If you are surprised by this appointment consideration, please know that I am not. And if you don’t know who Penny Pritzker is, you can count on me to refresh your memory.

Penny was Barack Obama’s national campaign finance chair and now she would like to become Secretary of Commerce. Well I suppose we should all be grateful that she hasn’t been tapped as Secretary of Treasury, considering she owes the Federal Government nearly a half billion dollars in restitution for her seized Superior Bank in Illinois.

Yes, my friends, Penny Pritzker, the Mother of subprime lenders, former owner of the seized Superior Bank is on Barack Obama’s short list for Secretary of Commerce.

I am sure all those customers she screwed are thrilled. In fact one of them had quite a bit to say about Barack Obama and his relationship with Prizker right here on this radio show after ole Penny’s bank went under and left her with a large part of her life’s savings flushed down the proverbial drain. (Note: If Play doesn’t work, click on MP3 Stream link, you don’t want to miss this woman’s story)

I can assure you this woman wasn’t psychic when she expressed concern that Pritzker would become a member of an Obama cabinet. She just happened to understand the concept of “Show me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are“.

You might say that Penny was a Pioneer of sorts. After all, her Superior Bank folded like a plastic door in a cheap banquet room years before the rest of the dominoes fell.

You might even say that the Superior Bank was a boilerplate for what’s happening today on Wall Street. She avoided the rush, so to speak. Her bank failed in 2001. I discussed this here on April 4, 2008. So did plenty of other bloggers, including RBO. Of course, all of this was dutifully ignored by those bastions of integrity, MSNBC and CNN.

For those of you who need a refresher course, here are some clips from that non-fiction story:

The Pritzkers are one of the nation’s wealthiest families and heirs to the fortune created by the Hyatt hotels. Yes, Penny is a billionaire. So basically, Penny could squash me like a bug right now for writing this.

Among their other endeavors, the Pritzkers were the owners of Superior Bank in Hinsdale, Illinois when it was seized.

Yes, I did say seized.

Penny Pritzker, Barack Obama’s great Chicago (of course!) friend was a pioneer you might say! She was a failed subprime lender who set the tone all the way back to 2001. She did it before it was even in style.

Here’s a little press release from the Office of Thrift Supervision back in 2001:

OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent

WASHINGTON – The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) closed Superior Bank FSB, Hinsdale, Ill., today and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.

The FDIC transferred the insured deposits and substantially all the assets of Superior Bank into a newly chartered, full-service mutual savings bank, known as Superior Federal, FSB, which will open for business on Monday morning. All depositors of Superior Bank automatically become depositors of Superior Federal, and will have immediate access to their insured funds. All 18 of Superior Bank’s Chicago metropolitan area offices will open for business Monday and will continue to offer full banking services, including online banking. Superior Bank’s loan production and servicing operations will also continue to operate normally.

OTS used its authority under the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 to close Superior Bank when it found that the bank remained critically undercapitalized — that its tangible equity capital was less than two percent of its total assets. The bank failed to implement a capital restoration plan that it submitted to OTS on May 24 this year.

Superior Bank suffered as a result of its former high-risk business strategy, which was focused on the generation of significant volumes of subprime mortgage and automobile loans for securitization and sale in the secondary market. OTS found that the bank also suffered from poor lending practices, improper record keeping and accounting, and ineffective board and management supervision.

Superior became critically undercapitalized largely due to incorrect accounting treatment and aggressive assumptions for valuing residual assets. The bank also experienced significant losses during 2000 from its automobile lending program.

OTS has determined that Superior Bank is insolvent, having incurred losses that have depleted all or substantially all of its capital. OTS also determined that Superior Bank was no longer able to transact business in a safe and sound manner.

OTS notified the bank of its serious concerns in July 2000.

The bank was purchased by two families in 1988 — the Pritzker family of Chicago, owner of Hyatt Hotels and other interests, and the Dworman family of New York, with interests in real estate and financial services activities — and was operated through a complex network of holding companies.

In light of these findings, OTS determined that closure and the appointment of FDIC as receiver were necessary to protect the interests of the bank’s insured depositors.

As of March 31, 2001, the failed bank had total assets of $1.9 billion and total deposits of $1.5 billion. FDIC insures depositors’ accounts up to the statutory limit of $100,000.

Superior is the only bank that OTS has closed in 2001, and only the fourth OTS-regulated institution closed in the past five years.

The FDIC has established a toll free telephone number for customers of Superior. That number is 1-800-331-6306, and will be available until midnight tonight and then from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily thereafter.

At the time of this seizure, it was determined that Penny Pritzker and her family owed $460,000,000 to the Federal Government. Yes, that’s right folks. Nearly a half a billion dollars. Gee, i wonder if that’s all paid back yet, don’t you?

Back in September, 2008, I discussed Penny and her siezed subprime lending institution yet again and so did RBO. I felt she deserved another go-around considering she certainly appeared to be a prime forerunner of today’s Wall Street Meltdown–and this didn’t seem to bother Barack Obama one bit:

You see, while Barack Obama is faking outrage over all the bankruptcies and bailouts, he doesn’t mention that a number of his top ten contributors are from Wall Street, including Goldman Sachs, Lehman and the JP Morgan Chase. He also fails to mention that one of the first subprime lenders to stick it to borrowers and have her bank seized is a woman named Penny Pritzker, who just happens to be Barack Obama’s campaign Finance Chair (as confirmed on April 3, 2008) and a potential Secretary of the Treasury in an Obama administration.

Power and Control blogger has this to say:

This is a long and complicated story about how Obama backers were behind the mortgage industry meltdown. It hast to start some where, so lets start with a well known Chicago name Penny Pritzker. It starts with a bank failure.

And now, Penny is being considered as Secretary of Commerce. Kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it? Don’t you always have a warm feeling when you meet one of Barack Obama’s close friends?

But don’t worry. Penny is going to fix herself and her friends us up really well. After all, look how well she has looked out for the little people in the past.

I guess the main stream media didn’t think this Petty little Penny Pritzker Problem (say that three times fast) was important enough to look into back when some of us was being sooooooooo trivial about it.

