Reply
Thu 10 Apr, 2008 07:49 pm
Anti-Middle Class Wright Builds $1.6M House
Obama's Former Pastor Getting $1.6M Home in Retirement
( by FOXNews.com)
Thursday, March 27, 2008
By Jeff Goldblatt
This was supposed to be the week that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit to preach for the first time since his anti-American sermons generated nationwide outrage and drew condemnation from his longtime parishioner, Barack Obama.
But, citing security concerns, Wright canceled his speaking engagements in Florida and Texas. A spokeswoman at his former church in Chicago said his schedule is pending.
A two-week FOX News investigation, however, has uncovered where Wright will be spending a good deal of his time in retirement, and it is a far cry from the impoverished Chicago streets where the preacher led his ministry for 36 years.
FOX News has uncovered documents that indicate Wright is about to move to a 10,340-square-foot, four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago, currently under construction in a gated community
According to documents obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds, Wright purchased two empty lots in Tinley Park, Ill., from Chicago restaurant chain owner Kenny Lewis for $345,000 in 2004.
Documents show Wright sold the property to his church, Trinity United, in December 2006, with the proceeds going to a living trust shared with his wife, Ramah.
The sale price for the land was just under $308,000, about $40,000 less than Wright's original purchase two years earlier.
Public records of the sale show Trinity initially obtained a $10 million bank loan to purchase the property and build a new house on the land.
But further investigation with tax and real estate attorneys showed that the church had actually secured a $1.6 million mortgage for the home purchase, and attached a $10 million line of credit, for reasons unspecified in the paperwork.
There is apparently nothing wrong with that, according to non-profit tax expert Jack Siegel of Charity Governance Consulting, who examined public documents FOX News obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds and the Village of Tinley Park.
"At least looking at it from a public document standpoint, there's clearly not a problem that jumps out or some sort of wrongdoing," Siegel said.
Siegel characterizes the transaction as unusual, however, because of the way Wright sold the property to Trinity and the way the deal was financed, with the attached $10 million line of credit.
Because churches are classified as private businesses, Trinity isn't required to reveal its intended use for the line of credit. Nor, because it's a non-profit entity, is it required to provide that information to the IRS
"This is about how these kinds of churches work," notes Walsh. "These pastors who made big successful churches are real valuable commodities. Is it morally wrong? Well, Protestants don't have the idea that their religious leaders should live modestly or aesthetically. We're not talking Buddhist monks or Catholic priests here. There's no tradition that says they have to live poor."
Still more proof that Mr. Wright is just a Farrakhan wannabe.
There's no tradition that says they have to live poor."
Oh, really?
Well, it's not like this weird cult has anything to do with Christianity.
sweetness&light.com
Jeremiah Wright's All White After All
LOL Turns Out Jeremiah Wright's All White After All
From an email tip - there's something you might find interesting as regards this curious land deal putting Obama's pastor in a $1.6 Million dollar home in Tinley Park, IL. for his retirement. Checking the census data for Tinley Park, a gated community, I'm told, it seems the pastor from the "unashamedly black and and unapologetically Christian" church is moving into a community that is only 2% black and 93% white. For reference, as a whole, Illinois is 15% black.
While it is not uncommon for an accomplished clergyman to live in luxury, Wright's retirement residence is raising some questions.
"Some people think deals like this are hypocritical. Jeremiah Wright himself criticizes people from the pulpit for middle classism, for too much materialism," said Andrew Walsh, Associate Director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life with Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
"So he's entitled to be tweaked here. So the question really is, how unusual is this? Somewhat unusual," he said.
According to documents obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds, Wright purchased two empty lots in Tinley Park, Ill., from Chicago restaurant chain owner Kenny Lewis for $345,000 in 2004.
Documents show Wright sold the property to his church, Trinity United, in December 2006, with the proceeds going to a living trust shared with his wife, Ramah.
The sale price for the land was just under $308,000, about $40,000 less than Wright's original purchase two years earlier.
Public records of the sale show Trinity initially obtained a $10 million bank loan to purchase the property and build a new house on the land.
But further investigation with tax and real estate attorneys showed that the church had actually secured a $1.6 million mortgage for the home purchase, and attached a $10 million line of credit, for reasons unspecified in the paperwork.
Riel World View
I thought based on his "sermons" that Wright was very anti-white. So...why's he moving to a community that's 98% white?
Nothing like the "REV" talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time.
All that, and not one "anti-white" statement quoted.
Mexica wrote:All that, and not one "anti-white" statement quoted.
You can GOOGLE the night away...
Excuse me Miller but I don't think Rev. Wright is a Muslim. How could you possibly compare him with L. F.?
I suggest you review Lenny Bruce's "GOD Incorported"
Like war, religion is big business.
Robert G Igersoll- a rational American has this view about God.
"An honest God
is the noblest
work of man"
A clergy man effectively defends Wright against charges of racism and eing anti-American from foxnews' reporter. I found it interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0wvQMqSzTM
Iraq should be the main issue.
USA' voters shoul corner the politicians( three are running) about Iraq.
We the decent humans deserve a better drama than this barbarism.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace