How Big A Threat Is Crooked Terrorist Sympathizer Darrell Issa (R-CA) To The United States?

No, we didn't yellow Issa's teeth. He should start using miswak again

Israel has a lot of friends in Congress, and so does the Israeli extreme right Likud Party. Support spans the ideological spectrum from howling right-wing whackjobs like Dan Burton (R-IN), Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Miss McConnell (R-KY) to mainstream conservatives like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Jane Harman (D-CA), Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and liberals like Alan Grayson (D-FL), Carl Levin (D-MI), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI). The Arabs, on the other hand, are basically stuck with Ron Paul (R-TX), Lord Boustany (R-LA), and, most of all, Darrell Issa (R-CA).

Last night The New Yorker published a piece by Ryan Lizza, "Don't Look Back," with the substitle everyone in DC has been waiting for: "Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own." Lines like "Issa is the most evil man I ever met" will probably not enhance the suburban San Diego congressman's stature. He says he hates gefilte fish, and these days he does all he can to hide his pro-Arab inclinations. He claims he's like Danny Thomas. He's not.

He lost his first electoral campaign-- an attempt to flat-out buy the GOP nomination to run against Dianne Feinstein-- "after a burst of investigative reporting raised serious questions about his honesty and his past. Many politicians have committed indiscretions in earlier years: maybe they had an affair or hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny. Issa, it turned out, had, among other things, been indicted for stealing a car, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, and accused by former associates of burning down a building."

In 2003, when Darrell Issa was attempting to use his fortune to finance yet another coup in California, extreme right-wing propagandist Debbie Schussel was warning Republicans that Issa is a dangerous Arab plant, in her words "terrorism's Manchurian Candidate."

Issa’s allies are radical Islamists and supporters of terrorism against Americans, Israelis, Christians and Jews.

In a short political career, Issa’s statements and actions consistently defend terrorists, terrorist groups and terrorist sponsor states.

Saudi Arabia’s longtime lobbyist, James Gallagher, contributed to Issa’s campaign in November 2002, and Issa tried to overturn key classified evidence portions of President Bill Clinton’s 1995 counterterrorism bill. Issa is also credited with “declawing” the Patriot Act.

Then, there’s Issa’s dance with Hezbollah, an organization that is on the State Department’s terrorist list and one of the largest components of Al Qaeda. In the 1980s, Hezbollah-- which means “Party of Allah”-- murdered more than 260 U.S. Marines while they slept in Beirut and tortured to death Col. Richard Higgins (in 1990) and CIA attache William Buckley.

Hezbollah endorses “the use of hostages,” “suicide in jihad operations” and “the duty of all Muslims to engage in Islamic jihad if it ensures the ultimate goal [of] inflicting losses on the enemy.”

Less than a month after Sept. 11, Issa visited Syrian President Bashar Assad, praising Hezbollah and lauding Assad’s policies (Syria is on the State Department’s terrorist list).

The Tehran Times and IRNA (Islamic Republic News Agency, the official Iranian news agency) quoted Issa’s statements to Assad in Damascus: “Hezbollah acts legitimately and has never been involved in terrorist activities…. Hezbollah and any other Lebanese group has the right to resist the occupation of its territory…. Hezbollah’s humanitarian and governmental actions were legal…. Such behavior would be customary in any country.”

Issa denies the statements, but as a recent Los Angeles Times cover story demonstrates he has a record of stretching the truth-- about his military record, his criminal history, his business affairs and his political positions.

In November 2001, for instance, Issa told syndicated columnist Debra Saunders he was vehemently against Arabs suing the airlines and government over profiling. At the same time, he told the rest of the press of his plans to introduce legislation to make it easier for Arabs to collect monetary damages for airline and government profiling.

And Issa’s other statements and actions corroborate their veracity:

Less than a month after Sept. 11, in an Oct. 9, 2001, interview with the Beirut Daily Star’s Ibrahim, during a trip to Lebanon, Issa said, “It is Lebanon which will determine whether the party’s [Hezbollah's] activities constitute terrorism or resistance … If [Hezbollah] wants the world to understand that its activities are legitimate, they should say it…. Resistance is a legitimate right recognized [by the U.N.]…. I have a great deal of sympathy for the work that Hezbollah tries to do.” He expressed hope that Hezbollah would “reform” and become a “government” like the P.L.O.

Assad’s state-run SANA (official Syrian news agency) covered Issa’s November 2001 meeting with Assad, quoting Issa as saying: “Hezbollah or any other party has the right to resist occupation.”

Occupation? Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon at least a year before, and the U.S. withdrew over a decade earlier.

Issa’s January 2003 actions regarding Israelis captured by Hezbollah asserted the terrorist group’s moral equivalence with Israel. According to The Guardian of London, per Hezbollah’s demand, Issa asked Israel to allow the Red Cross to see captured Hezbollah terrorists in exchange for interceding with Hezbollah to allow the Red Cross to see four Israeli prisoners held by the group.

On Oct. 31, 2001, the London Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat, reported, “U.S. Congressman of Lebanese origin Darrell Issa, during his recent visit to Beirut in the mid of October,” conveyed a proposal to Hezbollah leadership to remove Hezbollah from the State Department’s terrorist list and “normalize U.S. relations with” the group. Hezbollah refused the offer.

On May 31, 2003, Issa publicly made a similar proposal to legitimize Hezbollah by giving Lebanon $500 million of taxpayer money to disarm the group and turn it into a political party.

On May 9, 2001, during a House subcommittee discussion of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Extension Act of 2001, Issa praised Hezbollah, “in all candor, for the good things they do, too, the humanitarian, the hospitals, the schools they pay.”

On April 14, 2002, Issa told Fox News Channel’s Rita Cosby that Hezbollah has done “some good things” (and he also praised Yasser Arafat).

In November 2001, Issa told the Financial Times of London, “Hezbollah does in fact have a limited scope. You must differentiate … from other organizations that might have a global reach.”

Global? Hezbollah murdered 86 Jews and wounded hundreds of people in Buenos Aires in July 1994, in addition to murdering Israelis and U.S. Marines and civilians in Lebanon and Iran.

In a Sacramento radio interview, Issa said, “They do supply little old ladies with heating oil in the winter and all kinds of other activities,” characterizing terrorist Hezbollah as a mere “political party” and “farmers,” and adding, “I’d like to see a lot of them just go back to their farms, go back to some honest living.”

Then there’s Issa’s strange respect for Arafat and Palestinian terrorists.

Days after Sept. 11, Issa, during his House International Relations Committee’s discussion of fighting terrorism, tried to draw a distinction between “Palestinian groups that are resisting Israeli occupation” and Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

During his November 2001 trip to the Middle East, Issa told his hometown newspaper, the North County Times, that he was “particularly impressed with Arafat.”

“He is quite a charismatic individual, despite being a very small man and very old,” the congressman said. “He has a wry sense of humor. He gives you food off his plate if you sit next to him.”

Arafat’s personal food taster as your next governor?

In April 2003, Issa spoke of Arafat’s “charm” (also in the North County Times).

Issa’s softness on Syrian-sponsored terrorism is legendary, too. Syria is home to several fugitives, including Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, Hamas political director Moussa Abu Marzook, Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdullah Shallah and Jamil Al-Gashey, the only surviving perpetrator of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre-- all wanted and/or indicted in the United States. However, Assad refuses their extradition.

Issa vehemently opposes the Syrian Accountability Act, which imposes sanctions on Syria until it stops sponsoring Hezbollah and other terrorists. Issa said Syria is “cooperative.”

The Reform Party of Syria said Issa “helps Syria with [its] propaganda campaign” and “objects to Mr. Issa’s presence in Syria. The Baath Party of Syria is duping Rep. Issa and using him as a propaganda tool.”

In June 2003, Issa attended the Beirut signing of a major oil deal between Syria and two U.S. firms. The contract states the companies will spend $29 million in Syria and train the state-run Syrian oil company.

Issa hosted a pro-Syrian Capitol Hill event with a pro-Syrian Arab business group. The event was organized by former staffers to Reps. David Bonior and John Dingell, who now lobby for a “change” to U.S. Middle East policy.

