D.A. Joe Carroll urges citizens to overhaul Coatesville.

The “Bloc of Four’s” only platform was returning the land that Coatesville acquired back to the Sahas. After the City of Coatesville won all 32 lawsuits revolving around that issue, the land issue could be settled. It was settled shortly before the “Bloc” took office and the settlement finalized shortly after they took office in 2006.

The “Bloc” accomplished that part of their platform. But I believe that there was a hidden platform; a behind the scenes effort to bring back the extremely profitable drug business that was lost during the time Paul Janssen was the city manager of Coatesville.
Jim

Joe Carroll’s press release can be found here:

http://dsf.chesco.org/da/lib/da/pdf/chester_county_district_attorneys_new_years_press_release.pdf

D.A. Carroll urges citizens to overhaul Coatesville
By Kathleen Brady Shea and Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writers
The Chester County District Attorney sent a New Year's message yesterday to the citizens of Coatesville: Overhaul your government.

Joseph W. Carroll issued a four-page statement that outlined his "resolutions" for the county's crime capital, warning that the city has reached a "crisis point" and urging the replacement of the police chief and at least two City Council members.

"If Coatesville continues on its current path for another year or two, recovery during my lifetime will be improbable, if not impossible," Carroll wrote, promising for the next year to "put unprecedented emphasis on the City of Coatesville."

Ed Simpson, a City Council member who was reelected in 2008 to represent the city's first ward in the western section, said he had "no clue" that Carroll's release was coming but welcomed it.

Simpson said he has "absolutely" been frustrated by the council's failure to move decisively on the escalating crime rate in Coatesville.

"The city of Coatesville will never prosper until the streets are safe," he said.

Council president Karen Jorgenson could not be reached for comment.
More at:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/36920424.html

Change is coming to Coatesville

From the Daily Local News
http://www.dailylocal.com

‘Legree, 55, died of natural causes on Dec. 21. He was a Coatesville power player who served as a constable and often took a behind-the-scenes role in city government. He had a heavy hand in getting four city council members elected in 2005. These council members later made big changes to city administration and hired a police chief that Legree is thought to have hand-picked.”

"I would be on the phone with Richard Legree three times a day," said Coatesville City Councilwoman Patsy Ray. "Whenever I needed advice or whenever something needed to be done in the city, he was there."

“He will not be buried until early next week because there is a chance that his son, Richard Legree Jr., will be temporarily released from federal custody to pay his final respects. He is awaiting sentencing for drug offenses.”

Legree’s son is not just awaiting sentencing, his testimony is needed. I think that he is in virtual solitary confinement in the SDU mostly for his own protection. It would take extraordinary security for Legree Jr. to “pay his finial respects”. – Jim Pitcherella

________________________________________

The very first thing that Paul Janssen did was to make the streets of Coatesville safe for ordinary people and off limits to drug dealers. In my view the streets of Coatesville have now been returned to the drug dealers.

I suppose that a lot of people thought that the 2005 City Coatesville Council Elections were about a farm in Valley Township. In my opinion it was over a loss of behind the scenes control of the city and regaining that control.

In my opinion we have had an extraordinary growth in over all crime in Coatesville and especially drug related crime since the new city council took office. Lesser known is what I view as allegedly letting scofflaw slumlords off the hook in Coatesville and allegedly discouraging certain developers interested in the city while encouraging selected developers.

It is a shame that Legree Sr. can’t testify. I think that many people in Chester County are greatly relieved that he cannot testify.
Jim

See the articles in today’s Daily Local below:

________________________________________
The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
Mourners recall Legree Sr. as larger-than-life presence
A polarizing figure in local politics, he was considered a guiding hand behind the scenes
Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:16 AM EST
By DAN KRISTI COATESVILLE — Friends and family remembered Richard Legree Sr. as a larger-than-life character who was fiercely loyal to those he liked.

And while some people either loved or hated Legree, he was just as polar in his judgment of others, they said.
More at:
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2008/12/28/news/srv0000004368075.txt

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
2008 in Review: Execution-style slayings shock city
Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:48 AM EST


Authorities continue to investigate the murder of a woman and her boyfriend who were gunned down this summer execution style inside a Coatesville home.

Carnell Parker, 24, and his girlfriend, Shontae Peterson, 21, of Valley, were shot July 6 in Parker's dining room in the 200 block of Charles Street. No one has been arrested.

The double homicide happened in the midst of several armed home invasions that occurred this year in the city and surrounding area.

More at:
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2008/12/28/news/srv0000004329696.txt

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA
2008 in Review: Troubling crime plagues city
Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:54 AM EST
Coatesville saw a rash of crime spread through the city in 2008, including numerous shootings, troubling arsons, a spate of armed robberies and several crimes directed against Hispanic residents.

In 2008, 15 people were shot here and two people were killed by firearms. All are still under investigation. Authorities have said the shootings are all drug related.

The city is also investigating a robbery ring that has targeted businesses and people on the street. This year, Coatesville police have received 40 reports of armed robberies. Last year, the city handled 25 cases, up from 19 incidents in 2006 and seven incidents in 2005, according to Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Reports.

Additionally, the city has experienced over a dozen arsons, one of which took the life of a Holocaust work camp survivor. This month, police made three arrests related to the arsons that were set, for the most part, in the west end of the city.
More at:

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2008/12/28/news/srv0000004368075.txt



Jim Pitcherella

“For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.”
Barack Hussein Obama

President Elect Barack Obama delivers holiday address

Do you wonder what you can do with a DSLR Nikon D90 and a DSLR Cannon EOS 5D mkII in video?

Watch Guardian photographer Dan Chung’s videos produced on both cameras.

Although the lenses used were sometimes very costly the Nikon D90 costs about $800.00 and the Cannon 5D mkII about $2700.00. The point is that they both produce video that at least on a small screen looks like it was done on a Hollywood type camera.


Nikon D90 in Tibet from Dan Chung on Vimeo.



There are several videos shot with each camera. There is one combination time lapse sequence video shot on a Nikon D700 and video shot on HV 20 with two photojournalists.


Beijing job fair Nikon D700 video from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
For all the videos go to:
http://vimeo.com/1810729

Printed news with ink on paper may be near the end of its cycle.

The “Guardian” is what I would call an up to date newspaper.

Journalists have just begun to experiment with new tools and technologies.

Sony is experimenting with high definition cell phone video.

I think that we are at a new dawn of journalism. We may be “reading” something like a newspaper but more like a high definition video screen on a flexible screen that we can fold up and carry - watch and listen.

The main obstacle is not talent, or digital capture technology. It is the delivery; the lack of universally available high output broadband and wireless broadband coupled with the present need to almost be a computer nerd to be able to see it. The current crop of internet providers is falling over the obstacles that they put in each others way to gain a monopoly and in the process bringing the whole industry down.

Wireless broadband can only be marginally successful with a limited audience. Hopefully the Obama Administration can build up our wireless broadband and bring it to everyone.

Jim Pitcherella

“For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.”
Barack Hussein Obama

What happened to the checks for polling place election officers in Chester County?

They usually arrive in mail boxes about a month after Election Day.

This time the election officers added because of unprecedented turnout allegedly created a mini-budget crisis. There was allegedly not enough cash in the budget for the extra checks.

The “perfect storm of events” was apparently straightened out at last week’s County Commissioner’s meeting.

Will Georgie two shoes hide out in a bail out financed mega yacht?

Don’t expect any restrictions on the bonuses of the mega thieves leaving their bankrupt companies.

Do you wonder why the mega-yacht industry is ramping up production and the training of new crews? Is the $350 Billion give away going to pay for 90 foot plus yachts cruising the Mediterranean? Maybe W plans to hide out on one of those mega-yachts safe from the shoe hurling public.

Washington Post
Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless
Loophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 15, 2008; A01
Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.
But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.
Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.
"The flimsy executive-compensation restrictions in the original bill are now all but gone," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), ranking Republican on of the Senate Finance Committee.

