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The people of South Kordofan have become caught up in the unresolved contradiction of the post-John Garang Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), which is now leading South Sudan into independence; what happens when a national federalist political movement becomes an ethnic separatist political movement? This is the problem in several areas of Sudan outside the new borders of South Sudan, areas in which the then federalist SPLM/A recruited fighters to combat the Khartoum regime in the interests of creating a federal “New Sudan.” With South Sudan declaring full independence on July 9, a force of roughly 40,000 Nuba SPLA fighters...

A new camp has been opened in western Ethiopia as deadly fighting continues to displace tens of thousands of people in Sudan's Blue Nile, which lies on the border with the newly-independent nation of South Sudan, the United Nations said on Saturday. The new camp is located in the town of Tongo, from the border areas of Kurmuk, Bamza and Almahal. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Adrian Edwards said 533 refugees have already been moved to the new camp. The camp has a capacity for 3,000 people and has the possibility of being expanded if necessary. Over...

LEBANON, TENNESSEE - The former treasurer of a political action committee operated by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Incorporated has been arraigned on charges of stealing more than $70,000 from the organization...... "Forth was manager of political affairs for the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 until April 1998."

A New Jersey couple who gave their children Nazi-inspired names should not regain custody of them, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, citing the parents’ own disabilities and the risk of serious injury to their children. The state removed Heath and Deborah Campbell’s three small children from their home in January 2009. A month earlier, the family drew attention when a supermarket refused to decorate a birthday cake for their son, Adolf Hitler Campbell. He and siblings JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell have been in foster care.

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, who claims she was falsely smeared as a racist while she herself falsely smears Republicans and Fox News as racists, said this morning that she would like to see BigGovernment.com, the website that made her famous, shut down for the good of the country.CNN's American Morning reported on Sherrod's demand:She said if Breitbart's site were shut down, "That would be a great thing, because I don't see how that advances us in this country ... at a time when we should be trying to look at how we can make space for all of us...

As a politically involved person, I have often been asked why I became a CPA. My answer has always been clear and simple – the public policy of this country runs through the tax code and I wanted to understand that code. Never in my 35-year practice has anything validated that decision like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This is not health care reform; it is a full-employment act for CPAs. In an era where Congress changes the tax law more frequently than a Hollywood actress gets Botox shots, nothing has ever come along like this behemoth. My...

Man Pleads Guilty to Filing 250 Tax Returns for Dead People Riverside, Calif. (January 27, 2010) By WebCPA Staff A California man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. after he was accused of filing at least 250 tax returns of deceased individuals. Haroon Amin of Upland, Calif., pleaded guilty Monday to the charges. He was indicted, along with Ather Ali of Diamond Bar, Calif., in December 2008. The two were accused of filing the returns in 2002 and 2003 falsely stating that the deceased individuals earned wages from which income tax was withheld. The false returns claimed...

Hoffman's supporters stage big rallyDouglas L. Hoffman's first congressional campaign stop in Watertown had more campaign staff — three — than attendees. Three months later, the Conservative Party candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race was a bigger draw here than the vice president of the United States. Mr. Hoffman's raucous rally Monday at the Jefferson County Agricultural Society Exhibition Hall drew more than 300 and featured speeches by former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and a soundtrack by country music star John Rich. Mr. Thompson, revered in conservative circles, wasted no time reminding the crowd of what was at stake...

Hello - I have a question for which I'm having a hard time finding the answer, so here goes. I applied for a residential home loan (FHA) with Wells Fargo. I work both full time at one job, and I have a side business that I 100% own. I used only my full time salary for the qualifying income. Debt-to-income ratio is fine. To cover 2/3 of the down payment and closing costs, I took a shareholder distribution from my side business. Wells Fargo is requesting that the CPA who did my corporate taxes write a letter to them indicating...

WASHINGTON—A New Jersey accountant pleaded guilty today to laundering portions of more than $300,000 stolen from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in the Republic of Iraq and brought back to the United States by his wife, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. William Driver, 45, of Trenton, N.J., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper in the District of New Jersey, Trenton Division. At the plea hearing, Driver admitted that his wife, former Lt. Col. Debra Harrison, was assigned to the CPA - South Central Region...

