The spokesman for the American Issues Project, the independent group whose ad is the most negative of the cycle and links Obama to terrorism, says the group just filed a report naming its sole donor.
The donor, spokesman Christian Pinkston said, is Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who made his first fortune in chain pharmacies and is now listed as the 73rd richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $2.1 billion.
Simmons, a major Republican donor, gave maximum $2,300 contributions to Senator John McCain last year, as well as to former Governor Mitt Romney and to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
A two-year-old letter by Vice President Dick Cheney that push-ed a controversial Alaska natural-gas pipeline bill is getting renewed scrutiny because of recently disclosed evidence in the Justice Department's corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens. In a conversation secretly tape-recorded by the FBI on June 25, 2006, Stevens discussed ways to get a pipeline bill through the Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing the senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits. According to a Justice motion, Stevens told Allen, "I'm gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, 'Look ... you gotta get this done'." Two days later, Cheney wrote a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to "promptly enact" a bill to build the pipeline. The letter was considered unusual because the White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters. It also angered state Democrats, who accused Cheney of pushing oil company interests. The executive director of Cheney's energy task force later worked as a lobbyist for British Petroleum, one of three firms slated to build the pipeline. Read the whole story here.Please God, show us the way, we need to punish this huge ASS and send his corrupt ass to jail where he belongs!
Vern
Buchanan,
the
Republican
fundraiser
who
took
over
Katherine
Harris's
seat
in
southern
Florida,
is
the
fourth
richest
man
in
Congress.
With
assets
including
some
fifteen
auto
dealerships
in
Florida
and
elsewhere,
properties
in
several
states,
and
offshore
companies,
his
net
worth
is
estimated
to
be
well
over
$100
million.
First
elected
to
Congress
in
2006
by
only
369
votes
after
a
controversial
recount,
Buchanan
is
currently
in a
tight
rematch
with
Democrat
Christine
Jennings.
But
this
former
co-chair
of
the
Republican
National
Finance
Committee
and
top
fundraiser
for
Jeb
Bush
and
Senator
Mel
Martinez
may
find
his
career
derailed
by
seven
civil
suits
that
were
filed
against
him,
his
executives,
and
his
dealerships
over
the
past
three
months
in
Sarasota
County
and
Pasco
County
courts.
The
explosive
allegations
indicate
that
Buchanan
and
his
dealership
employees
may
have
taken
part
in
conspiracy,
fraud,
and
retaliatory
personnel
actions.
The
plaintiffs,
mainly
former
employees,
describe
incidents
in
which
Buchanan
and
his
staff
appear
to
have
violated
campaign
finance
laws,
hired
undocumented
workers,
bilked
customers,
threatened
employees,
sent
fraudulent
information
to
banks,
and
misappropriated
funds.
Additional
lawsuits
are
expected
soon.
On
August
13,
the
Florida
Democratic
Party
called
on
the
FBI
and
other
authorities
to
investigate
the
allegations
that
Buchanan
violated
the
law.
But
the
lawsuits
do
not
appear
to
be a
partisan
hit
job.
Three
of
the
former
employees
who
filed
lawsuits--Joe
Kezer,
Carlo
Bell,
and
Willie
Lee--are
longtime
Republicans,
while
two
others,
Scott
Russ
and
Richard
Thomas,
are
political
independents.
The
sixth
and
final
plaintiff,
Jeffrey
Sutton,
was
never
an
employee
of
Buchanan's
and
his
political
affiliation
could
not
be
confirmed.
Some
of
these
allegations
have
trickled
into
the
local
Florida
media
in
recent
weeks,
but
a
fresh
investigation
by
The
Huffington
Post
of
internal
company
documents,
public
records,
and
interviews
with
key
players
buttresses
the
plaintiffs'
charges
and
provides
a
more
detailed--and
shocking--picture
of
Buchanan's
apparently
extensive
wrongdoing.
"But
because prices are soaring, the
reality is the federal
government is raking in a bunch
of cash right now on the backs
of energy producers."
Those poor, poor
energy producers. With all the money
we're raking in from them, maybe the
energy companies can just pay for
that whole war in Iraq. Wasn't that
how it was supposed to work, anyway?
What an ass
puppet for Big Oil... Any one that
doesn't think this man pockets are
lined with Oil Money isn't
breathing!
Tell the House Judiciary Committee to hold Karl Rove in contempt and
send him to jail.
John McCain Crash Test Dummy -
5 Crashes at least 4 at taxpayers expense!
All
of the evidence, indications and
comments that the New York Times
published a flattering lie about
McCain's career on its front page
are easy for John McCain to refute.
All he needs to do is sign Standard
Form 180, which authorizes the Navy
to send an undeleted copy of
McCain's naval file to news
organizations. A long paper trail
about McCain's pending promotion to
admiral would be prominent in his
file. To date, McCain's advisers
have released snippets from his
file, but under constrained viewing
circumstances. There's no reason
McCain's full file shouldn't be
released immediately. There's also a
recent precedent for McCain signing
the simple form that leads to full
disclosure: Senator John Kerry
signed the 180 waiver, which made
his entire naval file public.
