Millionaire liberals would NEVER take money from children would they?

Sure they would, for the "greater good".......

I saw a documentary about the Air America start-up on HBO one night at a hotel, and I think that guy cohen was on it. HE was always trying to call people and get money. But the truth was, most of the people working on the network never got some of their paychecks - not the big rich on-air folks, but the lower down the totem pole folks.

very shifty stuff.

Post treatment of a brain disorder? Can you hear the "insanity defense" being sharpened up in the backroom?

Hey! Where's distracting Dan? Is (s)he on a lunch break?

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AnonymousDrivel:

Thanks a bunch. Don't you know that some demons are summoned by the sound of their names?!

RE: Dan's tangentially relevant post (August 1, 2005 03:12 PM)

Welcome back from your brief repose, Dan. At least this one has "Air America" material in it.

It just seems a shame that a sister station (financed by the pooled "profits" of the corporation) found it necessary to abscond with public monies destined for some of the most needy (via probable fraud) to advance the stations' success. I guess the ends justify the means. It's imperative that the left of the dial be allowed to preach about corporate greed and corruption to the masses even if it requires corporate greed and corruption to do it. I'm sure they'll be glad to disclose their rationale in due course both over the air and on their promotional literature.

Yes, Johnny. Would you and your friends like to give me your milk money so Mr. Franken can buy a new Rolex? Here's our 4-color pamphlet showing how much we care about you. And be sure to tune in to WLIB as they fight for your cause. What's that? You can't afford a Walkman? Well, trust me. Your voice will be theirs. "Down with corporate welfare! Up with Mumia! We shall overcome! Bush is the Devil! Rove is the Devil's dad!" Just slides off the tongue, eh? Now, hand over the money.

Hehe, stealing from children in order to raise ratings from shit to shit with added stink....classic. Personally, I'm waiting to see how they will blame this on Rove...

I'm not suprised they blame the Right's ability to succeed with ulterior motives. It is apparent they cannot conceive of success in anything without lying, cheating and thieving....after all, it's the only way they know how to succeed...

Millionaire liberals would NEVER take money from children would they?

YES

Their mantra is "By any means Nessecary!"

Someone should look in to "GORETV" too!

Sure Dan- In the most liberal markets in American Limbaugh ONLY has 3x to 5x the listeners.

Many I bet you can just taste sweet victory in '08 huh?

So in other words, you're a loser just not as big a loser as last year. Now there's a consolation prize.

Faith+1 said:
-----------
Hehe, stealing from children in order to raise ratings from shit to shit with added stink....classic. Personally, I'm waiting to see how they will blame this on Rove...
------------------

Dude, that was soooo yesterday.

RE: fatman's post (August 1, 2005 03:38 PM)

Sorry fatman. I'll try to be more discerning in my craft. I think I added too much kitten (credit goes to Sue Dohnim) to the broth. I wonder if I can scare up John at Wuzzadem or Mr. Burge from Iowahawk on demand? Their's is commentary worth reading (no knock against Wizbang).

Boil, boil, steam and bubble,
Make this toil worth the trouble.
Save us from the muck and muddle,
Spare us from such Dan-like puddle.

Anything? Not yet? Well, back to the VRWC cave. Gotta recheck the recipe.

More recently, Ms. Graves said, Gloria Wise made a wire transfer of at least $400,000 to Air America without her knowledge.

There is the question of whether AA used to money or Cohen stuck it in his pocket.

However, I would think that when Cohen left there would have been an extensive audit and scrutiny of bank records before the sale of AAR to new owners. He left or was fired because it was discovered that AA was in financial troubles. He said that they had raised 30 million dollars but had actually raised only a fraction of that.

Since the money was wire transferred to AA it strains credibility to think that AAR didn't know anything about this.

I think that they would at least be responsibe to alert authorities that Cohen had unethically borrowed money from a non-profit organization, and that maybe they should look into possible fraud. But they did nothing.

This is almost a non-story. The man behind the deception in this situation, Evan Cohen, has nothing to do with Air America at this point and in fact he is M.I.A. because Air America would like to sue him for his deceptive business practices. He is basically a well-dressed con artist and was removed from any organization even remotely involving Air America. On a second note the Boys and Girls club has a lot of cash on hand and the half million dolllar sum is not having an immediate day-to-day impact. Even though Air America in its current form has nothing to do with Evan Cohen and his crooked business practices they have still agreed to completely repay the B & G club because they feel bad that the club was decieved just as they were by this snake, Evan Cohen.

