Imagine if you woke up and your America was gone
Note: this post is still under construction and will be added to and mistakes fixed. I'm just too tired to read it, check for errors, and add links.
I don’t have to imagine.
But, …
Imagine working weekends and evenings around your regular job, year after year, to get the down payment to buy a house, put your offspring through college, pay taxes, maintain excellent credit, paying health insurance premiums, being a consumer, supporting your community through your volunteer work and starting a crime watch, getting federal grants for police and your town, and imagine redressing grievances to your local and Federal elected officials by informing them of official corruption, being ripped off, and not being treated as any American should. Until you understand what government is really about and how rights aren’t rights unless they are protected, you might be doomed to a fate of being crucified and ripped off just for going about your daily life and raising your own children to end up ruined and without the sum total of your life’s work.
Imagine buying houses in very poor condition, replacing every fixture, all plumbing, all electrical, repairing roofs, replacing windows and doors, fixing chimney, painting every thing inside and out, being on your hands and knees refinishing hardwood floors, sanding a Victorian style house down to bare wood, finishing it from scratch
Imagine teens selling drugs such as ecstasy, crack cocaine, and heroin openly off your front yard,; teens and deadbeat adults drinking, and breaking your windows, keeping you awake most nights when you have to get up early to go to work.
Imagine only facing fines and abuse from authorities, no service or consideration for being an asset to a community and a taxpayer. Imagine being active in trying to improve the quality of life in your state and the town where you live.
Imagine police being rude and threatening for your just begging for help and assistance so you may make a profit, have a retirement, a quality of life, and a safe place to live with your family.
Imagine a Court System that is more about police maximizing and processing to maximize fines, defrauding all Federal Taxpayers Nationwide, and wrecking lives of minorities and others that get in the way of the rich and powerful just owning property or a small business that is either competition to the connected or a choice piece of real estate that some “more important wants. Connecticut doesn’t have law enforcement and an ethical court system, but it does have armed revenue collectors and a machine for grinding up lives, maximizing the collecting of undeclared taxes and the confiscating of assets and cash on manufactured scenarios.
Imagine police and other officials never being investigated for Official, Attorney, Judicial, Prosecutorial, and Police Misconduct, perjury, tampering with witness, manufacturing and suppressing evidence, making secret backroom to barbeque mouthy citizens and those that get in the way of wholesale government corruption in all branches of government. I am talking about a State, Connecticut, that has some of the richest and most powerful people living in it or connected to it.
Imagine waking up one day and finding out all you were taught in school up through college just to be cruel propaganda.
* * * *Does the Connecticut State Police give excuses instead of paying its bills? (click for post)
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added Aug. 1, 2006, 1:20 AM EST:
Lawrence Alibozek: Rowland's former deputy chief of staff. Alibozek pleaded guilty to accepting cash and gold in exchange for steering state contracts to certain companies.
Theodore Anson: Resigned as state public works commissioner after he admitted using free architectural designs worth thousands of dollars for a $190,000 addition to his house from a firm vying for state contracts.Brian Baker: Employee of Southington-based Patrick Baker And Sons. Received payment sometime this fall for work he supervised at Bantam Lake waterfront home beginning in 1997.
David Boomer: A Republican political operative who scrutinized the financial records of Democratic legislative leaders.
Kurt Claywell: A Simsbury electrical contractor. Claywell gave the governor thousands of dollars worth of champagne and Cuban cigars in the late 1990s. He is cooperating with the House committee's investigation.
Anthony Cocchiola: Owner of Cocchiola Paving Inc., of Watertown, Conn. Worked in 1997 at Rowland's summer cottage. Rowland did not pay the paving bill until September of this year. The paving company has received $1.3 million worth of work during Rowland's nine-year tenure. One of three Rowland partners in First Development LLC venture, on which governor made $60,000 on $7,200 investment in late 1990s. One of Rowland poker buddies to receive federal subpoena in April 2004.Christine and Paul Corey: Gave Rowland hot tub for cottage in 2001 as birthday gift.
