BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

EXCLUSIVE: Obama's $500,000 book bonanza Jim McElhatton and Christina Bellantoni EXCLUSIVE: As he empathized with recession-weary Americans, President Obama arranged in the days just before he took office to secure a $500,000 advance for a children's book project, a disclosure report shows. The terms of the book deal were disclosed in a Senate financial disclosure report filed Tuesday. Analysts say there don't appear to be any rules that would bar such transactions after a president takes office, but it's unclear whether an incoming or sitting president has ever signed a book deal upon entering the White House. "I don't recall any sitting president entering into a book deal," said campaign finance lawyer Jan Baran, former general counsel to the Republican National Committee. "They all have historically done that after they leave office. "I recall the only ones who did sign book deals while living there were first ladies, and my recollection is th...

LOOK OUT, REV! Sharpton's aides are in the hot seat. Seems the Feds are probing the Rev's finances. Of course, Al... never one to miss an opportunity to mouth-off or play victim, now paints himself with the same brush as Martin Luther King, Jr. by proclaiming that all civil rights leaders are hassled this way. And, like all good narcissistic types - he denies denies denies any wrongdoing. Rev, you gonna get Twana Brawley or maybe Steven Pagonis to come to court as a character witness if you get subpoenaed? Sharpton blasts feds over finance probe, says it's retaliatory Less than a month after the Rev. Al Sharpton led a Washington march to demand federal action in the Jena Six case, several of his associates and employees found federal agents at their doors with subpoenas for records related to his finances, he said. To him, the timing was no coincidence. With a grand jury gearing up to consider possible tax fraud charges against him, Sharpton is accusing federal authoritie...