Faith Personally, I'm waiting to see how they will blame this on Rove...

Actually at DU and DKos they are saying it's just a non story and was probably engineered by Rove as a distraction from Rove (Plame leak), Limbaugh's legal problems (medical records and drugs) or something else not named yet.

This is what they were saying over the weekend. I don't know what they are saying today.

RE: AnonymousDrivel's post (August 1, 2005 03:42 PM)

preach ... to the masses

Oops. My literary license deserves a revocation, or a suspension, surely. What was I thinking?!

If I were a con-man, I would be targeting moonbats too.

They will obviously believe even the most bald-faced lies.

And it would be soooo much fun…..

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Re: AnonymousDrivel's post (August 1, 2005, 4:39 PM)

ROFLMAO!!!

So basically, AAR and Piquant have nothing to do with this 'scandal'. It was all the Gloria Wise club and Evan Cohen.

It's almost too funny. You guys were saying that AAR steals from poor kids when in reality they're doing the exact opposite - giving them money even though they aren't required to. They could just forget about it, but no, they're gonna go one better and pay them back the money.

Also, AAR has the 8th highest rated station in Madison, Wisconsin after only being on there about 8 months.

While Dan worries about who is winning the popularity contest to be Homecoming King, the Repubs are:
Confirming conservative/constructionist appellate jurists, passing gun mfg liability reform, tort reform, bankruptcy reform, CAFTA, energy policy, etc., etc.

Tell you what, Clinton can have his 99% popularity and a feckless administration. I'll take deeds over words any day. And since liberals love good intentions, they can have them.

At this rate, I hope Bush leaves office the most unapproved of President in history.

Kinda like Lincoln...

I'd file this under the same heading as "Dan Rather Tries to Fix the Election." I'd like to see the dates on these wire transfers, but if I guess correctly, all this was done in the service of attempting to defeat W. Anything, *anything* to keep that maniac out of the White House, for a second term, right? Air America was created for this purpose.

Hello out there,
I'm a liberal Democrat, and I wrote the original article on the link between the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and Air America for the Bronx news and City News in the Bronx. Don't paint all liberals with the same brush. Some of us are genuinely interested in the truth even if we detest most of what President Bush stands for. I invite your comments. There is no excuse for what happened between the Gloria Wise Club and Air America, but they did pales in comparison with President Bush's fairytales about weapons of mass destruction prior to the war in Iraq.
Mike Horowitz

EMPIRE QUAGMIRE SIS BOOM BAH!
BUSH LIED PEOPLE DIED RAH RAH RAH!
JooooOOOOOOOOS ROVE! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

a4g:

People like you are why I think conservatives are morons. Bush and Congress are two different entities. Furthermore, approval ratings and accomplishments are two different ways of measuring success. How do Congresses accomplishments excuse Bush's paltry ratings? How does one make the other any better? How you even thought to compare the two is beyond me.

Or do you just not care what the U.S. thinks? Why do you hate America?

I'm gonna jump in here and be really un-pc. All my adult life I've worked with youth groups. Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy's and Girl's Clubs, youth sport groups. Every one of these organizations never had money to spare. We kept a little emergency money, but very little. Every penny we got went to fund the operations of the organization.
So my question is, why/how did the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club have .8M dollars just laying around and apparently so much more ready cash they didn't even notice it was missing. Has anyone checked into this organization? All the comments I see bemoan the suffering of those kids and old people through the loss of this money. I want to know how much service they were getting to start with.

RE: Jim Jones's post (August 1, 2005 06:21 PM)

...They could just forget about it, but no, they're gonna go one better and pay them back the money...

"Go one better" by delayed refunding of the money they acquired illegally and tried to avoid by defaulting/restructuring? And not because of virtue but because of exposure and catastrophic publicity? I wonder if they'll raid another charity's "investment" to repay the GWB&GC? Oh, they're just heavenly.

That's some nice spin. How many strings of yarn can you get through in a day?

Jim Jones--

Two different entities? Sorry, too much of a moron to know what a high-falutin' word like 'entities' means.