Change You Simply Cannot Believe.

Additional links on this bilking of innocent people:
NY Times, December, 2001
FDIC Failed Bank Information - Superior Bank
OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent
OTS Announces Resolution of Charges Against Auditor of Closed Superior Bank FSB

Additional Uppity Coverage of this marvelous “choice” for Secretary of Commerce:

Barack Obama’s Finance Chairwoman and the Seized Superior Bank (April 4, 2008)

Obama’s Finance Chair - Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker and Wall Street Today (September 14, 2008

RBO: Penny Pritzker’s Problem (September 16, 2008)

We’re spending BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to bailout corrupt Wall Street insiders who have committed dozens of crimes their pet politicians refuse to even investigate! Our standard of living is visibly declining for the poor and middle class. And these kinds of things are happening all across the country in every aspect of American life!

Now I’m not going to blame all of this on the Jackasses masquerading as the Democratic party right now. It was in fact Republicans who started it! It was the party of *cough* “morals” *cough* that launched a witch hunt against Bill Clinton, and spent millions to set him up for getting a blow job. Now before anyone argues that point, think about this. Why did Monica decide to save a semen stained dress for months without washing it?!? That’s just EWWWW!!!

And remember who her next door neighbor was, the one who bought her place after she had to leave Washington DC. For those who don’t remember…that would be Bob Dole. And that witch hunt was led by Newt Gingrich, who was having an extra marital affair at the exact same time he was claiming Bill Clinton was unfit to serve in any capacity in the Government because he had one. Talk about your hypocrisy.

All of this has a root in the complete and utter failure of the MSM to do it’s job! They want the ratings now, to hell with the truth. It was their incompetence that led to 8 years of Bush as they praised him non-stop before the 2000 election, and took every opportunity to insult and tear down Al Gore. They did it again in 2004 when they kept running stories about Vietnam vets claiming all sorts of lies about Kerry. They knew they were lies, they knew when the courts ordered the ads pulled because they were lies. But they never reported on that aspect of it! And now they bring us Obama…with the VAST majority of them being so blatantly in the tank for him, even foreign press have commented on it when they themselves preferred him without any vetting. One has to look no further than the simple fact, that the masses in America have no clue who Aiham Alsammarae is.

Alsammarae is a name that should have been reported on every news channel in the world. He is wanted by Iraq and Interpol! Yet running around free as a bird in Chicago. He was convicted of stealing $650 million of US taxpayers money from Iraq reconstruction funds! Yet he was allowed to first make a donation to Obama, that was only returned after it was noticed by others. Then he put up his house as collateral to allow his and Barack’s dear friend Rezko to make bail….WTF?!? How were all of his US holdings NOT seized the second he was indicted for embezzling Iraqi reconstruction funds? Let alone allowing him to put them up for bail money for another now convicted criminal friend of Obama’s! Isn’t that the first thing the DOJ is supposed to do in such cases?

I could go on and on…but I think you get the gist. I am one Pissed Off Vet!

“Ms. Jarrett’s role will be threefold, as is her title: White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.

A longstanding member of Barack Obama’s tiny core of top advisers, she will continue providing him with counsel on a wide-ranging set of issues, she said Friday evening. Second, she will serve as the White House’s point person for business with state and local officials. Additionally, she will supervise the Office of Public Liaison, a relatively quiet office which she hopes to turn into a more active channel for government-citizen collaboration.” (Read all. Italics mine.)

When you’ve done as much opposition research on Obama as has this blog, it is amazing what can be found right HERE about a woman about whom most American are saying, “Who’s she?” — at the very same moment that all of you veteran NoQuarter readers are saying, “Oh yeah. Her. It figures.”

Here, in chronological order, are snippets from many of our stories that refer to Valerie Jarrett. Even with our handy administrative-section search engine, this took a while, but it’s worth it:

(1) From the great investigative story by City Nell, a true must-read, “How to Buy a Mansion You Can’t Afford,” February 4, 2008 (edited brilliantly by Truthteller) — which, besides pointing out Jarrett’s significant role in the trajectory of Michelle’s career path, also explains how Michelle Obama became aware of the availability of the historic mansion:

… In 1996, she left the Public Allies to help create a student volunteer program at The University of Chicago. By the time of this interview, she was the Executive Director of Community Affairs for The University of Chicago Hospitals. This is how Michelle portrays her change of career:

She was devastated when her father died from MS complications. “That’s when I started analyzing my life, sitting in a firm,” she recalls, adding that in that same year she also lost one of her best friends from college to cancer. She soon left the firm to pursue a much lower-paying path in the public sector.

The fact is Michelle was actively recruited for City Hall by a close friend, Valerie Jarrett, who was Mayor Daley’s Deputy Chief of Staff at that time. Valerie later became the Finance Chair of Obama’s 2004 US Senate campaign and then First Treasurer of Barack’s political action committee, Hopefund.

It helps to have friends at City Hall. Among other positions, Michelle was appointed twice to sit on the board of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks for two consecutive terms. Michelle maintained this board seat from 1998 to March 2005, although normally a member only serves one 4 year term. …

(2) From NoQuarter’s story (formerly known as nasuS), “Obama’s 2006 Earmarks & the Crown Family,” March 13, 2008 (aided, as always, by Truthteller’s considerable knowledge of all things Chicago and by Andy, a reader who’s sent me great tips for a long time):

Lynn Sweet, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, has more on Michelle Obama and Obama’s other earmarks:

Obama sought money for the University of Chicago Hospitals. Wife Michelle works for the University of Chicago Hospitals, appointed in spring 2005 as vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. She is now on leave from the job to campaign for her husband. Top campaign adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett is the Chair of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board and also Chair of the Executive Committee of that board. She has also been named Vice-Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees. Obama taught at the U. of Chicago law school and the Obama’s two daughters attend school there. [bold mine]

Here’s an FYI digression: My March 13th story begins with the significance of the Crown family’s money to Obama’s rise — Larry Johnson has correctly tagged the billionaire Crown and Pritzker families as of the highest influence to both Barack Obama and his aide-de-camp Rahm Emanuel — and a cautionary tale for those KoolAid dipsomaniacs:

Do you remember the Crown family? Do you remember the Crown patriarch who sits on the board of Maytag? Do you recall that Barack Obama, as a U.S. Senate candidate, met with Maytag workers, asked for their donations and promised them he’d help save their jobs, and that he then went to the Crown family and took their large donations, but never said a word to Crown about saving the jobs of the Maytag workers? …

(3) From Larry Johnson’s story, “Let’s Help Barack Fight the ‘Smears’,” June 12, 2008, which answered his critics taunting him about the “whitey tape”:

Now, are you ready for the shocker? Look at the next paragraph of [Time magazine reporter Karen Tumulty's] piece:

When the Obama campaign got wind of the rumor in April, Michelle’s close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett asked Michelle if there could be anything to it; the candidate’s wife dismissed it out of hand.

I did not hear about the tape until MAY. REPEAT. I DID NOT HEAR ABOUT THE TAPE UNTIL MAY. Yet, the Obama campaign knew about the tape in April. Got it? And I am the one responsible for the so called rumor? …

(4) From Un coup de des’s story, “Boston Globe Exposé, Part I: Introducing Cecil Butler, Obama’s West Side Slumlord Patron,” June 27, 2008, a stunning and sickening story of how Obama abetted his greedy friends in making millions from taxpayers by privatizing public housing and letting it go to ruin or driving out the poor. You will see that Valerie Jarrett had a DIRECT ROLE and MADE MILLIONS from taxpayers’ monies while making the inhabitants of public housing criminally miserable. If you’ve never read this story, you simply must do so. If only the MSM had picked up this courageous investigative report by the Boston Globe and given it the “play” it deserved, Barack Obama would likely not be president-elect. That is how devastating this story is.

It is stomach-churning that Valerie Garrett had ANY role in this cruel, corrupt, and calamitously consumptive plundering of public monies.

First, a brief introduction from the No Quarter story is in order:

This is the first of a series of articles to be written on a lengthy exposé published in the Boston Globe entitled “Grim Proving Ground for Obama’s Housing Policy.” The 27 JUN 2008 investigative report is required reading for all No Quarter users. …

Now, here is first of the bizarre, baffling and bold sections that describe some of Valerie Jarrett’s plundering and political moves:

Campaign finance records show that six prominent developers - including Jarrett, Davis, and Rezko - collectively contributed more than $175,000 to Obama’s campaigns over the last decade and raised hundreds of thousands more from other donors. Rezko alone raised at least $200,000, by Obama’s own accounting.

One of those contributors, Cecil Butler, controlled Lawndale Restoration, the largest subsidized complex in Chicago, which was seized by the government in 2006 after city inspectors found more than 1,800 code violations.

Similar to Rezko, Cecil Butler is a developer who profited from the privatization of low income, public housing in Chicago during the 1990s.   Butler is also not coincidentally a major supporter of Barack Obama whose low income tenements were ultimately seized by the government for multiple building code violations.

The Boston Globe provides a description and a brief history of Butler’s Lawndale Restoration.

[...]

And yet more:

Who helped Cecil Butler secure government funds for Woodlawn Restoration?  Barack Obama, of course: the same Barack Obama who wrote letters on behalf of Rezko’s slum properties the same year residents of Rezko’s tenements were complaining of lack of heat and sanitation services.   For the Executive Vice President of Habitat Co., the company who helped Butler manage his deteriorating warren of slums, was Valerie Jarrett, another Obama contributor who develops low income housing and serves as a top advisor to the Obama for President campaign.  The Boston Globe explains how Obama exploited his position as state Senator to assist Jarrett and Cecil Butler.  I quote:

Obama translated that belief into legislative action as a state senator. In 2001, Obama and a Republican colleague, William Peterson, sponsored a successful bill that increased state subsidies for private developers. The law let developers designated by the state raise up to $26 million a year by selling tax credits to Illinois residents. For each $1 in credits purchased, the buyer was allowed to decrease his taxable income by 50 cents. …

This No Quarter story ends thusly:

 A disturbing pattern emerges, and it can be summarized as follows:

• Obama secured funds for developers who desired to earn profits off of low income housing during the privitization scheme of the Chicago Housing Authority that occurred during Barack Obama’s tenure as a state Senator.  Those developers include Tony Rezko, Valerie Jarrett and Cecil Butler.
• These public-private partnerships failed, leaving many in squalor.
• Barack Obama remained silent, but he accepted contributions from Rezko, Jarrett, Butler and others.
• Rezko is not an isolated case.  Obama also colluded with the likes of Cecil Butler, whose negligence inspired African-American residents of the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side to organize support for radical Republican Alan Keyes during Obama’s 2004 Senate bid.
• Obama’s desire to privatize public housing has resulted in a series of failed projects that have left the indigent in squalor.
• But Obama accepted the political contributions of these unscrupulous developers nonetheless.

Flineo created a video entitled “Obama’s Forgotten People,” and I publish it again, as there is a new group of low income housing residents on the West Side of Chicago Obama we can add to the group on the South Side Obama abandoned in order to climb the political and social ladder.

[...]

Nothing, in my opinion, is more deplorable than a career politician who exploited African-Americans in low income housing for political and personal gain.  And Obama did it again and again in inner city Chicago.  Now he has manipulated African-Americans across the country to view his candidacy as the empowerment of the very people Obama ignored in order to line the pockets of his slumlord friends and contributors.  Progressives and ostensible Democrats may forget, but those of us who are concerned with social justice will continue to serve as the true muckrakers this election cycle. 

 The edifices reproduced in this essay are buildings managed by Cecil Butler.  The restoration project that followed in the wake of Cecil Butler’s mismanagement of Lawndale Restoration is described in this document.

There are so many more stories to share with you, but I’m weary at the moment. You can find so many more by simply searching our site.

