From POLITICO:

By all public estimations, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is a pretty good golfer.

He should be, given the $82,998 his political action committee has spent on golf outings so far this year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Original DVD cover

(In the golf cart, left to right:  Joseph Bruno, Jack Abramoff, Steve Buyer, Salvatore DiMasi)

The golf events this year sponsored by Boehner’s Freedom Project political action committee have stretched from April until October, from Florida to Ohio. And the minority leader doesn’t hold his events at worn-out municipal courses.

…snip…

The highest expenditure was a September event at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The Freedom Project spent $29,501.20 for an event on the course, which hosts the annual PGA Memorial Tournament.

…snip…

The FEC reports don’t list the attendees at these golf events, the cost per person or any other details. Don Seymour, a spokesman for the PAC, said the expenditures are “related to events that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the Freedom Project support Republican candidates for Congress.”

What is it about those dimpled balls? From The New York Times:

ALBANY — For Joseph L. Bruno, once one of the most powerful politicians in New York, the road to trouble was soft, grassy and green.

It was on the rolling fairways of his suburban country club that Mr. Bruno, the former State Senate majority leader, pitched labor officials on investing pension money with a firm called Wright Investors’ Service, usually without telling them that Wright was paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

It was on a golf junket to Florida that Mr. Bruno first sold an Albany-area entrepreneur on the idea of paying him generous fees to help drum up investment, including earmarks that were arranged by the senator himself.

Golf was so central to Mr. Bruno’s intertwined business and political careers, in fact, that he ordered a Senate ethics lawyer to determine whether a lobbyist could pay his greens fee if the game was part of a charity tournament.

…snip…

For Mr. Bruno, who federal prosecutors say improperly mixed his political and business interests and sought to deceive the public about it, golf provided more than just exercise and a chance to unwind. It also assured privacy, hours at a stretch to bond with clients, and the occasional vacation on someone else’s dime.

With hardly a day of Mr. Bruno’s corruption trial here passing without some mention of golf, his name can now be added to a list of politicians whose taste for the tees led them to trouble.

In June, Salvatore F. DiMasi, a former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was indicted on charges that during rounds of golf, he plotted to rig state computer software contracts. This fall, an Indiana congressman, Steve Buyer, came under scrutiny when it was revealed that a charity he established to help teenagers pay for college had spent nothing on scholarships but $260,000 on lavish golf junkets.

And the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now serving four years in prison for bribery, fraud and tax evasion, routinely flew members of Congress and other officials to exclusive golf resorts in Scotland, California or the Mariana Islands.

From TALKING POINTS MEMO (October 22, 2009):

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) has long been a passionate golfer. Last year, Golf Digest ranked the lawmaker 32nd, with a handicap of 5.6, on its list of the top 200 golfers in Washington.

Like many members of Congress, Buyer has a history of mixing business and pleasure on the golf course. Now, it looks like the financial dealings of a questionable foundation created by Buyer were even more golf-driven than previously known.

It’s been reported that the Frontier Foundation, which has been criticized for raising hundreds of thousands from industry groups seeking to influence Buyer while giving out nothing for its stated purpose of helping Indiana students pay for college, raised virtually all of its money on posh golf junkets. Those included trips with Buyer and groups of lobbyists to deluxe courses at Disney World and the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.

Buyer also found himself in trouble in the mid-1990s after he didn’t report a golfing trip to Lake Tahoe paid for by a telecom lobbying group.

He has claimed the Frontier golf trips are “not fun for me” because travel is a lot of work.

…snip…

[...] it’s telling that $4,500 of the $10,500 given out by Frontier over six years may have been paying for the golf-enthusiast lawmaker to get his fix. (Remember, though, Buyer doesn’t even enjoy playing.) And all this while the foundation wasn’t giving out a cent in scholarships.

From TALKING POINTS MEMO (November 12, 2009):

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) sat down for an interview with CBS Evening News about his charity, but struggled to answer basic questions about the Frontier Foundation, which collects big donations from industry sources trying to influence Buyer but gives out no money for its putative mission of supporting Indiana students.

Buyer abruptly ended the interview with CBS, which aired last night, literally rushing out of his seat to make a meeting.

Among the questions he couldn’t answer: why the foundation, which as recently as last month shared space with Buyer’s campaign office in Monticello, Indiana, no longer has a physical address.

…snip…

Asked by reporter Sharyl Attkisson about legislation he has introduced or supported that helps donors to Frontier, Buyer says at one point: “Trying to match up legislation like that is erroneous. You shouldn’t do that Sharyl. I think that it’s, I think it’s wrong.”

Check out one key exchange, where CBS asks Buyer about the fact that all of the donations to the foundation come from lobbyists and corporate sources with interests that Buyer has supported:

Attkisson: From what I can tell, all of the donors have interests before committees that you sit on in Congress.

Buyer: Well, the committees in which were, uh, the committees, the corporations in which provided support, like I said, were those original companies. Please do not assume that if a company contributes to the foundation that that’s somehow some type of influence upon what I’m about to do.

CBS also uncovers the fact that the $25,000 in seed money that started the foundation came from PhRMA. We’ve previously noted that PhRMA is the single biggest donor to the foundation, giving at least $200,000 over the past several years. TPMmuckraker reported late last month that PhRMA also hired Buyer’s son — who is on the board of the foundation — to work at its Washington headquarters. Buyer is a member of the House Energy Subcommittee on Health, which regulates drugs.

(Video at TALKING POINTS MEMO link, and, seriously, you really have to watch it, kids! )

I have known for several weeks that Larry Sinclair was running for a congressional seat in Florida District 24. I also knew as soon as Sinclair told me that he was serious. Larry has taken care of the necessary filing requirements and is now trying to get on the ballot by getting enough petitions signed or raising enough money.

Good for Larry Sinclair.

Everything that Larry Sinclair has told me that he was setting out to do, he accomplished. He wrote his book, “Barack Obama and Larry Sinclair, Cocaine,  Sex, Lies & Murder?” and published it against overwhelming odds and countless attacks from the far left Obama camp.

When you go to the Larry Sinclair for Congress site a video begins playing. In the video Larry explains why he decided to run and what he will do if elected.

http://www.larrysinclairforcongress.com/

To get on the ballot, Larry Sinclair must raise sufficient funds or get enough petition signers. To sign the petition one must live in Florida District 24. Also, each petition online allows only one voter to sign. Help Larry Sinclair raise funds to get on the ballot and cover the expenses of running for Congress.

If you go to the FEC website you will find an entry for Larry Sinclair under the 2010 election for Florida District 24. Larry is running as an Independent.

$0  $0  $0 

$0     Individual  $0    PAC  $0    Party  $0    Candidate  $0    Other  $0  Receipts

http://fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/HSRefreshCandList.do?category=disH&stateName=FL&congressId=24&election_yr=2010

A new page has been setup on the Citizen Wells blog for Larry Sinclair for Congress. 

Larry Sinclair for Congress

Florida District 24

Donate to the Larry Sinclair Campaign

From the Larry Sinclair For Congress website:

About Larry Sinclair and why he decided to run for office:

“I decided to enter the race for U.S. Congressman from Florida’s 24th Congressional District after Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL24), a multi-millionaire said “my schedule does not permit me to hold Townhalls with voters….” but the very next week Mrs. Kosmas had time to spend the day with donors paying $1000-to-$10,000 to her re-election coffers. In addition to Suzanne Kosmas’ inability to lead, I have become determined to get involved after seeing first hand the efforts of Barack Obama and his administration to destroy anyone who dares speak the truth.
I have criminal convictions between 1981 thru 1986 for “Theft” based on writing bad checks; “Forgery” for signing former Youth Counselors names to checks, and “Unauthorized use of a Financial Transaction Device” from using a credit card number by phone to pay a hotel stay in 1986.  I do not hide from my past and I have always admitted to my wrong doings.  Now there are people who have and will continue to misrepresent and distort my past, but that will not deter me from running for the U.S. Congressional Seat in Florida District 24.
It is time that the people are represented by the people and not individuals who have made millions from Public Office.
Suzanne Kosmas is a career politician who has stated she does not support term limits. In fact Rep. Kosmas ran for her current office because she was forced out of the Florida House by Term Limits.”

Due to a lack of available information on the case, the following story about the unsolved murder of 18-year-old Alex Tillman did not make it into print. If anyone has information on this brutal killing, please contact me via email (or Crimestoppers).

An Incurable Grief
Alex Tillman’s murder hasn’t been solved. Neither have hundreds of other Miami killings.
November 16th, 2009

Just after sunrise on a cloudy, autumn morning, a homeless man shuffles along the neglected Florida East Coast railway tracks that slice through Miami’s artsy, but still-blighted Wynwood neighborhood. A train hasn’t ridden the disused section of rail in years and the corridor is deserted, hemmed in on either side by bulky warehouses that block out the noise of the stirring city beyond. Tall, dry grass rustles like rice paper in the breeze and the man’s slow footsteps are the only other sound as he ambles along the wide, unkempt passageway.

