Free Republic

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb. There was no surprise there. Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign. After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the...

Doctors say deaths, can be linked to delays. A starkly different view than the one painted by VA inspector general’s report. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., questioning of acting VA IG, Richard Griffin, about whether IG was corruptly influenced by VA officials.... Miller banged his gavel to stop acting shill Griffin's speel. “You want the truth?” Griffin, incredulously. "As a physician” Katherine Mitchell, I believe the OIG case review systematically overlooked relationships between delays and deaths. Mitchell, joined by VA doctor Samuel Foot. Foot, "VA IG’s office used a criminal activity, as damage control, rather than using it to get to...

NEW ORLEANS — C. Ray Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans who was convicted in February on corruption charges, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday in federal court in New Orleans. Mr. Nagin was found guilty in February on 20 counts, most relating to kickbacks from contractors looking for city work. The sentence was imposed by Judge Ginger Berrigan of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Mr. Nagin, a Democrat, was arrested in January 2013, nearly three years after he left office. He was charged with taking kickbacks in the form of...

<p>Those big, ugly early birds began circling over the corporate headquarters of the revenue-camera industry last week when federal prosecutors announced that felony corruption charges had been filed against the Chicago city official in charge of one of the world’s largest red-light camera operations. More dominoes are expected to fall as FBI agents take the investigation to other cities.</p>

Less than two weeks ago, one of the most potent resources that law enforcement has had at its disposal in the fight against health care fraud suddenly fell out of the government’s toolbox... HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s announcement...that insurance offered through the Affordable Care Act’s new health insurance exchanges do not constitute “Federal health care programs” and thus are not within the scope of the federal anti-kickback statute. The significance of Secretary Sebelius’s decision is underscored by the critical role that the anti-kickback statute has long played in the government’s ability to impose significant penalties and obtain massive recoveries in...

(CNSNews.com) - On the first day of the “shutdown” of the federal government, when members of the U.S. Senate were going to the well of their house to point out that the shutdown would prevent the National Institutes of Health from starting clinical trials for cancer patients and others facing possibly terminal illnesses, the administration was giving $445,000,000 to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to the Daily Treasury Statement. That means PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio and Sesame Street got a taxpayer subsidy during the shutdown, but not would-be cancer patients at the NIH. The $445 million the Treasury...

The untold story of the Obama Administration’s widely reported, $335 million discrimination settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation is that, under a secret Justice Department program, a chunk of the money won’t go to the “victims” but rather leftist groups not connected to the lawsuit. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will determine which “qualified organizations” get leftover settlement cash and Democrat-tied groups like the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the open-borders National Council of La Raza (NCLR) stand to get large sums based on the

Incumbent Senator and former Governor Ben Nelson has fallen behind in new polling in Nebraska. The Democrat reportedly has been considering retirement, which should not be surprising at all, considering the data. Nelson has been polling poorly for a while, now. It may be at the point that Nelson's campaign would not even be able to get off of the ground. Nelson was polled against three candidates, including Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning. In two of the matchups, Nelson either led slightly or had a 6% lead. However, against Bruning, Nelson has quite the deficit. Considering that Bruning would have...

I think the GOP is better off without another politician that is for sale.

Do you think the keys to success in America are hard work, innovation or personal responsibility? Those concepts are for squares! Here's the new way to get ahead in the good old U.S. of A! NOTE: the author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thanks!

Back in January, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service searched the office of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, as well as the homes of the firms' founders. These companies reportedly received over $100 million in earmarks, thanks to Murtha's efforts. While it was unclear whether Murtha was a target of the investigations, the heightened scrutiny of some of his closest donors including Kuchera and PMA allies signals that the Feds may be inching closer to the 35-year-member of Congress, who is a constant nominee for the Congressional Porker of the Year. Eventually the...

Interesting Provisions That Recently Appeared In Senate Health Bill ? $100,000,000 For “Health Care Facility” “At A Public Research University In The United States That Contains A State’s Sole Public Academic Medical And Dental School.” NEBRASKA “As Part Of The Deal To Win Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's Support, The Federal Government Will Fund Nebraska's New Medicaid Recipients.” (“Ben Nelson's Medicaid Deal,” Politico, 12/19/09) VERMONT “The Health Care Overhaul Taking Shape In Congress Includes A Provision Pushed By Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy To Increase The State’s Medicaid Payments By $250 Million Over Six Years. The Provision, Also Supported By Sen. Bernie...

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill): Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes...

The Cost of Doing Business? /snip The dirty little secret in the pension world is that kickbacks are more common than people think in the private markets and hedge funds where funds try to bribe underpaid pension fund managers. How do I know? Because I have been approached in the past (very subtle, using words like 'facilitate') and witnessed my fair share of shady deals across many pension funds where I asked myself why the heck is this pension fund manager so gun-ho on that fund? The problem with kickbacks is even though you know they're happening, it's very hard...

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday declined to file corruption charges against a former California lawmaker, clearing the way for his campaign for Oakland mayor next year. ... The announcement ends an investigation into former state Senate leader Don Perata that stretches back to 2004 and extended to his family and circle of political associates. ... Federal prosecutors released a statement saying only that they were declining to file criminal charges but did not say why. They said they could not "disclose our deliberative process."

Peru's entire cabinet resigns over scandalLuis Jaime Cisneros, AFP Published: Friday, October 10, 2008 LIMA - Peruvian President Alan Garcia accepted Friday the resignation of his entire 13-member cabinet, in a bid to avert an opposition censure resolution in Congress over a oil-industry kickback scandal. "The president has accepted our resignations presented to him on Thursday, and will proceed to reshuffle the cabinet," outgoing prime minister Jorge del Castillo told reporters at government headquarters. The kickback scandal has been roiling since Sunday when nine audio tapes were leaked to news media covering backroom negotiations between government officials, a former congressman...

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent. The garden was never built. And now state records obtained by the Sun-Times show $65,000 of the grant money went to the wife of Kenny B. Smith, the Obama 2000 congressional campaign volunteer who heads the Chicago Better Housing Association, which was in charge of the project for...

Does the Milberg criminal case point to a broader ill in the securities class-action industry? That’s a question being raised by U.S. Rep. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House. In this letter expected to be sent to the House Judiciary Committee today, Boehner (pictured) asks the committee to investigate whether plaintiffs lawyers routinely pay kickbacks to shareholder clients, as Milberg is alleged to have done. The firm denies wrongdoing. Four of its former-once-senior partners have pleaded or agreed to plead guilty. The letter highlights comments that former Milberg partner William Lerach made to the WSJ earlier this year:...

A third pharmaceutical giant said Sunday it is being investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over alleged breaches of the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Eli Lilly and Company Limited said it had been asked to hand over documents to the SFO, a day after British peer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca announced they had received similar requests.

LOS ANGELES The co-founder of a prestigious New York law firm and two co-defendants pleaded not guilty Monday in Los Angeles to federal charges related to a major class-action kickback scheme. Melvyn Weiss entered his pleas to two counts of conspiracy and one count each of obstruction of justice and making false statements in relation to documents that were the subject of a grand jury subpoena. Not guilty pleas were also entered by plaintiff Seymour Lazar and attorney Paul Selzer to charges contained in a superseding indictment filed last month. Lazar, who allegedly received kickbacks, and Selzer are each charged...