HTto JWF who notes: "The chicanery just never ends with Connecticut's shady Democrat Senator Chris Dodd. I guess getting the truth from the guy just won't ever happen, so let's hope this Irish cottage becomes a permanent residence for him, especially when he loses his Senate seat in 2010" And I want him to lose it, not 'retire'. I want the political world to see what happens to people like him.
US Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut may have lowballed the value of a vacation property he acquired in a sweetheart deal in Ireland. According to the Democrat's latest financial disclosures, obtained by The Post, Dodd claims his three-bedroom cottage on 10 acres with breathtaking views of the Atlantic is worth $638,000.
This figure falls far short of property values on Inishnee Island, where The Post discovered Dodd's next-door neighbor was selling a much smaller property for $1.2 million. Although Evelyn O'Neill's cottage is slightly larger than Dodd's, with one more bedroom, it sits on only one quarter-acre, she told The Post.
Matt O'Sullivan Auctioneers, a real-estate firm, is handling the sale of O'Neill's property. Matt O'Sullivan said he appraised Dodd's cottage at $638,000 two months ago but refused to answer any further questions.
"Dodd continues to mislead people about the value of his Irish property," charged Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, a Washington, DC-based ethics watchdog.
But a spokesman for Dodd said that the O'Neill cottage is the one that is overpriced. "The value of the other property you reference is not comparable to the appraised value of the Dodds' cottage. According to the listed real-estate agent, the other property's estimated value is based solely on the owner's asking price, not an appraisal," Bryan DeAngelis said.
In April, Judicial Watch filed a complaint regarding the cottage with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, which is already investigating him for sweetheart mortgage loans he received.
Dodd purchased a one-third interest in the Irish property in 1994 with Kansas businessman William Kessinger for $160,000.
Kessinger was a business partner of disgraced Bear Stearns principal Edward Downe Jr., a longtime friend of Dodd. In 1993, Downe pleaded guilty to insider trading and securities fraud but was pardoned, at Dodd's urging, by then-President Bill Clinton in 2001.
A year later, Dodd bought out Kessinger's share in the cottage for a paltry $127,000.
From 2002 to 2007, Dodd reported that the cottage was worth between $100,001 to $250,000 on his annual Senate financial disclosure forms. In 2002, O'Sullivan appraised Dodd's cottage at about $190,000. Two months ago, O'Sullivan's appraisal rose nearly $500,000.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 12:55 ||
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#1
Good riddance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/05/2009 14:49 Comments ||
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D.C. councilman and former mayor Marion Barry was arrested Saturday night and charged with stalking a woman, police said.
The United States Park Police said Barry was arrested in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her. Barry was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.
NBCWashington.com first reported that Barry was taken into custody in Southeast Washington on charges that involved a domestic situation, a high ranking D.C. police source said.
A message left seeking comment from a spokeswoman for Barry wasn't immediately returned early Sunday.
Barry served four terms as mayor. In his third, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. He served six months in prison and in 1994 regained the mayor's office.
Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.
Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples' money in their game.
It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.
If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!
And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!
Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".
Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".
No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.
And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.
...
We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!
...
In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." I think she's correct about doing the best thing for Alaska. For all you disappointed fans, hang in there...let's see what she does next. Hope y'all go to the link and read it all.
#1
I like to think of her more as a Patton than a MacArthur. Whatever, I will be surprised and saddened if she folds. I suspect that she is going on the attack, but from another front, one that she can't do as governor.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:28 Comments ||
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#3
As governor, she can't be seen as attacking the media. As a private individual, the laws of libel and slander are more easily pursued. I hope she sues the socks of a lot of people, including Schmidt, that insane "campaign worker" for John McCain.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2009 14:39 Comments ||
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#4
As has been pointed out in other places, O.P. Smith, not MacArthur, said that.
#6
First thing she should do is shame the McCain staffers who are leaking everything to make her look bad. I've never seen such blue-on-blue backstabbing in decades of political watching. Its pathetic and those guys should never work again.
She is nice, and pretty, and has an attractive momma-bear attitude. I'm all about that. I think she's much more qualified to be vice-president that our current one. That speech she gave yesterday was full of shiat excuses.
She's also seems to be thin-skinned, and doesn't know how to manage/put together a staff, in the campaign or in the months after. I mean, her biggest political news before Letterman was her staff couldn't book her at Republican fundraisers properly.
