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Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli PM
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Aunt Zaytuhnee stick'n round for a few more years.
Yawwwwwwwwwwn.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2009 11:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


This is racism at its very finest
A former south Alabama judge is accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity including paddling, according to officials and court documents.

Former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was arrested Friday after a grand jury returned the indictments against him. He was released on $287,500 bond later Friday.

The indictments total 57 counts, and the charges range from ethics violations to kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and sodomy. If convicted on the most serious charge -- kidnapping, a Class A felony -- Thomas faces a prison sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Monday.

But Thomas' attorney, Robert Clark, said Friday the accusations against the former judge amount to "a high-tech lynching."

"Did you ever think of the fact that this is the only black circuit judge we've ever had in Mobile County and that the right-wing Republicans have gotten rid of him?" Clark said at a news conference, portions of which were posted on the Web sites of CNN affiliates WKRG-TV in and WALA-TV.

"This is racism at its very finest."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/01/2009 08:50 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, the way the judge conducts his life must be ok then.
Posted by: Dave UK || 04/01/2009 9:40 Comments || Top||

#2  ew .....................
Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident || 04/01/2009 9:49 Comments || Top||

#3  A ready made plot for a Saturday night drive in movie. Ima call Joe Bob Briggs about collaborating on a script. Though gonna have increase the boob count (the good kind) somehow.
Posted by: ed || 04/01/2009 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Ah. "A high-tech lynching." I guess that can only be disregarded when Clarence Thomas uses it...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/01/2009 10:25 Comments || Top||

#5  "Did you ever think of the fact that this is the only black circuit judge we've ever had in Mobile County and that the right-wing Republicans have gotten rid of him?"

Nosir, never gave it a thought. If there are more however, can you see to it that they are "gotten rid of" as well?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2009 10:27 Comments || Top||

#6  I've heard of gettin' screwed by the court, but geeze louise...
Posted by: mojo || 04/01/2009 11:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Get checked out of jail? That's a paddlin'
Posted by: cutty_ranks || 04/01/2009 13:08 Comments || Top||

#8  WymRBV
Posted by: DJbKpueZH || 04/01/2009 13:42 Comments || Top||

#9  how is it racism if he did it, and isn't sodomy illegal in Alabama
Posted by: Mt Dew addiction || 04/01/2009 18:00 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
video: protest/riot out side of RBS
Posted by: 3dc || 04/01/2009 18:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Opps He Did it Again: Obama's Gifts to The Queen
H/T Jonah at NRO
Diplomatic jaws dropped across the continent yesterday when it was revealed that U.S. President Barack Obama had, once again, fumbled a routine protocal of international statecraft: finding the right gift for a foreign leader or head of state. In a private ceremony with Queen Elizabeth, Her Royal Highness bequeathed to the Obamas one of the earliest known copies of William Shakespeare's Henry V. She also presented him with the framed orginal sheet music of John Newton's "Amazing Grace." To the Obama daughters, the Queen gave a dollhouse-sized replica of Windsor Castle with a functioning train station in the year of the compound. They also received a prize Shetland pony. Mrs. Obama was given a ruby ring commissioned and worn by Queen Victoria.

The Obamas, unfortunately, did not seem prepared for the occasion despite the row set off by the exchange of gifts between Prime Minister Brown and the U.S. President barely a month ago. Mr. Obama rather unceremoniously handed the Queen a shopping bag from the Duty Free shop at Heathrow airport. It contained a signed paperback copy of Dreams of My Father, purchased at the WH Smith shop at the airport, a bottle of Johnny Walker Scotch (black label), a CD of the Swedish band ABBA's greatest hits (still in shrink wrap with a 2-for-1 sticker on it) and ten bags of M&Ms with the presidential seal on them.

The Queen responded in a rather flat: "How delightful."
Posted by: Sherry || 04/01/2009 14:05 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This has gotta be April Fools bullshit...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/01/2009 14:14 Comments || Top||

#2  If it wasn't for my bias (take your pick), I would think this was an April Fool's Joke.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/01/2009 14:14 Comments || Top||

#3  You gotta be kidding me.
Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 || 04/01/2009 14:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Jonah's April Fool fun ---

Here's this
Barack Obama met the Queen at Buckingham Palace today and gave her a gift of an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of her 2007 United States visit to Richmond, Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia. In return, the Queen gave the President a silver framed signed photograph of herself and the Duke of Edinburgh - apparently a standard present for visiting dignitaries.

