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"Hear our cry, Obama." "Deliver us, Obama." Video at link.

Michelle Obama: It's a 'sacrifice' to travel to Europe to pitch for the Olympics. For Oprah and the president, too. But we're doing it for the kids. By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent09/30/09 5:12 PM EDT In her speech in Copenhagen today, First Lady Michelle Obama said her trip to Denmark, along with the travel of her "dear friend" and "chit-chat buddy" Oprah Winfrey, as well as tomorrow's visit by President Obama, is a "sacrifice" on behalf of the children of Chicago and the United States. "As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or...

Two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Tribune today they have been notified that Christopher Kelly, a key figure into the federal corruption probe into former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is dead.

The arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich in December cast a shadowy light on the relationships among four leading players in the Illinois Democratic Party—Blagojevich, Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, and David Axelrod. The new president and his two aides would like to minimize their dealings with the disgraced ex-governor. But the record tells a more complex story By David Bernstein (page 1 of 4) In the days following his arrest on corruption charges last December 9th, Governor Rod Blagojevich did his best to appear busy. He visited his 16th-floor suite at the Thompson Center, once even showing up in a jogging...

A bank that received $1.6 billion in bailout money just spent a fortune last week in L.A. hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts with famous singers ... Check out this post: Barack Obama got cheap loan to buy Chicago mansion http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040237/posts

Relativity by E. M. Escher While researching an article about Obama's Chicago home-- about the circumstances surrounding who is the "owner", I happened across a bit of information: Obama's home has a Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac mortgage to the tune of $1,320,000. (Page 5 of Cook County Property Assessment Record) The information comes from the Cook County Clerk's office where the "owner" of the Obama home is listed as William Miceli, a former supervisor of Obama's when he worked at the David Law Firm. What's unusual about the Obama mortgage is that the upper limits of a Fannie Mae loan...

[In 2004 and 2005,] Sources said Thomas also logged frequent visits to Rezko from Gov. Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Blagojevich and Obama were among the many politicians for whom Rezko raised campaign cash…. Sources said the government had him wear a hidden wire to record conversations with a Chicago alderman–but that he did not record Blagojevich or Obama.” RezkoTrialWatch: FBI mole "logged frequent visits to Rezko" by Obama (renamed) February 10, 2008 In an exclusive interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, FBI “mole” John Thomas, “who’s expected to be a key prosecution witness against indicted developer and political...

President-elect Barack Obama's decision to keep a distance from his state's governor, who was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, should enable him to escape becoming tainted by the scandal, analysts said. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands accused of trying to sell the president-elect's vacant U.S. Senate seat for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife, among other charges. "Obama is not related to the corruption pattern in Chicago," said political scientist Dick Simpson of the University of Illinois in Chicago. "He has not been pressing for any person to replace him in his Senate seat." U.S....

The sentencing of former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser Joseph Cari Jr. has been delayed at the request of prosecutors. It's a sign the feds want to use Cari as a witness -- again. Cari, who has admitted guilt in a corruption case, is a former campaign fund-raiser for Vice President-elect Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Blagojevich. He was supposed to be sentenced months ago, after he testified against Tony Rezko, the former fund-raiser for Blagojevich and President-elect Barack Obama. But that was put off, and no new date has been set. At Rezko's trial, Cari testified that...

NBC-5 here in Chicago just reported live on air that convicted felon (and Obama’s personal friend) Tony Rezko will be sentenced on January 6th. And they made a point to note that’s just two weeks before Obama’s inauguration. Rezko had been cooperating with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, giving him information on other political figures in Illinois, but appears to have clammed up after Obama won the national election. We’re sure that’s just a coincidence, and that Rezko just has a really bad case of laryngitis. According to NBC-5, Rezko pushed for a solid sentencing date because he’s tired of being...

