FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- President Obama's illegal immigrant half-uncle is preparing to fight new efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport him, myFOXboston.com reported Friday.
Onyango Obama met with immigration officials Thursday as they began the process of sending him back to Kenya, according to the Boston Herald.
He is required to regularly check in with immigration officials pending his removal, ICE spokesman Brian Hale was quoted as saying.
The Kenyan national, who is the half-brother of the President's father, was ordered to leave the country in 1992 but never left.
His immigration status came to light after he was arrested in August last year for driving under the influence.
Onyango Obama was pulled over in Framingham, Mass., about 20 miles southwest of Boston, after making a sudden right turn at a stop sign and nearly colliding with a police cruiser. He initially denied being drunk but later admitted to having had "two beers."
He had a blood-alcohol content of .14 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08.
Obama plans on fighting the deportation and has hired the same attorney who helped the President's half-aunt win asylum in 2010, myFOXboston.com reported.
Obama paid lower tax rate than secretary
Published April 13, 2012
FoxNews.com
President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama had a combined income of $789,674 in 2011 but paid a lower tax rate the president's secretary, who made less than $100,000, the White House confirmed Friday.
The Obamas paid an effective rate of 20.5 percent. White House aides would not reveal presidential secretary Anita Breckenridge’s tax rate but confirmed it was higher than the first family's rate. Breckenridge earned $95,000 last year.
The Obamas' rate is less than the 30 percent the president wants millionaires to pay under his proposed Buffett Rule.
Published April 13, 2012
FoxNews.com
President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama had a combined income of $789,674 in 2011 but paid a lower tax rate the president's secretary, who made less than $100,000, the White House confirmed Friday.
The Obamas paid an effective rate of 20.5 percent. White House aides would not reveal presidential secretary Anita Breckenridge’s tax rate but confirmed it was higher than the first family's rate. Breckenridge earned $95,000 last year.
The Obamas' rate is less than the 30 percent the president wants millionaires to pay under his proposed Buffett Rule.
Subsidized, Bankrupt Solyndra Managers Got $368,500 in Court-Ordered Bonuses
By Fred Lucas
April 16, 2012
Subscribe to Fred Lucas's posts
President Barack Obama visits Solyndra headquarters in Fremont, Calif., on May 26, 2010. (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – A bankruptcy court ordered $368,500 in bonuses for 20 top managers and employees of Solyndra, the solar panel firm that received $535 million from taxpayers two years before filing for bankruptcy and laying off 11,000 employees. The bonuses kicked in on March 31.
The 20 high-level workers earned a total base pay of $2.49 million before the bonuses. One of the executives earned a base annual salary of $206,499 and received a $30,000 incentive under the court order handed down on Feb. 22 by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath in Delaware.
Another executive earning $189,000 in base pay was awarded a $20,000 bonus and a third, who earned $190,800, received $15,000 more.
Most of the bonuses awarded were between $15,000 and $25,000, with the three top beneficiaries receiving $30,000, while the three lowest received $10,000 each.
The Energy Department finalized a loan guarantee of $535 million to Solyndra on Sept. 3, 2009, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – better known as the $787 billion stimulus.
On Aug. 31, 2011, Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 allows a debtor company to restructure and work out agreements with creditors without being liquidated.
Court documents referred to the bonuses as a “Key Employee Incentive Plan.” The ruling determined the payouts to be “in the best interests of the Debtors, their creditors and all other parties in interest.”
The court documents did not identify the individuals getting the various increases, but did provide their titles, base salaries and bonus awarded:
1. The senior manager for information systems earned a base salary of $157,000, and got a $12,500 bonus.
2. The network administrator who earned $75,190 got an increase of $15,000.
3. A senior manager of manufacturing engineering who earned $159,073 received a $16,500 bonus.
Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 31, 2012 (AP Photo)
4. Another senior manager of manufacturing engineering, earning $162,400, got an increase of $19,500. 5. An equipment maintenance supervisor earning a base pay of $120,000 got an “incentive” of $22,500.
