Biden Flashback: 'Recovery Act Has Had an Unprecedentedly Low Level of Fraud'

Care to take that one back, Sheriff Joe?

“Sheriff” Joe Biden’s remarks could come back to haunt him when it comes to Solyndra, the solar company that went bankrupt after winning a $535 million loan guarantee from 2009’s economic stimulus package.

President Obama named his vice president the sheriff of the stimulus, and Biden’s duties were to ensure that no money was wasted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Biden, a key figure in any White House negotiation with leaders on Capitol Hill, has boasted of his success in limiting fraud and waste in the stimulus.

“Now, there were a lot of naysayers back then who said that there was no way we could implement the Recovery Act without massive waste, fraud and abuse,” Biden said in a June 13 post on the White House blog announcing the new “Campaign to Cut Waste,” which was to root out wasteful government spending at every agency and department.

“You know what? They were wrong. Thanks to our diligence (and some help from advanced computer models and sophisticated data analysis), the Recovery Act has had an unprecedentedly low level of fraud, with less than 0.6 percent of all awards experiencing any waste or abuse.”

Obama asked Biden to reprise his sheriff role Wednesday, appointing him to lead a review of how agencies spend taxpayer dollars following a Justice Department report that found “extravagant” spending on conferences, including $16 muffins.

The Solyndra controversy represents a small portion of the total stimulus funds, but it still strikes at the administration’s promise to prevent fraud and waste. And Biden finds himself in the middle of the controversy.

Republicans argue the White House rushed the loan to Solyndra so that Biden could announce it at a company event in 2009, when the administration was pushing green energy as a way to create jobs.

According to Obama flunky Jay Carney, this was merely an "investment" that didn't pan out. Nothing to see here, move along.

"The reason why fledgling, cutting-edge industries need this kind of assistance is because they can be high risk as well as high reward," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. He also observed that "what happened here is an investment did not pan out."

Um, so why not let everything out in the open rather that running for cover and stonewalling investigators?

Meanwhile, to no surprise we've got an apparent Soros stench emanating from another Obama scandal. Imagine our surprise.

As Republican lawmakers begin to dig into the White House's cozy relationship with a startup wireless company and the wealthy Democratic donor who owns it, a new character has appeared on the story's edges: liberal superdonor, conservative bete noire and controversial investor George Soros.

Soros reportedly invested in the telecom company LightSquared through a hedge fund, and many of the nonprofits he finances have backed LightSquared in regulatory and policy disputes.

Life With Soros: 'I Was in Bed With Him. It Was Horrifying for Me'

Just one look at photos of George Soros are enough to horrify anyone. Just imagine spending a few years with this creep.

Happy Birthday, Georgie!

As baggy-eyed billionaire George Soros celebrated his 81st birthday yesterday, his 28-year-old bombshell Brazilian ex-lover revealed in an exclusive interview with The Post all the seamy details of the pair's oddball, five-year relationship -- from their romantic first dates to their pillow talks, to how she discovered he was cheating with his traveling nurse.

"For five years, he was my boyfriend. He was respectful and loveable. Then, suddenly, he changed and became cruel. I don't know why he would do this to me," wept spurned Latin lovely Adrianna Ferreyr.

Ferreyr -- who is suing Soros for $50 million in Manhattan court -- said that before their relationship went south, she and the mogul were as normal as any other couple, despite their 53-year age gap.

"He treated me with a lot of respect," she said.

"When we first started dating, I would see him every weekend at his house in Bedford. He was very nice, very sweet, very loveable . . . We traveled and went to St. Bart's.

"As far as I was concerned, this was a proper, loving, committed relationship. He introduced me to people as his girlfriend after a year. We attended events. I met his friends. I met his business associates."

Then she realized he was far more generous with his flying monkeys from Media Matters than he was with her.

Still, despite his estimated $14.5 billion worth, he's a real cheapskate, she conceded.

"During the first three years of our relationship, he gave me nothing, not even a birthday present. Nothing," she said.

"After the three years, he gave me some expense money, but that was it. He never paid my rent or gave me an allowance."

He pours millions into Democrat coffers and every far-left cause under the sun, but when it come to the women, forget it.

Then after she found a place to live, things got ugly.

She found the perfect place -- a $1.9 million condo at 30 E. 85th St. -- and Soros agreed to pony up for it, she said.

"I did a lot of research on it. I made sure it was a good investment," Ferreyr told The Post. "I explained to him what good a deal it was, why I loved it, why it would be a great place to live. It was two blocks from his apartment.

"He told me, 'I am going to buy it. I am going to do this for you,' " she said.

Then, the curvy cutie said, the day after they signed for the pad in December, he blindsided her.

"We were in bed, and he just replied coldly and bluntly that he had given [the apartment] to his other girlfriend," Ferreyr recalled. "I got emotional and cried . . . He just said, 'I don't care.'

What a guy. The left must be so proud of their sugar daddy.

"I was in bed with him. It was horrifying for me."

Even then, Ferreyr said, the worst was yet to come. As she tried to reason with him, he physically attacked her, slapping her, choking her and tossing a lamp at her, she said.

"He just snapped. I had never seen him like that before. I was afraid," she said.

So when are all his supporters going to denounce him for his violence against women?

Corporate Jet-Owning Billionaire Obama Pal Sued By Ex-Girlfriend

Obviously this octogenarian gets these twenty-something ladies because of his charm and good looks.