Breaking: Obama Advisor Jarrett Tied to Real Estate in Scandal BREAKING: Barack Obama named his longtime friend and supporter Valerie Jarrett as his senior advisor today.FOX News reported: President-elect Barack Obama is naming his longtime friend and supporter Valerie Jarrett to be his White House senior adviser. Jarrett, who hired Michelle Obama for a job in the Chicago mayor's office years ago, is one of the president-elect's closest friends and advisers. Her name has been floated for several top administration jobs. But Obama settled on the senior adviser role, said a person close to the president-elect and willing to speak...

Feel the change! Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents linking Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to Barack Obama and the co-chairman of the President-Elect’s transition team, to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and Obama fundraiser/friend Antoin “Tony” Rezko. According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers and Obama financial...

Jarrett Managed Housing Project Deemed "Uninhabitable" Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents linking Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to Barack Obama and the co-chairman of the President-Elect's transition team, to a series of real estate scandals, including several housing projects operated by convicted felon and Obama fundraiser/friend Antoin "Tony" Rezko. According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Illinois Secretary of State, Valerie Jarrett served as a board member for several organizations that provided funding and support for Chicago housing projects operated by real estate developers...

Boiling down a complex blog entry by P.U.M.A. pundit, Tony Rezko used Alexi Giannoulias bank to float $450,000 in bad checks, while campaigning for Alexi’s brother Demetris to be placed on the Illinois Finance Authority Board. Demetris Giannoulias was on the Board at the Crossroads Fund, a Chicago Based left wing organization supported by Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Barack Obama, which made grants to such stellar organizations as ACORN and other affordable housing swindlers. In 2002, Rezko borrowed $10.5 Million from Broadway Bank, the Giannoulias family bank, the same bank where Barack Obama kept his Senate campaign funds. In...

The Chicago Sun-Times and HillBuzz both had news columns about a week ago that said that it appears that Rezko may be about to roll on Obama. I have heard some spin that the feds & Patrick Fitzgerald are only after Blagojevich and possibly the state treasurer, but this seems doubtful. If Rezko has info that Obama acted illegally, wouldn't he would give this up for something in return? I seriously doubt that Rezko would think that Obama would pardon him. What can be said about Chicago machine politicians? Most likely even Rezko realizes that one bird in the hand...

The Democratic nominee's new sitcom.

Federal prosecutors on Monday sent the strongest hint yet that convicted influence peddler Antoin "Tony" Rezko is ready to spill his political secrets,... {snip} Speculation has simmered for weeks that the 53-year-old key fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama was whispering what he knows about corruption in Illinois government to federal prosecutors in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. {snip}

The Obama campaign has come out saying that Barack Obama was unaware of former Weather Underground member William Ayer's past when the two met more than a decade ago (when Obama kicked off his Illinois political carrer in Ayer's living room). When Rev. Wright went on a tirade before the National Press Club, Barack Obama came out and said "This is not the man I knew." When Tony Rezko was being exposed as a crook, Barack Obama came out and said "This is not the Tony Rezko I knew." Is America dumb enough to believe that Barack Obama was clueless...

Branding his opponent as “erratic in a crisis,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is preempting plans by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to portray him as having sinister connections to controversial Chicagoans. Obama officials call it political jujitsu – turning the attacks back on the attacker. McCain officials had said early in the weekend that they plan to begin advertising after Tuesday’s debate that will tie Obama to convicted money launderer Tony Rezko and former Weathermen radical William Ayers. But Obama isn’t waiting to respond. His campaign is going up Monday on national cable stations with a scathing ad saying: “Three quarters...

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations. With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain's team has decided that its emphasis on the senator's biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama.

Remember Antoin "Tony" Rezko? I'm sure Governor Rod Blagojevich recalls who he is. Maybe even Barack Obama. Well, unless you live in Chicago, or keep an eye on the Chi-town Tribune, you probably have not heard in the national Main Stream Media that Rezko is singing his big head off to the Feds. YEP! According to the Trib, Rezko, who is scheduled for his sentencing appearance on October 28th, is quite the chatty-catty now. The IceMan who said nadda-word for these many months is makin' like a canary. Why? Well, the courts keep turning down his appeals for mistrials and...

