Editor:

Jihadis donating to the Obama campaign?

Foreign donations to presidential campaigns in the United States are illegal. Imagine my surprise when scanning the Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial reports Obama has submitted to find several donations from GAZA, from two Palestinian brothers who "expressed their love for Sen. Obama." The two brothers and the campaign initially hid their contribution source by citing their address as "Rafah, GA," but of course there is no town of Rafah in Georgia. Some of the names used to hide contributions were "A. Doo Dad" or other silly names that are obvious fakes.

The maximum individual contribution that can be made to a presidential candidate is $2,300. The Gaza brothers donated approximately $33,000 in two payments of more than $15,000. The brothers claim they bought Obama T-shirts and sold them at a profit in the Gaza strip. Purchases of products from the senator's Web site are considered campaign donations and count towards the $2,300 dollar limit.

When confronted with this information by the New York Times, the senator claimed that the donations were returned to the Gaza brothers. However, FEC filings and contact with the donors indicates the money has not been returned.

Obama has received thousands of dollars in overseas contributions from non-Americans in Middle-Eastern countries. Is anyone going to bother to take a look at the candidate who "promises change"? For a candidate who promised transparency, the senator has a secrecy about his campaign that is difficult to penetrate.

Even with the hoop-la in the Denver convention, including spending tens of millions of dollars on the event, as a Democrat I still have no idea who Barack Obama is. From what I've read, he is your typical Chicago politician with extremely questionable campaign contributions, practices, and campaign expenditures. He markets "hope and change" as the "solution" to the Bush years and "all of America's woes." Huh?

Sen. Obama should realize I already have hope and he can keep the change. I will always vote my country first.

CATHERINE VANDEMOER, Jackson