Category Archives: Announcements

Announcements

Blagojevich trial early January 2011, Update, Attorneys Adam Sr and Jr may represent Blagojevich pro bono

Blagojevich trial early January 2011, Update, Attorneys Adam Sr and Jr may represent Blagojevich pro bono

From the Chicago Tribune August 26, 2010.

“The judge who presided over Rod Blagojech’s corruption trial says he’ll likely set the retrial for early January and reiterated that he probably won’t allow the former governor to have more than two taxpayer-funded lawyers.

Judge James Zagel said today he would be open to allowing more attorneys if they volunteered their time, or allowing attorneys paid for by a benefactor.

Zagel said the trial date will likely be the first week of the new year, but not on Jan. 3, just after the New Year’s holiday.

The judge said the date revolves around the complications of getting a jury selected. That process lasts six to eight weeks, and begins with a questionnaire on whether prospective panelists can serve on a lengthy trial.

If that process started immediately, opening statements would be given in October and  jury deliberations could run into the holidays, Zagel said.

“We have a certainty that we’re dealing with deliberations in the last half of December, and that’s a bad time to do it – a distracted jury,” Zagel said.

A delay until January also will allow some of the publicity surrounding the case to die down, he said, and will lead to a jury pool that includes people who have a general memory of the case but not a specific one.”

“After the hearing, Blagojevich lawyer Sam Adam Sr. disputed reports that he and his animated lawyer son, Sam Adam Jr., had decided not to represent the former governor at a retrial.

Adam Sr. said he, his son and the other lawyers representing Blagojevich would discuss the makeup of the legal team for a second trial with their client, but allow him to make the final call on who stays and who goes.

Adam Sr. said everything would be on the table, including the possibility of seeking a plea deal, though he acknowledged that wasn’t likely since Blagojevich has said in recent media interviews that he would not do so.

“I have never discussed a possible plea with the government,” he said, stressing that prosecutors have never broached the idea of a deal either. “But I’ll discuss anything.”

“It’s up to him,” Adam Sr. said of Blagojevich. “He’s the client. Whatever he thinks is best we’ll do.”

And Adam Sr. said he would even consider remaining on the legal team and working for free if Blagojevich asked him to. “I’m prepared to do anything the client wants, including working for free. He’s our friend and he’s our client. ”

Read more:

Blagojevich retrial hearing, August 26, 2010, Judge James Zagel, Citizen Wells open thread

Blagojevich retrial hearing, August 26, 2010, Judge James Zagel

The retrial hearing for Rod Blagojevich takes place today, Thursday, August 26, 2010.

From the Chicago Tribune.

“The retrial of Rod Blagojevich could look decidedly different from the first go-around if the bombastic father-and-son team of Sam Adam and Sam Adam Jr. drop off the case, as the former governor’s lead lawyers have hinted since last week.

Both Adams have suggested they want out of a repeat performance, with the younger one telling attorneys in the case that it’s time for him and his father to move on, according to sources.

Sheldon Sorosky, another Blagojevich lawyer who could remain on a reduced two-member defense team, said Wednesday he believes the younger Adam, whom he described as a “legal Michelangelo,” may struggle to find the energy to tackle the mammoth task again.

Adam’s closing argument was marked by loud and passionate pleas, a flurry of government objections and even an apology for sweating on a juror.

Some answers could become apparent Thursday as U.S. District Judge James Zagel holds the first public status hearing since the trial ended last week, with the jury convicting Blagojevich of lying to the FBI about his knowledge of political fundraising but deadlocking on all the other 23 counts.”

“”The primary purpose (for the hearing) is to set a new trial date,” Sorosky said. “Then, as in any retrial situation, the second purpose — which this time may eclipse the first — is the lawyer situation.”

In a private conference last week with attorneys in the case, Zagel said he expects the former governor to be allowed just two lawyers for the retrial.