6. The senior director of product line maintenance earning base pay of $206,499 got an additional $30,000.
7. The facilities project manager earning $108,150 got $30,000.
8. A senior facilities sites service manager earning $108,900 got $20,000.
9. An environmental health and safety supervisor engineer with a base pay of $124,500 got $30,000.
10. A senior facilities manager earning $123,500 got $10,000.
11. A facilities shift supervisor earning $100,000 got $20,000.
12. A facilities supervisor earning $85,000 received $15,000.
13. A facilities maintenance engineer earning $101,760 got $25,000.
14. A lead facilities specialist earning $72,842 got $20,000.
15. A lead facilities technician earning $71,781 got $15,000.
16. A senior director of finance earning $190,800 got $15,000.
16. A director of financial planning and analysis earning $150,000 got an extra $12,500.
18. An accounts payable manager earning $75,705 got $10,000.
19. A senior director corporate controller earning $189,000 got another $20,000.
20. A senior accountant earning $114,400 got a bonus of $10,000.
By Fred Lucas
April 16, 2012
Subscribe to Fred Lucas's posts
President Barack Obama visits Solyndra headquarters in Fremont, Calif., on May 26, 2010. (AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – A bankruptcy court ordered $368,500 in bonuses for 20 top managers and employees of Solyndra, the solar panel firm that received $535 million from taxpayers two years before filing for bankruptcy and laying off 11,000 employees. The bonuses kicked in on March 31.
The 20 high-level workers earned a total base pay of $2.49 million before the bonuses. One of the executives earned a base annual salary of $206,499 and received a $30,000 incentive under the court order handed down on Feb. 22 by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath in Delaware.
Another executive earning $189,000 in base pay was awarded a $20,000 bonus and a third, who earned $190,800, received $15,000 more.
Most of the bonuses awarded were between $15,000 and $25,000, with the three top beneficiaries receiving $30,000, while the three lowest received $10,000 each.
The Energy Department finalized a loan guarantee of $535 million to Solyndra on Sept. 3, 2009, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – better known as the $787 billion stimulus.
On Aug. 31, 2011, Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 allows a debtor company to restructure and work out agreements with creditors without being liquidated.
Court documents referred to the bonuses as a “Key Employee Incentive Plan.” The ruling determined the payouts to be “in the best interests of the Debtors, their creditors and all other parties in interest.”
The court documents did not identify the individuals getting the various increases, but did provide their titles, base salaries and bonus awarded:
1. The senior manager for information systems earned a base salary of $157,000, and got a $12,500 bonus.
2. The network administrator who earned $75,190 got an increase of $15,000.
3. A senior manager of manufacturing engineering who earned $159,073 received a $16,500 bonus.
Solyndra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 31, 2012 (AP Photo)4. Another senior manager of manufacturing engineering, earning $162,400, got an increase of $19,500. 5. An equipment maintenance supervisor earning a base pay of $120,000 got an “incentive” of $22,500.
6. The senior director of product line maintenance earning base pay of $206,499 got an additional $30,000.
7. The facilities project manager earning $108,150 got $30,000.
8. A senior facilities sites service manager earning $108,900 got $20,000.
9. An environmental health and safety supervisor engineer with a base pay of $124,500 got $30,000.
10. A senior facilities manager earning $123,500 got $10,000.
11. A facilities shift supervisor earning $100,000 got $20,000.
12. A facilities supervisor earning $85,000 received $15,000.
13. A facilities maintenance engineer earning $101,760 got $25,000.
14. A lead facilities specialist earning $72,842 got $20,000.
15. A lead facilities technician earning $71,781 got $15,000.
16. A senior director of finance earning $190,800 got $15,000.
16. A director of financial planning and analysis earning $150,000 got an extra $12,500.
18. An accounts payable manager earning $75,705 got $10,000.
19. A senior director corporate controller earning $189,000 got another $20,000.
20. A senior accountant earning $114,400 got a bonus of $10,000.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]writer Ken Silverstein uncovers the shocking tale of Gore’s historical super-close connection to the giant Occidental Petroleum company, its ongoing attempts to despoil the U’wa tribal ancestral homeland, and the shady role the Clinton administration is playing behind the scenes.
