Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - Dozens of lawmakers have drawn scrutiny from their ethics monitor this year for everything from financial dealings to travel and campaign donations, according to a leaked account showing an active House panel secretly at work.

PROVO — Freeze! Nobody move (that property). That's the order 4th District Judge Fred Howard gave last week as prosecutors pursue charges in an alleged $59 million Ponzi scheme. In an unusual pre-emptive strike, investigators moved to block suspects from selling or transferring real estate and vehicles valued at almost $2.3 million. It is a tactic normally employed when charges are filed in a white-collar criminal probe, which typically takes years to complete. But by that time, the assets are often long gone. Prosecutors want to do all they can to prevent that in what has become one of the...

Frank wants to use bailout money to stop foreclosuresBY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:09 AM EDT U.S. Rep. Barney Frank will push to redirect some repaid bank bailout money toward unemployed workers in danger of losing their homes. Frank, D-Newton, is sponsoring legislation that would make low-interest loans available to the unemployed so they can make their mortgage payments and prevent foreclosure. His bill envisions using $2 billion that bank have repaid the government from bailouts they received under the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Frank said the federal help would not go to people who...

Almost daily, news stories covering the current voter fraud investigation in Afghanistan are reported across the oceans. The barrage of stories ought to cause Americans to pause and remember the little unresolved issue in the United States. Whatever happened with the investigation into ACORN and the 2008 election? The organization did register a mere 1,315,037 voters by October for the 2008 presidential election. And, we must not forget about the Minnesota fiasco in which Minnesotans ended up with Senator Al Franken even though Norm Coleman led by 725 votes -- the morning after the election! The voter fraud investigation in...

A two-year-old girl accused of hitting a car with a stick was investigated by police on suspicion of vandalism. The vehicle’s owner called the police claiming the child had deliberately damaged his car...

Focus on Rangel, a Chairman Under InvestigationBy CARL HULSE Published: October 2, 2009 WASHINGTON — Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York is increasingly in the spotlight these days and not just because he is in the thick of the health care debate as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Just as the health care fight heads to the floors of the House and Senate, Republicans are intensifying efforts to make Mr. Rangel a symbol of Democratic misconduct and institutional arrogance because of his belated disclosure of personal assets and other financial missteps. Despite some unease, Democrats say...

The radical left-wing activist group ACORN would have us believe a panel of inquiry consisting of its friends and political allies will help the group fix its internal problems and get a fresh start. I doubt anyone reading this article is that naïve. The fact is ACORN will not go away quietly. It’s too big, too powerful, and too important to the progressive movement and the Democratic Party. Power concedes nothing without a fight, so it’s not at all surprising that the group is already trying to whitewash its deep-seated, systemic problems.

As scandals concerning the left-wing "community" group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) continue to metastasize, the organization seems to think it can handpick allies to "investigate" its own transgressions. Fortunately for the rest of us, the growth of independent writers and researchers using modern communications means there are plenty of other outfits that can and will expose corruption. Case in point: The Pelican Institute think tank in New Orleans keeps unearthing examples of federal and state tax liens against ACORN's national headquarters in the Crescent City. The institute's indefatigable research broke into national attention yesterday via a...

ACORN announced today that former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger has agreed to head ACORN’s investigation of itself. Leaving aside the valid question of whether any ACORN-funded probe can actually be “independent,” Harshbarger is a particularly bad choice.Harshbarger has impressive-sounding credentials, but he is well-known for his political and ideological intensity. A quick Google check of his affiliations shows him sharing the program as a speaker at a Campaign Institute event in 2004 with Dan Cantor who is described as “founding executive director of the Working Families Party (WFP),” an ACORN front. See New York ACORN Front Group Based in...

Tom Maguire, citing the Washington Post, reports that AG Eric Holder seems to be winding down the much ballyhooed and widely criticized decision to investigate the CIA interrogators: The WaPo reports that, having finished with the grandstanding and puffery, Attorney General Eric Holder's investigation into the already-investigated detainee abuse cases is narrowing and winding down. Beyond the obvious problems - in addition to demoralizing the CIA they are investigating the foot soldiers, not the generals who ordered the policy - it turns out that technicalities of law, jurisdiction and evidence make prosecutions and convictions difficult.  That is hardly a surprise to...

