We Don't CAIR Conference

CAIR claims that their organization is
about building bridges and defending
the civil rights of Muslims, but let’s
examine the facts?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Truth Behind The Council on Islamic-American Relations

Summary Information Sheet on CAIR

US Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg was quoted in legal proceedings, “From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists.” (US v. Sabri Benkahla)

US Attorney James T. Jacks was quoted to say, “CAIR has been identified by the government as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization—a conspiracy from with CAIR never withdrew.” (USA v. HLF)

In 2007, CAIR was named an un-indicted co-conspirator in a terrorism case in which leaders of the Texas based "Holy Land Foundation" were convicted of funneling money to Hamas in the largest terror financing case in US history.

“The feds say the Holy Land Foundation was a bogus North Texas Muslim "charity" that had actually served since 1989 as Hamas's largest clandestine source of funding in the United States--collecting "over $57 million" in donations between 1992 and 2001.” – Weekly Standard, 2/13/06

“CAIR has been advised of the reasons behind our suspension of formal partnership. These reasons include the fact that CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in United States v. Holy Land Foundation and CAIR’s failure to answer our questions about a connection between their executives and Hamas. Until these questions are answered, the FBI does not consider CAIR an appropriate partner for formal liaison activities.” An unindicted co-conspirator is a person or entity that is alleged in an indictment to have engaged in conspiracy, but who is not charged in the same indictment.” - FBI, March, 2010

Waiting For Cybergeddon

In the United States, the FBI (which is responsible for detecting and investigating Internet based crime) is warning that America is becoming ever more vulnerable to "cybergeddon" (a massive attack via the Internet that would cripple the economy, government and military.)

The FBI admits that it has a hard time getting more money for their Internet security efforts. And reason is because the threat is largely invisible. A picture of a nuclear bomb going off, or of enemy tanks and warships ready to attack, makes a much more effective impression on the politicians who dole out the money.

The FBI also wants to get the Department of Defense Internet defense operations more involved in national level defense against network based attacks. But the four services have a hard time agreeing to coordinate their efforts to defend military use of the Internet when under massive hacker attack. Thus the FBI plea for help sort of falls on distracted ears.

There hasn't been a proper, all-out Cyber War yet. There have been lots of skirmishes, but nothing approaching what an all out battle, via the Internet, would be. What would the first Cyber War be like? Let's be blunt, no one really knows. But based on the cyber weapons that are known to exist, and the ones that are theoretically possible, one can come up with a rough idea.

First, there are three kinds of Cyber War possible. Right now, we have limited stealth operations (LSO), as Chinese, Russian, and others, use Cyber War techniques to support espionage efforts. China is the biggest practitioner, or at least they have been caught most often.

Next comes Cyber War only (CWO). This is open use of a full range of Cyber War weapons. No one has done this yet, but it's potentially less dangerous than firing missiles and unleashing tank divisions. It is believed that Russia indulged in this in 2007, when Estonia infuriated the Russians by moving a World War II statute memorializing the Soviet "liberation" of Estonia (which didn't want to be liberated by the Soviet Union.) Russia denied responsibility for the massive Cyber War assaults on Estonia, which nearly shut down the nations Internet infrastructure. Estonia accused Russia of being responsible, and tried to invoke the NATO mutual-defense pact. NATO Cyber War experts went to Estonia, and shortly thereafter the attacks stopped. Apparently Russia got the message that this sort of thing could escalate in something more conventional, and deadly.

Then we have Cyber War in support of a conventional war. Technically, we have had this sort of thing for decades. It has been called "electronic warfare" and has been around since World War II. But the development of the Internet into a major part of the planets commercial infrastructure, takes "electronic warfare" to a whole other level. Cyber War goes after strategic targets, not just the electronic weapons and communications of the combat forces.

A successful Cyber War depends on two things; means and vulnerability. The "means" are the people, tools and cyberweapons available to the attacker. The vulnerability is the extent to which the enemy economy and military use the Internet and networks in general. We don't know who has what Cyber War capabilities exactly, although China and the U.S. have openly organized Cyber War units, and both nations have lots of skilled Internet experts.

