Dirty
Tricks 101 The National Enquirer 'Murder' Smear
Against Obama, Enquirer owned by top Clinton advisor Roger Altman
In its March 17, 2008 issue, the National Enquirer
- owned by Clinton advisor Roger Altman (hoping to become her new Treasury
Secretary), has pointedly accused Barack Obama of being somehow involved
in the murder of Donald Young, 47, on Dec. 23, 2007.
Young
was the openly-gay choir director of the Chicago Trinity United Church
of Christ where Obama has been a member for decades. He was also,
according to The Enquirer, "Obama's friend" and a
school teacher. He was found dead in his apartment of multiple gunshot
wounds.
"It's still an open case, and we're continuing to
investigate," Chicago Police Dept. spokesman Patrick Camden told The
Enquirer.
Gay web sites speculate the murder could be a hate
crime.
But the motive may be something even more sinister.
A top Chicago private investigator - with connections to
the police homicide division - told The Enquirer.
"Donald Young was silenced because of something he
knew about Barack Obama. Donald was in a position at the controversial
church where he heard a lot of things and saw a lot of things concerning
Barack, the most well-known member of the church."
"There have been rumors about Barack's personal
life and his sexuality. The murdered man seems to have led a gay life.
"The Chicago police need to be investigating all
these angles and connect the dots."
Obama, who sent a letter of condolence to Young's
family, was recently the target of gay rumors when ex-con Larry Sinclair
posted a video on the Internet, claiming he had sex with the
senator."
SOURCE: Obama's Secrets by Barry Levine
and Patricia Shipp, The National Enquirer, March 17, 2008
In response, it might be wise to note that:
(1) it The Enquirer's own sister paper, Globe,
that has spread the "rumors about Barack's personal life and his
sexuality."
(2) the only statement from an identified source was a
very non-accusatory statement from a Chicago Police Dept. official that
"the case is open."
(3) The Enquirer's only "grounds" for
claiming that the victim "was silenced because of something he knew
about Barack Obama" is a total phantom who, most likely, is a
figment of the imagination of the racist reporters who wrote the story -
or perhaps they were told or encouraged to smear and destroy Obama.
If #3 is true, is there any evidence? The National
Enquirer, Globe and a number of other tabloids are owned by American
Media, Inc. American Media, Inc. is, in turn, owned by Evercore Partners,
along with David Pecker (see the excerpt below from their own website):
David J. Pecker is the CEO of American Media,
Inc. [NOTE: This link shows his record of campaign contributions; check
the trail of his PAC connections to see which ones may lead back to
Hillary Clinton.]
American Media is the leading publisher of weekly tabloid newspapers
in the United States. Publications include the National Enquirer and the
Star, which are distributed mainly in supermarkets and focus on gossip
and sensational personal stories rather than conventional news coverage.
The National Enquirer evolved from a former New York City tabloid
newspaper, the New York Enquirer. The long, strange history of the
National Enquirer includes reputed involvement of the mafia and mob
money.
As a result of actual and threatened libel suits by celebrities, the
Enquirer has taken greater care in checking and verifying the details of
the celebrity exposes it publishes. American Media president David
Pecker has said that "in the tabloid business, you pay for sources.
But we have two former FBI agents on staff, and no source gets a check
for $10,000, or even $1, without getting polygraphed. We also get three
independent sources for all of our (National Enquirer and Star) stories.
The New York Times runs one-source stories."
American Media also publishes a range of "mini-mags" on
topics which include food, health and relationships.
Publishing industry veteran David Pecker and Evercore Partners bought
American Media in 1999 for $850 million. In 2003 American Media bought
health and fitness magazine publisher Weider Publications for $350
million.
Blackstone Group is a major global conglomerate partly
owned by the Chinese government through the China Investment Corporation.
China received U.S. nuclear secrets in exchange for contributions to
the Clintons, according to many published reports. It also has extensive hotel holdings which would enable it to conduct
illegal surveillance, if they so chose, on prominent politicians and
government officials or anyone else who might stay at their hotels. It is
bed-partners with the infamous Carlyle Group and manages
"holdings" in companies that have been tied, by published
reports, to organized crime. It also has ties to Enron and Global Crossing
and Microsoft.
It's also worth noting that Blackstone Group is also
involved in a $50 billion partnership with Goldman Sachs - Goldman Sachs
is a heavy contributor to all three presidential campaigns - Clinton,
McCain and Obama.
Marketable alternative asset management - offers funds of hedge
funds, first used only by internal investments, now open to
clients; raising capital for hedge funds, private equity, and real
estate funds.
