http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull

http://www.armageddononline.org/Volcanic-ash-relentless-as-tremors-rock-Iceland.html

OY VEY!
7:30 PM, April 14, 2010 ι By MAGGIE HABERMAN

Eliot Spitzer was once so voracious for sex that he ordered three different hookers for three separate visits - all in the span of a few hours in one day, an explosive new book claims.

The passage from Peter Elkind's "Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer," describes how the Attorney General-turned-governor procured the women from his favored service, the Emperors Club VIP, using the alias "George Fox."

PHOTOS: SIZZLING ASHLEY DUPRE

Here's the passage from page 122:

"On one occasion, George Fox had booked an appointment in the late morning at the Mark Hotel, on the Upper East Side, just five minutes' walk from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As usual, he paid the girl in cash - about $1,200 an hour. Not long after it was over, he called (the booker) back, wanting to see a second escort. 'Who else is around?' he asked. (the booker) made the arrangements.

Then, late that afternoon, (Spitzer) called again.

'You're going to think I'm crazy,' he began. 'But can you send somebody else right now?'

He wanted a third girl? The booker chuckled: "You must be Superman! The man of steel!" (The booker) found him another girl. It wasn't even dark yet."

According to Elkind, Spitzer also flew in one of his favorites - whom the author dubs "Angelina" - to San Juan while he was attending the Somos conference in 2007. She left the same day that Spitzer's wife Silda arrived to spend the weekend with him.

And in a heartbreaking moment at the book's end, former Spitzer confidante Lloyd Constantine claims the disgraced pol's wife, Silda, was so tormented by trying to understand what happened that she blamed herself, questioning whether it was her "failing" in their sex life that caused it.

There's also lots of political intrigue, including an assertion that Mario Cuomo told a Spitzer aide in 2006 that the Attorney General was "unfit to be governor" -because of a "man and a woman" problem.

The book reveals the anecdote and sources it to Dopp, who was long Spitzer's spokesman until he was ousted in the "Troopergate" scandal and, he said, made the fall guy unfairly.

Elkind - who repeatedly interviewed Spitzer for the book - also asserts that the former governor ordered three different prostitutes from his favored escort service in a single day.

The tome - which goes onsale early next week but was purchased by The Post at a city bookstore - dives deep into the role Dopp played as go-between with his then-boss Spitzer and the Cuomo family, which wanted the Attorney General to endorse Andrew Cuomo's candidacy.

Mario Cuomo, for whom Dopp once worked, repeated said Spitzer had no "honor," according to the book.

The passage, on page 120, reads this way:

"You don't understand," Cuomo finally declared, his voice quavering with emotion. "He's unfit to be governor. He's a bad man."

Dopp was shocked. Why was Cuomo saying this? Was it because of how ELiot had financed his old campaigns?

"No, it's about more than that," Cuomo cryptically replied, according to Dopp. "It's about the relationship between a man and a woman." He wouldn't go any further.

At another point in the book, Spitzer insists - over the denials of Andrew Cuomo - that the AG threatened to re-open the Troopergate probe if the then-governor kept sliming the report. The piece deals with the tension between the two men after Cuomo's Troopergate report, including Spitzer snubbing Cuomo at a state Democratic Party event around that time.

According to Spitzer, he told Cuomo that saying he would re-open the probe "would be called extortion."

Also;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/10/emperors-club-all-about-e_n_90768.html

Obama's Economic TeamBenjamin Bernanke(Jewish) - Chairman, Federal Reserve System

Timothy Geithner(Jewish) - Secretary, U.S. Treasury Department

Lawrence Summers(Jewish) - Chairman, National Economic Council

Paul Volcker(Jewish) - Chairman, Economic Recovery Advisory Board

Jared Bernstein(Jewish) - Chief Economist and Economic Adviser, Vice President

Douglas Shulman(Jewish) - Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service(IRS)

Peter Orszag(Jewish) - Director, Office of Management and Budget(OMB)

Jon Leibowitz(Jewish) - Chairman, Federal Trade Commission(FTC)

Gary Gensler(Jewish) - Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC)

