Information is Power

Does Israel have open season to eavesdrop on American Government, a
contract that might be complete with bribes to politicians, may allow
Israel to eavesdrop on all Blackberry, cell phone, and other
communications. American daily life could be vastly influenced by
secret power out of Israel.

Give credit where credit is due. Israel is probably the best at spying
worldwide, in using false flag operations to further their agenda while
not looking like they're not involved, and can covertly silence and
discredit those that dare make a peep.

Who is really in control of the US Government? It certainly isn't the
American people, nor is it elected officials, as the American
Investigators/Law Enforcement and the US Kangaroo skewed and out of
control courts have rendered most elected officials impotent.

Elected officials are just for show, there is no Freedom or protection
of American Rights of Americans in America, and those who suffer at
American hands worldwide know that America is no protector of human
rights, but is growing in stature as a bigger and bigger bully,
violating Human and Civil Rights, all while squashing Free Speech and
Free Expression. The media is merely a propaganda machine.
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It is possible that Israel has dirt on every single Federal Elected
Official and maybe other officials such as those in the Pentagon, are
under Israeli surveillance, and speaking out about Israel, the amount
of US taxpayer dollars that goes to Israel, and being critical of any
of Israel's policies or behavior could be very detrimental to one's
life, reputation, and ability to work. Even being slightly critical of
Israel, in a debate, can label one for life as Anti-Semitic.

The world sees our equipment, American Dollars, and our blind support
for anything that Israel does or says through its leaders. All over the
world, America is known as Israel's puppet.

Do you remember a Mad Max sequel that had a character call,
"Master-Blaster," where a midget rode atop a very physically strong
fighter in Roman Style gladiator games, to be exposed as being mentally
challenged. "Blaster" was exposed when his mask came off, and
"Master" then had no power.

Correction to This Article
An Oct. 18 article incorrectly reported that Rep. Robert W. Ney
(R-Ohio) defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1994. It should have said
Ney replaced a retiring Democrat.
Lawmaker's Abramoff Ties Investigated
Ohio's Ney Has Disavowed Lobbyist

By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; A01

As federal officials pursue a wide-ranging investigation into the
activities of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his arrest on fraud
charges in the purchase of a Florida casino boat company has
increasingly focused attention on a little-known congressman from rural
Ohio.

Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) placed comments in the Congressional
Record favorable to Abramoff's 2000 purchase of the casino boat
company, SunCruz Casinos. Two years later, Ney sponsored legislation to
reopen a casino for a Texas Indian tribe that Abramoff represented.

Ney approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications
company to install antennas for the House. The company later paid
Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to a charity
that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying
activities.

Meanwhile, Ney accepted many favors from Abramoff, among them
campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist's downtown
restaurant, skybox fundraisers, including one at his MCI Center box,
and a golfing trip to Scotland in August 2002. If statements made by
Abramoff to tribal officials and in an e-mail are to be believed, Ney
sought the Scotland trip after he agreed to help Abramoff's Texas
Indian clients. Abramoff then arranged for his charity to pay for the
trip, according to documents released by a Senate committee
investigating the lobbyist.

Ney is under investigation by Florida federal prosecutors looking
into Abramoff's acquisition of SunCruz, according to sources familiar
with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Abramoff and his business partner Adam Kidan were indicted in August on
fraud charges related to the purchase.

Ney declined to be interviewed. He has said his actions benefiting
Abramoff had nothing to do with the favors he received. He said he was
misled by Abramoff and his associates.

"I am absolutely outraged by the dishonest and duplicitous words
and actions of Jack Abramoff," Ney said last year when Abramoff's
statements about Ney first came up in e-mails released by the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee. "As the testimony at both committee
hearings has revealed, Jack Abramoff repeatedly lied to advance his own
financial interests."

Abramoff, whose attorneys declined to comment for this article, has
publicly denied that he misled Ney.

This spring, Ney hired a prominent Washington criminal defense
lawyer, Mark Tuohey, to handle inquiries from the Justice Department
and congressional investigators pursuing the widening scandal. Tuohey
has not returned phone calls in recent weeks to discuss his client.
Comments for SunCruz

A six-term congressman from rural eastern Ohio, Ney, 51, does not
have a national profile. A former teacher and public safety director
for his home town of Bellaire, Ney was an Ohio legislator in 1994 when
he defeated the Democratic incumbent in the congressional district once
represented by Wayne Hays (D).

But to members of Congress, Ney is known as the mayor of Capitol
Hill. Ney is Administration Committee chairman, a powerful position
that doles out budgets, equipment, offices and parking spaces to House
members. These perks are used by House Republican leaders to keep their
rank and file in line.

Ney became chairman of the committee thanks to his political
patron, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who recently stepped down as House
majority leader after he was indicted on a charge of conspiracy to
violate a Texas campaign law. Shortly after Ney arrived in the House in
1994, he became a part of DeLay's Retain Our Majority Program (ROMP),
a fundraising effort in which GOP colleagues donated to Republicans
such as Ney in districts without a safe majority. After lines were
redrawn to make Ney's district more Republican, he returned the
favor, donating to other vulnerable House Republicans. That helped him
earn his chairmanship in 2001, leapfrogging over a colleague with more
seniority.

Ney and Abramoff, whom DeLay once described as "one of my closest
and dearest friends," crossed paths as early as 1996. That year Ney
took a trip to Montenegro sponsored by a foundation that had links to
Abramoff, who was a lobbyist for Montenegro.

A few years later, Ney paid unusual attention to another Abramoff
client, the Florida gambling boat company SunCruz, which was
headquartered more than 1,000 miles outside of Ney's congressional
district. Abramoff and his business partner were trying to buy the
cruise ship fleet from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, but Boulis was
demanding unwelcome additional terms.

In March 2000, Ney used the Congressional Record to assail Boulis.

"On the Ohio River we have gaming interests that run clean
operations and provide quality entertainment," Ney wrote. "I
don't want to see the actions of one bad apple in Florida, or
anywhere else to affect the business aspect of this industry or hurt
any innocent casino patron in our country."

Ney's remarks were orchestrated by Michael Scanlon, a former
DeLay spokesman who had just been hired to work for Abramoff at Preston
Gates & Ellis LLP. Scanlon had approached Ney through his chief of
staff, Neil Volz, according to sources who spoke on the condition of
anonymity. Volz has repeatedly declined to be interviewed.

A few months later, Boulis agreed in principle to sell SunCruz to
Abramoff and Kidan for $147.5 million. The deal closed in the fall. But
Abramoff and Kidan failed to make good on a $23 million payment owed to
Boulis, court records show.

When Boulis was being difficult in the negotiations, Ney again made
an official statement, this time heaping praise on Kidan.

"Since my previous statement, I have come to learn that SunCruz
Casino now finds itself under new ownership and, more importantly, that
its new owner has a renowned reputation for honesty and integrity,"
Ney said in the Congressional Record on Oct. 26, 2000. "The new
owner, Mr. Adam Kidan, is most well known for his successful
enterprise, Dial-a-Mattress, but he is also well known as a solid
individual and a respected member of his community.

"While Mr. Kidan certainly has his hands full in his efforts to
clean up SunCruz's reputation, his track record as a businessman and
as a citizen lead me to believe that he will easily transform SunCruz
from a questionable enterprise to an upstanding establishment that the
gaming community can be proud of."

But Kidan's "track record" included a string of lawsuits,
judgments, liens, bankruptcies and failed businesses. His
Dial-a-Mattress franchise in the District was in bankruptcy. He had
filed personal bankruptcy, and he had surrendered his law license in
New York after being accused of fraud. One of his mentors, Anthony
Moscatiello, was alleged by law enforcement to be an accountant for New
York's Gambino crime family.

Ney later said he did not know about Kidan's background.

Four months after Ney's remarks in the Congressional Record,
Boulis was murdered in Fort Lauderdale. Police did not make any arrests
in the case until September, when they charged four men in the slaying,
including Moscatiello and a business associate of Moscatiello's whom
Kidan had paid $250,000 as catering consultants.

Five weeks after the Boulis killing, SunCruz officials, including
Kidan, threw a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for Ney at Abramoff's skybox
at the MCI Center, according to Abramoff's fundraising log.
Language for Tiguas

In early 2002, Volz left his post as Ney's chief of staff to join
Abramoff's lobbying team. Soon after, in March 2002, Ney agreed to
sponsor legislation that would benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso, an
Abramoff and Scanlon client. They wanted Ney's help to reopen the
Tiguas's casino, which the state of Texas had shut down.

"Just met with Ney!!! We're f'ing gold!!!! He's going to do
Tigua," Abramoff told Scanlon in a March 20, 2002, e-mail.

Six days later, Abramoff directed tribal officials to make three
contributions totaling $32,000 to Ney's campaign and political action
committees. A Ney spokesman recently said that money has been donated
to Ohio charities.

On June 7, 2002, Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Tigua consultant
Marc Schwartz that "our friend" had "asked if we could help (as
in cover) a Scotland golf trip for him and some staff."

The e-mail does not name "our friend," but Schwartz testified
in the Senate last fall that it was Ney.

Abramoff wrote that "the trip will be quite expensive (we did
this for another member-you know who) 2 years ago." He was
referring to an earlier Scotland golf trip that Abramoff had arranged
in 2000 for DeLay. Abramoff suggested to Schwartz that the tribe send
$50,000 to a charity he directed, the Capital Athletic Foundation,
which would pay for the trip "as an educational mission."

Ney later stated on disclosure forms filed with the House that the
August 2002 trip cost $3,200 and was paid for by the National Center
for Public Policy Research, a conservative advocacy group on whose
board Abramoff served. The Washington Post reported last year that the
trip was actually paid for by the Capital Athletic Foundation, which
reported in tax records that it spent $150,225 on the trip.

Ney has said he was misled by Abramoff about who paid for the trip.

"In April, 2002, I was approached by Mr. Abramoff, who I believed
to be a respected member of the community, and asked to go on a trip to
Scotland which Mr. Abramoff said would help support a charitable
organization, that he founded, through meetings he organized with
Scottish Parliament officials," Ney said in a statement last
November.

