Was Mike Connell Killed? White House Scandal Tied To Connell?

The Internet is abuzz with the news of the death of the GOP's main web guru Mike Connell, who died in the crash of his plane on December 18th.  He was flying alone.


Raw Story is one of several blogs that have covered the accident and speculate that his death may not have been accidental:  

“Since early this decade, top Internet ‘gurus’ in Ohio have been coordinating web services with their GOP counterparts in Chattanooga, wiring up a major hub that in 2004, first served as a conduit for Ohio's live election night results,” researchers at ePluribus Media wrote.

A few months after this revelation, when a scandal erupted surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for reasons of White House policy, other researchers found that the gwb43 domain used by members of the White House staff to evade freedom of information laws by sending emails outside of official White House channels was hosted on those same SmarTech servers.

Given that the Bush White House used SmarTech servers to send and receive email, the use of one of those servers in tabulating Ohio’s election returns has raised eyebrows. Ohio gave Bush the decisive margin in the Electoral College to secure his reelection in 2004.

IT expert Stephen Spoonamore says the SmartTech server could have functioned as a routing point for malicious activity and remains a weakness in electronic voting tabulation.

"...I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman," said RAW STORY's Investigative News Editor, Larisa Alexandrovna, on her personal blog Saturday morning . "This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.

This video from Guerilla News Network and the one below it from This Week In Fascism says that some sources claim that Bush Administration aide Karl Rove may have threatened Connell's life or may have threatened to blow the whistle on his wife for alleged lobbying violations if he told others of his involvement in an alleged scheme to take vote for Al Gore and for Senator John Kerry and transfer them to then-Governor and later President George W. Bush in the 00 and 04 elections.  






This video reports that Ohio lawyers asked for protection for Mike Connell from Rove on July 28th 2008.






Whatever the truth here, it's clear that Rove may have been involved in the "taking down" of several high level Democrats and the "choking off" of donations to Democrats in the South. We have the work of Laurisa Alexandrovna at Raw Story to thank for this. I'm just learning of this story, so I will get more up to speed on it.


In my view this is just as important as the Rod Blagojevich scandal. In fact, it's more important. Why the mainstream media would pay more attention to that story than this one is beyond me.

Gov. Rod Blegojevich At The Democratic Convention

I recorded this interview of Gov. Blagojevich at the Democratic Convention but now it takes on new meaning. At the time of this interview, there was no nationally-known scandal. The matter of the Chicago school funding controversy was only known to the Chicago media, and not by me. I was just gathering information. But the matter of who Gov. Blagojevich's allies and enemies are comes out in this brief interview conducted by a member of the Chicago media and recorded by me at part of the group of press behind him.

Gov. Blegojevich answered all of the questions aimed at him and -- considering the rush to see Hillary Clinton speak -- gave as much time as he could to the press. In firing back against charges from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley that school funding was inadequate, the Governor asked if the Mayor and Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago Board of Education and now President-Elect Barack Obama's choice to be Secretary of Education, could account for the $2 billion the state gave the City of Chicago.

In this, we see who may be backing Blago: State Senator Emil Jones and State Senator Rev. Jesse Meeks. But moreover, I believe we're dealing with someone who, with all of his foilbles, knows where "the bodies are buried."

This matter of his indictment going to get even more interesting before it's done.

NORAD Tracks Santa - Cape Canaveral, Florida

As of this writing, NORAD tracked Santa in Baltimore! Check out http://www.noradsanta.org for the latest Santa siting!

American Airlines plane incidents at Chicago's O'Hare airport - CNN.com

More at CNN.com: “(CNN) -- A passenger jet preparing to take off from the airport skidded off the runway at Chicago, Illinois' O'Hare and another plane was forced to return there after engine problems were reported, officials said.

American Airlines Flight 1544 -- an MD-80 carrying 54 passengers and a crew of five -- was taxiing into takeoff position on Runway 22-L when it hit an icy patch, said airline spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

No one was hurt, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

The left tires and the nose tires slid onto the grass next to the taxiway, she said.”

-- I can't remember a time when so many incidents of delays and accidents happened in such a small window of time. I wonder if this is tied to the poor maintainance spending of the airlines and the need for airport upgrades in general?