More at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/14/AR2008121402670.html?hpid=topnews

“This is a farewell kiss, you dog”

Iraqi journalist throws shoes at President Bush

Universal Theme; sex, cocaine, bribes, extortion and fraud

One thing caught my eye in this article:
“It was a plunderfest that produced a gangster culture, with dozens of high-level Interior Department employees exchanging sex, cocaine and gifts with the industry they were supposed to be doing arms-length business with…”

I believe that sex, cocaine, bribes, extortion and fraud is the universal theme that permeates the entire Bush Administration, the financial sector, and the energy sector in the United States. It’s not acknowledged at this point because most of the corruption is not yet public knowledge.


December 14, 2008
Op-Ed Guest Columnist
Final Days Fire Sale
By TIMOTHY EGAN

Imagine if President Bush, on his last day in office, invited his friends to lift the Lincoln portrait from the White House Dining Room, take the 18th- century furniture from the Map Room and — for good measure — poison the Rose Garden on the way out.

In essence, he is doing the same thing this month with land that belongs to every American — the magical redrock country of the Southwest.

Well before it was a bumper sticker and a chant at Sarah Palin rallies, “drill, baby, drill” became the overriding mission of the political hacks who oversee more than 200 million acres of public land for Bush. At a frantic pace, they have opened up to oil and gas leasing canyons of golden slickrock, mesas once known only to hunters and pronghorn antelope, and little hideaways near the open-aired art galleries of the Anasazi.

Take what you want, they said — and get while the getting is good. It was a plunderfest that produced a gangster culture, with dozens of high-level Interior Department employees exchanging sex, cocaine and gifts with the industry they were supposed to be doing arms-length business with, according to a scathing and quickly forgotten report this year by the agency’s inspector general.

At the time of the report, with gas reaching $4 a gallon, many people shrugged and said we need the oil — drill, baby, drill. Now gas is selling for a pittance, but that hasn’t stopped the fire sale. Everything must go!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/opinion/14egan.html?hp

Unique Transparency Program Uncovers Problems with Voting Software

There are often questions about ballot counting in Chester County. Recounts are lengthy and tedious but sometimes reverse the election result. A solution like this one from California could help us here:

"Unique Transparency Program Uncovers Problems with Voting Software"

"That program, the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project, was launched by Carolyn Crnich, who has been the county's registrar of voters since 2002. She created the project with help from a dedicated group of volunteers that included former Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, an employee of the Humboldt County district attorney's office named Tom Pinto, and three citizens, Kevin Collins, a commercial fisherman, and Parke Bostrom and Mitch Trachtenberg, two technology experts who had a strong interest in finding a way to ensure the integrity of elections. They've documented their project on http://humtp.com/ to help educate groups in other states and counties who may want to replicate the project"

More at:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/unique-transpar.html

Home grown terrorists

I don’t mean to muddy the waters, but what connections if any does the Alaskan Independence Party that Governor Palin’s husband is connected with have with “Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure”?

We already know that AIP corresponds with the Chechen Islamic Party. A link to the Chechen Separatists was on their website. The founder of the AIP was allegedly murdered because of a plastic explosives purchase gone bad. We have plenty of home grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and “religious” leaders like Waco’s David Koresh living among us. There are two KKK/Skinhead bomb builders from Parkesburg in Chester County now doing time in prison.

If Lashkar is looking for world wide connections we have wing nuts right here walking among us in Pennsylvania. With the right wing of the Republican Party in free fall and the political efforts of extremists stymied our home grown extremists may turn to violence.
Jim

December 8, 2008
Pakistan’s Spies Aided Group Tied to Mumbai Siege
By ERIC SCHMITT, MARK MAZZETTI and JANE PERLEZ
This article was reported by Eric Schmitt, Mark Mazzetti and Jane Perlez and written by Mr. Schmitt.
WASHINGTON — Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group suspected of conducting the Mumbai attacks, has quietly gained strength in recent years with the help of Pakistan’s main spy service, assistance that has allowed the group to train and raise money while other militants have been under siege, American intelligence and counterterrorism officials say.
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/world/asia/08terror.html?hp

Put Cheney on Trial?

I also think that you need to ask; what you are putting Cheney or any other Bush Administration officer on trial for?

The outing of a CIA NOC Officer for a purely political purpose. In the process destroying decades of work, destroying an intelligence network and jeopardizing the life of real patriots.

Spying on ordinary American citizens

Creating a torture policy

Utilizing a more or less personal mercenary army

Doing away with habeas corpus and 800+ years of very hard fought rights on a whim.

The USA is a country of laws of the people. The very first country entirely of laws of the people as opposed to laws of the king. It is "PRESERVE PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... AGAINST ALL ENEMIES." Not trash the Constitution in a king like manner. I don't think ignoring what they did is an option.

"New York Times
Opinion | Bloggingheads
Bloggingheads: Put Cheney on Trial?

Jack Balkin of Yale, left, and Eric Posner of the University of Chicago debate whether members of the Bush administration should face trial."

Down for the Count

You could say that this scene from the G-20 summit is one of the saddest in US History; a US President being treated as a low life untouchable by world leaders.

It is a very bad time to have an Executive Branch composed of incompetent political hacks.

How many hits from George W Bush can the USA take before we go down for the count?

I think that W is capable of destroying us by January 20th. He has got to be persuaded to step down and just play golf or at least allow some Obama appointees in his administration right now.
_______________________________________

November 23, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
We Found the W.M.D.
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
So, I have a confession and a suggestion. The confession: I go into restaurants these days, look around at the tables often still crowded with young people, and I have this urge to go from table to table and say: “You don’t know me, but I have to tell you that you shouldn’t be here. You should be saving your money. You should be home eating tuna fish. This financial crisis is so far from over. We are just at the end of the beginning. Please, wrap up that steak in a doggy bag and go home.”
Now you know why I don’t get invited out for dinner much these days. If I had my druthers right now we would convene a special session of Congress, amend the Constitution and move up the inauguration from Jan. 20 to Thanksgiving Day. Forget the inaugural balls; we can’t afford them. Forget the grandstands; we don’t need them. Just get me a Supreme Court justice and a Bible, and let’s swear in Barack Obama right now — by choice — with the same haste we did — by necessity — with L.B.J. in the back of Air Force One.
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/opinion/23friedman.html?em
________________________________________

November 22, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Time for Him to Go
By GAIL COLLINS
Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning.
Seriously. We have an economy that’s crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush — who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks — hasn’t got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world’s most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.
Putting Barack Obama in charge immediately isn’t impossible. Dick Cheney, obviously, would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We’re desperate, but not crazy.) Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become president until Jan. 20. Obviously, she’d defer to her party’s incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing.
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/opinion/22collins.html?em

Beggars Banquet

The absence of leadership in the United States was painfully apparent when New York and the Pentagon were burning while W read “My Pet Goat”.

At least now we have HOPE.
Jim

New York Times
OUTPOSTS
November 19, 2008, 10:00 pm
Beggars Banquet
By Timothy Egan


VALLEJO, Calif. — This city is broke. Bankrupt. A ward of the courts. The police have pared their ranks, and every day two fire stations temporarily close, a rolling blackout of basic services.
Do we bailout Vallejo?
What about Philadelphia, Atlanta or Phoenix? They want $50 billion in emergency loans.
Years ago, when a close friend of mine lost his 75-year-old family retail business in Pittsburgh with the collapse of the steel industry, the federal government was nowhere to lend a hand to small business owners.
When aluminum factories in Spokane, Wash., folded after a corporate raider picked them to the bone, destroying the best middle-class jobs for blue collar workers in the city where I grew up, the government’s advice to people losing their homes, cars and dignity was: Learn how to say, “You want fries with that?”
And when this city of 120,000, one of the few places in the Bay Area where someone with a middle income could live well, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, it became little more than a talking point in the debate over bloated public employee unions.
We like to think the free market picks our winners and losers. In its purest form, this is only true in Republican Disneyland. What was left of that illusion was swept away with words that will begin many a master’s in business theses in future years: “When President Bush nationalized the banking industry back in 2008 …”
More at:
http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/beggars-banquet/?ref=opinion

Update on Lincoln University Polls in Oxford Twp. Pennsylvania

Update on Lincoln University polling place in Oxford, PA:

There will be a special meeting of the Chester County Board of Elections concerning the Polls atLincoln University and other issues. The time and day has not been announced.