And the expose is given more weight in view of the fact that it appears in an ultra left-wing publication one would expect to be backing ultra liberal Al Gore’s presidential bid to the hilt.
Briefly, the dispute, which turned violent when Colombian security forces used tear gas against members of the tribe demonstrating against Occidental’s drilling plans, resulting in the subsequent death of three children who drowned when fleeing the melee, involves the company’s plan to drill on U’wa tribal land, which the company believes holds 1.4 billion barrels of oil worth about $35 billion in today’s prices.
Interestingly, in view of Gore’s pretensions to be a dedicated environmentalist, one of the principal objections to Occidental’s drilling is its record of disastrous oil spills from its Caño Limon pipeline, just north of U'wa land and repeatedly bombed by guerrillas. The spills, Silverstein reports, have badly polluted rivers and lakes.
"The Colombian Oil Workers' Union published a report in 1997 saying that Caño Limon is ‘the best example that petroleum exploitation should not be permitted [on the U’wa reservation] at any price,’" he wrote.
Silverstein says the U’wa opposition to Occidental’s plans represents something of a last stand. "A 1998 report by Terry Freitas — one of three U'wa supporters from the United States killed by leftist guerrillas while visiting the tribe's territory last year — says that the Colombian government stripped the tribe of 85 percent of its land between 1940 and 1970,” he explained.
He quotes Roberto Perez, president of the Traditional Authority of the U'wa People, as saying: "The key issue for indigenous groups is defending our territory ... The Occidental project is an affront to our livelihood, our lives and our culture."
Gore has repeatedly refused pleas from fellow Democrats to meet with Perez.
Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, for example, told Silverstein she wrote to Gore and asked him to meet with U'wa leader Perez and to support an immediate suspension of the Occidental project.
"I am concerned that the operations of oil companies, and in particular Occidental Petroleum, are exacerbating an already explosive situation, with disastrous consequences for the local indigenous people," she wrote. "I am contacting you because you have remained silent on this issue despite your strong financial interests and family ties with Occidental."
She wrote to Gore again on March 30 to complain about his failure to answer her previous letter. Finally Gore sent her a note saying he simply didn’t have the time to meet with Perez.
Most fascinating is the historical connection between the Gore family and Occidental Petroleum, in which Gore holds about a quarter of a million dollars worth of stock in trust for his mother. The connection goes back to Gore’s father’s close relationship with the late Armand Hammer, Occidental’s founder and the son of Julius Hammer, the man who founded the U.S. Communist Party. For all of his life, Armand Hammer remained close to the murderous Joseph Stalin, his successors and the entire Soviet leadership during the Cold War.
He also remained close to Albert Gore Sr., and later to Al Jr., bestowing his largesse lavishly on both.
Hammer, Silverstein notes, liked to brag that he had Gore Sr. "in my back pocket."
When Gore Sr. retired from the Senate in 1970, he got a $500,000-a-year job at a subsidiary of Occidental as well as a company directorship. When the elder Gore died, his estate included hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Occidental stock.
In the 1960s, Silverstein reports, the Gores discovered zinc ore near land they owned in Tennessee. "Through a company subsidiary Hammer bought the land for $160,000 - twice the amount offered by the only other bidder. He swiftly sold the land back to Al Gore Sr. and agreed to pay him $20,000 a year for mining rights.”
Gore Sr. then sold the property for $140,000 to Al Jr., who has gotten a $20,000 check just about every year since, although Occidental has never mined an ounce of zinc or anything else on the property.
In 1985, Al Jr. leased the property to Union Zinc, a competitor of Occidental.
In his book, "Witness to History," Neil Lyndon, an employee on Hammer's personal staff and the ghost writer of his memoirs, revealed that whenever Hammer he came to Washington he met with Al Gore for lunch or dinner.