Blagojevich, who had seven attorneys for the first trial, has tapped out his $2.7 million campaign fund, which under Zagel’s supervision was used to pay his legal fees. Rules under the Criminal Justice Act allow a defendant whose defense is paid for with taxpayer funds to have no more than two lawyers.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/08/blagojevich-hearing-could-answer-question-over-lawyers.html

Obama a narcissist aligned with and influenced by Muslims, Citizen Wells open thread, August 21, 2010

Obama a narcissist aligned with and influenced by Muslims

“A light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come
down upon you, you will experience an Epiphany…and you will
suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”…Barack Obama

I have been listening to the debate which has occurred for several years and has come to a head recently about whether Obama is a Christian or a Muslim. One might as well debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Rush Limbaugh, with his normal clarity of thought and expression has nailed this issue. Why would Obama go to church to worship himself? Obama is a narcissist. His love is focused on himself.

The bottom line in this debate is what religion, what ideology does Obama most closely identify with. The answer is simple, Islam.

From Citizen Wells August 17, 2008.

“The following quotes are from the book “The Obama Nation” by Jerome Corsi unless otherwise stated:”

Obama’s Muslim background
“Obama did attend a government run public school in Indonesia and he
did receive Islamic instruction, including study of the Koran.”
“Out of the blue, Obama clearly states , “In Indonesia, I has spent
two years`at a Muslim school and two years at a Catholic school.””
“”In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I would pretend
to close my eyes , then peek around the the room. Nothing happened.
No angels descended. Just a parched old nun and thirty brown children, muttering words.””
“Tine Hahiyary afirmed that Barry Soetoro had been registered as a
Muslim and actively took part in the Islamic religious lessons.
“I remembered that Barry studied ‘Mengaji’ ” she told reporters.
Mengaji involves recitation of the Koran, a clear indication Barry did more than just “play” at being Muslim while he attended the public
school.”
“When the muezzin sounded the call to prayer, Adi remembered seeing
Lolo and Barry walk together to the makeshift mosque. “His mother
often went to church,” Adi told the Times, “but Barry was a Muslim.
I remember him wearing a sarong.””
 
“He too recalled Barry coming to the prayer room wearing a sarong.
He told Pakota that Obama was “quite religious in Islam, but after
marrying Michelle, he changed his religion.””
“Researching thoroughly the many news investigative reports done on
Obama’s Muslim background by the mainstream media in 2007, we even
find confirmation there from Obama’s sister that he was Muslim in
Indonesia. “My whole family was Muslim,” Maya Soetoro-Ng told the
New York times when interviewed about her early days in Indonesia.
“Most of the people I knew were Muslim.””

“Why Obama left TUCC
“Obama needed a Christian church in order to succeed in Chicago
politics. He selected Trinity because it best matched his personal
and political feelings. Then he dumped the entire relationship when
it got in the way of his presidential ambitions.”
Obama’s actions and associations
“Obama recited for Kristof the opening lines of the Arabic call to
prayer. The opening lines of the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer,
translated, read as follows, with each line repeated twice:
Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!
Allah is supreme! Allah is supreme!
I witness there is no God but Allah.
I witness there is no God but Allah.
I witness that muhammad is his prophet…
Kristof said Obama recited the prayer “with a first rate accent.””

“We have to ask whether Obama, by supporting Odinga openly in Kenya,
lent his name also to endorse Odinga’s leftist politics and Odinga’s
alliance with radical Muslims pushing Islam in Kenya.”

Read more:

Philip J Berg, Obama Muslim, Mosque at Ground Zero, August 20, 2010

Philip J Berg, Obama Muslim, Mosque at Ground Zero, August 20, 2010 

From Philip J Berg August 20, 2010.

“For Immediate Release:  – 08/20/2010
For Further Information Contact:
Philip J. Berg, Esquire         
555 Andorra Glen Court, Suite 12                         
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-2531
Cell (610) 662-3005
(610) 825-3134
(800) 993-PHIL  [7445]
Fax (610) 834-7659

philjberg@obamacrimes.com

Berg says it is “no surprise”
that Obama wants the Mosque near Ground Zero
as Obama is a Muslim !