The odds 10,000 to 1 are not good for the public's financial health. Every one of the well-known debacle companies had CPA auditors who said the financial statements were just fine. For AIG it was PricewaterhouseCoopers. Lehman Brothers (the largest bankruptcy in American history) had Ernst & Young. Fannie Mae's fiascos were OK'd by Deloitte & Touche. KPMG was responsible for Countrywide. The $50 billion Madoff Ponzi scheme somehow could not be detected by numerous CPA auditors for its investors. Is the loss to the investing public $1 trillion, $2 trillion, or more? How many life savings are destroyed? How...

Did you hear the one about the pot dealer's tax return? The New Yorker who claimed the whole city as a dependent? The exotic dancer who deducted ... well ... you know? That's right, it's time once again for Bankrate's 10 craziest tax write-offs you've ever heard, presented as a shot of levity to help make filing your annual federal income tax return a little less tedious. In our first installment, taxpayers sought deductions for everything from ostrich breeding to sperm donations. In round two, a high-tech breast pump and a pimped-out Amish buggy led the list of questionable claims....

March 19, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Facts for FeithCPA history. By L. Paul Bremer III A recent article in the Washington Post previewed the forthcoming book by former undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith. In his book Feith apparently alleges that I was responsible for what he calls the single biggest mistake the United States made in Iraq. He claims that I unilaterally abandoned the president’s policy, promoted by Feith and others before the war, to grant sovereignty to a group of Iraqi exiles immediately after Saddam’s defeat. On March 16, Richard Perle of the American Enterprise Institute elaborated on this...

<p>Once conventional wisdom congeals, even facts can't shake it loose.</p> <p>These days, everyone "knows'' that the Coalition Provisional Authority made two disastrous decisions at the beginning of the US occupation of Iraq: to vengefully drive members of the Baath Party from public life and to recklessly disband the Iraqi army.</p>

Once conventional wisdom congeals, even facts can't shake it loose. These days, everyone "knows" that the Coalition Provisional Authority made two disastrous decisions at the beginning of the U.S. occupation of Iraq: to vengefully drive members of the Baath Party from public life and to recklessly disband the Iraqi army. The most recent example is former CIA chief George J. Tenet, whose new memoir pillories me for those decisions (even though I don't recall his ever objecting to either call during our numerous conversations in my 14 months leading the CPA). Similar charges are unquestioningly repeated in books and articles....

Excerpt - WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve sent record payouts of more than $4 billion in cash to Baghdad on giant pallets aboard military planes shortly before the United States gave control back to Iraqis, lawmakers said on Tuesday. The money, which had been held by the United States, came from Iraqi oil exports, surplus dollars from the U.N.-run oil-for-food program and frozen assets belonging to the ousted Saddam Hussein regime. Bills weighing a total of 363 tons were loaded onto military aircraft in the largest cash shipments ever made by the Federal Reserve, said Rep....

Startling facts from the recent Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances indicate that the typical American family has about $3,800 in the bank, no retirement account, no mutual funds and no stocks or bonds. Financial planners suggest families do the following to avoid financial ... http://www.financialfitnessohio.com/Main.aspx?MenuItem=580 http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf

In the United States, a former official has admitted stealing millions of dollars meant for the reconstruction of Iraq. Robert Stein held a senior position in the Coalition Provisional Authority, which administered Iraq after American and allied forces invaded in 2003. In a Washington court, he admitted to stealing more than $2m (£1.12m) and taking bribes in return for contracts. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Robert Stein's story is one of extraordinary corruption and excess amid the ruins of Iraq. He was in charge of overseeing money for the rebuilding of shattered infrastructure in south-central...

L. Paul Bremmer THE recent debate set off by the publication of my book about my time in Iraq has shed more heat than light.... And while I had concerns about the quality of Iraqi forces two years ago, their training has since been revamped. Today they are playing an increasingly important role in defending Iraq. Despite the missteps and setbacks, there is little question that, thanks to efforts by the American-led coalition, enormous political and economic progress is being made in Iraq today. ... Iraqis voted in the country's first genuine elections. Then they wrote and approved a new...

P. Bremer's "My year in Iraq" offends Poland 12.01.2006 Accusations, voiced by the former US civilian administrator in Iraq, that Polish troops have not realized their tasks in Iraq properly are absurd, Poland’s defense ministry has said. The US ambassador to Poland expressed regrets that false opinions were circulated about Polish soldiers. A spokesman for the defense ministry Piotr Paszkowski said that the book published by Paul Bremer proves complete ignorance of the terms and principles on which Poland sent its troops to Iraq. He recalled that they were trained and equipped for stabilization and not offensive actions. In his...

