Obama Names New 'Director of Renouncements'

The Carbolic Smoke Ball Report is reporting that Barack Obama has officially named "senior staffer, Ron Vassel as his campaign’s new 'Director of Renouncements'."

Vassel, who had been advising the campaign on White House drapery measurements, will now oversee a state-of-the-art, scalable database indexing all of the supporters from whom Senator Obama has officially distanced himself.

“As the campaign has gone on, we’ve had a harder and harder time keeping up with all the people I’ve had to renounce,” the Illinois Senator said.

”We know it will be even harder after the convention, as more and more of my supporters get caught up in the excitement of the election and make stupid, racist, offensive remarks I’ll have to pretend to be bothered by. Ron will make sure no one falls through the cracks.”

Read in full

The Carbolic Smoke Ball Report is also reporting that Barack Obama has officially tapped Green Bay Packer Great, Brett Favre as his Vice Presidential Running Mate.

Illinois Senator denies receiving $20 million campaign contribution from the Green Bay Packers, says quarterback was his “first choice all along”.

Just one day after returning to training camp, Brett Favre sent shockwaves through the NFL, and then across the country, by announcing he would leave the Green Bay Packers to become Barack Obama’s running mate.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll ride the pine behind Aaron Rodgers,” Favre said at a hastily assembled press conference. ”But it would be an honor to back up this guy.”

Senator Obama said... that putting Favre on the ticket guarantees “the kind of idolatry on the sports page I’m already getting on the front page...”

- Read in full

And finally, the Carbolic Smoke Ball Report is reporting that Osama Bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamden has been "found guilty of failing to signal a lane change":

Since the offense is a moving violation, three points will be added to Hamden’s driving record. That, combined with the three points he received last year for stoning a promiscuous woman to death after 9 p.m., will mandate that Hamden attend a safe driving program or risk losing his license.

- Read in full

Monir Edwan's T-Shirts - Close-Up Photo!

I dropped by Monir Edwan's home in the Gaza Strip today and asked him to show me one of the T-shirts he purchased online from the Obama campaign's website. Here's a snapshot I took:

Monir, Hosam Edwan Deny Obama Camp Returned Illegal Donations

From World Net Daily:

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign contends it returned $33,500 in illegal contributions from Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, but the donors told WND today they have not received any money.

The Wall Street Journal reported it spoke to Obama officials who said the donations from three Palestinian brothers were received between Sept. 20 and Dec. 6 last year, and virtually all of the money was returned by Dec. 6. The campaign said, however, the refunds were not reported to the Federal Election Commission due to a technical error.

The Obama camp insisted the remaining $2,500 was refunded Monday and all of the refunds will be reflected soon in an amended report. The campaign said new controls are in place to prevent any similar attempts in the future.

But WND asked two of the brothers – Monir and Hasam Edwan – to respond to the campaign's claims.

"No, we did not receive any money back from the Obama campaign at any time," said Monir Edwan.

The Edwans continue to maintain – as they told WND earlier this week – that the financial transactions made on Obama's campaign website were not actual donations but purchases of "Obama for President" T-shirts. The transactions, however, were listed as donations in U.S. government election filings. - Read the rest

Do the Edwan brothers have any ulterior motive to lie about the money not being returned to them?

Well, if they did receive their money back from the Obama campaign, that would obligate them to reimburse the campaign for the T-shirts they received. However, WND already pointed out that the brothers couldn't possibly have received the T-shirts, since Israel imposed a tight closure of the Gaza Strip from June 2007 until June 2008, when the Israeli government agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas. Plus, keep in mind that earlier this week the brothers told WND that they were concerned this whole story might damage Barack Obama's campaign.

"They will try to use this story to let Obama fall," Monir said. "We don't want to cause any damage to Obama's campaign... Not just the people in Gaza but people from all over the world are rooting for this great man."

If they are indeed lying, they're certainly not helping the man they're so passionately rooting for.

Nevertheless, the Obama campaign's claim [as reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal] that "virtually all of the money... was returned by December 6. But the refunds weren’t reported to the Federal Election Commission due to a technical error," sounds a bit strange to me.

Even if we were to assume that they did return the money to the Edwan brothers, was the failure to report the refunded money to the FEC really a technical error, or were they afraid that if they reported it to the FEC, the FEC would begin scrutinizing the rest of Obama's campaign contributions? Hmmm......

As to why the remaining money wasn't returned till now - a conundrum indeed - ponder this thought:

The Obama campaign felt that as long as they returned most of the money and stayed within the legal limit [although it was actually $200 over the limit], no one would notice that Monir Edwan's donations came from Rafah - except for a curious blogger who realized there aint no Rafah in GA. Hmmm... Something to ponder, indeed.....

Obama's 'Emergency Economic Plan' One Big Hoax

Excerpted from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Barack Obama says he would give consumers an emergency rebate of $1,000 to help them pay for gasoline -- paid for by taxing Big Oil's "windfall profits."

However, Donald J. Boudreaux, chairman of the department of economics at George Mason University, notes as follows:

"Total profits of U.S. oil companies in 2007 were about $90 billion. If Uncle Sam took all of these profits and distributed them equally to all households in the U.S., each household would get $750."

Mr. Boudreaux reminds that $90 billion represents all profits. Even if Obama claims half of those profits are "windfall," the noted economist says each household would receive $375. And even if Obama's plan excludes all households in the top half of income earners, there's still only enough for $750 for each remaining household, Boudreaux says.