Subversives for Obama Friday, 26th September 2008 There are two American election campaigns currently running. The first, in the mainstream media, accepts Barack Obama at face value, no questions asked, while it viciously turns over Sarah Palin and her family whom it subjects to lies, smears and character assassination. The second, being conducted in the blogosphere and (with one or two notable exceptions such as the Wall Street Journal) not alluded to at all by the mainstream media, is the site of verbal warfare between Camp Obama and bloggers who are practising journalism as it used to be practised –...

From FReeper OPS4 A nasty October surprise for Barry? Maybe he can get a bracelet with Tony Rezko's name on it (surely he'll remember that name) and pray to Karl Marx or whatever god he worships that TR keeps his mouth shut. Tipsville: Sneed hears rumbles that convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko, whose dealings have been linked to Barack Obama and Gov. Blagojevich, is singing to the feds. To wit: "I'm told by a close friend of Rezko that he's cooperating with the feds," said a Sneed source. "I don't know whether he's talking about Gov. Blagojevich or Barack Obama...

Barack Obama received a sweetheart land deal from his one time major fundraiser and now convicted Tony Rezko, that is old news. But what is new news is the fact that Joe Biden has ties into this whole money laundering scheme. Joe Biden has been a friend of Joseph Cari, who just pleaded guilty to extortion, for thirty years. Biden has described himself as a 30-year friend of a key figure in the Rezko trial who’s pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in Chicago and is awaiting sentencing. So what was Cari’s crime? In 2005, Cari admitted to taking...

For those of you who still cling to the fantasy that Barack Obama is "about change," you should note how he, or his minions, want nothing to do with reforming politics in Illinois, perhaps the most corrupt state in the Union. "Throughout his political career, Barack Obama has fought for open and honest government," proclaims his campaign Web site. Apparently, no longer. When the Democratic presidential candidate—now his party's industrial-strength voice for our deliverance from political corruption everywhere—was asked by a reformer if he would help get his political mentor back home to get off the dime and move the...

It looks like convicted Chicago power merchant Tony Rezko could have two friends in the White House come Jan uary - if the Democratic ticket is elected, that is. Barack Obama's ties to the prolific fund-raiser and developer - who faces up to 20 years behind bars following his June conviction for wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering and soliciting bribes - are relatively well-known. Over the years, Rezko raised some $250,000 for Obama's campaigns. And, in 2005, he helped Barack and Michelle Obama by buying a lot they couldn't afford right next to the home they'd just purchased - then...

Former governor Mitt Romney, perhaps continuing his audition to be John McCain's running mate, attacked Barack Obama today for making an issue out of McCain's many homes. Speaking to reporters at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Romney said that while McCain deserved his houses because of the "hard work" of himself and his family, "Barack Obama got a special deal from a convicted felon." "I think it was a strange thing for Barack Obama to seize upon," Romney said. "If homes is going to be the topic of discussion that Barack Obama is going to end up...

Jabir Herbert Muhammad — son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad and former manager of boxing great Muhammad Ali — died Monday afternoon at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.Mr. Muhammad, 79, had undergone open-heart surgery last week, said Joseph Morris, a Muhammad family attorney. Mr. Muhammad had been in the news last year because of a lawsuit he filed against convicted political fund-raiser Tony Rezko to stay in his South Side mansion, a home built by the late Elijah Muhammad.In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last year, Mr. Muhammad said Rezko had “embezzled” him out...

JOSEPH CARI : 30-year friend of VP pick guilty in kickback scheme . No matter what help Barack Obama might get from Sen. Joseph Biden, his newly named vice presidential running mate won't give Obama much cover on the Tony Rezko front. Biden has described himself as a 30-year friend of a key figure in the Rezko trial who's pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in Chicago and is awaiting sentencing. When the Delaware senator began contemplating his own 2008 presidential run, he initially was helped by Chicago lawyer Joseph Cari Jr., who also served as Biden's Midwest field...

