Now that Mayor Richard Daley doesn't have South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu nearby to protect him from the questions of pesky reporters, I wonder what the mayor will say about Denise Alcantar's tummy ache.
Alcantar, a loyal Daley political worker, testified in federal court on Wednesday that she filled out her city job application at a political meeting in a South Side biker bar and was soon hired as a garbage truck driver, though she'd never driven a heavy truck for pay in her life
On Wednesday, Alcantar was dressed quite stylishly for federal court, in jeans and a bright orange city truck driver jacket over a bright orange city sweatshirt.
"I've got a stomachache, oh my God," Alcantar said as she left the federal courtroom where she testified in the trial of Daley henchman and former city Streets and San boss Al Sanchez.
....
....Alcantar was driving her truck and crushed co-worker Earceen Alexander against a telephone pole in an alley, breaking her pelvis and causing lung damage.
I watched Alcantar on the witness stand Wednesday, as she blamed everything on Alexander and said she fell. Alcantar even blamed Alexander for being obese.
"She was overweight, she was 400 pounds," said Alcantar, who is about 5 foot 5 and pushing past 300 pounds. "She was too heavy, she didn't want to climb up into the truck. So she rode out on the side, and she slipped off the side and she got hurt."
As a loyal Daley foot soldier, she'll keep her paycheck. If you have any doubts, just jingle the quarters in your pocketall 28 of themthat you'll need to park downtown for a couple of hours.
Later, reporters followed her into the elevator, and she said, "No comment, no comment, no comment." I asked whether she'd like to thank Daley for supporting Latinos who worked on his political campaigns. "Ugh! No comment," she said.
She sounded like Daley, who didn't like reporters' questions about the Sanchez trial, or about free private jet trips he and his wife, Maggie, accepted from a nonprofit education group now under federal investigation.
Archbishop Tutu, standing next to Daley, admonished reporters for daring to question our city's lord.
"I just want to sayI can't believe this," said Tutu, adding that the education group is "an outstanding operation. ... I would hope that is what you would be wanting to concentrate on."
Then Tutu mockingly absolved reporters of their sins against Daley. The mayor stood by, giggling, as he often does when demanding reporters kiss his tutu.
Archbishop Tutu smiled as he blessed the press, but he should have saved a blessing for Earceen Alexander, the woman in the accident with the truck driven by Alcantar, the pro-Daley political worker hired with HDO influence without any professional truck driving experience.
Alexander never returned to work after being crushed against the pole in 2003. She died last year, and Alcantar has a tummy ache.
#2
In a bright orange city sweat shirt, Alcantar, who is paid about $62,700 a year as a recycling truck driver, described how she first learned about public job openings from teammates at a softball league in Harrison Park.
...and she's got a lotta ballls calling anyone else fat.
#3
Roberto Medina, a former city worker and HDO co-founder, testified Tuesday that HDO provided a route for Hispanics to gain city employment. On cross-examination by Sanchez's attorney, he grew emotional said he was not just a political soldier.
"I'm a community activist," he said. "As a matter of fact, I don't even like politicians."
(CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.
Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe.
The investigation focuses on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and dozens of officers under his command who were trained through the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS), which partners federal and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. (The Homeland Securitys Immigration and Customs Enforcement division is known popularly as ICE.)
In a letter dated March 10, 2009, Loretta Smith, acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ, detailed what her department would be investigating:
"This is to inform you that the United States Department of Justice is commencing an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (''MCSO'') pursuant to the pattern or practice provisions of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994,42 U.S.C. §14141 ("Section 14141") and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,42 U.S.C. § 3789d ("Safe Streets Act"), and pursuant to the prohibitions against national origin discrimination in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d-7 ("Title Yr') and the Safe Streets Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3789d(c)."
The letter continues: "The investigation will focus on alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures conducted by the MCSO, and on allegations of national origin discrimination, including failure to provide meaningful access to MCSO services for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals."
"In conducting the investigation, we will seek to determine whether there are violations of the above laws by the MCSO," the letter says.
