“THE SYNTHESIS” 2-2-12 EXTRA SPECIAL EDITION: VICTOR HILL’S TIES TO THE ZETAS’ CARTEL(S) EXPOSED; HOLDER ASKED TO RESIGN BEFORE BEING CHARGED WITH OBSTRUCTION AND CONTEMPT, AND OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY OFFICIALLY IMPLODES ON GROUND HOG DAY, A MONTH AND A DAY AFTER HIS IMPEACHMENT AND EVICTION DATE SET FOR 3/1/12, SUBSEQUENT TO THE ORDER OF IMPEACHMENT 1/1/12...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14XfN1F8l6eSe4yE_QQdBCF1kzaLTDOApNMyofQvivNk/edit?hl=en_US
SUBPOENA ISSUED TO HOLDER ON 10/12/2011: 1500 GUNS JULY 2010
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief I believe that the American people, just as concerned about Bush Jr.'s policies, should be OUTRAGED Obama continued them with Eric Holder!!!
WHY YES IT IS GROUND HOG DAY, AND ERIC HOLDER LOOKS LIKE A GROUND HOG...
Calls for Gun Control in Wake of Fast and Furious Ignore Current Law
Lachlan MarkayFebruary 2, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Attorney General Eric Holder used his testimony before a House committee on Thursday to tout the supposed need for new gun control laws to prevent “gun walking,” or the transportation of firearms across the Southern border. But he – and members of the committee – ignored existing laws that already accomplish Holder’s ostensible goals.
“That is why we need a stronger gun trafficking law,” Holder said in response to questions about recourse against officials who signed off on the gun walking tactic. The tactic was integral to Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed the transportation of roughly 2,500 firearms into Mexico, often with not just the knowledge but the facilitation of federal law enforcement officials, where those guns were given to violent drug cartels.
Many Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where Holder was testifying for the sixth time on Fast and Furious, echoed the attorney general’s calls for greater gun control. Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) touted legislation they introduced, which would make “straw purchases” – the purchases of guns to be handed off to others – illegal.
Holder called that bill “a good place for us to start.”
But neither Holder nor committee members mentioned the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a federal law already on the books that appears to criminalize the precise conduct undertaken by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Operation Fast and Furious.
According to James Steinbauer, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who wrote the Kingpin Act, an extension of the IEEPA, “it is illegal for any U.S. entity or individual to aid, abet, or materially assist — or in the case of Operation Fast and Furious, to facilitate others to aid, abet, or materially assist — designated drug traffickers.”
Steinbauer detailed some of the law’s intricacies at Pajamas Media in December:
Based on the July 5, 2010, memo to Eric Holder, it would appear that Fast and Furious facilitated the delivery of weapons to — at a minimum — the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which administers both the IEEPA and Kingpin Act programs, has designated numerous members of the Sinaloa cartel under both programs. IEEPA prohibitions apply to the U.S. government as well as to individuals, and as stated there are no exceptions within IEEPA programs for unlicensed U.S. law enforcement or intelligence agency operations.
There is a provision in the Kingpin Act for “authorized” law enforcement and intelligence activities, however the only procedure by which an Operation Fast and Furious program could have been “authorized” under the Kingpin Act was by the U.S. attorney general requesting a waiver (known within the Treasury Department as a Specific License), prior to any such operation being undertaken.
But Holder has repeatedly insisted – and emphasized again today – that he was not aware that gun walking tactics were in use at the time. Simply, he could not have requested a waiver allowing the ATF to walk guns without knowing that the ATF was walking guns.
So laws designed to deter the type of gun walking seen in Operation Fast and Furious – and to punish those who permit it – are already on the books. Additional laws aimed at gun trafficking are therefore unnecessary, assuming, of course, that their purpose is not gun control unrelated to the scandal at issue, but rather to prevent the type of activities that the ATF engaged in, which led to the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, and potentially hundreds of Mexican citizens.
Posted in Rule of Law, Scribe
Print This Post
Family of murdered Border Patrol agent files $25M claim against ATF- Posted by Arizona Tea Party on February 2, 2012 at 7:39am
FoxNews.com
- AP
- This undated photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry.
The family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming Terry was killed with AK-47s that were knowingly sold under the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe to a straw purchaser for drug cartels.
In a 65-page complaint, served on the government on Wednesday, attorneys for the family claim ATF "wrongdoing" in Operation Fast and Furious.
“ATF's failures were not only negligent but in violation of ATF's own policies and procedures," the complaint claims.
The family has also filed a claim against the Lone Wolf Trading Company seeking unspecified damages for negligence in selling the weapons to the purchaser and aiding and abetting in Mexican drug cartels’ conduct.
The claim says Lone Wolf knowingly sold "hundreds of weapons" to various straw purchasers and in turn realized "hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from these sales."
The claim alleges that "but for defendants' negligent and illegal sales ... Brian Terry would not have been murdered in the Arizona desert on Dec. 14, 2010."
The family is seeking a jury trial.
The government now has six months to respond or the Terry family will file a suit for the $25 million.
According to the claim, agent Terry was patrolling near Rio Rico on the night of Dec. 14, 2010 when he was shot and killed by criminals yielding assault rifles. Those rifles were traced to a straw purchaser for Mexican drug cartels in Arizona who the ATF knew about and allowed to deliver the weapons to the cartels.
“The murder of agent Terry and other acts of violent crimes were the natural consequence of ATF's decision to let dangerous weapons designed to kill human beings 'walk' into the hands of violent drug-trafficking gangs,” the complaint reads.
The claim also contends that the circumstances that led to Terry’s murder were not isolated events, but rather there were thousands of guns purchased under occasional ATF surveillance with no way of tracking all the weapons from straw purchases.
In a second claim filed against Lone Wolf Trading Company, the Terrys say the company should have recognized the illegal and risky nature of the purchases, but it instead ignored its legal obligation under federal and state law to refuse illegal firearm sales.
The company was not only aware that the purchases were illegal and part of the Fast and Furious operation, but it also knew the ATF did not arrest the purchasers and let the straw buyers continue to make illegal buys, according to the claim.
Both the ATF and Lone Wolf were unavailable for comment on Wednesday.
The family stated in their claim against the ATF that Christmas 2010 was to be the first the family was to spend together in three years because of Brian’s ATF duties. Brian was killed two days before he was to fly home to Michigan.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/01/family-murdered-border-p...
Views: 43
Gunwalker: Justice Dept. Violated U.S. Laws Beyond Those Being Investigated
I know, because I was the principal drafter of some of the legislation.JAMES K. STINEBOWERBio
December 5, 2011 - 12:00 am
As we continue to watch the general uproar over the Operation Fast and Furious program, and specifically what Attorney General Holder knew and when he knew it, it needs to be noted that perjury is not the only apparent violation of law to have occurred.
I refer to the apparent violation of at least one (probably two) major U.S. laws by the Holder Justice Department. A few years ago, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, the follow-on to the Trading with the Enemy Act) was expanded in order to criminalize any transactions between U.S. entities — to include departments and agencies of the U.S. government — and all foreign drug cartels.
I am familiar with these prohibitive statues because several years ago, while serving as the senior drug analyst for the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was tasked to initiate and became the principal drafter of legislation which became known as the Kingpin Act (21 U.S.C. §§ 1901-08). The Kingpin Act is an extension of the highly successful IEEPA sanctioning program specifically targeting Colombian drug cartels. It expands sanctions authority against various drug cartel operations worldwide — including Mexico — which have been determined by the president to be threats to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
A violation of any of the IEEPA sanctioning programs or the Kingpin Act carries stiff penalties, both criminal and civil, and potentially totaling decades in prison and tens of millions of dollars in fines. It is not necessary that an individual or governmental entity be shown to have “knowingly” violated any of these programs: it is illegal for any U.S. entity or individual to aid, abet, or materially assist — or in the case of Operation Fast and Furious, to facilitate others to aid, abet, or materially assist — designated drug traffickers. There are no exceptions within IEEPA programs for unlicensed U.S. law enforcement or intelligence agency operations.
Based on the July 5, 2010, memo to Eric Holder, it would appear that Fast and Furious facilitated the delivery of weapons to — at a minimum — the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which administers both the IEEPA and Kingpin Act programs, has designated numerous members of the Sinaloa cartel under both programs. IEEPA prohibitions apply to the U.S. government as well as to individuals, and as stated there are no exceptions within IEEPA programs for unlicensed U.S. law enforcement or intelligence agency operations.
There is a provision in the Kingpin Act for “authorized” law enforcement and intelligence activities, however the only procedure by which an Operation Fast and Furious program could have been “authorized” under the Kingpin Act was by the U.S. attorney general requesting a waiver (known within the Treasury Department as a Specific License), prior to any such operation being undertaken. To illustrate and emphasize this point: even during the run-up to war in Iraq, the U.S. secretary of Defense had to obtain waivers (specific licenses) from the Treasury Department to allow U.S. Special Forces and their necessary equipment (to include weapons, intelligence gathering, and targeting gear) to go into Iraq, as Iraq at the time was under separate IEEPA sanctions.
As an aside: having spent many hours in discussions and negotiations over the exception in the Kingpin Act for authorized law enforcement and the intelligence community, I can assure the reader that the intent of this provision was not to allow for the transfer of thousands of semi-automatic weapons to cartel members. The intent of this portion of this particular Act is to allow for cash payments by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to confidential informants and intelligence sources within cartels to aid in their dismantlement, and not to facilitate the transfer of weapons used to murder hundreds of innocent civilians in Mexico and a U.S. Federal Border Agent.
As part of Congress’ ongoing investigation, as well as its constitutionally mandated oversight activities, it should be asked of Attorney General Holder if any such specific licenses were requested or granted by the Treasury Department. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Geithner should explain whether his Department has begun an investigation into these apparent violations of IEEPA and the Kingpin Act.
Interestingly, and of serious note — if Secretary Geithner finds that the laws and programs which his Department administers have been violated, Treasury procedures mandate that the matter be referred to Eric Holder’s Justice Department for enforcement!
Perhaps the appointment of a special prosecutor is necessary after all.
Mr. Stinebower is a former Navy Intelligence Officer, Professional Staff Member to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Naval Attache.
'Reckless and Arrogant' Government Program Supplied Guns to Mexican Drug Cartels: Report
Text Size+-
July 26, 2011 11:10 AM EDT
A government program to track guns purchased by drug cartels resulted in over 100 guns turning up at crime scenes, including that of a murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent, according to a highly critical report released by lawmakers on Tuesday.
Enlarge
(Photo: Reuters / Alejandro Acosta)
Suspected members of the Zeta cartel, among them two female minors who were told only to show their backs, are presented to the media in Guadalajara June 14, 2011.
SHARE THIS STORY
RELATED ARTICLES
"It's incomprehensible that officials at the Justice Department, the ATF and the U.S. attorney's office would keep their counterparts at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City in the dark about Operation Fast and Furious," U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a press release. "Keeping key details secret while straw purchasers continued buying weapons for gun traffickers jeopardized our relationship with our southern ally and put lives at risk."
MUST READ
In 2009, ATF agents in Mexico noticed a sharp rise in the number of guns appearing at crime scenes. Carlos Canino, an ATF agent stationed in Mexico, expressed alarm to his superiors after linking guns at the scene of a bloody shooutout between the Sinoloa cartel and the La Familia cartel to the United States. But in a pattern that recurred throughout, he remained ignorant of the operation's scope and was reassured that it was a success. Canino's boss described regular "screaming matches" with their superiors.
"In 21 years as an ATF agent, as a guy who teaches surveillance techniques, as a guy who teaches agents how to conduct field operations, never in my wildest dreams ever would I have thought that this was a technique," Canino testified. "It just, it is inconceivable to me."
Kenneth Melson, the acting director of ATF, had previously sought to deflect criticism by telling lawmakers the operation was guided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which did not share information with his agency.
Los Zetas, the Ninth Cartel
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 | 
In only 13 years Los Zetas, a group that was formed by former military soldiers and army deserters, went from being an appendage of the Gulf cartel to becoming an autonomous organization.
Since last January the DEA considers Los Zetas to be the ninth cartel in Mexico. Now, the organization headed by "Hidalguense" Heriberto Lazcano is the best armed and has influence in over 20 states across the country. 
Thirteen years later, with reinforcements and diversification of their criminal activities, the group named the "armed forces of the narco" is a cartel that is actively in a struggle for control of a dozen Mexican states.
The majority of the members of this organization came from the Mexican Army, in particular the Special Forces Airmobile Group (GAFES).
In 1997, many of them had joined the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) as reinforcements in the fight undertaken by the federal government against drug trafficking. But soon they became engaged in the drug trafficking business.
By 2003, the year that Osiel Cardenas was captured, Los Zetas changed their pattern of operation, after an acute domestic crisis for control of the Gulf Cartel.
Overtaken by grudges, betrayals and disorder in the operations, Eduardo Costilla, "El Coss," became the new leader, while the armed group started to form their own criminal structure.
The purpose: to seal an alliance in order to control drug trafficking and to form a criminal mega-consortium to end the killings for at least the two regions controlled by both criminal groups, this according to preliminary investigations and PGR PGR/SIEDO/UEIDCS/147/2007/SIEDO/UEIDCS/082/2009.
And even if that Zeta's ambition was never fully agreed by the Gulf cartel, the second most powerful organization after that of the Sinaloa cartel, in January the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed that Los Zetas had become a new cartel, well structured and with large presence in domain in both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.
Intelligence reports from the DEA indicate that the breakup of the Zetas was due to their differences with the cell of the Gulf Cartel for being too friendly with their rival group Sinaloa cartel, as well as the partnerships with La Familia of Michoacán and the heads Milenio cartel, the brothers Valencia Cornelio, whose seat is the state of Michoacán.
Glaspy Hill, head of the DEA in McAllen, Texas, addressed the alliance of the capos from the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels in these terms: "It is well documented that the Gulf cartel has formed alliances with the Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Michoacana for waging war against Los Zetas."
Los Zetas broke off from the Gulf cartel on January 8, 2010, confirming the thesis of the DEA: the links between both criminal organizations were supported in weak agreements, said Glaspy.
Updated: 10:18 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 | Posted: 2:21 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
AG Holder, Issa square off over documents
By PETE YOSTThe Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
Attorney General Eric Holder and a House chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, have squared off over the Justice Department's flawed gun-smuggling probe.
Issa (EYE'-suh), R-Calif., is demanding the department turn over documents about how it handled congressional inquiries after problems with Operation Fast and Furious came to light.
At the start of Thursday's hearing, Issa said the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will do what is necessary to force the Justice Department to produce the information.
The attorney general says he will consider Issa's demand.
Issa has threatened a contempt of Congress ruling against Holder for failing to turn over the congressionally subpoenaed documents. The lawmaker alleges the Justice Department is engaging in a cover-up.
Copyright The Associated Press
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief @Kem_Kimbrough Acc. to Congress, permitting Hill to not be arrested for violation of bond/being unable to acct. for guns is 'gun walking'
@RepMaloney You are totally full of shit: every government oversight committee works to keep law enforcement and communities safer.
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief Holder just trips all over himself
@GovBrewer Large seizures were made in GA, and guns have ties to #VictorHill and the #Zetas Cartel in conjunction withinfowars.com/us-government-…
@GovBrewer When a corrupt Sheriff seizes a significant amount of drugs, they often demand payment; i.e., weapons of some kind.
@GovBrewer Their inability to get guns is what keeps them from taking over, they prefer stolen, untraceable, or guns from unlicensed sellers
@GovBrewer Cartels will not sell bulk methamphetamine without a weapons exchange, and I mean the snowman sized balls of drugs.
@GovBrewer The guns that were seized from informants, invasions, and other arrests were then given in trade to cartel(s). #VictorHill
@GovBrewer He accumulated a stash of drugs/weapons that would've made Noriega proud: Hill took evidence into his personal possession (guns)
@GovBrewer Hill had falsely deputized unlicensed people to run around with badges, who began doing home invasions, without lawful warrants.
@GovBrewer The precursors to this operation began in 2006, with a seizure of opium that was crystallized into meth and corruption of Hill.
LachlanMarkay Lachlan Markay Rep. Burton to Holder: "I think you're hiding behind something here that will not stand up."
@DarrellIssa @RepDanBurton CHARGE HOLDER WITH OBSTRUCTION AND CONTEMPT: docs.google.com/document/d/1eq…
.@RepDanBurton: #Holder says there are documents that he won't share w/ taxpayers on #FastAndFurious - bit.ly/A7uTfG
@GovBrewer former Sheriff indicted on 37 counts; racketeering, stash of unaccounted weapons/evidence still missingdocs.google.com/document/d/1eq…
@OversightDems that is not true: John McCain was notified in 2007 to precursors to this operation
@GovBrewer If you have not been briefed, Fast and Furious may have ties to a former corrupt GA Sheriff, Victor Hill in supplying guns...
AND VICTOR HILL GETS WHAT HE DESERVES... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eq70wKJjAzMyeFUETqWT7wpr_8C66rJKV0dMN-dslJE/edit?hl=en_US
CLICK THE LINK TO READ THE FULL STORY ON HILL’S CONNECTION TO DRUGS, GUNS, AND THE ROLE THIS PLAYED IN LEADING TO THE “FAST AND FURIOUS” SCANDAL, CARTEL GROUPS, AND TERRORISM FINANCING MECHANISMS AND GROUPS:
A FORMAL COMPLAINT WILL NOW BE FILED WITH THE BAR, FOR MACCIONE FIRING MY LAWYER, WHO PLEAD ME NOT GUILTY, AS ANTHONY RICHARD BRUCE THREATENED ME UNDER COERCION TO COMMIT CRIME, AS HE WAS A WITNESS FOR THE STATE, UNDER EXTREME DURESS:
@GovernorDeal Request for his total disbarment to follow to your Office, subsequent expository in the newsletter.
@GovernorDeal The Supreme Court and Bar have more reasons for disbarment of Maccione, for the arrest of Victor Hill caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-cou…
LET ME ALSO SAY, THAT NOT KNOWING WHERE VICTOR HILL WAS WHEN HE ELUDED POLICE FOR YEARS AND HAVING FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE KAREN HANDEL NOT CHARGE HIM WITH MISAPPROPRIATION SUNK HER BID FOR GA GOVERNOR. I HAVE NEVER REALLY FELT SAFE, NOT KNOWING WHERE VICTOR HILL LURKED, A BLACK WOLF ROAMING GEORGIA, AND ME NOW STRIPPED OF THE RIGHT TO CARRY A GUN.
WELL, I HAVE SOME NEWS FOR EVERYONE: I CONSIDER VICTOR HILL TO NOT JUST BE A DANGER TO MY PERSON, BUT I CONSIDER HIM TO BE AN UNDENIABLE DANGER TO THE COMMUNITY.
@wsbradio Victor Hill couldn't be trusted as Sheriff, so who would trust him to stand by his word on a bond??? Really?!
@wsbradio Victor Hill is a flight risk: he had to surrender his passport, and he can't leave GA -- bonding companies won't touch that.