It is believed the Queen already has an iPod, a 6GB silver Mini version she is said to have bought in 2005 at the suggestion of Prince Andrew.

UPDATE: Pool reporter Richard Wolf of USA Today says that an Obama aide told him the President also gave the Queen a "rare songbook signed by Richard Rogers". END UPDATE
Posted by: Sherry || 04/01/2009 15:01 Comments || Top||

#5  As a related aside: I know that gifts to the President are considered the property of the US. Does anyone know if this applies to gifts to the first lady (I would guess it does)? How about gifts to the children?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/01/2009 17:10 Comments || Top||

#6  do you wanna repo the dollhouse?
Posted by: Mt Dew addiction || 04/01/2009 17:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Did he at least take the price tags off? ;)
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 04/01/2009 18:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Wrapped in that dignified Chicago Class.
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2009 18:27 Comments || Top||

#9  "(still in shrink wrap with a 2-for-1 sticker on it)"
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2009 18:28 Comments || Top||

#10  He could have given her a GM car. No, he'd probably give her one with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
Posted by: DMFD || 04/01/2009 20:54 Comments || Top||


Economy
A bill to let Big Government set your salary
It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately.

Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.
But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The measure is not limited just to those firms that received the largest sums of money, or just to the top 25 or 50 executives of those companies. It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.

In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is "unreasonable" or "excessive." And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate "the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates."

The bill passed the Financial Services Committee last week, 38 to 22, on a nearly party-line vote. (All Democrats voted for it, and all Republicans, with the exception of Reps. Ed Royce of California and Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted against it.)

The legislation is expected to come before the full House for a vote this week, and, just like the AIG bill, its scope and retroactivity trouble a number of Republicans. "It's just a bad reaction to what has been going on with AIG," Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey, a committee member, told me. Garrett is particularly concerned with the new powers that would be given to the Treasury Secretary, who just last week proposed giving the government extensive new regulatory authority. "This is a growing concern, that the powers of the Treasury in this area, along with what Geithner was looking for last week, are mind boggling," Garrett said.

Rep. Alan Grayson, the Florida Democrat who wrote the bill, told me its basic message is "you should not get rich off public money, and you should not get rich off of abject failure." Grayson expects the bill to pass the House, and as we talked, he framed the issue in a way to suggest that virtuous lawmakers will vote for it, while corrupt lawmakers will vote against it.

"This bill will show which Republicans are so much on the take from the financial services industry that they're willing to actually bless compensation that has no bearing on performance and is excessive and unreasonable," Grayson said. "We'll find out who are the people who understand that the public's money needs to be protected, and who are the people who simply want to suck up to their patrons on Wall Street."

After the AIG bonus tax bill was passed, some members of the House privately expressed regret for having supported it and were quietly relieved when the White House and Senate leadership sent it to an unceremonious death. But populist rage did not die with it, and now the House is preparing to do it all again.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It occurs to me that the real target of this legislation is the defense industry, ultimately.
Posted by: no mo uro || 04/01/2009 7:14 Comments || Top||

#2  This action must be viewed in Barry's perspective to be fully understood. Consider similar to Zakat, which is essentially everything that benefits Muslims or Muslim goals and of course, brings them closer to Allah.

Zakat is an institutionalized and enduring fundraising mechanism within Islam that is capable of raising considerable sums of money on an annual basis. Rough, conservative, calculations for potential zakat funds annually available for warfighting within a geographic area can be determined by computing 2.5 percent of the GDP-per capita of the employed labor force and dividing the product by eight (8). For Iraq , the annual warfare funding through zakat may be estimated at $96,500,000. For Afghanistan , $46,875,000.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2009 7:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Can you set my salary at $100,000 and adjust it for inflation, Big O?

/My check's in the mail, $2,200 max, right?
Posted by: Raj || 04/01/2009 8:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Government creates the problem and proposes to provide the solution. For a fee. In the $trillions. Too bad Al Capone wasn't so creative.
Posted by: ed || 04/01/2009 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Too bad Al Capone wasn't so creative.