That said, Boudreaux reminds that the Obama plan would subsidize gasoline consumption while more heavily taxing its production. "This plan -- which increases the demand for gasoline and reduces its supply -- makes as much sense as trying to put out a fire by dousing it with jet fuel."

But that matters not as long as a gullible public sucks up the populist pap that is Obamanomics. - Read in full.

Obama's 'Low Road Express' is Getting Lower and Lower By the Day

The Obama campaign hit rock bottom today with the release of its latest campaign ad, entitled "Pocket".

"Every time you fill your tank, the oil companies fill their pockets," a voice-over in the ad says. "Now, Big Oil’s filling John McCain’s campaign with 2 million dollars in contributions. Because instead of taxing their windfall profits to help drivers, McCain wants to give them another 4 billion in tax breaks. After one president in the pocket of big oil, we can’t afford another."

In an interview on CNN today, former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney expressed dismay over the ad saying:

“Boy, that’s really sad. I didn’t know that Barack Obama had stooped to dishonesty.... Corporations are not allowed to give contributions to candidates, and employees of oil companies give to Barack Obama as well as to John McCain.... So it’s simply dishonest as well as below the belt.”

And McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds had this to say about the ad:

"Barack Obama's latest negative attack ad shows his celebrity is matched only by his hypocrisy, after all it was Senator Obama, not John McCain, who voted for the... energy bill that was a sweetheart deal for oil companies. Also not mentioned is the $400,000 from big oil contributors that Barack Obama has already pocketed in this election."

Indeed, the 'Obama Low Road Express' is moving full speed ahead and apparently, it's getting lower and lower each and every day.

And from the Hillary Clinton campaign website - March 28 2008

False Advertising: New Obama Ad Falsely Claims He Does Not Accept Money From Oil Companies.

Phil Singer, Deputy Communications Director: "It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices. Senator Obama says he doesn’t take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that ExxonMobil, Shell and others are among his donors. I wonder if they’ll fix the ad."

A new ad by Sen. Obama running in Pennsylvania falsely claims that Sen. Obama does not accept money from the oil industry. In the ad, Sen. Obama says, "I'm Barack Obama and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists and I won’t let them block change anymore."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Obama has received over $160,000 [by now, he has received much more than that amount] from the oil and gas companies. Two major bundlers for his campaign -- George Kaiser and Robert Cavnar – are oil company CEOs.

Apparently, Hillary forgot to scrub that page.

Also see "Obama says he doesn't take money from oil companies. We say that's a little too slick." from Fact check [a website that refuses to "fact check" Obama's false statements ever since he clinched his party's nomination.]

WND Confirms Obama Donor, Monir Edwan Living in Gaza Strip

Last week, the Atlas Shrug blog revealed that Barack Obama had received $24,321.41 in campaign contributions [well over the $2300 limit] from a fellow named, Monir Edwan. On Obama's official filings with the Federal Election Commission Edwan is listed as a resident of Rafah GA. Since no such town exists in the state of Georgia it was assumed that Mr. Edwan was most likely a resident of the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

It is illegal for a U.S. candidate to accept campaign contributions from foreigners. It is also also illegal for a US candidate to accept more than $2,300 per election cycle.

A WND investigation tracked down Monir Edwan and his brother Hosam who made donations totaling $5,200.13 to the Obama campaign, all in October of 2007.

From World Net Daily:

A WND investigation tracked down the Edwans, who are brothers living in the Tal Esaltan neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The Edwans are a large clan that include top Hamas supporters.

Speaking to WND, the two brothers praised Obama and admitted giving the money online to his campaign. They said they are not U.S. citizens but are citizens of "Palestine."

The Edwans denied they are affiliated with Hamas. Palestinian sources in Gaza confirmed the Edwans in question are secular, but could not say whether they supported Hamas.

Monir and Hasam Edwan denied their financial transactions online – listed as donations in U.S. government election filings – were actual donations to Obama's campaign. Instead they claimed they purchased about $30,000 in Obama T-shirts from the presidential candidate's online store – a contention that did not hold up during a WND interview, when they changed their story several times.

"My brother Hosam and I knew that Obama will be a big hit even before he became a candidate. We knew the guy would be a celebrity in Gaza so we decided to invest the amount of $29,000 to buy Obama T-shirts from his website and sell them in Gaza," Monir Edwan told WND, speaking by cell phone from Gaza.

"I know on the back of this story Obama rivals will present our business as a donation and they will try to use this story to let Obama fall, but I'm telling you, we bought T-shirts," Edwan maintained....

"We have nothing to do with the Obama campaign. We just like Obama and believe he will be the best for the Palestinians and for the world."

At first Monir Edwan claimed he sold the T-shirts in Gaza for around $9 and that a profit was made...

But it was pointed out to Edwan the T-shirts for sale on Obama's website are listed as $20.08 and that selling the merchandise for less would not yield a profit.

"Maybe we sold the shirts for a lot more. I can't remember now," said Edwan.

Asked why he would purchase T-shirts at such a high rate and pay the cost of shipping when he could pay a company to produce T-shirts for less, Edwan replied, "We wanted the shirts to come from the campaign."

