Free Republic

After King County Superior Court Judge Gregory Canova awarded Microsoft an $8.7 million judgment in a 2008 lawsuit involving unpaid software licenses, he might have been surprised to learn that Microsoft isn’t actually in the software licensing business in Washington – or at least that’s what it reports to the state Department of Revenue. For tax purposes, Microsoft reports that it’s earned its estimated $143 billion in software licensing revenue in Nevada, where there is no licensing tax. However, for legal purposes, Microsoft executes its licensing contracts so they are governed by and rely on the protections of Washington law...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference has suspended officials from last weekend's Arkansas-Florida game after the crew was involved in its second controversial call of the year. Referee Marc Curles' crew called a personal foul on Arkansas defensive lineman Malcolm Sheppard in the fourth quarter as the Gators were rallying for a 23-20 victory. The league said there was no video evidence to support the call.The same group of officials called the LSU-Georgia game earlier this month, which included a late unsportsmanlike conduct penalty the league said shouldn't have been called. "A series of calls that have occurred during the...

Geithner: World not ready for end of stimulusG7 says growth still fragile; no mention of strong dollar By Nick Godt, MarketWatch Oct. 3, 2009, 3:36 p.m. EDT NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The global economy is not yet strong enough to allow governments to end their fiscal and monetary stimuli to boost demand and growth, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Saturday. "Planning for an eventual exit is the responsible and necessary thing to do, but we are not yet in the position where it would be prudent to begin to withdraw fiscal and monetary policy support," he said in a...

A con artist who claimed to have proof that David Letterman bedded several female staff members tried to extort $2 million from the the funnyman, he told his audience Thursday night. The stunning admission came hours after Letterman testified before a grand jury and admitted to "sexual relationships with members of his staff." "This morning, I did something I've never done in my life," said Letterman. "I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury." The "Late Show" host received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his dalliances with female employees and said...

Why hasn't Charlie Rangel stepped down?After documented reports of his sweetheart deals, influence peddling, unreported assets, and untaxed income, Charlie Rangel is still chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Can't anyone tell him to move aside? Francis Wilkinson Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Glenn Beck launched an attack against the Obama administration's "green jobs" director Van Jones in the last week of August. By Labor Day, Jones was FOX-kill. Compare that to the results achieved by The New York Times and The Washington Post, both of which have called for New York Rep. Charles Rangel to step down...

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis told Fox News' Chris Wallace on Sunday that her group "absolutely pays its taxes." Not true: The IRS and Louisiana's taxmen have imposed nearly $2 million in liens against ACORN for failing to fork over taxes at its New Orleans national headquarters. The IRS recently filed a $548,000 lien against the group, and Louisiana state tax officials have slapped $334,000 in liens on ACORN since last October. Evidence that ACORN ignored its tax obligations may be less exciting than its branch offices' eagerness to help a self-professed pimp break multiple laws, or the voter-registration fraud for...

Link only - Chandler’s not-so-recent Rangel connection

The clock is ticking on tax cheat Charlie RangelBy: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent September 1, 2009 It hasn't gotten much attention amid news of Ted Kennedy, Obamacare and the worsening outlook in Afghanistan, but an extraordinary situation is developing in the House of Representatives. With each passing day, it's becoming more clear that the powerful committee chairman in charge of writing America's tax laws is a financial wheeler-dealer, a serial asset-hider, and a tax offender. Rep. Charles Rangel has been in the House since 1971. He's as old bull as you get in the Democratic hierarchy, and he waited...

Stop embarrassing us, Mr. Rangel. ResignBy: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 08/28/09 4:52 PM EDT Want to understand why 2009 has witnessed the eruption of Tea Party and Town Hall protests of unprecedented intensity? Look no further than Rep. Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that writes tax law for the rest of us. A parade of steadily more serious revelations was capped with news that Rangel somehow forgot to report as much as half a million dollars in assets and income on his 2007 financial disclosure report. It's impossible...

RANGEL UNTANGLEDC DEMS MOVE TO SAVE HIM By GINGER ADAMS OTIS Last updated: 3:37 am August 30, 2009 House Democrats are willing to rally around Rep. Charles Rangel in his latest spate of tax missteps -- but only as long as no more embarrassing revelations come to light, sources told The Post. The head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee last week amended six years' worth of financial disclosure forms and revealed he'd earned $1.3 million in previously unreported income. That's on top of ongoing House Ethics Committee probes into four other areas of Rangel's financial past -- including...