A MAN LIKE HIM IS NO BETTER AND FRANKLY WAY WORSE THAN THE SO-CALLED CRIMINALS HILL ARRESTED WHILE IN OFFICE, FOR HIS FAILURE TO UPHOLD THE LAWS HE WAS SWORN TO ENFORCE. MY GREAT GRANDFATHER WAS A SHERIFF, HE ROLLED OVER IN HIS GRAVE IN SEBRING FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH I WAS ARRESTED AND THREATENED BY HCPD OFFICERS, AND I SOLEMNLY PROMISE THE ONLY SAFE PLACE FOR VICTOR HILL IS IN THE GROUND, WHERE HE IS NOT A DANGER TO ANYONE.
SO IF SHERIFF KEMBROUGH WANTS HILL TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE, HE WILL HOLD VICTOR HILL IN JAIL AND PROTECT HIM IN CUSTODY UNTIL TRIAL. IF HE CAN NOT OR IF VICTOR HILL RUNS FOR THE LAW, WHEN AND IF I FIND HIM, VICTOR HILL’S DAY OF EVIL DEEDS IS DONE!!!!!
FOR ME, IT IS NOT A POLITICAL GRIPE AGAINST VICTOR HILL, BUT THAT HE JEOPARDIZED MY OWN LIFE BY HAVING IT THREATENED BY SOMEONE WHOM HE EXPLOITED FOR TEMPORARY MONETARY ILL-GOTTEN GAIN, A DESPERATE MAN ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW: IF VICTOR HILL CROSSES MY PATH, I WILL DEFEND MYSELF, AND NO ONE WILL EVER HEAR OF HIM AGAIN OR WHAT BECAME OF HIM.
MAYBE NOW THAT VICTOR HILL HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO ANSWER FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE, GOVERNOR DEAL WILL SEE FIT TO OFFICIALLY PARDON ME. FIRST OFFENDER ACT NEVER REMOVES YOUR ARREST RECORD, AND EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BEEN OVER 5YRS. SINCE BEING ARRESTED FOR DRUGS I HAD NOT PAID FOR THAT WERE NOT MINE ANYWAY, WHEN AFTER BEING THREATENED BY SOMEONE I HAD COUNTED A FRIEND, I CONSIDER MY FULL COMPLIANCE WITH OFFICERS AND VIOLATION OF HABEAS CORPUS TO BE AN EGREGIOUS SMEAR ON THE ANNALS OF GEORGIA’S COURT JUSTICE.
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief @cspan @theJusticeDept He should be instructed to be forthcoming because we can verify their location here, prior to reaching the border.
Holder starts confident, but when questioned about Terry's death, he denies knowing weapons found there until Grassley asked him (eye roll)
@Kem_Kimbrough watching via teleconference, present and accounted for
@Kem_Kimbrough I am watching the "Fast and Furious" gun scandal hearing, Holder to answer today for Brian Terry's death/Obama's involvement
@Kem_Kimbrough Ask former Sheriff Hill, if he was supplying guns to the cartel: they revoked his police certification/closed bonding company
@DarrellIssa Ask former Sheriff Hill, if he was supplying guns to the cartel: they revoked his police certification/closed bonding company!!
| “THE SYNTHESIS”, TWO YEARS IN PRINT, THE ONLY FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER POWERED BY TWITTER, FACEBOOK, AND TEA PARTY CONTRIBUTORS !!! ALSO HEREBY KNOWN AS “THE TEA PARTY RECORDER” -- ENJOY OUR TEA PARTY JOURNALS Tea Party Chief Speaker · Aug 2011 to present · Washington, District of Columbia front line communicator with Congress
 http://www.facebook.com/teapartychief  to see my library collection (what I’ve read and studied the past 10yrs. add me on Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150377708318670.370366.773523669&type=3
NOW:  http://www.youtube.com/user/The2011Phoenix |
Convicted Houston gun trafficker for Zeta cartel sentenced to 3 years.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 | 
U.S. agents are armed with the secrets of a convicted Houston gunrunner, information that could lead them to top Mexican drug-cartel bosses and the Texasfirearms dealers supplying high-powered weapons.
Christian Garza was sentenced to three years in federal prison as a result of a plea agreement that offered leniency in exchange for telling U.S. officials about his criminal contacts, according to court papers.
"Mr. Garza has also provided assistance and information related to the sale of the firearms in question to highly sought fugitives who are believed to lead one of the most violent Mexican drug cartels, the Zetas," states a paper submitted to a federal judge by his lawyer, Connie Williams.
The Zetas cartel, a crime syndicate launched by former members of the Mexican military, thrives across the border from Texas and is battling rival traffickers as well as the Mexican government.
They are known for being gruesome, aggressive and efficient. Top leaders are dodging capture, despite multimillion-dollar rewards for their arrests by the U.S. and Mexican governments.
Garza was a member of an arms-trafficking group that sent more than 300 military-style weapons to Mexico.
As part of his agreement with the government, he described the inner-workings of his cell and provided grand-jury testimony that "may prove to be critical" in seeking criminal charges against firearms retailers where weapons were purchased, according to the paper filed by Williams.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives contendsHouston is the No. 1 spot of origin for weapons that have been traced from Mexicanorganized crime scenes back to the United States.
The case began in January, 2007 during a routine inspection of files at Carter's County, a firearms dealer in Houston, according to court papers. ATF agents noticed numerous large cash purchases for what the agency considers cartel weapons of choice.
Numerous individuals had purchased large quantities of military-style firearms in a relatively short period of time. ATF later determined that 23 buyers had purchased 339 firearms – mostly AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, FN Herstal 5.7mm rifles and pistols, and Beretta pistols – worth $366,450 in a 15-month period at Carter’s County gun store.
Mexican authorities also had recovered 88 of these firearms in Mexico; four of the firearms were found in Guatemala. One or more of these firearms had been found at various crime scenes in Mexico where police had been murdered, judicial personnel had been executed, the military had received gun fire, or a businessman had been kidnapped and murdered. Many, if not all, of the assailants were members of Los Zetas.
Mexican authorities also found several more of these U.S.-origin firearms during narcotics related searches and at various vehicle inspection points. In total, 18 Mexican law enforcement officers and civilians died using firearms purchased from this U.S. gun store.
Recruited by cousins
Williams stressed that his client was not a member of the Zetas and did not personally meet with any Zetas, nor take guns across the border.
"They (federal agents) were more interested in the higher-ups, the people who could connect them to what was going on down in Mexico," Williams said. "He put his two cents in. There was another layer between him and the Zetas."
Garza became a supervisor after being recruited by two cousins, including one who is a fugitive and believed to be in Mexico.
He is the latest of a dozen Americans, including three brothers, who pleaded guilty in an ATF investigation that has intensified since 2006. It has included multiple indictments. It is unclear to what extent others in the case have cooperated.
The ATF and federal prosecutors declined comment.
The Houston men were convicted for their roles in deceiving firearms dealers in order to buy weapons, many of which were civilian variants of the M16 rifle favored by Mexico's drug cartels.
Garza's background and day job repairing windshields underscored part of the cartel's apparent strategy.
It enlists U.S. citizens who are both facing tougher economic times, so they may be tempted by quick cash, and have no felony convictions so they'll pass gun-buying background checks.
According to officials from ICE and ATF, individuals and groups seeking to traffic U.S.firearms to Mexico use several different schemes to purchase and transport U.S.firearms to Mexico. In a large majority of cases, several straw purchasers and one or more intermediaries or brokers are used to traffic the firearms to Mexico.
The straw purchasers are eligible to purchase firearms in the United States while the brokers are usually legally prohibited from purchasing firearms because they are convicted felons, not U.S. citizens or residents, or for other reasons.
Sometimes taking orders from a person in Mexico, the U.S.-based broker may hire three or more straw purchasers, often young women, to buy a few firearms each at various locations. In a more complex scheme intended to better hide the arms trafficker’s identity and avoid prosecution, a managing broker hires additional brokers, and these brokers then hire the straw purchasers.
'What did he know?'
A former U.S. intelligence agent said a key factor is the validity of Garza's information. If he only dealt with the cartel on the U.S. side of the border, he would have limited information about what is going on in Mexico.
Still, each little piece could prove important in connecting the dots, he said.
Cartel members pay attention to how criminal prosecutions play out in the U.S., including who is talking. "They will do like everybody does," the ex-agent said, "assess the situation — what did he know?"
Source articles
34 Borderland Beat Comments:
Anonymous said...the u.s. can kiss my ass!!!
January 5, 2011 1:12 AMajulio said...
watch spike tv's gangland episode on los zetas. it shows how nasty this cartel really is.
January 5, 2011 1:18 AMAnonymous said...
SNITCH
January 5, 2011 4:05 AMAnonymous said...
the whole game has become about snitching.....I dont condone this type of crime as it affects me to visit my relatives in Mexico, but damn every single person that is caught rats out quick for a plea. What happened to those old times, tortured or not they wouldnt give up info. Seems to me that today's mafia criminals are not loyal to their cartel compared from the begining to late 90s.
Vicko
January 5, 2011 6:40 AM''lito'brito said...
of course he snitched ...he is a punk ass from the start or he wouldn't be working for the pinches Z
some of you are real idiots...what do you think?... there is honor among thieves ..you have sympathy for this fuckwad?...you stupid shitheads think it is a game...you have watched too much tv...there were no "old times"...it was a lie from the start...
and three years is not enough....ten would be a good start
and as for you asshole .." the usa can kiss my ass"...you can beso mi culo americano you shit eater
you need to get in the real world
January 5, 2011 8:01 AMAnonymous said...
this guy will probably be killed when released. I don't understand why his name is published here. It's like a death sentence.
January 5, 2011 8:30 AMAnonymous said...
It's actually being called SMART. He gets a reduced sentence in a prison the Zeta's can't get him, and he gets witness protection for himself and his family.
Also by bringing public attention to himself, the zetas are unlikely to kill his family in reprisal.
If this happened to someone in mexico they'd be dead and so would their family, if they ratted out on that cartel.
January 5, 2011 8:39 AMAnonymous said...
Why would you hold information for your cartel? cartel treats you as disposable anyways and its not like you know exactly how there entire organization works
January 5, 2011 8:40 AMAnonymous said...
What do you mean the Cartels cant touch him in Prison?
Everyone is actively recruiting in U.S. Prisons
January 5, 2011 8:51 AMAnonymous said...
The Z's aren't la mafia de Italia. Otherwise even they had rats and continue to in that aspect. These guys aren't mafiosos they are terroristas. But feeling sorry for these dudes is pathetic. The guy may have been only dealing guns and ammo but he was in way involved in supplying terrorists ammo for their horror. Los Zetas are no better than any other terrorists in the world. And I agree 3 years was maybe not enough. 7-10 would have set the example for anyone funding or supplying the war in Mexico. Don't do it because you will be hit hard. Although I feel it's a start and don't see it slowing them down much as the Z's and other cartels are importing weapons from other countries as well who would happily sell them arms with a smile and coke to seal the deal.
January 5, 2011 8:59 AMAnonymous said...
I agree as he is in danger, but unless he gets wacked in prison I see him getting witness protection somehow. But true, in Mexico sadly he would have been wacked and his family probably as well. Right now there is no respect for family in Mexico amongst gangsters and drug cartels. Anyone is fair game.
January 5, 2011 9:11 AM''lito'brito said...
the whole thing is not about honor..or social revolution ...or anything else ..it is all about money, and greed ..and any asshole who goes for it deserves what they get ...this culero is doomed ...and so what ...
do some of you think he is a hero or something...or feel sorry for him...
why...because you have some misguided ideas that you got from the 10 5 23 controlled media, designed to promote false identitys
the sopranos are not real...neither was the godfather...goodfellas was closer to real...
but what is the real truth is that all these people are trying to get as much as they can and to hell with everybody else
get your head out of your ass and wake the fuck up
January 5, 2011 11:15 AMAnonymous said...
Did that guy " say "U.S. kiss my ass or he meant to say the U.S. will "Kick" your ass. Wow you are a real asset to society, with comments like that, that's the reason why Mexico is in such conflict, because of idiots like you.
January 5, 2011 11:18 AMAnonymous said...
"the u.s. can kiss my ass!!!"
Guns, Lawyers, Congressman... businessmen always have their weapons of financial war and they will use them. It's not our fault that your country is weak enough to still let the physical warfare go unchecked.
The game will always be played; civilization is when the damage to civilians is kept to a minimum.
January 5, 2011 11:46 AMAnonymous said...
Good. I bet he was getting at least 10 years if he didn't cooperate. Fuck him for arming a bunch of pschopaths killing innocents. I love guns but hate straw buyers who ruin our great sport.
January 5, 2011 11:52 AMAnonymous said...
Fuck the zetas, burn in hell.
January 5, 2011 4:21 PMLayla2 said...
TO: "it's not our fault that your country is weak enough to still let the warefare go on..."
Who are you kidding, blaming social ills in Mexico on the US. You've had a drug cartel problem and a corrupt government who turned the other cheek for a long time now. Then you elect a progressive, democratic President and he joins the US in an overt battle against drug traffiking between the countries.
Your President, and I suppose most of the Mexican people, said hands off military incursions into Mexico. We've complied. AND we've given you billions of dollars, training, equipment, etc. for you to do it yourself, in your own country.
We've taken responsibility to investigate gun traffiking and cartel influence on our side of the border and prosecuted criminals. We've shown you how to do the same. We've given you the tools and the power, but we cannot do it for you.
You have to clean up your military and judicial systems. You have to oust those corrupt officials from office and prosecute them. You have to protect those honest officials who try to help Mexico and prevent them from being kidnapped and executed.
In short--the blame game is over--the buck stops here, so to speak. It's your turn.
January 5, 2011 5:18 PMAnonymous said...
snitches end up in ditches
January 5, 2011 6:57 PMAnonymous said...
All yes I say all the guns used for violence came from the US. OK?
So how come everybody's just, u know, like la de da walking around in the US and not just, you know, like getting gunned down dead every minute? Some kind of a societal thing?
January 5, 2011 6:59 PMAnonymous said...
"In total, 18 Mexican law enforcement officers and civilians died using firearms purchased from this U.S. gun store."
Supposition, and hyperbole.
January 5, 2011 7:02 PMAnonymous said...
Reporting from Mexico City —
Four years and 50,000 troops into President Felipe Calderon's drug war, the fighting has exposed severe limitations in the Mexican army's ability to wage unconventional warfare, tarnished its proud reputation and left the U.S. pointedly criticizing the force as "virtually blind" on the ground.
The army's shortcomings have complicated the government's struggle against the narcotics cartels, as the deadliest year of the war by far comes to a close.
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-mexico-army-20101230,0,3713450.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fsports%2Fbasketball%2Fwnba%2Fsparks+%28L.A.+Times+-+Sparks%29
Some of the weapons linked to the trafficking cell were traced from Mexico crime scenes back to Houston stores; they were discovered by scouring records that firearms dealers are required to keep, but their whereabouts remain unknown.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Arms-trafficker-helping-U-S-find-Mexican-cartel-935012.php
January 5, 2011 7:37 PMAnonymous said...
Just FYI, the FN Herstal 5.7x28mm is NOT a rifle but a pistol.
January 5, 2011 8:32 PMAnonymous said...
BDN is saying there hearing rumors that El Lazca mightve been killed in the Nuevo Leon shootout today. Hopefully if this true it will bring down the Zetas drastically.
January 5, 2011 9:37 PMAnonymous said...
This guy won't survive prison, even in the US, which is fine by me. Hopefully, they will put him in general population with the rest of the gang banger trash.
January 5, 2011 10:16 PMAnonymous said...
@8:32pm
FN does indeed make a rifle called the ps-90 in 5.7x28.
January 6, 2011 12:59 AMAnonymous said...
Sub-human animals. Trash
January 6, 2011 6:26 AMTORRES7 said...
Prosecution against the Guns dealers that are caught volintarily or involuntarily contributing to the drug war in form from supplying weapons.
Involuntary manslaughter would do just fine. I would like to know what would happen to those greedy gun dealers if the over 500 killed cops would be US cops.
But since they are only mexican cops, federal agents, soldiers, mayors and governours, WHO CARES!!!!ooops
Please pardon my sarcasm.
January 6, 2011 7:57 AMAnonymous said...
@TORRRES7-What, you think those Mexican cops, agents, soldiers, mayors and "governours" were all innocent "palomitas blancas'? They were corrupt and/or involved in criminal activities so hell yes, WHO CARES!!!!!!
January 6, 2011 9:24 AMAnonymous said...
Someone here mentioned that this guy will be killed when released. I don't think so. He'll be killed the minuted he goes into prison.
January 6, 2011 9:59 AMAnonymous said...
"In total, 18 Mexican law enforcement officers and civilians died using firearms purchased from this U.S. gun store.
Supposition, and hyperbole."
Really? Last that I checked, ballistic evidence is pretty accurate and these are guns that were directly traced back to Carter's.
Facts are facts. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they are "supposition and hyperbole"
....and Layla, you have the best, most intelligent comment of the day....
January 6, 2011 11:29 AMTORRES7 said...
Palomitas blancas o negras, it doesn't matter. It remains a c o n t r i b u t i o n to the ongoing NARCO war.
And oh. there are no bad cops in the US I forgot, the US has only good cops and no one there is corrupt. There isn't any corruption there. All evil comes from across the border of course how could I forget.
January 6, 2011 1:17 PMLayla2 said...
@ Torres7
Those of us in America should care...and I hope do care..about the killing of honest law enforcement, mayors, and other officials in Mexico. It doesn't matter what gun was used, in the end, the person is still dead.
And what is the goal? To kill as many officials as possible who cannot be bought?
As for guns coming from the US, we need to check and recheck these gunshops records--like the FDA stops in and checks restaurants--to catch as many stwaw purchases as possible. That is our governments responsibility. Time to own up to it and prosecute individuals and businesses who participate. Hiding behind the NRA on this point would be misleading at best...
January 8, 2011 11:13 AMAnonymous said...
fuck . if the cartels don't bring the drugs in the u.s. the mexican government will. so its a lose lose situation. everyone has got to make their money somehow! even the u.s government
January 30, 2011 11:25 AMAnonymous said...
WHY THE FUCK YOU GUYS PUBLISH THIS WHY THE FUCK YOU GUYS EVEN TELL HIS NAME ? if this is true it would be stupid to let this be known.
February 7, 2011 9:53 PMU.S. Government: Hamas, Hezbollah Collaborating with Mexican Drug Cartels
Editor’s note: Of course, this is utter nonsense. The CIA — in collaboration with Wall Street banks and the Pentagon, is behind the Mexican drug cartels — not Muslims. “The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, as is by now well-known by anyone who has cared to be informed, has long been deeply involved in the international trafficking of the addictive drugs heroin and (since the early 1980s, if not earlier) cocaine, the enormous profits from which have financed, and continue to finance, both U.S. covert operations and the U.S. military (via payments to Pentagon contractors).” — The CIA
America’s Premier International Terrorist Organization.Mexican Drug Cartels & Islamic Radicals Working Together
J. Jesús Esquivel
Proceso
July 16, 2008
According to a U.S. government intelligence report obtained by Proceso, Hamas, Hezbollah and other radical Islamic groups have become associates of the Mexican drug trafficking cartels: they are furnishing them weapons and helping them to distribute drugs in Europe and the Middle East. Ahead of time, DEA and Justice Department officials told this weekly that “in coming days” they will conduct an operation in the border area shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay – where the radical Islamic groups have settled – that will show their ties with the Mexican drug traffickers.