Personally, I'm looking for a little more in my presidential nominees.
#9
I like her and support her and note that the years available to her offer many opportunities to build a base and enhance her standing with trips, foreign and domestic, briefings and education. She should also work to overhaul the current incompetence at the RNC, starting with a purge of McCain advisors, staffers with backstabbing tendencies. We don't need or want those self-interested traitors in our midst. Blackball Steve Schmidt, if for nothing else than complete incompetence. Burn his career and income stream to the ground
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 17:12 Comments ||
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#10
Thin-slinned? She's shown toughness beyond the call of duty.
They continuously attacked her children. There is no excuse for that...ever. I am in awe of her patience and strength dealing with those brave souls like Leadvermin and virtually all of the liberal (and even some of the conservative) chattering class. My reactions to such attacks would not be so restrained. Whatever she decides -- retirement or an NHL-quality political deke -- I'll back her up. Like W, she may not be perfect, but she's the real deal.
#14
Hmm... She has a book coming out soon doesn't she?
You have to wonder if the contents of the book might be part of the reason - and what kind of things are in it. Tell all? About the campain and the idiots (such as Steve Schmidt) who ran it?
#15
Once she is clear of the restrictions of being an elected offical, she will have room to throw (legal) elbows. Liek defamation against the peopel flinging lies against here without consequences at the moment.
More importantly, she will be able to speak freely without another expensive bogus e4thics charge being filed every time to goes to a political speech or private fundraiser.
Third, this gives her time to go bitch-slapping the "GOP Elite" by pulling in grass roots conservatives and taking over parts of the party to force "TEA Party" type candidates past the Country Club blue-blood old-boy's "Its My Turn" bunch that are ruining the GOP now.
President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation.
In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform.
"We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other," Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. "We ought to be focused on winning this debate."
Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system.
In the call, leaders of both chambers expressed optimism that they will hold floor votes on legislation to overhaul the $2.2 trillion health system before Congress breaks in early August.
For his part, the president vowed to use his strong approval rating with voters to continue making the case for sweeping reform, according to one congressional staffer with knowledge of the conversation. Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.
The White House had no comment on the president's call.
In recent weeks, liberal bloggers and grass-roots groups such as MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, Service Employees International Union and Progressive Change Campaign Committee have targeted Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Arlen Specter (Pa.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.).
A fundraising video produced by Democracy for America suggests Landrieu is a "sellout" because she has received $1.6 million in campaign contributions from the health-care industry and has yet to endorse the concept of a government-run health insurance plan to compete against the private companies. The public-option concept, which Obama supports, has become a litmus test for many pro-reform activists who accuse the insurance industry of failing to deliver affordable, accessible care.
"Tell Senator Landrieu to support the people of Louisiana, not insurance companies," the spot concludes.
Founded by former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Democracy for America argues that inclusion of a Medicare-style public option in health-care legislation is "non-negotiable."
MoveOn, a Web-based political action committee that works to elect "progressive" leaders, intended to run commercials over the Fourth of July holiday criticizing Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) for her silence on the public option. But after she endorsed legislation crafted by Democratic colleagues on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that includes that provision, the group dropped its plans.
"This measure is the heart of health-care reform and is supported by MoveOn's 5 million members, as well as the majority of the American people," said MoveOn's executive director, Justin Ruben. "With the support of legislators like Senator Hagan, we can come closer to our goal of making quality health insurance accessible and affordable for everyone."
Health Care for American Now, a labor-based coalition of 1,000 groups, has organized a petition pressuring Feinstein to support legislation that includes a public option.
"We need a senator who is championing, not nay saying, the need for reform," the petition says. "We're hoping Sen. Feinstein becomes a 'champion' for the people of California and stands up for President Obama's health reform."
Richard Kirsch, who runs the coalition, said most of the group's ads are educational or focused generally on the need for broad-based change.
"We've been promoting reform and yes, asking members of the public to contact their senators," he said yesterday. "It's all in support of reform."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I need more attacks like tonight. whitehouse.gove is down. What a plesant void in the cybersphere.
For once your request may not be found, and after the bond market sinks next week, none of your other requests should be found either.
You are dick, Obama. Plain and simple. If you made a decision, you can bet on God Above it was wrong.
#3
Landrieu is one of my Senators. She may be a Democrat, and a 'Lord' (hereditary office) but she's been a better Republican than those northeastern RINOs. No wonder the libs are hassleing her.