Protection racket by another name - create a problem then 'tax' them to hold off on its application. Capone bought local government. Back then the Feds never had the amount of power and intrusiveness we take for back ground noise today. That they got him on tax evasion [Cabinet level material there!], is also indicative how unique even federal income tax was to masses back then. Capone would be a Senator from Illinois today.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2009 9:13 Comments || Top||

#6  The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009,"

Hmmmmmm. So if this is the new standard, I guess Congress is fucked?
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/01/2009 10:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Seems like a good idea for Congress tu3031--the part about Congress being fvcked. Doubt it will happen. Time for term limits. Don't leave them in long enough to steal or screw us.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2009 10:47 Comments || Top||

#8  Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill.

Speaking of slobbering idiots. Please, Massachusetts turn this guy out to pasture next time. Be patriotic and do the rest of the country a huge favor.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2009 10:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Can we set congress' salary? They pay us for showing up to vote.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2009 11:04 Comments || Top||

#10  They pay us for showing up to vote.

I believe that's how Murtha set up his district.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2009 14:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Satire, I think......
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/01/2009 12:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Democratic rebuttal.

Ima gonna miss the end of this day.
Posted by: ed || 04/01/2009 23:09 Comments || Top||


Republicans Disinvite Palin to Major Fundraiser
Congressional Republicans Tuesday decided to ditch Sarah Palin in favor of Newt Gingrich for the critical House-Senate fundraising dinner in Washington June 8.

Sarah Palin is out and Newt Gingrich is in.

Congressional Republicans decided Tuesday to ditch the former GOP vice presidential nominee in favor of the former House speaker for the critical House-Senate fundraising dinner in June 8 in Washington. It's the marquee Republican event to raise money for GOP House and Senate candidates.

Just weeks ago, the House and Senate Republican campaign committees were giddy at securing the telegenic Palin for the dinner. But then things grew murky. At the time, the Alaska governor's office told FOX News that Palin was still considering the invitation and had not yet made a decision. Meantime, spokespersons for the committees insisted that Palin was scheduled and it was just a misunderstanding between the Alaska governor's office and Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, that accepted the invite.

Sources familiar with the Palin snub fumed about how the governor handled this.

"She was a disaster," one Republican source told FOX News. "We had confirmation."

As for inviting Gingrich, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ken Spain said the GOP "decided to go in another direction."

"Speaker Gingrich is a leader," Spain added.

Another source familiar with the invitation indicated that the campaign committees were so incensed with Palin that they did not even bother to officially notify her that they rescinded the invitation.

Multiple efforts to reach Palin's staff in Alaska for comment were unsuccessful.

The decision to book Gingrich instead of Palin seems to be indicative of growing discontent in the party with the Alaska governor and her potential ability to lead the GOP. And it's the latest in a series of gaffes that have plagued her since the November.

Palin withdrew at the last moment from speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Washington earlier this year.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/01/2009 01:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "She was a disaster," one Republican source told FOX News. "We had confirmation."

Quite possibly, but I've got "confirmation" that she was NOT self-nominated to run alongside Senator John McCain.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2009 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Just proof that they are idiots too!
Posted by: 3dc || 04/01/2009 7:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, yes. More old white men to show how connected those who blew the last election are with the voting population. Is it something in the beltway water?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2009 9:18 Comments || Top||

#4  The sad thing is I am more likely to believe Sara Palin than the Republicans. The contract with America didn't happen- Newt Gingrich is old news. The Republican blue bloods will not give up power to the conservatives. Should the Dems swing right and field a conservatives the Republicans would have nothing to offer America. When unemployment, Medical Assistance, Medicare, Retirements, power sources and other Government control programs fail the riots will be back in our cities. We were at one time looking to the stars now we will look to the dumpster.
Posted by: Dale || 04/01/2009 9:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Not that it really matters in this circumstance but Gingrich is poison. The Congressional Repubs like him no doubt because he was one of their own. The talking heads however have marginalized him over the years to be no more credible in the eyes of most than Buchanan.
Palin has been worked over pretty well by the smear machine as well, but she is a more sympathetic character than Newt.
Gingrich has many warts and more than a few self inflicted wounds. He is also ferociously smart and IMO could easily trounce 99% of our elected betters in a debate on most any subject. He is one of the very few public figures I believe to be to smart to be President.
If you couldn't tell, I'm a Newt fan, and there is no doubt in my mind that they are using him to boost this congresses conservative bonafides for the donors. Palin needs to repair the damage and step up, I think the establishment is truely afraid of her.
Posted by: NCMike || 04/01/2009 9:29 Comments || Top||

#6  The article doesn't bother to explain why the Pubs couldn't have had both come and speak ...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/01/2009 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  If they got Palin up there Gingrich could have suffered in comparison and then they'd have lost all their philandering adulterer donors in a fit of pique.

