Meet Uncle Charles Payne

Spiegel Interview With Obama's Great-Uncle
'I Was Horrified by Lengths Men Will Go to Mistreat Other Men'
Charles Payne: I don't buy that. I was quite surprised when the whole thing came up and Barack talked about my war experiences in Nazi Germany. We had never talked about that before. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons.

DDP
The Buchenwald concentration camp memorial near Weimar, Germany. Obama's great-uncle Charles Payne helped to liberate one of Buchenwald's satellite camps.SPIEGEL: What do you think could be his motives for this trip?
Payne: First, I think he already had this trip in mind -- with Cairo on the one end and Normandy at the other, and time for Germany in between. Second, perhaps his visit also has something to do with improving his standing with Angela Merkel. She gave him a hard time during his campaign and also afterwards.
SPIEGEL: At first Mr. Obama claimed that one of his family members was involved in the liberation Auschwitz. How did this misunderstanding come about?
SPIEGEL: Afterwards, Obama called you. What did he want to know?
Payne: He wanted to know where this camp was that I had helped liberate. I told him that it was Ohrdruf and that it was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. I described a little bit of what I had seen.
SPIEGEL: You were barely an adult as a soldier back then -- how did you wind up at such a place?
Payne: Everybody who was able-bodied was drafted. I went down right at the time I graduated and told the lady that ran the Selective Service office. I said, "I'm ready to go," and she said: "Don't you worry about it, honey. You're on the list." Since I had been colorblind since birth, I was first turned down by the Air Force, then by the Navy and the Marines. Only the Army didn't care and put me into the infantry.
SPIEGEL: You came from a small town in Kansas. Where did you receive your Army training?
Payne: The Army sent me to North Camp Hood, Texas, for basic training for 13 weeks. We learned to shoot, obey orders and to march.
SPIEGEL: What did you think about the Germans at the time?
Payne: They were the enemy, evil incarnate, and we were the good guys coming to save the world. We were all for the war. We all wanted to be in it. That doesn't mean we enjoyed being in it, though.
SPIEGEL: But it took years for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to convince US President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the necessity of entering into the war.
Payne: I think Roosevelt played it pretty smooth preparing people for the war. America at the time was isolationist, to a large extent. The majority were of the opinion that they should let Europe fight its own war. We were safe over here behind our ocean.
SPIEGEL: And you? Did you support America entering the war?
Payne: From the time I was in about the 7th grade, I knew there was going to be a war. There were these threatening headlines in the newspapers and more and more extra editions were coming out. Actually, in high school I never really worried much about going to college because I grew up expecting I would be in the Army and fight in a war.
SPIEGEL: What were your first experiences at the front?
Payne: At first there was no front. Because there were no facilities for our ship, we couldn't anchor in the harbor. Le Havre had been summarily bombed. They finally took us off in the middle of the night on landing barges. It was bitter cold and snowing. There was about three or four inches of water sloshing around in the bottom. So we landed at Le Havre in bitter cold with wet feet. Soon afterwards we had a large number of people who suffered from frostbite. The camp doctors were forced to amputate fingers, toes, and feet and send these soldiers back to the United States. For them the war was over.
SPIEGEL: Which route did you take to Buchenwald?
Payne: We marched through half of Europe, but I never really knew where I was. In combat we low-ranking people in the Army were not allowed to have maps, guide books, cameras or anything that, if captured, would provide any information to the enemy. So I never had a map when I was in Europe, and I never knew where I was. It was painful in some ways. I hated that because I like being oriented.
SPIEGEL: What was your job?
Payne: I was transferred from my unit to a telephone communication group. I was to be the guard for a crew of four people. Their job was to provide telephone communications for the command post wherever it would be that night. I stood around with my carbine and protected them.
SPIEGEL: Did you encounter any Germans during this long march?
Payne: When we went into a German town or village, there were never any people. We'd be there sometimes for hours and never see a soul, and I always felt like they were watching us. It was pretty spooky.
SPIEGEL: There was no direct contact with the enemy?
