[Rhodes22-list] Politics - How Much for the White House?

Herb Parsons hparsons at parsonsys.com
Thu Oct 2 12:22:01 EDT 2008 

Wow Pete, I'd say that was a pretty astute observation of yourself, if 
you change the words around a bit.
 

petelargo wrote:
> no. from my observation on this forum; if it supports your viewpoints it is
> credible journalism, if it does not support your views it is MSM nonsense.  
>
>
>
> Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
>   
>> Pete,
>>
>> Pamela Geller, an independent blogger at Atlas Shrugs has been doing
>> the heavy lifting on this with help from volunteers.  It takes
>> thousands of man hours to pour through FEC filings and the MSM  isn't
>> interested in the story.  Remember the Dan Rather fabrication?  It was
>> an independent blogger who busted him.  So you think if something is
>> published by Newsmax it's automatically false but if the NYT's
>> publishes it it's automatically true? Or, if the MSM doesn't
>> investigate something there's no story there?
>>
>> Scary.
>>
>> Brad
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 8:18 AM, petelargo <petelauritzen at earthlink.net>
>> wrote:
>>     
>>> newsmax has been cited just in the last 6 months for two completely
>>> fabricated and embellished articles.  in other words, as you put it, pure
>>> puff...
>>>
>>>
>>> Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
>>>       
>>>> Pete,
>>>>
>>>> Age old debating trick, if you can't attack the message, attack the
>>>> messenger.  The MSM, especially the NYT's, is in the tank for O.
>>>> Obama's record as a legislator is puff, nothing there to examine.  His
>>>> record as a reformer? Nothing there either, it hasn't happened.  He's
>>>> been a get-along, go-along, I see nothing Chicago Machine politician.
>>>> Some of us who have spent time up close and personal with powerful
>>>> people understand they are humans. They fart and belch, they pick
>>>> their nose when no one's looking, they say g-damnit when they stub
>>>> their toe. They are not divine!  Obama has a long documented record of
>>>> turning a blind eye to dirty money.  You think he gives a rat's ass
>>>> where this money is coming from?
>>>>
>>>> In the long run, none of this probably matters.  What Rezko has to say
>>>> to Fitzgerald over the course of the next 30 days is probably what
>>>> matters, and he's tired of jail.
>>>>
>>>> Brad
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 7:05 AM, petelargo <petelauritzen at earthlink.net>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>         
>>>>> newsmax? really? you can't find a more reputable source like maybe the
>>>>> KKK
>>>>> gazette. I guess we can put this in the obama is a secret muslim-obama
>>>>> is
>>>>> a
>>>>> secret communist-obama is a secret terrorist-obama eats the white
>>>>> filling
>>>>> out of oreos nonsense. more yawn.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
>>>>>           
>>>>>> Isn't this special?  All this time some of us were focusing on the
>>>>>> Rezko type big donors (and their ties to the Middle East) but it turns
>>>>>> out it is the "little guys" we should be concentrating on.  No wonder
>>>>>> he turned down public financing. Brad
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Secret, Foreign Money Floods Into Obama Campaign
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Monday, September 29, 2008 9:23 PM
>>>>>>
>>>>>> By: Kenneth R. Timmerman      Article Font Size
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised
>>>>>> has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't
>>>>>> disclose.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And questions have arisen about millions more in foreign donations the
>>>>>> Obama campaign has received that apparently have not been vetted as
>>>>>> legitimate.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Obama has raised nearly twice that of John McCain's campaign,
>>>>>> according to new campaign finance report.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But because of Obama's high expenses during the hotly contested
>>>>>> Democratic primary season and an early decision to forgo public
>>>>>> campaign money and the spending limits it imposes, all that cash has
>>>>>> not translated into a financial advantage — at least, not yet.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee began
>>>>>> September with $95 million in cash, according to reports filed with
>>>>>> the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The McCain camp and the Republican National Committee had $94 million,
>>>>>> because of an influx of $84 million in public money.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But Obama easily could outpace McCain by $50 million to $100 million
>>>>>> or more in new donations before Election Day, thanks to a legion of
>>>>>> small contributors whose names and addresses have been kept secret.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Unlike the McCain campaign, which has made its complete donor database
>>>>>> available online, the Obama campaign has not identified donors for
>>>>>> nearly half the amount he has raised, according to the Center for
>>>>>> Responsive Politics (CRP).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Federal law does not require the campaigns to identify donors who give
>>>>>> less than $200 during the election cycle. However, it does require
>>>>>> that campaigns calculate running totals for each donor and report them
>>>>>> once they go beyond the $200 mark.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200
>>>>>> threshold.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Contributions that come under $200 aggregated per person are not
>>>>>> listed," said Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the FEC. "They don't