"They would often eat together in the company of Occidental's Washington lobbyists and fixers who, on Hammer's behest, hosed tens of millions of dollars in bribes and favours into the political world," Lyndon revealed.
The ties between Gore and Occidental outlived Hammer. In 1992 the company lent the Presidential Inauguration Committee $100,000. In 1996, the company gave $50,000 in soft money to the Democrats in response to a phone call from Gore.
"All told, Occidental has donated nearly half a million dollars in soft money to Democratic committees and causes since Gore joined the ticket in 1992,” Silverstein wrote. In the current presidential campaign Occidental is his No. 2 oil industry donor with company executives and their wives kicking in $10,000 to Gore's campaign.
It’s paid off handsomely. In 1997 Gore, the fanatical opponent of vehicles powered by fossil fuels such as oil, supported the $3.65 billion sale to the company of the government's interest in the Elk Hills oilfield in Bakersfield, Calif., the largest privatization of federal property in U.S. history.
"On the very day the deal was sealed Gore gave a speech lamenting the growing threat of global warming,” Silverstein reports.
*** For a full account of the Gore-Occidental relationship, see "The Buying of the President 2000," by Charles Lewis and the Center for Public Integrity.
[/FONT]
[ Yet another Democrat crook in the news... ]
Ex-Massachusetts Treasurer Charged in Ethics-Crime Case
By Don Jeffrey - Apr 2, 2012 4:45 PM CT
Ex-Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill was indicted and accused of using $1.5 million from the state lottery advertising budget to promote his unsuccessful 2010 campaign for governor.
“The message and timing of the ads was an unwarranted and unlawful benefit to Cahill and his gubernatorial campaign,” Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said today at a press conference in Boston.
Cahill, 53, controlled the budget for the lottery as state treasurer. He used 75 percent of the $2 million lottery budget for television and radio advertisements that promoted his campaign, according to Coakley.
Coakley said the lottery advertisements were broadcast during the last two months of the gubernatorial campaign. Without naming Cahill, they promoted his “effective leadership and management” of the lottery in returning money to municipalities, she said.
“These were taxpayer dollars specifically dedicated to the best interest of the lottery,” Coakley said. After Coakley’s office requested a halt, the ads were suspended, saving about $1 million, her office said.
E. Peter Parker, Cahill’s attorney, said in an e-mail he saw “no evidence of criminal conduct by anybody.”
Had ‘Obligation’
“Treasurer Cahill had an obligation to maximize lottery revenues,” Parker said. “He and the lottery made the right choice to run the ads.” He said the commercials were made in response to “attack” ads by the Republican Governors Association that had undermined confidence in the lottery.
Coakley said her investigation began after documents were released during a civil suit in Massachusetts. These showed “coordination” between the lottery ads and the campaign, she said.
Cahill, a resident of Quincy who was elected treasurer as a Democrat in 2002, ran for governor as an independent. He lost to incumbent Deval Patrick, a Democrat. Coakley is a Democrat.
“These indictments detail fundamental and outrageous violations of the public trust,” Steven Grossman, the current state treasurer, said in a statement.
Revised Statute
Massachusetts changed the ethics laws in 2009 to include criminal as well as civil violations. This is the first time criminal charges have been brought under the changed statute, Coakley said. She said the charge could carry a five-year prison sentence.
Cahill was indicted today by a Suffolk County grand jury. Besides the violation of the ethics law, he was also charged with procurement fraud and two counts of conspiracy.
“In the end, the attorney general will have wasted an enormous amount of time, energy and scarce resources to bring criminal charges that never should have been brought,” Parker said in his e-mailed statement.
Also indicted were Cahill’s former campaign manager, Scott Campbell, 41, and Alfred Grazioso, 57, the former chief of staff for the lottery.
Ex-Massachusetts Treasurer Charged in Ethics-Crime Case
By Don Jeffrey - Apr 2, 2012 4:45 PM CT
- Google +1
- 0 Comments
- QUEUE
Q
Ex-Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill was indicted and accused of using $1.5 million from the state lottery advertising budget to promote his unsuccessful 2010 campaign for governor.