Vulnerability is another matter. The United States is the most exposed to Cyber War attack because, as a nation, we use the Internet more than any other country. That's the bad news. The good news is that if an attacker ever tried to launch a Cyber War by assaulting the U.S., it could backfire. This risk has to be kept in mind when considering what a Cyber War might do. Recall military history. The Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 actually backfired on the Japanese, by enraging Americans and unleashing a bloodthirsty response that left Japan in ruins. The lesson of the original Pearl Harbor is, if you're going to hit someone this way, better make it count. If your opponent is bigger than you, and gets back up, you could be in some serious trouble.

The big problem with Cyber War is that there has not been a lot of experience with it. Without that, no one is really sure what will happen when someone attempts to use it at maximum strength. But unlike nuclear weapons, there is far less inhibition about going all-out with Cyber War weapons. That is the biggest danger. Cyber War is a weapon of growing might, and little restraint by those who wield it. Things are going to get a lot worse.

FBI studies biometrics to plan its future research

The FBI released on Tuesday a detailed study of the advancement of different kinds of biometrics -- from fingerprints to ear scans -- to lay out how the bureau might pursue the identification of individuals in the future.

The FBI plans to use the independent assessment, which Mitre Corp. completed in June 2008, to provide a common understanding of biometric technologies, suggest potential related areas the bureau and its partners can investigate, and solve issues related to technologies identified by the National Science and Technology Council, which coordinates policy across federal agencies. The FBI Biometric Center of Excellence funded the study.

"We want to be able to leverage the [biometric] technology, without repeating activities being done elsewhere in the community, whether in other agencies, academia, industry or internationally," said Thomas Bush III, assistant director of the FBI criminal justice information services division. "At the same time, we're trying to define our lane. Everyone is jockeying for a position in this market. We're not going to be all things biometric, but we've been in this business a long time. We don't want to be [marginalized]."

The first volume of the technology assessment, 127 pages in all, analyzes technologies used for fingerprints and palm print collection and vascular pattern recognition. Mitre recommends which technology advancements and research the FBI should pursue, dividing the suggestions into goals ranging from immediately to two years, two to five years and five to 10 years

The 121-page second volume analyzes technologies used for face, iris and ear scans, and voice and handwriting identification. It also provides a set of recommendations for each technology. For example, Mitre reported, "Face recognition depends on successful face segmentation (or face detection), which is known to suffer performance degradation due to imaging and orientation factors. The FBI should evaluate the use of research tools for face detection against relevant media to include video sources, uncontrolled images, mug shots and civil identification photos."

The third volume, which the FBI is completing, analyzes methods used for collecting DNA.

The assessment is part of the State-of-the-Art Biometrics Excellence Roadmap, an FBI initiative to plan and implement the technology. Among the goals of SABER is to help establish governmentwide biometric standards.

The assessment is based on 10 months of research, which included an extensive survey of biometric technologies, independent performance evaluations; an overview of select research activities; and an analysis of the market and how biometric methods are currently applied.

Supplementing the technology assessment is a document evaluating the potential for expanding the list of products that are certified by the FBI as compliant with required quality standards for biometrics technologies.

"The results of the SABER study represent an important plank in our biometrics efforts, one that will help us strategically prioritize the FBI's biometric research and funding activities," wrote Louis Grever, executive assistant director of the FBI's science and technology branch, in the assessment. "As we move forward, it is critical to ensure a coordinated effort across our community to effectively harness the benefits of emerging biometric technologies to support our nation's law enforcement and intelligence missions."

FBI raids Obama friend's home

The FBI on Wednesday raided the county offices of a former Illinois state senator who is a poker-playing buddy of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

According to Chicago authorities, the FBI visited the offices in Joliet, Ill., of Will County executive Larry Walsh, a longtime friend of Mr. Obama's, and his chief of staff Matt Ryan.

Mr. Walsh, who served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005, was endorsed by Mr. Obama in his county executive election bid. With the support of some of Mr. Obama's U.S. Senate volunteers, he easily defeated incumbent Republican Joseph Mikan.

Will County auditor Steve Weber confirmed that his office had been asked by the FBI to assist in an investigation, but he did not elaborate on the specifics.