Ney's report to Congress listed as a purpose of the trip:
"speech to Scottish Parliamentarians." However, there is no record
of Ney's speech in the Scottish Parliament's register of official
visits kept by the external liaison office, which is available on the
Web. In addition, at the time of Ney's trip, the Scottish Parliament
was out for its August recess, spokeswoman Sally Coyne said.

Ney is not the first public official who has come under scrutiny by
investigators for the Scotland trip. David Safavian, then chief of
staff at the General Services Administration, also went on the trip
with Ney, Abramoff and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed Jr.
Safavian, who went on to become the chief White House procurement
officer, was indicted this month on charges that he lied to
investigators looking into the Scotland trip when he said that Abramoff
had no business before the his agency.

The trip, Ney said in his statement last year, had nothing to do
with legislation for the tribe.

"I want to be absolutely clear that at no point, ever, was I made
even remotely aware that any Indian tribe played any role in this
trip," Ney said in his statement.

Ney said he supported the Tigua legislation at Abramoff's request
after the lobbyist told him the provision was supported by Sen.
Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who was sponsoring the election reform
bill that would carry the Tigua provision.

"I then [in July 2002] personally asked Senator Dodd about this
provision and he expressed no knowledge of it," Ney said. "In
short, I had been misled by Jack Abramoff. I then asked Jack Abramoff
why Senator Dodd was apparently not supporting it and Mr. Abramoff told
me that someone had lied to him. The matter was then closed from my
perspective."

However, the Tiguas say no one told them the matter was closed.
Tigua consultant Schwartz later testified to the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee that Ney remained a strong supporter of the Tigua legislation
and Abramoff long after his conversation with Dodd.

Schwartz said that in August 2002-a month after Ney's reported
conversation with Dodd and around the time of the Scotland
trip-Abramoff arranged for Ney to meet with Tigua representatives in
his office. Before the meeting, "in an e-mail to me, Abramoff
mentioned that Congressman Ney didn't want his trip to Scotland
brought up, as he would show his appreciation to the Tribe later,"
Schwartz testified.

The meeting lasted more than 90 minutes, two tribal members
testified at the Senate hearing. The tribal leaders who attended the
meeting were pleased and impressed with the outcome, Schwartz said.

"During that meeting, Congressman Ney was very animated about Mr.
Abramoff's skill and repute as a leader in the lobbying circles,"
Schwartz testified. "We were told about the impending success of Mr.
Abramoff's legislative plan and how much Congressman Ney wanted to
help to restore the Tribe's ability to conduct gaming on their
reservation."

Two months later, on Oct. 8, after the election bill came out of a
House-Senate conference committee without a Tigua provision, Ney held a
conference call with tribal officials and told them of his "disbelief
that Dodd had gone back on his word" to support the provision,
Schwartz testified. Ney also expressed his continued support for the
Tiguas, tribal officials said.

Ney responded to Schwartz's testimony by saying, "I, like these
Indian tribes and other members of Congress, was duped by Jack
Abramoff."

Ney later said he was very angry at Abramoff and Scanlon, who he
said had misled him about Dodd. Ney has called Abramoff and Scanlon's
activities in the Tigua episode "nefarious."

Abramoff shot back by referring to the conference call when he
spoke to the New York Times Magazine this spring. "It's crazy"
for Ney to say he was duped, Abramoff said. "He was on the phone for
an hour and a half!"
Contract for Foxcom

In the late 1990s, members of Congress became increasingly
frustrated at the lack of cell phone coverage inside the Capitol and
its nearby office buildings.

The House decided to let the major wireless companies select-and
pay for-a company to install antennas for cellular phones. In 1999,
AT&T Wireless had asked LGC Wireless of San Jose to work with the House
bureaucracy to put the antennas and repeaters into House buildings. The
project was one of the largest of its kind, worth more than $3 million.

At the time, LGC was the world's leading provider of such
equipment and had wired the headquarters of most cellular phone
companies, including Nextel and AT&T. During the next year, LGC worked
with the architect of the Capitol and the House Information Resources
office to develop a plan.

Then Foxcom Wireless, an Israeli start-up telecommunications firm,
entered the picture. Foxcom, which has since moved headquarters from
Jerusalem to Vienna, Va., and been renamed MobileAccess Networks,
lobbied for the job.

In early 2001, Ney took charge of the House Administration
Committee, which was ultimately responsible for the antenna job.
Sometime that year, exactly when is unclear, Foxcom donated $50,000 to
the Capitol Athletic Foundation, Abramoff's charity. Foxcom officials
have declined to be interviewed about the donation or the wireless
project. A spokesman for Foxcom, now MobileAccess, referred all
questions Monday to Ney's committee.

Also that same year, a decision was delayed on the antennas, which
caught House staff by surprise.

"We were really surprised, given all the work we put in with LGC
in designing the system," said Henry F. "Bud" Collins Jr., the
senior network systems engineer for the House. "Then, all of a sudden
this other company showed up. We had to go through this whole thing
again."

LGC Chief Operating Officer Alex Gray wrote to Ney to complain
about the "highly politicized selection process" that favored the
Israeli company despite the House's "Buy American" posture.
"Only Foxcom was permitted a full and fair hearing on the merits of
its proposal-essentially a 'back room' deal based on political
expediency alone," Gray wrote.

Assistant House Counsel Carolyn Betz, replying on behalf of Ney,
said in a letter to LGC that in the fall of 2001 the major wireless
companies were receiving ballots to vote on who should get the
contract.

In a letter to Betz, LGC president and chief executive Ian
Sugarbroad called the election process "deeply flawed and unfair."
He said each wireless company was sent a ballot and allowed to vote for
LGC, Foxcom or "no preference." There were no details on the bid
proposals, such as cost, security features, band capacity or critical
performance metrics, Sugarbroad said.

Brian Walsh, Ney's spokesman, provided The Post redacted copies
of the ballots. Three show checkmarks in a box next to Foxcom. The
other three ballots are marked "no preference."

But representatives of all six companies said they voted no
preference, according to interviews and documents. Five of them were
interviewed by The Post, and the sixth made its preference known in a
letter obtained by The Post.

Spokesmen for the companies-Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, Verizon
Wireless, AT&T Wireless and Voicestream-said they remained neutral
because both LGC and Foxcom were considered capable of doing the job.

Walsh said those statements are "an absolute contradiction to the
documentation."

Ney awarded the license to Foxcom on Nov. 26, 2002, Walsh said. He
declined to make public a copy of documents relating to the agreement,
noting that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to Congress.
He noted that the work was paid for by the wireless companies and not
by Congress, and he pointed out that the Senate also chose Foxcom.

LGC had no right to appeal. "This is not a traditional House
procurement and, thus, House procurement policies do not apply," Betz
stated in her letter to LGC.

Collins, the House engineer who has since retired, said, "It
almost seemed like the cards were stacked for them."

After the contract was awarded, Foxcom listed Abramoff as its
lobbyist. Over the next two years, Foxcom paid Abramoff's team
$280,000.

Researcher Alice Crites and database editor Derek Willis
contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company

The above article from WashingtonPost.com found here

Steven G. Erickson's new blog spot
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Imagine No Scruples and No Shame, Imagine Connecticut

The "Grand Dame" of the Connecticut Republican Party, "Mama Jo
McKenzie" allegedly can tamper with a witness, a coroner, to change
his report to find an innocent women guilty after she suffered a
horrendous accident, being in a coma, all due to a Rowland crony, whose
family didn't want to part with their son's estate to keep the
money in the family, not in the hands of a victim of their son's
drunkenness.
Read More...

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fudomyo9 - a celebration of perseverance
2004-05-30

While Connecticut Slept
ctnow.com

What's a Nice State like Ours Doing in This Mess?

Kevin F. Rennie

May 30 2004

Thank the cabinetmaker's wife, Tammy Lauzier of Winsted.

"He's a liar," Lauzier said of John Rowland after the First
Fabulist concocted a complicated tale about the origins of the cabinets
in his lakeside home. Eager to portray the cottage's innards as
minimalist, Rowland failed to reckon with Glenn Lauzier's fierce
spouse.

The governor snarled: The cabinets were off the shelf from Home Depot.

Custom-made, and he knew it, our Tammy declared. Home Depot? How dare
he.

The emperor, we were learning, had no clothes - of his own.

Much earlier this year, the people of Connecticut realized that they
were led by a scoundrel, coming to that conclusion sooner than the
state's political class, which was still reserving judgment.
Manipulated and trumped by the governor for nine years, the Capitol
gang was unsure that Rowland would be fatally wounded by the gifts he
took from contractors and employees and the lies he told to hide them.
They needed more proof before they could be as brave and sensible as
Tammy Lauzier.

Rowland's curious and cotton-mouthed speech, televised to the state
on Jan. 7, did nothing to persuade the public to support the governor.
Worse for him, it began to convince the cowed legislature that it could
take him on. Like Jane Austen's Fitzwilliam Darcy, when he offered an
explanation for his rude conduct, John Rowland's style often "was
not penitent, but haughty."

The Rowlands, revealed as our version of the Borgias minus the style,
will eventually disappear from daily public life to face their troubles
alone, making appearances in the media as events in the federal
criminal investigation continue to cast them into their private hell.

Soon the legislature's pokey Select Committee of Inquiry will ask the
essential question, "Is he fit?" He's not, and he'll be gone.

Like the mysteries of faith, why his sense of entitlement drove him to
ruin may always surpass our understanding. The rest of us, however,
must determine: How did we create a system that allowed a talented
governor to believe that he could get away with repeated, maybe
constant, miscreant behavior for nearly a decade?

Affluence, high scholastic test scores and verdant hills have masked an
increasingly corrupt political system that thrives on a complacent
public and political elite. Many of us possess a stake in the status
quo. Life in Connecticut, after all, is good. Rising real estate prices
are the modern opiate for a state crammed with suburbs.

We think a corrupt body politic is what you find in Rhode Island and
New Jersey. Our rotted system dresses in a Brooks Brothers button-down
shirt and a rep tie. Wipe that smug look off your face, Connecticut;
you're living in a state of embarrassment.

While Connecticut slept, the walls separating interests and
institutions came down. No one set out to create a state where disgrace
flourishes, but responsible people did allow conditions to take root
that made it easier for corruption to grow. How did this happen? It
starts - where else? - with money.