Sheriff Arpaio's efforts to enforce immigration laws have been the focus of previous criticism, but Arpaio has defended his department and the results his ICE-trained officers have netted.
Concerning the DOJs investigation, Arpaio told CNSNews.com: I will not back down. What I am doing is upholding the laws of the state of Arizona, and I will not be persuaded to turn my back on my oath of office as sheriff of this county.
"...Representatives of the bank and Ms. Waters didn't return calls seeking comment. Ms. Waters's congressional staff didn't respond to written questions about her and her husband's relationship with the bank..."
A recurring theme.
Federal agents this morning are searching the office Washington, D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer.
The search is part of "an ongoing investigation," said a spokeswoman for the FBI's D.C. Field Office, Lindsay Gotwin, said. She declined to comment further on the raid of office, at 1 Judiciary Square.
The outgoing Chief Technology Officer, Vivek Kundra, was appointed last week Chief Information Officer by the Obama administration. His last day at the city government office was February 4, a spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Leslie Kershaw, said. He was appointed to the Washington post in 2007.
"We know the FBI is over there but that's all we know," said a staffer in the D.C. CTO's office, Mario Field, who was working from a separate location. Another source familiar with the raid said the FBI had sent all staffers other than senior executives home for the day.
A White House spokesman had no immediate comment.
D.C. mayor's spokeswoman Kershaw said, "Our office has been alerted of FBI's being at CTO office, but we cannot comment until it's over and we get more details."
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 ||
03/12/2009 11:01 ||
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2 arrested in FBI raid at Obama appointee's office
March 12, 2009 - 12:00pm
WASHINGTON - A D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employee and contractor have been arrested in a federal bribery sting, sources tell WTOP.
D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employee Yusuf Acar and Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation President and CEO Sushil Bansal have been arrested, sources tell WTOP.
Acar, 40, was taken into custody Thursday morning by FBI agents at his home in Northwest D.C.
The FBI is now serving a search warrant at the office of D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer, WTOP has learned.
"We are there as part of a continuing ongoing criminal investigation," FBI Washington Field Office spokesperson Katherine Schweit tells WTOP.
Schweit would not comment on the details of the investigation.
More than a dozen FBI agents - including evidence technicians - at the office, located at 1 Judiciary Square on 4th Street in Northwest, WTOP's Mark Segraves reports.
Most of the employees have been told to go home. Other employees have been segregated into a waiting room.
Segraves reports the FBI's search has expanded from 9th floor offices to 10th floor offices.
A spokesman for D.C.'s U.S. Attorney tells WTOP he cannot discuss the investigation, as it is currently sealed.
On March 5, President Barack Obama named D.C. Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra as the federal government's chief information officer.
Kundra's last day was March 4.
Kundra, who was in charge of technology in the District since 2007, has been a consultant to Obama since he won the election.
(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
WASHINGTON - A D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employee and contractor have been arrested in a federal bribery sting, sources tell WTOP.
D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer employee Yusuf Acar and Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation President and CEO Sushil Bansal have been arrested, sources tell WTOP.
Acar, 40, was taken into custody Thursday morning by FBI agents at his home in Northwest D.C.
The FBI is now serving a search warrant at the office of D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer, WTOP has learned.
"We are there as part of a continuing ongoing criminal investigation," FBI Washington Field Office spokesperson Katherine Schweit tells WTOP.
Schweit would not comment on the details of the investigation.
More than a dozen FBI agents - including evidence technicians - at the office, located at 1 Judiciary Square on 4th Street in Northwest, WTOP's Mark Segraves reports.
Most of the employees have been told to go home. Other employees have been segregated into a waiting room.
Segraves reports the FBI's search has expanded from 9th floor offices to 10th floor offices.
A spokesman for D.C.'s U.S. Attorney tells WTOP he cannot discuss the investigation, as it is currently sealed.
On March 5, President Barack Obama named D.C. Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra as the federal government's chief information officer.
Kundra's last day was March 4.
Kundra, who was in charge of technology in the District since 2007, has been a consultant to Obama since he won the election.
