PriceLine. You know. It's the online hotel and travel website best known for being represented by William Shatner of Star Trek. But I've had a bad experience with PriceLine and because of it I can just tell you I consider it to be a fraud, period.
It's better to use a firm like Hotel Reservations.com, which promises Cheap Hotelsbut without the bait-and switch that Priceline gives you. In a matter of time, maybe Shat will switch to Hotel Reservations.com.
Why not?
Don't you think it's better than going to PriceLine and signing up for a hotel you're supposed to get, only to have another one?
Geez!
Well that's what happened to me. I'll never forget it and it explains all of those websites that label PriceLine as a fraud. Watch out there!
Think I'm kidding?
Look at this:
Today I had some real fun and wrote formal complaints against priceline at
- The Federal Trade Commission(FTC) - The FBI Internet Fraud Complaints Center (FICC) - The National Fraud Center - National Internet Fraud Watch (NFIC). - The Better Business Bureau of Conneticut - First National Bank of Omaha
So what happend? I just experienced fraud on the internet.
My frist mistake was that I decided to try something new by purchasing a hotel stay through priceline (confirmation number 63260917). However, I was also charged a $15 additional 'travel insurance' fee even when I did not requested it. I contacted priceline and was only verbally abused by a person who called himself agent 7399. After spending almost one hour on the phone (mostly on hold and in a maze of recorded messages), they refused to refund anything and was extremely abusive. The first 'agent' also refused to transfer me to a manager and stated that only a colleague was available. This person was equally rude and did not let me finish a single sentence and 'told me off' in no uncertain terms...
It quickly became clear that this was pure intimidation and fraud and the 45+ minutes on hold was clearly designed to discourage any requests for refunds.
Instead, agent #7399 claimed that I had selected to buy the travel insurance. I asked him how he could make such a claim, when I called him within 20 minutes after receiving an email confirmation about the overcharges. He simply told me that they had good systems and I should 'trust him'.
In short, I was taken subjected to a $15 theft and was being yelled at for simply protesting.
I am not an investor activist yet, but I will become one if needed...
Obama Raises $10.3 Million Online in Second Quarter by Jonathan Singer, Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 01:20:50 PM EST
You're reading these numbers first here at MyDD.
During the second quarter, Barack Obama brought in $10.3 million dollars online, or about a third of the $32.5 million he raised overall this quarter. This ups his total online haul for the year to $17.2 million. Both of these online fundraising numbers are very large and indeed are records for this point in the campaign.
Since the beginning of the campaign 110,000 people have given online to the Obama campaign, or more than 40 percent of his donors. For year year, 90 percent of the online donations to the Obama campaign have been in amounts of $100 dollars or less, and a half of the online donations have been in amounts of $25 or less.
We'll get you the numbers for other candidates as they're released, but if you're interested in reading a comparison between online fundraising numbers this cycle versus the previous one, Jerome has a very interesting take. Quickly, Howard Dean raised about $25 million online of the $50 million or so he raised over the course of 2003, so Obama appears to be on pace to top that online fundraising record by a fairly large margin (though Obama's offline contributions make up a larger proportion of his overall fundraising than did Dean's).
All I can say is wow. It helps to have the President as a friend. But this is a bombshell, and I would think opens the door for futher questioning on the involvement of the White House in the outing of Valerie Flame.
Bush Commutes Libby Prison Sentence By MATT APUZZO The Associated Press Monday, July 2, 2007; 5:56 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case. Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.
Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That decision put the pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
President Bush walks to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, after returning from a trip to Kennebunkport, Maine, Monday, July 2, 2007. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson) (Lawrence Jackson - AP) Statement by the President.
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today rejected Lewis Libby's request to remain free on bail while pursuing his appeals for the serious convictions of perjury and obstruction of justice. As a result, Mr. Libby will be required to turn himself over to the Bureau of Prisons ...
Libby was convicted in March of lying to authorities and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative's identity. He was the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.
Peter Paul v. Senator Hillary Clinton is an Internet trail of past Clinton problems still unsolved, particularly one involving Senator Clinton's run for the New York Senate in 2000 and her involvement with Peter Paul.
The most recent history of this case had Paul v. Clinton issuing oral arguments in a LA-based California Appeals Court last Friday, September 7th. The court should rule next week if Senator Clinton has to return as a witness in this civil business fraud case.
But who's Peter Paul? Paul is an entrepreneur who worked to get Bill Clinton to join the then-new Stan Lee Media company as a rainmaker, and of which Paul was 66 percent owner in 2000.