EASY MONEY

In the past decade the annual state budget jumped by 60 percent to
$14.3 billion. That's a very big honey pot. And oh my, the buzzing it
attracts.

The competition to capture pieces of this budget and other emoluments
has trumped all other considerations in government. As revenues grew in
the 1990s, people with a stake in state spending worked to get a chunk
for their districts, clients or favorite programs. When taxpayers
stopped producing huge increases, lawmakers and their allies fought to
keep what they'd snagged in the preceding good times.

Once legislators and others got what they wanted out of the budget,
there was little incentive to cause trouble. Consensus with rewards
became the hallmark of legislating and the multitudes who depend on it.
Translate "Shhhhh" into Latin and you've got a new motto for
government.

The normal noisemakers, the two parties, have melded into one, the
Establishment Party. Connecticut nurtures few rebels.

We're missing an important source of enduring tension because the
ideological spectrum of Connecticut politics is so narrow. Most elected
officials hover around the middle. We don't have the vast differences
that mark, for example, the New York state legislature, with its ardent
and loud leftists from the city and conservatives from upstate. That
constant philosophical antipathy means more scrutiny as each side looks
for ways to bring down its adversaries. That competition requires all
to remain alert and check their own behavior. Fear and anxiety ought to
have a place in the life of every politician. Long streaks of serenity
harm the public interest.

I know the temptations and easy privileges that come with success in
politics. During my eight years in the House and Senate, I succumbed to
some and resisted others. Forced to review the thousands of votes I
cast, I would cringe at some of them. I probably voted for some things
I criticize here. I am familiar with many of the people now engulfed in
a scandal that will alter their lives and public life for a generation;
I knew a few at the center of the storm, some of those on the periphery
are still my friends.

We've entered a rare time of reflection about how the business of
government is conducted. We have always imposed and enforced ethical
standards to confound the darker impulses that accompany the pursuit
and exercise of power and influence. At some point, we stopped paying
attention to that imperative.

THE LEGISLATURE

Whom they serve with has become more important than whom they serve.
Keeping each other happy matters most. The vast state budget has
ensnared a lot of legislators, causing them to sacrifice their
independent judgment. It's cozy up there.

Too many legislators have spouses or children who got lucrative state
jobs through nepotism. This gives powerful executives and leaders the
power to punish them if they step out of line. Add to the compromised
lawmakers those who work for organizations that depend on state
largesse for funding. That's a lot of legislators with interests
other than the commonweal.

When the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority lost $220 million in
its misbegotten deal with Enron in 2001, three legislators - Sen.
Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, and Reps. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, and
Brian Flaherty, R-Watertown - worked there. The governor's co-chief
of staff, Peter Ellef, was head of the authority, placing the three
lawmakers' livelihoods at the sufferance of the insufferable Ellef.
No one seemed to notice or mind.

But that hierarchy of power must have provided some uncomfortable
moments on all sorts of issues. Flaherty left CRRA and politics to
pursue a full-time career in private enterprise. Doyle left CRRA and
continues to serve in the House. Gaffey remains at the reconstituted
CRRA and still serves in the Senate. Ellef resigned from CRRA and the
governor's office.

And a pending opinion by the State Ethics Commission provides a baleful
look at the state of the law. State Rep. Art Feltman, D-Hartford,
wanted to know if it was permissible for a lobbyist, Lisa Winkler, to
lobby the committee, Public Health, that Feltman co-chairs, and on
which the lobbyist's mother, state Rep. Lenny Winkler, R-Groton,
sits. You may be saddened, but not surprised, that Connecticut law
"contains no express ban on lobbyists lobbying their family
members."

No wonder so many members grow misty when they describe the legislature
as being like a family.

The major issues of the past decade have been money issues: health
care, education, crime and welfare. Connecticut's traditional
emphasis on government reform, so prevalent in the 1970s and '80s,
faded. Reform lacked an active and influential constituency within
government. And the public didn't seem to care much, either.

Add to that: Too many legislators go without challengers too often. The
slack state of the two-party system shows itself at this time of the
year. Two years ago, one in four legislators ran for re-election
unopposed.

When the Rowland scandal exploded in December with The Courant's
revelation that contractors and subordinates had paid for improvements
at the Rowlands' cottage on Bantam Lake, official Connecticut offered
a muted response. The governor's Friday afternoon confession Dec. 12
elicited careful and mild statements condemning the gifts and his lies.
Only Lt. Gov. Jodi Rell sounded normal on that gray day when she
admitted she was "angry" and "sick at heart" over the
confession that had been forced out of her three-time running mate.

The House, normally the more rambunctious of the two legislative
chambers, has been particularly intimidated by authority. Its leader,
Speaker Moira Lyons, D-Stamford, found her footing only earlier this
year when she nudged the House toward impeachment. Otherwise, she has
stumbled through most of the past six years. She spent too much time
and energy ferreting out detractors in her caucus. Lyons rarely
presented a challenge to Rowland and was often overshadowed by her
counterpart in the Senate, Kevin Sullivan, D-Hartford. Sullivan, a more
vigorous and formidable presence, suffers from the common perception
that he sees every issue as an opportunity to advance himself.

Only one Republican in the legislature in the past decade - state Rep.
George Gunther, R-Stratford - had ever served with a governor of his
own party before Rowland. The legislative Republicans, bewitched by
finally having one of their own in the top spot, forfeited some of
their instincts, particularly in backing the historic growth in
spending and abandoning their traditional pledge to slash taxes.

It's tempting to forget that Rowland, laid low by scandal, was a
master at getting his way with the legislature. He persuaded them, for
example, to approve the no-bid contracts that benefited his
vacation-home benefactors, the Tomassos. He also gained a reputation
for retribution. Cross him on an important vote and you earned lasting
enmity.

Together, the four leaders of the legislature have 75 years of service.
We thank them for all those late nights, but it's too long. And
that's just those four. Most legislators stay past their sell-by
date. The joint needs to be freshened up more often.

Connecticut legislators will never put term limits before the voters,
and we have no way to force them. They could, however, add some energy
and, their great enemy, uncertainty, to elections by adopting the Iowa
system of redistricting.

In Des Moines, three nonpartisans lock themselves in a room with census
figures once every 10 years and come up with a plan that has little to
do with the political considerations of incumbents. If the legislature
votes it down, it risks something worse. The deck is shuffled every
decade. More often than we do now.

THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT

The growth of lobbying is directly related to the size of the state
budget. Lots of people want a piece. Thousands spent on lobbying can
return millions in funding. According to the Center for Public
Integrity, the annual amount that entities with interests in government
- such as businesses, unions and non-profit organizations - spent on
lobbyists in Connecticut grew from $20.1 million in 1995 to $30.1
million in 2003. There's far more gold to be garnered walking the
halls of the Capitol than scraping the stuff off the dome.

Politicians expect lobbyists and their clients to raise millions in
campaign contributions. So dependent have legislators become on
lobbyists that many raise very little money from supporters in their
districts. They turn to their constituents in the Capitol instead. It
puts a dangerous distance between legislators and the people at home.

The bad habit of government officials becoming lobbyists continues.
Former powerful aides to the governor, for example, turn to lobbying to
reap the harvest they sowed while they were stewards of the public
trust. Chiefs of staff to the past three governors have gone on to
careers as lobbyists.

More disturbing is that lobbyists have been appointed to significant
posts in the government while they lobby.

At least two in recent years - Jay Malcinsky, once Rowland's most
visible political adviser, and Shelley Rubino, who works for former
House Speaker Thomas Ritter's lobbying shop - have served on the
Judicial Selection Commission. That's the body where lawyers who want
to be judges must win approval before the governor can nominate them to
the bench. It's well-known that sitting legislators and other
government officials apply for judgeships, though the proceedings and
the list of approved applicants are secret.

So lobbyists can be considering the applications of government
officials to be judges. Those who make it by the commission then depend
on the governor for their appointments. They have little interest in
bucking him while they're wishin' and hopin' for a new job only
he can provide.

One legislator, state Rep. Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, may have come
closer to the line between legislating and lobbying than any of his
colleagues. He works for the law firm, Brown, Rudnick, Freed, and
Gesmer. Brown, Rudnick has a lobbying unit headed by Ritter, with whom
Cafero has a close relationship. According to opinions sought by Cafero
from the state Ethics Commission, because the lawmaker has an
employment contract with the law firm, and is not a partner, the ethics
statutes allow him to vote on issues that affect the firm's clients.
He's a contender to be the minority leader of the House in a few
years, unless the Republicans get a sudden jolt of sense. His situation
reminds us it's what's legal, not illegal, that has the most power
to shock.

And the problem of influence-peddling is descending on our cities and
towns. Real estate developers with an issue before local boards now
commonly hire lobbyists to help make their case. State law does not
require that municipal lobbying fees be reported. The legislature needs
to apply the disinfectant of public reporting.

The legislature doesn't care much about enforcing ethics laws. It
proved that last summer in one of its most craven acts when, as the
Rowland scandals began to come into public view, the legislature, in
conspiracy with the governor and his budget director, Marc Ryan,
slashed funding to the ethics commission. It was an infamous act. Those
who supported it should be made to explain why again and again and
again. Their willingness to restore the funds months later does nothing
to remove the stain.

Lobbyists get a lot of attention from politicos and others in what
looks like a pay-to-play system of contributions. The ban on soliciting
and accepting lobbyists' political contributions must be expanded. It
now applies during the months the legislature is in session: five
months in odd-numbered years, and three months in even-numbered years.

Instead, the ban should run from the first day of the five-month term
to the last day of the three-month term, or for about 16 months.
Legislators and other candidates can spend those months building a base
of small and large donors in their districts and elsewhere. That would
make for a healthier system.

Putting the touch on lobbyists for events unrelated to campaigns is a
growing and nettlesome trend. Yes, it can be for worthy causes, such as
curing diseases, but it has a bad look about it. The executive director
of the State Elections Enforcement Commission, Jeffrey Garfield,
solicits lobbyists each year to support a golf tournament sponsored by
his place of worship.