After the Iraq War, during one of several frequent Syrian trips, Issa praised Assad, saying, “His word seems to be good.”

As Schlussel has seen Issa in action over the years, she has grown even more worried about the threat he poses to America, pointing out that Issa, whom she calls "Jihad Darrell," is Hezbollah's favorite Member of Congress. It was Schlussel who warned Republicans that Issa refers to the 9/11 tererorist attacks on our country as "simply a plane crash." She insists that her party, the GOP, knows enough about Issa's "pan-jihadist views" to force him to resign from office. She's even written that Issa should be prosecuted as a traitor. "Recently, Israel stripped Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset Azmi Bashara of his immunity from prosecution for urging the Palestinians to attack Israel and copy Hezbollah, its murders and suicide bombings. Israel is prosecuting Bashara, and we should do the same with the treasonous Issa."

Issa, who insists Israel is guilty of apartheid, accuses America's #1 Middle Eastern ally of "wanton violation" of Lebanese country, the country many Republicans accuse him of having a stronger loyalty to than the United States. And Issa was attacked-- literally-- by the Jewish Defense League as a danger to Israel and to Jews.

Since being named chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Issa has had his Wikipedia sight purged of all the mentions of his run-ins with law enforsement, but fortunately Jillian Barclay has captured much of it here and here, despite Issa's Orwellian tactics and relentless scrubbing.

In 1971, Issa was a 17 year old high school dropout who had enlisted in the Army. Records show that while in the Army, he did serve in an exclusive unit for less than six months, but that he was cited for bad conduct, suffered a demotion and accused of auto theft. The San Francisco Examiner ran a scathing article in May of 1998 which helped to derail Issa's then bid for Senate. The article researched Issa's actual military record and compared that to Issa's accounts of his military service and the results were devastating for Mr. Issa. The above allegations were a part of that article.

Further, Andy Cohen, writing for the San Diego News Network, reported on June 4, 2010 that Issa spent six months on a bomb disposal team while in a college ROTC program, which hardly qualified him for elite status.

Lies, open support of Hezbollah, multiple arrests for auto theft and weapons, shady land deals, suspicion of arson, alleged partner shakedowns and firing employees while toting a gun are enough to question the fitness of this Congressman! There is, sadly, for Mr. Issa, more. Mr. Issa made his millions from ownership of Directed Electronics, the largest car security company in the world. The famous Viper alarm carries Issa's own voice. The manner in which Issa obtained the company has been questioned as less than ethical.

Issa reportedly invested $7000.00 in a company called AC Custom, which was owned by Joseph Adkins. Mr. Adkins reports that the company had several millions of dollars in sales yearly. Adkins borrowed $60,000.00 dollars from Issa and used his company as collateral for the loan. When he was late on the repayment of the loan, he says that he asked Issa for an extension and Issa agreed. But a few days after that conversation, Issa appeared in an Ohio court and asked for a judgment of default against Adkins. Issa took advantage of a law in Ohio that allowed a creditor to come into court without notifying the debtor and in that way obtained the judgment. According to Adkins, Issa then phoned him and told him that he was now the boss. Adkins was shocked and to this day claims Issa is a thief who cheated him out of his business.

Shortly after assuming ownership of AC Electronics is when the suspicious fire took place, but not before Issa quadrupled the insurance coverage and removed blueprints and a computer from the premises. The fire was determined to be arson and Darrell Issa is still considered a suspect. It was reported in the Daily Kos that one of Issa's brothers who helped in the clean-up of the fire showed up with the hair singed off one of his arms. For more on Issa and arson, link to: http://dailykos.com/story/2005/1/14/145836/417.

...[M]ore recently, Issa has been buying land and one of the parcels came at a $3 million dollar discount. Last summer, according to an article written by Dave Maass for San Diego City Beat on July 7, 2010, Darrell Issa's company purchased a foreclosed industrial property at the McClellan-Palomar Airport for $8.5 million dollars. The controversy, which has sparked a lawsuit against the bank that handled the sale, stems from allegations that the bank declined other offers that were significantly higher than the $8.5 million paid by Issa. Additionally, the bank is accused of discouraging another prospective buyer from placing an offer on the property. That offer was for $11.5 million dollars, $3 million dollars more than Issa paid.

The case has not been decided yet, but Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was brought down by land deals in which the details sound eerily familiar. Cunningham was sentenced in 2005 to 8 years and 4 months in prison. Coincidentally, Cunningham was the Congressman from the 50th district, the next door neighbor to Issa's 49th district.

According to Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen's Congress Watch, "This certainly raises red flags.The property could not have lost $3 million in value in two weeks, so there must be some deliberate or careless pricing of the property that benefitted Issa.” Another coincidence? The watchdog group said the same thing when the odd land deals made by Randy Cunningham were first reported.

According to Darrell Issa's financial disclosure statement, by the end of 2009, he held between $5 million and $15.5 million dollars in investments in Goldman Sachs. After the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud lawsuit against Goldman Sachs in April 2010, Issa launched an investigation, alleging that the SEC may have timed the lawsuit to bolster the Democrats’ push for financial reform. Clearly, Issa is against financial reform. Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington want an explanation, reported the City Beat article.

“The Goldman Sachs thing is the most troubling,” CREW’s Melanie Sloan says. “That he recently invested money with Goldman Sachs and then is making statements protective of Goldman Sachs suggests his views may be informed more by his own financial holdings than Goldman Sachs’ actions.” Conflict of interest? Of course not!

How could the GOP possibly find a better chairman for the House Oversight Committee... unless they wait for Duke Cunningham or Tom DeLay to get out of prison.

Darrell Issa Sells His Committee To Big Business-- Even Before He Takes Over Officially!

There is some fiercer-than-usual jockeying among our degenerate political class for the limitless bribes Big Business is willing to pay to make sure their interests are well-served. That is the only true and enduring transpartisanship in DC. No one is scratching their head over Obama's apparent decision to name a corrupt Big Business hack like William Daley as his new chief of staff-- the perfect, if tragic, successor to Rahm Emanuel. It's about the benjamins, even more than about specific Chicago inbred politics. Daley was a top corporate bagman Commerce Secretary for Bill Clinton and is now the Midwest chairman of one of Wall Street's most outrageous criminal operations, JPMorgan Chase. Conventional wisdom is that the Big Business absolutist Daley "could help Obama repair frayed relations with the business community in time for 2012 fundraising." Yeah.

When the Democratically controlled House passed a series of outrageous tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires on December 17, 277-148, 139 Democrats-- one more than the 138 Republicans-- voted for the fatal "compromise." Are they all whores? Well... certainly all the Republicans are, and among the Democrats voting for Big Business' #1 priority were standout shills like Travis Childers (MS), Bobby Bright (AL), Melissa Bean (IL), Suzanne Kosmas (FL), Glenn Nye (VA), Chris Carney (PA), Bill Foster (IL), Lincoln Davis (TN), John Adler (NJ), Jim Marshall (GA), John Boccieri (OH), Baron Hill (IN), Artur Davis (AL), Walt Minnick (ID), Frank Kratovil (MD), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Ike Skelton (MO), Harry Mitchell (AZ)... all of whom had already been defeated by the voters.

Of course, it's hardly only Obama and the Democrats who are up Wall Street's ass for campaign cash. The Republicans are fighting for every dime, and now that they're in power, lobbyists are once again in complete control of the House of Representatives. This week one of the GOP's biggest corporate whores-- himself the richest Member of the House-- signaled loud and clear that Big Business is getting the keys to the car back. Yes, I'm talking about the one and only Darrell Issa, one of the few Members of Congress to have been arrested, serially, for car thefts. (Interestingly, he purged his Wikipedia site of all references to his criminal activities this week.) 

Issa, now the chair of the House Oversight Committee, "wants the oil industry, drug manufacturers and other trade groups and companies to tell him which Obama administration regulations to target this year." He sent letters to more than 150 trade associations, companies and think tanks last month-- including Duke Energy, the Association of American Railroads, FMC Corp., Toyota, Bayer, the American Petroleum Institute, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association-- requesting a list of existing and proposed regulations that in right-wing parlance for pro-consumer/pro-environment legislation "would harm job growth."

