Just a thought:
We have a black President whose closest adviser is Jewish and Eric Holder, the new face of the USDoJ, which includes the FBI and ATF, is black. The Chester County KKK, Skinhead and Nazi groups must be running out of swastikas, bomb making instructions and other stuff in their “new member’s kit”.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Forgive and Forget?
Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times touched a nerve in me.
People here tell me that it is useless to fight against some politically connected people here that I think may have broken the law. This is Chester County; no matter what happens, if someone is indicted, even found guilty, in the long run the losers will be the people who “snitched” and the bad guys will ultimately win.
I am hoping for a different outcome.
The “free market economy” is completely out of control and in aircraft language a “flat spin” or “death spiral”. Only the President and government can pull it out of the “death spiral”. It may be a decade or more but the economy will come back.
I agree with Mr. Krugman that if the crimes of the Bush Administration go unpunished the United States will suffer. If the new president ignores the crimes of the Bush Administration the United States will be permanently damaged.
But it is not the President’s duty to prosecute former Bush officials; that will be the duty of Eric Holder.
It could be that the future of the United States of America is in Eric Holder’s hands.
Jim Pitcherella
________________________________________
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/opinion/16krugman.html?_r=1
January 16, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Forgive and Forget?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”
I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.
Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.
Jim Pitcherella
Every politician and law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania should read:
“POLICE, POLITICS. CORRUPTION ‘The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice” By Colonel Frank McKetta, Retired Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner
People here tell me that it is useless to fight against some politically connected people here that I think may have broken the law. This is Chester County; no matter what happens, if someone is indicted, even found guilty, in the long run the losers will be the people who “snitched” and the bad guys will ultimately win.
I am hoping for a different outcome.
The “free market economy” is completely out of control and in aircraft language a “flat spin” or “death spiral”. Only the President and government can pull it out of the “death spiral”. It may be a decade or more but the economy will come back.
I agree with Mr. Krugman that if the crimes of the Bush Administration go unpunished the United States will suffer. If the new president ignores the crimes of the Bush Administration the United States will be permanently damaged.
But it is not the President’s duty to prosecute former Bush officials; that will be the duty of Eric Holder.
It could be that the future of the United States of America is in Eric Holder’s hands.
Jim Pitcherella
________________________________________
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/opinion/16krugman.html?_r=1
January 16, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Forgive and Forget?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”
I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.
Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.
Jim Pitcherella
Every politician and law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania should read:
“POLICE, POLITICS. CORRUPTION ‘The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice” By Colonel Frank McKetta, Retired Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner
Saturday, January 10, 2009
“Cocaine and White Teens”
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Charles Blow wrote a column in today’s New York Times about “Cocaine and White Teens”.
In his article he writes about a government-sponsored study by the University of Michigan. It reported a decline in drug use by young people. Mr. Blow writes:
Curtis Self Sr. of East Fallowfield was sentenced to 17 to 34 years in prison for five counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine. He was selling what we call “white drugs”. He lived in East Fallowfield and sold in Coatesville and Caln. I think the people in suburban Chester County need to wake up and understand that the drug dealers in Coatesville can be selling poison to their children.
More policing does help.
I have seen how drugs can ruin the lives of young white men and women in a white suburban area who had everything going for them; top high school athletes, an affluent lifestyle, good academics, plenty of money for the best collages, new cars… One of them is now doing a 20 year sentence.
Policing the streets is a part of it; policing home life is another part.
Mr. Blow brings up something else at the end of his column.
We are treating the drug dealers and users as criminals. Much of the time they are both. But some of the top drug entrepreneurs never tried their “product”.
Before Prohibition, gangs in the United States were local. Prohibition was the opportunity for some of those local gangs to grow into what we now know as organized crime, or the Mafia. When Prohibition ended the infrastructure was in place and drugs replaced alcohol as the profit maker. Illegal drugs are now an incredibly profitable international business.
They used aircraft, we put AWACS aircraft in the Caribbean to track them, they used cigarette boats in bunches of three that look like one on radar. The Colombians drug dealers even bought their very own Russian submarine. The profit margin is just too great in illegal drugs. If a big shipment is stopped, the price and the profit margin go up. Since the “war on drugs” began the illegal drugs industry has had exponential growth.
It ain’t working. We need to try something different.
In whatever country in whatever part of the world where the crop is grown that drugs are derived from, the finial destination is nearly always right here in the USA. The USA is by far the biggest market for illegal drugs in the world. If we stopped using them here the economies of many countries would completely collapse.