#4
WASHINGTON (Reuters) The FBI raided the former office of Obama administration official Vivek Kundra in a corruption probe on Thursday but Kundra is not a target of the investigation, a spokeswoman for Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said.
The FBI was searching the offices of the District of Columbia's chief technology officer, a position formerly held by Kundra, as it investigates employees for corruption there, spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said.
President Barack Obama named Kundra, 34, to be the federal government's chief information officer last week, responsible for overseeing the government's computer systems.
Yusuf Acar, who works in the District's technology office, and another man, Sushil Bansal, were arrested as part of the investigation, FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin said, adding that the charges remain under seal.
To their enduring credit the Wall Street Journal has not given up on shining the spotlight on that appalling hypocrite, Senator Dodd.
The Senate Ethics Committee has been looking into possible conflicts of interest in Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd's 2003 mortgages. Now questions about another Dodd real-estate adventure, this one in Ireland, should keep the Ethicists even busier. All the more because Mr. Dodd's "cottage" purchase involves a crooked stock trader for whom the Senator once did a very big political favor.
Mr. Dodd is already under a cloud for receiving what a former loan officer claims was preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial on two mortgage refinancings -- in Connecticut and Washington -- in 2003. Countrywide was an aggressive lender to shaky borrowers and relied heavily on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy those mortgages in bulk. As a senior Member of the Senate Banking Committee, Mr. Dodd was one of Fannie's greatest promoters. Mr. Dodd promised last year to disclose mortgage documents to prove he got no special treatment, but so far all he's done is let a few hand-picked journalists take a quick peek before he put the papers back in storage.
Now enterprising Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie has uncovered another suspicious real-estate investment. The story starts in 1994, when the Senator became one-third owner of a 10-acre estate, then valued at $160,000, on the island of Inishnee on Galway Bay. The property is near the fashionable village of Roundstone, a well-known celebrity haunt. William Kessinger bought the other two-thirds share in the estate. Edward Downe, Jr., who has been a business partner of Mr. Kessinger, signed the deed as a witness. Senator Dodd and Mr. Downe are long-time friends, and in 1986 they had purchased a condominium together in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Downe is also quite the character. The year before the Galway deal, in 1993, he pleaded guilty to insider trading and securities fraud and in 1994 agreed to pay the SEC $11 million in a civil settlement. The crimes were felonies and in 2001, as President Clinton was getting ready to leave office, Mr. Dodd successfully lobbied the White House for a full pardon for Mr. Downe.
The next year -- according to a transfer document at the Irish land registry viewed by Mr. Rennie -- Mr. Kessinger sold his two-thirds share to Mr. Dodd for $122,351. The Senator says he actually paid Mr. Kessinger $127,000, which he claims was based on an appraisal at the time. That means, at best, poor Mr. Kessinger earned less than 19% over eight years on the sale of his two-thirds share to Mr. Dodd. But according to Ireland's Central Bank, prices of existing homes in Ireland quadrupled from 1994 to 2004.
Perhaps Mr. Kessinger is a lousy businessman. Or maybe he merely relied on Mr. Dodd to tell him how much the property was worth. In his Senate financial disclosure documents from 2002-2007, Mr. Dodd reported that the Galway home was worth between $100,001 and $250,000. However, Mr. Rennie reports that in 2006 and 2007 the Senator added a footnote that reads: "value based on appraisal at time of purchase."
Mr. Dodd had good reason to add the qualifier. Senate rules call for valuations to be current and anyone who looked into the estimate would immediately spot Mr. Dodd's lowballing. A June 17, 2007 feature in Britain's Sunday Times did just that. "Diary" observed that in Roundstone "a two-bed recently made E680,000 ($918,000) and a cottage is currently on offer for E800,000." Noting Mr. Dodd's estimate of his property -- between E75,000 and E185,000 -- the diarist quipped, "to hell with the stamp duty, and form an orderly queue."
