Kirk defends his war time record in Iraq and Aghanistan

Dear Friend:

The negative campaign being waged against my 21 years of service in the United States Navy Reserve turned from dirty to ridiculous. Yesterday, WFLD allowed a partisan surrogate for Alexi Giannoulias to make ludicrous accusations without challenge or correction.

According to Giannoulias’ surrogate State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), I should “apologize to all the veterans especially the veterans during the Vietnam era because that’s when he supposedly served.” I was 13 years old when the Vietnam Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973.

Rep. Chapa LaVia was on a roll. She also said “allegations are starting to come out where he falsified that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan too.” I served over Iraq as part of Operation Northern Watch in 2000 and twice served in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Watch the clip below:

These are just two of many misleading assertions now emanating from Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign. At this point, it’s hard to take what he or his representatives say seriously.

Our state and this nation face serious issues: high unemployment, a soaring federal debt and the tragedy in the Gulf. After Broadway Bank’s collapse and massive losses in the Illinois Bright Start college savings program, Treasurer Giannoulias and his campaign surrogates will tell you anything to change the subject.

In the end, we will win this election because our ideas are better. We want a brighter future for Illinois families based on lower taxes, less spending, clean government and private sector job growth. We also want a brighter future for America with a strong national defense and unwavering support for democratic allies like Israel. And the people of Illinois do too.

I want to thank you all – especially my fellow veterans – for standing with me. Working together, we will return this Senate seat to its rightful owners – the people of Illinois.

Very truly yours,

Mark Kirk

Member of Congress

"Throwing" my shoes at President Bush, too

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC, 20500

Some observations on the Jeff Mazon trial in Peoria, Illinois

I spent a few days in Peoria covering the federal prosecution of Jeff Mazon. This is the second trial. The first ended last April in a deadlocked jury. Clearly the evidence was unconvincing in that trial. And as I sat through the beginning of this second trial trying to understand the evidence, it seemed clear that is no real evidence. Just a lot of circumstance.

Clearly a mistake was made in the awarding of a contract. But was it intentional as the prosecution and Bush Administration contend, or, was it the result of an error caused in the mass confusion of the weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Mazon used an Excel spreadsheet that was created five years earlier. The creator of the spreadsheet was one of his former bosses at Halliburton. The spreadsheet is important because is presenting bids for approval, they must be converted from the Kuwaiti Dinars that they were submitted in -- much of the work was done in Kuwait and the contracts there bid using their local monetary system. One Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) is equal to 3.3 U.S. Dollars. But, the spread sheet used to prepare the bids -- from three companies -- had a mathematical flaw in it. Two of the bids were multiplied incorrectly and listed first in Kuwaiti Dinars and then multiplied by 3.3 as if the amounts were dollars. Two of the bids were listed incorrectly. A third bid was rejected for lack of qualification but was listed correctly.

Was this done intentionally?

All of Mazon's supervisors received the bids in paper form and in electronic Excel Spreadsheet form. They had ample opportunity to review the bids and even raise questions about the bids by simply clicking the "cell" in the spreadsheet to determine if there was something wrong, like an inaccurate calculation.

Mazon's superiors demanded that all the bids be submitted to them for review in Dollars. These bids were submitted in combination with the dollars listed. None of Mazon's supervisors bothered to check.

The prosecution's strongest witnesses were presented in the opening days of the trial this past week. I listened to them all. But it was clear to me that no evidence exists or has been presented so far that proves convincingly that Mazon intentionally inflated the numbers. It was more likely the numbers were accidentally inflated by the erroneous spreadsheet prepared by his supervisor.

I have yet to hear or see evidence that he is guilty and that makes me wonder why this case is being prosecuted a second time.

Mazon clearly is being tarnished not by evidence but by the culture of corruption that accompanied the opening of the illegal war in Iraq. The Bush Administration should be looking at Halliburton, not someone whom some insist is a whistle-blower. Mazon's challenge is to show his innosense in the backdrop of so much questionable conduct by others around him. His attorney, J. Scott Arthur is a very capable attorney who happens to be from Orland Park, Illinois. Very smart. Very bright. Arthur has been pouncing on the apparent lack of evidence, despite having his hands tied by the judge in the case, Federal U.S. District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade. McDade has denied Arthur the ability to fully explore the larger issues that would prove his client innocent.

Despite that, I think Mazon will be found innocent. The evidence just doesn't exist. There is no smoking gun.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Click here to read my most recent news/analysis of the trial.

News bits and more

The best headline so far on the Rev. Jesse Jackson broken record faux pas is in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Would the real Jesse Jackson please sit down? And be quiet?" by writer Bob Ray Sanders. (I love those Texan names!)

Catch my column on the elder Jackson's history of outrageous conduct (and more) on the HuffingtonPost at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-hanania/

John McCain is blasting Barack OBama saying the Illinois Senator doesn't have the foreign policy experience to be the president. That's one reason why Obama is now fist-bumping his way through a trip covering Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe.

But the real question is this: McCain says he has the foreign policy experience. If that is the case, then why didn't he use it instead of being a shill for President George W. Bush and okay almost every stupid foreign policy decision the president made? What's worse, a guy who tries to the right thing but doesn't have all the experience, or one who has the experience but never uses it like McCain.

One reason why Obama is doing so well is that his running mate is John McCain, a wishy-washy, lackluster, try-to-make-every-happy kind of politician. TAKE A REAL STAND MACCAIN. If there were someone else running against Obama ... someone who was centrist and a leader, , Obama might be vilnerable. Someone like Congressman Bob Murtha, the first Vietnam Veteran to be elected to serve in the House and who, unlike McCain, took on the Bush administration's war lies.

