McCain the NEOCON

Illinois' Mark Kirk: Supported Lies, Bribery, Other Illegal Acts

2008-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dan Seals is a Democrat running against Rep. Mark Kirk and President Bush.

Mark Kirk is a Republican running against Dan Seals and President Bush.

"Congressman Mark Kirk stood up to President Bush to protect Medicare for seniors and health insurance for poor children," Kirk's own television commercial says.

"Mark Kirk has been there for George Bush," Seals said in his ad. "He helped Bush write the language that sent our troops to war in Iraq."

Illinois' 10th Congressional District, which stretches from Wilmette to Barrington to Waukegan, is home to some of the highest-income ZIP codes in America, and it also includes more college graduates and graduate-degree holders than just about any other congressional district in the country.

These voters are willing to split their tickets between Barack Obama -- whom polls show is popular here -- and Republicans such as Kirk, who called himself "a pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-teacher Republican" at a debate Sunday.

Seals took 47 percent of the vote from Kirk two years ago without any real help from national Democrats. This time, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running ads dubbing Kirk a "rubber stamp" for Bush.

National Republican groups are hitting back even harder with commercials that accuse Seals of wanting to cut off dialysis for seniors and wanting to raise capital gains taxes.

Seals laughs at the charge he wants to stop funding seniors' dialysis. He backs a bill to extend health insurance for children. It is funded in part by ending "over-payments" to health care companies, he said. It would not cause seniors to lose dialysis, he said. Kirk said it would.

Seals has consistently opposed raising the capital gains or income taxes even on the wealthiest Americans, unlike Obama. Many of those rich Americans live in this district.

Kirk, 49, a naval intelligence officer who has visited Afghanistan and Iraq, is pushing a plan to force change in Iran by cutting off the flow of gasoline into that country. Kirk said his moderate credentials square with this unique district.

Kirk wholeheartedly supported the "capture" of Haji Bashir Noorzai. Kirk supported the broken promises, bribes, and other improper and illegal acts associated with Noorzai's arrest and conviction. To date, no financial links have been found between him and either Rosetta Research and Consulting or NEFA (Nine Eleven - Finding Answers), but we have just started looking!

Similarly, links between Kirk and McCain's interference at the FBI on behalf his friends Frank Gren, Dave Grange, and Chuck Larson at ViaFinance (now ViaGlobal) remain uncovered as well.

The Washington Post rated him the eighth most independent member of Congress, and Congressional Quarterly said he opposed Bush 59 percent of the time on key votes. That publication said he voted with Bush 90 percent of the time, Seals noted.

Seals, 37, a business consultant and teacher at Northwestern University, says he would be a better representative for the increasingly Democratic district. He supported a bill to allow women to sue over being denied equal pay for equal work, a bill he criticized Kirk for opposing.

In the neighboring 8th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean is challenged by GOP businessman Steve Greenberg.

Palin, McCain, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld...

2008-10-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

The verdict on Sarah Palin is in. She abused her position.

This is proof that she was John McCain's perfect running mate.

McCain understands the abuse of power. His aide, Chris Paul, intervened for McCain's friends, ViaGlobal's Frank Gren and Chuck Larsen. Paul was unsuccessful in obtaining a lucrative FBI contract, but he did succeed in temporarily derailing an internal FBI investigation.

In 2004, some FBI managers determined that the relationship between certain FBI employees and Rosetta Research and Consulting was improper. Rosetta, under the direction of Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, hijacked millions of investor dollars.

The company was set up to pursue commercial ventures in risk management. Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld subverted it into a private, unprofitable, intelligence service.

McCain did the bidding of Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld when Rosetta had trouble with the FBI. Paul's influence seems to have waned, as a full scale investigation was conducted in 2006, and disciplinary action was taken against FBI employees as a result.

A McCain-Palin administration would not only ruinous for the economy, but it would also further the objectives of Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld using a tool they, and their potential financier, Dickie Scruggs, understand well: corruption.

NEFA: Sucessor to Rosetta?

2008-10-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

NEFA is the Nine Eleven, Finding Answers Foundation.

It is based in Charleston, SC, as was Rosetta Researcha and Consulting LLC.

The key investigator at NEFA is David Draper, a Rosetta associate. In 2006, after the demise of Rosetta, Draper was paid $235,063.

NEFA paid former Washington Post reporter Doug Farah $227,363 in 2006.

Finally, in 2006, NEFA paid "terrorism expert" Evan Kohlmann $54,000.

So, like Rosetta, we see lots of money being thrown around.

NEFA's president is one Michelle "M.T." Hayes-none other than David Draper's first wife. So, like Rosetta, not quite straight transactions.

