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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim S who wrote (15662)	12/18/2006 4:04:04 PM
From: Jim S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

I found a great site to support our troops: ecarepackage.org This is a site run by a group of military families. They've gotten quite a few product donations from various companies who want to support our troops. From the site, you "buy" stuff for the troops or their families at prices far below what we could buy them at WalMart. (E.g., a bottle of shampoo for 35c or a 2-pak of 9v batteries for 50c.) You can select a deployed GI to sponsor or a family of a GI overseas. Take a look, and send a care package to a deployed GI!

To: Jim S who wrote (15662)	12/18/2006 4:57:01 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Falling in love "We are getting very excited," Peggy Noonan writes at www.OpinionJournal.com. "Barack Obama is brilliant, eloquent and fresh. He is 'exciting' (David Brooks), 'charming' (Bob Schieffer), 'my favorite guy' (Oprah Winfrey), has 'charisma' (Donna Brazile), and should run now for president (George Will). Our political and media establishments, on the rebound from bad history, are sounding like Marlene Dietrich in her little top hat. 'Falling in luff again, vot am I to do, vot am I to do, kont hellllllp eet.' "Well, down from your tippy toes, establishment," Miss Noonan said. "He is obviously planning to run. This [past] week he was in New Hampshire -- rapturous reviews, sold-out fundraisers -- and before that, Iowa. His second book is his second best-seller and the biggest-selling nonfiction title in the nation. The intro he taped for 'Monday Night Football' -- in an Aaron Sorkin-like setting of gleaming desk and important lighting -- showed he is an actor who can absorb the script and knows by nature what a camera is. This is a compliment. All the great presidents of the media age, FDR, JFK and Reagan, were great actors of the presidency. (The one non-great president who was their equal in this, Bill Clinton, proved that acting is not enough.) "He has obvious appeal. I asked a Young Democrat college student why he liked him. After all, I said, he has little experience. That's part of what I like, he said. 'He's not an insider, he's not just a D.C. politician.' "He is uncompromised by a past, it is true. He is also unburdened by a record, unworn by achievement, unwearied by long labors. ... "Sen. Obama spent his short lifetime breathing in the common liberal/leftist wisdom, which he exhales at length. This is not something new -- it's something old in a new package. And it is something that wins you what he has, a series of 100 percent ratings from left-liberal interest groups."

To: Jim S who wrote (15662)	12/19/2006 9:33:31 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Respond to of 71588

He is a good orator. Who wouldn't prefer listening to him than to the shrill woman called Hillary? both of them are extremist liberals. Obama has not had the years to obfuscate his image that she has. I have to imagine that this was exactly the kind of leadership void into which stepped Ronald Reagan. I seem to remember the perception being that the race was between him a George H. W. Bush and one other person. Both parties need a surprise leader to step forward because as you said the current fare is bland.

To: Jim S who wrote (15662)	12/29/2006 10:35:08 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama's Rezko ties deeper than land deal December 23, 2006 BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter In addition to a land deal, Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to indicted dealmaker Antoin “Tony” Rezko include an internship the senator provided the son of a contributor at the request of Rezko, an Obama spokesman confirmed today. John Aramanda served as an intern for Obama for about a month in 2005, said Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs. His father is Joseph Aramanda, a Rezko business associate who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal corruption case against Rezko. Aramanda has contributed $11,500 to Obama since 2000, Gibbs said. “Mr. Rezko did provide a recommendation for John Aramanda,” Gibbs said. “I think that it’s fairly obvious that a few-week internship is not of anything of benefit to Mr. Rezko or any of his businesses.” The revelation of the internship comes after Obama acknowledged a mistake in buying property from Rezko in January 2006 — a deal that enlarged the senator’s yard in the Kenwood neighborhood on the South Side. The transaction occurred at a time when it was widely known Rezko was under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office. “It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor,” Obama — a likely presidential candidate — told the Sun-Times in November. Rezko was indicted in October for allegedly trying to collect nearly $6 million in kickbacks from government deals and trying to shake down a Hollywood producer for $1.5 million in campaign contributions to Gov. Blagojevich. Obama and Rezko have been friends since 1990, and the Wilmette businessman has raised as much as $60,000 in campaign contributions for him. After Rezko’s indictment, Obama donated $11,500 to charity — the amount Rezko contributed to the senator’s federal campaign fund. Gibbs said he did not know whether Obama was considering returning any contributions from Aramanda given his alleged role in the federal corruption cases against Rezko and former Teachers Retirement System board member Stuart Levine. Aramanda is identified as “Individual D” in Rezko’s indictment. And when Levine pleaded guilty in October, Aramanda again was listed as “Individual D.” Aramanda was identified by the Sun-Times as “Individual D,” who allegedly received a $250,000 kickback tied to a scheme to steer lucrative state pension deals to firms and consultants that donated to Blagojevich. Aramanda is not specifically named or charged with criminal wrongdoing in the court papers. He could not be reached for comment Saturday. Aramanda has contributed $11,500 to Obama's campaigns since 2000, Gibbs said. He gave $1,000 toward Obama’s run for Congress against Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) in 2000; $500 to Obama’s Senate campaign in 2003 and $10,000 to his Senate campaign in 2004, Gibbs said. Gibbs said John Aramanda served in Obama’s Capitol Hill office from July 20 to Aug. 26, 2005, during which he received an $804 cost-of-living stipend. Aramanda was one of nearly 100 interns who worked for Obama in 2005, Gibbs said. fmain@suntimes.com suntimes.com