He says with conviction that he seeks contributions and players "only
from those I consider friends and have known for years." But some who
have been solicited are uncomfortable. Lobbyists, after all, often run
political action committees that come under Garfield's scrutiny. If
Garfield, one of the regulators of political behavior, hits up people
he regulates it looks like a bright green light for others to do the
same. We need a state version of the "do not call" list for
put-upon lobbyists.

LEADERS IN HIGH OFFICE

Our two U.S. senators act as if they don't live here.

Joseph I. Lieberman took a powder from the affairs of the state he
represents when he was nominated for vice president by the Democrats
four years ago. From there he began his long decline as a presidential
hopeful. Lieberman, with great fanfare, was the first Senate Democrat
to criticize Bill Clinton during his late-term scandal. But the great
moralist offers no leadership to our beleaguered state.

Christopher Dodd is no better. He had time, in April, to congratulate
lovely Lindsay Bogart of Derby on being named Miss Teen America Coed,
and to feature her on his website. Do something to alleviate the crisis
in the state he's served in Washington for 30 years? Sorry, not his
turf.

At the beginning of the year, U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons tried to ask
Rowland questions and Rep. Christopher Shays offered advice. Neither
intervention was welcomed by their fellow Republican. Both have called
on him to resign. Rep. Nancy Johnson, thought to have the closest
relationship with Rowland of the three, called on the governor to
resign if the House impeached him. If the trio has a strategy, it's
likely to be to hold Johnson in reserve until an even bleaker moment
when her singular ability to combine tough political analysis with
motherly advice may do some good. Johnson is also the one to deliver
messages from Republicans in Washington, where concern over the impact
of the Rowland scandals on the November election grows. Rowland is
feeling the chill wind of political isolation. He was absent from a
fund-raiser the president attended in Connecticut earlier this year,
and he will not be a member of the state's delegation at the
Republican National Convention in New York this summer.

Other state officeholders who have been uncharacteristically quiet on
the scandal are state Treasurer Denise Nappier and Comptroller Nancy
Wyman. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a man with an opinion on
everything, whether important or inconsequential, also offers no
thoughts on the historic scandal. Secretary of the State Susan
Byciewicz has been busy trying to obscure her role, when she was in the
House, in loosening the ban on subordinates' giving gifts to their
masters in government.

THE MEDIA

It's easy to see why leaders thought no one would notice their
flaccid reactions. Rowland had reason to think the press would never
dig into his nefarious solicitations of loot and other benefits.
Connecticut, a place that thinks of itself as sophisticated, is served
by a distant media.

Radio, nationally a powerhouse in shaping the political agenda, plays a
minor role here. One notable exception is morning radio and cable force
Don Imus, whose wife Deirdre grew up houses apart in the same Waterbury
neighborhood as Rowland. He provides acerbic and spot-on commentary of
the scandal for Connecticut's wealthiest region and his vast national
audience. Imus' advice to Rowland is wise and free: Get out before
the Tomassos and others start singing.

Most New York media, which is what Fairfield County pays attention to,
offer scant coverage of daily Connecticut politics. In addition, a lot
of local programing has been replaced by satellite feeds of syndicated
shows. Few stations feel compelled to hire news staff. If they do, the
staff does no investigative reporting. Local morning personality shows
have been notable only as safe harbors for Rowland to enjoy some polite
deference. Questions about scandal are gingerly posed and prefaced with
an apology.

In the Hartford area, Rowland tormentor Colin McEnroe (a fellow
Northeast columnist who shares a popular afternoon show with Bruce
Stevens on WTIC-AM) found a story in the Rowland scandals that matched
his enduring disdain for the governor.

The past decade in local television has been an epoch in the decline of
political investigative reporting. Stations and viewers prefer stories
that feature movement, mayhem or entertainment program tie-ins. Their
newscasts cover events and press conferences, but breaking political
news on Connecticut stations has been in swift decline since Duby
McDowell left the business and Jeff Cole moved to Philadelphia. Each
expressed dismay with the trend away from political reporting as they
made their way from the field of battle. Energetic Grant Stinchfield of
WVIT, Channel 30, possessed a knack for putting bounce in political
stories, but he's gone off to Houston, a considerably bigger market.

Sustained investigative reporting depends largely on The Courant.
Veteran Jon Lender has been the lead reporter for months in breaking
stories that unveiled what the Rowlands had been up to in the past
decade. His story on the notorious hot tub at Bantam Lake was greeted
by Rowland with lies, dressed up as disdain, in November. The governor
gambled that his complicated fabrications, delivered with a sneer at a
Waterbury press conference, would be the end of the story.

And then came Rowland's pooh-poohing of the origins of the cabinets
at the cottage, first reported by Lender and his colleagues Dave
Altimari and Edmund Mahony, prompting Tammy Lauzier, Glenn Lauzier and
then other contractors to speak out. Getting those critical stories
into print took perseverance and experience. It also required the
resources that few media companies are willing or able to invest in the
risky and time-consuming drudgery of investigative reporting.

Several editorial pages offer encouragement that a more vigorous
newspaper culture may emerge. When it was clear that the governor had
demeaned his office and should forfeit it, three editorial pages
distinguished themselves. At the end of that fateful week in December,
The Journal Inquirer, The New Britain Herald and The New London Day
called forcefully on Rowland to resign. Those three saw the deluge had
arrived. Curiously, The Courant, whose reporters had led all others in
exposing the story, first declared that Rowland "ought to get one
last chance to come clean."

LAW ENFORCEMENT

While the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI continue to expose and
prosecute government corruption, state law enforcement saunters on in
its tradition as a conscientious objector in the war on the corrupt.

The opportunity to invigorate the Chief State's Attorney's Office
was ignored in 2002 when the Criminal Justice Commission selected a
successor to the ailing Jack Bailey. Bailey, a popular figure, never
showed much interest in investigating and prosecuting public officials
gone bad. The commission chose his deputy, Christopher Morano, a nice
guy who is a creature of the system. In picking Morano, the commission
passed over star federal prosecutor Leonard Boyle, a champ in bringing
down corrupt public officials. The commission engaged in a titanic
private battle, with a couple of members making a strong case for
Boyle. The word had gone forth: The governor wanted Morano, a safe pair
of hands.

The tumult over the Morano appointment was unusual for the Criminal
Justice Commission. Independent thought has not been a requirement for
membership. One opinionated commissioner with a reputation for breaking
the usual unanimous votes found himself replaced at the end of his
term.

We saw an egregious example this spring of the governor's office
getting involved in law enforcement. Heather Specyalski's recent
trial brought one of the most frightening revelations of the Rowland
scandals. His confidante of many titles, Jo McKenzie, officially an
employee of the Department of Public Works, intervened in the
investigation that had absolved Specyalski of wrongdoing in the death
of her friend, Neil Esposito, in a high-speed car crash. Prompted by a
call from an Esposito family member, McKenzie urged the
then-commissioner of public safety, her old friend Henry Lee, to have
another look. His department did, though Lee testified he didn't
remember getting involved. The investigation was re-opened.

Specyalski was tried for manslaughter. McKenzie, with the advance of
scandal, is now a figure who invites mockery. It was not always so. She
wielded great power - enough to lead to the state's putting an
innocent woman in the dock. Only skilled defense lawyer Jeremiah
Donovan and an honorable jury stood in the way of a frightening
injustice.

For her intervention, and for the chilling testimony that she regularly
made such calls for constituents, she should be fired. But not one
Connecticut leader's voice, outraged or even just a little miffed,
has been raised.

Morano announced early this year the establishment of a public
corruption unit, complete with a hotline for tips. We'll see if
he's serious by the results he gets on the office's investigation
of the notorious Metropolitan District Commission, which has long mixed
a cocktail of water and politics.

One cure for the wrong kind of politics is more politics. Let the
people in each county elect their state's attorney. Nothing adds
paprika to a criminal justice system like ambitious prosecutors who
have to face the voters. A prosecutor who brought that vicious case
against Specyalski would be tossed out at the next election, or would
have used the power of the office more appropriately from the start.

WHAT NEXT?

Regulating politics was simpler when all you had to watch for was a
married legislator trying to get taxpayers to pick up the tab for the
flowers he sent to his college intern. Now lawmakers ignore election
cycles by establishing their own political action committees with no
end. They have the look of slush funds like the one that forced Richard
Nixon to make his Checkers speech in 1952, explaining why there was a
political fund at his disposal to pay for his activities. It was a
novelty at the time. It's commonplace in Connecticut today, with
contributions coming from lobbyists and their clients.

The three commissions that regulate political activity - Ethics,
Elections Enforcement, and Freedom of Information - must be fortified.
Since their workload ebbs and flows with seasons and complaints, they
could share a pool of gumshoes. Give them retired detectives to call
upon when they need to investigate something. Vigorous evidence
collection ought to quicken enforcement. The Ethics Commission, for
example, acts largely in secret, but it's thought to be in its fifth
year of looking into finders' fees paid to political notables by
investment firms seeking to do business with former Treasurer Paul
Silvester, who's now in prison. Pick up the pace.

As the Rowland scandals grew through the fall into the winter and now
the spring, I thought a few people in state government would resign out
of protest. Or maybe they would just be embarrassed to be associated
with the governor. Not one. Where's their outrage?

In all complicated fields of endeavor, the agenda shifts. Issues are
fluid, driven by events. Transportation, for example, rose to the top
when the Mianus River Bridge in Greenwich plunged into the river on a
summer night in 1983. Education moves into the spotlight when courts
have ruled on funding and race. The moment never lasts long in our
dynamic system.

This is the time for ethics.

In January, the House will be led by a new speaker and majority leader.
The Senate will soon enjoy new leadership when the governor is gone and
Kevin Sullivan becomes lieutenant governor. House Minority Leader
Robert Ward is starting to look like the Abraham Lincoln of Connecticut
politics. The new governor, Jodi Rell, will also possess a powerful
incentive to seize the issue and start scrubbing the stain off the
state and her Republican party, as will her only potential Republican
rival, state Sen. William Aniskovich of Branford. The convergence of
personalities and circumstance that can mean change - real, meaningful
change - approaches. Call on the experience of other states, turn to
think tanks and deploy your instincts.

Wake up and do something.