Mary Schapiro(Jewish) - Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC)

Sheila Bair(Jewish) - Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC)

Karen Mills(Jewish) - Administrator, Small Business Administration (SBA)

Christina Romer(Jewish husband) - Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oy_vey

David Axelrod (2009- )	Senior Advisor to the President
Jared Bernstein (2009- )	Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to the Vice President
Rahm Emanuel (2009- )	Chief of Staff
Lee Feinstein (2009- )	Foreign Policy Advisor
Gary Gensler (2009- )	Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Elena Kagan (2009- )	Solicitor General of the United States
Ronald Klain (2009- )	Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Jack Lew (2009- )	Deputy Secretary of State
Eric Lynn (2009- )	Middle East Policy Advisor
Peter Orszag (2009- )	Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Dennis Ross (2009- )	Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia to the Secretary of State
Mara Rudman (2009- )	Foreign Policy Advisor
Mary Schapiro (2009- )	Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Dan Shapiro (2009- )	Head of Middle East desk at the National Security Council
James B. Steinberg (2009- )	Deputy Secretary of State
Lawrence Summers (2009- )	Director National Economic Council
Mona Sutphen (2009- )	Deputy White House Chief of Staff

Jews in the Obama Administration

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/obamajews.html

http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-20/goldman-employees-donated-1-million-to-obama-campaign.html

Goldman Employees Donated $1 Million to Obama Campaign

U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias pushed his Republican opponent in Illinois to give back donations from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. without saying whether President Barack Obama should return almost $1 million that bank employees contributed to his White House bid.

Obama, a political mentor and basketball buddy to Giannoulias, received the money from employees and their family members, making Goldman Sachs second only to the University of California as his biggest single source for donors in 2007 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Mark Kirk, the congressman competing against Giannoulias for the seat once held by Obama, ranks sixth for donations from Goldman employees, the center’s data shows. The top five are Democratic Congressman Michael McMahon of New York, Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, and three other New York Democrats: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Representative Scott Murphy and Senator Charles Schumer.

“This would be a lot more interesting if Wall Street banks, joined by Mark Kirk, weren’t fighting tooth and nail against the needed reforms the administration is advocating,” Hari Sevugan, Democratic National Committee spokesman, said in a statement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud lawsuit against Goldman Sachs has politicians gauging the fallout from taking donations from the bank.

Sevugan didn’t respond to an e-mail query when asked whether Obama plans to return money from Goldman Sachs employees. Jen Psaki, a White House spokeswoman, deferred questions about contributions to the DNC.

‘Tainted’ Contributions

Giannoulias, 34, the Illinois treasurer, criticized Kirk yesterday for taking what he called “tainted” contributions of $21,600 from Goldman Sachs employees.

Kirk, a five-term congressman from Chicago’s northern suburbs, said he wanted to “err on the side of caution” as the SEC case unfolded.

A Goldman Sachs spokesman, Lucas van Praag, declined to comment today on the question of contributions to Obama and other politicians.

Kirk, 50, said that his campaign is still determining how much Goldman Sachs employees donated to him, and that he hasn’t accepted money from the bank’s political action committee.

Goldman Giving

Goldman Sachs and its employees and family members gave $5.9 million to candidates in the 2007-2008 election cycle, the Washington-based center’s data shows. Three-quarters of that went to Democrats, the non-partisan group said.

Giannoulias’s campaign further criticized Kirk today for agreeing to return contributions to his Senate campaign and not the full $54,010 it says Kirk has taken from Goldman employees during his congressional career.

“His artfully worded pledge to return contributions made only in the current cycle offers a fig leaf of ethical propriety, but in reality is nothing more than a typical Washington politician’s trick,” Giannoulias spokesman Matt McGrath said in a statement.

Obama, 48, and Democrats in Congress are proposing the most sweeping financial regulation since the Great Depression. The personal push by the president, who plans to deliver a speech on the subject on April 22 at the Cooper Union in New York, comes as Goldman reported its net income almost doubled in the first quarter.

SEC Suit

The SEC filed a civil suit on April 16 alleging the firm failed to tell investors in a 2007 collateralized debt obligation that hedge fund Paulson & Co., which planned to bet against the CDO, helped select the underlying assets.