These stories about the public housing always tear me up. Let’s end with Flineo’s great video:

Riffing off of the Newsweek editors’ quesiness over the cult of personality surrounding Barack, let me just add that I too think the worshipful descriptions of Barack as a new kind of Messiah is creepy. Guys feeling a tingle up their leg when he talks, swooning women, and fawning reporters is not a healthy situation in a democracy. I was watching the BBC earlier today with the sound off. They played a clip of the former Korean dictator, Kim Il Sung, walking among his people, who cheered and wept at his very appearance. Now, I’m not saying Barack is a Korean dictator, but the mindless praise is eerily similar.

I am amused by the innocent, naive belief by many “Progressives” that their messiah has come and the new era of progressive politics is upon us. One of my Progressive friends sent me the following analysis from Think Progress claiming it is a myth that America is Center-Right:

My friend, who lives in California, was earnest and sincere in sending this along. I sent back a respons–”You have got to be shitting me?” Why? The first piece of evidence is Proposition 8. California, the so-called land of moderate progressives, passed Proposition 8 last Tuesday banning homosexual marriage. Now if that happens in California, what do you think would happen in Kentucky, Kansas or Iowa? At least on the matter of personal sexual conduct when it comes to homosexuality America is very, very conservative.

Personally, I don’t understand why conservatives want to have government regulating conduct between consenting adults. I guess I am a libertarian conservative. I believe that sexual relations between consenting adults is not the business of any government. Worrying about erecting barriers to prevent homosexual men and women from getting married is a silly distraction in a world where we have real problems before us. I am betting that Barack Obama and his team are not going to get out in front of this issue. They will follow the popular will. Rather than try to use the bully pulpit of the White House to make the case that homosexual adults are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual adults, I am betting team Obama will be silent. I think there is some more disillusion coming for the Gay/Lesbian community on this issue.

Looking for a quick withdrawal from Iraq? I don’t think that is going to happen either. In fact, look for team Obama to start making the case that the situation has changed on the ground and that the Iraqi government wants us as a partner to help rebuild their society and infrastructure. Truth is the actual substance of U.S. policy in Iraq is not likely to change. At the same time look for the boost in U.S. combat forces going to Afghanistan and continued covert cross-border raids into Pakistan.

As I noted in an earlier piece, Rahm Emanuel is no pacifist. To the contrary. He was an uber-hawk on Iraq. We are witnesses to a fascinating split in the American Jewish community. The Jewish community is no different than the Christian community. It really is not a community and represents diametrically opposed points of view. Barack Obama and Emanuel have both been backed financially by very wealthy Chicago jewish families–the Crowns and the Pritzkers. They are not in sync with the more conservative neo-cons embodied by the likes of William Kristol. They are pro-Israel but anti-likud. Prospects of war with Iran are probably reduced with this crowd.

Last year I participated in a war game looking at the future of the Middle East. The assembled experts agreed at the end of the game that the one policy move that could put Iran on the defensive would be an agreement between Syria and Israel over the Golan Heights. Up to now the Bush Administration has opposed such a move. If the Obama team goes in that direction they might get a breakthrough in the Middle East that has seemed so elusive. That would be good news and might help Obama calm the fears of his Palestinian supporters who see him stacking his Administration with prominent Jewish Americans who carry pro-Israel credentials.

What about ignoring FISA (i.e., the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)? Now that this power is in the hands of Democrats will they relinquish it? I don’t think so. I would like to see a full restoration of FISA and a requirement that no serveillance is undertaken without having judicial review. Someone other than the Executive Branch needs to have a say in this matter.

Finally, there will be the economic policy front. Will Barack and company embark on a massive public employment program or seek to invest in the private sector and promote jobs thru some form of capitalism? If it is the former the Progressive will rejoice. But, if it is the later, Progressives will chalk up another example of a politician promising them one thing but delivering the opposite. It does look that Barack and his team recognize America is Center Right and are going to play to the element. For a guy who hung with Tony Rezko and dissed Hillary (bonehead moves in my book) Barack could establish himself as a very smart pol. We’ll see.

I’d like to believe Patrick Fitzgerald will come riding to the rescue with some indictment linking Obama to Rezko, or announce a racketeering indictment relating to all the caucus and voter fraud, but I don’t believe that will happen for a second. I’d like to think that, as nature abhors a vacuum, the media will turn their critical lens on Obama and start airing the truth. It is too little too late and I don’t know that I believe that either.

How do a reconcile the deep love I feel for my country and my upset with people already losing their homes and savings, yet wanting to see the new administration put us to rights again. Do I have faith that they can? Based on what I’ve seen from both Obama and the current Democratic leadership, I have no reason to.

I posted an article the other day condemning his election tactics as well as casting a jaundiced eye on those who allowed themselves to vote against their own interests in assisting his election. However, I said a few words at the conclusion about still being willing to open my heart and lend support, if only for my country’s sake, and I got some grief on the boards about it.

This is a tough one because I feel blackmailed into support by our current dire circumstances and by a media that deserves to be figuratively horsewhipped in the town square due to their irresponsible “journalism” and lack of honest coverage of all the candidates. It is also impossible to think the media would ever allow a huge scandal to break, given how much they were in bed with an Obama candidacy in the first place. Although, the dollar is king, so if it sells copy…

It is also a conflict to feel deeply moved by the historical aspect of Barack Obama’s election and I certainly understand the joy of the African American community, and all Americans that this barrier has been passed. I just wish that this honor and accomplishment was bestowed upon someone more qualified and less disingenuous.

David Axelrod, the DNC power elite and the media have thrown a lavish, yearlong dinner party for this man and stuck us with the bill. Is it possible for our country to succeed and get back on its feet in the near term if he fails? Or do we want that kind of failure, as only failure of enormous magnitude will shake the latte sippers and blackberry bloggers from their stupor enough to realize something’s gotta give here.

Pardon me, but I cannot wish ill. Too many hard working people are in need out there and are looking for answers and all they are hearing is hopey changey. As many wonderful NoQ readers have pointed out in recent days, if he keeps his empty rhetoric up, the electorate will awaken soon enough.