Two FBI agents out of Chicago reportedly spent more than an hour in the Will County offices on Wednesday morning.

According to sources, the Walsh investigation may be tied to lobbying firm Smith Dawson and Andrews, which was hired in 2006 for $10,000 per month to help Will County acquire federal grants.

The firm, which is registered with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, assists clients with communications and legislative strategies that better their public policy agendas, according to its Web site.

Last month, Mr. Walsh announced that Will County was the recipient of a $750,000 federal government grant that would allow law enforcement and prosecutors to fight against domestic violence.

One of the firm's partners, James P. Smith, contributed $2,000 to help Mr. Walsh's county executive election bid.

A corn farmer from Joliet, Mr. Walsh has supported his friend's presidential bid, and campaigned for him in rural and farming areas of the state. They are seen hugging each other in photos before Mr. Obama's announcement that he was running for president.

The two men became tight friends during their tenure in the Illinois Senate and bonded over games of poker. According to a report in Time magazine, Mr. Walsh lost to Mr. Obama once with what he thought was a winning hand, and then slammed down his cards and said: "Doggone it, Barack, if you were more liberal in your card-playing and more conservative in your politics, you and I would get along much better."

Mr. Walsh denied any knowledge of any investigation.

"I don't have a clue what you are talking about," Mr. Walsh said in reports published Thursday in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Has the CIA become too PC ?

British SAS have a motto; "who dares, wins." An example of how this doesn't work can be found in the American CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).

Over the last three decades, the CIA has come under a lot of criticism for not being able to do their job. They have done that by not taking chances.

The most spectacular recent example was the failure to spot the terrorist operation that led to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

While much blame was justifiably heaped on the FBI, it was the CIA that had first detected the plotters, and was already under orders to stop al Qaeda attempts to make more attacks on the United States.

All this began a decade earlier, when al Qaeda damaged New York City's World Trade Center in 1993 bombing. The 2001 attacks did not come out of nowhere. But the CIA had problems at the top (where decisions about what leads to pursue, how, and to what extent all this is shared with the FBI), and at the bottom (and the inability to infiltrate al Qaeda.)

At the same time, other intelligence agencies, like Britain's MI-6 and the Israeli Mossad are much better at gathering information at ground level. They, like most nations, recognize that intelligence operations can get dirty. It's all a matter of how important the intelligence is.

The British attitude is that, if you need to do this, do it right. So Britain does have agents with a "license to kill" and, more importantly, laws protecting these men and women from any later prosecution for dirty deeds they were asked to do for Queen and Country.

But in the United States, the CIA was held to a higher moral standard, and still expected to get the job done. This approach did not work.

Despite all the post-911 talk about "more aggressive intelligence operations" to prevent more attacks, the atmosphere inside the CIA discouraged any such thing. All this was largely the result of the CIA being put into a sort of semi-hibernation in the late 1970s.

This was an after effect of the Church Committee, an investigative operation sponsored by Congress, that sought to reform the CIA. The reforms were mainly about eliminating CIA spying inside the United States, and doing stuff for the president that Congress did not approve of.

There was also a desire to avoid any CIA connection with foreign unpleasantness (like using unsavory people as spies or informants). This led to a growing list of restrictions on what the CIA could do overseas, and at home.

Congress was out to make sure no future president (the CIA works for the president) could use the CIA as had been done during the Vietnam war, and before.

The CIA interpreted this as "no more James Bond stuff," just use your spy satellites and write up your reports. The Church Committee insured that the CIA became a much less interesting place to work. A lot of the most capable people got out over the next two decades. Recruiting became difficult. Word got around that the daring need not apply.

But after September 11, 2001, the CIA was tossed a huge pile of money and told to staff up and get going. The Church Committee restrictions were largely, if not completely, discarded. Recruiting efforts were greatly expanded, and since September 11, 2001, several hundred thousand applications were received. The agency has had a hard time keeping up with that.

This created some interesting personnel problems, especially in the operations division (the people who go to foreign countries and, well, sometimes do James Bond stuff.) There were few people left in the agency that remembered how to do field ops the old school way.

