[LA Times] Law enforcement officials said Thursday that they have an open criminal investigation regarding allegations of misconduct in the city government of San Bernardino, which announced this week it was going to file for bankruptcy.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department released a statement confirming the probe but released few other details.
"Several months ago at the request of San Bernardino city officials, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, along with the San Bernardino Police Department and the district attorney's office began an investigation related to allegations of possible criminal activity within departments of the San Bernardino city government," the statement said. "The investigation is continuing, and details will not be released at this time. Updates will be provided as new information becomes available."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
"The investigation is continuing, and details will not be released at this time. Updates will be provided as new information becomes available."
Unfortunately, the "investigation" must now be put on hold due to a lack of funding.
The county itself has a long history of corruption. It's a huge area, with most of the economic focus on the western quarter. Unlike Cook County, Illinois, it's a bipartisan affair. Depending on who is in power, it's either ignored or becomes a witch-hunt.
The San Berdoo city government itself makes Lebanon look sane. Half the city council is in the unions' pockets. The rest are either ineffectual, or there to solely represent their 'demographic', or are so grating or gadfly-ish so as to undermine whatever good they're trying to do. The city attorney has long craved the mayoralty. Funny thing is, he can't seem to get himself elected. So there's a lot of intramural warfare.
That spills over to running the city. The city manager's parking spot is designated by a magnetic sign; they just can't seem to keep one. There's a temporary in office right now. It's almost the same thing for police chief. Public works is affected; there is a backlog to repair things. A year or two the city nearly arrested a man (a qualified electrician) for taking the initiative to repair some of his neighborhood's electrical infrastructure.
[Daily Caller] Following The Daily Caller's expose of the United States Department of Agriculture's food stamp outreach to Spanish-speakers via radio novelas, or Spanish language soap operas, the agency removed the series from their website.
Each of the 10 novelas promoting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, had been available as a resource for state and local outreach partners as late as Thursday.
The page, formerly containing the audio and Spanish language scripts was "modified" Friday, eliminating the novelas.
The series had been promoted as a resource to increase SNAP participation. They were produced and written in 2008.
In a statement to The Daily Caller Friday, Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services explained the reasoning for their removal.
"The American people support helping those in need, but they want to know their tax dollars are being spent wisely. Many of the PSAs and ads on the agency's website were posted nearly 4 years ago and some of the content in these advertisements does not meet the standards of what I consider to be appropriate outreach," Concannon said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2012 00:00 ||
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"The American people support helping those in need, but they want to know their tax dollars are being spent wisely".
"Tax dollars spent wisely"? Please, please, please Mr. Concannon. [Messrs Oxy and Moron are holding on lines 3 and 4] The question of "tax dollars spent wisely" was answered many, many decades ago and not in the affirmative I might add.
Quite frankly, I've always viewed the Department of Agriculture food give-away program as a hmm hmm... massive conflict of interest.
If we must have one at all, a more equitable scheme might be one linked to FICA withholding, a sort of "sky miles" food recipient programme where actual contributions to family and society through work could be rewarded with assistance. Sounds dubious, but a sort of....incentive based, 'earn as you go' solution.
For those legitimately unable to work, "sky miles food points" could be transferred from friends and family of those who do actually work, or from local charities. For those already on Social Security Disability, no points would be provided as they are already taken care of.
This scheme would automatically qualify under the unfortunate, but very popular "needs based" doctrine. High earners [folks who pay a butt-load of FICA] would hit an established points ceiling. Points would be issued on an annual 'use or lose' basis and redistributed to other designees or a tax deductable charity of your choosing. Everybody knows someone that could use a few points. If you are a wealthy recluse and don't know anyone in need, your end-of-year relinquished points would automatically become an income tax reporting deduction.
If the Department of Agriculture finds my "sky miles" scheme unworkable, might I suggest a county level designated garden plot and free seed programme? Since we appear to be perpetually at war, we could call it a.... Victory Garden.
#2
Spanish language soap operas = SNAP operas. I hope Mitt is making a list and this jamoke -- Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services -- is near the top.
Posted by: regular joe ||
07/14/2012 7:18 Comments ||
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On the other hand, it is nice knowing exactly what your lords would like you to be. And your children. And grand-children.
"You shall toil the earth of your grand-parents, or you shall join the military, or take 16 credit hours of women/transgendered poetry"
#5
"The American people support helping those in need"
The devil's in the details, ain't it? I think (almost) all us American people support helping widows and orphans. Not all of us support "helping" the able-bodied who don't feel like getting up every day.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2012 11:44 Comments ||
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#5 "The American people support helping those in need"
"They don't want help, they want a hammock."
Cong. Allen West
#7
In the 60s VISTA put a food coop in Lincoln NE. No processed food only raw. If you were a member and donated 8 hrs of labor a week the food was half price. It is a BYO container place or pay for the bags. Raw spices, bulk non-packaged foods,etc...
Later they built a bakery utilizing the donated labor. It's healthier for the people, cheaper for the US taxpayer, not welfare for giant food conglomerates and has classes teaching better eating habits.
Win Win and much better than food stamps.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
07/14/2012 12:04 Comments ||
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Posted by: Water Modem ||
07/14/2012 12:06 Comments ||
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Free food for illegal aliens. "Affordable housing". Free healthcare. Free education if they're wise enough to take advantage of it. All they gotta do is get here (and vote for Obama) and we'll take care of the rest. These days it's not even hard for them to get here.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/14/2012 12:46 Comments ||
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The imperial Presidency has overturned Congress and the law again. Not content to stop at rewriting immigration policy, education policy and energy policy, yesterday, President B.O.'s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an official policy directive rewriting the welfare reform law of 1996. The new policy guts the federal work requirements that were the foundation of the Clinton-era reform....
While the 1996 welfare reform successfully moved people from welfare into work, it did not "end welfare as we know it." Now, however, the Obama Administration has ended welfare reform as we know it. The President cannot hide his disastrous unemployment record by depriving Americans of the hope of a job. He should immediately reverse this course, and offer constructive ideas for economic growth rather than government dependence.
#1
Welfare reform replaced the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children with a new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
I was glad they retained the title [Welfare Reporm]. "Aid to Families with Dependent Children" carried with it a sort of child farming connotation. Of course if one is successful at child farming, there really is little available time for work outside the home, hence the HHS updates. Strange world we inhabit; farmers are paid to not grow food, indigent women are paid to have children.
#2
By reducing motivation for welfare recipients to seek work, this policy change should reduce the official unemployment rate, thus showing Zero's economic policies are succeeding.
#3
The President cannot hide his disastrous unemployment record by depriving Americans of the hope of a job. He should immediately reverse this course, and offer constructive ideas for economic growth rather than government dependence.
Government dependence is the whole idea.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
07/14/2012 7:58 Comments ||
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The obvious solution komrades would be to draft those who cannot make a $5000 down-tax payment for six years of ditch work, all debts forgiven at the end of service.
Remember, service secures exemption from luxery taxes such as soda and lawn mowing.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Law enforcement officials said Thursday that they have an open criminal investigation regarding allegations of misconduct in the city government of San Bernardino, which announced this week it was going to file for bankruptcy.
The imperial Presidency has overturned Congress and the law again. Not content to stop at rewriting immigration policy, education policy and energy policy, yesterday, 
