A former Las Vegas director for the political advocacy group ACORN has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to testify against the group and another employee.
Chief Deputy Nevada Attorney General Conrad Hafen said Wednesday that Christopher Edwards' plea deal strengthens a felony case against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and Amy Busefink, a former regional voter registration director.
They're accused of illegally paying canvassers to register voters during last year's presidential campaign. Edwards pleaded guilty this week to two counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 17. Hafen says the group had a local policy of paying bonuses to canvassers who signed up 21 or more new voters per shift.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Justice department hasn't dropped the charges yet?
Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They're also worried about getting repaid. One dealer told me the story's going around that the rebates are examined by the government and any outstanding tax liens or student loan arrearages are taken out before the (up to) $4500's paid out. The dealers up front the money to the customer out of their own funds expecting to be reimbursed and are thus left holding the baggy.
"(The government) needs to move the system forward and they need to start paying these dealers," said Mark Schienberg, the group's president. "This is a cash-dependent business."
The program offers up to $4,500 to shoppers who trade in vehicles getting 18 mpg or less for a more fuel-efficient car or truck. Dealers pay the rebates out of pocket, then must wait to be reimbursed by the government. But administrative snags and heavy paperwork have created a backlog of unpaid claims.
Schienberg said the group's dealers have been repaid for only about 2 percent of the clunkers deals they've made so far.
Many dealers have said they are worried they won't get repaid at all, while others have waited so long to get reimbursed they don't have the cash to fund any more rebates, Schienberg said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Vikings are going to be pissed if there's a long delay in getter their $4,500.00 for Brett Favre.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2009 1:10 Comments ||
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#2
Not to worry! Government-run health care will be free of these snafus, fubars and annoying frictions of bureaucracy. No, really!
#4
A clever way of neutralizing car dealers as election contributors. Let's be honest: who really cares about car dealers anyway, they have a bad reputation.
Couples wishing to access health care funds in order to pay for the delivery of a child will be required to turn in one old person.
The amount the government grants them will be fixed according to a sliding scale. Older and more prescription dependent codgers will garner the highest amounts.
Special "Bonuses" will be paid for those submitting codgers in targeted
groups, such as smokers, alcohol drinkers, persons 10 pounds over their
government prescribed weight, and any member of the Republican Party.
Smaller bonuses will be given for codgers who consume beef, soda, fried foods, potato chips, lattes, whole milk, dairy products, bacon, Brussel sprouts, or Girl Scout Cookies.
All codgers will be rendered totally useless via toxic injection. This will insure that they are not secretly resold or their body parts harvested to keep other codgers in repair.
#9
How about a cash for congressmen program? Wait, they have that already. Bribes and lobbyist take care of the clunkers, I mean congressmen.
Posted by: Art ||
08/20/2009 10:30 Comments ||
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#10
Whenever I read a story like this, whether banks or car dealerships whatever, I am reminded of that scene in Clerks where they argue who was on which Death Star at its time of destruction - and the contsruction worker throws in the story about his buddy who worked on a mobster's house and was killed during a hit. His point, when you are in business you should know who you a working for and take that into consideration.
A New Jersey blogger facing charges in two states for reportedly making threats against lawmakers and judges was trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative, his attorney said Tuesday.
Hal Turner worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an "agent provocateur" and was taught by the agency "what he could say that wouldn't be crossing the line," defense attorney Michael Orozco said.
"His job was basically to publish information, which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest," Mr. Orozco said.
Prosecutors have acknowledged that Mr. Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Mr. Turner was not working for the FBI when he reportedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die.
"But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever," Mr. Orozco said.
Special Agent Ross Rice, a spokesman for the FBI in Chicago, said he would not comment on or confirm Mr. Turner's relationship with the FBI.
Mr. Orozco spoke to reporters after a court hearing in Hartford on Tuesday. Mr. Turner, 47, of North Bergen, N.J., did not appear, because he is in federal custody in Illinois. His arraignment on the Connecticut charges was rescheduled to Oct. 19.