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Christmas Eve

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport. This is that portion of the ordeal.

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Day Two

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport.

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Not On Flight

Well, after all that, the flight was so overbooked, and I was on standby, I did not get on. So, I've got to get a hotel room and stay in Denver for the night.

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Bad Weather

As I upload this new video I am still at DIA - Denver International Airport - and Gate B56 where the flight to Atlanta, United 7515, was to have departed at 6:56, but will not leave until 10 PM. The reason: bad weather in Iowa

TasteBudPolitics.com - An Interesting Site Combining The Election and Eating

It's interesting who you meet at airports.  A simple question I asked while at Denver Airport and to a person about a couple of buttons they had on their shoulder bag led me to this interesting site called "TasteBudPolitics.com."  


Developed by Denver-based "Motive" (thanks for the info Taylor Woodward!) as a promotional product for Odoba Mexican Grill, the website is a cleaverly designed survey that asks you to answer some wacky but logical questions.  For example, who of a set of cartoon icons would you want to be stuck on a desert island with?  I picked Captain Kangaroo because he's got a boat so I can get off the island!  


At any rate, the final outcome of the survey was that I was a "NACHO": an independent person who was most likely single!  (Got that right!)  I then cast my vote for Barack Obama, as did 55 percent of the people surveyed. But what's interesting is McCain won no state at all.


What was also interesting is that the candidates have designations: Barack Obama is a "TACO SALAD" whereas John McCain is a "NACHO" like me.  A Taco Salad person is easy going and empathic, whereas a Nacho is one who kind of "does their own thing" without care of what others think.  Hmm.  Reads like me, again!  


if you're wondering, Sarah Palin is "CHIPS and SALSA" and Joe Biden is a "QUESADILLA".  


You've got to check this out. Ok.  So it's after the election, but it's still fascinating. It cries for a video-blog component of some kind.  Can you imagine asking these questions to random people?!  That would be a hoot!


Hmm....

Murray Waas Exclusive: Dick Cheney’s admissions to the CIA leak prosecutor and FBI

More at Murray Waas: “Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a still-highly confidential FBI report, admitted to federal investigators that he rewrote talking points for the press in July 2003 that made it much more likely that the role of then-covert CIA-officer Valerie Plame in sending her husband on a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa would come to light.

Cheney conceded during his interview with federal investigators that in drawing attention to Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s Africa trip reporters might also unmask her role as CIA officer.

Cheney denied to the investigators, however, that he had done anything on purpose that would lead to the outing of Plame as a covert CIA operative. But the investigators came away from their interview with Cheney believing that he had not given them a plausible explanation as to how he could focus attention on Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s trip without her CIA status also possibly publicly exposed. At the time, Plame was a covert CIA officer involved in preventing Iran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, and Cheney’s office played a central role in exposing her and nullifying much of her work.”

-- The picture that is developing is one of a person - VP Richard Cheney - who was running a "shadow government" in the Bush Administration. Just what laws were broken is not clear at this point, but the pure smell of secrecy and lies is evident. The whole matter of how we got into Iraq is an open book for legal analysis.

Russia orders 70 new nuclear missiles | World news | guardian.co.uk

More at the guardian.co.uk: “Russia is to increase sharply its production of strategic nuclear missiles, throwing down the gauntlet to the US president-elect, Barack Obama, who would have to deal with the Kremlin's response to US missile defence plans in Europe.

A senior government official in Moscow said the Russian military would commission 70 strategic missiles over the next three years. It was unclear whether sea-launched ballistic missiles were included in this figure, but military experts said it could represent up to a fourfold increase on the rate of production of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).”

-- This is a frightening development. I do hope we don't get into a military spending contest with the Russians. We can't afford it and I'm not sure it's the best way to go.

Home Sales Drop To 18-Year Low

More at Huff Post: “WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes fell in November to the slowest pace in nearly 18 years, while new home prices dropped by the biggest amount in eight months.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that new home sales fell 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 407,000 units. That was a weaker performance than economists had expected and was the slowest sales pace since January 1991.

The median price of a new home sold in November was $220,400, a drop of 11.5 percent from the sales price a year ago. That was the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 12.7 percent fall in March of this year. The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.”