corruption

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Blago Lawyer's Closing: My Client's an Idiot

Prosecutor rejects 'not the sharpest knife in drawer' defense

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich’s defense attorney took an odd tack in his closing argument yesterday, arguing, basically, that the governor had been too stupid to do anything but follow the advice of his staff. “He ain’t corrupt,” and he “never intended to bribe or extort anyone,”...

Blago Lawyer Walks Off the Job

After dispute over closing argument, Sam Adam Jr. departs

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich's lawyer left a federal courthouse in Chicago today without delivering his closing argument after the judge threatened to cite him for contempt of court, the Tribune reports . Sam Adam Jr. wanted to tell jurors about witnesses the government didn't call and planned to contend that their testimony would...

'Senator Oprah' Sounded Good to Blago

Then-gov considered media titan to succeed Obama as senator

(Newser) - As Rod Blagojevich considered possible successors to Barack Obama as US senator from Illinois, he came up with one name "no one can assail": Oprah Winfrey. As the former governor's corruption trial dragged on today in Chicago, prosecutors played a tape from December 2008—after Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett...

Karzai Blocking Corruption Probes: Officials

Prosecutors ordered to ignore evidence and suspects

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai’s top lieutenants have repeatedly thrown monkey wrenches into corruption allegations threatening Afghanistan’s politically-connected elite, US officials tell the Washington Post . Prosecutors have been ordered to disregard evidence, remove names from case files, and prevent senior officials from being arrested, the Americans allege. “Above a certain...

Blago's Lawyer: 'The Guy Ain't Corrupt!&quot; He's a Dupe!
Blago's Lawyer: 'The Guy Ain't Corrupt!' He's a Dupe!
trial opener
Jun 9, 2010 8:24 AM CDT

Blago's Lawyer: 'The Guy Ain't Corrupt!' He's a Dupe!

He was taken in by 'the Bernie Madoff of Chicago,' Tony Rezko

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich is an honest man who "didn't take a dime" of illegal money and simply trusted the wrong people to handle his fundraising, the former Illinois governor's attorney said yesterday in a theatrical opening statement at Blago's corruption trial. "The guy ain't corrupt," said attorney Sam...

Feds Let Big Oil Fill Out Own Inspection Forms

Regulators also took gifts, openly hustled for oil company jobs

(Newser) - Minerals and Management Service regulators accepted gifts from the oil companies they were supposed to be watching over, and allowed those companies to fill out their own inspection reports, according to a damning report from the inspector general, which found sweeping misconduct at the agency from 2005 to 2007. One...

17 Most Corrupt Industries
 17 Most 
 Corrupt 
 Industries 
no. 1? not wall street
May 2, 2010 5:17 AM CDT

17 Most Corrupt Industries

Want to retain your honor? Don't get into these professions

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs got you convinced Wall Street is the most corrupt place to work? Not quite: The Daily Beast worked with an anti-corruption research organization to determine the 17 most corrupt industries in America. The top five, along with representative examples:
  1. Utilities: FirstEnergy allegedly covered up a reactor head that
...

Military Handed Shady Kyrgyz Firms $1.4B

Companies possibly run by corrupt, deposed despots

(Newser) - The Pentagon has doled out $1.4 billion in no-bid contracts to a pair of mysterious foreign companies with alleged ties to Kyrgyzstan's corrupt ex-president, the military's main supply agency confirmed for Newsweek . The companies, Mina Corp. Ltd. and Red Star Enterprises, provided fuel for the US air base in...

Feds Join Inquiry of Alleged HP Bribes in Russia

Execs may face corruption charges in US

(Newser) - Hewlett-Packard allegedly paid millions in bribes to Russian officials to win contracts, and the US is finally on the case, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Justice Department—which can prosecute American firms for paying bribes to governments anywhere in the world—has joined Germany and Russia in a now...

Karzai's the Best We've Got. Deal With It
Karzai's the Best We've
Got. Deal With It
Fareed Zakaria
Apr 12, 2010 8:36 AM CDT

Karzai's the Best We've Got. Deal With It

We need him to win the Afghanistan war, so grow up and stop undercutting him

(Newser) - Sure, Hamid Karzai is a "vain, mercurial, hypersensitive man" presiding over "a system that is massively corrupt." But the US still should—and must—learn to work with him, Fareed Zakaria writes in the Washington Post . There is no alternative to Karzai, Zakaria argues; if the US...