In June, Mr. Turner urged his readers to "take up arms" against Connecticut lawmakers and suggested that government officials should "obey the Constitution or die," because he was angry over legislation -- later withdrawn -- that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches more control over their parish's finances.
He wrote in Internet postings the same month that the Illinois federal appeals judges "deserve to be killed" because they issued a ruling that upheld ordinances in Chicago and suburban Oak Park banning handguns. He included their photos and the room numbers of their chambers at the courthouse.
Mr. Orozco officially joined Mr. Turner's defense team in the Connecticut case Tuesday, with approval from Superior Court Judge David Gold. Mr. Orozco said his Newark, N.J.-based firm has been representing Mr. Turner for the past five years, including during his FBI informant years.
Mr. Turner's Connecticut attorney, Matthew R. Potter, said it's too early to tell which trial will move forward first. Mr. Orozco said he plans First Amendment defenses in both cases.
Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, said the office would not comment on Mr. Orozco's statements.
I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.
#3
The Sen. Casey "public forum" I attended this morning was underpopulated & loaded with union activists & single-payer true believers, but the one bit which truly made the whole crowd growl with unaccustomed neanderthalic fury was some random fucking question about immigrants getting health coverage. They're agin' it, that's for sure.
Abortion funding seems to be slipped into the bill in its House form via extremely vague "family planning" references according to the analysis by the Czar of Muscovy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/20/2009 15:46 Comments ||
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#4
Abortion
Technically, the privacy between a patient and her/his doctor on a life and death decision which the court said that government had no business in? So, what about all those government directed and/or own panels in critical medical issues? Someone at SCOTUS is going to have to twist their fiat into some pretzel to get this all to fit.
#6
The bad news is we'll have to kill Grandma so we have money to treat illegals. The good news is that she'll still get to vote Democrat after we kill her.
#8
Read HR3200 for yourself. Its in section 152 Non-discrimination in Health Care. The relevant bits are on pp. 50-51: "...all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by the Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality healthcare or related services."
Those 'extraneous personal characteristics', my friends, happen to include immigration status.
In a move some fear is a reprisal for opposing President Obama's health care plan, Democrats sent 52 letters to health insurers requesting financial records for a House committee's investigation.
Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., sent a letter warning health insurers that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is "examining executive compensation and other business practices of the health industry." Because Healthcare has so much to do with Energy and Commerce....
Waxman, chairman of the committee, and Stupak, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee did not inform their Republican counterparts of their plans. We don't need those filthy repubs! We are the rulers now [and forever]
Health insurers have until Sept. 4 to provide Congress a detailed list of every employee who made over a $1 million dollars a year between 2003 and 2008. Democrats also want documents about conferences and any events held off company property as well as the types of transportation, lodging, food, entertainment and even gifts exchanged.
Raising the intimidation stakes: the Waxman letter offers insurers no explanation of what is being investigated or why. Maybe its because the government had to bailout the health Insurance industry.... oh wait....
Industry insiders fear the beginning of reprisals for anyone daring to dissent from the Obama agenda. Ya think?
One said it feels like a reprisal audit by the IRS. Something the Clinton's are said to be very experienced in using.
With raucous health care town halls unfolding nationwide during the August congressional recess and polls showing increased opposition to a government-run insurance program or "public option," neither Waxman nor Stupak nor their staffs would comment on this story. But it's no secret that Democrats blame anti-reform ads on the private health insurance industry and its supporters. Yes of course. The airways have been flooded by anti-Obamacare ads..
Zirkelbach said it would be up to individual companies to decide whether to turn the records over.
Spokesmen for three large insurance companies, Aetna, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., confirmed the firms had received the letters but declined comment.
What Justification does the House have for probing the executive pay of insurance companies? They didn't need a bailout. They are not in financial straights.
Yeah - let's allow them ti have direct control over your healthcare.
#4
Health insurers have until Sept. 4 to provide Congress a detailed list of every employee who made over a $1 million dollars a year between 2003 and 2008. Democrats also want documents about conferences and any events held off company property as well as the types of transportation, lodging, food, entertainment and even gifts exchanged.