Whenever I see a republican news item like this I remember Gerard Vanderleun's post title, "Republicans, They Thirst For Death!"

Part Twenty Thousand in a series, today.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/01/2009 10:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Hasn't every non-RINO Repub national leader in the last 30 years been turned into poison by the Democratic propaganda machine and a more than willing national media? Nixon, Ford, Bush I, Bush II, Cheney, Quale, Gingrich, Lott, Dole, Frist, Boehner, DeLay, Armey. Even Reagan was viciously demonized. He lucked out when the Soviets threw in the towel.

If the Repubs want a better public image then they need to recapture the media battleground from the radical left. They know that by controlling the message they control the debate. Time for the right to learn that ancient lesson. That means buying and controlling a decent portion of the networks, giving scholarships to upstanding young kids to study journalism and media and mentoring through their careers.

Because the highly partisan media will magnify and dig like a starving tick into every foible of of the right, it means picking squeaky candidates that can resist the toxic Capitol atmosphere of power, money and sex.

Difficult, but it can be done. The military has shown that it can cultivate and promote intelligent, moral and effective men and women from all backgrounds. For that they are the highest respected institution in the country. They have also shown that they can control the message in the face of a hostile press when they put their minds to it.

But first the right should review the original intent of this Republic's creators and decide what they want to accomplish before attaining the power of office and dismantling the corrupt power structures that are choking the economic, civic and moral life out of America.
Posted by: ed || 04/01/2009 10:11 Comments || Top||

#9  And the RNC wonders why middle America doesn't donate to them anymore.

Wastes of oxygen, all of 'em.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/01/2009 10:30 Comments || Top||

#10  The Republicans have lost their way. And they have forsook their base. Their spending habits, their neglect of the southern border, their failure to stand on basic principles has destroyed their credibility. From me they will get none of my hard-earned money or the time of day. They are traitor-lite to the basis of this country's existence.

The handwriting is on the wall in bold and they cannot read it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/01/2009 11:05 Comments || Top||

#11  forsaken not forsook. Past perfect tense. Still early here in AK.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/01/2009 11:06 Comments || Top||

#12  When I read this article my first question was whether Palin had higher priority obligations and couldn't give a firm answer. This time of year is crunch time for the Idaho legislature and it's proceedings. I suspect Alaska is the same and it' more than a 3 hour round trip on the train for her (Question; I wonder if they offered to pay the tab?).
Posted by: tipover || 04/01/2009 11:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Ed, I'd be more likely to agree with you if Noot hadn't drunk the global warming/de-industrialization Kool Aid.

Reagan may have had two marriages but he at least kept on good terms with his previous spouse.

And yes, this sort of thing matters. How one treats their spouses or ex spouses is kind of a leading indicator to how they'll handle other crisis situations.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/01/2009 12:18 Comments || Top||

#14  I think it's getting time to spool up the Belle Moose Party.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/01/2009 12:53 Comments || Top||

#15  Newt is not a contender in 2012. Palin is.

But beware the media trying to create an impression of internal dissent among the R's. I suspect there is more (or less) story here than what is being reported.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/01/2009 13:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Transplant Newts' brain into Sarahs’ body…now I’d vote for that!
Posted by: DepotGuy || 04/01/2009 15:00 Comments || Top||

#17  I think the same way as lblis whenever I read headlines like this. For the venue, I can see how Newt would be the better keynote. The future would be Palin who could potentially fill stadium after stadium and not only raise more money with a trainload of smaller donations but also increase voter interest.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2009 17:42 Comments || Top||

#18  The rethuglycon party is dead, it just doesn't know it yet. The dummycheat party will continue to twitch in rigormortis for a few more years, but it's dying off, too. We need a couple of replacement parties. I'd recommend an "American Constitution Party", with its primary party plank strict dedication to the Constitution of the United States. A couple of good leaders, some support at the grass-roots level, and both current political parties would be toast. People are fed up with the "Washington way" (similar to the "Chicago way", but at the national level.)
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/01/2009 22:15 Comments || Top||


Minnesota: Judges order 400 absentee ballots opened
Three Minnesota judges today decided that 400 absentee ballots should be opened or examined to determine if they are valid for counting in the long-running U.S. Senate race.

