Indepundit: What were you doing? (Check out who donated to Cynthia McKinney on 9/11)

Indepundit ^ | August 1, 2002

[John Jorsett]

About once in every generation, an event occurs that focuses the minds of everyone so sharply that they never forget that moment--for the rest of their lives.

Ask anyone who was alive when Pearl Harbor was bombed where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Unless they were in a coma, or too young to realize what was happening, they can tell you--in great detail.

Likewise, on the fateful day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated, everyone from that generation talks about the moment they heard the news, and how it impacted them.

I remember where I was when I learned that the Berlin Wall had been opened, and when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded.

But those two moments in my life pale in comparison to what happened on September 11, 2001. Even before I learned of the terror attacks, it was an important day for me--September 11 is my birthday.

It was about 6:15 in the morning, and I had just woken up and was getting ready to go to work when the phone rang. It was my mother. She wished me a happy birthday, then she said, "Turn on the television."

I remember thinking, "Wow, Mom must have gotten someone on television to wish me Happy Birthday!" So I asked her, "What channel?"

She replied, "Any channel." My heart sank--I knew this was probably bad news.

And then I saw it--the World Trade Center on fire. The newscaster was saying that a plane had flown into one of the towers. From the video, I could tell it was a large passenger plane.

I watched the video of the second plane hitting the tower. I was shaking with fear and rage.

I drove to the office, but no work was being done that day. We were all watching the news, or listening to the radio. After about an hour, they told us all to go home--many of us had family and friends in New York and Washington, including me, and we were anxious to contact them.

I watched, live on television, as each tower collapsed. I remember trembling, and saying "Oh my God," over and over.

Needless to say, it was a traumatic event in my life, and one that I surely won't ever forget. I've even considered moving my birthday. How can anyone celebrate on September 11?

I'm willing to bet that all of you can remember that day vividly as well.

Some people, on the other hand, decided after learning of the attacks that it was a great moment to make a political contribution.

Really.

Check out this page at OpenSecrets.org, listing the campaign contributions to the Honorable Ms. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. Notice anything unusual (besides the fact that so many of her contributers have Arab names, and very few of them are from her district)?

I'll give you a hint: if your browser has a search function, type in 9/11/2001.

Here's what you'll find:

• Waseem Ahmed, a physician from Las Vegas, donated $250.
• Abdurahman Alamoudi, the Director of the American Muslim Foundation, donated $2,000.
• Abdulwahab Alkebsi, Executive Director of the Islamic Institute, donated $700.
• Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a Howard University professor, donated $250.
• Nihad Awad, Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, donated $500.
• Khaliq Baig of Las Vegas donated $500.
• Yaser Bushnaq, a computer consultant from Falls Church, VA, donated $500.
• Bashir Chowdhry of Las Vegas donated $500.
• Shaheen Chowdhry of Las Vegas donated $250.
• Atif Fareed, a Southwest Airlines pilot from Henderson, NV, donated $1,000.
• Donna Genena of Las Vegas donated $500.
• Osama Haikal, a physician from Henderson, NV, donated $500.
• Faisal Hasan, a lobbyist for CarFax, donated $600.
• Hassan Ibrahim of Centreville, MD, donated $1,000.
• Ray Irani, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Occidental Petroleum, donated $1,000.
• Sabah Jabri of San Diego donated $250.
• Yaqub Mirza, President of Mar Jac Investments, donated $500.
• Ahmed Monib of Las Vegas donated $250.
• Mohamed Omeish, Vice President of the American Muslim Foundation, donated $500.
• Sayed Qazi, a Las Vegas physician, donated $1,000.
• Yousef Saleh of Springfield, VA, donated $300.
• Ahmad Totonji of Herndon, VA, donated $1,000.

That’s quite a haul for one day: $20,300.

Probably a coincidence.

[John Jorsett]

I did a search for 9/10 (a Monday) and 9/12 (a Wednesday) as well: not a single donation on either of those dates. All these folks just happened to give money to McKinney on the very day that America was attacked. Coincidence indeed.

[aculeus]

Thanks for posting.

This needs more attention!

[dighton]

What's the Arabic word for DUMBASS?

They couldn't spread it out over a few weeks, but had to contribute THAT VERY DAY.

[aculeus]

I've sent the link to WSJ's Opinion Journal.

[John Jorsett]

I've sent the link to WSJ's Opinion Journal.

Good move. I got the pointer to this piece from Glenn Reynold's InstaPundit.com web site. It's great how the universe of weblogs can dredge up this sort of thing and get it out there.

[Chi-townChief]

bump

[aculeus]

I was about to post it from the blog when yours turned up in Search.

[Texas Mom]

On Sept 11th, donating to anyones political campaign was the furthest from my mind.

[Texas Eagle]

Hmmmmmm.....curious......wasn't it McKinney who suggested President Bush had foreknowledge of what was going to happen on 911?

[mhking]

The irony of it all is that not a single one of those individuals is from Georgia. And a further search of McKinney's donor list shows that nearly all of the donors with Arabic surnames are from outside the state of Georgia.

McKinney's district is probably about 60% black, with a pretty good spread of incomes, her district includes low-income areas in south DeKalb County, along with Lithonia, a community that has (arguably) among the highest per-capita income black populations in the Southeast.

Her white constituency is spread among soccer households in north DeKalb and south Gwinnett Counties, along with the liberal enclaves around downtown Decatur, and surrounding Emery University. I would say that the district is about 80% or so liberal if you had to break it down.

Many blacks in the bedroom communities in Lithonia and Stone Mountain think McKinney's nuts, as do many of the white voters in south Gwinnett and up in north DeKalb. It'll be interesting to see how they fall in the primary.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[FreedomPoster]

McKinney ping. Anyone in the 4th District, or in the local calling area, who wants to pitch in on a "boot McKinney" effort, FReepmail me. Guillermo and BNA know what I'm talking about. . .

[FreedomPoster]

And add dansangel to that list.

[Guillermo]

I'm printing out that list to take with me door-to-door and to the swim/tennis club.

[Guillermo]

I'm emailing it to the list too

[FreedomPoster]

You heard anything about the other list?

[Guillermo]

Not yet.

I'm anxious to get one, we need to hit it 7 days before the election.

You can come to my office and make calls, if you'd like.

It's about 4 miles from where the meeting was.

[Swede Girl]

Something is rotten in Georgia bump.

[Nick Danger]

This is positively bizarre, and perhaps of great significance.

It obviously did not spontaneously occur to all these people, most of them in Nevada, to donate to the campaign of some obscure representative from Georgia. One $64,000 question is whether this was pre-planned, i.e they all had instructions to donate on 9/11, or "when something big happens," or even more ominously, "when it happens," where "it" was something they knew was coming.

Or, were all they all contacted on 9/11, and told to make these donations? If so, by whom? And how? Are there phone records? Email backups? Who coordinated this? This is potentially a crack in something big and important, and I hope our "homeland security" folks go find out what went on here. This is very interesting 'community of people' that has been exposed by this fluke. What do they have in common?

And then... why McKinney? Were they buying something, or were they paying for something they'd already bought? It looks to me like they were collectively paying on behalf of someone else.

McKinney might have the power to place certain people in certain places. Not so much as any sort of actual authority, but more as a consequence of favor-seeking types hiring someone or putting someone in a certain place as a favor. McKinney serves on the House Armed Services Committee, which would tend to cause Pentagon bureaucrats to bow and scrape when she called. I wonder whom she placed in the months leading up to 9/11?