It is very safe to say I will not be drinking kool-aid anytime soon nor will I be sucked into the Obama collective. It is vital that citizens keep the pressure on our elected local, state and national representatives, the media and if necessary, their advertisers. Is it naïve to think that will make a difference? I refuse to be that pessimistic. If I allow that to creep over me, I won’t take action but curl up in a ball in the corner – and I will not give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me do that.

I really don’t have adequate words to describe the rage I feel at the third presidential election in a row feeling stolen and/or decided by those not doing their homework.

Is it best to adopt a wait and see attitude? To see if it’s possible to keep him out of office by legal means in the first place? How many of us, after the primary was forcibly shut down felt that he would implode before the convention, yet the hope never materialized. How many thought ‘spread the wealth around’ would surely do him in? Nope.

If and after he is indeed inaugurated, do I just shut the TV off for the next four years – or keep making noise, hoping some of our representatives will add something to the debate that will help. I will forever blame myself for not protesting out in the street in December of 2000 but in our pre-9/11 mindset, most did not know just how bad our compliance would be.

The rage is perfectly understandable and perfectly justifiable. I am searching for the way to make it effective and not destructive – either to me or my fellow citizens working hard for their families or to those in the military and their families, sacrificing daily for our country.

Most infuriating is that Donna Brazile basically sent out a missive months ago saying “message to base – stay home.” And they got this guy elected anyway – in great part because a bunch of Republicans decided to stay home. I hope in retrospect they are likewise happy with their irresponsible decision. It is interesting to note that PUMAs did have an effect on the election as I believe 3 million voted for Senator McCain. What was not taken into account, and was certainly beyond PUMA control, is that 6 million Republicans chose to sit on their hands.

The DNC may have behaved as though we didn’t exist but we do. Our voices matter and they will not be silenced. Through all of that I can still wish my country Godspeed, even though I am furious at the blind part of the electorate that has perpetrated what I feel is a disaster on all of us by electing this unqualified man to office.

Speaking only for myself, I have lots to sort out and am still reeling from the shock that at one of the most difficult and troubling times in our nations’ history, America has chosen American Idol over competence, patriotism, knowledge and experience. Regardless of party.

How do we want to participate in an administration, either critically or constructively, that has acted as though millions of us are completely invisible and our thoughts and contributions nonexistent? At this moment the answer is admittedly well above my pay grade.

Your thoughts on this would be deeply appreciated.

But as I reviewed the history of the primary and the current issues facing us, it seemed increasingly like the only ethical, pragmatic and appropriate choice.

Consider the caucus fraud, stripping of Clinton’s votes and denial of a fair and open roll call. The relentless sexism from the media and the silence from Democratic Party. Obama’s refusal to have town halls with her and then McCain. Obama’s waffling on important issues like FISA and campaign finance reform. The obscene amounts of money that Obama’s campaign has spent when people are losing their homes. Over 680 million dollars of which we know. Probably more. His lack of judgment in choosing close associates and friends. Like Jeremiah Wright. Tony Rezko. William Ayers. Khalidi.

It is clear that the Democratic Party as we knew it, the Democratic Party of my parents, no longer exists. Its leadership does not support the most basic principle of one person, one vote. And they do not support women, the majority of its membership.

Clearly, it is time to look somewhere else.

And then the economy tanked and the choice became very clear. I have never voted Republican in my life. As I began to study the issues more closely, I grew to really appreciate what John McCain has to say. He understands that you cannot tax small businesses at a high rate, as Obama is proposing. Small businesses are what drive the economy. We need and must create opportunities for Joe (and Josie!) the Plumber. What can Obama be thinking? And how does he possibly plan to pay for all of the programs he is proposing? More taxes in a struggling economy?

Nobody gets this more than the Cuban community in Miami.

Traveling much of the time in Miami with Dr. Lynette Long, the leading expert on the caucus fraud perpetuated against Hillary Clinton by Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee, we did a lot of canvassing and shaking of hands, otherwise known as retail politics. Almost everyone we met were proudly, even vehemently pro McCain. Even the seniors who didn’t speak English would shake their heads and wag their fingers when we asked them about Obama. They are suspicious of charisma and empty promises. Families who had made the treacherous journey to come to America, often leaving behind everything they knew or had owned compared Obama to Castro. “Fidel said change, too,” one young woman said whose family’s property had been seized and whose father had been imprisoned in Cuba for six years. “I don’t want socialism. I know how bad it can be. Our families want to work hard. We want opportunities, not hand outs. We love John Mccain. We trust him.” America is the land of immigrants and opportunities. In honor of these wonderful Cuban Americans who are the soul of Miami and part of the extended heart of this great country, let’s get out the vote.

A former Illinois real estate specialist says FBI agents have questioned him about a Chicago property that had been bought by convicted felon Tony Rezko’s wife and later sold to the couple’s next-door neighbor, Sen. Barack Obama.

The real estate specialist, Kenneth J. Conner, said bank officials replaced an appraisal review he prepared on the property and FBI agents were investigating in late 2007 whether the Rezko-Obama deal was proper.

“Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued,” Mr. Conner told The Washington Times Monday.

“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.” ….

Read the full article today at the Washington Times.

NOW, because it deserves to be read in full — and Truthteller went to the time-consuming trouble to LINK ALL of NoQuarterUSA’s articles on Tony Rezko — here is his latest article on Tony Rezko because NO ONE ELSE knows the terrible story of Tony Rezko and Barack Obama like Truthteller (who’s hosting our great ELECTION NIGHT show tonight!):

“BREAKING: Obama Land Deal with Rezko and Mutual Bank Subject of New Court Complaint.”

No Quarter introduced readers to the Mutual Bank in Chicago after a Chicago Sun-Times columnist mentioned how a certain financial institution in Chicago would become the subject of a federal probe to be conducted by Fitzgerald’s prosecutors in relation to the conviction of Antoin “Tony” Rezko. Although I cautioned I did not have conclusive evidence when I argued Mutual Bank is most probably the financial institution in question, it now appears I may have been correct.

For according to a Washington Times exclusive printed today, a Real Estate and Commercial Credit Analyst of Mutual Bank has assumed whistleblower status and filed complaint against his former employer.

