Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Congressman Buck McKeon, representing California’s 25th District, announced today that he would not be seeking a 12th term. Here to give us a look back at the 75 year old’s illustrious past is Buck McKeon’s biggest Champion, the founder and treasurer of the Blue America Pac which raises money for progressive candidates around the country, Howie Klein.

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David: Howie.

Howie Klein: Yes.

The House Armed Services Committee’s ranking Republican Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif. is the most corrupt politician in Washington, according to our guest Howie Klein.

David: You must be devastated by this news because for years you have written on your ‘Down with Tyranny’ blog that Congressman Buck McKeon is a degenerate gambler who owes money to Las Vegas potentate Sheldon Adelson. You accused Congressman Buck McKeon’s family of reaping a fortune lobbying for the defense industry while their dad sits atop the powerful Armed Services Committee. So, as you choke back tears, tell me is Buck McKeon not running for re-election for personal reasons? Is he cashing in to go be a lobbyist for the defense industry? Or is he afraid he just can’t win?

Howie: Yes, yes, yes yes. Everything that you just said is yes.

He is the single-most corrupt person in Congress and he’ll be joining his family lobbying firm, he’ll deny that, just the way he denied that he was going to be resigning. I’ve been writing he would be resigning for almost a year now.

David:  Why is he stepping down?

Howie: The demographic in the district is changing drastically. It’s much, much bluer now, it’s much more Hispanic now, and it’s much younger now. And Buck McKeon doesn’t fit in there.

He’s an old white Mormon, he’s like a fossil of some kind.

So, he probably couldn’t have won again and he has done very, very badly for himself financially. He’s in debt, he loses homes. His business went bankrupt. His personal financial life is a disaster. He’ll be 76 when he gets out of Congress and he knows he’s got to make some money now. And he can.

He has very, very good connections with the military industrial complex. He is the founder and the chairman of the Drone caucus. Those people have given him more money than any other member of congress and they will continue doing that as he’s lobbying.

He’s picking the guy who will be succeeding him as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Other people will fight him but he’s trying to pick Mac Thornberry from Texas, to succeed him and Thornberry is as big a shill as he is to those interests.

David:  He’ll be able to lobby him for the defense industry.

Howie: Right, which is what he plans to do. He’ll deny that but that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Howie Klein reports that McKeon is a degenerate gambler who owes money to Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson, pictured here.

David:  You’ve written for several months that he owes money to Sheldon Adelson because he’s a degenerate gambler. Do we know if he’s paid back those bets?

Howie: No, he denies that he owes any money to Sheldon Adelson. But I know that he does from a number of sources. I expect that maybe it will start coming out now. But we’ll see what happens. It would be illegal for him to owe that kind of money to Sheldon Adelson and not report it.

My theory is that he was giving Sheldon Adelson inside information.

Remember Buck McKeon gets up in the morning and he gets the same National Security Briefing that the President of the United States gets. Sheldon Adelson, none of his money is coming from Las Vegas. He loses in Las Vegas. His money comes from Macau. He is completely indebted for his fortune to China and they are very interested in the stuff that McKeon hears every morning so I’m sure that Adeslson is not squeezing Buck McKeon to pay back the money.

David: You write on your ‘Down With Tyranny’ blog that there is now a civil war within the Republican Party for Buck McKeon’s seat. Who’s running?

Howie: McKeon is trying to bring in his own successor.

This guy Tony Strickland, former State legislator, but the republicans in that district detest Strickland. They see him as a carpetbagger and also as a very, very corrupt guy.

So, they recruited their own candidate, State Senator Steve Knight. The problem with Steve Knight is he is the single most right wing politician in the State of California. There is nothing more right-wing than this guy, it’s frightening. So, here we have a very very corrupt Republican backed by McKeon who’s also very right wing, and then the most right-wing California politician, who’s not backed by McKeon, and they’re already going at each other in a big, big way. There’s a huge civil war going on which is going to amp up in a very big way.

David: And who’s going to win the primary?

Howie:  Between those two it’s very, very hard to say. I mean, who would win between a shark and an alligator?

Howie is supporting Dr. Lee Rogers the democrat who almost beat McKeon in the last election cycle.

David:  You’re supporting, Lee Rogers, Dr. Lee Rogers on the Democratic side.

Howie:  Lee Rogers, who was the National Spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association, he runs like 8 hospital programs. He is a renowned surgeon who goes all over the world giving lectures about how to save people’s limbs who have diabetes so they don’t have to amputate their limbs. That’s his specialty and he’s known as the foremost expert in the whole world on that. And he’s running for Congress. He’s someone who wants to actually go in there and fix the Affordable Care Act in a way that’s going to make some sense. Very, very sensible guy.

David:  And that’s California’s 25th District no democratic primary challenge there.

Howie: Remember we have that jungle primary now so everybody jumps in together. So, there’s will be a number of Republican and a number of Democratic all running together. But the three names that we just talked about, Strickland, Lee Rogers, and Knight those are the three people that are in it for real. There are other joke candidates, people running because it will help them and their career in the comedy industry for example. like some girl literally ran last time because she thought it would help her sell tickets because she’s a stand-up comedienne.

David:  I got to go file my papers to run for office. Howie Klein, thank you very much.