While Connecticut Slept
What's a Nice State like Ours Doing in This Mess?
Kevin F. Rennie
May 30 2004

The above found here on the web

* * * *

Steven G. Erickson's a.k.a. blogger Vikingas' new spot on
blogspot.com
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July 24, 2006
Fraud in the Courts

Almost no judges in Connecticut history have been removed or
disciplined.

There is open bias and officials and others can commit perjury to get
convictions. Perjury is rarely investigated. Officials and other
important people either can avoid court altogether or get a soft
landing.

There is no consistency of punishment.

Expose Connecticut frauds and you get nailed. The Salem Witch Trials
shows how the courts operate to this day, they are just slicker about
it today.

Connecticut has pulled the wool over the eyes of the world and has
ripped off the world, it is the Federal Tax Payers that are the biggest
victims of Connecticut's Fraud.

Lyme Disease is probably the best example. It is a disease that has its
ground zero in the middle of Connecticut's Pharmaceutical development
and research facilities. That in itself that an African, tropical type
of Borreliosis, happened to land first in Connecticut is strange.

Yale patented its test for Lyme, it was effective in finding Lyme
Disease. Yale then came up with a Lyme Vaccine that wasn't effective
and was actually dangerous and harmful. The effective testing was
thrown out for ineffective testing. The crappy vaccine would then be
shown to be good given the skewed test results.

Any patient or person that tries to expose this massive fraud is
Barbecued in Connecticut courts. Loss of job, family, and one's home
is not uncommon. Mothers can give their unborn children Lyme. Lyme
currently is permanent, there is no cure. Expose this, sick with it or
not, and Official Connecticut will do you in to protect corporate and
official criminals and will allow the profiteering and abuse to
continue.

There is no redress of grievances, Free Speech, and there is no
representation for our taxation. Elected Officials also fear the Police
State rubberstamped by Corruptikut Courts.

What Freedom, what rights, what anything in America? It is mostly lies
and cruel propaganda taught to children. There is not substance, just
B.S.

Connecticut is abusive worldwide and must be stopped.

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Connecticut making up its own rules again.

This is a story about a school teacher that had a sexual relationship
with an 18 yr old (ADULT) student. Even though the consent age is 16,
it is illegal to have sex with a student within the school district you
are employed, even if the student is an adult. A judge Curtissa Cofield
continued this ridiculous case. The statute was not meant to apply to
18 yr olds, but CT does what it wants.

Was this particular judge married to a drug dealer, and should she sit
in judgement of this school teacher?

The Hartford Courant reported that Mr. Loavenbruck was arrested June
13, following a two-month investigation by police into the sexual
relationship he allegedly conducted with the student from February
through April. Also, according to the Hartford Courant, Mr.
Loavenbruck, 29, has been on leave from the school since April, when
Coventry police arrested him on charges of possession of marijuana and
drug paraphernalia.

So now he's a druggie and a pedophile?? The girl is 18!

Manchester Superior Court judge Curtissa Cofield agreed last week to
continue the case of a Glastonbury teacher accused of having sex with
one of his students.

Curtissa Cofield? This name is familiar. The Judge's name sounds
like the name of a wife to the late, Hartford Police Sgt. Wilfredo
(Willy) Rivera that was arrested on drug charges.

Sources claim Curtissa was married as a prosecutor to Rivera at the
time of his arrest. Are these sources correct? It is hard to say these
days if you have the right person. Does this mean she made profit from
these alleged illegal drugs? Perhaps she is the wrong person? Perhaps a
look at marriage records will tell us his ex-wife's name?

Here's the 1999 story:

A Superior Court judge Tuesday dismissed drug counts against suspended
Hartford Police Sgt. Wilfredo Rivera because Rivera died at his
Manchester home Sunday.

Rivera, 46, a 16-year Hartford police veteran when he was suspended
without pay in 1994, was one of four police officers charged with
corrupt activities in the city five years ago. He was accused of
socializing and freebasing cocaine with a major city drug dealer. A
grand juror's report also accused him of watching drugs get cut and
packaged in the Hartford apartment he rented to a dealer, identified as
Love Trevor Alston.

More below...........

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1999-- Assistant State's Attorney Dennis O'Connor asked Judge
Patrick Clifford to nolle the charges against Rivera, a process that
would keep them dormant for 13 months before dismissal. But Clifford
went along with Hartford defense attorney Ronald Murphy's request to
dismiss the charges outright.

He was charged with perjury and sale of narcotics and conspiracy to
sell narcotics. His case had languished in Hartford Superior Court for
more than four years and 33 pretrial conferences.

---------------------------------------

The original Student-Teacher story below: (New London Day). 2006

No Excuse For Teacher Teachers do not belong in intimate relationships
with students, regardless of consent ages.

Manchester Superior Court judge Curtissa Cofield agreed last week to
continue the case of a Glastonbury teacher accused of having sex with
one of his students. If Judge Cofield even entertains the defense
motion before her, that teacher Zachary Loavenbruck's state
constitutional right to privacy was violated because the student was of
consensual age (18), the judge would set a precedent that violates any
sense of decency.
Teachers must be held to behavioral standards that are irreproachable.
According to the Hartford Courant, Mr. Loavenbruck, 29, has been on
leave from the school since April, when Coventry police arrested him on
charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Last month,
Mr. Loavenbruck, a history teacher at Glastonbury High School, pleaded
not guilty to a second-degree, sexual-assault charge stemming from his
relationship with the 18-year-old female student.
The Courant reported that Mr. Loavenbruck was arrested June 13,
following a two-month investigation by police into the sexual
relationship he allegedly conducted with the student from February
through April.
Connecticut law prohibits a teacher from having a sexual relationship
with a student, even if the student is over the age of consent, 16.
Attorney M.H. Reese Norris filed a dismissal appeal last week, claiming
a consensual relationship between the student and Mr. Loavenbruck.
The motion criticized the state statute that makes it a crime for a
teacher to engage in a sexual relationship with a student 16 or older.
It stipulated that Mr. Loavenbruck's state constitutional right to
privacy gives him the right to "engage in sexual intercourse with
other persons over the age of consent." It even hints that the victim
bears blame, criticizing how the statute "criminalizes the consensual
conduct of the school employee, but not the consensual conduct of the
student."
A vigorous and zealous defense is a foundation of the justice system.
But attorney Reese Norris' dismissal motion goes past vigorous and
zealous, all the way to farcical.
Attorney Reese Norris suggests the statute would "criminalize
intercourse between two married adults," provided one was a school
employee and the other was his or her spouse, enrolled as a student.
Attorney Reese Norris' attempt to use the sanctity and legality of
marriage as a means to criticize a necessary statute, and thus free Mr.
Loavenbruck, is offensive. Teachers are not in the business of marrying
their students while teaching them. Teachers do not belong in intimate
relationships with students. There are no exceptions, no extenuating
circumstances, no points of discussion.
Mr. Loavenbruck's constitutional right to privacy, when weighed
against his behavior, is inapplicable. The charges should not be
dismissed. His behavior indefensible.

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July 23, 2006
Duck and Cover?

Time: Presidential adviser wants Bush to 'beef up' White House
Counsel's office fearing possible Dem-controlled House probes
Ron Brynaert
Published: Sunday July 23, 2006

An adviser to President George W. Bush wants the White House
Counsel's office to be "beef[ed] up" in case a possibly
Democratic controlled House pursues a "tangle of investigations,"
according to a Time Magazine web exclusive.

Near the end of an article about how "the crisis in Lebanon has
dragged the Administration into the role of potential peacemaker,"
Time's Mike Allen reports that the Administration's "outlook"
for the midterm elections reads "ominous" for the Republican Party
and for President Bush.

"As for Bush himself, he is curtailing his traditional August working
vacation at the ranch so that he can barnstorm before the midterm
elections," writes Allen for Time.
Read More...

...

"Their outlook thus far seems so ominous for the G.O.P. that one
presidential adviser wants Bush to beef up his counsel's office for
the tangle of investigations that a Democrat-controlled House might
pursue," Allen continues.

According to the White House website, the White House Counsel office
"advises the President on all legal issues concerning the President
and the White House."

Harriet Miers currently serves as the White House Counsel, following
Alberto Gonzales who was chosen last year to take over for Attorney
General after John Ashcroft resigned.

A year ago, The Washington Post reported that Miers led a staff of 13
lawyers.
Prior White House Counsels

"Although the White House Counsel offers legal advice to the
President, the Counsel does so in the President's official capacity,
and does not serve as the President's personal attorney," according
to Wikipedia. "Therefore, controversy has emerged over the scope of
the attorney-client privilege between the Counsel and the President."

John Dean served as White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon
until he was fired on April 30, 1973, a few weeks after he began
"cooperating with Watergate prosecutors."

Bernard Nussbaum, the first White House Counsel for President Bill
Clinton, "resigned after only 14 months in the position, forced out
over allegations of improper conduct with officials investigating the
president," concerning Whitewater and surrounding the suicide of
former deputy Counsel Vincent W. Foster.

"Whether to have an independent counsel didn't just affect the
president personally, it affects him in his official capacity,"
Nussbaum told the Harvard Law Bulletin. "It affects his ability to
function in a proper manner as president."

"So I never had any doubts about who I was representing: I was
representing the president in his official capacity," Nussbaum said.
"I was dealing with issues which affected him in his official
capacity."

"So this notion that I was really thinking about the president
personally, and I was not thinking of the office--you don't represent
an office or a building, you represent a person in that office, and a
person acting in his official capacity in that office," Nussbaum
added.

The above found here on the web

FULL TIME ARTICLE AT THIS LINK

* * * *

The Stark Raving Viking (blog)
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Feds Investigate Yale Over Accounting

Federal authorities are investigating how Yale University accounts for
millions of dollars in government research grants, school officials
said Monday.

Yale received three subpoenas last week from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Defense Department and National Science
Foundation seeking grant documents dating back as far as 10 years.

The subpoenas cover 47 grants valued at about $45 million, the school
said. The university received about $2 billion in grants during the
past decade.
Read More...

...

The school has acknowledged problems with its accounting procedures. In
an e-mail to faculty and staff on Friday, Yale President Richard Levin
urged employees to cooperate with investigators.

