NJ AG Milgram cracks down on MD's-but not politicians!

One cannot help but laugh at New Jersey State Attorney General Anne Milgram. She is very concerned over doctors that are influenced by drug corporations and wants to put a stop to it. From Philly.com:

State Attorney General Anne Milgram has recommended banning doctors licensed in the state from accepting gifts that don't directly benefit their patients, and requiring them to report consulting fees greater than $200.

The choice to put the responsibility on doctors, met with scorn from the Medical Society of New Jersey, was deliberate. The state has direct control over doctors through its licensing process. And, Milgram said, doctors should be conscious of how their relationships with manufacturers can influence care.

"It really is, at the end of the day, each individual doctor's conflict of interest as much as it is the industry's," she said.

I frankly don't care one way or another about the merits of the AG's recommendation. But I do find it odd that the Attorney General is VERY concerned over "conflicts of interest" all of a sudden. She has never seemed very interested in the past as her Democratic party colleagues were arrested and sent to jail-BY OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS! You see, poor Annie isn't interested in corruption in our state by elected officials, party bosses, judges or others who break the public trust.

But God forbid Dr Smith dares to support a product who sales rep took him to dinner! Maybe during that dinner the doctor actually learned something about the product he is recommending that he didn't already know that would be beneficial to his patient. Sorry Anne.

A conflict of interest is an Assembly member receiving 96 percent of their campaign contributions by organized labor special interest organizations many of which are from out of state. Now who do you think is more likely to do something to the detriment of their partner to the benefit of the organization creating the conflict? The doctor-patient? Or the Democrat-voter?

Read the entire article here.

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Democrats place most corrupt Senator (Dodd) as front man for Healthcare

As expected, Democrats got exactly 60 votes to proceed to debate on the healthcare bill. What trully was unexpected was the Democratic leadership using Chris Dodd as the front man with the gavel (he presided over the vote) and the post vote press conference. You remember Chris Dodd(froom the NY Post)?

Dodd's lengthy record of ethical questions has clearly taken its toll.

Among his transgressions:

* In 2003, Dodd received two cut-rate mortgages totaling nearly $800,000 from subprime-mortgage lending giant Countrywide Financial.

The special mortgages apparently came about because the senator was dubbed a "Friend of Angelo," Countrywide co-founder Angelo Mozilo.

A Senate ethics committee determined last summer that Dodd violated no rules. But home-state voters appear unwilling to let Dodd off that easily.

* In 1994, Dodd purchased a one-third share of an Irish vacation home; the other two-thirds were bought by businessman William Kessinger, partner of one Edward Downe, who pleaded guilty to insider trading the same year.

In 2001, Dodd successfully lobbied the Clinton White House for a presidential pardon for Downe. A year later, Dodd took full ownership of the Irish property from Kessinger -- at a mere fraction of its appraised value.

* In February, Dodd introduced an amendment to the stimulus package that guaranteed that executives from firms receiving government bailouts -- including AIG -- remained eligible for bonuses.

With such baggage, no wonder 53 percent of Connecticut residents say Dodd doesn't deserve re-election.

After five terms in the Senate, the banking committee chairman and Washington special interests are just too close.

The use of Dodd as a prop here tells me much more about the process than any other single action. It's almost as if Democrats are saying, we are corrupt, we will ram this through and there is nothing you can do about it.

Enjoy it while you can Senator Reid.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/dodd_danger_lq11DZPXtHUX5pp0DYaCTN#ixzz0XY03FxQU

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Christmas in June for Corzine - prepare for the rebate scam

I was reading the New York Post editorial today referring to a larger than expected revenue collection from the NJ Tax Amnesty program. I read that New Jersey politicians were calling it Christmas in June. From the Daily Record:

It's Christmas in June, but it also upsets the apple cart," said Senate President Richard Codey, D-Essex.

The real question is "When did Corzine and cronies know about this windfall?". Was it before they submitted the budget and planned to REVIVE the property tax rebate just in time for Corzine's re-election in the fall?

