Free Republic

An upcoming book about Rod Blagojevich says undercover tape-recordings caught the former governor saying he had heard that convicted influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko secretly channeled $25,000 in cash to Barack Obama, but federal authorities did not deem the claim credible. The book, "Golden: How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself Out of the Governor's Office and into Prison," suggests Blagojevich was talking about an undisclosed payment to help Obama with his 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate.

More bank robberies have been reported so far in 2012 than in all of last year, records show. As of Aug. 8, there were 117 bank robberies reported in the Chicago area. In 2011, there were 115, according to BanditTracker Chicago. The 2012 figure is still lower than the record for bank robberies set in 2006, which saw 284 hold-ups, the Tracker reports. BanditTracker is run by the FBI, the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff's office. The site publishes bank surveillance images hoping to catch bank robbers. Despite the rising number of robberies, surveillance images manage to...

Did you get here Googling "exotic wood raids?" Is this not what you expected? I'm sorry. Settle in for some hot public policy.Last we checked in with Gibson, the famed Tennessee guitar maker had been raided twice by armed federal agents, who seized almost $500,000 in exotic wood imported from India and Madagascar and shut down production. The ebony and rosewood in question have been used for decades to make the instrument's fingerboards and are integral to their style and sound, the company said. (Great video background from Reason, here.)This week, Gibson settled with the government in a "criminal enforcement...

Mitt Romney presents one enormous problem for Barack Obama's campaign: No divorce records. That's why the media are so hot to get their hands on Romney's tax records for the past 25 years. They need something to "pick through, distort and lie about" -- as the Republican candidate says. Obama's usual campaign method, used in 100 percent of his races, has been to pry into the private records of his opponents. Democrats aren't going to find any personal dirt on the clean-cut Mormon, so they need complicated tax filings going back decades in order to create the illusion of scandal...

This is a fantastic interview and the longer it goes the more interesting it gets. In fact it was so interesting that Levin had him on for the following segment which hadn’t been planned. But the short of it is that Kengor connects a few dots between the card carrying Communist Frank Marshall Davis who mentored Obama and other Communists in Chicago who mentored David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett. Below is the full interview:

Officials with the Taos Police Department say they are still working to get to the bottom of the alleged beating of a Taos landowner over the removal of political signs from in front of his property. In an interview with The Taos News Friday, property owner Roy Cunnyngham and his wife Joni recounted the events when they returned home, across from Casa los Córdovas May 1. According to the police report filed the same day, Eighth Judicial District Court judge candidate Ernestina Cruz was having a “meet and greet” event at Plaza de Colores. At the same time, across the...

‘Thousands of dollars” in state grants awarded to bolster health care in minority communities instead went to pay campaign workers for former state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Democratic candidates Hendon supported, a Chicago nurse has told investigators. The nurse, Tonja Cook, 44, detailed her allegations in four interviews with state and federal authorities between October 2010 and May 2011, records show. In June 2011, federal prosecutors in Springfield charged Cook and another Chicago nurse, Margaret A. Davis, with siphoning $500,000 from state grant funds for Davis’ “personal use.” Hendon, 58, a West Side Democrat who unexpectedly retired from the Senate...

Houston Gets Lame Space Shuttle Replica Delivered In Lamest Way Possible The deliveries of the real Space Shuttles to their final resting places were grand events that created amazing images. Houston, which deserved a real d@mn shuttle, is getting a replica. And just in case Houstonians didn't know they were getting shortchanged, it was delivered on a plane but instead on a d@mn barge. Thanks, NASA. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why Houston didn't get a Space Shuttle as it might be mistaken as saying someone else doesn't deserve one. Clearly, both D.C. and Los Angeles...

In a blistering new ad, the Republican National Committee catches the Obama Campaign lying to the press about their influence in strong-arming Newark Mayor Cory Booker into taking back his criticism of President Obama's attack on Bain Capital.

WASHINGTON -- I first heard it two, perhaps two and a half years ago. A sage sitting in his New York City office pronounced it. Said the sage to me: "This is going to be the dirtiest presidential campaign in history." I would pass on my prescient friend's name, but he is a gentleman of high profile. It would be best if he were to continue his life unmolested by the Living Saint in the White House, whom a benighted majority of Americanos deposited there in 2009. Now, roughly six months from Election Day, I fear my friend was right....

