Dinner with Barack Obama [Illegal Internet gambling?]

Starting at about 0:38, "We want to have four people who donate money this week to sit down and have dinner with me, on me. We'll fly you in, I'll pay for dinner..."

Does "Nobody is above the law" apply to you, Barry?

? Barack Obama said he was not going to stop the Justice Department from investigating and possibly prosecuting the CIA for the following reason:

"I appreciate the former CIA directors wanting to look out for an institution that they helped to build. But I continue to believe that nobody is above the law," Obama said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I want to make sure that as president of the United States that I'm not asserting in some way that my decisions overrule the decisions of prosecutors who are there to uphold the law."

Perhaps Barry should have read King Henry V, Act II, Scene II before demanding so ardently that the country's laws be upheld. I am not an attorney and cannot give legal advice but the above video sure sounds like a solicitation for a LOTTERY, i.e. GAMBLING.

Elements of a lottery (gambling): (1) Payment of consideration ("who donate money this week") (2) Element of chance (four winners will be selected) (3) Prize: paid travel and dinner with Barack Obama

Minnesota law enforcement said, in fact, that these "Dinner with Barack" solicitations were in fact illegal lotteries in Minnesota, and demanded that the Obama campaign change them to allow people to enter without making a donation. I received E-mails from the Obama campaign, which are traceable to bluestatedigital from the IP addresses in the headers, that make similar solicitations. They look very much like solicitations for Internet gambling (a lottery) across state lines. Not only that, the announcement of Dorothy Unruh as a winner before the deadline for donations suggests that the lottery was rigged.

From - Tue Jul 31 12:25:01 2007 X-UIDL: 8498-1156627068 X-Mozilla-Status: 1001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Received: from mta-inap3.bluestatedigital.com ([70.42.50.185]) by vms169131.mailsrvcs.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTP id <0JM100JTOT7PEIU0@vms169131.mailsrvcs.net> for [my E-mail address, deleted from online postings to avoid spam]; Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:50:15 -0500 (CDT) Received: by mta-inap3.bluestatedigital.com (Postfix, from userid 501) id 4B67A4EDCB3; Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:50:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:50:13 -0400 From: Barack Obama Subject: Dinner invitation X-Originating-IP: [70.42.50.185] To: <[my E-mail address, deleted from online postings to avoid spam]> Reply-to: info@barackobama.com Message-id: <6410a68c11e0cea969d3dd947ed112f6@localhost.localdomain> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.72-blue_mailer] Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary=b1_6410a68c11e0cea969d3dd947ed112f6 X-Priority: 3 X-maillist-id: 4v-kVvgUkok X-maillist-guid: CgdXWAJtUkJIWGZDVjBYDggw

--b1_6410a68c11e0cea969d3dd947ed112f6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset = "iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Make a donation by 11:59 pm tonight, Tuesday, July 31st, and you could join us for our second Dinner with Barack:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

Dear Bill,

A couple of weeks ago I sat down to dinner with four supporters like you.

Christina, Haile, Margaret, and Michael each made a small online donation, and we flew them across the country for some good food and good conversation.

What I enjoyed most about this dinner was the opportunity to listen to the stories and concerns of ordinary Americans in a relaxed environment. Out on the campaign trail, there isn't always time for that kind of interaction.

Last week we started planning our second dinner, and on Friday evening at 6:42 pm, a woman named Dorothy Unruh of Lakewood, Colorado made a donation.

I'm pleased to announce that Dorothy will be one of my guests for the second dinner. You could join us if you make a small donation before 11:59 pm tonight, July 31st:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

Here's what Dorothy told us about herself:

"I'm a senior citizen fed up with the current state of our government. I'm sad that our great nation has lost its stature in the eyes of the rest of the world. I have been a registered Republican for years, but recently officially changed parties so I can attend the Democratic caucus and help elect Senator Obama. He is like a breath of fresh air to my husband and me."

Dorothy has never taken part in a political campaign before, but she and millions of other voters who want change are going to be the key to Democratic victories up and down the ballot next year.

I'm looking forward to having dinner with Dorothy, but there are still three seats left at the table. Will you be in one of them?

If you make a donation by 11:59 pm tonight, Tuesday, July 31st, you could join us for dinner very soon:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner

We'll pay for your trip and the meal -- all you need to bring is your story and your ideas about how to make this a better country for all Americans.

Small donations from ordinary Americans have set our campaign apart and allowed us to reject the influence of Washington lobbyists and special interest groups. Not only is your support the key to our success, it's essential to reclaiming a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

I hope you will make a donation now and participate in this opportunity. Take ownership of your part in this campaign and strengthen your role in our movement.

Together we can put an end to pay-for-influence politics. We can turn the page in Washington, and it all begins with you.

Thank you for your support.

Barack Obama

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paid for by Obama for America

======================

Note the (1) Requirement for payment of consideration (a small but not zero donation) (2) Element of chance, although the pre-selection of Ms. Unruh as a winner shows that this lottery was not even fair (3) A prize

I have forwarded this information to the available contact information (generally poor) for Glenn Beck, Michael Savage via World Net Daily, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham. There is incidentally plenty more where this came from in the form of downloaded Web sites from Barackobama.com and E-mails from Obama for America.

The question is whether, as Barry said when he told Eric Holder to go ahead and investigate the CIA, nobody is above the law or, as stated in "Animal Farm," some animals are more equal than others. Do any attorneys want to weigh in on whether these solicitations were legal or illegal?

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