Teddy Kennedy was memorialized at a solemn funeral Mass on Saturday in Boston in a service reminiscent of the way Kennedy spent his days on Earth: bringing together disparate elements of the America's political and social worlds, flummoxing his foes and inspiring his more numerous admirers – and, albeit through surrogates this time, tirelessly working the room on behalf of his latest legislative project. This was a "Catholic" event in both the uppercase and lowercase sense of the word--a grand religious ritual that matched or exceeded anything even in the storied history of the Boston church, and a "catholic,"...

Police in the Mexican border city of Tijuana say they have arrested six men for stealing pieces of the U.S. border fence to sell as scrap metal. Holes in the border fence once were more commonly made by migrant smugglers, but fewer people are trying to cross because of a weak U.S. economy and a crackdown on immigration. The Tijuana police department says the suspects intended to sell the steel sheeting as scrap. The first two men caught cutting into the fence on Monday. An alleged accomplice was detained Tuesday with 11 pieces of fencing. The U.S. Border

Ever notice that those who endorse high taxes and those who actually pay them aren’t the same people? Consider the curious case of Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, who is leading the charge for a new 5.4-percentage point income tax surcharge and recently called it “the moral thing to do.” About his own tax liability he seems less, well, fervent. Exhibit A concerns a rental property Mr. Rangel purchased in 1987 at the Punta Cana Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic. The rental income from that property ought to be substantial since it is a luxury beach-front villa and...

Geithner Defends Proposed Overhaul of Financial SystemTreasury Secretary Touts White House Plans on Capitol Hill but Gears Up for a Fight in Washington By MATTHEW JAFFE June 18, 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today launched the Obama administration's push for the most sweeping financial system overhaul since the Great Depression, beginning with a Capitol Hill hearing. Senators grill Treasury Secretary Geithner on financial regulatory reforms.But during a morning session with the Senate Banking Committee, lawmakers made it clear the administration would encounter opposition from both sides of the aisle. "Over the past two years, our nation has faced the most...

...Geithner ... most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, Zambia, India and Thailand where he completed high school at International School Bangkok. He attended Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires-for-boys, a summer camp located in western Massachusetts. He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983. He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985. He has studied Chinese and Japanese. ...grandfather, Paul Herman Geithner (1902–1972), emigrated with his parents from Zeulenroda, Germany to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908. His...

IRS workers are demanding the right to cheat on taxes without severe penalties like Obama's cabinet nominees. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, in charge of the IRS, failed to pay failed $34,000 in taxes before his nomination. Five other top Obama cabinet nominees have been caught in arrears on their taxes. However, IRS agents can be fired for simply filing a late return or failing to report a few hundred dollars of income. IRS employees are very angry at the double standard. According to the Chicago Tribune,"Our members are upset and angry," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees...

Clinton and Geithner to co-lead talksBy Mark Landler Published: February 22, 2009 BEIJING: Speculation about who would control China policy has crackled in diplomatic circles since it became clear that Hillary Rodham Clinton was not ready to cede the Middle Kingdom to the Treasury, as happened during the Bush administration. Clinton, the secretary of state, said she and the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, would be co-chairmen of a high-level consultation between China and the United States that would be balanced between strategic issues like North Korea and economic concerns. Before leaving Beijing, Clinton met with prominent female Chinese lawyers, doctors...

Tax-Troubled Rangel to Help Unveil Tax Preparation ProgramU.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel is joining the Wal-Mart Foundation and other organizations in announcing a grant to provide free tax preparation services. FOXNews.com Monday, February 09, 2009 U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, who still faces an ethics inquiry into a host of tax problems, plans to put his face on a new program Tuesday meant to assist taxpayers in filing their 2008 returns. The New York Democrat is joining the Wal-Mart Foundation and other organizations in announcing a Foundation grant to provide free tax preparation services. **SNIP** But Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens...

Geithner postpones unveiling TARP plan By Silla Brush Posted: 02/08/09 12:43 PM [ET] Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will postpone until Tuesday his new plan to boost the financial system with the rest of the $700 billion bailout money, one of President Obama's top economic advisers said on Sunday. Lawrence Summers, the head of the National Economic Council, said on "This Week with George Stephanopolous" that the White House wants to keep the focus on the roughly $800 billion fiscal stimulus package making its way through Congress. "I think there is a desire to keep the focus on the recovery program,...