But Edwan could not explain how he managed to get shipments of T-shirts into the Gaza Strip during the months he claimed to have purchased the merchandise, since Israel imposed a tight closure of the Gaza Strip starting in June 2007 that lasted until June 2008, when the Israeli government agreed to a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza.

"We don't want to cause any damage to Obama's campaign," was Edwan's reply. Edwan said he wants Obama to be president.

"Not just the people in Gaza but people from all over the world are rooting for this great man," he told WND.

FEC spokesman Biersack told WND contributions from overseas are allowed if the donations are coming from U.S. citizens or green card carriers. But he said accepting money from foreigners would violate election provisions.

He said there are strict guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election.

"I am not familiar with the particulars of the case, so I am commenting in general. The FEC will have to examine all the circumstances before determining any wrongdoing," Biersack clarified.

Read in full.

Obama STILL playing the Race Card!

At a press conference on Saturday, Barack Obama seemed to back away from his previous contention that the McCain campaign was playing the race card, saying instead that the McCain campaign was being "cynical, not racist".

This prompted McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds to respond: "We're glad the Obama campaign retracted Barack Obama's accusation because it was absolutely false, and we're moving on."

However - as Lynn Sweet points out - upon closer examination of what Obama had said, it is quite clear that the Democratic nominee was still accusing Senator McCain of playing the race card even while insisting he was doing no such thing.

At Saturday's press conference, a reporter asked Barack Obama the following question:

Senator, you said you are not injecting race into the campaign race. Your surrogates have said that your comments about not looking like other presidents on the dollar bill is not about your race. But you did say that, back at a fund-raiser in Jacksonville, that they are going to try to make you afraid of me, that he is young and inexperienced, he's got a funny name and did I mention that he is black. How do you reconcile that?

To which Obama replied:

Here is what I was saying. I think this should be undisputed, that I don't come out of central casting when it comes to presidential races, for a whole range of reasons. I'm young.... My name is Barack Obama. I am African-American.... I spent time in Indonesia. I do not have the typical biography of a presidential candidate...And, so, what I think has been an approach to the McCain campaign is to say that he is risky. To try to divert focus from the fact that they don't have any new ideas... All those elements... feed into this notion that he may be a, quote, unquote, risky choice... Let me be clear. In no way do I think that John McCain's campaign was being racist. I think they are cynical."

So in essence, Senator Obama was accusing Senator McCain of using race - whether directly or indirectly - as a scare tactic.

However, Senator MCain has never alluded to Obama's race in any of his statements or any of his campaign ads.

A voice-over in McCain's latest campaign ad, pokes fun at Obama's celebrity status - "He's the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?" says a voice-over in the ad. - But there isn't the slightest implication in the ad that Obama's name or his race would make him a risky candidate.

Thus, I think Tucker Bounds erred in saying that Obama had retracted his accusation and in saying the McCain campaign was going to move on.

Obama is still playing the race card even while insisting he's not, and until he stops accusing the McCain campaign of racism, they should call him out on that.

In truth, other than injecting race into the campaign and reversing his position on off shore drilling [on the heels of the latest polls showing that the majority of Americans support off shore drilling], - it is Senator Obama, and not his opponent, who clearly "has no new ideas".

Obama Compares Himself to Paris Hilton

The Obama campaign is taking umbrage to the latest McCain campaign ad which compares the Democratic nominee's celebrity status to that of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

However, Lynn Sweet notes that in 2004, shortly after Barack Obama was elected to the US Senate, he spoke at a Gridiron dinner and joked about his celebrity status saying everything changed for him after he keynoted the Democratic convention earlier that year:

"It's like I was shot out of a cannon. I am so overexposed, I make Paris Hilton look like a recluse. "After all the attention -- People magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, Letterman -- I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down..."

Belittling Paris Hilton's celebrity status? How dare he do such a thing!

Rafah Resident, Monir Edwan Donated $24,321.41 to Barack Obama's Campaign!

A reader of the Atlas Shrugs blog has discovered a red flag among Barack Obama's campaign contributions. A fellow by the name of Monir Edwan donated $24,321.41 to the Obama campaign, well over the legal limit. On Obama's official filings with the Federal Election Commission it lists Edwan as a resident of Rafah GA. Problem is, no such town exists in the state of Georgia. But there is a refugee camp by that name - in the Gaza Strip.

Donation Details: Adwan, Monir Rafah, Georgia

Here is the file: Download EdwanDetail.xls.

And here's the link to the FEC file, Compliments of Atlas Shrugs.

Debbie Schlussel notes: "As we all know, it is illegal for any U.S. candidate for federal office (and most state and local offices) to accept campaign contributions from foreign nationals. It is also illegal for any U.S. candidate for President to accept more than $2,300 per election cycle."

To see the contents of the FEC file, you could also hop on over to The American Jingoist, who has it posted on his blog, showing the entire list of donations adding up to $24,321.41. And he concludes his post with the following observation:

So Friends… what do you think? I think the phone banks are humming at Hezbollah and Hamas, the purveyors of death, intolerance, murder and terrorism are working the phone banks on overtime for their boy the Mulatto Marxist, Barack Hussein Obama! Is this the guy you want as your President?

He may be jumping the gun a little bit, but $24,321.41 is a heck of a lot of money for someone living in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip!