The
Navy may claim that it already
released McCain's record to the
Associated Press on May 7, 2008 in
response to the AP's Freedom of
Information Act request. But the
McCain file the Navy released
contained 19 pages -- a two-page
overview and 17 pages detailing
Awards and Decorations. Each of
these 17 pages is stamped with a
number. These numbers range from
0069 to 0636. When arranged in
ascending order, they precisely
track the chronology of McCain's
career. It seems reasonable to ask
the Navy whether there are at least
636 pages in McCain's file, of which
617 weren't released to the
Associated Press.
Some
of the unreleased pages in McCain's
Navy file may not reflect well upon
his qualifications for the
presidency. From day one in the
Navy, McCain screwed-up again and
again, only to be forgiven because
his father and grandfather were
four-star admirals. McCain's sense
of entitlement to privileged
treatment bears an eerie resemblance
to George W. Bush's.
Despite
graduating
in the
bottom 1
percent
of his
Annapolis
class,
McCain
was
offered
the most
sought-after
Navy
assignment
-- to
become
an
aircraft
carrier
pilot.
According
to
military
historian
John
Karaagac,
"'the
Airdales,'
the air
wing of
the
Navy,
acted
and
still
do, as
if
unrivaled
atop the
naval
pyramid.
They
acted as
if they
owned,
not only
the
Navy,
but the
entire
swath of
blue
water on
the
earth's
surface."
The most
accomplished
midshipmen
compete
furiously
for the
few
carrier
pilot
openings.
After
four
abysmal
academic
years at
Annapolis
distinguished
only by
his
misdeeds
and
malfeasance,
no one
with a
record
resembling
McCain's
would
have
been
offered
such a
prized
career
path.
The
justification
for this
and
subsequent
plum
assignments
should
be
documented
in
McCain's
naval
file.
McCain's
file
should
also
include
records
and
analytic
reviews
of
McCain's
subsequent
sub-par
performances.
Here are
a few
cited in
two
highly
favorable
biographies,
both
titled
John
McCain,
one by
Robert
Timberg
and the
other by
John
Karaagac.
John
McCain
has lost
five
aircrafts,
yet
nothing
of this
is
reported
in his
so
called
official
military
file
released
to the
press...
why not?
Regardless, McCain owes it to the country to release his complete naval records so that American voters can see his documented history and make an informed decision.
Vote Republican and
Get What You Deserve
Oh wow, can you hear
it...? Flip Flop, flip flop... it's
getting closer now... FLIP FLOP, FLIP
FLOP... yes there it is... it's the
mighty FLIP FLOP EXPRESS....
John McCain will not
leave office without
balancing the
federal budget. He
will not do it with
smoke and mirrors.
When he leaves
office, he wants to
leave a budget that
stays balanced after
he is gone... April
15, 2008 press
release
Republican John
McCain said
yesterday that
cutting taxes and
stimulating the
economy are more
important than
balancing the
budget... April
20, 2008
Lets see now, from Torture to Illegal
spying just to name a few... John McCain
is no straight talker, he's no
maverick... in fact, he is the conductor
on the Flip Flop Express. Oh no,
he's not even the engineer. Who's
the engineer? That would be
lobbyists!
By telling a crowd that
he’s super qualified to be President due
to his extensive foreign policy
experience dealing with Vladimir
Putin…the President of Germany.
This man is a total
embarrassment even for the GOP... Well,
at least the background he stood in
front of wasn’t
lime green, right?
It’s been more than a year since
Brave
New Films released its first The
Real McCain video, ‘John
McCain vs. John McCain,’ long before
the Free Ride McCain enjoys from “his
base,” the corporate media, helped him
coast relatively unscathed to the 2008 GOP
presidential nomination. Well, BNF has
now come out with a sequel and it’s a good one,
showing just how far off the rails the
Straight Talk Express has gone. So, without
further ado, we give you
The REAL McCain 2.
Click the pic
to listen to Cry Baby Blunt say it's a 3rd Bush term and he
likes it
Bless his little heart, let’s have House Minority
Whip Roy Blunt on every week to talk up John McCain’s
candidacy! Talk about living within a bubble, Blunt thinks
nothing of touting the McSame presidency as a Bush third term,
despite the record disapproval rating for the man and the vast
majority of the country believing that the country is going in
the wrong direction under his leadership. Apparently, Blunt
didn’t get the memo that McCain is trying to distance himself
from Bush and as Rep. Chris Van Hollen points out, on the two
most important issues to the American people, McCain absolutely
equals Bush. And Roy, that’s not such a good thing.
