Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano says he'll stay in office while he fights a charge of taking a $25,000 bribe. The mayor was among 44 public officials, rabbis and others arrested in an FBI sweep across New Jersey and Brooklyn yesterday. Cammarano made a brief statement before reporters this afternoon, but took no questions.
CAMMARANO: I want to state categorically that the charges that have been leveled against me in fed court are completely baseless and I deny any wrongdoing in connection with the allegations that are contained in that complaint.
The mayors of Secaucus and Ridgefield and two state assemblymen also face corruption charges. The 10-year federal money laundering probe also led to the resignation of the state's Community Affairs Commissioner, Joe Doria, but he's not been charged.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Reminds me of an episode of "The Wire" where an elected city politician, on trial, claimed to have diverted a donation (read: bribe) to public service groups, but chose not to "insult" the alleged beneficiaries - whose names escaped him - by asking them to sign receipts. He was acquitted. Just fiction, I guess.
A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said.
The case began with bank fraud charges against a member of an insular Syrian Jewish enclave centered in a seaside town. But when that man became a federal informant and posed as a crooked real estate developer offering cash bribes to obtain government approvals, it mushroomed into a political scandal that could rival any of the most explosive and sleazy episodes in New Jersey's recent past.
It was replete with tales of the illegal sales of body parts; of furtive negotiations in diners, parking lots and boiler rooms; of nervous jokes about "patting down" a man who turned out to indeed be an informant; and, again and again, of the passing of cash -- once in a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Fred, I tried posting this story yesterday morning, and it disappeared into the ether, though I was presented a page with a bunch of SQL calls.
What is it with Syrian Jews? We had a laugh about the case at synagogue Friday night, but I'm reminded that Crazy Eddie Antar, noted businessman and crook, was also Syrian.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/25/2009 0:10 Comments ||
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Maybe it's Syrians in general. Remember Obama and Rezko? That one that disappeared down the journalistic memory hole.
Posted by: ed ||
07/25/2009 1:16 Comments ||
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The only difference between Jersey politics and politics everywhere else is they get caught in NJ fairly regularly.
Reporter: What does your Mom think of you being a politician?
Gov: She doesn't know and don't you dare tell her, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whore house.
Russia's struggling economy and its leaders' pragmatism will push it to make deals on nuclear arms reduction as Washington seeks to reset ties with Moscow, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said. More likely KGB man Putin has his own commie in the Whitehouse and it's now or never to roll the USA.
Russians "have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable," Biden said. At least Biden got one thing right. From whom did he plagiarize it? The Russians can't afford the manpower, tanks, planes, ships, subs, missiles and nukes to be a major power. A pro American president would sit tight and keep the powder dry as the KGB mafia goes down the drain. I sure wish we had one of those.
Posted by: ed ||
07/25/2009 16:08 ||
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It's not as if we're exactly reluctant to sell arms ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/25/2009 16:49 Comments ||
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The Russian economy is booming. Growth in recent years has been about the same as China.
Their population trends are about the same most of Europe, although without the immigration.
they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years
Unlike large parts of the US and European banking sectors which didn't survive the last 15 months.
#3
Phil, the Russian military needs to shrink 40-50% for them to rationalize the 4% of GDP devoted to it. They are living on cold war stocks, most of it decayed crap, including their nuke forces. They can't afford to replace their strategic forces when they become so old as to be a danger of exploding in their silos. Nor can they afford submarine based nukes in today's quantities. A $2 billion sub may be comparable in cost to a US nuke, but not when the 11 or 12X difference in GDP is taken into account, while the US nuclear forces are a small portion of the defense budget. They can't compete on high end arms unless Obama raises the white flag.
What in heaven's name is the US government treating with a poor, 140M and shrinking population dictatorship like it is an equal or better? What this Obama-Putin treaty does is ensure that Russia can launch more nukes toward the US than the US can launch in response once US set asides are taken into account for unfriendly nuclear armed powers such as China, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan(Saudi). This agreement does nothing about short range rockets and aircraft that the Russians would use against China, Pakistan, Iran, Europe while it guts the US bomber force that get heavy use dropping PGMs on turbans. No thanks.
The Russian economy has shrunk 10% in the last 6 months alone. The Russian economy has been very unkind since Bush renounced the domestic oil drilling ban in July 2008.