If that is the case, I actually hope New Jersey voters fall for it. Because that would cement the utter and complete bankruptcy in this state and Corzine's responsibility for it. The rebate program has long been a scam to avoid fixing the state's financial programs and Corzine appeared for the first time to show some courage. But he didn't really. It was all a sham because he knew he would revive it at election time. And he knows what we all know. NJ voters will go along because apparently none of them take the time to read or understand what is going or act even if they do.

Status quo will continue here. Until we become Michigan. Most of us will be forced to leave by then.

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Another NJ Politician Sentenced for Corruption

From the Star Ledger:

A "crass, immature" Passaic ex-councilman was sentenced yesterday to more than six years in federal prison for accepting $44,500 in bribes for himself and other onetime city officials.

Every time I see one of these articles, I am struck by the sheer audacity of the corruption. It is often in plain sight and the citizens keep re-electing these people who do not act in their interests. And more shocking is that the charges are NEVER leveled by New Jersey prosecutors. They are always Federal investigations.

His undoing was an FBI investigation that led to indictments of 11 New Jersey public officials, including convictions for mentor and Mayor Sammy Rivera; Passaic Councilman Marcellus Jackson; Paterson schools trustee Chauncey Brown III, and Democratic Assemblymen Alfred E. Steele of Paterson and Mims Hackett Jr. of Orange.

In a separate trial yesterday, also before Thompson, a fourth Passaic official became a casualty of that investigation: Councilman Gerardo Fernandez was convicted of perjury for lying to a grand jury reviewing evidence of corruption.

"Clearly, for a significant portion of the City Council, corruption was just part of doing business," acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra Jr. said in a statement. "We can only hope that all of these convictions in Passaic will have the desired deterrent effect and give the public hope that their other current representatives are honest and working in their best interests."

Of course, I guess we can expect these to end with the election of Barack Obama. New Jersey corrupt Democrat politicians can breathe a sigh of relieve with AG Holder in charge as he is only interested in prosecuting Republicans for political purposes.
At least we can hope that we get rid of Corzine and let Christie take over and put teeth back into prosecutions at the state level.

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The Corruption of NJ's Supreme Court

Let me state up front that I find the entire legal discussion over the Governor's email with his former girlfriend and the lawsuits regarding their disclosure to be a bit of a joke. The fact that Corzine allowed himself to get into this situation is more indicative of his mettle (or lack thereof) than the result of this political legal action. These are details that the public in this state do not get.

But here is what REALLY bothers me. The Governor of this state negotiated with the head of a union (that happened to be his girlfriend). The Union fired her for conflict of interest (they thought something was fishy). Corzine said everything was on the up and up. And the NJ Supreme Court said none of it was relevent. This smells really bad. And again, no one cares.

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Who's the dope now? Obama and Biden

We just spent 8 years listening to the mainstream media about the stupidity of George W. Bush. There is no doubt that W could really mangle a participle. But the real comparison is whether or not the team surrounding the President have their act together. And while W did an ok job early on, Barack is failing miserably.

. Before he even starts, several key Democrats have scandal problems
- Barney Frank on fannie something
- Chris Dodd on Countrywide
- Charlie Rangel can't pay his taxes
- Pelosi's husband on conflict of interest
- Harry Reid's land deal
- No lobbyists in the admin until there are
And then, we have nominees who are completely unsuited
- Geithner(Treasury) - taxes
- Daschle(HHS) - taxes
- Clinton(State) - Influence
- Panetta(CIAE) - Banking fees
- Steven Chu(Energy) - The sky is falling, run for your lives
- Joe Biden(VP) - taxes are patriotic except for Democrat nominees

And then there is Barack Obama who thinks we should ram the most pork laden non-stimulus bill spending more than the Department of Defense in wartime and no-one seems to be paying attention?

This is like the circus. With no disrespect to the real ones, Ringling or Big Apple. They are even amateurs at that. Is our new President paying attention?

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Giethner and Daschle are traitors! - Joe Biden

During the last campaign, we heard from a familiar source of gaffs that people need to pay more in taxes to enact Barack Obama's agenda. In case you haven't forgotten exactly what he said, list to Joe Biden here:

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Last week we found out that Tom Daschle didn't realize that he had to pay taxes for a chauffeur driven car given courtesy of a Democrat donor. Ask yourself, if a friend of your boss walked up to you and said, "hey dude, here's a car and a driver to do your work". Would you not question whether or not this is something you should at least mention to your tax preparer or if you don't have one, the IRS hot line. I know what they would tell you.

