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We need people like you—lots of people like you—to go out in communities around the country this summer and help make change happen. And you can earn money doing it. Earn $4,000-$6,000 this summer. **I found these in every state but with different titles on craigslist)***

The official overseeing White House health care reform efforts earned more than $5.8 million in the past three years from her work for major medical companies, according to a personal financial disclosure and other public records . The disclosure statement filed by White House health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, released this week, shows that from the start of last year until her appointment this March, she pulled in more than $2.3 million from her positions on the boards of six firms likely to be significantly affected by the health care reforms that she’s championing.

link only bloomberg aka in action so a happy photo you have

Federal agents raided the offices of a Western Pennsylvania defense contractor that has received millions in federal earmarks at the request of Rep. John Murtha, according to local media reports. The offices of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems were shuttered for the day following the raids, the chief financial officer told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat. The companies' phone system says they will open again Friday morning, and e-mails sent to top company officials went unanswered. Based in Windber, Pa., just outside Johnstown, Kuchera won $8.2 million in federal defense earmarks in the 2008 budget. The earmarks came at the request...

Back in the day, a good report card earned you a parental pat on the back, but now it could be money in your pocket. Experiments with cash incentives for students have been catching on in public-school districts across the country, and so has the debate over whether they are a brilliant tool for hard-to-motivate students or bribery that will destroy any chance of fostering a love of learning. Either way, a rigorous new study — one of relatively few on such pay-for-performance programs — found that the programs get results: cash incentives help low-income students stay in school and...

Iran has purchased the S-300 air defense system, a report said. The Bipartisan Policy Center, established in 2007, asserted that Iran has recently purchased the Russian-origin S-300 system. In a report titled "Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Policy Toward Iranian Nuclear Development," the center suggested that Iran has acquired the system.

(IsraelNN.com) In a letter appearing in the weekend edition of the respected Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, former Italian President Francesco Cossiga revealed that the government of Italy agreed to allow Arab terrorist groups freedom of movement in the country in exchange for immunity from attacks in Italy. Cossiga wrote that the government of the late Prime Minister Aldo Moro reached a "secret non-belligerence pact between the Italian state and Palestinian resistance organizations, including terrorist groups," in the 1970s. According to the former president, it was Moro himself who designed the terms of the agreement with the foreign Arab terrorists....

The Pentagon has paid more than $40 million to Iraqis whose family members were accidentally killed or their property destroyed by coalition military action since the beginning of 2005, according to interviews and documents that provide a glimpse into the extent of continuing civilian casualties in the conflict. The condolence payments are meant to mitigate anger against the U.S. military as it works to reduce violence in Iraq. They are in keeping with a system in Iraqi Muslim culture in which a payment for damage or death eliminates the need for revenge. Though they have spent the money, military officials...

Imagine, if you will, a sea of protesters in front of the White House for tonight’s State of the Union message. A sign-wielding brigade of like-minded activists of all races, all ages, and all on the same page: We support the President. GWB: Defending the Free World. News cameras, videos, interviews, the whole bit. Now suppose that a journalist discovers that a conservative PAC has paid these protesters to be there. Do you think the lead in the news stories would be about the protests, or about the fact that the protesters were in fact paid employees of the conservative...

Congressional Democrats, just days from reclaiming their majority on Capitol Hill, are preparing for what promises to be a lot of investigations.Well, here's one that they should, but doubtless won't, undertake.It centers on a charity founded by a longtime aide to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the incoming chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee....

For a quarter of a century, Carmen Scialabba labored for Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), helping parcel out the billions of dollars that came through the House Appropriations Committee, so when the disabled aide needed a favor, Murtha was there. In 2001, Murtha announced the creation of Scialabba's nonprofit agency for the disabled in Johnstown, Pa. The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff, Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003, according to appropriations committee records and former committee aides. Since...

JERUSALEM – An Israeli businessman who says he served as a broker in a multimillion-dollar Iraqi collection deal by the law firm of former Secretary of State James Baker now charges in a WND interview Baker's firm tried to cover up the alleged transactions, concerned about exposure after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The deal was structured to bypass U.S. sanctions on Iraq, according to the middleman, Nir Gouaz, president of Caesar Global Securities in Israel. Gouaz claimed Houston-based Baker Botts made about $30 million collecting funds owed to a South Korean company by the Iraqi government at the peak...

Hamza 'paid £220,000 for house while on legal aid' By Duncan Gardham (Filed: 12/10/2006) Abu Hamza, the radical cleric, bought a house for £220,000 in cash and let it out while receiving legal aid, it was claimed yesterday. An investigation by the Legal Services Commission has led to a freeze on the sale of the four-bedroom property in Greenford, west London. Abu Hamza and the property in Greenford, west London Hamza has been claiming legal aid for his fight against allegations of incitement to murder, for which he received a seven-year jail sentence this year. The bill is thought to...

SAN FRANCISCO California State University secretly paid millions of dollars to outgoing campus presidents and top executives, in some cases keeping them on the payroll up to five years after leaving office. Neither the chancellor nor trustees at the nation's largest public university system publicly disclosed the "transition pay," lucrative consulting contracts and tenured teaching positions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. Chancellor Charles B. Reed said his office spent as much as $4 million over the past decade for "special assignments" and paid leave for former campus presidents and vice chancellors. Reed said in a June 23 e-mail to...

A Romanian man has handed over his wife to a creditor as payment for his debts. Emil Iancu, from tIghisu Nou, gave his wife Daniela to 72-year-old Jozef Justien Lostrie when he turned up on his doorstep to collect a £1,800 debt. Iancu said: "I had no money to pay the debt and when I told Lostrie he said he would take my wife instead. "I was scared of what he would do and so I signed a document saying Daniela would live with him."

Homeowner alleges Bush family paid no rentBy Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports April 27, 2006 More Robinson: Who will pay for Bush home inquiry? Michael Michaels, who owns the Spring Valley, Calif., home in which Reggie Bush's family lived for nearly a year, said Thursday he will file a $3.2 million lawsuit for fraud against the Bush family Friday to recoup unpaid rent and other finances given to the USC star's family. Michaels' attorney, Brian Watkins, alleged Thursday night that Bush's mother and stepfather, Denise and LaMar Griffin, failed to pay $54,000 in rent for the home that has become the...

A legislative audit is calling for tighter eligibility procedures for Minnesota health and welfare benefits after finding widespread errors in the evaluations of noncitizens, including illegal immigrants. County workers made errors in seven of 10 cases in which they determined eligibility of noncitizens for benefits, according to the evaluation, which was released Wednesday morning by the Legislative Auditor's office. Most of the procedural errors made no difference, but the audit found that 18 percent of the mistakes could have resulted in incorrect rulings on eligibility status. That means the state could have paid for benefits for some people who weren't...

Peoria man pleads guilty in diploma mill case Latest News more>> Truck pulling horse trailer full of illegals crashes SPOKANE, Wash. An Arizonan has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for his role in a gigantic diploma mill operation. Richard John Novak pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Spokane, Washington, to conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Novak, who formerly lived in Spokane and now lives in Peoria, could face up to ten years in prison and (m) millions of dollars in fines. Novak is the second person to reach a plea agreement with the Justice Department...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission proposed new rules Friday that would leave almost all Internet political activity unregulated. The proposal would, however, require paid advertisements for federal candidates on the Internet to be paid for with money regulated by federal campaign law. There has been an explosion of political activity on the Internet and political bloggers who offer diverse views say they should be free of government regulation. In a summary of the proposal, the FEC said the rules "are intended to ensure that political committees properly finance and disclose their Internet communications, without impeding individual citizens from using...

SACRAMENTO – University of California leaders faced sharp rebukes once again by state senators yesterday, with some criticizing UC President Robert Dynes' leadership and others questioning whether UC's governing board is serving its purpose. In the second and final hearing scheduled by the Senate Education Committee on UC compensation matters, several senators said they were dissatisfied with how Dynes has worked to correct extravagant paid-leave arrangements and outside compensation for chancellors – none of which were reported to regents or the public. ----- Senators have also been troubled by a $248,000 undisclosed payout to UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne...

US crops left to rot as Mexicans leave the fields for better-paid jobs Low pay, harsh conditions and security checks force immigrant workers into other sectors Dan Glaister in Calexico Saturday February 4, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Standing in the early morning darkness just 50 metres inside the United States, Roberto Camacho is doing his best to ward off the cold. Dressed in a black bomber jacket with a baseball cap pulled low over his brow, he shuffles from foot to foot as he waits for a lift to work. After 15 years working in the fields of California for...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy this week ramped up the effort to curtail the influence of lobbyists by proposing a lifetime ban on members from serving as lobbyists after they leave Congress. Currently, members are banned from lobbying for one year. "I think part of the temptations are whatever your possible future life might be," Kennedy, R-Minn., said. "We need to be attracting folks to Congress with real-life experience, with real-life experience to go back to."

ATLANTA (AP) - An activist who opposes illegal immigration acknowledged he paid more than a dozen homeless people $10 each to hold signs during a rally earlier this week, but said they agreed with his message. D.A. King, who spoke at the rally, said Wednesday that he paid "14 willing American workers to let their voices be heard about illegal immigration." The people he hired are homeless and regularly congregate near the Capitol, King said. "Trust me, they are angry," King said. "When the day comes when I cannot pay an American for an hour's worth of work for making...

SACRAMENTO - California taxpayers have shelled out $91,000 -- $11,381 a month and counting -- for a San Quentin prison doctor who hasn't seen a patient in eight months. Dr. X, as he's known in federal court documents, has been linked to three inmate deaths since 2002. His story provides what medical experts see as a frightening illustration of the quality of health care received by inmates and the inability of prison health officers to quickly identify and address problems without wasting taxpayer money. The San Francisco physician was sidelined by prison officials, but not until Feb. 3 of this...

Terror 'is the price we paid for going to war' By Andrew Sparrow and Anton La Guardia (Filed: 18/07/2005) Tony Blair's support for the war in Iraq has "proved costly" in increasing the terrorist threat to Britain, a leading think-tank says today. Shoulder to shoulder: the UK's links to the US are problematic A report from the Royal Institute for International Affairs says that the invasion gave a lift to al-Qa'eda's recruitment and that as a result there were "particular difficulties for the UK". The findings are embarrassing for the Prime Minister because he has fought hard - and until...

SACRAMENTO — Two days before he was sworn into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted a consulting job paying an estimated $8 million over five years to "further the business objectives" of a national publisher of health and bodybuilding magazines. The contract pays Schwarzenegger 1% of the magazines' advertising revenue, much of which comes from makers of nutritional supplements. Last year, the governor vetoed legislation that would have imposed government regulations on the supplement industry. According to records filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Schwarzenegger entered into the agreement with a subsidiary of American Media Inc. on Nov. 15,...

Pakistani politician got paid £1,000 a month in UK benefits By Daniel Foggo and Massoud Ansari (Filed: 12/06/2005) A prominent Pakistani politician has been receiving British state benefits to which he was not entitled while living in a palatial home in Karachi. As the governor of Sindh province in Pakistan, Dr Ishrat-Ul-Ebad Khan lives in a mansion in the state capital while being waited on by servants and chauffeured in Mercedes limousines. Dr Ishrat-Ul-Ebad Khan Yet, while enjoying the perks of his position, Dr Khan was for 10 months the recipient of money from the benefits system, including income support...

Clinton: ‘I paid a big price’The former president on his legacy, his health and his wife's future By Brian Williams Anchor & “Nightly News” Managing Editor NBC News Updated: 6:52 p.m. ET June 1, 2005 CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. - Former president Bill Clinton is just back from a grueling 14-day, 12-nation, 16-stop tour. **SNIP** I asked the president a blunt question about his legacy and any regrets he may have that impeachment will always play a prominent role in how his presidency is remembered. Clinton: It probably would, because — but to be fair, you said you're being blunt with me....

Shia Iraqi hitmen admit they were paid to join Sunni insurgency By Akeel Hussein in Baghdad and Colin Freeman (Filed: 24/04/2005) Iraqi Shias have admitted taking part in brutal attacks on members of their own religious community after being recruited as paid hitmen for the Sunni terrorist leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The confessions to their involvement in murders, kidnappings and car bombings have shocked fellow Shias, who until now have maintained that most of the attacks against them have been carried out by Sunni insurgents intent on starting civil war. According to statements given to the Iraqi police, gangs...