Of course, this could all be a mistake. Perhaps there is a town called Rafah tucked away somewhere in the state of Georgia, or perhaps Mr. Edwan lives elsewhere in Georgia and decided to list Rafah as his preferred choice of residence, but it still doesn't explain how Obama was able to accept well over the legal amount allowed for campaign contributions.

Get ready for the spin. You know it's coming. It always does.

Obama Website: "This Isn’t the John McCain We Used to Know!" - Sound familiar?

"This isn’t the John McCain we used to know. "
From Barack Obama's New Website - Low Road Express

"I am saddened by today's verdict. This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew."
Barack Obama, speaking shortly after his campaign funder and long time associate, Tony Rezko was convicted of money laundering and bribery - June 2008"

I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."
Barack Obama condemning inflammatory comments made by his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. - April 2008

Update: After posting this, I realized that the Obama campaign probably used this line intentionally in an attempt to compare Senator McCain to some of Obama's heinous friends. Nevertheless, one would think it odd that they would remind voters about Obama's past relationships with the likes of Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko and other such sleazy characters.

It is also odd that they would remind voters of the type of prevarications the Messiah uses to extract himself from difficult situations. But that's par for the course for the Obama acolytes, they are not ashamed of Obama's past ties to some of Chicago's most vile characters, nor are they ashamed of Obama's equivocations: "This man is not the man I once knew." Indeed, the name "Low Road Express" aptly describes Obama's new website, for if anyone enjoys taking the low road, it is Obama and his band of starry-eyed acolytes.

Nevertheless, it was not my intention to low-ball Senator McCain, but rather to highlight the kind of slippery and evasive character Barack Obama is. However, I may decide to delete this post, as I certainly don't want be associated with Barack Obama's wily machinations.

Dear Bloggers, if you see something on this blog that you like and decide to post it on your blog, why not tip your hat in this direction? - Especially, the big boys, with the big blogs, there should be no need for me to have to TAP them on their shoulders to remind them about this. Wink... Wink...

Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet!

EARTH - Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

"I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen," said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message.

"They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn't they heed me before it was too late?" -
Source - The Onion - Read full article

Unfortunately, Mr. Gore is probably unaware of Barack Obama's bold proclamation, the one he made on the night he won his party's nomination.

On that momentous occasion, Senator Obama boldly proclaimed: "I am absolutely certain that generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. "

If only Mr. Gore had heard those words emanating from the great Messiah, surely he would never have sent off his only child to outer space and abandon him to the distant galaxies. For indeed, our planet will soon be healed and all of humanity will once again be at peace, thanks to our glorious Messiah, Barack Obama.

Woe to us for not informing the Goracle of our great Messiah's joyous proclamation, for we will never be the same again now that the Goracle's son is no longer among the Earth's inhabitants.

Iran: "Timetables Stink!"

Barack Obama may be surprised to learn that the Republicans aren't the only ones opposed to setting timetables. Apparently, the Iranians feel the same way:

Iran on Friday warned western countries that pressuring it with artificial deadlines over its nuclear program would hamper progress in talks.

Former President of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said on Friday "Iran will continue talks to reach a mutual agreement in the nuclear dispute. Issuing ultimatums, setting timetables, and threatening Iranians with sanctions are not pragmatic."

Obama? Are you listening?

Obama Continues to Make Race an Issue in the Presidential Campaign

Barack Obama is back at it again, making race an issue in the Presidential campaign and falsely accusing Senator McCain of using scare tactics against him:

From Reuters:

Democrat Barack Obama accused White House rival John McCain of trying on Wednesday to scare voters with attacks on his character, as McCain launched a new ad labeling Obama more of a celebrity than a leader.

"What they're going to do is make you scared -- of me," Obama told voters in Springfield, Missouri...

Obama, launching a four-day tour of swing states to promote his economic policies, mocked the arguments he said McCain, a Republican Arizona senator, and his supporters make.

"'He's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. He doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills,'" said Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president.

Okay, so you'd probably like to know what kind of scare tactics and racist attacks Obama is referring to.

Well, according to Reuters, this is what he's referring to:

McCain launched a new ad linking the Illinois senator to celebrities like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, calling him "the biggest celebrity in the world" but questioning whether he could deliver on his talk.

The ad included images of Obama's speech last week in Berlin on his tour of the Middle East and Europe and asked if Obama was ready to lead.

"Senator Obama doesn't have the strength to speak openly and directly about how he will address the serious challenges that confront America," McCain said. "How will he be strong enough to really change Washington?"

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told reporters Obama's overseas swing was "much more something you would expect from someone releasing a new movie than running for president."

He said the Obama strategy was to develop a fan base "that allows him to get a lot of media attention and avoids him having to address the important issues of our time."

Did McCain say Obama's "not patriotic enough"? Did he say "he has a funny name" or that "he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills"?

Okay, I admit Britney Spears and Paris Hilton do not resemble any of the presidents on the dollar bills" and perhaps to some xenophobes, "Paris" is a funny name, but I certainly wouldn't call these Hollywood celebrities unpatriotic and I don't see how comparing Obama to them is akin to racism. Besides, didn't Obama say we should all learn to speak French? He should be honored that Senator McCain would compare him to someone with a name like "Paris"!

As far as questioning Obama's character is concerned, that's simply par for the course for a Presidential candidate who deems it perfectly normal to stage a Presidential campaign rally in Europe.

But apparently, Obama is still resorting to his old tactic of portraying the Mcain camp as a bunch of scare mongering racists. However, in truth, it is Obama and his minions who are making race an issue during this Presidential campaign.