>>>>>> appear anywhere, so there's no way of knowing who they are."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The FEC breakdown of the Obama campaign has identified a staggering
>>>>>> $222.7 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less. Only
>>>>>> $39.6 million of that amount comes from donors the Obama campaign has
>>>>>> identified.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is the largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded
>>>>>> into the U.S. election system, before or after the McCain-Feingold
>>>>>> campaign finance reforms of 2002.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Biersack would not comment on whether the FEC was investigating the
>>>>>> huge amount of cash that has come into Obama's coffers with no public
>>>>>> reporting.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for CRP, a campaign-finance watchdog
>>>>>> group, dismissed the scale of the unreported money.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "We feel comfortable that it isn't the $20 donations that are
>>>>>> corrupting a campaign," he told Newsmax.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But those small donations have added up to more than $200 million, all
>>>>>> of it from unknown and unreported donors.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ritsch acknowledges that there is skepticism about all the unreported
>>>>>> money, especially in the Obama campaign coffers.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "We and seven other watchdog groups asked both campaigns for more
>>>>>> information on small donors," he said. "The Obama campaign never
>>>>>> responded," whereas the McCain campaign "makes all its donor
>>>>>> information, including the small donors, available online."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The rise of the Internet as a campaign funding tool raises new
>>>>>> questions about the adequacy of FEC requirements on disclosure. In
>>>>>> pre-Internet fundraising, almost all political donations, even small
>>>>>> ones, were made by bank check, leaving a paper trail and limiting the
>>>>>> amount of fraud.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But credit cards used to make donations on the Internet have allowed
>>>>>> for far more abuse.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "While FEC practice is to do a post-election review of all
>>>>>> presidential campaigns, given their sluggish metabolism, results can
>>>>>> take three or four years," said Ken Boehm, the chairman of the
>>>>>> conservative National Legal and Policy Center.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Already, the FEC has noted unusual patterns in Obama campaign
>>>>>> donations among donors who have been disclosed because they have gone
>>>>>> beyond the $200 minimum.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> FEC and Mr. Doodad Pro
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When FEC auditors have questions about contributions, they send
>>>>>> letters to the campaign's finance committee requesting additional
>>>>>> information, such as the complete address or employment status of the
>>>>>> donor.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Many of the FEC letters that Newsmax reviewed instructed the Obama
>>>>>> campaign to "redesignate" contributions in excess of the finance
>>>>>> limits.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Under campaign finance laws, an individual can donate $2,300 to a
>>>>>> candidate for federal office in both the primary and general election,
>>>>>> for a total of $4,600. If a donor has topped the limit in the primary,
>>>>>> the campaign can "redesignate" the contribution to the general
>>>>>> election on its books.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to
>>>>>> verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as
>>>>>> "Will, Good" from Austin, Texas.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mr. Good Will listed his employer as "Loving" and his profession as
>>>>>> "You."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the
>>>>>> latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate
>>>>>> entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that
>>>>>> 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit
>>>>>> card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net
>>>>>> cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There can be no doubt that the Obama campaign noticed these
>>>>>> contributions, since Obama's Sept. 20 report specified that Good
>>>>>> Will's cumulative contributions since the beginning of the campaign
>>>>>> were $9,375.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In an e-mailed response to a query from Newsmax, Obama campaign
>>>>>> spokesman Ben LaBolt pledged that the campaign would return the
>>>>>> donations. But given the slowness with which the campaign has
>>>>>> responded to earlier FEC queries, there's no guarantee that the money
>>>>>> will be returned before the Nov. 4 election.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Similarly, a donor identified as "Pro, Doodad," from "Nando, NY," gave
>>>>>> $19,500 in 786 separate donations, most of them for $25. For most of
>>>>>> these donations, Mr. Doodad Pro listed his employer as "Loving" and
>>>>>> his profession as "You," just as Good Will had done.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But in some of them, he didn't even go this far, apparently picking
>>>>>> letters at random to fill in the blanks on the credit card donation
>>>>>> form. In these cases, he said he was employed by "VCX" and that his
>>>>>> profession was "VCVC."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Following FEC requests, the Obama campaign began refunding money to
>>>>>> Doodad Pro in February 2008. In all, about $8,425 was charged back to
>>>>>> a credit card. But that still left a net total of $11,165 as of Sept.