You keep yer thinkin' that we podunk conservatives are morons, Jim. It's been workin' real well so far.

BTW - If you want to approval ratings really in the sh*tter, check out those of congress. But I guess approval ratings and accomplishments are two different ways of measuring success.

Tell ya what: to return to my original point, only a "moron" would care diddly squat about "approval ratings," when "accomplishments" are the alternative. And sorry, the only poll numbers I listen to are the ones on election day. I seem to remember a slightly different approval rating then.

Sorry if my previous comment was a little too nuanced, and required this clarification. I'll try not to write in crayon next time.

Lew, you may be onto something! What if donations to the charity (or even the charity itself) were set up as a scam for tax-deductible purposes, ultimately to then funnel the $$ into Air America.

Hello out there,

I'm a compassionate conservative republican and I am President of the United States. Please don't paint all conservatives with the same brush. Some of us are genuinely interested in the truth, even if we detest most of what democrats stand for. I invite you to take a hike. There is no excuse for what happened between the Gloria Wise Club and Air America, but they did pales in comparison with President Clinton's fairytales about weapons of mass destruction prior to the war in Iraq.

Hee, quick, give Judith Miller a cellphone - she needs to warn the charity before it gets raided, like she did in Dec. 01:

Wapo 2/25/05 article:

"U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet ruled that a federal prosecutor in Chicago cannot compel the newspaper to turn over records of two Times reporters' phone calls in 2001 as part of an investigation into possible government leaks. The effort by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald came in the cases of two Muslim charities accused of possible ties to terrorists."

"The case began in late 2001, when federal agents were investigating two Islamic foundations for alleged ties to terrorists. On Dec. 3, 2001, Times reporter Judith Miller telephoned officials with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based charity accused of being a front for Palestinian terrorists, and asked for a comment about what she said was the government's probable crackdown on the group."

"U.S. officials said this conversation and Miller's article on the subject in the Times on Dec. 4 [2001] increased the likelihood that the foundation destroyed or hid records before a hastily organized raid by agents that day."

they acquired illegally
Evan Cohen acquired them illegally, not AAR.

delayed refunding of the money...tried to avoid by defaulting/restructuring
Sorry I don't know the inner-workings of AAR. Apparently you do.

but because of exposure
They agreed to pay off the money before there was any exposure ("months ago")

only a "moron" would care diddly squat about "approval ratings"
So you really don't care what America thinks? Once again, why do you hate America?

only a "moron" would care diddly squat about "approval ratings," when "accomplishments" are the alternative
Assuming that was true, you still erred. You compared Bush's ratings to Congresses accomplishments. You should have been talking about Bush's accomplishments if his ratings aren't important.

RE: BR's post (August 1, 2005 08:41 PM)

What if donations to the charity (or even the charity itself) were set up as a scam for tax-deductible purposes, ultimately to then funnel the $$ into Air America.

There would certainly be reason to investigate new charity organizations for such a racket, but in this particular case, Gloria Wise had been around for quite some time. It's quite possible that Rosen (among others) changed the mission of the club in mid-stride to use public funds on any number of personal endeavors, not the least of which was for advancing an ideology or a highly speculative gamble at a minimum. It would also not be surprising that a heavily indebted startup would try desperate measures to keep the dream alive particularly given the political landscape and the timing and purpose of its creation.

This was an abuse that more likely than not was recent in its incarnation and sabotaged a legitimately founded entity. However, despite this concession, I'd still review the audits over the past few years when it was still "clean" just to make sure that this wasn't some piggybank for a select few.

I think BR might be on to something. In fact, George Soros was created soley to fund left-wign causes.

left-wing*

This place needs an edit button.

Michael Horowitz- What "fairytales" would that be exactly???

RE: Jim Jones's post (August 1, 2005 08:52 PM)

Evan Cohen acquired them illegally, not AAR.

Cohen, Sorensen, Anita and Sheldon Drobny, and Mark Walsh, among others were AAR. They formed a corporation and were owners of the stock. Parse the responsibility however you like but the stockholders and its board act as one and reap both rewards and penance for the mission.

Sorry I don't know the inner-workings of AAR. Apparently you do.

Has the money been returned? I'd call that delayed. And if you call the timely restructuring one of whim, then boy do I have some great stock tips for you. See that guy in the trenchcoat in that alley? Well he knows about this great bridge in Brooklyn that needs some extra capital investment and that it promises to return millions! But you have to act today.

