10 March 2008
News and Comments - 03/10/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
17 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
10 March 2008 at 6:51 am.
Here is a story that questions Obama’s integrity. It sounds like business as usual in Chicago where corruption is rampant.
An Obama-Rezko primer
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been questioning her rival Sen. Barack Obama’s relationship to political donor Tony Rezko, now on trial for fraud — particularly Rezko’s involvement in the purchase of Obama’s Chicago home. Here’s a look at what’s going on and what it means:
Q: Who is Tony Rezko?
A: Antoin “Tony” Rezko is a millionaire Chicago businessman who has long helped young politicians raise money and make connections. Raised in Syria, he moved to Chicago to study engineering but wound up making money in real estate and fast food. He is now on trial in federal court on mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and attempted extortion charges.
Q: What is his relationship to Obama?
A: He’s been friendly with Obama for years, even offering him a job after Obama finished law school. Obama turned down the offer, but a political friendship developed. Rezko and his family donated at least $21,457 to Obama — and helped raise tens of thousands more — for his campaigns in Illinois, though not for his presidential bid. He also advised Obama on the purchase of a new Chicago home and, in his wife’s name, purchased a vacant lot next to the new Obama home at the same time.
Q: Why is Rezko on trial?
A: Prosecutors allege he tried to shake down companies seeking contracts from Illinois regulatory boards for campaign contributions and payoffs. They say he used his influence with Gov. Rod Blagojevich to get people appointed to the boards and then threatened to have them block contracts unless the companies paid millions of dollars in kickbacks.
Q: What does that have to do with Obama?
A: Nothing. No one has alleged that Obama has anything to do with the charges against Rezko, nor has Obama been charged with any wrongdoing. Obama has donated to charity the money that Rezko donated to his campaigns, as well as money from other Rezko friends and partners, a total of $150,000.
Q: Did Rezko help Obama buy his Chicago home?
A: Yes and no. Obama says he sought Rezko’s advice as a real estate developer and even toured the property with him but got no financial assistance from Rezko. Instead, Obama paid $1.65 million for the house in June 2005 by using money from a book contract and taking out a mortgage.
But Rezko’s wife did buy the vacant lot next door, which made it easier for Obama to buy the house. Both pieces of property were owned by the same couple and they insisted on selling them at the same time, but Obama couldn’t afford both. Rezko’s purchase of the empty lot allowed the home sale to go through, although Obama says Rezko wasn’t the only person interested in the lot.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_el_pr/obama_rezko_q_a
Mac Says:
10 March 2008 at 10:42 am.
That’s right. How dare he. Only Hillary has the right to have mob friends.
Cameron Says:
10 March 2008 at 11:27 am.
Oil spike to last through 2008: OPEC president
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Oil prices will stay at current high levels for the rest of this year due to speculation and geopolitical tensions, Algerian state media on Monday reported OPEC President Chakib Khelil as saying.
Joy Bischoff Says:
10 March 2008 at 12:58 pm.
Globalization is effecting everything these days. I applaud many of these edicts by the Catholic Church but at the end it adds accumulation of excessive wealth as a mortal sin. I hope the doctrine of socialism that is a part of Globalism will not creep into this edict. Being excessively wealthy like Job is great if the person does good. Job creation works far better when coming from wealthy people instead of the government. A lot of the very wealthy are out of control, no doubt. But enforced compassion in the form of socialism is not compassion at all. It does not come from the heart and there is no personal growth that comes from it. Here is part of an article about the new sins:
Vatican Adds Seven New Deadly Sins Including Abortion, Contraception and Drug-Dealing
ROME — Drug pushers, the obscenely rich, environmental polluters and “manipulative” genetic scientists beware — you may be in danger of losing your mortal soul unless you repent.
After 1,500 years the Vatican has brought the seven deadly sins up to date by adding seven new ones for the age of globalization. The list, published yesterday in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, came as the Pope deplored the “decreasing sense of sin” in today’s “secularized world” and the falling numbers of Roman Catholics going to confession.
The Catholic Church divides sins into venial, or less serious, sins and mortal sins, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession and penitence.
It holds mortal sins to be “grave violations of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes,” including murder, contraception, abortion, perjury, adultery and lust.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell.”
“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos,” he said.
Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or “the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few.”
Mac Says:
10 March 2008 at 2:33 pm.
So what do you guys think of this thing with Spitzer?
Jesse Says:
10 March 2008 at 2:42 pm.
I’m listening to Hannity. He wanted to say there is no way Spitzer can survive this but he couldn’t be sure of that because Bill Clinton survived Monica. If this man is not out then the country will loose even more of their confidence in politicians.