Payne: There were mainly sniper attacks. I do remember somewhere, we got out in some town and maybe off a truck or Jeep, and we were just standing there smoking, everybody lighting up their cigarette like always, and this one guy I knew took his helmet off and was immediately shot through the head and fell.
SPIEGEL: When did you hear the term "concentration camp" for the first time?
Payne: You know, I don't remember that I had heard about or knew about concentration camps where people were systematically killed off or starved. That is one of the horrors I remember, when people had been systematically starved and were nothing but skin sunk in over bones. There was no underlying flesh at all. It was pretty horrid.
SPIEGEL: Do you remember the day when you discovered the Ohrdruf camp?
Payne: Ohrdruf was in that string of towns going across, south of Gotha and Erfurt. Our division was the first one in there. When we arrived there were no German soldiers anywhere around that I knew about. There was no fighting with the Germans, no camp guards. The whole area was overrun by people from the camp dressed in the most pitiful rags, and most of them were in a bad state of starvation. The first thing I saw was a dead body lying square in the middle of the front gate.
SPIEGEL: A camp inmate?
Payne: It turns out that it was Polish or Russian camp inmate, who had gone over and become a guard for the Nazis. So he was guarding and helping starve the other people. Then when the Americans came, he tried to blend in with the regular inmates. But they recognized him and beat his head in with a tire iron.
SPIEGEL: What else did you see?
Payne: Inside the gate was an area where a bunch of the camp inmates had been machine gunned and were all lying on the ground. Each one had their tin cup in their hand or lying next to them.
SPIEGEL: What were your thoughts when you were confronted with these images?
Payne: You know, I am unable to tell you what I was thinking then. That was a long time ago, and as I told you, until Barack misspoke, I hadn't thought about any of this for a very, very long time. In fact, I guess I prefer not to think about it. I can assure you I was horrified by the lengths to which men will go to mistreat other men. This was, to me, almost unbelievable. There was more: There were sheds full of dead bodies that had been stripped and thrown in and then stacked up on top of each other. I don't know how many, but many high and the whole length of the room. They sprinkled lime to keep the smell down. That's about the extent that I remember actually seeing.
SPIEGEL: What do you think about the Germans today?
Payne: I am puzzled by intelligent people who stand by and allow their country to be taken over and run by extreme radical types. I'm still somewhat puzzled by that. And I am fully aware that it could happen and has almost happened in this country. You know, I lived through the McCarthy era in the 1950s, when it was getting dangerously close to that sort of thing.
SPIEGEL: You're a Democrat?
Payne: I was a Democrat from way, way before Barack was born.
SPIEGEL: Are you proud of your great-nephew?
Payne: Yes, naturally. I was at the Democratic Convention in Denver, where I was introduced by Senator John Kerry, and then also at his inauguration. He encompasses so much: self assuredness, competency, leadership and the great good luck that he had. Finally he had the good luck, if you will, of the financial crisis that got him elected, but now he also has to deal with it.
SPIEGEL: How would you describe your relationship with Barack?
Payne: Our relationship is warm and friendly, but I'm not part of his inner circle. We always have an interesting chat when we get in the same room together. He doesn't call me up and ask what I have to say about world policy or anything. And I never offer my opinions on any of this.
SPIEGEL: And will you join your great-nephew on his trip now to Germany?
Payne: If he invites me on Air Force One, I'll be there.
Friday, December 26, 2008 · 2:54 am
October 21, 2008
Relative says Obama's grandmother has broken hip
Allen G. BreedBarack Obama's 85-year-old grandmother broke her hip recently and is "gravely ill," her brother said Tuesday
Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped to raise Obama, "has not been well for a long time. Then she fell and broke her hip fairly recently," Charles Payne said in a telephone interview from his home in Chicago. "She's unhappy with the condition that she's in, I can tell you that."
Payne, who is Obama's great-uncle, said his sister was hospitalized briefly but is back home in her Honolulu apartment, where Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, cares for her. Obama plans to suspend campaigning later this week to visit his grandmother, and Payne is planning to fly there for her 86th birthday, which is Sunday.
