THE RACE CARD. THIS GROUP MAKES AL CAPONE AND HIS GANG LOOK LIKE...

UNION CITY, Tenn. (AP) - Congressman Harold Ford Junior of Memphis says his aunt, Ophelia Ford, got a "raw deal" in the disputed state Senate District 29 special election. He told the Union City Daily Messenger newspaper that the Senate should never have moved to oust her. Ophelia Ford, a Memphis Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Terry Roland by 13 votes to win the special election for the seat formerly held by her brother John Ford, who stepped down last May under federal indictment for bribery charges. Results of the election have been disputed after newspaper reports uncovered votes cast in...

Sir Isaac Ford,brother of Congressman Harold Ford uses the address of the family funeral home as his residence. Isaac is accused of voting for his aunt Ophelia in the Sept 15,election using the 12 south Parkway west address of the funeral home. As you will see from the data of The Shelby County Property Assessor's office,that he alone with his father Harold Ford Sr. Own a home in the SouthWind area of East Memphis,and has owned it since Jan of 2001. FOX13 went into the funeral home to find out if Isaac did in fact live there.They interviewed the secretary...

Boy, am I relieved. I thought I was going to have to wait for a neutral party to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the state Senate race in which Democrat Ophelia Ford beat Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes. But Big Brother has come to the rescue. In just two days, former congressman Harold Ford Sr. has completed an investigation into the five suspect votes cast Sept. 15 at a North Memphis polling site. The Miami-based Columbo claims the culprit is a white Republican female poll worker who rigged the vote as part of a GOP scheme to ruin...

Tennessee sues estate of James Ford Day care claim seeks $10.5 million By Tom Bailey Jr. baileytom@gomemphis.com June 4, 2002 The State of Tennessee has filed a $10.5 million claim against the estate of the late Dr. James Ford in connection with the operation of his day care business. The claim represents money the state has paid to Ford's centers for providing day care to impoverished children since May 1994, Probate Court documents show. The heirs comprise Ford's 11 siblings in the politically prominent family, plus James Ford's only child. As he left a Probate Court hearing Monday to head...