Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cain campaign paid groups reportedly under federal investigation

Cain campaign paid groups reportedly under federal investigation - Kenneth P. Vogel - POLITICO.com

 The Wisconsin-based groups, Prosperity USA and Wisconsin Prosperity Network, were run by Cain’s top aides and footed the bill for about $40,000 of goods and services — including iPads and chartered flights — that helped Cain’s campaign get going early last year, according to documents obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

It would be illegal for the groups to donate goods or services to a presidential campaign, and Cain’s campaign last year said it had retained an outside lawyer to look into the matter.

Egypt disqualifies top Islamists, Mubarak VP from vote

Egypt disqualifies top Islamists, Mubarak VP from vote | Reuters

 The race for the Egyptian presidency took a dramatic turn on Saturday when the authorities disqualified front-runners including Hosni Mubarak's spy chief, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate and a Salafi cleric whose lawyer warned that "a major crisis" was looming.

Baptist leader criticizes Trayvon Martin support

This is harkens back to the days of Jim Crow. They are crawling out back from under the rocks the racists had crawled. It's frightening. That is why they must be confronted. Unfortunately the occupant in the White House is too much of a politician to do what's right on racial issues:

The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm has condemned the response of many black leaders to the Trayvon Martin case as "shameful."

Some black pastors within the nation's largest Protestant denomination say Richard Land's comments hurt the effort to broaden the faith's appeal beyond its traditional white, Southern base.
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Karl Rove's Secret $10 Million Donor

This scum was a major player in the crimes of the previous administration. Now he is poisoning the well of American politics with the sinister fundraising made possible by the 'Citizens United' decision:

The dark money group founded by Karl Rove and other Republican luminaires, Crossroads GPS, reportedly received a contribution from one anonymous donor for $10 million, according to the Washington Post. WaPo reports, "The tax returns show that Crossroads GPS has collected the vast majority of its donations from the super rich. It reported that nearly 90 percent of its contributions through end of 2011 had come from as few as two dozen donors, each giving $1 million or more. Overall, the nonprofit raised more than $76 million since it was founded in May 2010 through the end of last year. 'That’s certainly not a grassroots movement, is it,' said Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for transparency in government and politics. 'These donors can have a very disproportionate effect on politics, and the fact that we don’t know who they are and what kind of favors they will ask for is very troubling.'"
Full article

Why the U.S. Government Wants You To Buy Fake Foods

Kobe Beef Scam, Part 3: Why the U.S. Government Wants You To Buy Fake Foods - Forbes

 But Kobe is just the tip of the labeling iceberg – there are literally hundreds of other food items, from the extravagant, such as Champagne and Cognac, to the more common, like Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, whose production and sale in this country would violate many very old and well-known foreign trademarks – except that these trademarks are not recognized by U.S. law. Like Faux-be beef, this domestic production is undertaken mainly for one reason – to reap the benefit of good will and quality brand reputation created by someone else, namely foreigners who have no recourse in U.S. courts.

And for that we can thank the U.S. government.

Eliot Spitzer: Obama 'Has Been On Wall Street's Side Since Day One'

Unfortunately Spitzer's words don't carry much weight. Democrats will continue to drink the White House cool aid and vote for Obama in November. But at least someone is on record in speaking the truth about ole Barack. The left has abandoned it principals just as they did when were at war against the Nazis. They embraced the monstrosity of Stalin because he was the "lesser evil." We get the same propaganda every Presidential election. We should vote for the failed Democratic Party because they are lesser evil than the Republicans. Meanwhile American ship Titanic heads for the iceberg:

When it comes to reforming Wall Street, President Obama is all talk, according to Eliot Spitzer.

The former New York governor took to Reuters TV's Fast Forward with Chrystia Freeland to slam the president for what he says is a talk-tough, act-weak approach to the financial industry, which less than five years ago brought the global economy to the brink of disaster.

"I'm not persuaded that this President has really been a voice for reform when it comes to Wall Street," he said. "Wall Street has pretended that it has taken its hits, but it really hasn't."

Spitzer summarized Obama's efforts as the "occasional speech" criticizing Wall Street practices, largely followed by little to no substantial legislative action.

"When it has come to actually putting in place the reform-based structure that would actually have changed the way the banking system works, he has really been on Wall Street's side since day one," Spitzer said.
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President Obama’s Secretary Paid Higher Tax Rate Than He Did

Maybe we should call it the "The Obama Rule." Don't expect the President to mention this omission during his campaigning swings:

President Obama today released his 2011 federal income tax, with he and his wife reporting an adjusted gross income of $789,674. The Obamas paid $162,074 in total tax – an effective federal income tax rate of 20.5%. The Obamas also reported donating approximately 22% of their income to charity — $172,130.

President Obama has been making a big political push for the “Buffett Rule,” which would require millionaires to pay a minimum of 30% of their income in taxes. To illustrate the point, the president has pointed out that billionaire investor Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than does his secretary.