By late 2001, many recently retired field ops guys were being lured back to active duty. You now had a situation where the field ops population was like a cross between a college fraternity and retirement community. There are few people in the middle, age and experience wise. It's almost as bad in the analysis division (where the data is studied and reports prepared.)

The area of the CIA that has flourished in the last three decades has been the geek side of things. These folks were always flush, thanks to a Congress that felt safer with spy satellites, than with spies on the ground.

But those days are over. Much of the new technology is going to the analysts (better computerized tools to dig quickly through information) and the field operatives (like Predator UAVs, at four million bucks each.) A lot of money is going into training (learning Arabic, Pushto, Farsi and Dari are encouraged, and sometimes demanded) and the use of consultants (often former CIA operatives who would not come back full time.)

But after a few years, the Church Committee atmosphere returned. The major issue was the use of torture to extract information from terrorist suspects. It suddenly became the conventional wisdom that torture didn't work. This was absurd, as a cursory glance at the history of World War II, and every war before or since, would reveal.

Pundits pointed out that tortured people will tell you anything. Again, this displayed an amazing ignorance of intelligence tradecraft. While some people will tell you anything when tortured, a lot of people will also provide useful information that can be double checked. It's not like the movies, where everything depends on the painful pronouncements of one tortured individual.

The reality was that using "vigorous interrogation" brought forth much useful information, always has, and always will. Intelligence is all about putting together lots of small pieces. That's why U.S. operatives are taught how to resist torture. Yes, there are individuals who can outsmart, or outlast, torture. But they are always a minority. It's a war of numbers, and something that doesn't make for exciting soundbites.

The new Church Committee like restrictions outlawed things like the use of contractors for interrogations (even if there were no other source of manpower to do the job in time), the use of foreign nations to provide the "vigorous interrogation", the detention of foreigners without giving them access to the U.S. criminal justice system, and many more items that most CIA officials know, from their own experience, will only get Americans killed.

So how does the United States gather needed intelligence? It does it in secret (from many in Congress and, most of all, the media). The other intelligence agencies, like the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) are being allowed to run with these operations. Of course, everyone understands that they could still be hung out to dry down the road.

But there are more bosses in the DIA (compared to the CIA) that are willing to back up their operatives (some of whom will get screwed down the road, which is accepted as a risk of the job).

Another solution is to outsource many intel operations. The men and women who work for contractors are working without a net (of full U.S. government backing, both diplomatically and militarily). Not all these operatives are even American, but they will do it for a combination of money, adventure, personal beliefs and some assurances that America will provide some support if things get nasty (if only to retrieve the information the agents have obtained.)

The CIA lost its soul, it's heart, and most of its guts, in the late 1970s. Lots of brains are left, with big budgets to buy all manner of neat technology. But the bosses live fear of grandstanding politicians and headline hungry journalists.

While the British, the Israelis, and most other nations, have managed to capture and retain the ability to do street level intelligence, the CIA has not. It now serves mainly to draw fire, while other organizations get the job done.

Several arrested in Chinese spy sweep

Several arrested in Chinese spy sweep
By Bill Gertz
February 11, 2008

The FBI today arrested a Pentagon official and two Chinese-born residents on espionage charges for passing defense secrets to China, the Justice Department announced.

Gregg William Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, was arrested at his home on espionage charges. Tai Shen Kuo, a Taiwan-born U.S. citizen, 58, and Yu Xin Kang, a Chinese national, 33, both of New Orleans, were arrested in New Orleans on charges of conspiracy to provide defense secrets to China.

Mr. Bergersen worked as a weapons system analyst for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, in Arlington, which is in charge of U.S. arms sales to foreign nations. He held a top-secret clearance.

One official said the case involved the transfer of command, control, communications and intelligence equipment originally sold to Taiwan that was diverted to China.

Court papers state that the three men conspired to transfer defense secrets during meetings with Chinese intelligence officials.

“Today's prosecution demonstrates that foreign spying remains a serious threat,” said Kenneth L. Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security.

Mr. Wainstein said in a statement that the case has “all the elements of a classic espionage operation: a foreign government focused on accessing our military secrets; foreign operatives who effectively use stealth and guile to gain that access; and an American government official who is willing to betray both his oath of public office and the duty of loyalty we rightly demand from every American citizen.”

