One other thing to consider is that the Rezko "parcel" is quite small. When I first heard about this transaction I thought: "So there were probably like five acres and Obama could only afford three of them, so Rezko bought the other two as an investment. It's a favor, but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things."

But use Google Earth to view Obama's house and something different emerges. This isn't acres of property, it's a residential lot -- and what Rezko bought is too small to build anything on. After the initial purchase, the Obamas had unfettered use of the Rezko property as part of their yard (note the original hedge on the street side of the Rezko property) -- and only after questions were asked did the Obamas purchase ten feet of the Rezko "parcel" and put up a fence.

Now the Rezko property, or rather their attorney's property, since they sold it to him, is even smaller -- still too small for a home to be built on it. So where's the benefit to Rezko or his attorney in owning it? That piece of land is useless to its current owners, but not to the owners of the Obama property.