Since my blog has moved, I can no longer use Bloggers "Follower" gadget. If you are a part of NetWorked blogs, which includes a Facebook page, you can follow through NetworkedBlogs, and I can follow you back. Please come to my new blog - MaggiesNotebook.com, see the NetworkedBlogs widget in the right sidebar and click follow. I will follow back.
"I learned that in extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at state, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers, not the victims." Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor who lost his family in the Holocaust - Nobel Prize Author
Socialism - Liberalism Quotation
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." – Norman Thomas
Hispanic children need early childhood care, and Obama has issued another of his infamous Executive Orders to get it for them, which will no doubt include the 5,197,190 (at least) children of illegals plugging up our schools and draining the funds that support those schools. FIVE MILLION! Real name: Education Excellence for Hispanics.
Hispanic Preschoolers
The Won warned schools: "if you're receiving tax dollars you better be able to deliver results for our children." The man is a bastion of deep thinking. I don't know how he contains himself. Oh yeah...he doesn't.
Hyperbole followed the warning; things like: brighter futures, hope deeper, climb higher, dream bigger. I guess Blacks in America have finally accepted that "Latinos make up the largest minority group in American schools?" Someone weight in here: is that a good thing?
The Executive Order will be executed by reforming the "early childhood" care (day care) of Hispanic children. Illinois is the first state to require "bilingual education" to children who do not speak English, including children illegal residing in the U.S. So how's it working in Illinois:
But from Carpentersville to Champaign, local school districts are hurrying to comply with the requirements that come without additional funding, even as they brace for another year of dwindling reserves and funding delays.
“It seems as though this is just creating a problem unnecessarily,” said Superintendent Roger Prosise, of Diamond Lake School District 76, where nearly a quarter of the district’s 1,170 students are new to English.
Calling preschool the new front door to the school system, education experts say the change could help to narrow the academic divide.
I know...you're shaking your head at my ignorance, and asking if it is not far better for children here illegally to learn our language. Quoting Ann Coulter:
One million Mexicans across the border in Mexico think, 'if I can just get to America and get my kid educated, we will be legal.' See the video here.
Source for the number of children of illegal migrants in the U.S. is ImmigrationCounters. It's a great source. Take a look. We need a counter for Obama Executive Orders which are predicted to pile up as a Republican Congress denies the man his every desire.
Rashid Khalidi is the co-director of the new Columbia University Palestine Studies Center where he is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies. Columbia has had a Middle East Institute for over 50 years, but the new "center" for Palestine Studies is considered "the first of its kind."
Rashid Khalidi
You'll remember Khalidi:
1) recently raising funds for a Free Palestine/Support Hamas terror flotilla, named The Audacity of Hope, (named after Obama's book) in waters where Israel has the right to blockade any movement of weapons into Gaza,
3) celebrated Palestine and the audacity of Israel at a farewell party with Barack Obama and Bill Ayers for Khalidi. There were unconfirmed talks of a "toast" to something considered inappropriate regarding Israel with Obama present. Speculation was that the toast was perhaps to the "toasting"(as in "destruction") of Israel. The Los Angeles Times has the video, and refuses to release it.
Khalidi is a former advisor to, and spokesman for, Yassar Arafat and a former professor at the University of Chicago. Khalidi's wife Mona was the English language editor for the PLO press agency.
In 1985, Mr. Khalidi published an adulatory book on the PLO in which he personally thanked Yasser Arafat: "Permission to utilize the P.L.O. archives ... was generously given by the Chairman of the P.L.O. Executive Committee, Yasir Arafat. To him and to the dedicated individuals working in the office of the Chairman, the P.L.O. archive and the Palestine News Agency (WAFA), who extended every possible assistance to me on three trips to Tunis, I owe deep thanks."
Today, however, Mr. Khalidi distances himself from his past.
In truth, Mr. Khalidi is still spinning for the Palestinian leadership. For example, although the Palestinian Authority (PA) is ruled at the whim of a despotic Yasser Arafat, Mr. Khalidi argues the PA has an "elected leader." He asserts that Israel's government "refused to negotiate" with the PA when, in reality, Israel has formally negotiated with the PA since 1993.
Moreover, Mr. Khalidi would like us to believe that Israel has "violated every one of the seven agreements it signed with the PLO since that time." This is, of course, a transparent inversion of the truth. Source: Campus Watch
As Khalidi departed UC to takeover Columbia's Middle East studies, Obama's attendance at a 2003 farewell party, along with Bill Ayers and wife, Bernardine Dorn, and a crowd of mostly Palestinian-Americans is well-documented. According to Los Angeles Times writer Peter Wallsten claimed that the LA Times had a copy of the video. From the National Review:
At Khalidi’s 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, “then you will never see a day of peace.”
One speaker likened “Zionist settlers on the West Bank” to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been “blinded by ideology.”
The same article says that state Senator Obama took a more measured response, suggesting that we just all get along.
As Columbia University begins the new study center, there is little said about the connection to Barack Obama or Bill Ayers or Obama's emotional commitment to the Islamic Palestine. Nevertheless, the L.A. Times article referenced above speaking of the farewell party for Khalidi, makes this argument:
But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House.
"I am confident that Barack Obama is more sympathetic to the position of ending the occupation than either of the other candidates," said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began after the 1967 war. More than his rivals for the White House, Ibish said, Obama sees a "moral imperative" in resolving the conflict and is most likely to apply pressure to both sides to make concessions.
Rashid Khalidi often speaks of the revisionist history that lends support to Israel. Speaking of revisionist history - we haven't seen anything yet, as our college students traverse through the one-way street of Khalidi's Palestinian studies.
Barack birthday'd with Oprah and friend Gayle King, the other side-of Barack's brain - Valerie Jarrett, and a hot Chicago chef - Graham Elliott Bowles. The Obama family sans Barack as out of town on his 49th birthday: FLOTUS and Sasha in Spain and Malia at summer camp.