George Soros' 28-year-old former flame is suing the billionaire over a broken promise to buy her a Lexington Ave. pad -- and now she wants $50 million for her trouble.

Jilted lover Adriana Ferreyr, a Brazilian soap opera star, alleges Soros, 80, gifted the luxe digs to a new sweetheart after they had a falling out around the time of the closing, both sides said.

"This is a blatant attempt to shake down George Soros," said Michael Vachon, a spokesman for the philanthropist and famed investor. "The lawsuit is frivolous and completely without merit."

Meanwhile, a gal pal of the actress countered that Soros swore he would buy his on-again, off-again lovebird a place in the city -- and then reneged after she spent the shoe leather to find it.

"I don't think what he did was fair," said Selma Fonseca, 45. "She did all the leg work finding the place and then he tossed her aside. You don't do that to somebody and especially someone you have been with for five years. It's disrespectful."

The May-December lovebirds, who met at a Manhattan charity soiree, hit the rocks recently over something trivial that quickly mushroomed into a full-fledged "War of the Roses," Fonseca said.

The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges things got so bad, Soros slapped the Columbia University student during a tiff.

It's theorized Soros made a nice score betting on the Obama Downgrade, so why not just pony up?

Soros-Funded Center for American Progress Laments Arizona Losing Money Due to SB 1070

Of course, the New York Times merely refers to this group of thugs as a liberal policy group, although we admit that's progress right there in identifying them as liberal. Still, no mention of George Soros and his deep pockets or of John Podesta or Van Jones, other distinguished members of this group, which clearly has an agenda in opening our borders and sowing chaos.

The state’s convention business as a whole is down $45 million this year, hurt by controversy over the state’s immigration crackdown that went into effect over the summer, according to a study to be released Thursday.

Spinoff effects bring economic losses into the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the study, commissioned by the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington. Potential future effects of fewer convention bookings could mean Arizona will receive an overall hit of more than $750 million, the study said.

The State Senate President tells them where to go.

The State Senate president, Russell Pearce, a Republican who sponsored the law to encourage illegal immigrants to leave the state, dismissed the report as a fiction and said illegal immigrants were costing the state billions.

“I get tired of this,” he said. “Arizona is not the bad guy. Arizona didn’t make illegal illegal. We’re enforcing the law.”

While Soros and his goons celebrate, the big losers in all this are ... Hispanic employees who work in the tourism industry.

Those hurt most of all by the boycotts and canceled business, Ms. Jarnagin said, have been hotel workers, many of them Hispanic, who have been laid off during the slow times.

The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3,000 Hispanic-owned businesses across the country, opposed Arizona’s immigration approach but did not favor a boycott because of the disproportionate effect such sanctions would have on Latinos.

It's not exactly as if CAP even pretends to be objective.

Arizona’s enactment of harsh, anti-immigrant legislation—S.B. 1070—sparked an incendiary national debate over the role of states in making and enforcing immigration policy. Some states and localities rushed to copy Arizona’s draconian approach; others adopted resolutions condemning Arizona’s intolerance. But all states would be wise to consider the practical implications of their decisions before following Arizona any further down the proverbial garden path.

Passage of the Arizona legislation triggered a fierce, national public-opinion backlash against the state and led many national organizations and opinion leaders to call for economic boycotts.

Considering their hostile stance toward Arizona, why is the media so quick to simply rehash their press releases? (Oh right, they're in bed together.)

Where exactly was this fierce, national public-opinion backlash? Maybe in the media, but I never recall seeing a single poll under 70% support for SB 1070. I guess if you repeat a lie often enough...

Naturally, they make zero mention of the money the state saves as illegals flee, but I guess anything that refutes their nonsense isn't worth studying.

Expect this "study" to lead many a newscast today but don't expect any insight or analysis of the dubious group peddling the story. Or of the awfully coincidental timing of the release coming just at the moment Democrats are trying to ram through the DREAM Act.

Update: The charming Podesta has a curious take on what our armed forces are for.

How does one “move the country forward”? In the center’s report, Podesta explains that Obama can use executive orders, rulemaking, and even the armed forces “to accomplish important change” and that such means “should not be underestimated.”

Via GWP.

Heh: Soros Cashes In On News Corp Investment

Wait until the kiddies at Media Matters find out their sugar daddy is paying them with profits made from News Corp, owner of the evil Fox News. It might be enough to make Oliver Willis cough up his Twinkies. Soros and his stormtroopers spend their miserable lives attacking and smearing Fox News, so we wonder if this little tidbit will give them pause.

It was the opening salvo in a Soros-funded “stop-advertising” war to destroy Fox News for its threat to America’s “democracy” – an odd worry for Soros, who wrote a book titled “The Bubble of American Supremacy,” calling down doom on just about everything American.

And an odd war for Soros Fund Management LLC, which was heavily invested in News Corp, parent company of Fox News. SEC filings show Soros managed News Corp shares worth $4 million in 2004 and $2.3 million when sold last year. Cash trumps hypocrisy.

Do the lefties at Media Matters know that Soros gets his foundation money from his hedge fund investments in politically incorrect stocks: tobacco, fossil fuels, genetically modified foods, and burger joints? Do they care?

Not likely. Today’s American left is only about money and power.

That and ruining people's lives through smears and deception.

'Dancing With the Czars'

Hey, who knew those stodgy Republicans could bring the funny?