The real problem is not the drug sellers; the real problem is that we love how drugs make us feel here in the USA. The answer to the world wide illegal murderous drug business and the terror and suffering that goes with it is right here among us United States citizens.
Someone on TV said that the mortgage derivative traders, by just making money triggered a chemical response in their brains much like cocaine. But they were not getting high on just money. We know that some of those same traders were using the real thing too. Maybe the pressures of our free enterprise system need some kind of relief.
Maybe it’s that we are far removed from nature. Most of us rarely feel the soothing effect of just watching a creek or river flow by. But even some societies that we call “stone age” and live in completely natural surroundings use some sort of drugs.
Humans and all living things are chemical factories. Drugs or chemicals that our own bodies manufacture or that we eat or breathe regulate every part of our bodies. Maybe it is a medical answer; maybe it is a societal answer or something completely new. Maybe the medical and social things we tried were just not enough.
Until we can solve our own almost uniquely American love of drugs; I think that good police work in Coatesville may be the best thing we have going for us right now in Chester County.
Charles M. blow’s column is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/opinion/10blow.html?_r=1
Charles Blow wrote a column in today’s New York Times about “Cocaine and White Teens”.
In his article he writes about a government-sponsored study by the University of Michigan. It reported a decline in drug use by young people. Mr. Blow writes:
"But, one important metric that wasn’t mentioned, and that stubbornly resisted the downturn, was the use of cocaine.
According to data from the group that produced the report, the percentage of both black and white 12th graders who confessed to using cocaine in the past 30 days has essentially stayed flat since 2001. The major difference is that white usage outweighs black usage 4 to 1. (If you take a longer view back to 1991, when cocaine usage bottomed out following the outrageous ’80s, usage among white 12th graders since then has nearly doubled, while usage among black 12th graders has fallen a bit.)"
Curtis Self Sr. of East Fallowfield was sentenced to 17 to 34 years in prison for five counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine. He was selling what we call “white drugs”. He lived in East Fallowfield and sold in Coatesville and Caln. I think the people in suburban Chester County need to wake up and understand that the drug dealers in Coatesville can be selling poison to their children.
More policing does help.
“One Coatesville resident put it this way “They don’t like to see police. It’s that simple. It makes it difficult to buy. It makes it difficult to sell … And that’s discouraging.” Daily Local News Coatesville residents Help DA rid the city of crime-Thursday, January 8, 2009 6:56 AM EST
I have seen how drugs can ruin the lives of young white men and women in a white suburban area who had everything going for them; top high school athletes, an affluent lifestyle, good academics, plenty of money for the best collages, new cars… One of them is now doing a 20 year sentence.
Policing the streets is a part of it; policing home life is another part.
Mr. Blow brings up something else at the end of his column.
“But, in a phone interview, David Murray, chief scientist in the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, insisted that there was good news: a sharp rise in the price of cocaine and a drop in its purity since 2006, among other things, have cut into overall usage.
So, I thought, until policy makers put more of a focus on this issue and figure out how to reach these students, should we just hope that teens are too broke for this weak coke? I don’t think so. We need a real strategy, right now.”
We are treating the drug dealers and users as criminals. Much of the time they are both. But some of the top drug entrepreneurs never tried their “product”.
Before Prohibition, gangs in the United States were local. Prohibition was the opportunity for some of those local gangs to grow into what we now know as organized crime, or the Mafia. When Prohibition ended the infrastructure was in place and drugs replaced alcohol as the profit maker. Illegal drugs are now an incredibly profitable international business.
They used aircraft, we put AWACS aircraft in the Caribbean to track them, they used cigarette boats in bunches of three that look like one on radar. The Colombians drug dealers even bought their very own Russian submarine. The profit margin is just too great in illegal drugs. If a big shipment is stopped, the price and the profit margin go up. Since the “war on drugs” began the illegal drugs industry has had exponential growth.
It ain’t working. We need to try something different.
In whatever country in whatever part of the world where the crop is grown that drugs are derived from, the finial destination is nearly always right here in the USA. The USA is by far the biggest market for illegal drugs in the world. If we stopped using them here the economies of many countries would completely collapse.
The real problem is not the drug sellers; the real problem is that we love how drugs make us feel here in the USA. The answer to the world wide illegal murderous drug business and the terror and suffering that goes with it is right here among us United States citizens.
