Free Republic

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

We request that Obama be impeached for the following reasons: 1. He proclaimed war in libya without getting congress approval first. Article I, Section 8- Only congress can approve to start war. 2. Obamacare is unconstitutional. Forcing US citizens to get health insurance whether they want it or not. 3. Obama disrespects our Constitution calling it flawed and trying to change it even after taking this oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution...

........................................Now, the episode has taken another turn as more information emerges about what actually happened in Benghazi over the seven hours of the attack – and what US military assets might have been available to protect or perhaps rescue the American diplomatic personnel under fire.On Sunday, the Associated Press carried a long report from Tripoli suggesting that a planned attack likely was only incidentally connected to the crude YouTube video about the Prophet Mohammad that sparked protests across the Middle East and North Africa.Neighbors of the US consulate in Benghazi “all described the militants setting up checkpoints around the compound...

Yes, they are preoccupied with the prospect of a double-dip recession and unemployment. But two topics that were raised again and again by people I met in Michigan this week were the brewing scandals surrounding Republican-led investigations into Solyndra and Operation Fast and Furious. Solyndra is the solar energy company trumpeted by Obama as part of the “green jobs” future and given $535 million loan guarantees from federal government stimulus funds. In September it filed for bankruptcy and its premises were raided by the FBI. Operation Fast and Furious was a botched sting operation run by the Alcohol, Tobacco and...

After more than a year of wrangling, obfuscation and name-calling, Steven Rattner has effectively 'fessed up to having done wrong. The former car czar and private equity boss today agreed to pay $10 million in restitution to the State of New York, for his role in the state's public pension kickback scandal. He also has agreed to refrain from "appearing in any capacity" before any New York pension fund for the next five years. This follows Rattner's earlier deal with the SEC, under which he agreed to repay $6.2 million and agree to a two-year ban from the securities industry....

The financier Steven L. Rattner (Obama's lead auto industry overhaul administrator), has agreed to pay $10 million to settle civil charges that he engaged in a kickback scheme involving New York state’s pension fund... Rattner will pay restitution to the state pension fund and will be barred from appearing in any capacity before a public pension fund within the state for five years. He did not admit any wrongdoing... Rattner accused Mr. Cuomo of “extortion” and said this conduct was “not the kind of behavior I think we want out of an attorney general or a governor.” Cuomo was infuriated...

The owner of a historic Kailua house beside the one the president uses has his property bill cut The absentee owner of a multimillion-dollar home being used by President Barack Obama's visiting entourage gets one of the biggest residential property tax breaks on Oahu. Kevin Comcowich, the Houston investment executive who purchased the nearly 5,000-square-foot home for $9 million in January 2008, was charged $300 in property taxes this year. Last year, Comcowich paid nearly $30,000 in taxes for his 1-acre beachfront spread in Kailua. In 2007 the tab — paid by the previous owner — was about $48,000, according...

...Since Obama made that speech on January 21, it has been clear that President must have had his fingers crossed underneath the podium, because openness has been missing from this administration. The latest example of Presidential cover-up has do do with the firing of Gerald Walpin. Until a few months Walpin was the Inspector General for AmeriCorps. He claims he was fired because he made the mistake of Investigation a friend of Michelle Obama (FOO) Kevin Johnson, former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, California, for the misuse of AmeriCorps funds. Pressed for a reasoning for the dismissal...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate—or undercut—White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday the government would release electronic records about the program, and President Barack Obama has pledged greater transparency for his administration. But the Transportation Department, which has collected details about 157,000 rebate requests, won't release sales data that dealers provided showing how much U.S. car manufacturers are benefiting from the...

FBI Director Robert Mueller's job may be in jeopardy. Word is out the FBI is investigating Sacramento Mayor and former NBA Star Kevin Johnson for his dealings with the St. HOPE Academy and AmeriCorp. That is the same AmeriCorp who had Gerald Walpin as its inspector general for AmeriCorps. And it is the same Kevin Jonson who is a friend of the President. Mr. Walpin's investigation of Johnson is what got him fired. Because he was investigating the president's friend, Walpin, whose position as an inspector general is supposed to be protected from political appointees and the White House, was...

For the first time since 1883, the University did not award the Laetare Medal, the highest honor bestowed American Catholic, on Sunday, normally given on Commencement day. The lack of award did not go without notice - Judge John T. Noonan, the 1984 recipient of the Medal, gave an address in lieu of that of its recipient. The 2009 winner, Mary Ann Glendon, declined the award on the basis of President Obama's presence at Commencement. Noonan used the address to speak about "a great debate" in America about "the inviolability of human life in a mother's womb," offering his thoughts...

A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud. The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm....

The bright hopes for a new political beginning that often accompany the inauguration of an Illinois legislature will be overshadowed by awkwardness Wednesday when Gov. Rod Blagojevich oversees the swearing-in of a Senate that will sit in judgment at his pending impeachment trial. "I think it's going to be eerie," Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) said Tuesday. "It's like being a part of a family where you're in a position to try to convict a family member—because we worked with him. Whether we liked him or didn't like him, we've been with him for six years." On Wednesday, Blagojevich is...

Now I understand why Barack Obama chose Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. Like his boss he is a magnet for scandal. This time the scandal involves immigration and the last President he worked for the Teflon-coated Bill Clinton. When Emamuel worked for Bubba, he bent the naturalization of immigrant rules to buy Clinton more votes for re-election: "He got every rule changed in the hiring of adjudicators so they could naturalize more Mexican nationals to vote for Bill Clinton, not to mention getting the rules changed to naturalize anyone," regardless of their criminal background, said the official,...

Blagojevich scandal ensnares Obama, Jesse Jackson Jr. Kansas City Star, MO By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist The scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is spreading. ... http://voices.kansascity.com/node/3036Blagojevich Scandal Could Mean Trouble For Obama Team U.S. News & World Report, DC - Dec 10, 2008 ... ensnared in the scandal." The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, reports Axelrod "lists Mr. Blagojevich on his firm's Web site as one of his clients, ... http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_081210.htmThe Blagojevich scandal http://clivecrook.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/12/the_blagojevich_scandal.phpUnion Linked to Corruption Scandal http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/us/politics/12union.html?ref=us

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted President-elect Barack Obama "to put something together…something big" in exchange for going along with Obama's choice to fill his vacant US Senate seat, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed following the Governor's stunning arrest."I've got this thing and it's f***ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just not giving it up for f***in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there," Blagojevich said in a phone call secretly recorded by the FBI on November 5, the day after the election, according to the affidavit.(snip)Told by two other...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Full release from U.S. Attorney's Office: Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff, John Harris, were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges alleging that they and others are engaging in ongoing criminal activity: conspiring to obtain personal financial benefits for Blagojevich by leveraging his sole authority to appoint a United States Senator; threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of Wrigley Field to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical of Blagojevich; and to obtain campaign contributions in exchange...