The subject of his complaint is the Mutual Bank and its potentially fraudulent reappraisal of the lot on which Obama’s home sits.

Obama, we recall, was only able to purchase the mansion he could not afford in June 2005 as a result of Rita Rezko’s ability to secure a mortgage for the lot on which the home sits from Mutual Bank.

And yes, Obama is involved in this complaint, for his decision to purchase a 10 foot strip of the lot on which his home sits from Rita Rezko in January 2006 was, according to the complaint, the reason why these potentially fraudulent reappraisals of the Rita Rezko lot were drafted.

I quote the Washington Times:

In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko’s property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document.

Mr. Connor, a real estate and commercial credit analyst at the Mutual Bank Corp. in Chicago, also noted in the complaint that the bank received a grand jury subpoena in October 2006 requiring it to produce information concerning Mrs. Rezko’s purchase, including the bank’s files on the property.

Mutual Bank, Rita Rezko’s account and the mortgage Rita Rezko received from Mutual for the lot on which Obama’s home sits were the subjects of a grand jury subpoena in 2006. I recommend you read my essay on Rita Rezko, the Obama land deal and Mutual Bank for an explication of why the mortgage she received from Chicago machine banker “Uncle” Amrish Mahajan of Mutual would have raised the eyebrows of federal prosecutors.

The Washington Post continues:

The complaint also said that the grand jury wanted information on Mrs. Rezko’s checking account and loan file and that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) had audited the Rezko file - although Mr. Connor’s lower reappraisal had been replaced with a higher amount.

“Connor’s internal whistle-blowing activity at Mutual Bank implicates Mutual Bank and the potentially guilty officers thereof to prosecution under federal and Illinois statutes,” said the complaint, filed by attorney Glenn R. Gaffney.

The complaint said Mutual Bank officials could be guilty of making false statements, willfully overvaluing property, bank fraud, witness retaliation, willful violation of a lawful subpoena, FDIC violations, and state banking regulations…

According to the complaint, Mr. Connor reviewed the appraisal of the Rezko property by another firm, Adams Appraisal, which had set the value at $625,000. Mr. Connor’s complaint said that he told his bosses in a report that the property had been overvalued by at least $125,000 and that a “reasonable and fair evaluation” should have been no greater than $500,000.

Why would Mutual Bank desire to inflate the value of the Rezko property on which the Obama home sits? Why would Mutual Bank risk obstructing justice? A paragraph in the Washington Times exclusive answers these questions. I quote them again:

The complaint said the Rezko loan was approved by Mutual Bank President and CEO Amrish Mahajan and others so that Mrs. Rezko could buy a 9,090-square-foot vacant parcel of real estate. It said that in January 2006, Mrs. Rezko and Mr. Obama, along with his wife Michelle, signed an agreement to sell a 10-foot strip of the property to the Obamas. At that point, according to the complaint, Mr. Connor’s firm asked him to conduct the reappraisal.

Connor, in other words, was fired for noting that the value of the property had been inflated.

For if Mutual adhered to Connor’s appraisal, Rita Rezko would have received less money from Obama for the ten foot strip of land next to his home he purchased from the convicted slum landlord’s wife.

And Mahajan, the CEO of Mutual, had an interest in ensuring Rezko would receive more money from Obama, for Mahajan is deeply imbricated in the Chicago machine that used Obama to funnel government revenue into the privatization of public housing scheme from which Obama’s friends profited.

Now wonder why Mutual removed Connor’s appraisal from the Rita Rezko file.

Mahajan, the Mutual Bank, Rita Rezko and the Obama land deal are now the subjects of a complaint filed with the Circuit Court of Cook County, and Obama’s financial dealings with the Mutual Bank and with Rita and Antoin “Tony” Rezko are the subjects of news articles that explore Chicago corruption and questionable real estate transactions.

I guess the deal really was “boneheaded.”

No Quarter asked readers to focus on the land deal and on Mutual when the Chicago Sun-Times mentioned that a financial institution is the subject of federal prosecutors’ interest, for Obama’s decision to purchase land from Rita Rezko catalyzed all the press on his questionable land deal with convicted slumlord Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

Now we know that transaction was the subject of a federal subpoena in 2006, and now we know a complaint has been filed against Mutual for intimidating employees and attempting to increase the value of the Obama lot most probably in order to ensure Rita Rezko would receive enough money to repay the $500,000 loan she received from Mahajan and the Mutual Bank even though she only earns $35,000 per annum at her government job.

Much more is to be learned about this land deal. But now that it is the subject of a complaint and a federal subpoena filed in 2006, I imagine we will learn that Obama chose Rezko to tour the mansion and purchase the lot on which it sits in order to ensure that he could later repay Rezko for the land he could not afford.

Why else did Mahajan, one of Rezko’s bankers who also sat on the Chicago Plan Commission of Daley with Valerie Jarrett and Allison Davis, manipulate the value on the lot when Obama was ready to repay the Rezkos for the favor?

Must money always be kept within a small network of corrupt Chicago machine cogs?

I imagine we will read more about Obama and his financial dealings with Rita Rezko and Amrish Mahajan’s Mutual Bank before votes are cast in November. It was a “boneheaded” deal indeed, Senator Obama.