Up ahead, just left of the rusted rails, something lying on the fringe of the overgrown foliage catches his eye. He moves closer, takes a few cautious steps toward the dark figure sprawled in the dirt, and makes a horrific discovery.

A young black man, badly burned, lies on the ground. His dark jeans and black tee shirt are torn. The left side of his face is so badly disfigured from the flames that engulfed him that even his loved ones probably wouldn’t recognize him.

The drifter alerts nearby warehouse workers, who stroll over to see the disturbing sight for themselves before calling 911. Police, crime scene investigators, homicide detectives, and a TV news crew materialize like characters in a TV crime drama. No wallet or cell phone is found on the victim and the medical examiners who turn up will have to use the small tattoo on the dead youth’s forearm to later identify him as eighteen-year-old high school senior Alex Tillman.

It’s Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. Presidential election-day. For the first time in 42 years, the City of Miami has just gone more than a month without a homicide. In less than 18 hours, throngs of triumphant men and women will spill out onto the nighttime streets of Wynwood, and nearby Overtown and Little Haiti, to publicly celebrate the news of Barack Obama’s electoral victory.

But even with the new president’s message of hope and change rattling the hearts of millions, one thing in Miami will remain relatively unchanged in 2008—the homicide clearance rate (the number of murders for which a suspect is arrested and charged).

Alex Tillman’s death will be one of 63 murders in the City of Miami in 2008 (the last year for which complete statistics are available), and will be one of 33 murders for which no one is arrested, placing the clearance rate at 48 percent—4 percent below the city’s ten-year average.

Over the last ten years, 334 murders in Miami, and 693 in all of Dade County, were either unsolved or uncleared by police. ‘Solving,’ in police parlance, means figuring out who committed a crime. ‘Clearing’ means having enough evidence to actually make an arrest.

On average, 16 out of every 100,000 Miami residents are murdered yearly, almost three times more than the national average. More than half of their killers get away with the crime.

Those unresolved homicides leave victims’ families drowning in fear, paranoia, nightmares, and depression. Parents dwell endlessly on their children’s final, terrible moments, tormented by their imaginations. Siblings peer nervously over their shoulders in public, expecting a faceless killer to appear at any moment. Relatives wonder, to the point of delirium, who is to blame and why their kin were taken. The victims await justice. The relatives bare psychological scars as deep as the wounds that killed their loved ones.

And the murderers walk among us.

* * * * *

Although a year has passed since her son’s death, Tawana Fairell still can’t sleep at night. She can’t concentrate, can’t shed her feelings of guilt, and trusts no one. She’s not the same person she used to be. She can’t even look at Alex’s picture anymore. She had to turn it around to face the wall. Not knowing why her child was killed is torture. Knowing that the killer, or killers, freely roam the same city streets where she and her family live, haunts her like nothing else.

Seated at a picnic table at Charles Hadley Park in Liberty City, the soft-spoken single mother of three boys speaks eloquently about her late son with a mixture of heartache and exhaustion: “Sometimes I think God sees how much I love my sons and is jealous and is looking for ways to get my attention away. Everyone tells me God doesn’t work like that, but I just can’t understand why my son isn’t here right now. I picture the worst. I imagine him screaming and calling out for me and I wasn’t there for him. I sleep with every light on in the house. I’m afraid he might come to me in the night with that burnt side of his face. I get headaches every night on my left side and my left eye gets blurry. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

Tawana Fairell

Two days before Alex’s ruined body was discovered, Tawana got a call from him. It was a Sunday. They were supposed to meet at Dade Memorial Park cemetery in Opa-Locka to put flowers on her mother’s grave. Later, Alex wanted to go cast an early vote for Obama at Miami’s downtown Government Center. He called around 11 a.m. to say he was at a friend’s house and would be late.

“Forget it! Just forget it!” Tawana scolded him and hung up the phone, frustrated that Alex had broken his promise to be on time. That was the last time she spoke to her son. She tried to call him back later that day, but he didn’t pick up. “So I assume they already did to him whatever it is they were going to do,” she speculates, viewing that conversation now like a disastrous farewell.

At the time, local news media made a point to mention that Tillman had no criminal record, no gang affiliations, and wasn’t into drugs—all apparently necessary declarations to make when you consider that most murders in Overtown, where Tillman lived, are drug or gang-related, according to police. Only Miami’s nearby Little Haiti neighborhood produced more slaughtered humans in 2008.

But Tillman didn’t fit a violent profile and his killing, friends and family suspect, was likely motivated by something else altogether—jealousy. “He was a pretty boy,” his mother says. “The girls loved him and he loved them. Girls were his only vice. He especially liked Hispanic girls.” She sometimes wonders whether a spurned female admirer, of which there were many, had someone take revenge on him. Or, perhaps an enraged boyfriend caught Tillman with his girlfriend. “Maybe a girl’s father caught them together and did something to him out of prejudice. I don’t know,” she sighs. “I’m thinking all kinds of things.”

“He was definitely a lady’s man,” says Isaiah Bennet, Alex’s closest friend and fellow senior at Booker T. Washington high school. “He had mood swings sometimes, but he didn’t argue or fight. That wasn’t his style. Both me and Alex preferred Hispanic girls. They treat you better. Black girls would hate on us sometimes and ask why we like Spanish girls, but I don’t know anything about someone being jealous or upset with him.”

“By all accounts, he had no enemies. This surprised many people,” Miami Police Sergeant Armando Aguilar, Jr. told CBS4 this past July.

Yet, the viciousness of the crime suggests otherwise. The fire that charred Alex’s body, police say, was likely a sloppy attempt to conceal his identity, and is not what killed him. Sgt. Aguilar asked that the cause of death not be revealed, saying it would create “very serious problems for the investigation.”

Veteran Miami homicide detective Captain Nelson Andreu, who currently works at the West Miami Police Dept., explained that detectives withhold the cause of death in a murder case so they can test a future suspect’s knowledge of a killing and determine the extent of their involvement. It also helps them to eliminate bogus tips.

Suffice it to say, then, that Alex suffered a punishing end, inflicted by someone, or several people, with fury in their heart.

“I believe someone hated him,” his mother concedes. “I just don’t know why.”

* * * * *

The second of four boys, Alex Tillman grew up in two of Miami’s most notoriously dangerous neighborhoods, Overtown and the Brownsville subdivision of Liberty City (a.k.a. Brown-Sub). With a mostly absent father, and living as a constant witness to poverty, despair, and the sometimes violent reality of the streets that surrounded him, Alex stepped into manhood sooner than is usually scripted, becoming a father to his two younger brothers and a best friend to his mother, Tawana.

He’d help get his brothers dressed in the morning and drive them to school. His mother hated driving, so if she needed to go somewhere, he’d drive her, too. He told her he wanted to be a pediatrician and, the week before he died, Tawana took him down to Miami-Dade College’s medical campus to register him for night classes.

At Booker T. Washington high school, where he spent his junior and senior year, he joined 5,000 Role Models, a mentoring program for young minority boys at risk of dropping out of school. He figured it would look good on a resume later on.

For a while, he worked as a dishwasher at Casablanca Seafood Bar & Grill, not far from his Overtown apartment, and later at Taco Bell on Biscayne Boulevard and 36th street. If he had time, he’d tag along with his grandfather to weddings and funerals to assist him with his event photography business.

“He was very respectful, very well-groomed, would never be caught with his jeans hanging off his butt,” Tawana insists. “I had people tell me, ‘Your kids are Oreos. You’re trying to make them white,’ because Alex sometimes corrected people’s speech if they used too much slang or really bad English.”

She says the relationship she had with her son was wonderful. They’d go to the gym together. They even double-date sometimes. As a surgical assistant, she’d often have to work late, but she never worried about what was going on at home. And if Alex was the one to come home late, she’d call him on the phone and they’d talk until he reached the front door. If he found a new friend and started spending time with them, she’d get jealous.

“He didn’t want his friends to know, but he loved movies about couples breaking up and getting back together,” Tawana reminisces. “There were times he would come into my room, lay his head on my lap and talk to me about girls.”

“There were things he didn’t tell me, though,” she admits.

There were things, it seems, Alex didn’t tell anyone. Or, at least, things none of his friends wish to reveal now. Out of six acquaintances contacted for this story, only two returned calls and emails seeking comment. And, whether it’s a reluctance to snitch, a fear of reprisal, or an indication of something more sinister, only a very vague picture of Alex’s final days has emerged.

