Free Republic

"They can either go quietly or they can go loudly, but either way, they will go." -- Governor-elect Bobby Jindal (R), on Louisiana's corrupt establishment I don't care who your candidate for President is. Tonight, Bobby Jindal is our leader. Jindal's 54% first-round victory is an historic mandate for change against the most corrupt political culture in America. For decades, Louisiana has lived in the shadow of the easy populism of Huey Long, its politicians feasting on revenues from the state's natural resources. If you want to get a taste of a sense of entitlement and venality normally seen in...

"Is this a great country, or what?" was the not terribly original opener with which a politician of my acquaintance regularly began his stump speeches decades ago. And the news this week on the campaign fundraising trail proves he was right. A man (Mr. Norman Hsu) can be a convicted felon on the lam for 15 years from a guilty plea (which warrants as much as a three year jail term), have his name and face appear in countless news articles as a key fundraiser with no end of prominent Democrats including Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer, and no one...

Well, this has been an eventful three weeks to say the least. While engaged in a knock down battle with the defeat-o-crats on the fate of the Iraq war, we were blind-sided by a sucker punch delivered by the President and the US Senate on immigration reform. As we recovered from the devastating blow, we heard a standing eight count and mercifully we were saved by the bell as the first round of the now infamous 'immigration reform' fight came to a close. The Senate, astounded themselves by our negative reaction, were forced to abandon their plan to sneak this...

While we are engaged overseas in a mission to recreate countries in our own image and likeness, many of our own cities are being transformed into the image and likeness of Mexican villages. Nowhere is this more apparent than California. The city of South Gate, a dozen miles southeast of Los Angeles, is a prime example. Until the 1920s the area that is today South Gate was home to dairies—many of them operated by Danish immigrant families —and vegetable and fruit farms. Then subdivision began, and housing tracts and industrial parks started to replace fields and barns. In 1923, with...

Affidavit: $90,000 found in congressman's freezer FBI wraps up search of Jefferson's office in bribery probe WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal agents searched the Capitol Hill office of a Louisiana congressman under investigation on bribery charges Sunday, while newly released court papers said agents found $90,000 in cash last year in his Washington home. the cash sum in a freezer. The money was divided among various frozen food containers, according to the heavily redacted affidavit. Agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payment that had been delivered by an informant in the bribery probe, which already has...

Obama might be walking on hot water January 22, 2006 Everybody knows that when U.S. Sen. Barack Obama walks, lilacs bloom from his every footstep, even in parking lots. He can cross the Potomac without bridge or boat. When his fellow Democrats became hungry, he feeds them by the thousands with two perch and a bag of Cheetos. And what about that nice Shiraz flowing from the Senate water cooler? According to his glowing media, there is nothing he can't do. And when he saved Sen. Hillary Clinton from her own big mouth--she told a black audience that Congress was...

I heard on WSL News that were so many political corruption cases currently underway in Chicago that there were not enough criminal lawyers in the cty to handle theme

The state prosecutor is investigating how Gilbert Sapperstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme to steal $3.3 million from the city schools, managed to have nine months shaved off his sentence while serving the remainder on home detention in the suburban comforts of his Green Spring Valley home. snip Sapperstein, who owns All-State Boiler Service Inc., pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy, bribery and theft in connection with a scheme to defraud the city school system. He admitted to paying bribes to a city schools employee in exchange for fraudulent work orders...

Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) collapsed on the City Council floor this afternoon after delivering a speech in favor of a resolution calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. The 72-year-old alderman was standing near one of the exit doors to the City Council chamber, on the 2nd floor of City Hall, about 1:25 p.m. during the council's regular meeting. Ald. Virginia A. Rugai (19th) had just started to speak when another alderman got the chairman's attention by yelling, "Call 911!" A recess was called and proceedings came to an immediate halt as Natarus' colleagues ran to him. An aide...