Students were forced to wait in line, in the rain for 51/2 to 11 hours to vote in a cramped polling place beside a highway in Oxford Township, Chester County, PA.

See previous post concerning Lincoln University Election Day.

Your Help is Needed

Lincoln University voters ~many of whom were students supporting Barack Obama~ were forced to stand in line for approximately 5 1/2 to 11 hours to vote on Election Day according the newspaper reports.

"The County Democrats had tried to have the polling place moved from a cramped community center to the gymnasium on campus.
The university agreed to open its doors.
But, the county commissioners, who also serve as the election board, rejected the move 2 to 1.The two Republicans, Carole Aichele and Terrence Farrel, casting the no votes."-WPVI-TV News

This situation is unacceptable for any voter anywhere in Chester County!

Please stop by Fonzie's Store in Coatesville

(Fonzie's,215 East Lincoln Highway,Coatesville,PA,19320,(610)384-8595)

between now and Monday, November 10 at 5:00 pm.
to sign a Petition to have the Polling Place moved back to Lincoln University gymnasium.

The petition will be presented to the County next Tuesday.

p.s. If you can get signatures over the next few days, I have included a copy of the petition (or can get a copy to you). Please drop off all signatures that you might collect by 5:00 pm on Monday, November 10. (I can also pick up your completed petition of you need a pick-up.) Thanks so much!

LINK TO PETITION BELOW

Kathleen Hood- Coatesville, PA



The video below is from:
Video the Vote
http://videothevote.org/video/1313/



There is more at:

WPVI-TV Philadelphia, PAHOME
Students wait hours for cast vote
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 | 7:45 PM
By David Henry
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. - November 5, 2008 (WPVI) -- Voting problems will always be a part of election day, but students at historically black Lincoln University say there's no excuse for what happened there last night.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6490963&rss=rss-wpvi-article-6490963

Memories of the Republican Party

There is an article in today’s Daily Local News titled “Pendulum swinging to the left” http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2008/11/07/news/srv0000003990761.txt#blogcomments

Swing to the Left?

It is a swing toward the middle. The Republican Party of Eisenhower died years ago. What was described by President Eisenhower as a “radical fringe element” is now the “base” of the Republican Party.

“Hijacked by a relatively small few, the GOP of today bears no resemblance to Lincoln, Roosevelt or Eisenhower’s party, or many of the other Republican administrations that came after. In my grandparents’ time, the thrust of the party was rooted in: a respect for the constitution; the defense of civil liberties; a commitment to fiscal responsibility; the pursuit and stewardship of America’s interests abroad; the use of multilateral international engagement and “soft power”; the advancement of civil rights; investment in infrastructure; environmental stewardship; the promotion of science and its discoveries; and a philosophical approach focused squarely on the future.” Susan Eisenhower –
from Reflections on Leaving the Party-The National Interest Online
by Susan Eisenhower, 08.21.2008
http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=19618

Younger persons, no matter what their political affiliation, may not realize that civic responsibility was at the core of the former, remembered Republican Party.

Desegregation began in the Eisenhower administration. I remember the “Little Rock Nine” and the photos of Army troops protecting them. The segregationists or as we called them “The Segs” were Democrats of the South.

President Nixon created the EPA and OSHA. Nixon promoted the Legacy Parks program and implemented the “Philadelphia Plan”; the very first affirmative action program.

The older registered Republicans in Chester County are clinging to the memory of the political party of their youth that has the same name but no longer exists. The Democratic Party as it now exists is nearly a mirror image of that remembered Republican Party of Country Clubs, Cadillacs and above all; civic responsibility.

This is from Wikipedia on President Eisenhower:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower

“Civil rights
Eisenhower supported the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which segregated ("separate but equal") schools were ruled to be unconstitutional. The very next day he told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children.[41][42] He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. Although both Acts were weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870s. The "Little Rock Nine" incident of 1957 involved the refusal by Arkansas to honor a Federal court order to integrate the schools. Under Executive Order 10730, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into an all-white public school. The integration did not occur without violence. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in tense arguments.”

A tip of the hat MoveOn.org;

Their members were some of the best campaign workers in Chester County. They helped put Barack Obama over the top in Pennsylvania.

I believe that the Republican Party of Eisenhower, country clubs, Cadillacs, patriots and civic responsibility that once was one of the pillars of Democracy in the United States has long been dead. I think that it has been usurped by a Kleptocracy of white collar criminals that uses fear and prejudice as a cover for theft.

Those of us who believe in Democracy and not the Kleptocracy of white collar criminals that I believe now constitutes the bulk of the Republican Party card carrying members are grateful for the tremendous contribution to Democracy of MoveOn.org.

It’s my understanding that Move On has 4.2 Million members that’s about 700,000 more members than the National Rifle Association.

http://pol.moveon.org/10years/

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

I believe the Obama Campaign is unprecedented in US politics; it is the absolute best run campaign that I have ever seen.

The Obama Staffers are DEMOCRACY WARRIORS!

As all of us connected by email or text messaging to the Obama Campaign knows, we are still together.

We will be together and connected with President Obama.

I believe the political pundits will be in shock over what President Obama will accomplish.

YES WE DID!

I get all teary-eyed every time I view President Elect Barack Hussein Obama's Chicago speech.
Jim

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago



BarackObamadotcom YouTube site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU&feature=PlayList&p=8B8E3C34319CE5F7&index=0#

Coatesville Election Photos

Photos by Kathleen Hood

ELECTION DAY TROLLEY LOOP

COATESVILLE AREA
ELECTION DAY TROLLEY LOOP
Starting on the hour at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 pm.

START: W. Lincoln Highway to Strode Avenue (turn left)
Strode Avenue to Valley Road/Route 372 (turn right)
Valley Road to West 6th Avenue (turn right)*
West 6th to Charles Street (turn right)*
Charles Street to Plum Street (turn right)
Plum Street to Madison Street POLLING PLACE STOP ON PLUM (turn left)
Madison Street to Strode Avenue (turn left)
Strode Avenue to Lincoln Highway (turn right)
Lincoln Highway to S. 3rd Avenue (turn right)*
S. 3rd Avenue to Walnut Street (turn left)*
Walnut Street to Rosemont Avenue (turn right)
Rosemont Avenue to Oak Street (turn left)*
Oak Street to S. 4th Street (turn left)
S. 4th Street to Lincoln Highway POLLING PLACE STOP AT KERSEY (turn right)
Lincoln Highway to S. 5th Avenue (turn right)*
S. 5th Avenue to Oak Street (turn left)*
Oak Street to S. 6th Avenue (turn left)
S. 6th Avenue to Lincoln Highway (turn right)*
Lincoln Highway to Pennsylvania Avenue (turn right)
Pennsylvania Avenue to Oak Street (turn left)*
Oak Street to Chester Avenue (turn left)
Chester Avenue to Walnut Street (turn right)*
Walnut Street to 8th Avenue (turn left)
S. 8th Avenue to Olive Street POLLING PLACE STOP ON OLIVE (turn right)
Olive Street to . S. 11th Avenue (turn left)*
S. 11th Avenue to N. 11th to Foundry Street (straight; turn left)*
Foundry Street to Coates Street (turn right)*
Coates Street to Blackhorse Hill Road (turn left)
Blackhorse Hill Road to N. 4th Avenue (turn left)
N. 4th Avenue to Lumber Street (turn left)
Lumber Street to N. 6th Avenue (turn left)*
N. 6th Avenue to Merchant Street (turn right)
Merchant Street to N. 9th Avenue (turn right)*
N.9th Avenue to Chestnut Street POLLING PLACE STOP ON 9TH (turn right)
Chestnut Street to N. 3RD Avenue POLLING PLACE STOP ON CHESTNUT (straight)
Chestnut Street to N. 1st Avenue /Route 82 (turn left)*
N. 1st Avenue/Route 82 to Lincoln Highway (turn right)
END/START: Lincoln Highway to Strode Avenue (turn left)
*STOPS
Contact Information: Kathleen Hood at 610-383-5068 kadaholo@verizon.net

We already have the brooms up and running-Next-the indictments.