KABUL, Sept. 8, 2009 – The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has appointed a two-star general to lead the formal investigation into a Sept. 3 air strike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that reportedly killed numerous civilians. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal appointed Canadian Maj. Gen. C.S. Sullivan to lead the joint investigation board’s probe of the incident. Sullivan directs ISAF’s air component and serves as the command’s deputy director of joint operations. The board also will include a U.S. Air Force officer, a German officer and a legal advisor and will coordinate with the Afghan investigation team formed...

(CNN) -- Could George W. Bush or some of his top aides end up behind bars? It's extremely unlikely, but the Obama administration is taking its first steps along a path that could lead in that direction, with the investigation of Central Intelligence Agency interrogators involved in the war on terror. "You don't know where these things are going to end up," former CIA agent Peter Brookes told me. "They could go to very high levels in the government." The probe will focus on whether interrogators exceeded their instructions and broke the law when, for example, they choked a prisoner...

Last September, Rachelle Beamer of Gardner bought a Chevy Impala that had been part of Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s fleet. “I don’t think I thought to ask if the side air bags were there,” she said when told that her Impala, bought from an Olathe car dealer, lacked the safety devices. Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the nation’s largest private buyer of new cars and seller of used ones, chose to “delete” a standard safety feature from thousands of Chevrolet Impala fleet vehicles, saving millions of dollars. After the company rented out those 2006-08 model vehicles, Enterprise and countless dealers nationwide offered them for sale...

One of the nation’s leading rental car companies recently ordered thousands of cars without side impact airbags in an attempt to save millions of dollars, then later sold the cars to buyers without the standard safety feature, according to a report from the Kansas City Star. According to the report, Enterprise Rent-A-Car ordered a fleet of Chevy Impalas without the side impact

,,,(snip) In one lingering issue, the Alaska Public Offices Commission has refused Palin's request to keep secret the discounts that come from her husband's Arctic Cat sponsorship. APOC also said Palin needs to disclose all the gifts she received last year, rejecting her interpretation that she doesn't need to until after she gets around to actually opening the gifts. ROTFLMAo -- a gift isn't a gift until it is opened. Seems some stuff has been sitting around for a year or more. I will say that is a very quaint view of a legal issue.

Federal arson investigators have been called in to help determine the source of a fire inside the cabin of an American Airlines jet last month en route to Zurich from New York, according to U.S. government and industry officials. ... * flight attendants used several fire extinguishers to put out a lavatory blaze * air-safety investigators and law-enforcement officials are still trying to determine the cause * The probe is unusual and has created a stir among air-safety experts, these officials said, because the airline initially asked U.S. law enforcement to get involved when mechanics failed to find the source...

Frank eyes Friday for executive compensation voteBy Silla Brush Posted: 07/26/09 11:08 PM [ET] House lawmakers next week plan to cast their first votes on President Obama's overhaul of the financial regulatory system by taking up new restrictions on executive pay practices. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that his committee would mark up legislation on Tuesday and proceed to votes on the floor on Friday. The legislation would require non-binding "say on pay" resolutions that are intended to give shareholders a greater say on executive pay practices at firms across the country. The legislation also...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Three central Florida members of the state's Congressional delegation have signed their names to a letter sent this week to the U.S. General Accounting Office, demanding an accounting for a supposed "no meetings" list for official federal conventions or other business. There is no evidence that such a list exists, and federal agencies have not said there is one, but U.S. representatives Suzanne Kosmas, Alan Grayson, and John Mica are the Floridians who signed a letter calling for an investigation. The supposed list includes tourist draws of Orlando and Las Vegas, where officials could use tax dollars to...

She failed to bring down the Bush presidency though she and her Democrat cohorts did destroy the Republican Party which deeply impacted the 2008 presidential elections. Now she’s actually put a hit on the CIA. That’s right she has them in her sights. She and the Democrats intend to do the same to the CIA as they did to the Republican Party and when they’re done the CIA will be every bit the Democrat lap dogs that the Republican Party has become. Oh there are some pockets of resistance within the Republican Party but for the most part...