"Regardless of the outcome of the current investigation, we must get
all our processes right and make sure that we are good stewards of the
funds entrusted to us by the federal government," Levin said in a
statement released Monday.

Like most large research universities, Yale relies heavily on
government grants to pay for scientific research. The grants come with
stringent accounting rules that in one recent case Yale did not follow,
federal officials said.

The three agencies issuing subpoenas funded about 90 percent of
Yale's research in recent years, the school said. The agencies had no
immediate comment Monday.

Such investigations could lead to criminal charges, civil penalties or
administrative sanctions.

A report by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human
Services noted in February that university procedures were not always
followed or were inadequate.

That report, which focused on a grant to research gene expression,
found that more than a third of the university's $508,000 in invoices
did not comply with federal standards. Costs were improperly
transferred across budget cycles to make up for shortfalls, the report
said.

During the review, Yale told researchers that some documents had been
altered and said it was investigating.

The report also criticized the school for its oversight of researchers.
The primary researcher worked less than promised on the grant
application and auditors said the school did not have a process to
ensure its researchers were working.

Yale responded to the inquiry by outlining steps it was taking to
improve accounting, including hiring a consulting group to speed
accounting improvements and hiring staff to monitor its research
financing.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

The above found here on the web

Official Criminals and their friend thrive in Connecticut. It is
time that there is a day of reckoning.

The Stark Raving Viking (blog)

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July 22, 2006
Coup against chief state's attorney

THE CHRIS POWELL COLUMN
Read More...

...

COUP AGAINST CHIEF STATE'S ATTORNEY
IS A BLOW TO ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT

By CHRIS POWELL

Connecticut may like to think that its
criminal-justice system is mostly outside politics,
but that system has just seen a stunning political
coup-the ouster of Chief State's Attorney
Christopher L. Morano by a cabal of his supposed
subordinates.

The coup was accomplished with a letter sent to the
Criminal Justice Commission by 11 of the state's 13
regional prosecutors on the eve of the expiration of
Morano's term as he stood for reappointment. The
letter accused Morano of disrespecting the regional
prosecutors and building up his office at the expense
of theirs.

But the letter provided no specifics and, most
tellingly, the grievances were a surprise to Morano.
He said none of the prosecutors had ever raised such
profound concerns with him despite their regular
meetings. Certainly none of the prosecutors had made
such complaints public before, and so their letter
must be seen as an opportunistic contrivance about
which a public inquiry by the commission would be
enlightening.

Unfortunately there isn't likely to be such an
inquiry, for Morano added that he did not want to
distract his department with a lot of
self-justification, and so he withdrew his candidacy
for reappointment. He promised to assist the
transition to his successor. Thus he repaid abuse with
decency.

Morano's ouster is is the triumph of a tradition of
largely unaccountable fiefdoms in criminal justice,
wherein the regional prosecutors in effect answer to
no one. As a matter of law, the chief state's attorney
has little authority over them even though he is the
Criminal Justice Commission's delegate, and the
commission itself fails to accomplish much supervision
because it meets too infrequently and is composed of
dignitaries whose main jobs and interests are
elsewhere.

Of course that is exactly how the regional prosecutors
want it-left to be the law unto themselves, the
most arrogant officials in state government after
judges, who also answer to no one most of the time,
thanks to the cliqueishness of the General Assembly's
lawyer-dominated Judiciary Committee.

While he is a career prosecutor, Morano wasn't much of
a climber. He inherited the chief state's attorney's
job because he was deputy to John M. Bailey, who was
forced to retire by illness. Neither was Morano the
publicity hound depicted in the letter that
assassinated him. The U.S. Justice Department
pre-empted most of the investigation of corruption in
state government before Morano became chief state's
attorney, so most of the publicity Morano got was for
not doing what any prosecutor
might most like to do. As a result not one person in a
hundred in the state can identify Morano even as half
the population identifies Attorney General Richard
Blumenthal as the official of the justice system who
has brought heaven to earth in Connecticut-a
misimpression, for the attorney general has no
criminal authority, only civil. By the Blumenthal
standard of publicity seeking, Morano has been a
recluse.

Neither was Morano a revolutionary. But he
was unusual in the criminal-justice
system for having an open mind and distinguishing the
public interest from the merely institutional
interest. These qualities may have been demonstrated
best by his advocacy of requiring police and
prosecutors to make video recordings of confessions in
serious criminal cases. Morano acknowledged that many
criminal confessions are false and that they are
obtained not just through threats, coercion, and
intimidation by police and prosecutors but also
through the ordinary fear and exhaustion of criminal
suspects under interrogation. Indeed, what may be the
country's most famous false confession case is a
Connecticut case, the prosecution of Peter Reilly in
the murder of his mother in Canaan almost 30 years
ago.

Reformers have pressed the false confession issue in
Connecticut since then but nothing happened here until
recently, when Morano prodded his department into an
experiment of recording confessions in a few
jurisdictions. This was much resented by the regional
prosecutors, some of whom even acknowledged that the
public would be offended if it ever saw what police
and prosecutors do to induce confessions. With Morano
on his way out, this vital reform to get and preserve
the truth may be dead in Connecticut unless the
legislature pursues it. No doubt the regional
prosecutors are counting on the legislature to
continue to leave them alone.

But the coup against Morano presents the legislature
with an even bigger and older issue-the issue of
accountability in government, the issue raised by the
recent scandal in the Judicial Department, which also
thinks it doesn't have to answer to anyone. If, as the
coup that felled Morano suggests, the chief state's
attorney is to answer to the regional prosecutors
rather than the other way around, Connecticut can do
without the pretense that someone is really in charge.

------

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal
Inquirer in Manchester, Conn.

-END-

Posted by andythibault on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 1:46 AM |
Permalink

* * * *
* * * *

The Grand Maul, Official, Police, Judge Post to Eat Sh*t and go F
themselves Letter
Read Less...

Posted by Vikingas at 08:05 AM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 21, 2006
Elected Officials are a waste of money in Connecticut

The Members of the Judiciary and Police can do as they please, say as
they please, and elected officials have no real power. So if they are
powerless, they are worthless, and are a waste of money.

So either checks and balances and representative government needs to be
brought to Connecticut where criminal official behavior is punished, or
why not just get rid of the elected officials that have no power
anyway?

There have been almost no Judges removed in Connecticut, and it has
nothing to do with their quality and willingness to follow rules.
Almost no official has been prosecuted for making false statements,
committing perjury, and manufacturing evidence, even though such bad
behavior is rampant.

Small businesses are at risk, children are at risk, families and
individuals are at risk, the economy is tanking, and there is little
said by the future victims of this ridiculousness.

Chief Justice William Sullivan has made an absolute mockery of our
Democratic Republic. Either he can get away with refusing to obey our
country's laws and being answerable to anyone, no matter how he
behaves, or other judges under him behave, or he can be arrested and
tried for crimes committed, that is if there is any true American
Justice in the Country.

So which is it rhetoric and bullshit or actual truth and values?

Posted by Vikingas at 12:42 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 20, 2006
Just not buying the Bullshit

With the latest round of crap in the Middle East, I am just amazed at
the way it is being reported.

Not everyone is that stupid. Can these reporters recite what they're
saying with a straight face?

Well some can just read what is in front of them, others are reciting
and just gagging enough that you know that they know they are just
reciting government crap.

We can't lose worldwide credibility and then be less credible with
our rhetoric. How fucking stupid do American leaders think America is,
and more importantly, the rest of the world?
Read More...

...

From: Tom Shields

Date: Jul 17, 2006 7:55 AM Flag spam/abuse. [ ? ]

Subject: A free country?

Body: "I have been trying to find the documents that back up where we
have 5%% of the world's population and 20%% of the world's prison
population."

Hey Steve,

I found some backup on that
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps/world-prison-population-list-2005.pdf

Here's the ..'s I got. Check them out, and let me know. If you
write an article on this or make any posts, let me know. This is scary
isn't it. I never thought about the prison population. It's
probably becasue we force people to call the police instead of handling
their own problems in most states. Then if you handle a problem
yourself, you both get arrested in most states in America, adding to
the prison population.

World Population 6500000000

US Prison Population 2085620

Total US Population 292200000

Total World Prison Population 9000000

US Percentage of Prison Population 23.2%%

US %% of World Population 4.5%%

* * * *

Hell USA
Read Less...

Posted by Vikingas at 08:55 PM · (2) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

State of Washington Health Dept. Gone Nuts or Nazi?

Dr. VanEenwyk and Mr. Hide - (aka Hyde)

They are talking to adults age 25 and older to learn more about heart
disease, stroke, diabetes and other chronic diseases. When they go
door to door, here's what they plan.... A health-care professional
will:

give you a short physical examination, including:
*

height, weight, and waist measurements
*

pulse and blood pressure
*

take less than a tablespoon of blood to test for warning signs of heart
disease, stroke and diabetes
*

take a hair sample (women 25-44 years old, men and women, ages 60 and
older).

Below is a photo of Dr. Jekyll. We thank Mr. Jekyll for the use of his
photo...LOL

This is the actual link to the State D.O.H.-Washington Adult Health
Survey.

Link# 2 Dept. of Health talks about this new survey.

We can no longer find a link to the original news article.

Is this a witch hunt? Hair samples for mercury? We know they can detect
drug use this way too. I would get very suspicious if someone knocked
on my door wanting to give me an examination, wouldn't you? What do
they have to Hyde, I mean hide?

Here's a good book....

State to check on residents' health

By Warren King

Seattle Times medical reporter

Washington state health officials will soon start asking detailed
questions about the health of some state residents and even give them
brief physical exams.

The door-to-door survey of 1,100 randomly selected households across
the state will try to learn more about our health, and especially about
our risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, to better target
preventive educational programs.

"We want to get a snapshot of [residents'] health ... and if we
can't prevent the diseases, have early detection of them," said Dr.
Juliet VanEenwyk, state epidemiologist for noninfectious diseases.

The Washington Adult Health Survey is sponsored by the state Department
of Health and is designed to gather a cross section of state residents.
The survey will begin late this month and will take about a year,
VanEenwyk said.

Cardiovascular disease including heart disease and stroke is of
particular interest because it's the leading cause of death, killing
about 15,000 state residents a year.

