Too Hot for Holder
The Attorney General has more than the Fast and Furious scandal to worry about. Eric Holder dropped the Justice Department's investigation into the Bill Richardson pay-to-play scandals, but thanks to a civil lawsuit, dots may get connected on the record in court.The Albuquerque Journal has published a front page article revealing details of an amended lawsuit recently filed by the New Mexico State Investment Council. As it turns out, continuing the investigation might have led into the highest ranks of Democratic Party leadership. The Journal reports:The lawsuit alleges that former Democratic National Committee CEO andfinance chairman Marvin Rosen approached "senior members of Governor Richardson's staff" while representing several firms seeking State Investment Council investments.
Rosen, a Miami lawyer, Democrat fundraiser and Kennedy pal, previously achieved notoriety during the Clinton Administration for being the rainmaker who conceived and supervised the White House cash-for-coffee events that came in for considerable criticism as nothing more than selling access to Bill Clinton for major cash contributors.Further down in the Journal article we learn that the suit names another Democrat player:A California firm paid a $100,000 fee to former Michigan Congressman Milton Robert Carr, who had forwarded information about Elliot Broidy and hiscompany, Markstone, to a member of Richardson's staff.The lawsuit describes Carr as a 'a close friend and supporter' of Richardson and alleges 'political pressure was brought to bear on (Gary) Bland to invest in Markstone.
Carr, like many former congressmen, is now a prominent Washington lobbyist who, according to his corporate bio, maintains excellent Member-to-Member relations throughout the House and in the Senate.Because of civil lawsuits being filed in New Mexico, the pay-to-play trail is leading slowly but inexorably to Bill Richardson. Here are the opening paragraphs from New Mexico Watchdog's article about the amended lawsuit:An amended lawsuit filed Thursday (June 30) alleges that the office of former Gov. Bill Richardson was involved - on multiple fronts - in New Mexico's State Investment Council controversy that reportedly diverted millions of dollars to politically connected figures with ties to Richardson.A review of the amended lawsuit by Albuquerque Journal investigative reporter Mike Gallagher outlines a web" of Richardson friends, associates and contributors who were involved in the "pay to play" charges that saw the State Investment Council (SIC) -which currently holds more than $15 billion in state assets - reportedly turn into a taxpayer-supported treasure chest that rewarded political pals, some of whom had questionable investment experience.
Holder's justice department may not be alone in seeking to protect powerful Democrats. New Mexico attorney general, Gary King, is coming under increasing fire for failing to investigate his former boss. Even the consistently liberal and Democrat-friendly Santa Fe New Mexican, in an article criticizing King for several failures had this to say:His involvement in the investment-council case comes off as running interference for several Democrats who abused their power - and that might yet include former Gov. Bill Richardson, whom Malott also served as campaign treasurer. There's at least the appearance of the Democratic AG as a convenient accessory for fellow Democrats.
Richardson is not named as a defendant in the amended suit and his spokesman is stalwartly defending his boss as he and other Friends of Bill always have. Unfortunately for them and the Guv, the smoke just keeps coming from the muzzle of the yet-to-be-found pistola fumada.Many New Mexicans believe that pistola will have El Gobernador's fingerprints all over it.
The Albuquerque Journal has published a front page article revealing details of an amended lawsuit recently filed by the New Mexico State Investment Council. As it turns out, continuing the investigation might have led into the highest ranks of Democratic Party leadership. The Journal reports:
The lawsuit alleges that former Democratic National Committee CEO andfinance chairman Marvin Rosen approached "senior members of Governor Richardson's staff" while representing several firms seeking State Investment Council investments.
Rosen, a Miami lawyer, Democrat fundraiser and Kennedy pal, previously achieved notoriety during the Clinton Administration for being the rainmaker who conceived and supervised the White House cash-for-coffee events that came in for considerable criticism as nothing more than selling access to Bill Clinton for major cash contributors.
Further down in the Journal article we learn that the suit names another Democrat player:
A California firm paid a $100,000 fee to former Michigan Congressman Milton Robert Carr, who had forwarded information about Elliot Broidy and hiscompany, Markstone, to a member of Richardson's staff.The lawsuit describes Carr as a 'a close friend and supporter' of Richardson and alleges 'political pressure was brought to bear on (Gary) Bland to invest in Markstone.
Carr, like many former congressmen, is now a prominent Washington lobbyist who, according to his corporate bio, maintains excellent Member-to-Member relations throughout the House and in the Senate.