Indonesia School Records
Indicate Obama was Adopted/Acknowledged
and his Name Became “Barry Soetoro”
his Nationality = Indonesia
his Religion = Islam = Muslim !

Obama/Soetoro has Catered to
Muslims since he became President

* * *
(Lafayette Hill, PA – 08/20/2010) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the first Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “Constitutional qualifications” to serve as President of the United States. 
 
Berg said, “It is ‘no surprise’ that Obama/Soetoro has endorsed the fact that a Mosque should be built near ‘Ground Zero’ as Obama is a Muslim !  The school records from Indonesia that can be seen on our website obamacrimes.com indicate that Obama was adopted/acknowledged by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, and Obama’s ‘legal’ name became ‘Barry Soetoro’; his nationality became ‘Indonesia’; and his religion was ‘Islam’ = ‘Muslim’.”

Berg continued, “Since Obama/Soetoro became President, he has catered to the Muslim community; he has travelled around the world ‘apologizing’ for the United States; he bowed down to the Saudi King, the Japanese Emperor and the leader of China.”

Berg remarked, “One of my supporters sent me the following email – ‘Let me be very clear, they can build the Mosque at Ground Zero when they give us a permit to build a church in Mecca!’ and it really speaks to the overall issue.  There are two [2] separate issues: 1) the rights guaranteed to us under the 1st Amendment to ‘our’ U.S. Constitution, that includes ‘freedom of religion’; and 2) on the other hand, where to build a certain Mosque.  There is no question as to the freedom of religion, but where to build involves ‘sensitivity’ to the people in the area where one wants to build.  The Muslims that plan to build the Mosque do not care about the ‘feelings’ of others; they just turned down the proposal from New York Governor David Paterson to meet with them and he would find State property for them to build their Mosque in another location in Manhattan.”

Berg continued, “I have received several emails with suggestions to place pig heads, pig blood and even whole pigs on the land set aside to build the Mosque near ground zero in New York.  The reason for this suggestion is due to the Muslim Religion not allowing touching anything a pig has touched.  I do not agree with the building of the Mosque near ground zero; however, interfering with a Religion is considered ‘Hate’ crimes and is very serious.  ‘Hate’ crimes, which I do not believe in nor will I endorse, carry severe penalties, they are felonies and can be prosecuted State or Federally.  One cannot attempt to just hold up one part of the U.S. Constitution and not the other parts.  The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees all ‘Freedom of Religion.’  Again, we do not agree with the building of a Mosque at ground zero; however, there are legal ways to oppose the building of this particular Mosque, without breaking our State and Federal Laws.”
Berg commented further regarding Obama by saying, “I believe Obama probably prays to his Muslim religion with others that he invites into the White House, and that is his right and privilege.  Obama’s twenty [20] years with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago was questionable as to the sermons given and what Obama took from them.  It is unbelievable that Obama did not know the Reverend Wright as others did.  Also, according to sources, the Trinity United Church had many members who were and are Muslims.”

Berg continued, “The pressure is building to force Obama/Soetoro to admit that he is an Imposter, a Fraud, a Phony and his tale is the largest ‘Hoax’ in the history of the United States, over 234 years.  Actually, the pressure is building because the overwhelming evidence is that Obama/Soetoro was born in Africa and more important is the fact that Obama was adopted/acknowledged by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, in Indonesia and Obama’s ‘legal’ name became ‘Barry Soetoro’ and there is no evidence that he has legally changed his name and therefore, every time he uses the name of ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ he has and is committing fraud.”

Berg concluded, “I am in the final days of planning for the largest March/Rally in Washington, DC in October 2010 to force Obama/Soetoro to step down from the Office of President, a position he is not Constitutionally eligible to be President as he is an ‘Usurper’ and he has led our country into a Constitutional crisis.  When Obama/Soetoro steps down, all of the laws, appointments and programs including ObamaCare will end because all of them are ‘voidable’”.