Washington – Islamic terrorist groups are selling arms to Mexican drug trafficking cartels and collaborating with them in order to distribute narcotics in Europe and the Middle East.
This is one of the conclusions in the report titled “Accomplishments, Fiscal Year 2007,” done by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Information from intelligence and investigations on narcoterrorism that we have carried out identifies ties between Mexican narcotics traffickers, [and] those of the Philippines and Colombia, with elements belonging to foreign organizations designated as terrorists by the [U.S.] Department of State,” the NDIC document indicates. Based on information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the NDIC document emphasized: “The results of 74 investigations of narcoterrorism that have been carried out by the Special Operations Division of the DEA document that Islamic groups present on the common border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay launder money, sell arms and traffic drugs of the main Mexican criminal organizations.”
Narcoterrorism
The document indicates that the majority of the Islamic groups represented in South America are tied to the Palestinians, and that they use their earnings gained from relationship with narcotics traffickers from Mexico and the rest of Latin America to finance their causes.
It identifies the groups Hezbollah, Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Front, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine as the Arab associates of narcotrafficking cartels from Mexico.
“Groups like Hezbollah and Hamas,” it states, “have trafficked large amounts of heroin and cocaine in Europe and the Middle East sold to them by narcotics traffickers of Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.”
And it adds: “Furthermore, these terrorist groups have established multimillion [dollar] contracts in order to sell weapons to Mexican and Colombian narcotics traffickers,” that are commercialized by “criminal providers from Yemen, Kuwait, Syria, Argentina, Brazil and Bulgaria.”
A NDIC official told Proceso, regarding the contents of the intelligence document: “In the last five or six years the drug cartels of Mexico have been positioned as the most powerful criminal organizations of Latin America. And since they now have an intercontinental reach in the transfer of narcotics, the Middle Eastern terrorist groups have not wanted to lose the opportunity to [make] money from them.”
“There is a great deal of talk about weapons used by the main cartels of Mexico coming from the United States, but what is seldom mentioned is that many of these, seized from narcotics traffickers by Mexican authorities, are made in Europe or the Middle East and that they are the type used by Islamic groups that support the Palestinian cause,” the NDIC official who asked for anonymity as his comments referred to an intelligence document that has not been declassified said.
That document notes: “A link of cooperation between Mexico’s organized crime and southern Philippines area drug traffickers, and elements of the terrorist organizations Adu Sayyaf and Jamayah Islamiyah, was also identified.”
The NDIC document does not identify the Mexican drug trafficking cartels related with the radical Islamic groups directly or indirectly. However, a Justice Department official consulted by this weekly said that it would deal with the Gulf, Sinaloa, [and] Arellano Félix cartels, as well as The Zetas. A DEA spokesman confirmed for Proceso that it deals with “three or four main cartels” that operate in Mexican territory.
“Right now we cannot name them (the cartels), because in coming days we will conduct an operation in South America (on the common border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay) against Hezbollah due to its relationship with South American and Mexican narcotics traffickers,” said the DEA spokesman who also asked for anonymity due to this being an ongoing investigation.
Words to the wise
Since the 1970s, U.S. agencies began to warn that Islamic groups established in South America were dedicated to arms trafficking in the area. However, in the past five years Mexican drug traffickers have become their main clients.
“The most notable change is that now the Islamic groups located in South America work as drug distributors in Europe and the Middle East for the Mexican narcotics traffickers. Moreover, we have information that Mexico’s cartels pay [for] arms that the terrorist groups sell with drugs (heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine),” said the DEA spokesman.
On January 30, 2006, Michael Brown, chief of operations of the Federal Antidrug Agency, told the Western Hemisphere Affairs subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives that since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, federal agencies [have] intensified their investigations into the presence of Islamic terrorist groups in South America, and that as a result they discovered that they had ties with the narcotrafficking organizations in the region.
Brown explained that the Islamic groups earn large amounts from this, and he gave examples: “An investment of US$6,000.00, to buy a kilogram of cocaine from Mexican or Colombian drug traffickers, could yield a minimum profit of US$30,000.00 from the sale of this drug in Spain (…), US$110,000.00 in Hungary or Israel, and up to US$150,000.00 in Saudi Arabia.”
Other intelligence documents from the Department of Justice, copies of which Proceso also obtained, show that Mexican narcotics traffickers made their first contacts with Islamic radical groups, like Hezbollah, at the beginning of this decade, this through the intermediation of Colombian, Brazilian [and] Peruvian drug dealers, as well as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
“The tripartite border (of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) is used as the central point for the trafficking of cocaine that is taken to Europe and other regions of the world. Groups like Hezbollah and Hamas are getting huge amounts of money from the drugs sold to them mainly by the Mexican narcotics dealers,” according to one of the documents from the Department of Justice, dated May 9, 2006.
With respect to the weapons that the Islamic groups sell to the Mexican narcotics traffickers, the NDIC intelligence report shows that these come from the Middle East and Europe. They first arrive in South America. Subsequently, the “criminal contacts of the Islamic groups” and “their Lebanese agents” – who are found throughout the continent, but with “ample concentration in Central America” – transport them to Mexico by “air, land and sea.”
“They sell them all kinds of weapons, from the most elementary to equipment to shoot down helicopters or destroy tanks (…) like those that Hezbollah or Hamas use in order to attack the Israeli Army in the Occupied Territories of Palestine or in Lebanon,” the document indicates.
“We also have evidence that Central American gangs, like the Mara Salvatrucha of El Salvador, are also collaborating with the Islamic terrorist groups in the transportation of weapons and munitions that have Mexico as their final destination,” stated the earlier mentioned Justice Department official. One of the documents from that U.S. government agency points out that the political atmosphere favoring leftists in South America, that tends to be at odds with the foreign policy of President George W. Bush, is exploited by groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that have found a kind of refuge on the common border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, as well as a center of transnational operations both to sell arms to Mexico and to traffic in drugs to Europe and Asia. For their part, according to said document, almost inadvertently Mexican drug traffickers [are] indirectly financing terrorist acts that radical Islamic groups commit against Israel.
“The operation against Hezbollah that we will make public in coming days will offer into evidence the clear relationship that exists between narcotics trafficking and the Islamic groups, but above all it will show Latin American governments the huge current criminal potential of organized crime organizations of the region. Particularly, it will show Mexican authorities that these (Islamic) organizations are a great threat to the national security of their country, the United States, and even some South American countries,” concluded the Justice Department official.
Ohio charity accused by US of Hamas ties disbands
By JOHN SEEWER | Associated Press – Mon, Jan 9, 2012TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A charity that the government suspected of having ties to the militant Islamic group Hamas has shut down but is still negotiating a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury over its frozen assets.
The filing made last week comes nearly six years after the Treasury Department essentially closed the charity's operation when it ordered U.S. banks to freeze the group's assets, saying it was funneling money to a terrorist organization.
The leaders of KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development in Toledo denied being connected to any terrorist group and sued the government after it refused to say why the charity's money was frozen.
The two sides are working to finalize a settlement in the case after reaching a preliminary agreement, according to court filings over the last few months. The government expects a deal to be completed by early July.
A federal judge sided with the charity in 2009, ruling that the government violated the Constitution because it did not tell the organization why it was freezing its assets or give it a chance to respond. The judge later told the government to halt the investigation because its actions could cause KindHearts to lose its attorneys and harm its reputation.
"KindHearts not only is blindfolded, but also has its hands tied behind its back," U.S. District Judge James Carr said in his ruling.
The government argued that the judge didn't have the authority to issue an order stopping the investigation.
Carr's ruling marked the first time a federal court has said the Treasury Department should get a judge's permission before putting a hold on an organization's funds under terror-financing laws.
KindHearts attorney Fritz Byers declined to comment Monday about the charity's decision to go out of business or a potential settlement in its lawsuit with the government.
The Treasury Department in 2006 said KindHearts was connected with the Hamas-affiliated Holy Land Foundation and the al-Qaida-affiliated Global Relief Foundation. KindHearts leaders have said it is a nonprofit charitable organization, providing up to $6 million a year in humanitarian aid to the world's poor.
BREAKING: Multiple Ranches In Laredo, TX Taken Over By Los Zetas [Update 4]
The bloodbath continues along our southern border and now word is coming in that Los Zetas, the highly trained killers formerly with the Gulf Cartel, have crossed into the United States and taken over at least two ranches in the Laredo, Texas area. I am receiving word that the owners of the ranches have evacuated without being harmed. The source is law enforcement in the area. (Update 4: August 10, 2010): Evidence has been released in the Los Zetas ranch seizure story) (Update 2 story is now 100% confirmed by second source within the Laredo Police Department) Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk tipped me off to this story and passes along the following information on the location. The ranches are said to be "near Mines Rd. and Minerales Annex Rd about 10 miles NW of I-35". Update 1 (Statement from Mr. Schwilk) I can personally vouch that this info came in late last night from a reliable police source inside the Laredo PD. There is currently a standoff between the unknown size Zeta forces and U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement on two ranches on our side of the Rio Grande. The source tells us he considers this an "act of war" and that the military is needed on the border now! Kimberly Dvorak at the Examiner has also confirmed the story (Update 3: For those doubting the confirmation, I stand firmly behind Kimberly, but I have put together more on the confirmation and why this story truly matters at: "Why The Los Zetas Ranch Story Matters - Confirmation And Why A Media Blackout?". There are three confirmed sources within law enforcement.) Whether it is lone members or squads is not certain. Anonymous sources in law enforcement in the Laredo area tonight have passed on word that US law enforcement agencies are in the area and are weighing their options regarding the ranches. The media has been silent on this incident and some law enforcement in the area say that they are furious that the media is not reporting the whole story of the continued violence along the border. Their frustrations are understandable because keeping the truth suppressed continues to hamper law enforcement from receiving the true support they need along the border. The ranch assaults come on the heels of attacks in Nuevo Laredo that shut the city down as a gun-battle raged in the streets. Los Zetas blocked off intersections with vehicles and used fragmentation grenades to attack Mexican law enforcement. In the end 12 were killed and 21 injured in the assaults. Citizens in the area were told to stay in their homes and bullets whizzed all around. Cypress Times The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo had posted warnings on its website hours before the gunfire was reported by Texas citizens, “We have received credible reports of widespread violence occurring now between narcotics-trafficking organizations and the Mexican army in Nuevo Laredo.” The U.S. Consulate went on to say, “The consulate confirmed that fragmentation grenades were used in the attacks and that suspected drug-gang members had blocked several roads, adding that it advised ‘all U.S. citizens in Nuevo Laredo to remain indoors until the security situation improves.’” US Citizens in Laredo called 911 after hearing gunfire and explosions just across the border. Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza deflected the concerns of citizens with what I see as utter contempt. He said there was no spillover violence onto the US side and "We were getting reports from people who live on the river's edge that they could hear gunfire and explosions from the Mexico side," Baeza said, "We didn't have any incidents on the American side. It's hard for people to understand who don't live here ... They're not Vikings, they're not going to invade us, it doesn't work that way." This was said just a day before the reported breaking news on the ranches being taken above. Violence has been on the rise along the border. In April 2010 a Border Patrol agent in Laredo shot and killed an lllegal alien drug smuggler near the Rio Grande Los ZetasThe Los Zetas are highly trained killers initially trained by United States Special Operations forces to combat the drug cartels within Mexico. As the drug war heated up the Zetas saw more money in working for the cartels and joined up with the Gulf Cartel.In March, 2010 there was a fracture between the Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel when a Zetas leader was said to have been assassinated by the Gulf Cartel. They demanded that the killer be turned over to them. When the Gulf Cartel refused the Zetas captured 16 Gulf Cartel members. Since March Los Zetas abandoned their stronghold in Reynosa and moved to Nuevo Laredo, just across from the border with Laredo, Texas. There are estimated to be over 1,000 Zeta members there. |
*
US Special Forces Trained “Zeta” Cartel That Terrorises Mexico
1211 2010US-trained cartel terrorises Mexico | |||||
Founders of the Zetas drug gang learned special forces techniques at Ft. Bragg before waging a campaign of carnage. Chris Arsenault Last Modified: 28 Oct 2010 13:38 GMT | |||||
It was a brutal massacre even by the gruesome standards of Mexico’s drug war: 72 migrant workers gunned down by the “Zetas” – arguably the country’s most violent cartel - and left rotting in a pile outside a ranch in Tamaulipas state near the US border in late August. The Zetas have a fearsome reputation, but the real surprise comes not in their ruthless use of violence, but in the origins of where they learned the tricks of their bloody trade. Some of the cartel’s initial members were elite Mexican troops, trained in the early 1990s by America’s 7th Special Forces Group or “snake eaters” at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, a former US special operations commander has told Al Jazeera. “They were given map reading courses, communications, standard special forces training, light to heavy weapons, machine guns and automatic weapons,” says Craig Deare, the former special forces commander who is now a professor at the US National Defence University. “I had some visibility on what was happening, because this [issue] was related to things I was doing in the Pentagon in the 1990s,” Deare, who also served as country director in the office of the US Secretary of Defence, says.
The Mexican personnel who received US training and later formed the Zetas came from the Airmobile Special Forces Group (GAFE), which is considered an elite division of the Mexican military. Their US training was designed to prepare them for counter-insurgency and, ironically, counter-narcotics operations, although Deare says they were not taught the most advanced commando techniques available at Ft. Bragg. Military forces from around the world train at Ft. Bragg, so there is nothing unique about Mexican operatives learning counter-insurgency tactics at the facility. However, critics say the specific skills learned by the Zetas primed them for careers as contract killers and drug dealers. “The Zetas definitely have the reputation of being the most dangerous, the most vicious, the most renegade of the cartels,” says Kristen Bricker, a Mexico-based research associate with the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). About 29,000 people have died since Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, declared war on the drug cartels in 2006. Extreme violence The group has mounted the severed heads of its victims on pikes in urban areas, posted torture and execution videos on the internet, forced poor migrants into prostitution and massacred college students during house parties. “Other cartels have accused them of not following the ‘gentlemen’s code’ of drug trafficking and causing undue violence,” Bricker told Al Jazeera. “At one time, it was considered bad form to kill pregnant women, but not any more.” For safety concerns, Bricker didn’t want to say where she lives in Mexico. Deare estimates “probably more than 500″ GAFE personnel received special forces training. He is unsure exactly how long the programme lasted. The Zetas came to the attention of Mexico’s Attorney General’s office in 1999. After US training, GAFE operatives defected from the Mexican military to become hired guns, providing security to the Gulf cartel, a well established trafficking organisation, according to Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas program of the International Relations Center. “They split from the Gulf cartel and formed as a cartel in their own right,” Carlsen, based in Mexico City, told Al Jazeera. The Zetas’ alleged current leaders, Heriberto Lazcano, known as Z-3 and Miguel Trevino, or Z-40, were first recruited by Osiel Cardenas, the now-jailed leader of the Gulf cartel. The name “Zetas” originates from the radio code “Z” used by top military commanders in Mexico. But unlike Zorro, the Mexican outlaw hero who also used the “Z” alias, Los Zetas steal from everyone, not just the rich. And they certainly don’t give much back to the poor, except the corpses of their relatives. “They are just known for being a different kind of human being,” says Bricker. Frequent defections The number of initial defectors from GAFE is thought to be somewhere between 30 and 200, but “the exact number is unclear”, says Deare. However, the possibility of defections should not have come as a surprise to US trainers. The Mexican state “does not pay soldiers enough” Deare says. “I am not saying they [the government] have to pay as much as the cartels, but they [security forces] must be paid decently if they aren’t going to be susceptible to corruption.” The GAFE’s desertion rate of an estimated 25 per cent is high, even by the low standards of Mexico’s security forces. Between 2000 and 2005 more than 1,300 of the elite troops defected, La Journada newspaper reported.
“The US really needs to examine their vetting procedures and manuals to see why so many people who they train do so many terrible things when they go back home,” Bricker said. But just blaming Uncle Sam for the rise of the Zetas and increasing drug violence is too simplistic, says Bricker. “It wasn’t just US training. The GAFE were also trained by the Kaibiles of Guatemala, a notoriously brutal special operations force from that country’s dirty war in the 1980s,” said Bricker. And even without special training for cartels, there is little trust that Mexican security forces can deal with the drug trade. In May 2006, “La Barbie” a leader of the rival Sinaloa cartel, took out a full page advert in a Mexico City daily newspaper, to allege that Mexican police were protecting the Zetas. For their part, the Zetas have long complained that the Sinaloa cartel enjoys police protection. Despite debacles surrounding the Zetas and increasing violence, Deare – who physically resembles the tough but fair minded under-secretary of defence played by Harrison Ford in the fictional drug war thriller Clear and Present Danger – thinks Mexico needs more, not less, US involvement. America has pledged some $1.3bn to assist Mexico in the drug war through the 2007 Merida initiative, but much of that cash hasn’t been spent because it has been stalled in Congress, Deare says. Ulterior motives Other analysts are critical of the initiative because it allows the US to “meddle” in Mexico’s affairs and has not garnered the desired results. “For citizens here, Merida causes two great concerns: it raises questions of national sovereignty and there is a lot of fear that under the cover of the drug war there will be increasing attacks on grassroots movements,” says Carlsen. GAFE, for example, was established in 1994 to fight Zapatista rebels in southern Mexico, La Journada reported. The Zapatistas, a poorly armed primarily indigenous militia, rose up against the Mexican government on January 1, 1994, the same day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect between the US, Canada and Mexico. The Zapatistas called NAFTA a “death sentence”, in part, because the agreement would allow subsidised US crops to enter the Mexican market, pushing small farmers off the land. After battling the insurgency, GAFE gained additional training and support from the US to fight the drug trade, a business which arguably benefited more than any other from NAFTA. Relaxed borders increased trade flows in many goods, illegal drugs in particular, and rural displacement swelled the ranks of unemployed young men eager to make quick cash by any means necessary. Valued between $19bn and $40bn dollars on a yearly basis – exact figures aren’t available for obvious reasons- the drug trade has massive power as a corrupting influence. And despite 50,000 Mexican troops fighting the cartels, despite the mangled bodies and US assurances of support, Bricker speaks for all three analysts from divergent political outlooks when she states: “No one has been able to present any evidence that the Mexican government is winning this war.” And, if winning the war on drugs is the goal, training the most violent cartel probably isn’t a great start. This is the first in a two part series examining the issues behind Mexico’s drug violence.Follow Chris Arsenault On Twitter: @AJEchris |
*ADVERTISEMENT
Share this:
« Deleting the Holodomor: Ukraine Unmakes ItselfPM Gilani’s Office Pushing Sale of 70,000 Acres of Baloch Coastal Land to Arab Billionaires »
Actions
Information
- Date : November 12, 2010
- Tags: state terrorism
- Categories : image of the beast, The Most Moral Army In the World?