As far as I know the polling people don’t consider election fraud and election suppression; the gamblers that bet on US Elections in Europe do and it’s my understanding that the odds for Obama there are still overwhelming.

Obama is already in the bag for the White House. From my viewpoint election suppression and election fraud are the only possible way for Republicans to win and win only in some of the down ballot elections. But, election fraud and election suppression can’t be used on a broad scale. You can go to prison for it and extensive fraud means more eyes looking. More eyes mean more chances of being caught. I think that the Obama tsunami is just too big and the eyes on this election are too many for election fraud and election suppression to work well.

The Bush Administration has all but eliminated the Civil Rights Division of the USDoJ. The organized crime investigative units have been disseminated by the Bush Administration. Investigation of white collar crime was virtually non-existent and has only been stepped up because of a demanding public that witnessed the extravagant stealing of the financial sector.

Maybe President Obama will replace the FBI and USDoJ people that the Bush Administration got rid of and build the USDoJ back up so that it can investigate organized crime, civil rights violations and white collar crime again. A lot of people are impatiently salivating.

A generation of Republicans know they are in very very deep trouble and have already begun looking for any life vests that may fall from US Attorneys.

See:
Capitol Hill Blue
Democrats hope for a clean sweep
Created 11/03/2008 - 6:34am
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/11777

"Wassup"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE

I found this by way of THE NATION-Must-See Campaign Vids
posted by Leslie Savan on 10/27/2008 @ 12:47pm:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/376619

Election Fraud

I think that Election Fraud is the only path to victory the Republican Party has in the Presidential Elections.

There is a lot of Republican trash talk about imagined voter fraud or imagined voter registration fraud.

I feel that the very real election fraud strategy of the Republican Party rarely surfaces. Election fraud may be an explosive issue in this November.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRfJtnfQDgg

Thousands Face Mix-Ups In Voter Registrations

The Republicans can’t win on issues
They can’t win on personality
I think that they have only one path left for winning in the 2008 Elections-cheating.
I beleive that here in Chester County Pennsyvania they have a Century of practice.
Jim

Washintonpost.com
Thousands Face Mix-Ups In Voter Registrations
In New Databases, Many Are Wrongly Flagged as Ineligible

By Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 18, 2008; A01


Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.

The challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come with a huge turnout.

The scramble to verify voter registrations is happening as states switch from locally managed lists of voters to statewide databases, a change required by federal law and hailed by many as a more efficient and accurate way to keep lists up to date.

But in the transition, the systems are questioning the registrations of many voters when discrepancies surface between their registration information and other official records, often because of errors outside voters' control.

READ MORE HERE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101703360.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008101702930&s_pos=

The Raging Right

Here in Coatesville we have intimate experience with the Extreme Far Right. They have been a part of Coatesville’s politics for decades. They hide their most extreme agendas in public. You have to do some research to find meetings they organized or articles they published. They are opportunists that switch political parties as it suits their purpose.

Their political tactics are the easiest way to identify them. Intimidation is always a part of their politics.

I could be wrong but just from speaking with former Republican Committeepersons; I have gathered that the Chester County Republican Party leadership has taken a turn to the Right; not the Extreme Far Right but to the Right that some call the Republican Party “base”. I believe it is partly responsible for the dramatic shift from Republican Party to Democratic Party in Chester County. I believe that the moderate Republicans that have historically been a dormant part of Chester County politics cannot stomach the more Right Wing Chester County Republicans. If I am correct, then the future of Republican politics in Chester County could become even more concentrated to the Far Right.
Jim

The Washington Post
McCain and the Raging Right
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008;
Are we witnessing the reemergence of the far right as a power in American politics? Has John McCain, inadvertently perhaps, become the midwife of a new movement built around fear, xenophobia, racism and anger?

McCain has clearly become uneasy with some of the forces that have gathered around him. He has begun to insist, against the sometimes loud protests from his crowds, that Barack Obama is, among things, a "decent person."

Yet McCain's own campaign is playing with powerful extremist themes to denigrate Obama. When his running mate, Sarah Palin, first brought up Obama's association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers, who has become a centerpiece of McCain's attacks, she accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists." What other "terrorists" was she thinking about?

Since Obama was a child when Ayers was part of the Weather Underground, and since even Republicans have served on boards with Ayers, this is classic guilt by association.

Ayers has been dragged into this campaign because there is a deep frustration on the right with Obama's enthusiasm for shutting down the culture wars of the 1960s.

Precisely because Obama is not a baby boomer, he carries none of that generation's scars. Most Americans (including most boomers) are weary of living in the past and reprising the 1960s every four years.

Yet culture war politics is relatively mild compared with the far-right appeals that are emerging this year. It is as if McCain's loyalists overshot the '60s and went back to the '50s or even the '30s.

What we are witnessing is the mainstreaming of the far right, a phenomenon that began to take shape with some of the earliest attacks on Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
MORE AT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/13/AR2008101302173_pf.html

Sarah Palin's Extremist Ties

We have lots of experience here in Coatesville with militia types. I think that a few people associated with “America First”, an offshoot of the “John Birch Society”, have been interfering in Chester County politics for decades.

I spotted Gov. Palin right away; anyone familiar with extremist militia groups would have.

It looks to me like a hideous white supremacist; extremist militia side of the Palins is now out in the sunlight for the entire world to view

The most devastating example so far of the militia movement is the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, an office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma by Timothy McVeigh.
Jim

Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition: Sarah Palin's Extremist Ties
by Plutonium Page
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 10:02:28 AM PDT
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/print.html

Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals
Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll helped launch Palin's political career in Alaska, and in return had influence over policy. "Her door was open," says Chryson -- and still is.

By Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/print.html

Also see, ADL Extremism in America-The Militia Movement:
http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Militia_M.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=mm

Does Governor Palin have buddy list of AIP anti-American bombers?

Isn't anyone interested in what the "First Dude" Palin's hero Joe Volger wanted to blow up with those "plastic explosives"?

"Vogler was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives that went bad. The prior year, he had renounced his allegiance to the United States explaining that, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." He cursed the stars and stripes, promising, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is an independent
nation they can bring my bones home." Palin has never denounced Vogler or his detestable anti-Americanism."-RFK Jr.

Governor Palin's association with the Alaskan Independence Party is ongoing.

"While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska."

"The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention. In other words, this is not something that happened when she was eight!"-RFK Jr.

In RFK Jr's words:
"So when Palin accuses Barack of "not seeing the same America as you and me," maybe she is referring to an America without Alaska. In any case, isn't it time the media start giving equal time to Palin's buddy list of anti-American bombers and other radical associates?"
Jim

The Huffington Post

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Posted October 9, 2008 | 11:28 AM (EST)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/alaskan-independence-part_b_133261.html

Alaskan Independence Party: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

THE KEATING FIVE JOHN MCCAIN AND THE MAKING OF A FINIANCIAL CRISIS

"KEATING ECONOMICS
JOHN MCCAIN AND THE MAKING OF A FINIANCIAL CRISIS"

http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

THE KEATING FIVE


http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1840674020/bctid1840656677

Just a slice of Coatesville politics

Just a slice of Coatesville politics

As far as I can tell Richard Legree Sr. is still a Republican Committeeperson in Coatesville’s Third Ward Precinct 090. Until May of this year he was Chairperson of Area 14 of the CCRC. Area 14 includes Coatesville. His son Richard (Fatboy) Legree Jr. was convicted of selling crack cocaine and arraigning the sale of crack cocaine.