Sen. Louis DeLuca: Leading Republican in Senate. Serving his seventh term as state Senator from the 32nd District -- Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Thomaston, Watertown and Woodbury. First elected in 1990. Among legislators who met with governor during week of Jan 5.
Web site
Vinny DeRosa: One-time chief of Rowland's security detail in 1997 and the state's current homeland security director. Named in Rowland's statement as personal friend who helped perform and/or coordinate work on the cottage. Announced plans to retire -- three months earlier than expected -- after receiving ultimatum to either resign of divulge interest in car dealership.
Peter Ellef: Rowland's former chief of staff, who also is under investigation, also paid for numerous improvements at the cottage, including a water heater. Also provided stepping stone for the front stoop of the cottage.Ed Mikenas and Maurice Fabiani: Other personal friends who Rowland says helped perform and/or coordinate work on the cottage.
Rep. John Wayne Fox: co-chair of Committee of Inquiry. Lone remaining member of the House who served on the state's first impeachment committee. Democrat from Stamford.Rep. John Wayne FoxRoss Garber: Rowland's chief legal counsel.
Sen. Tony Guglielmo: Assistant Minority Leader. Second Republican to call for Rowland's resignation. Guglielmo is a member of the Senate Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. Web siteMary Ann Hanley: Gov. John Rowland's former legal counsel. The first person to appear for a deposition, she talked April 15 with the Committee of Inquiry.
Sen. John Kissel: First Republican state senator to ask for Rowland's resignation. Called it a difficult decision for him to make, but he believes Rowland should step down for the good of his constituents. Web site
Rep. Moira Lyons: Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Unanimously elected to a third term as Speaker to start 2003 legislative session. Serving 11th term in office. Among Democrats involved in Jan. 6 meeting with governor. Web siteRobert Matthews: Businessman, friend of Rowland. Federal investigators issued subpoena in January for nine years of state records. Received millions of dollars in state-backed loans for manufacturing companies he owns in both New Haven and Naugatuck. A building he owns at 1 Long Wharf in New Haven is filled with state offices.Jo McKenzie: Republican National Committee member who serves as staff director of the governor's residence. Has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury looking into allegations of corruption in administration.Joseph Mengacci: one of two judicial nominees who have ties to Gov. John Rowland. Told the Judiciary Committee that he and his wife exchanged gifts with the governor on holidays and birthdays, just as he would be with other personal friends.
Rep. Arthur O'Neill: co-chair of Committee of Inquiry. Assistant minority leader. Republican from Southbury first elected in 1988. Rep. Arthur O'NeillAlan Plofsky: executive director of the state Ethics Commission.Wayne Pratt: Woodbury antiques dealer who bought Rowland’s D.C. condo in 1997 for $68,500, about 19 percent more than Rowland paid in 1989. A business partner of Rowland friend, Pratt paid $20,000 to $40,000 more than the selling price of similar units in the same building.Steven F. Reich: legal counsel for Select Committee of Inquiry. Partner in the litigation unit at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips of New York, served as senior associate counsel to former President Bill Clinton.James K. Robertson Jr.: Rowland's former personal attorney. Appointed by Rowland as an interim Superior Court judge in November. Testified during confirmation hearing he had agreed to a deferred payment of Rowland's legal fees, a concept he said was approved by state Ethics Commission Executive Director Alan Plofsky. Robertson said he expects, and has always expected, the money to be paid.