But this case has two parts -- the business fraud portion (where Paul claims that Former President Bill Clinton was to be a part of Stan Lee Media, but didn't join the firm even though he alledgedly promised to do so as a quid-pro-quo for Paul's financing of the gala), and the campaign finance portion, which is described below.
Apparently, Hillary Clinton's campaign understated contributions from Mr. Paul totalling over $772,000. At first, the campaign claimed that they'd never heard of Peter Paul, then Senator Clinton claimed she'd met him , but never had conversations regarding his contribution to her Senate run.
The video evidence shows otherwise, as does this webpage containing her deposition and letter of thanks to Mr. Paul for hosting what's reported to be the largest private event ever held for a candidate running for office.
This new evidence could wreck her run for President.
Key leaders of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), including DNC Chair Ed Rendell, DNC Convention and DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe, DNC California Regional Chair Stephanie Berger, and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes, recruited businessman Peter Paul as a major donor to the DNC.
They induced Paul to underwrite, host and produce fundraising events for the campaigns of Al Gore and Hillary Clinton in order to pursue his efforts to hire Bill Clinton when he left the White House.
Reportedly upon learning that Paul was going to be exposed by The Washington Post as having de-frauded Fidel Castro -- a felony -- Paul claims that they then conspired with the Clintons to hide Paul's various contributions from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the public, and obstructed the Federal investigation that led to the indictment of Hillary Clinton's finance director David Rosen.
Peter Paul's reported contributions to Democratic campaigns included the following:
1. After discussing with Peter Paul how he might best form a business arrangement with Bill Clinton, DNC Chair Ed Rendell persuaded Paul to commit $150,000 in Stan Lee Media stock to the DNC for Al Gore's presidential campaign. This contribution was made directly through Rendell, and was never reported to the FEC as a Memorandum Contribution as required by law.
2. Paul also agreed to underwrite and produce Al Gore's first major Hollywood fundraiser, which was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on June 8, 2000 and attended by some 200 people. Ed Rendell attended with Gore, but the DNC never reported the "in kind" contribution made by Paul in paying all the expenses for the event to the FEC as required by law. [See the invitation]
3. Under the direction of DNC Regional Chair Stephanie Berger, Peter Paul made $150,000 in improvements to his house between May and June, 2000, in preparation for Paul and his business partner Stan Lee to host a DNC fundraiser that featured President Clinton and included a Clinton sleepover at Paul's house.
4. Encouraged by Rendell and DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe, Paul also made a commitment to donate $150,000 in Stan Lee Media stock to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in order to host a VIP luncheon fund raiser for Hillary at Spago Restaurant on June 9, 2000. The event raised more than $20,000 in "hard money" for the campaign, including $2,000 from Paul's wife that has never been reported or returned. No Memorandum Contribution report of his commitment or any report of Paul's "in-kind" contribution of expenses for the luncheon fundraiser were ever filed with the FEC by Hillary's campaign.
5. Under the direction of DNC Regional Chair Stephanie Berger, Paul also underwrote the Gershman Tea Fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in Bel Air on June 9, 2000, an event attended by Hillary and her "friend" Susie Buell Thompson, Larry King, Melanie Griffith, Olivia Newton John, Morgan Fairchild, Sean Young, and many other celebrities. No report of Paul's "in-kind" contribution of expenses for the tea fund raiser were ever filed with the FEC by the DNC or Hillary's campaign.
6. With the encouragement of President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Ed Rendell, Terrence McAuliffe, and Harold Ickes -- all of whom attended the event, Peter Paul produced and underwrote the Hollywood Gala Farewell to President Clinton fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.
7. Rendell, Bill and Hillary Clinton persuaded Paul not to publicly contradict false statements that Hillary's Senate campaign made to the media regarding Paul's relationship with Hillary, Bill and the campaign. Rendell called Paul twice, on August 15 and 17, after stories in the Washington Post quoted a Hillary spokesman misrepresenting Paul's role in the campaign and the contributions he made in three separate fundraisers. Both Clintons wrote glowing personal letters to Paul on August 18, two days after permitting their spokesman to disparage Paul in the Post, as a message to Paul to go along with their deceptions in order to preserve his multi-million dollar investment in their relationship. [See Hillary letter, Bill letter]
8. DNC officials laundered Stan Lee's $100,000 contribution to Hillary’s campaign through the NY Senate 2000 Committee so that Hillary could pay the down payment to Gala concert producer Gary Smith. Stan Lee testified under oath in a deposition in February, 2005 that he never intended to make any contribution to the NY Senate 2000 Committee or Hillary's campaign, he merely borrowed $100,000 for that purpose from Stan Lee Media at Peter Paul's request on July 28, 2000, and that when the loan was due to be paid in November, 2000 to Stan Lee Media, Stan Lee made the payment by trading checks for $100,000 with Paul, normally a serious violation of election laws.
