Posts with the tag 'Corruption'
Don’t take my word for it…
18 USC Sec. 713 …
(a) Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(b) Whoever, except as authorized under regulations promulgated by the President and published in the Federal Register, knowingly manufactures, reproduces, sells, or purchases for resale, either separately or appended to any article manufactured or sold, any likeness of the seals of the President or Vice President, or any substantial part thereof, except for manufacture or sale of the article for the official use of the Government of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
HAT TIP: The Weekly Standard.
I’m not expecting much to come from this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama gradually stops using his presumptuous seal if enough people raise questions.
In the meantime we’ll continue to make fun of Obama’s audacity.
Tags: audacity, Barack Obama, Corruption
June 21st, 2008
Not exactly the best news for Obama the day after he unofficially cliched the Democratic nomination…
RNC Chairman Duncan released the following statement tonight regarding the Rezko verdict:
“On the day Barack Obama hoped to unite his party after wheezing over the finish line and claiming the Democrat nomination, a jury in his hometown of Chicago convicted his longtime friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko of multiple felonies. This is further proof that Obama’s high-flying rhetoric is just that and in no way represents the kind of change our nation demands. Today’s verdict and Obama’s friendship with Rezko raise serious questions about whether he has the judgment to serve as president.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Corruption, Tony Rezko
June 4th, 2008
Despite Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s well known rampant corruption, he was easily reelected back in 2006. But it looks like Illinois voters are finally realizing that it’s time to stop letting party loyalty make them turn a blind eye. A new poll shows that nearly 2/3 of Illinois registered voters want the Democrat governor to be impeached.
A new statewide poll has found that 59 percent of Illinois registered voters want the Illinois Legislature to begin impeachment hearings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The survey of 600 registered voters was conducted May 7 to 10 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percent.
Conducted by the Glengariff Group, the poll found Blagojevich’s disapproval rating was a whopping 65 percent, while just 26 percent approve. An Ipsos poll conducted in late March found 54 percent disapproved of Blagojevich’s performance, but Ipsos also asked whether respondents had “mixed feelings,” whereas Glengariff just asked straight up whether they approved or disapproved.
The governor’s job approval ratings, the coverage of the Tony Rezko trial, the frustrated attempt to put recall on the ballot, the disastrous debate over yet another pay raise for legislators and the governor, and the horrendous right-track/wrong-track numbers (14 percent said the state was on the right track, while 71 percent said it was on the wrong track) all likely contributed to the impeachment hearings result.
Just 29.6 percent of registered voters opposed holding impeachment hearings, while 38 percent strongly supported holding hearings and 20.5 percent “somewhat supported” the idea.
Even a plurality of Democrats supports holding impeachment hearings. Democratic voters said they supported the idea by a margin of 49.4 percent to 41.5 percent. Independents overwhelmingly like the proposal, backing it 63 to 24. And it’s probably no surprise that Republicans love it. A whopping 73.5 percent of GOP voters said it was a good idea, compared to just 16 percent who said it wasn’t.
Blagojevich’s troubles go way back, and Mark and I even went into some detail about the dark ethical cloud hanging over him in our book, Caucus of Corruption. I’m glad the people of Illinois have finally begun opening their eyes.
Tags: Corruption, impeachment, Rod Blagojevich
May 19th, 2008
Who can forget when former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger went into the National Archives during the 9/11 Commission investigation and stole documents by stuffing them into his pants and socks? Since then people have wondered what information was on those documents that Clinton’s inner circle didn’t want the public to know about… More evidence supporting claims that Bill Clinton was offered Osama bin Laden on a silver platter and refused? More evidence that Clinton missed the opportunity to strike bin Laden because he was golfing?
Well, if the Clinton Library apparently has copies of the documents, but has refused a FOIA request to release them.
The William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library will not make available to the public the documents that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger illegally took from the National Archives in 2003.
A letter from the library said the total 502 pages from the Millennium Alert After Action Review (MAAR) are “restricted in their entirety,” under federal law and that the documents are “classified in the interest of national defense or foreign policy.”
Further, the library stated the documents contain “confidential communications requesting or submitting advice between the president and his advisors, or between such advisors.”
The library’s letter was in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Cybercast News Service . The library has responded to several other requests, but in those cases it was to inform CNSNews.com that library staff was processing the request.
Berger, who was national security advisor for President Clinton from 1997 to 2001, took five different copies of pages from the classified MAAR out of the archives by stuffing them in his suit and exiting the archives building. Berger did that at a time (September-October 2003) when the 9/11 Commission was beginning to investigate both the Clinton and Bush administrations’ handling of the terror threat in the led up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Where is the outrage?
Tags: Corruption, Sandy Berger
May 5th, 2008
This just hasn’t been the best of weeks for Obama.
Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama is giving $2,300 in presidential campaign contributions to charity — money he got from Aiham Alsammarae, a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen who posted more than $2.7 million in property to help spring Tony Rezko from jail.
Alsammarae, Iraq’s former electricity minister, gave to Obama’s presidential campaign six times in January, February and March.
“The contributions were made online,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. Obama is giving them to charity “given the circumstances brought to light by recent news reports.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in its Sunday editions about Alsammarae posting his Oak Brook mansion and two South Loop condominiums to help free Rezko — a onetime Obama political fund-raiser and patron — from jail earlier this month.
According to the report, Obama has had to rid himself of nearly $160,000 in Rezko-connected cash.
UPDATE: Ouch: Rezko Trial Witness Says Obama Attended Party for Auchi at Rezko’s Mansion
Tags: Barack Obama, Corruption, Tony Rezko
April 30th, 2008
Failed liberal talk radio host and not-so-funny comedian Al Franken apparently thought that he could get away without paying taxes over the past four years. Well, the joke is on him and he now has to pay $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states.
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, frontrunner in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned income going back to 2003.
Franken on Tuesday told the Associated Press that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that on the advice of his accountant, had paid taxes to the city and state where he lived.
Franken has been under fire since early March, when a Republican operative revealed that Franken had failed to pay workers’ compensation and disability premiums for employees of his New York-based corporation, Alan Franken, Inc., between 2002 and 2005.
New York state officials had tried to collect the back premiums for four years, resorting to a collection agency and even filing a summary judgment against Franken in state Supreme Court last May for $25,000.
In recent months, there’s been quite a bit of corruption discovered about Al Franken. This isn’t just some isolated incidents of corrupt actions… There’s a pattern of corruption. Three years ago we learned that Air America, Al Franken’s liberal talk radio project, was stealing federal funds from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club.
Al Franken truly is a member of the Caucus of Corruption. The question remains… will this be enough to force him out the race, or will Minnesota Democrats give him a free pass?
Minnesota Democrats Exposed is following the Franken story…
Tags: Al Franken, Corruption
April 30th, 2008
And I’m sure Obama and his supporters will call this story a “distraction,” just like Rezko, Wright, the last debate, Bittergate, etc. etc. etc.
After an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2000, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama faced serious financial pressure: numerous debts, limited cash and a law practice he had neglected for a year. Help arrived in early 2001 from a significant new legal client — a longtime political supporter.
Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell’s firm that eventually totaled $112,000.
A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.
Killerspin specializes in table tennis, running tournaments nationwide and selling its own line of equipment and apparel and DVD recordings of the competitions. With support from Obama, other state officials and an Obama aide who went to work part time for Killerspin, the company eventually obtained $320,000 in state grants between 2002 and 2004 to subsidize its tournaments.
While Obama may not have been in Washington long (especially since half of his short term as a U.S. Senator has been spent running for president) but he’d be a liar if he claimed that he wasn’t a typical politician.
Tags: Barack Obama, Corruption
April 28th, 2008
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery charges, has been released from prison pending an appeal of his conviction. Siegelman contends that the investigation into his illegal actions was politically motivated. When you consider how many Republicans were brought down by the same Justice Department, it’s a rather ridiculous claim for him to make — but not an uncommon ploy of corrupt Democrats to deflect attention away from their own guilt.
What makes his claims even more ironic is the Democrats’ undeniable politically motivated crusade against corruption leading up to the 2006 midterm elections. As Mark and I documented in our book, Caucus of Corruption, Democrats ignored the rampant corruption in their own party while they simultaneously campaigned against a so-called “culture of corruption” in the Republican Party. Truth be told, the Justice Department under President Bush did more to put away corrupt Republicans than the Democratic Party has ever done to rid itself of its own corrupt members in its entire history.
So, really, it’s time for the Democratic Party to cut the crap. We can only clean up corruption if we go after all corrupt politicians, just the ones in your opposing party. No more excuses. Siegelman is guilty, and he should serve his time.
Tags: bribery, Corruption, Don Siegelman
April 7th, 2008
Those darn Democrats, taking trips paid for by dictators… but, really, this is old news..
Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam’s regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.
At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.
The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.
“Obviously we didn’t know it at the time,” McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. “The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That’s the only reason we went.”
Why is this “old news?” Well, the aforementioned Democrats had previously been reported to have been on a pre-war trip to Iraq that reportedly funded by Detroit-area businessman Shakir Al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American, who also had ties to Saddam’s regime and accompanied them on the trip. Al-Khafaji received loads of cash from the U.N. Oil for Food scandal. Apparently, Al-Khafaji is the “third-party” mentioned in the indictment.
And guess what? Mark and I discussed this trip in our book, Caucus of Corruption.
Tags: Corruption, David Bonior, Iraq, Jim McDermott, Mike Thompson
March 26th, 2008
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