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The Daily Muck
The practice of outsourcing defense operations in Iraq and Afghanistan includes another wrinkle, the House Oversight Committee reported Thursday. While the pertinent government agencies have set rates with a single carrier, the Pentagon has allowed the contractors to negotiate their own insurance deals, causing massive markups that taxpayers inherit. (Associated Press)
Following the recent resignation of two staffers of Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) campaign team due to their ties to lobbying for a dictatorship, Republican consultant Craig Shirley has been asked to leave the campaign now after Politico found Shirley working for a '527' group in opposition to Democratic presidential candidates. McCain hired Shirley's firm, Shirley & Bannister Associates, for $22,000 earlier this year to drum up Republican support. Shirley has received over $155,000 since 2007 from Stop Her Now, the '527', for public relations work. (Politico)
The Bush administration cut ties with Iraq war-pusher Ahmed Chalabi this week ... again. He was removed from his post in the Iraqi government for his connections to Iranian officials. But is he really gone for good? (Newsweek)
An internal e-mail dated March 20 from a Veterans Affairs Dept. employee states,"Given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I'd like to suggest that we refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out. Consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder, R/O PTSD." VA Sec. James Peake calls the e-mail "inappropriate" and said the employee has apologized. (Associated Press)
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign has accepted $4,600 from Melvyn Weiss who is under investigation for bribing plaintiffs in lawsuits involved with his New York law firm, netting them millions in fees. Weiss donated the money in June 2007, and formally pleaded guilty to the kickback charges this April. (Harper's)
John Rogers, now a top Barack Obama-funder and head of Ariel Capital, received help from then-State Senator Obama to get a larger role in the Illinois state pension fund programs in 2001.(ABC News)
A dirt subcontractor and a former Army Corps of Engineers consultant have been indicted for allegedly sharing confidential bid information for a levee project in New Orleans. In return for the bid, subcontractor Durwanda Elizabeth Morgan Heinrich promised to give the Corps workers 25 cents for every cubic yard of dirt, sand or gravel used on the levees near Lake Cataouatche. (Associated Press)
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has announced he will return all Spitzer 2010 campaign contributions from supporters. Donors have until June 15 to request the refund. (New York Post)
Josh
Zachary
Not sure how to get this thing out there... but a strange Subliminal Fox promotion of John McCain is noted on a website and I think it needs to get more airplay... so if someone reads this and knows how to PROPERLY promote it please do so... at the blog below there is the story/video of a subliminal push for John McCain on a local (and I would guess given what "Outfoxed" showed us, multiple local venues) fox news affiliate's news graphic.
http://www.jailbreaktoys.com/blog/
May 16, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's mindblowing. This was obviously local news on a Fox affiliate, but I wonder if the graphical opening is something used by many—if not all—Fox affiliates?
I don't know how to get big publicity for this, but I'm going to give this link to all my friends.
Thanks for it.
May 18, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
As to John Rogers and Ariel:
Ariel had some funds with a mildly social-conscience investment policy that attracted me to invest in Ariel. At the time I purchased, in late 2003, the fund's returns were on par with most of the top-rated mutual funds with similar investment goals (small-cap value).
Ariel's performance in that era, and its social-conscience orientation, undoubtedly appealed both to Obama and to the Teachers' Pension Fund. The "minority control" factor may have also made Ariel particularly attractive to the Teachers' Pension Fund as a prospective investment manager.
It is not surprising that John Rogers, the African-American head of a small group of successful mutual funds, would be enthusiastic about raising money on behalf of the first African American who has a chance to become President of the United States.
I have no personal knowledge of the introductions and discussions for which Obama is under fire here. But when quality people recommend other quality people who have a good track record to do the same type of work for others, it is hard for me to see where the supposed sin lies.
Ariel does have a conservative buy-and-hold value investment strategy, one which reduces the income tax consequences of the funds' operations to its shareholders. That value investing philosophy was another important reason that I invested in the fund.
Ariel may have "underperformed," but I'll wager that Ariel did not invest in derivatives and other hedge-fund created financial instruments used for gambling. I hope that the Teachers' Pension Fund substitute investment managers has not lost the Pension Funds a bundle in the speculative financial instruments that generated higher "performance" - on paper - until the house of cards brought the credit markets crashing down. Frankly, I would not be surprised to learn that the only time politicians played a questionable role in channeling the Teachers' Pension Fund to a particular investment manager was when the Pension Fund took the management contract AWAY from Ariel.
By the way, this looks like the type of non-story that Karl Rove and his ilk would create out of whole cloth to try to neutralize the bad publicity that John McCain is getting for carrying the water of a major political contributor with the FCC and for his reprimand from involvement with the Keating Five scandal. This time, as to Obama, it sure looks like a true case of "Nothing to see here, folks .... move on ..... nothing to see ....."
May 17, 2008 5:51 AM | Reply | Permalink