Howie: My pleasure, it was fun.

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Howie Klein is founder and treasurer of the Blue America PAC and writes the Down With Tyranny blog.

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Three hundred thousand West Virginia residents were left without water for 6 days after 7,500 gallons of a coal cleaning chemical known as ‘Crude MCHM’ leaked into the Elk River. The spill took place a mile and a half upstream, from where parts of West Virginia get its drinking water. For more on this, we are joined by meteorologist Mark Thompson.

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David:  Mark  300,000 residents were told not to drink their tap water. Was this just a precautionary step?

Mark Thompson: Absolutely not. There’s actual video on YouTube of West Virginia residents getting water from the tap, and then literally setting it on fire. And by the way, boiling the tap water doesn’t make it any safer.

Elk River in West Virginia, the site of the recent chemical spill.

David: I would think boiling the tap water is even more dangerous. I’m not so sure you want it anywhere near a flame.

Mark Thompson: This is really serious; 700 people were reported sick. This stuff is also being found in the air, not just the water. This chemical release is widespread. The big thing about this chemical is that we don’t really know a lot about it. It was grandfathered into the original regulations governing toxic chemicals and their use.

David: This chemical, MCHM, which by the way is also my rap name, MCHM . . .

Mark Thompson: [laughs] I missed that album.

David: Yeah. MCHM is my rap name. Can I sue the manufacturers, just for copyright infringement? I’m kidding. This is . . .

Mark Thompson: Why not? They’ll be getting a lot of lawsuits in the meantime, why not add your name? The company is Liberty.

David: Okay. So this MCHM is used to clean coal?

Mark Thompson: That’s exactly right. It’s used to separate the stuff that’s usable fuel from the stuff’s that not.

David: Coal is dirty. We’re told natural gas is cleaner, but natural gas requires fracking, which involves pumping millions of gallons of chemicals into the ground. These chemicals are known carcinogens. The fracking industry assures us there’s nothing to worry about, because they do a ‘terrific job policing themselves.’ How good a job did the chemical industry in West Virginia do policing themselves?

Parts of West Virginia most impacted by the spill.

Mark Thompson: The chemical industry, the oil industry, the natural gas industry, none of them do a job at all, in terms of policing themselves. They use whatever chemicals they want for these toxic brews which separate the usable oil. And fracking, because you mentioned it, is an identical scenario to what’s going on right now in West Virginia. It’s a terrific parallel, because it’s another way in which chemicals we know nothing about are shot into the ground and then end up leaching into the tap water.

Sadly federal regulations are so relaxed, that the EPA doesn’t even require many of the fracking companies to reveal the substances that are mixed into the water that’s shot down to get that oil out of the ground.

David: Tell me about the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Mark Thompson: That is the main umbrella safety act designed to regulate the chemicals used, in all industry, really, but in this scenario in West Virginia. But it doesn’t even specify the use of this chemical, which is poisoning all these people. Meaning it first went into effect in the 70’s and MCHM was just grandfathered in with no vetting. So this ‘self-policing’ that’s suggested is a bankrupt notion. It doesn’t happen. There’s a toxic brew going down that is being watched and policed by no one.

David: MCHM was grandfathered in? Never vetted?

Mark Thompson: That’s correct.

300,000 residents were told not to drink their tap water, as well as wash their clothes or bathe in it.

David: Did the residents of West Virginia even know that that chemical was sitting there?

Mark Thompson:  Well, I think they’re two things they didn’t know. First of all, they didn’t know how dangerous MCHM is because there’s little or no safety data on it. And number two, did anyone ever say, ‘Oh, by the way, all of your water could be contaminated, should this ever get into the water supply.’ I mean, had residents known that, would they have been okay with it? If you know and must use this chemical, and I suggest that it shouldn’t be used at all, but if it must be used in this horribly dirty process of getting coal energy out of the ground and cleaned, well then at lease provide for safety measures such that those chemicals don’t contaminate water supplies.

David: Republicans repeatedly say they want to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. If the Environmental Protection Agency were eliminated, who from the government would be looking into the effects of these chemicals?

Mark Thompson: Exactly. I mean, the Environmental Protection Agency has already been gutted, and Barrack Obama, even as a democrat, because you talk about the republicans, certainly both parties are dismantling those programs. And they’ve already done it quite effectively.

I mean, the Environmental Protection Agency is asleep at the switch. They have to provide evidence that the chemical can pose a risk to begin with, and they don’t have any safety data on it. So in other words, this chemical was grandfathered in. They are closing the barn door after the horses are out. This Toxic Substances Control Act has to be overhauled. It has to provide information about these chemicals that are used in so many different dirty energy operations, because you’re going to see more and more of this.

And by the way, you’re already seeing more and more of it.  Arkansas residents are still suffering from the situation involving that tar sands spill that happened over the summer. That just happened. Only a few weeks ago, in North Dakota, 400,000 gallons of crude oil spilled during that train crash. And after it spilled, it exploded. It sent a toxic plume into the sky. They had to evacuate 1,400 residents because of the health threat.

So this self-policing energy policy that we have, the presumption that any of these companies are going to self-police is ridiculous. And unfortunately, we’re seeing the disastrous results played out month after month.

David:  Mark Thompson, thank you for joining us.

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