Obama's Humility, A Symbol of America's Best Traditions

From Tim Blair - The Daily Telegraph blogs:

Humble candidate Barack Obama—He bows to nobody in his understanding of this world!—piles on the modesty:

'I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

Obama met with House Democrats on Capitol Hill yesterday where "according to a witness, he told the House members, 'This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,' adding: 'I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions'." - Source Dana Milbank - Washington Post. Milbank adds, "As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris."

Who's Smearing Who?

Paul Mirengoff has all the angles covered in his analysis on Barack Obama's decision not to visit U.S. troops at a military hospital in Germany. In the end Mirengoff reaches the same conclusion I had reached: It simply wasn't worth Obama's time.

But of course the media - working in cahoots with the Obama campaign - was willing to stoop to the lowest levels just to cover for Obama:

Caught between two unsatisfactory explanations – one insufficient and the other false – the campaign attempted to shift the blame to John McCain. Thus, Andrea Mitchell reported that, according to the Obama campaign, McCain foreign policy advisers with connections to the Pentagon may have “had something to do with this.”

Talk about "smears", huh?

Obama tied to Iraqi government fraud?

Hundreds of millions in deals with candidate's associates

Excerpted from World-Net Daily:

Sen. Barack Obama's office engaged in six months of negotiations with a company controlled by convicted criminal Tony Rezko to lobby the U.S. government to push through a nixed $50 million contact to train Iraqi security personnel at a site in Chicago.

The contract was awarded to Rezko's company while Aiham Alsammarae, a long-time, close Rezko friend and a contributor to Obama's campaign, served as Iraq's U.S.-appointed electricity minister...

Alsammarae also awarded another Rezko-controlled operation as part of a $150 million contract to construct a 250-megawatt electricity plant in Iraq.

Alsammarae later was arrested by Iraqi authorities for bilking the coalition government out of some $650 million. He was sprung from prison under questionable circumstances in 2006 and escaped from Iraq, where he is still wanted for questioning with regard to major financial crimes.

The information raises questions into the nature of Obama's relationship with multiple deals made by Iraq's Electricity Ministry while Alsammarae was in charge. Obama has ties to Alsammarae and to the recipients of several of the massive contracts Alsammarae handed out.

While he was the electric czar of Iraq for the Coalition Provisional Authority from mid-2003 until mid-2005, Alsammarae granted the $50 million contract to train Iraqis to guard electrical plants to Companion Security, a start-up reportedly controlled by Rezko, his partner Daniel Mahru and a front man, Daniel Frawley, a former Chicago policeman. Frawley has multiple civil court judgments against him for his alleged failure to pay millions in outstanding bills.

The plan was to fly about 150 Iraqis to a site in Illinois for security training, which reportedly would include the use of AK-47 machine guns....

The contract with Rezko's group was signed April 18, 2005, one month before Alsammarae left his governmental post.

But Iraq's new electricity minister aborted the deal, complaining the Companion contract was too expensive, according to a U.S. embassy official in Baghdad who spoke earlier this year to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In the spring of 2006, Frawley and his company reportedly reached out to Chicago politicians, including Obama and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to bring pressure to revive the deal, arguing the business would be good for the state.

Blagojevich's office and Illinois Homeland Security reportedly helped by offering an Army depot in Savanna in western Illinois as a site for Companion to conduct the Iraqi training.

Frawley then reportedly reached out to Obama, who in 2006 was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, engaging in six months of dialogue petitioning the Illinois senator to write a letter introducing the Rezko-connected Companion company to senior Iraqi officials. Frawley met with Seamus Ahern, who runs Obama's Moline, Ill., office.

But Obama, who has denied doing political favors for Rezko, later claimed he did not known Rezko was involved with Companion....

Obama's spokesman Ben LaBolt said, "The Senate staff had two meetings, one conference call and sporadically e-mailed with representatives of Companion Security about their request for Sen. Obama to write a letter introducing the company to senior officials in the Iraqi government."

LaBolt said Obama declined to help in the Companion deal, because "that is not the kind of action Sen. Obama usually takes for individual companies, and our staff concluded on that basis to decline the requested assistance."

LaBolt claimed Obama was not aware of Rezko's connections to the security firm.

LaBolt did not explain how Frawley could have survived the routine vetting of a petitioner by the U.S. Senate office staff when it was a matter of public record that his company was controlled by Rezko....

The nixed Iraqi government deal opens questions into the nature of Obama's relationship with agreements made by various associates with Iraq's Electricity Ministry while Alsammarae was in charge. Obama has ties to both Alsammarae and to the recipients of several of the massive contracts he handed out....

Alsammarae, a dual Iraqi-U.S. citizen, arrived in U.S. in 1976 and currently lives in Chicago and travels frequently to Amman, Jordan, where he maintains a residence despite still being wanted in Iraq...

WND reported Alsammarae posted more than one-third of Rezko's jail bond earlier this year, putting up as surety his $1.9 million Chicago home and two other properties.

Alsammarae contributed the maximum allowable donation of $2,300 to Obama's campaign, sending money six times in January, February and March. Obama donated the funds to charity in April, only after Alsammarae posted bond for Rezko.