BLITZER: When it comes to domestic
economic issues, what is the major difference between
President Bush’s policies, what he wants to do, and what
John McCain would do if he were president?
BLUNT: Well, I think
what John McCain wants to do is continue these pro-growth
tax policies that our friends on the other side have been
talking for sixteen months now…
BLITZER: But that’s what President Bush
wants to do too.
BLUNT: And there is nothing wrong
with that. There is nothing wrong with that.
BLITZER:
So it would be in effect
a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies?
BLUNT: It would be. I think it
would be. And I think that’s a good thing.
You can’t go out in the country anywhere and find people who
believe that doubling the capital gains rate is a good
thing, that raising the highest rate on every small business
in America is a good thing, that eliminating those bottom
brackets, that mean that people at the lower levels of tax
pay less taxes than they would otherwise. In fact, I think
one of the reasons that the economy has slowed down the way
it has is the fact that there’s great uncertainty about how
those tax policies move forward.
What a tool... they don't even
know they're out of touch!
Who can you trust any more? Arianna Huffington swears that McCain told her he Did Not vote for George W Bush in 2000? Of course his campaign says, or at least implies says he did. A well known attorney type who blogs on her site the Huffington Post swears McCain described Bush as being dumber than a stump. Which obviously means that McCain either voted for a stump, or he's a big fat Republican liar! So, which is it? I think he's a typical big fat Republican liar!
Senator McSame and Do As I Say, NOT As I do - A USA Today Story
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has condemned the influence of "special interest lobbyists," yet dozens of lobbyists have political and financial ties to his presidential campaign — particularly from telecommunications companies, an industry he helps oversee in the Senate.
Of the 66 current or former lobbyists working for the Arizona senator or raising money for his presidential campaign, 23 have lobbied for telecommunications companies in the past decade, Senate lobbying disclosures show.
McCain has netted about $765,000 in political donations from those telecom lobbyists, their spouses, colleagues at their firms and their telecom clients during the past decade, a USA TODAY analysis of campaign-finance records shows.
It's unclear how much more money those lobbyists have raised for McCain. Eighteen of them are listed by the campaign as "bundlers," which are major fundraisers. McCain doesn't disclose how much each bundler has raised — unlike Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who categorize their bundlers by the amount they raise. For example, Clinton's "Hillraisers" have brought in more than $100,000 each.
McCain is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the telecom industry and the Federal Communications Commission. He has repeatedly pushed industry-backed legislation since 2000, particularly during a second stint as committee chairman from 2003 through 2005. His efforts to eliminate taxes and regulations on telecommunications services won him praise from industry executives.
People who lobbied for telecom companies on those issues include McCain's campaign manager, his deputy manager, his finance chief, his top unpaid political adviser and his Senate chief of staff. Telecom companies have paid the lobbying firms that employed those top five McCain advisers more than $4.4 million since 1999, lobbying records show.
McCain "does not do favors for special interests or lobbyists. Period," spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said in an e-mail. McCain opposed Internet access taxes, she said, as part of his "consistent record of opposing new taxes."
McCain has repeatedly sought restrictions on lobbyists and campaign donations, saying they create the appearance of corruption. "It is no coincidence that the most influential lobbyists with the greatest access in the nation's Capitol are also the most prolific political fundraisers," McCain says on his campaign website.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera said McCain is taking a "'Do as I say, not as I do' approach to campaign finance, ethics and lobbying reform."
Wow, is there any wonder why McCain and other Republicans want to vote to give the Telcoms IMMUNITY? I mean besides keeping their sorry ass President, his even sorrier VP and half the administration from going to jail?
KKOB Radio afternoon drive time news anchor Laura MacCallum quit her job last Thursday after the station’s news director pulled her stories about alleged vote-buying efforts at the recent Bernalillo County Republican Party delegate nominating conventions.
MacCallum, a 32-year radio and TV news veteran who has worked in Chicago,
Denver and Los Angeles, said the station caved to complaints from Congresswoman Heather Wilson’s Senate campaign about the stories. Wilson campaign spokeswoman Whitney Cheshire called the station to argue the unfairness of stories alleging that many delegates to the ward conventions were paid by Wilson’s and other campaigns to show up and cast their votes for certain delegates.
Critics of the alleged vote-buying effort say it was an unfair scheme to lock out any challengers to
Wilson’s senate and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White’s congressional campaigns
KKOB News Director Pat Allen said the stories were pulled, not because of the campaign’s complaints, but because he felt they lacked corroboration and that a source in some of MacCallum’s stories, former New Mexico Governor Dave Cargo, was bitter because he wasn’t elected as a delegate to the upcoming state Republican Party nominating convention.
But here’s the best part: one of the reasons cited by the station manager for not running the story is because it “would have been picked up by bloggers” and other news agencies if it was valid.
Another GOP Rep is under scrutiny and indicted. Wow, when will the culture of corruption within the Republican ranks ever stop rolling, rolling.... This time it's
Rick Renzi
Republican Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona.