"Why aren’t the American media investigating the role of British billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi in supplying loans to Barack Obama fundraiser Tony Rezko? Some point to media bias, but there is another factor. Working for Auchi, who was born in Iraq, attorneys from London law firm Carter-Ruck have for several months been flooding American and British newspapers and websites with letters demanding removal of material they deem “defamatory” to their client."

DENVER -- No matter what help Barack Obama might get from Sen. Joseph Biden, his newly named vice presidential running mate won't give Obama much cover on the Tony Rezko front. Biden has described himself as a 30-year friend of a key figure in the Rezko trial who's pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in Chicago and is awaiting sentencing. When the Delaware senator began contemplating his own 2008 presidential run, he initially was helped by Chicago lawyer Joseph Cari Jr., who also served as Biden's Midwest field director in his failed 1988 bid for president.

How soft were Harry Smith's lobs to Barack Obama? If this had been a slow-pitch league, Smith might still have been booted for insufficient MPH. CBS aired Smith's interview of the Dem candidate, conducted yesterday, on this morning's Early Show. After a clip of McCain saying he questioned Obama's judgment, not his patriotism, Smith teed it up for his guest. HARRY SMITH: Many of the attacks that have come from John McCain's campaign have been, quite frankly, condescending. Were you surprised by that? Does it anger you? Tough stuff! Smith didn't explain what is condescending about a candidate questioning his...

Ever since Barack Obama chose former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to vet potential vice presidential choices, critics have questioned Johnson’s ties to Countrywide Financial Corporation, a mortgage lender that gave Johnson millions in below-market loans. The Obama campaign issued a vehement statement Monday calling questions about Johnson’s loans “overblown and irrelevant.” Obama’s GOP opposition, however, is showing no tolerance for Johnson’s role in Obama’s campaign and is eagerly tying the scandal to Obama’s disgraced landlord friend, Tony Rezko. While Obama was kicking off a two-week battleground state economy tour in Raleigh, North Carolina on Monday, the Republican National Committee...

Campaign '08: Obama's shady real estate partner and benefactor has been found guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery, and money-laundering. Obama called a deal he made with him a "boneheaded move." So would be electing Obama president.Tony Rezko was the classic influence-peddler and the patron saint of the old politics that Barack Obama claims he wants to change. The 16 of 24 counts of which Rezko was convicted Wednesday accused him of corrupting two state boards and using his influence in the administration of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to squeeze cash from firms seeking state business....

Antoin Rezko, a Chicago businessman and longtime fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.), was convicted of 16 felony charges Wednesday... ... The 16 counts included fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery ...

CHICAGO, (AP) -- The government's star witness at the fraud trial of Antoin "Tony" Rezko testified Monday that Sen. Barack Obama and his wife attended a party four years ago at the home of the indicted political fundraiser. Stuart Levine said the party took place in April 2004 and was held to honor Iraqi-born Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based billionaire who was visiting the United States at the time. Rezko, 52, was a major fundraiser for Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and the trial has been closely watched because of Obama's presidential campaign. But very little has been said about the...

In the 1960's I had a lady friend who loved Robert Redford. So, naturally, I got dragged to all of Redford's movies. I saw "The Candidate" several times. In that film, Mr. McKay (Redford), a "community organizer" like Barack Obama, hatches a slogan, "McKay, The Better Way" to run for office. Ironically, Barack "Barry" Obama has now chosen "The Better Way" as his mantra through February 10th. Well. Obama's slogan has about as much substance as the celluloid version popularized by Robert Redford. Obama is entirely a creation of wealthy contributors and powerful, liberal media interests. So what he does...

The last time I wrote about Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, I described her as "ever-smiling." Scratch that. The Dem congresswoman from Ohio and Hillary co-chair just snapped at MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell during a discussion of who is responsible for circulating the story about Rezko trial: the media or the Clinton campaign. The conversation was proceeding swimmingly until Norah broached the Rezko matter. And then . . . NORAH O'DONNELL: What about, congresswoman, that many--and Barack Obama--essentially charged today that the reason he failed to win in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island last night is because Hillary Clinton went negative on...