Goldman Sachs has denied the SEC’s accusations and Greg Palm, co-general counsel, told analysts on a conference call today that the firm didn’t intentionally mislead anyone.

Wall Street provided three of Obama’s seven biggest sources of contributors for his presidential bid. In 2007 and 2008, Goldman Sachs employees and family members gave him $994,795, Citigroup Inc. $701,290, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. $695,132.

Kathleen Strand, a Giannoulias spokeswoman, declined to provide a yes or no response when asked whether Obama should give money back to Goldman employees.

“Unlike President Obama, Republican Congressman Mark Kirk takes Wall Street money hand over fist and then votes their way every single time, including voting against Wall Street reform,” she said in a statement.

Kirk raised $2.2 million during the first quarter of 2010 and ended the period with more than $3 million in the bank, his campaign said April 7.

Giannoulias Lagging

Giannoulias raised $1.2 million during the first quarter and ended the period with that amount in the bank, his campaign said last week.

The Senate seat in Illinois is held by Democrat Roland Burris, who isn’t seeking a full term. Republicans are trying to take advantage of ethical problems experienced by Illinois Democrats, including a public corruption trial set to begin June 3 for former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who appointed Burris to complete Obama’s term.

A poll by Public Policy Polling released April 6 showed Kirk leading Giannoulias by 37 percent to 33 percent, with 30 percent undecided. The survey of Illinois voters was conducted April 1 to April 5 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Chicago at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000085

March 18, 2010, - 5:46 am

By Debbie Schlussel

*** UPDATE, 4/5/10: Responding to Schlussel Expose, Charity Navigator Downgrades Hannity Charity: Freedom Alliance Rating Now Only 2 Stars (”Needs Improvement”) ***

**** Check out my UPDATES to this story: 03/25/10 – Big Business: Who Owns the Freedom Concerts? How Sean Hannity’s Private Jets, Luxe SUVs, Suites Were Paid & 03/24/10 - Semantics of Vannity: New Hannity Soldiers Scam – “Buy My Book, (Non-Existent) Profits Go to Troops Charity” ****

****03/19/10: SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE: My Response to Freedom Alliance’s/Oliver North’s Weak “Non-Response” & New Lies ****

For the last several years, Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance “charity” have conducted “Freedom Concerts” across America. They’ve told you that they are raising money to pay for the college tuition of the children of fallen soldiers and to pay severely wounded war vets. And on Friday Night, Hannity will be honored with an award for this “Outstanding Community Service by a Radio Talk Show Host” at Talkers Magazine’s convention.

But it’s all a huge scam.

In fact, less than 20%–and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively–of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferry the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style. And, despite Hannity’s statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show, few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes. Moreover, despite written assurances to donors that all money raised would go directly to scholarships for kids of the fallen heroes and not to expenses, has begun charging expenses of nearly $500,000 to give out just over $800,000 in scholarships.

In February 2009, a well-known conservative writer sent me this, about a friend at FOX News:

The guy went on to tell me about Hannity’s “Freedom Concerts,” which are staged across the country with the proceeds going to children of slain soldiers. Of course, as the guy tells it, there’d be a lot more money every concert to go to the cause if Hannity didn’t demand–and get–use of a Gulfstream 5 plane to fly him and his family/entourage to the concerts; a “fleet” (that’s the word the guy used) of either Cadillac or Lincoln SUVs for him and his family/entourage; and several suites at really expensive hotels for him and his family/entourage. The promoter apparently values Hannity’s star demands at well over $200,000 per event. The source says he heard that Oliver North pulled Hannity aside at one of the concerts and told him that this had to stop. But that may mean that, from now on, Hannity has to fly on a G4 instead of a G5, gets only a few luxury SUVs, and two or three suites.

North is the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.

I began investigating these claims, and lo and behold, I discovered that Freedom Alliance gives very little money to the children of slain troops to pay for college and even less to wounded troops. The stories of injuries to troops and how much Freedom Alliance gives them–$200 for a soldier from a poor neighborhood who lost three limbs–is heartbreaking. Soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, severe wounds to the face from disfiguring burns and explosions, and multiple amputations got $1,000 or less, with only a handful of exceptions.

