A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for bank fraud.
Hassan Nemazee was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. He had reached a plea deal in March. He has admitted to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud.
Prosecutors say he forged signatures and concocted bogus account statements to conceal a scam in which he was using proceeds from new loans to pay off older ones.
Nemazee had been the national finance chairman of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. He also raised money for President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats.
Does anyone have to give any money back as a result?
They gave it all to 'charity'. I think it all went to the Benevolent Association for the Welfare of Insiders ...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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U.S. senators or Senate employees received 30 loans--far more than had previously been known--under a controversial lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that provided cut-rate terms to favored borrowers.
Yet more charitable outreach on behalf of the Benevolent Association for the Welfare of Insiders ...
The information is contained in a letter sent to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), who has been spearheading the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's investigation into Countrywide's so-called VIP mortgage program.
No specific loan recipients were named in the letter. But Mr. Issa's letter said borrowers on a dozen loans listed their place of employment as the office of "Senator Robert Bennett." Available public records don't indicate that Sen. Bennett, a Utah Republican and member of the Senate Banking Committee, received a Countrywide home loan.
Sens. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), have previously been identified among the high-profile individuals who received such loans. Both senators have denied wrongdoing. Until the Issa letter, no other senators or their staff members had been linked to the VIP loan program.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Bennett didn't respond to questions. Sen. Bennett recently lost his primary election battle and will be leaving the Senate in January after 18 years.
A spokesman for the Senate Ethics panel declined to comment. A spokesman for Bank of America Corp., which in 2008 acquired Countrywide, said the company had cooperated with the investigation by the House committee.
The VIP program operated during the housing boom earlier this decade, often writing mortgages with terms more favorable than those available to the general public. An estimated 28,000 loans were made, mostly to private parties such as Countrywide employees or their friends and relatives.
The House Oversight panel, where Mr. Issa is the ranking Republican member, is probing whether such loans were issued to public officials in an attempt to influence them. Last year, the committee subpoenaed VIP loan records from Bank of America.
In his letter dated July 13, Mr. Issa wrote that on seven loans not tied to Mr. Bennett's office, the borrowers listed their place of employment as "U.S. Senator." Another 11 listed the "U.S. Senate." In response to questions, a spokesman for Mr. Issa said the House committee didn't receive the names of the borrowers from Bank of America.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The Senate Ethics panel looked into the loans to Messrs. Dodd and Conrad, and last year cleared both men of any rule violations. The committee did say both "should have exercised more vigilance" in their dealings with Countrywide. On Wednesday, spokesmen for Messrs. Dodd and Conrad said questions about the senators' conduct had been resolved by the Ethics panel's findings.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. Gov. Joe Manchin is tapping former chief counsel Carte Goodwin, a member of a prominent West Virginia family, to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Democratic officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
The 36-year-old Goodwin, a Charleston lawyer, would hold the seat until November. That's when the governor wants general election voters to decide who will serve the final two years of Byrd's term. The Legislature has begun a special session to consider a proposal from Manchin to allow for a fall vote.
#1
The big question is will he go to the mattresses to defend coal mining, or is he just another party apparatchik who would vote to ruin WV when it is demanded of him?
#2
It appears Manchin appointed him to keep the seat warm for...Manchin.
Manchin is expected to run for the Senate seat and, as a popular two-term governor, he would be an early favorite. U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito is seen as a leading potential Republican contender.
#3
At the Press conference he said the Waxman-Markey bill as well as the Senate equivalent was flawed but he favored Rockys coal sequestration substitute. In other words hes both Manchins placeholder and sock-puppet.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (July 12-14, 625 LV, MoE +/- 4%) has taken a significant lead of Sharron Angle for the first time this year in Mason-Dixon polling, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which sponsored the poll.
Reid 44 (+3 vs. last poll, June 3)
Angle 37 (-7)
None 5
Und 10
Reid has opened up a 7-point lead -- while it's his most promising poll yet, he's still well under 50% and pollster Brad Coker tells the paper the race is still anyone's to win. Reid's lead is no doubt in part thanks to his aggressive media campaign, using TV and radio ads to portray Angle as an extreme, right-wing candidate.
"I wouldn't write her obituary just yet," Coker said. "Three and a half months is a lifetime, and at some point she's going to be able to start fighting back."