As House Republicans continued to call for NPR to be defunded on Friday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) drew attention to a large grant the company received this month from the left-leaning philanthropist George Soros.

Um, left-leaning?

Left-leaning??? Are they serious? Contrast the absurd use of that term with how the "left-leaning" NPR describes Republicans. Anyway back to Issa and the "left-leaning" NPR.

He even suggested some new shows for National Public Radio: "Dancing with the Czars" and "Socialist Survivor," to name a few.

The Open Society Foundation announced this month it would provide a $1.8 million grant to the outlet, allowing it to fund 100 new reporters over the next three years. Soros established the foundations.

The development came a few days ahead of a Republican effort to question whether a news organization with a reputation of being left-leaning should be allowed to receive public funding. NPR is financed through both public and private dollars, but most of its funding is private.

As calls to defund the outlet heated up, Issa pointed out the political bent of major NPR donor Soros.

"With NPR benefitting from the generosity of people like MoveOn.org financier George Soros, it’s obvious that NPR is now a self-sustaining entity that no longer needs to rely on federal funds. As an independent entity, they will be free to serve Mr. Soros’s far-left agenda," said Issa, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

He also teased NPR's left-leaning reputation.

"Once NPR is free from the umbrella of accepting, receiving and being eligible for taxpayer dollars, maybe Soros can fully finance NPR’s fall schedule with spin-offs of some of America’s favorite shows such as, ‘Dancing with the Czars’ or ‘Socialist Survivor’ and ‘Lost: The Obama Presidency,’ " he said.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Friday that he is adding a measure to defund NPR to a program that allows the public to vote on spending programs they could live without.

The outlet fell under Republican scrutiny this week after firing analyst Juan Williams for remarks he made about people in Muslim attire. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee criticized NPR for being too politically correct and for cutting off free expression.

This is what's it's come to with the media. Republicans are ultra-conservative, especially when described by hosts at the "left-leaning" NPR.

Hard left radicals, well, they just lean left. They're not fully left, heck, they're not even liberals, they're just left-leaning. It implies that, well, if they just tilted back upright another 15 degrees they'd be centrists, or moderates.

But no, we can't even call them liberals anymore. That's a pejorative by today's standards.

But Republicans? Why, they're hard right, ultra-conservatives. Do you ever even see them referred to as right-leaning?

Then we get wild-eyed leftists really projecting. This one calls Republicans radical extremists.

Foreign Money in Politics: Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters

I wonder if the Little Hitlers at Media Matters will attack me for noting this?

Media Matters, the liberal activist group that wages a rhetorical war against Fox News Channel and others in the conservative press, will announce on Wednesday the receipt of a $1 million donation from the philanthropist George Soros.

In a statement obtained by The Caucus, the organization says it plans to use the money to intensify its efforts to hold the Fox host Glenn Beck and others on the cable news channel accountable for their reporting.

“Fox has transformed itself into a 24-7 G.O.P. attack machine, dividing Americans through fear-mongering and falsehoods and undermining the legitimacy of our government for partisan political ends,” the group will say in the statement, to be released Wednesday afternoon.

So we have a group that makes up stories about Beck and Rush Limbaugh by splicing together audio and Fox is the attack machine? What planet are these people living on?

In an accompanying statement, Mr. Soros, a billionaire who has a history of supporting liberal politicians and causes, accused Fox News hosts of “incendiary rhetoric” and said he hoped that his money would be used “in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.”

Civil actions. Like making up stories. Typical leftists. Accuse others of actions which you are guilty of.

Officials at Media Matters regularly deny that they have ever taken money from Mr. Soros, who repeats that denial in Wednesday’s statement, saying, “I have not to date been a funder” of the liberal organization. Now, he will officially be a donor, and likely a fresh target for criticism from the right.

Media Matters has a long, documented history with Soros. Now it's undeniable.

Meanwhile, the thugs spend their days begging advertisers to boycott Fox News. How pathetic.

More here on the Soros connections.

Politico, however, reported today that “Media Matters has received funding from or formed partnerships with several groups that Soros funds or has funded. These include the Tides Foundation, Democracy Alliance, Moveon.org and the Center for American Progress.” It later corrected its post to absolve Moveon.org because it “has not received a donation from Soros since 2004.”

Pathetic: Endangered Democrats Claim GOP Is Taking Foreign Donations

A pretty ridiculous claim from a party whose leader raked in more money from British Petroleum than anyone else. Even lamer, the pinheads pushing this story are bought and paid for by convict George Soros.

Just making it up as they go along.

Endangered Democrats in several key Senate races are seizing on what they say is evidence that foreign interests are helping fuel their opponents' campaigns.

Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) and Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher (D) have blasted their opponents for benefiting from campaign spending by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which accepts foreign contributions to its general treasury fund.

The criticism is part of a broader Democratic strategy, outlined by White House political strategist David Axelrod in a July meeting with Senate Democrats, to paint Republicans as the defenders of corporate special interests.

Fisher is accusing his opponent, former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), of getting an indirect boost from foreign-owned corporate interests.

The Democratic campaigns have seized on a report published earlier this week by ThinkProgress, a blog affiliated with the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

“This new report is alarming — companies that are directly benefiting from the trade policies that Congressman Portman has fought for may be funding political ads on his behalf,” said Holly Shulman, Fisher’s campaign spokeswoman, in a statement Thursday.