On Sunday, October 2nd, 2008, two days before his body was found, Alex called his best friend Isaiah, “Zayy,” around 1:30 a.m., after finishing the late shift at Taco Bell. He told him he had met a girl. She had come into the restaurant earlier that night. He was heading home and planned to meet up with her later.

“He liked to brag,” Zayy chuckled during a recent phone interview. “I was asleep on the couch when he called. He told me her name, but I was so sleepy I couldn’t remember it the next day.”

Isaiah Bennet

No one can confirm whether or not Alex actually met up with the mystery girl, but less than eight hours later, at 9:11 a.m., security cameras at his Overtown apartment building captured him strutting out the front door, draped in his dark designer jeans and black tee shirt, his red cap tilted fashionably to one side. He was supposed to be heading to Opa-Locka to meet his mother at his grandmother’s gravesite. But he made a detour, and when Tawana called around two hours later to find out where he was, he said he was “at a friend’s house.”

Which friend he was visiting remains unknown. “It couldn’t have been a guy’s house,” Zayy insists. “I would’ve known about it because we had the same friends.”

Alex’s steady girlfriend of a year and a half, Kayla, texted and called him several times later that day, but he didn’t answer his phone or return his messages.

When Alex didn’t come home that night, Tawana began to worry. But Alex was eighteen, a legal adult, and she figured he had stayed at a relative’s or friend’s house. She tried to call him, but his phone kept going straight to voicemail and she assumed his cell battery had died or he’d forgotten to pay his bill.

When he didn’t turn up at home or at school the next morning, though, she got scared.

And then, the call came that would send her racing through the streets of Miami in a panic.

A young lady called the Taco Bell where Alex worked. She was crying and said that Alex had been killed and badly burned. She called more than once, gave a false name, and spoke to more than one person, telling the same story each time. Store employees asked why she didn’t call the police. She said her parents would kill her if she did.

“When I heard about that call,” Tawana says, “I left my job and went straight to the police station. I didn’t even wait for my ride. I just started running.”

Police issued a county-wide BOLO (Be on the Lookout) via police radio and distributed a missing persons flyer.

Tawana went home and prayed, hoping that Alex would come strutting through the door at any minute. But another 24 hours would creep by with no news.

Police called the next day, around 2:30 p.m., and asked her to come back to the station to look at Alex’s phone records to see if she could identify any of the numbers. Once she was there, they revealed the real reason for calling her in.

They had found Alex.

“I lost it,” Tawana says. “I never felt anything like that in my life.” She begged to see her son, but the medical examiners wouldn’t allow it. They told her they don’t let family members view or identify bodies anymore. Eventually, homicide detectives on the case admitted they instructed them not to let her see Alex. “I’m glad they did that,” she says, “because I probably would’ve thrown up right there in the office or pulled all of my hair out.”

Everyone in Alex’s circle immediately fell under police suspicion and countless rumors about who was to blame quickly began to circulate. Some said a girl who was obsessed with Alex had somebody kill him because he rejected her. Others blamed a gang. One friend told a bizarre tale about a violent drag queen, later killed in a gunfight with police, who would admire Alex through Taco Bell’s windows while he was working. That story, however, could not be verified.

“There was a girl calling Alex’s cell phone in the weeks before his murder,” Tawana says. “She’d call and say, ‘I’m watching you. I know what you got on. And he’d be looking around like ‘Who is this? How do you know where I am?’”

Tawana thinks about that, and a hundred other details of Alex’s last weeks alive, struggling to remember things and trying to come up with information that might lead to Alex’s killer.

Alex’s paternal grandfather, Ernest Tillman, still can’t make sense of the killing. “His only downfall was the girls,” he insists. “He wasn’t violent or into drugs. That’s the only thing it could be. The girls.”

Ernest Tillman

* * * * *

Standing on a dismal corner in Overtown, the midday sun in his eyes, dried blood and bullet casings at his feet, Miami Homicide Detective Orlando Benitez looks into a television camera and laments the main hurdle he’ll face in trying to solve the most recent shooting death to which he’s just been called: “The Overtown area doesn’t like to talk too much.”

Det. Benitez, who leads the Alex Tillman investigation, is one of several Miami detective stars on A&E’s reality television series, The First 48, which takes viewers behind the scenes on homicide investigations in big cities across America. The show’s title voiceover explains the premise this way: “For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don’t get a lead within the first 48 hours.”

The First 48’s film crew trailed Benitez in the days following Alex’s murder, and even attended his crowded Overtown funeral at Trinity CME Church a week later. A&E won’t say if they plan to use the footage for a future episode. Likewise, Det. Benitez did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the case.

Det. Orlando Benitez. Courtesy of A&E.

Captain Nelson Andreu, however, reiterated Det. Benitez’s on-camera gripe. During a recent interview, he cited lack of witness cooperation as the number one hurdle to solving homicides: “People are afraid of retaliation. They don’t want to get involved.”

The culture of ‘No Snitching,’ which differs from a fear-based reluctance to speak out, is also a major factor, especially in the small Overtown community where many people know each other.

Nationally, more people get away with murder now than in decades past. This despite advances in DNA technology and other crime-fighting tools. Last year, the Associated Press reported that the national homicide clearance rate dropped from 91 percent in 1963 to 61 percent in 2007.

In the City of Miami, where the number of murders has nose-dived from 177 in 1984 to 63 in 2008, the clearance rate has plummeted from 75 percent to 48 percent. In fact, in only four out of the last ten years has the rate risen above 50 percent.

According to Miami Herald archives, Dade County had 533 murders and a 55 percent clearance rate in 1982. Despite 305 fewer murders in 2008, the clearance rate was only 4 percent higher.

Those figures defy the logical expectation that fewer murders should mean higher clearance rates. Experts blame today’s larger urban populations, understaffed police departments, a flood of illegal guns, and drug, robbery, and gang-related crimes between strangers (which are harder to solve than “acquaintance homicides”) for the discrepancy.

Regarding Miami’s currently low rate, Captain Andreu says the problem often boils down to excessive workloads. “[That’s why] the first 48 hours are so important, because you want to solve a case before the next homicide comes in. At that point, you’ve got to put one down to pick up the next. So, sometimes cases get put on the back-burner through no fault of the detective. The problem is the sheer volume of cases.”

Crime stats and police occupational stressors, however, are mute to describe the long trail of living victims created by each slaying.

According to POMC (Parents of Murdered Children), a national organization with over 100,000 members, seven to ten people are stricken by grief after each murder, which means the ranks of Miami’s bereaved swells by triple digits each year.

POMC’s Miami-Dade chapter congregates twice a month, at the Hollywood and Miami Gardens police stations. Parents, spouses, siblings, children, and close friends of Miami’s slain gather to contend with their pain. Their family tragedies consist of deadly beatings, stabbings, shootings, violent rapes, and other lethal forms of cruelty. Some of their loved ones died recently, others were butchered decades ago.

Local chapter leader Barbara Koeppel, whose son was beaten to death with a brick, says, “Sometimes we won’t see people at our meetings for six months and then something will trigger them to come back again.”

Not all of the killings have been solved. “And some people have made peace with that,” Koeppel says. “They’ve come to realize that even after an arrest, trial, and sentencing, there will always be an empty place at the Thanksgiving and Christmas table.”

Tawana Fairell, however, isn’t ready to make peace with her son’s killing just yet.

Her incurable grief over Alex’s death is only the latest, and worst, in a string of heartaches. She lost her mother to cardiovascular disease a month before Alex. Her sister was shot in the head by a boyfriend eight years ago. Her father, upon learning that a man had raped a female family member, chased him down the street and tried to shoot him. He missed and did more jail time than the rapist for attempted murder. He died not long after being released from prison.

After Alex’s murder, police told Tawana not to go back to her Overtown apartment for the safety of her and her sons—in case the killer decided to target them, too. She moved around from friend to relative to coworker. When she finally did return to her apartment a few months later, she discovered that building management had removed and disposed of all her belongings for non-payment of rent.

“I was seeing a psychiatrist,” she explains. “I wasn’t in my right mind. I wasn’t even able to remember that I had a place where I needed to pay rent. My friends from work were taking care of me in shifts. It took me about three months just to start eating properly again. I had suicidal thoughts, because I wanted to be with Alex. The only thing that kept me here were my other sons.”

She has since found a new apartment, far from Overtown, and even managed to complete her education, earning a bachelor’s degree this past September in Healthcare Administration. But rebounding and relocating has taken a financial toll and she still has no furniture and shares an inflatable bed with her eleven-year-old son, whom she refuses to let out of her sight.

Every evening after work, she sits at the Liberty City park where he has football practice and waits for him to finish. His friends make fun of him, calling him a mama’s boy, because Tawana’s always at his side. And if he doesn’t have school, she takes him to work with her. “You have no idea how in love I am with my sons,” she gushes.

