Barack Obama’s Chicagoland is a war zone. The community service model seems to have failed in Obama’s home base.
314 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in 2008, down from 904 in the previous year.
Chicago finished 2008 with 509 homicides, a 15 percent increase from 2007.
Chicago’s median number of homicides over the years average about 700 per year.
The combined total of 465 U.S. deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 2008 is lower than the 509 homicides in Chicago for same period.
Chicago the murder capital of the U.S. Where was Obama during this surge? Campaigning for the Presidency on the merits of his community involvement in Chicago.
Blagojevich with Pres-elect Barack Hussein Obama & Chicago Mayor Daley
Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich was taken into custody by federal agents in Chicago on corruption charges this morning. As reported by the Chicago Tribune Blagojevich was attempting to sell Pres-elect Barack Hussein Obama’s U.S. Senate chair.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning.
Blagojevich and Harris were arrested simultaneously at their homes at about 6:15 a.m., according to Frank Bochte of the FBI. Both were awakened in their residences and transported to FBI headquarters in Chicago.
In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himseld as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.
Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.
Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts, according to the charges.
“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.
“They allege that Blagojevich put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator; involved himself personally in pay-to-play schemes with the urgency of a salesman meeting his annual sales target; and corruptly used his office in an effort to trample editorial voices of criticism.”
Blagojevich is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan later today, according to Randall Samborn of the U.S. attorney’s office.
The Illinois Governor a day before charges were filed extolling his innocence and daring authorities to investigate him:
Among the Charges being made by the FBI (with more to come):
* a substantial salary for himself at either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;
* a spot for his wife on paid corporate boards, where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;
* promises of campaign funds — including cash up front;
* a Cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.
Barack Obama’s transition team is using Washington lobbyists for help, many private meetings are held with Washington corporate lobbyists at transition offices in and around Washington, DC.
This much to the dismay of many of Obama’s advisors.
According to Obama transition insiders, senior Obama staff have held or have scheduled meetings with lobbyists from the telecom, health-care, pharmaceutical, energy, and automotive industries, asking for their input into stimulus packages and for their assistance in lobbying the House and the Senate for tax credits and line item funding items for appropriations and budget items to be placed in legislation that may come before Congress before the Obama Administration takes office.
Many on the transition team fear this as another Clinton term:
“We ran against companies like that throughout the campaign, and now we’re getting in bed with them. It stinks, and we want it to end,” says the source. “I didn’t work my [tail] off for 18 months so we could become another Clinton Administration. I worked hard so we wouldn’t have an Administration like that ever again.”
More campaign promises broken by Pres-elect Barack Hussein Obama.
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