Two men were killed in an apparent drive-by attack in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Thursday afternoon. Six others were wounded in five attacks later in the night.

Barack Obama has a take-no-prisoners approach when it comes to waging political campaigns. But perhaps he has taken a step too far this time around. Not content to attack his opponent, his campaign is going after his opponent's supporters. Kimberly Strassel, columnist for the Wall Street Journal, gives us one more reason not to vote for Barack Obama: he is a thug who has disgraced the office of the president of the United States by engaging in behavior more befitting of the dictator of a banana republic. Strassel writes of the Obama's campaign's latest efforts to smear and attack donors...

Bureau of Prisons assigns number to Blagojevich (FBI mugshot of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich) The Federal Bureau of Prisons has given Blagojevich the number 40892-424. Typically, once inmates are assigned a number, it is their individual number throughout their prison term. It is also typically affixed to their prison clothes. The 55-year-old Blagojevich has been ordered to report to prison on March 15. While he has asked to be incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Colorado, he could be sent elsewhere. Blagojevich in December received a 14-year sentence. He was sentenced on 18 corruption-related counts, including charges that...

Chicago area has most corruption convictions in nation, UIC study says The Chicago area logged the most public corruption convictions of any federal jurisdiction in the United States during the past 36 years, according to a report released today by the University of Illinois at Chicago. Federal prosecutors secured a total of 1,531 public corruption convictions in the Northern District of Illinois since 1976, said Dick Simpson, head of the university’s political science department. Meanwhile, Illinois logged 1,828 public corruption convictions, the third most of any state, according to the report. Only California and New York had more. But those...

.....[Dick]Simpson has not only studied corruption for years; he's also a former Chicago alderman, one of the good-government progressives once ridiculed by the Democratic machine.The report, "Chicago and Illinois, Leading the Pack in Corruption," is full of depressing figures. And its co-authors clearly understand the effect of corruption on voters......What has come to be called "The Chicago Way" or "The Illinois Way" of public corruption has undermined the...voters' sense of political efficacy. Why apply for a city or state job if you know only patronage employees or politician's relatives will be hired anyway? Why report corrupt officials, if you know...

With the Iowa caucuses just days away, the Republican crack-up threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since the GOP's eclipse in 1932. That's bad for America. The crack-up isn't just Romney-the-smooth versus Gingrich-the-bomb-thrower. Not just House Speaker John Boehner, who keeps making agreements he can't keep, versus House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who keeps making trouble he can't control. And not just the GOP establishment versus the Tea Partiers.The underlying conflict lies deep in the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old. As political analyst Michael...

Most critics of Barack Obama’s desultory performance the past three years trace it to his supposedly leftist ideology, lack of experience and even his personality quirks. But it would perhaps be more useful to look at the geography -- of Chicago and the state of Illinois -- that nurtured his career and shaped his approach to politics. Like with George W. Bush and Texas, this is a case where you can’t separate the man from the place. The Chicago imprint on Obama is unmistakable. His closest advisors are almost all products of the Windy City’s machine politic: Consigliere Valerie Jarrett;...

Drowning in deficits, Illinois has turned to a deliberate policy of not paying billions of dollars in bills for months at a time, creating a cycle of hardship and sacrifice for residents and businesses helping the state carry out some of the most important government tasks.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/gov/2618821815.html The Working Families Party (WFP) (www.workingfamiliesparty.org) is New York's most energetic, independent and progressive political party. Formed in 1998 by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together to build a society that works for all of us, not just Wall Street CEOs and the well-connected. WFP is independent from corporate and government funding and in-addition we are community based; community funded and equally uninfluenced by both major parties. Our agenda focuses on economic and social justice, corporate accountability, job creation, environmental protection, and investment in education and healthcare. For the past twelve...

A Guyana-born naturalized American citizen fits the Federal Elections Commission's requirements to run for president, the FEC announced in a ruling. The case involves New York lawyer Abdul Hassan, who was born in the South American country in 1974. Hassan argues it is discriminatory to not allow him to run for office. Responding to criticism of possible dual-loyalty issues, Hassan said in a radio interview that a person's place of birth should not determine his patriotism or presidential eligibility. "I am an attorney," he said. "When I undertake the representation of a client, I have to act in the best...