For those who are intimidated by the complexity of the esoteric $59 trillion credit default swaps market (CDS), let me explain in raw layman’s terms the likely nature and significance of the Department of Justice’s antitrust inquiry into Markit, a company owned by more than a dozen Wall powerhouses including Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan (JPM): The DOJ wants to know whether Markit’s owners manipulated the company’s pricing data and index formulation to enrich themselves and screw their customers. If the Obama Administration has the conviction and political temerity to investigate and prosecute the wrongdoing the DOJ suspects, it...

Petition: We, the undersigned, respectfully demand that the Judiciary Committees of the United States House and Senate investigate the firing by President Obama of Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Sign Petition at: gopetition.com/online/28746.html

LA police chief: Jackson investigation might turn criminalBy Deutsche Presse Agentur His statements Thursday to CNN were the clearest indication yet that some of the many doctors who treated Jackson over the years could have helped him illegally get the prescription drugs that were suspected of being a factor in his death. Bratton's comments came as the Jackson family was waiting for the results of the pop star's official autopsy and the independent autopsy that were conducted shortly after his June 25 death. "We are still awaiting corroboration from the coroner's office as to cause of death," Bratton told CNN....

FBI agents have been in New Orleans City Hall since Friday collecting data from computer-network servers and backup tapes, according to a city official familiar with the investigation. Five federal agents have tied up the work of management information systems employees as they comb through the data stored on the servers. The agents are expected to be in City Hall all week, said the source, who wished to remain anonymous because the investigation has not been made public. The agents came bearing federal subpoenas seeking information and met with Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield, the source said. City spokeswoman Ceeon...

Did administration leaks to the AP, Washington Post, and Times compromise an ongoing Justice investigation-thereby aiding Rick Renzi's re-election ?

Frank's wise investing eases stock stingPublished: June 22, 2009 at 11:25 AM WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- A conservative investment strategy helped shield Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., from being bruised by the battered stock market, his financial report indicates. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, put his $896,000 investment portfolio largely in state and local municipal bonds, the Boston Globe reported after reviewing the financial disclosure reports of Frank and other lawmakers. "It's not just coincidence -- it's putting my money where my mouth is," said Frank, who has ripped Wall Street for risky financial behavior many blame...

GOP Lawmaker Rips Treasury for "Gagging" SIGTARP, Sees Parallels with Nixon Era & Calls for InvestigationJune 18, 2009 9:29 PM ABC News' Matt Jaffe reports: The lone sitting Republican member of Congress on the Congressional Oversight Panel tonight dubbed the Treasury Department's challenge of the independence of bailout watchdog Neil Barofsky "outrageous, "unprecedented", and "disturbing", and he called on the Panel to launch an immediate investigation. "It's highly outrageous and highly irregular and we are going to get to the bottom of it," warned Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, in an interview with ABC News. "For Treasury to assert some kind...

Republicans call for investigation into political favoritism in auto restructuringBy: Susan Ferrechio Chief Congressional Correspondent 06/03/09 5:08 PM EDT Two top House Republicans are calling for an investigation into the Obama administration's handling of the way Chrysler and General Motors filed for bankruptcy. Reps. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas and Spence Bachus, R-Ala., say some stakeholders were given preferential treatment by Obama's Auto Task Force in the restructuring of the two auto giants and they want the House Financial Services Committee to hold oversight hearings. Spencer is the top Republican on the panel and Hensarling is the ranking member on one of...

Norm Coleman had an unusual escort to yesterday's Supreme Court hearing on the Minnesota recount, a sharp-eyed MinnPost reporter found: Like an Agatha Christie mystery, all the key players arrived on the scene, as if reprising their performances since the recount began. Friedberg, the dapper, 72-year-old Minneapolis defense lawyer, showed up by 8:15 a.m., 45 minutes before the start of the argument, wearing his father's lucky cufflinks and spraying throat-soothing liquid into his laryngitis-afflicted throat. Soon after, Coleman himself walked in, accompanied by his criminal defense lawyer Doug Kelley, who is handling any matters related to an ongoing FBI investigation...

Could Easley investigation expand to Perdue?Updated: May 29, 2009 06:36 PM EDT By Melissa Hankins WBTV (Charlotte) - Sources tell WBTV that the federal probe into former Governor Mike Easley's travel records and expenses may grow to include our current Governor, Beverly Perdue. The FBI is investigating trips taken by Easley during his time in office. The News and Observer in Raleigh reports, while in office, he flew on at least 25 private jets provided by several businessmen. Easley didn't pay for some flights, and the value of other trips appears to exceed campaign donation limits. It's a matter of...

