A Cleveland immigration lawyer who won a stay of deportation for Barack Obama's aunt is confident that the presidential relative will win her plea for asylum.
Margaret Wong and Associates will represent Zeituni Onyango, the 56-year-old Kenyan half-sister of Obama's late father, at an immigration hearing April 1 in Boston.
The stay of the deportation order was issued Dec. 17, and an immigration judge reopened the request for asylum Dec. 30.
"The judge will be looking at evidence that they may not have been aware of four years ago," said Michael Rogers, spokesman for Wong. "Wong is optimistic. We would have preferred to not conduct this case in the media spotlight, but that's not going to happen."
U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officials could not be reached to comment on Onyango's case.
Onyango left her home in public housing in Boston in December and took a train to Cleveland to escape the media attention. Once here, she hired Wong to represent her in her attempts to remain in the United States.
She stayed with relatives in Cleveland's African immigrant community, said Wong. Rogers said she moved back to Boston sometime later in December.
Onyango attended some of this month's inaugural festivities. She enjoyed seeing relatives from Kenya, Rogers said, but she did not meet with the president.
Rogers stressed that Onyango has neither asked for nor received any assistance from Obama.
Onyango came to the United States in 2000 to join her son and asked for asylum in the United States. In 2004, Immigration Customs Enforcement officials rejected the request and ordered her to leave the country.
Kenya has been shaken by violence in recent years, including a period of two months in 2007 in which 1,500 people died in the East African nation.
Onyango was thrust into the national spotlight when her ancestry emerged during the height of the presidential campaign and she was identified as Obama's aunt.
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2009 16:07 ||
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Kenya has been shaken by violence in recent years, including a period of two months in 2007 in which 1,500 people died in the East African nation.
Kenya, population 40 million.
1,500 homicides in two months is 9,000 per year, or 23 per 100,000 at its worst.
Compare to Washington, DC at 69 per 100,000.
Go back to Kenya -- even at its worst, it's safer than Washington, DC by a factor of 3.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd says he'll refinance two mortgages that he received through a VIP program from Countrywide Financial Corp.
Dodd told reporters Monday that the mortgages for his homes in Washington and East Haddam, Conn., will be refinanced with a different company. Undoubtedly at a better interest rate.
Dodd has acknowledged receiving mortgages in 2003 through a VIP program at Countrywide, which was sold to Bank of America Corp. earlier this year and has been the focus of allegations that it gave favorable loan terms to lawmakers. Dodd says he's moving the loans in part because he was wrongfully labeled a friend of Countrywide's former CEO, Angelo Mozilo. Dodd says he never sought special treatment.
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd says a third party will be involved in choosing the new bank.
So, whaddya say, boys? Am I approved?
Awwwww, sure, ya big lug ya...
WASHINGTON Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's choice to head the Health and Human Services Department, apologized Monday to the Senate panel that will decide his fate, saying he was "deeply embarrassed and disappointed" about failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. I can't use "honest mistake"?
Sorry, been taken, sir.
Determined to salvage his nomination, Daschle wrote a letter to the top leaders of the Senate Finance Committee in which he sought to explain how he overlooked taxes on additional income for consulting work, the use of a car service and paperwork to support claims for charitable contributions. C'mon, boys. You know me. I'm in the club. I know the secret handshake and...everything.
Daschle recently filed amended tax returns for 2005-07 to report $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest. "I am deeply embarrassed and disappointed by the errors that required me to amend my tax returns," said Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader. "I apologize for the errors and profoundly regret that you have had to devote time to them." I am even more sorry that I got caught.
Daschle explained in his apology letter that the presidential transition team flagged charitable contributions they concluded were deducted in error. When his accountant realized amended tax returns would need to be filed, he suggested addressing another matter that Daschle raised with him earlier in the year: whether the use of a car service provided by a close friend and business associate, Leo Hindery, should be reported as income. The unreported income for that car service totaled more than $250,000 over three years. At about the same time, Hindery's company informed Daschle's accountant of a clerical error it made on a form it provided to Daschle that he subsequently reported to the IRS. The error resulted in an additional $88,333 in unreported consulting income for 2007. Geez, Tom, helluva accountant you got there.
"I disclosed this information to the committee voluntarily, and paid the taxes and any interest owed promptly," Daschle wrote. "My mistakes were unintentional." ...and I forgive you for calling me on them.