“These revelations suggest that foreign companies — and foreign governments — are trying to influence our elections, and Congressman Portman should call for the Chamber to stop running political ads until this troubling issue is resolved,” Shulman said.

Jessica Towhey, a spokeswoman for Portman’s campaign, said Fisher has wrongfully attacked a trade organization that represents U.S. businesses.

“Lt. Gov. Fisher’s campaign is embarrassing itself with false and inane attacks against Ohio’s job creators,” said Towhey. “While it may be politically expedient to ignore the 400,000 jobs lost in Ohio while Lee Fisher was asleep at the wheel, Ohioans will see through these desperate attempts to cover up a campaign that is failing just as much as Lee Fisher failed as the state’s Job Czar.”

Funny how the Soros thugs didn't protest when Obama was taking money from Palestinians back in 2008. In fact one report said Obama may have received as many as 37,000 foreign donations.

Seems to me attacking the Chamber of Commerce is a form of intimidation, and they're not backing down. They long ago soured on Obama and this is payback time. Expect more of this during dirty trick season.

Your Brain on Liberalism: 'Do It for Bieber'

You could well wind up with brain damage sitting through the entire 1:17 presentation here but it's a useful exercise if only to see how desperate these Democrats are heading into the midterms. Figures the idiots behind this are part of the Hitler Soros Youth so throwing away money on idiotic efforts is nothing new.

Internet-savvy types know that teen heartthrob Justin Bieber pretty much rules the internet. Just last week, rumor spread that Bieber’s fan base was so active on Twitter that the microblogging website has servers dedicated just to him. Twitter didn’t confirm, but they didn’t deny it, either.

The takeaway? If you're trying to get a message to go viral, your success rate will surely be higher if you can somehow tie-in the Biebs.

So that’s just what Campus Progress, the college spinoff of the Center for American Progress, decided to do to get people to vote in the midterms.

The organization is highlighting a submission to its VoteAgain2010 video contest that argues, while Bieber can't vote in our midterms (he's both too young and too Canadian), shouldn't you?

"This isn't your standard election year video of celebrities asking you to vote," the ad says. "It's us, asking you to vote for celebrities who can't, celebrities like Justin Bieber. Bieber's too young to vote, yet whomever we elect in the 2010 midterm elections will impact his future and ours. ... So tell your parents, your grandparents, your Facebook friends ... If they won't do it for you, ask them to do it for Bieber."

I can't wait for the video spoofs of this one. Surely they're already in production.

Media Matters Morons: Bill O'Reilly Wants to Waterboard Nancy Pelosi

It's hilarious seeing these Soros-funded twits from Media Matters flail away in futility as they do anything they can to undermine their enemies. If it's not lifting passages out of context of Rush Limbaugh and using their media dupes to spread the message, then it's usually anyone at Fox News, and in this case they're going after Bill O'Reilly for some facetious comments he made last weekend. Naturally, some schlub at the New York Daily News dutifully regurgitates their drivel, along with Bathtub Boy, Keith Olbermann. Clearly, nobody at Media Matters has anything remotely close to a sense of humor.

Conservative rabble-rouser Bill O'Reilly ventured his solution to D.C.’s partisan gridlock during a lecture on Saturday - kidnap Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and possibly waterboard the House Speaker.

"I told Obama that the best thing he could do would be hire me as his main adviser," he said.

"If [Obama] did hire me . . . I'd get Leon [Panetta] in . . . And I'd say, Leon, look . . . You gotta kidnap Pelosi and Reid.

"Don't hurt them. Don't hurt them, okay? But take them to an undisclosed location," he told the laughing audience. "No waterboarding, well maybe with Nancy."

Audio of his remarks, made during his Saturday stop in Westbury, N.Y., for his "Bold and Fresh Tour" with Glenn Beck, was first posted on the liberal Web site MediaMatters.org.

"Once that happens . . . once you get the real loon fringe out of there," he continued, "If you got . . . somebody else in there, who they [Republicans] didn't loathe so much, there might be a little detente, and we might be able to get something done."

Long time O'Reilly foe Keith Olberman responded by crowning the Fox News host his "Worst Person in the World" on last night's episode of MSNBC's "Countdown."

The liberal TV presenter claimed he finds nothing funny in remarks, calling them O’Reilly’s stock "violence fantasies."

"He says it because he wants somebody to do it," the liberal TV presenter said.

Notice O'Reilly is called a conservative rabble-rouser while the deranged Olbermann is merely a liberal TV presenter.

Of course Olbermann, known to tell people to kill themselves and who last week called Scott Brown every vile name in the book, isn't a rabble-rouser.

He also doesn't have any ratings and Fox is the No. 1, most-trusted name in news, so he's still desperate enough to use material from the long ago discredited Media Matters.

How sad.

Soros Heaps Praise On Obama's Banking Plans

This is a case of which came first, Soros' praise for Barry O's plans to attack big banks or his whispering in the ear of the TOTUS, and now taking a victory lap because the schmuck was actually stupid enough to try and carry through on the idea.

Analyzing attempts to overcome the crisis, Mr Soros had plenty of praise for Mr Obama's plan to split big banks - separating their commercial banking bits and their investment arms.

Even after the break-up proposed by Mr Obama, most investment banks would "still be too big to fail," Mr Soros told the lunch guests.