"To be clear, not every absentee ballot identified in this order will ultimately be opened and counted," the judges wrote. The ballots that do make it through to counting will be opened and sorted on April 7, the judges ordered.

Democrat Al Franken currently has a 225-vote lead over Republican Norm Coleman in the race. Both had asked the judges order opening and counting of hundreds of absentee ballots.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee, keep this up and they just might declare a winner by.....December 2014.

Is there some reason they can't just have a special election and be done with it once and for all?
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 04/01/2009 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  The Special Election would still have the same cast of characters who were in place when they created the first mess in the original election. Why would you expect something different? I guess they could import some Iraqis who have recent experience in 'fair' elections to administer it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/01/2009 9:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Um no. This election was goofy because you had three candidates. The independent, as I recall, got about 12% of the vote, and Coleman and Franken-the-clown split the rest. You could have a run-off with just the two.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/01/2009 9:44 Comments || Top||

#4  I just went to the link thinking there had to be more to this story...like why haven't those absentee ballots already been counted? It's not an unreasonable question, is it?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/01/2009 15:25 Comments || Top||


Koh, No? Critics Decry Obama Nominee for State Department Legal Adviser
President Obama's nominee to be the State Department's legal adviser has ignited a fury among conservative critics who say his views are a threat to American democracy -- an accusation the White House on Tuesday called "outrageous" and "completely baseless."

Former Clinton administration official Harold Koh, who has been dean of the Yale Law School since 2004, once wrote that the U.S. was part of an "axis of disobedience" with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Koh also has long held that the U.S. should accept international law when deliberating cases at home.

Obama nominated Koh on March 23 to become the State Department's legal adviser -- an appointment that, if confirmed by the Senate, will give Koh far-reaching influence over the extent to which international norms affect U.S. law.

"This is not a desk job. This guy will be the face of American international law around the world," said Steven Gross, legal expert and fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"The top legal adviser at State travels extensively and is involved in international legal negotiations, treaties and in major United Nations conferences.

"The president should have the right to choose the most conservative or liberal legal advisers to give them advice, but this is much more than that. The concern is that he cares as much about -- if not more about -- international law and integrating that into the American judicial system than he does about protecting American prerogatives and American sovereignty," Gross said.

The White House vehemently defended Koh's nomination on Tuesday, telling FOXNews.com that he is "one of the most respected members of the legal community."

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You go, Mr. Koh. Shooting political dissidents in the back of the head and harvesting their organs is also an international norm in Mr. Koh ancestral homeland. Lot's of Washington DC fossils are no doubt hoping for some fresh organs.
Posted by: ed || 04/01/2009 8:35 Comments || Top||

#2  "one of the most respected members of the legal community."

Which legal community?
Posted by: newc || 04/01/2009 13:38 Comments || Top||


Sebelius admits errors, pays $7,000 in back taxes
Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding "unintentional errors" - the latest tax troubles for an Obama administration nominee. The Kansas governor explained the changes to senators in a letter dated Tuesday that the administration released. She said they involved charitable contributions, the sale of a home and business expenses.

Sebelius said she filed the amended returns as soon as the errors were discovered by an accountant she hired to scrub her taxes in preparation for her confirmation hearings. She and her husband, Gary, a federal magistrate judge in Kansas, paid a total of $7,040 in back taxes and $878 in interest to amend returns from 2005-2007.

Posted by: Fred || 04/01/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sebelius said they "mistakenly believed" the payments were still deductible.

Sounds like they prepared the returns themselves. You get what you pay for...
Posted by: Raj || 04/01/2009 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah. Ye Olde "Honest Mistake"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/01/2009 10:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Obama staff and cabinet vetting question:

#47: Do you now, or have you ever had Federal or State tax filing difficulties, penalties, indictments, convictions, seizures, liens, or other tax related difficulties.

a. Yes [___]
b. No [___]
c. Decline to answer based on 5th Amendment rights against self incrimination [___]

If you answered (a.) or (c.) to question 47, give yourself a hearty pat on the back and proceed to question 48.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/01/2009 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I was going to apply for one of those high-paying Federal jobs but I wasn't eligible--I have paid my taxes on a regular basis. I need to let my taxes lapse for a couple of years to be eligible. I would have to be a dhimmicrat too.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/01/2009 10:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Sorry folks but I give her a "hold" judgment on this one. They sold a house and some reason continued payments (????) for some time after the sale and deducted those payments from taxes. Deduction rejected during audit for the job as they didn't own the house at the time.