This is fascism. Plain and simple. Why dont they just get the IRS records to start? Probably because there are laws against that. I hope and pray the insurance companies take this to court. Tie congress up and make these morons explain themselves.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/20/2009 11:56 Comments ||
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#5
What you said, 49. This is amazing. Corporate cowardice has been a factor in the cretinization and legal maiming of America - if these guys don't draw a line, it will mark a dark, deep new low.
I keep wondering whether the lawlessness of the last 8 months, which has resembled Third World conditions in some respects, is not a factor in the equity markets. Of course "capital flight" requires somewhere to flee to. For now we're all in the position of Chinese officials investing their trade surplus - loathe to put another dime into the US, incl. Treasuries, really with little choice.
Disgusting spectacle, and shameful performance by Americans.
#6
Someone in the private sector needs to take a stand against government interference in business. A sign on my grandfathers desk says: "Keep the government out of business."
#7
--- The courts have given the Feds huge discretion in regulating interstate commerce. Health care, if people haven't noticed, is a HUGE part of interstate commerce. The states set a lot of the rules on corporate structure, which is ultimately how the pay of corporate executives is determined. By default, corporations have more rights & privileges than human citizens of the USA - limited liability and immortality of just 2 of their advantages. So corporate executives are definitely more "equal" than the rest of us.
--- There are a lot of economic, legal, and constitutional issues on the regulation of corporations to be brought to light, and IANAL. Personally I favor drastic restrictions on the amount of damage corporations are permitted, and the institution of a death penalty for corporations, e.g., do sufficient damage to the country, the offending corporation will be liquidated, and all compensation & capital gains it has paid will be clawed back to mend the damage.
That said, this probe is obviously simply harassment & vindictiveness on the part of House Dems.
#8
Did these naive executives expect any consideration for their accomadation with the government? I'm just reminded of the parable of the scorpion. "It is my nature to sting."
#11
To me this is just Red on Red. Both the pols and the execs are operating in environments in which they are pretty much immune to what should be operating checks and balances to behaviors. Each has manipulated their institutions to be in a place outside either the popular electorate or the stockholders reach. The longer they stay in, no matter how effective or ineffective, they may individually be, the system allows them to continue to reward themselves. Whether it's stacking the company Board or the Party selection machine, it's the same.
#12
Sounds like Waxman and Stupak need to be visited in the dead of night by "three ghosts" - bent on increasing the ghost population. People like Waxman have no concept of "popular government" or "individual freedom and personal rights". He needs to be shown the door.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2009 15:16 Comments ||
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#13
IMHO state-chartered corporations are not exactly 'private sector.' Corporations were created by government & do not have inalienable rights like real people do.
It wasn't long ago my home town celebrated our local hero, Sully Sullenberger. Now Babs Boxer has turned these lovely people into a mob. Oh the humanity! P.S. I can't wait to read her book. NOT
#1
Hey GBMC...I live in Danville too! If I'd have known, I would have been there...by the looks of it, it was held at the Livery - a popular shopping/resturant place - for you other R-burgers. Glad to see my town doing what others across America are doing.
#2
Notice - not one Communist flag. Not one Che t-shirt (except perhaps on Babs herself). Not one 'community organizer' in a red t-shirt emblazoned with the hammer and sickle...
It was at Rakestraw Books new location on Hartz Ave.
There is a regular Tea Party group that frequently sets up shop at major intersections such as Sycamore and Hartz. A lot of horn honking by passing motorist.
What a lovely mob, I'd love to join them as a made man.
#6
Same here GB..Semper Fi and Thanks. Don't forget..tonight is Hot Summer Night in Danville. For those of you in the SF Bay area, lots of great cars and food. Also pretty girls abound and for Babs and TW I suppose some men might make the cut as well...
The owner of Elliot's, (Danville's version of the Silver Peso), is a personal friend and golf buddy of mine. If we had a Rantburg cold beer evaluation at his joint I'm sure Dale would give us a deal on the free popcorn.