To contain these banks, he said all major economies would have to agree on a common set of financial regulation that set strict limits for leverage - how much money the banks can borrow to invest.

Without a global agreement, capital would simply move to the least regulated country.

However, if all major economies participated, they could exercise the necessary controls over money flow to prevent rogue states from circumventing the system - or stop "Goldman Sachs from setting up shop in Somalia," as one of the participants called it.

Look, I'm no economic genius, but while I would like to blame the banks for being the cause of our current woes, the truth is the blame goes to half a dozen parties. From government legislators who turned a blind eye to the practices at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and passed laws and issued opinions that lending institutions should do more to put everybody in a house, to individuals who never faced the reality that they were buying more home then they could afford.

Long before the real estate collapse occurred, me and my friends and neighbors would talk about how high the price of housing had gotten in our area. The conversation normally ended with somebody asking the rhetorical question of just who the hell do they think lives out here and how can they afford the price of a house.

Well, the truth is they couldn't, but the housing market was superheated and many of the parties involved were driven by visions of making a quick buck and nobody wanted the gravy train to stop. Well it did, and while it is easy to try to make banks out to be the bad guys, the truth is Freddie and Fannie not only pushed banks to make the loans, they backed them up.

Since Fannie and Freddie had friends in Congress, not a lot of attention has been given to them, and Congressmen eager to not have their enabling of this crash known have been quick to point fingers at bankers too.

So I got off track, but my real point is if you have George Soros out promoting your economic policies, the investment who was to blame for the collapse of the British banking system and the Japanese markets, then you had better look hard and try to find out what his motivation is.

Just like Warren Buffett, Soros does nothing without looking at how he can profit from it while supporting and financing groups that wish to stop anybody else from doing the same. This appears to be nothing more then one more way to achieve some sort of global ruling class. If countries aren't allowed to regulate business within their own borders, then it is just more piece of their sovereignty that they are giving away. Weak leaders are happy to have somebody else to blame for their inability to make the tough choices. Like our current president, they quite often blame inanimate objects or credit non living entities with being the cause of bad news.

Ever notice that bad news out of our government normally comes with the phrase of "The White House" or administration officials.

No, having a big socialists like George Soros trumpeting your economic policies should be enough to concern all Americans who do not ascribe to the Socialist viewpoint.

Information on the Bretton Woods plan mentioned in the article can be found here.

So Much for Smart Diplomacy: Iranian-American Academic Gets 12 Years in Prison

They brought out all the heavy hitters for this guy but ultimately failed yet again.

How's that smart power working out there, Mrs. Clinton?

Iran sentenced an Iranian-American scholar to more than 12 years in prison Tuesday for his purported role in post-election unrest there, despite appeals for his release by supporters as diverse as Hillary Clinton and the rock star Sting.

Academic Kian Tajbakhsh was arrested July 9 during a violent crackdown by security forces on street protests by Iranians who claimed the June election was rigged in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Charges against Tajbakhsh reportedly included espionage, contacting foreign elements and acting against national security of Iran.

In August, Secretary of State Clinton appealed for the release of Tajbakhsh, who was the only American charged in the mass trial of Iranian opposition members. He also was specially named in a call by the British rock star Sting to free all political prisoners in Iran.

The Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Tajbakhsh's lawyer, Houshang Azhari, as confirming he had been sentenced to "more than 12 years." He said the law prohibits him from divulging further details.

Back in 2007, Tajbakhsh had been imprisoned in Iran before winning his freedom.

On September 20, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a respected scholar, former New School professor of urban planning, and current consultant to the Open Society Institute, was released from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. One of four Iranian-Americans arrested in May, he spent 131 days in solitary confinement. From the very beginning, New School President Bob Kerrey condemned Tajbakhsh's arrest and detention as "unprovoked and without justification."

For what it's worth, the Open Society Institute is another plaything of George Soros, whose influence, apparently, is limited to puppets of the Democratic Party and not so much with the mullahs.

George Soros Part of Group Trying to Buy Rams?

I'm wondering whether anyone in this group knows any of the other prospective buyers? That and what the heck Dave Checketts is smoking. Let's put it this way: If Limbaugh's out then the NFL is going to have one heck of a job selling football fans on this anti-American creep George Soros.

Well, the Rush Limbaugh/St. Louis Rams saga may have finally reached the point of the absurd ... if it wasn't already.

Late yesterday, news broke that former Madison Square Garden chief executive Dave Checketts dropped the conservative talk-show host from a bid to purchase the Rams from current team owner Chip Rosenbloom, who hasn't yet officially put the team up for sale.

Now comes word, via Bloomberg, that ultra-liberal billionaire financier/philanthropist George Soros, who once compared some of Pres. Bush's tactics in the war on terror to the Nazi regime, may also be part of the bid.

Talk about NFL ownership making for strange bedfellows. That's about as bizarre as it can get.

Indeed, it was reported by Bloomberg on Monday that Soros was part of the group, but seemed to have escaped much notice.

If Soros is indeed a member of the ownership group, then Checketts must eliminate him from consideration, too. After all, if Limbaugh's polarizing views were anathema to a league that wants to avoid controversy, then Soros' extreme remarks should also raise a red flag to owners.

Soros was once reported to have said that removing Pres. Bush from office was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death."

Talk about polarizing comments.

Don't think the NFL will want to be addressing those remarks any time soon.