“The message and timing of the ads was an unwarranted and unlawful benefit to Cahill and his gubernatorial campaign,” Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said today at a press conference in Boston.
Cahill, 53, controlled the budget for the lottery as state treasurer. He used 75 percent of the $2 million lottery budget for television and radio advertisements that promoted his campaign, according to Coakley.
Coakley said the lottery advertisements were broadcast during the last two months of the gubernatorial campaign. Without naming Cahill, they promoted his “effective leadership and management” of the lottery in returning money to municipalities, she said.
“These were taxpayer dollars specifically dedicated to the best interest of the lottery,” Coakley said. After Coakley’s office requested a halt, the ads were suspended, saving about $1 million, her office said.
E. Peter Parker, Cahill’s attorney, said in an e-mail he saw “no evidence of criminal conduct by anybody.”
Had ‘Obligation’
“Treasurer Cahill had an obligation to maximize lottery revenues,” Parker said. “He and the lottery made the right choice to run the ads.” He said the commercials were made in response to “attack” ads by the Republican Governors Association that had undermined confidence in the lottery.
Coakley said her investigation began after documents were released during a civil suit in Massachusetts. These showed “coordination” between the lottery ads and the campaign, she said.
Cahill, a resident of Quincy who was elected treasurer as a Democrat in 2002, ran for governor as an independent. He lost to incumbent Deval Patrick, a Democrat. Coakley is a Democrat.
“These indictments detail fundamental and outrageous violations of the public trust,” Steven Grossman, the current state treasurer, said in a statement.
Revised Statute
Massachusetts changed the ethics laws in 2009 to include criminal as well as civil violations. This is the first time criminal charges have been brought under the changed statute, Coakley said. She said the charge could carry a five-year prison sentence.
Cahill was indicted today by a Suffolk County grand jury. Besides the violation of the ethics law, he was also charged with procurement fraud and two counts of conspiracy.
“In the end, the attorney general will have wasted an enormous amount of time, energy and scarce resources to bring criminal charges that never should have been brought,” Parker said in his e-mailed statement.
Also indicted were Cahill’s former campaign manager, Scott Campbell, 41, and Alfred Grazioso, 57, the former chief of staff for the lottery.
[ Even Democrat Senators admit that Obama and ObamaCare is a failure... ]
Posted at 11:58 AM ET, 04/18/2012 Jim Webb: Health-care law represents a leadership failure for Obama
By Karen Tumulty
President Obama’s new health-care law will be his greatest liability as he attempts to once again win the critical swing state of Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) warned Wednesday.
“I’ll be real frank here,” Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News. “I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader.”
U.S. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb gestures while talking to journalists during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Yangon, Myanmar. (Khin Maung Win - AP)
Webb voted for the law, but also for more than a dozen GOP-offered amendments to it.
“If you were going to do something of this magnitude, you have to do it with some clarity, with a clear set of objectives from the White House,” added Webb, who opted not to run for a second term this year. “...It should have been done with better direction from the White House.”
He faulted Obama for playing too passive a role in shaping the legislation. Taking a lesson from Bill Clinton’s failed 1994 health-care overhaul effort--which was faulted for its micromanagement of the details of the bill--Obama opted to spell out a broad set of goals, and let Congress work out the details.
What happened in the end, Webb said, “was five different congressional committees voted out their version of health-care reform, and so you had 7,000 pages of contradictory information. Everybody got confused. ... From that point forward, Obama’s had a difficult time selling himself as a decisive leader.”
Webb also said that if Obama had opted for a smaller measure, he would have stood a chance of winning the support of a significant number of Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The White House had no immediate comment on Webb’s statement.
Webb added that he believes most Virginia voters--outside the staunchest partisans--have not yet begun to focus on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee.
“People are getting ready to pay attention to his message, the average person, rather than the nominating base,” Webb said. “Romney has a case to make. He has to make his case.”