The tax forms available to the public for the Freedom Alliance–for the years 2006-2008–paint a tragic story, a story of a charity that makes gazillions and spends very little for the purposes it claims, a charity that spends millions more on its small staff and crony consultants than it ever gives in scholarships to the children of the fallen or severely injured troops or in aid to the injured troops themselves. While Hannity’s Freedom Concerts take in millions, only a few hundred thousand go to the claimed intended recipients.

Over a year ago, when I began looking into this story, I contacted both Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance seeking comment and an accounting for where the money went. Both declined to answer any of my questions. Hannity refused to respond to an inquiry I sent to his personal private e-mail address asking him about the lavish expenses described in the e-mail above.

Freedom Alliance press secretary Alan Moore scheduled an interview for me with Freedom Alliance president Thomas Kilgannon, who in the past used Freedom Alliance resources to promote a book he wrote on the United Nations. But when Moore asked me what the interview would be about and I answered truthfully, the interview was not granted, and my calls to him were never returned thereafter. I told him I’d be asking Mr. Kilgannon about the expenses paid for Hannity and about the paltry percentage of Freedom Alliance funds actually going to the kids of fallen troops, to severely injured troops, and to anything other than expenses, consultants, and printing. I wanted to know why Freedom Alliance had spent $60,000 for “aviation services” in 2006.

Keep in mind that a charity is considered reputable if no more than 25% of its revenue goes to expenses and no less than 75% of it goes to the intended charity recipients. Given that, Freedom Alliance’s balance sheets are embarrassing in their shamelessness.

According to its 2006 tax returns, Freedom Alliance reported revenue of $10, 822, 785, but only $397,900–or a beyond-measly 3.68%–of that was given to the children of fallen troops as scholarships or as aid to severely injured soldiers.

On the other hand, 62% of the money went to “expenses,” including $979,485 for “consultants” and an “advisor.” Yes, consultant/advisors got more than double what injured troops and the kids of fallen troops got. The tax forms show that “New World Aviation” got paid $60,601 for “air travel.” Was that for Hannity’s G5? Like I said, neither the charity nor Hannity is talking. And finally, that year, Freedom Alliance spent $1,730,816 on postage and shipping and $1,414,215 on printing, for a total of $3,145,031, nearly half the revenue the charity spent that year and about eight times what the injured troops and the children of fallen ones received.

That’s especially heartbreaking when you compare the hundreds of thousands consultants got and the millions spent on printing and postage to the outrageously small amounts given to wounded soldiers. In 2006, Freedom Alliance gave only $1,000 to a soldier from Bay City, Michigan, whom the charity says was in the following condition:

Face was blown up and lost sight in one eye.

And that $1,000 was relatively generous, when you consider this soldier from Romulus, Michigan, whom Freedom Alliance only gave $200:

SM [serviceman] was involved in roadside bomb incident in Iraq, which caused loss of both legs and left arm.

Romulus is a mostly Black Detroit suburb, which is one of the poorest cities in Michigan and in America. Freedom Alliance gave this brave soldier roughly $67 per limb. That’s sickening.

So is the fact that this soldier, from Alexandria, Virginia, also only got $200 from Freedom Alliance:

SM was wounded in Iraq by an IED explosion. Lost right arm and severe shrapnel wounds to upper body and face.

Also appalling is the fact that in each year’s tax returns soldiers described as having brain trauma injuries, multiple amputated limbs, and severe burns over most of their bodies get a few hundred bucks each from Freedom Alliance and in almost every case, no more than $1,000.

That year, while fat-cat consultants and expenses took millions of Freedom Alliance’s money, seriously wounded troops to whom Freedom Alliance donated received a pathetic average of $785 each and the college student kids of the fallen got a paltry average of $2,943 toward tuition. Yes, out of millions raised that year by Sean Hannity at his Freedom Concerts, only $309,000 was given out in scholarships to 105 students, and only $110,703.82 was given to the wounded soldiers.