Because of civil lawsuits being filed in New Mexico, the pay-to-play trail is leading slowly but inexorably to Bill Richardson. Here are the opening paragraphs from New Mexico Watchdog's article about the amended lawsuit:
An amended lawsuit filed Thursday (June 30) alleges that the office of former Gov. Bill Richardson was involved - on multiple fronts - in New Mexico's State Investment Council controversy that reportedly diverted millions of dollars to politically connected figures with ties to Richardson.A review of the amended lawsuit by Albuquerque Journal investigative reporter Mike Gallagher outlines a web" of Richardson friends, associates and contributors who were involved in the "pay to play" charges that saw the State Investment Council (SIC) -which currently holds more than $15 billion in state assets - reportedly turn into a taxpayer-supported treasure chest that rewarded political pals, some of whom had questionable investment experience.
Holder's justice department may not be alone in seeking to protect powerful Democrats. New Mexico attorney general, Gary King, is coming under increasing fire for failing to investigate his former boss. Even the consistently liberal and Democrat-friendly Santa Fe New Mexican, in an article criticizing King for several failures had this to say:
His involvement in the investment-council case comes off as running interference for several Democrats who abused their power - and that might yet include former Gov. Bill Richardson, whom Malott also served as campaign treasurer. There's at least the appearance of the Democratic AG as a convenient accessory for fellow Democrats.
Richardson is not named as a defendant in the amended suit and his spokesman is stalwartly defending his boss as he and other Friends of Bill always have. Unfortunately for them and the Guv, the smoke just keeps coming from the muzzle of the yet-to-be-found pistola fumada.
Many New Mexicans believe that pistola will have El Gobernador's fingerprints all over it.
Kyle says GOP senate caved on tax increases
This is not unexpected from those in the senate who are negotiating. The trick will be getting it through the GOP House - an unlikely event unless GOP senators slip them something to take away their, um, virility:
One day before a crucial U.S. budget meeting between the White House andcongressional leaders, a high-ranking senator said Republicans have agreed to including significant revenue increases in a deficit-reduction framework."If you add up all of the revenues that we Republicans have agreed to, it's between $150 billion and $200 billion," said Senator Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.Kyl said two possible ways to bring additional revenue to the governmentwould be through sales of government property and additional fees for government services,Meanwhile, House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor floated a possible tax compromise, saying Republicans could agree to closing some tax breaks in a budget deal as long as they were offset with tax cuts elsewhere.
Cantor should know better. Every dollar raised in taxes the Democrats see as another dollar they can spend. The Democrats have yet to prove that they are serious about debt reduction and see the whole process to raise the debt ceiling as one big game of "gotchya." They are looking to lay blame, not decrease the deficit.
The GOP should call their bluff unless the president starts adding some zeroes to those numbers he's been tossing around recently.
Ron Paul bill would target TSA groping
It's called the American Traveler Dignity Act and it would privatize airport security. And despite living in an age of terror, it has a chance of passing thanks to the stupidity and callousness of the TSA.
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) has once more called for the privatization of airport security amidst the "appalling treatment" travelers receive at airports, in the latest post on the congressman's "Texas Straight Talk" blog."The press reports are horrifying," Paul wrote. "Ninety-five-year-old women humiliated, children molested, disabled people abused. Men and women subjected to unwarranted groping and touching of their most private areas, and involuntary radiation exposure."Paul mentioned a piece of legislation he will introduce this week - The American Traveler Dignity Act - that will address his concerns about airport security and personal privacy. The act, in essence, would hold Transportaion Safety Administration (TSA) employees to the same standards as average citizens in regards to physical contact, making images of another person or causing "physical harm" to another person through the use of radiation-emitting machines.
The final package probably won't go so far. But people are really angry about this and coming up on an election year, lawmakers may not want to risk voting against it.
Kyle says GOP senate caved on tax increases
This is not unexpected from those in the senate who are negotiating. The trick will be getting it through the GOP House - an unlikely event unless GOP senators slip them something to take away their, um, virility:
One day before a crucial U.S. budget meeting between the White House andcongressional leaders, a high-ranking senator said Republicans have agreed to including significant revenue increases in a deficit-reduction framework."If you add up all of the revenues that we Republicans have agreed to, it's between $150 billion and $200 billion," said Senator Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.Kyl said two possible ways to bring additional revenue to the governmentwould be through sales of government property and additional fees for government services,Meanwhile, House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor floated a possible tax compromise, saying Republicans could agree to closing some tax breaks in a budget deal as long as they were offset with tax cuts elsewhere.