For copies of all Press Releases and Court Pleadings, go to:
http://obamacrimes.com

Obama passport and Muslim ties, Passport breach, Citizen Wells open thread, August 20, 2010

Obama passport and Muslim ties, Passport breach

I will be revisiting Citizen Wells articles from the archives from time to time. Here is one from February 9, 2010 that is relevant to current events.

“Obama passport files violated; 2 workers at State fired; 1 rebuked”

“Two State Department employees were fired recently and a third disciplined for improperly accessing electronic personal data on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Bush administration officials said today.
The officials, all contract workers, used their authorized computer network access to look up files within the department’s consular affairs section, which processes and stores passport information, and read Mr. Obama’s passport application and other records, in violation of department privacy rules, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.”

“Passport application data includes such details as date and place of birth, e-mail address, mailing address, Social Security number, former names and travel plans. Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961 to a Kenyan father and American mother. He lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, from age six to 10.”

“Obama has a dual citizenship with Kenya. His passport was breached today by inquiring minds because Obama is an anti-Israel pro-pan-arabism Islamic-socialist who has ties to marxist Libyan president Muammar al Gadaffi, Syrian tycoon Antoin Rezko, Saudi Arabian sheikhs, and Rezko’s “close friend” 3.5 million money pal Auchi, the one who gave Obama fundraiser money: Iraqi billionaire global arms dealer Nadhmi Auchi, was Baathist best friends with Saddam Hussein, and the main financial backer for Saddam’s Iraqi-Saudi oil pipeline, and who stood trial with Saddam in 1959 for conspiring to assassinate Iraqi President Qasim, (Saddam even killed Auchi’s brother, but they remained best friends), also marxist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is on the frontline supporting Obama for the revolution of the change, and then there’s hardcore anti-Israel, pro-Palestine PLO enforcer Rashid Khalidi, (Obama was on Khalidi’s Woods Fund). Obama was a member of the Woods Fund with communist domestic terrorist Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground who bombed the Pentagon, the US Capital, among other things, and their organization raised money for anti-Israel programs, and also AAAN, for Arabs, and then there’s especially Kenya… where in August of 2007 Obama went to support his E. Germany communist educated cousin Raila Odinga for Kenyan presidential election who claims, coincidentally, to also be a Christian yet who signed NAMLEF and other pacts with radical Muslims who set churches filled with Christians on fire, and macheted them in the streets, causing a political and religious mini-civil war over the MuO.
Sorry folks, I studied all of Obama’s mentors, buddies, political affiliations, organizational memberships, and all of his *hard-core militant Muslim* family members, like his brother Abongo “Roy” Odinga who hates America, and their communist grandfather who ran with Russia and hated America, not to mention his socialist connection to his profound childhood mentor Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Communist Party, CPUSA, and…well, we know Pastor Wright, Jesse Jackson, Jesse Jackson JR, Al Sharpton, and Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan….and they have a *few* issues with america, white people, and jews—> so simply reverse it, and you’ll see they care about: Africa, Blacks, and Muslims, which can be corroborated by things they have said along with their affiliations.”

“I repeat, this was written on March 21, 2008.”

Read more

Did anyone notice on the passport presented by the White House recently that part of the blurred out data is revealed?

Blagojevich retrial, Rezko and Levine must be witnesses, Leonard Cavise, DePaul University law professor, Evidentiary Proffer

Blagojevich retrial, Rezko and Levine must be witnesses, Leonard Cavise, DePaul University law professor, Evidentiary Proffer

It was clear to experts and novices alike that Tony Rezko and/or Stuart Levine had to be called as witnesses in the Rod Blagojevich trial. Tony Rezko’s name was mentioned approx. 288 times in the Evidentiary Proffer. When Judge James Zagel stated that Rezko was a bad witness, our collective jaws dropped. Stuart Levine, the key witness in the Rezko trial was not only enmeshed in corruption, he was a long time drug user.

