Ohio's CBS affiliate Action News 19 reported that Connell had been warned a couple of times not to fly. He had cancelled flight plans twice before. They have backed off from the report - gee, what Brown Shirt could have promised a nice weenie roast at the station, over a big bonfire?
Then you have motive. As Harvey Wasserman, the "conspiracy nut" who appears on Today, Nightline, National Public Radio, CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight wrote:
At 12:20 am on the night of the 2004 election exit polls and initial vote counts showed John Kerry the clear winner of Ohio's presidential campaign. The Buckeye State's 20 electoral votes would have given Kerry the presidency.
But from then until around 2am, the flow of information mysteriously ceased. After that, the vote count shifted dramatically to George W. Bush, ultimately giving him a second term. In the end there was a 6.7 percent diversion---in Bush's favor---between highly professional, nationally funded exit polls and the final official vote count as tabulated by Blackwell and Connell.
Mark Crispin Miller was saying a full two months ago, on Democracy Now, just after the judge ordered Connell to testify:
Yeah, this event in a courtroom in Columbus may be one of the most important things to happen in this whole election and may be one of the most important things to happen in American history. I mean, this sounds hyperbolic, I know, but it is true.
Mike Connell is-has been named as Karl Rove's computer guru since 2000. The lawyers in the case refer to Connell as a high-IQ Forrest Gump, because he's been on the scene of every dubious election we've had over the last eight years, starting with Florida 2000.
As a result of Ohio's 20 electoral votes going to Bush in 2004, the administration was able to complete its destruction of the Constitution, break the law countless more times, and keep spending the kind of money in Iraq which would pay for a couple of $700 billion bailouts at no further cost to us.
Hey, this is what happens when you have a congress that starts out its term by putting "impeachment off the table." By never, ever, ever holding these people accountable, they start to think they can get away with anything. I venture that Connell might still be alive had a good, let's-just-set-a-couple-of-things-straight impeachment hearing been held at some point, win or lose, over vote-rigging, an open admission of having authorized torture, the kidnap and torture of an American citizen, Jose Padilla, under a laughable theory of wartime powers that last forever, illegal NSA spying, betrayal of a covert American agent...can we blame them for thinking they can get away with anything? And this too.
The Republic disintegrates before our eyes. But it's ok, Obama is elected, and this will be all forgotten in a few weeks, when, despite toothless talk about prosecution, all these people will skeedaddle into parts unknown with pardons in their pockets. They are only within reach right now.
Don't worry, be happy.
There have always been mysterious deaths in politics, but usually it's before the dots get too easy to connect. This is different. This was in broad daylight, with everyone watching, and the killers not caring one little bit. Wow. I mean really, wow.
Why aren't Conyers, Kucinich, and Obama calling for congressional investigation? This was no ordinary court case, and a mighty convenient time to have a Wellstone. Conyers and Kucinich were named as recipients of the plea for some kind of protection. They were informed of the threats because the first thing you do if you are afraid something like this might happen to you is tell people who are high-profile, because you feel it might protect you. You'd feel that now they can't touch you, or there would be a measure of justice if they do.
AUDIO OF AIR AMERICA'S THOM HARTMAN ON CONNELL
Conyers: 202-225-5126 Kucinich: (202) 225-5871 Obama: (202) 224-2854 ”Evil thrives when good men do nothing” Edmund Burke