Yet, her chronic paranoia is stifling. “I can’t even take my boys to the movies at night because I’m scared someone is following me. That’s how petrified I am until these people are caught.”

She’s taking Lexapro for anxiety and depression. And another medication, too, but she can’t remember the name. And something to help her sleep. “It’s hurting me so much inside that my son is gone,” she says. “I think about it all the time.”

“I told the cops, if you don’t have leads, just tell me. But please don’t keep me in the dark. I call and leave them information that I come up with about the case, but I always get voicemail. I know I’m not the only case they’re working on, but I just want them to call me and tell me something, anything. I want to do everything I can to find whoever did this. I want to sit across from them and ask them ‘Why? What could he have done to you?’”

He sure spends a lot of money hiding something that could clear this whole “mess” up. Yeah.

Obama law tab up to $1.7 million
‘Grassroots army’ contributions used to crush eligibility lawsuits?
Article: WorldNetDaily

President Obama has paid nearly $1.7 million to his top eligibility lawyer since the election.

Obama for America, Obama’s 2008 political campaign, merged with the Democratic National Committee in January and is now known as Organizing for America. The grassroots army that some refer to as “Obama 2.0″ is still collecting financial contributions.

Federal Election Commission records for “Obama for America” show that the lobby organization has paid international law firm Perkins Coie exactly $1,666,397.01 since the 2008 election.

The most recent sum, $314,018.06, was listed in Obama for America’s October Quarterly report filed with the FEC.

As WND reported in August, FEC records also show the following payments made to the law firm from Oct. 16, 2008, to June 30, 2009:

The FEC shows Obama’s campaign has made regular payments to Perkins Coie since Jan. 1, 2007 – the month he formed a presidential exploratory committee and only weeks before he formally announced his candidacy for president.

In total, Obama has paid Perkins Coie, a single law firm, $2.6 million since he announced his campaign for presidency. By contrast, a cumulative total of all of Sen. John McCain’s legal consulting fees, from Jan. 1, 2007, to October 2009, amounts to $1.6 million.

As WND reported, Robert Bauer of Perkins Coie – top lawyer for Obama, Obama’s presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Obama’s Organizing for America – is the same Washington, D.C., lawyer who defended President Obama in lawsuits challenging his eligibility to be president.

WND also reported that Bauer sent a letter to plaintiff Gregory Hollister, a retired Air Force colonel, of Hollister v. Soetoro, threatening sanctions if he didn’t withdraw his appeal of the eligibility case that earlier was tossed by a district judge because the issue already had been “twittered.”

Bauer’s warning was dated April 3 and delivered via letter to the plaintiff’s attorney, John D. Hemenway. It is not the first such warning issued. Lawyers trying to kill a similar California lawsuit filed on behalf of Ambassador Alan Keyes also said they would seek sanctions against the plaintiff’s attorneys in that case unless they left the issue of the president’s eligibility alone.

“For the reasons stated in Judge Robertson’s ruling, the suit is frivolous and should not be pursued,“ Bauer’s letter warned. “Should you decline to withdraw this frivolous appeal, please be informed that we intend to pursue sanctions, including costs, expenses and attorneys’ fees, pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 38 and D.C. Circuit Rule 38.”

(click for larger image)

Bauer also represented Obama and the DNC in Philip Berg’s eligibility lawsuit and various other legal challenges. The White House has not responded to WND’s request for comment on the legal fees.

As WND recently reported, Bauer is married to Anita Dunn, the White House communications director who has blasted Fox as an arm of the Republican Party and talked about “controlling” the news media.

Bauer, a Democratic Party partisan, has a long history of defending Democratic Party presidential hopefuls.

A biography for Bauer posted on the Perkins Coie website indicates he was general counsel to the Democratic National Committee during the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry and that he served as counsel to Sen. Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the impeachment trial proceedings of President Bill Clinton.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Bauer functioned as an “attack lawyer,” threatening with FEC complaints groups wanting to run anti-Obama television ads.

Also during the 2008 presidential campaign, Bauer as counsel for the Obama campaign wrote letters to television station managers and to Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General John Keeney arguing that airing an anti-Obama ad pointing to the known association between Obama and Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers would violate federal election rules.

Also during the 2008 campaign, Bauer intervened on behalf of Obama to block the California-based American Leadership Project from running a television ad campaign over support from unions, including the Service Employees International Union.

Again, Bauer filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that the union-funded television campaign the American Leadership Project planned to run in Indiana against Obama was illegal under federal election laws.

In addition to representing Obama on eligibility cases, Bauer also is hired as legal counsel to represent the president in the criminal probe going on into the activities of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Perkins Coie serves high-profile clients such as Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks. Perkins Coie also represents the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms. In 2006, the firm also represented Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s alleged bodyguard and driver.

The FEC allows elected officials to use campaign funds to pay legal fees only if the action/investigations arise as a result of their tenure in office or campaigns, according to Politico.

An FEC report also reveals Obama For America also paid $6,365 in legal fees to Olaker, Biden & Belair, a firm founded by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

And the plot thickens.

I find these double standards ridiculous. Sarah Palin has been bombarded with frivolous lawsuits; and has done nothing wrong. Yes the libtards attack her like no other. But we all know it’s because they fear her power. BHussein Obama is presented with legitimate questions that need legitimate answers; yet nothing is done? These lawsuits are considered FRIVOLOUS?!

Also, I’d like to know why it’s a violation of federal election rules to run ads showing the association between Obama and Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers. I mean, they are butt buddies. Ayers DID Ghostwrite Obama’s pathetic book. What’s wrong with this? But, with most liberals, the truth isn’t what they want to hear.

It’s also not much of a surprise that Perkins Coie represented Osama Bin-Laden’s bodyguard and driver. I mean, hell, Bill Ayers, Osama, BHussein Obama; they’re all fighting for the same cause — the destruction of our beloved country. That’s right, I said it.

Prove me wrong, nerdlingers.

If you live anywhere near Omaha Nebraska then you have a new entertainment facility to look forward to visiting sometime in the future. At the moment it is called “The V” which I am guessing stands for “The Venue”. The multimillion dollar project is currently looking for investors and other entrepreneurs to help make the project a reality and from the sounds of it, The V should be a cool place to check out once it is finished. According to the website:

The V is a 45,000 square foot multi-attraction entertainment concept consisting of a variety of amusement attractions and a casual dining restaurant targeting families, young adults and corporations.  Amusement attractions offered by The V will include a 16 lane open play bowling center, 4 lane upscale private bowling lounge, 110 player station game zone, rock climbing, mini-bowling, laser tag arena, multi-player game attractions, billiards, darts and shuffleboard.  The V will also have dedicated private meeting space for corporations and groups and party rooms available to host family parties.

As you can see from the picture above, the facility will have plenty of open space and it sounds like it will have a sizable arcade although we will have to wait and see how they will go about designing that. From the sounds of it, a major focus at the facility will be one geared towards providing a modern bowling experience. At present there is no ETA given on when they expect to have everything built and ready to go but you can find out more information can be found at the official project website here.

[Discuss on the Forums]

While it is disappointing that Solicitor General Elena Kagan decided not to appeal en banc an overreaching and potentially crippling court decision in the campaign finance case of Emily’s List v. Federal Election Commission, one lesson for defending the nation’s campaign finance laws has clearly emerged from this case: The Obama administration must break the partisan deadlock that has immobilized the FEC over the past year by finishing the appointment of new leaders to the agency, most notably with the replacement of Commissioner Don McGahn, whose term has long expired.

Since the commission was reestablished in mid-2008, partisan 3-to-3 deadlocks have produced the largest percentage of dismissed enforcement cases and the lowest percentage of substantive enforcement actions in recent history. Deadlocked votes in enforcement actions, for example — which prevent the FEC from acting — jumped from less than 2 percent every year since 2003 to more than 16 percent in 2009. The principal force behind these deadlocks is McGahn, who has coalesced the Republican members of the FEC into a voting bloc committed to reversing established regulations to implement the law and preventing critical enforcement actions.

The latest deadlock prevented the agency from appealing an extreme and overreaching decision by a three-judge panel in the Emily’s List case, a decision that not only threatens the authority of the agency to regulate campaign finance activity of political committees but even calls into question the legitimacy of statutory limits on contributions to candidates and political parties in toto (“the constitutionally permitted legislative solution, as the Court stated in an analogous situation in Davis, is ‘to raise or eliminate’ limits on contributions to parties and candidates”). Despite the overreaching nature of the Emily’s List decision, which drew a rebuke from one of the judges on the panel (“The court, however, is not content just answering a gratuitous constitutional question. Its holding is broader than even the plaintiff requests”), and despite the sweeping threat of the decision to the core tenets of campaign finance laws, McGahn and the other Republican commissioners voted to accept the opinion and block an appeal to the full court.

