I think it's official.....gay is the new black (sm)

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What we have all been thinking for months has finally been confirmed by "the experts." We are officially in a recession and have been for the past year. Why did it take them so long to finally figure it out?

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN02ELLSNA20081201?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Completed vetting process. I think BC had to agree to withdraw from "day-to-day" involvement in his foundation to avoid conflict of interest.

I propose that from here out, we all quit with the bellyachin' and become part of the solution, instead of continuing to be part of the problem.

G-20 summit is now living proof that Obama has kissed everyone's butts and sold this county down the river......... Now, all European socialists will make ALL regulatory rules for ALL U.S. firms................

Thanks to all the Obama lovers and fools out there who thought he was your savior!! You better really have a savior because you're gonna need it now!!!

SORRY..... YOU CAN'T BLAME BUSH FOR THIS ONE!! OBAMA SWAGGERED HIS WAY THROUGH THIS ONE AND THERE WAS NO BUSH IN SIGHT!!!

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe

The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's activities in Washington.

The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002.

Procurement chief David H. Safavian was connected to probe of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (Melina Mara/twp - Twp)

It also contends that he concealed his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area. Abramoff is the person identified as Lobbyist A in a 13-page affidavit unsealed in court, according to sources knowledgeable about the probe.

Until his resignation on the day the criminal complaint against him was signed, Safavian was the top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.

The arrest occurred at his home in Alexandria. A man who answered the phone there yesterday hung up when a reporter asked to speak to Safavian.

Abramoff was indicted by federal prosecutors in Miami last month on unrelated charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. He remains the linchpin of an 18-month probe by a federal task force that includes the Internal Revenue Service, the Interior Department and the Justice Department's fraud and public integrity units. His lawyer did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Abramoff's allegedly improper dealings with Indian tribes -- which netted him and an associate at least $82 million in fees -- prompted the federal probe. But investigators have found that his documents and e-mails contain a trove of information about his aggressive efforts to seek favors for clients from members of Congress and senior bureaucrats.

Accompanying Safavian and Abramoff on the 2002 trip to Scotland, for example, were Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, lobbyist and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Neil Volz, a lobbyist with Abramoff at the Washington office of Greenburg Traurig.

Like Abramoff, Safavian is a veteran Washington player. He is a former lobbying partner of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and previously worked with Abramoff at another firm. Both he and Abramoff have represented gambling clients and Indian tribes with gambling interests.

At the time of the golf trip, Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, where ethics rules flatly prohibited the receipt of a gift from any person seeking an official action by the agency. When Safavian asked GSA ethics officers for permission to go on the trip, he assured them in writing that Abramoff has no business before GSA, according to the affidavit signed by FBI special agent Jeffrey A. Reising.

Reising alleged, however, that Abramoff had by then already secretly enlisted Safavian in an effort to buy 40 acres of land that GSA managed in Silver Spring for use as the campus of a Hebrew school Abramoff founded. Safavian also allegedly tried to help Abramoff lease space for Abramoff's clients in an old post office building downtown.

On July 22, 2002, Abramoff sent Safavian an e-mail with a proposed draft letter that at least two members of Congress could send to GSA supporting the lease, according to the affidavit. Does this work, or do you want it to be longer? Abramoff asked.

Three days later, Safavian forwarded Abramoff an e-mail describing how an employee at OMB was resisting Abramoff's plan to lease space at the post office. I suspect we'll end up having to bring some Hill pressure to bear on OMB, Safavian messaged Abramoff.

On the same day Safavian discussed the golf trip with the ethics office, he sent an e-mail to Abramoff from his home computer, advising him how to lay out a case for this lease. Abramoff subsequently wrote in an e-mail to his wife and two officials of the school that Safavian had shown him a map of the property at his GSA office but had cautioned that Abramoff should not visit again given my high profile politically.

Safavian nonetheless arranged a meeting for Abramoff's wife and business partner with officials at GSA on the day before he departed for Scotland aboard Abramoff's chartered jet. The trip cost more than $120,000 and was paid for mostly by a charity founded and run by Abramoff, the Capital Athletic Foundation.

When Safavian was questioned by The Washington Post about the trip in January, he said he paid his share of the expenses and took unpaid leave. The trip was exclusively personal; I did no business there. . . . Jack is an old friend of mine, Safavian said.

But the complaint alleges that Safavian lied about his contacts with Abramoff on three occasions after his initial false pledge to the GSA ethics officer. The first was during a 2003 investigation by GSA's inspector general, who was responding to an anonymous tipster's hotline complaint; the second was in a March 17, 2005, letter to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; and the third was during an FBI interview on May 26, 2005.

FSM: Considering this situation we find ourselves in today, do you think presidential candidates should be vetted more before they are allowed even to run for their party's nomination?

BR: Well that's very difficult to say how you would do that - no elected official - senator or congressman or the vice president or president - goes through a security clearance process. The very election process itself is considered vetting.

*there is a great many people ready to believe in anything, even a black man from a corrupt Chicago political machine with a nice smile and pretty words. *

Yes, it is a historic event for a black man to become president, as is readily recognized and rightfully so. However, the OP used *even a black man* in what can only be described as a derogatory manner. -- ready to believe in anything -- even a black man -- followed by more derogatory comments. To read a statement like this that was obviously meant to be demeaning and pick out one aspect and try to paint that as an innocent description is ridiculous. Do you really think she meant to add a compliment in the midst of that statement? I think not. In fact, even the phrase *with a nice smile and pretty words* was meant as a sarcastic representation. I'm not making a mountain out of a mole hill here. This was obviously a racist statement. If Obama were white do you think the post would have included the statement *even a white man?* Of course it wouldn't. Why do you think that is? I think the OP managed to show her true colors on this one, whether or not she even realized it.

I am afraid that too many folks casting their votes will be doing it for these reasons, and that is scary

I personally feel the McCain hasn't been able to attack Obama like he should because they are too afraid of the race card being played.....and let's face it.....the race card is being played as it is.

I guess you could say I have not walked in a black person's shoes. However, don't for one second think that I have never felt racism. I've seen the glares and dirty looks aimed in my direction by black people. I've given smiles to strangers who instead of smiling back would glare hatefully at me. I've said, "I have a nice day," to people who have either given me a dirty look or turned their back to me.

I was at a hospital visiting my dying father when I left with my son to get something to eat. My son is very young and has a developmental delay. A black mother and her daughter walked onto the elevator with us. My son, not knowing any better, looked at the little girl and commented that she was brown. Without even thinking I said, "Yes she is. Isn't she beautiful!" The mother gave me the dirtiest look.

I wholeheartedly agree with JTBB. I think people see different things when they see Obama.

What I see is someone who is also half WHITE. I see someone who wouldn't even have been allowed to EXIST in this country not very long before he was born because interracial marriage was against the law. I see how far our country has come, despite all the bigots and racists, some of which obviously linger (but hopefully will go by the way of the dinosaur).

Most of all, I see someone who represents the BEST in most of us, instead of the LEAST in the few of us. By acknowledging my EXISTENCE (and I'm white) as someone in America who isn't a millionaire, by acknowledging the EXISTENCE of a healthcare problem and by acknowleding the EXISTENCE of all the other problems that plague people who were once part of the almost extinct middle class, he is acknowledging the existence of most of us, which is much more than has been done by the Republicans during either the last eight years or even during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

I have great faith in him, especially when I see him with his children, that he truly wants what is best for everyone in this country. I have no idea why so many people are so threatened by him. I truly see hope for a better future, even though I've been "programmed" to live on edge and wonder what the "President" is doing next to stick it to the little guy. Hopefully, I'll get over that "reflex," and hopefully he won't give me a reason to question or criticize him.

My, how classy. That so-called retardate graduated Yale & Harvard. Now who's retarded? Bill Clinton is plenty of things, too, but stupid, retarded, etc. are things that I've never heard a conservative say...ever.

in other words seeing someone as all bad or all good is not an indicator of high intelligence. Beware.

I think it's official.....gay is the new black (sm)

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe

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