Will Rangel Case Test Fla. Congresswoman’s Reformer Image?By Billy House Media General News Service February 06 2009 WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep Kathy Castor's new assignment to a committee that investigates House members' ethical behavior has landed the Tampa Democrat in the middle of one of her party's biggest potential embarrassments. At issue is a protracted inquiry involving an array of alleged improprieties by New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, who is chairman of the powerful tax code-writing House Committee on Ways and Means that holds a key role in efforts to tackle the recession. The ongoing Rangel matters remain, at least...

Rangel’s Financial Disclosures Omitted Data Over 30 Years, a Report SaysBy DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI Published: February 4, 2009 Representative Charles B. Rangel’s financial disclosure forms had at least 28 omissions in the past 30 years and failed to account for what became of more than $239,000 in assets, according to a report issued Wednesday by a private government-ethics group. Despite Congressional rules that require members to list the purchase or sale of any assets, Mr. Rangel accumulated from $239,026 to $831,000 in assets that were not listed in subsequent reports, according to the report by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group...

One thing the Republicans can attempt to do is try to start impeachment proceedings on "Little Tommie Daschle". The new RNC Chairman Michael Steele should take this football and run with it. If the new Democratic Congress and Administration is going to hoodwink the American public out of almost a trillion dollars towards "recovery", the Republicans should come out fighting. One gift handed the Republicans is the Tax Fraud by "Little Tommie Daschle". Could be a point of Freeper Activism -- just bringing up mention of the Daschle Tax Fraud during Tax filing season. Bringing the word "Impeachment" to the...

Geithner Says Plan for Banks Is in the WorksJanuary 29, 2009, 6:53 am As lawmakers pressed the Obama administration for details of how it would assist financial firms that have been rapidly deteriorating, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Wednesday the administration is working on a comprehensive plan to “repair the financial system.” Mr. Geithner declined to provide any specific details or to address rising calls for the creation of a government institution to buy or guarantee the declining assets at several of the nation’s largest banks, The New York Times’s Stephen Labaton and Edmund L. Andrews reported. He discouraged...

Soon after he won confirmation on a closer than expected 60 to 34 vote in the Senate last night, tax evader Timothy Geithner was sworn in as secretary of the Treasury. "Had he not been nominated for treasury secretary, it's doubtful that he would have ever paid these taxes," said Sen. Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia). Byron York of National Review has a good blog post on Democratic senators who refused to vote to confirm Geithner and NR's Andy McCarthy has a list of 10 Republican senators who voted to confirm him. (Previous post on Geithner)

Why doesn't the MSM tell everyone that Bernard L. Madoff was a prominent Democrat and donor. I guess it is for the same reason that they don't Say that Illinois Gov is a democrat.

Fraud: Many millions in dubious campaign donations to Barack Obama are going unaudited. Meanwhile, Minnesota's Senate race is ripe for the stealing. When elections lack integrity, the people no longer rule.We may have found something on which the two most powerful black men in the U.S. government (as of next year) — President-elect Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — agree. Thomas differs with the rest of the high court on the issue of public disclosure of campaign contributions. Noting that the Federalist Papers "are only the most famous example of the outpouring of anonymous political writing that occurred...

Hillary Clinton Talks In The Polling Station

PALM BEACH GARDENS — In divorce papers filed Monday, the wife of Congressman Tim Mahoney claims her husband “recently sold jointly owned real property” moved the proceeds to an account in his name and “dissipated funds from said account.” Terry Ellen Mahoney also claims that in the last two years Tim Mahoney “dissipated marital assets” and asks for a full accounting of the transactions so that she can collect her share. Tim Mahoney, who has admitted to “numerous” affairs, said he paid Patricia Allen of Hobe Sound, a former staffer with whom he was romantically linked, $121,000 out of his...

Joe Biden just answered a question without hesitation, without pause for thought, as if he knew what was coming. Ifill asked him "Can you think of a long held view you were forced to change.." Biden stepped in without hesitation with a detailed answer, even before Ifill had finished asking the question. Did he anticipate and have a canned answer, or was he prepped and just jumped in to soon?

With the parents growing indignant and the Beijing Games winding down, the International Olympic Committee wants to “put to rest” persistent questions about the age of China’s gold medal women’s gymnastics team. The IOC said Friday there is still no proof anyone cheated, though it asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate “what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies,” spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. However, all the information the Chinese gymnastics federation presented supports its insistence that its athletes were old enough to compete.