Jeremiah Wright taught a five day course at the Chicago Theological Seminary last week, on the grounds of Chicago University. He had a lot to say to his small class of no more than 20 "older" African-American women who could afford to pay the $300 if not needed for college credit, or $1000+ for credit. Wright claims that Martin Luther King was wrong to advocate for non-violence for blacks "born in the oven of America." Who would pay the man to praise this country? Anyone?
Barack Obama with Jeremiah Wright
Forty-two years after the death of Martin Luther King, I think Wright is calling for violence against Whites.
From the New York Post here are some of the more disgusting quotes, although his "God d**n America" can't be topped for the worst of his outrages, and s you read them, remember that Barack Obama and Michelle sat in this church for 20 years:
We probably have more African-Americans who've been brainwashed than we have South Africans who've been brainwashed, he said, and seemed to allude to President Obama twice: "Unfortunately, I got in trouble with a fella for saying this...All your commentaries are written by oppressors." At the mention of nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan - whom Obama disavowed during the campaign - black leaders "go cutting' and duckin,' he said.
"You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be a brother to white folk," he said. "And if you do not realize that, you are in serious trouble."
The civil-rights movement," Wright said, "was never about racial equality. It was always about becoming white . . . to master what [they] do." Martin Luther King, he said, was misguided for advocating nonviolence among his people, "born in the oven of America."
"White folk done took this country"
Jeremiah Wright Home built in the oven of America
You probably remember that Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) built a million dollar home in a gated in the Odyssey Club neighborhood on a golf course. The New York Post has an interesting bit of info: before the $1M home, the Wrights lived in a two-story house in an affluent subdivision "surrounded by roadblocks: the line between rich and poor is literal. His former neighbors all say he kept to himself."
NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard has more and says no one besides the New York Post reported this incendiary event. Once more, who would pay this man to talk nice?
Rahm Emanuel, Obama's close friend and White House Chief of Staff is expected to quit within the next six months because he can't "bang heads together" to get Obama's policies through. The guess is, he will leave after the November 2010 elections.
I would bet he will go after the midterms," said a leading Democratic consultant in Washington. "Nobody thinks it's working by they can't get rid of him - that would look awful. He needs the right sort of job to go to but the consensus is he'll go."
The Telegraph says Rahm wanted the healthcare legislation scaled down because of partisan divide, but Obama, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett wanted it all, and that's what they got, but not without some migraines that still linger.
Emanuel reportedly wants to be Chicago's Mayor, but needs Richard Daley to step down in 2012.
What on earth would make previously-thought conservative Brit, Daniel Hannan, burst our bubble and tell us he supported Barack Obama, or remind those who did know, more than a year later?
Daniel Hannan
Karen at The Lonely Conservative has a shorter and pithier rant than mine. I know, I do go on.
Hannan doesn't like Obama's foreign policy. He didn't like the offensive gifts to Queen Elizabeth or returning the historic bust of Winston Churchill on the second day Barack took office, but those were "minor irritants," he says. He didn't mention Michelle's inappropriate cardigan at Buckingham Palace, or her shocking (to Queen Elizabeth) hug of the reigning Royal.
No, he is troubled about the dangerous foreign policy, unknown in any other modern day American administration:
...the Obama administration is backing Peronist Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands, or as Obama's people call them, "the Malvinas." British troops were the only sizable contingent to support the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have fought alongside America in most of the conflicts of the past hundred years. Yet when the chips are down, Obama lines up with Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega against us.
It has alienated Israel and India. It has even managed to fall out with Canada over its "Buy American" rules and its decision to drill in disputed Arctic waters. Never has there been a worse time to be a US ally.
No one denies that Obama was dealt a rotten economic hand; but he has played it ineptly. His policies are serving to make his country poorer, and less free and less respected. And that is a problem for all of us.
Well, yes, Mr. Hannan - he had no foreign policy experience. Running the streets of Chicago is a bit different than running the U.S. We conservatives knew it. We thought you were of similar mind.
Hot Air pointed out that Hannan feels good about Obama's commitment to school choice. I said "What?" Hot Air said," huh?" Now that's a stunner. Hannan didn't pay attention in 2008, and isn't paying attention now unless it affects his own country:
In February 2009, one month after infiltrating the Oval Office, the Wall Street Journal muses:
So we'll be curious to see how he handles the dismaying attempt by Democrats in Congress to crush education choice for 1,700 poor kids in the District of Columbia.
The answer came in May of the same year. Obama provided the vouchers for the 1,716 students already in the Washington D.C. program, and will allow them all to finish through graduation, but that's the end.
No more children in disadvantaged areas, attending miserable excuses for schools, will receive vouchers or grants as long as Barack Obama has a say - including the students wanting to enter his own daughters' school, the prestigeous Sidwell Friends. None of that riff-raff sitting side-by-side the Obama girls.
We can we forgive the New York Sun for believing Obama on the campaign trail in February 2008, even though he had already promised the National Education Association (NEA) he would not support vouchers. After all, BO was handsome, spoke so beautifully, had a mouthful of pearly whites, and a long history of lying through them - but in those early days, who knew?
He [Obama] said he was astonished to learn that a voucher program in Milwaukee had never been tested in a longitudinal study to find out whether it had helped children or not. "If there was any argument for vouchers it was, all right, let's see if this experiment works, and then if it does, whatever my preconceptions, my attitude is you do what works for the kids," Mr. Obama said.
Did Hannan know anything about Obama's failed leadership of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? How he scammed millions, at least $50 million - maybe $110 million, from deserving schools and funneled it to Flag-stomping, Weather Underground terrorist, Bill Ayers?
Does he know that funds were used for ethnic studies, leaving white children to flounder, with grants going to the South Shore African Village Collaborative to celebrate Juneteenth, while The Chicago Algebra Project request for a grant was rejected. The District 5 Math Initiative request for a grant was also rejected. It goes on and on.
Daniel Hannan is a financial genius. He "gets" the pounds sterling and the U.S. dollars. He understands redistributing wealth, and sees it happening in his own country. He doesn't like it. He doesn't understand Obama's willingness to turn over the Falkland Islands to Argentina, even though the people are happy being a part of the U.K., and have been for over 175 years.