A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.
Nearly a year ago, as RAW STORY reported, the embattled congressman denied newspaper reports and rumors that he planned on resigning, as the FBI probed. The congressman did relinquish all three of his House committee assignments, including his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Rep. Doolittle to Announce Retirement From Congress Amid Lobbying Scandal Investigation
Republican Rep. John Doolittle, who is under investigation in a congressional lobbying scandal, plans to announce Thursday that he'll retire from Congress at the end of his current term, according to a Republican official who spoke with Doolittle.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a public announcement in Doolittle's Northern California district.
The development comes as Doolittle, in his ninth term, faced growing political pressure from fellow Republicans who considered him a liability because of his involvement, along with his wife Julie, in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation. House Republicans, still smarting from losing control of Congress in 2006, are eager to put that ethics taint behind them.
Doolittle came close to losing re-election in 2006 in one of the most conservative districts in California, and some in his own party believed he couldn't survive this time around.
He planned to address supporters in Roseville, Calif., on Thursday morning and scheduled a press conference for afterward. His aides declined to disclose his plans in advance.
Doolittle has denied wrongdoing in his ties to Abramoff, the disgraced former lobbyist whom he considered a close friend. But after the FBI raided the congressman's Virginia home in April looking for information about event-planning work that Doolittle's wife did for Abramoff, the congressman was forced to step down from the powerful Appropriations Committee.
A flurry of grand jury subpoenas to the congressman and his aides followed. Party leaders pointedly declined to encourage Doolittle's re-election plans and his fundraising lagged.
Doolittle is contesting subpoenas for his congressional records as part of a larger dispute between Congress and the Justice Department over the scope of criminal investigations of lawmakers. That made it unlikely that his legal situation would be resolved before November's election.
For months Doolittle resisted suggestions that he retire, branding his GOP critics "weasels." But he faced mounting legal bills and at least two declared Republican primary opponents, with others waiting in the wings. Meanwhile, the Democrat he barely beat in 2006, Charlie Brown, collected 10 times as much money as the incumbent for a rematch.
He will be the latest in a string of House Republicans to announce their retirements, although most don't have his legal problems. Nearly 20 others are headed into voluntary retirement.
Doolittle has a number of ties to Abramoff, including interceding on behalf of the lobbyist's tribal clients. He received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from Abramoff and his clients, and unlike other lawmakers he never got rid of it.
Abramoff's firm employed Julie Doolittle for event planning work from 2002 to 2004, paying her a total of $66,690. Doolittle has said prosecutors seem focused on whether his wife did real work to earn the money. The fundraiser she was hired to plan ended up getting canceled after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
The Abramoff investigation already has led to a dozen convictions, including a guilty plea from now imprisoned former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio.
Yup, another one. I’ve run out of words. This guy wasn’t some volunteer or donor to the Republican Party, he was the aide to the Republican Chair of Orange County, CA and worked for Republican Rep. Dana Roherbacher. Wonkette has more background on the case.
A former GOP congressional aide has pleaded guilty to molesting two male teens, including the 13-year-old son of a family with whom the staffer lived while working on Capitol Hill.
37-year-old Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, who has worked previously for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), as well the Republican chair of California’s Orange County, agreed to two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, reports the Associated Press. A jury had deadlocked at an earlier trial this year — in which Nielsen was accused of engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old boy he met on the internet — and prosecutors were prepared to bring additional charges in a retrial.
The plea deal is expected to bring a sentence of three years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles Times. Read on…
Republican
Candidate and
Iowa Poll Leader
Mr. "Aw Shucks"
Huckabee
involved in
cover up!
Directly contradicting Mike "Aw Shucks" Huckabee's claims, his former senior aide tells the Huffington Post that, as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee indeed told the state's parole board that he supported the release of a convicted rapist.
The senior aide, Olan W. "Butch" Reeves, personally attended a controversial parole board meeting with Huckabee in Oct. 1996.
"The clear impression that I came away with from the meeting was that he favored Dumond's release," Reeves said, referring to convicted rapist Wayne Dumond. "And I can understand why board members would believe that to be the case."
This stands in stark contrast to Huckabee's assertion, repeated at a press conference today that he "did not ask [the board] to do anything." When asked directly about trying to influence the board, Huckabee responded: "No. I did not. Let me categorically say that I did not."
But, according to Reeves, Huckabee actually told the parole board members that the prison sentence meted out to Dumond for his rape conviction was "outlandish" and "way out of bounds for his crime." Huckabee believed there "was something nefarious" about the how the state's criminal justice system had treated Dumond, Reeves said.
Reeves's admission comes as a surprise since the interview was encouraged by Huckabee's presidential campaign. Reeves served as chief counsel to then-Gov. Huckabee until 2003, and was subsequently appointed by Huckabee as chairman of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission. Reeves has donated to Huckabee's presidential campaign. Someone is lying! Geesh, who has the most to lose... DUH!