Someone on TV said that the mortgage derivative traders, by just making money triggered a chemical response in their brains much like cocaine. But they were not getting high on just money. We know that some of those same traders were using the real thing too. Maybe the pressures of our free enterprise system need some kind of relief.
Maybe it’s that we are far removed from nature. Most of us rarely feel the soothing effect of just watching a creek or river flow by. But even some societies that we call “stone age” and live in completely natural surroundings use some sort of drugs.
Humans and all living things are chemical factories. Drugs or chemicals that our own bodies manufacture or that we eat or breathe regulate every part of our bodies. Maybe it is a medical answer; maybe it is a societal answer or something completely new. Maybe the medical and social things we tried were just not enough.
Until we can solve our own almost uniquely American love of drugs; I think that good police work in Coatesville may be the best thing we have going for us right now in Chester County.
Charles M. blow’s column is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/opinion/10blow.html?_r=1
blackberry jim
January 9, 2009
For BlackBerry, Obama’s Devotion Is Priceless
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
This week, Michael Phelps signed a deal worth more than $1 million to advertise Mazda in China. Jerry Seinfeld earned a reported $10 million to appear in Microsoft’s recent television campaign.
But the person who may be the biggest celebrity pitchman in the world is not earning a penny for his work.
President-elect Barack Obama has repeatedly said how much his BlackBerry means to him and how he is dreading the prospect of being forced to give it up, because of legal and security concerns, once he takes office.
“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”
What could the “BlackBerry president” charge for his plugs of the device if he were not a public servant? More than $25 million, marketing experts say, and maybe as much as $50 million.
“This would be almost the biggest endorsement deal in the history of endorsements,” said Doug Shabelman, the president of Burns Entertainment, which arranges deals between celebrities and companies. “He’s consistently seen using it and consistently in the news arguing — and arguing with issues of national security and global welfare — how he absolutely needs this to function on a daily basis.”
More at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/business/media/09blackberry.html?_r=1&ref=technology
No punishment planned for CIA over torture
I wonder if Attorney General Holder will show mercy to Addington, Gonzales, Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld and others by prosecuting them all to the fullest extent of US Law. Or whether he shows no mercy and will do nothing but present evidence to be used at The Hague.
Ignoring direct orders to torture people by officials of the US Government in defiance of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention is not an option.
Japanese officials were hanged for the very same offense.
Jim
No punishment planned for CIA over torture
Created 01/10/2009 - 7:21am
"As President-elect Barack Obama assures intelligence officials that his complaints are with the Bush administration, not them, there are growing hints from Democratic Senate allies that spy agency veterans will not be prosecuted for past harsh interrogation and detainee policies.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told The Associated Press in an interview this week that there is a clear distinction between those who made the policies and those who carried them out.
"They (the CIA) carry out orders and the orders come from the (National Security Council) and the White House, so there's not a lot of policy debate that goes on there," she said. "We're going to continue our looking into the situation and I think that is up to the administration and the director."
More at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/13753
Ignoring direct orders to torture people by officials of the US Government in defiance of the Constitution and the Geneva Convention is not an option.
Japanese officials were hanged for the very same offense.
Jim
No punishment planned for CIA over torture
Created 01/10/2009 - 7:21am
"As President-elect Barack Obama assures intelligence officials that his complaints are with the Bush administration, not them, there are growing hints from Democratic Senate allies that spy agency veterans will not be prosecuted for past harsh interrogation and detainee policies.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told The Associated Press in an interview this week that there is a clear distinction between those who made the policies and those who carried them out.
"They (the CIA) carry out orders and the orders come from the (National Security Council) and the White House, so there's not a lot of policy debate that goes on there," she said. "We're going to continue our looking into the situation and I think that is up to the administration and the director."
More at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/13753
Friday, January 9, 2009
Coatesville is the drug distribution center for Chester County.
At the present staff level of the Coatesville Pennsylvania Police Department there are three police officers on patrol at one time. At high crime times the Coatesville PD is augmented by surrounding police departments and PA State Troopers. High crime time in Coatesville is after dark.
Chester County Pennsylvania is among the ten wealthiest counties in the USA; a fox hunting playground for billionaires.
Coatesville is the drug distribution center for Chester County.
The drug business in Chester County is a multi-million dollar business. I believe that without Coatesville as the drug distribution hub in Chester County, the entire structure of drug distribution here could collapse.