Mr. Dodd is busy these days blaming everyone else for the real-estate bubble and financial meltdown. But he owes his constituents and the Senate an honest accounting of his Galway property over the past 15 years. If its value grew with the rest of the area, he needs to explain why Mr. Kessinger handed it over for a song, why that isn't an unreported gift under Senate rules, and what role Mr. Downe might have played as a middleman.
More broadly, Connecticut voters might want to know why their senior Senator has hung around for years with Mr. Downe, the kind of financial scoundrel Mr. Dodd spends so much time denouncing. The ability of an hypocrite like Dodd to keep on keeping on in full public gaze just amazes me. There must be a sociopathic streak similar to Madoff's capacity to maintain a pretense for so long. It is beyond my understanding.
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 ||
03/12/2009 10:13 ||
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Well, it appears his constituents have noticed...
Dodd's problems were underscored by a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday showing Dodd essentially tied with former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who lost his 2nd District congressional seat in 2006 and is a likely challenger to Dodd. The poll showed Simmons ahead by 43 percent to 42 percent, making the race a statistical dead heat because of the margin of error.
Republicans and political insiders said the poll shows that Dodd's vulnerability is real, and it could mark a turning point in the campaign because it indicates that a Republican is clearly within striking distance of a career incumbent who has held a seat in Congress for nearly 35 years.
"These numbers have to worry Sen. Dodd," said Douglas Schwartz, the poll's director. "Former Congressman Simmons is not well known outside his district, yet he is running neck and neck with Dodd at this point."
Simmons, who served three terms in Congress before losing in 2006, said in an interview Tuesday that he expects to decide whether to run within the next 10 days.
"It's kind of amazing that I'm head to head with a sitting senator with 34 years [in Washington], and I'm right up there with him," Simmons said. "It's very encouraging. ... Sen. Dodd has been absent without leave. I think that's why his poll ratings are so low. There's nothing in here that I have done. It's all about what he has done to himself."
President Obama acknowledged today that he signed an "imperfect omnibus bill" but told Congress to clean up its act when it comes to pork-barrel projects, better known as earmarks. One man's "imperfect" is another man's "stench and a pestilence."
The president signed the $410 billion pork-laden spending bill behind closed doors and away from the glare of the cameras. "I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it is necessary for the ongoing functions of government. But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change," President Obama said in a speech on earmark reform.
Lashing out against those who have criticized the earmarks in the bill, Obama added: "Now, let me be clear: Done right, earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that's why I have opposed their outright elimination. I also find it ironic that some of those who railed the loudest against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own -- and will tout them in their own states and districts.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Imperfect? You pork American Taxpayers and no courtesy reach around?
9000 earmarks - Now, if my proposal had passed where at the end of each month the President has 8 working hours to sign, or at least initial, every pork ear in the spending bill. Tha is 1,125 signitures per hour, or almost 19 per minute. This should be done on CSPAN and webcast; no help or rubber stamping. If these projects are so important show us how, Obama, how you are willing to suffer writer's cramp in order to save America.
How much are they going to spend before 2010? $4 trillion? If 350 million people, not taxpayers but people, in the USA then that is $11,500 per person.
#9
he's signing in private because he's a coward and knows this bill stinks. He doesn't want ads showing that big ol shit-eating grin while porking up the budget against his promises. "Just words"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/12/2009 19:20 Comments ||
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Mexico's drug cartels pose a clear threat to U.S. national security, Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as the Obama administration named a drug czar to lead the U.S. fight against narco-trafficking.
Some 7,000 people have been killed in an upsurge in violence between Mexican cartels since January 2008. U.S. officials fear the violence is spreading into the southwestern United States, where there have been abductions and execution-style murders tied to the drug trade. "Violent drug trafficking organizations threaten both the United States and Mexican communities," Biden said at a ceremony to nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the country's new drug czar. You can tell B.O.'s serious as a heart attack about this, naming the Seattle police chief, who keeps drug enforcement way up there at #495 on his Top 500 priorities.
Biden said Kerlikowske, a 36-year law enforcement veteran, would oversee a strategy to improve information sharing, harness new technologies and increase the interdiction of drugs into the United States and guns and cash flowing into Mexico.