In Jen Miller’s post she writes:
“In May, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reportedly recorded a phone call between Legree and an informant allegedly discussing the sale of crack.”
See more of Jen's post below the excerpt from USDC/EDPA:

From:
“ IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA : CRIMINAL NO. 06-504
v. :
RICHARD LEGREE, JR. :
GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR PRETRIAL DETENTION

D. Lack Of
Ties/Employment:
1. Although the defendant has considerable ties to the Coatesville area, he is
currently unemployed and has been captured on audiotape arranging drug deals while residing in his father’s house on home confinement.
This conversation, in relevant part, states:
CK-“

More at (PDF):
http://www.box.net/shared/autujro62d

Community


Another question; Does any of this have a relationship to this?:

"Resolution needed in case of Coatesville Police Lt. Gordon
DAILY LOCAL NEWS-OPINION
10/06/2008"
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20152217&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17785&rfi=6


Jim Pitcherella

From Jennifer Millers “Chester County Cops” blog:

"Legree Jr sentencing postponed

Federal sentencing for Richard Legree Jr., 29, of Coatesville, was slated for today but was postponed until Dec. 9.

Legree was one of 22 people arrested as part of a two-year investigation into cocaine trafficking between Philadelphia and Coatesville conducted by federal and local law enforcement, including the Coatesville police.

The charges follow a grand jury indictment from September 2006 accusing the defendant of participating in two drug deals, one on July 19, 2005, and a second on July 6, 2006.
He has agreed to plead guilty to three of the charges filed against him. Each is related to distribution and possession of crack cocaine."
MORE AT:

http://www3.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/dailylocal/jenmiller/blog.html

"DAILY LOCAL NEWS
Monday, June 16, 2008


Legree blames ouster on rivals
By R. JONATHAN TULEYA, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — The four-year tenure of Richard Legree Sr. as the city’s Republican Party chairman ended with the influential and often controversial leader nowhere to be found.
Now Legree has re-emerged, and the former city councilman is crying foul.
Legree lost his seat at the helm of the county GOP Area 14 to Eric Brown. He blames his ouster following an election among area committee people on a wide-ranging conspiracy involving party officials, from the party’s county chairman on down to the wife of a current councilman."
MORE AT:
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=19952051&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=8

AIP leader murdered over Plastic Explosives deal gone bad

Ok, Maybe the Palin’s Ayers Attack is “Racially Tinged”

AP: Palin's Ayers Attack "Racially Tinged"
DOUGLASS K. DANIEL | October 5, 2008 02:40 PM EST
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/ap-palins-ayers-attack-ra_n_132008.html

But should we be asking a different questions; questions about possible terrorist connections to the Palins via the Alaskan Independence Party?

Should we be asking ourselves, was a Federal building targeted for the placement of plastic explosives by Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party? Yes, plastic explosives.

The very same Alaskan Independence Party that the “First Dude” Todd Palin was a registered member of from 1995 until 2002.

That very same Joe Vogler that said:
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government...and I won't be buried under their damn flag."

See – “The real vetting problem: Republican elitism” below
Jim

“Nobody has more questions about this? About the Palins' having been fellow travelers with separatist party types who get killed in plastic explosives deals right in the militia movement/Waco/Ruby Ridge/Oklahoma City historical sweet spot?”

The Daily KOS
The real vetting problem: Republican elitism.
by Kagro X
Wed Sep 03, 2008 at 01:00:31 PM PDT”
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/121032/3543

From “Marketplace” American Public Media comes an understandable explanation of how an why we are in a credit crunch.

A complicated debt package uncorked
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/03/cdo/

"Economists are saying collateralized debt obligations are partially to blame for the mortgage crisis. What those are is hard to explain, but Rico Gagliano gives it a try with help from Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch"

Credit Squeeze is normal in downturn

Have you had enough of supply-side economics yet? Think about it. Which is the reason that a business expands?

a. someone gave the boss a bunch of free taxpayer money.
b. customer orders exceed production capacity.

The answer is that our economy is demand driven. When Reagan first campaigned in primaries on supply-side economics, George H. W. Bush called it "voodoo economics."

The wall street "geniuses" have run off with billions of investor money, now the institutions are failing, and they want the taxpayer to pump more money to the top (see choice a. above). If we don't give them our wallet, there will be a credit lockdown! Just look at the crunch now! Read on for more perspective on this:

...The bottom line is that we have badly over-leveraged banks who are on the edge of collapse and we have a credit tightening due to an economic downturn. These problems are related, but even if we could snap our fingers and make the banks healthy again tomorrow, we would still have a serious credit problem due to the recession. In other words, many of the businesses and people who have been appearing on news shows because they could not get credit would still not be able to get credit. (Although they probably will not be appearing on the news shows once the bailout passes.)

Just to remind everyone the cause is the loss of more than $4 trillion in housing equity due to the collapse of the housing bubble. The collapse of this bubble has not only devastated the construction and real estate market, it also has forced consumers to cut back. Tens of millions of homeowners no longer have any equity against which to borrow. Even those who still have equity realize that they will have to increase their savings to support themselves in retirement.

And all this came about because the experts who are now insisting that we need a bailout had previously insisted that there was no housing bubble and that everything was just fine. It is always important to keep things in context. -- Dean Baker on Huffington

Mendacious, Manipulating . . . Maverick? Hardly. Today's real McCain

Published on Capitol Hill Blue (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont)

"Created 10/01/2008 - 9:14am

Rear Admiral John S. McCain II must be spinning in his grave, not out of pride that his son is the GOP nominee, but that his son sold his soul, his honor, and his integrity in the process...

Senator, I hope you have written your apology to your father in advance. You owe him, and America, a huge one...

John has a problem with truth, honesty and integrity...

What you should find disturbing is that McCain's character flaws have existed throughout his life. Even as a POW, he behaved in a reprehensible manner, capitalizing on his status as the son of that era's Pacific Theater Commander, Rear Admiral McCain. The more his entire life is reviewed, the uglier the picture becomes...

To put it simply, McCain is a mendacious opportunist, who constantly proclaims his innocence of wrong-doing, while vehemently, even violently, attacking others he perceives to be in his path. Methinks he protests too much. His maverick image was a carefully crafted effort at shameless self-promotion. His claimed independence from George W. Bush? A lie. He voted with Bush 90% of the time, and repeatedly and emotionally claimed that he fully supported Bush and all policies. Now that Bush is reaching levels of distrust and dislike never reached by any sitting president, McCain agains pretends to be a "Maverick" and claims to have differences with the president. He is nothing but a fraud."

READ MORE AT:
Published on Capitol Hill Blue (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont)
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/11446

McCain Repeating Keating Era Mistakes, Regulator Warns

"In the S&L crisis, he took his advice from the worst [kind of] criminal. Charles Keating is the person he went to for his policy advice," Black said. "Now, he certainly is getting advice from Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Rick Davis -- the whole group of economic and top political advisers are lobbyist types. He just doesn't seem to get it, ever, that the advice is going to favor their clients. Even if they just stop being lobbyists, you can't just turn that off instantly. It's their mind state that develops. ... The biggest lesson is that, when you deregulate and de-supervise, you create an environment where control fraud emerges. You hyper-inflate bubbles; you get criminalization."

If a voter is concerned with the economy and is still undecided about the Presidential Election then reading the document below should make the decision easy:
Jim

The Huffington Post

October 1, 2008

Seth Colter Walls
walls@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting From DC

McCain Repeating Keating Era Mistakes, Regulator Warns

October 1, 2008 01:00 AM

As the stock market recovers from its biggest single-day drop since the crash of 1987, a former federal regulator who had a front-row view of John McCain's role in the Savings and Loan scandal says he is repeating some of the same mistakes.