Britain was 'weak-kneed' over arrest of Iraq cleric, says Bremer By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 10/01/2006) The British Government and Armed Forces were "weak kneed" and displayed "cold feet" over plans to arrest a radical Islamic cleric in Iraq, the former US administrator in Iraq claimed yesterday. Paul Bremer also turned his fire on organisations with a reputation for hawkishness, including the CIA, the US Marine Corps and the US chiefs of staff, who were berated for their timidity in refusing to arrest Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia leader. His accusations came in a long-awaited memoir of his 13-month...

L. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, urged U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to increase U.S. postwar troop strength in the country, but his pleas were ignored, the former diplomat said. In an interview on NBC Television broadcast Sunday night, Bremer said he sent a memo to Rumsfeld suggesting that half a million soldiers would be needed, three times the number deployed by the Bush administration. "I never had any reaction from him," Bremer told Brian Williams". Bremer, on a media blitz in connection with release...

Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday. Bremer, interviewed by the network in connection with release of his book on Iraq, recounted the decision to disband the Iraqi army quickly after arriving in Baghdad, a move many experts consider a major miscalculation. When asked who was to blame for the subsequent Iraqi rebellion, in which thousands of Iraqis and Americans have died, Bremer said "we really didn't see the insurgency coming," the network said...

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army officer was arrested on Thursday for stealing between $80,000 and $100,000 in funds from the U.S. governing administration in Iraq and using the money to install a deck and hot hub in her New Jersey home. The U.S. Justice Department said Army Reserve Lt. Col. Debra Harrison, 47, who served with the Coalition Provisional Authority, was arrested on charges involving bribery, money laundering and fraud. Harrison is the second army officer and the fourth person charged in the past few weeks in connection with the scheme. The Justice Department said Harrison was...

FORMER CPA OFFICIAL AND CONTRACTOR ARRESTED IN CASE INVOLVING FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME IN IRAQ WASHINGTON, D.C. – A former Coalition Provisional Authority official and a contractor doing business in Iraq have been arrested on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and wire fraud in connection with a bribery and fraud scheme, the Department of Justice announced today. Robert J. Stein, 50, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was arrested in Fayetteville on Nov. 14, 2005 and is currently in custody there. In 2003 and 2004, Stein was the Comptroller and Funding Officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority – South...

...Despite the amazing progress in Iraq in two short years, some armchair experts carp that we should have moved even faster. Frankly, it's hard to understand what they are thinking.... From the outset, the Coalition recognized that democracy requires more than just elections. We judged that we had a special obligation to help Iraqis design a political and legal structure to guide Iraq's journey from tyranny to democracy. The result, after three months of intense negotiations and compromise, was the interim constitution. This revolutionary document addresses three crucial areas. First, the Coalition insisted that checks and balances guard against the...

Newly released documents from the Bush administration show that a former member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle has resurfaced inside the new Iraqi government, bringing charges of corruption, bribery and bid-rigging. As a result, millions of U.S. aid dollars and billions in Iraqi government funds have disappeared in an ongoing scandal that is poised to engulf Baghdad and Washington. Worse still, a leading candidate for the top elected post in Iraq has also been implicated in the report as having taken "payoffs" in order to rig a major government cell phone contract. According to a May 2004 U.S. Defense Department...

Some U. S. dioceses, such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have granted priestly faculties to Patriotic Association priests, allowing them to openly offer Holy Mass and administer other Sacraments, including hearing confessions in Roman Catholic parishes. May Catholics who are the recipients of these sacraments from a Patriotic Association priest are in the dark, because they do not know the identity of these Patriotic Association priests. According to item 5 of the Holy See’s 1988 China directives, “The Patriotic bishops and priests are not to be invited or even allowed to celebrate religious functions in public,...

Occupation authority said unable to account for $8.8 billion - The U.S. occupation authority in Iraq was unable to keep track of nearly $9 billion it transferred to government ministries, which lacked financial controls, security, communications and adequate staff, an inspector general has found. The U.S. officials relied on Iraqi audit agencies to account for the funds but those offices were not even functioning when the funds were transferred....

In April 2004, followers of Iraqi Shi‘ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a well-coordinated uprising across southern Iraq. While Western media focused on events in Sadr City, Najaf, and Karbala, violence occurred elsewhere as well. A Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) source forwarded the following after-action report regarding violence in the town of Al-Kut, the capital of the Wassit governorate and home to the Ukrainian contingent.The unclassified report, written by a coalition security contractor, highlights dysfunction between regional coalition offices and the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad, as well as tension between diplomats and security officers. The summary faulted a British...

