American Thinker
The gained his position through the commission of a felony. The evidence emphatically does not involve postings from “somebody’s blog,” or urban legends about Obama being a Muslim and/or having been born in Kenya. The evidence comes from Obama’s own YouTube video, Web site, and campaign E-mails.
Lotteries for Political Campaigns are Illegal
It is a basic principle of auditing that issuance of a finding or nonconformance requires (1) objective evidence that (2) is noncompliant with the requirements of a standard. The auditor’s personal opinion, rumors, and “common knowledge” do not count. As stated by Orson Welles as General Bayan in The Black Rose, “What I can’t touch doesn’t exist,” and that is a good way to describe what is and is not objective evidence. A criminal conviction requires similarly (1) objective evidence that (2) violates a specific law. Let’s start with the law as described by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).
The FCC has defined a lottery as “any game, contest or promotion that combines the elements of prize, chance and consideration.” Federal law generally prohibits the broadcast of any advertisement or information concerning a lottery.
Texas adds, “Texas law allows only certain charitable and nonprofit organizations to conduct raffles to support their charitable causes. An unlawful raffle may constitute illegal gambling, which may carry criminal penalties.” The Center for Competitive Politics is just as explicit:
It is legally impossible to conduct a nationwide raffle, whether the funds are being used for political purposes or not. This, of course, is of great importance, because running an interstate gambling operation that does not comply with the laws in each state in which it is being conducted subjects you to both criminal and civil penalties under the Federal RICO statute.
Now we have a clear standard against which we can compare Mr. Obama’s fundraising practices. The next time he talks about people he thinks shouldn’t be able to own guns, for example, our side should remind him (publicly) that, had prosecutors and law enforcement agencies not given him an obvious pass in 2008, he would be a prohibited person along with other enemies of the Second Amendment such as convicted felon Rod Blagojevich.