Public Citizen had hoped that Kagan, the solicitor general, would take over the case from the FEC, but today Kagan declined. We hope the decision by the administration not to take over the case is due more to the fact that Emily’s List could be overruled by a more balanced decision in another case currently pending before the courts (SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission) and does not signal that the administration is wavering in its commitment to campaign finance reform.

Implementation and enforcement of our nation’s campaign finance laws will continue to be crippled until President Obama repairs the incapacitated FEC by appointing new commissioners who will pursue their regulatory duties responsibly and professionally. The terms for three of the six commissioners have expired, including that of McGahn. On April 30, Public Citizen encouraged the president to seize the opportunity to fix the FEC and swiftly appoint new commissioners. To date, only one new commissioner has been nominated, ironically to replace Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, who has performed responsibly and castigated the Republican bloc for obstructing the agency’s mission. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) have placed a hold on this nomination, calling on Obama to fill the two other open seats.

We applaud the efforts of Sens. McCain and Feingold and once again call upon President Obama to learn from Emily’s List and immediately appoint new commissioners for all three seats who will pursue their duties responsibly and professionally and bring the era of a deadlocked FEC to a close.

Martha Coakley raised almost $2.2 million in one month in her race to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy in the U.S. Senate, much more than did the two other candidates in the Dec. 8 Democratic primary, according to each candidate’s campaign finance filing.with the Federal Election Commission.

Rep. Michael E. Capuano raised $343,000 last month and transferred $1.2 million from his U.S. House reelection account to his Senate campaign. Contributions to Capuano from individuals totaled $306,536 .96 and political action committees and party committees gave $32,500. He ended September with $1,167,906 in his campaign fund.

Alan Khazei raised $1.1 million in September without receiving any funds from political action committees, according to his report filed with the Federal Election Commission. The Khazei campaign finished the period that ended Sept, 30 with $1,040,297 in his campaign treasury.

Coakley’s campaign raised $2,181,231—with only $41,450 coming from political action committees—and ended September with $1,953,512 in her campaign fund, according to her filing with the commission. Campaign spokesman Mathew Helman said Coakley had a wide range of individual contributors, including 3,707 who gave $100 or less.

“I am humbled by this display of support shown by our contributors and volunteers throughout Massachusetts and across the country,” Coakley said in a press release. “We more than doubled our fundraising goals for the month of September.”

Doug Roscoe, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, said, “Realistically, the latest numbers show the Coakley, Capuano and Khazei campaigns all about equally armed for battle.”

He noted that none of the candidates came close to the numbers raised by candidates for statewide office in 2006, when Deval Patrick spent $8 million and Kerry Healey spent over $13 million in their campaigns for governor.

Since time is limited for the special election, which will be Jan. 19, it is not likely that the candidates will raise comparable amounts, according to Roscoe. “It means they are all about equally distant from having the resources to run a true statewide campaign,” he said.

Roscoe emphasized that Capuano as a House candidate had the opportunity to transfer money from his House campaign account. “These transfers represent 78 percent of his total receipts,” he said.

Coakley, however, was not legally allowed to transfer campaign funds she raised in her successful race for state attorney general to her U.S. Senate race account.

Roscoe does not consider it surprising that while Capuano was financially in a more advantaged position at the beginning, Coakley has been more successful in raising money for her campaign. She has “greater name recognition and a broader network of prior donors,” he said.

“If both candidates maintain their current pace of fundraising, Coakley’s financial edge will only grow and may become a significant advantage for her in the Dec. 8 primary,” Roscoe said.

Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at the Cook Political Report, also agreed that the Coakley campaign did really well during this short period of fundraising. Although Coakley lacked experience in raising money nationally, the funds she raised and the wise way she spent are “stunning,” Duffy said.

Duffy said that the amount Khazei raised is “pretty impressive” and that he is likely to continue raising more funds than Capuano because of his broader base of donors all around the country.

Duffy said that with only six weeks to the primary, there has not been enough interaction between candidates. “Perhaps it’s a sign of how much work they need to do to build name recognition and define themselves,” she said.

With statewide name recognition and a well-funded campaign, “Coakley is the candidate to beat,” Duffy said.

Read the story here New Bedford Standard Times

Montréal, 28 octobre 2009. – Les fédérations collégiales de la Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), la Fédération des enseignantes et enseignants de cégep (FEC-CSQ), la Fédération du personnel de soutien de l’enseignement supérieur (FPSES-CSQ) et la Fédération du personnel professionnel des collèges (FPPC-CSQ) en cartel de négociation avec la section N-Collèges du Syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ) ont déposé aujourd’hui, à Montréal, leurs demandes sectorielles en vue de la prochaine négociation dans le secteur public.

Les représentants syndicaux des quatre organisations, soit le président de la FEC-CSQ, M. Mario Beauchemin, la présidente de la FPSES-CSQ, Mme Marie Racine, le président de la FPPC-CSQ, M. Bernard Bérubé et le représentant de la section N-Collèges du SPGQ, M. Guy Cazeault, ont procédé à ces dépôts ce matin au bureau du Comité patronal de négociation des collèges (CPNC) à Montréal, au nom des milliers de membres qu’ils représentent dans l’ensemble des collèges du Québec.

Les quatre représentants syndicaux ont dévoilé les priorités de leurs organisations respectives à l’occasion d’un point de presse qui a suivi l’événement.

Une tâche enseignante à alléger

Pour la FEC-CSQ, la grande priorité de la prochaine négociation est la nécessité de réduire l’alourdissement de la tâche des enseignantes et enseignants, comme l’explique son président, M. Mario Beauchemin.

« Pour y parvenir, nous demandons à l’employeur de réduire le nombre de groupes et de préparations confiés à chaque enseignant. Il faut également prendre en considération l’arrivée d’une nouvelle clientèle au cégep, soit celle des étudiants handicapés ou en difficulté d’adaptation ou d’apprentissage, qui nécessite une attention et un suivi supplémentaires de la part de l’enseignant. De plus, nous réclamons une diminution notable de la précarité à l’enseignement régulier et à la formation continue pour rendre le système actuel plus humain », résume M. Beauchemin.

De plus, pour les enseignantes et enseignants qui demeureront à statut précaire, la FEC-CSQ entend revendiquer des solutions pour améliorer leurs conditions de travail et de vie. Un dernier point qui fera partie des demandes sectorielles consiste en la création d’un comité de travail local pour juger des mesures à mettre en place pour améliorer la conciliation famille-travail.

Quatre priorités pour le personnel de soutien

Du côté de la FPSES-CSQ, la présidente, Mme Marie Racine, explique que quatre priorités ont été identifiées et constitueront la base des revendications lors de la négociation à venir.

« Avant tout, nous voulons voir une véritable amélioration de l’organisation du travail à travers la mise en place de mécanismes favorisant l’engagement du personnel de soutien. Nous pensons particulièrement à la création d’un lieu de concertation professionnelle et à l’élaboration d’une méthode alternative de règlement de différend. Une autre priorité est d’obtenir une meilleure reconnaissance du personnel et du travail qu’il effectue en implantant diverses mesures, dont la mise en place d’un plan de formation et de perfectionnement », soutient Mme Racine.

Les autres mesures concernent notamment l’amélioration de la gestion des invalidités et la bonification des clauses de responsabilités familiales.

Les professionnelles et professionnels de collèges réunis en cartel

Pour leur part, les professionnelles et professionnels de collèges abordent la prochaine négociation unis au sein d’un cartel de négociation formé de la FPPC-CSQ et de la section N-Collèges du SPGQ. Ce sera donc la première fois qu’en période de négociation tous les professionnels et professionnelles de collèges seront assis à une même table et parleront d’une seule voix.

Le président de la FPPC-CSQ, M. Bernard Bérubé, et le représentant de la section N-Collèges du SPGQ, M. Guy Cazeault précisent les grands enjeux de la prochaine ronde de négociations.

« Nos revendications tourneront autour de quatre grands thèmes, soit le traitement, c’est-à-dire les demandes à incidence monétaire, l’attraction et la rétention du personnel, la charge et l’organisation du travail, et finalement, la reconnaissance et la valorisation du personnel professionnel. Essentiellement, nous revendiquons des mesures pour améliorer nos conditions de travail et faire en sorte que nous puissions offrir des services de qualité dans les cégeps », affirme M. Guy Cazeault.

Pour sa part, M. Bernard Bérubé conclut que la création du cartel « favorisera une plus large mobilisation des membres et renforcera d’autant le rapport de force en faveur des professionnelles et professionnels de collèges pour la prochaine négociation. De plus, nous nous sommes entendus sur des demandes ciblées, jugées prioritaires par nos membres, ce qui devrait contribuer à faciliter et à accélérer la négociation. »

Portraits :

La CSQ représente quelque 170 000 membres, dont près de 100 000 dans le secteur public. Elle est l’organisation syndicale la plus importante en éducation au Québec. La CSQ est également présente dans les secteurs de la santé et des services sociaux, des services de garde, du municipal, des loisirs, de la culture, du communautaire et des communications.