Posted by: ed ||
07/25/2009 18:35 Comments ||
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"Weak Mind Pushing Biden to Make Stupid Statements"
Russia without nukes and a large conventional army is a 3rd world country. Ergo, they are trying very hard to avoid being 3rd world by continuing to pose a threat to their neighbors and the world. To fund this effort, they sell arms to all comers.
So, in this respect at least, things haven't changed much.
as the Professor says: We're in the very best of hands
For the second time this month, congressional budget analysts have dealt a blow to the Democrat's health reform efforts, this time by saying a plan touted by the White House as crucial to paying for the bill would actually save almost no money over 10 years.
A key House chairman and moderate House Democrats on Tuesday agreed to a White House-backed proposal that would give an outside panel the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs. White House budget director Peter Orszag declared the plan "probably the most important piece that can be added" to the House's health care reform legislation.
But on Saturday, the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal to give an independent panel the power to keep Medicare spending in check would only save about $2 billion over 10 years- a drop in the bucket compared to the bill's $1 trillion price tag.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/25/2009 15:19 ||
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Ah, what's a few zeros when you are on a mission to provide a mediocre health care system to the only industrial nation without one?
President Obama and his family are planning a vacation next month fit for the rich and famous on a spectacular Martha's Vineyard waterfront farm.
The Obamas plan to rent the stunning 29-acre Blue Heron Farm, a glamorous spread featuring spectacular views, a private beach, and even its own private golf tee, the Vineyard Gazette reported.
With a main Victorian farmhouse, a five-bedroom "guest house," a reconstructed Pennsylvania barn and New Hampshire shed plus other out buildings, Obama will have room to roam and space to accommodate an entourage while meeting the government's security needs.
The sprawling property, located in the town of Chilmark, is owned by Mississippi timber magnate William Van Devender and wife Mollie, who have decided to rent it for two months this summer.
It sold for more than $20 million in 2005. The prior owners hosted Bill and Hillary Clinton in the summer of 1998.
The cost to Obama was unknown, but similar luxury rentals in the area go for between $35,000 to $50,000 per week, about what the average US wage earner earns in a year.
Obama can practice his jump shot on a private basketball half-court or indulge his golfing jones by teeing off on a private tee with a 300-yard fairway leading to a putting green.
He can also stroll to a private saltwater pond or take a dip in the Atlantic from a private beach.
"We're in discussions with a number of parties in regards to subleasing it for blocks of time," Tom Wallace, of Wallace & Co. Southeby's International Realty, told The Post. "I have some restraints as to who those parties are."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 08:13 ||
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Well, I for one am sure that our intrepid MSM will cover this as closely and with the same level of fair and balanced narration as they did for former Pres G.W. Bush's golf outings.
#4
and don't forget the MSM aversion to Bush's visits to "The Ranch." Bush's mistake -- maybe he should have called it "The Farm," and gone anywhere but in Texas. The Vineyard is so "accepted" don't ya know?
And didn't the Bush's build and pay for "The Ranch?"
#5
The prior owners hosted Bill and Hillary Clinton in the summer of 1998.
See, Barry, that's the way ya gotta work it. The Clinton's: America's Favorite Guests. Find yourself some rich supporter and invite yourself to be their freeloader guests for a coupla weeks. Maybe Skippy could've hooked you up with somebody. He's a big Vineyard guy.
I dunno, Barry. For a Chicago guy, you're such a friggin amateur sometimes...
#6
But wait! doesn't this save jobs for some of the working poor who are employed by the frivolous rich? I'm sure they are just doing this to stimulate the economy.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/25/2009 14:11 Comments ||
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(CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), the man who is shepherding the health-care reform bill through the Senate, says he doesn't know for sure, but the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) could qualify to receive health-care grants under a provision of the bill that provides money for groups that are members of a "national network of community based organizations."
The grants are designed to fund groups that will "measure" people's health-related behavior on the community level, including whether they are gaining or losing weight, eating the right foods, getting exercise, using tobacco, or engaging in other personal behaviors targeted for federal monitoring by the secretary of health and human services.
"I don't believe so, but they could be," Dodd told CNSNews.com. "I just don't want to say categorically it's the case."