Issa is getting his cue from and a voice to a chorus of largely disgruntled industry groups and companies that have collectively groaned about regulations in the pipeline and on the books.

"I believe for the last couple of years that we were honestly shut out of this debate at least on the House side," NPRA President Charles Drevna said. "Our policy positions haven't changed one iota. [But] is there a better chance of what I would consider a more fair hearing? Absolutely." Drevna received a letter from Issa late last month.

Issa has no qualms about giving Drevna and other administration critics a louder mouthpiece.

"As a trade organization with members that must comply with the regulatory state, I ask for your assistance in identifying existing and proposed regulations that have negatively impacted job growth in your members' industry," Issa wrote in a Dec. 8 letter to NAM. "Additionally, suggestions on reforming identified regulations and the rulemaking process would be appreciated."

The letter to NAM is a template for ones Issa sent other groups over the course of last month. In the NAM letter, Issa notes that federal agencies in fiscal year 2010 "promulgated 43 new regulations" ranging from new limits on "effluent" discharges from construction sites to rules for Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations. The "effluent" rule, Issa charged, will cost $810.8 million annually, resulting in the closure of 147 construction firms and the loss of 7,257 jobs.

The list of regulatory grievances appears wide-ranging.

Rosario Palmieri, NAM’s vice president for regulatory policy, and Drevna both highlighted EPA greenhouse gas controls for major emitters that went into effect Sunday.

Palmieri said the group also highlighted in their response to Issa upcoming EPA decisions over whether to tighten limits on ground-level ozone and controlling hazardous air pollutants from incinerators and boilers.

Many Democrats and the environmental community certainly would push back on efforts to rein in EPA greenhouse and other controls simply in the name of preserving jobs. "The Clean Air Act is one of job creation, not job destruction, plain and simple," said Tony Kreindler, a spokesman for the Environmental Defense Fund. These controls give companies "the lead time and certainty to invest and bring products to the market and actually create jobs."

NAM's "high-priority" regulatory list also includes OSHA consultation, noise and other policies, upcoming Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission controls regarding over-the-counter derivatives, Transportation Department limits on hours of service for truck drivers, and implementing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush.

"These are all high-priority regulations that can cost manufacturing jobs and will if implemented the wrong way or will as currently proposed or finalized," Palmieri said. "We're anxious for some oversight of these programs."

It's always useful to follow the money. Public Campaign did, and here's part of a memo they sent me yesterday about one of Congress' most egregious crooks:



Ahhh... Keith Dealt With Issa Last Night

And Jillian Barclay has moved to remedy the situation of the larcenous congressman who believes in rewriting history by deleting it from Wikipedia pages. In fact, she's been even more thorough than Wikipedia:

Of all the lies reportedly told by Darrell Issa, maybe the worst is that he guarded then President Nixon during the 1971 World Series Games. According to the Nixon Library, Nixon did not attend the World Series that year. To couple America's Greatest Pastime with a lie is unforgivable, but with Issa, that lie is the tip of the iceberg! In 1971, Issa was a 17 year old high school dropout who had enlisted in the Army. Records show that while in the Army, he did serve in an exclusive unit for less than six months, but that he was cited for bad conduct, suffered a demotion and accused of auto theft. The San Francisco Examiner ran a scathing article in May of 1998 which helped to derail Issa's then bid for Senate. The article researched Issa's actual military record and compared that to Issa's accounts of his military service and the results were devastating for Mr. Issa. The above allegations were a part of that article.

Further, Andy Cohen, writing for the San Diego News Network, reported on June 4, 2010 that Issa spent six months on a bomb disposal team while in a college ROTC program, which hardly qualified him for elite status.

Lies, open support of Hezbollah, multiple arrests for auto theft and weapons, shady land deals, suspicion of arson, alleged partner shakedowns and firing employees while toting a gun are enough to question the fitness of this Congressman! There is, sadly, for Mr. Issa, more. Mr. Issa made his millions from ownership of Directed Electronics, the largest car security company in the world. The famous Viper alarm carries Issa's own voice. The manner in which Issa obtained the company has been questioned as less than ethical.

Issa reportedly invested $7000.00 in a company called AC Custom, which was owned by Joseph Adkins. Mr. Adkins reports that the company had several millions of dollars in sales yearly. Adkins borrowed $60,000.00 dollars from Issa and used his company as collateral for the loan. When he was late on the repayment of the loan, he says that he asked Issa for an extension and Issa agreed. But a few days after that conversation, Issa appeared in an Ohio court and asked for a judgment of default against Adkins. Issa took advantage of a law in Ohio that allowed a creditor to come into court without notifying the debtor and in that way, obtained the judgment. According to Adkins, Issa then phoned him and told him that he was now the boss. Adkins was shocked and to this day, claims Issa is a thief who cheated him out of his business.

Shortly after assuming ownership of AC Electronics is when the suspicious fire took place, but not before Issa quadrupled the insurance coverage and removed blueprints and a computer from the premises. The fire was determined to be arson and Darrell Issa is still considered a suspect. It was reported in the Daily Kos that one of Issa's brothers who helped in the clean-up of the fire showed up with the hair singed off one of his arms. For more on Issa and arson, link to: http://dailykos.com/story/2005/1/14/145836/417.

What Does Your Gut Tell You About Darrell Issa?

I'm not as offended as others are that Darrell Issa called the White House Press Secretary a "paid liar." Let's be honest. I'm more offended that someone of Issa's character could have a role in my country's government. The DCCC ignored him last year, even though Obama had won his district in 2008. It wasn't about Issa; it was Steve Israel's policy to not challenge senior Republican policy-makers-- solidarity among thieves or something. Is Steve Israel recruiting someone to run against Issa in 2014? Not that anyone has heard about in San Diego. Today Israel snivels that he performed so miserably as DCCC chairman in 2012 because he was undergoing a wrenching divorce and a short sale of his house (for which his pals at JPMorgan forgave a $93,000 debt). I wonder what his excuse will be in 2014, when the Democrats again fail to win back the House.

Any Democrat thinking about taking on Issa needs to remember how Republican Matt Fong beat him in the 1997 California Senate primary, even as Issa outspent him by nine million dollars. Issa's expensive campaign "fell apart after a burst of investigative reporting raised serious questions about his honesty and his past. Many politicians have committed indiscretions in earlier years: maybe they had an affair or hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny. Issa, it turned out, had, among other things, been indicted for stealing a car, arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, and accused by former associates of burning down a building." It was revealed during the campaign that Issa's public image was something Issa made up and that he is an inveterate and compulsive liar who invented a life story-- and a heroic one at that.

In May of 1998, Lance Williams, of the San Francisco Examiner, reported that Issa had not always received the “highest possible” ratings in the Army. In fact, at one point he “received unsatisfactory conduct and efficiency ratings and was transferred to a supply depot.” Williams also discovered that Issa didn’t provide security for Nixon at the 1971 World Series, because Nixon didn’t attend any of the games.

A member of Issa’s Army unit, Jay Bergey, told Williams that his most vivid recollection of the young Issa was that in December, 1971, Issa stole his car, a yellow Dodge Charger. “I confronted Issa,” Bergey said in 1998. “I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.”

Bergey died of lung cancer in 2002, but his widow, Joyce, recently said to me that she remembered her husband telling the story of the stolen Dodge Charger. She laughed when she heard that Issa is now a prominent member of Congress. “Well, he probably figured he was borrowing it from a friend,” she said. “But now we’re discussing politicians, so we all know how honest they are. When I meet a good one, I’ll let you know.”

On March 15, 1972, three months after Issa allegedly stole Jay Bergey’s car and one month after he left the Army for the first time, Ohio police arrested Issa and his older brother, William, and charged them with stealing a red Maserati from a Cleveland showroom. The judge eventually dismissed the case.

...According to court records, on December 28, 1979, William Issa arrived at Smythe European Motors, in San Jose, and offered to sell Darrell’s car, a red 1976 Mercedes sedan. William was carrying an Ohio driver’s license with his brother’s name on it and the dealer gave William a check for sixteen thousand dollars, which he immediately cashed. Soon afterward, Darrell reported the car stolen from the Monterey airport. He later told the police that he had left the title in the trunk.