What is Cheat Offsetting? When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere. Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience. Can I offset all my cheating? First you should look at ways of reducing your cheating. Once you've done this you can use Cheatneutral to offset the remaining, unavoidable cheating

After nearly a month of silence following accusations of steroid use, Roger Clemens and his legal team exploded into action. They filed a lawsuit late Sunday night, then staged an emotional press conference yesterday, airing a secretly taped conversation with Clemens' accuser, former trainer Brian McNamee, that they contend clears the seven-time Cy Young winner. In fact, little was provided in the way of hard evidence. McNamee did not admit wrongdoing on the tape. A surprisingly impassive Clemens did not ask him to. Clemens saved his anger for the press conference. After weeks of heavy scrutiny, that's where his frustration...

On Clemens' stance regarding claims in Mitchell Report that he used and was injected with banned performance-enhancing drugs from 1998-2001: ``Roger Clemens adamantly, vehemently and whatever other adjectives can be used, denies that he has ever used steroids or whatever the word is for improper substances. ``He is really concerned and upset that he has been named in this report based on the allegations of apparently, reading the report, based on a trainer (Brian McNamee) that he has had in the past. ``That's not a standard somebody should be held out in public to have done something as serious as...

Sunday isn't only Jets vs. .Patriots. It could be Spy vs. Spy. According to league sources familiar with the situation, the Jets were caught using a videotaping device during a game in Foxborough last season that resulted in the removal of a Jets employee. After Gillette Stadium officials saw him using the recorder early in the game, he was told to stop and leave the area. He had been filming from the mezzanine level between the scoreboard and a decorative lighthouse in an end zone. The camera was not confiscated by the Patriots or stadium security. Tuesday night the Jets...

PHILADELPHIA -- Sheldon Brown and the Eagles hoped a blitz would rattle Tom Brady. One problem: Every time the Eagles rushed Brady in the Super Bowl, the Patriots nullified the defensive attack with screen passes. Lots of them. On almost every play defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called for a blitz, the Patriots used the short pass to confuse the Eagles. After the Patriots beat the Eagles 24-21 in 2005 to win the Lombardi Trophy, Brown thought the Patriots beat them with nothing but sharp offensive playcalling. Now, he's not so sure. With spying accusations leveled this week against the Patriots,...

Unbe-freakin'-lievable. Read this story. It's short, so you can read the whole thing quickly........Done? Good.Can you freakin' believe that? A legislative body without rules is just a fistfight waiting to happen. A society without rules is no society at all. But the Democrats don't care about any of that. They have one goal: victory over Republicans. Congenitally, that is all they care about.People say, "every time you think they've hit a new low, they dig a hole in the basement." Well, if you think this is as low as they can go, you're way off. There's pretty much no low...

Swedish benefit cheats can no longer trust their neighbours, friends and colleagues to keep their secret from the authorities: in the first three months of 2007 the number of anonymous tip-offs to Stockholm's Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) has increased by 72 percent compared to the same period last year. Up until the end of June this year there were 881 anonymous tip-offs in the capital. That compares to 1,175 for the whole of last year. "People have always called us, but it's suddenly much more common," said Therese Karlberg, project leader in the agency's benefit fraud department. "When they see...

Nine students have been dismissed from the Indiana University School of Dentistry after a faculty council determined they cheated by improperly using passwords to open computer images before an examination. The school also suspended 16 students from the second-year class for periods ranging from three to 24 months because of their involvement and 21 students received letters of reprimand for not reporting the cheating, dental school Dean Lawrence Goldblatt said Monday.

Breaking on Fox News. Giuliani Files Statement of Candidacy for President No article yet.

<b></b> Creates bold text <i></i> Creates italic text <tt></tt> Creates teletype, or typewriter-style text <cite></cite> Creates a citation, usually italic <em></em> Emphasizes a word (with italic or bold) <strong></strong> Emphasizes a word (with italic or bold) <font size=?></font> Sets size of font, from 1 to 7) <font color=?></font> Sets font color, using name or hex value Links <html></html> Creates an HTML document <head></head> Sets off the title and other information that isn't displayed on the Web page itself <body></body> Sets off the visible portion of the document Header Tags <title></title> Puts the name of the document in the title...

