John McCain Votes to Filibuster Minimum Wage Hike

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain:

Senator John McCain joined his fellow Republicans to vote to maintain a filibuster on the minimum wage hike. This is clearly a vote to win him financial backing and support from the elites, but it is one that should come back to haunt him in his Presidential bid.

A hike in the minimum wage is supported by at least 75% of Americans -- that number includes a large percentage of Republicans. And it's an issue you can use to win -- as Sherrod Brown learned in Ohio, a state where I'm guessing McCain will want to perform well.

2008 will likely be the year when the rightwing economic vision and electoral reality collide into eachother. This vote is a clear example of how that will happen.

REPUBLICANS LAUNCH NEW ANTI-OBAMA AD UPON REZKO CONVICTION

Within 24 hours of the 16 count conviction of Tony Rezko, the RNC has launched a new ad highlighting the links between Barack Obama and his real-estate partner and fundraiser. Titled “Obama’s Money Man—link above.

WHY DID OBAMA PAY A CRIMINAL $64k FOR A TINY STRIP OF LAND?

[NRO]

Barack Obama’s friend and fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko was found guilty today of mail fraud, wire fraud, soliciting bribes, and money laundering in connection to a federal investigation into political corruption in the state of Illinois. Rezko now faces sentencing on 16 of 24 counts, some of which carry punishments of up to 20 years in prison.

Steven Spruiell thinks that Barack Obama is guilty “of maintaining a close relationship with Rezko long after it had become clear that Rezko’s primary business was buying and selling political influence for personal gain.” Spruiell writes:

“The following fact pattern was out in the open long before Obama severed his
ties to Rezko (sometime in late 2006): In 1983, Rezko started raising a lot of
money for Chicago politicians. In 1989, he and his partner Daniel Mahru started
vacuuming up deals with the city to develop low-income housing, despite having
virtually zero experience in the field. They proceeded to obtain over $100
million in city, state, and federal grants and bank loans to develop 30 run-down
properties into affordable-housing projects, earning $6.9 million for
themselves. By 2007, the city had sued them numerous times for failing to heat
these properties; over half of the properties had fallen into foreclosure, and
six of them were boarded up.”Obama helped put one of these deals together during
his time as a junior associate at Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland. Other
lawyers at Davis Miner helped Rezko acquire half of the properties that fell
into disrepair. And many of these properties were located in the district Obama
represented as an Illinois state senator. Nonetheless, Obama told the Chicago
Sun-Times that he was unaware of Rezko’s growing reputation as a slumlord until
he read Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak’s two-part
series on the subject. So we are to believe (yet again) that Obama was the last
person to know what one of his longtime friends was up to.

“Even if Obama can claim plausible deniability about the deteriorating shape of Rezko’s slums, he faces a more difficult challenge in explaining why he entered into a
real-estate deal with Rezko after the Chicago papers had run over 100 stories
about the clouds gathering over Rezko’s head. When the Obamas were looking for a
new house in the summer of 2005, Rezko helped them buy their dream home by purchasing an adjoining lot they could not afford, then selling them a strip of the land on which they wanted to build a fence.”

“Obama may have thought all of his interactions with Rezko were above-board, but they weren’t. One of the counts against Rezko detailed how he funneled the proceeds of an illegal kickback scheme into Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign. Rezko’s co-conspirator, a former trustee of the Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS) named Stuart Levine, told the jury that he directed the TRS to invest $50 million with a firm called Glencoe Capital. In exchange, Levine arranged for himself and Rezko to be paid a fraudulent $500,000 “finder’s fee.” Levine routed Rezko’s half to an associate named Joseph Aramanda in March of 2004. That month, Aramanda wrote a $10,000 check to Barack Obama’s campaign.”

It will be interesting to see, now that Rezko is facing 16 years in prison, whether the Chicago financier and convicted swindler will try to roll on his old friend Barack Obama in exchange for a reduction in his sentence. If that happens, this could be an interesting presidential election season indeed.