Ooh! Ooh! The very sound of the name Barack (skip middle) Obama sends such a tingle up my leg! Our beloved Obamassiah can do no wrong. He would never lie about a campaign aide assuring the Canadians that Barack didn't really mean what he said about NAFTA nor would the Obamassiah get involved in a sleazy land deal with Tony Rezko. Unfortunately, the DUmmies are now having to face such harsh reality as you can see in this THREAD titled, "Finally, Obama faces tough questions from the press. Reacts with paranoia, walks out." Yes, suddenly there are clouds on...

SAN ANTONIO It took many months and the mockery of "Saturday Night Live" to make it happen, but the lumbering beast that is the press corps finally roused itself from its slumber Monday and greeted Barack Obama with a menacing growl. The day before primaries in Ohio and Texas that could effectively seal the Democratic presidential nomination for him, a smiling Obama strode out to a news conference at a veterans facility here. But the grin was quickly replaced by the surprised look of a man bitten by his own dog. Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after...

His name might sound familiar. But who is Tony Rezko, and what's his connection to Barack Obama?This week federal prosecutors in Chicago are set to begin laying out evidence in a corruption case against Antoin (Tony) Rezko, a prominent real-estate developer and power broker. Rezko is charged with extorting millions in kickbacks from investment firms trying to win business from a teachers' pension fund. (Rezko pleaded not guilty.) The alleged crimes probably wouldn't have gotten much attention outside the clannish world of Chicago politics, except for one detail: Rezko is an old friend and onetime financial backer of Barack Obama....

The Obama Files by John Batchelor What you need to measure about Barack Obama, a likely potent adversary for the presidency, is that while he is a politically junior and consciously liberal-voting member of the U.S. Senate, he is actually a veteran Chicago politician with a fertile record of surprising associations in controversial events well apart from his work in legislatures. Some few of these associations from his years in Chicago law work and urban development, and from his career in the Springfield, Illinois senate, speak to the quality of his judgment and to the strength of his character. Four...

An undeclared $3.5 million payment from a corrupt Iraqi-British businessman has landed Barack Obama's former fundraiser behind bars. The payment, disclosed in court papers, is the first time that Obama's long-serving bagman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a Syrian immigrant to the United States, has been linked to Nadhmi Auchi, the Iraqi-born billionaire who is one of Britain's richest men. The relationship is a potential embarrassment for Obama, who has made his opposition to the Iraq war a central plank of his campaign. Court papers describe Mr. Rezko as a close friend of Mr. Auchi. The two are involved in a large...

For the first time, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama has surfaced in the federal corrupton case against his longtime campaign fund-raiser, Tony Rezko, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The Illinois senator isn’t accused of any wrongdoing. And there’s no evidence Obama knew contributions to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign came from schemes Rezko is accused of orchestrating. The allegations against Rezko that involve Obama are contained in one paragraph of a 78-page document filed last month in which prosecutors outline their corruption and fraud case against Rezko, who was also a key money man for Gov. Blagojevich and other...

During his 12 years in politics, Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found. Obama has collected at least $168,308 from Rezko and his circle. Obama also has taken in an unknown amount of money from people who attended fund-raising events hosted by Rezko since the mid-1990s. But seven months ago, Obama told the Sun-Times his "best estimate" was that Rezko raised "between $50,000 and $60,000" during Obama's political career. Obama, who wants to be the nation's next president,...

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed regret late Friday for his 2005 land purchase from now-indicted political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko in a deal that enlarged the senator’s yard. “I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it,” Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times in an exclusive and revealing question-and-answer exchange about the transaction. In June 2005, Obama and Rezko purchased adjoining parcels in Kenwood. The state’s junior senator paid $1.65 million for a Georgian revival mansion, while Rezko paid $625,000 for the adjacent, undeveloped lot. Both closed on their properties on the same day. Last January, aiming to...