The brothers had been together in Cleveland for Christmas, and, after Darrell gave a series of conflicting statements about his brother and whether he himself had recently obtained a second driver’s license, the investigator in the case became suspicious that the two men had conspired to fraudulently sell Darrell’s car and then collect the insurance money.

The brothers were indicted for grand theft. Darrell argued that he had no knowledge of William’s activities; William claimed that his brother had authorized him to sell the car, and he produced a document dated a few weeks before the robbery that gave him power of attorney over his brother’s affairs. On February 15th, with the investigation ongoing, Darrell returned to the San Jose dealership and repurchased his car, for seventeen thousand dollars. In August, 1980, the prosecution dropped the case. Darrell insisted that he was a victim, not a criminal. William had produced evidence that he had the legal authority to sell the car, and the injured party was reimbursed.

...Issa’s early business career was equally tumultuous. He started his car-alarm empire by acquiring the Steal Stopper brand in what was essentially a hostile takeover. A man named Joey B. Adkins owned the company, and Issa loaned him sixty thousand dollars. When Adkins was late on a payment, Issa went to court and foreclosed on the loan. Two days later, Adkins told me, Issa called and said that he wanted Adkins to come visit him at his new office. He gave Adkins the address of Steal Stopper. “I just took your company,” Adkins recalled him saying.

Once in control, Issa allegedly used an unusual method to fire Jack Frantz, an employee. Frantz told the Los Angeles Times that Issa came into his office, placed a box on the table, and opened it to reveal a gun. Issa told the paper, “Shots were never fired. If I asked Jack to leave, then I think I had every right to ask Jack to leave. . . . I don’t recall [having a gun]. I really don’t. I don’t think I ever pulled a gun on anyone in my life.”

Issa was soon suspected of doing something worse: burning down the factory. The initial notion that an electrical socket had caused the fire was challenged. The science of determining whether a fire was caused by arson can be flawed. But a fire-analysis report commissioned by the St. Paul insurance company, and dated October 19, 1982, a month after the incident, concluded that the fire was “incendiary.” The report cited “suspicious burn patterns,” such as “two separate major areas of origin,” and it said, “No accidental source of heating power was located at either of these two major areas of origin.” The manner in which stacks of cardboard boxes burned was inconsistent with an accidental fire. A flammable liquid appeared to have been poured over the boxes. The blue flames seen emanating from the roof were evidence, according to the investigators, of burning carbon monoxide that is produced when an accelerant like gasoline ignites. The black smoke was also a clue. “Such black smoke normally occurs in a fire only when a hydrocarbon is burning,” the report said. When investigators tested burn damage from inside the factory, they found “the same identical mixture of flammable hydrocarbons” in four samples taken from diverse locations.

St. Paul sought out background information on Issa and his companies. Investigators interviewed family members, bank officials, and former employees. They looked into Issa’s court and credit records, mortgage documents, and other personal information.

Joey Adkins, the former owner of Steal Stopper, provided the main evidence against Issa. On the afternoon of September 20, 1982, in a lengthy recorded interview with an insurance investigator, he described a series of suspicious actions by Issa before the fire. Adkins, who still worked for Steal Stopper, said that Issa removed the company’s Apple II computer from the building, including “all hardware, all software, all the instruction books,” and also “the discs for accounts payable, accounts receivable, customer list, everything.” According to Adkins, Issa also transferred a copy of every design used by Steal Stopper from a filing cabinet to a fireproof box. He also said that Issa put in the box some important silk screens used in the production of circuit boards. Insurance officials noted that, less than three weeks before the fire, Issa had increased his insurance from a hundred thousand dollars to four hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars. “Quite frankly,” Adkins told the investigator, “I feel the man set the fire.”

There is still the unanswered questions about how Issa, basically a worthless bum, acquired the original capital to finance his business ventures. St. Paul hired investogators to get to the bottom of it but Issa had hidden his tracks well, and to this day no one knows if the money came from selling stolen cars, from providing arson services for profit or for something as mundane as robbing banks. One thing is known for certain-- he didn't get the initial capital honestly.

Darrell Issa May Be A Common Thug-- But He's A Very Rich One With A Knack For Wriggling Out Of Responsibility

You probably read in the past few days how GOP crybaby Darrell Issa is promising avaricious corporate managers that if the GOP regains control of the Senate they'll be able to breathe easy again. He has every intention of using the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to harass the Obama Administration with obstructionist subpoenas while ignoring, as conservatives always do, the rape and pillage of America by corporations. Like Dave Cameron explained-- with a little song and dance-- that's what conservatives do.

I ran across a blog I had never seen before, J. Miller Rampant! The guy certainly put together the best analysis of the horrifying and disturbing career of Issa. He saw the same reports about Issa bragging to wingnuts that he plans to destroy Obama and lead Republicans-- and America-- down another traumatic impeachment rabbit hole. His response is something every America should see:

In this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, we see the interesting story of Darrell and his brother, who set up a phony car theft and then sold the "stolen" car to a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

In the San Jose case, Issa, who at the time was a 27-year-old U.S. Army officer, and William Issa, 29, were arrested by San Jose police on a felony auto-theft charge in February 1980.

They were accused of a scheme in which Issa's brother allegedly sold Issa's cherry-red Mercedes 240 to Smythe European Motors in San Jose for $13,000 cash and three $1,000 traveler's checks. Within hours, Issa reported the car stolen from a lot at the Monterey airport, near his Army post at Fort Ord.

Issa and his brother pleaded not guilty. A judge ordered them to stand trial on felony charges, saying he had a "strong suspicion" that the men had committed the crime, according to the records.

The case was not prosecuted because the DA didn't think he had a strong enough case, even though strong suspicions still surrounded the Issa brothers. Darrell was also suspected of involvement with two other car thefts, but he blamed his brother William for both of them and denied any wrongdoing. At the time the Chronicle published this article, by the way, Issa was spearheading the movement to recall California Governor Gray Davis, a movement which eventually led to the disastrous governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You will recall that this recall campaign aided and abetted Enron's looting of California via the phony "electricity crisis."

The Media Matters Action Network has assembled a synopsis of Issa's wretched, scandal-plagued political career right here. Among the interesting findings:

AC Custom Fire: Flammable Liquid Had "Been Poured On The Only Area Not Covered By Fire Sprinklers." The Los Angeles Times reported that "seven months after Issa took control," a fire broke out at the "Quantum manufacturing plant." "Case files from Maple Heights, the Ohio fire marshal and insurers pointed repeatedly to the likelihood of arson in the blaze, which officials estimated caused $800,000 in damage. Although an accident could not be ruled out, the uneven and unnatural burn patterns made the blaze 'suspicious in nature,' the state concluded two months later. Flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the only area not covered by fire sprinklers, investigators found." [Los Angeles Times, 5/23/98, via Nexis, emphasis added]

Issa Has Received Nearly $40,000 From The National Beer Wholesalers Association. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received a total of $38,500 from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) in contributions since 2000.

NBWA Was A Leading Supporter Of Bush Tax Breaks. According to the Center for Responsive Politics: "The NBWA...was a leading supporter of President Bush's proposed package of business tax breaks in 2001." [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 5/31/10]

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Has Given Issa More Than $64,000 Since 2000. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Issa has received $64,150 in total contributions from the company Science Applications International Corporation from 2000-2010. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 2/3/10]

SAIC Produced Faulty Software For The FBI. According to SignOnSanDiego.com: "SAIC's custom software, known as Virtual Case File, was intended to help FBI agents and analysts track terrorists and manage criminal investigations. When SAIC delivered the product, [FBI Director Robert Mueller testified that] at least 400 problems were found with the software." The contract between SAIC and the FBI was worth "170 million dollars." [SignOnSanDiego.com, 2/3/05]

In PERRspectives's "Top 10 Darrell Issa Hall of Shame Moments," (located here) we find the following tidbits:

Issa Calls 9/11 Attacks in New York a Plane Crash

No doubt, Issa's slur against World Trade Center rescue workers was the most unforgettable moment in a truly forgettable political career.