04-30-2009#1
Dragunov 
Senior Member
Join Date
Aug 2006Location
MexikoAge
26Posts
3,877Mexican Federal police arrest Zeta Cartel leader on most-wanted list (+pics)
By ISTRA PACHECO, Associated Press Writer Istra Pacheco, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 58 mins ago
MEXICO CITY – Mexican police on Wednesday arrested suspected Zeta gang leader Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, one of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug traffickers.
Sauceda Gamboa appears on a list of 24 alleged drug traffickers published by prosecutors in March. Authorities have offered rewards of up to $2.1 million for each suspect. Together with a list of 13 lower-ranking drug suspects, the group covers Mexico's most powerful cartel operators.
With Sauceda Gamboa's arrest Wednesday at a home in the border city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, authorities have arrested five of the 37 whose names appeared on the lists.
Sauceda Gamboa, 44, was a former investigative police officer who played a founding role in the Gulf cartel starting in 1996, federal police said.
"Because of his violent character, he was assigned ... to fight off the (rival) Pacific cartel," said Assistant Public Safety Secretary Gen. Javier del Real Magallanes.
The Public Safety Department said the raid on the home was the result of intelligence work and tips.
In a reflection of the current swine flu epidemic sweeping Mexico, Sauceda Gamboa was wearing a surgical mask as he was paraded before reporters by police, who also were wearing the masks in addition to the black ski-masks they normally use to hide their identities.
Authorities said Wednesday they also seized five rifles and more than 4,500 rounds of ammunition in the raid, and detained a woman believed to be Sauceda Gamboa's wife, along with another man.
Sauceda Gamboa helped the Gulf cartel move an average of 10 tons of cocaine and 30 tons of marijuana across the border each month, and briefly headed the gang, police said, although they acknowledged his personal involvement in the operation had declined in recent years.
The Zetas are a violent drug gang based in the states along Mexico's Gulf coast, and have been involved in many of the killings that have taken more than 10,650 lives since 2006.
WND EXCLUSIVE
CITE OBAMA WITH CONTEMPT, LAWYERS URGE
Refusal to follow subpoena 'no less than declaration of total dictatorial authority'
Published: 11 hours ago
by BOB UNRUHEmail | ArchiveBob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after spending nearly three decades writing on a wide range of issues for several Upper Midwest newspapers and the Associated Press. Sports, tornadoes, homicidal survivalists, and legislative battles all fell within his bailiwick. His scenic photography has been used commercially, and he sometimes plays in a church worship band.More ↓
Subscribe to author feed- inShare6
- Text smaller
- Text bigger
A Georgia resident contending Barack Obama is ineligible for the state’s 2012 presidential election ballot is asking that a court cite him with contempt.
In a motion filed in the case pending before Georgia Administrative Law Judge Michael Malihi, attorney Van Irion, representing David P. Weldon, urged the court not to overlook the fact that Obama had been subpoenaed for last week’s hearing. Obama’s attorney, he pointed out, acknowledged the subpoena by asking that it be quashed. But when the judge refused his request, he but told a state elections official he would not participate.
“Plaintiff Weldon moves this court to refer an order for contempt to the Superior Court for confirmation that defendant Obama is in contempt of court,” the motions says. “Grounds for this motion are that defendant Obama willfully defied this court’s order to appear and testify during this court’s hearing of January 26.”
The motion explains that when Malihi refused to quash the subpoena, Obama and his attorney, Michael Jablonski, “requested that the Secretary of State [Brian Kemp] halt the proceedings. … The letter ended with a statement that the defendant and his attorney would suspend all further participation in the proceedings of this court pending response.”
Discover what the Constitution’s reference to “natural born citizen” means and whether Barack Obama qualifies, in the ebook version of “Where’s the REAL Birth Certificate?”
But after Kemp confirmed later that day that the hearing would continue and said that failing to participate “would be at the defendant’s peril,” Obama and his lawyer still refused to attend.
The letter from Obama’s lawyer to the state official, “coupled with the defendant’s willful refusal to comply with an order of this court, represent a direct threat to the rule of law,” the motion says. “The … actions represent a direct threat to the entire judicial branch and the separation of powers.”
Willfully ignoring a court subpoena is “unprecedented,” Irion writes. “While past presidents have litigated against subpoenas, in every case those presidents acknowledged and respected the authority of the judicial branch. … In the instant case the defendant did not appeal to a higher court, and instead instructed the Secretary of State that he would not participate. … When the Secretary of State refused to act in an unlawful manner the defendant ignored the Secretary of State, violated an order of this court, and apparently instructed his attorney to act in a manner that violates the professional rules of conduct of this state.”
Obama’s action, he says, “amounts to no less than a declaration of total dictatorial authority. Such declaration cannot go without response from this court. Failure to respond to the defendant’s contumacious conduct would amount to an admission that this court and the judicial branch as a whole do not have the authority granted to them under articles III and IV of the Constitution.”
Irion, representing Weldon, and several other attorneys argued before Malihi last week to have Obama’s name stricken from the Georgia state ballot.
The hearing was held on concerns raised by citizens of Georgia under a state law that allows voters to challenge the eligibility of candidates on the state’s ballot. It is the states that run elections in the U.S., and national elections are just a compilation of the results of the 50 state elections.
The state law requires “every candidate for federal” office who is certified by the state executive committees of a political party or who files a notice of candidacy “shall meet the constitutional and statutory qualifications for holding the office being sought.”
State law also grants the secretary of state and any “elector who is eligible to vote for a candidate” in the state the authority to raise a challenge to a candidate’s qualifications, the judge determined.
Citizens raising concerns include David Farrar, Leah Lax, Thomas Malaren and Laurie Roth, represented by Orly Taitz; David Weldon represented by attorney Van R. Irion of Liberty Legal Foundation; and Carl Swensson and Kevin Richard Powell, represented by J. Mark Hatfield. Cody Judy is raising a challenge because he also wants to be on the ballot.
The controversy over Obama’s eligibility dates to before his election in 2008. Some contend he was not born in Hawaii and that the birth documentation the White House released in April is a forgery.
Others say it doesn’t matter where he was born, as his father never was a U.S. citizen.
The Constitution requires presidents to be “natural-born citizens,” and experts say that the Founders regarded it as the offspring of two U.S. citizens.
Jablonski had asked Malihi to quash the subpoena, requested by Taitz. When the judge refused, Jablonski wrote to Kemp.
The attorney told Kemp that “serious problems” had developed in the hearings “pending before the Office of State Administration Hearings.”
Jablonski said, “At issue in these hearings are challenges that allege that President Obama is not eligible to hold or run for re-election to his office, on the now wholly discredited theory that he does not meet the citizenship requirements.”
He said the judge had “exercised no control” over the proceeding.
“It threatens to degenerate into a pure forum for political posturing to the detriment of the reputation of the state and your office. Rather than bring this matter to a rapid conclusion, the ALJ has insisted on agreeing to a day of hearings, and on the full participation of the president in his capacity as a candidate,” Jablonski wrote.
Kemp said the hearing, however, was in line with Georgia law, and he would be reviewing Malihi’s recommendations in the case.
He also had a warning about the cost of not showing up for a court hearing.
“Anything you and your client place in the record in response to the challenge will be beneficial to my review of the initial decision; however, if you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the OSAH proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.”
Top constitutional expert Herb Titus contends that a “natural-born citizen” is born of parents who were U.S. citizens at the time of the birth. The argument also is supported by a 19th-century U.S. Supreme Court decision, Minor vs. Happersett in 1875. The case includes one of very few references in the nation’s archives that addresses the definition of “natural-born citizen.”
That case states: “The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners.”
An extensive analysis of the issue was conducted by Titus, who has taught constitutional law, common law and other subjects for 30 years at five different American Bar Association-approved law schools. He also was the founding dean of the College of Law at Regent University, a trial attorney and special assistant U.S. attorney in the Department of Justice.
“‘Natural born citizen’ in relation to the office of president, and whether someone is eligible, was in the Constitution from the very beginning,” he said. “Another way of putting it; there is a law of the nature of citizenship. If you are a natural born citizen, you are a citizen according to the law of nature, not according to any positive statement in a Constitution or in a statute, but because of the very nature of your birth and the very nature of nations.”
If you “go back and look at what the law of nature would be or would require … that’s precisely what a natural born citizen is …. is one who is born to a father and mother each of whom is a citizen of the U.S. or whatever other country,” he said.
“Now what we’ve learned from the Hawaii birth certificate is that Mr. Obama’s father was not a citizen of the United States. His mother was, but he doesn’t qualify as a natural born citizen for the office of president.”
In an extensive proposal regarding what the judge’s determination should include, Irion wrote that because of Obama’s failure to meet the understood meaning of “natural born citizen,” and the fact he “presented no argument on the substance of the issue at hand,” he should be determined to be ineligible.
Irion’s proposal said Obama should have had the entire burden of proof in the case, because “the Supreme Court of Georgia has clearly established that it is the affirmative obligation of a candidate to establish his qualifications for office, and that the burden is not upon the challenger.”
His suggestions said while the Democratic Party of Georgia has a right to determine its membership, that right coexists with the state’s right to govern.
“The party is free to submit any name as their next presidential candidate. However, Georgia is not required to accept such submissions and waste taxpayer money on ballots where such candidates are clearly not qualified to hold the office sought.”
He also pointed out that voters do not have the authority to waive constitutional requirements.
“Constitutionally protected rights are held inviolate regardless of the majority’s desire to violate them. Without such protections, any law could be enacted simply because it becomes popular. …. Congress could legalize the killing of all Jews, for example, as was done in World War II Germany. Constitutional requirements are absolute, and must be followed regardless of how popular or unpopular such requirements may be.
“Defendant’s presumption that popular vote overrides the Constitution runs contrary to the Constitution.”
In Taitz’ proposal to the judge, she raised concerns about elections fraud, evidence of forgery in the birth certificate image, Social Security fraud and the use of multiple last names
“Plaintiffs assert that based on law and fact, Obama is not eligible to be on the ballot in the state of Georgia as a presidential candidate and such finding should be forwarded to the secretary of state of Georgia,” she wrote.
She said the contempt “exhibited by the defendant … is so egregious that it warrants forwarding of the evidence and findings … to the attorney general of Georgia for criminal prosecution.”
“It is common knowledge and described at length in defendant Obama’s memoirs, such as ‘Dreams from my Father,’ that Obama’s father was a foreigner. Obama senior was a foreign exchange student who resided in the U.S. for a couple of years while he got his education and he returned to his native Kenya. At the time of Obama’s birth, his father, who came from Mombasa, Zanzibar region of Kenya, was a British ‘protected person’. Obama automatically inherited his father’s British citizenship upon the British Nationality act of 1948. Upon the declaration of the independence of Kenya on December 11, 1963, Barack Obama automatically received his Kenyan citizenship on December 12, 1963.”
WND EXCLUSIVE
BANKING GIANT ACCUSED OF LAUNDERING BILLIONS
Ex-employee in New York has 1,000 pages of customer account records
Published: 12 hours ago
by JEROME R. CORSIEmail | ArchiveJerome R. Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D., has authored many books, including No. 1 N.Y. Times best-sellers "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command." Along with serving as WND's senior staff reporter, Corsi is a senior managing director at Gilford Securities. Gilford Securities, founded in 1979, is a full-service boutique investment firm headquartered in NYC providing financial services to institutional and retail clients, from investment banking and equity research to retirementMore ↓
Subscribe to author feed
NEW YORK – A former employee of HSBC in New York has 1,000 pages of customer account records he claims are evidence of an international money-laundering scheme involving hundreds of billions of dollars by the global banking giant, which reportedly is under investigation by a U.S. Senate committee.
John Cruz has delivered to WND customer account records he says he pulled from the HSBC computer system before he was fired. Cruz was terminated Feb. 17, 2010, after two years at HSBC for “poor performance,” but he contends he was let go because senior management didn’t want to him to pursue his personal investigation.
Asked for comment, HSBC spokesman Rob Sherman issued a statement to WND.
“We support efforts to protect the integrity of the financial system, and our commitment to AML (anti-money laundering) includes rigorous internal processes and a close working partnership with regulators and law enforcement,” the statement said.
One of the largest banks in the world, London-based HSBC has about 7,500 offices in more than 80 countries and territories in Europe, North and South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.
In his position as an account relationship manager, Cruz worked in the HSBC southern New York region, which accounts for about 50 percent of HSBC’s North American revenue. He was assigned to work with several branch managers to identify accounts in which HSBC might introduce additional banking services.
Cruz told WND he has “firsthand knowledge and proof of how HSBC transferred billions of dollars through accounts linked to companies that did not exist.”
“I had poor job performance because the portfolio of HSBC accounts I was given to work ended up being 90 percent fictitious and fraudulent accounts,” he said. “How could I expand HSBC bank relations with fraudulent accounts that were created to be used for illegal money laundering?”
Meanwhile, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has begun probing money-laundering activity at HSBC, according to a Reuters report last week, with the intention of scheduling hearings in the spring.
Elise Bean, chief legal counsel and majority staff director for the Senate subcommittee, told WND the panel has “no comment” on any possible HSBC investigation.
Cruz came to WND with the 1,000 pages of evidence before the committee’s investigation of HSBC was reported.
He previously brought his complaint to Jeremy Scileppi, bureau chief of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office on Long Island.
“Scileppi was no more interested in hearing what I had to say than was the HSBC senior bank management,” Cruz said. “I got stonewalled. That’s when I decided to write a book.”
Titled “World Banking World Fraud: Using Your Identity,” the book was published Oct. 7, 2011.
Scileppi and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office did not respond to a WND request to confirm Cruz’s claim.
Cruz said that in the two years he worked for HSBC, he eventually discovered that money laundering was being carried out not only by branch managers but also by senior officers of the bank, both within the U.S. and internationally.
“From what I saw, I came to suspect HSBC had become the Mexican drug cartels’ bank of choice,” he said.
The customer account records suggest identity theft was used to capture legitimate Social Security numbers and create bogus retail and commercial bank accounts through which HSBC employees could deposit and withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars on a daily basis, apparently without the knowledge of the identity-theft victims.
Cruz said he ultimately was fired after his supervisors made numerous attempts to discourage him from pursuing his personal investigation.
“When I began bringing to the attention of my supervisors suspicious activity in accounts that needed to be reported to legal authorities, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I was told to shut up,” he said.
His job required him to access the HSBC computer system to find accounts to contact and visit in person.
“I was shocked to find accounts through which millions of dollars were being deposited and withdrawn without any apparent business activity being conducted,” he said. “Then when I went to visit the business, I found nothing – shell companies, vacant offices with no furniture, or no such business whatsoever at the address listed on the account records.”
Cruz said he never imagined that keeping his job at HSBC would mean turning a blind eye to criminal behavior.
“I always thought that if you ran a bank, you would keep away from customers with fake names,” he said. “Instead, what I found at HSBC were thousands of accounts established for phantom businesses that had apparently only thousands of dollars of claimed business each year, but millions of dollars flowing into and out of the accounts every month.”
One of Cruz’s first calls on an HSBC customer required a drive east on the Long Island Expressway to visit a small insurance company. But the phone number turned out to be disconnected, and the tax ID number corresponded with another HSBC customer from Yonkers who had recently closed his account with the bank.
Another business Cruz visited, near the Brentwood Station on the Long Island Rail Way off Suffolk Avenue, turned out to be an abandoned building that evidently had not been occupied in some time. It had broken windows, and weeds pushed up through the cracked cement in the parking lot.
WND has contacted HSBC customers identified in the account records. They appeared to fall into several distinct categories, including former customers of the bank who claim to have closed their accounts and people with no HSBC account history who were independently victims of identity theft related to credit card use.
In all cases WND investigated, the Social Security numbers used to open the HSBC accounts were legitimate and connected to the person in whose name the retail or commercial bank account was opened.
In most cases, WND found the phone numbers listed with the HSBC accounts to be disconnected or assigned to new users who claimed no knowledge of the accounts.
Showing 10 of 19 comments
overhead440
The corrupt know no bounds and as is always true the lie is hidden as deep as possible and always comes along a light that shines upon it...
The question is will that light be dimmed by those who are responsible to put an end to it or would it be allowed to shine brighter??? Will it continue by the corruption of a materialistic life as are most???
johndave
Argh.
Rick Marino
Retired LAPD narcotics investigator Mike Ruppert notes 6 of the 7
Deputy/Deputy Directors of the CIA were previously engaged in Wall Street as brokers
and/or legal counsel. Ruppert notes the CIA was formed under the National
Security Act in 1947. Clark Clifford formulated the design and intent of the
CIA under the direction of the Dulles brothers, John Foster Dulles and Allen
Dulles. Ruppert notes the Dulles were both Wall Street lawyers. JF Dulles was previously Eisenhower's
Secretary of State. Allen Dulles was
the Director of CIA ’53 to ’61, until he was fired by Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs fiasco. An interesting side note- President
Johnson appointed Allen Dulles onto the Warren Commission. Other highly visible
CIA officials include Bill Casey as
Director of CIA and Chairman of Security Exchange Commission. In a letter from
the US Attorney General William French Smith to the Bill Casey dated Feb 11,
1982, Smith notes no reporting of drug dealings within the CIA is required
UNLESS it involved a Case Officer for the CIA. All...
show more
jerome ennis, Conservative; Patriot; Veteran; Teacher/Counselor
And, we wonder why all the small banks in the USA are being gobbled up by Huge International Banks with help from the U.S. government that is Regulating Small Banks out of existence so that these International Banks which they represent, can pull off these schemes while drying up lending for small businesses in the USA. Does anybody truly think that the U.S. Senate would honestly audit these huge banks?? Of course not, the entire International Banking System is nothing but a Ponzi Scheme as well as a Money Laundering Scheme. And the Federal Reserve is the Granddaddy of them all.
adirondack_1
"Illegal money laundering" So there's a legal way to do it?
Rich Wojcik
don't see pro-FuBar Ack's statements here......where are the oafs?? ;)
BCohio
So now we Know Who is giving money to the Liberal Socialist Muslim Obama!, and his Thugs!... Keep Digging you will find the PATH TO THE White House!...
Bold
In a country that has set up systems to allow foreigners to piggy back on legitimate SSNs, why is anything a surprise?
Chicago Nick
Or accepting the President himself is using a hijacked number like so many in this country apparently don't seem to have a problem with but us "nuts" :(
hammondhank
Criminal banksters acting like criminal banksters?! No freakin' way?! Who'dda thunk THAT?! End sarcasm.
ACORN Co-Founder Exposes Possible AFL-CIO Scam
Thu Feb 02 2012 08:18
100% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.
0
Advertisement
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual union membership summary which, unsurprisingly revealed little change in the number of workers who belong to unions. [Total union membership went from 11.9% to 11.8%.]
Commenters across the web provided their take on the membership numbers with the Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk providing perhaps the best analysis as to why union membership keeps falling.