—————————————————-
No Quarter dossier on Obama and Rezko:

• About the Financial Institution Mentioned in the Chicago Sun-Times: Obama, Tony Rezko, Amrish Mahajan, the Kenwood Mansion & Rita Rezko
• Rezko, Giannoulias, Obama - Dominoes?
• CORROBORATED: Rezko Speaks, Prosecutors Interested in Obama Listen
• More Than Just a Boneheaded Mistake
• The Epistolary Rezko
• The Illinois Combine II: The DNC Moves Into Chicago
• Obama’s Gangster Mentality
• Prescience: “Will Rezko Blow Up Obama?”
• “CHICAGO MACHINE”
• The Tipping Point?
• Barack, The Truth Ain’t A Smear
• Recently Unsealed Documents Confirm Obama Heavily Embroiled in Rezko Case
• Boston Globe Exposé, Part II: Barack Obama (D-Slumlord) Is Aloof, Oblivious, Dangerous
• Boston Globe Exposé, Part I: Introducing Cecil Butler, Obama’s West Side Slum Landlord Patron
• Patrick Fitzgerald Issues Obama A Warning
• What Hypocrite Obama Should Have Discussion during His Wesleyan Commencement Address
• Barack Obama’s Candidacy as a Take on The Picture of Dorian Gray
• A Majority of One: On Losing the Democratic Base
• Ok, So Tell Us What IS Allowed
• Two Lone Voices Speak for Millions of Us
• What’ll Be Left of the Democratic Party
• It Ain’t Over: Obama MAY Have to Pay the Piper After All
• Obama to Donate Contribution from Rezko’s Iraqi Friend
• Be My Friend, Godfather
• Jaws V, Starring Barack Obama
• The Chicago Three: Obama, Ayers & Rezko
• Charlie Gibson, Will You Ask Barack about Nadhmi Auchi?
• Saddam Hussein, Barack Hussein Obama’s Hidden Real Estate Partner?
• Barack “I-Didn’t-Know” Obama
• Those Who Haunt Him
• Hillary’s Campaign Comes out Swinging
• “Nobie and Obama”
• Authorization to Use Misleading Falsehoods
• What We’ve Noticed about the Speech
• This Is for Main Street (And for the Forgotten People Barack Obama Doesn’t Know)
• Michelle Obama: “Give Us Something Here”
• Rezko Muckrakers Alert!
• The Forgotten People
• Irrefutable Proof That Obama’s Own District Was Home to 11 Rezko Foreclosed Properties
• Speak the Truth, Fallout Be Damned
• The Rezko Saga: Two Videos
• Get Your Daily Rezko Dose Here
• The Media’s Panderbears, Part I
• Sunday Scoops: Rezko-gate and Adviser-gate
• Obama’s Prime-Slime Advisors
• Good Morning, Barack! (Rezko Got Jobs for Your Staffers? Do Tell.)
• Today’s Rezko Trial Scoops (And Prosecutors on $20K Kickback to Obama)
• ABC News: Rezko $50 Million in Debt
• 312.321.2417
• (Pants on Fire!) Lynn Sweet: Obama and His Taking Questions on Rezko
• Rezko Trial: Obama May Be Witness
• Obama’s Judgment on the Eve of Judgment Day
• Truthtelling from Lanny Davis (What about “Iron My Shirt?”)
• Experience, and Experiences (of the Rezko Sort)
• No He Can’t Because Yes They Will
• More Questions on Rezko
• “Obama Bagman” in Jail
• Democratic Death Wish
• How to Buy A Mansion You Can’t Afford
• Will Rezko Blow Up Obama?
• It is “Possible” Obama Was Aware of Rezko’s Financial and Legal Woes
• 20-Year Associate of Obama Arrested
• Look before You Leap: Obama’s Mobbed-Up Allies
• Politics Is A Blood Sport
• BREAKING: ABC News Reports $100,000 from Rezko That Obama Hasn’t Returned
• CNN on Rezko and Obama: This Is Obama’s “Slumwater”
• FACT CHECK: Obama, His Contributor Rezko, The Slum Landlord Business
• A Dope with Hope?
• Obama/Rezko: It Comes down to Judgment
• Didn’t Obama Watch The Firm
• Steve Clemons on Tonight’s Debate
• Patrick Fitzgerald Ties Obama to Rezko Indictments
• All in for Hillary
• Obama, His Lobbyists and His Cronies

RezkoWatch contains even more information on Obama’s deep and problematic ties to convicted slumlord and notorious political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

Also listen to our NQR Radio Show entitled “READING REZKO with Truthteller and SusanUnPC”

ALSO OF NOTE: See Truthteller’s most recent article on Rezko, at the end of which Truthteller lists all of the stories published here at NoQuarterUSA.net about Tony Rezko and Barack Obama’s long, entangled, intimate relationship: “BREAKING: Obama Land Deal with Rezko and Mutual Bank Subject of New Court Complaint.”

The following excerpt is posted at NoQuarterUSA.net with the express permission of GOPMom.

Senator Barack Obama returns to his boorish behavior by flipping off Senator John McCain while obstensibly praising him at an event. As in past instances where he’s done this to Senator Hillary Clinton, the crowd gets it, even if the media chooses to ignore it.

Obama is a repeat offender.

Here he does the same to Senator Hillary Clinton on April 17, 2008:

Here he uses a derogatory gesture by brushing off Clinton in the manner of Jay-z:

Larry Johnson, among others at NoQuarter, has written at length on this. See his article, “When Obama Does It Repeatedly It Is a Strategy [Updated],” from September 11, 2008.

Here, Barack Obama talks about Senator Clinton “periodically” feeling down (sexist bastard):

And here’s another presidential moment for Senator Barack Obama. Further, note carefully that this is the music and content that Obama feels is appropriate for his own three-year-old daughter.

For more on this, see Larry Johnson’s article, “Obama, You Are Ludicrous,” from August 2, 2008.

On August 1, 2008, Uppity Woman, wrote “Doesn’t This New Obama Rap Crap Make You Feel So Proud?,” About Obama’s ties to his “genius friend” Ludacris:

:::::::::::::::

BELOW, IN FULL, THE BEST STORY WE EVER PUBLISHED on the reprehensible Jay-Z incident:

A whole lot of fuss has been made about Obama’s possible flipping of the middle finger to Hillary in response to his treatment during Wednesday’s debate as something less than Baby Jesus. If he in fact intended to flip her off, his gesture marks a new low in a campaign that was supposedly predicated on high-mindedness.

Obama’s invocation of Jay-Z’s defiant “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” battle anthem during the same speech adds evidence to the claim that he gave Hillary the finger.

To see Obama brush his shoulders off, go to 2:25 of this video clip.