In another connection to Obama, when Alsammarae was jailed in Iraq in 2006, his Chicago-based family reportedly contacted Obama's U.S. Senate office for information. Obama's office passed a written request to the State Department about Alsammarae Oct. 16, 2006, and received a reply from the U.S. consul in Iraq about a week later. The reply was forwarded by Obama's staff to Alsammarae's daughter....

Read full article.

Obama's European Debut Not Strange at All

Barack Obama made his debut on the world stage last week and introduced himself to the people of Europe and the Middle East.

Some found this to be a rather strange move on his part, however, in fairness to Obama, it should be noted that other public figures have acted in similar fashion.

In May 1998, two months before the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin Laden conducted an interview with ABC reporter John Miller.

Why did he agree to be interviewed?

According to Miller:Bin Laden wanted to introduce himself to America

Terrorists' Assignment: Protect Barack Obama

Members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, participated in the protection of Barack Obama during his visit to the West Bank last week, according to a World Net Daily report:

One Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member who doubles as a PA security force officer and who was set to protect Obama, joked if there was any threat to the presidential candidate it would come from Israel:

"Maybe the Israelis will try something because of Obama's policy on Israel, which the Zionists don't like, but we will certainly protect Obama...," the Al Aqsa member said.

The information that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members will protect Obama comes after Israel announced last week it arrested six Arabs who allegedly were plotting to assassinate President Bush on behalf of al-Qaida.

Nevertheless, I can assure you that when Obama heads off to Tehran to meet with Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he will be afforded the best security possible - which means Iran's Revolutionary guards will probably be assigned to protect him, despite the fact that they've been designated as a terrorist organization by the US Senate. [Obama vehemently opposed that Senate resolution.]

While the Iranian government may not be too fond of people who are not of the Muslim faith, Obama is one person who's not a Muslim that the Iranian government would love to cozy up to.

Obama Distorts Facts on Global Warming in Berlin Speech

Investor's Business Daily takes exception to something Barack Obama said in his speech in Berlin last week.

"As we speak," said Obama, "cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya."

He followed that up by suggesting that the world "reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere" with "the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation," apparently unaware that CO2 emissions in Europe, to which he was appealing, grew 2.1% from 2000 to 2004, while U.S. emissions increased just 1.3% over the same time.

What's more, IBD forgets to mention that from 2005 to 2006 emissions in the US decreased by 1.1% while CO2 emissions from German industries rose by 5.4 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Nevertheless, the point is still the same: Barack Obama, in his zeal to paint the Europeans as the good guys and Americans as the bad guys, distorted the facts.

The IBD editorial lists some other interesting facts, among them:

Glaciers are advancing in Northern California, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Pakistan. Greenland is not melting into the sea. And while Arctic ice is indeed thinning at 3% a decade, Antarctic ice — which is 20 times bigger — is growing 1% a decade.

Click here to read the full article.

And while you're at it, you may be interested to learn that in spite of all the claims made "about the trade deficit and the millions of supposed "lost jobs" due to imports,.... the reverse is actually true: Soaring U.S. exports are helping keep America's economy afloat, and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs here in the U.S." But that's a whole separate article in IBD which can be accessed by clicking here.

Obama To Reduce Wasteful Spending???

The White House on Monday projected a $482 billion deficit for the 2009 budget year, prompting the Obama campaign to state that this is "an urgent reminder that our fiscal policies must change."

"These have been years of unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility...," said Jason Furman, Obama's economic policy director. "Obama will restore balance and fairness to our economy by cutting wasteful spending..."

Hold on a minute! Obama's going to to restore balance to the economy by "cutting wasteful spending"? If Obama enacts all of his campaign proposals, taxpayers will end up financing over $850 billion in new spending during Obama's first term in office!

Okay, let's get the tape rolling again. Back to Obama's economic plan:

...shutting corporate loopholes and tax havens, and rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, while making health care affordable and putting a middle class tax cut in the pocket of 95 percent of workers and their families."

I'm not sure how Obama’s Health Care Plan - a plan which would cost up to $260 Billion over four years - is going to heal the economy or reduce wasteful spending. But, I'm sure Mr. Furman's got it all worked out.

Sheesh!

Meanwhile, Senator McCain - the purported Republican, moderate Republican, Independent, Liberal, all-in-one candidate - said:

"There is no more striking reminder of the need to "reverse" the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy."

Well, when it comes to "reversals", Senator McCain is certainly up to the task. While he hasn't reversed himself nearly as much as Obama has, he's certainly quite adept in the art of reversals - whether it's reversing his own stated policies or President Bush's policies. So - I wish Senator McCain the best of luck.

Update: Just to give you a little taste of how Obama's economic policies are formed, here's an interesting tidbit:

Donald Luskin, in a June 25 article in the Wall Street Journal noted:

Last week, Barack Obama revealed his plan to shore up Social Security's shaky finances by raising the income level on which the payroll tax is applied... Would it help Social Security's financing problems? Mr. Obama has no idea. One of his senior economic advisers admitted to me that no one on the campaign has run any detailed models or performed any rigorous analysis. When one proposes an enormous tax increase, shouldn't there at least be a spreadsheet somewhere?

Sigh....

Obama's Flip-Flops, Surging!

In an interview Sunday on Meet the Press, Barack Obama was asked by host Tom Brokaw about comments he made on January 10, 2007 - the day President Bush's surge strategy was announced. Obama remarked at the time:

I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there, in fact, I think it'll do the reverse."