Deregulation and free trade have since made the economy more competitive, giving Americans more choices. Now Americans can buy from whomever offers the most value. Unfortunately for the union movement, that company is often nonunion.
One particularly interesting commentary on the BLS numbers was that from former co-founder of ACORN and ex-SEIU bigwig Wade Rathke, who opined that private-sector union membership might fall as low as 5% “unless something serious and drastic happens.”
Apparently, to Rathke, a National Labor Relations Board stacked with union lawyers bent on shaping the law to accommodate their employers and clients is not drastic enough; nor, apparently, is having a President of the United States giving away taxpayer money to subsidize unionized industries.
Notwithstanding Rathke’s ominous 5% prediction, that, however, was not the interesting part of his statement.
What was extremely interesting was the nut that Rathke dropped by implying the AFL-CIO may have misled, duped, or otherwise tricked people into joining its community organizing project calledWorking America and is using those fallacious numbers in reporting to the BLS.
Bureau of Labor Statistics announced another slight drop last year of union membership compared to the overall non-farm workforce from 11.9 to 11.8%. Steven Greenhouse in the Times reports that union membership is now 14,760,000. The public sector percentage was 37% and about 7,560,000 and the private sector percentage is now only 6.9% with about 7,200,000. Private sector membership is clearly heading towards 5%, unless something serious and drastic happens.
The numbers could have been worse. There is speculation that the AFL-CIO is claiming 3,000,000 members from its Working America unit as part of their membership totals, which would be wild, since these are “canvassed” members rather than “real” dues paying members in local unions around the country.
Then, there is this…
There are still scars on the ears of AFL-CIO staffers from 2008 who did phonebanking to the call list with that group and heard in no uncertain terms from many of these “members” that they had no idea they were part of a union?!?
If Rathke is accurate, and there’s no reason to believe otherwise, not only is the AFL-CIO using 3,000,000 non-dues paying members of a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO to pump up its numbers for the BLS—but many of these “members” did not know they are part of a “union.”
Now, one could wonder how people could be part of a union without knowing they’re part of a union. Well, one way could be to sucker sign up people who are interested in things like #OccupyWallSt and offer them a free bumper sticker:
Or, another way to dupe people into becoming a quasi-union member is to put it in very fine print—like the following language at the bottom of a webpage calling for action:
By participating in this campaign you become a member of Working America, a powerful voice for working people.
Of course, in 2008, there was no OccupyWallSt. However, there was a large push toward nationalization of the health care industry and, according to the Washington Times, Working America had set up a website called “Health Care Hustle.” However, with the exception of the small reference to the AFL-CIO in the logo, there is no indication that by joining Working America one would also be joining the AFL-CIO.
Given the disingenuousness of today’s union bosses, nothing should be all that surprising any more—except, however, to those who may have been duped into being part of the AFL-CIO without their realizing it.
__________________
“Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and preserve democracy.” Samuel Gompers, American Federation of Labor, 1918
THE AGE OF MEGA-DONORS
As 2008 was the year of the small donor contacted and engaged over the Internet, 2012 is set to be the year of the mega-donor. Millionaires, billionaires and their corporate entities are lining up to give $250,000 to $1 million, or more, to super PACs created to help their favored candidate or position. With the money that has already flooded into the Republican primary, super PACs have routinely outspent candidate campaigns on television advertising in the early-voting states.
In total, super PACs raised $96 million in 2011. Republican groups dominated the arms race. The top 10 Republican super PACs raised $65.6 million, compared to $20.5 million raised by the top 10 Democratic super PACs.
The most proficient fundraisers were the pro-Romney Restore Our Future and the Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads.
American Crossroads and its sister nonprofit Crossroads GPS announced a fundraising total of $51 million for 2011, of which only $18 million was disclosed by the super PAC American Crossroads. That leaves $33 million in contributions that went to Crossroads GPS, which is not required to disclose the source of its funds. Factor in that $33 million, and the disparity between Republican and Democratic outside groups rises to $98.6 million to $20.5 million.
The Crossroads combo predates the current electoral contest and has interests beyond electing a Republican president. Within the GOP primary race, the shift in power to super PACs began with the emergence of Restore Our Future, which is run by former Romney aides. The group operates in many ways like a party committee supporting a candidate in a general election. It buys negative ads, sends direct mail and runs phone banks to get out the vote. While unions have pursued such activities before in Democratic primaries, no operation run by an independent group at this level of spending has existed in previous primaries.
Restore Our Future announced on Tuesday that it had raised $30 million in 2011. It also said it had more cash on hand -- $23 million -- than the Romney campaign did at the end of the year.
The very wealthy have lined the pockets of Restore Our Future. Some 40 corporations accounted for a total of $5 million donated to the super PAC in the second half of 2011. The leading corporate donor in the last six months of the year was a health product company, Melaleuca, run by Frank VanderSloot, an Idaho-based Mormon businessman. Most of the super PAC's donations came from Romney's go-to donor base, individuals and companies operating in the finance sector, who accounted for at least $16 million in contributions.
Restore Our Future has used that money to pound Romney's opponents with a never-before-seen wave of negative ads. The group spent more than $16 million to bash Gingrich, Romney's top opponent, as an ethically challenged influence peddler who is unsure of his commitment to conservative principles.
Gingrich has a super PAC backing him, which has responded in kind -- albeit at a lower level of funding. Winning Our Future raised $2 million in contributions last year.
The Winning Our Future disclosure may have surprised many as it did not list the man thought to be its top donor. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is said to have given $10 million to the Gingrich super PAC, but that money was donated in January and will not appear in FEC disclosures until February.
Given Gingrich's own less-than-stellar fundraising so far, a supportive super PAC may be more important to him than it is to Romney. The same can be said of Santorum, who has raised very little cash for his campaign but has received the support of two super PACs, one of them funded by the other.
Super PACs backing Obama have largely fizzled on the fundraising front. The leading group, Priorities USA Action, picked up only $4.1 million in 2011. Fundraising may be difficult for these groups in part because Obama and Democrats have spent much time attacking the court decisions, most prominently Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that led to the explosion of outside money and super PACs.
Click to explore the fundraising for all presidential candidates:
Home > New Jersey Real-Time News > Essex County
Lee: Obama 'trampling' on Constitution with recess appointments
By Peter Schroeder - 02/01/12 11:08 AM ETSupport and outrage of the move has largely broken down along partisan lines, but Lee argued that his staunch opposition to the move was not based in party politics.
Obama to Announce Latest Vote-Buying Scheme
Swing State Shenanigansby JWF
02/01/2012
We've got a better idea than the president. How about just giving everybody a check for $100,000? Or maybe a million dollars? Why not? It’s about as realistic as this vote-buying scam. Even better: How about arranging a sweetheart mortgage deal like the one he got from his convicted felon buddy, Tony Rezko?
The Obama administration is trying to fix a stubborn drag on the economy by allowing all homeowners to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates even if they owe more than their homes are worth, tackling a difficult issue of vital concern in states key to President Barack Obama‘s re-election.
Key to his re-election. They're not even trying to hide it.
Can you imagine the media reaction if in 2004 George W. Bush came up with some scam in order to try and buy votes? But mark it down: The Republicans will be portrayed as Scrooges for opposing this obvious attempt at buying votes in swing states.
It says enough that the White House understands what shaky ground this failed president in on that they’re reduced to such an obvious scam.
Of course Obama needs the Congress to go along with this, so expect it to stall and the class warfare card to quickly be played.
The administration proposal faces a major hurdle in Congress. The program would be paid for by a fee on large banks. The administration has tried unsuccessfully before to win support for assessments on large banks.
Paid for by the banks with the tab passed on to customers, naturally.
This champion of the working class, meanwhile, played Mr. Populist last night at yet another big bucks fundraiser.
Speaking to an intimate crowd of donors who paid more than $35,000 per couple to attend the fundraiser, Obama acknowledged that many Americans have gone through "three years of really tough times."
Three years of this racket is more than enough, thank you very much.
JWF is a guest blogger for Human Events and the proprietor of Jammie Wearing Fools.
Mexican Drug Cartels Are Not Terrorists
October 26, 2011 - 11:39am | admin
By Robert Valencia
While a few U.S. politicians have long demanded that Mexico’s most bloodthirsty drug cartel, the Zetas, be named a terrorist organization, an alleged assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. on American soil by Iranian government agents allied with the Zetas has only intensified the issue.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested that Latin American drug cartels like The Zetas should be treated as terrorist organizations while Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) added that the Mexican cartels are seeking to use terrorist activities to “further their cause.” In February, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano already accused al-Qaida and Zetas of “joining forces” to attack the U.S.
But despite the alleged Iran-Zetas connection, having the U.S. State Department label the Zetas a terrorist organization solves nothing. The addition of the Zetas to that list won’t stop cartels from running the drug market nor from establishing international ties. Furthermore, unlike terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida, these cartels’ goals do not include attacking the U.S. The Zeta cartel’s motive is money, not ideology.
For years now, drug cartels have threatened the Mexican population and law enforcement. They’ve committed crimes against humanity like the Monterrey casino arson in September. They’ve also been responsible for a gruesome death count that ranges from 40,000 to upwards of 53,000. Yet labeling them as terrorist organizations won’t make a difference, and it could drag both countries into murky diplomatic waters because Mexico rejects any sort of U.S military intervention despite rampant violence. The Mexican government instead advocates for greater cooperation with the U.S. in order to curb drug trade and violence. President Felipe Calderón has repeatedly asked the United States to do more in addressing the demand side of the drug trade.
Georgetown University’s Center for Democracy and Civil Society has pointed out that a terrorist designation only works for government organizations or groups that diffuse propaganda or defend a religion—like al-Qaida or Hamas—or seek some type of international legitimacy like Colombia’s FARC does in South America and Europe in order to be recognized as a political movement. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen’s approach won’t deter Zetas and other Mexican drug cartels from controlling the drug market nor establishing international ties (such as the most recent connection of former Colombian army members who have been training Zetas members in command and intelligence operations), because they are running a successful mafia and are already subject to tough organized crime laws—including the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act that allows U.S. government to impose economic sanctions on drug trafficking organizations.
Unlike terrorist organizations like al-Qaida that are running into economic and manpower hardship due to asset forfeiture, the Zetas already profit from the multibillion-dollar drug industry; increasingly recruit common criminals and gang members to exert terror across Mexico and Central America; and also rake in the cash through human trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigrants who attempt to enter the U.S. have to pay as much as $30,000 per head while at the same time risking their own lives at the hands of Zetas members.
While direct involvement from the Iranian government with drug cartels seems shocking, Iran-sponsored terrorist organizations have already gained footing in Latin America. Hezbollah has been in the tripartite borders of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay since the mid-1980s, where they have established a safe haven for fundraising, money laundering, and other terrorist-oriented activities.
U.S. authorities have also thwarted several Hezbollah operations in Latin America, including a two-year investigation that led to the end of a Colombian cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring that financed the Lebanese Shiite militia in 2008. In July 2010, Jameel Nasr, a Hezbollah operative, was arrested in Mexico for attempting to establish connections between Lebanon-based commanders and South American crime organizations.
Still, many experts are not buying the so-called Quds-Zetas connection. Writer and journalist Sergio González Rodríguez believes that the way U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder framed the story is more of a plot by the U.S. intelligence to place political pressure on Mexico and impose military deployment on the border, which Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has already suggested. Others like author José Reveles and Autonomous University of Mexico professor Raúl Benitez say that Mexican drug cartelswould never attack the United States, because this could spark an unwanted military response from the White House.
U.S. intelligence consulting firms like Stratfor, meanwhile, question Holder’s accusation because such connection couldn’t have existed without us knowing. The CIA, FBI, and other agencies are deeply embedded in Latin America—particularly Mexico. The U.S. agencies cooperate in tandem with local authorities and informants to detect any anti-U.S. organizations on Latin American soil, and work to infiltrate dangerous drug rings. Instead of seeking alliances with visible Islamic organizations, Stratfor goes on, the Zetas prefer to focus on other challenges posed by other drug cartels that pursue to control the drug market and human trafficking at the border.
Certainly, the Mexican drug lords need no Iran or Islamic terrorist organizations to operate in the U.S. because the cartels have been present across the country for several years. Their burgeoning business and activities will not cease whether or not American legislators call them terrorists, but it could hurt U.S.-Mexico relations and risk any security cooperation if Congress contemplates the placement of U.S. troops into Mexican soil as Governor Perry has suggested.
*****
*****
Robert Valencia is a Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs and is a contributing writer for Global Voices. He also has a personal blog called My Humble Opinion.[Photo courtesy of Flickr user DrJohnBullas]
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2011
US Alleges Hezbollah-Zetas Drug, Money Laundering Nexus
The latest scare about Hezbollah’s links in Latin America comes in the form of charges against a Lebanese man who U.S. authorities say has ties to Hezbollah and to Mexico’s Zetas.
Ayman Joumaa, aka “Junior,” is accused of selling Colombian cocaine to the Mexican trafficking group and laundering money on their behalf, while using the profits to finance Hezbollah, a militant group based in Beirut.
According to the latest indictment, Joumaa and his partners sold 85 tons of cocaine to the Zetas between 2005-2007, which was later trafficked into the U.S., and laundered some $850 million in their profits for the group, some of it through the Lebanese Canadian Bank. The latest charges do not mention Hezbollah, though Joumaa was accused earlier this year by the Treasury of being part of a drug trafficking and money laundering ring which financed the group, reports ProPublica.
According to the indictment, Joumaa’s group would charge 8 to 14 percent for its money laundering services.
The story speaks to some of the U.S.’s worst fears about its enemies in the Middle East gaining ground in Latin America. ABC points out that
U.S. officials have long known about [Hezbollah] operating in South America’s tri-border area in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina where the group runs drugs and large scale counterfeiting networks, according to U.S. officials. In recent years there has been more recent concern about the group establishing a footprint in Central America.
Slate looks at the other side of the deal, pointing out that Lebanon would be a good place for the Zetas to launder money, as it has highly secretive banking regulations, while there is a large Lebanese community in Mexico, many with links to the bank sector.
The case is reminiscent of a supposed plot revealed by U.S. authorities in October, which involved a representative of the Iranian intelligence service making contact with people he thought were members of the Zetas, in order to order a hit against Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington. As with that case, which some commentatorsfound did not quite add up, it is worth treating with caution attempts to link Mexican trafficking groups to Muslim militants, which have often appeared to be more based on Washington’s fears than on evidence. An example of this is given by scaremongering statements from the Republican presidential hopefuls, as covered in earlier posts. Rick Perry, for example, warned in a recent debate that “Hamas and Hezbollah are working in Mexico, as well as Iran, with their ploy to come into the United States,” while Michelle Bachman has spoken out against alleged Hezbollah missile sites in Cuba.
However, U.S. officials were cautious about asserting direct links between the two groups in the latest case, pointing out that “It’s not like there’s a sit-down between the leaders of Hezbollah and the Zetas," as ProPublica reports.
The New York Times has a useful diagram showing the flows of money in the Lebanese Canadian Bank’s alleged money laundering operations.
News Briefs
- Two Mexican students were shot dead in a police crackdown on a protest that blocked a section of highway between the resort town Acapulco and Mexico City. The protesters were demanding improved facilities at a local teacher training college, but the situation escalated and a gas station was set on fire, triggering the violent response from the security forces, reports the LA Times blog. There has been controversy and recriminations between different branches of government over who is responsible for the tragic deaths. The federal government has placed the blame on Guerrero state police as being the ones who fired the deadly shots, and said there would be an investigation. Guerrero state Attorney General Alberto Lopez said that there were “outside elements” involved in the protest, and reported finding an AK-47 assault rifle and grenades at the site, reports the Washington Post. However, he was fired, along with the chief of the state police, hours after making those statements, by the state governor.
- Amnesty International has called on the Mexican government to launch a full investigation into the incident, noting that there is photographic evidence of police officers aiming automatic rifles at demonstrators.
- The U.S. Senate has blocked the appointment of Mari Carmen Aponte as ambassador to El Salvador. Aponte has been the subject of controversy, amid allegations that she had a relationship in the 1990s with a man accused of being an spy for the Cuban regime, while her support for gay rights in a recent op-ed was also reportedly a sticking point for Republicans. She has held the position of ambassador for over a year, after being appointed during a Senate recess, but now will have to leave at the end of this year. The Obama administration sharply criticized the vote, accusing the Republicans of playing politics, reports the Washington Post. Tim’s El Salvador Blog regretted the move, saying “It is truly a shame that ignorance, homophobia, and political partisanship got in the way of confirmation of the most qualified ambassador to serve in El Salvador in many years.”
- A Venezuelan court has ordered a two-year extension of the house arrest of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, who Human Rights Watch says is a political prisoner. She was detained in December 2009 after ordering the release of a banker accused of corruption, angering President Hugo Chavez.
- As former dictator Manuel Noriega returns to Panama to serve a jail term for crimes committed while in power, the New York Times asks whether the country’s economic boom has driven out the “old ghosts” of corruption and organized crime. Some commentators warn the country could be heading back to being a kleptocracy, while little has been done to alleviate rural poverty.
- The Wall Street Journal looks at the phenomenon of “Pablo Escobar tourism” in the kingpin’s hometown of Medellin, Colombia. The tours visit his grave, the house where he died, and some feature a talk with his brother Roberto. Their popularity with “20-something backpackers” poses a condundrum for Colombia and for Medellin, says the WSJ, as they have “worked hard to reduce violence and shed their image as a land of gun-wielding cocaine smugglers.“
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has launched new schemes to increase government aid to the elderly and to children, with the poorest families set to receive some $100 per month per child, while pensions will see $2 billion in spending next year. Luis Vicente Leon, of opposition polling firm Datanalisis, told the Washington Post that the handouts were linked to the elections coming up in October 2012; “We can expect a campaign underscored by money.”
- Three U.S. representatives have called on the government to investigate whether the Venezeulan consulate general in Miami was involved in “a potential cyber attack on the United States involving affiliates of the Iranian, Cuban, and Venezuelan regimes,” following reports in a documentary by Univision. The State Department said the reports were “very disturbing,” while Chavez said they were a lie, and were being used as an excuse to attack his country, reports El Universal.
- Chavez has been the subject of yet more controversy, with news that a figurine of the socialist leader features in a public nativity scene in Caracas. NPR reports that the president is standing close to the manger which contains the infant Christ, suggesting that he is one of the Three Wise Men. Simon Bolivar, 19th century independence hero and Chavez’s spiritual inspiration, also makes an appearance, as does a representation of a cable car that the president had built in Caracas.
- A group of 18 Cubans landed in Honduras after making a 10-day boat trip that was meant to take them to the U.S.
- El Faro looks at a project by New Yorker journalist Alma Guillermoprieto to build an online memorial to 72 migrants who were murdered by drug traffickers in Tamaulipas, Mexico, in August 2010, in circumstances that remain murky. Guillermoprieto’s online tribute has now been turned into a book, which features the stories of the 72 who died that day, some of whose identities remain unknown.