As governor of
Arkansas, Mike
Huckabee
aggressively
pushed for the
early release of
a convicted
rapist despite
being warned by
numerous women
that the convict
had sexually
assaulted them
or their family
members, and
would likely
strike again.
The convict went
on to rape and
murder at least
one other woman.
Confidential
Arkansas state
government
records,
including
letters from
these women,
obtained by the
Huffington Post
and revealed
publicly for the
first time,
directly
contradict the
version of
events now being
put forward by
Huckabee.
While on the
campaign trail,
Huckabee has
claimed that he
supported the
1999 release of
Wayne Dumond
because, at the
time, he had no
good reason to
believe that the
man represented
a further threat
to the public.
Thanks to
Huckabee's
intervention,
conducted in
concert with a
right-wing
tabloid campaign
on Dumond's
behalf, Dumond
was let out of
prison 25 years
before his
sentence would
have ended.
"There's nothing
any of us could
ever do,"
Huckabee said
Sunday on CNN
when asked to
reflect on the
horrific outcome
caused by the
prisoner's
release. "None
of us could've
predicted what [Dumond]
could've done
when he got
out."
But the
confidential
files obtained
by the
Huffington Post
show that
Huckabee was
provided letters
from several
women who had
been sexually
assaulted by
Dumond and who
indeed predicted
that he would
rape again - and
perhaps murder -
if released.
In a letter that has never before been made public, one of Dumond's victims warned: "I feel that if he is released it is only a matter of time before he commits another crime and fear that he will not leave a witness to testify against him the next time." Before Dumond was granted parole at Huckabee's urging, records show that Huckabee's office received a copy of this letter from Arkansas' parole board.
The woman later wrote directly to Huckabee about having been raped by Dumond. In a letter obtained by the Huffington Post, she said that Dumond had raped her while holding a butcher knife to her throat, and while her then-3-year-old daughter lay in bed next to her. Also included in the files sent to Huckabee's office was a police report in which Dumond confessed to the rape. Dumond was not charged in that particular case because he later refused to sign the confession and because the woman was afraid to press charges. Imagine that, a Republican Presidential Candiate covering stuff up?
How ’bout this,
Norm?
YOU’RE WRONG.
You’ve always
been wrong and
you will
continue to
always be
wrong. Always.
The only
‘conspiracy’
here is the one
that gives you
any kind of
platform to
continue to
further your
utter and
complete
wrongness.
It is
not
every
day that
something
from a
blog
post
ends up
in the
CBS
Evening
News,
but then
again
using
children
with
cancer
to try
and
steal
the
White
House is
pretty
egregious.
A
diarist
at Daily
Kos
noticed
that the
dirty
tricksters,
who are
advancing
an
initiative
that
would
switch
20 of
California’s
electoral
college
votes to
the
Republicans
were
using
children’s
cancer
as a
bait-and-switch
to get
people
to sign
the
initiative
and
place it
on the
ballot.
The
Courage
Campaign
sent a
film
crew led
by Erik
Love to
go tape
Arno’s
signature
gatherers
(pdf)
and we
caught
them
red-handed.
That
video
was
featured
in the
weekend
edition
of the
CBS
Evening
news.
Watch
the
clip. It
is a
particularly
good
segment
on the
initiative.
And
special
thanks
to John
for
grabbing
that
clip for
us.
The
Courage
Campaign
has
turned
over the
full-uncut
video
and
documentation
by
Courage
Campaign
members
that
this is
part of
a
pattern
by these
dirty
tricksters.
We have
officially
request
a formal
investigation
into
their
apparently
illegal
signature
gathering
methods
by the
Secretary
of
State.
Please
help us
keep the
heat on
these
dirty
tricksters
by
contributing
on our
ActBlue
page
(don’t
forget
to
tip!).
Rudy
made the NYPD -- the
Heroes of 9/11 --
walk Judi Nathan's
dog. He made them
walk her dog!
Can you imagine? St.
Rudy is definitely a
scumbag! Mr. 9/11
Security 9/11...
makes real cops
scoop his
girlfriend's dog's
poop.
Forget about being
president.
In
the fall of 2001,
city cops
chauffeured Rudy
Giuliani's
then-mistress,
Judith Nathan, to
her parents'
Pennsylvania home
130 miles away on
the taxpayers' dime.
Records show that
city cops refueled
at an ExxonMobil
station down the
road from Nathan's
childhood home in
Hazleton on Oct. 20,
2001, while Giuliani
stayed behind in New
York attending 9/11
funerals.
A similar receipt
pops up at a
different Hazleton
gas station two
months later, when
Nathan apparently
went home for a
pre-Christmas visit
with her parents.