If it turns out that Soros is indeed a member of the Checketts group, then we can only surmise one of two things: that perhaps he thought Limbaugh and Soros would balance one another out on the political side, or that this will go down as one of the most pathetically misguided plans ever devised to purchase an NFL franchise.

At this point, we're leaning toward the latter.

Thanks to Ace for the link.

NY Times Rewriting History on Van Jones Debacle; Jones Lands at Center for American Progress

The New York Times devotes ample space today to the resignation of Van Jones, Barack Obama's Communist Truther in the White House. Of course, they mention neither of the words Communist or Truther, but we've come to expect that of them. What I find most disingenuous about this is their version of the timeline that brought Jones down.

The Jones story reached a tipping point Sept. 3 when the conservative blog "Gateway Pundit" reported that the best-selling author of "The Green Collar Economy" signed a 2004 petition that called for congressional hearings and other investigations into whether the Bush administration allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur as a pretext for war in the oil-rich Middle East.

Mainstream media began asking questions of their own.

Oh really, the mainstream media began asking questions? OK, maybe ABC's Jake Tapper brought it up at a White House briefing, but Jones was not even mentioned by New York Times itself until Monday, four days after Gateway Pundit had the news, and well after Jones already resigned. So nice of them to not even link Gateway Pundit in their story, by the way. I guess this means the Times is no longer mainstream.

Meanwhile, in a stunning development, Jones today lands at the George Soros-funded, John Podesta run Center for American Progress.

For fallen White House aides, the rallying cry apparently is John Podesta to the rescue! The Obama administration’s former green jobs czar Van Jones is headed back to Podesta’s Center for American Progress after stepping down from his White House post four days ago amid controversy over his leftist affiliations, the Daily News has learned.

Dubbed a radical environmentalist by his right-wing critics, Jones was linked to a group that had insisted the Bush administration was aware the 9/11 attacks had been planned, but did nothing to stop the terrorist plot. His supporters counter that Jones is one of the foremost experts in the emerging area of environmentally sustainable jobs.

Jones chose to quit rather than cost Obama the political capital it would have taken to save his job, saying now was not the time for the President to turn his attention from his agenda.

He returns to his job as senior fellow at the center-left think tank founded by Podesta, who served as chairman of Obama’s presidential transition team.

Again, another "mainstream media" outfit dares not to mention the dreaded words Communist Truther. And please, calling CAP center-left is just misrepresenting this far-left outfit.

Thanks in part to funding from benefactors such as billionaire George Soros, the Center for American Progress has become in just five years an intellectual wellspring for Democratic policy proposals, including many that are shaping the agenda of the new Obama administration.

Could somone, anyone, please point me to some evidence that either George Soros or Barack Obama are center-left?

These people wonder why they have no credibility.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Absolutely laughable.

It's good that Abramson quickly owns up to missing the story, but hard to talk about being short-staffed when the Times still has a newsroom of about 1,300 people.

Face it, it was a story damaging to Obama and the Times did not want to mention it.

Speaking of laughable, media relics preetend they're relevant and Matt Drudge is not.

Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, concurred.

“Your email is the first time anyone—staff, reader, anyone—has mentioned Drudge to me in ages,” he replied via email. “During the campaign it sometimes served to stir the embers of right-wing indignation against The Times, usually by printing a cockeyed version of something we were supposedly about to publish,” he said.

“It’s probably been a year since I looked at the Drudge report, or felt its impact in any way,” Mr. Keller added.

Sure.

'Thank God for Obama. He's Looking Out for Us'

Play your cards right, kids, and you too could be an ObamaCare prop at the next staged townhall.

The kiddies in New York are partying it up today thanks to oodles of your tax money and Democrat sugar daddy George Soros.

A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday.

"It's free money!" said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.

"Thank God for Obama. He's looking out for us."

Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards.

Some rushed out because of rumors the money would vanish by the end of the day.

"Rumors, there's always rumors," said Teresa Medina, who waited four hours at a Pay-O-Matic in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, to get $600 for her three teenagers - just in case they were true.

The no-strings-attached money went to families receiving food stamps or welfare.

Every child between 3 and 17 was eligible for $200, which worked out to 813,845 kids across the state - including 498,866 in the city.

"Times are really tough right now. The situation is bad with money. So it's easy to want to use the money for other things," said Ana Barcos, 31, of Corona, Queens, where 200 people waited outside a check-cashing business.

"But if the money's supposed to be for my kids, then I will use it for my kids."

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros gave $35 million toward the program, with $140 million in federal stimulus funds routed through state government making up the rest.

Can you say redistribution of wealth, boys and girls?

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Comrade Fidel Celebrates May Day, Trashes Obama

Chalk up another victory for smart diplomacy as Fidel Castro unclenches his fist and slaps Barack Obama upside the head.

Fidel Castro blasted US President Barack Obama Friday in provocative May Day remarks, saying the United States only wanted Cuba to return "to the fold, like slaves."

Castro, 82, who led Cuba for almost 50 years and remains head of the Cuban Communist Party, was not in outreach mode, though Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, 77, have made remarks aimed at easing Cold War-era tensions.

"Today, they stand ready to forgive us -- as if we would resign ourselves to returning to the fold like slaves, who after tasting freedom, go back to the yoke and whip," Fidel Castro said in a defiant address published in Cuban state media to mark May Day.

