"Caribbean Caucus" Lawmakers Took Trips On
Stanford Jets

post from TPMMuckraker on 17 February 2009 03:03:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Last May, buried in a long Bloomberg report about Stanford's tussles with Stanford University over his claim to be descended from the school's founder, was this nugget:

Members of the House Caribbean Caucus take annual trips to the region on Stanford's jets. Lawmakers are required to reimburse companies at a first-class commercial rate, which is often a fraction of the actual cost.

The House Caribbean Caucus? We don't mind telling you, we weren't even aware of its existence.

But according to this announcement from the Inter-American Economic Council, which appears to be from circa 2005, it has some pretty interesting co-chairs:

Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caribbean Caucus Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ), Congressman Robert Ney (R-OH), Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL), Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Congressman John Sweeney (R-NY), Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC), Congressman Phil English (R-PA), Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) Congresswomen Donna Christensen (D-VI), and Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA).

That's something of a rogue's gallery...

Ney, of course, did jail time after pleading guilty to lying about his involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Feeney also was implicated in the Abramoff scandal, and was named one of the "20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" in a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Sweeney also made CREW's list, and went on an Abramoff-funded junket to the Northern Mariana islands with Tony Rudy.

Rangel is currently being investigated by the House ethics committee in connection with, among other issues, unpaid taxes on income from a Caribbean vacation home.

This story just gets more and more interesting...

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Octuplets Mom Allegedly Receiving Death Threats;
Publicists Quit Under the Strain

post from Crooks and Liars on 17 February 2009 03:00:40 PM. © Crooks and Liars

video details and more

I wonder what, exactly, this says about our country. Is Bernie Madoff getting death threats? Alan Greenspan? Mortgage brokers? Republican leaders?

I was at a party this weekend, and this seemed to be all people wanted to talk about. At first I listened politely, but I finally said, "You know, the people who have screwed up this country would much rather we were angry at this woman than at them. And even if taxpayers paid every dime for these kids for the next 20 years, it wouldn't even be a speck of sand compared to the money these people have cost us - and our grandchildren."

One woman gave me a blank look, then: "Oh. You're right. They keep showing this on TV so we're not thinking about all that other stuff!" Right!

Two Brentwood publicists said they dropped octuplets mom Nadya Suleman as a client Saturday because they have received a slew of death threats.
Suleman, a 33-year-old Whittier resident, was unmarried, unemployed and already had six children using a sperm donor when she gave birth to eight children from the same donor Jan. 26 at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower.
Joann Killeen, president of Killeen Furtney Group, said she and husband Mike Furtney decided to drop Suleman early Saturday. Soon after the births, the couple began representing Suleman for free, and almost immediately started receiving threatening e-mails and phone calls from people enraged over the octuplets saga, she said.
"They hope I die, they hope my business goes under, they want to rip her uterus out," Killeen said. "They say I should be anesthetized and put down like a dog."
Killeen said she and Suleman felt so threatened that last week they stayed at an undisclosed "secure location" for a few days before returning home. The babies are still being treated at the hospital, Killeen said.

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McCain's Vote Should Trouble Obama (Wall Street
Journal)

post from memeorandum on 17 February 2009 03:00:22 PM. © memeorandum

Wall Street Journal:
McCain's Vote Should Trouble Obama — By the president's own standard of bipartisanship, he has failed. — “John McCain Was Right.” — That's one headline we ought to see when President Barack Obama puts his name to the stimulus bill in Denver later today. But we won't.

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Midday open thread

post from Daily Kos on 17 February 2009 03:00:03 PM. © Daily Kos

Time Magazine says we are overrated. Their own readers disagree, so yeah, yet another example of the disconnect between the traditional media and their readers.

Republicans are liars. Try not to act surprised. And are they ever right about anything?

Wow, just hear thunder. We never have thunder in the Bay Area. After months of dry weather, we've been getting pounded the last week, which is good for our water supplies (still far below normal levels), but bad for the Tour of California. On balance, however, it's a net win. We need the water.

Jesse Taylor is fucking hilarious.

Will Obama really push for social security "reform"? The early signs don't look good.

Nate Silver predicts the Oscars. According to his regression analysis, the winners will be Heath Ledger, Taraji Henson, Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet, Danny Boyle, and Slumdog Millionaire. In fact, Nate has Slumdog at 99% probability of success.

Dubai was a stupid idea, and now it's collapsing.

Short of opening a Radio Shack in an Amish town, Dubai is the world’s worst business idea, and there isn’t even any oil. Imagine proposing to build Vegas in a place where sex and drugs and rock and roll are an anathema. This is effectively the proposition that created Dubai - it was a stupid idea before the crash, and now it is dangerous.

Congressional approval ratings are up in yet another poll (Gallup this time). And I bet it has more to do with Democrats passing the stimulus than Republican rambling on and on about San Francisco marsh mice.

Yeah, Schwarzenegger is a failed governor. Completely useless.

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Still in the Wilderness

post from Talking Points Memo on 17 February 2009 03:00:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

One of the points mentioned in this morning's Washington Post piece about the Geithner speech is a point I've mentioned already a few times: that a lot of key political appointments at the Treasury haven't been made yet, let alone been confirmed. And[...]

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Burger King Bailout Shocker

post from Open Left - Front Page on 17 February 2009 02:43:31 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

Here's a Wall Street whopper for you. Goldman Sachs, where former Treasury Secretary Hank[...]

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WHAT AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN OWES HAMAS.

post from Ezra Klein on 17 February 2009 02:39:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Claude Berrebi, an economist at the RAND Corporation, takes to the (web) pages of Foreign Policy to quantify the symbiotic relationship between the Israeli right and Palestinian extremists:Voters in areas that recently experienced attacks sharply shifted[...]

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=what_avigdor_lieberman_owes_ha

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Sun and Surf Included

Back in 2004, Sir Allen Stanford's company flew Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and an unidentified companion down to Antigua -- home base for Stanford International Bank, which the SEC now says can't account for $8 billion in holdings -- for three days of[...]

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cluded.php

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Theyre In Control

While you were on vacation, the Pakistani government conceded the Swat Valley to the Taliban[...]

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http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/02/17/swatvalleyhighintrouble/

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CSI talking points on race, housing and stimulus

With the federal economic stimulus bill out of Congress and signed by the President, CSI has prepared a second set of talking points intended to ensure that stimulus funds are distributed equitably, and address the needs of communities of[...]

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http://racecardpoliticswatch.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/csi-talking-points-on-race-
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