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Insider Report: Hillary Fan Trashes Giuliani - Again Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. CREW's 'Most Corrupt' List Targets GOP Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) portrays itself as a non-partisan watchdog organization but its report on Congressional corruption focuses overwhelmingly on Republicans.
The report, "Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress," names 20 members of the House and Senate it maintains "abused their positions for the financial benefit of themselves, their friends and their families," according to the CREW Web site. Of the 20, 17 are Republicans; only three are Democrats.
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CREW also cites five members of Congress for "Dishonorable Mention," saying their "known conduct isn't severe enough for them to make the list," but their conduct "bears notice." Of the five, four are Republicans.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, isn't on either list.
Yet Reid allegedly violated Senate rules in connection with a $1.4 million land deal.
In 1998, Reid bought a plot of land in Nevada for $400,000. Three years later, he transferred title to the land to a company owned by a friend, in exchange for a $400,000 equivalent ownership of the company.
The friend got the land rezoned for commercial development, reportedly with the help of Reid's son, chairman of the county commission that approved the rezoning. Reid then pocketed $1.1 million when the land was sold.
Reid's failure to disclose the sale to a company owned by a friend and his subsequent ownership interest in the company violated Senate rules, said former Federal Election Commission overseer Kent Cooper.
Reid has blamed the failure to report the deal on a "clerical error."
In addition, Reid received contributions from Native American tribes that were clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, after Reid's votes produced favorable results for the tribes, according to published reports.
The Associated Press disclosed in October that Reid has used campaign donations to pay for $3,300 in Christmas gifts to the staff at his Washington condominium. Federal election laws forbid such actions.
On top of that, Reid added an earmark to a bill that called for the funding of a bridge over the Colorado River, without mentioning that he owned 160 acres several miles from the proposed bridge.
CREW has made mention of some of the allegations against Reid. But the group went much further with regard to charges against a powerful Republican, Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
In a release issued on November 27, CREW stated that it had asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Hastert "violated the law by inserting an earmark into the 2005 Highway Bill that earned him a 500 percent profit on a lucrative land deal."
CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said Hastert's "use of the earmarking process to increase his own property value is an egregious abuse of his legislative authority. The Department of Justice should immediately investigate this sweetheart deal."
No such verbiage has been forthcoming from CREW over Harry Reid.
Editor's Note: 2. Clinton's Burkle Connection Could Bring Bill Millions Since leaving the White House, Bill Clinton has maintained close ties with California dealmaker Ronald Burkle and the relationship could earn the ex-president a fortune.
Clinton and Burkle are so tight that Bill has stayed at the billionaire's Beverly Hills mansion every time he has been in Los Angeles since he took office in 1992, and he even has his own bedroom there, a cover story in Forbes magazine reveals.
Burkle says he accompanies Clinton at least half the time Bill travels abroad, and Burkle's private jet flew Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush to Thailand in the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Burkle has raised millions of dollars for Democratic candidates, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. Now Bill is helping Burkle reap the financial benefits of that relationship.
The son of a grocery store manager in California, Burkle parlayed an interest in regional grocery chains into a controlling interest in supermarket giant Pathmark, management of private equity funds with $4 billion in assets, stakes in dozens of companies and a personal fortune that Forbes estimates at $2.5 billion.
He first met candidate Clinton in 1992, following the Los Angeles riots that resulted in $30 million in damage to Burkle's stores.
Today Clinton has become the dealmaker's dealmaker.
In one instance, Burkle's investment firm, Yucaipa Cos., arranged for Clinton to deliver a speech at a Teamsters Union conference in 2003. Later Clinton urged union President James Hoffa Jr. to present Burkle with possible deals. As a result, this spring Yucaipa paid $100 million for a controlling interest in Allied Holdings, a trucking business in bankruptcy proceedings.
"Clinton got it to the point where Hoffa actually helped us with that deal, something I couldn't have gotten on my own," Burkle told Forbes.
Burkle won't disclose his financial arrangements with the former president, but Forbes believes that Clinton receives a portion of any profits Yucaipa makes on two funds, provided their returns are more than 8 percent a year.