9. Rendell and Clinton staffers continued working through October to keep Paul "on the reservation" until after the election. They failed to show Paul the campaign's fraudulent October 15 report to the FEC, which hid Paul as Hillary's largest contributor, and avoided asking Paul for any accounting or designation of his donative intent. By so doing, they conspired to have Paul aid and abet their fraudulent FEC report.
10. Starting on August 15, 2000, Hillary Clinton led a coverup of her own actions, those of President Clinton, and those of DNC leaders regarding the contributions of Peter Paul. The Clintons induced Paul to aid and abet Hillary's false statements to the media and the FEC, and caused three false reports to be filed with the FEC that intentionally hid the identity of her largest contributor and the true amount of his contributions. Even after being served with a civil suit, a demand letter, an FEC complaint, the publication of syndicated news columns by Robert Novak, and an ABC 20/20 expose detailing Paul's allegations, Hillary, her campaign Treasurer Grossman, and her lawyer David Kendall all continued the coverup by causing a third fraudulent report to be filed on July 30, 2001. This false report was filed in direct response to a specific FEC inquiry regarding the accounting of the Hollywood Gala.
Since that time, Hillary has deflected any accountability from herself, Bill Clinton and her Finance Treasurer, Andrew Grossman, by misleading Federal Investigators during the investigation that led to the indictment of David Rosen. Ed Rendell, now the Governor of Pennsylvania, has misrepresented his role in these events to the media according to Peter Paul.
Paul also says that former DNC-Chair Terry McAuliffe misrepresented his own actions to Justice Department officials to whom Paul had detailed McAuliffe's role. The Rosen jury ruled that David Rosen was not culpable for the fraudulent FEC reports filed by Hillary Clinton's campaign, because he had no legal duty to make any reports and in fact did not sign any reports to the FEC. This decision in no way alters the uncontested fact that three FEC reports made by Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign were in fact fraudulent. They remain uncorrected, and the illegal contribution omitted from those reports of more than $1.2 million, according to the FBI, has not been refunded as required by law.
Further investigation by the Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee is required to determine the full extent to which Hillary's campaign and DNC leaders may have misled federal investigators and obstructed justice.
Here's the video evidence:
This video just surfaced April 11th of this year 2007 because according to the website it was withheld from being presented as evidence since 2001.
The site reads: "This tape was withheld by the U.S. Attorney in New York from 2001 until April 11, 2007, when it was released to Paul's attorneys at the US Justice Foundation, depriving three federal investigations of this evidence of Hillary Clinton's role in the campaign finance frauds for which her finance director David Rosen was indicted in 2005."
This is the full transcript of the video which you saw above -- "SL" is Stan Lee; HRC is Hillary Rodham Clinton; PP is Peter Paul.