The records show
that - in addition
to using City Hall
funds to take
Giuliani and Nathan
to 11 secret trysts
in the Hamptons, as
has been previously
reported - taxpayers
were paying to ferry
Nathan on
long-distance trips
without Giuliani,
now a Republican
contender for
President.
Aides to the
presidential hopeful
insisted Friday that
all the expenses
were legitimate -
although Mayor
Bloomberg's gal pal,
Diana Taylor,
happily goes without
police protection.
Ex-NYC Mayor
Ed Koch: Giuliani
Acted Improperly,
Looks Like A
Cover-Up!
Oh my, how very,
very Kerik!
Republican
presidential
candidate Rudy
Giuliani acted
improperly and
appeared to be
covering something
up when he charged
the cost of his and
his girlfriend's
security detail to
obscure New York
City agencies,
former mayor Ed Koch
told the Huffington
Post.
On Wednesday, the
Politico reported
that in 2001,
Giuliani transferred
tens of thousands of
dollars in security
costs to non-related
city organizations
such as the New York
City Loft Board and
the Office for
People with
Disabilities (both
of which,
ironically, Giuliani
once proposed for
elimination). The
costs were for trips
Giuliani made to the
Hamptons, presumably
to visit his
then-mistress Judith
Nathan.
"There is something
improper about
charging costs to a
department other
than the NYPD," said
Koch. "They are the
ones who are
supposed to pick him
up no matter where
he is whether or not
it's in the city."
Koch, who served as
the mayor of New
York City from 1978
to 1989, said that
the episode gave off
the appearance that
Giuliani, who was at
the time married to
his second wife
Donna Hanover, was
trying to hide his
affair. He also
argued that
providing Judith
Nathan her own
personal protection
(when she was not a
member of the first
family) constituted
an even more
flagrant misuse of
taxpayer money.
"I found it strange
that his lady friend
was given
protection," said
the long-time New
York politico. "That
was bizarre. She's
not the city's
responsibility. Rudy
is the city's
responsibility. Your
wife and his
children get
protection, and
that's understood.
But certainly not
your lady friend."
Koch, a Democrat,
supported Giuliani's
initial campaign for
mayor in 1993. But
he later soured,
writing a series of
columns for the New
York Daily News in
the mid-1990s that
criticized Giuliani,
as well as a 1999
book titled
"Giuliani: Nasty
Man." As for
Giulaini's current
run at the White
House, Koch is not a
fan.
"I'm just amazed
that Giuliani is
doing as well as
he's doing," said
Koch. "He doesn't
deserve it."
Agreed. But I have
to ask, how is this
much different from
Bernard Bailey
"Bernie" Kerik
using an apt.
supposedly used for
firefighters at
ground zero to have
his affair with
Judith Regan?
I mean these guys
are two peas in a
pod. So why is
the mainstream media
so very, very quiet
about St. Rudy?
Appearing on the CBS
Early Show,
Politico's John
Harris was asked if
Giuliani's answer
about the potential
scandal was "enough
to make it go away."
"Well, for people
who are interested
in the
details of
the story that Ben
Smith broke on
Politico yesterday,
no it's not," he
said. "Because the
question wasn't
whether he had
security...the
question is why was
he hiding security
expenses for his
relationship, at
that time still an
extra-marital affair
with Judith Nathan,
why was he hiding
them in obscure city
agencies?"
Because he learned a
lot from
Bernard Bailey
"Bernie" Kerik.
There's Nothing Like A BUSH Crony - its cronyism at it's finest! Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank—amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend—he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official. TOP REPUKE Earmarks Millions for firm under investigation - IS THERE NO SHAME? Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."
McConnell tucked money for three weapons projects for BAE Systems into the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate approved Oct. 3. The Defense Department failed to include the money in its own budget request, which required McConnell to intercede, said BAE spokeswoman Susan Lenover. Oh I see, kind of like those WMD in Iraq?
BAE is based in Great Britain but has worldwide operations, including a Louisville facility that makes naval guns and employs 322. McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election. United Defense Industries, which BAE purchased two years ago, pledged $500,000 to a political-science foundation the senator created, the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville.
In June, BAE confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating possible corruption in its Saudi Arabian deals. According to British media reports, BAE set up a slush fund with hundreds of millions of dollars in a Washington, D.C., bank to bribe Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan in order to win weapons contracts. Bandar, who heads the Saudi National Security Council, has denied the allegation.
BAE cannot discuss the allegation, Lenover said.
"We can't really comment on it because it's an ongoing investigation," Lenover said. "We're continuing to cooperate."
Since BAE publicly disclosed the federal investigation, causing its stock to drop nearly 8 percent, its chief executive officer has announced his retirement earlier than expected and the company retained Britain's former lord chief justice to lead an internal ethics review.
Although the current controversy focuses on Saudi Arabia, internal records from the U.S. State Department reveal that diplomats also have worried about how BAE won weapons contracts in South Africa, Austria, Tanzania and Qatar.