Karzai Becoming a Paranoid, Unreliable Ally

Insiders say Afghan president thinks US wants to stay indefinitely

(Newser) - Tensions are mounting between the US and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who appears to be becoming an increasingly unreliable ally. “Karzai was enraged,” an insider tells the New York Times of Obama's decision to rescind a White House invitation to Karzai over his decision to...

House Democrats Ban Corporate Earmarks

Parties race to end increasingly unpopular practice

(Newser) - The House erupted in ethical one-upsmanship yesterday as Democrats and Republicans raced to end budget earmarks: House Dems banned earmarks to private industry, and Republicans quickly responded with a call to stop all earmarks, not just those to for-profit companies. The new ban ends a fast-growing practice that has poured...

Rangel Steps Down From Tax Committee

Democrats weren't willing to defend him after latest ethics lapse

(Newser) - Charles Rangel is temporarily stepping down from his post atop the House’s powerful Ways and Means Committee, in the wake of yet another ethics scandal, the New York Democrat announced today. Rangel says he’s asked for a “leave of absence” until the House Ethics Committee finishes looking...

Paterson Bombshell Likely Just Corruption


 Paterson 
 Bombshell 
 Likely Just 
 Corruption 
plus: nyt takes on rumors
Feb 10, 2010 8:53 AM CST

Paterson Bombshell Likely Just Corruption

Plus, 'New York Times' finally addresses rumors...kinda

(Newser) - As the New York Times finally addresses its supposed bombshell David Paterson article, without actually saying much of anything, WPIX thinks it knows the real story—and it has nothing to do with sex. Federal prosecutors are investigating Paterson's possible trading of a gaming contract at Aqueduct Raceway for a...

Swingers to Drugs, Rumors Swirl Around Paterson
 Swingers to Drugs, 
 Rumors Swirl 
 Around Paterson 

OR MAYBE BORING OLD CORRUPTION
Feb 9, 2010 9:36 AM CST

Swingers to Drugs, Rumors Swirl Around Paterson

New York governor denies any involvement with sex, drugs

(Newser) - As New York Gov. David Paterson vehemently denies rumors of a sex scandal, the New York Post continues to speculate about the alleged bombshell that could take the governor down. The unsubstantiated rumors include tales of double dates sans the missus, sex-and-drug-fueled parties at the executive mansion, and one lady...

Good Riddance to Rep. Murtha
 Good Riddance to Rep. Murtha 
OPINION
Feb 9, 2010 5:18 AM CST

Good Riddance to Rep. Murtha

Late Democrat slammed for corruption, stance on Iraq

(Newser) - Right-leaning blog Uncoverage isn't shy about speaking ill of the dead when the deceased in question is Rep. John Murtha. The Pennsylvania Democrat was regularly ranked as one of Congress' most corrupt politicians and stuffed millions of dollars into pork projects for his district, including the barely used John Murtha...

Foodies Gag on McDonald's New McItaly Burgers

Why water down the country's diverse food culture?

(Newser) - It’s bad enough that McDonald’s would seek to water down Italy’s vaunted food culture by introducing a line of “McItaly” burgers, Matthew Fort snorts, but that the morally bankrupt government of Silvio Berlusconi would give a stamp of approval is a “monstrous act of national...

Clinton-Led Recovery Is the Last Thing Haiti Needs

Unofficial aid czar has a record of corrupt dealings

(Newser) - Bill Clinton's high-profile, perpetually teary-eyed presence on the ground in Haiti has snagged him the unofficial role of aid czar in the rebuilding effort, Mary Anastasia O'Grady writes in the Wall Street Journal , and that's very bad news for Haitians. As president, O'Grady writes, Clinton did plenty to show he...

What Rebuilding Haiti Will Mean
 What Rebuilding Haiti Will Mean 
Jan 19, 2010 4:45 AM CST

What Rebuilding Haiti Will Mean

Debt relief, housing quality, and a better government are key

(Newser) - World leaders have vowed to rebuild Haiti's infrastructure into something better than it was before; the Independent takes a look at what this would mean in practice:
  • Higher-quality housing: Haiti has no building codes; international donors should insist the new dwellings their funds build for those left homeless in the
...

Haitians: 'We Didn't Feel Like We Had a Gov't'

Shy President Préval has been largely MIA since quake

(Newser) - Since Haiti was devastated by last Tuesday's earthquake, the country's president has been so invisible that many Haitians are wondering whether they have a government at all. Haitian officials say the government of President René Préval is too incapacitated to take any public role, but longtime politician Préval...

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