Desperate to refuse federal funds to the ailing workers who rushed to Ground Zero, Issa denied the September 11 carnage was an attack on the United States at all. As the New York Post summed it up:

"It's very simple: I can't vote for additional money for New York if I can't see why it would be appropriate to do this every single time a similar situation happens, which quite frankly includes any urban terrorist. It doesn't have to be somebody from al Qaeda. It can be someone who decides that they don't like animal testing at one of our pharmaceutical facilities."

Issa said the destruction of the World Trade Center did not involve a dirty bomb or a chemical weapon designed to make people sick.

"It simply was an aircraft, residue of the aircraft and residue of the materials used to build this building," Issa said.

Issa also viciously defended Blackwater from charges of committing atrocities, and accused those investigating Blackwater of "going after the troops"(!). He further accused Valerie Plame of perjury, and helped force out federal prosecutor Carol Lam with a phony report accusing her of "lax" enforcement of the immigration laws. The purge of Lam was done in retaliation for her successful prosecution of the crook "Duke" Cunningham [and because she was investigating, and thought to have the goods on Rep. Jerry Lewis, a clsoe crony of both Issa's and Cunningham's].

Oh, and Issa also fought against a bill protecting homeowners from predatory lenders.

Issa lied repeatedly and brazenly in the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. Issa lied about evidence and lied about the involvement of Democrats in the matter.

Issa also blatantly lied about the so-called "Train to Sin City", a non-existent piece of the stimulus plan that supposedly financed a high speed train from LA to Las Vegas at the behest of Harry Reid. David Shuster shot Issa down HARD, calling him on his lie in no uncertain terms.



Issa also blatantly lied when he claimed, in a debate with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, that the Republicans had been shut out of helping to shape Health Care Reform. Wasserman Schultz was having none of it:

Schultz: That is just a brazenly false statement. From the very beginning...

Issa: Is that like you lied?

Schultz: No, it's a brazenly false (crosstalk). With all due respect there are two hundred amendments that were offered and accepted by Republicans, offered by Republicans and accepted by Democrats and incorporated into this bill. This is a bill that is bipartisan in content, unfortunately not bipartisan in the outcome of the votes. We gave every opportunity over and over again and the American people saw a President in Obama extend his hand and saw Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid ask Republicans repeatedly to sit down with the rest of the negotiating table and we were repeatedly rejected.

After Issa pretends like they would have used the amendment process for anything other than trying to either stall or shut down the bill being passed and Blitzer repeating his Republican talking points about major pieces of social legislation never being passed without bipartisan support Schultz comes back again.

Schultz: It passed without any Republican support by their choice.

Issa has also lied about his own military service:

As several politicians have been snared thanks to fibbing about their military records, TPM took a trip down memory lane exploring others who exaggerated service. It turns out that 12 years ago when Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was running for Senate, the San Francisco Examiner uncovered that his Army record was in doubt.

The Examiner published in May 1998 a devastating article detailing the conflicts between Issa’s public statements and public records. A focus in the story was Issa’s claim he protected then-President Richard Nixon as part of an “elite Army bomb unit” at the World Series in 1971. But it turns out Nixon didn’t even attend the games.

The Examiner scoured military records and concluded that Issa’s service on the squad “was marred by a bad conduct rating, a demotion and allegations that he had stolen a fellow soldier’s car.” It cited his 1998 campaign biography saying he served in the Army nine years, even though records showed he served just over five years.

In Darrell Issa we are facing one of the very worst, most dishonest, most unprincipled, most corrupt, most fanatically right-wing of our opponents. He lacks any shred of decency or concern for the average person. And it is this despicable, loathsome, pathologically lying man who will use his power to ruin President Obama unless we act to stop him, by getting out the Democratic vote in November.

It's simple: either we vote, or this son of a bitch Issa gets to ruin the United States of America.

PIE FIGHT AMONG THE WING-NUTS OVER 9/11-- DARRELL ISSA HIDING UNDER HIS DESK

Even a whole stack of Bibles won't mean much to these 2 clowns

Bush, Rove and Cheney have shaped their entire presidency-- and the subsequent Republican electoral campaigns-- around the events of 9/11. They have never stopped reminding Americans that we could all die if we don't support... well, whatever they happen to be pushing, from retroactive immunity for telecom executives guilty of criminal activities to doing away with Social Security. But now that Congress is debating legislation about coming to the aid of the victims of the attack, there seems to be a fissure inside the GOP on what 9/11 really means.

NYC's only far right member of Congress, Staten Island wingnut Vito Fossella (R-NY) was on the attack yesterday, slamming fellow wingnut Darrell Issa (R-CA). "It seems that with the passage of time, something happened along the way where the scope of the problem and the real extent of the problem has not drifted out to California." Actually almost every single member of the California delegation supports the legislation to assist the victims. What Fossella is talking about are a small handful of radical right Republican extremists like Darrell Issa. The New York Daily News has a full report today, a report that has Republicans in Oceanside cringing.

The California congressman who called the Sept. 11 attacks "simply" a plane crash ran for cover Wednesday under a barrage of ridicule from fellow Republicans, first responders and victims' families.

San Diego GOP Rep. Darrell Issa was under siege for suggesting the federal government had already done enough to help New York cope with "a fire" that "simply was an aircraft" hitting the World Trade Center
.
"That is a pretty distorted view of things," said Frank Fraone, a Menlo Park, Calif., fire chief who led a 67-man crew at Ground Zero. "Whether they're a couple of planes or a couple of missiles, they still did the same damage."

"New York was attacked by Al Qaeda. It doesn't have to be attacked by Congress," added Long Island Rep. Pete King, a Republican.

"I'm really surprised by Darrell Issa," King added. "It showed such a cavalier dismissal of what happened to New York. It's wrong and inexcusable."

Lorie Van Aucken, who lost her husband, Kenneth, in the attacks, slammed Issa's "cruel and heartless" comments.

"It's really discouraging. People stepped up and did the right thing. They sacrificed themselves and now a lot of people are getting really horrible illnesses," she added.

Most people who have ever heard of Issa know him as a far right kook who was arrested for breaking into cars as a teenager and then went on to sell car alarms and become a millionaire. Once he was rich he financed a campaign to impeach California Governor Gray Davis-- with the intention of replacing him with... Darrell Issa. The state GOP was glad to see him spend his dough but then brushed him aside like a flea and got behind movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, while Issa sulked down in his San Diego-Riverside County district.

Republican pressure has caused Issa to back down on his nutty 9/11 comments, comments that put into question the entire raison d'etre for Bush-brand fascism.

"I continue to support federal assistance for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," he said.

But he didn't retract his wacked-out rhetoric claiming the feds "just threw" buckets of cash at New York for an attack "that had no dirty bomb in it, it had no chemical munitions in it."

On September 11, 2001 Issa was in front of the cameras on the floor of Congress trying to get himself some mileage out of the tragedy by puffing himself up into a patriotic swoon and declaring that the attack on New York was an attack on all of America. Now he claims the problem is a state problem and the costs shouldn't be borne by the federal government. "I have to ask... why the firefighters who went there and everybody in the city of New York needs to come to the federal government for the dollars versus this being primarily a state consideration."

Something tells me we're not likely to see a Governor Issa anytime soon. Bob Hamilton is the Democrat who is trying to rid California of this walking embarrassment. A former naval officer, Bob was shaking his head over Issa's crazy rant. But he told me it shouldn't surprise anyone. "Issa keeps saying these outrageous and offensive things. He called Valerie Plane a perjurer, he tried to embarrass and humiliate Pat Tillman's mother and family, he tried to intimidate the Mothers and widows of the four contractors killed in Fallujah. Now he says to hell with the first responders in New York City on 9/11, men and women that performed heroically, believed the Bush administration when they were told that the air was safe to breath, and are now paying a terrible price. Issa minimizes 9/11 and casts these heroes aside. It is important that we unseat Darrell Issa and return competence and compassion to our representation."

"Please step away from the car." Darrell Issa has competition.

CA-49-- this year's candidates, Darrell Issa and Doug Applegate

- by Tracy B Ann

Darrell Issa, Representative for CA 49th district, a red-leaning (R+4) district that stretches from the northermost neighborhoods of San Diego into southern Orange County, is the richest member of Congress, with a net worth of over a quarter billion dollars. He is an asshat according to Salon, as well as a career criminal criminal, as DWT has documented for over a decade,  having been indicted twice for auto theft. Which is a bit ironic considering he made his money with a car alarm, the Viper, which actually has Issa’s own voice saying “Please step away from the car.” I have personally set that alarm off a few times.