The LVRJ also reports Angle is coming off a strong fundraising quarter, topping Reid's own strong three-month haul. Angle reported raising $2.6 million to Reid's $2.4 million from April through June, though Reid still holds a significant cash-on-hand advantage ($9 million to $1.8 million).
#3
Redstate says the poll is a sham. Given the huge shift in numbers that's not hard to believe.
As for Angle, I fondly recall Tom Coburn's campaign for Senate. The Dems painted him as an "out of the mainstream" right wing whack job too. Now he's one of the best Senators we have. Just sayin.
#4
I have no doubt that the LVRJ can nudge a poll in whatever direction they want, just like the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Let's wait and see what more independent polls say.
However, Ms. Angle is a bit of a loose cannon, and you can believe that Dingy Harry is going to jump all over that, since he has nothing else on which to campaign. I respect the wishes of NV Republicans in who they chose to represent them in the election, but anyone with any sense could see this coming.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/16/2010 14:05 Comments ||
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#5
Keep that walking fecal matter in office, Nevada, I dare you. I will never go to that idiot state again if you do. In fact, I will curse you.
#6
If I were voting in Nevada, I would vote for just about anyone except Harry Reid. I'd go along with the notion of boycotting Nevada should they elect this bottom feeder again.
The election is still a toss-up depending on which polls you read. We are still a long way out from November. Reid apparently went negative and is getting some traction. I would think Angle would have a lot more ammo against Reid than he has against her.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is creeping forward and now is nearly tied with Republican Sharron Angle in his bid for reelection in Nevada.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Nevada finds Angle with 46% support, while Reid earns 43% of the vote. Six percent (6%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) remain undecided.
This is Reidâs best showing all year and follows a visit by President Obama to the state to help his campaign.
Reid has also been trying to raise doubts about Angle and a solid plurality of voters now have negative perceptions of both candidates. Reid is viewed Very Favorably by just 26% of Nevada voters and Very Unfavorably by 48%. For Angle, Very Favorables are 18% and Very Unfavorables are 39%.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
The notion that governments derive their only just authority from the consent of the governed is a foundational principle of the American experiment.
However, a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 23% of voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-two percent (62%) say it does not, and 15% are not sure.
These figures have barely budged since February.
There is no gender gap on this question. Younger voters are more likely than their elders to believe the government today has the necessary consent. Among voters under 30, 28% say the government has that consent. Just 15% of senior citizens share that view.
Senior citizens are more more likely to vote than are young voters. So that 85% of the unconsenting seniors will be over-weighted in the polls, while the 28% or consenting youngsters should be underweighted. This is what makes poll analysis so much fun.
From an ideological perspective, most liberal voters (58%) think the federal government has the consent of the governed. Most moderates (57%) and most conservatives (84%) disagree.
Democrats are closely divided on the question. Republicans and unaffiliated voters strongly reject the notion that the government has the consent of the governed.
As if things weren't bad enough for Democrats, something I didn't believe possible six months ago has happened: The Senate is now in play. You don't believe it, dear reader? Let's look at the numbers.
To retain control, Democrats need at least 50 seats. They start with 45 seats that are safe or not up for election this year, and there are three more races (NY, CT, and OR) that they are likely to win, for a total of 48. (The comparable number for Republicans is 41.) That leaves 11 seats in play. Here they are, along with the most recent survey results:
CA Fiorina (R) 47, Boxer (D) 45
CO Buck (R) 48, Bennet (D) 39
FL Rubio (R) 36, Crist (I) 34, Meek (D) 15
IL Giannoulias (D) 40, Kirk (R) 39
KY Paul (R) 43, Conway (D) 43
MO Blunt (R) 48, Carnahan (D) 43
NV Angle (R) 48, Reid (D) 41
OH Portman (R) 43, Fisher (D) 39
PA Toomey (R) 45, Sestak (D) 39
WA Murray (D) 47, Rossi (R) 47
WI Feingold (D) 45, Johnson (R) 43
Apply whatever discount you want to individual surveys of varying quality and provenance; the overall picture is pretty clear. A few things stand out:
Barbara Boxer is really in trouble, and it's part of a larger California story: The most recent survey had Meg Whitman up seven over Jerry Brown in the gubernatorial contest.