Such spy networks “pose a grave danger to our national security, and we should all thank the investigators and prosecutors on this case for effectively penetrating and dismantling this network before more sensitive information was compromised,” he said.

Meanwhile, a former Boeing engineer was arrested this morning after being indicted last week on charges of economic espionage and acting as an unregistered Chinese agent.

Dongfan “Greg” Chung, 72, of Orange, Calif., a Rockwell International engineer until the company was bought by Boeing in 1996, was arrested at his home in Orange, Calif.

Mr. Chung, was indicted Wednesday on eight counts of economic espionage, one count of conspiracy to commit economic espionage, one count of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, one count of obstruction of justice, and three counts of making false statements to FBI investigators.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Mr. Chung held a top-secret clearance.

“Certain foreign governments are committed to obtaining the American trade secrets that can advance the development of their military capabilities," said Mr. Wainstein in a statement.

"Today’s case demonstrates that the Justice Department is equally committed to foiling those efforts through the arrest and prosecution of those who conduct economic espionage at the expense of our economic and national security.”

The case involves the illegal transfer to China of Boeing Corp. trade secrets related to the space shuttle.

The investigation grew out of the Chi Mak and family Chinese spy case uncovered in 2006, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That case involved the transfer to China of military technology related to U.S. Navy warships and submarines.

The case is expected to lead to a further curtailing of U.S.-China space cooperation, which was halted temporarily last year after China carried out an anti-satellite weapon test that left thousands of pieces of debris in low Earth orbit.

OK Auditor and Inspector - McMahan brother accused of political felony

McMahan brother accused
of political felony
By David Arnett
Wednesday, 02 January 2008

Often both comedic and pathetic in some parts of Oklahoma politics is a full-contact criminal enterprise. Jason McMahan, brother of Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan is not currently charged with any crime, but Gary Jones says, “I don’t want anyone out there to misunderstand; I firmly believe that Jason McMahan stole my trailer. I was told by the detective, assistant district attorney and the district attorney that they were convinced that he stole it using his pick-up truck.”

Apparently in Tecumseh, Oklahoma’s connected criminals live free of charge unless the crime catches the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This episode is merely grand theft auto. The “Keystone Cops” element is that one person has been charged with possession of stolen property, but no one was charged with stealing it. For that Oklahomans can thank a judge and a district attorney, who was a contributor to Jeff McMahan’s campaigns.

Jeff McMahan is currently under examination by a federal grand jury for campaign irregularities tied to Gene Stipe, Mike Mass and Steve Phipps – first publicly exposed by Tulsa Today. Theft of the trailer which was decorated at the time as a “covered wagon” billboard during Jones’ bid to replace McMahan in the auditors office was also first published by Tulsa Today.

September 16, 2006 Tecumseh police officer Clint Hill took the report of a larceny of the twenty-four foot goose neck trailer Jones had leased for his campaign. At the time of the theft, the trailer was secured with a cable and lock behind Branson McKiddy Realtors in Tecumseh. On September 22, Tecumseh resident David Jett called police to report that he had seen the decorated campaign trailer sometime between midnight and 2 am on the night it was taken. Jett reported that a red extended-cab pick-up truck was pulling the trailer through town.


Jones Campaign Trailer
November 1, Pottawatomie County Deputy Sheriff Dan McClure called Tecumseh Detective Lt. Kidney and, after comparing notes, the two believed they had located the missing trailer on land owned by Justin Lewis. Investigating, the two officers obtained the vehicle identification number (VIN), but a check of that number showed a trailer owned by the City of Tecumseh. David Johnson, Tecumseh City Manager, (a former employee of and major contributor to Jeff McMahan) told officers that the city’s trailer was at the City Barn, but the VIN plate had been removed.

Deputy McClure and Lt. Kidney returned to the trailer and began to impound it when they discovered the covered wagon frame also belonging to Jones approximately 25 yards from the trailer. The trailer had been repainted. While on the scene, Justin Lewis arrived and, according to official documents, admitted he let “someone” park the trailer there. He said he had seen officers in the field so he went to his mother’s house to call the “guy hat put the trailer there” asking that person to come to Lewis’ property to talk to the officers.