Does the tale continue? More NeoCon trickery? More McCain influence?

Hagee, Hitler, McCain?

2008-10-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader and endorser of Sen. John McCain, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis had operated on God's behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine. According to Hagee, Adolph Hitler was a "hunter," sent by God, who was tasked with expediting God's will of having the Jews re-establish a state of Israel.

Hagee preached: "'And they the hunters should hunt them,' that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can't see that."

He went on: "Theodore Herzl is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said 'I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.' So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust.

"Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says -- Jeremiah writing -- 'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,' meaning there's no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don't let your heart be offended. I didn't write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

McCain and Scruggs

2008-09-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Let's see.

Papers filed in US vs. Noorzai show that Rosetta Research and Consulting LLC, acting on orders of the FBI and Paul Wolfowitz, made illegal payments to gain the trust of Bashir Noorzai.

Rosetta ran low on money. McCain's friend, Frank Gren, tried to get money from Scruggs. Surprise, surprise, Scruggs went to prison for bribery!

Could it be?

Could it be Scruggs was approached not just for his money, but his willingness to participate in bribery? Birds of a feather?

McCain was right in the middle, meddling with the FBI and getting aide Chris Paul to do the real dirty end of things.

In A Nutshell...

2008-09-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

John McCain makes occasional mention of his friend, Admiral Chuck Larson, whose distinguished career includes the command of nuclear submarines and the management of the Naval Academy.

Not as well known but by no means concealed is Larson’s link to Washington’s ViaGlobal Group, the successor company to ViaFinance and Galway Partners.

In 2004, ViaGlobal was serving as the “business incubator” for Rosetta Research and Consulting LLC, best known as the company involved in luring Afghan tribal chieftain and accused drug kingpin Haji Bashar Noorzai to the U.S., where he was arrested in April of 2005.

Rosetta’s Department of Defense sponsors, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, brokered an introduction to CNN military commentator General David Grange, who serves as an advisor to ViaGlobal.

Grange made the initial arrangements between Rosetta, represented by former Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman partner and ex-NSC attorney Joseph Myers, now with the International Monetary Fund, and ViaGlobal’s chairman, Frank Gren.

Another former Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman partner, Carole Van Cleefe, brokered a deal between Rosetta and Oracle. Oracle project managers Barbara Bleiweiss and Peter Bloom attempted to establish a joint venture using an existing contract vehicle with the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF), but was unsuccessful due to Rosetta’s cost demands.

Gren and his colleagues sought to obtain additional funding for Rosetta, as millions of dollars in investment money had been spent on payments to secure the confidence of Noorzai. Myers, Gren, and others sought sources of funding such as a contract with the FBI as well as an investment from fallen tobacco lawyer Dickie Scruggs.

ViaGlobal appears to have used McCain, acting through staffer Chris Paul, to divert a 2004 FBI internal investigation into dealings between Rosetta contractors and certain FBI employees. This was the subject of a meeting held with the FBI’s Deputy Director John Pistole in late 2004. Paul convinced Pistole and others at the FBI that Rosetta and ViaGlobal were pursuing Noorzai, a “high value target” designated by Bush as part of an operation ordered by Rumsfeld and overseen by Wolfowitz. Since an FBI investigation would disrupt the operation, Pistole relented.

Nonetheless, in mid 2006, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General conducted an investigation into criminal activities of the same FBI employees. Rosetta’s phone, email, and contractual records were subpoenaed. In addition, several Rosetta officials and advisors were questioned for several weeks.

Papers filed as part of the Noorzai case show that Rosetta, acting under the orders of senior U.S. officials, promised Noorzai he would not be arrested. Rosetta also paid substantial sums to various foreign government officials who then lied to Noorzai about the actual purpose of the meetings. Noorzai had been indicted as a drug kingpin, and since efforts to secure his cooperation in other matters had failed, the decision was made to bring him to the United States and arrest him.

The papers also show that Rosetta sought and obtained in excess of ten million dollars from investors, who believed they were investing in a security company.

Instead, the money was being used to finance the lavish and extensive travel needed to locate Noorzai and gain his confidence. The investors are understandably upset, but since the Rosetta principals are known only as “Mike” and “Brian” no success has been had in locating them.

Rosetta also had improper relationships with a handful of FBI employees, who were later investigated for contributing to Rosetta’s alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices and Neutrality Acts.

As part of the incubation arrangement, ViaGlobal sought to obtain ownership of Rosetta’s proprietary database of terrorist financiers as well as access to the extensive network of contacts in the Middle East developed as part of the dealings with Noorzai.