Doug Applegate, the newest supporter of 90for90 is challenging Issa for that demographically changing-- over a quarter of the residents are Hispanics-- district's seat. Though, more correctly I should say, Douglas (Doug) Applegate, attorney in private practice and Certified Judge Advocate Under the U.C.M.J., the United States Court of Military Appeals, Colonel in the United States Marine Corp Reserves, retired after 32 years active and reserve duty including a combat tour in Ramadi, Baghdad & Fallujah.

Now, I know that some people might go “ooh” at his title and service, thinking this might just be the congressperson we need, especially for foreign affairs. I believe in unicorns and fairy dust though so I gave a bit of an “Ah...military and a lawyer? That can’t be good.”

Didn’t really matter because anyone is better than Issa. Well, maybe not anyone, there is someone running as an Independent who is a bit of a whack-a-doodle. Don’t think we want him either.

I started to do a little digging on Mr. Applegate and was a bit surprised at what I found. You can check out his Facebook page and Twitter here to see what he feels is important enough to repost. He grew up in a middle class, blue collar family and he’d like to work to save the middle class. He wants gender pay and health care equality and thinks "the U.S. mandatory sentencing & incarceration rates are immoral, racist and socially destructive." Take a full look at his issue statements here.

Most surprising to me was his stance on war. He’s concerned that Congress won’t ask the right questions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about another war. His questions?

1. How many young American sons & daughters [and perhaps grandsons & grand daughters as well] would deploy to fight another asymmetrical insurgency war? [at a minimum requiring 20 to 25 counterinsurgents for every 1000 residents in an AO; i.e. more than 600,000 soldiers & Marines for an Iraqi population of 34  million]
2. How long will this asymmetrical insurgency war last? [protracted, defined by the Joint Chiefs as twenty more years of combat after the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam]
3. At what cost? [over $5-6  trillion, conservatively]

He answers his own questions with this:

"In the Middle East, the answers will end not with a declaration of a strategic mission accomplished, but instead in a declaration of bankruptcy for the Nation."

And I’m pretty sure the nation he is talking about is not one in the Middle East, but the one we live in. His answer to the issue of gun rights is so good you really have to read it yourself, but here’s a taste “...the NRA's myth of a good guy with a gun...”

Doug Applegate has raised about $50,000 so far but we all know that Issa has all the money in could possibly spend to defend his position, so let’s help Doug raise some money. You can donate here. In the end I think not only is he way better than Issa but that he is also a bit of a progressive.



[NOTE: Doug Applegate has not been vetted or endorsed by Blue America, although Issa's record of hyper-partisan obstructionism and his penchant for right-wing extremism should make him extremely and deservedly vulnerable, especially in a district President Obama actually won in 2008 and in which the Democratic presidential candidate is likely to win handily in November. Issa has endorsed Trump for president, which is not likely to go over well among most of his constituents.]

A GOP view of women's health issues: Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words

This is the panel of witnesses invited to testify before Chairman Darrell's hearing this morning on the birth-control insurance mandate. Hmm, now what could be wrong with this picture? (Thanks to ThinkProgress War Room.)

by Ken

A friend who's been off politics for a while wrote that he might be ready to get back into it, and in reply I expressed some wonder as to whether that's really a healthful step, and somehow the example I came up with on the spur of the moment was whether he really wanted to reengage himself in the doings of the likes of Darrell Issa. I guess our Darrell was on my mind because I was in the process of trying to work through this latest abomination perpetrated by the career criminal who dabbles in extremist right-wing ideology for its value in enhancing his pursuit of ill-gotten gain.

No Women Allowed

By ThinkProgress War Room on Feb 16, 2012 at 4:53 pm

This morning, Republicans held a hearing on women’s health care. Here’s the panel they brought in to discuss birth control:

[SEE PHOTO ABOVE]

And then Foster Friess, Rick Santorum’s money man, went on MSNBC this afternoon and gave some unsolicited advice on contraception to “the gals.”

Check out his shocking comments:

FOSTER FRIESS: I get such a chuckle when these things come out. Here we have millions of our fellow Americans unemployed, we have jihadist camps being set up in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think that says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. And this contraceptive thing, my gosh, it's such inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.

IN ONE SENTENCE: Republicans may find blocking affordable access to birth control funny, but the GOP’s all-out war on women’s health care is no laughing matter.

THE DEMS' ERROR, SAYS CAREER CRIMINAL DARRELL
ISSA, IS THINKING THE HEARING HAD TO DO WITH WOMEN

For the record, this piece links to Igor Volsky's early ThinkProgress coverage of Chairman Darrell's hearing.

Democratic Women Boycott House Contraception Hearing After Republicans Prevent Women From Testifying

By Igor Volsky on Feb 16, 2012 at 10:52 am

This morning, Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. Republicans oppose the administration’s rule and have sponsored legislation that would allow employers to limit the availability of birth control to women.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that "As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness."

And so Cummings, along with the Democratic women on the panel, took their request to the hearing room, demanding that Issa consider the testimony of a female college student. But the California congressman insisted that the hearing should focus on the rules’ alleged infringement on "religious liberty," not contraception coverage, and denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders against the rule. Holmes Norton said she will not return, calling Issa’s chairmanship an "autocratic regime." . . .

Issa also dismissed the Democrats’ woman witness as a "college student" who does not "have the appropriate credentials" to testify before his committee. . . .

I wish I could say we've heard the last of this bogus belly-aching about "religious liberty" on the part of the hordes of the Jesus-loathing American pseudo-religiosos. But I'm afraid we're just at the beginning. As to the "credentials" one needs to testify before Chairman Issa's inquisition committee . . . oh, for goodness' sake. Look at the slimeballs he had there this morning.

Poor Jesus. Wherever he is, he must really be weeping.

ANOTHER JESUS-HATING "CHRISTIAN" USES FAKE
RELIGION TO CLAW HIS WAY UP THE POLITICAL LADDER

A reader of my post last night on the Republican war on women, "Off-the-rails Virginia right-wingers ratchet up the Republican War on Women," offered this link for Bruning4Senate, which you're seeing more or less in its entirety. (You can click to enlarge.) Trust me, nothing of substance has been left out. There's no need for explanation, after all, or for that matter even statement of actual belief by this pandering, America-hating pile of puke, an attorney general with unvarnished contempt for the law and respect only for religious delusionaries whose specialty is defecating on the life and beliefs of Jesus. Watch for him soon in the U.S. senate!

#

Issa And China Sitting In A Tree-- Peeing On America

Career criminal Darrell Issa, the wealthiest crook in Congress, has a district in suburban northern San Diego County tailor made for a reactionary, and his Democratic opponent, Jerry Tetalman, is far from a reactionary.

"It's about the issues," Tetalman said Monday. "I don't think he's looking out for the little guy. He's looking out for the rich and for special interests."

A North County resident since 1978, Tetalman is a former registered nurse who gave up the profession to start his own real estate company, Progressive Realty. He's also vice president and former president of California Citizens for Global Solutions, a progressive anti-war group that calls for worldwide cooperation to solve common problems.

...He's working on securing the endorsement of the California Democratic Party but said he has not been in touch with the Washington-based Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

No need to waste his time with the DCCC. There's no chance in hell that they'll ever consider taking on Issa, regardless of the fact that he's one of the most fanatic anti-working family extremists in Congress. Isaa was re-elected with 63% last year and in 2008, when the district gave McCain a 53-45% advantage, Issa beat his Democrat rival with 58%. Grassroots groups in California have identified Issa as one of Congress' most corrupt and dangerous men. And even if the DCCC won't raise a finger to help Titalman-- or any other progressive challenging Issa-- real representatives of the 99% are pitching in to let voters in the 49th district know what a viper they have in their midst. The DCCC represents-- strictly represents-- the interests of the 1%. Progressives are depending on citizens' groups, from labor unions to organizations like the Sierra Club, to give Issa a little trouble. Last week, in fact, the Sierra Club launched the TV ad above. Their executive director, Michael Brune, pointed out that "At a time when working families are struggling to make ends meet, Rep. Issa is blocking clean energy jobs and investments for his constituents. He has repeatedly blocked proven job creators in the clean energy sector, in order to keep Americans dependent on dirty fossil fuels-- this catering to corporate polluter lobbyists is inexcusable... Clean energy is already providing Americans with affordable and reliable energy-- without polluting the environment or threatening our health. A clean energy future beyond dirty coal and oil is within our reach-- and it’s time for our leaders to stop living in the past and invest in clean, safe and renewable energy to jumpstart our economy."

