Clipmarks | tabsey's 'corruption' clips

Gilmore filed false information on campaign disclosure forms

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:43:10 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: And in his arrogance he felt he would not be caught, or lying, or crapping on the system that he should want to serve, not abuse from the very start.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

RICHMOND -- Former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III, the state's Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, submitted false information on two financial disclosure forms that hid his ties to a government contractor embroiled in a legal dispute over allegations that two of its executives had conspired to defraud the federal government.

On the forms, the first filed in June 2007 for his presidential campaign and the second in May after he joined the U.S. Senate race, Gilmore said he was on the board of Windmill International.

Gilmore, who signed his name attesting that the information on the forms was "complete and correct," reported that Windmill International was based in Nashua, N.H.

Tags: bribery+corruption=politics

Bribery claims cast cloud over nuclear 'yes' vote

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:22:16 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Surprise, surprise. Bribery. There will be huge profits for those in the right positions. But bribery? Next there will be allegations of corruption.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

THE Indian Government has shrugged off a bribery scandal after winning its crucial confidence vote, opening the way for a landmark nuclear pact with the United States and prompting fresh calls for the Australian Government to lift its ban on uranium sales to India.

The Government won a simple majority of 275 votes in the 541-seat Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament. There were 10 abstentions.

It was a triumph for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and for Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress Party. "This will send a message to the world at large … India is prepared to take its rightful place in the community of nations," Mr Singh said.

The win was marred by allegations of bribery just before the vote, when three members of India's main opposition party, the BJP, tabled a scruffy black bag containing 10 million rupees ($A244,000) and waved cash in front of the Speaker.

Tags: bribery, +, corruption, =, politics

NASA 'wants to buy Japan's cargo spacecraft'

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:31:38 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: NASA had only just started helping US companies with such a ship. Too late. A reflection of the uncertainty of funding due to the Iraq/Afghanistan invasions. Seeing all that money going to greed and corruption must really hurt scientists.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The US space agency, NASA, is reportedly negotiating the purchase of unmanned Japanese transfer spacecraft to replace its own ageing shuttles.

The Yomiuri newspaper says NASA has began unofficial negotiations with Japan's space agency, with such a deal being the biggest in Japan's 50-year space development history.

The H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), which costs about 14 billion yen ($134.67 million) each, is being developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and domestic companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, the Yomiuri said.

Behind the move is NASA's concern that the retirement of its space shuttles in 2010 will make it difficult for the US to fulfil its responsibilities to deliver water, food and materials for scientific experiments to the International Space Station, the paper said.

Tags: science, makes, the, world, go, round, not, money

Alarm on carbon trading scheme

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:47:46 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Sounds reasonable. We all read episodes nightly that make us wonder at the amount of greed and corruption that occurs.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

ONE of the world's best-known economists, Jeffrey Sachs, has warned Australia against using an emissions trading scheme to tackle climate change, saying it would never win global support.

On the eve of the Rudd Government releasing its blueprint for emissions trading, Professor Sachs said the concept was "highly disliked" by China and other developing countries, and they would never agree to it.

Professor Sachs, economic adviser to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, and author of the best-seller The End of Poverty, made the warning yesterday at a conference at the Australian National University. Standing alongside the Government's climate change adviser Ross Garnaut, who wants Australia to adopt emissions trading, Professor Sachs declared that:

â– There would never be a global agreement to introduce emissions trading or carbon taxes to tackle climate change.

Tags: less, rort, prone, the, better

China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:15:12 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Another country making a mockery of the UN. One wonders why they are not making a greater effort to reinvent the UN as an effective body. Greed, corruption?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The BBC tracked down Chinese-built military trucks inside Darfur

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan's government militarily in Darfur.

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

China's government has declined to comment on the BBC's findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.

Panorama traced the first lorry by travelling deep into the remote deserts of West Darfur.

They found a Chinese Dong Feng army lorry in the hands of one of Darfur's rebel groups.

Plates on the first truck show it was imported after the embargo

Tags: politics, greed

Olmert being questioned again

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:39:40 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Slowly rooting this bad apple out.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Police have widened an investigation into allegations of corruption against Israeli PM Ehud Olmert to also look at whether he may have committed fraud.

A joint statement by police and the justice ministry said he was suspected of seeking "duplicate funding for his trips abroad from public bodies".