Obama’s gesture prompted a mash-up video that made the Jay-Z/Obama connection explicit. Ari Melber, the other Obamabot named Ari at The Nation, posted the video on The Nation’s website, noting, “Obama really is a Jay-Z fan, too. When asked which hip hop artists he likes in a recent interview, he said, ‘lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Jay-Z — this new American Gangster album.’”

Spencer Ackerman, another young white male media Obamaton, called Obama’s gesture “perhaps the coolest subliminal cultural reference in the history of American politics.”

So what is the hype about? What did Jay-Z actually say that captivated Barack Obama?

Here is the hook and first verse to the new theme song of Obama ‘08:

[Chorus: Jay-Z]
If you feelin’ like a pimp nigga, go and brush your shoulders off
Ladies is pimps too, go and brush your shoulders off
Niggaz is crazy baby, don’t forget that boy told you
Get, that, dirt off your shoulder

[Verse One]
I probably owe it to y’all, probably to be locked by the force
Tryin to hustle some things, that go with the Porsche
Feelin no remorse, feelin like my hand was forced
Middle finger to the law, nigga grippin ma balls
Stab the ladies they love me, from the bleachers they screamin
All the ballers is bouncin, they like the way I be leanin
All the rappers be hatin, off the track that I’m makin
But all the hustlers they love it just to see one of us make it
Came from the bottom the bottom, to the Top of the Pops
Nigga London, Japan and I’m straight off the block
Like a running back, get it man, I’m straight off the block
I can run it back nigga cause I’m straight with the Roc
=

Obama hasn’t flipped a “middle finga to the law” but to Hillary instead (his godfather Tony Rezko and possible financial angel Nadmi Auchi were the ones flicking off the law). He got his clock cleaned in a debate about his closest associates, his domestic policy proposals and national security credentials, but after a quick, not-so-subliminal reference to Jay-Hova, Obama’s back to “feelin’ like a pimp.”

But don’t blame Obama if you don’t like his reaction. He’s never responsible. George Stephanopoulos and ABC forced him to behave like a wannabe American gangster.

See also my essay entitled “Obama Relegated Aunt Who Resides Illegally in US to the Shadows While Taking Her Campaign Contributions”

Obama, according to the Associated Press, did not know his Aunt Zeituni, the child of Obama’s paternal grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was residing in the United States illegally while he was accepting her campaign contributions. I quote the AP:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Saturday he didn’t know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed.

The Associated Press found that Obama’s aunt had been instructed to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya. The woman, Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUHN on-YANG-oh), is living in public housing in Boston and is the half-sister of Obama’s late father.

A statement given to the AP by Obama’s campaign said, “Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed.”

The campaign said it was returning $260 that Onyango had contributed in small increments to Obama’s presidential bid over several months. Federal election law prohibits foreigners from making political donations. Onyango listed her employer as the Boston Housing Authority and last gave $5 on Sept. 19.

One would think Obama would know the immigration status of his aunt after he rendered her into a textual spectacle in his 1996 memoir entitled Dreams of My Father. One would also think a relative would have contacted him in 2004 in order to inform the aspiring US Senator and Illinois political official that auntie needed assistance with her asylum petition. After all, auntie attended Obama’s swearing-in to the US Senate the same year her asylum petition was unfavorably adjudicated. Moreover, one would think that Obama would have been informed by someone related to his aunt that she donated tainted money to his campaign. And furthermore, the Obama campaign must have asked Obama a question or two after an article on Obama’s aunt surfaced a few days ago in the London Times. Surely they would have asked about the aunt’s immigration status after it was revealed she fraudulently donated $260 to the campaign from her public housing address in South Boston.

Also pertinent to this line of questioning is Auntie Zeituni’s claim that she could not speak to reporters until November 5. “’I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,’ she said, adding: ‘After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.’” Who asked her to remain silent? Did she receive a directive from David Axelrod?

But Obama claims he had “no knowledge” about his aunt’s willful violation of this country’s immigration laws. Are we surprised? Obama, it seems, knows nothing about anything. Similar to Alberto Gonzales, he “does not recall” anything whenever he is confronted about his lack of judgment or about his record of problematic affiliations with convicted felons and known terrorists. Let us review:

1. Obama had no knowledge of the deportation order submitted against his paternal aunt.

“Senator Obama has no knowledge of her status but obviously believes that any and all appropriate laws be followed.”

2. Obama did not know Bill Ayers was a terrorist when he raised campaign funds in Ayers’s home and worked with Ayers on the Annenberg Challenge in inner city Chicago.

On Monday, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said Obama was not aware of Ayers’ terrorist background when he attended a political coffee at Ayers Hyde Park home at the beginning of his state senate race sometime in the fall of 1995. Ayers and Obama first crossed paths in 1995 while involved in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation dealing with urban education issues.

3. Obama did not know convicted slumlord Antoin “Tony” Rezko, the man who provided the seed donations to Obama’s first political race in 1995, the man who chaired the Finance Committee of his US Senate bid in 2004, and the man who helped Obama purchase the mansion he and Michelle could not afford, was mismanaging the funds Obama secured at his behest for his slum landlord empire while defrauding investment firms seeking to do business with Illinois’s various pensions funds.

In a statement, Obama said that he was “saddened” by the verdict. “This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew,” he said, adding that the charges against Rezko “once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform.” Obama has repeatedly said he did no favors for Rezko. He was never a focus of Rezko’s trial.

4. Obama did not hear anything controversial when sitting in the pews of Reverend Wright’s “God Damn AmeriKKKa” Church in inner city Chicago.

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

What does Obama know? Does he know anything? Or is he really as vacuous as I and others believe? Diabolically disingenuous when asked to justify his past actions, his affiliations and his complete and utter lack of judgment, Obama is the Democratic Party’s version of Alberto Gonzales. Indeed, he is a thug whose friends and family break laws without apology.

He is also a complete and utter dolt who issues sanctimonious pronouncements when he is caught with his hand in the cookie jar: only now does he believe his aunt should adhere to immigration laws; only now will he return his aunt’s illegal and fraudulent donation; and only now does he believe Illinois politics should be reformed. A thug who portrays himself as a dolt, Obama cannot and should not serve as President of the United States.