UAW Thugs Appeal Extortion Conviction . . . And Get A Stiffer Sentence

Sometimes the scales of justice truly balance.

Two UAW officers, Danny Douglas and Jay Campbell, agreed in 1997 to end an 87 day strike at a Michigan GM plant - but only if GM agreed to hire Campbell's son and the son-in-law of another UAW official to high paying jobs for which they were unqualified. For this, Douglas and Campbell were tried and found guilty of extortion. The judge, who could have sentenced the pair to up to 30 years, instead gave them a gentle slap on the wrists of six months house arrest and two years probation.

Not satisfied with even this, Douglas and Campbell appealed their conviction.

The Sixth Circuit Court, applying the wisdom of Solomon, affirmed the conviction. The Circuit Court then remanded the case back to the trial judge because . . . the sentence was too light.

Douglas and Campbell are now headed to jail for 18 months, followed by a year and a day of probation.

Schadenfreude at its purest.

Update: Linked at Larwyn's Linx

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A Descent Into Corruption & Abuse Of Power Is Not The Change For Which We Had Hoped

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins."

William Pitt The Elder, Speech to the House of Lords, 1770

The Democrats have achieved what amounts to complete power in America. And the far left wing of the Democratic Party, led by Obama, are skirting if not violating the law in order to get their way. Numerous acts of intimidation and abuse of power are showing up everywhere you look. That includes at least two egregious acts that have come to light just this day - the intimidation of a witnesses and Obama's unilateral decision to fire the Inspector General (IG) for Americorps who had recently investigated and received a judgment against a major Obama supporter.

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In the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies, we have seen extortion and strong arming from Obama and his "car czar" to trample on statutory and constitutional rights of secured creditors. With the nations major banks, we have seen the Obama administration refuse to allow repayment of loans and then use their control to influence bank decisions as regards Chrysler and GM. Even now, though allowing repayment, the government is maintaining warrants that they could exercise at any time to take over the effective ownership of every major banking institution in America. We have seen the White House take direct control of the 2010 census and insert the deeply corrupt ACORN into the counting process. We have seen the Obama DOJ make the inexplicable decision not to prosecute voter intimidation by the New Black Panthers. And we have the Obama DOJ ignoring a recent Supreme Court case and making decisions that can only further promote voter fraud.

In the House, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats repeatedly refused to allow ethics investigations of numerous Democratic lawmakers who are reeking with the stench of corruption. Indeed, even the NYT editorial board is starting to choke on that one. Tax fraud Charlie Rangel and "friend of Angelo" Chris Dodd still not only retain their seats in Congress, but their chairmanships. And we have the left protecting ACORN at every turn, cancelling hearings to investigate their corruption and insuring that all attempts to block robust funding of ACORN on the taxpayer's dime are rebuffed.

And today, there is more. First up are charges of witness intimidation. Democratic Rep. Ed Markey, co-author of the Waxman Cap and Trade bill, sent a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking FERC to investigate MidAmerican Energy Holdings on the same day that company’s CEO was set to testify before the energy panel on the dangers of a carbon cap and trade system. In another instance, health care lobbyists were warned by two senior democratic staffers not to meet with the Republican leadership to discuss the proposed health care plan. As they reportedly said, doing so would be a "hostile act."

But by far the worst act is Obama's unilateral decision to fire Gerald Walpin, the Inspector General of AmeriCorps. An inspector generals job is to investigate for waste, fraud or abuse of federal funds. Walpin had recently investigated Kevin Johnson, an Obama supporter, and the nonprofit St. HOPE Academy that Johnson headed. Walpin found six instances of funds being diverted or wrongly used, none of which were disputed by Johnson. Walpin handed his findings over to the DOJ. The DOJ then found sufficient cause to order St. Hope to repay about half of nearly $847,000 in federal grants they had received from AmeriCorps. On the heels of that, not only did Obama act to fire Walpin, but Obama failed to comply with an act he voted for last year meant to protect Inspector Generals from political pressure. That law requires Obama to allow allow thirty days to pass after informing Congress of the intent to fire an IG, and to provide specific reasons for the firing. Obama did neither. Byron York has the definitive postings on this one. He also adds that this situation with Walpin may be the tip of the iceberg, stating that a "number of inspectors general around the government have been expressing concerns to Congress recently about threats to their independence."

