Is Barack Obama a Felon?
Is Barack Obama a Felon?
Barack Obama's campaign is
soliciting donations over the internet in return for a chance to
attend Obama's 51st birthday party, promising it will be
“so cool” you'll be “almost jealous of yourself.” Here's
the supercilious invitation that some “lucky people” received via
email:
"Have you ever gotten to do
something so cool you’re almost jealous of yourself?
Pretty sure this would count: On August 12th,
just three weeks before the Democratic
National Convention and 12 weeks before
Election Day, President Obama will have a
few friends over to mark his 51st birthday—in
the backyard of his Chicago home.
And you’re invited.
Make a donation today to be automatically
entered for a chance to be there—flight and hotel paid for.
Look, campaigns are hard work, both for the
President and the millions of people like you who are building it on
the ground. When you factor in the ridiculous amounts of money the
Romney campaign and pro-Romney super PACs are raising, we’re going
to have to work even harder to win than we did in 2008.
Let’s have some fun together before the
final push to Election Day."
“Make a donation for a
chance. . . .” to win!!! Sounds like a lottery to me! Yet for
years state lotteries have been thwarted in their efforts to sell
lottery tickets online by the federal government. The Department of
Justice years ago took the position that the Federal Wire Act of 1961
prohibited all sorts of online gambling. As a result, the states felt that they could
not conduct even in-state lottery transactions via the Internet
because of the possibility that transmission over the Internet during
these transactions might cross state lines.
Notwithstanding the
Federal Wire Act, we have the Obama campaign conducting what is
clearly an interstate lottery over the internet, even though many may
consider the “prize” to be of dubious value – at least the
flight and hotel room have a measurable value. Many of Obama's
cohort have been claiming that Mitt Romney is a felon for actually
complying with SEC regulations and revealing his ownership interest
in Bain Capital after he no longer managed it – if fair-is-fair,
isn't it also appropriate to label Barack Obama a Felon for
conducting a lottery over interstate lines in violation of the
Federal Wire Act?
Top Opinion
-
NPC 2012/07/20 23:37:53
AND YOU'LL LEARN WHY.
Actually, the question is "tongue-in-cheek," a response to many of Obama's acolytes claiming that Mitt Romney is a felon because his name appeared on SEC filings for Bain Capital when he wasn't managing the company.
and if the Obama campaign is doing what you say, and i don't know that it is, i'd bet that you have not done a legal analysis of the lottery to consider whether it is lawful or not ... you seem to be merely assuming that it is illegal ...
That being said, what the Obama campaign is doing, soliciting donations in return for the chance to win a prize (admittedly one of questionable value to most), is the very definition of a lottery, in case you didn't know. And no, I'm not assuming anything, I gave the link to the article in Forbes about the reason that states don't sell their lottery tickets on the internet - the DOJ says it violates the 1961 Federal Wire Act.
lottery lot·ter·y [lot-uh-ree]
noun, plural lot·ter·ies.
1. a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes. http://dictionary.reference.c...
In case you don't believe they are actually having a contest where donors get a chance to win a trip to Chicago and attend Obie's 51st birthday party, here's a link to that story: http://www.kgun9.com/news/loc...
Do you even bother to read the blog before you jump in to defend Obama?
actually, (most of) the criticism has been based on the fact that Romney's claim that he severed his ties with Bain to go run the Utah Olympics is contradicted by documents he caused to be filed with the SEC during the period in question that indicate that he was the sole shareholder, director and officer of (one of the) Bain (companies) at the time he claims not to have had connections to Bain - filing false documents with the SEC is probably a crime, probably a felony ... frankly, i haven't checked to see whether it would be a felony or not ...
Frankly, you go check all you want, because Romney completely complied with the law, a bevy of securities lawyers made certain of that. It happens that Romney is an honorable man, whereas Barack Obama is a crooked Chicago politician.
I am quite sure this is true.
It was when Romney said recently that he left Bain that people began looking into the claim and found the contradictory SEC filing ...
http://www.nationalreview.com...
That is to say a lottery . What made them criminals was running a lottery.
why do they call lotteries run by some are felonies and others reelection campaigns.
Is commission of felonies permissible if the intent is to gain access to the public trust ?
It is called Numbers Rackets, buy a ticket for a chance to win a prize.
Lotteries and robbing banks are both illegal ways to raise money .
The U.S. has strict laws barring private lotteries. A lottery is a promotion that has three elements:
Prizes
Winners Chosen by Chance
Consideration
To avoid being classified as an illegal lottery, sweepstakes must ensure that at least one of these elements is missing. Because prizes and luck are central to sweepstakes where the winners are drawn at random, legitimate promotions can never have consideration.
http://contests.about.com/od/...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/n...
lottery lot·ter·y [lot-uh-ree]
noun, plural lot·ter·ies.
1. a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes. http://dictionary.reference.c...
The last time I looked Irvine was in Orange County, one of the most conservative areas of California - you must teach at U.C. Irvine, or else you stick out like a sore thumb.