“Workers across the country are losing their jobs and seeing their hours cut, but the Treasury is working overtime to sell the government debt required to finance the Democrats’ unsustainable spending,” said Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga. “It seems that every week brings news of yet another record-breaking debt auction. Back home, Americans are tightening their belts because they know that spending money you don’t have isn’t an economic solution. When will Washington get the message that enough is enough? It’s time to end this reckless spending spree and make responsible decisions.”

“I … have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen,” Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawai‛i State Department of Health, said in a news release. “I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”

In an official letter dated July 21, 2009, Rep. David Scott called Obama “President-elect.” Huh? Guess he didn’t read that either.

I first called Rep. Scott’s office in February to inquire whether he read the bailout bill before casting a vote in favor of the legislation. No response.

I called again about the “cap and tax” bill. I called last Thursday, July 16, and again asked whether the Congressman read the bailout bill before voting. A woman named Tammy, a legislative assistant in Rep. Scott’s office (I believe), told me “nobody did” read the bill before voting. I guess that makes it okay. If everybody else was jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge…

If nothing else, I do appreciate the honesty. I’m actually surprised she was so blunt. That prompted me to inquire why the Congressman felt it was appropriate for him to vote on a piece of legislation he had not read. Tammy promised me an e-mail response by Friday, July 17.

I did not receive the response. Frankly, I was not surprised.

I called Rep. Scott’s office again on Monday, July 20. I was told I would receive an e-mail or a letter in the mail. I received the letter today. I was not surprised that it was a form letter that it did not address my inquiry. However, I was surprised when I started reading it and saw that Rep. Scott referred to “President-elect Obama.”

There are other mistakes. Read it for yourself: Page 1 | Page 2 (my name and address have been removed).

Perhaps a Congressional proofreader for form letters should have been included in the bailout bill.

(c) 2009 Todd DeFeo. All rights reserved.

NEWARK, N.J. – The mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus and Ridgefield were among 44 people charged today in a “two-track federal investigation of public corruption and a high-volume, international money laundering conspiracy,” Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., announced.

The Jersey City deputy mayor and council president, two state assemblymen, numerous other public officials and political figures and five rabbis from New York and New Jersey were  also arrested.

Among those charged in criminal Complaints are:

– Peter Cammarano III, the newly elected mayor of Hoboken and an attorney, charged with accepting $25,000 in cash bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday, from an undercover cooperating witness.

– L. Harvey Smith, a New Jersey Assemblyman and recent mayoral candidate in Jersey City, charged along with an aide of taking $15,000 in bribes to help get approvals from high-level state agency officials for building projects.

– Daniel Van Pelt, a New Jersey Assemblyman, charged with accepting a $10,000 bribe.

– Dennis Elwell, mayor of Secaucus, charged with taking a $10,000 cash bribe.

– Anthony Suarez, mayor of Ridgefield and an attorney, charged with agreeing to accept a $10,000 corrupt cash payment for his legal defense fund.

– Louis Manzo, the recent unsuccessful challenger in the Jersey City mayoral election and former state Assemblyman, and his brother and political advisor Robert Manzo, both with taking $27,500 in corrupt cash payments for use in Louis Manzo’s campaign.

– Leona Beldini, the Jersey City deputy mayor and a campaign treasurer, charged with taking $20,000 in conduit campaign contributions and other self-dealing in her official capacity.

– Eliahu Ben Haim, of Long Branch, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, N.J., charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

– Saul Kassin, of Brooklyn, N.Y., the chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

– Edmund Nahum, of Deal, N.J., the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity.

– Mordchai Fish, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn, charged with money laundering of proceeds derived from criminal activity. His brother, also a rabbi, was charged as well.

Most of the defendants were arrested early this morning by a large contingent of federal agents, led by Special Agents of the FBI Newark Division and IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Court-authorized search warrants were also being executed approximately 20 locations in New Jersey and New York, to recover, among other things, large sums of cash and other evidence of criminal conduct.

Additionally, 28 seizure warrants were being executed against bank accounts in the names of the money laundering defendants and entities they control.

The cooperating witness told targets of the money laundering investigation that he was involved in illegal businesses and bank frauds. He also openly discussed with targets that he was in bankruptcy and was attempting to conceal cash and assets, and told them he wanted to launder criminal proceeds in increments ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to $150,000 or more at a time, often at the rate of several transactions per week.

According to the criminal Complaints, the money laundering operations run by the rabbis laundered a total of approximately $3 million for the cooperating witness alone between about June 2007 and July 2009.

The investigation veered onto its public corruption track in July 2007 in Hudson County, where the cooperating witness represented himself to be a developer and owner of a tile business who wanted to build high rises and other projects and get public contracts in Hudson County schools. Through an intermediary, the cooperating witness was introduced to a Jersey City building inspector who, in return for $40,000 in bribes, promised to smooth the way for approvals of the cooperating witness’s building projects, according to the criminal complaints.

