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To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (740359)	9/18/2013 7:42:06 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1574861

Watchdog group--Democrats Menendez, Andrews on 'most corrupt' list ............................................................................................................................. TRENTON — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez has joined the list of the nation's 13 "most corrupt" members of Congress, according to a report issued today by a watchdog organization, making New Jersey home to two lawmakers with ethical clouds hanging over their heads. The organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) put Menendez (D-N.J.) on the list this year because of accusations that he did favors for a friend and campaign donor, Salomon Melgen, and accepted rides on his private plane without disclosing them. Menendez joins U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.), who first appeared on the organization’s list last year for using campaign funds to pay for a family trip to Scotland — including business class airfare and a stay at a luxury hotel — and other allegedly personal expenses. “Sadly, friendship is rarely a straightforward proposition when power is involved,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said in a statement. “Sen. Menendez’s relationship with Dr. Melgen is transactional: campaign cash and lavish gifts for the senator, official favors and influence for the businessman.” The Senate Ethics Committee is looking into trips Menendez — a frequent guest at Melgen’s vacation home in the Dominican Republic — took on his private plane that the senator only disclosed and reimbursed him $58,500 after the flights were disclosed. According to the Washington Post, a federal grand jury is looking into whether Menendez improperly used his position to benefit the business interests of Melgen, an opthamologist with office in West Palm Beach, Fla. An article in the Post disclosed that Menendez contacted the agency in charge of the federal government's Medicare and Medicaid programs over a billing dispute with Melgen. The New York Times reported that Menendez helped advocate for a port security contract in the Dominican Republican that would benefit Melgen. Menendez has denied any wrongdoing. “If Sen. Menendez accepted campaign contributions to his campaign committee, leadership PAC, or legal defense fund, or sought contributions the DSCC, Majority PAC, or the local New Jersey Democratic committees, from Dr. Melgen and his family in exchange for intervening in Dr. Melgen’s Medicare billing dispute with CMS or pressing federal officials to compel the Dominican government to honor the port security contract, Sen. Menendez may have accepted a bribe,” CREW’s report said. CREW is not merely an observer in the Menendez saga. Last year, the group received emails from an anonymous person who claimed the senator used prostitutes — some underage — while visiting Melgen's house in the Dominican Republic. CREW informed the FBI and ABC News. ABC News could not corroborate the claims. The FBI reportedly has found no evidence to substantiate them and according to reports is investigating their source. After a conservative media outlet aired the prostitution allegations, Sloan publicly expressed doubt about the credibility of the anonymous informant. Paul Brubaker, a spokesman for Menendez, said CREW — a non-profit organization that is funded through donations — was using the controversy to raise money. "This is the same old garbage that's been peddled for more than a year now. This smear campaign against the Senator has been soundly discredited and as we have said from the very beginning, any review of the actual facts will confirm his actions were appropriate," Brubaker said. "It's disappointing that CREW -- which itself published false, anonymous, discredited smears -- would now employ them as a fundraising tool." U.S. Rep Rob Andrews, shown in this 2009 file photo, was named to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's "Most Corrupt" list for the second year. Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger Andrews’ campaign spending was first disclosed by The Star-Ledger in 2011. The article also showed how theater companies that cast the congressman's daughter , an aspiring actress, also received donations from his campaign. CREW also included Andrews on the list because he had earmarked funds for Rutgers-Camden , his wife’s employer. “Rep. Andrews’ repeated misuse of campaign funds is outrageous,” Sloan said. “With the recent sentencing of disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Rep. Andrews should be even more worried about the potential consequences he may face for using his campaign account to finance his family’s lavish lifestyle.” The House Committee on Ethics is currently investigating the allegations after the Office of Congressional Ethics said there was “substantial reason to believe” Andrews broke the law. Andrews has said his campaign spending was proper. His chief of staff, Fran Tagmire, called CREW "hypocrites." "CREW is a Washington, DC interest group that takes money from secret donors to finance false and malicious attacks on people, and then refuses to disclose where its money comes from," Tagmire said. "It is telling that CREW refuses to hold itself to the same standards of public disclosure as the people it attacks. Congressman Andrews is working hard every day to serve the people of South Jersey."