Asked if he was a city employee Lewis only said, “You’re good you will figure it out.” Lewis then told Lt. Kidney he could not tell then who the other person was because of “it being a political mess.” When asked what that meant, Lewis said, “You know what I mean.”


Suspect pick-up
Lewis was not arrested and remained at his property when the officers departed with the trailer. Lt. Kidney returned shortly, asking Lewis, “Was it Jason McMahan?”

Lewis said, “You’re good.” Lt. Kidney then asked if Jason McMahan was the one who brought the trailer to his house. Lewis said he, “could not” tell him.

November 3, Lt. Kidney contacted Jason McMahan. At Tecumseh Police Headquarters, McMahan was advised of his Miranda Rights and made the following statements: 1.) McMahan knew Gary Jones had a trailer stolen, but did not know anything about the trailer recovered from Justin Lewis’ field, 2.) McMahan was at work until 12:30 am the night the trailer was stolen, and 3.) McMahan owns a red extended cab pick-up with a gooseneck hook-up, which is required for a pickup to pull the trailer.

The same day, Justin Lewis gave the following written statement after being advised of his Miranda Rights:


Jones Campaign Trailer
“I, Justin Lewis Had a trailer Recovered from my property at 29387 Kimes Ave Macomb OK. Pott County on Nov 2, 2006 at time of Recovery I leared it had Been stolen I Received the Trailer from parties who cant be named at this time and had no prier Knowledge it was stolen until time of Recovery” (sic)

On February 1, 2007 Justin Lewis was interviewed by Deputy Jim Patten of the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office and after being advised of his rights made the following admissions: 1.) When asked what knowledge he had of the trailer he said, “I knew the trailer was on my property,” 2.) When asked if he knew the trailer was stolen he said, “Probably,” 3.) When advised it would be best if he was honest, he said, “You wouldn’t understand, I just can’t say.” Then he volunteered, “I don’t care what happens I’m not saying anything, I’ll just take whatever happens to me.”

Lewis was not taken into custody until a warrant was issued in April of 2007 charging that he knowingly concealed stolen property – a felony.

Jones says, “Anyone can see from official statements that Jason McMahan stole my trailer.”


Suspect pick-up
The night of the theft both Jason McMahan and Justin Lewis were City of Tecumseh Water Department employees, worked out of the City Barn and worked together on the night shift until 12:30 am. The photographs of the red pick-up truck accompanying this story were taken by Lt. Kidney of the “suspect vehicle” which is Jason McMahan’s truck.

If law enforcement or the court system had been timely in the release of this information, it could have made a difference in the election contest between Jason’s brother Jeff McMahan and Gary Jones.

After indicating to Jones that Lewis would be pressured to name the thief or face trail, the Pottawatomie County District Attorney, Richard Smotherman and judge allowed Lewis in late December to enter a blind plea and gather a deferred sentence which means he will not even have a permanent blemish on his record if he stays out of other legal trouble during the time period.

“Basically they swept it under the carpet,” Jones said. “They hid the facts to protect Jeff McMahan’s election, never charged Jason McMahan and let his accomplice skate the system. There is no justice in any of this,” Jones added.

The case had been turned over to the Pottawatomie County District Attorney the day after the trailer had been discovered because Tecumseh Detective Lt. Kidney told Jones, “I felt I had a conflict of interest because it appeared the crime was committed by two city employees and my brother is married to Jeff McMahan’s sister.”

Pottawatomie County District Attorney, Richard Smotherman played in Jeff McMahan’s fundraising golf tournament at least three times. He did offer to recuse himself, but not until after Jones asked him about his donations to McMahan and just days before the plea deal was accepted.



OK Auditor and Inspector, Jeff McMahan
Jones said Lewis’ attorney is also a former employee of Jeff McMahan and a campaign contributor.

