In politics you can tell a lot about someone by the donations they accept. As far as my Congressman (and chairman of the NDCC) Steve Israel he is accepting donations from a man convicted of illegally selling arms to Iran. His name is Parviz Lavi and According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) has taken $6,500 from Parviz Lavi since 2006.

In 1998 Parviz Lavi was arrested by federal agents for conspiring to illegally smuggle fighter jet engines and their parts for Iran (yes the same Iran that wants to blow Israel to smithereens).

According to a March 4, 1998, Newsday article,

“The Iranian-born owner of a Hicksville firm was arrested by federal agents yesterday on charges of conspiring to illegally smuggle fighter jet engines and their parts into Iran, according to officials.

“Parviz Lavi, 62, the owner of Omega Turbine Corp., 150 Express St., had been under investigation since 1991 by customs agents in Norfolk, Va., for a scheme to smuggle at least six turbine engines for the F-14 jet fighter and thousands of engine parts, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Burton Ryan.

According to court papers, Lavi had been wiretapped since 1992 discussing various schemes to sell the F-14 engines and their parts to Iran by shipping them first to associates in Rotterdam, Holland. At one point Lavi discussed paying between $125,000 and $150,000 for six of the TF-30 jet engines, the court papers said

“The engine is used only on U.S. and Iranian F-14 fighters. The U.S. government sold 80 of the F-14s to the shah’s government before the revolution in Iran in 1979 but since then has barred the export of military equipment to Iran.”

(Source: “Man Held In Plot To Sell F-14 Parts,” Newsday, March 4, 1998)

The NY Times corroborated the Newsday story and took it even further:

According a March 5, 1998, New York Times article, “Mr. Lavi went to Norfolk several times with a shopping list of prohibited parts, officials said. Undercover agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and businessmen involved in the arms trade who were cooperating with the Government agreed to sell him what he wanted: 500 metal vanes, or blades, for the powerful TF-30 engines on the F-14’s that were made to stringent specifications by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, in North Haven, Conn.

“The sale price was $25,000, but the authorities said the value of the parts to Iran’s military was inestimable.”

(Source: “L.I. Man Is Seized in Scheme To Smuggle Jet Parts to Iran,” The New York Times,March 5, 1998)

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Recently immediately after Congressman Darrell Issa finished giving a speech from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, I caught up with him for his most recent comments on the investigation into the ATF gunwalking scandal known as Projects “Fast and Furious” and “Gun Runner.”

The California Congressman, as many of you know, is Chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the DOJ’s role in the selling of assault weapons to known drug cartel members.  Below is an excerpt from the interview.

You Tube: Issa with the latest from his investigation into the ATF gunmwalking scandal.

“The good news is the dedicated men and women of the ATF and DOJ are breaking ranks and coming in as whistleblowers.  We’ve had numerous voluoluntary interviews that have given us an understanding of what went wrong and an understanding that a decision was made far above their level…”

“Two Border Patrol Agents are dead…this (1,800 weapons sold to drug traffickers) has resulted in an accumulation of hurt and killing that will go on for years…”

“…One of our objectives in the investigation is we have to put confidence back in the system on both sides of the border that U.S. law enforcement does not allow weapons to walk…President Calderone of Mexico is the most cooperative partner on the war on drugs that we have had in years and the Mexican government has called this ‘an active war’.”

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When I hear this famous Texas saying, I immediately think of President Obama and how he feels about Texas.  All talk.  No action.  Then again, the action of denying Texas federal disaster aid for wildfires raging over million acres speaks volumes.

Last month, President Obama spoke with a Dallas reporter about the federal budget and denied politics were in play against Texas when shuttles were awarded to other states.  Our President says he loves Texas, despite losing by approximately 10 points in the last presidential election and even professes “You better believe I’m not going not going to write off Texas … we’re going to compete” when discussing his reelection campaign for 2012.

So, riddle me this: Why was Texas’ federal disaster aid declaration request denied?

Wildfires have raged since November 2010 with over 2.3 million acres charred igniting 9,000+ wildfires across our great state. Two people have been killed and hundreds of homes burned to the ground. Texas families are losing their homes and their businesses and yet federal disaster aid is denied that could help citizens obtain low-interest loans and tax breaks to help with rebuilding.

Yes, everything is bigger in Texas and we are loud and proud on how we can take care of our own, but let’s put things in perspective. The Texas Forest Service says this of the current wildfire situation:

• Red flag warnings have been issued across much of West Texas today with critical fire weather conditions predicted.
• Texas Forest Service responded to two (2) large fires yesterday.
• We are currently working on seven (7) major fires that span 586,624 acres.
• 207 of the 254 Texas counties are reporting burn bans.

That’s 81% of Texas under a burn ban.

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Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)

Marc Theissen recently asked some very important questions about where the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is getting the mountains of cash that it spends on Democrat political campaigns. He finds that it is coming from foreign sources, but the SEIU is refusing to yield to requests for transparency.

If the SEIU is getting the millions of dollars it is spending on Democrats from foreign sources, this should put a major dent in the alarmist claims that Obama has been making about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supposedly getting its money from outside the country — a charge that was resoundingly refuted. After all, if one of Obama’s biggest left-wing campaign supporters is suffused with foreign cash, why should it be such a big deal if anyone else is?

Sadly, the Old Media will never play up this aspect of Obama’s hypocrisy, but that is another subject.

In any case, Theissen asked the SEIU where its political cash was coming from because federal financial reporting records seemed to prove that it could not have been coming solely from the dues of American union members. Since the SEIU has thousands of members in foreign nations, Theissen wondered how that factored in.