<p>WASHINGTON — A senior Defense official placed under investigation by the FBI (news - web sites) on allegations that he tried to steer Iraqi reconstruction contracts toward friends has been removed from office, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials confirmed Friday.</p>

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) is awarding the nation's highest civilian honor to three men central to his Iraq (news - web sites) policy, the White House announced Thursday.   Bush has chosen retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw combat in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and the initial invasion of Iraq, former CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet and former Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The president will hand out the awards at a White House ceremony Dec. 14, press secretary Scott McClellan said. Franks is a...

...Last week in London, President Jacques Chirac admitted that getting rid of Saddam "may well have been good idea" — then added a big "but" about the wisdom of early elections in Iraq. His argument for delay was based on the claim that he wanted "broader participation" in the elections.... The camp of Saddam nostalgics, including Chirac and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have... portrayed the hostage-takers and head-choppers who terrorize parts of Iraq as "la resistance" and insisted that they should have a place in shaping the future of the country.... With Bush re-elected, chances of sabotaging Iraq's elections vanished....

NEARLY $9 billion (£5 billion) is missing from government funds in Iraq, according to a leaked draft report by official American auditors.The money, which comes from oil revenues and seized assets of the former regime, was handed to Iraqi ministries by the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) but now cannot be traced. Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has been asked by three senators to provide a full written account of the money, including the sum that each ministry received and how it was spent. The draft report by the CPA’s inspector-general, dated July 12, claims that the CPA “did...

BANNER ELK, NC (Talon News) -- Last month, Talon News reported on the candidacy of Vernon Robinson, a conservative black Republican running for the 5th Congressional District seat in North Carolina in 2004. In continuing coverage, Talon News recently spoke with candidate Virginia Foxx in an exclusive interview. In a positive, calm manner, Foxx says she realizes criticisms levied against her from other candidates vying for the congressional seat are all a part of the "dirty process" of running for political office. "This is one of the most painful things about politics," Foxx told Talon News. "However, I believe that...

Robinson's aggressiveness divides, becomes issue

Foxx calls for runoff in 5th District. Runoff election is August 17.

Hunt for Nonfilers Turns up Millionaires, Lawyers, CPAs AccountingWEB.com - Jul-19-2004 - In a crackdown on people who have not filed their tax returns, state and federal officials are finding millionaires, medical professionals, lawyers and other heavy hitters. For example, the suspected list of nonfilers in California for 2002 includes 865 millionaires, 6,756 lawyers, 1,458 CPAs and 20,473 medical professionals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Taxpayers who still haven't filed "have some explaining to do," said Steve Westly, the state controller and chairman of the California Franchise Tax Board. Some people don’t file on time due to health problems or family crises....

<p>WHEN L. PAUL BREMER, fresh from stepping down as American regent in Iraq, visited the White House on June 30, he was greeted by President Bush with a bear hug. Half-jokingly, Bush insisted a White House photographer take a picture of them and drew attention to the signature soft leather boots Bremer wears with a coat, tie, dress shirt, and cufflinks. As the two walked outside from the Oval Office to the Old Executive Office Building, Bush spotted press photographers and immediately threw his arm around Bremer in a gesture of public support. Later that day, Bremer joined the president for a workout in the presidential gym, just as he had last November during an earlier visit to the White House.</p>

The US-controlled coalition in Baghdad is handing over power to an Iraqi government without having properly accounted for what it has done with some $20 billion of Iraq's own money, says a new report published by Christian Aid. • Download full report (166kb PDF) • More information on downloading PDFs An audit, reportedly critical, of the coalition’s handling of Iraqi revenues is not going to be delivered until mid-July – after the coalition has ceased to exist. Christian Aid believes this situation is in flagrant breach of the UN Security Council resolution that gave control of Iraq’s oil revenues and...

Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, blamed Coalition Provisional Authority bureaucracy yesterday for the slow development of an effective Iraqi security force and warned that Fallujah was still a threat to the peace in Iraq. The general also said the terrorist violence was largely being carried out by a homegrown insurgency organized into regional and perhaps national cells complemented by imported suicide bombers. "I don't know what the volume of foreign fighters is in Iraq, [but it appears] to be a very small number," he said at a gathering at the Washington...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 28 — In a surprise, secret ceremony that was hastily convened to decrease the chances of more violence, United States officials today handed over sovereignty to Iraqi leaders, formally ending the American occupation two days earlier than scheduled. In a tightly guarded room behind high walls, L. Paul Bremer III, the top United States administrator, presented a formal letter recognizing Iraq's sovereignty to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Just 30 or so people were present for what Dr. Allawi described as the "historic" handover. A few hours later, Mr. Bremer flew off on a military plane, leaving...

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (C) smiles as US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer (R) shakes hand with the head of the Iraqi Supreme Court Midhat Mahmoud after handing over legal documents of Iraq's sovereignty during a simple ceremony in Baghdad. Iraq received its sovereignty from the US-led coalition after 14 months of occupation(AFP/Saeed Khan) U.S. Administrator L. Paul Bremer, right, shows a document to Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, center, and Iraqi Chief Justice Midhat al-Mahmoudi, left, transfering national sovereignty to Iraq at a ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq Monday, June 28, 2004.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)  

Over and out By Damien McElroy in Baghdad (Filed: 27/06/2004) As he embarked on a final round of farewell visits to outlying parts of his empire last week, Paul Bremer, the American-appointed administrator of Iraq, lapsed into a quiet daydream about the cookery school he will attend after returning home to Washington. Paul Bremer discusses the future of Iraq with tribal leaders If the confident New Englander was weary after the cacophony of bombs and bullets that have steadily increased in tempo throughout his tenure, the signs were not visible. The dark, good looks that belie his 62 years remain...

  United States Department of Defense.News TranscriptOn the web: http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040621-0901.htmlMedia contact: +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 Presenter: Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Military Operations and Daniel Senor, Senior Advisor, CPA Monday, June 21, 2004 10:08 a.m. EDT Coalition Provisional Authority BriefingMR. SENOR: Good afternoon. I have a brief opening statement, General Kimmitt has an opening briefing, and then we'll be happy to take your questions.We are nine days away from handing full sovereignty over to the Iraqi people, although, as you've heard me say repeatedly from this podium and as you've...

FOREIGN SERVICE FIREFIGHT AN FSO DESCRIBES A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH IRAQI INSURGENTS ON THE ROAD FROM BAGHDAD TO NAJAF. BY PHILIP S. KOSNETT March 5, 2004. We were southbound on the main highway from Baghdad to the Coalition Provisional Authority provincial headquarters in Najaf late on a Friday afternoon. Our three-car convoy carried six American personnel and a sixman Salvadoran personal security detachment from a Spanish/Salvadoran base in the city. By agreement with the Salvadoran commander, his U.S.trained personal security team was assigned fulltime to protect us. The Cuscatlan Battalion, based in Najaf, is the best in the Salvadoran...

De-de-Baathification National De-Baathification Committee decides to reintegrate more than 12,000 former Baath members to public service. BAGHDAD - More than 12,000 former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party are in the process of reintegration into public service a year after losing their jobs under a now abandoned policy of punishing loyalists of the ousted regime, a senior official said Thursday. In a backtrack on its once hardline stance, the so-called National De-Baathification Committee - a body created and headed by erstwhile Pentagon favourite Ahmad Chalabi - reinstated the public servants. "Our committee, which fired 30,000 people, has decided to reintegrate...

<p>Scott Erwin came from his job in Iraq to walk across the stage with his University of Richmond graduating class on May 9.</p> <p>Last year Scott Erwin put his college education on hold to go to Iraq and teach democracy.</p> <p>He risked his life because he wanted to help.</p>

Bremer the 'dictator' of Iraq – UN envoy UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday responded to criticism of US involvement in the nomination of the new Iraqi government by stressing Washington was still the dominant force in the country. "I would remind you the Americans are governing the country so their point of view was certainly taken into consideration," he said at a news conference. "He has the money, ..the signature" "I don't think he'd mind my saying this: Bremer is the dictator of Iraq. He has the money, he has the signature," said Brahimi after stressing he had...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A senior Bush administration official Tuesday hailed the appointment of a new Iraqi government and said the Coalition Provisional Authority would remain sovereign until June 30 to help the new leadership phase in. The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that the Iraqi Governing Council, in office since July, had voted to dissolve effective immediately to allow the new government to begin taking over its responsibilities. He also said the new Cabinet would begin negotiations on the status U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq after June 30 "fairly soon." The official said...