Dodd (D-Conn.), who is substituting for the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as acting chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is the top Senate Democrat responsible for formulating the Affordable Health Choices Act.
Under the "Creating Healthier Communities" provision of the bill (found on page 382), grants could be awarded to only three types of "entities:" state governments, local governments and groups that are members of a "national network of community-based organizations."
But when CNSNews.com asked, Dodd could not rule out that the controversial group ACORN could benefit from this provision in his bill.
"I'm not saying yes or no, I just don't know. I don't think it's a blanket thing that anyone applies necessarily," he told CNSNews.com. "There would have to be criteria by which an organization qualifies to receive those grants."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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acorn is a arm of communist subversion. while the useful idiots romping about may not understand how useful they are, the leaders of this organization certainly do. acorn has 300 odd sub departments all aligned to purpose extortion, all prepared at the drop of a hat to initiate coersion of one type or another.
this organization and its tentacles as cadres, outs the administrations overt plans to navigate the stateship into a harbor of socialist controls.
there is no mystery here, those in control who enable acorn, are enemies of liberty and justice for all.
we have our senate and house to thank for allowing this agency creep into our social fabric.....your boobs of the first order to even think this will stand..
pity to the obvious, your lack of bandwidth, the your utter lack of creativity of thought and action, nothing but the same ole game of subversion by iteration. the left has its record....sunlight will disinfect it.....as bought and paid for politicians will eventually have to come out of their closets, lose the plausible denyability..
better eyes are watching every step they take, every move they make, they be watching you.....
#2
Right now, I'd say that ACORN's chances of getting the cash are about the same as the odds that the sun will set in the Pacific Ocean tonight.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/25/2009 13:49 Comments ||
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So when do we find out Acorn is trading in organ transplants? And hustling illegals across the border and registering them to vote under aliases? And are organized crime?
A $10 minimum wage in Michigan is the centerpiece of a number of populist proposals unveiled Wednesday by the Democratic Party, which hopes to get some of the initiatives on next year's ballot.
Good idea: let's raise the minimum wage at a time of deep recession, 13% plus unemployment in the state, planned tax hikes and businesses cutting hours and employees. What could possibly go wrong?
Besides the 35 percent hike in the minimum wage, party officials want to mandate employer health coverage for all workers, boost unemployment benefits, slash utility rates and freeze home foreclosures."It's pretty obvious from this whose side we're on. We're on the side of people who are suffering," Mark Brewer, the party chairman, said during a news conference at Democratic headquarters in Lansing.
Flint will look like a paradise in Michigan if this stuff passes ...
Brewer said an online survey and possibly a statewide poll will be used to determine which initiatives to pursue. He didn't rule out launching late-winter petition drives for more than one.
But Rich Studley, president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, called the proposals "anti-jobs, anti-growth" and said they may be used by economic development directors in other Midwestern states to discourage businesses from locating or expanding in Michigan.
"I'm not sure Mark Brewer understands he's playing with fire," Studley said. "The political and economic uncertainty caused by this publicity stunt can do immediate damage to economic development in this state."
Just about every private enterprise job in Michigan can move to Indiana ...
Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said: "Gov. Granholm is committed to job creation and protecting people during these challenging times and is pleased the Democratic Party is considering proposals that do the same."
Other ballot proposals unveiled by the Democratic Party would:
Require all employers to provide health coverage or pay a fine.
Increase unemployment benefits by $100 a week, extend benefits by six months and make all workers eligible for unemployment. The maximum unemployment benefit is now $387 a week.
Cut utility rates by 20 percent.
Impose a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures.
Through ballot initiatives, the changes would bypass the state Legislature and be decided by voters. House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, had no comment on his party's proposal, said spokeswoman Abby Rubley.
Increasing the state's minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $10 an hour would give Michigan the highest standard in the nation. Washington state has the highest rate at $8.55 an hour. The initiative also would remove exceptions that allow employers to pay less than the minimum wage to some workers, such as restaurant wait staff.
Labor unions and Democrats were pushing a ballot plan to raise the minimum wage in 2006, but the Legislature approved an increase before it could go to voters. That measure gradually raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.40 an hour, which went into effect July 1, 2008.
Union officials see the minimum wage as a quality of life issue for hourly workers, but business groups say many employers, especially small businesses, can't afford another increase.