Now Hannan can understand how we feel. Obama doesn't discriminate. He takes land, including national forests, 80 miles from the U.S. Mexico border, and turns it over to Mexican drug thugs and smugglers, bandits, rapists, human traffickers, pedophiles and murders, as happened today, Hannan's disgust doesn't come close to mine/ours.
Well, well, well. HillBuzz was visited in Chicago by a US journalist wanting information about Man's Country in Andersonville, Illinois. This article states that Barack Obama was a frequent visitor until 2002 and Rahm Emanuel until 2008, according to their sources. HillBuzz tagged this article "bath houses."
Man's Country (see bottom of sign above door)
A quick check on the Internet and what I find about Chicago's Man's Country is fairly disgusting. Read the reviews here, especially the one by Alberto M. who says Man's Country is "a gay Chicago icon...," but complains that there is always the chance of getting "cooties" in Man's Country.
Now, the article goes on to question the rags so busily working to tie Obama to an affair with Vera Baker, and the writer says something is fishy, and doesn't hesitate to explain. The side story is about Kal Penn, the actor who left House to serve the President. He also plays Kumar in the Harold and Kumar movies. In the White House, Penn goes by his real name, Kalpen Modi.
Why the sudden need to portray this current president as an insatiably heterosexual stud who just can’t get enough women?
Baker’s a diversionary tactic…designed to cover SOMETHING up…and we think that something is an affair Obama had with Kal Penn, which seems to have ended badly. We also think Penn was mugged not by a street thug in Dupont Circle, but by someone working for either the DNC or Organizing for America (or any number of its umbrella thugs), because Penn’s phone had something in it that would prove some kind of romantic relationship between the president and a Hollywood actor with zero government experience who was plucked off a TV show unceremoniously and lifted into a high profile made-up position in the White House…so he could be close to Obama in Washington, where Obama wanted him. Wanted in more than one sense.
Until he didn’t want him anymore.
And then someone needed to take his cell phone away, so that any pictures, texts, voicemails, or other interesting itts and bitts could be secured by those wishing to protect the current president.
You know, this is an astounding and gutsy story, whether true or false. HillBuzz has stepped "out there." It is obvious from they have had some background on the story. Maybe they have blogged about this in the past, but the blog title is Someone in the national media is FINALLY interested in Man's Country in Andersonville.
My disclaimer: I'm printing this because the report comes from Chicago. I don't know if it's true, but unless the writer is lying about the national media coming specifically for info about Man's Country, it deserves to be known, and besides, HillBuzz is a reputable blog. I got to the HillBuzz story via Logistics Monster who indicates that many have known about this since 2007, so....
"This bill is not the product of consensus. It does not provide for true self-determination. The two-step process in the bill is designed to craft an artificial majority for statehood," Velazquez and Gutierrez said in their e-mail.
"The people of Puerto Rico deserve a truly fair, democratic and inclusive self-determination process that is the product of consensus. H.R. 2499 does not provide for such a process. It is divisive, unfair and undemocratic."
The former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, better known as "Blago" was on Greta's On the Record last night. Blagojevich is asking a court to subpoena Barack Obama for his coming trial. It is alleged that Blago attempted "to sell" Illinois U.S. Senator Barack Obama's Illinois senate seat. He was videotaped and wiretapped. The prosecution wants to allow only certain video tapes. Blago wants them all admitted into evidence and says they will prove him innocent. There is a "smoking gun" he says. This was an intriguing interview. See the transcript below the video.
Rod Blagojevich
Blago on Great's On The Record: There is a smoking Gun (video)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR:
Thanks for being here. VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Governor,
you're in a little bit of a fix. You've this trial coming up June 3rd,
and a lot of pre-trial matters have come to light recently and I want to
talk to you about -- let's start first with the tapes. The prosecution
has wiretapped you, has tapes of you, and there's a dispute over what's
going to be played in court. What's the dispute?
BLAGOJEVICH: Well, they taped my
conversations for six weeks. Our government came in to the sanctity of
this home, actually, and put the wiretaps on these telephones and a lot
of other telephones.
I've taken the position from the very beginning that I'm
innocent of everything and anything they're falsely accusing me of, and
that a lot of the truth can be found in those tapes. And from the
beginning, I've said, Play all the tapes.
My lawyers were instructed by me to challenge the government. We
waived the opportunity to challenge the tapes, happily did that, and
challenged the government to say that, Allow both sides to play any tape
they want. They should play anything they want to play in court and let
us play any tape that we want to play in court. The government declined
to comment, and then they've recently gone into court, the snuck into
court to try to get the judge to rule that all the tapes should not be
played.
This case in so many ways is upside down. Mr. Fitzgerald, the
prosecutor, invades the sanctity of my home. The government is in here
looking at those private conversations. Those are his tapes and he's
going to court to suppress his own tapes. And I'm the one saying play
them all because I note the truth is on those tapes and will show I did
nothing wrong.
VAN SUSTEREN: You say he snuck into court. You
had no notice the prosecutor was going into court and say we only want
to play these tapes and not all the tapes?
BLAGOJEVICH: The way the motion was written by
the government with footnotes and buried in the body of a motion that
was filled with a lot of other things was an incipient request to
suggest that not all the tapes be heard. They even misled and said the
judge ruled that all the tapes wouldn't be played which was not the case
at the time they filed the motion.
VAN SUSTEREN: Has your lawyer heard all
these tapes?
BLAGOJEVICH: We had tapes for months.
VAN SUSTEREN: You have copies of the
tapes?
BLAGOJEVICH: Yes. Let me say this. I've been
consistent from the beginning. From the moment I was falsely accused, I
said long before we had access to the tapes, play all the tapes, because
I know who I am and I would not do the things they are suggesting that I
did.
And I know that notwithstanding some language on the tapes, the
use of pro fan, which I have apologized for. I didn't know --
VAN SUSTEREN: That is not a crime. Do you have
any idea how many hours of tapes the prosecution intends to play at your
June 3rd trial?
BLAGOJEVICH: I don't know that. But what I do
know is they have in a very dishonest way taken selective snippets of
conversations out of context, purposely misleading the people and
purposely providing false information.