But that wasn't all. Daschle also receive $88,333 in consulting fees that he failed to report. This was fraud pure and simple. And today, Daschle bowed out to save Obama the embarrassment of difficult questions.

We already documented the trials and tribulations of Timothy Geithner and his tax issues. Well according to Joe Biden, they are unpatriotic. We heard all about how bad Republicans were in accusing treasonous Democrats and the NY Times regarding their extensive efforts to aid and abet the enemy. This time it is a Democrat-the Vice President speaking truth to power.

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Illinois corruption coverage still mentions New Jersey

This week as the story of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich looking to sell Barack Obama's senate seat to the highest bidder broke, I expected to see plenty of coverage of the history of political corruption in Chicago. I have always thought that the Chicago political machine represented the worst political corruption of all the 50 states (or 57 if you are Barack Obama). But I was wrong.

Apparently, New Jersey is considered one of the elite for political corruption(from the AP):

If it isn't the most corrupt state in the United States, it's certainly one hell of a competitor," Chicago FBI chief Robert D. Grant said when the charges were announced against Blagojevich.

The top competitors seem to be New Jersey and Louisiana. More than 130 public officials in New Jersey have been found guilty of federal corruption in the past seven years. And Louisiana more than holds its own. A congressman once described the state this way: "Half of Louisiana is under water, and the other half is under indictment."

And this article is not the only one that mentions New Jersey while discussing this scandal. It seems like our state has a lot in common with a series of corruption scandals are the country:

1. While the scandals cut across both parties, they Democrats are the current hands on winners for sheer numbers. In New Jersey, almost all of the 130 corruption convictions the past few years were Democrats.

2. The stupidity associated with this current crop of corrupt politicians is amazing. Selling a senate seat while under investigation for corruption with Tony Rezco(Blagojevich), Cash in the freezer (Jefferson)and tax fraud in at least two states and one foreign country followed by pay to play with donations(Rangel).

3. When the politician in trouble is a Republica, you can count on the media to mention the word Republican over and over again. When a Democrat gets caught, party is rarely if ever mentioned.

4. The media outrage is comical if not pathetic as it concerns the two parties. It wasn't that long ago that the media was in a frenzy over Foley's instant messages (he was never charged with any crime), Tom Delay's airplane rides and Larry Craig's foot tapping. But they can't seem to whip up any interest in William Jefferson's freezer bags of cash, Chris Dodd's sweetheart deal on his mortgage while ignoring his oversight responsibility for the mortgage mess, an army of Democrats running Fannie/Freddie into the ground.

Some day, it will be great when the people have the last word. I know it will happen at the Federal level because it always does. I have a lot less confidence that New Jersey voters will ever wake up and realize the corruption that they accept every day in this state is neither normal nor acceptable in a civilized society.

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Voters do what Pelosi wouldn't. Fire Jefferson.

Anh "Joseph" Chao beat Louisiana's William Jefferson yesterday to finally remove this corrupt Democrat from office(from the Times Picayune):

Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson suffered what may be the final blow of his storied political career in the most improbable way Saturday, when an untested Republican opponent took advantage of Louisiana's new federal voting rules -- and an election delay caused by Hurricane Gustav -- to unseat the nine-term Democrat.

Jefferson was caught with bundles of cash in his freezer. He was known to be corrupt and has been under investigation for some time. He has also been under indictment for some time as well. And Nancy Pelosi, who claimed that she was going to run the most ethical congress in history, looked the other way. Just like she is looking the other way on Charlie Rangel's tax evasion.

Leadership according to the Democratic party is that anything goes as long as it keeps Pelosi in power. At least this time, the voters had a different opinion.

Read the entire article here.

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What's up with Corzine $362,500 hush hush payoff?

An Asbury Park Press editorial calls Governor Corzine out in regard to an out of court settlement to the brother-in-law of his former girlfriend, who also happens to be the target of ethics complaints against the Governor.