President Obama’s secretary, Anita Decker Breckenridge, makes $95,000 a year. White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage tells ABC News that Breckenridge “pays a slightly higher rate this year on her substantially lower income, which is exactly why we need to reform our tax code and ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. ”
Maybe this is why the President extended the Bush tax cuts. We won't be having this discussion if Obama had allowed the dreadful Bush tax cut to expire in the first place. But that would make this President other than a typical back-stabbing politician:
 It should be noted that president would not be impacted by the Buffett Rule, though he would see his taxes go up if the so-called Bush tax cuts on higher income wage-earners were allowed to expire, as the president says he wants.
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Juan Williams Smacks Down Hannity’s Race Baiting In Trayvon Martin Case

Juan Williams Smacks Down Hannity’s Race Baiting In Trayvon Martin Case

Juan Williams all but told Sean Hannity that he was deliberately race baiting Thursday night (4/12/12) when Hannity yet again fixated on comments that the black fringe group, the New Black Panther Party, has made regarding the Trayvon Martin shooting. Williams said, “To me, the attention you’re giving this group is playing to a stereotype. This is like a minstrel show about ignorant, angry, threatening black people.”

The segment began with Hannity playing another clip from the NBPP and then making a show of concern about the “incendiary rhetoric.” As if Hannity hasn’t made an entire career out of his own incendiary, often racialized rhetoric.

He then used his “concern” as an excuse to paint Attorney General Eric Holder as somehow soft on black crime.

Williams told Hannity, “I find this sort of like a comic book that I’m locked in. That New Black Panther Party, they are infinitesimally small. They’re not worthy of your attention. The only reason they exist is to get in front of a TV camera, even the real Black Panthers want no part of them.”

Key figure in GSA scandal issued subpoena, won't testify on Hill

Key figure in GSA scandal issued subpoena, won't testify on Hill | Fox News

Rape victims say military labels them 'crazy'

This is incredibly shocking. I bet there won't be much discussion about this from Dems because it doesn't further the Obama agenda. The President won't even mention it. So much for the 'war on women.' And where are the feminists on this. They should be screaming bloody murder. CNN deserves great credit for this story:
Stephanie Schroeder joined the U.S. Marine Corps not long after 9/11. She was a 21-year-old with an associate's degree when she reported for boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.

"I felt like it was the right thing to do," Schroeder recalls.

A year and a half later, the Marines diagnosed her with a personality disorder and deemed her psychologically unfit for the Corps.

Anna Moore enlisted in the Army after 9/11 and planned to make a career of it. Moore was a Patriot missile battery operator in Germany when she was diagnosed with a personality disorder and dismissed from the Army.

Jenny McClendon was serving as a sonar operator on a Navy destroyer when she received her personality disorder diagnosis.

These women joined different branches of the military but they share a common experience:

Each received the psychiatric diagnosis and military discharge after reporting a sexual assault.

Full article

The Hill: Obama puts bully in bully pulpit

The President has no record to stand on, like typical incumbents. Therefore, he will spend most of his time attacking Republicans. That's the strategy:
President Obama in recent days has provided a taste of the sharp tone he will use in the general election against Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee.

Obama has emerged this year with sharper elbows than the “no-drama" candidate had in 2008. He is injecting drama, cranking up the rhetoric, for example by chiding Romney and congressional Republicans as being "radical" and “members of the flat Earth society.”

Obama, as one former aide put it, "is putting the bully in bully pulpit."
Full article

Ex-Reporter Sues After Alleged Police Brutality Deleted Off Camera

Ex-Reporter Sues After Alleged Police Brutality Deleted Off Camera - ABC News

A former reporter is suing the city of Albuquerque, N. M., and a police officer for allegedly deleting evidence of police brutality and tampering with evidence during a story she was covering.

Cristina Rodda, a former anchor and reporter for the Albuquerque NBC affiliate station KOB, is suing Officer Stephanie Lopez of the Albuquerque Police Department. In her federal court filing this week she cited violation of the first, fourth and fourteenth amendments, intentionally spoiling evidence, violation of the New Mexico Tort Claims Act against Lopez. She also cited negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention against the city.

Standoff near Philippines over; Chinese boats keep catch

The Chinese are becoming increasingly aggressive. They know they can get away with it because the West has been bought off. Maybe we should start arming the Phillipines more than we do:
Chinese fishing boats left a disputed area of the South China Sea with their catches on Saturday, ending a six-day standoff but dealing a blow to Philippine efforts to assert sovereignty over the area and protect marine resources.

The Philippines had wanted the Chinese fishermen to hand over their hauls of giant clams, corals and live sharks harvested near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, in return for safe passage out of the area.
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A Felon, But He'll Probably Be Re-Elected Anyway

And then we wonder we have such lousy government. The politicians are so arrogant and the public so indifferent they think they can get away with anything. And we let them. So either stop complaining people or vote third party. Don’t be a spectator while the politicians destroy this country. You have a duty to participate in the electoral process and not choose crooks:

Former state House Speaker Bill DeWeese is campaigning for another term, though earlier this month, he gave a farewell address on the Pennsylvania House floor.

It’s not that DeWeese expects to lose. In fact, he’s running unopposed. It’s just that the day he wins the primary, the 17-term Democrat will become constitutionally ineligible to keep serving.

Actually, He’s Not Technically A Felon — Yet

In February, DeWeese was convicted of five corruption charges. A jury ruled he had used about $100,000 worth of state resources to conduct campaign work. The case was part of a long-running state corruption investigation that has led to the conviction of four legislators, plus one acquittal. When DeWeese emerged from the courtroom, he didn’t apologize.

“I certainly feel I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Full Article