I only discovered this just a few moments ago while reading the comments over at Citizen Wells blog.
One of the commenters recommended reading the comments over at Free Republic There are many questions (e.g. why isn't it accessable via wayback machine?) discussions about how many had not heard of this until today (April 18, 2009). There are also a lots of links where people tried to do more research on the murder (and suspected assassination).
Another thing that is very strange. When you click on the Washington Times article link, the bottom of the page says this:
Comments are temporarily unavailable.
Why is that?
Commenters over at Free Republic are discussing that there doesn't appear to be any follow-up articles or further investigation into this murder.
This is REALLY STRANGE, scary...and very creepy.
As I get more information, I will share it here.
Anyone with additional information, please post it in the comment section. Thanks.
*******
Update:
The Betrayal has a post up about this today. Someone in the comment section noticed that it was a year-old article, too.
Note these:
R U 18? VOTE! // Apr 19, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I just looked in Google News Search and saw nothing about this!!!
Katie // Apr 19, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Note the date on the article. It’s April 19, 2008. A year ago.
So either this story is a year old and someone is stirring up public interest, or the date is wrong on the article.
My hunch is that the murder was never solved, and someone wants attention on this story to help their cause.
*******
UPdate:
A Blog for All has some background information about the man (Lieutenant Quarles Harris Jr.) who was shot and killed.
Update:
If you follow the additional links in the article (above) you will get more information.
Found this interesting:
UPDATE:
Sen. Obama now wants to get Congress involved and have them investigate the State Department. He says that it's to keep the investigation from being a purely internal matter. It should be an open investigation, but Congress will do what it always does - grandstand before the cameras.
*******
Update:
When I clicked on this link (where there was supposed to be an additional Washington Times article about the victim (Harris) "stealing passport information to gain new identities for illicit purposes" I got this:
Page not found
Seems like we can't locate the file you were looking for!
Either the file no longer exists, the URL has been mistyped, or that file has been moved. Sorry for the inconvenience!
So...was it scrubbed?
Luckily, the blogger posted an excerpt from the original article:
Meanwhile, a State Department employee who was not identified in documents filed in U.S. District Court, was implicated in a credit-card fraud scheme after 24-year-old Lieutenant Quarles Harris Jr. told federal authorities he obtained "passport information from a co-conspirator who works for the U.S. Department of State."
The investigation began after Metropolitan Police on March 25 pulled over Mr. Harris in Southeast on suspicion that the windows of his vehicle were tinted too darkly.
After searching Mr. Harris and his vehicle, police found marijuana and 21 credit cards that were not issued in his name or the name of a female passenger with him. Police also found eight printouts of State Department passport applications, and four of the names on the applications matched four of the credit cards.
Upon questioning by agents from the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Service and State Department, Mr. Harris "admitted he obtained the passport information" from a State Department employee, court documents say.
Mr. Harris also said the fraud ring submitted credit-card applications using the names and "identifying information" of the persons listed on the passport applications, and that a postal service employee then would intercept the cards before they were delivered to the appropriate residences.
Passport application data includes details such as a person's date and place of birth, e-mail address, mailing address, Social Security number, former names and travel plans.
Mr. Harris, of Capitol Heights was initially arrested for possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and has since been charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in the District with credit-card fraud.
He was released on his own recognizance, under the condition that he not apply for or possess any passports.
Does anyone else think it strange that Harris was "released on his own recognizance" with the only stipulation that he "not apply for or possess any passports?" What...no punishment for the crime?
According to the date of the blogpost, the original article must have been written around Saturday, April 05, 2008. Eleven days later, Harris was murdered.
Research is getting creepier by the minute...
*******
Update:
The Lawhawk blogger had additional links to other bloggers discussing the passport issue. One was Michelle Malkin: First Obamas Passport Now Hillary's Breached too. Malkin's blog post is dated March 21, 2008 - 5 days after the murder of Harris - but the murder is not even mentioned in the post or in the comments!
Was the story spiked back then? Sure looks like it! I would imagine that Michele Malkin, of all bloggers, would have been all over it if she knew about it back then.
*******
Update:
Pam Gellar of Atlas Shrugs: Key Witness in Presidential Passport Tampering Case Murdered in 2008, No Arrests
Excerpt:
There is a video here of Obama's response to the passport "breach" back on March 21, 2008. Watch it -- I think it's telling that he says, not that he has anything to hide, "not because I have any particular concerns" [minute -.23]. This is before the birth certificate scandal. Who would say that?
Passport breach March 21.
On April 8, 2008, Obama confessed to having taken a trip to Pakistan in 1981.
Here is what Obama said - Jake Tapper was there:
"So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa --knowing the leaders is not important -- what I know is the people...I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college -- I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."
Tapper was surprised and said:
This last part -- a college trip to Pakistan -- was news to many of us who have been following the race closely. And it was odd that we hadn't hear about it before, given all the talk of Pakistan during this campaign.
Much speculation has been made about what national passport Obama used when he traveled to Pakistan in 1981.
So Obama confessed to this trip two weeks after his passport was tampered with.
Pakistan was in turmoil in 1981 and ruled of martial law. Millions of Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan, while the Afghan Mujahedeen operated from bases inside Pakistan in their war with the Soviets. One of the leaders that based his operation in Quetta, Pakistan was Usama Bin Laden (The Sheik).
Pakistan was on the banned travel list for US Citizens at the time and all non-Muslim visitors were not welcome unless sponsored by their embassy for official business. (more here)
*******
Update: 4/20/09
Evidence of more Internet scrubbing to hide articles that contain the truth about Obama!!
The Betrayal: Dutch article scrubbed from Web describes Obama citizenship. Article suggests Obama lived with his Mother in Indonesia through his teens, not in Hawaii.
The author of the blog makes several good observations! One of the most startling is included in the conclusion at the end of the post (highlighted in red):
Conclusion
Based on the information above, could Obama have come over on a Student Visa from Indonesia, to attend College at 18 in the states? He met his Marxist CIA Professor at Occidental College and was recruited to study Sovietology. Lolo was a radical Muslim and Indonesia is mostly Muslim. Did Obama continue to live with his Mom in Indonesia and study Islam at the same time? The most recent picture of Obama with his Grandma “Toot” is over 20 years old. No other pictures. Could it just be from a visit to Hawaii with his Mom? No one remembers Obama in Hawaii. The address he said he lived, the neighbors said they don’t remember seeing him, not even once. No one at the school in Hawaii, it was said he attended, remembers him being there. No class-mates, nothing. The hospitals in Hawaii claim they have no records of his Mom having been treated there for Cancer.
Much more to read both at The Betrayal and Repub X
*******
Speaking of "scrubbing," the Communist News Network has taken down the embarrassing Youtube video of the reporter, Susan Roesgen, harassing a TEA party attendee and then cutting him off because she didn't like what she was hearing (a.k.a The Truth!).
Scrubbed! CNN yanking tea party 'embarrassment'
Demands YouTube remove video of fed-up citizens berating reporter
So...in the Communist News Network world there is no such thing as the fair use act?!!
This is getting to be so ridiculous!!