Patty Murray and Russ Feingold are fighting for their political lives.
Colorado has been moving away from the Democratic Party since early in the Obama administration, and intra-party squabbling over the Senate nomination has increased the odds against Bennet.
The surge some expected toward Harry Reid after the Republicans nominated an "out-of-the-mainstream" candidate has not yet materialized.
Illinois's "deep-blue" status may not be enough to counteract the effects of a weak Democratic nominee.
There are some elections years (1980, 1986, and 2006 come to mind) when most of the close races tip in the same direction, producing a shift of control. 2010 could be another.
It's entirely possible that when the dust settles this November, Republicans will have hit the trifecta--President Obama's former seat, Vice President Biden's former seat, plus the Senate majority leader's seat.
For much of the past year the Tea Party has preoccupied pundits, who consider it to be the locus of energy in the conservative movement and the source of the "enthusiasm gap" between Republicans and Democrats heading into the fall election. In this context, which might turn several blue states red in a low-turnout midterm, it would be a delicious irony if Democrats manage to hold on to the Senate by defeating the Tea Party's iconic candidate in deep-red Kentucky. Stay tuned.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm not going to get too excited until I hear it from Robert Gibbs.
#3
I'm not going to get too excited until I hear a serious, credible, well thought-out plan from the minority party regarding how to get big employers and banks to stop sitting on their multi-trillion dollar cash/reserves hoards and start hiring and lending to Americans again.
Just slashing the deficit won't increase hiring anytime soon. This is a structural problem for which neither Tweedledum nor Tweedledee has an answer.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
07/16/2010 10:49 Comments ||
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#5
Okay, Lex, here you go:
1) cut all remaining 'stimulus' plan spending that isn't yet out the door
2) make the 2001 and 2002 personal income tax cuts permanent
3) do not change personal income tax rates
4) don't do cap and tax
5) repeal ObamaCare
Do those five things and small/mid-sized businesses will get the idea that government isn't going to snatch everything away from them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/16/2010 14:08 Comments ||
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#6
Small employers aren't likely to make a difference if the employers need access to loans in order to expand/hire. The banks aren't lending. Tax cuts won't affect the determination of the huge banks to hoard their massive reserves.
In any case, it's the big employers who really matter-- they're the ones who offer decent benefits, significantly higher salary and better security.
As Andy Grove points out, the dearth in jobs creation started long BEFORE the recession. Silicon Valley's tech companies have not created any net new jobs since 2000.
#7
If the Rethuglicons want to get elected, they can do so by making AND KEEPING one promise - to reduce the regulatory burden on citizens and business. If they want to stay in power for decades, they can do so by reducing the size, scope, and POWER of non-congressional regulatory agencies and their "mandates". Start with the EPA.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/16/2010 19:12 Comments ||
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#8
In any case, it's the big employers who really matter-
Everything I've read says it's the small employers that do most of the new hiring as they see the opportunity to expand sales, even if at lower wages and benefits that the big companies. But the big companies have been down-sizing, rationalizing, and right-sizing for years, getting more work out of fewer employees at every level. So while actual pay and benefits may not have changed, the output per work hour -- and for salaried employees, the number of hours worked -- at all levels has gone up significantly.
The big companies are not going to be the ones to drive reductions in unemployment. Hopefully they will join in the trend once its clear we're in the recovery phase, because I'm not the only one who'd like his/her spouse to be able to come home a bit earlier and work while at home a bit less.
#9
Lex, this may surprise you but Silicon valley accounts for a very small portion of the workforce.
Personally I'm surprised Obama didn't copy FDR and create some sort of CCC's to get people working. Fixing roads and/or building a wall along the border (yeah I know he wouldn't). Anything to get (a) Voters working (b) expand government hiring (c) Get credit for fixing infrastructure.
I'm also surprised that he hasn't tried to buy up foreclosed properties and rented them back to the owners or some such system to avoid Voters being evicted and keep the housing market from being awash with unsellable homes.
NAACP President Ben Jealous said Thursday that the resolution passed by the group on Wednesday does not call the tea party "racist."
The resolution the NAACP approved Wednesday at its annual conference in Kansas City alleges that the tea party has used racial epithets against President Barack Obama and has verbally and physically abused African-American members of Congress.
A portion of the resolution does indeed characterize the behavior as "racist," but Jealous said Thursday during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the resolution was not intended to condemn the entire movement as such.
"We aren't saying that the tea party is racist," Jealous said. "What we're saying is that with their increasing power comes an increasing responsibility to act responsibly...and to call out when they see those things on those signs."
Jealous argued that racist groups have embraced the tea party movement and said that what the NAACP would like to see one of the movements leaders -- whether it be former House Majority Leader Dick Armey or former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- denounce those elements of the tea party.
"These sort of KKK type groups saying they like the tea party and want to be a part of it, it would just seem someone would call out and say we don't want them to be a part of it," he said.
Asked if he thought members of the tea party are racially insensitive, Jealous responded: "No, not at all."
The NAACP was attacked over the resolution by the likes of Palin, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and South Carolina congressional candidate Tim Scott, who if elected would be the first African-American Republican in the House since Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) left in January 2003.
"I believe that the NAACP is making a grave mistake in stereotyping a diverse group of Americans who care deeply about their country and who contribute their time, energy and resources to make a difference," Scott said in a statement.
"Americans need to know that the tea party is a color-blind movement that has principled differences with many of the leaders in Washington, both Democrats and Republicans," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
And of course I don't think of the NAACP as racist any more than they think of me as racist.
Got the feeling that you were just hung by your own petard?
#2
Depending upon geography, the term racism can actually mean many things to many people. I challenge you as a caucasian or coloured person, try to gain public office or land a government or oftentimes private sector job, such that remain, in any of the emerging "democracies" of sub-saharan Africa.
#3
struggling for relevancy and press, they attack the tea party with their last card: the race card. F*ck them when they find out that the tea party is AMERICA. This NAACP band of old racial hucksters will be back-pedalling fast. Liars and thieves who've outlived their original lofty goals, they struggle to find a reason to exist without dealing with their own internal cultural issues: single moms, anyone? baby daddys, anyone? guns, drugs, and gangsta role models anyone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2010 7:43 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
07/16/2010 8:51 Comments ||
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#6
The very finest part of the TEA Party is that it has no specific leader to isolate, personalize, whatever-the-hell-else those Alinskyites like to do.
#7
"These sort of KKK type groups saying they like the tea party and want to be a part of it, it would just seem someone would call out and say we don't want them to be a part of it," he said.
So, according to our man Ben, while these groups appear to like the tea party message, they also appear not to be welcome in the movement. In his own words "We aren't saying that the tea party is racist".
So, besides trying to appear relevant in this day and age and providing cover for your man in the White House...what was the point of this whole exercise?
#8
Frank writes: struggling for relevancy and press, they attack the tea party with their last card: the race card.
I'd add one more motivation to that list: they simply can't conceive that tea party members would be acting out of honest belief. In the progressive/socialist mindset, no reasonable person would ever come to believe in the principles that tea party members believe in -- limited government, individual responsibility, separation of powers, checks on government authority, holding down non-essential spending, and so on.
The progressives simply can't buy the idea that you or I would believe these things as a result of honest intellectual inquiry.
Therefore, we must believe these things as a result of some influence that is more sinister and nefarious. When you get to that point, the race card is the first one you use.
When 'racism' doesn't work, believe me, they'll find other reasons to 'explain' our behavior.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/16/2010 9:47 Comments ||
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#9
Desperation.
Obvious now that we are in a depression, not a recession, and that the political class has lost the confidence and trust of the people.
And not just the political class. The main engines of our growth, prosperity and middle-class democracy overall-- private sector big employers and the financial sector-- have completely failed to end or even make any dent in the jobs drought.
Both corporate America and the major banks are sitting on literally trillions (IIRC $1.8 trillion in the case of the Fortune 500 alone) in cash-- and they're not hiring. Net employment growth in the tech sector in Silicon Valley since 2000 has been ZERO.
The banks, recipients of many times that sum when you factor in real interest rates down to Japanese levels thanks to the Fed's largesse, are sitting on their reserves. They aren't lending. They are, however, back to their off balance sheet prop trading whoring ways, however. (Tunku Vardanyan of Forbes and NYU Stern B-school notes that Government Sachs, in purchasing its reputation back from the Securities Eyewash Commission, paid half a billion and received an immediate $3 billion boost to its market cap yesterday.)