The "Dukester" Fraud and the Prostitute SAN DIEGO -- A prostitute whom prosecutors say a defense contractor provided to former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham testified Wednesday that the congressman fed her grapes as she sat naked in a hot tub before they headed to a bedroom at a Hawaiian resort.
The woman spoke at the trial of Brent Wilkes, who is accused bribing Cunningham with $700,000 in cash and perks in exchange for help securing about $90 million in government contracts. Wilkes has denied the charges.
Donna Rosetta said she was chauffeured to a private villa at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Kamelua, Hawaii, in August 2003 by an escort service she worked for. Cunningham and Wilkes invited her and a second woman to undress and slide into a hot tub before Cunningham invited her upstairs, Rosetta said. Likely, this is only the tip of Republican corruption. Can't wait to see who else is snared in this one.
The GAY Blades in the GOP keep multiplying
Yet another resignation in another GOP gay scandal!
Washington State lawmaker Richard Curtis resigned his office tonight after a man he allegedly paid for sex spoke to the media about the encounter. Curtis is the third conservative lawmaker in just as many months to resign amid allegations of soliciting gay sex. CNN noted similarities between the seemingly 'pressured' resignations in this and other Republican scandals involving homosexuality.
"I sincerely apologize for any pain my actions may have caused," Curtis wrote in a statement. "This has been damaging to my family, and I don't want to subject them to any additional pain that might result from carrying out this matter under the scrutiny that comes with holding public office."
The Associated Press reports, "Three days earlier, Curtis had insisted to his local newspaper that he was not gay and that sex was not involved in what he said was an extortion attempt by a man last week. But in police reports, Curtis said he was being extorted by a man he had sex with in a Spokane hotel room. The other man contends Curtis reneged on a promise to pay $1,000 for sex."
Wisconsin GOP chair faces charges in enticement of teenage boy
Brown County GOP Chairman Donald Fleischman has resigned his post, says a spokesperson, after being accused of enticement and fondling of an underage boy, reports the Green Bay Press-Gazette Saturday.
Fleischman, 37, is free after posting a $20,000 bond on September 28. "My client is innocent of the charges," says attorney Jeff Jazgar, who "declined to discuss specifics."
"Our plan is to get some witnesses to testify and present enough information to dismiss the case."
The boy was found by police in Fleischman's home on two occasions in late 2006 while being sought as a runaway from Ethan House, a home for at-risk youth. Now 17, he says he stayed with Fleischman at his house and a cabin, where he was provided with alcohol and cannabis, and regularly fondled.
On November 19, 2006, according to a September 7th complaint obtained from the WisPolitics Courtwatch Blog, the boy in question was found hiding in a bedroom closet, and a pipe was found in the house, which tested positive for THC. Shortly after, on December 8, 2006, Fleischman said he was trying to convince the boy, discovered again in the home, to turn himself in as a runaway.
Fleischman faces two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child, and one count of exposing himself to a child. He returns to court on October 29.
Another Republican elected official– a pal of David Diapers Vitter no less– caught toe-tappin’ in the boys room! And he wants wanted to be a state senator too! Yesterday’s Times-Picayune painted another dismal picture of another Republican pervert who trawls from public restroom to public restroom looking for… love? Well, looking for something. Joey DiFatta is the chairman of St. Bernard Parish Council and a prominent Republican leader (until 2004 on the GOP state party Executive Committee). He just withdrew from his state senate race, after his arrests for lewd behavior in a public restroom were made public. Read more…
The report said DiFatta slid his foot into the deputy’s stall and tapped the deputy’s foot. In the report, Conley noted that such activity is common among men to indicate a willingness to participate in sex.
The deputy inside the stall, Detective Wayne Couvillion, responded by tapping his foot, and DiFatta reached under the partition and began to rub the deputy’s leg, the report states.
The detective asked DiFatta, “What do you want?” according to the report, and he replied, “I want to play with you.”
The U.S. military reports appear to corroborate the Iraqi government’s contention that Blackwater was at fault in the shooting incident in Nisoor Square, in which hospital records say at least 14 people were killed and 18 were wounded.
“It was obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong,” said the U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident remains the subject of several investigations. “The civilians that were fired upon, they didn’t have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP or any of the local security forces fired back at them,” he added, using a military abbreviation for the Iraqi police. The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, the official said.
Yesterday, over “strong opposition” from the White House, the House passed “the Blackwater Bill” by a whopping veto-proof 389-30 that would expand US court jurisdiction to all US civilian contractors working in combat zones, and Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry are said to be proposing to similar legislation in the Senate.
The ad below is a response to Limbaugh's use of the phrase "phony soldiers" on the air last week, a term he used following a caller's complaint that the press never talks to "real soldiers," instead speaking to troops critical of the war in Iraq that "come up out of the blue and spout to the media."