>>>>>> 20, way over the individual limit of $4,600.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Here again, LaBolt pledged that the contributions would be returned
>>>>>> but gave no date.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In February, after just 93 donations, Doodad Pro had already gone over
>>>>>> the $2,300 limit for the primary. He was over the $4,600 limit for the
>>>>>> general election one month later.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In response to FEC complaints, the Obama campaign began refunding
>>>>>> money to Doodad Pro even before he reached these limits. But his
>>>>>> credit card was the gift that kept on giving. His most recent
>>>>>> un-refunded contributions were on July 7, when he made 14 separate
>>>>>> donations, apparently by credit card, of $25 each.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just as with Mr. Good Will, there can be no doubt that the Obama
>>>>>> campaign noticed the contributions, since its Sept. 20 report
>>>>>> specified that Doodad's cumulative contributions since the beginning
>>>>>> of the campaign were $10,965.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Foreign Donations
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And then there are the overseas donations — at least, the ones that we
>>>>>> know about.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The FEC has compiled a separate database of potentially questionable
>>>>>> overseas donations that contains more than 11,500 contributions
>>>>>> totaling $33.8 million. More than 520 listed their "state" as "IR,"
>>>>>> often an abbreviation for Iran. Another 63 listed it as "UK," the
>>>>>> United Kingdom.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> More than 1,400 of the overseas entries clearly were U.S. diplomats or
>>>>>> military personnel, who gave an APO address overseas. Their total
>>>>>> contributions came to just $201,680.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But others came from places as far afield as Abu Dhabi, Addis Ababa,
>>>>>> Beijing, Fallujah, Florence, Italy, and a wide selection of towns and
>>>>>> cities in France.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Until recently, the Obama Web site allowed a contributor to select the
>>>>>> country where he resided from the entire membership of the United
>>>>>> Nations, including such friendly places as North Korea and the Islamic
>>>>>> Republic of Iran.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Unlike McCain's or Sen. Hillary Clinton's online donation pages, the
>>>>>> Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently.
>>>>>> Clinton's presidential campaign required U.S. citizens living abroad
>>>>>> to actually fax a copy of their passport before a donation would be
>>>>>> accepted.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> With such lax vetting of foreign contributions, the Obama campaign may
>>>>>> have indirectly contributed to questionable fundraising by foreigners.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In July and August, the head of the Nigeria's stock market held a
>>>>>> series of pro-Obama fundraisers in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city. The
>>>>>> events attracted local Nigerian business owners.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> At one event, a table for eight at one fundraising dinner went for
>>>>>> $16,800. Nigerian press reports claimed sponsors raked in an estimated
>>>>>> $900,000.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The sponsors said the fundraisers were held to help Nigerians attend
>>>>>> the Democratic convention in Denver. But the Nigerian press expressed
>>>>>> skepticism of that claim, and the Nigerian public anti-fraud
>>>>>> commission is now investigating the matter.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Concerns about foreign fundraising have been raised by other anecdotal
>>>>>> accounts of illegal activities.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In June, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi gave a public speech praising
>>>>>> Obama, claiming foreign nationals were donating to his campaign.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded
>>>>>> this man," the Libyan leader said. "They welcomed him and prayed for
>>>>>> him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in
>>>>>> legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American
>>>>>> presidency..."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Though Gadhafi asserted that fundraising from Arab and African nations
>>>>>> were "legitimate," the fact is that U.S. federal law bans any
>>>>>> foreigner from donating to a U.S. election campaign.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The rise of the Internet and use of credit cards have made it easier
>>>>>> for foreign nationals to donate to American campaigns, especially if
>>>>>> they claim their donation is less than $200.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Campaign spokesman LaBolt cited several measures that the campaign has
>>>>>> adopted to "root out fraud," including a requirement that anyone
>>>>>> attending an Obama fundraising event overseas present a valid U.S.