They agreed to pay off the money before there was any exposure ("months ago")

I figured you might assume the only exposure was one of recent origin. The NY DOI shut down city contracts a month ago. The investigation to warrant such action assuredly began before that since it is such an extreme intervention. Just because the public exposure is delayed does not mean that it hadn't been "outed" much sooner. Nevertheless, if you think I'll trust at face value a PR comment/release stating the "months ago" claim by the offending entity which has sent out quite puzzling messages in recent days (involuntarily due to enormous pressure), then I know of another guy in another alley (grey trenchcoat) that knows of another bridge...

HARVARDLAW22 "Even though Air America in its current form has nothing to do with Evan Cohen and his crooked business practices ...."

And you really believe this? The money was wire tranfered into AAR's account. He left or was fired due to financial malfesence. To make the sale there certainly would have been an audit and comprehensive review of bank records. A number of people who are shareholders and owners are the same as when Cohen was there.

And you think AAR didn't know about this? And didn't bear some responsibility? They certainly knew something was wrong, yet they did nothing. If Cohen took the money then they should have notified the police of the theft and in either case they should have notified authorities that he had unethically borrowed (and for the non-profit org-illegally loaned) non-profit money.

Damn. I had a reply typed from AnonymousDrivel, but the post wouldn't go through. I'll retype it tomorrow. XOXO

Jim Jones,

FYI: A good link for names/dates is Al Franken's Kitchen Surprise.
JULIA ANGWIN and SARAH MCBRIDE
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 21, 2004; Page A1

Whatever I think happened, and I am not auditing their books obviously, common sense dictates that very seedy transactions occurred. The NY DOI (and maybe others) will review the contracts, the filings, and the money trails to assess legal liability (ethical liability is not readily tangible and it certainly isn't criminal). Did the AAR's on-air personalities and production staff have direct influence on the deals? Unlikely. But top brass movers and shakers did. The actors and the number of layers of dirt are yet to be determined.

I was going to write this but I see that Lew Clark already did earlier in the thread...but the question leapt out to my view, also, and that is as to the $800,000. that was there with a youth group to be lent/doled out in the first place.

Obviously, the fundraiser was for another purpose than a mere youth group's (or groups') camping equipment and painting supplies.

The rubber-stamping thing is also far too much a stretch for anyone to begin to accept. Not that people won't/haven't/will not rubber stamp whatever they can if they're intent on stealing, but that such huge sums would be rubber stamped and pass any bank's process without so much as a telephone call.

So much fraud lately. Perhaps, rather, we're just reading about it, not like it's new in behavior, just that it's new we're reading about it.

About the "Bush/WMD" meme, you know, there's nothing anyone could ever write that would meet the distance that those who proliferate the meme inhabit. You'd think that they'd be asking, rather, why Clinton didn't notice them earlier. Or at least object to what he noticed earlier. Or was too vaklempt to notice or do anything about, or...

But, does that meme have to be thrashed out here? Now, with this issue? Faced with fraud by Democrats (this AA fraud is particularly offensive, not that all fraud isn't), they're content less except to yell about Bush-whatever/Rove/Iraq...oh, and yes, the Joooooossss on many other sites.

My suggestion for the issue: BADAIRGATE.

AIRFRAUDGATE.

STEALINGCANDYFROMCHILDRENGATE.

I find it interesting that noone has noted Citizen Cohen's background as a GOP operative on the great island of Guam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Montvel_Cohen

Of course, he turned against his boss, the governor, testifying against him.

Cohen is a con-man, plain and simple, perfectly willing to burn all who touch him.

Paint AAR with the Cohen Brush, risk backsplash. Get real and quit playing politics with a tragedy.

But then, the real goal here isn't the truth; it's keepng the argument going as a smokescreen. Any bullshit will do.

Thanks for the link, AnonymousDrivel. I'll give it a read tomorrow when I'm not half-asleep.

We should certainly wait to see what the DOI says. I think it's too early to blame AAR for what the top brass did, especially since we aren't even sure which of the top brass was involved.

If it turns out that only Cohen was responsible, then so be it. And if AAR/Piquant wanna pay the money back anyway, more power to them. But if the current AAR are responsible, they pay it back and take the ethics hit.