From Citizen Wells July 29, 2010

“If I were a Blago juror …”

“If I were a juror, I’d wonder why we never heard from so many of the allegedly bad guys — Tony Rezko, Stuart Levine — mentioned by the prosecution.”
“As noted in part 5 of this series, Tony Rezko’s name was mentioned approximately 288 times in the Evidentiary Proffer. The above numbers reveal that of the evidence presented in the Proffer, 38 pages are loaded with names and corruption activities tied to Blagojevich from 2002 to mid 2008. And yet neither Tony Rezko or Stuart Levine were called as witnesses. And just as predicted and warned about here, the focus of the trial was the selling of Obama’s senate seat.”

Read more

An expert on law has commented on Rezko and Levine being called as witnesses. Leonard Cavise is a DePaul University law professor. From the DePaul website.

“Biography

Professor Cavise has a long background in litigation , both criminal and civil, including substantial pro bono litigation. In addition, he has worked in international human rights for many years, including lectures and training sessions in El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Venzuela, Italy, France and other locations throughout the world. Several projects were designed to train Latin American human rights lawyers in the art of trial advocacy. In 1999, he founded the Chiapas Human Rights Practicum and has taken law students to work in human rights offices in Chiapas every year since then. He was the Director of DePaul’s Lawyering Skills Program from 1983 until 1990.”

http://www.law.depaul.edu/faculty_staff/faculty_information.asp?id=10

From the Chicago tribune, Cavise’s comments.

“A day later, all that was clear was that Blagojevich would have another day in court. What was less certain was what changes could be made to the prosecution case next time around, who would represent the governor at his retrial and how that defense would be paid for.

Experts differed on what the government might do as it makes another attempt at proving Blagojevich tried to leverage the powers of his office — including the appointment of a U.S. senator to fill the seat once held by President Barack Obama — to enrich himself and his campaign fund.
Some predicted that prosecutors would just slightly adjust their case or possibly leave it the same, while others suggested the next go-round could be much more drawn out.

Former federal prosecutor Dean Polales said he thinks the pr
osecution’s case will only be tweaked, especially since jurors reported an 11-1 split in favor of conviction on many of the major counts in the indictment.
“You’ve got an outlier juror,” Polales said. “That’s hard (for the defense) to duplicate in a future trial.”

But Leonard Cavise, a DePaul University professor, suggested the government will need to do more at the retrial, possibly leading to a longer presentation of evidence. He said he believes the government may try to avoid another deadlocked jury by using fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko and political fixer Stuart Levine as witnesses.

Both men have agreed to cooperate, but prosecutors chose not to call them this summer in part because of the baggage both bring.
“If the prosecution insists on going forward, I have two words for them: Rezko and Levine,” Cavise said. “They know where all the bodies are buried.””

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/blagojevich/ct-met-blagojevich-retrial-20100818,0,2911219.story

Blagojevich jury holdout, Jo Ann Chiakulas, End justifies the means, Hand of God?, Citizen Wells open thread, August 19, 2010

Blagojevich jury holdout,  Jo Ann Chiakulas, End justifies the means

From ACE OF SPADES HQ.

“Here’s what Fox local news in Chicago reports:
Jurors who have been interviewed so far will not identify the juror, other than to say the juror was a female.
FOX Chicago News reported that speculation is centering on juror Jo Ann Chiakulas of Willowbrook, after a second-hand acquaintance said that she has been saying for weeks that she would find Blagojevich not guilty.

Chiakulas is a retired director from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Contacted Tuesday night, she told FOX Chicago News she would call on Wednesday if she wished to talk about the case.

On one count at least, Chiakulas voted with her fellow jurors, agreeing to convict Blagojevich of lying to federal agents.

Note that that is not yet confirmed. It is now confirmed by CBS local news Chicago.