Considering the tax laws this might warrant a pass. I DO wonder who they were selling to that they would continue payments after the sale. Family?
Posted by: tipover || 04/01/2009 11:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Good question - perhaps they sold it to their son so he could warehouse his prison fun board game somewhere other than the Governor's Mansion, which was illegal (and promptly solved to be fair, IIRC).

Heard about this after turning in my tax info - super.

She would be a good fit since she funneled state money to the bluer districts and attempted an illegal budgetary procudure under guise of state duress during her tenure. She slated education money, tens of millions, for rennovations at state universities while at the same time cutting budgets for k-12.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2009 12:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Interesting. My lending institution demands that I pay off the note immediately and in full if I no longer own the home that is collateral for the note.
Posted by: GORT || 04/01/2009 12:59 Comments || Top||

#8  So far, all nominees cheat on taxes and have one really big bad idea. What is her really big and bad idea?
Posted by: whatadeal || 04/01/2009 15:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, she is a career politician who made all the right moves to advance up the ladder. Made her name as the insurance comissioner and kicked out a lot of companies, many of which were predators but sure helped her win the election when the previous governor (Graves) reached term limit.

Her original intent was to run in Brownback's US Senate district when he announced his retirement after his term ends, but likely found out she couldn't win against Republican US Representatives Moran vs. Roberts who subsequently announced their interest in that seat.

It is understood that she is very pro-choice though her record does not necessarily reflect that popular belief, with a conservative (D and R) state congress and electorate.

Her second and final term as governor expires in 2010.

As for strange theories, one could put out there for debate that if the fed wanted to make itself an insurance provider she would be the face to put on the brochure. She is well spoken and would have TV appeal for youngers as a grandmother figure and olders as one of them. She has always towed the party line; ex. Greensburg - took her 2 days to make a statement (joke around here was it took her that long to realize that Kansas extends west of Wichita) and if y'all remember it was "Can't respond adequately because the KS NG is overseas." (which was BS) and "Gonna turn it into the greenest community in the world. Get it, green, Greensburg." (which continues to be BS its not much more than a showroom floor) That is, called into headquarters for the narrative. Didn't complain when after candidate Obama called Kansans a bunch of racists just a day or two after Sebelius put together a big rally for him and gave her endorsement (she apparently has a lot of carry with the governor's club).
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2009 16:33 Comments || Top||

#10  And, good point GORT. Maybe one of those 'special lending institution deals'?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2009 16:36 Comments || Top||

#11  Also, shut down production of a clean coal plant outside Garden City, KS because of pollution concerns. Brought in the Sierra Club and everything. The citizens wanted it, but when it came to override the veto the bluer counties sided with sebelius and prevented the override.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/01/2009 17:25 Comments || Top||

#12  "Mistakes were made" - passive voice uber alles!
Posted by: mojo || 04/01/2009 17:41 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2009-04-01
  Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli PM
Tue 2009-03-31
  Pak forces claim victory in police academy shootout
Mon 2009-03-30
  Bashir arrives in Qatar for Arab summit despite arrest warrant
Sun 2009-03-29
  Yemen cops killed in shootout with Islamists
Sat 2009-03-28
  76 killed in Jamrud mosque Pakaboom
Fri 2009-03-27
  Pakaboom kills 11 in Tank
Thu 2009-03-26
  Drone attack kills six in Pakistain
Wed 2009-03-25
  North Korea loading rocket on launch pad
Tue 2009-03-24
  Indian Army:16 Infiltrators: 8 in Kupwara overtime
Mon 2009-03-23
  Five soldiers, 6 militants killed in Kashmir battle
Sun 2009-03-22
  Prabhakaran & Son sighted in ''No Fire Zone''
Sat 2009-03-21
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Fri 2009-03-20
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Thu 2009-03-19
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