La Fédération des enseignantes et enseignants de cégep est un regroupement de syndicats d’enseignantes et d’enseignants provenant de plusieurs régions du Québec. Affiliée à la Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), la FEC-CSQ a toujours milité pour que les cégeps aient les moyens d’offrir aux étudiantes et aux étudiants une formation de qualité, préparatoire au marché du travail ou à l’université, tout en contribuant au développement de personnes libres et autonomes.

La Fédération du personnel professionnel des collèges (FPPC-CSQ) représente la majorité des professionnelles et professionnels de cégeps du Québec. Elle compte plus de 1000 membres répartis dans 34 collèges. Elle regroupe exclusivement des professionnelles et professionnels de cégeps.

La Fédération du personnel de soutien de l’enseignement supérieur (FPSES-CSQ) représente le personnel administratif et de secrétariat, technique et paratechnique, ouvrier et de services oeuvrant dans des collèges, des universités et des organismes qui dispensent des services en éducation.

Le SPGQ est le plus grand syndicat de professionnelles et professionnels du Québec. Il représente environ 20 000 personnes, dont plus de 17 000 de la fonction publique et plus de 2 000 provenant des sociétés d’État, des réseaux de l’éducation et de la santé du Québec, rattachées à 37 unités de négociation.

Renseignements :
Claude Girard
Agent d’information, CSQ
Cell. : 514 237-4432
girard.claude@csq.qc.net

I see food. Get it? Photo credit: Flickr creative commons by emdot

WASHINGTON — There’s something a little ‘fishy’ about U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud’s latest filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The campaign spending disclosure forms of the Maine Democrat are all in order and were submitted on time, but the intriguing fact has less to do with forms than with fins: Almost one-tenth of Michaud’s campaign outlays have been spent at seafood restaurants.

Read the full article at the Bangor Daily News or behind the cut.

Michaud spending favors seafood

O Fundo Estadual de Cultura (FEC), mecanismo de fomento da Secretaria de Estado de Cultura de Minas Gerais destinado a projetos que, tradicionalmente, encontram maiores dificuldades na captação de recursos no mercado, aprovou, em sua quarta edição, na modalidade Liberação de Recursos Não Reembolsáveis, 147 projetos de todo o Estado, sendo mais de 82% apresentados por entidades do interior de Minas. Em números finais, as entidades da capital aprovaram 26 projetos e, as do interior, 121.
Serão destinados R$ 9 milhões para a implementação das propostas, que irão beneficiar 99 municípios. Deste total, o interior será contemplado com 88,28% dos recursos, ou seja, R$ 7,9 milhões. Além disso, entre as 26 entidades contempladas de Belo Horizonte, oito executarão também suas propostas no interior do estado.

Nesta edição foi registrado um aumento de 47% no número de projetos aprovados na modalidade Liberação de Recursos Não Reembolsáveis, em relação à terceira edição. Este expressivo salto é fruto de uma das inovações do edital, que permitiu que entidades de direito público apresentassem até dois projetos, sendo um deles voltado para a criação de arquivo público municipal. Só de projetos que previam a criação de arquivos públicos foram aprovados 23, dos 70 apresentados.

A modalidade Financiamento Reembolsável continua a receber inscrições, sempre entre os dias 1º e 10º de cada mês, até o próximo edital, em 2010.

With the FEC period fast approaching, I thought I would share a couple of my templates for FEC certifications. I keep a worksheet for each of my researchers. This worksheet lists all their grants, how much they committed themselves to on the grant, and then reconciles it to how much was actually performed.

I usually start this process by:
1. First projecting out the first six months. In doing this, it helps me to tell a researcher who just received new funding or is considering putting effort on another grant, whether or not they will be overcommitted, have to adjust their effort on other grants, need to cost share, need to notify the NIH of a change, etc.
2. Every month, I update the actual effort paid on the grant. This can sometimes be different than what was projected and is a flag for me to investigate why the effort is different than originally planned.
3. If an RST occurs, I update the effort for the month that the work should have been done- not for the month the RST posted. For instance, if in May 2009, I create an RST moving 20% effort for Feb 2009 from Grant A to Grant B, I adjust month FEB and remove 20% effort from Grant A and add 20% effort to grant B. I don’t make the adjustment in May 2009 when the RST was created and posted. I do this for a variety of reasons to include that the start date on some grants are not exact and this helps keep accurate accounting of how much effort was paid- exactly when.
4. I do have slightly different templates for Faculty who might have an NIH cap or Cost Share.

This might seem like a lot of work but once the template is set up, it takes less than five minutes a month to update and
a> helps me have a clear picture of where effort is at any given moment
b> helps me to give the researcher quick answers as to how a change in effort will affect all his grants.

It also helps me to complete the FEC certs for the researcher, in minimal time.  It explains how the numbers were derived and how RSTs affected the overall percentage.

Why is this so important?  Here are recent cases where institutions settled over incorrectly reporting effort:

Recent settlements between medical institutions and the U.S. Department of Justice over alleged misuse of federal grant money:

INSTITUTION: Mayo Clinic
SETTLEMENT DATE: May 2005
ALLEGED MISCONDUCT: Government was charged for research unrelated to the NIH grants it received
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $6.5 million

INSTITUTION: University of Alabama at Birmingham
SETTLEMENT DATE: April 2005
ALLEGED MISCONDUCT: Research work overstated; Medicare billed for research funded elsewhere
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $3.4 million

INSTITUTION: Harvard University
SETTLEMENT DATE: June 2004
ALLEGED MISCONDUCT: Government was billed for salaries and expenses unrelated to federal grants
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $2.4 million

INSTITUTION: Johns Hopkins University
SETTLEMENT DATE: February 2004
ALLEGED MISCONDUCT: Faculty time and effort devoted to NIH grants was overstated
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $2.6 million

INSTITUTION: Northwestern University
SETTLEMENT DATE: February 2003
ALLEGED MISCONDUCT: Researchers spent less time on NIH-sponsored projects than they reported
SETTLEMENT AMOUNT: $5.5 million

Shared modules can reduce the amount of resources used by multiple applications in embedded systems. The author explains how to identify, place and access shared modules to maximise limited embedded resources… (more)

This is a view of what is currently happening in my home state of NJ with our governor’s race.  It’s really no secret that Corzine has been leaning on Obama to save him.  And what does Obama do when he’s losing traction?  He calls in the purple monsters.

So far, Corzine has spent $40 million to try and keep his Governor’s spot.  And SEIU has now overrun this election.  With Christie having gained ground recently, the union has significantly stepped up its own spending against him…we’ll be able to see by just how much in this month’s FEC filings.  And they’ve sent out 16,000 canvassers to find every last non-registered voter in the state and to hand them whatever propaganda they use to brainwash people that Corzine would actually be a good thing for NJ.  That’s laughable to think anyone could claim that with a straight face. This state is in utter ruins.  Just look at this timeline of NJ’s decline into record deficits: “The Corzine Deficit: A History of Budget Mismanagement“.

But one thing’s obvious – SEIU’s certainly getting fancy with their Obama mailers, like this one we got here in the garden state:

(and thanks to Ben Smith at Politico for letting the NJ outsiders see what’s happening here in NJ with his post “SEIU links Corzine, Obama“)

And then there’s this TV spot that has been airing. Read more about it at another Ben Smith post, “SEIU vs. Christie“.

Well, yes, you idiots.  He opposes paid family leave and other entitlement programs because OUR STATE IS PRACTICALLY BANKRUPT!!!!  Our jobless rate is the highest in over 30 years.  Union members are just about the ONLY ones left in NJ with jobs, or at least jobs that didn’t require we take a pay cut and give up all bonuses and benefits, and work twice the hours to cover those who were laid off.  The only new jobs NJ is gaining are government jobs.  Oh, yeah, of course – union jobs.  When you have no money coming in at home, do you go on a spending spree?  No.  So why should NJ do so?  Any logical person would oppose ANY entitlement programs in NJ right now.  (And then if you’re for smaller government, you’d oppose it anyway.  And yes, I’ve been poor and sick and without benefits and all that stuff you usually would throw at me as your argument).

Any why focus so much on health care?  It wasn’t exactly a hot election issue for NJ…until SEIU and Team Obama – Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, all got involved.  What better way to create propaganda that incites hate and anger than to pretend that the Republican wants sick people to die.  (I mean, isn’t that what other Democrats are saying these days?)  If that’s not enough, there are even reports that the Obama and Corzine camp is actually intentionally throwing some support behind Daggett, the independent candidate, just to siphon votes from Chris Christie.  Nothing like letting the will of the people speak for itself. (that was sarcasm)

So, I took the last screen of that TV ad to show SEIU’s sponsorship, then I took the liberty of adding my own comments, indicating what their disclaimer should really say.