"I've believed in him from day one. I still believe in him," the St. Louis Cardinals manager said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. McGwire is appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, and an AP survey of 125 baseball writers who are eligible to vote - about 20 percent of the total - showed that only one in four who gave an opinion planned to vote for McGwire. "It would be two in five then. I'd make it two in five," La Russa said. "I can't answer for anybody else, what priorities...

When Kevin O'Connor gave up work, he claimed he could barely walk because of a ruptured disc in his back and bad knees. The 48-year-old claimed incapacity benefits saying he had enormous difficulty walking a distance of just five yards and needed a walking stick at all times. Imagine the surprise then when undercover officers filmed him going through strenuous moves as a martial arts instructor. These pictures show O'Connor running through his moves including kicking and punching while instructing junior members at a club. The karate expert is facing up to six months in jail after he admitted wrongfully...

Governor / Lt. Governor County Precincts Reporting: 11 of 11 State Precincts Reporting: 215 of 3290 CANDIDATE COUNTY VOTES COUNTY % STATE VOTES STATE % D-Kathleen Sebelius 670 98 % L-Carl Kramer 6 1 % F-Richard Lee Ranzau 7 1 % R-Jim Barnett 0 0 %

Welcome to The Pulse, the place to find out what the sports world is thinking. Every day on ESPN.com, SportsNation registers its opinion on a wide range of topics by casting votes and chatting with experts in The Show. We collect the daily highlights and put them in The Pulse. Story of the Day: Super Bore Bill Leavy wasn't the only unhappy viewer. Upon further review, SportsNation finds insufficient reason to get excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Sunday. By beating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, the Steelers gave Jerome Bettis the perfect parting gift...

In Arkansas for a children's golf clinic, Tiger Woods was asked about playing golf with former President Bill Clinton. "Interesting math," Woods said, drawing a laugh before telling a story about a round the two played in February before the opening of the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif. Woods described a hole on the back nine. "President Clinton rolls one in the bushes, then hits another one off the tee ... right in the middle of the fairway, hits a nice little wedge shot up there to about, I don't know, 6-7 feet. "I hit a bad pitch,...

BOULDER, Colo. - An investigation of a professor who likened some Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi found serious cases of misconduct in his academic research, a University of Colorado spokesman said Tuesday. One member of the five-person investigative committee recommended that ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill be fired, and four recommended he be suspended, university spokesman Barrie Hartman said. Churchill has denied doing anything wrong. He said earlier Tuesday that he had yet to see the report. University officials had earlier determined Churchill could not be fired for his comments about the terrorist attacks, but they launched an inquiry...

A blood-soaked retired cop screamed frantically for help yesterday as his new bride - an active NYPD officer - calmly shot him again and again on a Brooklyn street for sleeping with another woman, police sources said. "She's a cop! She's a cop! I'm going to die!" shouted Todd Jamison, 43, who married the alleged shooter in August, only to cheat on her with a woman he met in December. Driving a rented Chrysler 300 sedan, Alison Jamison - who allegedly had repeatedly threatened to kill her unfaithful husband - tracked him to East New York and rolled up behind...

...If there are serious criminal acts being covered up, then this election could prove to be unlike anything seen before in this country. Would a party guilty of high crimes against the people of Canada willingly go down to defeat running an honourable campaign? Would they restrict themselves to fighting a war of words and ideas when losing power is synonymous with having their crimes exposed, prosecuted and punished? I don’t think so. I expect that such a party would have no problem resorting to winning by any means possible, legal or not...

The Queens judge who sparked an uproar when she helped a defendant escape arrest through a back exit of the courthouse should be removed from the bench, a disciplinary panel ruled Tuesday in one of its most contentious decisions on record. The judge, Supreme Court Justice Laura D. Blackburne, was immediately taken off active duty by the Office of Court Administration. She faces a lengthy suspension and then, if the Court of Appeals affirms the disciplinary ruling, the end of her nine-year judicial career. In a 9-2 vote that included a forceful dissent, the majority of the Commission on Judicial...

Tech's Big Gamble Online poker 'rife with cheats' Notorious casino cheat claims 99 per cent of players will one day be cheating... By Will Sturgeon Published: Friday 4 November 2005 The boom in internet gambling may be about to hit its greatest hurdle with one of the world's most famous casino cheats claiming the online world is far more at risk from cheating than the casinos in which he made millions. Richard Marcus is among an elite of casino cheats and during a 25-year reign he and a small team took casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, London and Monte...