Issa and the Republican Party, obligated to China for the huge sums of money the Chinese government illegally funneled into last year's congressional elections through the Chamber of Commerce and unscrupulous right-wing SuperPACs, have worked hard and consistently, to allow China to have a free hand at becoming the world's clean energy superpower and making the U.S. into an importer of Chinese solar panels. The Chinese investment in making Gingrich Speaker and giving hacks like Issa powerful committee chairs has paid off very handsomely for them.

Isaa has led the battle against clean energy in the U.S. On July 15 Issa's reactionary energy bill passed the House 219-196 (only 21 Republicans showing the courage to buck him and the party to stand up for America's interests). And again on September 23 all but 24 Republicans betrayed America's vital interests in the green energy battle.

Wikipedia reports that Renewable energy is helping "China complete its economic transformation and achieve 'energy security.' China rapidly has moved along the path of renewable energy development. About 17% of China's electricity came from renewable sources in 2007... Technology development and increased amounts of investment in renewable energy technologies and installations have increased markedly throughout the 2000s in China, and investment in renewables is now part of China's economic stimulus strategy. Researchers from Harvard University and Tsinghua University have found that the People's Republic could meet all of its electricity demands from wind power by 2030... China produces 30% of the worlds solar photovoltaics (PV). It has emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels in the last two years... If Chinese companies manage to develop low cost, reliable solar modules, then the sky is the limit for a country that is desperate to reduce its dependence on coal and oil imports as well as the pressure on its environment by using renewable energy." Issa and the GOP are making sure the U.S. cannot compete with China, while most House Democrats desperately fight back to protect America's vital interests. Friday 59 congressmembers released a letter to Obama demanding an investigation into China's alleged unfair trade practices in the clean energy sector.

"We cannot strengthen our energy security, or create jobs and economic growth, by replacing Middle East petroleum imports with unfairly traded clean energy technologies imported from China," the lawmakers wrote.

Representative Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House committee with jurisdiction over taxes and trade, led the group, which included members of both parties from the House and Senate.

The letter echoed a plea last month from SolarWorld Industries America, a subsidiary of SolarWorld AG of Germany and the sector's leading manufacturer in the US, for Obama to impose trade sanctions on China for what the firm charged were unfair subsidies to its solar panel exporters.

"We urge you to take all available measures to expeditiously investigate these allegations and take swift and appropriate action based on those findings," the lawmakers said.

Chinese solar panel makers this week rejected the complaint, warning it risked "seriously hindering the development of green energy," and accused SolarWorld of benefiting from lavish government subsidies.

Battlelines are hardening and Issa is clearly on China's side, not America's. One would think the DCCC might be willing to help a candidate like Jerry Tetalman get this out in southern California. They aren't.

Ooh, that Hillary makes the doody-brainers so-o-o mad!!!

-- Christopher Weyant's New Yorker Daily Cartoon today

by Ken

"Whistleblower's yarn fails to tie Benghazi lapses to politics" is the head on the column the Washington Post's Dana Milbank offered regarding the much-ballyhooed "oversight" hearing promoted by House Republican master criminal Darrell Issa, starring Gregory Hicks, then our no. 2 diplomat in Libya, who who was going to blow the lid off the Obama White House's politicization of the awful night in Benghazi when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

But despite Issa's incautious promise that the hearing's revelations would be "damaging" to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hicks didn't lay a glove on the former secretary of state Wednesday. Rather, he held lawmakers from both parties rapt as he recounted the events of that terrifying night -- revealing a made-for-Hollywood plot with a slow, theatrical delivery and genuine emotion.

In Dana's retelling, Hicks's emerges as storytelling prowess was exceeded only by his apparently uncontrollable self-promotion.

Hicks, bald and with a white chin beard, said his "jaw dropped" when he heard U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice falsely claim on TV that there had been a protest at the Benghazi consulate, but he declined an invitation to challenge the veracity of the director of national intelligence, who said the statement reflected "our collective best judgment at the time."

Hicks said he thought a flyover by U.S. jets could have deterred the second of the two attacks that night, but he declined to question the judgment of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has said there was no way to get the fighters there in time.

Hicks was of little use to Republicans in their efforts to connect the lapses in the Benghazi response to Clinton or to the Obama White House. He said that he spoke to Clinton by phone at 2 a.m. that night and that she supported his actions. He undermined one of Issa's claims -- that Clinton had rejected an increase in security for the Libya facilities -- when he agreed that the secretary of state's name appears on all cables, even if she doesn't write them.

Hicks did have some damning things to say about the State Department trying to block him from cooperating with Issa's committee. But that wasn't quite the evidence Issa had promised: that politics drove the administration's response to Benghazi.

Never mind that there probably isn't a Republican in the House who could find Libya on a map, or who has any idea who in the country believed in what or whom or what effect any of it had on U.S. interests. And never mind that the Republican chumps intent on proving the Obama administration's dastardly "politicizing" of events in Libya spent eight years as silent as rocks while the Chimpy Bush regime devoted every second of every day to doing precisely this. Never mind anything. Let's just jump ugly on the effing Hillary. Didn't Hillary-hating used to be a crowd-pleasing political platform?

This is what happens when you have a political movement built on ideological hysteria without any actual ideology or real beliefs, just blinding hate informed by Tales Blown Out of Rush Limbaugh's Rectum of Darkness.

Republicans Hold Hearings About Hillary Clinton's Poll Numbers

Posted by Andy Borowitz


WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) -- Republican lawmakers asked increasingly tough questions today as they held another day of hearings to investigate, in the words of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), "Hillary Clinton's suspiciously high poll numbers and what can be done to make them lower."

"With the help of Fox News, we have brutally attacked Hillary Clinton for months, and yet she remains more popular than ever," Rep. Issa said. "This committee needs to know how that happened, and how we can keep it from happening in the future."

Rep. Issa pointed to recent polls showing the former Secretary of State trouncing every potential G.O.P. Presidential candidate, "even a skinnier version of Chris Christie."

"We demand an answer to one simple question," he said. "What does Secretary Clinton know that none of us knows?"

In his boldest allegation of the day, Rep. Issa accused Secretary Clinton of "cynically using her post as Secretary of State to become wildly popular with the American people."

"I invite her to these hearings to answer those charges," he said.

Wrapping up for the day, Rep. Issa warned the former Secretary of State that he was just getting started: "Once we Republicans decide to investigate someone, we don't stop. If Secretary Clinton doesn't believe me, she should ask her husband."

#

The Noah Diaries 2011 (22): "There is no more fraudulent public image in our politics" (Lawrence O'Donnell on Rudy Giuliani)

GOP vs. nuclear safety, FOX lies, stick it to Karl Rove!, Darrell Issa's incognito aide, the pestilence of vulgarity, and more


Taking down "the hero of 9/11" -- see 8/30

by Noah

8/17/11 -- More from the Republican Culture of Death: Republicans try to cut funding to the National Nuclear Security Administration

The NNSA, part of the Department of Energy, oversees U.S. nuclear weapons development and nuclear proliferation. It's proliferation that's of particular concern when talk about cutting its funds arises. The NNSA people are the ones who guard against terrorists obtaining the necessary materials to build nukes. They keep a close eye on nuclear weapons and weapons materials in the former Soviet Union and around the world. The NNSA is the agency that recently stopped an attempted theft of enriched uranium in South Africa. Is this a good time to cut the agency's funding?

Only if you belong to a Culture of Death.