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There is a dangerous trend moving through the top most ranks of the Obama administration, and no I am not talking about Socialism.  Just because this progressive administration believes that government should control industry and our personal lives does not mean that our President is a socialist. And I am not talking about the rumor that the administration is trying to stifle first amendment speech.  Just because they attack every broadcaster that disagrees with their agenda and threaten every business that points out a flaw in their legislation it does not mean that they are trying to stymie an open discussion of the issues. No this trend is much more nefarious than that. Some of the President’s closest advisers, have developed issues with…well beastiality.

That’s right, we have learned for example, that when David Axelrod leaves the White House every night, he finds time to stop at the Washington DC Zoo, and well, lets just say he accepts foreign donations.

I have been asked about these charges, specifically the New York Times looked into Axelrod’s love life specifically and said that Axelrod is not putting any part of himself into foreign objects. He has been spending lots of time at the petting zoo, said the times but the only thing being stroked is his ego. There is no evidence says the Times, that David Axelrod has a “sheep” problem. Bob Schieffer of CBS News says that Axelrod’s animal problem is just peanuts.

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“Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.”

I’m actually pleased that Obama has gone after the Chamber of Commerce for allegedly funding Republican ads with foreign donations. Set aside that there’s no evidence whatever for it, as even the New York Times and CBS’s Bob Schieffer acknowledge. There’s much more potent ammunition here.

In the Chamber of Commerce, one couldn’t find a more homespun, middle-of-the-road group of Republicans to attack. Going after them shows just how desperate Obama and his henchmen have become in the face of worsening election prospects.

Trying to make Boehner the face of the enemy failed. The “Party of No” meme fell flat, as has every gambit intended to make Republicans look like the reason things are not getting better. Those efforts had to, given the GOP’s minority status (not to mention their leaders’ string-like spines). Republicans in Congress have clearly been able to block nothing the past 20 months.

So, being left with attacking private citizens — and not your typical “Wall Street fat cats” at that — amounts to digging that trench ever deeper. Not only will Obama not crawl out of it by November 2, it could keep him clambering for a foothold long afterward.

Better still, the harder he presses this the more he’ll alienate the middle. That’s a surefire losing tactic. There’s no better way to make the Republican majority even larger than it’s going to be than to press arbitrary charges against millions of small businessmen.

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When we say that Democrats spend money like drunken sailors, we meant it figuratively. It turns out, though, that at least some Dems take it literally. The video below shows Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee socializing at the recent Democrat Days in Hannibal, MO. As you can see, she is a big fan of the margaritas, which amusingly are made by the Steelworkers’ traveling margarita machine. (There is a phrase we never thought we would write.)

About 3 minutes in, the Ms. Montee, remember a Constitutional Officer, hits on the brilliant idea of getting a margarita machine for her state car. Of course, the machine would be paid for by campaign contributors.

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It took years, but there is something I finally agree with Barack Obama and Al Franken on. Obama and his propaganda machine in the mainstream media, not to mention his party of corruption, are calling for an investigation of “foreign money” in campaigns.

Finally.

I have been calling for a special prosecutor for years, ever since I exposed the millions Obama received from Muslim nations, Hamas-controlled Gaza and other foreign countries.

Obama warned Thursday that “groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections, and they won’t tell you where the money for their ads come from.” He also said that “just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations.”

Franken then duly hurried to do Obama’s bidding, calling on the Federal Election Commission to investigate the Chamber of Commerce, the group to which Obama was referring.

We move to a theater of the absurd upon hearing Al Franken, who lost his election on election night and began pulling votes out of car trunks to steal that election, calling for an investigation of foreign money.

Nonetheless, the Democrats’ mainstream media shills then took up the cause. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow confronted Oregon Republican Congressional candidate Art Robinson with accusations about foreign contributions: “If you get elected in part because of this spending and you find out that it’s from criminals, or foreign interests, or communists or something, wouldn’t that bother you?”

Whether or not it should bother Robinson, it should bother Obama. While he is calling for an investigation into the Chamber of Commerce, there should be a full investigation into the foreign millions Obama received for his campaign.

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It’s no secret that Democrats and organized labor have long shared a love affair that’s lasted for decades and burns even stronger under the Obama administration.  As more and more legislation has been enacted over the years in the interest of protecting workers, including state and federal safety and environmental regulations, voluntary union membership in the private sector has decreased.  Yet, public sector unions have grown under big government policies.  And they continue to grow.

Creating union jobs has become far less of a worker protection issue and far more a political tool for vote pandering.  With 12% of the overall workforce, labor union leaders invest their members’ dues in Democrats and rally their members to turnout at the polls and check off the box for those candidates.  Democrats in turn reward the unions with bigger government – more public sector jobs, more government projects, more schools and other facilities…more spending means more union dues.  And more union dues means more money to spend on political campaigns.  And so the cycle goes.  All too often, big government is a reflection of special interest paybacks, not of well-intended policy.

But for the other 88% of us equally hard working Americans who, primarily by our own choice, are NOT union members, where does that leave us?  Usually, with more taxes and without much of a voice.  And nowhere near as much voting power as Big Labor has amassed over all these years.

But all that is about to change, thanks to The Concord Project.  Finally, a tool for liberty-loving Americans that’s sure to bring out the community organizer in all of us.  And give the average voter a fighting chance against powerful unions and overbearing lefty groups during election season. (more…)

We know how liberals, particularly those in the education establishment, like to say that Corporate America dictates public policy through campaign contributions.

A new report, prepared by the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics, does a good job of dispelling that myth.

As it turns out, the National Education Association was by far the nation’s biggest political contributor during the 2008 election cycle. The NEA dropped a cool $56.3 million on its list of favored liberal candidates at various levels of government, which was about $12 million more than the runner-up contributor spent.

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