And if you’d like to see some of the financial reports of SEIU’s spending to elect Obama, simply visit my ACORN money trail page.  It will soon look just the same for Corzine.

And in case the image above didn’t display for you, here’s the text:

THANKS, SEIU.

In New Jersey, we now enjoy the highest property, income & corporate taxes in the nation.  As we suffer the worst jobless rate since 1977, New Jersey businesses are leaving the state to get away from your union wage hikes and
your forced paid family leave.  As New Jersey chokes on a massive $8 billion deficit, you practically shake down politicians and special interests to win your demands for taxpayer funded family health care insurance and billions more in massive entitlement programs that take the expense load off of SEIU and hoist it instead onto the New Jersey state taxpayers.  And as burdened residents now flee New Jersey to neighboring states in record numbers to escape the crisis, you pour billions of dollars into campaign ads to protect the very fiscal selfishness that has propelled New Jersey into this death spiral.

THANKS, SEIU.

First California.  Now New Jersey.  You’ve managed to spend quite a bit of money on wrecking what were once two of the most powerful economies in the country.

As a New Jersey resident, let me tell you, I don’t much appreciate you shoving your purple shirts into our business here in MY STATE.  Stop trying to purchase our politicians for your own selfish gains. And let me tell you something else – I’m no Republican by any means.  But you’ve made one out of me in 2009.  So I guess I can thank you for that as well.  Now please GET OUT OF MY STATE.

The FEC recently disposed of two (fairly old) petitions regarding regulations of candidate debates.

Both petitions concerned FEC debate regulation at 11 CFR 110.13(c), which states in part:

Criteria for candidate selection. For all debates, staging organization(s) must use pre-established objective criteria to determine which candidates may participate in a debate. (emphasis added)

A petition filed in 1999 by three individuals argued that the FEC should be the entity that creates the objective criteria – not the organization holding the debate.  Accordingly:

“the petition urges the Commission to revise section 110.13(c) to set forth mandatory criteria for participation in Presidential and Vice Presidential debates.”

Another petition filed in 2002 by several news organizations argued that 110.13(c) is unconstitutional.  Accordingly, they requested either a repeal of 110.13(c), or for it to be amended so that it:

“explicitly declare[s] that sponsorship of a candidate debate by a news organization or a related trade association is legal under the Act and to refrain from any further regulatory jurisdiction over such sponsorship.”

The FEC received about a 1000 comments on the 1999 petition; most of which were in favor of the FEC establishing the criteria for participation in the Presidential & Vice-Presidential debates.  By contrast, the FEC only received one comment in favor of the 2002 news organization petition.

The FEC rejected both petitions.  But, not on the merits.  Rather, the FEC rejected the petitions because, well, too much time has passed.  I’m not sure this is a good enough reason, it seems more like they’re just kicking the can, which is understandable given how overwhelmed the FEC is and how complicated this particular issue could become.

I’ll refrain from a detailed discussion of the legal merits of each petition.  But, for the record, I don’t subscribe fully to either petition.  On the one hand, I recognize the need for the FEC to regulate more in this particular arena.  On the other hand, I am sensitive to the constitutional issues that arise when the government regulates the press’ ability to host candidate debates and interviews.

That said, I certainly don’t have a problem with the FEC establishing some type of threshold that if satisfied by a third party presidential ticket would guarantee them a spot in the debates.  This position is based largely on the fact that the presidential debates are currently coordinated by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).  The CPD is a private organization jointly operated by the Republican and Democratic Parties.  Thus, I am concerned about allowing them full control over access to the debates.  If the CPD suddenly wasn’t running the debates, my aforementioned opinion might be different.

[N.B. The news organizations that filed the petition were ABC, CBS, NBC, Belo Corp, Cox Enterprises, Gannett, National Association of Broadcasters, News American Incorporated, The NY Times, Post-Newsweek Stations, Radion and Television News Directors Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and Tribune Company.]

I wrote a long 4-part post a few weeks back about SEIU and its REAL interest in health care.  While most of that interest may be obvious – I mean, SEIU does have a division of its union dedicated entirely to Health Care workers, some of the history that has built up to their level of interest today may not be quite as obvious.  That’s why I published some of SEIU’s own presentations from years ago, where they discuss their strategy to “create” an issue that could become their political platform in order to embed themselves into government policy.  They needed an issue that would enable them to demonize anyone who would oppose their perspective.  An issue that would create political capital for SEIU and make them an attractive partner to potential political allies and, as they put in their words, “new strange bedfellows”.  An issue that would “create demand for SEIU-provided services.”

And that issue?  Universal Health Care.  So I asked, did SEIU manufacture this health care “crisis”?

Now, as I always say, don’t get me wrong.  I agree that some level of reform is needed in health care.  And I do want others who cannot afford it to be able to have access to affordable health care.  As someone with Lupus and a permanent spinal injury (and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills from spine surgeries and kidney treatment), I have had several periods in time when I was unable to work and therefore lost my health insurance.  So I know what it’s like to be without it, or to have medical debt, or to have a pre-existing condition.

I also know what government health care is like. And it is NOT the answer.

Don’t let the SEIU thugs fool anyone.  Show your opponents what this organization REALLY cares about.  They say it in their own words in their own presentations.

Click to view full size

And when they try to demonize you, show them SEIU’s tactics to paint opponents as not sympathetic to “working Americans”:

Click to view full size

Here’s a montage of snippets from just one presentation:

Are you interested yet?  Read the entire post.  It’s lengthy, but it is necessary to read the whole background to understand what the REAL plans behind this health care strategy are.  And how did they get here? How did our politicians get so involved? And how much have they spent? How much do they have to lose?

Please, educate yourselves.  Look beyond ACORN.  Look into the White House.  You’ll see a lot of purple behind those windows at 1600 Pennsylvania.

Here’s the whole presentation. But again, read the whole post to understand the full background.  If you cannot read all four parts, at least start with “Creating Crisis Using the Issue of Health Care”.

WASHINGTON– The 2010 elections may be more than a year away, but don’t tell that to Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-3rd District). The freshman Democrat has already collected $702,654 towards next year’s congressional race, according to her campaign’s third quarter filing with the Federal Election Commission.

“We continue to be pleased with our fundraising efforts,” says campaign spokeswoman Tina Mengine.

Check out full article on WSEE.tv!

In today’s landscape of nine-digit presidential campaigns — President Barack Obama generated more than $750 million towards his election in 2008 — Rep. Dahlkemper’s six-figure earnings may seem like a drop in the bucket. But, when compared to her colleagues in the House of Representatives, Dahlkemper emerges as a very effective fund-raiser. The average raised through Sept. 30 by other House members seeking re-election in 2010 is closer to $400,000.

Not only does she rival House Democratic heavyweights such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who took in just about $480,000 more than Dahlkemper, but she comes out well ahead of other House Democratic leaders, including 18-time incumbent and Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) ($404,990) and 10-term incumbent and House Democratic Party steering chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) ($419,209).

“This is a strong position to be in,” says David Wasserman, House of Representatives editor of the Cook Political Report, an independent publication that analyzes national races. “Even half of [$702,654] is sizable at this point in the game.”

That’s a big difference compared to her 2008 campaign. Then new to politics, Dahlkemper, a dietician and small business owner, found herself at a distinct disadvantage running against seven-term incumbent Phil English, who raised $2.6 million, more than double Dahlkemper’s $1.1 million. Most of her money last time came from personal loans and political action committees (PACs).

Dahlkemper won’t be an underdog this time, but, still, three of her largest donations come from leadership PACs; Speaker Pelosi’s PAC to the Future, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) AmeriPAC and House Majority Whip James Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) Bridge PAC each gave her campaign $10,000. Altogether, her PAC contributions add up to $63,000.

“It shows, very clearly, that she’s in line with the Democratic leadership,” Wasserman says. But, he added, “That also could make her vulnerable.”

Why? Pennsylvania’s 3rd District has leaned to the right-of-center in recent elections, despite Dahlkemper’s 2008 victory. The 3rd District was one of only a select few in the Northeast carried by George W. Bush in 2004 and John McCain in 2008, even though McCain won the district by only 17 votes.

“When you look at the numbers, it’s one of the most divided,” Wasserman says. “You could argue it’s the closest congressional district in the country.”

With the district apparently still up for grabs, Republicans see an opening to regain the seat they held for 14 years.

“It’s still early, maybe too early to tell, but we are very, very hopeful,”
says National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Tory Mazzola.

Already, three Republicans have lined up to make a run at Dahlkemper: Elaine Surma, a senior agent in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, John Onorato, the former Erie district attorney, and retired Meadville businessman Paul Huber.