Coatesville is a transportation hub in the center of Chester County. There is easy access to rail, air, and interstate roadways. A major drug dealer from New York City can deliver packages directly to dealers in Coatesville for distribution in Chester County via several routes. They are in and out in less than 20 minutes.
There is an entire sub-economy built on drug money here. Convicted crack dealer Edwin “Jack” Flamer was said to have done “charitable acts” with the money he made selling poison to our youth in Chester County. A combination of cash from drug dealers and death threats keeps people from talking to police. There is also a perception that you can’t trust all the police; that a policeman could “give you up” to the person threatening you. Some people say that Coatesville residents like the city the way it is. I don’t think so. It is a terrifying way to live.
Coatesville is a friendly community; a community rich in oral history, where families go back many generations. But, the money in drugs turns that very friendliness on its head. We live in a terrorized community, where not just an adult can be threatened; but that adult’s children, nephews, and grandchildren.
The threats are real. I believe that most of the recent shootings and murders involved people that were about to testify in trials.
I am still hearing calls for police to be recruited from Coatesville, that they be long time Coatesville residents. I believe that this call for Coatesville officers was initiated by drug dealers. If police officers and their families are required to not only live here but be long time Coatesville residents; that police officer’s extended family could also be threatened. I believe that this is part of an effort by the drug entrepreneurs in the city to gain a strong foothold in the Coatesville Police department.
Coatesville is a small city of 11,000 with the infrastructure for 20,000 residents.
There are many Coatesville residents and former residents who live nearby that have spent years of their lives working with youth, civic groups and politicians; trying to bring the city around. There was an attempt to revitalize Coatesville and move away from a drug economy to a normal thriving city. Then County Commissioner Andy Dinniman worked with dedicated community members, PA Career Link and the Laborers District Council Training facility in Exton, PA to develop skilled, trained Coatesville residents to help build the city’s redevelopment that was then in the works. By 2005 drug dealers could not live in the city, a plan for redevelopment was in place and the developers were lined up. After 8 years of very hard work Coatesville was about to “flip over”. Then a new city council moved in and in my opinion trashed the redevelopment. And at the same time I believe that the new administration trashed the Coatesville Police Department.
When the Coatesville Police Force collapsed and “the money was good again in Coatesville”, the drug dealers came back. And they came back in a terrifying way.
We are really hurting here in Coatesville; and we have gotten fleeting aid from County Commissioner Andy Dinniman and Governor Rendell. But, so far the only elected public official from the County, State or Federal Government to put himself on the line and really come to our aid is Chester County District Attorney Joe Carroll.
The USDoJ, ATF, FBI and DEA are awakening from a long Bush Administration imposed sleep. Hopefully some of that awakening can come here to Coatesville, PA.
I believe the scale of the drug business in Chester County cannot exist without the cooperation of corrupt public officials.
I think every politician and law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania should read:
“POLICE, POLITICS. CORRUPTION ‘The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice” By Colonel Frank McKetta, Retired Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner
Chester County Pennsylvania is among the ten wealthiest counties in the USA; a fox hunting playground for billionaires.
Coatesville is the drug distribution center for Chester County.
The drug business in Chester County is a multi-million dollar business. I believe that without Coatesville as the drug distribution hub in Chester County, the entire structure of drug distribution here could collapse.
Coatesville is a transportation hub in the center of Chester County. There is easy access to rail, air, and interstate roadways. A major drug dealer from New York City can deliver packages directly to dealers in Coatesville for distribution in Chester County via several routes. They are in and out in less than 20 minutes.
There is an entire sub-economy built on drug money here. Convicted crack dealer Edwin “Jack” Flamer was said to have done “charitable acts” with the money he made selling poison to our youth in Chester County. A combination of cash from drug dealers and death threats keeps people from talking to police. There is also a perception that you can’t trust all the police; that a policeman could “give you up” to the person threatening you. Some people say that Coatesville residents like the city the way it is. I don’t think so. It is a terrifying way to live.
Coatesville is a friendly community; a community rich in oral history, where families go back many generations. But, the money in drugs turns that very friendliness on its head. We live in a terrorized community, where not just an adult can be threatened; but that adult’s children, nephews, and grandchildren.
The threats are real. I believe that most of the recent shootings and murders involved people that were about to testify in trials.
