Ask Me Help Desk - The Rezko Connection Part I

This is reported today by John Batchelor .

It details the relationship between Obama's buddy Tony Rezko and an Iraqi named Aiham Alsammarae who is linked to plundering the Iraqis post -war during the reign of CPA chief Viceroy Bremer.

Obama's connection to Rezko is that he made some really good Real estate deals through Rezko . Rezko is to go on trial today for using his positions on two state boards to enrich himself and government officials, including Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich, to the tune of about $7.5 million. Blagojevich has also been a high-flying beneficiary of Rezko’s fundraising efforts and was set to receive about $1.5 million through the extortion of Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg.

Rezko has raised and given money to numerous Illinois politicians, including Barack Obama. Obama and Michelle Obama got their Chicago home for $1.65 million - $300,000 below the asking price through Rezko .Then a property adjacent to the Obama estate was purchased by Rezko through his wife. A 10 foot strip of the property was then sold to Obama.
Obama landscaped the entire parcel in exchange for Rezko erecting a security fence around the property. The only access to the property then was through the Obamas property and the Reskos never developed it further. Obama and Rezko have a 15 year association . This land deal happened after Obama was a US Senator and occurred even as Fitzgerald was investigating Rezko. Rezko had been a significant contributor to Obama's political career.

According to Batchelor Obama could potentially be tainted with Rezko's association to Alsammarae

Quote:

Today the questions include: does Senator Obama know that, through his unfortunate association with Mr. Rezko, he was once exposed to grand larceny at the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity from 2003 to 2006? Does Senator Obama know that the Iraqi government wants Mr. Alsammarae returned to face his punishment and to cooperate in ongoing discoveries about additional crimes? Does Senator Obama know that there is a fugitive in Chicago who creates unhappy questions about his recent political associations?

It is too long to post the article in it's entirety . Read it here :

Bachelor - HUMAN EVENTS

The question is will Prosector Patrick Fitzgerald ,who is on the Rezko case, investigate this case with as much zeal as he did the Plame case ?

Hello tom:

I know you hate Obama and Hillary, but why don't you be positive for a little while. Tell us exactly WHAT your dude, McCain will do positivly, instead of what Obama will do negativly.

excon

Quote:

Originally Posted by excon

Hello tom:

I know you hate Obama and Hillary, but why don't you be positive for a little while. Tell us exactly WHAT your dude, McCain will do positivly, instead of what Obama will do negativly.

Thank you excon. I've been saying this for a while. I'm also getting sick of the constant negative posts/threads.

Why don't you say something positive about President Bush ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

The question is will Prosector Patrick Fitzgerald ,who is on the Rezko case, investigate this case with as much zeal as he did the Plame case ?

Yes. Why wouldn't he?

It is possibly something that may become important but currently is not an issue in the voting.
$300,000 below the asking price is common on a $1.65 million dollar property, nothing there to get suspicious about.

I find the flip on NAFTA much more damaging…that said, I don't believe anything can derail the blind sheep followers of the “piped piper.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark_crow

…that said, I don’t believe anything can derail the blind sheep followers of the “piped piper.”

That can be said of virtually all elections, the MSM picks the leading candidate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeedKarma

Thank you excon. I've been saying this for a while. I'm also getting sick of the constant negative posts/threads.

Yeah, me too. Like...

Wonder where the current situation in Iran stems from?

How To Ruin a Perfectly Good Country

Charles Barkley tells it like it is...

Is John McCain mentally stable enough to be President?

If Giuliani's campaign wasn't dead before, it is now...

I believe those were the last 5 discussions you started on this forum. Do you think we don't pay attention?

“I like looking at voting records. Politicians are full of crap, and their voting record is the only thing you can go by these days. Not knowing what to write about this week, I decided to examine Obama's voting record and compare it with McCain's just for kicks.”

Immigration

He voted for the failed 2007 Immigration Act along with McCain.

He voted against a bill that would prohibit undocumented immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies, domestic violence, stalking, violation of protection orders, crimes against children, or crimes relating to the illegal purchase or sale of firearms, from gaining legal status. McCain also voted against it.

He sponsored a bill which would have increased the level of family sponsored immigrants from 226,000 to 567,000. McCain voted no.

He cosponsored to pass an amendment that reduces the annual limit on guest workers to two hundred thousand from a ceiling of six hundred thousand proposed.

He voted for an amendment that declared English to be the common language of the United States. John McCain voted no. However, he voted against English being the national language whereas McCain voted yes. HOWEVER Obama voted for English to be the unifying language and McCain agreed. It is all about semantics I guess.

He along with McCain voted for triple layered fencing at the boarder but against double layered fencing. Why not four layers?

Constitution

He voted against the flag desecration amendment along with Hillary Clinton while John McCain voted yes. Expect McCain or the 527 groups to jump all over Obama on this issue.

Even though he was at Congress, he did not vote on the moveon.org resolution that criticized the group for bashing General Petraeus. Hillary voted no while McCain voted yes.

He voted against giving himself a pay raise. Only six senators had the balls to vote for the pay raise. I can understand the Hawaii senator wanting a pay raise, it probably costs a load for him to fly.

He voted for an amendment that opposes criticism of our military. Apparently the first amendment does not apply to the military? Even John McCain voted against this bill.