Jones said, “If politics had been played cleanly in Oklahoma, I would have more than likely won the 2002 election contest with Jeff McMahan – it was that close and the $80,000 to $100,000 of illegal campaign donations he got made the difference. In the last race [2006] all these stories Tulsa Today published the more mainstream media would not cover because they claimed it was political. Most feel that if those stories or this one had come out before the election– yes I would have won that race as well.”

Jones was later elected Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party.

When asked about being afraid of being sued for making accusations Jones replied “The best defensive against slander is the truth. All I have ever wanted is for the truth to be known. If it means that I am sued or that I have to sue to get my day in court so be it. The public deserves the truth.“

“How many times do Oklahomans have to catch Jeff McMahan lying? He lied about his relationship with Steve Phipps, he lied about his relationship with Gene Stipe, and he lied about money and vacations and gifts received while he has held the office of Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector. Under normal circumstances he would have been prosecuted and thrown out of office a long time ago,” Jones said.

Jones added, “The funny thing is that the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector swears an oath to protect Oklahoma taxpayers.”

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 January 2008 )

'NUTTY' Stipe Transfers Oil And Gas Interests...

Thu December 27, 2007

Property transfers could bring more legal troubles for Stipe
By Nolan Clay
Staff Writer

Indicted former state Sen. Gene Stipe has transferred his oil and gas interests in counties across Oklahoma to a new company, records show.

A state representative who learned about the transfers confirmed Wednesday he notified the FBI.

Stipe on Nov. 20 assigned his oil and gas interests in Oklahoma County and at least 16 smaller counties to Gene Stipe Exploration LLC, records show. An attorney filed paperwork to start the company Nov. 15.

Stipe has been on house arrest since a judge found him mentally incompetent to face probation revocation proceedings. Stipe was put on probation after admitting to illegal fundraising schemes involving a protege's 1998 failed congressional campaign.

Stipe also faces new accusations after being indicted in October. A federal grand jury accuses him of paying a kickback and other crimes.

Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, said he gave information to the FBI because he questioned how Stipe legally could transfer property after being found to be mentally incompetent.

"It seemed rather ironic to me,” Reynolds said.

Stipe's attorneys could not be reached for comment.

U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling said, "I would encourage anyone with actionable information in this case or any case to contact either our office or the appropriate investigative agency.”

http://newsok.com/article/3185646/1198734527

Scams targeting troops and their families

Being a Vet, this make me SICK !


Scams targeting troops and their families

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, December 27, 2007

A 3rd Infantry Division soldier deploying to Iraq is warning other servicemembers of the latest scam to target troops and their families.

According to 1st Lt. David Cowan, in early December his 84-year-old grandmother received a phone call from a man calling himself J.D. Taylor. The man claimed that Cowan was on his way home on leave from Iraq for the holidays, but had gotten hung up and lost his wallet and military identification card.

Cowan’s grandmother, he said, was “asked by this person to wire $800, allegedly on my behalf so that I could get back home and surprise my family for Christmas.”

The claim was a scam. Luckily for Cowan and his family, his grandmother knew to be suspicious of strangers asking for money, even if they’d somehow managed to reach the relatives of a soldier whose name they knew.

“I told her to write down everything she could remember from the conversation and to immediately contact the authorities,” Cowan wrote in an e-mail to Stripes. “My grandmother is 84, and still a very sharp woman. Thankfully, she immediately saw through his scam and decided to contact me directly.”

Cowan suspects the scam artist will try a similar ruse with other military families. And according to federal investigators, he’s probably right.

In recent years, the FBI has tracked a growing number of scams targeting military families or making false claims to prey on the public’s feelings of good will for troops.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has tracked scams including ones sent from purported soldiers who have found or “stolen” millions of dollars in Iraq. Those scams are similar to the “Nigerian” e-mail scams.

“The scam e-mails vary in content; however, the general theme of each is to request personal information and/or funds from the individual receiving the e-mail,” according to an FBI primer on the subject.

Despite repeated warnings about these particular or general scams, FBI officials say, many people still fall for them.

Investigators say Cowan handled the situation correctly. Law enforcement authorities advise people to never provide any personal or financial information over the phone or send money to a stranger on a relative’s behalf.

If contacted by a suspicious-sounding person, one should record the details of the conversation and immediately contact local and federal authorities, they say.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51262