About 1,500 people a year die of diabetes complications, and the number
is steadily increasing.

Evidence abounds that many already have the diseases or are at risk. A
statewide telephone survey last year found that about a quarter of
adults have high blood pressure and more than a third have high
cholesterol. And state health authorities estimate about one-fifth of
adults are obese.

MORE BELOW
Read More...

In this latest survey, selected participants will be asked about their
access to health care and whether they have dental problems,
osteoporosis, emphysema or cancer. Other questions will center on diet,
medications and other risks for disease such as tobacco and alcohol
use.

A nurse on each survey team will measure blood pressure, pulse, height,
weight and waist size.

A blood sample will be taken to measure cholesterol and blood sugar.

A hair sample, to measure mercury levels, will be taken from women of
childbearing age and participants 60 and older.

"We'll ask about fish consumption to see if certain types cause
higher levels of mercury," said VanEenwyk.

Surveyors will wear yellow vests and carry photo identification.

Participants will be given a $45 gift card for their help in the
survey. Officials are not seeking volunteers; participants are being
chosen to represent the diverse population of the state.

The survey is being financed by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. Kansas and Arkansas also were
awarded survey grants.

Read Less...

Posted by AJ-1776 at 03:52 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 18, 2006
The Philosophy of keeping Non-Whites from reproducing and confined
Read More...

...

Excerpt: (the below found here)

On Muslims

Among the Muslim community in the United States, Pipes is generally
regarded as a controversial character. [29]

"There is no escaping the unfortunate fact that Muslim government
employees in law enforcement, the military, and the diplomatic corps
need to be watched for connections to terrorism, as do Muslim chaplains
in prisons and the armed forces. Muslim visitors and immigrants must
undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a scrutiny beyond
that applied to churches, synagogues, and temples. Muslim schools
require increased oversight to ascertain what is being taught to
children." --The Jerusalem Post, January 22, 2003 p.9

"Western European societies are unprepared for the massive
immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and
maintaining different standards of hygiene...All immigrants bring
exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome
than most." (National Review, November 19, 1990)

On his website, Daniel Pipes notes that the above quote "has over the
years attracted considerable attention. My goal in this article ([30])
was to characterize the thinking of Western Europeans, not give my own
views. In retrospect, I should either have put the words
"brown-skinned peoples" and "strange foods" in quotation marks
or made it clearer that I was explaining European attitudes rather than
my own. By way of example of those attitudes, here are some quotations
from top French politicians from that era" Following this are quotes
from Jacques Chirac, François Mitterrand and Valery Giscard
d'Estaing.

Of African-American Muslims, Pipes wrote: "...black converts tend to
hold vehemently anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic
attitudes." (Commentary, June 1, 2000)

In an October 16, 1997 article in the The Jewish Exponent, Pipes
claimed that "as the population of Muslims in the United States
grows, so does antisemitism." ("The New Anti-Semitism," [31])

An article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs written by
Sister Elaine Kelley, Chair of "Friends of Sabeel-North America"
(a support group for the Palestinian Christian anti-Zionist[32]
groupSabeel), July 2001, claims that Pipes told an audience at Portland
State University that "Arab people live in some of the worse
conditions in the world, without freedom to travel or modern media."
He blamed those conditions on the Arabs' "political obsession with
Israel" (instead of their own societies); according to Kelley he
added "The Palestinians are a miserable people, and they deserve to
be"[33] but Pipes denies ever saying this.[34]

"The bombing on February 22 of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq,
was a tragedy, but it was not an American or a coalition tragedy. ...
[W]hen Sunni terrorists target Shi'ites and vice versa, non-Muslims
are less likely to be hurt. ... Civil war in Iraq, in short, would be a
humanitarian tragedy but not a strategic one." (New York Sun,
February 28, 2006 [35])

In a speech to the American Jewish Congress in October 2001, he said:

I worry very much, from the Jewish point of view, that the presence,
and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American
Muslims, because they are so much led by an Islamist leadership, that
this will present true dangers to American Jews. [36]

* * * *

The below found here

The Sunday Times - Review
Page 1 || Page 2 || Page 3
If you are willing to pay the price - a price that would amount to a
British prison population of roughly 250,000 if your sentencing
followed the American model - you can reduce crime dramatically.

All of these are policies that the British political establishment may
come to accept in another decade or so. If London were to get a mayor
who decided to take the homeless off the streets, scrub away the
graffiti and adopt a zero-tolerance policing policy, I suspect he would
find the same surge in popularity that Rudy Giuliani experienced in New
York.

*
British parents are increasingly vocal about their dissatisfaction with
schools, and especially with their spinelessness in dealing with
disruptive children. In every area of life that the underclass affects,
the public mood is shifting towards support of the American
solution.Politicians who covet votes will come around eventually.

Hence my prediction that in 15 years, perhaps less, the underclass/Neet
will no longer be a political issue in Britain and urban life for most
of you will be more pleasant than it is now. The price will have been a
great deal of money spent on prisons and, in effect, the writing-off of
a portion of the population as unfit for civil society.

In the United States I have called this the coming of custodial
democracy - literally custodial for criminals, figuratively custodial
for the neighbourhoods we seal away from the rest of us. Custodial
democracy is probably headed your way.

It is not a happy solution. On the contrary, it means abandoning a
central tenet of a free society - that everyone can exercise equal
responsibility for his or her own life. But Britain, like the United
States and western Europe, is locked into a welfare state that by its
nature generates large numbers of feckless people. If we are unwilling
to prevent an underclass by giving responsibility for behaviour back to
individuals, their families, and communities, custodial democracy is
the only option left.

Charles Murray is best known for Losing Ground, his 1984 book about
welfare reform, and for The Bell Curve of 1994

* * * *

The former Governor of Connecticut's conspiracy to make Connecticut
as White as possible (click)

Excerpt: (found here)
And as was also revealed this Sunday in the Courant:

TREA- Tomasso, Ragaglia, Ellef, Alibozek (The "R" in TREA could
have also been Marc S. Ryan or former Governor John G. Rowland), the
acronym was allegedly found by an Assistant US Attorney investigating
official Connecticut fraud practices with Alibozek's notes.
Connecticut's abuse the public, enrich the Blue Bloods at the expense
of the poor, costs American Federal Tax Payers, plenty. Much of the
former abuse still continues.

Complicated man, big dreamer, at center of federal probe
January 5, 2004 , Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn.-Peter Ellef was a big dreamer.

"As Gov. John G. Rowland's co-chief of staff, Ellef spoke of
levitating trains, hydroponics gardening,

building prisons in old stone quarries and opening trade relations with
China.

His plans after state service included developing a string of juvenile
detention facilities across the

country, a chain of home improvement stores and a high-end garden
center."

DCF and Connecticut's Official Whore House

* * * *
* * * *

The Grand Maul, Official, Police, Judge Post to Eat Sh*t and go F
themselves Letter

The Stark Raving Viking
Read Less...

Posted by Vikingas at 05:46 AM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 17, 2006
Desperate for Terror Arrests, FBI Turns to Entrapment

by Paul Craig Roberts

The U.S. has a vast and very expensive Homeland Security bureaucracy
with nothing to do. There hasn't been a terrorist attack in America
since 2001. There has been a vast quantity of terror alerts, the
purpose of which was to scare Americans into supporting an unnecessary
and illegal aggressive attack on Iraq.

As very few, if any, real terrorists have turned up, the FBI has
resorted to creating terrorists by soliciting Muslim-Americans and
appealing to them with schemes to aid "jihadists." Recently, two
American citizens were caught in a FBI sting. One, an Ivy
League-educated physician, is charged with agreeing to provide medical
care to wounded holy warriors in Saudi Arabia. The other, a famous jazz
musician, is charged with agreeing to train jihadists in martial arts.

According to the Washington Times of June 1, the FBI began its sting in
2003, so it took two years of work and cajoling to manufacture the case
against these two Americans.

What the FBI has done to Dr. R.A. Sabir and Tarik Shah was once known
as entrapment. Judges would throw out entrapment cases, because crime
was believed to require intent. If the intent was given to the accused
by the police through enticement or threats, it was not regarded as
criminal intent on the accused person's part.

Unfortunately, "law and order" conservatives used fear of crime to
"give our police more effective measures to clear criminals off our
streets" and managed to eliminate the entrapment defense.

More

The SRV

Posted by Vikingas at 05:29 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

Connecticut Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano

I keep hearing from those I know of what a nice personable guy
Christopher Morano is. I've talked to him and can say he was polite
and answered questions when I stepped outside a judiciary committee
meeting held March 21, 2006 at the Capitol in Hartford.

The problem that I have with Morano is that he seemed unwilling to go
after official lawbreakers, namely Governor M. Jodi Rell's staff that
allegedly acted illegally in regards to Rell's campaign finances for
her re-election bid.

Well Morano seems to be on the axe out of power, list. He is in a
unique position to actually go after and prosecute official criminals
in Connecticut.

If Morano does step up to the plate, I would do all I could to promote
the word getting out regarding his possible good deeds and would even
help in a campaign if he were going for elected office.

It is so rare that an official actually acts in the public's best
interest, lawfully, and Constitutionally, so when and if one does, they
deserve a standing ovation.

Note: if links or photos or whatever is missing from any posts, you may
find what you're not seeing here on the SRV.

Connecticut Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano

No, not a "stupid mistake," just plain arrogance

Posted by Vikingas at 04:19 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

The Retirement Dilemma- by Dr. Laura Lustig

There is much in the news that reminds us we have a growing population
of senior citizens. The social security/medicare issues and the rising
cost of prescription drugs for example; these issues are testimony to
the fact that a larger number of people are living longer and deserving
of enriched quality of life. Unfortunately in our society, much more
attention is given to the possible financial burdens of maintaining an
older generation than to the potential for enriching our society that
the older generations can offer through their accumulated wisdom and
experience of life.
Read More...

