Free Republic

Want to influence a casino bid? Polish your corporate image? Not be labeled a racist? Then you need to pay Al Sharpton. For more than a decade, corporations have shelled out thousands of dollars in donations and consulting fees to Sharpton’s National Action Network. What they get in return is the reverend’s supposed sway in the black community or, more often, his silence. Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal met with the activist preacher after leaked e-mails showed her making racially charged comments about President Obama. Pascal was under siege after a suspected North Korean cyber attack pressured the studio to...

Al Sharpton is being paid thousands of dollars to not cry 'racism' at large corporations, it is claimed**SNIP** For more than 10 years, firms have reportedly handed over enormous donations and consulting fees to the activist preacher's National Action Network (NAN) In return for their cash, they have received Sharpton's supposed influence in the black community - or more often, his silence on the matter, it is reported. 'Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with him,' said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal &...

<p>Sources tell FOX 32 News that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is willing to give up his 2nd Congressional District seat if he's given disability when he steps down.</p> <p>Jackson Jr. was re-elected to his tenth term but last month, sources say, he applied for a disability package--what could be his only income if he resigns. It is expected to take a couple of weeks for Congress to approve or deny the request.</p>

The Department of Justice is executing a "Witch Hunt" against banks. Through the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Attorney General Eric Holder is forcing banks to "relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination," according to a published report by Investor's Business Daily after reviewing court documents. The DOJ has already extorted $20 million for weak and poor credit loans from banks that "settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist." The DOJ admits another 60 banks are already under...

An estimated 700,000 Americans died in the Civil War, one of the bloodiest times in our nation’s history. It’s hard to imagine anything quite measuring up in this day and age — but Jesse Jackson can. On Thursday’s “Martin Bashir” on MSNBC, Jackson, the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said the budget battle on the Republican side represents an effort to make the federal government “dysfunctional.” “[T]his really is a Civil War fight,” Jackson said. “This is making the federal government dysfunctional on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. These guys will support three wars. They’ll...

Obama pleads for $50 billion in state, local aidThis is it. This is the new economy. President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid "massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters" and to support the still-fragile economic recovery. Last year's stimulus was going to create 3-4 million new jobs and keep unemployment under 8%. Now we have another emergency: In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year's huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy's free fall,...

Al Gore, who has reversed his political fortunes to become a potential contender in the 2008 presidential race, made an emotional return to Congress Wednesday in an appeal for an even more dramatic rescue—saving the planet. Gore—who is one of voters' top choices for the Democratic presidential nomination even though he says he's not running—implored lawmakers to adopt a list of policy prescriptions to stop global warming. Fresh off a triumphant Academy Awards appearance in which his climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won two Oscars, Gore drew overflow crowds as he testified before House and Senate panels about a...

ELIOT Spitzer's campaign for governor has received a major boost from celebri ties like Barbra Streisand ($1,000), George Steinbrenner ($15,000) and Christie Brinkley ($1,250). The Post's Kenneth Lovett reports Spitzer raised a hefty $10.7 million during the past six months, with contributions also from Don Henley ($10,000), Edward Norton ($15,000), Ben Affleck ($1,000), Jets owner Woody Johnson ($10,000), NBA Com missioner David Stern ($5,000), Ivanka Trump ($1,000), Robert (son of George) Soros ($25,000), John Kerry's stepson Chris Heinz ($1,500), Robert Kennedy Jr. ($200), public relations powerhouse How ard Rubenstein ($11,000), and Laurie David, the activ ist wife of "Seinfeld" co-creator...

Thursday February 9, 6:58 PM EST By Ed Leefeldt NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc. (AIG), the world's largest insurer by market value, on Thursday agreed to pay $1.64 billion to settle charges of fraud, bid-rigging and improper accounting, the biggest regulatory settlement by a single company in U.S. history. The settlement with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department ends a long-running investigation of the company, and was widely anticipated. It does not resolve pending cases against former AIG chief executive Maurice...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson said Tuesday that Wall Street has "a long way to go" in establishing parity for minorities. Jackson said access to capital is the final stage after the ending of legal slavery and segregation and the winning of the right to vote "in our struggle to make this a more perfect union". In an interview before a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York called "Diversity on Wall Street: the quest for equity and parity," Jackson said: "Wall Street is the ultimate mountain to be climbed." Jackson cited the U.S. mutual fund...

Court Rules Jesse Jackson Must Face Civil Trial for Assault and Civil Rights Violations Judicial Watch represents Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson in claims against Jackson (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes corruption, today announced that on January 17, 2006, Jesse Lee Peterson, et al., v. Jesse Jackson, et al. (BC 266505) will go to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court after a ruling last week by Judge George H. Wu. Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit against Jackson, his son Jonathan, and others on behalf of Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who was the victim...

Bush-Jackson meeting angers GOP blacks Private consultation 'amounts to aiding and abetting a hustler' Posted: August 3, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. Subscribe to Insight at WorldNetDaily's online store and save 71 percent off the cover price. By Kenneth R. Timmerman © 2003 News World Communications Inc. Black Republicans are roiling with anger and incomprehension after a meeting between George W. Bush and Rev. Jesse Jackson that followed the president's address to the National Urban League in Pittsburgh....

Humility Becomes HimOn Phil Donahue's MSNBC program last night, Jesse Jackson described himself as the most 'inspirational black Amercian of all time.''No one has inspired more blacks for hope in America than I have,' he modestly declared.Take that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.!Here is the whole transcript (link)