When Brokaw asked him about this quote, Obama replied:

I mean, I know that there's that little snippet that you ran, but there were also statements made during the course of this debate in which I said there's no doubt that additional U.S. troops could temporarily quell the violence.

"The problem with this response is several fold", notes Peter Wehner in Commentary Magazine. "First, Brokaw could have played many additional "snippets,” all of which were of Obama opposing the surge and indicating that it would fail."

A couple of examples:

In July 2007, long after the surge was announced, Obama claimed, "My assessment is that the surge has not worked." And in November 2007, two months after General David Petraeus testified before Congress about the considerable progress we had made because of the surge, Obama argued it was making the situation in Iraq potentially worse: [Here's what Obama said:]

"Finally, in 2006-2007, we started to see that, even after an election, George Bush continued to want to pursue a course that didn't withdraw troops from Iraq but actually doubled them and initiated a surge and at that stage I said very clearly, not only have we not seen improvements, but we're actually worsening, potentially, a situation there."

Wehner continues:

So Obama’s anti-surge “snippet” was in fact an accurate representation of what he said and believed at the time, and for a long while after that.

As for Obama's statement that "during the course of this debate" he has maintained that "there's no doubt that additional U.S. troops could temporarily quell the violence:" What Obama doesn't say is that he made that claim in a debate in 2008, a year after the surge was announced and well after it was clearly succeeding.

In fact, Obama made his “quelling the violence” statement in an attempt to deny his initial prediction that the surge would cause sectarian violence to worsen. What Obama did in yesterday’s Meet the Press interview, then, is to provide a misleading answer to a previously dishonest answer, in an effort to cover up his spectacularly wrong prediction.

Wehner deduces several conclusions from Obama's obfuscations, among them:

Obama has completely obliterated the core early promise of his candidacy: that he would turn the page on American politics....Obama has not only turned out to be a practitioner of the "old politics;" he has, as a young, first-term senator, come to embody it...

In addition, Obama’s comments about the Iraq war being a “distraction,” when combined with his votes against funding American troops on the battlefield ... call into question whether Obama was ever serious about winning the war or was bothered in the least by losing it.

Indeed, by playing his game of old-style politics and hindering America's efforts to secure Iraq, it is Barack Obama who's become the real distraction in the war against terror.

He Ventured forth to Bring Light Unto the world

From the Australian - by Gerald Baker:

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of Bush the Younger, when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organization with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: "Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?"

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He traveled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the Taliban had harbored the viper of Al Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of NATO immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more. From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armor that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares. -
Read the rest
And to listen to Gerard Baker read his amazing biblical account of the Messiah, click here [video].

Obama's lead surges to 100%!

According to a new NBC poll, Barack Obama has opened up a triple-digit lead over John McCain, with 100% of respondents saying they would vote for Obama. Click here for an in depth report.

It Simply Wasn't Worth Obama's Time

From Talking Points Memo:

A Pentagon spokesperson confirms to me that because of longstanding Department of Defense regulations, Pentagon officials told Obama aides that he couldn't visit the base [the wounded US soldiers in Germany] with campaign staff [but he was permitted to visit them by himself] This left Obama with little choice but to cancel the trip, since the plan to visit with campaign aides had been in the works for weeks.

Yep, that's pretty much what I thought. Without the campaign staff, journalists and film crew it simply wasn't worth his time.

Yesterday, I pointed out that the Obama campaign had justified Obama's decision to speak in Berlin - in front of two hundred thousand spectators and an assembled film crew - saying “He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator."

However, when it came time to rationalize Obama's decision not to visit wounded US soldiers in Germany, the Obama campaign said, "Senator Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event... it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

And I pointed out: "So essentially it was okay for Obama to speak in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators in Berlin because he was speaking "not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator". However, he couldn't possibly visit wounded US soldiers in Germany because he was touring the country as a candidate, not as an individual or a US senator, thus visiting US soldiers would be perceived as a campaign gimmick."

The hypocrisy is clear cut. No ifs or buts.

I also pointed out: "In truth, Obama has complete control over the media, and he manages to keep the press pool out of his proximity whenever he so desires. [Just ask Andrea Mitchell.] He could have easily visited the troops without all the media fanfare."

But it simply wasn't worth his time.

Yes, I know, I already posted most of this yesterday, but it doesn't hurt to mention it again!

Obama! How Dare You Bash Your Fellow Countrymen on Foreign Soil!

"I know my country has not perfected itself... We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."
Barack Obama - Berlin speech July 24, 2005

Monkey Crash lists some of his favorite moments from Barack Obama's speech. His comments are added in red.

Here's a sampling from his post:

Obama: "Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof... The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe." (Obama repeatedly called for retreat in Iraq and still denies that the surge has worked. As McCain has said, he [Obama] would rather lose a war than lose an election.)

"In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common." (Who the hell cares what Europeans think of us!)

"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions." (Is this presidential? How dare you go to Europe to give a speech in which you decide to bash the American people. Again Obama makes it clear that he is embarrassed to be an American. He longs for a European Socialist lifestyle in America.)

Click here to read the full post.

Baghdad, Berlin, Barack

Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal:

For our money, the best line in Barack Obama's speech yesterday in Berlin came in the form of a quote from Ernst Reuter, the city's mayor during the period of the Soviet blockade and the American airlift, in 1948:

"But in the darkest hour," said Sen. Obama, "the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. 'There is only one possibility,' he said. 'For us to stand together united until this battle is won…. The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty'." This, from a U.S. Senator whose consistent message to the people of Baghdad, a similarly besieged city, also dependent on America's protection, has been, in effect, to give up.