From there, introductions and referrals spread amongst a web of public officials, council and mayoral candidates, their operatives and associates – mostly in Hudson County, and primarily in Jersey City – who took bribes. In return, they pledged their official assistance in getting the cooperating witness’s projects prioritized and approved or to steer contracts to him.

In part, the bribe-taking was connected to fund raising efforts in heavily contested mayoral and city council campaigns in Jersey City and Hoboken, and the bribes were often parceled out to straw donors, who then wrote checks in their names or businesses to the campaigns in amounts that complied with legal limits on individual donations – so-called conduit or
conversion donations. Other bribe recipients took cash for direct personal use and benefit; others kept some of the cash and used the rest for political campaigns, according to the criminal complaints.

The investigation produced hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings documenting much of the money laundering and bribe-taking.

WASHINGTON – A report released today by Rep. Darrell Issa, the Ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, presents evidence that ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in racketeering, and created a conspiracy to defraud the United States.

“This report is a comprehensive and substantive examination of an organization that has operated in secrecy and outside the law,” said Issa, R-Calif., who is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee. “There are number of legitimate questions raised about the political activities and organizational structure of ACORN. This report is about getting to the truth and when there are significant accusations and questions outstanding regarding an organization that has benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars, those questions should be answered and the truth should be brought to light.”

“The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has repeatedly and deliberately engaged in systemic fraud,” according to the report’s executive summary. “Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan political agenda and to manipulate the American electorate. Emerging accounts of widespread deceit and corruption raise the need for a criminal investigation of ACORN.”

The report includes significant new information about wrongdoing brought to the attention of committee investigators by ACORN whistleblowers. Highlighted in the report:

– ACORN has evaded taxes, obstructed justice, engaged in self dealing, and aided and abetted a cover-up of the $948.607.50 embezzlement by Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke.

– ACORN has committed investment fraud, deprived the public of its right to honest services, and engaged in a racketeering enterprise affecting interstate commerce.

– ACORN has committed a conspiracy to defraud the United States by using taxpayer funds for partisan political activities.

– ACORN has submitted false filings to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor, in addition to violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

– ACORN falsified and concealed facts concerning an illegal transaction between related parties in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

“It is outrageous that ACORN will be rewarded for its criminal acts by taxpayer money in the stimulus and is being asked to help with the U.S. census,” Issa said. “This report shines a light on clear criminal conduct and it is abundantly clear that they cannot and should not be trusted with taxpayer dollars.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama is reaffirming his commitment to space exploration as America marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing.

Barack Obama was only seven years old when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.

But he still has memories of those days. He recalls standing on his grandfather’s shoulders in his native state of Hawaii, waiting for the Apollo 11 space capsule to be plucked from the Pacific Ocean and brought to shore.

“And I remember waving flags and my grandfather telling me that the Apollo mission was an example of how Americans can do anything they put their minds to,” said President Obama.

Forty years later, President Obama welcomed the Apollo 11 crew to the White House and spoke of their heroic flight that inspired generations of Americans.

He called Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin three genuine heroes.

“It is because of the heroism, the calm under pressure, the grace with which these three gentlemen operated, but also the entire NASA family that was able to, at great risk oftentimes and with great danger, was somehow able to lift our sights – not just here in the United States, but around the world,” said Mr. Obama.

The president said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, will do all it can in the years ahead to continue its inspirational mission. And he pledged his support for the agency.

“We expect that there’s, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin,” he said. “And we want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey.”

The president did not go into specifics, and the Apollo 11 crew did not offer any suggestions during their public appearance at the White House.

But earlier, Buzz Aldrin – the second man to walk on the moon – took part in a NASA news conference where he pushed for a new round of space exploration, with the goal of sending astronauts to Mars.

“And I think we are getting back to what NASA and what the country really likes to see and that is exploration,” said Buzz Aldrin. “To me, exploration is going to someplace you have never been before.”

A detailed review of NASA’s manned flight program is currently underway, and a report to the president outlining options for the future is due next month. 

Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon 40 years ago Monday, says the United States should set its sights on a mission to Mars.

Aldrin appeared on the television news program Fox News Sunday, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11’s lunar landing.

Aldrin said Mars appears to be a more suitable and habitable environment for human beings.  He said he would like NASA to come up with a plan that does not abandon trips to the moon, but instead focuses on a mission to Earth’s neighbor, the planet Mars.

Astronauts have not returned to the Earth’s moon since 1972.  Aldrin described the lunar surface as “magnificent desolation,” and he emphasized Sunday that it is a lifeless place that probably has not changed much in 100,000 years.

Aldrin was actually the second man to set foot on the moon.  His fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first.  On July 20, 1969, Armstrong uttered the now famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” when he stepped off the lunar landing craft onto the surface of the moon.

A former Rockwell and Boeing engineer from Orange County, Calif., was remanded into custody this morning after a federal judge convicted him of charges of economic espionage and acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China, for whom he stole restricted technology and Boeing trade secrets, including information related to the Space Shuttle program and Delta IV rocket.

Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 73, who was employed by Rockwell International from 1973 until its defense and space unit was acquired by Boeing in 1996, was found guilty by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who presided over a three-week bench trial last month.