You might try to remember that Cohen assured everyone that republicans on Guam are to the left of Paul Wellstone, that would nearly plant him in Fidel's lap. We have the opposite thing here in Texas, democrats running for office are often republicans that didn't win the primary. In a state without a single state-wide elected democrat in office the republica ticket is full, if you want to get your hat in the ring you borrow a party title to get on the ballot. of course the democrats don't really complain that much, they'd do nearly anything to at least have the appearance of having just one office holder that was elected by the whole state. LMAO Ain't gonna happen any time soon, but they still try.

Hello out there,
I'm a liberal Democrat, and I wrote the original article on the link between the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club and Air America

There is no excuse for what happened between the Gloria Wise Club and Air America, but they did pales in comparison with President Bush's fairytales

Nice to hear from another unbiased reporter from the print media. Especially one who can turn out sentences like "but they did pales".

Good job on the original story, though.

It's interesting that INFOHAZARD and other liberals say that he's a "GOP operative". Actually the information says that he was a
Republican (while in Guam) and like bullwinkle says Cohen assured everyone that Republicans are to the left of Wellstone.

It's as if INFOHAZARD and other liberals think this will smear or embarrass conservatives, or are they hoping that they can spin this as "poor Democrats, we were taken advantage of by those evil, nasty Republicans. It's their fault this happened."

The fault lies soled with Cohen and the other owners, board members and investors. Not only are they responsible for all aspects of their business, but Cohen was indited for tax evasion in Guam and there are reports that a defunct ad agency he owed in Guam owes $20,000 plus 4 years rent and employees health insurance premiums. Cohen, of course, denies this.

I would think a background check would have done before allowing him to deal with raising funds and day-to-day financial concerns. We aren't talking about petty cash here, we're talking about millions of dollars.

"Faith+1 said:
-----------
Hehe, stealing from children in order to raise ratings from shit to shit with added stink....classic. Personally, I'm waiting to see how they will blame this on Rove...
------------------

Dude, that was soooo yesterday."

I stand corrected. The Rove nuts beat me to it.

Oh, and as to the ones saying Air America isn't really involved and is only paying it back out of the goodness of their hearts because they don't have to? PUHLEZZZE! You really buy that crap? They are so guilty and only paying it back in hopes the indictments don't rain down on a whole slew of their members.

The fact is they don't know how to run a business without government handouts. Profit is inconceivable to them. They are trying to sell a product most of America doesn't want. Since they can't get government handouts they either steal from their employees (by not payiong them) or from a kid's fund. That's not being made up. It's fact. Then again facts mean little to the left...

most of America doesn't want
That's true. They have a possible listener base of a meager 59,028,109 people.

They should take the show on the road and go to China, just imagine, a possible audience of over a billion where some of their ideas might actually bring about improvements. It shouldn't take much to change the logo to Air China.

Hee hee, Jim Jones wrote above:
"In fact, George Soros was created solely to fund left-wing causes."

Right you are, and since you mentioned $oros, did you know that Plame contributed to Soros front group, "Americans Coming Together"? How sexy.

Ha, Watergate's famous phrase "Follow the Money" is backfiring all over the place. It would be interesting to know who the big donors to the Girls and Boys club were just before those loans to Air America.

lin made some irronious assumptions about my post. Read it again. I made it quite clear that Cohen is the problem here, and he rips off Dems and Repubs alike.

I'm from the Radical Center, myself.

You have to be fucking kidding me.

You're quoting a story from the New York Sun?

Get real you fucking losers.

We're seeing the death of the great Democratic Donkey. It's been flopping around for some time, but now all four legs are in the air and it's in convulsions. 2008 will be the year the donkey finally dies.

The heat is on: 8/11/05 article:

[Three more execs from the Gloria Wise group have resigned: Director Charles Rosen, acting executive director Lorraine Corva and assistant executive director Jeff Aulenback:]

"'The [city] Department of Investigation advised Air America to repay $875,000 into an escrow account from which no money can be disbursed without our approval,' DOI spokeswoman Emily Gest told the Post. 'Air America has not followed that recommendation.' " [Instead, Air America's own lawyer is taking charge of "escrow."]

"In addition to the DOI, New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has also opened a probe into the case."