Obama has said the United States wants to see progress on human rights and political freedom from Cuba. That runs counter to Cuba's main interest in maintaining and projecting the Americas' only communist regime into the future.

Castro, who for decades referred to the United States as the enemy, warned: "The (US) adversary must never delude itself into thinking that Cuba will surrender."

I guess Fidel isn't too enchanted with Obama.

Elsewhere, open borders advocates and other sundry Communist groups today will also mark May Day with rallies nationwide. With the swine flu outbreak emanating from Mexico, I do say they have impeccable timing.

Immigrant rights advocates planning marches around the Bay Area and across the country today are optimistic that they have support in Washington, D.C., for immigration reform, but the fact that the rallies take place during a week of panic over Mexico's swine flu outbreak is further complicating a complex issue.

Aw, isn't that a shame. A possible pandemic may hurt their cause. Sigh.

Groups that favor a crackdown on illegal immigration have seized on the flu epidemic to call for closing the border with Mexico. The World Health Organization recommends not closing borders, and medical experts say overblown fear can lead to discrimination against Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans.

"There's real potential for harm to vulnerable groups like immigrants," said Jay Battacharya, a professor of medicine at Stanford University. "It doesn't reduce the spread of the disease."

Nonsense.

Naturally they take a swipe at those who argue for reducing the number of illegals in the United States.

And conservative commentators on blogs and talk radio, including Michael Savage and Michelle Malkin, were blaming illegal immigrants for spreading swine flu to the United States.

Seems to me what Michelle Malkin has to say makes plenty of sense, and I'm sure the majority would agree.

I’ve blogged for years about the spread of contagious diseases from around the world into the U.S. as a result of uncontrolled immigration. We’ve heard for years from reckless open-borders ideologues who continue to insist there’s nothing to worry about. And we’ve heard for years that calling any attention to the dangers of allowing untold numbers of people to pass across our borders and through our other ports of entry without proper medical screening — as required of every legal visitor/immigrant to this country — is RAAAACIST.

It appears The San Francisco Chronicle reporter Tyche Hendricks is getting his talking points from the fever swamps of the AlterNet, which, conveniently enough, gets its information from (where else?) Democrat front group Media Matters, the vicious slander outfit bought and paid for by sugar daddy George Soros.

How convenient a group purportedly "monitoring" media is basically handing them their slanted talking points disguised as news.

No wonder the Chronicle's readership is down over 15% the past year.

Hot Air links. Thanks!

What Recession? Hollywood Elite, Soros Make Massive Contributions to Bankroll Inaugural

As the economy sinks deeper into recession, wealthy Democrats, oblivious to the plight of the working man, plow full speed ahead by lavishing vast sums upon Barack Obama and what promises to be the biggest ego-fest in American history.

Some of President-elect Barack Obama's most glamorous Hollywood supporters kicked in major money to bankroll his inauguration next month, it was revealed yesterday.

Sharon Stone donated $50,000 to the historic celebration, which will feature several black-tie balls and could draw as many as 5 million people.

Also donating $50,000 were actress Halle Berry and actor Jamie Foxx.

Not to be outdone, the majority owner of the Democratic Party is kicking in a cool $250,000.

Billionaire George Soros kicked in $50,000, and other Soros family members gave a combined $200,000.

That ought to buy a lot of caviar.

But remember, this is the party of working families.

Sure.

Soros and Algore Raising Funds for Failed Comedian

You know they're going to steal this Senate seat.

Left-wing billionaire financier George Soros is using his financial muscle at a Manhattan fund-raiser tonight to help Al Franken win a recount in Minnesota's Senate election.

Soros - the hedge-fund honcho and sugar daddy of the Democratic Party - will host a soirée for Franken at his Carnegie Hill digs to help cover the candidate's costs to monitor the statewide recount.

The special guest: Al Gore, who knows a thing or two about recounts.

As you can see, some ballots are in question.

Soros-Funded Pair Running Obama Transition Team

In case you didn't realize it, they're already in transition.

Barack Obama's transition team recently held a large organizational meeting as part of an accelerated effort to plan for a possible new administration, Democratic officials said Friday, as the nominee embarked on a late-campaign tour of traditional Republican states with a fresh attack on John McCain.

Under the direction of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, the transition effort includes a dozen separate groups divided into different areas of responsibility, these officials said. One added that Cassandra Butts, a longtime associate of Obama, is in charge of the group dedicated to personnel for a new administration.

The effort is largely separate from the campaign structure that helped plan and execute Obama's remarkable rise to the position of front-runner in a race in which he is bidding to become the first black president.

Podesta, of course, was in the Clinton administration and now runs the Center for American Progress, a leftwing group bought and paid for by America-hating scum George Soros.

The Center for American Progress was begun in 2003 by philanthropists Herb and Marion Sandler [1]. It is a Washington, DC-based liberal think tank created and led by John D. Podesta.
...
"Podesta laid out his plan for what he likes to call a think tank on steroids. Emulating those conservative institutions, he said, a message-oriented war room will send out a daily briefing to refute the positions and arguments of the right. An aggressive media department will book liberal thinkers on cable TV. There will be an edgy Web site (thinkprogress.org) and a policy shop to formulate strong positions on foreign and domestic issues. In addition, Podesta explained how he would recruit hundreds of fellows and scholars -- some in residence and others spread around the country -- to research and promote new progressive policy ideas. American Progress is slated to operate with a $10 million budget next year, raised from big donors like the financier George Soros.