VAN SUSTEREN: They've identified what tapes they
are going to play? You know what they are going to play?
BLAGOJEVICH: No. They've quoted some of them.
They've released a couple of them. And they've done it in a way where
snippets of conversations were taken out of context.
And if you are allowed to listen to the breadth of the
conversation -- again, I can't comment on what is on the tapes. The very
government that taped me went into court to say I can't what is on them
nor can I allow to you take a look at them.
VAN SUSTEREN: There's a gag order ton this part
of it, the contents of the tape?
BLAGOJEVICH: That's correct. And the
government sought that gag order. They've been free to take snippets of
conversation out whenever they choose to do it, and it is designed to
mislead the public.
VAN SUSTEREN: Hasn't the judge said, OK
Governor Blagojevich, you identify what tapes you want heard and I'll
consider it so it is not a complete bar at this point?
BLAGOJEVICH: That's correct. The judge
seems to be a fair and thoughtful man. He's obviously a very smart,
intelligent man who understands and knows the law. So he has said two
things. He said one publicly that if I testify that he wail will you us
to play the tapes we want to play.
VAN SUSTEREN: Just if you testify, not
for a doctrine of complete? Let's say hypothetically, a tape is put on
that has half a thought, and it is your position that half of thought
falsely convoys a message. Are you allowed to play the entire thought
without having to take the witness stand?
BLAGOJEVICH: I don't know that yet. The
judge has said that if I testify, which will, by the way, he will allow
us to play the tapes that we ask for. This is as I've been told by my
attorneys.
And the judge said in the last court day, and I was
there because I challenged the prosecutor to be there too, to explain
why he's preventing all the tapes from being heard except the tapes that
he went out and got.
But the judge said that -- instructed my lawyers to
submit to him the different tapes that we would be requesting to be
heard in court. And so, I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful he will
say yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: What is the prosecution's
opposition? Do they think you are going to waste a lot of time and play
400 inconsequential conversations and bore the jury to death or do they
have a more sinister purpose to evade, confuse, or do something with
the jury?
BLAGOJEVICH: I fervently believe the
prosecution is trying to cover- up their misdeeds.
VAN SUSTEREN: Which misdeeds?
BLAGOJEVICH: That they arrested a
sitting governor and falsely accused him of things he didn't do and did
it in a super sensational press conference on December the ninth, 2008,
this is what Mr. Fitzgerald did. And e used and quoted from the tapes
from snippets of the tapes to suggest that was the basis for arresting a
governor in a state like Illinois -- unprecedented.
And he did it, and he said, and I'm quoting, that he was
doing to "stop a crime spree." The reality is when people hear the
whole truth and hear what was on those conversations, the days and weeks
leading up to those acts by the government, by the prosecutors, there
was no crime spree. He lied.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why did he do that? Just
for the sake of lying or something more sinister? Not that lying isn't
sinister.
BLAGOJEVICH: I believe the effort to
prevent all the tapes being played is designed to keep justice from
being heard in court as it is to cover-up their wrongdoing and misdeeds.
To suggest you should -- to arrest a sitting governor,
to state in a press conference where the whole world is listening that
you have a governor trying to sell a Senate seat for money which the
allegation he made at the press conversation that he had heard
conversations over the telephone, had to come in at 6:00 in the morning
in my home where my little girls are sleeping, invade the privacy of our
home to say they had to stop the crime spree before it happened is just
a flat out lie.
The tapes show what the truth is. I have said from the
beginning play all the tapes. Why is my accuser is trying to prevent the
full truth from being heard? I believe part of it is because he's
covering up the fact that he told this big lie that foreseeably led to a
chain of events that would remove a governor from office that would
undo the will of a people, undo an election, and he doesn't ever want
anybody to know that's what he did.
There's a smoking gun on these tapes, and that smoking
gun is directed and pointed at the prosecutor.
VAN SUSTEREN: You are in essence accused
of selling the Senate seat vacated by President Obama. Everyone that
you ever had a conversation with about that Senate seat, is there any
way you could have spoken to someone and not have it tapped. Did you
have a conversation in the car, for instance, with the other person?
BLAGOJEVICH: I had a conversation with
Senator Dick Durbin.
VAN SUSTEREN: Where?
BLAGOJEVICH: In my office in Chicago.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was your office bugged?
BLAGOJEVICH: They say it wasn't. So
Senator Durbin and I, we spoke about the Senate seat, and he offered to
be a go between. I decided that my first choice I was going to try to
appoint the daughter of my political nemesis, the House speaker was
blocking a public works bill that would create 500,000 jobs he was
blocking, health care for over 300,000 families, working people in
writing.
And I wanted a guarantee in writing to not raise taxes
on people.
VAN SUSTEREN: They say they didn't bug
your office.
BLAGOJEVICH: The office downtown
Chicago, that conversation with Senator Durbin, my recollection was
there. Bu I spoke to Senator Harry Reid --
VAN SUSTEREN: On the phone?
BLAGOJEVICH: On the telephone from my
campaign office. I spoke to Harry Reid about the Senate seat, enlisting
his help. Senator Menendez, the head of the Senate campaign committee
for the Democrats, who expressed an interest --
VAN SUSTEREN: On the phone?
BLAGOJEVICH: On the telephone, working
out what was going to be what I called the best political deal in the
political history second to the Louisiana Purchase, because I was going
to hold my nose and appoint someone who I thought was working against
the people in many ways, but notwithstanding, her father was creating
legislation gridlock.
VAN SUSTEREN: Who else did you talk to?
BLAGOJEVICH: I spoke to Rahm Emanuel. I
spoke to several people. VAN SUSTEREN: Who are the sort of the
main players in this discussion of the Senate seat? Who did you talk to
-- I'm trying to figure out who is going to be on tape and who is not.
BLAGOJEVICH: I can't tell you that
VAN SUSTEREN: Who do you remember
talking to, to give me some idea?
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, I spoke to Senator
Reid, Senator Menendez, then Congressman Rahm Emanuel days after the
election right here from this room, and several other people about
potential scenarios on the Senate seat.
VAN SUSTEREN: A lot of the
conversations about the Senate seat maybe some that aren't on tape but a
lot are or should be because they are done by telephone?