No hiring, no lending: our country is ossifying before our very eyes.
This time is different. Neither party has the faintest clue as to how to get companies hiring and banks lending.
A pox on both your incompetent, lying houses.
Time for a new political class in this country-- before we become another $hitty latin-style oligarchy.
#10
verbally and physically abused African-American members of Congress
An outright LIE. If we had a decent press they would ask him to substantiate that accusation instead of parroting it like its a fact. The "spitting" and "n-word" NEVER HAPPENED. No proof other than lying race-baiter congressman's words that are contradicted by video and witness testimony. Plenty of proof to the contrary. When will the press stop being a tool, and start doing its job of finding the facts?
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
07/16/2010 10:45 Comments ||
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And I thank you professor very much. I'm going to be engaging you with those very powerful numbers that you have offered on what the tea party recognizes, uh, or is recognized as. Might I add my own P.S.? All those who wore sheets a long time ago have now lifted them off and started wearing [applause], uh, clothing, uh, with a name, say, I am part of the tea party. Don't you be fooled. [voices: "That's right.", applause] Those who used to wear sheets are now being able to walk down the aisle and speak as a patriot because you will not speak loudly about the lack of integrity of this movement. Don't let anybody tell you that those who spit on us as we were walking to vote on a health care bill for all of America or those who said Congresswoman Jackson-Lee's braids were too tight in her hair had anything to do with justice and equality and empowerment of the American people. Don't let them fool you on that [applause]....
#12
Suppose the Tea Party got everything it wanted. How would that impact any group in a bad way? Other than liberals, of course. NAACP members better figure out what they have to gain and get with the program.
#13
The NAACP by it's very name is Racist. I automaticly ignore anything they say about
"White Racists".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/16/2010 11:59 Comments ||
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#14
Steve,
For the Progressives its all about power. They can't fathom people who can believe in principles and oaths. The adherence to words as written and as read rather than (intentionally mis-)interpreted for the aggrandizement of power and ego is beyond their mental constructs. That's why even in the imperfect application of principles and beliefs groups like the evangelicals and the military are literally alien to them. So, to point out to such creatures that what the Tea Party actually is about, Constitutionalism, won't alter their perceptions.
The warm and fuzzing in all this is the knowledge that they are violating Sun Tzu's admonition - If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Let me say something a tad newsworthy to the president of the NAACP. You can go to hell. ... I have tapes tape of racism and its an NAACP dinner. You want to play with fire? I have evidence of racism and its coming from the NAACP."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/16/2010 14:23 Comments ||
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#16
Barbara, I heard on Fox and saw it somewhere else also that Breitbart offered $100,000 six months ago to anyone who could prove that racist remarks, etc. were said or on signs at the Tea Parties. So far no one has done that.
[Fox Chicago] On Wednesday, one of Governor Quinn's routine bill signing ceremonies turned into a debate over ballot access and the Tea Party in Illinois.
A supporter of Republican and Tea Party activist Cedra Crenshaw jumped up and demanded to know why Democrats supporting incumbent State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, who was at the bill signing, had worked to get Crenshaw kicked off the ballot.
Crenshaw, a 37-year old mother of three who studied accounting at North Carolina A&T, submitted hundreds more signatures on her nominating petitions than required. But Will County officials knocked her off the November ballot, saying one of the sentences in her filing should have used slightly different wording.
"I am angry," said Crenshaw, an African-American who rejects complaints that the Tea Party movement is racist. "And a lot of the voters are very angry, as well. Right here in the State of Illinois, the vote is being denied to the voters of the 43rd State Senate District by a frivolous challenge."
Sen. Wilhelmi told me the rules are the rules.
"The statute is pretty clear on what you need to do," he said. "So, follow the statute and there are no issues."
Sen. Wilhelmi's right. Candidates all across Illinois are trying to kick their opponents off the ballot. We've lost a lot of real jobs, but this is a growth industry pumping big bucks into the pockets of nit-picking lawyers for both Democrats and Republicans.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I live in Will County. The politics here are almost as crooked as that seen in Cook County, just less famous.
Joliet and Romeoville are heavily Democratic, the rest of the county is heavily Republican.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/16/2010 9:49 Comments ||
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#2
"The statute is pretty clear on what you need to do," he said. "So, follow the statute and there are no issues."