"It is a strategy we need ... in order to bring the situation under control, to protect our people, and to bring about the demise of the Mexican drug cartels," Biden said.
About 90 percent of all cocaine consumed in the United States comes through Mexico. It also is a major source of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana in the United States, according to Homeland Security officials. Canada is also a major marijuana exporter to the US, probably bigger than Mexico (I don't know anyone who buys the Mexican crap anymore). Yet for some reason the Canuck producers remain generally peaceful and civil. Discuss....
The death toll in the drug wars -- 1,000 in January this year alone -- has soared since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and sent tens of thousands of troops to fight the country's powerful cocaine cartels.
NOT CABINET-LEVEL
"With escalating violence along our southwest border and far too many suffering from the disease of addiction here at home, never has it been more important to have a national drug control strategy guided by sound principles of public safety and public health," President Barack Obama said.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Kerlikowske would head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which was elevated to Cabinet-level under former President George W. Bush. Obama, however, intends to remove the post from the Cabinet.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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FREEREPUBLIC > seems the Bammer is contemplating sending NATIONAL GUARD units to the borders.
#6
My 2cents, I say legalize it, regulate it like alcohol but with a strong tax.
If you can get it legal but at a reasonable cost, why go through drug dealer and send billions of US dollars out of the country, when you can get it at something like an ABC store.
Money from the taxes, reduce small time offender count, jail costs, prioritize real drug crimes, and deny the lucrative profits to these cartels.
All this money we are spending to fight illegal drugs and now a cartel bosses ends up on Forbes richest list with a billion dollar income.
Well, sounds all very nice in theory, I really don't know what would happen if it happened.
#10
You wanna legalize pot? You're gonna have to legalize cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine while you're at it if you want an end to border violence. Might as well go ahead and legalize LSD too. Then sit back and watch this country go to hell.
My suspicion is they keep drugs illegal to keep the prices high and maximize profits.
Drug czar my ass. Some guy gets a plush office in DC with a fat paycheck and a pension but he does absolutely nothing of any consequence.
What we need is the army on the border with orders to shoot to kill. But we ain't gonna get it.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who resigned from the Republican Party to become an independent last year, made his case recently to the city's Republican borough committee leaders for support and got a strong endorsement from Brooklyn's Republican leadership.
And look soon for an invitation to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, the Grand Old Party's first African-American leader, to visit Brooklyn as the party struggles to regain congressional dominance and national leadership.
Running for a third term after the City Council, at his request, changed the term-limits law, the mayor held a screening meeting recently with the five party leaders. A week later, Brooklyn GOP Chair Craig Eaton and the party's executive committee endorsed Bloomberg.
He is now waiting for the other borough committees' decisions. He needs the endorsement of three of the five GOP borough committees to get on Row B in the Sept. 15 Republican primary, and is looking to Staten Island and Manhattan for the most likely support as Bronx and Queens leaders expressed reluctance.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Which proves that Brooklyn like all of the Northeast is RINO territory.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/12/2009 13:31 Comments ||
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U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.
Economists Give Obama an "F"
In striking contrast to President Obama's popularity with the public, a new Wall Street Journal survey of economists gives the president and his treasury secretary failing grades. A majority of the 49 economists polled said they were dissatisfied with the administration's economic policies.
On average, they gave the president a grade of 59 out of 100, and although there was a broad range of marks, 42% of respondents rated Mr. Obama below 60. Mr. Geithner received an average grade of 51. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better, with an average 71.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/12/2009 13:09 ||
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Next they will try to regulate the Catholic education system and impose their rigid secularity on it.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/12/2009 13:26 Comments ||
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"both Catholics themselves,"
Uh, sort of. One is an "ex" priest and both are affiliated with Voice of the "Faithful", a group of people who dissent from the Church on numerous teachings. They should just become Episcopalians. They are already Protestants.
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.
President Obama acknowledged today that he signed an "imperfect omnibus bill" but told Congress to clean up its act when it comes to pork-barrel projects, better known as earmarks. 