They actually could have reported more — because pre-trial, they had this to say about a female “retired public health director” on the jury panel:
Juror # 106, a black female believed to be in her 60s, is a retired state public health director who has ties to the Chicago Urban League. She has handed out campaign literature for a relative who ran for public office. She listens to National Public Radio and liberal talk radio shows.

Media accounts mention the campaign literature, but they don’t mention NPR and liberal talk radio. Why?

We know they read this description — why do they end their repetition of it at that point?

The media is quick to stereotype conservative-tilting Americans and attribute to them bad motives.

Think they’ll do the same here?

What were her motives for so egregiously ignoring the law to set a guilty man free that her fellow jurors had to confront her with her own oath to render a true verdict?

Ties to the Chicago Urban League?
The Chicago Urban League supports and advocates for economic, educational and social progress for African Americans through our agenda focused exclusively on economic empowerment as the key driver for social change.
The Chicago Urban League provides African Americans with the tools, the programs and the experiences to help them reach their full economic potential. We are committed to growing Chicago’s African-American workforce and business community with well-informed pursuit of the following four strategies….
So she’s sort of hooked up with… community organizers?”

Read more:

http://minx.cc/?post=304818

This information surprises none of us. For the far left, the guiding principle seems to be the end justifies the means.

This woman is no worse than the judges, election officials and others who have ignored the US Constitution to justify the end.

And furthermore, this may be a blessing in disguise. For starters, this has highlighted the weak case of the prosecution and the failure to present a smoking gun, aka, Tony Rezko. This also brings more attention to the case and thus Obama and his fellow thugs and cronies. The prosecution may actually have to step up to the plate and present evidence. And who knows, perhaps Patrick Fitzgerald will unhitch his wagon from a falling star. And of course, it presents another platform for me and others to reveal the truth about Blagojevich and Obama. 

Perhaps the hand of God touches this.

Blagojevich retrial, Protecting Obama, Patrick Fitzgerald conspirator?, Fitzgerald and Justice Dept delayed arrest of Blagojevich

Blagojevich retrial, Protecting Obama, Patrick Fitzgerald conspirator?, Fitzgerald and Justice Dept delayed arrest of Blagojevich

Patrick Fitzgerald has zero credibility with me. However, with rats jumping ship left and right, will Fitzgerald throw Obama under the bus?

From the Chicago Tribune.
“Moments after a rare setback, a chastened U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was acting nothing like the swaggering prosecutor who just 20 months earlier proclaimed he had arrested a sitting governor to stop a political crime spree.

He would not take questions from reporters about his office’s failure to convict former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on 23 counts against him, winning a guilty verdict only on a single count of lying to the FBI,  among the least serious of the charges he faced.

Instead, Fitzgerald vowed to retry the case, then quickly ending his news conference.

“So, for all practical purposes, we are in the mode of being close to jury selection for a retrial,” he said.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/08/defense-jubilant-prosecutors-look-to-retrial.html

From the Chicago Tribune.

“The counts on which the jury could not agree framed the heart of the government claims that Blagojevich schemed to profit from his post from his earliest days in office and in the 2008 attempted to auction off the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.”

“Lawyers in the case are to be back in court Aug. 26, possibly to pick a retrial date. Prosecutors are expected to push for the case to be back before a jury this fall, while the defense is likely to drag its heels and promised to appeal the single count the former governor was convicted on.
While gaining a conviction of the former governor on one count, the result of the trial was a far cry from the sweeping convictions in public corruption cases that Fitzgerald and his prosecutors have grown accustomed to. In his nine years at the helm of the prosecutor’s office here, Fitzgerald has secured guilty verdicts for an array of public officials, ranging from aldermen to the patronage chief for Mayor Richard Daley to Blagojevich’s predecessor as governor, Republican George Ryan.
The government case against Blagojevich was a vivid example of how slowly the wheels of justice can grind in public corruption cases. Blagojevich was arrested just weeks after he allegedly began plotting to sell Obama’s Senate seat, but federal agents had been probing wrongdoing in the governor’s administration since at least 2004 — his second year in office — and questioned Blagojevich for the first time in 2005 during his first term.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/08/blagojevich-convicted-on-1-of-24-counts.html

Thanks to the Tribune for pointing out that Blagojevich was under scrutiny at least by 2004.