SL: Don’t ask, just accept the thanks! HC: No, no, whatever it is that you are doing, is it ok that I thank you? (Laughs) I think it’s tremendous. We’re having a good time trying to help out. HRC: Well, I’m very appreciative and it sounds fabulous. I got a full report from Kelly uh today when she got back and she told me everything that you’re doing. And it just sounds like it’s going to be a great event! PP: I think this is worthy of the kind of title that we’re giving it as THE Hollywood gala salute to president William Jefferson Clinton. HC: Oh, that’s wonderful! PP: And I think that the community shows up will be a tremendous accolade to the kind of impact that he’s had on Hollywood during your collective administration. (:51) HC: Oh I thank you for that. I think that so many positive things have happened and we just have to keep working to extend and expand it. I’m just very much looking forward to it ‘cause I think it’s not only going to be successful, I think it’s going to be fun! PP: We certainly hope so. And Aaron and all of us are working diligently to make sure that it’s going to be a lot of fun and that you will enjoy it. HC: Now, I understood that you were going to be parachuting in, Peter, is that wrong? PP: Yes, and I’m going to be carrying these flares with me—the red white blue—on a parasail. But you have to catch me! (Laughter) HC: And I heard Stan was going to be shot out of a cannon (laughing) SL: And towards Europe! It’s the only way they’ll get rid of me. AT: Mrs. Clinton? You wouldn’t believe. I saved some of the messages from people that are coming. Like Jimmy Smits, Rosie O’Donnell, the Judds. They leave messages that go over five minutes on the machine. The only reason why they’re doing it is because of you. They only care about you. That it means more to them than anything. Like the Steenburgens, Danson are calling from back East. They wanna sell tickets. It’s like the most unbelievable response on your behalf. Isn’t that great!? (2:10) HC: Oh, Aaron! Thank you! SL: I thought myself that it was because we were offering everyone a free comic book but I guess I was wrong. Aw, I think that’s a big draw myself. It’s certainly the reason I’m coming. SL: Aha. Bless your heart! HC: And you know, Aaron, I’m sooo grateful because I know how hard you’ve worked on it because it’s your constant effort and outreach You know, I talked with Cher(?) and she was just great! Said she was really so excited. And I hadn’t talked to her so you must have done a really good job selling it to her. SL: Well, he tells me it’s because he was promised to him that he’ll be the next Secretary of State! HC: You weren’t supposed to tell anybody that, Aaron! (Laughing) AT: I thought it was our secret. HC: Well, Stan, what we haven’t told you is that you’re going to be the next Secretary of Defense. SL: Well, I expected that. HC: Well, the superheroes are a lot cheaper than the missile defense system. (Laughter) SL: Hillary, you’re wonderful! (3:16) AT: We’ve got people like Cher and others that have really never done anything before that are like coming out in full force knowing this is for your Senate race, it’s unbelievable. HC: I’m just thrilled. I’ll check in with you from time to time because I know that putting something like this together is challenging even when people are enthusiastic and looking forward to doing it. It’s still, there’s so much work that’s involved. SL: But in your case, it’s very gratifying. You know, my wife wants us to move to New York so that we can vote for you. HC: This is a very good plan! (Laughing) (3:50) Maybe we could get a great migration, a country caravan, of literally tens of thousands of people. I think that sounds like our next big project. SL: I don’t wanna say that it’s happening, but if you tried to hire a moving van right now in L.A., you couldn’t get one. (Laughter) 4:18 PP: Well, we did lobby for the X-men vote and all of the X-men have agreed to—because they’re all NY residents—so all the X-men will be voting for you. HC: That’s great! (Laughter) SL: Oh, yeah, you’ve got the mutant vote right around the world. HC: Well, some people think I’m the mutant candidate so I should have it. (Laughter) AT: One other thing I wanted to tell you—a couple people confirmed today that like I’ve never been able to get in all my events—like Brad Pitt and Nicholas Cage—are some of the people coming to give tributes. HC: Oh, wow. That’s fabulous! Oh, Aaron, this is going to be so terrific. Well, you just let me know if there’s anything that I need to do. And I know you and Kelly talk all the time, so she’ll be the person to convey whatever I need. But I just wanted to call and personally thank all of you. And I’m glad you are all together so I could tell you just how much this means to me. End of call.
In this video below, Stan Lee clams that he did not donate money to the Clinton campaign...
This is a huge problem and it comes right on the heels of Senator Obama's record and legal fundraising totals, which have scared the heck out of the Clinton camp. To me, it seems that there were a lot of players with divergent agendas leading to a complex set of deals, which in turn may run counter to campaign finance laws.
The Clintons need to welcome a full vetting of this issue so the American People are informed and we can move on. I also causion readers doing research to be compete in their look; because some right-wing interest have taken up this case as a kind of cause, it's easy to just dismiss it, but that would be a mistake.
UPDATE: I just located this video by "Doug From Upland" called "Hillary's Greatest Nemesis" and it explains in detail the events leading to the civil lawsuit coming to LA Superior Court this year. It also includes a segment on how the mainstream media protects Senator Clinton.
Senator Barack Obama's recently annouced second quarter fundraising total of $32.5 million has raised the eyebrows of many and even caused CNN's "The Situation Room" Poltical Analyst Paul Bagala to gush "This is a really big deal. Most people don't realize how important this (his donation total for the second quater) is....Senator Obama has enough money to do what he wants to do."
I just found a site called " Bring Back Kirk.com " which calls for Paramount to bring Star Trek's Captain Kirk back from the dead, where he was left after Star Trek: Generations. As part of this effort, they have this video where Shatner's talking about his objection to the plan to have Kirk killed. It's an insight into the kind of thinking that Shatner says Paramount had in making their decision.