BLAGOJEVICH: Most of the conversations I
was engaged in during that six week period had been tape recorded. VAN SUSTEREN: You mentioned President
Obama. You have filed notice to the court that would you like to
subpoena him. And you have enumerated a number of reasons. What is it
that you think Senator Obama -- President Obama, then-Senate Obama,
could offer you at trial on June 3rd that would be helpful to your case?
BLAGOJEVICH: I think President Obama
can help prove my innocence.
VAN SUSTEREN: How?
BLAGOJEVICH: Let me say this, before
anybody says I'm interested in bringing everybody down with me. That's
completely not the case. I've done nothing wrong.
What I'm interested in is for the whole truth to come
out that neither did I do anything wrong, President Obama didn't do
anything wrong, the senators that I talked to didn't do anything wrong
either. And so they should come into court and tell the truth as they
know it. Swear on the Holy Bible as I'm looking forward to do --
VAN SUSTEREN: I got that, but what is
it that -- the judge is going to say how is President Obama going to
help your case? He is going to ask that flat out to your lawyer. Tell me
how.
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, a lot of evidence
and information that I'm prohibited by court order because it is under
seal to tell you. So there's relevance connected to that.
VAN SUSTEREN: In the pleading your
lawyers talked about a conversation in December '08, a conversation.
President Obama called you?
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, I can't -- because
of the court order and me following the law I can't comment specifically
on those telephone conversations. My lawyers filed motions in court.
They redacted, as far as I understand, they redacted the substance of
those. There was a computer glitch apparently that made some of this
stuff unwittingly public -- the media found it.
VAN SUSTEREN: You see that still as
part of the seal?
BLAGOJEVICH: It is still part of seal.
VAN SUSTEREN: What is the breadth of
the gag order? What can you or can't talk about?
BLAGOJEVICH: I can't talk about the
evidence that we have and we know that is currently under seal, which is
as far as I know everything. I can tell you independently what I
recollect.
VAN SUSTEREN: Can you tell me
independently what recollect about the conversation you had with
President Obama in December of '08?
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, I don't think I
can. I don't think I should in that particular case. President Obama and
I, I can recall independently, spoke at the governor's event at the
Independence Hall in Philadelphia days before I was arrested.
VAN SUSTEREN: In person?
BLAGOJEVICH: In person. And a lot of
other governors --
VAN SUSTEREN: Was it about the Senate
seat, just generally?
BLAGOJEVICH: I don't think I should say
what we talked about. It will all eventually --
VAN SUSTEREN: If it is not about the
Senate seat, I have a hard time figuring out why he would be a witness
that the court is going to allow you to call.
The court ought to let you play any tapes that in any
way exculpate you or even tend to. They should let you call witnesses
that will help you in your defense. The one thing the court won't do is
let you call someone who doesn't have anything to benefit you.
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, there's information
and there's evidence that is under seal. And I'm prohibited by a court
order from specifically talking about those things --
VAN SUSTEREN: Even from what you
recollect?
BLAGOJEVICH: I feel like if I start
going into substance of conversations it is a slippery slope and I might
inadvertently cross the line.
VAN SUSTEREN: What is the line? What
does the gag order say you can and can't do?
BLAGOJEVICH: Again, the evidence that
we have access to that we had the chance to review, the taped
conversations.
VAN SUSTEREN: That's out, you can't
talk about the content of those.
BLAGOJEVICH: The FBI interviews. The
statements of potential witnesses, all those things are not something
that would be appropriate for me to comment on.
Let me also say in the case of President Obama and me,
and again, let me be very clear, I know absolutely no wrongdoing that
the president was involved in. And I know I was involved in no
wrongdoing. But there is a common political support of ours named Tony
Rezko who is relevant to both me and President Obama.
Again he wrote a letter to a federal sentencing judge --
VAN SUSTEREN: Is Rezko helpful to you
at your June 3rd trial?
BLAGOJEVICH: I can't comment about the
specifics of the case. VAN SUSTEREN: Is he on your witness
list?
BLAGOJEVICH: I'll leave that for the
lawyers to discuss.
VAN SUSTEREN: The president is not
going to appear on some wiretap?
BLAGOJEVICH: I'm telling you from my
reelection I don't recall talking to President Obama during that period
on the telephone.
The Blagojevich defense team has asked a federal judge to issue a subpoena to Barack Obama. This is breaking news, and details are few. More as available.
The court filing contained numerous blacked-out sections, but a computer glitch made them visible. (Here is an unredacted version of the motion. Click on the blacked-out sections; the unredacted material will appear below.)
No. 7 in the document below, alleges that Rod Blagojevich would appoint "Senate Candidate B" to the seat vacated by Barack Obama in exchange for being named the administration's Health and Human Services Secretary.
I haven't said much about Michael Steele and the oddities that keep popping up associated with his chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, but...now...I think he must step down. Steele has told a group DePaul University students that African Americans "don't have a reason" to vote for Republicans. Then he opined that some whites are afraid to be in the same room with him. It is time for Steele to move on.
Michael Steele
One of the easiest questions to answer, if you understand and believe in conservatism, is what the Republican party has to offer to students at DePaul University or any other university.
How about offering "opportunity," and "freedom" and "lower taxes" and "smaller government," as opposed to "a mortgage that you didn't have to qualify for and afford to pay each month." Steele, a self-described "Lincoln conservative," is a fine example of a very important principle: the color of your skin does not matter in the Republican party. This is has been proven over and over if you look at the political and cabinet appointments of George W. Bush.
I want to hear from Steele what the Democrat party has done for DePaul students.
Steele has found a way to rise to the top through the Republican party, but the man is not a believer in conservative principles. He must go. Now.
Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) crossed paths with Adam Sharp from the St. Louis Tea Party. It was not Hare's lucky day. It was not Hare's best day. The Congressman made the mistake of saying when it comes to health care, he "doesn't worry about the Constitution." See two videos below.
Phil Hare
Over and over Hare is asked "Where in the Constitution does it give you the authority to... [pass health care mandates].