- The New York Times has been caught up in a debate about the use of the term “illegals” to describe undocumented immigrants, and says it will now update its style guide to recommend that the term be avoided.
Zulkifli Bin Hir, Southeast Asia's Most Wanted Terrorist, Reportedly Killed
HRVOJE HRANJSKI and JIM GOMEZ 02/ 2/12 08:36 AM ET 
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants Thursday in a U.S.-backed airstrike marking one of the region's biggest anti-terrorism successes in recent years.
The dawn strike targeting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, said military spokesman Col. Marcelo Burgos.
The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a U.S.-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in training new militants.
Also killed were the leader of the Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf militants, Umbra Jumdail, and a Singaporean leader in Jemaah Islamiyah, Abdullah Ali, who used the guerrilla name Muawiyah, Burgos said.
The strike significantly weakens a regional militant network that has relied on the restive southern Philippines – sometimes called Southeast Asia's Afghanistan – as a hideout, a headquarters for planning bombings and a base for training and recruitment.
Police recovered the bodies of the three militant leaders, and they were "positively identified by police and our intelligence informants at the site," Burgos told The Associated Press. "What I know is that they will be buried."
About 30 militants were at the camp near Parang town on Jolo Island, the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf and their allies from the mostly Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, when it was bombarded by two OV10 aircraft at 3 a.m., regional military commander Maj. Gen. Noel Coballes said.
"Our report is there were at least 15 killed, including their three leadership," he said. "This is a deliberate, fully planned attack coming from our forces."
The rest of the militants escaped and no one was captured after the attack, Coballes said.
However, two Philippine security officials with knowledge of the airstrike told the AP that Marwan's body was not found, contradicting Burgos' statement. They said it was not clear if it was because of the bombs' shattering impact on a house where Marwan was believed to be.
They said the body of Jumdail, also known as Dr. Abu Pula, was buried later Thursday. One of the officials said the dead included Jumdail's son, also an Abu Sayyaf fighter.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
American counterterrorism troops have helped ill-equipped Filipino troops track Marwan for years using satellite and drone surveillance. About 600 U.S. special forces troops have been deployed in the southern Philippines since 2002, providing crucial support for the Philippines' counterterrorism operations.
Pending confirmation, Marwan's death represents the most important success against regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah since the January 2011 arrest of Indonesian suspect Umar Patek in Pakistan's garrison town of Abbottabad, where Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando attack four months later.
Patek and Marwan allegedly collaborated with the Abu Sayyaf in training militants in bomb-making skills, seeking funding locally and abroad and plotting attacks, including against American troops in the southern Philippines.
Patek is believed to have traveled back to Indonesia then onward to Pakistan, leaving Marwan to take charge in the southern Philippines, military officials say.
Thursday's attack also represents a huge blow to the Abu Sayyaf's ability to recover from years of battle setbacks through fund raising and training of new militants.
During Thursday's attack, the Philippine air force dropped four bombs weighing 500 pounds (227 kilograms) each from two bomber planes, said Maj. Gen. Jose Villarete, head of the 3rd Air Division based at an air force base in Zamboanga city.
Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine group, is behind numerous ransom kidnappings, bomb attacks and beheadings that have terrorized the Philippines for more than two decades.
U.S.-backed Philippine offensives have been credited for the capture and killing of hundreds of Abu Sayyaf fighters and most top leaders since the 1990s. Jumdail, also known as Dr. Abu, had eluded troops in numerous offensives and emerged as a key figure in the radical movement.
Most recently, all three of the militant leaders were among the prime suspects in the kidnappings of three Red Cross workers from Switzerland, Italy and the Philippines in 2009. The hostages separately regained their freedom months later, reportedly after ransom payments.
The military estimates the strength of Abu Sayyaf militants at about 400. They are still considered a key threat to regional security.
They are believed to be holding a former Australian soldier who was kidnapped before Christmas as well as a Malaysian, a Japanese and an Indian.
On Wednesday, gunmen in nearby Tawi-Tawi island province snatched Dutch and Swiss tourists and officials said were attempting to move them to Jolo in an impoverished Muslim region 600 miles (950 kilometers) south of Manila.
___
Gomez contributed from Bangkok, Thailand. Associated Press writer Oliver Teves contributed from Manila, Philippines.
OBAMA-DEMOCRAT COFFER PLANNED PARENTHOOD EXPOSED TO TIES FOR SEX TRAFFICKING OF MINORS AND MISUSE OF FUNDS FOR SPOILING KOMEN DONATIONS MEANT FOR LOW-INCOME WOMEN NEEDING MAMMOGRAPHY SERVICES:
An Open Letter to Susan G. Komen Founder, Nancy Brinker
by Gerard Nadal, Ph.D. | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 2/2/12 11:18 AM
- Share
Dear Ms. Brinker,
As one who has been at odds with SGK over your organization’s funding of Planned Parenthood, I write today to offer you my heartfelt gratitude and congratulations for the principled and prudential position that you have taken in defunding Planned Parenthood.
Having lost many family members to cancer, and having several close friends experience the ravages of breast cancer, I’ve experienced this issue intimately and laud you for making good on your deathbed promise to your sister, Susan. You have done what so many researchers could only dream of.
In all of that focus on research, you have not forgotten the women of today who lack the means for appropriate breast screening utilizing state of the art mammography, and the need for younger women to be educated in prevention. Toward that end, it is my understanding that you and Planned Parenthood saw a shared mission and purpose in the field of women’s health where breast cancer screening and prevention were concerned.
Many of us heard of your largesse in funding breast screenings at Planned Parenthood, screenings which we were told included mammograms. Tragically, we have come to know that Planned Parenthood lied about performing mammograms, and in so doing took money from SGK that might have otherwise benefited women through mammography elsewhere, or through additional research.
Over the past few years, repeated sting operations have time and again caught Planned Parenthood acting with treachery:
Lying about performing mammograms.
Aiding in what they perceived to be the sex trafficking of minors.
Suborning lies from perceived minors to skirt reporting of statutory rape.
Lying about the developmental status of the baby they were about to abort.
And on, and on…
SGK’s February 1, 2012 statement of clarification speaks very clearly as to why the defunding took place:
We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized. It is necessary to set the record straight.
Starting in 2010, Komen began an initiative to help us do a better job of measuring the impact of community grants. This is important because we invest significant dollars in our local community programs–$93 million in 2011, which provided for 700,000 breast health screenings and diagnostic procedures.
Related Links
Following this review, we made the decision to implement stronger performance criteria for our grantees to minimize duplication and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women. To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.
Related Links
Some might argue that our standards are too exacting, but over the past three decades people have given us more than just their money. They have given us their trust and we take that responsibility very seriously.
We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Throughout our 30 year history, our priority has always been and will continue to be the women we serve. As we move forward, we are working to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for the women who need our support most in the fight against breast cancer.
Indeed your stringent criteria leave little room for organizations that are repeatedly caught in sting operations either lying to, or suborning lies from young people. Such criteria also no doubt would require an organization such as Planned Parenthood to actually perform the mammograms they claim to perform, or at the very least, set the record straight when others make such false claims on their behalf.
So now you are being assailed by Planned Parenthood and their devotees for being…
…what?
Anti-women’s health?
That’s a tough narrative to sell where SGK is concerned.
If the word circulating on the internet is true, Planned Parenthood has raised over $400,000 in response to your withdrawal of funding. This is indeed good news all around. Planned Parenthood has demonstrated repeatedly that when monies are withdrawn they have the capability of stepping up and doing the necessary fundraising to offset and replace the lost income. That is a cardinal sign of a strong and financially healthy organization. It means that SGK can give their support elsewhere, confident in knowing that Planned Parenthood can thrive without your support.
You have acted here with the highest integrity and moral courage. Your manifest integrity should serve as a beacon to corporations that currently fund Planned Parenthood, and who might fear the backlash and vilifying you have been receiving should they similarly redirect their money. I would encourage those corporations to fund real women’s health initiatives by funding Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Such a move would indemnify themselves against Planned Parenthood’s predictable allegation of hating women and not supporting women’s health. It would also increase your efficacy in accelerating the arrival of that day when this terrible scourge becomes a thing of the past. Perhaps corporations switching their support might in conjunction with SGK establish a program of purchasing and donating mammogram machines to areas of need, especially for low-income women.
For now, Ms. Brinker, my heartfelt congratulations and gratitude once again for your principled leadership in upholding your exacting standards with equally rigorous equanimity, regardless of the consequences. Through your principled leadership, many more women’s lives will be saved, and many more women made whole once again.
God Bless You,
Gerard M. Nadal, Ph.D.
Share this post:Protestants and Jews declare to White House: We stand with Catholics
December 22, 2011 by Emily HardmanProtestant and orthodox Jewish leaders join in opposition to HHS contraceptive mandate.
Today, more than 40 non-Catholic religious organizations including Protestant-affiliated colleges, National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the Family, Assemblies of God, Northwest Nazarene University, and Eastern Mennonite University, sent a letter to the White House demanding religious protection against the newly issued HHS contraceptive mandate.
“We write not in opposition to Catholic leaders and organizations. We write in solidarity.” Says the coalition letter. “Leaders of other faiths are also deeply troubled by and opposed to the mandate and the narrow exemption.”
In a letter sent December 21, 2011, the group expressed deep concern about the contraceptive provision in the Health and Human Services mandates, which includes the most narrow “religious employer” qualifications excluding protection of most-faith based organizations.
“We are all deeply concerned about the narrow exemption, including proposals made to expand it while still leaving unprotected many faith-based organizations.” The letter continues, “We believe that the Federal government is obligated by the First Amendment to accommodate the religious convictions of faith-based organizations of all kinds, Catholic and non-Catholic.”
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty currently represents Belmont Abbey College, a private Catholic College, and Colorado Christian University, a non-denominational Christian University, in the first lawsuits against this unprecedented mandate.
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
BLOG ARCHIVE
- ▼ 2011 (1642)
- ► December (99)
- ► November (139)
- ► October (102)
- ► September (124)
- ► August (105)
- ► July (139)
- ► June (149)
- ► May (150)
- ► April (177)
- ► March (196)
- ► February (165)
- ▼ January (97)
- Valle Hermoso Battle Pictures, Video Released Onli...
- Security Plan in Mexican Ciudad Juarez Is a “Failu...
- Five Gunmen Die in Shootout with Army Soldiers in ...
- New Police Force to Operate in Violent City of Jua...
- Terror in Pantanal, Nayarit
- "El Lobo" extradited to the U.S.
- Milenio Cartel asks Governor of Jalisco to mediate...
- Mutilated Body Left in Front of Acapulco Church
- PGR Release Suspected Killers of Prosecuter's Brot...
- Nancy Davis Told Friends She 'Might Not Come Back ...
- Pink bikers fight Mexican drug war by helping poor...
- Is the Drug War creeping into Mexico City?
- Researcher Predicts 5000 will die in Juarez in 201...
- Another child 'Sicario' arrested in Morelos
- 2 Police Officers Dismembered in NL
- La Familia Michoacana: Mexico says cartel 'in retr...
- 600 kilos of Cocaine found in Sonora
- Smugglers catapult pot over border fence
- The Bodyguard of the Mayor of Juarez is Killed By ...
- American woman dies after being shot near San Fern...
- News from Morelos: CPS still active, Los Pelones s...
- Video of Zetas killed by CDG
- Mexican Mayor Vows to Continue Her Work Despite At...
- Zeta Leader and 7 Gunmen Die in Shootout with Army...
- Feds charge 34 Arizonans for trafficking weapons t...
- Another tragedy in Juarez.
- Hillary Clinton in Mexico for talks on drug violen...
- C.I.D.A. leader caught in Acapulco, Banners Allege...
- Now its San Luis Potosi.
- A Story of Federal Police Trafficking Drugs
- Cartel Operative "El Pachis" Killed
- Colombia Stepping up Anti-Drug Training of Mexico'...
- If this isn't Narco Terrorism, what is?
- Mexican Army Makes Record Seizure of Opium Gum
- El Boxer Arrested
- Narco-Moda
- Mexico's 'El Chapo' Guzman Thrives 10 Years After ...
- Massacre-In-The-Making Interrupted, One Victim Dea...
- 2 Car bombs explode in NL
- Zeta Sicario Leader dies in Cancun
- Mutilated bodies found near Mexico's richest city
- Guatemala army no match for Mexican drug gangs
- Mexico announces capture of one of the founders of...
- Coahuila: The Disappeared
- Blood in Neza, 9 people executed
- Comandos attack Monterrey, 10 Dead, 2 Wounded
- Confessions of a Zeta
- Narco Banner in Zacatecas
- Gang's terror felt far from drug war on US border
- Should Mexican Cartels be labeled Terrorist Organi...
- El Chapo may be setting sights on Acapulco
- 507 Dead.....in just 14 Days
- La Familia operative arrested in TJ: Details on CA...
- Shootout kills 14 in Xalapa, Veracruz
- Mexican Official Unhurt in Shooting
- Police arrest El Chapo Guzman's Colombian Connecti...
- Mexican gunmen fire across border at U.S. highway ...
- Juarez killings activist Chavez murdered in Mexico...
- Hitmen Intensify Attacks in Mexico's Richest City
- Mexican Judges Who Released Suspected Killer Face ...
- Prison Fight in Durango Leaves 11 Inmates Dead
- Payback for the Death of Two Assassins
- El Tomate reveals the Sinaloa Cartel's methods of...
- Don Gaby Stabbed to Death at Topo Chico Penitentia...
- Record Breaking Month for Murders in Jalisco
- Special Forces Zetas appear in Cancun
- Search for Justice
- Police Ordered to Stay at Stations in Monterrey
- "Silver or Lead" in Mexico: Bribes or Death
- La Familia Michoacana and their U.S. contacts
- "THE NEW FEDERATION" Threatens Local Nuevo Leon Me...
- El Tomate Captured by Military
- Police Chief Slain in Michoacan
- Acapulco Massacre: 25 People Killed, 15 Decapita...
- Missing Mexican mayor found slain
- Police Investigator Decapitated in Tabasco
- Wounded Man Slain at Clinic in Juarez
- State Prisons Chief Slain in Sonora
- Mexican Cartels Buying Afghan Heroin
- Convicted Houston gun trafficker for Zeta cartel s...
- Mexican Government Says Security Strategy Has Been...
- Mexico arrests leader of "Santa Muerte" cult
- New Year's Letter to the President
- Two Suspected Military Operatives Murdered In Taba...
- El Bigotes Captured
- Officials Reject Zapatista Role in Mexican Politic...
- Nine Journalists Murdered, 4 Disappeared in Mexico...
- Gen. Barry McCaffrey Interview: "Violence in Juare...
- Drug Violence in Mexico Hit New Level of Brutality...
- La Familia Michoacana announces 1 month Truce
- La Pelirroja Connection
- Slain Candidate’s Brother Sworn in as Governor of ...
- Message Attributes Mexican Politician’s Kidnapping...
- More Than 100 Police Killed Last Year in Ciudad Ju...
- Guerrero Starts the New Year with 10 Murders
- Ciudad Juarez has record drug killings in 2010
- Borderland Beat Reflects on 2010
DEAL OF THE DAY
THE GUN 'BIBLE' – $4.95 TODAY ONLY!
Experts praise top-rated guide to using firearms for personal defense
Published: 01/15/2012 at 7:43 PM- inShare
- Text smaller
- Text bigger
*
With American families facing crime, terrorism and an uncertain future, WND is doing its part to bolster homeland security – by offering, today only, one of the most practical and authoritative books on armed self-defense available, for one-quarter the normal price!
That’s right, until 10 p.m. Pacific tonight, WND readers can order“Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense” by David Kenik – which normally sells for $19.95 – for only $4.95!
There’s more to responsible and effective gun ownership than possession and a few trips to the local gun range. While important, this all has to do with “hardware.” But as legendary police firearms instructor Massad Ayoob explains in this book’s foreword, one must also be aware of the “software” – meaning the mindset behind owning and carrying a gun.
“Armed Response” is a comprehensive guide for using firearms for defense before, during, and after a life-threatening assault. From learning what to ask yourself before deciding to carrying a gun, how to choose a gun that’s right for you, what to look for in holsters, how to carry a concealed gun, proper training techniques, and the legal issues and implications of using of lethal force, “Armed Response” is, by far, the most complete resource available.
The culmination of hard-learned experience and instruction from internationally recognized use-of-force instructors, “Armed Response” offers valuable real-life lessons about preparing to face a lethal threat, winning a gun fight, and surviving the ensuing court battle, information that cannot be found outside of expensive tactical training schools.
“Armed Response” is organized into succinct, compact-sized chapters that can be quickly and easily read. A few of the chapters include:
- The need for Empty Hand Skills
- Responsible use of Lethal Force
- Beyond the Basics of Gun Handling
- Revolvers versus Semi-Automatics and Handgun Selection
- Concealed Carry and Alternative Carry Concepts
- Ammunition Options and Stopping Power
- Consequences of a Shooting
- Rules for a Gunfight
“Armed Response’ is a must-read for every gun owner.” – Alan Gottlieb, founder, Second Amendment Foundation
“This book is written for those who have taken upon themselves the ultimate responsibility, the protection of the ones we love.” – Gun Week
“An excellent starting text for the first-time gun-owner or the citizen just beginning to explore armed self-defense.” – Massad Ayoob, director, Lethal Force Institute
“Defending the family against a terrorist or criminal is not the same as shooting a paper target, thus firearm enthusiasts need direction if they are to be successful at their defensive goals. They will set off on the right track and find everything they need in this book. I recommend it highly.”– Gabe Suarez, internationally recognized authority on reality-based combat training
Save $15, get ‘Armed Response’ for only $4.95!
That’s right. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Right now, you can buy “Armed Response,” normally $19.95, for one-quarter of the regular price!
Until tonight at 10 p.m. Pacific, you can get your copy of this powerful book for only $4.95 – by taking advantage of this special offer, exclusively from WorldNetDaily.
But wait – it gets better. There’s another part to this deal. When you order “Armed Response” for $4.95, we will also send you, FREE, three sizzling issues of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly magazine, Whistleblower.
 * |
Many readers consider Whistleblower to be simply the world’s best newsmagazine. Each issue focuses like a powerful laser on a single topic
– from how to survive financial meltdown to understanding the secret agendas of America’s establishment elite – explored thoroughly, and with
facts and insight such as you’ve never seen anywhere else. Recent issues include “SHADOW GOVERNMENT: Inside the mad, mad, mad, mad world of Obama’s czars,” “MEDICAL MURDER: Why Obamacare could result in the early deaths of millions of baby boomers,” “THE GREAT AWAKENING: How tea partiers are setting a new course for America,” “NARCISSIST IN CHIEF: Experts explain what makes Barack Obama tick” and “BLACK HOLE: The shocking truth about the U.S. economy – and what you can and must do.”
So, for $4.95 you get a copy of “Armed Response,” plus you get three sample issues of Whistleblower – in hopes, of course, that you will do what most people do, which is to become a long-term Whistleblower subscriber.