On a final note, not included in the bill of particulars above are the highly questionable procedural games that the Democratic majority is playing in Congress. Major bills are not being written in committee. Instead, they are being written in secret by the far left wing of the Democratic party then pushed out with calls for an immediate vote. Nancy Pelosi virtually wrote the porkulus bill behind closed doors, and then referred to Republican complaints about the lack of bipartisanship in drafting the bill as mere "process arguments." And it is not just Republicans. The NYT reported last month "[f]orty-five House Democrats in the party’s moderate-to-conservative wing have protested the secretive process by which party leaders in their chamber are developing legislation to remake the health care system." Then there is Obama's proposal for ramming socialized medicine legislation through by grossly misusing the "budget reconciliation" procedure in the Senate.

Obama and the far left are drunk with power and vastly overreaching. Indeed, any number of Obama's acts to date would have, had they been done by Bush, resulted in substantive calls for impeachment. There is a reason Dafydd ab Hugh of Big Lizards tagged Obama as "Lucky Lefty." But with a press corps that more resembles a smitten school girl - indeed, so much so that one of the editors of the left wing SF Examiner is complaining - utterly none of these tyrannical acts designed to skirt law and democracy are being followed up by the MSM. This is not the hope and change Obama promised - but it is the reality his background clearly foreshadowed.

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"Lucky Lefty" Obama, TARP, Chrysler, California and Gangster Government

Obama is not running the government as President according to the Constitution - he is running it like a mafia don from the pages of a Mario Puzo novel. As Michael Barone describes it, we now have "Gangster Government." And as Dafydd ab Hugh has cynically but appropriately tagged him, our nation's leader is more aptly termed "Lucky Lefty" Obama.

First are the TARP "loans" to banks. They came with numerous strings attached. When some of the banks said they wanted to pay the loans back and crawl out from under the thumb of the Obama government, Obama's administration said "not so fast." Like the most lawless of loan sharks, to the contrary, the Obama administration floated a plan to forcibly convert the TARP loans into common stock, thereby making the government the dominant owner of the banks.

As it is, TARP funds are grossly distorting our economy in three ways. One, recipients of TARP loans are being leaned on by the government to act in ways that support Obama goals instead of those of the bank's shareholders and customers. Two, this government interference is going to give great pause to anyone so foolish as to be thinking of investing in any entity subject to Obama administration interference. And lastly, TARP funds are leading to corruption and fraud on a world record scale.

Then there is Obama's well blogged (though anything but well publicized in the MSM) extortion of Chrysler secured bond holders. It is a charge the Obama administration first categorically denied. Now, after others have verified the story, the White House simply refuses to answer questions on the topic . Obama strong-armed the secured creditors to give up their property rights - rights protected both in bankruptcy law and the Constitution - so that Obama could reward the UAW on a grand scale. It is government theft - stealing from innocent investors to give to his union supporters. The Obama administration threatened to destroy the bondholders in the press if they did not comply. Obama excoriated the bond holders as "speculators" at his 100 days press conference - an absolutely outrageous act. There were anonymous death threats made to the bond holders. And to put the icing on the cake, the bankruptcy court ordered exposure of the bond holders.

To add onto all of this, many of the secured bond holders were TARP recipients. These entities were not among the hold-outs seeking to uphold their legal rights. To the contrary, the TARP recipients rolled over long before this, giving up their legal rights so Obama could legally steal from them and give to the UAW. Do you think they were given an offer they couldn't refuse?

Then there is California, a state whose finances have been so mismanaged by the far left for over a decade that now, under fiscal stress, they are headed for bankruptcy by July. Seeing the writing on the wall, Gov. Schwarzenager pushed through legislation to lower compensation for union health care workers - a move that was expected to save over $72 million. The Service Workers International Union appealed directly to Obama. Now, in an absolutely outrageous act, Obama has unilaterally threatened to withhold all $6.8 billion in stimulus funds slated for California unless the California government reinstates the old wage rate for the unionized workers. Dafydd at Big Lizards has the entire story - and it is Obama's extrajudicial actions that led Dafydd to tag Obama as "Lucky Lefty" - an appropriate gangster nickname for our Don in Chief.