Clinton also stands to earn a cut of Yucaipa's profits when its international fund is finished liquidating in five or more years.
"It is plausible that, in a decade, Clinton could walk away with tens of millions of dollars," according to Forbes.
From Burkle's point of view, Clinton is worth every penny. He said: "My best call in corporate America isn't one-hundredth of what President Clinton is just picking up the phone and saying, 'Hey, we've got this idea, want to come talk about it?'" Editor's Note: 3. Andrea Mitchell: Iraq Policy 'Hopeless' NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell said the conflict in Iraq is becoming more unwinnable and White House hopes for a solution exceed "all rationality."
Speaking at the annual scholarship luncheon of The Hebrew University at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., the veteran newswoman said:
"I've never seen such a situation; such a seemingly hopeless foreign policy.
"I've watched decades and decades of wars, fatwahs and conflicts, and I can tell you that the White House's expectations for a solution have now exceeded all rationality."
Mitchell was also critical of the Bush administration's lack of action during the Palestinian Authority elections in January, which were won by Hamas.
"There were so many misread signals," she said in remarks reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.
"That Hamas victory should not have happened. They were allowed to control the balloting. President Bush would not send any help during the election. A ward leader in Philadelphia knows better than that."
Mitchell opined that the Israeli-Palestinian matter is now the "main issue" and must be resolved before other issues can be addressed. She added:
"Iraq is declining. The president's options are becoming more and more limited as war becomes less and less winnable. It hinders the president's ability to maintain unilateral support for his Israeli policy."
Editor's Note: 4. Reagan Beat Hawking on Space Colonization World-renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking created a stir earlier this week when he said humans must colonize planets in other solar systems or face extinction.
But President Ronald Reagan made a similar call for space colonization nearly 20 years ago and declared that American must lead the way.
In a Sept. 22, 1988, speech at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, shortly before a launch of the space shuttle Discovery, Reagan said:
"It is mankind's manifest destiny to bring our humanity into space; to colonize this galaxy; and as a nation, we have the power to determine whether America will lead or will follow.
"I say that America must lead. The Nation that has achieved the greatest human freedom on Earth must be the Nation to create a humane future for mankind in space, and it can be none other. It is only in a universe without limits that we will find a canvas large enough for the vastness of the human imagination.
"Mankind's journey into space, like every great voyage of discovery, will become part of our unending journey of liberation. In the limitless reaches of space, we will find liberation from tyranny, from scarcity, from ignorance, and from war. We'll find the means to protect this Earth and to nurture every human life and to explore the universe. Let us go forward. This is our mission; this is our destiny." Editor's Note: 5. White House Holiday Grub: 4,000 Lbs. of Crab Claws The White House has ordered up 4,638 red ornamental balls, 269 wreaths, 17 trees and 1,089 feet of garland for the Christmas holidays, according to a release from the Office of the First Lady.
There will be no shortage of food either among the items ordered for holiday events at the Executive Mansion are 20,000 Christmas cookies, 5,000 mini-tarts, 15,000 chocolate truffles, 2,100 pounds of sweet potatoes, 3,000 racks of lamb, 100 cases of asparagus, 500 filets of beef, 4,000 pounds of crab claws and 4,000 pounds of shrimp.
The official White House Christmas tree is an 18-foot, 6-inch Douglas fir from Lehighton, Pa.
The release notes that the White House's ground floor corridor will be decorated with an ivy topiary depicting Rudolph and other reindeer, and ivy topiaries in the likeness of First Cat Willie and the Bushes' Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley.
Editor's Note: 6. Progressive Review Lauds NewsMax NewsMax's Insider Report has won kudos from a liberal blog for our coverage of the rift between Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The Progressive Review stated: "The conservative news site NewsMax has been reporting for some time about an issue the media of the extremist center has ignored: the conflict between Howard Dean and the DLC [Democratic Leadership Council]-Clintonista crowd
"In June 2005, NewsMax [reported] that Clinton was squared off against not only Dean, but also John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore the so-called "Gang of Four" as potential candidates jockeyed to stop Hillary in her quest for the White House."