8/19/11 -- FOX Lie of the Day: the president's vacation

Predictably, the biggest "news item" on the cuckoo network yesterday was the fact that President Obama is taking the wife and family on a little vacation to Martha's Vineyard. It's the same every year, but FOX has stepped up its efforts at portraying Obama as a lazy, shiftless black man. OK, that's stretching a little -- they would probably never call him a "man." Maybe three-fifths of one, like in the original Constitution the Repuggies all want to go back to.

There was Sarah "Quitter" Palin clucking away like the neighborhood gossip lady about how she thought the American people will be telling Obama to return to Washington, blah-blah. This is a woman who makes a living telling people that Washington is bad, bad, bad, all bad. So Sarah, baby, why should Obama go back? That's a real brain-twister for ya, ain't it? You betcha!

Then FOX trotted out Donald Tribblehair, who proceeded to claim falsely that Obama had already passed Chimpy Bush in the number of vacation days taken. A quick fact check revealed that Chimpy had taken three times as many "days off," something like 220 to 70-something. Of course the brain-injured folks who lap up FOX pablum and Kool-Aid think that presidents really do or can take the time to get away from it all. No, the work goes wherever they go, and the fact that the media makes such a big deal of it says as much about the media as it does about presidents. Besides, in the case of Chimpy, he should have gone on a real vacation. Then someone else might have read the bin Laden memo and actually acted on it.

Bonus Lie of the Day: Speaking of work, FOX has been touting the fantasy that Gov. Scott Walker's policies have resulted in more job creation in Wisconsin. Meanwhile in the real world, Wisconsin job numbers are down.


8/22/11 -- Quote of the Year nominee: former Obama White House spokesman Bill Burton vs. Karl Rove on FOX Sunday morning



When Rove, looking like he was separated at birth from Porky Pig, began laying out a thick layer of BS about how Obama is rigid, unwilling to work with Republicans (we wish!), and wasn't doing anything to create jobs, blah-blah, blather-blather, finishing up with a condescending "So please don't talk to me about -- ," Burton shot right back, like Democrats always should when confronted with such utter nonsense and lies:

I appreciate that you have an opinion on this, Karl. But as someone who was a leader in the White House that turned a record surplus into a deficit, that got us involved in a war that we never should have been in, and turned the floor of the New York Stock Exchange into a casino, I don't think the American people are quite ready to hear a lecture from you on good governance.

Rove got in a hissy fit, blubbering on about Republican motivations and integrity being questioned, etc. Now why would anyone question the motivations and integrity of Republicans? Why oh why?


8/22/11 -- Bear in mind that Michele Bachmann voted against the Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008

That bill included means to invest in solar and wind energy. Now she's telling Obama that he should be investing in solar and wind energy to help bring down the price of gas to less than $2/gal, pinpointing this as a lack in his leadership. What does this creature see in the mirror? Actually, her husband probably isn't very good at letting anyone else use the mirror.


8/25/11 -- If his aides are resorting to aliases, maybe Darrell Issa (with his past) should consider doing the same


Mike Papantonio talks to Ed Schultz about Darrell Issa's criminal record.

There have always been plenty of allegations of a criminal past for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), so it gets even more dicey when a guy has to change his name to work as a top staffer for him. Peter Haller, aka Peter Simonyi, is a former Goldman Sachs VP who now pushes the firm's lobbying interests right in Issa's office, all nice and legal-like. His main job is to make sure that no stinkin' regulations get in the way of the efforts of Goldman Sachs to run the world in ways that La Cosa Nostra only dreamed about

It's come to this: Washington is so corrupt that you need to consider changing your name if you go to work there, whether you are working for a politician or you are a politician. I have to wonder, what did Haller-Simonyi tell his kids? His wife? Does he also have a second family out in Kansas somewhere?

Do we have to wonder how widespread it is for Beltway players to be serving incognito? Maybe we should be asking to see these people's birth certificates? It occurs to me to wonder whether there are staffers who are in the Witness Protection Program. (You have to figure a bunch of them are headed there if prosecutors ever put the heat on them to flip on their masters.)


8/30/11 -- Aren't Republicans' "government-starving" policies breeding terrorism?

Lower taxes! More tax cuts for the wealthy! That's what Repugs like to say, but think of it this way: Taxes are lowered, revenue goes down, and benefits disappear. It's the Repug notion of "starving government," making it so small that you can drown it in a bathtub, as Grover Norquist has put it. "No revenue in" = "no programs" + "no benefits." But if one wants to continue living, one still needs things like a home and food and medicine. So if Repugs and Conservadems cut benefits, people have to raid their savings or spend their entire paycheck or sell all the furniture in their house or the house itself, merely to go on living. The safety net disappears. "No benefits" means you pay directly, with your money. You empty your wallet. More of your money goes out. You can't save. That's a hidden tax. That's how Repugs intend to raise your taxes, not lower them.

The next stage will be the revenge stage, after conservatives have taken everything from so many people. Already people can't heat their homes without burning the furniture, or whatever they can scrounge up to burn. The more people such a terrible thing happens to, the more people who become angry and desperate -- not a good combo. Sooner or later there's not enough to burn, just as there isn't enough to eat or to see a doctor. At that point there's no guarantee that some of the abused will not strike back. Republicans will push people into a corner until they snap. The historic recipe for terrorism in this world consists of putting people in a horrific position, so bad that they have nothing to lose. Ironically, Republicans have made it easy for people to get guns.

This is more than Eric Cancer saying he won't help out the victims of tornados in Missouri or Hurricane Irene in New Jersey or Vermont. This is conservative meanness as it affects the basics. How far will the Republicans push it? Perhaps Detroit can save itself by making and selling armored limos to save the rich. They're going to need them. It's human nature. Ruthlessness begets ruthlessness. It's also human nature for the rich to be arrogant and think that merely living in a gated community can protect them.


8/30/11 -- Quote of the Year nominee: Lawrence O'Donnell takes down "the hero of 9/11"

In response to a loutish interview Rudy Giuliani gave to the Republican-friendly Associated Press, Lawrence O'Donnell went on the air tonight and delivered one of his finest "Rewrite" segments. After pointing out Rudy "Did I Mention 9/11?" Giuliani's failure to provide the improved radios the NYC Fire Department had requested, radios that could have worked in the WTC towers and might have saved the lives of some or all of those 121 firefighters, and also pointing out the sheer egomania involved in placing his emergency command center within the walls of a target that had already been attacked once and was already called Ground Zero, O'Donnell concluded with this:

Despite the painful truth of these details, which show Giuliani to have been an ego-driven incompetent in dealing with the threat of terrorism in New York City . . . most of the media will continue to portray him as one of the heroes of 9/11. Know this: There is no more fraudulent public image in our politics.

8/30/11 -- On the pestilence of vulgarity: a quote that rings true more than ever

There is no pestilence to equal the opinion of the vulgar. The vulgar are blind and wicked, they are the obstacle and enemy of all progress.

That's Roger Bacon, in his Opus Minus, written way back in the 13th century. Did he have a vision of Sean Hannity? Roger Ailes? Bill-O? Lush Slimbaugh? Eric Cancer and his Tea Party goonies? All of the above?

It's worth noting that the failure of the vulgar can be measured against the tide of the centuries. They always slow progress, and at times they bury it. But progress, even when delayed or set back, eventually keeps on going. It frustrates the vulgar mightily. It makes them more vulgar as they spit their fury, but still, as one looks back in time, they always lose, eventually. It is the mark of a true loser that he can see this and still persist in his vulgarity. The vulgarians are truly a pestilence. The only cure is rationality, and rationality never touches them.

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History in the making:
Selections from THE NOAH DIARIES 2011

Yesterday: (21) If the Republican Party was a '70s horror movie . . ." Plus: FAA shutdown, "concerned" Repug mom, Rupert's mop-haired henchgal fired?, damn Methodists!, another "debate," and more (8/5-15/11)
Tomorrow: (23) Blowhard George Will outblows Hurricane Irene. Plus: "Quitter" Sarah throws a hissy fit, CEOs make out like bandits, FOX "deconstructs" a speech, Teabag gov loves Paris, and more (9/1-12/11)

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF THE SERIES, CLICK HERE

And don't forget 2010's Year in Review series and 2009's "12 Days of Christmas Scorn"!

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