In his ruling read this morning in court, Judge Carney found Chung guilty of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, six counts of economic espionage to benefit a foreign country, one count of acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China and one count of making false statements to the FBI.

Immediately following the reading of the verdicts, Judge Carney remanded Chung into custody, where he will remain until his sentencing, which was scheduled for Nov. 9, 2009. Chung had been freed after being arrested by special agents with the FBI and investigators with NASA in February 2008.

Chung, a native of China who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, held a “secret” security clearance when he worked at Rockwell and Boeing on the Space Shuttle program. He retired from the company in 2002, but the next year he returned to Boeing as a contractor, a position he held until September 2006. At trial last month, the government proved that Chung took and concealed Boeing trade secrets relating to the Space Shuttle and the Delta IV rocket, materials he acquired for the benefit of the PRC.

“Mr. Chung stole restricted technology for the benefit of a foreign nation, and as a result he has lost the freedom he was offered by this nation,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. “The stolen technology compromised not only the American company that developed and owned the trade secrets, but national security as well because the secrets could be used by the PRC to develop its own military technology.”

The case against Chung resulted from an investigation into another engineer who worked in the United States and obtained sensitive military information for the PRC. That engineer, Chi Mak, and several of his family members were convicted of providing defense articles to the PRC. Chi Mak was sentenced last year to more than 24 years in federal prison.

According to the evidence presented during the trial, individuals in the Chinese aviation industry began sending Chung “tasking” letters as early as 1979. Over the years, the letters directed Chung to collect specific technological information, including data related to the Space Shuttle and various military and civilian aircraft. Chung allegedly responded in one undated letter that “I would like to make an effort to contribute to the Four Modernizations of China.”

In various letters to his handlers in the PRC, Chung referenced engineering manuals he had collected and sent to the PRC, including 24 manuals relating to the B-1 Bomber that Rockwell had prohibited from disclosure outside of the company and “selected federal agencies.”

Between 1985 and 2003, Chung made multiple trips to the PRC to deliver lectures on technology involving the Space Shuttle and other programs, and during those trips he met with PRC government officials, to include agents affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army. Chung and PRC officials exchanged letters that discussed Chung’s travel to China and recommended methods for passing information, including suggestions that Chung use Chi Mak and his wife Rebecca to transmit information.

A May 2, 1987, letter from Gu Weihao, an official in the Ministry of Aviation and China Aviation Industry Corporation, discussed the possibility of inviting Chung’s wife, who is an artist, to visit an art institute so that Chung could use her trip as an excuse to travel to the PRC. This same letter suggested that passing information to the PRC through Chi Mak would be “faster and safer” and concluded with the statement: “It is your honor and China’s fortune that you are able to realize your wish of dedicating yourself to the service of your country.”

On Sept. 11, 2006, FBI and NASA agents searched Chung’s house and found more than 250,000 pages of documents from Boeing, Rockwell and other defense contractors inside the house and in a crawl space underneath the house. Among the documents found in the crawl space were scores of binders containing decades’ worth of stress analysis reports, test results and design information for the Space Shuttle.

Each charge of economic espionage carries a maximum possible penalty of 15 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. The charge of acting as an agent of a foreign government carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The charges of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and making false statements to federal investigators each carry a maximum possible penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

In this morning’s ruling, Judge Carney acquitted Chung of one count of obstruction of justice.

The investigation in this case was conducted jointly by the FBI and NASA Counterintelligence. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg Staples and Ivy Wang.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, led by Rep. Kevin Brady,R-Texas, and House Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), today outlined a chart detailing the bureaucratic nightmare of the House Democrats’ health care plan.

The chart, which Brady detailed in a presentation to GOP leaders, identifies at least 31 new federal programs, agencies, commissions and mandates that accompany the unprecedented government takeover of health care in America.

“This chart depicts the health care nightmare that House Democrats have planned for families and small businesses,” House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “This isn’t reform; it’s a recipe for disaster that will lead to higher health care costs, lower quality, rationed care, and bureaucrats making medical decisions instead of doctors and patients. Families shouldn’t have to answer to shadowy Washington bureaucrats when they’re seeking health care treatments for themselves and their loved ones.

A U.S. newspaper reports the Bush administration repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the 2001 mass killings of Taliban prisoners by the militia of an American-backed warlord.

The New York Times reports the FBI, State Department and Red Cross pushed for a probe, but the White House failed to act because the warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, was being paid by the CIA at the time of the killings.

Dostum and his fighters are accused of killing hundreds, and perhaps thousands of Taliban prisoners who surrendered after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Authorities believe the bodies were placed in a mass grave found in Dasht-e-Leili in 2002.

The report says the Bush White House was also worried about undermining U.S.-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who named Dostum to his defense team.

The U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights called for a criminal probe into the alleged massacre Friday.

The group says it has obtained U.S. government documents that show as many as 2,000 Taliban fighters were suffocated in container trucks by Dostum’s forces and buried in the Dasht-e-Leili desert in November of 2001.