William Black -- a deputy director of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation during the "Keating Five" scandal that nearly ended McCain's political career -- says the Arizona Republican's chief errors at the time were underestimating the importance of regulation and relying too heavily on slanted advice from captains of industry.

"In the S&L crisis, he took his advice from the worst [kind of] criminal. Charles Keating is the person he went to for his policy advice," Black said. "Now, he certainly is getting advice from Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Rick Davis -- the whole group of economic and top political advisers are lobbyist types. He just doesn't seem to get it, ever, that the advice is going to favor their clients. Even if they just stop being lobbyists, you can't just turn that off instantly. It's their mind state that develops. ... The biggest lesson is that, when you deregulate and de-supervise, you create an environment where control fraud emerges. You hyper-inflate bubbles; you get criminalization."

Though McCain's latest TV ads tout the senator's sporadic calls for more government regulation, Black notes with interest that McCain bragged recently that he was "fundamentally a deregulator." Black, who is now an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, also said that the deregulation that McCain was until recently proud to have championed effectively took corporate cops off the beat. "Nobody calls the Houston police department and says 'I think there a problem at Enron,'" he remarked.

MORE AT:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/01/mccain-repeating-keating_n_130612.html

TWO NEW “GATES”-"MINE GATE AND CRAPS GATE"

MINE GATE:
The Washington Post
Palin's Stand on Mining Initiative Leaves Many Feeling Burned
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, September 28, 2008; A12
For months, the confrontation mounted, a face-off that arguably held in the balancethe fates of two of Alaska's biggest industries. On one side were companies hoping to open Pebble Mine at a huge gold and copper reserve adjacent to one of the world's largest salmon runs, Bristol Bay. On the other side were fishermen and environmentalists pushing a referendum that would make it harder for the mine to open.
The two sides spent more than $10 million -- unprecedented for such efforts in Alaska -- and throughout it all, the state's highly popular first-term governor, Sarah Palin, held back. Alaska law forbids state officials from using state resources to advocate on ballot initiatives.
Then, six days before the Aug. 26 vote, with the race looking close, Palin broke her silence. Asked about the initiative at a news conference, she invoked "personal privilege" to give an opinion. "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 -- I vote no on that,"
MORE AT:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/27/AR2008092702834.html?nav=hcmodule

CRAPS GATE:
The New York Times
September 28, 2008
McCain and Team Have Many Ties to Gambling Industry
By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.


Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.

The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.

MORE AT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/politics/28gambling-web.html?hp


Both “Mine Gate” and “Craps Gate” mean trouble for the Republican Campaign.

McCain’s base in the extremist fringe of the evangelical community will learn that McCain is a high roller craps player.

In my opinion it also means more inquiry into influence peddling of both McCain and Palin that could lead to criminal prosecutions.

John Stewart of the "Daily Show" nails the news

Sometimes John Stewart of the "Daily Show" nails the news.
Jim

More at:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=186052&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Did I hear McCain say that the USA Tortures prisoners?

Last night at the candidate”s debate McCain said "the USA will not torture prisoners again".

Since is now apparent that John McCain believes that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales recommended and implemented the torture of prisoners of war; will John McCain testify at their war
criminal trials?

So when do we begin the war criminal trials of: President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales?

Do you think that the war criminal trials will be held at The Hague or Nuremburg?

Far fetched?

Check this out:

From the Los Angeles Times
Rice admits Bush officials held White House talks on CIA interrogations
Her written statement to Senate investigators is the first official high-level acknowledgment of meetings that led to harsh methods such as waterboarding.
By Greg Miller
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 25, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senior Bush administration officials held a series of meetings in the White House in 2002 and 2003 to discuss allowing the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees, according to a written statement Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently provided to Senate investigators.

Rice's written response to investigators on the Senate Armed Services Committee marks the first time a high-ranking White House official has formally acknowledged the White House discussions, which led to the CIA's use of waterboarding and other coercive methods.

In particular, Rice wrote in the Sept. 12 statement that officials discussed simulated torture techniques that elite U.S. soldiers were subjected to as part of a survival training program, and that she and other officials were told that such methods "had been deemed not to cause significant physical or psychological harm."

READ MORE HERE:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-interrogate25-2008sep25,0,1828234.story

Stop the Bailout !

The Witch of Wall Street

Maybe the Wall Street Banker's crisis is not about greed and corruption; maybe it is a "spiritual" crisis. If it is a "spiritual" crisis; I think Gov Palin may have a solution.
It is my understanding that she has a very close relationship to Thomas Muthee a man who says that he has very successfully rid a village in Kenya of a woman who he accused of “causing car accidents through demonic spells”.

From the Times of London;
http://timesonline.typepad.com/uselections/“The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.”- ‘We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,’ Pastor Muthee says. ‘After the spirit was broken, the crime rate dropped to almost zero and there was “explosive church growth” while almost every bar in the town closed down.”

From the Christian Science Monitor
From the September 23, 1999 edition
Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping,' prayer
Jane Lampman, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0923/p15s1.html
“C. Peter Wagner, head of Global Harvest Ministries in Colorado Springs, Colo., is in the vanguard of the movement. He defines three levels of spiritual warfare: "Ground-level" involves casting demons out of individuals; "occult-level warfare" involves more organized "powers of darkness" [They target here New Age thought, Tibetan Buddhism, Freemasonry, etc.]; and "strategic-level warfare" directly "confronts 'territorial spirits' assigned by Satan to coordinate activities over a geographical area."

I am not saying that there is a “demonic presence” a "Witch of Wall Street" but if there is the Dudette Gov from Alaska could bring in her heavy hitter witch hunter to lay hands on Paulson and expel the witch.

It could be that right now down in a rabbit hole bunker somewhere in New Jersey the Dudette Gov is “spiritually mapping” an anti-witch plan for Wall Street.

If that doesn't work maybe Palin can find an answer in reading moose entrails.
Jim

Monumental FBI investigation or Monumental Heist, The choice is ours.

White Collar Criminals are still Criminals what ever high level position they hold.

This could be the most monumental FBI investigation into public corruption and racketeering ever. Or the most monumental heist ever.

I think the Election will ultimately determine if McCain’s alleged criminal buddies go to prison or rule our country.
Jim

Here's a great video of Representative Marcy Kaptur who creatively outlines the problems as well as possible solutions for the current "financial crisis" as planned by the Bush Administration over the past few months.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=195933&mesg_id=195933

Are any of McCain's staffers targets of the FBI mortgage fraud probe?

Silly me, I thought that bad guys go to prison. In Republican land they get private islands, private jets and a mega bank full of money for being major criminals.

I checked; all the major newspapers are not headlining the FBI probe article. Is CNN the only responsible news organization?

I don’t believe it. These very same targets of the FBI probe are looking for a Trillion Dollar gift from Congress. When is everyone going to get it that the Titians of Wall Street could also be the Titians of organized crime?

I believe that these guys are criminals and should be locked up. McCain and the Republicans think they deserve a Trillion Dollars.

