ANOTHER CHICAGO DEMOCRAT TONY'D UP?

We have yet another in a long line of people it would have been more than just a little interesting to see testify in the Rod Blagojevich trial. His name is Alexi Giannoulias and he is the Democrat candidate for Senate this year. Instead, the Blagojevich defense team didn't call any witnesses, including Giannoulias, who was caught in several conflicting statements and claims courtesy of audio recordings presented by the prosecution and witness testimony.

Another interesting aspect to the trial came courtesy of a recording that was played of a conversation between Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris on November 12th, 2008. Also known as Session 545, you can HEAR Blago tell Harris that "This guy (Obama) is more Tony'd up than I am." The former Illinois governor was referring to his belief that the reason Obama wasn't willing to make a deal with Blago for his Senate seat replacement was because of Blago's ties to Rezko.

Now we have Alexi Giannoulias, who appears to be a little "Tony'd up" himself according to the Chicago Sun-Times:

By February 2006, businessman and political fixer Tony Rezko was already politically radioactive, caught up in a federal investigation that would see him criminally charged by the end of that year.

News reports had linked Rezko, a key adviser and campaign fund-raiser for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to shady deals involving state pension funds -- among the crimes that ultimately would send him to prison.

This was the Tony Rezko who, looking for millions of dollars for a massive South Loop development, turned to Broadway Bank, owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias, the Democrat now running for U.S. Senate, had left his post as a senior loan officer at the Chicago bank in late 2005 to mount a successful campaign for Illinois state treasurer, though he still held an ownership stake in the bank.

Rezko's company asked. And Broadway Bank came through.

On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko.

The outcome of the corruption trial of Blagojevich was almost inexplicably fortuitous for the Obama administration, which was at great risk of political catastrophe averted when the defense failed to call even one witness, Giannoulias among those subpoenaed.

However, there were very important things revealed in the trial. Notably, in private conversations, it became apparent that Obama didn't want Blagojevich joining them in Washington, D.C. That also very likely included not wanting him to appoint himself to Obama's old Senate seat. Now that Giannoulias appears to be at least as "Tony'd up" as Blagojevich was - perhaps more - the White House has got to be looking at these findings with a bit of anxiety.

Read it all.

h/t to Hot Air

VIDEOS: RETIRED LEADERS WHO SHOULDN'T HAVE

Billy Joel sang that 'Only the Good Die Young'. After watching Lt. General Jerry Boykin talk about why the Ground Zero mosque cannot and should not be built and Lt. Colonel Allen West talk about why he left the military, you'll wonder if only the good Generals and Colonels retire. As for Boykin's message, it's crystal clear. Construction of the Cordoba House mosque would not only be a symbolic victory for the Islamic world but it would serve to unite Muslims against the United States and put our security at much greater risk.

This really isn't hard to comprehend but for some reason, not nearly enough do.

Via Erik Stakelback at Big Peace:



Also via Big Peace, is this highly inspirational video featuring Lt. Col. Allen West, also retired. However, West IS running for Congress in Florida:

ARIZONA SHERIFF THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET WITH FEDS

Make no mistake. Sides are being chosen and lines are being drawn. Government officials are being held accountable at all levels to uphold their oaths to protect and defend against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. An Arizona sheriff in Pinal county named Paul Babeu has now publicly stated where he stands and it is against the Federal government, which he has identified as the enemy in his state's battle to deal with the illegal immigration problem which, as he says, has serious implications for the entire country.

Via CNSNews:

“Our own government has become our enemy and is taking us to court at a time when we need help,” Babeu said.

Babeu and Sheriff Larry Dever of Cochise County Ariz., spoke by phone with CNSNews.com last week about the May 17 ACLU class-action lawsuit, which charges the law uses racial profiling and named the county attorneys and sheriffs in all 15 Arizona counties as defendants. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on July 6, charging the Arizona law preempted the federal government’s sole right to enforce immigration law.

“If the president would do his job and secure the border; send 3,000 armed soldiers to the Arizona border and stop the illegal immigration and the drug smuggling and the violence, we wouldn’t even be in this position and where we’re forced to take matters into our own hands,” Babeu said.
Dever said the federal government’s failure to secure the border and its current thwarting of Arizona’s effort to control illegal immigration within its borders has implications for the entire country.

It cannot be overstated that our Federal government is not only refusing or unable to do its job to enforce immigration laws. It is now actively preventing that enforcement; it is literally a lawless government by definition and SB 1070 has proven it, regardless of Judge Susan Bolton's attempt to de-fang it.

Read it all.