Free Republic

Today the African-American lady who is the mother of one of the victims of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole refused to meet with Obama in the wake of the throwing out of the case against the Jihadist bomb-master due to a recent Executive Order by Obama regarding Guantanamo. What else have we seen in just two weeks? What else can go wrong?

Holder omitted Blagojevich link from questionnaire Announced as a ‘special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board’ in 2004 December 17, 2008 BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter/cfusco@suntimes.com Before Eric Holder was President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be attorney general, he was Gov. Blagojevich's pick to sort out a mess involving Illinois' long-dormant casino license. Blagojevich and Holder appeared together at a March 24, 2004, news conference to announce Holder's role as "special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board" -- a post that was to pay Holder and his Washington, D.C. law firm up to $300,000. Holder, however, omitted that event from...

It may be that neither President-elect Barack Obama nor anyone else on his staff has anything to hide regarding the pay-to-play scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Then, by all means, Obama and his team should stop acting as if they do have something to hide. The loudest voices in politics and the media are coming from the critics and the cheerleaders. One camp is sure that Obama and his inner circle are guilty by association, and the other is sure they're totally innocent... The sloppy way the Obama transition team has handled things isn't building credibility with anyone but...

Democrat Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a crook’s crook. Even by the gutter level standards of Chicago his guy is a lowlife. But more than that, he is a moron and possibly a blackmailer. First the lowlife/moron part: obviously Blagojevich was a crook from just about day one which is why he was selected to run for governor. The bum is in office for three years and has been under investigation for half of that span. Since it takes a while to get an investigation going, he must have been spotted right away, like a shoplifter at Wal-Mart. Besides being...

Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday he will recommend another term for corruption-busting federal prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald if he wants to stay on as Chicago's U.S. attorney. Durbin told a news conference that he first wants to sit down with the city's top federal prosecutor and ask him what he wants in the future. Asked if he would recommend that President-elect Barack Obama renominate Fitzgerald, Durbin said: "Yes." "I think he has done an extraordinary job as U.S. attorney; I have the greatest confidence in him," Durbin said. "I want to do what he wants to do, I want to...

Three US governors join forces with Indonesia and Brazil to keep carbon locked up in endangered tropical forests Though it didn't seems to make an enormous splash in the press, the deal reached this week between three US states, Indonesia and Brazil seems like a fairly big deal in terms of rainforest protection. The agreement was brokered at the climate summit convened by California's ecosavvy governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Along with fellow governors from Illinois and Wisconsin, Schwarzenegger signed an agreement that could see carbon credits earned from forest protection in Indonesia or Brazil incorporated into US emissions trading schemes. Partly,...

The brilliant people at Wikileaks have produced a very useful collection of articles about stories removed from media websites following legal threats from an Iraqi billionaire The British-based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi has become a highly controversial figure in the United States after being linked to Chicago-based businessman Tony Rezko - the weak link in the Obama campaign. The freedom of information site Wikileaks has now published some fascinating material about Auchi's attempts to stop people writing about him. Auchi was convicted of fraud by the French courts in 2003 for his involvement in illegal payments surrounding a deal he...

Frustrated with the number of students killed by gunfire, community leaders are calling for the passage of new gun legislation. Hundreds of students joined in the movement to reverse a deadly pattern of young people being shot and killed. So far, 20 Chicago public students have been killed by gunfire this school year. Students from Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes, left school Tuesday with the superintendent's blessing. The students took part in an anti-violence rally at the Thompson Center. Empty desks and pairs of shoes symbolized the young men and women who have been killed... ..."When young people stand...