Gov. John Rowland: Sworn in to historic third term as in 2003. First took office in 1995 at age 37. Re-elected in 1998 and 2002. Web site
Rep. Christopher Shays: Second member of state's congressional delegation to ask Rowland to resign. Republican first elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1974. Elected in 1987 special election to U.S. Congress after the death of Rep. Stewart McKinney.Web site
Rep. Rob Simmons: Called for Rowland to resign Jan. 10. Republican became the first member of the delegation to call on Rowland to resign, saying the governor had lost his "moral authority" to lead."The reason I believe Gov. Rowland should resign is because his words and his actions can no longer be trusted. He lied," Simmons said Saturday. "This impeaches his moral authority to lead the state."Web site
Sen. Kevin Sullivan: Connecticut Senate President Pro Tem. First elected to state Senate in 1986. He represents the 5th District towns of West Hartford, Bloomfield, Burlington and Farmington. Among Democrats involved in Jan. 6 meeting with governor. Called for Rowland's resignation Jan. 7 after release of Q Poll. Web site
William Tomasso: Employees of Tomasso’s company performed exterior work. Rowland said that in 1999, his two co-chiefs of staff paid for the installation of heating improvements and a water heater. Tomasso Group has numerous contracts with the state. Company was subpoenaed as part of a corruption investigation involving Lawrence Alibozek. Web site
Rep. Robert Ward: House Minority Leader. First elected to House in 1985. Republican among legislators who met with governor during week of Jan. 5. Web siteSeth P. Waxman: former President Bill Clinton's former solicitor general during the impeachment process. Hired by the governor's office. Hartford native and a partner with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, will assist the governor's legal counsel with research.
Copyright 2005 by NBC30.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc.
The above found here on the net.
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July 02, 2004
Who says police do racial profiling?
Excerpt: In the complaint, Szewczyk, an officer for three years, claims that the police supervisor became enraged and told him "if they aren’t white and they aren’t wearing a suit, I better have them in the back of my car, and find something to arrest them for.”
...
City Police Probe Racial Issue
Report Says Officer Accusing Supervisor
July 2, 2004
By TINA A. BROWN, And MATT BURGARD Hartford Courant Staff Writers (ctnow.com)
City police are investigating a complaint from a Hartford officer that a lieutenant ordered him to racially profile and arrest non-whites in downtown Hartford as part of a crackdown on burglaries.
An internal affairs investigation was launched Thursday, sources said, a day after Officer John Szewczyk Jr. filed a written complaint that he had received the racially charged order from Lt. Stephen J. Miele. Szewczyk also claims in his complaint that he was transferred from a downtown assignment in retaliation after he complained about Miele.
In the complaint, Szewczyk, an officer for three years, claims that the police supervisor became enraged and told him “if they aren’t white and they aren’t wearing a suit, I better have them in the back of my car, and find something to arrest them for.”
The potentially explosive allegation in a city predominantly populated by blacks and Latinos comes just two weeks into the tenure of Hartford Police Chief Patrick J. Harnett. But Harnett declined through a spokeswoman Thursday to comment or even verify that an investigation was underway.
Szewczyk declined to comment. Miele, a 17-year Hartford police veteran, could not be reached for comment, but in a June 22 memo describing his account of their conversations, he asks that Szewczyk be retrained in how to make traffic stops and establish probable cause.
“All attempts by this writer and other supervisors to mentor Officer Szewczyk have been met by resistance and indifference to proactive patrol procedures,” Miele wrote. “Officer Szewczyk does not respond well to direction and becomes defensive when his shortcomings are brought to light.”
Both men are white.
According to police officials and internal police documents, Szewczyk first challenged Miele about the illegality of racial profiling without probable cause during a discussion at police headquarters June 18.
The discussion escalated into a heated exchange on June 19, when Miele made the comment about non-whites, according to the complaint.
Officers have been buzzing about the allegations this week, with some backing Miele and others, including five police officials who spoke to The Courant on condition that they not be identified, saying Szewczyk’s complaint is credible.
The officials described Szewczyk, 27, a Trinity College graduate who placed first in his police academy class, as being well-respected among many of his peers and supervisors. He is also an elected official in Durham, serving on the board of assessment appeals.
“This guy graduated from Trinity, attended some law school, and he quit because he wanted to be a Hartford police officer. He could have been anything, but he wanted to be a cop in Hartford,” said one police official, who said Szewczyk’s complaint should be taken seriously.
Miele, 39, rose through the ranks steadily since he joined the Hartford Police Department in 1987. He has been honored for his bravery, but has also been involved in some controversies.