Adam Sharp with the St. Louis Tea Party grilled Hare, who claimed he read the complete health care bill three times. Unfortunate for him, because Sharp (or perhaps someone with him) knew exactly how long it takes to read the monstrosity - 8100 pages at 1 minute per page, multiplied by 3 comes out to 405 hours spent on reading the bill by Hare. Hare asks if he is calling him a liar, and Sharp or whomever, says "I am."
The first video is a snippet of the "I don't care about the Constitution." The second video begins at the same venue in a townhall setting. Up front he tells the audience some people want him to kill the bill, and he says" that's not going to happen." THEN a young woman in the audience asks "where in the constitution does it say you can make me buy health care?" His answer is pathetic, and it certainly does not address the constitutionality of the law. Finally, he tries to tell the audience he "hears them." "Anyone can take the easy way out," he says. Someone says: "you did." The crowd reminds him that his constitutents did not want the bill. This crowd doesn't let him get away with that rhetoric. They also remind him that the government has no money. His answer is "Well...."
Then a man asks: "When in the hell are you people in Congress going to start acting like Americans - instead of traitors and communist pimps...."
He is pushed even more to tell them how the Constitution allows for the health care mandate. Hare's answer: I believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Sharp (I believe it is Adam Sharp speaking) says, "so, my pursuit of happiness is being forced to buy your product? Some woman is telling Sharp to "shut up."
The young woman who first asked the question about where the Constitution allows the mandates, has a quiet chat with Hare about abortion. Hare says he is Catholic, and he believes abortion is a mortal sin...but as a legislator he has a different job to do."
Rep. Phil Hare: Doesn't Worry about the Constitution (video)
Rep. Phil Hare and Adam Sharp - St. Louis Tea Party (video)
A 113 page indictment came down today against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his brother, Rob. Among 8 new charges is the accusation that Blogo tried to extort Rahm Emanuel and Emanuel's brother, Ezekiel Emanuel. Blago now faces a total of 24 counts.
The new charges are: racketeering, attempted extortion involving
Emanuel and his brother, bribery involving the CEO of Children's
Memorial Hospital, bribery involving a construction executive,
conspiracy to commit bribery involving a Racetrack executive,
conspiracy to commit extortion tied to appointing a U.S. Senator,
attempted extortion in relation to a U.S. Senate seat appointment and
conspiracy to commit bribery involving the senate seat appointment.
Bill Ayers is in the streets of Chicago protesting Obama's troop escalation in Afghanistan. Ayers and wife Bernardine Dohrn. The murder case of San Francisco policeman Sergeant Brian McDonnell , in February 1970, during a Weatherman bombing of the police station, was reopened in March 2009, and Dohrn and Ayers are believed to be implicated. Links to background on Obama's friend Bill Ayers, and quotes from him you should know about, are after the video.
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn
McDonnell took the brunt of the blast to his body and face. The bomb
was packed with inch-long industrial fence staples, which severed his
jugular vein and lodged in his brain. He would die two days later
without regaining consciousness.
The MiamiNewTimes reveals that two "credible eyewitnesses - both tied to the Weathermen, have given statements and at the least, Dohrn is in trouble.
The case against the Weathermen is far from complete. Still, given
the multiple witnesses tying the group's former members to the killing
of a police officer, some investigators say they are troubled by the
impunity with which Ayers and Dohrn have peddled a version of the past
wiped clean of bloodshed.
"I don't think they should be besmirched. I just think the truth should come out," said retired FBI Special Agent Willie Reagan,
who investigated the Weathermen in the 1970s and served on a task force
that reopened the investigation into McDonnell's murder in 1999.
"There's so much there. If you've ever been in a courtroom, you know
defense attorneys can create doubt about anything. But common sense
tells you something. Who else could it be?"
From the man who told America to "kill all the rich people...kill your parents, and shared an office with Barack Obama for three years while they cheated the children in Chicago schools out of millions...we are lectured about Afghanistan.
Judicial Watch is suing Chicago's Mayor Daley for withholding information relating to Valerie Jarrett's "ethics waiver," which supposedly allowed her to abandon White House rules and "spearhead" Chicago's failed bid for Olympics 2016.
Barack Obama - Valerie Jarrett
Notice in the following from Jarrett, the White House wanted to be in charge. Jarrett was to be the charge-or. In the past, has a White House ever tried to engineer the Olympics, or be responsible for the Olympics?
We wanted to have one point of contact in the White House who is
responsible to make sure everything runs smoothly," she told the
Tribune... "Our goal is to try to win the bid."
They failed.
Judicial Watch says Daley's "illegal" refusal to release documents is an effort to cover for President Obama, the "other side of Barack Obama's brain," Valerie Jarrett, and other White House officials.
President Obama tapped White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett to
lead the Olympics effort, despite her personal and business ties to
Chicago, which included a stint working for Mayor Daley. The Obama
White House granted Jarrett a conflict of interest "ethics waiver" to
allow her to serve as "Olympics Czar," despite her having personally
led the Olympics bid for Chicago before entering the White House.
(Other potentially conflicted White House officials with Chicago-ties
include Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Advisor David Axelrod.)...
Jarrett, who previously served as vice chair of Chicago 2016, needed
the waiver because the White House ethics pledge prohibits appointees
from dealing with matters "substantially related" to previous employers
or clients.
The Freedom of Information Act request was filed on September 5th. Daley's office did not acknowledge it until October 1, and then granted "itself" another 7 days extension. From that point on - silence from Daley until an administrative appeal was filed by Judicial Watch, with a response date of November 3rd. A Daley spokeswoman wants the scope of the documents narrowed, saying they have not seen the lawsuit, but would provide "responsive non-exempt" records.
Among the information the group seeks is, "[a]ll correspondence between
the Office of the Mayor and President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle
Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel [sic], Senior Advisor Valerie
Jarrett, the White House, and/or the Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and
Youth Sport regarding the City of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer
Olympics."
How do you take a housing facility, known as a "preservation for
affordable housing," bearing a $12 million mortgage, designate it for
demolition, sell it to the city of Chicago for $1,000.00
and then receive $1 million from a leftist foundation in preparation
for the - coming Olympics - which are not coming! Only the "other side
of Barack Obama's brain," Valerie Jarrett could bring about these
miraculous events.
