Barack Obama's Skeleton Closet?

This is from http://www.realchange.org/obama.htm, a non-partisan website which reports on all candidates. In fairness, I have included this because I also listed Senator John McCain's "skeletons." Fair and balanced, don't you know.

Barack Obama is a genuine trend (or is he a fad?) without Americans knowing much of anything about him. He started his public career with an unusual move--- writing a book where he talks about using cocaine. It's unconventional, but damned if it doesn't look like it just might work.
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Quotes
"I think very highly of Hillary. The more I get to know her, the more I admire her. I think she's one of the most disciplined people I know. She's one of the toughest. She's got an extraordinary intelligence, and she's somebody who's in this stuff for the right reasons. She's passionate about moving the country forward on issues like health care and children." -- Barack Obama
"It was a mistake to have been engaged with him [Antoin Rezko] at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor" -- Barack Obama
"There's no doubt that this was a mistake on my part. 'Boneheaded' would be accurate. There's no doubt I should have seen some red flags in terms of me purchasing a piece of property from him." - Barack Obama
Cocaine
Long before he ever ran for political office, Obama wrote a book about, well, himself, and his amazing his journey from messed up kid to, um, himself. It was quite an epic, considering he was 34 at the time.
In that book, called "Dreams From My Father", he writes that he used marijuana and cocaine ("maybe a little blow".) Oddly enough, he writes that he didn't try heroin because -- wait for it -- he didn't like the pusher who was selling it. (Weren't there any other reasons?) In a later interview, he added "Teenage boys are frequently confused."
Favors For (and From) A Shady Chicago Businessman
Barack Obama has been friends with Antoin ("Tony") Rezko since at least 1990. Barack interviewed with Rezko for a job in the early 1990s (offered, but declined), and has raised at least $150,000 for Obama's campaigns. Prosecutors charge that at least $10,000 of the money Rezko gave Obama was extorted in return for political favors by a different politician. In return, Barack arranged an internship in 2005 for John Aramanda, the son of a Rezko business associate (Joseph Aramanda, who himself gave Barack $11,500.)
There's more. In June, 2005, Obama bought a house in Chicago for $1.65 million ($300,000 below the asking price). The same day, Rezko bought (in his wife's name) the vacant lot next door for $625,000, the full price asked. Seven months later, Rezko sold Barack a slice (1/6th) of his lot so the Obamas could have a bigger yard. There's no evidence that Rezko bought the vacant land for any other reason than to do Obama a favor. The seller would only sell the house if he could sell the lot on the same day. And the lot is only accessible through Obama's yard. Rezko and his wife sold the lot last year to someone they owed moey to, and let that person keep the small profit he made.
Here's the real problem: among other problems, Rezko is on trial in a federal government corruption case for demanding kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with Illinois Governor Blagojevich, another politician that Rezko has befriended and donated to. (Rezko is also under indictment for shaking down a Hollywood producer for $1.5 million in campaign contributions for Blagojevich. The guy takes care of his political friends.) In fact, Joseph Aramanda is an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the kickback cases.
Obama has admitted that the land deal was a mistake, and donated money donated directly by Rezko to charity. His story has changed, though. When the land deal was first reported, Obama said his only contact with Rezko was asking him if it was a good deal. In February 2008, though, one of Obama's staffers admitted that the candidate walked around the house and lot with Rezko. Rezko has said he bought the lot to help the Obamas expand their backyard.
Educated in a Madrassa? Secretly Muslim? Won't salute the flag?
Fox News ran a story claiming that Obama had been educated in a madrassa school in Indonesia. If you're not familiar with that term, it's a type of fundamentalist Muslim school, often funded by the extremist Wahabi sect of Islam (with Saudi money) and often very anti-American.
There was only one problem with the story: it was completely false. Yes, Obama had gone to school in Indonesia as a kid; two schools in fact. One was Catholic, the other was a public school, with teachers and kids of various faiths.
The only scandal here is that Fox News ran the story with no facts or reporting backing it up. They simply repeated a story from a highly partisan website, with no effort to check out the school. It's there, still open, and easily visited. Reporters who did so found out that the story was false in minutes.
There have been several other stories about Obama floating around in emails -- that he refuses to put his hand over his heart when saying the pledge of allegiance, that he is secretly Muslim, etc. We print REAL scandals, not fake ones. If you want the facts on these lies, a great source is www.snopes.com.
Sources
"Barack Obama, asked about drug history, admits he inhaled", by Katherine Seelye, International Herald Tribune, October 25, 2006 "Dreams From My Father", by Barack Obama, 1995 "As Developer Heads to Trial, Questions Linger Over a Deal With Obama", By MIKE McINTIRE and CHRISTOPHER DREW, New York Times, March 2, 2008 "Internship also links Obama, Rezko", Chicago Sun-Times, December 24, 2006, by Frank Main "Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser", by Peter Slevin, Washington Post, December 16, 2006