Chicago Ald. Mike Zalewski has proposed increasing the fine for vehicles with tinted windows from $25 to $250. The darkened widnows are a danger to the safety of police officers and it is amazing how many cars have their front passenger and front windshields tinted in Chicago ... A car with only the back half windows tinter doesn't look as "cool" but it would be far safer for police.

The law should be enforced as strictly across the state -- but that might cause some discomfort for some politicians who love driving in limousines with full tinted windows.

Here's more information on the Oak Lawn Children's Museum: http://www.cmoaklawn.org/

It's a great place to visit now. It's going to be even greater when it moves into it's new, two-story facilities later this year.

Here's a story I did on the museum recently.

War-related corruption case building

The Rockford Trial of the Iraq war corruption case is continuing.

Here's a link to my story on First Kuwaiti and contractor Jeff Mazon:

http://swnewsherald.com/online_content/2008/04/041808rh_contract.php

Here's a link to the Washington Post which has not covered the Mazon trial but reported on the completion of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041703603.html?hpid=topnews

Pre-taped interviews with Coalition spokesman in Baghdad, Iraq Tuesday

Radio Chicagoland's Tuesday show features pre-tapaed interviews with Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, spokesman for the Coalition Forces based in Baghdad, Iraq on the status of our troops. Also, the show Tuesday on WCEV 1450 AM Radio (4 to 6 PM) also features an interview with Bob Gusanders, co-publisher of the Southwest News-Herald Newspaper on the challenges facing community newspapers, the important role of community newspapers, and the Southwest News-Heralds expansion over the past several years into the Internet and recently into radio with this show, Radio Chicagoland. Also, I will be replaying an interview with political activist Bob Creamer, who wrote a new book "Listen to Your Mother, Standup Straight: How Progressive Can Win."

Thursday, we have an interview booked with David Astor, an editor at Editor & Publisher Magazine on the status of syndicated columnists and journalism around the country.

Ray Hanania

Some in Illinois Congress flip flop and supports continuation of Iraq War

Observations on the vote on the Continuation of the Iraq War bill supported by Bush

Two Illinois Democrats flip flopped on their votes: U.S. Rep. Daniel J. Lipinski voted in support for the war bill, continuing the Iraq War and ignoring the will of the American people, and Rahm Emanuel, the so-called powerhouse in the Democratic leadership credited with helping to takeover the House. What's the point of taking over the House, Rahm, if you are going to play personal cowardly politics and not stand by the will of the American people or support bringing our men and women of the Armed Services back home?

US Senator Barack Obama stuck to his guns and voted against the Iraq War while Senator Dick Durbin voted to continue the Iraq War. Durbin has been a long time visionary and while his vote is troubling, he deserves a closer look. Obama deserves praise for standing firm against the war as did Hillary Clinton.

That coward Mitt Romney and that hypocrite Senator John McCain who is exploiting his POW service during the Vietnam War to support the continuation of the Vietnam-Style Iraq War have attacked Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for heeding the voices of the American people when they voted against the War Funding Bill.

In truth, Obama and Clinton are more patriotic that Romney (Mr. Flip Flop) and Mr. McCain, who made that embarrassing trip to Baghdad wearing a flak jacket and protected by American soldiers. What a show of support for our troops!

Here is some vote history comparison to dshow you how Congressmen voted the first time on March 23, 2007 on the original War Funding vote that President Bush vetoed, and how they voted on May 24, 2007 on the watered-down surrender to President Bush War "mis-funding" bill.

Here is the Associated Press list of how everyone voted:

FIRST VOTE -----------------------------------------------
March 23, 2007
House Vote
The 218-212 roll call March 24, 2007 by which the House passed a war spending bill that would require President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 216 Democrats and two Republicans. Voting no were 14 Democrats and 198 Republicans. X denotes those not voting. Present denotes those who voted they were "present" at the time of the vote but did not vote yes or no on the issue. There is one vacancy in the 435-member House.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/la-na-talley24mar24,1,4382057.htmlstory

And here is the outtake of how Illinois voted:

March 23, 2007
ILLINOIS
Democrats -- Bean, Y; Costello, Y; Davis, Y; Emanuel, Y; Gutierrez, Y; Hare, Y; Jackson, Y; Lipinski, Y; Rush, Y; Schakowsky, Y.
Republicans -- Biggert, N; Hastert, N; Johnson, N; Kirk, N; LaHood, N; Manzullo, N; Roskam, N; Shimkus, N; Weller, N.

SECOND VOTE ---------------------------------------
May 24, 2007 Vote
Here is the link to the the House Vote:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll425.xml

Here is the link to the Senate Vote:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00181

Here are how Illinois Congressional Members voted in support of the Iraq War and against the Iraq War:

Illinois Senators voting NO:
Clinton and Obama remained strong and voted AGAINST the continuation of the war

Illinois Senator voting YES:
Tragically, Senator Dick Durbin also voted for the the continuation of the Iraq War against the will of the American people.

Changed their vote in House:

Democrats: Voting YES May 24, 2007:

Daniel Lipinski buckled under pressure, and changed his view, voting YES for the watered down bill instead of standing up for the rights of the American People and calling an end to the Iraq War.

So did Rahm Emanuel, the guy who served in the Israeli Army in "civilian clothing." So did Bean,

Democrats Voting NO:
Sticking to their principles were: Davis, Costello, Gutierrez, Hare, Jackson, Rush, Schakowsky

Republicans voting NO:
Judy Biggert, Dennis Hastert, Johnson, Kirk, Ray LaHood, Manzullo, Roskam, Shimkus,

Republicans Not voting:
Weller.

Note the warmongering Republican blindfaith vote to stand for President Bush's lies and a war that continues to take the lives of three and four or more American soldiers every day. Pathetic!

END