Late Friday Updates

Here are a couple updates on things we've discussed this week.  Enjoy!

Scozzafava proves her unworthiness (previous link here)

Jack Abramoff, present jailbird, was convicted of all sorts of crooked schemes. One of his favorites was to funnel money through various organizations into the hands of other people.

It appears Dede Scozzafava is funneling RNC, NRCC, and donor dollars through her campaign account to her family.

Dede Scozzafava is or was until recently the Chief Operating Officer of her brother’s company.

Her company’s key subsidiaries have accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal tax liens. As of July 13, 2009 – or less than a week ago – three of Dede’s businesses have $192,000 in outstanding liens.

Dede’s brother is Thomas W. Scozzafava and he is married to Pearl Han Ashcraft.
Dede Scozzafava’s campaign has paid $3750.00 in disclosed expenses to Pearl Han Productions, LLC for “Strategic Consulting,” the most bland of descriptions.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Given the campaign’s propensity to file false police reports against reporters, I have no doubt this was intentionally designed to obfuscate what is going on.
On Scozzafava’s disclosures, Pearl Han Productions, LLC is located at 2001 S.E. Sailfish Pt. Blvd. #112, Stuard, NY 34996. There is just one problem. No such place exists.

What does exist, however, is 2001 S.E. Sailfish Pt. Blvd. #112, Stuart, FL 34996, a beautiful ocean front condo.

At that address, you’ll find Pearl Han Productions, LLC, incorporated in the State of Florida. (PDF). The person in charge is Pearl Ashcraft, Dede’s sister-in-law.
And if you think all that is too much of a coincidence, or maybe you think the campaign disclosure had just an innocent typo as to the address, consider this fact: Pearl Han Productions, LLC was not incorporated in the State of Florida until after the New York Republican Party made Dede Scozzafava its nominee.

Scozzafava was chosen on August 19, 2009, and eight days later on August 27, 2009, Pearl Han Productions, LLC was filed with the Secretary of State and reviewed a day later by that office.

Scozzafava doesn’t look to be just an ACORN candidate, but also more and more looks like an Abramoff Republican.

I wonder if Newt and the national Republican party would like to take back their endorsements now?  I guess they should have backed Hoffman in the first place, huh?  Scozzafava is in a full-blown meltdown, Hoffman is riding a wave of donations and national support, and many prominent conservatives (bloggers and elected reps alike) are calling for Scozzafava to withdraw.

Hm, look who's right again...conservatives.

Busted Dems respond childishly (previous link here)

John wrote about the "great escape" by Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It consisted of that group leaving a hearing, via the back door, after Republican Darrell Issa made clear that he planned to subpoena Bank of America for documents relted to Countrywide's infamous "Friends of Angelo" VIP mortgage program. Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were, of course, among Angelos "friends."

A Republican aide videotaped the Democratic exodus. The video was then posted on the internet.

The committee Democrats now have retaliated by changing the lock on the door leading from the GOP's office space into the main hearing room. Committee chariman, Edolphus Towns, who also received a Countrywide mortgage, explained that he had the lock changed because Republicans "don't know how to behave." He then lamented the demise of respect and cooperation on his committee.

Nice.  And so very professional and ethical, too. The Washington Post goes out of its way to describe this as an example of how partisanship rules the day, but Powerline rightly cuts to the core, saying that "this particular story is about Democrats fleeing from a hearing in order to prevent the truth about their party's misconduct from being revealed and then commiting a childish prank out of anger of having been exposed. All the Republicans did capture the Dems' conduct for all to see."

Did Iran cave in? (previous link here)

Well, it didn't take long for Iran to fail to hold up its end of even the most flimsy of bargains...again:

Despite the Obama Administration’s optimistic rhetoric about sealing a nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran again has thrown a monkey wrench into the nuclear negotiations by failing to meet today’s deadline to accept a United Nations-backed proposal for enriching uranium outside Iran. Instead of giving a yes/no answer, Iranian officials instead offered a counterproposal. The details of the counterproposal have not been released, but they are sure to further muddy the diplomatic waters and obscure the prime focus of the negotiations: to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment activities.

Iran’s diplomatic charade is slap in the face of the Obama Administration which continues to cling to its flawed engagement strategy. As noted on this blog yesterday, Tehran is willing to engage only to the extent that it can defuse international pressure for more sanctions. But it clearly remains determined to continue its uranium enrichment program and gain a nuclear weapon.

This has got to be one of the least surprising outcomes of the century.

Now you're caught up!

There's my two cents.