Rocco Riccio, brother-in-law of union leader and former Corzine girlfriend Carla Katz, accused Corzine of reneging on a promise to find him a private-sector job after Corzine's staff asked him to leave his state post amid controversies involving Katz.

Riccio had worked in state government since 1994, but resigned from the Treasury Department in 2006 after someone accused him of improperly looking up tax records of Corzine's enemies. He resurfaced — with the help of Corzine's office — at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, but was asked to resign within weeks by the governor's staff amid the controversy over the relationship between Corzine and Katz.

The newspaper didn't mince words when passing judgement on the settlement:

The whole episode stinks. Aside from Corzine's handling of the situation, which smacks of typical New Jersey politics — throw money at any and all problems to make them go away — there are too many unanswered questions about the Corzine-Katz-Riccio soap opera. Chief among them are the payout and a $15,000 gift Corzine gave Riccio in early 2007, the multimillion-dollar "settlement" Corzine gave Katz when their relationship ended and Corzine's overzealous efforts to block public disclosure of his e-mail exchanges with Katz during union negotiations.

This ongoing saga continues to bubble under the surface and not one chapter of the story passes the blink test. As Corzine keeps fighting to keep emails between himself and Katz private (even though in addition to being his girlfriend she was negotiating for a major public employees union), this really reads like the Governor fighting to silence someone who could be called upon in a criminal investigation. If at some point it is determined that Corzine did something wrong with Katz, would this not qualify for a conspiracy count or two?

I remember one other Governor of New Jersey who put an unqualified on the public payroll of a key state agency. I don't think that one turned out very well.

Read the entire article here.

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Hey...Where's my bailout?

As I watch the steady progression of business people march on Washington to apply for their bailout, I am starting to really question my own sanity. For example, we have had:

1. Investment banks
2. Insurance companies
3. Mortgage banks
4. Auto companies
5. States

And they have all lined up at the trough to get money from....you and me.

Well, I work plenty of hours a week. I am a platinum traveller in my job. I pay my bills including my mortgage and didn't take a loan I couldn't afford. My financial wellbeing has been damaged by:

1. Politicians in congress like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who wanted people who could not afford houses to get loans they couldn't afford.
2. Barney Frank having a "personal" relationship with an executive that completely screwed the taxpayer....(I will reisist the rest)
3. A market that has now collapsed and sent my 401k through the floor

Where is my bailout? Better be careful congress. It is almost time for pitchforks and fire.

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Charlie Rangel has done it again. Taxes for you but not for him!

The New York Post has once again caught Charlie Rangel playing tax games on residences. You may recall the scandal before the election about Rangel's vacation residence in the Dominican Republic that he didn't bother to declared on his tax return. Or his use of two rent stabilized apartments for himself and his campaign offices. And now this:

Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel took a "homestead" tax break on a Washington, DC, house for years while simultaneously occupying multiple rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, possibly violating laws and regulations in both cases.

You may ask, what is wrong with that?

The situation raises a number of potential problems for the congressman, including:

* New York City law requires that tenants use rent-stabilized apartments as their primary residence.

* DC's real Property Homestead Deduction Act also requires that a property receiving the benefit be a primary residence.

* Tax lawyers told The Post that a property owner cannot have two primary residences - or take advantages provided to primary residences at two different addresses simultaneously.

* DC's law also requires that the owner of a property benefiting from the tax break be a personal-income taxpayer in DC. District law exempts members of Congress from paying personal DC income tax, but they must pay property tax.

The real issue is so much deeper than this newly reported story. This mean is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is responsible for setting tax policy. And this is the third time in three months that Charlie Rangel has had serious allegations brought up accusing him of at least an ethical violation and at worst a crime. If it were you or I, we would be in handcuffs.

And worse than this, Nancy Pelosi has not seen fit to even reprimand Rangel. It is frankly the kind of corruption the Democrats have perpetuated for some time with a public too dense to hold them to account. Rangel has crossed the line and is actively subverting exactly the tax policy he wants applied to you. He is a criminal.

Read the entire Post story here.

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