Payne, 83, said he spoke to his sister briefly on Monday.
"We had a short and as upbeat as possible conversation," said Payne, a retired university library administrator. "She hated the hospital."
Payne did not know which hip she broke. He said she had previously had a hip replacement, but he could not recall on which side.
Payne said the two talked about family matters, but he declined to elaborate. He said they did not discuss the Illinois senator's campaign.
Payne declined to speculate on whether his sister had the strength to see her grandson through the election on Nov. 4.
"I think, of course, it's been terribly important to her," he said. "And she would like nothing better than to see that."
In a campaign ad this year, Obama described Dunham as the daughter of a Midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland" — things like "accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated."
Obama recognized Dunham when he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver.
"She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me," he said.
Obama last visited Hawaii in August for a week's vacation after he clinched the nomination.
The Associated Press
In this photo provided by Charles Payne, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, right standing, poses with her daughter Ann, center, her mother Leona Payne, left, and Aunt Ruth McCurry, on her front porch in Augusta, Kan., in the late 1940s. Years later, Ann would become the mother of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. |
OBAMA, HALF-SISTER & HAWAII OFFICALS FALSIFY MADELYN DUNHAM DEATH RECORDS
By Larry Sinclair
On October 21, 2008 Barack Obama announced that he would be suspending his campaign after a rally in Indianapolis on Thursday morning, October 23, 2008 to fly to Hawaii to visit with his “gravely ill grandmother.” Barack Obama further stated that Madelyn L. Dunham had recently been hospitalized and was back at home after suffering a broken hip. Obama made it clear on October 22, 2008 that there “will be absolutely no video or photo ops during my upcoming visit with my ailing grandmother,” and “I do not expect my grandmother to make it to election day.”
On Friday October 24, 2008 Michelle Obama during a campaign rally for her husband claimed that “I spoke with tutu last night and she is strong and in good health.”
On Friday October 24, 2008 I placed two calls to the home of Madelyn Dunham, in one of those calls I spoke with Obama half-sister Maya Ng http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-just-spoke-with-senator-obamas-sister.html where Maya claimed Mrs. Dunham could not talk.
On November 3, 2008 both the news media and Barack Obama announced that Madelyn L. Dunham had passed away on that date. Mrs. Dunham was to have celebrated her 89th birthday on the Sunday following Barack Obama’s visit, yet no one, not even Barack Obama stopped to wish his “gravely ill” grandmother a Happy Birthday.
After first announcing that Madelyn Dunham had passed away in her sleep on November 3, 2008 (conveniently the day before election day for the sympathy vote) it was reported by Hawaii officials and then by Obama half-sister Maya Ng that Mrs. Dunham had in fact passed away on November 2, 2008. Both reports it turns out are false and it has been reported that Maya Ng and Hawaii officials knowingly and intentionally falsified death records of Madelyn L. Dunham who had actually died prior to Barack Obama arriving on Thursday October 23, 2008 for his claimed visit.
According to sources employed in the coroner’s office Madelyn Dunham died on October 21, 2008 and was cremated on Friday October 24, 2008. It is further claimed that the death records of Madelyn L Dunham were falsified at the direct and specific request of Barack Obama and Maya Ng.
I have forwarded a letter to the Hawaii Attorney Generals office requesting and investigation and forwarded the information received regarding the falsifying of the death and cremation records of Madelyn L Dunham. If this information is factual Barack Obama has demonstrated his total disregard for any life, including the life of the woman who made it possible for him to be a spoiled, drug using, closet bi/gay fraud. Furthermore the fact that Michelle Obama knew and assisted in concealing this fraud along with the US Secret Service assigned to protect Barack Obama makes them conspirators to this crime.
Today Barack Obama participated in the scattering of the ashes of Madelyn L Dunham who he used and exploited.