In recent years Blackstone has made significant investments in the
hotel and commercial real estate industries by buying and taking private
seven large publicly-traded firms:
In May 2007, the government of the People's
Republic of China through its China
Investment Corporation agreed to buy $3 billion non-voting stock
in Blackstone, which is slightly less than a 10% stake. As a result
Blackstone has increased its initial
public offering to $7.8 billion worth of stock, which includes
the China stake.
In May, 2007, Blackstone agreed to purchase Alliance
Data for $7.8 billion but changed its mind in January, 2008.
In December, 2006, Blackstone as part of a Consortium of private
equity funds including Goldman
Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts & Co. and TPG,
agreed to purchase all stock shares of Biomet
for approximately $10.9 billion. Biomet is a worldwide manufacturer
and marketer of hip, knee, shoulder, and spinal implants and
supporting surgical supplies for the orthopedic industry.
In November, 2006, Blackstone agreed through its affiliate,
Blackstone Real Estate Partners, to acquire billionaire Sam
Zell's Equity
Office Properties Trust, for approximately $39 billion. Goldman
Sachs, Bank
of America, Morgan
Stanley and a few others acted as financial advisors to
Blackstone in the deal. Prior to the takeover Equity Office was the
nation’s largest publicly held office building owner and manager.
Its total office portfolio consisted of whole or partial interests
in 580 buildings comprising 108,600,000 square feet (10,090,000 m²)
in 16 states and the District of Columbia. The acquisition was the
biggest takeover of a real estate company and the largest private
equity deal in history.[8]
In July, 2006, Blackstone Capital Partners agreed to purchase Encore
Medical for $870 million in cash. Encore makes spine, knee, hip
and shoulder implants for the orthopedic industry.
In June, 2006, Blackstone entered into a definitive agreement with
Cendant
Corporation to acquire Travelport,
its travel distribution services business for about $4.3B in cash.
Travelport includes the Orbitz
travel reservation website used by consumers, the Galileocomputer
reservations system used by airlines and travel agents,
Gulliver’s wholesale travel business, and other travel-related
software brands and solutions.
Also in June, 2006, Blackstone teamed up with Canadian property
firm Brookfield
Properties to acquire U.S. office REITTrizec
Properties. Blackstone and Brookfield valued Trizec at $8.9
billion.
Since April, 2006, Blackstone is a major shareholder (4.5%) of
Germany's Deutsche
Telekom.
In February, 2006, Blackstone announced it would purchase Meristar
Hospitality Corporation and its 57 hotel assets for $2.6B.
Meristar's additional 10 Florida resorts (which Blackstone announced
it would acquire separately several weeks before buying the entire
company) were relaunched as members of the LXR brand.
In January, 2006, Blackstone closed on its $3.4 billion previously
announced acquisition of La
Quinta Corporation, an owner, manager, and franchiser of limited
service hotels under the La
Quinta Inns, La
Quinta Inns & Suites, and Baymont
Inn & Suites brands. In March, 2006 Blackstone announced it
would sell the Baymont Inn brand to the Cendant
Hotel Group and re-brand Baymont's existing hotels as La Quintas.
In June, 2005, Blackstone acquired Wyndham
International for $3.2 billion. The Wyndham brand and management
business was sold to Cendant
Corp and 14 full-service Wyndham hotels located primarily in urban
locations were sold to Columbia Sussex, a private hotel ownership
and management business based outside Cincinnati. The 21 hotels that
remained consisted of Wyndham's prized resort assets and included
such properties as El Conquistador Resort & Spa in Puerto Rico,
The Reach Resort in Key West, FL, and Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel,
CA. These assets were converted to the LXR brand. Summerfield
Suites, Wyndham's extended stay offering was sold to Global
Hyatt and renamed Hyatt Summerfield Suites.
In October, 2004, Boca Resorts, Inc. agreed to be sold to
Blackstone for $1.25 billion. Boca Resorts owned and operated five
resort properties in Florida that were all transitioned to the LXR
Luxury Resorts brand.
In August, 2004, Blackstone paid $800 million to acquire Prime
Hospitality. Prime's AmeriSuites
brand was quickly sold to Global
Hyatt and has since been reborn as Hyatt
Place. Thirty-seven Wellesley
Inns were converted to the Extended StayAmerica brand and the
Prime Hotel Saratoga
Springs was renamed The Saratoga and joined the LXR Luxury
Resorts brand.