(Note: This offer does not apply to current Whistleblower subscribers or those living outside the U.S. However, if you are already a Whistleblower subscriber, or if you want to subscribe now, we have a fantastic offer for you to check out!)
Important: For this very special $4.95 offer, you will receive a copy of “Armed Response: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Firearms for Self-Defense” as well as three free issues of Whistleblower magazine. Also included with your free issues will be a renewal notice for a one-year Whistleblower subscription. If you wish to renew, do nothing, and your credit or debit card will be charged the low annual renewal rate of only $39.95. (There’s no risk, because at any time you can cancel your subscription for a full refund on the unused portion.) If you don’t want to renew, simply cancel by calling 1-800-4WNDCOM (800-496-3266) or by emailing canceltrial@wnd.com before the charge date printed on the renewal card you’ll receive. Either way, the book and the 3 free issues are yours to keep. (Only one copy of “Armed Response” at this price per household. Offer good only in the U.S.)
Please note: If you like your three free Whistleblower issues and renew, when your Whistleblower subscription eventually expires, you’ll receive another renewal notice from us. To keep Whistleblower coming, do nothing and we’ll renew your subscription automatically at the low prevailing rate by charging your credit or debit card. As always, there’s never any risk, as you may cancel at any time for a full refund of the unused portion of your subscription.
Order your copy of “Armed Response” for only $4.95! Special offer ends tonight at 10 p.m. Pacific.
If you prefer to order by phone rather than online, call our toll-free customer service line weekdays at 1-800-4WND-COM (1-800-496-3266) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central.
Note: If you choose not to participate in this special promotional offer, you may order “Armed Response” here.
Ex-Lakewood volunteer accused of molesting boy sues church
By Cindy George, Houston Chronicle
Updated 08:18 p.m., Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Houston and Texas
0
*
*
*
*
*A former Lakewood Church volunteer who was accused of molesting an 8-year-old autistic boy during a children's ministry, but cleared by a grand jury, has filed a multimillion-dollar negligence lawsuit against the nation's largest megachurch.
Alvaro Daniel Guzman, now 26, was charged in 2011 with one count of indecency with a child - more than a year after another church volunteer accused him of fondling the boy in February 2010, court records show.
He was arrested last May and released on a $10,000 bail. In July, a Harris County grand jury declined to indict Guzman.
Filing on Monday as Daniel Guzman, his civil suit claims that the wrongful accusation and resulting arrest damaged his reputation and caused him to lose opportunities.
Lakewood spokesman Don Iloff said Wednesday that the church had no comment.
The lawsuit accuses the church of negligence in its investigation, in reporting the alleged incident to police and in lacking surveillance that could have saved Guzman from being wrongfully accused of a crime. The church also is accused of failing to adequately train security and failing to take corrective action after similar previous events, the lawsuit states.
Left the state
Guzman seeks damages in excess of $10 million for various losses that include "future wages ... ridicule, anxiety and pain."
Houston lawyer Javier Marcos Jr., who is representing Guzman, said his client had no prior arrests but now has a child sex abuse charge on his record, which forced him to leave Texas.
"All his licenses are being revoked, be they real estate or mechanical, and he cannot get a job anywhere," the lawyer said. "In a nutshell, if Lakewood would have properly trained employees or properly followed procedure for any kind of outcry, none of this would have gotten where it got."
Guzman worked in the Champions Club, a Kids Life Ministry program for children with special needs. Another volunteer told police she observed him inappropriately touch the boy's private parts and notified their supervisor. The child was unable to speak with investigators because he is not verbal, according to the criminal complaint.
Guzman was interviewed by police with a lawyer present and denied the allegations. He submitted to a partial polygraph test, but the results were inconclusive, court records said.
Notification dispute
Guzman had been volunteering for about two months before the alleged incident and was dismissed immediately, Iloff told the Chronicle last year. All Lakewood volunteers must pass a background check, Iloff said then, and Guzman's was clear except for a handful of parking tickets. Iloff also said, at the time, that the allegation was reported to authorities the same day.
Marcos said Wednesday that authorities were not notified of the accusation for several days.
Lakewood Church on the Southwest Freeway, led by well-known television preacher Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria, has the largest congregation in the United States.
cindy.george@chron.com
twitter.com/cindylgeorge
WND EXCLUSIVE
RUSH: 'ASININE' TO THINK MEDIA WON'T DESTROY NOMINEE
Limbaugh: 'If it's about Obama, he's sunk!'
Published: 18 hours ago
by JOE KOVACSEmail | ArchiveJoe Kovacs, executive news editor for WND, is an award-winning journalist and author of the No. 1 best-selling book "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told."More ↓
Subscribe to author feed- inShare5
- Text smaller
- Text bigger
PALM BEACH, Fla. – When it comes to media attacks on the eventual Republican presidential nominee, radio giant Rush Limbaugh thinks it doesn’t matter who the GOP standard-bearer will be, because the onslaught will be tremendous.
“Anybody who thinks that we can nominate somebody who is not going to be the focus of a media-destruction campaign is asinine,” Limbaugh said today, as he analyzed Mitt Romney’s strong victory over Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul in the Florida Republican Primary.
“Whoever we nominate is who the campaign is going to be about, the election. It’s not gonna be about Obama. The media can’t let it be about Obama. If it’s about Obama, he’s sunk! It’s gonna have to be about what a reprobate racist, sexist, mean-spirited, heartless creep the Republican is. And I don’t care who the nominee is. It’s gonna be about that.”
Limbaugh says there is a constant drumbeat heard on many media outlets that only Romney is electable in a matchup against Obama.
“I don’t mean to be critical of Romney, but where does this come from?” asked Limbaugh. “These things just get pronounced by consultants or powers that be and everybody just accepts it. Who knows who’s electable and who’s not? Look, it’s like everybody said, that we could not nominate Newt. If we nominated Newt, the whole election would be about Newt. Well, then Romney goes out there and commits a faux pas by saying, ‘I’m not worried about the very poor. Don’t care about the poor; they got a safety net.’ He’s trying to zero in on his concern for the middle class but he gives them something they can take out of context (which they will) and Romney becomes the focus of the campaign, not Obama.”
“They’re setting up Romney as … Romney is gonna be Mr. Pennybags, moneybags on the Monopoly game board. That’s who they’re setting him up to be,” Limbaugh continued. “Then they come around and say, ‘Only so-and-so is electable.’ You know, that’s something they try to intimidate everybody into silence by saying.”
Limbaugh spent much of his program saying the focus of the 2012 race should be Obama instead of the Republican nominee, and he addressed a concern from some callers that Romney does not personally connect well with many conservatives.
“I know all about connecting with people. And the problem, it’s not that you don’t connect, not that his supporters don’t, it’s that he doesn’t really connect with them,” Limbaugh explained. “What they’re saying when they say that is that he’s not genuine. The people who say that and believe it, nothing to do with Mormon, it is that they just don’t think he’s genuine, that he doesn’t believe the stuff he’s saying. He’s saying it because he’s trying to convince people that he’s conservative because he’s really not one. That’s the rub, that’s what I hear from people.”
“You know when you meet somebody that you don’t think is telling you who they really are, phonies. You know ‘em right off the bat. That’s all that’s being talked about here. And in politics criticism often gets vicious, ’cause to a lot of people, the election is ball game. It’s not about what the Republican establishment thinks in terms of whose turn it is.
“People’s lives are at stake here, they think. Their futures, their kids’ futures. They’re not gonna happily vote for somebody who they don’t think really gets that. If they think somebody’s just telling them that they agree with them and understand it and feel it when they don’t, it’s gonna be a tough sell.”
Limbaugh, a resident of Palm Beach, Fla., voted in yesterday’s Florida primary, but has refused to disclose the candidate for whom he cast his ballot, saying it would diminish his objectivity once the Republican nomination is secured, noting his main effort then would be to remove Obama from office.
2012_TeaParty Tea Party Chief Tea Party Chief #FiscalConservative for Rick Santorum (Money GOP supporting Romney, Old Hats and Tea Party wish-I-was supporting Newt)
McCain for Romney, Trump for Romney --- Cain for Newt, Sarah for Newt....
FILED UNDER VOTE WITH YOUR FEET:Home > New Jersey Real-Time News > Essex County
PolitiFact N.J.: State senator gives mixed message on income taxes in Pennsylvania, Delaware
Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 7:30 AM Updated: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 8:11 AM
By Bill Wichert/The Star-Ledger
Follow1
ShareEmailPrint
If you're tired of New Jersey's income taxes, just head southbound and you should find relief in Delaware. That's where, according to one state senator, people don't pay any state income taxes.
Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris) made that claim Monday amid the ongoing debate over Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to cut state income taxes.
In a news release, Pennacchio said: "A small decrease is a good first step to making New Jersey more competitive with states like Pennsylvania which charges a top rate of 3%, or Delaware which has no state income tax at all."
But Delaware residents don't have it as easy as Pennacchio made it sound. As PolitiFact New Jersey discovered, Pennsylvania and Delaware both charge state income taxes.
Read our complete Half True ruling at PolitiFactNJ.com, and then add your comments at NJ.com. You also can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
William Perlman/The Star-LedgerState Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris) receives a Half True from the Truth-O-Meter for claiming Delaware doesn't have a state income tax.More Truth-O-Meter rulings:
• PolitiFact N.J.: Committee for Our Children's Future runs second ad promoting Chris Christie
• PolitiFact N.J.: Are the New York Giants New Jersey's team?
• PolitiFact N.J.: Elizabeth mayor says his city has lowest jobless rate of state's biggest cities
• PolitiFact N.J.: Rush Holt says 18 vets commit suicide daily
Related topics: politifact-new-jersey
ANSWERING THE CALL, REV. FRANKLIN J. RICHARDS II, FEEDS HIS SHEEP: provides food to over 25 million people a year
Lt. Governor Cagle and Sen. Tim Golden Welcome Rev. Franklin J. Richards II as Chaplain of the Day
ATLANTA (February 2, 2012) – Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Sen. Tim Golden (R-Valdosta) welcomed Reverend Franklin J. Richards II, Pastor at Second Harvest of South Georgia, to serve as the Chaplain of the Day on February 1, 2012 in the State Senate.“It was especially nice to welcome Pastor Richards on Food Bank Day at the Capitol,” said Sen. Golden. “His passion for serving those in need is evident in his many accomplishments with the Second Harvest of the South organization, which provides food to over 25 million people a year.”
“It was an honor to welcome Reverend Richards to the Senate yesterday. The tradition of the Senate to begin each day with a devotional and prayer allows us to set our mind and heart in the right direction as we make important policy decisions. As we face daunting challenges during this session, I’m confident that the Senate will answer the call to serve. Yesterday, Reverend Richards encouraged Senators and inspired each of us to lead our state in the right direction,” Lt. Governor Casey Cagle said.
Richards is the President and CEO of Second Harvest of the South, the largest hunger relief organization in the South Georgia. The facility provides almost 14 million pounds of food to over 700 local charities each year. Richards is a recipient of the Liberty Bell Award presented by the South Georgia Bar and was named to the Georgia Trend “40 Under 40” list in 2009. Richards is a graduate of Valdosta State University and has two sons.
RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
February 2, 2012
Contact:
Natalie Dale, Director
Jennifer Yarber, Deputy Director
jennifer.yarber@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028
Posted February 2nd, 2012 in Senate Press Release, Tim Golden. Tagged: Lt. Governor Cagle and Sen. Tim Golden Welcome Rev. Franklin J. Richards II as Chaplain of the Day.
WITH A DEFICIT OUT-OF-CONTROL, OVER 100% OF GDP, FEDERAL WORKERS WANT YOU TO PAY 48% MORE FOR THEIR BENEFITS WHEN OBUMMERCARE WAS NOT INSURANCE ANYONE GOT, BUT A DISGUISED TAX INCREASE AND FINANCING MECHANISM FOR THOMSON PRISON AND CONTRACTS FOR PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS:
FEDERAL WORKERS GET 2% MORE IN PAY THAN YOU DO
FEDERAL WORKERS GET 48% BETTER BENEFITS THAN YOU DO
FEDERAL WORKERS GET 16% BETTER COMPENSATION THAN YOU DO
Previous: By George, I Think They’ve Got It: ‘Far Too Many Laws’
CBO Study on Federal Pay
Posted by Chris EdwardsCBO has released a study comparing the wages and benefits of private sector and federal non-military workers. The study uses statistical techniques to make comparisons with adjustments for education level, experience, and other factors.
Here are the overall results:
- The wages of federal workers are 2 percent higher than similar private-sector workers, on average.
- The benefits of federal workers are 48 percent higher than similar private-sector workers, on average.
- The total compensation (wages plus benefits) of federal workers is 16 percent higher than similar private-sector workers, on average.
CBO finds that the federal compensation advantage varies by education level. People with low and middle levels of education generally do better in the government, while people with doctorates generally do better in the private sector.
CBO’s results are generally in sync with my observations on federal pay. For example, I’ve pointed to the excessive pension and health benefits received by federal workers. The CBO says:
The federal government provides retirement benefits to its workers through both a defined-benefit plan and a defined-contribution plan, whereas many large private sector employers have replaced defined-benefit plans with defined-contribution plans. The federal government also provides subsidized health insurance to qualified retirees, an arrangement that has become uncommon in the private sector.
I’ve also noted that high job security is an important federal benefit that should be considered when deciding on federal pay levels. Federal workers get laid off and fired at much lower rates than private-sector workers. That benefit has value, and thus federal pay rates should be set somewhat lower than for otherwise comparable jobs in the private sector. The CBO notes:…greater job security and less uncertainty about the size of pay raises tend to decrease the compensation that the federal government needs to offer, relative to compensation in the private sector, to attract and retain employees.
Given these results, I’ve proposed these action items for Congress:- Continue the federal pay freeze for a number of years.
- Repeal the federal defined-benefit pension plan.
- Hire an outside accounting firm to audit the Federal Salary Council’s apparently erroneous “pay gap” method, which always seems to find that federal workers are grossly underpaid.
- Privatize as many federal activities as possible so that markets can figure out the appropriate levels of compensation.
Chris Edwards • January 30, 2012 @ 8:18 pm
Filed under: Government and Politics; Tax and Budget Policy
| Ending the Baseline Budget Bias Toward Big Government Spending That Hurts Job Growth Posted by Don Seymour on February 02, 2012 Up for a vote this week are two proposals – the first in a series of budget reform bills – that Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) says will “create new tools for lawmakers to address the bias towards ever-higher spending in Washington and increase transparency and accountability in order to show taxpayers the true costs of government loans and bailouts.” Here’s a look:
In the Pledge to America, Republicans promised to reform the current budget process – which dates back to the early 1970s – to help end the bias toward big government spending that hurts job growth, stop taxpayer bailouts, and begin protecting America’s biggest entitlement programs from bankruptcy. Today the House will begin to make good on that pledge. |
Another Day, Another Misleading Report from the Obama Administration
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Today, the Obama Administration released a “report” claiming that the Democrats’ health care law will “save the average Medicare beneficiary $4,200 by 2021.” While their savings figure is highly suspect, perhaps they attribute the savings to:
- Medicare spending going down because hospitals and nursing homes where seniors are currently treated may be forced to close.
- Because of the Democrats’ overhaul, Medicare officials predicted that providers in the Medicare program "could find it difficult to remain profitable and, absent legislative intervention, might end their participation in the program (possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries).”
- Medicare spending decreasing because seniors will have to wait, and wait, and wait to see their physician.
- Because of the Democrats’ overhaul, Medicare officials stated,“For now, we believe that consideration should be given to the potential consequences of a significant increase in demand for health care meeting a relatively fixed supply of health care providers and services.”
Conveniently, the Obama Administration’s “report” did not take into account the following changes in the Democrats’ health care overhaul that will increase seniors’ out-of-pocket costs:
- The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare Advantage health plan, which one in four beneficiaries currently are, will see their benefits cut by $816, on average, in 2019 alone because of the Democrats’ $200 billion cut to Medicare health plans.
- CBO also predicted that, because of the Democrats’ changes to the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D), seniors’ monthly premiums will increase by 9 percent in 2019.
###
CONCURRING ON HB 799 WITH INTRODUCTION OF 2 OTHER PIECES OF LEGISLATION:
TWO THINGS:
1) It is wrong to suspend my license for a drug charge, when the drugs weren't even my drugs, especially given that I have had no record of driving intoxicated or had numerous traffic offenses.
HCPD should've taken me into custody after taking the drugs after I turned them over willingly to them, and releasing me after questioning, as I complied with them fully!
Now, I have gone without a license over 5 years now, paid numerous fines, and I did a year in jail for my life being threatened by someone who the drugs belonged to....
I agree with HB 799, as a bill of restoration of rights.
While my Habeas corpus was violated, HB 799 is not addressing other issues for which it has drawn criticism, as it is only to deal with people who have complied with DUI arrest procedure, consequences, and who have not repeatedly violated traffic laws or continued to imperil society with their behavior.
We need other legislation in addition to HB 799, to deal with chronic offenders of the law and underage drivers:
2) In concurrence with HB 799, I believe we should have 2 separate bills: one raising the legal age to 25; to smoke, drink, marry/have children, or vote.
Otherwise, a youth must be emancipated from their parents or obtain their consent to marry in order to get a marriage license.
While unpopular, it is a fact that the brain does not mature fully until age 25, and if sobriety is not practiced up to or during that time, it is nearly impossible to live a sober life or quit after 25 to be a productive adult.
Interrupting the cycle of drugs, underage drinking/smoking, teen pregnancies, and gangs would profoundly decrease the strain of our judiciary that we must spend on education.
= every student must have a Bachelor's degree by 25 to compete in a peacetime economy
I cite three glaring examples of why we need to implement these kinds of reforms, and in holding the parents/family responsible for the behavior of children whom they have not raised to be adults in teaching them to drive sober.
PROPOSED REFORMS:
A) raise the legal age to 25
B) increase the penalty on drivers who are arrested for DUI, who can not pass the blood screening test for intoxicants of all kinds, and take their license for 5yrs., period!
C) in raising the legal age to 25, this does not mean anyone 18+ will not be held liable as an adult for a crime committed, as the age of accountability of knowing right from wrong is considered to be 10yrs. of age, and this is at the discretion of the judge in determining sentences for juveniles, to deter gang behavior.
For proper governance, we can not look at dangerous driving with repeated mercy as an opportunity to make revenue: the costs to society are too high to families affected by unhealthy individuals, and we can no longer afford to absorb the cost of prison rehabilitation, which is why we phased non-violent offenders to drug courts.
INJURY OR HOMICIDE BY VEHICLE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED A VIOLENT CRIME, BY LAW, CARRYING A PENALTY OF 85% OF SENTENCE.
-this way, the guilty is properly punished
-we avoid lengthy mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offenses, and we can spend the money on housing those who commit violent crime while making non-violent offenders make financial restitution
=BOTH revenue and proper governance
BASIC DRIVERS' EDUCATION STATES:
If you are going to do drugs or drink, you should never get behind the wheel: it doesn't matter if pills are prescribed to you that are legal medication.