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (740359)	9/18/2013 7:46:54 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 1574861

The makings of a despot:Obama "Majority Of Americans 'Wrong' For Not Supporting Obamacare"

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (740359)	9/18/2013 9:43:44 PM
From: one_less	2 Recommendations Recommended By joseffy TideGlider Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574861

not true, here are the facts on your innocent boy. You and the New York Times seem to have missed it. Here is your innocent man subject to travesty (your claim). Your choir boy was a mean, sadistic, vicious SOB. David Spence 1. By the time his case came to trial he was already serving a 90 year sentence for another crime (aggravated sexual abuse of an 18 year old man). 2. The New York Times article left out a few details (in other words, presented a false accounting). * His two accomplices plead guilty and testified to the details of the crime. * There were six jail house snitches. Only two of them said they had just done it for some extra privileges. 3. There was a second trial. He was convicted again at the second trial. 4. Former District Attorney Vic Feazell, who now has law offices in Waco and Austin, was more blunt. He called questions about the defendant's guilt "B.S." "Anyone who's read the trial transcrips ... would know better and wouldn't give this story the time of day." 5. His two accomplices plead guilty and provided the details of the event. On the morning of July 13, 1982, Jill Montgomery and Raylene Rice drove to Waco to pick up and cash Jill's paycheck from the Fort Fisher Ranger Museum and to meet their friend Kenneth Franks. Later that day, the three drove to Koehne Park, located on the banks of Lake Waco. They were never seen alive again by their loved ones. Their bodies were found in a wooded area of Speegleville Park, across the lake from Koehne Park, a day later. Their last moments are recorded in the record of the two trials. After arriving at the park, Kenneth, Jill, and Raylene encountered Spence and his cohorts, Anthony (Tony) and Gilbert Melendez. The six "hung out" together for some time drinking beer and smoking marijuana joints. After a few hours, in the evening, Spence persuaded the group to go to a convenience store and buy more beer. En route in his car, Spence attempted to grab Jill's breast. When she resisted, they argued heatedly. Spence then warned Kenneth and Jill he was going to "get even" with them "for some dope that he [Kenneth) had burned me for." Kenneth denied he had "burned" Spence for anything. Instead of driving to the convenience store, Spence turned and drove back into a wooded area in Koehne Park. After everyone got out of the car, he produced a knife and in vile terms ordered Jill and Raylene to undress. The girls immediately complied. Spence then forced Jill to walk with him to another part of the park. Gilbert ordered Raylene to get into the car. Gilbert then raped her. Spence told Anthony to bring Kenneth, forcibly, to where he was with Jill, so that Kenneth could watch him rape Jill. Spence forced Jill to the ground, sat on her legs, and rubbed her breasts with his knife. He then raped her while Kenneth and Anthony watched. After Spence finished, Anthony traded places with him and raped Jill. Spence marched Kenneth back to the car where he raped Raylene. After this rape, Spence returned to Jill. He cut her breasts and repeatedly stabbed her. At some point, Spence bit off one of Jill's nipples. He then handed his knife to Anthony, telling him to stab Jill. When Spence believed that Anthony was not properly stabbing her, Spence took back his knife and finally inflicted the lethal wounds. Spence then returned to the car and stabbed Kenneth to death. After this second murder, Spence grabbed Raylene and repeatedly stabbed her. He also ordered Tony to stab her. He then bit her body several times and rammed a piece of wood --which he referred to as his "lovestick" -- into her vagina. While Spence remained with the bodies, Anthony and Gilbert drove to Spence's mother's home and exchanged the car for Gilbert's pick-up truck. During their absence, Spence bound the bodies. When the Melendezes returned, the trio threw the bodies into the back of the truck and, at Spence's direction, drove to Speegleville Park. They dumped the dead teenagers' bodies apart from each other in an off-the-road area. In placing Kenneth's body, Spence boasted to Tony that the police "were going to freak out when they find this boy because he will be sitting up." Spence and the Melendez brothers divided up several hundred dollars Spence had taken from Jill's wallet. The tortured bodies of Jill, Raylene, and Kenneth were found the next day. murderpedia.org

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (740359)	9/18/2013 9:46:18 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574861

>>Your opinions are based on emotion, not cold facts...... Apparently you have never learned the difference, this is a fact not opinion: The point that I made was that thousands of truly innocent men, women, and children have been raped, tortured, and murdered by heinous creeps who've been given multiple extra chances at freedom, ... something you refuse even to acknowledge let alone factor in to the issue.