Jarrett's company, Habitat Co., managed the Grove Parc apartments back in the days before she moved on up to the White House. Under her watch and management, Grove Parc fell into extreme disrepair, and all this happened while U.S. Senator Barack Obama represented the district where the apartment building is sitting.
Grove Parc is said to be located "in the shadows" of the proposed
Olympic Village, had the Olympics come to Chicago. I don't know what
"in the shadows" means, but it probably means that the Olympics Village
would have been at least close enough to Grove Parc to help the area -
because Valerie Jarret's management skills could not.
Jarrett is the chief executive of Habitat Co., which managed Grove Parc
Plaza from 2001 until this winter [2008] and co-managed an even larger
subsidized complex in Chicago that was seized by the federal government
in 2006, after city inspectors found widespread problems.
Boston.com on Grove Parc (read the whole article - take a look at Obama's connections):
Valerie Jarrett - Grove Parc
The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood
that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold
504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who
can't afford to live anywhere else.
Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage
backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the
condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad
the buildings now face demolition.
Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and
managed by Obama's close friends and political supporters. Those people
profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama's constituents
suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were
blighted.
Sarah Palin took a giant step and did something established Republican leaders seldom do (excepting Senator Jim Inhofe): she endorsed a conservative candidate over an establishment pick. Palin's endorsement of Doug Hoffman in New York's 23 Congressional District is driving the old boys crazy. See a priceless Scozzafava video below. See post- election update below.
Sarah Palin
This report says two National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) officials said they will continue to support Dede with $200,000-$300,000 in political ads between now and the November 3rd special election. Have you donated to the NRCC lately?
None of those hundreds of thousands of dollars will support Doug Hoffman, the conservative candidate. Sarah Palin endorsed him anyway because it is the right thing to do. While the deep pockets of the Republican party work on the assumption that a conservative cannot win the seat, Doug Hoffman is rising in the polls over Dede Scozzafava, but trailing the Democrat, Bill Owens.
It would be one thing if Scozzafava balanced that social liberalism
with fiscal conservatism. But as a state assemblywoman, she voted for
massive tax increases, Democratic budgets and a $180 million state bank
bailout. She also supported the trillion-dollar federal stimulus
package — which every House Republican voted against.
More from Malkin - read this and weep if you are conservative:
More troubling, Scozzafava in past elections has embraced the ballot
line of the Working Families Party — a socialist outfit whose political
DNA is intertwined with scandal-ridden ACORN. ACORN and the WFP have
shared office space in New York City, Arkansas and Illinois. ACORN head
Bertha Lewis, a close Scozzafava friend and political supporter, wears
a second hat as vice chairman of the WFP. The WFP has been listed in
ACORN documents dating back to 2000 as an “affiliate.”
I notice that Dede's "Latest Tweet," according to her website, announces that Senator Collins will "stump' for her. Well, of course she will.
Scozzafava's websites tell us about Dede: She is demanding that the $394 million in federal stimulus money, allocated for the "Weatherization Program" in her area be released, as well as more funds for "dairy farmers." The delay is unacceptable, she said, and she is demanding answers. I understand her frustration. I demand answers from the feds all the time and get nothing. Welcome to the club.
Newt Gingrich has a new book - he always has a new book, and once upon a time I bought them. Gingrich defends Scozzafava - without a single comment about her lack of conservative values. He says it is less than "clever" for Palin to step into this race. It is okay for Gingrich to do the same, of course. He thinks it is not smart to "go around the country and try to purge the party." And that, my friends, is why conservatives are where we are today.
If Dede loses, Gingrich says it will "guarantee Nancy Pelosi stays Speaker for the rest of her life." I desperately do not want that to happen, but I do not think Newt has all the answers.
While Gingrich signs autographs at local book shops, he should think about the hopelessness his viewpoint brings to a conservative. He is saying that the GOP must back the local choice, with no attempt to give voice to a real conservative. If we lose a seat, it will be devastating, but it will be even more devastating to give a Republican seat to a supporter of ACORN. We have to make a stand, and a start. I think the time is right.
So Hoffman has the momentum and a chance to win, while Scozzafava is
fading. It’s probably too late for the national and state Republicans
to reverse their foolish initial blessing of Scozzafava—but surely they
could at least stop attacking Hoffman, spend what money they’re going
to spend attacking Owens, give up on pressuring high profile
Republicans not to go in to help Hoffman, and therefore give Hoffman a
decent chance to win.
Well, absolutely - fight the Democrats, not the conservative.
The National Coalition of Tea Party activists issued this statement:
We are extremely disappointed that the Republican Party (and leaders
like Newt Gingrich) has missed the message of the Tea Parties and
continues to take conservative voters for granted. We applaud all
courageous statesmen (Fred Thompson, Michelle Bachmann, and Dick Armey)
and call on other GOP officials to put America’s values over
traditional, often corrupt and morally bankrupt, power structures.
November 3rd is just around the corner. Here's the latest polling I can find. Note that the Daily Kos Research poll "provides some encouraging news for Scozzafava: "despite a week of bad publicity." It shows her leading Hoffman among Republican voters, 46 to 27 percent.
Democrat Bill Owens leading Republican Dede Scozzafava 35 to 30
percent, with Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman at 23 percent.
The video below is priceless. I don't know how the guy standing to Dede's left kept a straight face:
Dede Scozzafava Surrounded by Hoffman Supporters - on television! (video)
Several of us have written about the status of Michelle Obama's law license. It is very confusing, and I can't say that I have it figured out completely, but I did discover some very interesting things, and I believe Michelle Robinson Obama voluntarily surrendered her license rather than go through some type of disciplinary action. This post is a recap of the information, and hopefully, much simpler to read and understand than the previous two articles.
Michelle Obama
The record keeper in Illinois for attorney registration, fees and oversight is the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) of the Supreme Court of Illinois.
Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs found the ARDC form online about December 2008, with Michelle's maiden name, Robinson, dated 1993. The form clearly says it is a "disciplinary record."