A financial disclosure form Daschle filed about a week ago shows that he made more than $200,000 in the past two years speaking to members of the health care industry that Obama wants him to reform. The speaking fees were just a portion of the more than $5.2 million the former senator earned over the last two years as he advised health insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries such as energy and telecommunications, according to a financial statement filed with the Office of Government Ethics. I blame Bush. We can still do that, right?
Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for Daschle, said the money he earned in speaking fees from health care interests do not pose a conflict for the health care reform Obama wants him to lead. How can you say that, you mean spirited bastards! This stinks of the Right Wing Hate Machine!!
"He welcomed every opportunity to make his case to the American public at large and the health industry in particular that America can't afford to ignore the health care crisis any longer," she said. ...and he's been very well paid for it!
Among the health care interest groups paying Daschle for speeches were America's Health Insurance Plans, $40,000 for two speeches; CSL Behring, $30,000; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, $16,000; and the Principal Life Insurance Co., $15,000. Daschle said in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services ethics office that if he's confirmed by the Senate, he will resign as a senior policy adviser at the Washington law firm of Alston and Bird LLP. He reported earnings of more than $2 million from that firm during the past two years. Well, isn't that big of Tom. I'm sure the "ethics" committee will put in a good word for him...
Daschle also earned more than $2 million in consulting fees from InterMedia Advisors LLC of New York, an investment firm specializing in buyouts and industry consolidation. He said he also intends to resign from that firm upon his confirmation. Doesn't he kinda...have to?
The Senate will likely increase the amount of spending in a stimulus package that already exceeds $800 billion, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I think we're going to add, frankly, to that ability to get money into the economy and put people to work immediately," Kerry said when asked how the Senate could strengthen the $819 billion House-passed bill. A Senate bill working its way to the chamber floor is already nearing $900 billion.
Democrats will put forth amendments on transit, water, and other infrastructure spending, Kerry said, noting that Democratic leaders will also open the package to Republican amendments when debate begins this week.
Extending unemployment benefits also must be included, Kerry said. "These are important issues. They're also a matter of a moral structure of your government ... your relationship with citizens," Kerry said. "People need to pay their rent. If you don't extend unemployment insurance, people are going to be long-term unemployed."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2009 00:00 ||
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What a doofus. He and Barbara Boxer prove that no matter what coast you represent you're still stupid and ill suited to serve in any capacity beyond kennel work or washing dishes.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/02/2009 10:47 Comments ||
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... your relationship with citizens
Thank goodness this dipshit didn't win. The ruling elite are parasites.
Milwaukee Public Schools would reap $88.6 million over two years for new construction under the economic stimulus package just passed by the U.S. House of Representatives - even though the district has 15 vacant school buildings, a large surplus of property and no plans for new construction.
No district in the state would stand to benefit as much as MPS. In addition to the construction money, the district would get $115.5 million for special education and low income students over two years, according to detailed projections developed by congressional staffers. That totals $204.2 million for Milwaukee.
Overall, the 400-plus school districts across the state would get $729.6 million for those uses, including $317.2 million for construction.
In other words, 28% of the total number would come to Milwaukee.
The U.S. Senate is almost certain to change the numbers when it takes up the economic package this week. Then Senate and House negotiators would need to meet to come up with a compromise bill.
But if the amounts come through even close to where they are now projected, they will provide substantial infusions of money to school districts that are, like so many enterprises, under sharp budget pressure.
The amounts for MPS are particularly eye-catching, and not only because they are the largest in the state. Enrollment is declining every year, and the last major wave of construction in MPS - the $102 million Neighborhood School Initiative launched in 2000 - resulted in projects that are underused, have not met enrollment projections or have closed. A series in the Journal Sentinel in August detailed how tens of millions of dollars in construction spending did not produce the expected results, and the project as a whole has not led to a higher percentage of students attending neighborhood schools.
In general, MPS facilities have been described by school officials as being in good to better-than-good condition. The kind of situations that create urgent needs for renovation or new construction in some cities have not been on the priority list for MPS officials in recent years.
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.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd says he'll refinance two mortgages that he received through a VIP program from Countrywide Financial Corp. 
The Senate will likely increase the amount of spending in a stimulus package that already exceeds $800 billion, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
