Obama's turn on panic peddling the economy

Two days ago I blogged about Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and his panic peddling of the "recession" we are in.

Today Barack Obama entered a high school auditorium, to the chants of "Yes we can" and then told the audience that the economy is in a "No we can't" mode.

Once again, we are not in a recession. But doom-and-gloom talk, such as the type that came out of the mouth of the Illinois senator who stands for "Hope" just might put us in one.

"Our economy is in serious trouble," Obama said. "You can feel it in your own lives and see it in your own communities. I hear it everywhere I go."

"We don't have to sit here and watch our leaders do nothing," he said to a cheer and standing ovation from the crowd. "That's why I'm running for president today. ... I'm running because we can't settle for a Washington where John McCain (the Republican senator who has locked up the GOP nomination) gets the chance to give us four more years of the same Bush policies. ... It hasn't worked in the past and it won't work for our future."

Technorati tags: Election Democrats Schumer senate congress economy business New York recession Obama Barack Obama John McCain McCain Republican GOP

Obama and Clinton split Guam's four delagates

It looks like today's Guam Caucuses won't solve it all. Out of over 4,500 votes cast, Barack Obama topped Hillary Clinton by just seven votes. As for Guam's four delagates, the two will split them.

Technorati tags: Guam Hillary Clinton hillary Election Democrats Obama politics Barack Obama

Guam Democratic Caucuses today

It's just four delegates, but neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton are overlooking today's Guam Caucuses. Usually it's ignored, but both candidates have conducted interviews with the local media, and purchased advertising.

If you want to learn more about Guam, you may want to take a look at the book written by friend-of-the-blog Pat Hickey, The Chorito Hog Leg, Book One a Novel of Guam in Time of War.

Technorati tags: Guam history World War II books Hillary Clinton hillary Election Democrats Obama politics Barack Obama

Conservative defeats "Red Ken" Livingstone in London mayoral race

There are other elections besides next week's North Carolina and Indiana Democratic Presidential Primaries. Municipal elections were held in England and Wales today, and in the first major electoral test since becoming prime minister, Gordon Brown's Labour Party performed poorly. The Conservatives were the benefit of Labour's demise, and the Tories won today's big prize--the mayor's office in London.

"Red Ken" Livingtsone is out as mayor of Great Britain's largest city. And that's good news.

Among the lowlights of Livingtone's long career:

In 2005, the mayor compared Muslim-bomber apologist Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to Pope John XXIII.

That same year, Livingstone told a Jewish reporter he was a concentration camp guard.

A year prior, Red Ken said that President Bush was "the greatest threat to life on this planet that we've most probably ever seen. The policies he is initiating will doom us to extinction."

Here's a whole list of anti-Semitic statements made by the mayor. He apologized for those statements in 2006.

To his credit, Livingstone spoke eloquently in favor of civilization after London's 7/7 terrorist attacks.

Technorati tags: UK Britain united kingdom London england Wales Ken Livingstone Boris Johnson anti-Semitism Gordon Brown

Rezko trial: Is a deal near?

Here's what CBS 2 Chicago's Mike Parker has to say this evening:

There's speculation Friday that Rezko could be ready to cut a deal.

It's possible that Ali Ata's testimony, something Antoin "Tony" Rezko's attorneys weren't figuring into their defense strategy, has had a chilling effect on the defense. Ata pleaded guilty to two charges just last week, and agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for sentencing leniency.

Stuart P. Levine provided detailed accounts of Rezko's alleged schemes, but the former hard-drug abuser probably isn't the most credible witness. He pleaded guilty under similar circumstances two years ago.

Prosecutors have audio tapes of some of Rezko's machinations to back up some of Levine's charges.

Ata is expected to finish his testimony on Monday and the prosecution may rest their case later that day. As for the defense, they may need just a day and a half to present their side.

From AP:

After eight weeks of evidence and 34 witnesses in Tony Rezko's corruption trial, it was the last-minute testimony of a former Blagojevich appointee Thursday that finally put illicit cash in Rezko's hands.

Ali Ata, onetime executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority, told how, at Rezko's demand, he would pull piles of cash from a safe for payoffs -- once to keep a lien from being slapped on Gov. Blagojevich's home, another time to pay the debt of an adviser to the governor.

Ata was the last major witness before the prosecution rests--probably Monday. He testified that he bought his state job. Ata told jurors that, although Rezko wasn't a state employee, he had to report to Rezko while heading the finance agency, having to "take orders and listen," or "not show up to work the next day."

More...

Once, Ata said, in early 2004 he met Rezko at a restaurant on Touhy west of the Edens Expy. "He said there were contractors there at the restaurant that needed to get paid because they had done work on the governor's house," Ata said, adding that Rezko told him: "If they don't get paid, they will file a lien, and it will be embarrassing for everybody."

It sure would be.

Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy, challenged Ata's description of Rezko's reach, and during cross-examination, Ata told the court that he had known Blagojevich, his wife, and the governor's father-in-law, Alderman Richard Mell, for more than a dozen years.

The trial's judge, Amy St. Eve, says she wants closing arguments to begin May 12.

But a lot could happen in the next ten days.

Rezko has also been indicted in a separate case involving the sale of his pizza restaurants.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Election Democrats Chicago Tony Rezko corruption legal Blagojevich Ali Ata