Free Republic

Joe Biden, already facing allegations of sexual assault at home and nepotism in China, has chosen a former U.S. senator with his own political baggage on China, ethics, and women to run the search for a vice presidential nominee. Christopher Dodd, who retired from the Senate a decade ago, was a central figure in the 1990s China fundraising scandal, having served as the General Chairman of the Democratic Party at a time it and Bill Clinton’s campaign accepted illegal foreign donations and turned the Lincoln bedroom into a donor perk. The retired Connecticut Democrat also has long boasted a friendship...

Dodd acknowledged his role in the change after a Treasury Department official told CNN the administration pushed for the language. Both Dodd and the official, who asked not to be named, said it was because administration officials were afraid the government would face numerous lawsuits without the new language. ---snip-- "I agreed reluctantly," Dodd said. "I was changing the amendment because others were insistent."

Washington · Otto Reich, President Bush's chief adviser on Latin America, said on Thursday that the administration will step up efforts to pressure the Fidel Castro regime, aid dissidents and hasten the political transformation of the island. "I know that President Bush is interested in doing more to accelerate the process of change in Cuba, and it's safe to say that in the next few weeks and months you will see some additional steps," Reich said. "It's been very difficult for this president to implement this policy for Cuba and the Western Hemisphere because up to this week he was...

http://www.countypressonline.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2549&dept_id=514258&newsid=11351857&PAG=461&rfi=9 EditorialSecond Thoughts By: William W. Lawrence 04/20/2004The "powerful" Delaware County Republican machine is throwing its full support behind Arlen Specter. This "powerful" gang could not deliver the county for Dubya or his father. Let's make certain they cannot do it for Specter.All real Republicans should vote for Pat Toomey.***So George Soros, an anti-American, anti-Bush billionaire, is funding Arlen Specter's senate campaign and has been a Specter supporter since 1996. Let's send the "powerful" Delco GOP machine and Soros a message. Vote Pat Toomey, Tuesday.***Remember Rick Santorum and Dubya have to support Specter. It's not as though they want to....

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Members of a black leadership group are asking Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) to resign from his position in the United States Senate because of recent comments he made regarding Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). Talon News was one of the few national media outlets that reported on this story last week about Dodd's remarks about Byrd made on the floor of the Senate on April 1 (read previous story). "I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great senator at any...

WASHINGTON, April 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Members of the African- American leadership network Project 21 are asking U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd to resign his seat in the wake of inappropriate comments he made commemorating fellow senator Robert C. Byrd's 17,000th Senate vote. Senator Dodd said: "I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great senator at any moment. Some were right for a time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right for any time." "How could Senator Dodd have made...

Angelo Mozilo, former boss of Countrywide Financial, has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007. --snip-- Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud. --snip -- The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo. "The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he...

Chris Dodd bows to global governance . There is nothing ambiguous or uncertain about this statement: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. (10th Amendment) Where in the Constitution does Sen. Christopher Dodd find any authority to even propose his "Livable Communities Act"? Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, authorizes Congress "to lay and collect taxes for the common defense and general welfare" of the United States. The next 17 paragraphs define the specific area of activity the founders...

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd says Inca artifacts removed from Machu Picchu nearly a century ago and held by Yale University belong to the people of Peru.....

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.” There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served...

Washington, DCJudicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.”  The list, in alphabetical order, includes: 1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT):  This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him.  In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat.  In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against...

WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and intends to have surgery early in August, his office said Friday. Dodd intends to be back at work when Congress reconvenes in September, according to an e-mail his office circulated to fellow senators. The AP obtained a copy. Aides also said the diagnosis would not affect Dodd's plans to seek a sixth term in 2010.

At the end of my tenure on this committee, I want it to be said that the safety and soundness of our financial institutions was not weakened on my watch -Chris Dodd, February 15, 2007 (H/T Ironman, who notes that the Dow has fallen nearly in half since that date). Senator Dodd has a lot to answer for and it looks like Connecticut voters are turning on him, as a new Quinnipiac poll out this morning shows he would narrowly trail moderate Republican former Congressman Rob Simmons 43-42 if the election were held today. (H/T) Simmons has been publicly mulling...

Vice President Joe Biden was expected to be Washington's loose cannon in chief, but his old Senate buddy Christopher Dodd of Connecticut is proving to be the master of disaster. Dodd flapped his gums in a television interview yesterday and promptly sent the stock markets into a tailspin, further battering America's bruised investors. Thanks, pal. It was downright dumb for the powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee to loosely throw around the concept of nationalizing U.S. banks, even for a brief period of time. Said Dodd in a Bloomberg TV appearance: "I don't welcome that at all, but I...

I have decided to start a thread focusing on edible weeds. Many of the common plants we see everyday are edible, and while most are not hugely palatable or nutritious, a few are truly very good. If you would like to post a recipe, please post recipes related to these plants only. As always, an extreme amount of caution is advised. It's probably true that 90 percent or so of plants are actually edible, there is a small percentage that if you eat them, you WON'T have to worry about eating again! Oleander comes to mind, it would take less...

Our elected representatives sold the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" as a stimulant for the economy, but it is, in fact, Viagra for the leviathan state. The legislation effectively repeals welfare reform, the single most successful domestic policy of the '90s. Not only are we nationalizing the banks, but the legislators overseeing the banking industry regulate about as well as I play the left-handed harpsichord. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, got a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide and carried water for Fannie Mae like Gunga Din. He should be testifying before his own committee in an...

Stall, and hope they forget. It’s been over seven months since it was revealed that Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) got a sweetheart deal on his Washington, D.C., townhouse directly from Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of troubled subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Participating in the “Friends of Angelo” program saved Dodd about $75,000 on his mortgage, and raised more than a few eyebrows about whether Dodd should be accepting such hefty gifts from entities he’s tasked with overseeing and regulating. Since the scandal broke last June, no action has been taken by the Senate to formally ascertain if...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson did the right thing last week when he withdrew as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary because of an ongoing federal investigation. Prominent members of the Democratic majority in Congress who operate under similar clouds should pay heed. Rep. Rangel is a perfect storm of embarrassment for his party. He has been charged with occupying several rent-controlled New York apartments when he was only entitled to one, taking tax breaks for residences in both Washington, D.C., and New York when he was only entitled to one, failing to report rental income from a vacation...

Isn't it time that U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd came clean and released documents on two mortgages hew received from Countrywide Financial Corp. that has already sparked a Senate ethics inquiry? Following a meeting in Westport on Monday with Fairfield County labor leaders, Connecticut's senior senator once again hedged on saying when he would release the documents. Dodd continues to say the information will be forthcoming but he refuses to say when. Well, it's been five month since the disclosure that Dodd and another senator may have received preferential treatment in 2003 on mortgages from Countrywide Financial, which was later...

As the federal government keeps promising to come up with $14 billion or so to help the domestic auto industry keep one foot out of the grave, talk has swirled that there would have to be changes at the top. A federal "car czar" is on tap to sweat the details, like which people and products stay and which go, so the CEOs have been in the crosshairs – with the bull's eye squarely on General Motors' Rick Wagoner. Wagoner has headed what's soon to be the world's No. 2 automaker since 2000, closing down Oldsmobile, pumping up SUV sales...