I wonder if any of McCain’s staffers are on the FBI’s list.
Jim



First Published: September 23, 2008: 9:12 PM ET

Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/companies/fbi_finance/index.htm?cnn=yes

FBI probing bailout firms
Investigators start search for fraud at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG, sources say.
By Kelli Arena, CNN Justice Correspondent
Last Updated: September 23, 2008: 11:25 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG - and their executives - as part of a broad look into possible mortgage fraud, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Tuesday.
The sources would not speak on the record because the investigation is ongoing.
FBI spokesman Special Agent Richard Kelko had no comment on that information, but said that 26 firms were currently under investigation as part of the bureau's mortgage fraud inquiry.
Earlier this month, FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress that 1,400 individual real estate lenders, brokers and appraisers were now under investigation in addition to two dozen corporations.
"The FBI currently has 26 pending corporate fraud investigations involving subprime lenders," Kelko said. "As we have seen, this number can fluctuate over time, however we do not discuss which companies may or may not be the subject of an investigation."
Previously, CNN has reported that Countrywide is part of the investigation.
More at: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/companies/fbi_finance/index.htm?cnn=yes

FBI probing bailout firms

Finally, I was really getting tired of some people blaming the victims of mortgage fraud. Like burglars who blame their victims for leaving a door unlocked. And maybe some of these guys will have to spend their parachute money on defense attorneys.
Jim


First Published: September 23, 2008: 9:12 PM ET

Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/companies/fbi_finance/index.htm?cnn=yes

FBI probing bailout firms
Investigators start search for fraud at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG, sources say.
By Kelli Arena, CNN Justice Correspondent
Last Updated: September 23, 2008: 11:25 PM ET


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG - and their executives - as part of a broad look into possible mortgage fraud, sources with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Tuesday.
The sources would not speak on the record because the investigation is ongoing.
FBI spokesman Special Agent Richard Kelko had no comment on that information, but said that 26 firms were currently under investigation as part of the bureau's mortgage fraud inquiry.
Earlier this month, FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress that 1,400 individual real estate lenders, brokers and appraisers were now under investigation in addition to two dozen corporations.
"The FBI currently has 26 pending corporate fraud investigations involving subprime lenders," Kelko said. "As we have seen, this number can fluctuate over time, however we do not discuss which companies may or may not be the subject of an investigation."
Previously, CNN has reported that Countrywide is part of the investigation.
More at:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/companies/fbi_finance/index.htm?cnn=yes

Will FirstPlus Financial Group be part of Paulson's bailout?

Posted on Wed, Jun. 18, 2008
Daidone pleads guilty to probation violation
By George Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

Mob associate Daniel Daidone, who served nearly three years in prison for his role in a Camden City corruption case, pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the terms of his supervised release by associating with convicted felons.
Daidone, who was released from prison in July 2006, could be sent back to jail for up to two years when he is sentenced on July 22.

His illegal contacts surfaced during a multistate FBI financial fraud investigation that has targeted FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas company with alleged ties to Salvatore Pelullo, an Elkins Park businessman with two fraud convictions, and mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo.

Scarfo, son of jailed Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, has convictions for bookmaking and racketeering.

Daidone worked for a FirstPlus subsidiary in the Philadelphia area and, according to the complaint against him, met with Scarfo and Pelullo on numerous occasions without reporting those contacts to his probation officer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D'Aguanno declined to comment about the FirstPlus investigation but confirmed that Daidone's supervised-release violations stem in part from that probe.
More at:
http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=24694273

Live video of Paulon Hearings

You can watch live video coverage of what I think of as the organized crime on a gargantuan scale otherwise known as the Paulson hearings in Congress on the Washington Post website:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2005/04/12/VI2005041201139.html

The Titians of Organized Crime now reside on Wall Street

Al Capone- a jerk- Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, Carmine "Junior" Persico, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, Philip "Rusty" Rastelli, as well as their subordinates, the entire Sicilian Mafia, the entire Camorra in Naples, the entire Russian Mafiya, Indian Mafia, Japanese Mafia- little fish; all of them mere amateurs in crime.

The real goodfellas are in Wall Street. Prohibition bath-tub gin, heroin trafficking, cocaine trafficking, arms trafficking are all amateur ways of stealing. The $62 Trillion credit default swaps market is how the professionals, the real good goodfellas do it.

The definition of organized crime is; crime aided and abetted by government officials who look the other way. None of the stealing that people like Paul Castellano did could have happened without the aid of government officials.

The exact same looking the other way enabled the goodfellas professionals on Wall Street to steal in multiples of trillions of dollars every year while remaining respected and seemingly law abiding in public.

And now that the gig is up and the Wall Street Gang got caught, the very same people that enabled them to steal are in the process of giving them a get out of jail free/keep their stolen cash card.

The Titians of Organized Crime now reside on Wall Street, to find out how they did it you need to go no farther than John McCain’s “economic brain”, national campaign general co-chair and Treasury Secretary pick Phil Gram:
Jim Pitcherella

“The Subprime Mess and Phil Gramm: An Experiment in Deregulation
by JAG posted 2 days ago
June 24, 2008 - 04:12 PM
http://www.sodahead.com/blog/15804/
Category: Miscellaneous Tags:
Senator Phil Gramm, John McCain, George Bush, Senate, Congress, subprime, mortgage mess, deregulation, Enron, Secretary Paulson, UBS, Mother Jones


In 1933, a few years following the stock market crash, Congress passes the Glass-Steagall Act, in hopes that regulating banks will help prevent market instability, particularly amongst Wall Street banks. The purpose of the act is to separate commercial banks that focus on consumers from investment banks, which deal with speculative trading and mergers.

The Glass-Steagall Act provided the proper oversight and entity separation that would prohibit banks and other financial companies from merging into giant trusts (conflict of interests) -- giant trusts or corporations being more powerful, naturally, and having the seemingly limitless capital to lobby their corporate interests, however, with a very myopic scope (particularly when it comes to factoring in potential losses -- most banks, as seen in contemporary times, chose not to anticipate losses in the mortgage market; they presumed home prices would continue to appreciate).

In 1999, former Senator Phil Gramm (who is, incidentally, Senator John McCain's economic adviser and cochairs his presidential campaign) set out to completely gut the Glass-Steagall Act, and did so successfully, replacing most of its components with the new Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: allowing commercial banks, investment banks, and insurers to merge (which would have violated antitrust laws under Glass-Steagall). Sen. Gramm was the driving force behind the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, as he had received over $4.6 million from the FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate donations) over the previous decade, and once the Act passed, an influx of "megamergers" took place among banks and insurance and securities companies, as if they had been eagerly awaiting the passage of Gramm's Act. Everything in between Glass-Steagall and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (i.e. Savings and Loan crisis/bust) was, in large part, the incubation period for what would take place over the nine years that would follow the passage of Gramm's Act."
READ THE REST OF THE POST HERE:
http://www.sodahead.com/blog/15804/

Governor Palin's Reading List

Just so we all know where Palin is coming from:

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Posted September 15, 2008 | 11:27 AM (EST)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/governor-palins-reading-l_b_126478.html
Governor Palin's Reading List
Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."

It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.”

“Nations Financial Industry is Gripped by Fear”

I rarely watch “Fox News”; I wonder if they are reporting that the “Nations Financial Industry is Gripped by Fear”

The root cause of the failure of our financial industry is not just de-regulation; it is the appointment of political cronies and the firing of regulatory staff. While nobody was watching, corporations operating here stole us dry and the Republicans and their “de-regulation” set it up.

How is McCain and Palin going to spin what is looking more and more like another “Great Depression”?

Below is the news that should be headlined on TV.

Tune in Monday; this stuff is all happening over a weekend. The stock market isn’t ever open today.
Jim


The New York Times
In Frantic Day Wall Street Banks Teeter

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15lehman.html?hp

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, BEN WHITE and JENNY ANDERSON
Published: September 14, 2008
In one the most extraordinary days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch is near an 11th-hour deal with Bank of America to avert a deepening financial crisis while another storied securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation, according to people briefed on the deal.

BBC News

Lehman set to go into insolvency
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7615712.stm


The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com

Rush Is On to Prevent A.I.G. From Failing
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Published: September 14, 2008
The American International Group, the insurance company, is planning a major reorganization and a sale of its aircraft leasing business and other units to stabilize its finances, a person briefed on the company’s strategy said on Sunday.
A.I.G. became one of the focuses at an emergency gathering of Wall Street executives over the weekend, and was trying to arrange a capital infusion in the face of possible credit downgrades.

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com


Nation’s Financial Industry Gripped by Fear
By BEN WHITE and JENNY ANDERSON
Published: September 14, 2008
Fear and greed are the stuff that Wall Street is made of. But inside the great banking houses, those high temples of capitalism, fear came to the fore this weekend.
Dinner parties were canceled. Weekend getaways were postponed. All of Wall Street, it seemed, was on high alert.