"It's typical of Ted Kennedy to be thinking ahead and about Ted Kennedy's legacy the people of Massachusetts, when the rest of us are thinking about him."
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/20/2009 13:15 Comments ||
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#3
...And let me add this:
The 28th Amendment:
"No person shall be appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat who is related by blood or marriage to that person. Futhermore, any person appointed to fill any uncompleted Senate term will be required to face election at the next General Election, whether or not the seat they are filling is up for election."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/20/2009 13:18 Comments ||
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#4
And he qualifies under the Cash for Clunkers program!
#5
The only reason that Massachusetts has a law that the Senate seat must be filled by a special election is that they once had a Republican governor (Mitt Romney). The legislature was afraid that if a Senator died in office (as Kennedy will, and Kerry could eventually), the governor would appoint a Republican. So they will probably change the law back again, so that Patrick can appoint whoever Kennedy wants. And the people of Massachusetts will re-elect them when Kennedy's term is up. Unless they elect some other Kennedy. After all, that has been they Kennedys' seat since JFK was elected. (except for a short time after JFK became president, and a seat warmer was appointed until Teddy turned 30.)
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/20/2009 20:32 Comments ||
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Politics is not for the faint of heart. You'll have noticed I never run for anything.
By his ninth town hall meeting this week -- in a sweltering Virginia middle school auditorium -- freshman Rep. Tom Perriello is no longer fazed by angry crowds mobilized for and against health care reform.
He and other backbencher Democrats thrown into the front lines of the debate are caught in a crossfire between their congressional leaders to the left and conservative constituents to the right. These newcomers hold clout that could determine if health care legislation passes -- and in what form.
Perriello won by just 727 votes last year, and with re-election looming in just 15 months, he has no choice but face critics in town hall meetings around his rural swing district in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As his car rolled into an overflowing parking lot, he was greeted by protesters on both sides of the debate: "Public Option or No Re-Election," read one sign. Another declared, "No Obama Care."
"I certainly catch it from both sides," Perriello said.
In the House, the freshmen bloc has the ear of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Conservative Democrats delayed the health care bill for days as tenderfoots such as Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus asked for time to study the proposals, and Pelosi eased away from a tax surcharge on the wealthy at the request of others.
"They know where the majority comes from," said Driehaus, who faces a rematch in 2010 against former GOP lawmaker Steve Chabot, who was ousted last year. "On the one hand, they want to make sure that we hold the base of the Democratic Party. One the other hand, they're working hard to ensure that we protect the seats that we've picked up over the last two cycles. That's a tricky balancing act."
Unlike 1994, when the GOP freshmen made their party more conservative, the three dozen freshmen the Democrats brought in this year have pushed the party toward the middle.
Some, such as Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Alabama Rep. Bobby Bright, come from the South. Others, including Colorado Rep. Jared Polis or Nevada Rep. Dina Titus, come from wealthy districts where constituents are worried about a greater tax burden.
Other lawmakers are simply working in unknown territory. New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan are holding seats their party hasn't had for decades. At times, the freshmen have joined as a team. Nine freshmen senators sent a letter of support last month to Sen. Max Baucus, head of the finance committee, expressing concerns about spending on the health care bill.
"We hear daily from our constituents about this issue; many of them are concerned that we are not doing enough to control costs," they wrote.
Of course, challenging the party's leadership and some of the more liberal ideas comes at a cost. Activist groups such as MoveOn.org have publicly denounced skeptical Democratic lawmakers, running ads or threatening to do so against the likes of Hagan, who wrested a seat from Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole -- a seat that had been in GOP control since arch conservative Jesse Helms started there in 1973.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Freshmen and Sophomore Donks = political cannon fodder to the 'senior' members in secure districts. You are expendable.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A former Las Vegas director for the political advocacy group ACORN has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to testify against the group and another employee.
Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They're also worried about getting repaid.
A New Jersey blogger facing charges in two states for reportedly making threats against lawmakers and judges was trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative, his attorney said Tuesday. 