He voted to grant habeas corpus to persons being detained by the US. Apparently John McCain does not recognize the bill of rights as he voted against it. EDIT: apparently Obama don't recognize that the Constitution only applies to US
Citizens.

He along with McCain rejected the same sex marriage amendment.

Katrina

He voted to allow for a vote on an amendment to increase the federal governments financial aid package to the victims of Hurricane Katrina by providing food assistance, bankruptcy relief and tax help. McCain voted no. Obama might be able to use this to win in Louisiana.

He voted for a congressional commission to study what went wrong with Katrina. McCain also voted no against this. If Obama is smart, he will point this out.

Iraq

He voted for a congressional committee to study how contracts were to be handed out in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain voted no.

He did not vote on the future military funding for Iraq amendment which would have adopted a non-binding, amendment that expresses the Senate's will that future military operation funds be included in the regular budget proposal and not in an emergency supplemental appropriation bill.

In November of 07, he voted to give an extra 50 billion to fund operations in Iraq along with McCain.

Appointments

He voted against Alito and Roberts. McCain voted yes.

He voted against Gonzo and for Condi. McCain supported both.

Economics

He voted against the bankruptcy reform bill in 05. Hillary Clinton was the only one that didn't vote.

He cosponsored a bill to limit farm subsidies for married couples to 250,000 along with John McCain.

He did not vote on the economic stimulus package. McCain voted yes.

He voted against the sunset of the estate tax. McCain is now for it.

He along with McCain voted against increasing the debt limit of 8.97 trillion and no that is not a typo.

He voted to extend pay as you go until 2011 along with McCain.

He voted for a temporary crude oil profits tax. McCain voted against it.

Ethics

He voted for the ethics bill but was not a cosponsor. For some reason, Obama always points to this as his great achievement. McCain voted against it. Expect Obama to make a big deal about this vote.

Environment

He voted against ANWR. McCain also voted no.

He voted for carbon and mercury limits. McCain also voted for the limits.

Education

He voted to increase Pell Grants. McCain voted no.

Veterans

He voted to provide 500 million to help vets deal with PTSD and substance abuse. McCain voted no.

Trade

He voted against CAFTA but voted for free trade with Oman. McCain voted yes on both. Interestingly, some douche that writes for Rolling Stone that shows up on Bill Maher's show stated that Hillary voted for the Peru free trade when she along with Barack and McCain did not vote. Liar.

Stem Cells

He along with McCain voted yes to embryonic stem cell research.

Conclusion

There you have it. I tried to give a simplified approach to the voting record differences and similarities between Obama and McCain. The candidates seem to agree mostly on immigration, stem cells, gay marriage, and the environment. Where they differ is on Supreme Court Justices, taxes, Iraq, trade, and ethics.

The Clintons have stated that Obama is a roll of the dice. The only votes that I found which could come back to haunt Obama is on the issue of taxes where he is very liberal. He has intelligently voted on the Iraq War in the sense that he hasn't made much noise vote wise in his opposition, so if the war continues to go better, he can point to the fact he always funded it, etc.

Where Obama will be a roll of the dice is on the intangibles such as his wife, a button on a lapel and/or his middle name. I doubt his liberal voting record will hurt him.

411mania.com: Politics - Obama v. McCain... A Look At Their Voting Records

By the way ;what Batchelor brings up is just the tip of the iceberg regarding Rezko and questionable Iraqi contacts. There is also an Iraqi Brit that is involved who may have had his fingers in the pie during the Oil for Food days .

You see ;Hillary cannot exploit sleezy land deals and associates because that has been her bread and butter. If she talks real estate her opponent is bound to bring up Whitewater . If she brings up sleezy fundraising associates then Norman Hsu among the many others that are still investigations ongoing. The list is never ending .

I do not think that McCain can be tarnished much because he has pretty much been a reformer . As far as voting record ;there is much I cannot defend regarding McCain . I just see him as a better potential CIC than the throw of the dice Obama. As far as Iraq goes ;everyone should read the Michael Crowley story in 'The New Republic called "Cinderella Story " about Obama's phony purity on the issue.
Cinderella Story

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

Why don't you say something positive about President Bush ?

He... well I know there has to be something

Ok, sorry could not help myself. Most know I am a strong Bush supporter and still think history will end up showing him in a good light.

But yes, I think any richer person will have contacts with people who end up having some criminal background, So someone he did business with, broke some laws?? That does not make any action he did wrong.

I mean short of Hilary there is no one I don't want to get elcted, but we should judge them and list them on there merits, not who they may or maynot have done business with.

I guess what illegal activies did Obama did he do with this person?

Until the investigations are complete we will not know. How many Republicans got smeared by the name Abramoff ?

This is old smear campaign "no news" tactic didn't work on Obama during the first Democratic debates. Even Hillary knew better than bring it up twice. Surely McCain's speech writers haven't forgotten that the "six degrees to Kevin Bacon game" is childish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

until the investigations are complete we will not know. How many Republicans got smeared by the name Abramoff ?

So you want tit for tat?

Nope I want the veneer peeled away. He is from the Daley machine . If you believe he is clean then I have a bridge to sell . Why is it that he is immune from his backround being scrutinized ? He knew Rezko for 20 years . How did Rezko get the money to buy the adjacent property ? What was the quid pro quo for the sweetheart deal ? These are things we need to know about him . The Democrats are negligent in not giving this proper scrutiny . They are always seduced by the " new" and more often then not it is a mistake .