The Insider Report disclosed at the time that the Clintons "control the Democratic money machine and they absolutely despise Dean."
The Progressive Review concluded: "It would be nice if some of the pro-Democratic media would be more honest with their readers about this conflict."
Editor's Note: 7. We Heard... THAT Geraldo Rivera's nationally syndicated newsmagazine's ratings outpaced new anchor Katie Couric's broadcast in New York, the nation's top-ranked market.
During the October mini-sweeps, "Geraldo at Large" got a 1.3 rating in the primary news demographic of adults 25-54, while Couric's "CBS Evening News" garnered a 1.1 rating.
And in Detroit, the only other top similarly-monitored market where "Geraldo" airs opposite network newscasts, the show got a 2.3 rating in the demographic, beating out both Charles Gibson's "World News," at 2.2, and Couric, at 0.9.
"While the early results have been encouraging," Broadcasting & Cable reports, "the Fox-owned stations, which produce the show, appear to be a long way from deciding whether to pit 'Geraldo at Large' against network newscasts in other markets."
THAT Jeb Bush will move into a $1 million-plus apartment in the Miami area when he vacates the Florida governor's mansion in Tallahassee.
Bush and his wife Columba have signed an agreement to rent a 9th-floor, three-bedroom condo in Segovia Tower, a luxury high-rise in Coral Gables.
Rent is $5,500 a month for the 3,949-square-foot unit, according to the Miami Herald.
The building has private elevators to each floor, and 24-hour security.
Bush has not disclosed plans for what he will do after leaving office.
Koch, who was returning to the U.S. after attending a real estate conference, told the New York Post's Page Six column:
"I was asked to open my belt, stretch out my arms to be patted down.
"As I followed the guard's instructions I suddenly felt my trousers slip off my waist and fall to my knees I've been successfully trying to lose some weight.
"As I grabbed them, I thought to myself, this can't be happening. But no one laughed, and no one applauded."
In an interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Lauer said: "I watched her during the first week. The bottom line is, do I not watch for any reason specifically? Is it anything against Katie?
"No. If I'm available at 6:30, I have to watch 'Nightly News.' It's important for me to see where our correspondents are, because I probably will use the same people the next morning."
Lauer also discussed the departure of Couric from "Today" and marveled:
"We lost probably the most popular morning personality perhaps in the history of morning television, and now we have grown the ratings."
BR>THAT liberal talk radio host Ed Schultz is moving his show to run head-to-head against Rush Limbaugh in December.
That disclosure comes from the Web site rawstory.com, which also notes that Schultz's move to the noon to 3 p.m. slot will also place him in direct competition with Air America's flagship host, fellow liberal Al Franken.
Schultz has 2.25 million listeners per week via more than 100 radio stations, putting him in 10th place among radio hosts nationwide, while Franken stands at No. 12 with 1.5 million listeners, according to Talkers Magazine.
Limbaugh far outpaces all liberal hosts with an estimated 20 million listeners per week via 590 stations.
Schultz's move "could put another nail in the coffin of Air America," according to rawstory. The network filed for bankruptcy on October 13. Schultz has described himself as a "gun-totin', red meat-eatin' lefty" out to slay the "right-wing radio dragon."
After the former "Seinfeld" star made headlines during a comedy routine by haranguing hecklers with the n-word, crisis-management expert Howard Rubenstein acknowledged that Richards had shouted anti-Semitic remarks in an April standup routine.
But he defended Richards' language about Jews, saying that the comic "is Jewish. He's not anti-Semitic at all."
Jewish organizations and commentators quickly pointed out that Richards has not converted to Judaism, and neither of his parents are Jewish.
Rubenstein then told The Associated Press: "Technically, not having been born by blood as Jewish and not formally going into a conversion, it was purely his interpretation of having adopted Judaism as his religion. He told me 'I'm Jewish' when I asked him."
But Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, would have none of it. He said: "You can't feel Jewish. It's not a matter of feeling. You can convert to Judaism. You can't not convert to Judaism and then be Jewish."
Editor's Notes:
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