http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0704030881apr04,1,7336556.story

The day after New Year's 1996, operatives for Barack Obama filed into a barren hearing room of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

There they began the tedious process of challenging hundreds of signatures on the nominating petitions of state Sen. Alice Palmer, the longtime progressive activist from the city's South Side. And they kept challenging petitions until every one of Obama's four Democratic primary rivals was forced off the ballot.

Fresh from his work as a civil rights lawyer and head of a voter registration project that expanded access to the ballot box, Obama launched his first campaign for the Illinois Senate saying he wanted to empower disenfranchised citizens......

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4492773&page=1

By JAKE TAPPER and KIRIT RADIA

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2008

A State Department official confirms that Stanley, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia was one of the two contracting companies that employed two of the three people who were involved in looking up Obama's records. Those two Stanley employees have been fired.

http://www.stanleyassociates.com/

Here is a list of their contracts:

Stanley’s current customer base includes:

Federal Agencies Department of Defense

Department of Commerce

Department of Energy

Department of Health & Human Services

Department of Homeland Security

Department of Justice

Department of State

Department of Transportation

*Success Snapshot

Department of Treasury

Environmental Protection Agency

Library of Congress

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Smithsonian Institution

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Defense Information Systems Agency

Defense Intelligence Agency

Intelligence Community

Joint Strike Fighter Program Office

Naval Air Systems Command

Naval Sea Systems Command

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command

U.S. Air Force Materiel Command

U.S. Army Forces Command

U.S. Army Materiel Command

U.S. Army Reserve Command

U.S. Marine Corps

U.S. Transportation Command

Also as news information on the site:

….Stanley Awarded $570 Million Contract to Continue Support of Passport Program

http://colossus.mu.nu/archives/256842.php

Out of his own mouth.

At first I thought it was a joke;at first the article doesn't seem like much. I found it odd with all the concern over delegates, anyone would be willing to let one go.

It came out yesterday, granted the hearings are much more important; however the article sheds a small light on what could be seen as a larger issue with freedom of speech. This was buried on HuffPo, and Fox.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/883120,CST-NWS-trustee08.article

Suburban Obama delegate quits over 'divisive' remark

CARPENTERSVILLE | Says when she called black kids 'monkeys,' she was asking them to get out of tree

April 8, 2008

Recommend (65)

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/apallasch@suntimes.com

I moved from San Francisco to a small town in Tennessee. Both places are equally beautiful. I am at a crossroads on voting at all at this point. Why? I want a President that represents and has respect for all Americans, regardless.....The rift between Democrats and Republicans is horrible; and I will not blame any one person who voted for what an entire Administration has done. I watched the war unfold, like everyone else did. I saw, the media rarely go against the administration until recently. Does anyone recall how Cindy Sheehan was treated? Being called everything from a "media whore"..To who knows what? It was "unpatriotic" to be against this war until the beginning of the run for the presidency. Now, there is a louder outcry and interest, but you have to wonder, if folks had been as interested then as they are now, where would we be? We, are all responsible as voters, as to whom we select. I am tired of a divided nation, a war that is in all of our pocketbooks, (it isn't hard to reason that 80% of what has caused the problem with the American economy-billions of dollars a day to support the war in Iraq) but destroying families of about 160,000 service families. We all need to think about some future questions beyond the obvious, when is the war going to end, because it is just a matter of time before a draft will be started, to sustain just about every plan out there. Also we need to address those who have taken advantage of the economy during this war, many, many have benefited; it is the American people who are now paying for it. Republican or Democrat, all of us. Unless you are filthy, filthy rich, this problematic economy/war related/lack of ability to repair our country is going to last a lot longer than the next four years. I would be surprised if that puts a dent in it.

Remember we all suffer, in different ways; we all cope in different ways. Each and every time we lose a soldier, we do not ask their political party; because when their blood was spilt its only color was American. We are all responsible for that. We must, with all we can be, keep in mind, realistically what will be chosen as a priority, and (if you don't end the war, the economy will still be in trouble); how you end the war, and how you hold the country together in the mean time. The only way we can solve the huge mess our country in, is to reach across party lines, deny petty differences, and work for the common good of our country as a whole. This can only be done if we look at each other as Americans, with respect and deserving of dignity; not small town this, or big city that, or black or white, or rich or poor, male or female. American’s.

I do not want the world to see our President as one who thinks of its citizens as disposable; not by means of their vote or lack there-of, thanks to “party” rules, nor because of where they live, worship, etc.