Today, VoteVets.org is releasing this ad, which will air on FOX News and CNN, starting tomorrow. A similar version will be on Rush Limbaugh's radio show in Washington, D.C. and his home market of West Palm Beach. And, at the same time, Senator Harry Reid is leading the charge on the Hill, challenging Rush host Clear Channel to do something about his disgraceful comments.
I don't think I need to say anything more than that. This ad speaks for itself. Please help VoteVets.org keep up the fight.
Another powerful ad from Vote Vets, and they really let Limbaugh have it. Rush can’t help himself as he continues his attacks on our troops and veterans, accusing Ohio Democrat and Iraq veteran Paul Hackett of joining the military to pad his resume. Think Progress has more on a letter that’s circulating around Capitol Hill urging members to condemn Rush and have also issued a challenge to lawmakers to give him the same treatment they did Move On.
We can’t run this ad without reminding Rush about Jon Soltz’s challenge:
My challenge to you, then, is to have me on the show and say all of this again, right to the face of someone who served in Iraq. I’ll come on any day, any time. Not only will I once again explain why your comments were so wrong, but I will completely school you on why your refusal to seek a way out of Iraq is only aiding al Qaeda and crippling American security.
The more pressure put on Limbaugh the better. I would pay to watch Soltz (and Congress) take him down, but we all know el Rushbo would never have the guts and will continue to dodge him. Contact your representatives in the House and Senate and let them know you want them to condemn Rush’s disgusting and un-American statements about our troops and veterans.
Comedian Rush Limbaugh
During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq "phony soldiers." He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, "Mike from Chicago," who said he "used to be military," and "believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq." Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as "Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington," that "[t]here's a lot" that people who favor U.S. withdrawal "don't understand" and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, " 'Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.' ... 'Save the -- keeps the troops safe' or whatever," adding, "[I]t's not possible, intellectually, to follow these people." "Mike" from Olympia replied, "No, it's not, and what's really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media." Limbaugh interjected, "The phony soldiers." The caller, who had earlier said, "I am a serving American military, in the Army," agreed, replying, "The phony soldiers."
Watchdog asks:
Why is Bush's kid
brother getting
federal bucks?
"It is astonishing
that taxpayer
dollars are being
spent on unproven
educational products
to the financial
benefit of the
president’s
brother," Melanie
Sloan, CREW's
executive director,
said in a news
release. "The IG
should investigate
whether children’s
educations are being
sacrificed so that
Neil Bush can rake
in federal funds."
Neil Bush first
attracted public
scrutiny for his
role in the Savings
and Loan scandals of
the late 1980s when
a Colorado S&L on
whose board he
served failed. The
scandal cost
taxpayers $1.6
billion.
An independent
watchdog agency has
asked the Department
of Education to
investigate why
President Bush's
younger brother,
Neil, has received
money earmarked for
the president's
signature education
initiative to sell a
curriculum program
that has not been
subjected to the
rigorous evaluation
it deserves.
Neil Bush, 52, who
has no background in
education, founded
Ignite! Learning in
1999 with donations
from his parents and
a slate of
international
business interests.
The company produces
"Curriculum on
Wheels" devices --
computer/projectors
that are pre-loaded
with software aimed
at preparing
students for
standardized tests
that are the central
tenet of the
president's No Child
Left Behind law.
The "COWs" are sold
to school districts
at a cost of $3,800
to $4,200, although
they have not been
subjected to
peer-reviewed
scientific studies,
according to
Citizens for
Responsibility and
Ethics in
Washington. CREW
says nearly $1
million has been
spent on the systems
in 16 school
districts, mostly in
Texas, where George
W. Bush served as
governor before his
election in 2000,
and Florida, where
brother Jeb Bush is
governor.
click the pic to view... a very plastic Mitt Romeny
As always, the GOP was so mind-numbingly full of meaningless GOP talking points, but there was this little exchange, and no boubt, it really shows what an unthinking empty suit Mitt Romney truly is...
Carl Cameron lets Deputy Sheriff and military father Mark Riss pose a question to Romney, and Riss slaps him down but good. Riss makes sure Romney knows just how offensive it was to liken Mitt’s sons work on his campaign to serving in the military, as Riss’s son has on two tours. Further, Riss points out that Mitt’s “plan” in Iraq is woefully short of specifics.
Watch Romney scroll through his mental Rolodex of Republican platitudes in order to respond.
Deputy Strafford County Sheriff Mark Riss, who asked the question, said that it felt good to get his grievance off his chest and that he’s accepted Romney’s apology. But Riss, who said he’s an undecided independent who leans Republican, said he wasn’t satisfied with the answer.
“I thought he never really answered the question,” he said. “What I was looking for from him was a response as to how he would end the conflict in Iraq, and he did not provide that to me. In fact, he did not even come close.”
GOP Rep. John Doolittle’s two top aides have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating ties between Doolittle, his wife and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
click on pic to view
to
listen
to
this
audio
clip