LETTER: Frank pushed for loans that caused the meltdownMay 29, 2009 6:00 AM Frank pushed for loans that caused the meltdown On Wednesday night, April 13, I watched Sean Hannity's show featuring Thomas Sowell, the black journalist who ironically has a steady column in your cousin paper, The Cape Cod Times. I love diversity! For some odd (or is it?) reason, The Standard-Times refuses to carry his column, or any other conservative columnist, whether black or white! Hmm. Anyway, Sowell points out on the news program that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took on mortgages that poor people couldn't afford...

Rep. Barney Frank, advocate of stimulating the economy5/20/2009 Positions: Chairman, House Financial Services Committee; has represented Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District since 1981. Party: Democrat. Personal: Born March 31, 1940, in Bayonne, N.J. Single. Why he's in the news: Frank's leadership position in the House gives him enormous influence on legislative measures intended to stimulate the economy. Resume: Bachelor's degree, Harvard University, 1962; graduate work in political science and teaching fellow in government, Harvard, 1962-72; J.D., Harvard Law School, 1977; staff, Boston Mayor Kevin White, 1968-71; staff, Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael Harrington of Massachusetts, 1971-72; member, Massachusetts Legislature, 1973-80; U.S. congressman,...

Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento -- An ongoing investigation into pension fund corruption across the country intensified Friday as California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown directed subpoenas at politically connected firms and individuals, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Brown issued the subpoenas as part of a probe into "placement agents" who help secure pension fund investment contracts for their clients in return for large sums of money, often millions of dollars. The subpoenas seek information on the use and disclosure of placement agents and potential conflicts of interest, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because...

PRESIDENT Obama's passivity before the threatened foreign prosecution of Bush administration officials achieves by inaction what he fears doing directly. This may be smart politics in the Democratic Party, but it risks grave long-term damage to America. Ironically, it could also come back to bite future Obama administration alumni, including the president, for their current policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

KABUL, May 6, 2009 – U.S. and Afghan officials here have launched an investigation into a May 4 engagement in Afghanistan’s Farah province to determine the validity of claims of high civilian casualties – claims that the senior military officer here said don’t initially appear to add up. Army Gen. David D. McKiernan, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said the joint investigation team hopes to “have at least the initial truth of what has happened out there” within the next few days. Some information emerging about the incident “leads us to distinctly different conclusions...

A political firestorm is brewing over what members of Congress knew about the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation methods on terrorist detainees, and when they knew it. As various members try to duck, cover, or flee from the issue, we are reminded of a shameful episode from the Vietnam War.

SACRAMENTO—After an investigation that has spanned 4 1/2 years, federal prosecutors are racing the clock as they consider whether to bring corruption charges against a former lawmaker who was one of the state's most powerful political leaders. ... He also became one of the Capitol's most prolific fundraisers. The intersection of power, political fundraising and business connections is what attracted an FBI inquiry into the dealings of the 63-year-old Perata, his family, political allies and campaign contributors. Among the questions being pursued is whether Perata helped steer millions of dollars' worth of political consulting work to his family and friends,...

Former state Senate leader Don Perata and his attorney have mounted a furious campaign against a decision by Sacramento federal prosecutors to review corruption allegations that San Francisco federal prosecutors declined to pursue. The Sacramento review violates a deal, called a tolling agreement, between defense attorneys and the U. S. attorney's office in San Francisco that stopped the clock on the statute of limitations while the parties discussed the matter, the defense attorneys insist. That agreement does not extend to the Sacramento U. S. attorney's office and the statute of limitations now precludes prosecution, the attorneys claim.

Why the Failure to Understand the Global Financial System? Some readers may take issue with the headline, but bear me out. /snip Contrast the 1987 panic with our credit meltdown. The 1987 crash was a single country event, in transparent markets (equities and equity futures). This crisis revolves around multiple over the counter markets (asset backed securities, including securitized auto, student, residential and commercial real estate loans, CDOs, CLOs, CDS) that were originated and sold around the world. The authorities have an weak to non-existent picture of trading volumes and prices. In addition. they also do not have a good...