Cantor should know better. Every dollar raised in taxes the Democrats see as another dollar they can spend. The Democrats have yet to prove that they are serious about debt reduction and see the whole process to raise the debt ceiling as one big game of "gotchya." They are looking to lay blame, not decrease the deficit.
The GOP should call their bluff unless the president starts adding some zeroes to those numbers he's been tossing around recently.
After The Palestinians Declare Statehood
Pinhas Inbari's important essay, "What Are The Palestinians Planning After September?," appears on the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs website
In a nutshell, Inbari's thesis is that "what the Palestinians really envisage after September is to exploit a UN endorsement of statehood to legitimize an escalation of the conflict." Inbari states further that "after the Palestinians have the 1967 borders recognized so as to negate the results of the Six Day War, they intend to seek recognition of the 1947 partition lines."
Among other things Inbari points out that "the international community is tired of the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the prospect of the United Nations "ending" it in September by recognizing Palestinian statehood is appealing to many." The broad assumption is that the Palestinian state will endeavor to live in peace and coexistence with its neighbor Israel. But Inbari sees the whole situation differently.
"If one studies the details of what the Palestinians really envisage after September," he writes, "serious doubts arise. What they are actually planning is the opposite: to exploit a UN endorsement of statehood in order to legitimize an escalation of the conflict while destabilizing the entire Middle East during a critical period when the region is already agitate.
What does Inbari mean by "escalation of the conflict?"
"The Palestinians do not want to declare a state, but, rather, to leave the conflict open. After having the 1967 lines recognized so as to negate the results of the Six-Day War, they plan to seek recognition of the 1947 partition lines and thereby end the refugee problem - while attempting to inflict economic losses on Israel by suing it for "occupation damages," suing IDF officers on war crimes charges, causing civil war in Israel over settler evacuation, and creating strife between Israel and the United States to the extent of ending their historical special relationship, if possible."
According to Inbari the Palestinians are also plotting to launch a Third Intifada:
"This intifada is not planned to be a terrorist one as the Palestinians - including Hamas - have well learned the lessons from the terror they practiced in the Second Intifada. Instead it is planned to be an 'intifada by peaceful means' of the kind that became very popular in the Arab Spring. Although the methods will not be terroristic, the aims of this Third Intifada are by all means terroristic and posit the destruction of Israel as the final goal."Although this Third Intifada that is planned for September appears to be a kind of "spontaneous Facebook event," careful tracking of the leaders of the initiative reveals that they are mostly Hamas activists. Other promoters of the endeavor are radical leftist activists in the West Bank. The Fatah movement, which supposedly should dissent from this campaign as ostensible supporters of a compromise involving the 1967 lines, not only does not object to it but also is posting the link to the Third Intifada's Facebook page on some of its home pages, thereby expressing endorsement of the ominous contents."Thus, the Third Intifada is a joint project of all parties in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the diaspora: Hamas, radical leftists, Fatah, and even the PA government in Ramallah."
And how do the Palestinians justify this struggle against Israel?
"In no way will UN recognition of the 1967 borders mark the path to a historic compromise. The Palestinians will not exploit this opportunity to declare a state, but, instead, will use it for international legitimacy to jumpstart the campaign for the 1947 partition plan."What the Palestinians plan to do is not to exercise statehood but to declare themselves a "state under occupation" in order to legitimize the escalation of the struggle."
There are other black elements in Pinhas Inbari's prognosis for Palestinian statehood recognition in the UN in September. But the present survey of his essay covers the main pitfalls he foresees come September.
One might have hoped that a veteran Palestinian affairs scholar like Inbari would have said something about how Israel ought to confront this Palestinian scheme and stop it in its tracks. But Inbari says nothing about Israeli retaliation. How Israel can put this evil genie back in the bottle? It's a serious consideration however precisely because the state of Israel cannot allow itself to sit and watch while Palestinian devils sacrifice the country on the altar of their insatiable lust and malice.
Just yesterday Foreign Minister Lieberman stated unequivocally that if the Palestinians insist on moving ahead with their unilateral scheme in the UN, Israel will respond with firm unilateral measures of its own. These include voiding the Oslo Accords, terminating tax payments to the PA, annexing Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. There are other tools at the country's disposal. The bottom line is that bilateral negotiations are the only path to a permanent settlement of the conflict. The Palestinian UN statehood declaration is a declaration of war. Inbari's exceptional essay substantiates this.
No comments:
Post a Comment