I have one thing to say Barack, not everyone is willing to cover for your lies and crimes. Now lets see if the Hawaii Attorney General is willing to do their job or if that office is going to simply look the other way.
http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/
On October 21, 2008 Barack Obama announced that he would be suspending his campaign after a rally in Indianapolis on Thursday morning, October 23, 2008 to fly to Hawaii to visit with his “gravely ill grandmother.” Barack Obama further stated that Madelyn L. Dunham had recently been hospitalized and was back at home after suffering a broken hip. Obama made it clear on October 22, 2008 that there “will be absolutely no video or photo ops during my upcoming visit with my ailing grandmother,” and “I do not expect my grandmother to make it to election day.”
On Friday October 24, 2008 Michelle Obama during a campaign rally for her husband claimed that “I spoke with tutu last night and she is strong and in good health.”
On Friday October 24, 2008 I placed two calls to the home of Madelyn Dunham, in one of those calls I spoke with Obama half-sister Maya Ng http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-just-spoke-with-senator-obamas-sister.html where Maya claimed Mrs. Dunham could not talk.
On November 3, 2008 both the news media and Barack Obama announced that Madelyn L. Dunham had passed away on that date. Mrs. Dunham was to have celebrated her 89th birthday on the Sunday following Barack Obama’s visit, yet no one, not even Barack Obama stopped to wish his “gravely ill” grandmother a Happy Birthday.
After first announcing that Madelyn Dunham had passed away in her sleep on November 3, 2008 (conveniently the day before election day for the sympathy vote) it was reported by Hawaii officials and then by Obama half-sister Maya Ng that Mrs. Dunham had in fact passed away on November 2, 2008. Both reports it turns out are false and it has been reported that Maya Ng and Hawaii officials knowingly and intentionally falsified death records of Madelyn L. Dunham who had actually died prior to Barack Obama arriving on Thursday October 23, 2008 for his claimed visit.
According to sources employed in the coroner’s office Madelyn Dunham died on October 21, 2008 and was cremated on Friday October 24, 2008. It is further claimed that the death records of Madelyn L Dunham were falsified at the direct and specific request of Barack Obama and Maya Ng.
I have forwarded a letter to the Hawaii Attorney Generals office requesting and investigation and forwarded the information received regarding the falsifying of the death and cremation records of Madelyn L Dunham. If this information is factual Barack Obama has demonstrated his total disregard for any life, including the life of the woman who made it possible for him to be a spoiled, drug using, closet bi/gay fraud. Furthermore the fact that Michelle Obama knew and assisted in concealing this fraud along with the US Secret Service assigned to protect Barack Obama makes them conspirators to this crime.
Today Barack Obama participated in the scattering of the ashes of Madelyn L Dunham who he used and exploited.
I have one thing to say Barack, not everyone is willing to cover for your lies and crimes. Now lets see if the Hawaii Attorney General is willing to do their job or if that office is going to simply look the other way.
http://larrysinclair-0926.blogspot.com/
Obamas report $5.5 million in income on 2009 tax return
By Michael D. Shear and David S. Hilzenrath
Friday, April
16, 2010
On Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama raised his hand and took the oath of office. It made
him president, and it didn't hurt his book sales, either.
On Thursday, the White House posted online the 2009 tax return for the president and the first lady, offering a peek into the book royalty engine that continues to fuel their status as millionaires.
The first couple reported an adjusted gross income of $5.5 million, almost all of it from royalties associated with the president's two bestsellers: "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."
The first book -- about Obama's early life and his struggle to find a racial identity -- earned about $3.3 million in 2009. The second, a more policy-oriented book, brought in $2.3 million for the president and his family.
In 2008, the books together earned them $2.6 million.
A large portion of the royalties came from sales overseas, an indication of the president's popularity abroad. (red flag- this is a smoke screen He was paid with Saudi Foreign funds) The tax return indicates that $1.6 million of the total book income was taxable in "various" foreign countries.
As president, Obama collected a salary of $400,000, an amount that reflects an increase that took effect in 2001.