I am still hearing calls for police to be recruited from Coatesville, that they be long time Coatesville residents. I believe that this call for Coatesville officers was initiated by drug dealers. If police officers and their families are required to not only live here but be long time Coatesville residents; that police officer’s extended family could also be threatened. I believe that this is part of an effort by the drug entrepreneurs in the city to gain a strong foothold in the Coatesville Police department.
Coatesville is a small city of 11,000 with the infrastructure for 20,000 residents.
There are many Coatesville residents and former residents who live nearby that have spent years of their lives working with youth, civic groups and politicians; trying to bring the city around. There was an attempt to revitalize Coatesville and move away from a drug economy to a normal thriving city. Then County Commissioner Andy Dinniman worked with dedicated community members, PA Career Link and the Laborers District Council Training facility in Exton, PA to develop skilled, trained Coatesville residents to help build the city’s redevelopment that was then in the works. By 2005 drug dealers could not live in the city, a plan for redevelopment was in place and the developers were lined up. After 8 years of very hard work Coatesville was about to “flip over”. Then a new city council moved in and in my opinion trashed the redevelopment. And at the same time I believe that the new administration trashed the Coatesville Police Department.
When the Coatesville Police Force collapsed and “the money was good again in Coatesville”, the drug dealers came back. And they came back in a terrifying way.
We are really hurting here in Coatesville; and we have gotten fleeting aid from County Commissioner Andy Dinniman and Governor Rendell. But, so far the only elected public official from the County, State or Federal Government to put himself on the line and really come to our aid is Chester County District Attorney Joe Carroll.
The USDoJ, ATF, FBI and DEA are awakening from a long Bush Administration imposed sleep. Hopefully some of that awakening can come here to Coatesville, PA.
I believe the scale of the drug business in Chester County cannot exist without the cooperation of corrupt public officials.
I think every politician and law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania should read:
“POLICE, POLITICS. CORRUPTION ‘The mixture dangerous to freedom and justice” By Colonel Frank McKetta, Retired Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Consider contacting the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment
Consider contacting the Obama Music Arts and Entertainment Obama Music Arts and Entertainment with you own request. It's never too late. What can we lose?
Obama Music Arts and Entertainment; http://obamamae.ning.com
Dear Marla,
Many of us here in Chester County, Pennsylvania, are aware of what you and your committee are doing for the Obama cause and for the arts, and we are grateful.
We are friends, fans and admirers of Stephanie Phillips Markstein who were overjoyed at how well she did in your national song competition. Yet we had mixed feelings because she missed out on being first by only a narrow margin. We understand the concept that "them's the rules." We well appreciate the serious and professional undertaking that your organization preformed to determine the winner. Moreover, we recognize that Lady D's entry was also outstanding. Nevertheless, it seems that it shouldn't all end at his point for Stephanie.
To be sure, some of our zeal for Stephanie and her effort stems from the fact that her "Yes We Can" became our local anthem at campaign events and gatherings. And, we know her for her tireless work on behalf of Democrats here while keeping up with her other time consuming duties including those of being a wife and a mother of two young girls. She is well thought of in this community.
Is there not some way that Stephanie can be included, as a runner-up, at appearances and in publicity and the like that will follow from the song competition? This is not to suggest that Lady D's achievement be diminished in any way but that the worthy recognition that will stem from the competition be broadened and enhanced by recognizing Stephanie's work as well - especially at the Inauguration.
Many people say that Stephanie's song, especially the rousing chorus, can be appreciated much more fully by viewing the youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9wp4VOHOuQ (That video was produced by a very talented young man, Kevin Fitzpatrick, who is in charge of the video lab and courses at a local high school.) I'm not a music professional, but it seems to me that Stephanie's song would likewise benefit greatly from some reworking/rearranging that would come along if you gave it a little more exposure. I think the song has legs.
So that you know who we are, Chester County, Pennsylvania, is just north of Wilmington, Delaware. It's where the Mason -Dixon line begins and it's part of the Philadelphia market. Most important is that this County was the foremost battleground county in this battleground state. We received national attention during the campaign. Ours has been the most Republican of Republican strongholds. But Barack and Stephanie said, "Yes, we can", and we did. Obama won big here and we are all very much enthused.
Please do what you can to keep the momentum for Stephanie's song going. A good Obama song is a terrible thing to waste.
Thanks and Happy New Year,
Bill Scott
William J. Scott, Jr., Member,
Democratic State and County Committees,
Chester County Executive Committee
405 North Franklin Street
West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380-2418
610-436-4644
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