Most recently, an internal investigation was launched June 12 into how a woman’s voice explicitly describing a sex act was recorded on his office voice mail. Miele is also among five Hartford police officers who sued former Police Chief Bruce P. Marquis in U.S. District Court last June with allegations of violating their constitutional rights when he ordered them to cover up “spider web” tattoos. One officer had complained that the tattoo is a symbol adopted by white supremacist groups.
Assistant Chief Mark R. Pawlina, who was acting chief until mid-June, said he promoted Miele, a downtown patrol sergeant, to lieutenant in February because Miele scored well on the promotional examination and was entitled to the opportunity for advancement.
Miele’s disciplinary record, Pawlina said, contained nothing that would have allowed him, as chief, to deny Miele the promotion. But he said Miele is on probation. “If any reason is found to believe that he is not capable of being a good manager, he won’t be able to stay there,” Pawlina said.
Through his chief of staff, Mayor Eddie A. Perez declined to comment on the investigation as did the president of the police union and Miele’s supervisor.
At the heart of the debate between Miele and Szewczyk is how downtown burglaries should be investigated. Downtown is the showplace for the “Hartford, New England’s Rising Star” campaign to attract new residents, retailers and conventions to the city.
Faced with an increase in downtown burglaries, supervisors had been asking patrol officers such as Szewczyk to be more aggressive. From January to June of this year, burglaries downtown have risen 160 percent compared with the same period in 2003, according to department statistics.
In his complaint, Szewczyk wrote that Miele told him to aggressively go after “people who don’t belong downtown.” A day later, Szewczyk asked Miele to explain exactly what he meant. He claims Miele told him, “I should know who does and does not belong in the downtown area. I better begin to stop every person who does not belong downtown and find a reason to arrest them.”
As Szewczyk pressed for more clarification, he claims that Miele “accused me of being lazy and not wanting to take action.”
Szewczyk said he didn’t back down and defended his arrest record in the downtown area.
In his memo to Lt. Brian Heavren, Miele said of Szewczyk, “He needs to stop and perform citizen contacts on those people he observes circling the downtown area or who are involved in suspicious activity.”
Miele wrote that he told Szewczyk that he needed to get the name of the person and “their purpose within the downtown district.”
“These are not violations of people’s civil rights,” Miele wrote. “He either does not have the fortitude to apply these legal concepts to routine patrol procedures or appears to intentionally shy away from potential conflict.”
Lawyer Adam Cloud said he has not been the target of racial profiling during the six years he has lived in the South Downtown area, but is troubled by the allegation.
“But then, I usually wear a suit and a bow tie, so maybe I don’t fit the profile,” he said.
“As for the allegations in general, absolutely it’s a concern because disparate treatment for different people should not be accepted within this community. This is a broadly diverse community, and each person deserves the same level of protection and respect from the police officers who patrol downtown,” he said.
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Should a White Police Officer get away with allegedly executing an African American?
Police easy on Police for Misconduct Excerpt: ” ... police union’s defense of two veteran officers who were fired after an internal investigation found them guilty of misconduct would be comical if it weren’t so appalling."
Is Rape not Rape if Committed by a Police Officer?
Drug �Snitches�, The Drug War, and the Corruption of Law Enforcement
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added July 4, 2004:
by Helen Ubi�as, Hartford Courant (ctnow.com)
A Wary Eye On Patrol Cars
July 4, 2004
By the time Dwayne Brown gets out of work at the South Park Inn, it’s midnight and the buses have stopped running. So he walks a half-hour to his home in the North End, and he’s on his cellphone with his fiancee, Makeba Cannon, the whole way.
Sometimes, he laughs, he’s still talking at the front door, fiddling with his keys. “I’m here now,” he tells her. “Can I get off now?”
No apologies from Cannon. She worries, and not about what you might think. There’s no fear of him getting robbed or jumped, she says; cops are driving by him too often and too slowly for anyone to take a chance on that.