You might also recall the names Herbert and Marion Sandler from a recent SNL sketch.

They assembled a vast array of subprime loan packages in their Golden West Financial and sold it to Wachovia Bank for $24 billion before the financial bottom fell out.

You might also find it noteworthy the Center for American Progress founded the slander outfit Media Matters, whose specialty is the politics of personal destruction.

On May 3, 2004, CAP helped to launch David Brock's Media Matters for America - which claims to serve as a "watchdog" organization monitoring "rightwing" media for ethics and accuracy. According to The New York Times, Brock conferred with Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Daschle, and former Vice President Al Gore about Media Matters before embarking on the project. "Mr. Brock's project was developed with help from the newly formed Center for American Progress," notes the Times, and John Podesta "introduced [Brock] to potential donors."

As for Cassandra Butts, she's also been long affiliated with this far left Soros outfit.

These are just the first two names listed with an Obama transition, a pair of Soros-funded hacks.

That ought to help heal the nation and help bring us all together.

Now much to my shock, I find out there's another name in the news that finds itself working hand-in-glove with the Center for American Progress.

Guess who that might be?

On May 13, ACORN National President Maude Hurd and Philadelphia ACORN member Olivia Dorsey will introduce former Sen. John Edwards in announcing his position as chairman of “Half in Ten,” a new campaign to cut poverty in the United States in half in 10 years.The campaign is a partnership of ACORN, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).

As an aside, if you need to know how deep Obama's ACORN and radical left associations are, go back and review this American Thinker item from last month.

As I have written elsewhere, the Radical Left's offensive to promote illegal immigration is "Cloward-Piven on steroids." ACORN is at the forefront of this movement as well, and was a leading organization among a broad coalition of radical groups, including Soros' Open Society Institute, the Service Employees International Union (ACORN founder Wade Rathke also runs a SEIU chapter), and others, that became the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. CCIR fortunately failed to gain passage for the 2007 illegal immigrant amnesty bill, but its goals have not changed.

Rememebr that name Wade Rathke.

In 1970, one of George Wiley's protégés, Wade Rathke -- like Bill Ayers, a member of the radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) -- was sent to found the Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now. While NWRO had made a good start, it alone couldn't accomplish the Cloward-Piven goals. Rathke's group broadened the offensive to include a wide array of low income "rights." Shortly thereafter they changed "Arkansas" to "Association of" and ACORN went nationwide.

More on ACORN's bad seed.

How much more intertwined these radical outfits will become isn't even open to debate anymore. They're all working in concert, a smooth running engine, with the vehicle named Obama.

Update: LGF links. Thanks!

Also note this transition team has been in place for months, and mind you there's nothing wrong with advance planning. My concern is with who's running it, and considering it's that hatchet man Podesta, be very wary of what's in store.

Know Your Constituency: Soros-Backed Democrats Outline 'Educate the Idiots' Campaign

They obviously know who votes for them.

In a confidential internal memorandum obtained by Face The State (PDF), the Colorado Democracy Alliance outlines a roster of “operatives” who worked for Democratic victory in the 2006 general election. The document outlines specific tasks for various members of the state’s liberal infrastructure, including a campaign to “educate the idiots,” assigned to the state’s AFL-CIO union. Among the operation’s intended targets: “minorities, GED’s, drop-outs.”

Individuals named in the document, marked “CONFIDENTIAL,” “for internal use only,” and “DO NOT DISTRIBUTE,” are high-level elected Democrats including House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, former Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, as well as Gov. Bill Ritter’s press aide and former campaign chief Evan Dreyer. All are specially marked as “off-the-record or covert.”

Mentioned as a “critical contact” was Dominic DelPapa, a partner at Ikon Public Affairs. DelPapa was at the center of recent controversy stemming from the February leak of a confidential memo he authored detailing a multi-million dollar “foot on throat” attack on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, among others.

CoDA is one of 18 state-based versions of the nationally focused Democracy Alliance, a self-described “investment partnership of business and philanthropic leaders” funding liberal infrastructure nationwide. For more information about the Democracy Alliance in Colorado, see day one and two of Face The State’s week-long series on the group.

In a podcast released by the DNC Host Committee Tuesday, national Democracy Alliance founder Rob Stein explains the need for large, secretive donor networks. “We do not have the infrastructure that the right has built, yet,” he said. “But there has never in the history of progressivedom (sic) been a clearer, more strategic, more focused, more disciplined, better financed group of institutions operating at the state and national level.”

Hmm. Did someone say secret donor network?

Notice they're not targeting the media.

Those idiots are in the tank gratis.

The Democracy Alliance, naturally, is a pet cause of the evil George Soros, among others.

A year after its founding, Democracy Alliance has followed up on its pledge to become a major power in the liberal movement. It has lavished millions on groups that have been willing to submit to its extensive screening process and its demands for secrecy.

These include the Center for American Progress, a think tank with an unabashed partisan edge, as well as Media Matters for America, which tracks what it sees as conservative bias in the news media. Several alliance donors are negotiating a major investment in Air America, a liberal talk-radio network.

But the large checks and demanding style wielded by Democracy Alliance organizers in recent months have caused unease among Washington's community of Democratic-linked organizations. The alliance has required organizations that receive its endorsement to sign agreements shielding the identity of donors. Public interest groups said the alliance represents a large source of undisclosed and unaccountable political influence.