Against this backdrop, Dahlkemper’s impressive war chest may be indicative of more than just her fund raising prowess. It could reflect the Democratic Party’s concern about winning the district.

“She could have a serious race,” says Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Report. “That amount tells you she thinks she could be in for a battle.”

Of the three Republican hopefuls, only Huber has reported contributions to the FEC thus far, taking in just over $100,000. However, more than half of that came from personal loans. The NRCC is waiting to see which one of the three emerges as a capable challenger before allocating funds to any candidate.

“There’s been a lot of interest expressed in this seat, so we’ll have to wait and see,” Mazzola says. “It’s still too early to start talking about resources.”

While Republicans have hope, Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Report, says the absence of a firm candidate tempers expectations.

“The district certainly is competitive, and a strong Republican challenger would have to be regarded as a threat, but so far there isn’t a lot of buzz in GOP circles — at least in Washington, D.C. — about the district,” Rothenberg said.

That puts Dahlkemper in the driver’s seat, for now. As Wasserman points out, “The question is, “How does she vote on health care?” If she votes [for it], that could change everything.”

The Federal Electoral Commission (FEC)’s motto is “Administering and Enforcing Campaign Finance Laws.”

However, they won’t show you which individuals donated to President Obama in the 2008 presidential election campaign. This has been the case as early as July 2009.

From fec.gov, go to “Campaign Finance Reports and Data,” “Search the Disclosure Database,” and click on “Candidate Search.”

Enter “Obama” and click on “Get Listing.”

Select “OBAMA, BARACK” with the State of “Presidential Candidate”

It shows you the information for “Contributions Made by This Candidate’s Committees” and “Committees Who Gave to This Candidate,” but it won’t show you any information for “Individuals Who Gave to This Candidate.” After a couple minutes of waiting, you’ll be presented with the page, “Failed to open page.”

Repeat the above process, using McCain instead, and you will see that it does show the individuals who gave to him.

Contact the FEC webmaster and tell him/her you want to see Obama’s individual contributors, as the FEC’s mandate requires.

…Raj Rajaratnam (#559 on Forbes’ list of World’s Billionaires), the founder of the $3 Billion Galleon Group Hedge Fund, and noteworthy fund-raiser for the DNC and Barack Hussein Obama’s presedential campaign has been arrested and charged with insider trading of stocks of several companies, including Hilton, Clearwire and Google.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Rajaratnam contributed over $87,000 to Obama’s campaign, the DNC and various campaigns on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a $30,800 donation going to Obama’s “Victory Fund.”  The Center for Responsive Politics reports his donations to total $118,000.  The DNC also reports that Rajaratnam raised more than $100,000 for Obama through his Wall Street and Sri Lankan-American connections.  Based on these fund-raising and contribution efforts, it appears Rajaratnam was able to exert influence over Obama, particularly for Rajaratnam’s pro-Tamil (see below) agenda. It is clear that Rajaratnam’s financial clout over the DNC and, particularly, Barack Hussein Obama, has levied a great deal of influence and caused further support of Tamil groups for Obama.

Rajaratnam supported the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organization that is on the US State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization List (see number 27).  Connections of the LTTE to the Tamil Tigers are fairly clear and now questions are being asked whether Rajaratnam’s vast financial resources found its way to these terrorists. For further analysis of the Rajratnam – Tamil Tigers connection, see here, here and here.

Given the recent absurd attitude of the White House as to Fox News, see if you can find any mention of Rajaratnam’s connection to Obama in these articles from other media outlets:  here, here, here, here, here, here or here.

Further evidence of the radical cast of characters with whom Obama has aligned himself and evidence of the threat he poses to our nation. Not only has Obama long supported terrorists, America-haters and racists such as Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but also child-prostitution enabling, voter-fraud organizations like ACORN and SEIU.  He’s also supported pedophiles and supporters of man-boy sex like Kevin Jennings and a whole host of tax frauds, communism/socialism-supporters and liberal fascists.  With the arrest of Rajaratnam, it’s clear that Obama will get in bed with anyone, regardless of the danger they pose to our nation, so long as his radical agenda is furthered.

Don’t expect commentary from the White House or the state-run media on this issue anytime soon.

Raj Rajaratnam

First, Planned Parenthood recently have, yet again, shown what a group of degenerates they truly are.

Cecile Richards is the current president of Planned Parenthood. She also oversees the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPFA).   Prior to her current position, she founded and served as president of “America Votes,” a radical group of “progressive” statist groups, which include, among others, ACORN, SEIU and MoveOn.Org.   Seeing a connection here? 

Prior to her post at America Votes, Richards was deputy chief of staff to liberal-fascist brown-shirt Nancy Pelosi and helped efforts to facilitate Pelosi securing a position as the Democratic leader in the House.  

In approximately 1995/96, Cecile Richards founded the “Texas Freedom Network,” a group claiming it exists to “counter” christian conservatives.  Lets you know straight away where they are coming from, doesn’t it? 

The Texas Freedom Network (TFN) claims it provides a “mainstream voice,” yet their ideals are far from mainstream.  The TFN is actively and aggressively devoted to, among other things, removing from school discourse any mention of Christianity, honoring leftist professors who push such topics as evolution, “free from creationist ideology.”  Reason #434,304,343,232 to send your child to private school or have them home-schooled.  The TFN have also worked to promote such so-called “mainstream” ideals as…”Evolution Sunday,” a nationwide event in which “clergy in the United States and other countries speak out on the issue of evolution and the fact that teaching sound science does not contradict religious faith.” 

Further, the TFN is a group which professes that teaching children abstinence is a “failed policy” that should be abandoned altogether, with TFN encouraging education of schoolchildren as to preventing pregnancy, STDs, etc., BUT WITHOUT discussing abstinence as a method to do so.  Absurdity, no doubt.  Rather, the TFN would encourage children to engage in sex, claiming it is their “right” to do so, as if children MUST engage in sex just as Sebelius says they MUST be inoculated.

TFN says it is just “fighting for young people.”  Right.  TFN attempts to eradicate any mention of abstinence.  Then, when a child becomes pregnant, according to TFN, she can be carted off to an abortion clinic run by Planned Parenthood to have her unborn child murdered…and, if Planned Parenthood and the leftists get their way, all on the taxpayer dime. Richards believes that abortion, particularly late-term abortions, should be publicly funded and that denying women access to abortions (and late-term abortions) is a denial of “quality, affordable healthcare.”  Right.

Further, Cecile Richards is married to Kirk Adams, who is described in varying places as “labor organizer,” “Chief of Staff” and, most recently, “Executive Director of Health Care” for SEIU (aka ACORN icognito).  Speaking of union thuggery, Cecile Richards also helped found America Coming Together, the leftists’ labor union wing.  Her involvement also extends to the The Media Fund, the same group that (surprise, funded by George Soros – who also funded ACT) was slapped with the seventh highest FEC fine in history for their having expended tens of millions of dollars to help John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004.

In terms of presidential candidates, Cecile Richards has stated that she supports candidates who she believes will promote “economic justice;” something she believes is redistributing wealth – reducing the gap between “rich” and “poor.”  Sound familiar?…straight out of the mouth of Obama….”A tragedy..Civil Rights movement failed to address redistribution of wealth…basic issues such as political and economic justice…wealth redistribution is an administrative task.”

Surprise, surprise, surprise….all one, big happy liberal-fascist family; a group which have long-been trying to fundamentally dismantle all upon which America was founded…

Cecile Richards

I have a bit of catching up to do so I am going to consolidate a couple of links that were sent to me by Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report into one post, which is made easier by the fact that most of the links have something to do with one another.

First off, an amusement facility in Pennsylvania known as the Coliseum Entertainment Megaplex has been saved by the credit union that the business deals with. The business had filed for bankruptcy last year but thanks to this move they are able to continue on. Hopefully they will be able to bring in more sales and keep going as the complex does have an arcade. You can find that news here.

Secondly, the competition in Dubai continues to grow as what is being called the “world’s largest indoor family theme park” opens it’s doors in Zabeel park. Called Stargate, the facility boasts 400,000 sq. ft. of space where the spaceship designs spans over five zones. In addition to offering a gigantic soft play area, go karts and more they also have features that focus on edutainment for kids. Over 4 million visitors are expected to visit the site per year and if you ever plan a trip to Dubai this gives you more more place to check out. More details can be found here or you can visit the official website for the Stargate facility.

And for our last link, if you are into following what big celebrities are always up to, Brad Pitt was seen with his son playing some arcade games at the Dave and Busters in Times Square. I’m not sure if it’s hilarious or sad that someone is paid to watch a celebrities every move and to see whether or not they win the game that they are playing. Of course me linking to this gives them incentive to keep it up I suppose.  Link

[Discuss on the Forums]