A White House official said Obama's money is not kept in a blind trust, as previous presidents -- including Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan -- have done.(A blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling. Blind trusts are generally used when a settlor (sometimes called a trustor or donor) wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians or others in sensitive positions often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest when they direct government funds to the private sector.)
The income from the books, together with money Obama inherited from his grandmother after she died in late 2008 and other income, required him to pay $1.79 million in taxes.
If the president had wanted, he could have received a refund check for $8,287 -- the amount he overpaid in estimated taxes -- but he chose to apply the refund to his 2010 taxes.
Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, left him stock in the Bank of Hawaii valued at almost $500,000 at the time of her death in November 2008, the tax return shows. The value of that stock plunged rapidly as the U.S. economy cratered in the first weeks of 2009. The Obamas sold the stock in early January after it had lost $125,000 in value.
The family tax return, filed jointly, shows that the couple donated $329,100 to 40 charities, including $50,000 to CARE, an anti-poverty organization; $50,000 to the United Negro College Fund; and $20,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Not included on the tax return was the $1.4 million award Obama received as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Obama had previously announced that he was directing the entire cash award to a variety of charities. ( Vatican Slush account funds so he wont have to pay taxes)
Officials noted that a special IRS regulation allows the recipient of a Nobel to donate the award to charity without having to record it as income on a federal tax return.
The White House also made public the tax return for Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden.
The couple reported income of $333,182 and paid federal taxes of $71,147. ( Now they are Billionaires)
The Bidens contributed $4,820 to charity, the returns show
On Thursday, the White House posted online the 2009 tax return for the president and the first lady, offering a peek into the book royalty engine that continues to fuel their status as millionaires.
The first couple reported an adjusted gross income of $5.5 million, almost all of it from royalties associated with the president's two bestsellers: "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."
The first book -- about Obama's early life and his struggle to find a racial identity -- earned about $3.3 million in 2009. The second, a more policy-oriented book, brought in $2.3 million for the president and his family.
In 2008, the books together earned them $2.6 million.
A large portion of the royalties came from sales overseas, an indication of the president's popularity abroad. (red flag- this is a smoke screen He was paid with Saudi Foreign funds) The tax return indicates that $1.6 million of the total book income was taxable in "various" foreign countries.
As president, Obama collected a salary of $400,000, an amount that reflects an increase that took effect in 2001.
A White House official said Obama's money is not kept in a blind trust, as previous presidents -- including Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan -- have done.(A blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling. Blind trusts are generally used when a settlor (sometimes called a trustor or donor) wishes to keep the beneficiary unaware of the specific assets in the trust, such as to avoid conflict of interest between the beneficiary and the investments. Politicians or others in sensitive positions often place their personal assets (including investment income) into blind trusts, to avoid public scrutiny and accusations of conflicts of interest when they direct government funds to the private sector.)
The income from the books, together with money Obama inherited from his grandmother after she died in late 2008 and other income, required him to pay $1.79 million in taxes.
If the president had wanted, he could have received a refund check for $8,287 -- the amount he overpaid in estimated taxes -- but he chose to apply the refund to his 2010 taxes.
Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, left him stock in the Bank of Hawaii valued at almost $500,000 at the time of her death in November 2008, the tax return shows. The value of that stock plunged rapidly as the U.S. economy cratered in the first weeks of 2009. The Obamas sold the stock in early January after it had lost $125,000 in value.
The family tax return, filed jointly, shows that the couple donated $329,100 to 40 charities, including $50,000 to CARE, an anti-poverty organization; $50,000 to the United Negro College Fund; and $20,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Not included on the tax return was the $1.4 million award Obama received as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Obama had previously announced that he was directing the entire cash award to a variety of charities. ( Vatican Slush account funds so he wont have to pay taxes)
Officials noted that a special IRS regulation allows the recipient of a Nobel to donate the award to charity without having to record it as income on a federal tax return.
The White House also made public the tax return for Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden.
The couple reported income of $333,182 and paid federal taxes of $71,147. ( Now they are Billionaires)
The Bidens contributed $4,820 to charity, the returns show
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