Earlier, Mr Olmert was questioned for a third time over allegations stemming from before he became prime minister.

There have been calls for Mr Olmert, who denies any wrongdoing, to resign.

His governing Kadima party is due to hold a leadership election in mid-September.

Earlier, Mr Olmert was interviewed by police for a third time as part of an inquiry attempting to establish whether he dispensed favours in exchange for funds he allegedly received illegally from a US financier, Morris Talansky.

Mr Talansky has testified he gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in envelopes full of cash to Israel's prime minister but said he did not seek or receive any favours in return.

Tags: politics, corruption

U.S. issues "insulting" Berlusconi biography

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:13:01 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Hypocrisy is alive and well in the White House and on the planes, in fact, anywhere that Bush goes, he takes his justifier, Hypocrisy.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - The United States formally apologized to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday for distributing to reporters an "insulting" biography of him that said he was "hated by many".

The description was included in a thick press kit distributed to reporters traveling with U.S. President George W. Bush from Washington to the Group of Eight summit in Japan that Berlusconi was also attending.

The four-page biography, pulled from the Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, refers to Berlusconi as "hated by many but respected by all at least for his bella figura (personal style) and the sheer force of his will".

Berlusconi was said to be "regarded by many as a political dilettante who gained his high office only through use of his considerable influence on the national media..."

It also said Berlusconi was "one of the most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for governmental corruption and vice".

Tags: hypocrits, drown, in, their, own, crap, eventually

Bush To Prod G-8 Leaders On AIDS Funding

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:44:44 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: What a crappy attempt to be seen as a good person and trying to divert attention from his masters, the corporations and drug companies, who will happily watch the world die while they fiddle with greed and corruption.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Listen Now [4 min 22 sec] add to playlist

Weekend Edition Sunday, July 6, 2008 · Global health will be on the agenda at this week's Group of Eight summit. President Bush hopes the other leaders will keep a promise: They pledged billions of dollars to fight AIDS and other diseases in the developing world.

Ex-worker on Crusade Against Chemical Plant

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:54:09 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: A good article, showing why it is virtually impossible to beat the lies and corruption. To me, the fact that they say they have cleaned things up, means there were problems when they took over. Where is the clause for retrospective situations

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

"It was the dead birds that set Rita Smith off." Here, a bird rescued from Searles Lake. (Photo: International Bird Rescue Research)

Ex-worker on crusade against chemical plant.

Trona, San Bernardino County - It was the dead birds that set Rita Smith off.

Her husband, Steve, had been ill for years, with oozing sores on his skin, shortness of breath and mental confusion. She suspected that it all was tied to a Mojave Desert chemical plant where they both had worked.

The company, now named Searles Valley Minerals, fiercely denied that working there made Steve Smith gravely ill, and by 2000, Rita Smith's hunt for answers had turned up little, despite all her letters and calls to regulators.

That was before she learned of the largely unpublicized deaths of thousands of migratory birds that landed on a lake created by the plant's discharges at its desolate site northeast of Los Angeles.

Tags: slaves, die, and, are, replaced

Political donations linked to developers, contractors

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:28:28 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Obama has been clever with the areas he has accepted donations from. These corrupt developers and politicians destroy any belief in a fair system.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

CORPORATE donors to the Victorian Labor Party are almost invariably companies with lucrative public contracts or development, gaming or alcohol interests at the mercy of Government discretion.

An investigation by The Age has also revealed a correlation in the timing of developer donations and key planning decisions. These projects include the $600 million Martha Cove marina at Safety Beach, the redevelopment of the Lombard paper warehouse in Flemington, and the $650 million Burwood Heights residential and commercial precinct.

While there is no proof that money has bought influence, there is little doubt that many in the property industry are encouraged to believe that financial contributions to the governing party help their cause.

It seems that donations also buy access and time for big and small contributors alike. "Yes it gives them (companies) a bit more time in the sun," a Labor insider well versed in raising cash admitted.

Tags: dinosaurs, and, corruption, cause, death

Inquiry urged into UK territory

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:14:18 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Government - corruption - everywhere

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

MPs are urging the Foreign Office to launch an inquiry into the running of a British territory in the Caribbean.

The islands have a British governor but self-govern internal affairs

A Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report raises concerns over allegations of corruption and intimidation in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The MPs criticise the Foreign Office and British Governor Richard Tauwhare for failing to act over the claims.