Tom Shields, a Lansing-based Republican political consultant, said Brewer is doing nothing more than trying to turn out the vote in Detroit and other Democratic strongholds in the 2010 election. "How do you get out the vote that came out for Obama in 2008?" Shields said. "That's what this is about."
Brewer said the proposals are not necessarily intended to drive up Democratic turnout during next year's elections, which will feature a race for governor, but said these ballot initiatives may in fact do that.
"Can any of (the initiatives) pass?" Shields said. "Who knows? People are getting desperate."
Robert Kolt, a Democrat-leaning public relations consultant based in Okemos, called the Brewer strategy "nuts." "He's trying to turn what should be addressed in legislation into ballot proposals, like they do in California," Kolt said. "Ballot proposals cost millions of dollars. Why waste that money on ballot proposals when it should be spent on (promoting) candidates?"
The Democratic Party was behind a controversial ballot proposal in 2008 that would have changed several parts of the state constitution, including the structure of state courts and how the boundaries of lawmakers' districts are drawn. State courts ruled the proposal was unconstitutional because it was too broad, and it never made the ballot.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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These people are just plain idiots.
A $10 minimum wage just means more people are going to be laid off and more businesses will leave the state.
They are pretty much going to guarantee Michigan goes right back to the stone age.
Hey, I have an idea, how about border counties start having referendums on leaving Michigan and joining their neighbor state ... if the neighbor state will have them.
#5
My favorite is the 20% cut in utility rates coupled with a simultaneous mandate for utility providers to up their "renewable" portfolios to a minimum of 20% of total production. The mechanisms differ but Michigan is about to do to their utilities what California did a decade ago.
#8
Or let's just salary everyone starting at, oh, $100,000 annually.
Nah, make it $250,000 so that it'll be subject to the Donks 'crushing' tax on the rich. Then everyone will pay taxes. When you have something to lose, you'll be amazed how many Trunks you could register.
No Foreclosures? Then you get no mortgages because nobody is willing to lend. You also get bank failures because they are not getting any money and are stuck with the assets that are non-performing.
Min Wage $10? Go for it, they will have to pass the cost along, so here comes push inflation.
Mandatory insurance or else a fine? Do it! That will force medium businesses to cut back jobs, and force small businesses completely out of business. Employment and the economy will utterly collapse without small business.
Raise unemployment benefits and eligibility? Do it - you'll eventually bankrupt the state because there will be far too many collecting UI (see above), and fewer businesses paying into it (see above again). SO you'll have to raise taxes which will drive even more businesses out of the state (and they are already on the far side of the laffer curve).
Michigan will collapse. Utterly and completely. And it will all be the fault of the liberals and Dems. And it all re3sts with stupid black peopel who stay on the plantation and vote mindlessly for a "D" as their massah without any realization of the consequences of their actions. They just blame it all on the white man.
The destruction of Michigan will be the ultimate payoff of black racist/slave mentality combined with massive ignorance and porch-nigga servitude (always vote D and do not think, they been good to us), and the liberals willingness to treat people like chattel and completely ignore economic reality.
#10
"And it all re3sts with stupid black peopel who stay on the plantation and vote mindlessly for a "D" as their massah without any realization of the consequences of their actions."
OS, let's not also forget that many of the Union voters also add to this group. A great portion of whom like to hunt each Nov 15 and then vote for anti-gun candidates during the elections.
My home state is a pathetic joke. Sad thing is, the potential for the state to do great things industrially is still strong if the right leadership was installed. Unfortunately we will have to weather the storm of Obomonautism for another couple yrs and then it will prolly take a good decade to un-f*ck what he wrought.
#11
I guess I'll pack up and move to Kalamazoo to take advantage of their generous new minimum wage! (I'm sure a job like that will be open Real Soon Now.)
Under the leadership of Governor Jennifer Granholm, Michigan has sought to reinvent itself from an industrial powerhouse to a center of the creative economy. For much of her first term, Granholm focused on such inanities as promoting a cool cities program, following the notion that creating places for the terminally hip would help turn around her states economy.
Yet in the end, Michigan stands at the worst end of almost every calculator, with the highest unemployment and rates of out-migration, and the worst cities for business. Its per capita income, which was 16th in the nation shortly before Granholm ascended as governor, has now dropped to 33rd, the lowest since the federal government has been keeping records.