But what if the cops - who sometimes take such an interest in him that it feels as though they’re escorting him back to his side of the city - finally get out of their cars?
He tells her she doesn’t have to worry; he’s smart enough not to give them any reason to mess with him. But she doesn’t want to take any chances, hence the walk and talk.
“A black man downtown at night,” she says. “That’s a dangerous thing to be.”
So while she was shocked at the language in the racially charged order allegedly issued by Hartford police Lt. Stephen Miele, she wasn’t surprised at the sentiment behind them.
In an internal affairs complaint, Officer John Szewczyk Jr. claims that Miele, a supervisor, told him, “If they aren’t white and they aren’t wearing a suit, I better have them in the back of my car, and find something to arrest them for.”
“I used to believe police were here to protect us,” Cannon said. “But now, I think mostly they’re just protecting themselves.”
She’s not the only person I’ve heard talk about Hartford police that way. Over the years I’ve often heard residents talk about feeling unwelcome - especially after dark - downtown. One man told me there are two Hartfords: one for whites and one for everyone else.
Paul Rose knows about that. He was walking down Main Street in April when cops stopped him and ordered him to open his bag. Why? Because he looked like someone who had just stolen something, cops told him. What was the description, he wondered - black and tall? When cops opened his bags, they found three library books.
I would have loved to tell Cannon and Rose and the others that our new police chief is going to change all that, but I’m not so sure. And if the black and Hispanic residents who make up most of Hartford’s population don’t feel welcome downtown, what does that say for Hartford’s efforts to make the center city more vibrant and inviting? Are the new apartments, the new convention center, the new shops for whites only?
And what about the new downtown campus for Capital Community College? It’s the only chance for hundreds of lower-income, urban students. Is an education a good enough reason for students of color to be downtown? Or maybe anyone darker than Miele should start wearing suits to class?
But perhaps more troublesome than the allegations is the silence that came from the city’s leaders. Both Police Chief Patrick Harnett and Mayor Eddie Perez had no comment Thursday, when Szewczyk’s complaint became known. Actually, they had their people deliver the no comment.
Surprising, considering that Harnett declared himself Mr. Accessible on day one. Remember all his talk of wanting to make a connection with the community in order to tackle crime? Remember all of Perez’s talk of hiring Harnett over community favorite Assistant Chief Mark Pawlina because of his stellar community policing?
Harnett had a little more to say Friday - but not much: “The police department has a code of conduct and we expect all of our officers to meet those standards. If we find evidence that they have not met those standards, then appropriate disciplinary action will follow.” If you’re reassured by that, you’re way ahead of me.
And what about the silence from city hall? Perez said, through a spokesperson Friday, that he defers to his new chief. Look, I get that Perez has evolved from community activist to a no explanation/no apologies mayor. But when there are explosive allegations circling the city, when the community is reading in the newspaper, hearing from each other, that there may be cops out there targeting them if they dare to stray out of their neighborhoods, they deserve to hear from their leaders.
Rest assured, Chief Harnett and Mayor Perez: Telling the community that racial profiling won’t be tolerated will not interfere with the investigation. It might even help the chief make this connection he’s talking about. It also could keep the minutes on Brown’s phone down.
Helen Ubi�as’ column appears Thursdays and Sundays. She can be reached at Ubinas@courant.com.
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added July 6, 2004, 11:15PM EST:
(Hartford-AP, July 6, 2004 6:35 PM) _ The state’s highest court has ruled that New Haven’s fire department used an illegal system to promote firefighters in the mid-to-late-1990s.
But the court decided not to reverse those promotions.
A lawyer for six minority firefighters who protested says the ruling a victory because it strikes down a practice that minorities say limited their chance to advance.
The case dealt with a practice known as “underfilling,” in which the department used money earmarked for other positions to promote firefighters.
The plaintiffs say the process favored white firefighters, and violated their rights under equal protection laws.