Posted at 11:58 AM ET, 04/18/2012 Jim Webb: Health-care law represents a leadership failure for Obama
By Karen Tumulty
President Obama’s new health-care law will be his greatest liability as he attempts to once again win the critical swing state of Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) warned Wednesday.
“I’ll be real frank here,” Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News. “I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader.”
U.S. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb gestures while talking to journalists during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Yangon, Myanmar. (Khin Maung Win - AP)
Webb voted for the law, but also for more than a dozen GOP-offered amendments to it.
“If you were going to do something of this magnitude, you have to do it with some clarity, with a clear set of objectives from the White House,” added Webb, who opted not to run for a second term this year. “...It should have been done with better direction from the White House.”
He faulted Obama for playing too passive a role in shaping the legislation. Taking a lesson from Bill Clinton’s failed 1994 health-care overhaul effort--which was faulted for its micromanagement of the details of the bill--Obama opted to spell out a broad set of goals, and let Congress work out the details.
What happened in the end, Webb said, “was five different congressional committees voted out their version of health-care reform, and so you had 7,000 pages of contradictory information. Everybody got confused. ... From that point forward, Obama’s had a difficult time selling himself as a decisive leader.”
Webb also said that if Obama had opted for a smaller measure, he would have stood a chance of winning the support of a significant number of Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The White House had no immediate comment on Webb’s statement.
Webb added that he believes most Virginia voters--outside the staunchest partisans--have not yet begun to focus on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee.
“People are getting ready to pay attention to his message, the average person, rather than the nominating base,” Webb said. “Romney has a case to make. He has to make his case.”
Picture of the Day: Democrats (Not) At Work
This is a picture worth 1,086 words — one for each day since the Democrat-led Senate passed the budget resolution required by law each April 15th. This picture comes from yesterday’s so-called “mark-up session” of the Senate Budget Committee, a meeting which chair Kent Conrad helpfully promoted by declaring that he wouldn’t allow any votes to be taken on budgets. That turned the meeting into nothing more than a discussion forum, one that Conrad’s colleagues decided to skip. The picture, taken by a Republican staffer at the meeting, shows all 11 Republicans sitting on the far side of the table — and almost no Democrats in their chairs:
The meeting was broadcast on one of the C-SPAN channels, so this isn’t exactly a secret. Only three Democrats bothered to show up at all, out of a dozen assigned to it. Republicans showed up, prepared to cast votes to finally bring the ignominious streak of 1,085 days (as of yesterday) without a budget resolution to an end. Sadly, Democrats — who control the committee, the chamber, and the White House — don’t have the same sense of responsibility.
Senator Jeff Sessions, like all of the other Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee, actually showed up for work. Sessions delivered a stinging rebuke to the leadership for their irresponsibility and utter lack of leadership on a core function of the Senate:
This is a picture worth 1,086 words — one for each day since the Democrat-led Senate passed the budget resolution required by law each April 15th. This picture comes from yesterday’s so-called “mark-up session” of the Senate Budget Committee, a meeting which chair Kent Conrad helpfully promoted by declaring that he wouldn’t allow any votes to be taken on budgets. That turned the meeting into nothing more than a discussion forum, one that Conrad’s colleagues decided to skip. The picture, taken by a Republican staffer at the meeting, shows all 11 Republicans sitting on the far side of the table — and almost no Democrats in their chairs:
The meeting was broadcast on one of the C-SPAN channels, so this isn’t exactly a secret. Only three Democrats bothered to show up at all, out of a dozen assigned to it. Republicans showed up, prepared to cast votes to finally bring the ignominious streak of 1,085 days (as of yesterday) without a budget resolution to an end. Sadly, Democrats — who control the committee, the chamber, and the White House — don’t have the same sense of responsibility.
Senator Jeff Sessions, like all of the other Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee, actually showed up for work. Sessions delivered a stinging rebuke to the leadership for their irresponsibility and utter lack of leadership on a core function of the Senate:
