Free Republic

This year, Americans have to work until July 15 to pay for the burden of government, more than six months.

The jury deciding the fate of John Edwards has asked to see more evidence exhibits. The former presidential candidate faces 30 years in prison after pleading not guilty to six campaign finance corruption charges. The jury began considering its decision Friday, after nearly four weeks of testimony. Deliberations continued Monday morning. On Monday afternoon, the jurors asked to see eight evidence exhibits. Prosecutors have accused the Democrat of masterminding a scheme to use nearly $1 million in secret payments from two donors to help hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.

General Motors has posted its most profitable year ever in 2011, coming a long way since being bailed out in 2008 and going bankrupt in 2009... And as a reward of the banner year, GM "says union workers will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks."

Rail shipments of North Dakota crude to increase with decision to block Keystone XL pipeline ### North Dakota oil drillers increasingly will rely on trains to move barrels of crude to market after the Obama administration's decision to reject plans for a pipeline that would run from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, state and industry officials say. "Pipelines are by far the safest and most economically efficient way to transport oil, but we are left with a limited number of options if pipelines are off the table," said Tony Clark, chairman of the North Dakota Public Service...

Bank of America (BAC) must turn over excess funds from a record $335 million discrimination fine to community organizing groups. Critics say it's a "political backdoor" to subsidize Democrat-tied Acorn "clones." The unusual mandate is buried in a Justice Department filing last month detailing settlement terms with the nation's largest bank. Prosecutors had alleged BofA's Countrywide Financial mortgage unit discriminated against minority homebuyers in the years leading up to the financial crisis. Funds not passed out to alleged victims after two years will be handed out to "qualified" groups unconnected to the case that provide credit and housing counseling and...

ROME -- A British lawyer says he invented accusations that Silvio Berlusconi paid him $600,000 to lie on the stand to protect the former Italian premier's business interests. David Mills' testimony Thursday at Berlusconi's corruption trial in Milan undercuts prosecutors' case against the politician.

Last July, two Chicago Sun-Times reporters noted an allegation of "payments made by Rezko to Obama" that surfaced in a deposition involving former Rezko business partner Daniel T. Frawley. Since then, the only follow-up coverage from the Sun-Times has been the sound of crickets. An article dated July 11, 2011, entitled "Ex-Rezko partner's sentencing delayed," announced that Daniel Frawley's sentencing for bank fraud had been postponed, yet again. He came up for sentencing again this week, and -- surprise! -- there's been another postponement. So, how were Frawley and Rezko business partners? It started when Ayham al-Samaraie, an Iraqi-American, college...

3M claims an investment company conspired with high-powered lobbyist Lanny Davis in a smear campaign to "coerce" it into paying "tens of millions of dollars ... to save them from the consequences of yet another unprofitable investment," a screening test for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. 3M sued defendants London-based Harvey Boulter, CEO of defendant Porton Capital and a director Porton Capital Technology Funds, both of the Cayman Islands; and Lanny Davis, a principal of co-defendants Davis & Associates, and Davis-Block, all of Washington. Davis, who worked as a special counsel for President Clinton from 1996 to 1998, has lobbied for a...

Democrat State Representative Gary Moore was recently elected as President of the Tennessee AFL-CIO and it is causing quite the stir. Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Chris Devaney has pointed out that Rep. MooreÂ’s new position as President of one of the nationÂ’s largest special interest lobbying groups places their chief lobbyist on the floor of the state legislature. While Rep. Moore has stated he will not register as a lobbyist with the state, it is important to point out that his predecessor was a registered lobbyist with the state. Moore claims that he will be able to separate his duties...

National City, Calif.—A San Diego-area boxing gym that serves at-risk kids is showing what it takes to fight for what is right and to win.  A trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 14, 2011, to decide whether National City, Calif., may declare nearly 700 properties—including the gym—“blighted,” thus freeing the city to bulldoze these properties and make way for luxury condos among other private developments.  The trial will be held before the Honorable Steven R. Denton, Superior Court of California, Hall of Justice, 330 W. Broadway in San Diego, Calif. The Community Youth Athletic Center (CYAC) has had...

Federal prosecutors have ended a criminal investigation of Countrywide Financial Corp. co-founder Angelo Mozilo, a person close to the investigation said Friday. The federal official told The Associated Press that the probe launched in 2008 into the actions of the former chief executive of the housing giant during the mortgage meltdown has been closed with no indictments. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was never publicly announced, and the Department of Justice as a policy does not announce the closing of investigations. In October, Mozilo agreed to a $67.5 million settlement to avoid civil trial...

WASHINGTON - Congress gave the final go-ahead Tuesday to a landmark $1.2 billion settlement compensating black farmers for decades of discrimination, even as Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann and other conservatives charged that the deal is riddled with fraudulent claims. The long-delayed package, negotiated by the Obama administration, could award some $50,000 each to thousands of African-Americans who claimed they were unjustly denied loans and assistance from the federal Agriculture Department in the 1980s and '90s. Right up until the final 256-152 vote in the House, Bachmann -- along with Iowa Republican Steve King and others -- called for an investigation...

In 2006, Democrats successfully won back control of Congress by highlighting corruption scandals involving Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist specializing in Indian tribes. But does one Democrat in particular have a problem of her own with her interventions on behalf of a California tribe that now operates a casino just outside of San Francisco? Barbara Boxer pushed a bill reinstating a tribe designated as “defunct” by the BIA 40 years earlier through legislation that she also amended to remove a prohibition on gaming on any land the tribe owned. Rick Manning at The Hill says the deal — and what ensued...

laughed when I started seeing stories about AIG paying back the bailout money it has received. I hope I’m wrong, but the math just does not work out. Also, in a fit of hubris, the AIG CEO stated there is no chance of a government loss on this deal. Conversely, I believe there is little or no chance we will get our money back. Let’s dig into the number just a bit courtesy of Barry Ritholtz and you can draw your own conclusion: AIG Repaying Uncle Sam? Not By a Long Shot (The Big Picture, Sept. 30, 2010, Barry Ritholtz)...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Summoned back from summer break, the House on Tuesday pushed through an emergency $26 billion jobs bill that Democrats said would save 300,000 teachers, police and others from election-year layoffs. President Barack Obama immediately signed it into law. Lawmakers streamed back to Washington for a one-day session as Democrats declared a need to act before children return to classrooms minus teachers laid off because of budgetary crises in states that have been hard-hit by the recession. Republicans saw it differently, calling the bill a giveaway to teachers' unions and an example of wasteful Washington spending that voters...

With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut's politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which operates one of the highest grossing casinos in the U.S. The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009. Each tribe member receives a cut of the profits, a number a tribal official said was "less than $30,000" per capita per year. The stimulus money is a loan from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program that is meant...

The name of President Obama came into play this afternoon at the political corruption trial of former governor Rod Blagojevich as an associate of political fund-raiser Tony Rezko testified that Rezko asked him to write a $10,000 check to Friends of Obama. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in January 2008 that Glenview businessman Joseph Aramanda, who is testifying today, made the donation as part of a scheme orchestrated by Rezko. Aramanda gave $10,000 in campaign cash to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign on March 5, 2004, according to records. The money came from part of a finder’s fee Aramanda received, but did...

Without suggesting an outcome for the upcoming trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, lets take a look at some obvious parallelisms. In Illinois the Governor is indicted and impeached for DISCUSSING a MONETARY quid pro quo in exchange for the appointment of an individual acceptable to the current President for his former Senate seat. In Pennsylvania (prior to the acknowledgement by the administration of tea party influence)when the president was still entertaining the fiction of a 60 vote filibuster proof senate, current Democrat nominee Joe Sestak is by his own admission (on several public occasions) offered by the administration...

U.S. Law states that it is a felony to offer a candidate for public office anything of substance, such as a job, in exchange for that candidate dropping out of a race. Pennsylvania Democrat Joe Sestak, who defeated Arlen Specter for the Democratic Senatorial nomination, claims the White House did exactly that. In explaining the law on Fox Business Network's 'Happy Hour' program, Judge Andrew Napolitano stated, Well the ramifications are potentially enormous. I mean to offer someone something of value in order to affect their official behavior as a member of Congress is a felony. We call it a...

You all missed this one. Obey is retiring for one reason, and one reason only. Do you all realize that Obey's son's organization received $2B+ from last year's Porkulus bill? The only reason Obey is quitting is that he now has a nice little "nut" of tax-payer money and is going to retire in style with his pension and his son shuffling some cash under the table to him. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/29/stimulus-includes-plum-lawmakers-son/ http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/10/how-democrat-david-obeys-son-lobbied-for-porkulus-earmark/ http://www.npca.org/who_we_are/staff.html Craig Obey is David Obey's son. I am shocked, shocked I tell you!