The court ruled the practice was not discriminatory, but violated the city’s rules and regulations because the city’s Board of Aldermen didn’t approve the extra promotions. Piece found on the web, (here)
A good thing:
(New Haven-AP, July 6, 2004 7:09 AM) _ Federal prosecutors in Connecticut are going after some so-called “small fish” involved in drugs.
U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor says federal authorities are going after drug users, not just dealers.
O’Connor says federal drug cases usually involve “big fish,” but under a new push the feds has charged 10 to 20 drug users. He says they will also prosecute up to 50 more over the next year.
O’Connor says that for practical reasons, they mostly have been Fairfield County cases so far, but the effort will expand to include the rest of the state.
O’Connor says federal prosecutors have figured out that in attacking only the supply side, they were ignoring the other half of the drug equation.
O’Connor says it seemed unfair to prosecute youths for drug dealing while ignoring their customers. Piece found on the web, (here)
Read Less...Posted by Vikingas at 07:16 AM • (1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
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Added August 20, 2006, at 1:52 PM EST:
August 20, 2006
The Parsons’ Papers
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There is a Native American with the last name Parsons, aged somewhere between 50 and 60, his mother is of influence and either resided or is residing in or near Griswold Connecticut (or other old money, exclusive Connecticut). Mr. Parsons did a stint at Bergin CI in Storrs Connecticut having to do with possession of heroin and/or burglary. He is also allegedly infected with hepatitis. Parsons can connect the dots, name names, and solve untold numbers of unsolved or improperly solved crimes. It shouldn’t take Whitey Bulger hiding in Connecticut for others to connect the dots to the Racketeering and organized crime that is Connecticut, Connecticut Courts, and power business people that rule the US and even parts of the world out of Connecticut. Do a chart of family trees, read newspapers searching for key names, and you can see for yourself.
Parsons was “the insulator”, for Mafia, Officials, and other criminals nationwide.
Drugs were sold at Universities all over New England in the 1970’s.
Parsons was the delivery boy and had contacts with the Boston Syndicate and with the Hartford Organized Criminals.
Parsons would go to Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas, Native American Reservations, and all over the US as the messenger of choice.
Judges in Connecticut and other states would know beforehand the outcomes of trials and help with the racketeering and the retaliation against whistleblowers and the annoying citizens on the outside that connect the dots. Gun running, smuggling drugs, driving huge amounts of cash cross-country was a Parsons specialty.
He has been arrested allegedly 100’s of times. Why could he so often avoid any prosecution, anywhere in the US, for so many huge, serious, organized crime exploits?
Parsons knows the skippy on Connecticut Judges and how court case outcomes are decided on in advance. It is just a show. You, the taxpayer, are the butt of so many jokes.
Parsons was told to stay out of Connecticut, or get bagged. He came back and got bagged.
Organized Crime has morphed into something else, there are no rituals, there is no Godfather, and there is just understanding and fear. Break ranks, get broken. State, Federal, and Organized Crime figures can be related by blood or marriage. Some all have children to drop off at the same daycare provider, attend the same schools, and play sports together. Much goes unsaid and having others relay messages, “insulates” the powerful.
Police officers in Connecticut and in some other states know that if they aren’t given permission to investigate Organized Crime figures or corrupt officials they face retaliation.
I have been to Mafia funerals as a guest, the Mafia still does exist in Connecticut. The Department of Administrative Services, DAS, in Connecticut, seems to rule with more power, stealth, efficiency, cruelty, and ingenuity, beyond any mere Mafia Don run organization as portrayed in the Godfather series of movies.
Your Federal Tax Dollars are going in record numbers to pay criminals and frauds in Connecticut. Your family unity, retirement, and maybe life itself might be put in jeopardy for the mere mention of the above subjects.
-Steven G. Erickson a.k.a. blogger Vikingas
P.S. I have no further information that I have not said here and/or have not provided the “proper” investigating authorities. I don’t think Whitey Bulger is hiding in Connecticut, but it is a safe place for official criminals and their friends ...
posted by The_SRV at 2:38 AM
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