The blood is in the water. The sharks are circling. Now it is time for the main course. Lower the tank and drop in the political corpse of Tom Delay. Democrats are whipping themselves into a frenzy — as are their allies in the press — over the impending political death of Tom DeLay. The Majority Leader is helping fan the flames by holding up rifles at NRA rallies while asking for more bullets. But if you are scoring this one at home sports fans, expect to see a flurry of revelations coming out about the Democratic leaders in the...

While you're watching the political commercials and listening to the politicians spin their web around unsuspecting and misinformed people...here's a "Reality" lesson in economics from David R. Kamerschen,Ph.D, Distinguished Professor of Economics, 536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. http://www.uga.edu/ Top 1% earn 21% of all income; pay 37-1/2% of all taxes Top 5% earn 35% of all income; pay 56-1/2% of all taxes Top10% earn 46% of all income; pay 67% of all taxes Top 25% pay 84% of all taxes Top 50% pay 96-1/2% of all taxes Bottom 50% pay 3-1/2% of all taxes Just in case...

Doris Matsui had seen her stock investments plummet two years ago to a point where she decided she wanted to shift some of her money elsewhere. Matsui, who is running in a March 8 special election to replace her late husband in Congress, figured real estate was a better way to go. Matsui recalled Friday that she said as much back then to major Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, whom she has considered a friend for three decades. "Everybody when they get together at parties talks about their real estate, about how much more your house is worth than it was...

The head of San Diego's pension system acknowledged yesterday the agency has inadvertently sent pension checks to retirees after they died, and he is determining exactly how much money was paid. Administrator Larry Grissom said that since 1996 roughly 200 retirees were sent pension checks after they died. Staff members are still calculating how much is outstanding in about 63 of those cases. For the rest, Grissom said the calculations have been made, but it would take him several days to provide those figures. The amount paid after the death of a retiree ranges from $100 to $6,000, Grissom said....

A dialogue between two important members of the FARC (Colombian revolutionary Armed Forces), appears to be among the evidence submitted by the Colombian authorities to the Venezuelan Government according to Colombia’s Radio Caracol. Here is the translation of the only written report I have seen on the issue, which suggests that more than one hundred members of the FARC guerillas were in Caracas in early December for the II People’s Bolivarian Congress, financed and organized by the Chavez Government.. I had talked to two reporters who had mentioned this to me, but said they could not talk about it and...

"The Government had to choose between war and shame. They chose shame. They will get war too." -Churchill The grotesque Granda case would seem to be the cause of our problem with Venezuela in the same way that the war of independence would have been due to the insolence with which the chapeton refused to lend the flower vase to the party to honor Antonio Villavicencio. ... From the Ministry of Interior and Justice we warned that the key to our relationship with Chavez could be found in the Sao Paulo Forum, and in the communist conspiracy that was being...

Despite new evidence that Venezuela has become a sort of ''Club Med'' for Latin America's violent groups, the Bush administration is unlikely to start its second term taking major steps to isolate leftist-populist President Hugo Chávez. But, eventually, it will probably do so. Judging from what incoming Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate earlier this week and what I have heard in interviews with well-placed current and former U.S. officials, the U.S. strategy will be to wait until Chávez does something really obnoxious in the eyes of the world, which he probably will.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

According to ABC News, only 25% of voters believe every vote will be counted properly. That's good news, actually. It means that something approaching 75% of voters know that the Democrats are planning to cheat any way they can. Anyone else notice the unions have not run political ads this year? Unions got together and decided they could better use that ad money as "get out the vote" money. There is no telling how much money they will be spreading around, but I would guess it would total somewhere between one-hundred and a hundred-twenty million. That's how much they think...

Before the real news, there's a little interesting background news we should take care of. This comes from the "Be careful who you blame department," because everything is not always exactly as it looks. We've been hoodwinked. Yeah, you, me, all of us. It appears to me that there is a major scam afoot. It's kind of funny, in a sick sort of way; but it is a flimflam nonetheless. First, we know that Dan Rather and his cohorts at CBS have a major bias. Among other things, they "fixed" a certain "60 Minutes" program many years ago to pump...

WSSU students question Blair's paid appearance Former reporter, forced to resign from N.Y. Times, will speak, answer questions By Mary Giunca JOURNAL REPORTER Tuesday, September 14, 2004 Disgraced journalist Jayson Blair will speak at Winston-Salem State University on Wednesday, and some students are asking why the university is spending $3,000 to bring him there. Ebonee Russell, a senior and a reporter for The News Argus, the school's paper, said she wonders whether Blair deserves any attention from the university at all. "What kind of role model is he? What kind of example is he setting for the students here?" she...