The islands' premier, Michael Misick, denied corruption when he appeared before MPs in London in December.

Witness protection

Mr Misick is alleged to have amassed a fortune worth millions of dollars since being elected in 2003.

The committee is calling on the British government to set up a commission of inquiry and guarantee full protection for witnesses.

Its report says Mr Misick is under investigation by US authorities over the alleged rape of an American citizen.

Tags: i, deserve, more

Istiklal

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:41:30 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The oil that was their independence, has become their chain.

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Independence is elusive in Iraq, where these young Iraqi boys turn an anti-aircraft gun into a playground. (Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Amman - The city of Amman, Jordan, is awash with numerous colorful signs that proclaim independence, "Istiklal." The word is found on posters and placards in store windows. It names a major thoroughfare, a hospital and a shopping center. Appreciation for independence is palpable, and this could be said for numerous cities and towns throughout the region, including Iraq, where past struggles for independence are commemorated by naming buildings and streets "Istiklal." It reflects the love of independence and the longing for it.

But independence is elusive in a region suffering multiple wars and occupations. Particularly in Iraq, it's hard to imagine an independent society growing up amid the violent wreckage of economic sanctions, US bombardment and staggering corruption.

Tags: no, soccer, balls, they, set, off, cluster, bombs

Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:38:13 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Why is he picking on oil chiefs? They just want to make a quid. Tyhe lying, greedy, corrupt so-and-so's who are now being seen for what they are; and the contempt they hold for the planet/people/nature.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.

Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.

Tags: greed, corruption

Mann blames Guinea coup on financier

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:37:10 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Mercenary to the end.

Clip Source: www.thedaily.com.au

British mercenary Simon Mann sought at his trial on Thursday to pin responsibility for a plot to topple Equatorial Guinea's president on London-based millionaire Ely Calil.

Mann - who prosecutors accuse of spearheading the operation - said Calil was the mastermind in the failed 2004 bid to oust the small but oil-rich west African country's leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Mann, educated at Eton and a former member of Britain's elite SAS force, said the coup operation was budgeted at $US20 million ($A21.15 million).

The coup attempt has attracted international attention because of the involvement of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's son Mark, whom Mann described as a key member of the team on Wednesday.

However, on the third day of Mann's trial, the mercenary, who faces a 30-year jail sentence if found guilty as charged, said he and his troops were unable to act without Calil's express authorisation being given.

Tags: greed, corruption

Olmert 'took cash in envelopes'

Wed, 28 May 2008 08:31:44 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Politicians can't get away with bribes if they are not popular. Gotta have charisma, greed and be good at the job. They all do it, if you judge by the number getting caught.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A US businessman has testified he gave envelopes full of cash to Israel's prime minister but said he did not seek or receive any favours in return.

Morris Talansky told an Israeli court he did not know how the money was spent, but linked it to Ehud Olmert's "love" of "expensive" luxury goods.

Police are investigating whether the PM took up to $500,000 (£250,000) in bribes or illegal campaign donations.

Mr Olmert says sums from Mr Talansky were legal campaign contributions.

Mr Talansky made his claim during testimony under oath at the request of prosecutors, before his expected return to the United States.

"I gave [Mr Olmert] cash in envelopes," the millionaire campaign fundraiser said, according to a transcript of the hearing.

"I asked him why I couldn't write a cheque and he said it's because of the way the money is channelled."

When asked how the money was spent by Mr Olmert, Mr Talansky said: "I only know that he loved expensive cigars. I know he loved pens, watches. I found it strange."

Tags: politician, greed, corruption

Clipmarks | tabsey's 'corruption' clips

Gilmore filed false information on campaign disclosure forms

Bribery claims cast cloud over nuclear 'yes' vote

NASA 'wants to buy Japan's cargo spacecraft'

Alarm on carbon trading scheme

China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'

Olmert being questioned again

U.S. issues "insulting" Berlusconi biography

Bush To Prod G-8 Leaders On AIDS Funding

Related NPR Stories

Ex-worker on Crusade Against Chemical Plant

Political donations linked to developers, contractors

Inquiry urged into UK territory

Istiklal

Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist

Mann blames Guinea coup on financier

Olmert 'took cash in envelopes'