Some say the only way Michelle could choose to go inactive was to use a "disciplinary" form. Think about that for a minute. Do you really think a group of attorneys would put their name on a "disciplinary" form, when they have not been disciplined? Do you really think a proper form would not be available?
ARDC is governed by a set of rules. Michelle Obama became inactive through Rule 771. April 1, 2004, approximately 11 years after the First Lady went inactive in 1993, and the same year Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate, some "reorganizing" of the rules happened.
Rule 771 became Rule 770 which did not exist before April 1, 2004.
Rule 771 was originally titled Code of Professional Responsibility
Rule 771 was retitled Finality of Orders and Effective Date of Discipline
Rule 770 was born and was titled Rules of Professional Conduct
Rule 770 covered disbarment, suspension, censure, reprimand
It appears that the Finality of Orders and Effective Date of Discipline was separated from Types of Discipline.
Rule 756 became effective February 1, 1973. This rule is titled Registration and Fees. Rule 756 is the vehicle for becoming voluntarily inactive, for whatever reason you want to do so, unless you have reason to be considered under Rule 753 - review and hearings.
Note that if you were "voluntarily inactive" pursuant to former Rule 770 see Rule 756(7), you must make a "petition for restoration" under Rule 759, and your petition must be reviewed by the Administrator - I assume because Rule 770 covers only disbarment, suspension, censure, reprimand. The Administrator decides to consent to the application or refer it to the Hearing Board. If go inactive under 771 770, you cannot become active again without hierarchal consideration. That is not the case for normal restoration procedure.
Rule 759 pertains to those attorneys inactive due to "disability" or "hearing and review" (Rule 753). Rule 759 says that if an attorney is restored to active status under Rule 759, which is not the normal route to restoration, any "disciplinary proceedings pending against the attorney may be resumed.
Rule 753 "hearing and review" appears to be the first step before disciplinary action.
Lynn Stuter, another writer, did some great work on Michelle's legal standing. The ARDC sent records at her request. They sent Rule 770, which did not exist in 1993. The page said that 770 was "Reserved" - and - it had no text attached to it.
Both 771 and 770 dealt with professional responsibility and professional conduct. Neither dealt with voluntarily going inactive, simply because an attorney chooses to do so. That would be under Rule 756.
I'm not an attorney. I cannot make a conclusive statement about this, but I can consider what I and others have found, and make an educated guess. My guess is that Michelle Robinson Obama gave up her license rather than go through some type of investigative review which might become public. And if this is not the case, then what? Why not Rule 756?
See the ARDC disciplinary form for Michelle at Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs. One of Pams contributed the link to the ARDC rules.
What a great idea. Americans were out this weekend protesting the media: "Can you hear us now," was echoed outside CNN's Atlanta facility. The crowd was estimated between 500-1000 but in the first video below, it appears the crowd was much bigger than 500. More than 100 are said to have visited the St. Petersburg Times (FL), 100 in Portland, OR, "dozens" in Raleigh, N.C., 40 outside the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. Even Boston - "Can you hear us now," chanted outside the Boston Globe. Protesters had a more original chant for the New York CBS studios this morning: "CBS - Can't believe your stories."
CNN
Signs
Our Media Watchdogs Have Become Obama Lap Dogs
Advocating Barack's Communism (ABC)
The Silent Majority Roars, Can you Hear Us Now?
Facts = Viewers
ChicagoTeaPartyPatriots.com
ABC - The All Barack Channel
Boycott ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN News
Rham it down our throat in 2009, we'll shove it where the sun don't shine in 2010
Report the Truth
Give me Liberty, not Lies
Report Facts, Not Bias
CNN - Controlled News Network
The Sons of Liberty were riding - Constitutional Pitbulls. Love it, love it, love it!
Thanks much to Holger Awakens who has another rousing video.
I thank all of these patriots who took their weekend to be seen and be heard on my behalf.
Roger Ebert today called on his city of Chicago and Mayor Daley to use funds mandated for the Olympics to make life in the city safe for the city's Derrion Albert's. See video below. See Update below.
Clearly praising his city as "glorious," flower-filled," "towering," and "happy," he says: (see update below)
We were prepared to raise millions to prepare the city for the Olympics. Without missing a beat, we should devote our energy to preparing the city for a new generation of DerrionAlberts.
This will not require new "infrastructure" and all the delay, bureaucracy and waste that often implies. It will require investment in a resource we have in abundant supply: Human beings.
These are the words of heroic thinking. Most definitely, two thumbs up to film critic and author, Roger Ebert.
Derrion Albert is the 15-year-old Fenger High School honor student who was brutally beaten and murdered outside the Agape Community Center this week. The beatings were caught on video - someone videoed it - no information about who caught this terrible, terrible act live as it happened. Four are in custody and three are still sought and need identifying. See the video and read the details here.
Ebert knows what needs to be done:
We need to enforce safety, order and civility in our streets and schools, and act quickly. We need more crossing guards armed with cell phones. We need more police, who are heartbroken by the things they see, and need help. We need more teachers, and smaller classrooms.
We need separate schools for congenital troublemakers. I agree with the teacher's union that such students should be transferred quickly, not after months of delay. I trust school administrators and staffs to be fair in choosing students deserving a transfer. The Second Chance Academies must be well-staffed, high-security, and no-nonsense. They should be real schools, not holding pens.
In neighborhoods plagued by gangs or feuding cliques of teenagers, we need to enlist adults to monitor the sidewalks outside their windows, and call immediately when they see trouble.
The last paragraph above is critical, of course. Schools cannot stop gang violence by themselves. Police cannot stop it by sheer force and arrest. Community members must take back their communities.
Ebert says "Mayor Daley can do it." That is a great call to action. "Mayor Daley can do it." It fits nicely with the Obama chants: "Yes we can," "Hope and Change," and "Fired up?...Ready to go?"
Read more about Roger Ebert here.
Roger Ebert's Story of Cancer Survival (video)
Update 10-2-09:
President Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder is apparently traveling to Chicago, with Ann Duncan, the Secretary of Education to discuss Derrion Albert's death.
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