URBANA, Md. (AP) - The Justice Department says it foiled a plot by a fired Fannie Mae contract worker in Maryland to destroy all the data on the mortgage giant's 4,000 computer servers nationwide. The U.S. Attorney's Office says 35-year-old Rajendrasinh Makwana, of Glen Allen, Va., is scheduled for arraignment Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on one count of computer intrusion. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein says Makwana was fired Oct. 24. Rosenstein says that on that day, Makwana programmed a computer with a malicious code that was set to spread throughout the Fannie Mae network and destroy all...

This is great news, but I still wonder what took the FBI so long. "FBI Cuts Off CAIR Over Hamas Questions," by Mary Jacoby for IPT News, January 29 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm): The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has cut off contacts with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) amid mounting concern about the Muslim advocacy group's roots in a Hamas-support network, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned. The decision to end contacts with CAIR was made quietly last summer as federal prosecutors prepared for a second trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF),...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Mayor Sam Adams, who has admitted lying about a sexual relationship with a teenager, said Sunday that he would not resign. A city commissioner, Randy Leonard, told The Associated Press that Mr. Adams had left a phone message in the morning saying he had decided to remain in office. Two other commissioners told The Oregonian of Portland that Mr. Adams, the city’s first openly gay mayor, had told them the same thing. The fourth, Amanda Fritz, declined to comment. Efforts to reach Mr. Adams were unsuccessful. The Oregonian’s editorial page has called for his resignation, as...

Make no mistake. The left is back in power and they intend to destroy the opposition. Heavy weight Dems, not just the fringe moonbats, are salivating at the opportunity to investigate and prosecute the people who held them in check for much of the last eight years. Today on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Nancy Pelosi sent a strong signal to moonbats that prosecutions of Bush administration officials are possible.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ inefficiency turned U.S. law and order into a travesty There is another crisis on the verge of catching fire in America and the bailout has already begun. It is the bailout to fix the costly fallout created by decades of failed immigration policies that taxpayers have been funding and will continue to fund to mop up the mess. Last November, a fraction of the bailout went to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a $2.6 billion a-year agency. The USCIS received $500 million over five years to modernize its case management system. This agency...

President-elect Barack Obama was interviewed by the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as part of Fitzgerald's criminal probe into embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Obama was interviewed last Thursday. Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was interviewed Friday, and incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was interviewed Saturday.

As Democrats inside and outside the Obama camp struggle to circle the wagons around The One (Rush Limbaugh noted that, while Jesus walked on water, Obama seems to walk on cesspools), there are two critical questions that arise. First, why did Obama resign so early, and finally, why was U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald so uncharacteristically impatient to arrest the Governor of Illinois and his chief of staff? What was so compelling about this scandal that makes it different from the scandalous behavior of every big city Democratic machine in America? Obama resigned his senate seat on Sunday, November 16, just...

This is not good news for Obama, who said yesterday that he was confident his staff hadn’t been talking to Blago about the appointment. Obama said that he, personally, didn’t meet with Blago about the appoint yet news reports suggest otherwise news reports suggest otherwise.

We've got a lot of questions about the Blago investigation by US Atty Fitzgerald. John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit joins us with his take. Also, a look at another colorful character on the Illinois landscape. We get started at 9 ET on The Andrea Shea King Show on Talk Radio. Join us!

WASHINGTON – The House ethics committee is expanding an investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The ethics panel issued a statement Tuesday saying it had voted to expand an already far-ranging probe into the New York Democrat to examine whether he protected an oil drilling company from a big tax bill when the head of that company pledged a $1 million donation to a college center named after the congressman. The move means the Rangel inquiry will likely stretch well past early January, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had previously said she...

SRINAGAR, India – One of the two Indian men arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks was a counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission, security officials said Saturday, demanding his release. The arrests, announced in the eastern city of Calcutta, were the first since the bloody siege ended.

t was a bizarre and abrupt way to die for a man who, by all accounts, went at life full-bore and was fit and agile from riding his bicycle everywhere he went ... Doctor killed in mysterious elevator shaft fall It was a bizarre and abrupt way to die for a man who, by all accounts, went at life full-bore and was fit and agile from riding his bicycle everywhere he went. But as San Francisco police combed over the evidence Tuesday, investigators said this is what appears to have happened: Dr. Daniel J. Kliman, an Alameda physician and one...