You know Bush must go but which protest is right for you? Some protesters are angrier than others. Some will be closer to the GOP Zone. And, some are sending signals that a law or two may be broken. We've laid out your ten best options and rated them on how hot we expect them to get. A31 August 31, all day, concluding with a 7 p.m. swarming of Madison Square Garden An ad-hoc collective of anarchist groups has called for a day of direct action, which kicks off at 9:30 a.m. outside Tavern on the Green and culminates in...

Jackson paid $23m to silence sex claims By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles (Filed: 17/06/2004) Michael Jackson paid $23 million in 1994 to bring to an end accusations that he sexually abused a boy, according to legal papers recently made public. The singer, who faces trial on fresh child abuse charges in September, also admitted "negligence" but denied any abuse, or "wrongful acts", in a confidential agreement, the terms of which were unknown until now. The 1994 papers could play a role in the latest allegations if the boy, now 24, agrees to testify in court. Jackson, 45, is accused...

Blood Money Former Exec: American Company Paid Terrorist Group to Protect Overseas Interests By Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz April 16 — Before his company sent him overseas, Allan Laird, a former Denver-based mining executive, had never heard of Abu Sayyaf. As Laird quickly learned when he arrived in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf is one of the world's most-feared terrorist organizations, closely connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Laird said he also soon discovered the company for whom he formerly worked, Echo Bay, was regularly paying Abu Sayyaf and other terror groups in the Philippines in exchange for...

Heavyweight boxer paid to lose five times to same fighter: report Tue Feb 3, 8:34 AM ET LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A heavyweight fighter said he was paid money to use fake names in losing five times to the same boxer in the 1990s, it was reported.According to prosecution documents filed in a federal sports bribery case, the unidentified heavyweight boxer said he used alias or his own name as part of a scheme to pad Don 'Man of Steel' Steele's won-loss record with 'fixed' fights, the Los Angeles Times reported. FBI (news - web sites) agent Scott A. Gillespie...

US paid $1m for 'useless intelligence' from Chalabi By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 30 September 2003 Information from Iraqi defectors made available by Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress before the US invasion was of little or no use, a Pentagon intelligence review shows. The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) said defectors introduced to US intelligence agents by the organisation invented or exaggerated their claims to have personal knowledge of the regime and its alleged weapons of mass destruction. The US paid more than $1m for such information. In 1998, Congress provided $97m to the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the...

<p>The UAW has asked Detroit's automakers to pay for voluntary abortions in its national contract talks, say officials at the union and the companies familiar with the talks.</p> <p>The potentially explosive request was made to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group during talks about health care coverage, those officials said. They did not know whether it was also made to Ford Motor Co. during contract talks, which began in mid-July.</p>

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Oil services giant Halliburton, already under fire over accusations that its White house ties helped win a major Iraqi oil contract, has admitted that a subsidiary paid a multi-million dollar bribe to a Nigerian tax official. AFP Photo Halliburton, once run by Vice President Richard Cheney, revealed the illicit payments, worth 2.4 million dollars, in a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) (SEC). "The payments were made to obtain favorable tax treatment and clearly violated our code of business conduct and our internal control procedures," Halliburton said. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown...

<p>AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) A lawyer is trying to find out whether the state paid for a convicted rapist to receive a penile implant the last time he was imprisoned on sexual assault charges.</p> <p>M. Michaela Murphy said information from the investigation into the assault on her client led her to believe Michael Edward Commeau received the implant, a device that allows men with erectile dysfunction to have an erection.</p>

Afghans refugees to be paid to go home By George Jones, Political Editor (Filed: 21/08/2002) Afghan asylum seekers who agree to return home will be given up to £2,500 in Government cash handouts. The Home Office said yesterday that Afghans who go home by choice rather than being deported would qualify. Single people will get £600 and families up to £2,500 under the six-month trial scheme which is expected to attract 1,000 applicants. The Home Office has set aside £800,000 to fund it. Beverley Hughes, the Home Office minister, said the grants would help people re-establish themselves back in Afghanistan....