Detroit now suffers a 22 percent unemployment rate, the highest of any major city. Nearly one in three residents is on food stamps. But the pain goes well beyond Motor City. Altogether Michigan communities account for a remarkable six of the nations ten worst job markets, according to the most recent ForbesNew Geography survey.
#16
but Jeff Daniels says Michigan is the place for bizniss and hi-techy. He wouldn't be lying, would he? Governor Mole, maybe, but an actor?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/25/2009 14:44 Comments ||
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Michigan is just a preview of things to come. Social and economic tinkering and plain old crime and corruption have bankrupted Michigan. I don't see any promise of it ever coming back.
#18
Not only that, Frank G, it's a vacation paradise according to all the ads I've been seeing here! (Ok, to be fair, I'm certain parts of it are beautiful, but to get to them you gotta go through some scary areas first....)
Glenn Beck yesterday unveiled a new congressional report accusing the far-left activist group ACORN of massive fraud, money laundering, and racketeering directed from the highest levels of ACORN management.
The report -- called "Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?" -- was released by Republican staffers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The ranking member on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), told Beck that with ACORN, "it's always the mice that are getting prosecuted; it never rises to the top."
But what investigators found "was a pattern of loose financial accounting and no firewalls," Issa said. "It's very clear that that's for a reason...you cannot be giving government money...to ACORN and its affiliates without knowingly delivering it to partisan operatives who in fact engage in campaigning."
Beck noted that President Obama was a community organizer. "He is organizing our government in the same way," Beck said. "We can't track anything. You've seen that healthcare bill. It is so complex. Money's everywhere. It's a shell game. And everybody's getting rich, and the people who helped him devise this is the SEIU...a union that is tied directly into ACORN. We are building a new exoskeleton and it's feasting on our republic." said Beck.
Issa said he "absolutely" agreed. "Our study was specifically done so that the facts speak for themselves so that very clearly we could make the case that ACORN cannot be receiving government money and should lose its tax-free status," he said.
Congressional Democrats have shown little interest in probing ACORN. After initially expressing interest in an investigation, House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Michigan), a longtime ACORN ally, backed off, saying "the powers that be decided against it."
Meanwhile, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tried yet again to block ACORN from receiving taxpayer funds. On Thursday he offered an amendment to a spending bill that would have prohibited any taxpayer money in the bill from going to ACORN.
According to a King press release, "Liberals on the House Rules Committee ruled King's amendment out of order." This is the seventh amendment that lawmakers sympathetic to ACORN have blocked King from offering.
"John Conyers is right: the 'powers that be' in this Congress will do all they can to protect ACORN," King said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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The ranking member on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), told Beck that with ACORN, "it's always the mice that are getting prosecuted; it never rises to the top."
And where exactly is the top? Does this mean the top, top?
[Geo News] Pakistan Muslim League-N's member Punjab Assembly Shumaila Rana has tendered her resignation after her alleged involvement in credit card scandal.
According to reports, Shumaila Rana handed over her resignation to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal today.
After the release of the video showing Shumaila Rana shopping with allegedly stolen credit card, the PML-N demanded her resignation but Shumaila Rana sought time to prove her innocence.
Sources said the second video showing Shumaila Rana talking to the banker played a key role in prompting her resignation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano says he'll stay in office while he fights a charge of taking a $25,000 bribe. The mayor was among 44 public officials, rabbis and others arrested in an FBI sweep across New Jersey and Brooklyn yesterday. Cammarano made a brief statement before reporters this afternoon, but took no questions.
A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said.
President Obama and his family are planning a vacation next month fit for the rich and famous on a spectacular Martha's Vineyard waterfront farm.
(CNSNews.com) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), the man who is shepherding the health-care reform bill through the Senate, says he doesn't know for sure, but the controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) could qualify to receive health-care grants under a provision of the bill that provides money for groups that are members of a "national network of community based organizations." 
A $10 minimum wage in Michigan is the centerpiece of a number of populist proposals unveiled Wednesday by the Democratic Party, which hopes to get some of the initiatives on next year's ballot.
Glenn Beck yesterday unveiled a new congressional report accusing the far-left activist group ACORN of massive fraud, money laundering, and racketeering directed from the highest levels of ACORN management.