When not taken as prescribed, including restrictions on how it can impair your driving, is driving intoxicated. Usually smoking or having a drink or two, a person becomes sober again and does not pose high levels of intoxication impairing their driving within 4-6hrs. time. While this may seem to be common sense, those limitations should be followed in accordance of conduct in operating a motor vehicle.
MAKE DRIVER'S SIGN THIS PLEDGE TO RECEIVE THEIR GA DRIVER'S LICENSE!
I took driver's education, and in order to get your license in GA, you should present certification that you attended a state approved class:
not self-taught driving or your parents' discretion only!
BOTH CHASITY JONES AND JAMES MATTHEW ROLLINS SHOULD'VE HAD THEIR LICENSES REVOKED OR TAKEN UP BY THE STATE, SO THAT THEY COULD NOT DRIVE OR BE SERVED ANYWHERE, AND WITHOUT THEIR ID, WE WOULD HAVE DONE OUR PART TO REMOVE THEIR DRIVING PRIVILEGES!
A DRIVER'S LICENSE IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA IS NOT A RIGHT OR A LICENSE TO KILL OTHERS;
IT IS A PRIVILEGE AS BEING A CITIZEN AND TAXPAYER OF GEORGIA!
-James Matthew Rollins (age 24, contributing factors: prior DUI/license not revoked; combining liquor and alcohol, possible 3rd party liability for overserving (more than 3-4 drinks is binge drinking, 9 can be totally impairment)/not taking keys when providing more than a pitcher of beer and knowing customer drank it with liquor)
Posted: 4:02 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
Man remains in critical condition after DUI wreck
By Mike Petchenik
ROSWELL, Ga. —
A Milton man is hospitalized in critical condition, and his friend is facing charges, after police said the pair were involved in a DUI related crash on a dark, windy road early Tuesday morning.
Roswell police have charged James Matthew Rollins, 24, with DUI, failure to maintain lane, and serious injury by vehicle stemming from the single car crash on Cox Road near Ansley Way.
According to a police report, Rollins and his friend Carl Casmere, 23, had been drinking at Mazzy's Sports Bar on Alpharetta Highway prior to the crash.
The report said Rollins admitted to drinking "a pitcher and a half" of beer and "shots of liquor" before getting behind the wheel.
Police said Rollins' 2002 BMW left the road and flipped over, ejecting Casmere, before pinning him underneath the vehicle.
At last check, police told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik Casmere was in critical condition at North Fulton Hospital.
A co-worker of Casmere emailed Petchenik to say the Milton High School graduate was on life support.
Petchenik attempted to reach Rollins, who bonded out jail Tuesday, but his phone wouldn't accept calls, and he wasn't home when Petchenik visited his address.
Roswell Police said Rollins has been charged before for DUI and hit and run, back in 2009.
According to police reports obtained by Petchenik, Milton Police cited Rollins in June 2011 for reckless driving after an officer witnessed him driving at a high rate of speed through a residential neighborhood.
The report said Rollins admitted to drinking beer, but that the officer found no evidence he was impaired.
In March 2009, another police report Petchenik obtained shows Milton Police arrested Rollins for marijuana possession after officers pulled him over and smelled marijuana coming from his car.
-Chasity Jones (age 22, contributing factors: not suspending license after 3rd speeding ticket, judge failing to issue warrants for her arrest, several contempt of court, and she should've been in jail, prior to killing Officer Thomas)
- HOME
- > NEWS
- > BREAKING NEWS
Posted: 12:07 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Mother asked daughter not to drink prior to wreck that killed officer
22-year-old charged in crash
Officer Gail Thomas
Chasity Jones
ATLANTA — An Atlanta police officer was killed in the line of duty Tuesday night.
Police said the 15-year veteran was helping another officer when she was struck on Interstate 75 by a drunk driver.
Chasity Jones, 22, remains in the Fulton County Jail accused of drunken driving and killing officer Gail Thomas.
Meanwhile, Mayor Kasim Reed met with the police department to remember Thomas.
Thomas's daughter is a student at Georgia Southern. Atlanta police officers drove there Wednesday morning and brought her back to Atlanta. A trust fund has been set up for Thomas' daughter. The name of the trust fund is Senior Police Officer Gail Thomas' Daughter's Trust and donations can be made at any Bank of America.
Officers said that's how much they thought of Thomas and how much they said they're going to miss her.
"This just one of those very tough days," said Reed, who joined the police department's command staff to talk about Thomas and the accident that killed her Wednesday afternoon.
"She was always out front. Always willing to do what other folks simply wouldn't. She is a testament to what I hope all of our police officers are," Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said.
Thomas, a member of the department's honor guard, was working a traffic scene along I-75 Tuesday night when police said Jones slammed into her.
They said Thomas never even made it out of her car.
At a late afternoon news conference, one of her friends, Deputy Chief Renee Propes, remembered Thomas as the example of what other officers should be.
"It's hard to convey the kind of person she was because she was such a good, genuine good person, and we're really going to miss her in this police department," Propes said.
Reed promised the city would look after Thomas's daughter, Jasmine, and that she would continue to be able to attend college.
"It reminds all of us, I think, just how hard the job that the women and men of our police department do," Reed said.
Thomas is the second female Atlanta police officer to die in the line of duty.
Mother learns of her daughter's involvement from Channel 2
Channel 2 Action News went to Chasity Jones' home in Stone Mountain and talked her mother.
Lorelei Jones said she warned her daughter about her drinking.
Channel 2's Jeff Dore broke the news to Jones about her daughter's involvement in Thomas' death. Lorelei Jones broke down sobbing, saying "Oh, no; oh, no."
Dore told Jones her daughter was at the Fulton County Jail.
"My daughter's going to prison. Is she going to prison?" Lorelei Jones asked Dore.
"I don't know, ma'am," Dore responded.
Lorelei Jones said she had told her daughter to quit drinking.
"Well, I just didn't want her to drink and drive with me. And no she's not really had a problem. But she forgets she's drinking I guess. I don't know when she drives," Lorelei Jones said.
Her mother said Chasity Jones worked as a waitress at the Longhorn Steak House on Killian Hill, not far from her home. After work, her mom said, she went out.
"She was in a bar, at a club, she goes to a club … And she told me she wasn't coming home, she was going to stay there. At a guy's house," Lorelei Jones said.
Lorelei Jones said her daughter also worked as a model.
Chasity Jones is expected to make her first appearance in court Thursday morning.
So far, no funeral arrangements have been made for Thomas.
-Priscilla Johnson (age is old enough to know better, contributing factors: texting while driving, took medication/unsure if it was over daily dose or what it was, and drove and operated a vehicle impaired, WILLFULLY, without license and insurance)
Updated: 3:02 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 | Posted: 3:18 a.m. Friday, Aug. 26, 2011
Third Teen Dies in Clayton County Wreck
Priscilla Johnson
By Jennifer GriffiesA third teenager has now died after being hit by a car in Clayton County driver by an alleged DUI driver.
The family of 17-year-old Timothy Aaron said the teen died Saturday morning after he was taken off life support. Aaron suffered a serious brain injury after authorities said 48-year-old Priscilla Dianne Johnson struck him and two other teens Thursday afternoon while they walked along a Clayton County road.
Johnson, of Lithonia, faces more than a dozen charges, including DUI and homicide by vehicle.
Authorities said 16-year-old Antonious Biship and 17-year-old Octavious Sorrels also died after being struck. Johnson was talking on her cell phone and had taken anti-depressants at the time of the wreck.
"The vehicle was traveling eastbound on Highway 138 at I-675,” said Clayton County Police Officer John Schneller. “There were actually three pedestrians that were also walking eastbound in the emergency lane beside the roadway on 138. The vehicle struck all three."
A preliminary hearing for Johnson has been set for Sept. 1. It was not immediately clear whether she has an attorney.
Schneller says Johnson's charges include: Driving Under The Influence, Red Light Violation, Driving In The Emergency Lane, Failure To Maintain Lane, Reckless Driving, Failure To Exercise Due Care While On Cell Phone, No Proof Of Insurance, Driving While License Suspended, Hit And Run, Serious Injury By Motor Vehicle, two counts of Homicide By Motor Vehicle and Obstruction Of An Officer.
A court hearing revealed that Johnson was arguing on the cell phone with her boyfriend just before the crash.
Posted: 7:14 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Proposed bill looks to expunge DUIs after 5 years
Staff
By Kerry Kavanaugh
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. —
Some Georgia lawmakers are supporting a bill that would give DUI offenders a second chance if they kept a clean record for five years.
"Honestly our immediate reaction was a little bit of surprise that anyone would propose a bill of this nature," said Barry Martin, executive director of Georgia's Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Martin told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh House Bill 799 is the wrong move for lawmakers.
Rep. Rusty Kidd of Milledgeville said it's all about giving people a second chance.
The bill states if someone is convicted of a driving under the influence, but maintains a clean record for the next five years, then the DUI should be "permanently expunged" and "completely removed" from their record.
Kavanaugh found drivers with mixed emotions.
"Law enforcement needs to know that someone has a history," driver Keith Solinksy said.
"If that person is a one-time offender, has never done it before and has other people to stand up for them to say they've been better about it, then I don't see what the problem is," driver Mia Lyons said.
Martin says one problem they find about the one-page bill isn't just for one-time offenders.
"It doesn't distinguish between a first-time offender and a habitual offender, if someone has five DUI's. It doesn't even distinguish someone who's been in a DUI crash that resulted in injury or death," Martin said.
Kidd told Kavanaugh he's heard stories about people who have learned from their mistakes but are now having a hard time securing employment or getting into some schools.
Martin said that was a choice they made.
"It's not a mistake. Every time you drive under the influence you've made a choice," Martin said.
Kavanaugh also showed the bill to Gwinnett County police. They wouldn't speak directly to the bill, but they said expunging anyone's record can really limit their investigations.
"If you remove that permanent record all that may do is hamper is our ability to further our investigations," Cpl. Ed Ritter of the Gwinnett County police said.
Ritter said the threat of a permanent record can prevent others from getting behind the wheel impaired.
Updated: 5:44 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 | Posted: 5:44 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Ga. To debate erasing drunk driving convictions
- SHARE
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — People convicted of drunk driving who stay out of serious motor vehicle trouble for five years could have their records wiped clean under a bill proposed in Georgia.
Rep. Culver "Rusty" Kidd has sponsored legislation allowing people to erase a conviction for drunk driving if they do not commit another motor vehicle offense that would put penalty points on their license for five years after their conviction.
The bill has not yet been heard by a committee.
Kidd is an independent from Milledgeville. He did not return a call seeking comment.
Copyright The Associated Press
Rusty Kidd
Sunday
I want to thank you for that bill, but when I was arrested, I received the penalties of DUI though not being intoxicated, for being in possession of drugs that were not mine. I have not had a license for 5yrs., and I have not filed state or federal returns, as I have lived like a pauper.
The point is that it does not reduce the penalties for DUI to a slap on the wrist, but provides restoration for individuals and revenue for the state.
I will read the language and give feedback in the newsletter.
Thank you,
Ms. Aja Brooks
GET INVOLVED IN THE BUDGET PROCESS AND TRACK CONGRESS:
Text of Bills for the Week of Jan. 30, 2012
First Published: January 25, 2012 at 06:04 PMLast Updated: February 1, 2012 at 12:06 PM
XMLThe following are links to the text of legislation scheduled for consideration during the week of January 30, 2012 For the complete schedule, please visit the Majority Leader’s site.
Items that may be considered pursuant to a rule
| H.R. 3578 | Baseline Reform Act of 2011 [Rules Committee Print 112-9, showing the text of the bill as ordered reported by the Committee on the Budget] | [PDF] [XML] |
| H.R. 3582 | Pro-Growth Budgeting Act of 2011 [Rules Committee print 112-10, showing the text of the bill as ordered reported by the Committee on the Budget] | [PDF] [XML] |
| H.R. 1173 | Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011 | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 01/27/2012 at 11:02 AM | ||
| H.R. 658 | FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Conference Report) | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 02/01/2012 at 12:05 PM | ||
Items that may be considered under suspension of the rules
| H.R. 3835 | To extend the pay limitation for Members of Congress and Federal Employees | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 01/27/2012 at 11:34 AM | ||
| H.Res. 496 | Adjusting the amount provided for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the One Hundred Twelfth Congress | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 01/27/2012 at 11:26 AM | ||
| H.R. 3567 | Welfare Integrity Now for Children and Families Act of 2011, as amended | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 01/27/2012 at 01:26 PM |
Items that may be considered under unanimous consent agreement
| H.Con.Res 90 | Authorizing the printing of the 25th edition of the pocket version of the United States Constitution | [PDF] [XML] |
| Added 01/27/2012 at 11:17 AM |
SHOUT OUT TO RICK SANTORUM -- GOP IS EQUALLY SPLIT 3 WAYS AMONG LEADERSHIP: McCain and Trump endorse Romney, Cain and Sarah endorse Newt, and Tea Party Chief Aja Brooks from GA and Tea Party Nevada Assembly's Sharron Angle endorses Rick Santorum !!!
A new Rasmussen Reports poll was just released showing that Rick Santorum is in a statistical dead heat with Barack Obama; 44 to 46 percent.
The poll also indicates Newt is continuing his downward spiral and is now 8 points behind Obama.
It is now clear; Rick Santorum is not only that trusted conservative that can stop moderate Mitt Romney. He is also the only true conservative that can defeat Barack Obama.
— with Brandy Danyelle Agee and 35 others.18Like · · Share
Tom Jeffers Good Post Aja Brooks, we can win this fight!
10 minutes ago · Unlike ·
1
Stephen Aaron Rick Santorum will never get my support.
4 minutes ago · Like
Aja Brooks well you supported Ron Paul before you began supporting Newt, so that tells me a lot of your political philosophy is still at the college level, and your understanding of the candidates driven by that culture and not real merit of leadership, but party driven politics lol
Tom Jeffers Wow, lot's of thought into that post Stephen, and why would that be?
2 minutes ago · Like
Aja Brooks and don't lie, that's why I dropped you from the newsletter and shortly after I asked you about the Occupy pic, you suddenly said that you supported Newt when Occupy went Insurrection mode....
about a minute ago · Like
Stephen Aaron · 18 mutual friends
Aja, I have NEVER supported Ron Paul, nor shall I ever. I worked for Herman before I worked for Newt. I have never supported the occupy folks, nor shall I ever. Tom, the reason Rick will not get my vote is the fact that he is not Conservative on the right matters. He is too far to the right on Social Issues, at the same time he is a Fiscal Liberal based upon his voting record in both the House and Senate, supporting Unions, and the expansion of the federal government along with trying to spend money we do not have. That is why I will never support Santorum. Aja can call me a former Paulbot all day long because I posted 1 video where he said something good. Look at the facts and you will see that the man has never had my support
about an hour ago · Like ·
1
Aja Brooks " THE SYNTHESIS " 12-08-2011 SOLIDIFYING NOMINATION: WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AMERICA’S PRESIDENT IN THE AFTERMATH OF DNC CORRUPTION AND TO REPAIR THE CRACKS OBAMA HAS CAUSED TO OUR NATION’S FOUNDATION...https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oIzctEYX0inZ3THn15_8OQyZ-7pWQ5Zk_I6sbTAeIE0/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1 Yes, the picture of the Occupy leader was in your photos, lol where do you think I got it from??? Santorum is Conservative on the right matters: family values/family as governing unit of society, pro-life, and does not agree that Newt or Romney are electable Conservatives, because of money or politics http://www.youtube.com/user/The2011Phoenix I didn't call you a Paul bot, but here is the Occupy pic I got from your page: " THE SYNTHESIS " 11-19-2011 EDITION: GA MARKS REMEMBRANCE OF THE BURNING OF ATLANTA WITH A FULL NIGHT WATCH, #OWS INSURRECTION, THWARTED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, TEA PARTY PUTS GPS ON CONGRESS, SUPER COMMITTEE, BUDGET AND CUTS, WITH FOUR GRUMPY OLD MEN FROM GA.... (and 3 stories of VINDICATION, in AZ, GA, AND EVEN JUSTIN BIEBER....)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UVSd_lx2-Hf437aGufgYl5hgaa9B8efxBFsoluD9MQY/edit?pli=1&hl=en_UShttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/YhPWS3s2tBX-Y3vKcRSzHrKxUDyJWrxvqT4FfJG7elREgrdwQnLAwVMZoNXtpALGkcJfpAWLuf0RZzNJ7DPQGJom3fe8RHBe7qxsTBi7dlXTm3DYqeM
about an hour ago · Like
Aja Brooks Goodbye Stephen Aaron I don't have time for people who lie https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/YhPWS3s2tBX-Y3vKcRSzHrKxUDyJWrxvqT4FfJG7elREgrdwQnLAwVMZoNXtpALGkcJfpAWLuf0RZzNJ7DPQGJom3fe8RHBe7qxsTBi7dlXTm3DYqeM
about an hour ago · Like
Tom Jeffers Stephen Aaron, I do loves me some intellegent debate! Newt loves Teddy, FDR and freakin Wilson as the best Presidents in history, they are also factually the ones who started the progressive (socialist) movement that is destroying us today! Newt is intellegent and articulate but is not a consistant conservative. Character matters and he changes his talking points to please the crowd he happens to be addressing. Santorum had to take care of the people who voted him in, not historically Republican, but nothing he voted for reaches the level of someone who dosen't possess the values we need as a President, moreover, he's a family man without the baggage of affairs and angry ex-wives. He talks the talk..and walks the talk while Newt talks the talk but can't, and hasn't walked it to save his ass.about an hour ago · Unlike ·
1
Aja Brooks right, that is what they call Neo-Conservative philosophy, the same thing as Populism, not authentic Tea Party or Fiscal Conservative values that translate into integrity of that representation
Tom Jeffers Intregity! Exactly Aja Brooks, without personal integrity why the hell should we belive what he say's he will do as President!
about an hour ago · Unlike ·
1DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR COMMUNITY? THE GOVERNMENT? MAKE YOUR MARK ON THE WORLD? DON’T JUST SIT BACK AND SAY NOTHING, GET POLITICALLY INVOLVED BY USING YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY!!
BECOME A LOBBYIST!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14XfN1F8l6eSe4yE_QQdBCF1kzaLTDOApNMyofQvivNk/edit?hl=en_US BECOME A LOBBYIST!
for archive and instructions, and to finish the blog click the link above
supreme new york
ReplyDeletegolden goose sneakers
kobe 11
golden goose sneakers
supreme clothing
moncler
pandora charms
kd 10
golden goose outlet
kenzo
blog link k8u73n8y28 replica bags from china replica bags uk replica radley bags replica gucci bag s8t73e7c77 replica bags high quality Full Article f5f84g2n47 replica louis vuitton handbags replica bags ebay
ReplyDeletej6u55o3f38 r4k89g0q68 n2y72k2j05 i5e66g9m12 m0z58o5f37 c2c89z8w76
ReplyDeletex7t97z3f21 o0r53k5f65 p5v79o2z51 h0n27s1s72 r6h63f2r89 o5b04q5c69
ReplyDelete