>>>>>> passport, and a new requirement that overseas contributors must
>>>>>> provide a passport number when donating online.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> One new measure that might not appear obvious at first could be
>>>>>> frustrating to foreigners wanting to buy campaign paraphernalia such
>>>>>> as T-shirts or bumper stickers through the online store.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In response to an investigation conducted by blogger Pamela Geller,
>>>>>> who runs the blog Atlas Shrugs, the Obama campaign has locked down the
>>>>>> store.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Geller first revealed on July 31 that donors from the Gaza strip had
>>>>>> contributed $33,000 to the Obama campaign through bulk purchases of
>>>>>> T-shirts they had shipped to Gaza.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The online campaign store allows buyers to complete their purchases by
>>>>>> making an additional donation to the Obama campaign.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A pair of Palestinian brothers named Hosam and Monir Edwan contributed
>>>>>> more than $31,300 to the Obama campaign in October and November 2007,
>>>>>> FEC records show.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Their largesse attracted the attention of the FEC almost immediately.
>>>>>> In an April 15, 2008, report that examined the Obama campaign's
>>>>>> year-end figures for 2007, the FEC asked that some of these
>>>>>> contributions be reassigned.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Obama camp complied sluggishly, prompting a more detailed
>>>>>> admonishment form the FEC on July 30.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Edwan brothers listed their address as "GA," as in Georgia,
>>>>>> although they entered "Gaza" or "Rafah Refugee camp" as their city of
>>>>>> residence on most of the online contribution forms.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> According to the Obama campaign, they wrongly identified themselves as
>>>>>> U.S. citizens, via a voluntary check-off box at the time the donations
>>>>>> were made.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Many of the Edwan brothers' contributions have been purged from the
>>>>>> FEC database, but they still can be found in archived versions
>>>>>> available for CRP and other watchdog groups.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The latest Obama campaign filing shows that $891.11 still has not been
>>>>>> refunded to the Edwan brothers, despite repeated FEC warnings and
>>>>>> campaign claims that all the money was refunded in December.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A Newsmax review of the Obama campaign finance filings found that the
>>>>>> FEC had asked for the redesignation or refund of 53,828 donations,
>>>>>> totaling just under $30 million.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But none involves the donors who never appear in the Obama campaign
>>>>>> reports, which the CRP estimates at nearly half the $426.8 million the
>>>>>> Obama campaign has raised to date.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Many of the small donors participated in online "matching" programs,
>>>>>> which allows them to hook up with other Obama supporters and
>>>>>> eventually share e-mail addresses and blogs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Obama Web site described the matching contribution program as
>>>>>> similar to a public radio fundraising drive.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Our goal is to bring 50,000 new donors into our movement by Friday at
>>>>>> midnight," campaign manager David Plouffe e-mailed supporters on Sept.
>>>>>> 15. "And if you make your first online donation today, your gift will
>>>>>> go twice as far. A previous donor has promised to match every dollar
>>>>>> you donate."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> FEC spokesman Biersack said he was unfamiliar with the matching
>>>>>> donation drive. But he said that if donations from another donor were
>>>>>> going to be reassigned to a new donor, as the campaign suggested, "the
>>>>>> two people must agree" to do so.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This type of matching drive probably would be legal as long as the
>>>>>> matching donor had not exceeded the $2,300 per-election limit, he
>>>>>> said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Obama campaign spokesman LaBolt said, "We have more than 2.5 million
>>>>>> donors overall, hundreds of thousands of which have participated in
>>>>>> this program."
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Until now, the names of those donors and where they live have remained
>>>>>> anonymous — and the federal watchdog agency in charge of ensuring that
>>>>>> the presidential campaigns play by the same rules has no tools to find
>>>>>> out.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> (c) 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>             
>>>>> --
>>>>> View this message in context:
>>>>> http://www.nabble.com/Politics---How-Much-for-the-White-House--tp19770577p19777938.html
>>>>> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>>           
>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>>         
>>> --
>>> View this message in context:
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>>> Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>>
>>>
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