The classic cop out. Wilhelmi is the one that needs to go.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/16/2010 12:05 Comments ||
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[Minnesota Independent] A SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KSTP-TV found U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann leads her DFL challenger Tarryl Clark 48 percent to 39 percent. Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson garnered 6 percent, and independent candidate Aubrey Immelman got 2 percent. Five percent of respondents say they are undecided.
Clark bested Bachmann among women and Bachmann led among tea party supporters.
Clark got the support of 47 percent of women in the poll while 39 percent supported Bachmann. Fifty-six percent of men picked Bachmann at 56 percent, compared to only 31 percent for Clark.
Forty-five percent of those polled support the tea party movement, while 33 percent oppose it. Those that support it went to Bachmann by 86 percent. Eighty-two percent of those that oppose it picked Clark.
Surprisingly, the district trends pro-choice on the issue of abortion: 49 percent identified as pro-choice and 46 percent pro-life.
Party affiliation in the poll was 36 percent Republican, 28 percent DFL and 31 percent independent.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Radical Lawyer Lynne Stewart must serve a decade in prison - a sentence that could keep her behind bars until she turns 80.
Flanked Thursday by family and supporters, Stewart, 70, quietly wiped away tears as U.S. District Judge John Koeltl handed down his decision to give her 10 years and a month for helping a blind extremist cleric relay messages to terror cohorts in Egypt. The stiff sentence was four times what she originally faced.
Koeltl said Stewart had "abused her position as a lawyer" and that her original sentence was "not adequate."
The controversial civil rights attorney was convicted in 2005 of helping Omar Abdel Rahman pass messages from prison. She had represented him after the feds charged him with plotting to blow up city landmarks. Stewart was initially sentenced to 28 months.
In an unusual move last year, the federal appeals court ordered that she be re-sentenced because the judge in her initial trial did not rule whether she perjured herself. The judge in her first trial was Koeltl. Who got his ass reamed by by the appeals court. Looks like it got his attention.
Stewart was shocked by the new sentence. "I'm somewhat stunned by the swift change in my outlook," Stewart told the judge. "We will continue to struggle on, and we will take, of course, all available options to do what we need to do to change this."
Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, her co-counsel in the terrorism case, called the sentence "a travesty, a total injustice." Haven't you died yet?
Federal prosecutors had requested Koeltl hand down a 15 to 30 year sentence for the perjury and for abusing her position as a lawyer. "Lynne Stewart broke the oath she swore as an attorney and now stands sentenced in the system of laws that she betrayed," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Stewart and her defense lawyers had asked Koeltl to uphold the original 28-month sentence, arguing that she suffers from life-threatening medical problems and that she never perjured herself.
At the time of her 2006 sentencing, she brazenly told the judge she could do the 28 months "standing on my head." Ooooops...wrong answer. Yesterday, Stewart, who has battled breast cancer and other illnesses, was more circumspect. "I have since learned, judge, that nobody, particularly this 70-year-old woman can do 28 months standing on their head," she told Koeltl, adding that 15 years would be "a death sentence." Well well...it appears schadenfreude is back in town. And having a belly laugh ...
#3
She was convicted 5 years ago. Is she actually in prison yet? Looks like she would have been better off to just serve her initial sentence. Hope she rots in ...
Absolutely. Deliberate, material aid to a terrorist organization; lying about it to a judge; joking to her jihadist terrorist comrades about how she should win an Oscar for her "acting" abilities: the woman was probably Al Qaeda's stoutest ally in the US bar.
#12
That is an idea: give her a Koran so she can learn that as a woman she has 99.9% probability of going to hell, that in case she had a headache in her life she will go to the hottest part of it and that in case she belongs to the 0.01% women who go into Paradise she will go to the lowest layer of it. Anyone wanting to convert her?
#13
Poor baby has cancer? Send her to Libya, I understand they have amazing curative powers for terrorists there.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/16/2010 12:39 Comments ||
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#14
This woman should get in with the Taliban. They won't even allow women to go see a gynecologist I understand. That would be a fitting end for her. I'd give everything just to know what her last thoughts would be.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Radical Lawyer Lynne Stewart must serve a decade in prison - a sentence that could keep her behind bars until she turns 80.