All summer long the question has brushed against the polished marble in Chicago's corridors of power. It's often whispered because, with so many informants now eager to help federal prosecutors build cases against public corruption here, some people don't want to look overly interested in the answer. So the question just keeps floating along: Will some powerful someone in the Republican Party persuade the White House to promote, fire or otherwise remove Patrick Fitzgerald, the aggressive U.S. attorney in Chicago? Fitzgerald has made many enemies over the years: Gambino family mobsters, international terrorists, rugby players who underestimate a soft-spoken opponent....

Former Illinois House Republican Minority Leader Lee A. Daniels’ long-time chief of staff Michael Tristano faces federal charges of mail fraud, theft and extortion conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office announced Thursday morning. “Using the state payroll to bankroll campaign workers and steering state grants in return for private political benefits is a fraud upon the citizens of the citizens of Illinois who have a right to expect honest government,” Fitzgerald is quoted as saying in an office press release. “Public servants must understand that the law requires them to separate political activities from government functions and that public office...

DENVER - The 9News I-Team has uncovered voter registration fraud that could cause chaos on Election Day for hundreds, possibly thousands of Colorado voters. 9News has documented 719 cases of potentially fraudulent forms at county election offices across the metro-area that show fraudulent names, addresses, social security numbers or dates of birth in Denver, Douglas, Adams, Boulder and Lake counties. Information from other counties is still coming in. Some voter registration application forms are completely bogus. Others belong to legitimate voters, who have had one or two facts changed that could affect their registration when they show up at the...

Ex-preident Bill Clinton now states that his reason for having an affair with Monica Lewinski was because "he could". Given this reasoning it occurs to me that there are MANY things that a President "COULD" do: Start a nuclear war Suspend constitutional rights Incinerate a church full of innocent children in Waco, Texas

In 1987, President Reagan vetoes the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation assitance act. Senators Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd of West Va. the threatned to pull a number of subsidies. This all lead to a bill being signed which allocated 2.5 billion Federal dollars that was approved for the Big Dig, which was to modernize highways and tunnels in the south end of Boston Ma. Later Kennedy got an editional 100 million thrown into the pot. Intially budgeted by Massachussets authoritiat 2.6 billion, the Dig, has now cost us American taxpayers close to 15 billion and money is still being...

Early Retirement [of Politicians] James R. Norman Ain't it amazing! One after another in recent months, big-name U.S. senators and representatives have announced they are "retiring." Since the last election, a record 45 members of congress have decided not to run for reelection -- or have outright resigned from office. Not in a hundred years has there been such an exodus. And it is not over: dozens of other lawmakers and powerful government leaders are privately hinting they may be leaving office soon. Nor are these departees the obscure back-benchers. They are among the most powerful people in the most...

Subject: Fw: MASSIVE!!! PUBLIC OUTCRY NEEDED DURING NEXT 5 WEEKS FOR JUDICIAL REFORM HEARINGS Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 10:00:34 -0500 From: "Joe Norman" ----- Original Message ----- From: JOSEPHN126@aol.com Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 9:04 PM MASSIVE!!! PUBLIC OUTCRY NEEDED DURING NEXT 5 WEEKS FOR JUDICIAL REFORM HEARINGS Congress is currently completing its business for 2003. When Congress returns from the Christmas recess there will be meetings to set the agenda calendar for the spring 2004 session, I am assured the STOP BAD JUSTICE PROJECT will be on the table for discussion. Timing is everything and the time for...

Norris pleads not guilty Former city police chief denies misuse of fund; aide also pleads innocent; 'Expenditures were appropriate'; U.S. indictment accuses men of illegally spending $20,000 on trips and gifts Former Maryland State Police Superintendent Edward T. Norris pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court yesterday to federal charges that he illegally spent about $20,000 in Baltimore police funds when he was the city's top officer to cover personal gifts, meals, trips and extramarital romantic liaisons. Balance of story here: http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/crime/bal-te.md.norris12dec12,0,185359.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Feds: Janitorial contractors cleaned up in city set-aside scam September 25, 2003 BY FRAN SPIELMAN, CITY HALL REPORTER The owners of a controversial maintenance company with political ties to Mayor Daley and reputed ties to organized crime were accused of racketeering, conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering today for their alleged participation in a $100 million scheme to fraudulently obtain government contracts earmarked for minorities and women. The federal indictment accuses James Duff, his mother, Patricia Green, their business associate William Stratton and four other people of using “fraud, deceit and deception” to obtain certification as minority- and women-owned businesses,...