Mr. Obama reiterated this view earlier in the week while traveling in the Middle East, in an interview with ABC's Terry Moran. Mr. Moran asked the Illinois Democrat whether -- "knowing what you know now" -- he would reconsider his opposition to last year's surge of U.S. troops in Iraq. "Well, no," Mr. Obama replied.

What Mr. Obama "knows now" is that the surge he opposed has saved Iraq, much as Harry Truman's airlift saved Berlin and underlined America's intention to defend Europe throughout the Cold War. The surge has also saved American lives in Iraq, with combat-related deaths (so far, there have been seven this month) at an all time low.

Mr. Obama offered his own unwitting testimony to this fact by not donning body armor upon his arrival in Baghdad and during a helicopter tour with Gen. David Petraeus. "There have been few if any attacks of late on our aircraft, and the situation did not require them to be wearing body armor," explained Gen. Petraeus's spokesman.

Mr. Obama also knows that Gen. Petraeus opposes setting a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. This military judgment ought to count for something, particularly since Congressional Democrats have long scolded President Bush for failing to pay sufficient heed to the advice of generals such as former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki. Yet Mr. Obama, who has always been careful to cite the views of military commanders to justify his 16 month withdrawal schedule, now says that heeding less congenial military advice would mean an abdication of his responsibilities as a prospective commander in chief....

In his Berlin speech, Mr. Obama was at his most forceful when he insisted that "this is the moment when we must defeat terror," adding that "the threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it." This is well-said and true.

But it squares oddly with a political campaign whose central premise is that losing in Iraq -- and whatever calamities may follow -- is a matter of little consequence to U.S. or European interests. It squares oddly, too, with Mr. Obama's broader promise to "stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, the voter in Zimbabwe" and virtually every other global cause. - Read in full

Obama Doles Out More Hypocrisy, Shuns Wounded US Soldiers In Germany!

Here's some more hypocrisy from the Obama campaign. Yesterday the Obama campaign tried to fend off critics who questioned whether Obama's Berlin speech, in front of two hundred thousand spectators and a specially assembled film crew, wasn't, in essence, a campaign rally, or better yet, a campaign gimmick.

"I don’t think the fact that large numbers of people gather to hear a speech makes it a campaign speech,” an aide said. “The substance of what he addresses is what’s important. And what he is addressing has nothing to do with campaigns. It has to do with his view of where we are today in the world.”

“It is not going to be a political speech,” said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. “When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally.

“But he is not president of the United States,” a reporter reminded the adviser.

“He is going to talk about the issues as an individual … not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator,” the adviser added.

However, now comes word that:

Sen. Barack Obama has scrapped plans to visit wounded members of the armed forces in Germany as part of his overseas trip, a decision his campaign said was made because the Democratic presidential candidate thought it would be inappropriate on a campaign-funded journey.

"Senator Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."

An Obama spokesman said the stop was canceled because Obama decided "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

So essentially it was okay for Obama to speak in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators in Berlin because he was speaking "not as a candidate, but as an individual, as a senator". However, he couldn't possibly visit wounded US soldiers in Germany because he was touring the country as a candidate, not as an individual or a US senator, thus visiting US soldiers would be perceived as a campaign gimmick. Sigh....

In truth, Obama has complete control over the media, and he manages to keep the press pool out of his proximity whenever he so desires. [Just ask Andrea Mitchell.] He could have easily visited the troops without all the media fanfare.

Just another bit of hypocrisy from the Obama camp.

Meanwhile the McCain campaign immediately criticized the move.

"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican contender.

The Complete "Ich Bin Ein" Roundup

In an effort to adhere to Barack Obama's latest directive that Americans begin learning foreign languages, I've decided to to link to Rachel Sklar's comprehensive roundup of all the "Ich Bin Ein" headlines in the news - including "Ich bin ein Commander", "Ich Bin Ein Jet-Setter", "Ich bin ein Amerikaner", "Ich Bin Ein Berlitzer", "Ich Bin Ein Starbucks" and "Ich bin ein Beginner." You could read it all at the Huffington Post.

In a follow up post, Sklar clears up some confusion about John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" speech and whether or not he was actually proclaiming himself to be a jelly doughnut. Hmmm... Perhaps, that's why the Germans found JFK to be so tanatlizing! You could read her followup post here. And of course there's Gerald Warner's article, where he opines that "if Obama really wants to identify with Middle America and its appetites he should have chosen a different German city as the venue to declare: "Ich bin ein Hamburger". You could read his column - entitled "Barack Obama campaign just a JFK re-enactment Society" - by clicking here.

Obama's "Offer" of "Sticks", a Linguistic Dilemma?

From Left I On the News:

Barack Obama said today that he plans "to offer carrots and sticks" to Iran in order to deal with the alleged nuclear problem with Iran. But here's the thing. You "offer" people carrots. You don't "offer" people sticks. You threaten them with sticks... Obama understands this, of course. It just doesn't sound as pleasant when you say it.

Sounds like Obama's "gonna make them an 'offer' they can't refuse."

Heh, unfortunately, his "sticks" are more like twigs anyway.