I have to laugh when I look back at this point and ponder the last eight year's worth of baseless left wing claims that the Bush Administration was shredding the Constitution. What we are being treated to now is the real deal. It really is "gangster government," and the Constitution doesn't seem worth the paper it is printed on to "Lucky Lefty."

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Scandal, Lies & Post-Modernism In Full Fury

Several days ago, an attorney and Democratic Party campaign contributor, Thomas Lauria, went public with allegations that the Obama administration was using extortionate threats to convince secured creditors of Chrysler to, in essence, give up their rights in favor of the UAW. It was an incredibly serious charge. The White House immediately denied it and, to the best of my knowledge, only Jack Taper followed up on the charge. The left wing has gone nuclear on Taper for refusing to take the White House denial at face value and following up on Lauria's allegations. Now, more people are going public, confirming Lauria's allegations and adding to the story.

This from the Business Insider:

Creditors to Chrysler describe negotiations with the company and the Obama administration as "a farce," saying the administration was bent on forcing their hands using hardball tactics and threats.

Conversations with administration officials left them expecting that they would be politically targeted, two participants in the negotiations said.

. . . The sources, who represent creditors to Chrysler, say they were taken aback by the hardball tactics that the Obama administration employed to cajole them into acquiescing to plans to restructure Chrysler. One person described the administration as the most shocking "end justifies the means" group they have ever encountered. Another characterized Obama was "the most dangerous smooth talker on the planet- and I knew Kissinger." Both were voters for Obama in the last election.

One participant in negotiations said that the administration's tactic was to present what one described as a "madman theory of the presidency" in which the President is someone to be feared because he was willing to do anything to get his way. The person said this threat was taken very seriously by his firm.

. . . These allegations add to the picture of an administration willing to use intimidation to win over support for its Chrysler plans--and then categorically deny it.

Hope and Change, eh? Has the administraton violated any laws - no. That said, strong arming creditors to forego their constitutional right to property so that the Administration can reward Big Labour is a scandal, as are the White House categorical denials.

And in a clear example of intellectually dishonest post-modernism in action, The Business Insider also reports that the "Left Wing [is] Losing Its Mind . . ." over this story.

When we started writing about the allegation that Steve Rattner had threatened to use the White House press corps to ruin Perella Weinberg if the firm didn't drop its opposition to the Obama administration's Chrysler plan, we never expected it to become a political football. But on the left-wing of the political blogosphere, the story is quickly picking up steam. It's being portraryed as some kind of plot by political conservatives.

Left-wing blogs Think Progress and Media Matters have both attacked ABC News reporter Jake Tapper for picking up the story. Here's Think Progress's complaint::

By reporting the story, Tapper chose to accept the validity of Lauria’s claim that the White House could get 'the full force of the White House press corps' to threaten a private company. Despite the fact that the parties with direct knowledge — the White House and Perella Weinberg — denied to ABC that any threats were made, Tapper still reported Lauria’s false accusation on his 'Political Punch' blog. Drudge and other right-wing outlets are glad he did.

By our count there are at least two important errors in those two sentences.

- Your don't have to accept the validity of the claim that the White House could get the White House press corps to do its bidding to accept the possibility that Steve Rattner would make the threat. . . .

- Perella Weinberg hasn't denied that the threats were made. . . . [To the contrary], it seems that PW went out of its way not to deny that it was threatened. . . .

It boggles the mind to see progressives deciding that because the White House and a corporation deny a charge, that the charge must be false. Imagine, for instance, these folks accepting a version of events simply because it had been put forth by the Bush White House and Halliburton. But this is exactly what Think Progress and Media Matters are doing. It's as if their cognitive critical apparatus had simply stopped functioning sometime in January. . . .

Read the whole article. And welcome to the world of post-modern thought, where you are objectively and knowingly lying if you make a statement at odds with what the far left wants to believe. It is not that their "cognitive critical apparatus" stopped functioning in January, its that intellectual honesty is not a part of their core post-modernist paridigm.

H/T Hot Air. Find more links on this story at Memorandum.

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