In March, 2004, its major affiliate, Blackstone Real Estate
Partners, paid $1.9 billion to acquire Extended
StayAmerica. ESA has since been combined with Blackstone's
previously-owned Homestead
Village brand and rechristened Extended
Stay Hotels.
Trivia
Blackstone is a wordplay on the founders' names, Stephen A.
Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson. Schwarz is German
for black. Peter, or Petros in Greek,
means stone or rock.
Roger Altman is an investment banker and former United
States Deputy Treasury Secretary under Bill
Clinton.
He is a graduate of The
Roxbury Latin School, Georgetown
University and the University
of Chicago Graduate School of Business. In his professional pursuits
Roger Altman is a senior investment banker. He was a general partner of Lehman
Brothers from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 to 1981 he served as the
Assistant Secretary of the United
States Department of the Treasury, during which time he helped oversee
the then-troubled financial affairs of Chrysler.
In 1981, he returned to Lehman Brothers, where he became the co-head of
investment banking and served on the board of the company and the
management committee. In 1987, Mr. Altman joined the Blackstone Group as
vice-chairman, head of merger and acquisition advisory and a member of the
investment committee. In 1993 Mr Altman returned to Washington DC to serve
as the Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, before resigning in 1994
because of a record-keeping scandal[1][2].
In 1996 he co-founded Evercore
Partners, an investment and advisory company in New York, and
currently serves as Chairman and Co-CEO. Altman was an advisor to John
Kerry during Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.
Altman is one of three Hillary
campaign officials involved in the Whitewater Scandal
Roger
Altman: Formerly deputy Treasury secretary, Altman resigned Aug.
29, 1994 following revelations he tipped the White House off to criminal
referrals made by Resolution Trust Corp. investigators related to
Madison Guaranty. Altman, a college friend of Clinton's, angered both
Republican and Democratic senators after giving conflicting testimony
about White House-Treasury contacts.
Harold Ickes: Formerly deputy chief of staff, Ickes
was referred to Ken Starr for possible criminal investigation by
Senate Whitewater investigators, who believed he misled them about
the statute of limitations for pursuing possible crimes committed by the
Rose Law Firm. Ickes also participated in a phone conversation with
George Stephanopoulos and Roger Altman protesting the selection of
Republican lawyer Jay Stephens to head the RTC investigation of Madison.
Forced out of office at the behest of incoming chief of staff Erskine
Bowles, Ickes was asked initially to head the White House Whitewater
response team.
Maggie Williams: Formerly the first lady's chief of staff,
Williams was grilled by Senate Whitewater investigators on whether she shepherded
documents out of Vincent Foster's office the night he died. Williams
volunteered for and passed two lie detector tests backing up her
statements, and though Senate Whitewater investigators were suspicious,
they did not refer Williams to Ken Starr for possible criminal
investigation.
Hillary Clinton: She made
history as the only first lady to appear before a federal grand
jury, which she did in January 1996 after being subpoenaed by Starr to
help explain the mysterious appearance of her long-sought Whitewater
billing records in a book room in the Clintons' White House residence.
Mrs. Clinton was reportedly a
major focus of Starr's investigation, and figures prominently in
Whitewater, Travelgate,
and the FBI
files flap.
I suggest that researchers read the entire CNN Cast of
Characters page and do some research to see how many others are
involved in Hillary's current campaign. Follow the money! The
paragraph above about Hillary at least documents some legitimate
claims she can make on her "experience portfolio" - the only
first lady to appear before a federal grand jury.
Young
was the openly-gay choir director of the Chicago Trinity United Church
of Christ where Obama has been a member for decades. He was also,
according to The Enquirer, "Obama's friend" and a
school teacher. He was found dead in his apartment of multiple gunshot
wounds.
Roger
Altman: Formerly deputy Treasury secretary, Altman resigned Aug.
29, 1994 following revelations he tipped the White House off to criminal
referrals made by Resolution Trust Corp. investigators related to
Madison Guaranty. Altman, a college friend of Clinton's, angered both
Republican and Democratic senators after giving conflicting testimony
about White House-Treasury contacts.
Harold Ickes: Formerly deputy chief of staff, 
Maggie Williams: Formerly the first lady's chief of staff,
Williams was grilled by Senate Whitewater investigators on whether she shepherded
documents out of Vincent Foster's office the night he died. Williams
volunteered for and passed two lie detector tests backing up her
statements, and though Senate Whitewater investigators were suspicious,
they did not refer Williams to Ken Starr for possible criminal
investigation.
Hillary Clinton: She 