Anti-Clinton Protesters Lose in Suit Against Rendell BY SHANNON P. DUFFYU.S. Courthouse Correspondent A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights suit against former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell brought by two anti-Clinton protesters who claim he was responsible for their being assaulted by five Teamsters union members in October, 1998 when President Clinton was in Philadelphia to attend a political fund-raiser. U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn, Jr. ruled that Rendell, who is now Pennsylvania's governor, cannot be held liable for the attacks because the evidence showed that he did nothing more than invite the Teamsters to attend a rally...

The Politics of Family DestructionBy Stephen BaskervilleThe debate on the family is becoming increasingly politicized. President George W. Bush proposes federal programs to promote marriage and fatherhood and to enlist churches. Liberals respond that government does not belong in the family but then advocate federal programs of their own.Yet the more polarized the issues become the less willing we are to look at the hard politics of the family crisis. Family policy is still discussed in terms set by therapists and social scientists: the rate of divorce and unwed motherhood, the level of poverty, the impact on children, the...

<p>Trauma centers across Central and North Florida warned Thursday that they may be unable to take up the slack when Orlando Regional Medical Center, barring a "miracle," shuts its Level 1 trauma unit April 1.</p> <p>Hospital officials and emergency-services personnel said they expect the shutdown will cost some people their lives.</p> <p>Orlando Regional became the first hospital in Florida history to seek the closing of its Level 1 trauma center. It blamed Florida's skyrocketing malpractice-insurance premiums, saying they have made it too hard to recruit needed trauma specialists.</p>

SEC told top pension official Chapman's deals were illegal Manager used state funds to invest in his own firms By Michael Dresser and William Patalon III Sun Staff Originally published September 26, 2002 The Securities and Exchange Commission told a top Maryland pension official that Nathan A. Chapman Jr. violated federal law when he permitted money managers he supervised to invest state pension funds in his own companies, newly released documents show. Carol Boykin, the pension system's chief investment officer, wrote in a March 19 memo that the SEC regards the purchases of Chapman stock as breaking a securities law,...

Men's Rights at Women's Expense It sounds like the brainchild of a demented satirist: A law that requires a woman to place a newspaper ad disclosing the names and describing the appearance of all her sexual partners in a certain period of time. In fact, this law exists in the state of Florida and applies to any single mother who wants to place her baby for adoption but is unable to locate and notify the father so that he can contest the adoption if he so chooses. Enacted last year, the statute has been the target of much outrage...

Employee records sought in probe Ex-worker's file, another's computer released to FBI By Greg Garland and Gail Gibson Sun Staff Originally published August 29, 2002 Federal authorities investigating a state crime-control office overseen by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend have issued new subpoenas seeking personnel records for a former Maryland State Police employee and the computer hard drive of another former state worker, officials said yesterday. A subpoena delivered to state police headquarters by FBI agents on Tuesday demanded all work records for Daniel I. Franklin, who apparently was paid out of the state police budget while working as a...

Posting Guidelines Broadly stated, the goals of this site are to further conservatism, expose political corruption, and recover a truly constitutional form of government. If these are not your goals, you may find another discussion site more suitable. v Free Republic expects users to follow a few simple posting guidelines (described below) and by posting to the forum you and others agree to abide by them. While Free Republic is not edited or censored, it does reserve the right to remove any postings that are considered inappropriate. Examples of inappropriate posts are those that are off-subject or contain advertising, pornography,...