#4
Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.
Necklacing? Flaming Michelin neckties? How very Kenyan.
"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
Rep. Charles Rangel defended colleague Carolyn Maloney's right to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and lashed out anew at President Obama for butting into New York's Democratic primary. "I really cannot say anything negative about a senior member who wants to run and whose polls, at this point in time, appear to be in her favor," Rangel, dean of the New York House delegation, told the Daily News.
Rangel stood up for Maloney while the state's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic establishment are rallying around Gillibrand. "Nobody can challenge that she's not a hardworking member of Congress," Rangel said of Maloney, citing her work on behalf of 9/11 victims and her landmark legislation protecting credit card holders.
"She is certainly one of our most active members," he said.
In May, President Obama phoned Long Island Rep. Steve Israel to nudge him away from a challenge - a move that also prompted Rangel to criticize the President. Last month, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said publicly Team Obama favored Gillibrand. "I really don't understand why President Obama got involved in our primary," Rangel said. "I don't want to use the word wrong, but it doesn't seem like the astute political thing to do," he said.
Rangel said he hasn't yet decided between Maloney and Gillibrand, who was named by Gov. Paterson in January to replace Hillary Clinton. "I would have to really think hard for me wanting to remove her from her office that she has been duly appointed," he said of Gillibrand.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for former President Bill Clinton said Thursday the ex-President will not take sides in the primary. Clinton headlined a fund-raiser for Gillibrand earlier this year and is scheduled to headline a cash bash for Maloney on July 20. A Clinton spokesman said he is keeping his promise to help Democratic lawmakers who supported his wife's presidential bid.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Let's do all we can to make sure neither one wins. Presumably somebody else will run. Maybe even a Republican. Or a Conservative. Or a Libertarian.
#2
If I were in New York and the only other candidate was in the Know Nothing Party, she would get my vote. Anyone but a person pushed either by Obama or Rangel.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:13 Comments ||
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Thanks W
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday celebrated America's Independence Day with U.S. troops, including his soldier son Beau, at their base near Baghdad, giving a speech that mocked Saddam Hussein. It's much easier to mock when they're safely dead...
Biden, who U.S. President Barack Obama has asked to take a leading role in coordinating U.S. Iraq policy, also presided over a naturalization ceremony for 237 soldiers from 59 countries taking an oath of U.S. citizenship. "We did it in Saddam's palace and I can think of nothing better," Biden said of the naturalization ceremony, held at Al-Faw Palace near Baghdad airport. "That SOB is rolling over in his grave right now," he said of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Easy on the red meat, Joe, you'll choke yourself ...
Baghdad remained cloaked in a sandstorm that grounded flights and forced Biden to scrap a planned trip to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region to meet Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.
U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq's towns and cities this week under the terms of a bilateral security pact that paves the way for a full U.S. withdrawal by 2012, raising concerns Iraq has not made enough political progress to prevent more fighting.
Violence has dropped sharply but there remain deep and worrying divisions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, ethnic Kurds and other minorities, which some fear could threaten Iraq's future stability.
During his meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday, Biden warned that resurgent sectarian or ethnic violence in Iraq was "not something that would make it likely that we'd stay engaged," a U.S. official told reporters on Friday.
He added that in Washington, there is no longer "any appetite nor intestinal fortitude to put Humpty Dumpty back together again", should Iraq fall apart.
After the citizenship ceremony, Biden went to the main mess hall at Camp Victory, where he met privately with the Delaware National Guard unit where his son, Beau, serves. He walked through the main cafeteria, grasping soldiers' hands and giving them hugs as they surveyed a July 4th menu of barbecued ribs, hamburgers and elaborately decorated cakes.
#2
Just imagine --- if anything happens to The One, this fool will be in charge of our country. And next in line is Queen Nancy ----
I'm looking for someone to channel a colonist in our New England area, in, oh about the year 1774 -- to find out what he and his friends, his family were thinking -- we are in great need of their thoughts, their wisdom.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Rep. Charles Rangel defended colleague Carolyn Maloney's right to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and lashed out anew at President Obama for butting into New York's Democratic primary. "I really cannot say anything negative about a senior member who wants to run and whose polls, at this point in time, appear to be in her favor," Rangel, dean of the New York House delegation, told the Daily News.