The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/14/greenspan-this-is-the-wor_n_126274.html

Greenspan: This Is The Worst Economy I've Ever Seen
September 14, 2008 11:21 AM


Sam Stein
stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting From DC

Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091400355.html?hpid=topnews
Still No Buyer for Lehman Brothers; Talks Continue

Efforts Underway to Stave Off Bank's Collapse; Sources Says Barclays Drops Its Bid
By Heather Landy and Neil Irwin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 14, 2008; 5:30 PM


The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/business/14gret.html?ref=business
September 14, 2008
Fair Game
The Joys of Ownership
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
SO, ladies and gentlemen, how does it feel to be the new owner of those two big and banged-up mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Not exactly the kind of real estate you were looking to buy, you say? Felt you had swallowed enough garbage after the Bear Stearns bailout tapped you for $29 billion?
Make no mistake: we, the American taxpayers, are amassing quite a portfolio of flotsam and jetsam in the mortgage bust. It certainly brings new meaning to the notion of an ownership society, doesn’t it?
To be sure, the terms of the Mac ’n’ Mae rescue deal are still sinking in. And it will be years before we know how much taxpayers will have to pay for the privilege of backing these out-of-control entities. But in the meantime, here are some of the joys that ownership in Mac ’n’ Mae might bring.
The proud new owners — the taxpayers — could be asked to cover such niceties as the pay packages awarded to the chief executives, Daniel H. Mudd at Fannie Mae and Richard F. Syron at Freddie Mac, as they exit the accident scene. Estimates for what these arrangements might cost: $24 million in severance, retirement benefits and deferred compensation for both men.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT MAPS FOR CHESTER COUNTY PA

There is a lot of understandable confusion over where Pennsylvania Congressional, Pennsylvania Statehouse and Pennsylvania Senatorial Districts begin and end. If you are a Chester County, PA resident I hope that the maps below can help to identify just which legislative district that you live in:



PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE DISTRICTS IN CHESTER COUNTY
http://www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_download_shared_file&file_id=f_195234684&shared_name=1b49mnnv65

PENNSYLVANIA SENATE DISTRICTS IN CHESTER COUNTY
http://www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_download_shared_file&file_id=f_195234690&shared_name=zbmectuk6d

PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS IN CHESTER COUNTY
http://www.box.net/index.php?rm=box_download_shared_file&file_id=f_195234694&shared_name=28vvt9dy2n

Long Arms

You hear about the long arm of the law.

Coatesville organized crime gangs have reached out from within lockup. The shooting last weekend of Arthur Smith is directly related to Duron “Gotti” Peoples’ trial in West Chester today. The Arthur Smith shot in Coatesville early last Sunday morning and the Arthur Sharp mentioned in the trial are the same person.

Like I said, the chance of being mugged or robbed in Coatesville is not that much different from other areas of Chester County. What makes Coatesville so very much more violent than other communities in Chester County is that Coatesville is the drug distribution center of Chester County. Tens of millions of dollars in drug trafficking go through Coatesville. The shootings and murders here are over control of that traffic. Much of the violence outside the city limits of Coatesville is also related to the drug trafficking in Coatesville.

On a hot summer night in Coatesville you may see lots of people out on the streets. Some of them are wearing Kevlar underwear; it’s not a fashion statement. Just don’t be in the way when the bullets are flying.
Jim Pitcherella


DAILY LOCAL NEWS
9/12/2008
Peoples' trial heads to closing arguments
WEST CHESTER — Jurors in the trial involving the shooting of a former member of Coatesville's "Young Guns" gang are expected to begin their deliberations today to determine whether Duron "Gotti" Peoples is guilty of participating in the attack.
Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Sarcione, presiding over the trial, sent the 12 jurors and two alternates home Thursday after the prosecution rested. The jury is scheduled to hear closing statements from the two attorneys in the case this morning.

Testimony Thursday centered around the version of events given by the victim in the case, Edgar "Juice" Barber, who said that he saw Peoples' face in the front seat of a station wagon that pulled alongside him at the Regency Park Apartments just before he was shot.

Although more than a dozen shots were fired, Barber, 30, was shot only once — in the back. He recovered from the wounding within a month.

Peoples, 31, is accused of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy in the Jan. 9, 2006, incident. Two other men, Donte "DC" Carter and Shamone "Tex" Kennedy, have also been charged.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20118221&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=635398&rfi=6

From the Gut

I have to admit that I have an automatic “gut level” prejudice against Republicans. When I am in the presence of a Republican “gang member” the hair on the back of my neck goes up. I have a subconscious defensive response that is something like what most people feel when they are about to be mugged. Whether it is reasonable or not; I subconsciously, at a “gut level” automatically link Republicans with criminality, the “Black Hand” and organized crime. I guess it is from early childhood experience growing up here in Chester County. Andy Dinniman says to try to get along with Republicans here in Chester County. That is something that is very difficult for me to do because to me at a “gut level” Republicans are gangsters.

That “gut level” prejudice is very strong in me. You need to understand that some of my best friends and some family members are Republicans, but I have had to work that out on an emotional level in order to be friendly.

John Kerry was a decorated war hero on a Navy riverboat. George W Bush was a drug addict alcoholic bum in a “rich boy” National Guard “country club” unit. I don’t need to tell you how Carl Rove handled Bush’s campaign against Kerry.

Barack Obama is a neighborhood organizer; a man of the people and a man of Democracy who is fighting for the rights of ordinary people. John McCain is a rich “country club” boy from and of the very wealthy. In my opinion he is one of the “gang members” of the “Republican Kleptocrats’s Contract on America” that has nearly stolen our country dry. Carl Rove and a collection of former and present lobbyists (except for Jack Abramoff) are handling McCain’s campaign. McCain’s weak point is that he is joined at the hip with the rest of the Republican Kleptocrats, so:
Carl Rove and the 59 lobbyists working for McCain’s election bills him as an agent of “Change” fighting against the Washington lobbyists.

It’s easy for me to figure out what is going on in this election; but then my “gut level” early childhood experience pre-disposes me to distrust anything Republican.
Jim Pitcherella-September 10, 2008


"The New York Times
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
From the Gut
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
If John McCain can win this election race with a 50-pound ball called “George W. Bush” wrapped around one ankle and a 50-pound ball called “The U.S. Economy” wrapped around the other, then he deserves to represent America in the next Olympics in any race he wants — swimming, cycling or track — I don’t care how old he is. He would be the Michael Phelps of politics.
I confess, I watch politics from afar, but here’s what I’ve been feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama’s coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold.
Somebody needs to tell Obama that if he wants the chance to calmly answer the phone at 3 a.m. in the White House, he is going to need to start slamming down some phones at 3 p.m. along the campaign trail. I like much of what he has to say, especially about energy, but I don’t think people are feeling it in their guts, and I am a big believer that voters don’t listen through their ears. They listen through their stomachs.
If you as a politician connect with voters on a gut level, they will follow you anywhere and not fret about the details. If you don’t connect with them on a gut level, you can’t show them enough details. Obama early on, and particularly with young people, connected on a gut level like no other politician since Ronald Reagan.
But in recent weeks, I feel as though he has lost that gut connection. I thought his convention speech contained no memorable lines or uplifting visions. It never got me out of my seat. Forget trashing McCain’s ideas. If Obama wants to rally his base, he has to be more passionate about his own ideas. I have long felt that what propelled Obama early was the fact that many Americans understand in their guts that we need a change, but the change we need is to focus on nation-building at home. We’re in decline. We need to get back to work on our country. And that is going to require strong, smart government.
Who is bailing out Fannie Mae? Who is going to build a new energy system? Health care? More tax cuts are not going to do it. But I am just not sure that Obama is making the sale that he has the plan and passion to unite and mobilize the country for this task.
In a way, I would love to hear Obama say, just for shock value: “I am so eager to do whatever it takes to fix these problems that I am ready to be a one-term president."
Read the rest of the column here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10friedman.html?hp