ANDERSON COOPER TELLS DONNA BRAZILE “I WANT TO BE YOUR BOO”

[WSJ Blog Buzzwatch]

To deem a person “my boo” is to effectively designate that person as one’s sweetheart.

Buzzwatch reports that last night, the phrase surfaced unexpectedly in CNN’s political coverage in an exchange between program host Anderson Cooper and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

Fending off Mr. Cooper’s attempt to get her to reveal details of a conversation with Barack Obama, Ms. Brazile said, “Anderson, you’re not my boo.” Mr. Cooper replied, “I want to be your boo,” prompting laughter among the assembled guests. “I’m not even sure what that means, exactly,” Mr. Cooper added.

The You Tube clip of the Cooper-Brazile exchange is linked above.

BTW, Trans World News reported in a related post that Anderson Cooper “is openly gay”. Now that is news to us.

OHIO MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO AL-QAIDA TERROR PLOT

[AP]

A Columbus, Ohio man has essentially admitted in federal court to being an al-Qaida sleeper agent by pleading guilty to charges that he planned terrorist attacks on behalf of the terror organization.

According to the AP story:

Christopher Paul, 44, pleaded guilty to a count that carries a maximum life prison sentence, but entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for a 20-year term.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost accepted the plea but said he would not give final approval to the deal until he sees the government's pre-sentence report, which is not expected for several months.

No sentencing date was set.

Paul pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction — specifically bombs — in terrorist attacks. Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide support to terrorists.

Paul, a U.S. citizen born and raised in Ohio, didn't make a statement; his attorneys left the court without commenting and did not immediately return messages. Paul was indicted in April 2007 and had been set to go to trial early next year.

The plea doesn't specify where Paul planned to use bombs. But the charge corresponds with a statement prosecutors presented in court Tuesday that Paul plotted with a German terror group to bomb Americans at home and abroad. Paul agreed in court to the accuracy of the statement.

The statement, read by FBI agent Tisha Hartsough, said Paul traveled to Germany in 1999 and trained members of an alleged terrorist cell knowing the group planned to make bombs and car bombs to use against Americans vacationing at overseas tourist resorts.

The statement said the German group also planned to use bombs against Americans in the United States and against overseas U.S. facilities such as embassies, military bases and consular premises. The government didn't say if any attacks were carried out.

Barack Obama, Democratic nominee for President

Obama Clinches Nomination:

Senator Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday evening, prevailing through an epic battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a primary campaign that inspired millions of voters from every corner of America to demand change in Washington.

WHERE DO CLINTON SUPPORTERS GO FROM HERE? VOTE MCCAIN OF COURSE!

According to Howard Finemen’s Newsweek story of tonight, Obama may offer Clinton the veep spot, but only if she promises through intermediaries to turn it down. Fineman also quotes sources very close to Mrs. Clinton who report that Clinton does not want the job.

We have previously said that if Clinton was on the ticket, we would feel honor bound to vote for Obama.

So it is with some relief that we read Fineman’s report, which if true leaves us free to support and vote for John McCain.

Our reasons?

We pulled our hair out when the US Supreme Court took the election away from Al Gore and elected George Bush.

Our main concern at the time (aside from out feeling that Al Gore won the election) was George W’s inexperience.

We listened to those that said, not to worry, he has “good people” behind him. And we thought after the Bush inauguration, maybe it will be OK, how much damage can a president do?

Well, it turns out, quite a lot. In fact, we are all very lucky that George W (and the “good people” behind him) did not cause WWIII. Not to mention the budget surplus which is now a huge deficit.

Now, the nation is poised to consider the candidacy of yet another potential president who has zero experience on the world stage, and little experience in life.

We have no doubt that Obama has good intentions, as did George W. Bush. But that his hardly the point.

We for one are not willing to go down that road again, with an inexperienced president—however well intentioned. The world is a far too dangerous place right now to go down that road again.

We are voting for McCain, and we are urging Hillary Clinton’s other supporters to do the same.