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POPSFBI Asking Questions On Rezko-Obama Land Deal 
MarketWatch reports that FBI investigators are asking questions about the Rezko-Obama land deal. ...Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko was convicted June 16 on felony counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting a bribery scheme involving kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with the state... Conner said his appraisal of the Rezko property, held in Rita Malki Rezko's name, was replaced with a higher one and he was fired when he questioned the document. ...According to his complaint, Mr. Conner reviewed the appraisal of the Rezko property by another firm, Adams Appraisal, which had set the value at $625,000. The complaint said he told his bosses the property had been overvalued by at least $125,000 and that a “reasonable and fair evaluation” should have been no greater than $500,000. Mr. Conner said the removal of his appraisal “seemed understood as a crime with respect to the subpoena” of the Rezko property and the FDIC audit.
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POPSCatholics Probe Aid Directed To ACORN In June, the Catholic Church froze a $1.2 million grant for 38 ACORN chapters after the community-organizing group was accused of voter fraud in 15 states. State elections officials and the FBI are questioning ACORN workers who submitted voter registration forms signed by Mickey Mouse and members of the Dallas Cowboys football team in their efforts to register voters in low-income neighborhoods, many of whom tend to favor Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. Mr. Obama once worked with ACORN as a community organizer and lawyer in Chicago. "While there is value in registering low-income voters, I am concerned that the whole ban on partisanship has been violated," Ralph McCloud, the new executive director for the CCHD, said Monday. Mr. McCloud said he could not reassure Catholics that the funds donated before 2008 were not used in voter fraud. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/04/catholics-probe-aid-directed-to-acorn/
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POPSLA Police Fail to Use Funds to Test Rape Kit
US: LA Police Fail to Use Funds to Test Rape Kit "Why add to the suffering of rape victims by making them wait years to investigate and prosecute their cases -- or letting a prosecution go forward without this evidence?" said Sarah Tofte, a US Program researcher at Human Rights Watch who is researching the rape-kit backlog in Los Angeles and around the country. "The department needs to use its own budget and any future grants to make sure the job gets done." Timely testing of rape kits can be critical to bringing justice to sexual assault victims. It is often difficult to solve or prosecute a rape case effectively without this forensic evidence. Furthermore, under California law, there is no statute of limitations for bringing a case if the rape kit is tested within two years. But if it is not tested in that time frame, the statute of limitations is 10 years. "I want to thank Human Rights Watch for effectively pushing this issue into the forefront of the public arena," sai
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POPS ACORN Is A Bad Seed In a letter to ACORN, the State Board of Elections reported that 56% of the voter registration applications ACORN turned in were ineligible. Further, a full 35% were not submitted in a timely manner, as required by law. The State Board of Elections also commented on what appeared to be evidence of intentional voter fraud. "Additionally,” they wrote, “information appears to have been altered on some applications where information given by the applicant in one color ink has been scratched through and re-entered in another color ink. Any alteration of a voter registration application is a Class 5 Felony in accordance with § 24.2-1009 of the Code of Virginia." WA 2007 Three ACORN employees pleaded guilty, and four more were charged, in the worst case of voter registration fraud in Washington state history. More than 2,000 fraudulent voter registration cards were submitted by the group during a voter registration drive.
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POPSThe Banking Bailout and Those Bells and Whistles It seemed like everyone was on the same page--it lasted for about 24 hours. But the funds are not uncontroversial and have been criticized as a method by which politicians can cater to special interests. The funds were set to receive funding from Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE ) in this summer's Housing Bill. The uncertainty over the funds is tied directly to the uncertainty with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which need new legislation from the next Congress. The Treasury program to buy equity and securities from Fannie and Freddie only lasts through 2009. Under the new proposal, however, the funds will be addressed now. Together they receive one-fifth of the profits from the Treasury's purchasing program. Of that fifth, 65% go to the Housing Trust Fund and 35% to the Capital Magnet Fund. The remainder of the profits would stay with the Treasury. Not exactly the clean and simple passage that everyone was talking about on Sunday morning.
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POPSWhen Rules and Regulations Don't Mean Squat This is indicative of the lackadaisical attention being paid to rules and regulations that are designed to prevent this from happening. This situation is widespread in both the government and private sectors. Weapons and money have been 'lost' or 'misplaced' in Iraq; weapons and laptops are 'lost' or 'misplaced' by the FBI and ATF; personal records are 'lost' or 'misplaced' by trusted organizations; and the American economy is in the toilet. All because individuals are circumventing rules and procedures because they don't take their responsibilities seriously or use loopholes to better their personal financial situation, usually at our expense. And all we the taxpayers ever get out of this is a bogus line such as "We are revising our procedures". As long as people in responsible positions disregard procedure or undermine rules we the general public will always suffer the most.
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POPSArms Trade Flows Freely According to US state department figures this week, Iraq has signed more than $3bn worth of arms deals in the past two years. Amnesty estimates that more than 1m small arms have been sold to Iraq since the 2003 invasion and the Iraqi government plans to procure more than 250,000 from the US and China. And the irresponsible war profiteering continues. Russia has agreed to supply 27 helicopters to Sudan, says Amnesty. Last year, Sudan listed its main arms suppliers as China, Russia, North Korea, Belarus, Indonesia, Iran and Malaysia. Some of these weapons are being used by Al Qaeda against U.S. troops. Is there no better reason to halt this illegal/immoral war?
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POPSEbullion : James Fayed's Lawyers file motion to release seized funds The motion also states that Fayed's and his company may not have been the target. of the investigation. The feds will respond in due course. meanwhile e-bullion uses continue waiting. Link to full Ventura County Star news item. http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/20/nb1fayedbrief20/ "
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POPSCommunication Ideas poor communication frustrates managers and alienates employees. Ultimately, worker performance tends to degenerate.
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POPSSan Francisco Fights Border Crime? San Francisco received more SWBPI grant money in 2006 than Los Angeles County or San Diego County which do have bona fide border problems. As a result, we found that all of the SWBPI reimbursements submitted by San Francisco were not supported. In other words, San Franciso officials apparently submitted made-up data to document the expenditure of funds since it had apparently no records for "real" cases. Perhaps there are no "real" cases because the official policy of the City is not ask anyone if they are in the country illegally. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Federal officials say they will ask San Francisco to repay the $5.4 million the city has received as part of the program, but they have not determined how to go about it. This audit comes on the heels of a TV, radio and billboard public relations effort by the City to encourage illegal aliens to relocate to San Francisco where they can receive schooling, health care and other benefits.
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