As a psychologist, I have become aware that clients facing
"retirement age" react either by feeling relieved and free to
pursue other interests, or, more often in the case of male clients,
have feelings of loss of self worth. Some men think of their productive
years as over, mainly because productivity is often associated with
revenue-producing work. This appears to be less of a problem with my
female clients, who have apparently planned for their leisure-time
life. One of the dilemmas, in fact, for married couples is the
disparity between males and females at this stage of life. Women,
feeling free of child-rearing and homemaking responsibilities, often
become involved with a large variety of outside interests, ranging from
vocational to volunteer and social activities, just at the point when
men are retiring from the work world to life at home. The change in
life pattern often means, as well, that the spouse is occupying more of
his wife's space than before, with little reflection on the need to
change expectations of each other. In my practice, I have found that
couples who find a good blend of time together and time for separate
activities to satisfy individual interests are most likely to find
their bonds strengthen and their lives useful

Erik Erikson wrote that mentoring is the highest form of accomplishment
for people reaching their senior years. For some, this may take the
form of spending time with grandchildren. Grandparents offer a
wonderful resource for young minds, when they play with them, go on
outings with them, talk to them about life experiences and relate
stories from the past. In too many families, the role of grandparents
in enriching the lives of children has gone vacant.

In addition, teaching, working within their community, or some form of
charitable work may be highly satisfying. For some, travel and new
recreational activities are chosen. In all these ways, people retiring
from one pathway and moving into others may help themselves to feel
youthful and vital. For others, staying on in their workplace for as
long as possible appears to be their direction, until retirement is
forced upon them by advanced age, ill health or changes in the work
environment. The latter may offer the least opportunity for adjustment
to retirement, particularly if the changes in life experiences are
sudden and unplanned.

There is no right way to retire. While many who have reached senior
citizen status can and do feel the freedom to pursue interests they
never before had time to do, it is also recognized as a time when there
are likely to be more losses. Those who react by retreating into
restricted pathways are more likely, in my judgment, to become
depressed.

Whether you are a couple or a single person, I believe that
psychologically, it is most important for your mental health as you age
to expand your relationships, commit to expansion of your experiences,
and choose leisure-time activities which relieve stress.
Read Less...

Posted by jeffk at 12:03 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

An interesting perspective by Paul Craig Roberts

We're Being Set Up for Wider War in the Middle East
by Paul Craig Roberts
Read More...

...

The old adage, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on
me" does not apply to Americans, who have shown that they can be
endlessly fooled.

Neoconservatives deceived Americans into an illegal attack and
debilitating war in Iraq. American neoconservatives are closely allied
with Israel's Likud Party. In the past, some neocons lost their
security clearances because of "mishandling" of classified
information. According to Insight magazine, "the Pentagon has banned
security clearance to Americans with relatives in Israel. Government
sources and attorneys said the Pentagon has sought and succeeded in
removing security clearance from dozens of Americans, mostly Jews, who
either lived, worked, or have relatives in Israel."

Despite questions of dual loyalties, neocons hold high positions in the
Bush regime. Ten years ago these architects of American foreign and
military policy spelled out how they would use deception to achieve
"important Israeli strategic objectives" in the Middle East. First,
they would focus "on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq."
This would open the door for Israel to provoke attacks from Hezbollah.
The attacks would let Israel gain American sympathy and permit Israel
to seize the strategic initiative by "engaging Hezbollah, Syria, and
Iran as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon."

Today, this neoconservative plan is unfolding before our eyes. Israel
has used the capture of two of its soldiers in Lebanon as an excuse for
an all-out air and naval bombardment against Lebanese civilian targets.
However, a number of commentators have pointed out that such a massive
attack requires weeks if not months of preparation that could not be
done overnight in response to the capture of the soldiers.

Regardless, in the first two days of the Israeli military attack on
Lebanon more than a hundred civilians, including Canadians, have been
killed by Israeli bombs (gifts from U.S. taxpayers). The Beirut
International Airport has been repeatedly bombed, as have residential
neighborhoods, roads, bridges, ports, and power stations.

Soldiers are a legitimate military target. Civilians, civilian
neighborhoods, tourists, and international airports are not. Under the
Nuremberg standard used to sentence Nazi war criminals to death, the
Israeli government is clearly guilty of war crimes.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are committing identical war crimes in Gaza.
Again Israel's excuse is the capture of an Israeli soldier. However,
the distinguished Israeli professor Ran HaCohen said that the Israeli
army "had been demanding a massive attack on Gaza long before the
Israeli soldier was kidnapped."

By blocking UN Security Council action against Israel for its massacre
of civilians in Gaza, the Bush regime has made itself complicit in
these monstrous war crimes. Just as Germans who supported Hitler were
deemed to be complicit in his war crimes, Americans who support Bush
are complicit in Bush's war crimes.

Hezbollah is not the Lebanese government. It does not rule Lebanon.
Hezbollah is the militia organization founded in 1982 in response to
Israel's invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah defeated the Israeli army and
drove out the Israeli invaders six years ago.

According to the BBC, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the
two Israeli soldiers "were captured to pressure Israel to release the
thousands of Palestinian prisoners in its jails," especially the
women and children.

The BBC also notes that although Hezbollah operates "from Lebanese
territory and the militant group has two ministers in the Lebanese
government, the central government is almost powerless to influence the
militant group." (Note that the BBC applies the loaded word
"militant" to Hezbollah but not to Israel.) Hezbollah, reports the
BBC, "is also very popular in Lebanon and highly respected for its
political activities, social services, and its military record against
Israel."

The prime minister of Lebanon, who was installed with President
Bush's approval when Syria, under Bush's pressure, recently
withdrew its troops from Lebanon, has twice appealed to Bush to
pressure Israel to stop its criminal attacks. Our great moral,
democratic, Christian leader has twice rebuffed the appeal from the
legal representative of the Lebanese people. Instead, Bush is willingly
going along with the 1996 neocon script. Bush is laying the blame on
Syria and Iran, exactly as the neocon script calls for him to do.

When Bush demands that Syria "stop Hezbollah attacks," he forgets
that he was the one who forced Syria out of Lebanon (to enable Israel
to attack Lebanon). If Americans were attentive, they would be ashamed
to witness "their" president acting as an Israeli propagandist.

Fox "News," CNN, and the rest of the Bush propaganda ministry are
echoing the lie that innocent Israel is under attack from the
"terrorist states" of Syria and Iran through their surrogate,
Hezbollah. Americans, who are sick of the Iraq occupation and want the
troops home, are being fooled again and set up for wider war in the
Middle East.

Evangelical "Christians" are part of the propaganda show. Three
thousand of them, under the lead of the Rev. John C. Hagee, are heading
to Washington for a "Washington/Israel summit" to demand,
needlessly, that the neocon Bush regime show "stronger support for
Israel."

It is difficult to see how Bush could show any stronger support without
using the U.S. military to assist Israel in its attacks, which is, of
course, what the "Christian" Rev. Hagee intends when he declares:
"There's a new Hitler in the Middle East [he doesn't mean Bush or
Olmert]. The only way he will be stopped will be by a preemptive
military strike in Iran."

Present at Rev. Hagee's "Washington/Israel Summit" will be
Israel's former Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon,
Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon, Republican National Committee
Chairman Ken Mehlman, Republican Senators Sam Brownback and Rick
Santorum, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, and Gary Bauer.

More

* * * *

The Kill Humans Zoo
Read Less...

Posted by Vikingas at 07:13 AM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
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July 16, 2006
If this is the FBI trying to blend in, God Help Us

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I was told there was some sort of police brutality protest in Stratford
Connecticut, I did not confirm the information and the photos included
for this post are from one of my trusted sources.

Study the pictures. Does it look like real hair under the guys'
matching hats? Do protesters wear such matching garb or such ridiculous
matching hats?

The man in the "book suppository" style window ducked and ran after
being discovered and photographed, his cover blown. Most people don't
look up.

Various media and public onlookers will openly take photos as will most
local and State Police, they want the better photos up close and
personal.

The FBI should be out making sure there is public safety and our
internal security is a valid issue. I think the FBI should be looking
into and correcting police brutality, not just keeping an eye on those
victimized.

Public Perception is starting to reflect a fear of government, a fear
of retaliation for speaking out, and a fear of being arrested, having
one's family broken up, and ending up in prison just for witnessing
something officials want kept under wraps. We should support our
troops, but not those that send them into harm's way, if they have
agendas of protecting official criminals, profiteering, and officially
obstructing justice.

The SRV

www.freespeech.com

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Photos courtesy of "The Falcon"

* * * *

Anatomy of the Good Ole Boy Network

Posted by Vikingas at 05:40 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

FORMER HEAD OF PRISON SERVICE SPEAKS OUT

Former Head of the British prison service Martin Nairy has highlighted
the inhumane and ludicrous reason why British prisons are overful and
at crisis point.

He accused the government of "not having the guts" to admit that
the prisons are full of thousands of children, the mentally ill and
petty offenders who should not be behind bars.

Another example of British society's regression under our present
government.

Posted by Jane Parsons at 02:10 AM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks
· Permalink

July 15, 2006
Open Laptop Surgery

I'm performing open laptop surgery and may be able to post
intermittently until it is fixed or I get a new computer.

I hope my patient lives.

Posted by Vikingas at 07:38 AM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 14, 2006
Sorry for the down time...

Sorry for the server being down this past week. Some script kiddie had
found a little hole in some web app I'm running and had uploaded a
few nasty little scripts. I have done some basic patching and will be
continuing to upgrade a few packages this weekend. You might see some
strangeness while this is going on.

Hopefully we're back for good now, though.

Thanks!

Posted by Del at 02:58 PM · (0) Comments · (0) Trackbacks ·
Permalink

July 07, 2006
Connecticut and other States Harm Its Citizens for Profit

If you have winnable Civil Suit against a State or State Entity, you
may face arrest and prison.

The courts aren't fair, not even close. Testimony and witnesses are
against you, and the criminals running the courts have had the system
rigged for a long time, probably since the first ship landed on these
shores. These people will prevent you from having any kind of defense.
They do as they please, when they please, and you are told to follow
rules that abusers never follow.

Your job, family unity, and the sum total of your life is a fragile
thing. You can be dismantled just for exposing Official Criminal
Predators.

There is gray area in every case. Follow the trends, that tells the
story. Connecticut wants court cases held in secret with the proceeding
sealed to hide what they are doing. It is time for you to wake up and
do something as they will come for you too.