2011-04-18

More government waste

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Breaking News from Newsmax.com


FEC Probes Obama's 2008 Campaign Finances
Barack Obama raised a record-shattering $750 million on his way to winning the 2008 presidential election. But that stunning flood of cash has triggered an investigation by the Federal Election Commission, which is taking a detailed look at the campaign's records and transactions, including an unusual number of foreign donations.



Bonds guilty of obstruction of justice


By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Just like the whole Steroid Era: We'll never really know.

Even the one charge that left Barry Bonds a convicted felon didn't specify steroids.

Instead, a federal court jury found the home run king guilty of obstruction of justice Tuesday for giving an evasive answer under oath more than seven years ago. Rather than say "yes" or "no" to whether he received drugs that required a syringe, Bonds gave a rambling response to a grand jury, stating: "I became a celebrity child with a famous father."

The decision from the eight women and four men who listened to testimony during the 12-day trial turned out to be a mixed and muddled verdict on the slugger that left more questions than answers.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on the three charges that Bonds made false statements when he told a grand jury in December 2003 that he never knowingly received steroids and human growth hormone from trainer Greg Anderson and that he allowed only doctors to inject him.


U.S. Government Shuts Down 3 Biggest Online Gambling Sites [POLL]

Gambling online just got significantly less convenient Friday when the U.S. Government shut down the three largest Internet gambling sites operating in the United States. Now it’s time for a precedent-setting showdown, where courts will determine if this kind of gambling is legal or not.

Federal prosecutors accused the three founders of the gambling sites and eight others with illegal gambling, bank fraud and money laundering, according to the Financial Times [paywall].

The government also filed a $3 billion civil suit to recover profits from the operations, the Financial Times reported. Gambling sites Full Tilt Poker (Update: which responded to the allegations here), PokerStars and Absolute Poker allegedly disguised billions of dollars of gambling payments as online store purchases of items such as golf balls, jewelry and flowers, according to the Wall Street Journal.



Transportation Chief Looks for Ways to Make Flying Safer
“Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says that while the government won’t pay air traffic controllers to take naps while on duty, federal officials are open to other options to ensure aviation safety.” (Associated Press)

Here’s an option: Put the airports into the competitive marketplace.