Joy I sure am nervous about your article. Making it a sin to pollute the environment sounds nice on the surface but is so dangerous. Who sets the standards? This is so liberal. And then the whole thing about excess wealth sounds good to but it really is a very anti-capitalist message and pro socialism. Dangerous.
CindyL. Says:
10 March 2008 at 2:52 pm.
I think it is so funny that the Clintons are so arrogant that they are talking about this double ticket with her as President. I love Obama’s answer. He’s running for pres and he is in the lead. And he said if she wants to talk to him about being her VP that’s okay. What a joke.
It is people like Spitzer who give politicians such a bad name for young people like me. It’s sick.
Cameron Says:
10 March 2008 at 2:54 pm.
Too busy right now to grab an article but this Spitzer prosecuted prostitution rings when he was attorney general. What a schmuck.
Yeah Cindy, the Clintons are continuing to amuse us.
E.E. Says:
10 March 2008 at 2:58 pm.
Sean just said Spitzer is a super delegate. What a scam that is. He’s just part of all kinds of scams isn’t he?
Saddened Says:
10 March 2008 at 3:02 pm.
Then there is the money laundering, this looks bad.
Cavetrollhead Says:
10 March 2008 at 4:14 pm.
spitzer getting busted was reported on CBS website. They didn’t mention in the whole article that he was a democrat.
Cavetrollhead Says:
10 March 2008 at 4:19 pm.
The New York Rimes only says late in the article that he is a democrat, by saying “Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.” I believe that if this guy was a republican the whole article would have bee spotted with the word “republican.”
Cavetrollhead Says:
10 March 2008 at 4:22 pm.
Boy, the catholic church sure isn’t sticking their finger in the wind is it? Got to hand it to them that it is bold and unflinching.
Cavetrollhead Says:
10 March 2008 at 4:27 pm.
One wealthy man who creates jobs, supports worthy charities and so, on does more good than a thousand poor and selfish people who spend all their discretionary income on vices. Just like Job Joy. It is all in the way a man uses it. If that rich person gives it all to the poor in one shot, he ends his future influence forever. People find it easy to judge the rich. I am poor myself but I can appreciate the burden of the rich.
Carrie Says:
10 March 2008 at 5:13 pm.
Cave,
That is so interesting about the articles. You are so right about what it would be like if it was a republican. I hate the double standard and since the media does it then we are screwed.
E.E. I can’t believe this man is a super delegate. People like this are suppose to have the power to decide what happens in a primary election. Our country is in trouble.
Cameron Says:
10 March 2008 at 6:03 pm.
What can I say? Things don’t look so hot right now.
Stocks Slide on Mixed News, Surging Oil
Monday March 10, 5:51 pm ET
By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer
Wall Street Pulls Back As Oil Soars and Investors Sift Through Shaky Corporate News
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street sank Monday as oil’s surge above $108 a barrel and more worrisome signs for the financial sector led investors to extend last week’s losses. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 150 points, bringing its three-day loss to nearly 515, while broader indexes showed steeper percentage losses.
Cameron Says:
10 March 2008 at 7:52 pm.
I couldn’t resist putting this whole thing since it is about what we do here. I think it is very funny that they would write this. We know the MSM can’t be very happy that so many people are coming to places like this to get their political news and discuss what it means for them. Polls are so subjective and they admit at the end that it is. But even if they are right and 22% of adults are going to blogs like this, then that has to be having a huge impact and one the elites don’t like because it can’t be controlled.
Poll: Most Americans don’t read political blogs
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A majority of Americans do not read political blogs, the online commentaries that have proliferated in the race for the U.S. presidency, according to a poll released on Monday.
Only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly, meaning several times a month or more, according to the survey conducted by Harris Interactive.
Political blogs, in which writers, pundits and other participants voice opinions in online forums, burst into the spotlight in the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. Some of the most high-profile blogs are influential on campaign strategies, media coverage and public perception of the candidates and issues.
Unlike traditional, mainstream media, blogs often adopt a specific point of view. Critics complain they can contain unchecked facts, are poorly edited and use unreliable sources.
Despite the attention blogs can get, the poll said 56 percent of Americans say they never read blogs that discuss politics. Another 23 percent read them several times a year, the survey showed.
While blogs are largely considered the realm of young people who are most Internet-savvy, only 19 percent of people ages 18 to 31, and 17 percent of those ages 32 to 43, regularly read a political blog, the poll said.
The generation most likely to read such blogs are those age 63 or older, 26 percent of whom said they do so. Also, 23 percent of those ages 44 to 62 read them, the poll said.
Roughly an even number — 22 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats — regularly read blogs, while 26 percent of independents do the same, the poll showed.
The poll was conducted online from January 15 to January 22 among 2,302 adults. Harris said it does not calculate or provide a margin of error because it finds such figures can be misleading.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080310/pl_nm/usa_politics_blogs_dc
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