Now for the rest of the story.

From Citizen Wells July 15, 2010
“The question is, why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”

“The US Justice Department had plenty of evidence indicting Rod Blagojevich by 2006. Why did the US Justice Department wait until December 2008, after the election, to arrest Blagojevich?”

“From in or about 2002 to the present, in Cook County”

“Since approximately 2003, the government has been investigating allegations of illegal activity occurring in State of Illinois government as part of the administration of Governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH.”

“Timeline is revealing

Patrick Fitzgerald was aware of Blagojevich’s corruption in 2003

“Pamela Meyer Davis had been trying to win approval from a state health planning board for an expansion of Edward Hospital, the facility she runs in a Chicago suburb, but she realized that the only way to prevail was to retain a politically connected construction company and a specific investment house.

Instead of succumbing to those demands, she went to the FBI and U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in late 2003 and agreed to secretly record conversations about the project.””

Patrick Fitzgerald and US Justice Dept. delayed Blagojevich arrest

Blagojevich jurors speak out, No smoking gun presented, Rezko for example, Citizen Wells open thread, August 18, 2010

Blagojevich jurors speak out, No smoking gun presented, Rezko for example

From the Chicago Tribune August 18, 2010.

“”They were very strong personalities,” foreman James Matsumoto said of the jurors. “They were all independent thinkers.”

He said he would have convicted Blagojevich on all counts, saying that the case slowly built, “layer upon layer.”

“You just say, ‘God, what was he doing?’ You find out here they were selling seats on boards and commissions. That to me was shocking,” Matsumoto said.

But in the end, he said, the “lack of a smoking gun” was too much of a hurdle for jurors to reach more than the one unanimous decision.

“We deliberated logically and with respect for each other’s opinions,” Matsumoto said. Still, he added, “it was very frustrating.”

Erik Sarnello, 21, of Itasca, said a female juror who was the lone holdout on convicting Blagojevich of attempting to sell the Senate seat “wanted clear-cut evidence, and not everything was clear-cut.”

Sarnello, a sophomore at College of DuPage studying criminal justice, said the main problem with the prosecution’s case was that it was all over the place.

“It confused people,” he said. “They didn’t follow a timeline. They jumped around.”

The foreman said jurors came close to convictions on a number of the 24 counts — as close as 11-1 — but remained far apart on others.”

Read more:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/blagojevich/ct-met-blagojevich-verdict-jury-20100818,0,1234825.story

Obviously, Tony Rezko is the biggest smoking gun.

Terry Lakin, US Military, Stand by Lakin and military, Citizen Wells open thread, August 17, 2010

Terry Lakin, US Military, Stand by Lakin and military

I have not forgotten about LTC Terry Lakin. I stand by him now and going forward. Lakin is a true patriot. Lakin’s superiors, if they do not uphold their oath to defend the US Constitution and question Obama and his orders, are cowards and treasonous. I am prepared to say it to their face.

I received the following in an email this morning. Another reason to support our military.

“The story is about Channing Moss, who was impaled by a live RPG during a Taliban ambush while on patrol. Army protocol says that medivac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him. Even though they feared it could explode, the flight crew said damn the protocol and flew him to the nearest aid station. Again, protocol said that in such a case the patient is to be put in a sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait (and die) until others are treated. Again, the medical team ignored the protocol. Here’s a short video put together by the Military Times, which includes actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went to West Point , removed the live round with the help of volunteers and a member of the EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) team. Moss has undergone six operations but is doing well at home in Gainesville , GA. I think you’ll find the video absolutely remarkable.”

http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/?bcrefid=808163493#/Live+RPG+removed+from+soldier/51745112001