Freedom Alliance’s 2007 tax returns aren’t much better. Out of $12,459,317 it raised that year, only $895,347–or just 7%–went to seriously wounded troops and scholarships for fallen troops. 53% went to expenses, including $1,464,627 in postage and $1,151,428 in printing. $604,995 went to “professional fees” and “consultants.” Out of millions paid for Freedom Concert tickets and raised in fundraisers by Hannity listeners, only $596,500 went to college scholarships for soldiers who died in battle, and only $299,897 went to horribly injured troops. 208 student children of the fallen got an average of $2,868 apiece for tuition, though many got only $1,000 or less. 382 soldiers with serious injuries got an average of $785 each.

And, again, that year, the amounts given to soldiers with such grave injuries is despicably tiny. This soldier, from Killeen, Texas, got only $500 from Freedom Alliance:

SM was wounded in Iraq on June 18, 2007 in Digula Province, Baquba, Iraq. An IED exploded on the truck, he took shrapnel to the face, which cut off a piece of his nose. Also had shrapnel in throat and cheeks, which cut open his face and the inside of his throat.

This soldier, from Brady, Texas, also received just $500 from Freedom Alliance:

While serving in Baghdad Iraq, SM was hit with an IED blast. Sustained disfigurement, blindness, and superficial burns on face, hearing loss to right ear, TBI, peppered shrapnel to the face and right upper extremity.

And then, there are the 2008 Freedom Alliance tax forms, which were signed in November 2009 and filed only recently. That year, Freedom Alliance took in $8,781,431 in revenue and gave $1,060,275.57 total–or just 12%–to seriously wounded soldiers and for scholarships to kids of the fallen. Remember, this is well below the 75% required to be considered a legitimate charity. And after claiming in written letters to donors that 100% of the money donated, via the Freedom Concerts or otherwise, to the scholarships would go directly to the scholarships and not to expenses, the Freedom Alliance decided to do the contrary and charge expenses anyway–charging a whopping $436,386 to give out $802,250 in scholarships. That means that 35% of the $1,238,636–all of which was supposed to go to scholarships for these kids of the fallen–went to Freedom Alliance.

Freedom Alliance spent $5,375,654–or 61% of its total revenue earned in 2008–on expenses, but actually 80% of the total revenue spent and given out for that year. That includes $1,055,791 spent on postage and $925,392 on printing. It spent $157,041 on travel. Is this the item that includes the money for the alleged Sean Hannity Gulfstream flights? Like I said, neither the charity nor Hannity will answer questions.

Meanwhile, 167 students got an average of just $4,803.89 each in tuition. With the amount this charity raises, these kids should all be getting a free ride paid for by Freedom Alliance.

And 299 very seriously injured soldiers got an average of just $805.21 each for very grave injuries. And the heartbreak of their stories and the disgustingly low amount donated to them continues. This soldier, from Laurel, MD, got just $1,000:

SM lost both legs and one arm, below elbow, due to IED blast. SM also lost hearing in both ears on April 21, 2008.

Wow, while Sean Hannity and his friends at Freedom Alliance are paying their crony consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars, they’re giving this soldier $200 per limb lost or rendered useless.

This soldier, from Fort Sam Houston, Texas (where my own father was first sent when he was drafted during Vietnam), fared even worse in Freedom Alliance’s “generosity,” receiving only $165:

SM is a bilateral amputee with 30% facial burns sustained during IED blast, 31 May 2008, OEF.

Just $165 for that? Pathetic. And so very tragic.

Since Sean Hannity is always bragging about his phony “investigations” (stuff he just rips off from others) and “investigative” skills, you’d think he could figure out how to read a tax return and bother to look at Freedom Alliance’s. But you would be wrong. He has neither the skills nor the desire. He knows better and is well aware that they waste money on him and his luxe accommodations and travel. But this isn’t about that or truly about helping the troops and the kids of our war dead. It’s about promoting himself, the same way Angelina Jolie and Madonna get the press to film them in Africa.

To make matters worse, Hannity deliberately lied to his radio audience about how much money was going to the kids of the fallen American soldiers. On May 28th of last year, Hannity told his listeners, “Our new sponsor, Boca Java, just pledged $30,000 to the Freedom Concerts. That will provide a full one-year college scholarship for a kid of a fallen soldier.” In fact, Freedom Alliance’s tax forms indicate it has never given any student more than $6,000 in a school year, and usually it’s been far less. Many students only get $1,000, which will barely cover anything at most colleges, today. A Boca Java spokeswoman told me that last year was the coffee purveyor’s last one sponsoring the Freedom Concerts, as it now donates directly to the troops, sending them free coffee and through sales of its Brew of Bravery.

A friend of mine was one of the artists who performed in Hannity’s Freedom Concerts and was shocked when I showed him the tax forms and the expenses. He no longer performs at the concerts because he was tired of the egomania. Now, he’s just angry. “We paid our own way and for all of our costs and expenses to perform because we thought we were helping the troops and their families and that all the money was going to them.”

In investigating Freedom Alliance and its tax forms, I learned that the organizations which evaluate charities are entirely worthless. Freedom Alliance is certified as “Best in America” by the “Independent Charities of America.” It is also rated a “Four Star Charity” by “Charity Navigator.” Both of these “ratings” are posted prominently on Freedom Alliance’s website, misleading donors into believing they are donating to a worthy cause, when in fact they are mostly donating to a black hole of expenses. Even Charity Navigator notes in its strange, illogical, and mostly inaccurate Four Star rating that Freedom Alliance has a fund-raising “efficiency” of only nine cents on the dollar. And, in fact, Charity Navigator’s ridiculous rating formula robotically crunches numbers in a way that considers the money spent mostly on consultants, postage, and printing as having gone to the wounded soldiers and kids of fallen soldiers, when in fact that’s not where it went at all. It simply can’t be taken seriously.

And I’m not the only one who noticed. The comments on Charity Navigator’s Freedom Alliance page are indicative that those who checked this charity’s tax forms also note the scam.

“Wonkling” wrote:

If you look at the actual 990, it breaks down its program expenses. They actually spent more money this past year on postage than they did over the past 4 years on scholarships. They paid 60k to an air company, millions to consultants, marketing, fundraising. Their actual expenditures on funds for children of killed/disabled veterans is far less than what they paid themselves or their consultants. Having a large capacity (4 stars) should not overshadow a cumbersome efficiency rating (2 stars).

“Chickenbone” wrote:

Since 2003 Freedom Alliance has collected in cash $48,241,571! Since 2003 they have spent on the Wounded and Dead Veterans and their Families $1,781,782 or .036 cents on the dollar, according to their own IRS 990’s!

Yes, Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts are just a giant con. His gushing lumpenconservatariat fans and listeners actually believe he’s doing good, while he travels in style around the country feeding his ego. It’s a win-win for him. But it’s a lose-lose for the donors (who are mostly hard-working, Middle Americans who want to help our troops and their families and bought concert tickets and held other fundraisers) and mostly a loser for the kids of the fallen troops and the troops, themselves, who survived with very serious injuries.

You’ve heard the saying, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” I love patriotism, but in this case, Sean Hannity’s “Freedom Concerts” and the Freedom Alliance are Exhibit A of that saying. But they’re not really patriots. Not even close. Their only patriotism is to the faces they see in their mirrors. Hey, Sean, you’re a “Great American.”

Sadly, the real great Americans–the ones who gave their lives and the ones who survived but gave their limbs and their skin for this country–are getting ripped off.

**** UPDATE, 03/18/10: Just as I expected, the liars and frauds at Freedom Alliance want to keep the gravy train going for them and their cronies. So they’ve issued a “response,” which doesn’t refute a single fact in here and frankly provides no hard evidence of anything . . . because they don’t have any. One of the “prominent bloggers” who posted the phony response is Erick Erickson, a guy who supports Rand Paul and the other 9/11 Truther Paul, and who defended Emily Zanotti, the lunatic who has been stalking me for four years and who praised Muslim death, rape, and torture threats against me and my family. Yes, sadly, there are a growing number of anti-Semites on the right, and Erick Erickson is one of them. And the anti-Semites are now the defenders of this rip off of our seriously wounded troops and the kids of our fallen heroes.

Here is my response to their extremely weak PR attempt at CYA:

In fact, the Freedom Alliance “response” doesn’t answer any of the questions I raised and goes on to lie more. They don’t address why they gave a triple amputee only $200—and in fact there are many of these examples provided in their tax return addendum, but I only cited a few for brevity’s sake. They also lie and claim that they gave a lot more money to charity b/c they categorize it as “program expenses.” But I’m sorry—calling $3 million in consulting fees, printing, and postage “program expenses” doesn’t change the fact that it still went to their cronies, not to a fund and not the soldiers who only got on average less than $900 apiece. It also doesn’t change the fact that out of the money spent (I didn’t use the money they claim they raised for their scholarship fund) the vast majority goes to those kinds of expenses.

Also, the “scholarship fund” is really a war chest for something else. We’ve been at war since 2001, when we went into Afghanistan, and we’re winding down in Iraq. Unless the kids were born in 2001 or thereafter, many of these kids are in college now and Freedom Alliance is giving them a pittance toward their college tuition, while they continue to build this massive war chest. With a giant multi-million dollar fund, why aren’t they giving the kids a free, complete ride to college? And how many kids of deceased troops will there be in the future? Enough to exhaust a multi-million dollar fund? Doubtful.

Moreover, because they hoarded millions of dollars, their returns show the fund shrunk by several million dollars with bad investments and market losses. That money could have put these kids through college for the entire time. What’s their excuse for the soldiers with no limbs and with severe burns? Are they waiting for two decades from now when technology is better? $165 for a soldier who is blind and his face blew up? No excuse for that. Their “response” is simply a non-response and an attempt to cover up the fraud. I will be posting more on this and on more fraud at Freedom Alliance, in the coming days. Stay tuned.
DS

**** Check out my UPDATES to this story: 03/25/10 – Big Business: Who Owns the Freedom Concerts? How Sean Hannity’s Private Jets, Luxe SUVs, Suites Were Paid & 03/24/10 - Semantics of Vannity: New Hannity Soldiers Scam – “Buy My Book, (Non-Existent) Profits Go to Troops Charity” ****

*** UPDATE, 4/5/10: Responding to Schlussel Expose, Charity Navigator Downgrades Hannity Charity: Freedom Alliance Rating Now Only 2 Stars (”Needs Improvement”) ***

March 19, 2010, - 7:15 pm

By Debbie Schlussel

As you know, yesterday I posted an extensive expose on the fraud that is the Freedom Alliance and the associated Freedom Concerts pimped by Sean Hannity on hard-working Americans who pay their money, thinking they are helping severely wounded troops and funding college scholarships for the children of wounded soldiers. As I predicted, Freedom Alliance finally “responded” with a non-response that was more lies and obfuscation. You only need to look at their tax forms, which I posted in my expose, to know what’s going on without the filter of their lens.

The liars and frauds at Freedom Alliance want to keep the gravy train going for them and their cronies. So, instead of actually refuting a single fact, they make claims without any hard evidence . . . because they don’t have any. None of the circle-the-wagons, fraudulent “conservatives” defending this group have dared post the tax forms because they tell the unvarnished truth. One of the “prominent bloggers” who posted the phony response is Erick Erickson, a nut from Kentucky, who supports the equally nutty, pro-Iran, anti-American, anti-Gitmo Rand Paul, and who defended Emily Zanotti, the lunatic who has been stalking me for four years, who praised Muslim death, rape, and torture threats against me and my family, and who recently lost a scurrilous, unhinged attempt to threaten my free speech rights by trying to challenge my law license (which she did with the participation of a number of the bloggers now defending Freedom Alliance). And I love how because the wasteful, lying charity claims in its response that Vannity paid for all his travel (he, in fact, paid for none of it and it was in fancy private planes, which I’ll tell you about in the coming days), that’s now “fact.” Yup, repeating CYA press releases by perpetrators is now deemed an “exhaustive investigation.”

Here is my initial response to Freedom Alliance’s extremely weak PR attempt at covering its hide (I will be posting more, next week, as I’ve discovered even more sleaze on the group’s part):

In fact, the Freedom Alliance “response” doesn’t answer any of the questions I raised and goes on to lie more. They don’t address why they gave a triple amputee only $200—and in fact there are many of these examples provided in their tax return addendum, but I only cited a few for brevity’s sake. They also lie and claim that they gave a lot more money to charity b/c they categorize it as “program expenses.” But I’m sorry—calling over $3 million in consulting fees, printing, and postage “program expenses” doesn’t change the fact that it still went to their cronies, not to a fund and not the soldiers who only got on average less than $900 apiece. It also doesn’t change the fact that out of the money spent (I didn’t count the money they claim they raised for their scholarship fund in my percentages or the figures would have been even more outrageous against Freedom Alliance), the vast majority of spending goes to those kinds of expenses.

Also, the “scholarship fund” is really a war chest for something else, since it isn’t being used to fund scholarships for kids of soldiers now. If it has $15 million dollars, as they claim, then the interest alone should fund a free ride for all of the soldiers’ children currently in college. What are they waiting for? Likely, to convert the fund to something else, not what the donors intended. Do you really think people who held bake sales and bought tickets to the concerts thought they were funding a Merrill Lynch account for a nebulous promise that some kids of fallen troops might go to college from it in 20 years? No. They thought they were funding kids to go to college on a full ride now. But it was all a lie.

As I noted, Hannity said on his nationally-syndicated radio show that a $30,000 donation from Boca Java will fund a full year for one of these kids in college. Sadly, it never did. I don’t think anyone listening to his show thought that he meant 20 years from now. That’s not what Boca Java thought, according to a company spokeswoman.

We’ve been at war since 2001, when we went into Afghanistan, and we’re winding down in Iraq. Unless Freedom Alliance wants you to believe that the soldiers who died there had no kids born before 1992–and clearly that’s not the case because Freedom Alliance has been giving a couple hundred kids a pittance for college since at least its tax filing in 2005, they are ripping these kids off in order to build a massive war chest and self-perpetuate. Again, with a giant multi-million dollar fund, why aren’t they giving the kids a free, complete ride to college? And how many kids of deceased troops will there be in the future? Enough to exhaust a multi-million dollar fund? Doubtful.

Moreover, because they hoarded millions of dollars, their returns show the fund shrunk by several million dollars with bad investments and market losses. That money could have put these kids through college for the entire time. What’s their excuse for the soldiers with no limbs and with severe burns? Are they waiting for two decades from now when technology is better? $165 for a soldier who is blind and his face blew up? No excuse for that. Their “response” is simply a non-response and an attempt to cover up the fraud.

Unfortunately for Freedom Alliance, I’ve discovered some interesting things that involve some other parties and more scamming here. It’ll make you sick. As a kid of a former wartime U.S. Army man, it makes me sick. They are using our severely wounded soldiers and the children of our war dead to help themselves and their cronies. And all the disinformation in the world won’t fool everyone. It’s an IQ test. If you believe the propaganda over their own tax forms, you failed. And you are essentially admitting they lied on their own taxes.

I will be posting more on this and on more fraud at Freedom Alliance, in the coming days. Stay tuned.

HANNITY IS A F***ING A**HOLE! SCHLUSSEL BLOWS THE LID OFF OF HANNITY SCAM! MILLIONS FALL FOR IT BECAUSE OF HIS SALES PITCH THAT PLAYS ON PATRIOTISM AND EMOTIONS OF EMPATHY FOR THE WIDOWS, WIDOWERS AND ORPHANS OF OUR BRAVE MILITARY!

Personal Aside: How a Chicago Irishman Pinned Blame for Katyn on the Soviets—Where it Belonged.

Feast of St. Leo IX*
The plane crash on April 10 at Smolensk, Russia that decimated most of the leadership of Poland including the president, the country’s First Lady and 86 other notables has struck Chicago’s big Polish community as a personal tragedy and almost irreparable loss.