Wednesday, November 26, 2008

ENTIRE ORWELL MOVIE, 1984, NOW ONLINE

The below [found here]

Does life imitate art? Have modern nation-states been imitating the totalitarian world George Orwell painted in his seering novel, 1984, at least on a gratuitous level? Or was Orwell simply a prophet, his art becoming a premonition of life in an increasingly fear-ridden, control-freak world where the masses are herded like steers on a cattle drive by those with the cattle prods, or tasers, all the way to the slaughterhouse? Either way, some of the features of sophisticated modern police-states throughout the world clearly parallel what Orwell predicted, some more than others. If you don't believe me, check out the movie.

::::::::



A scene from the movie 1984 (source)

Here is the powerful political prophecy by George Orwell, 1984, set to film IN 1984, starring John Hurt as Winston Smith, Richard Burton, in his final movie, as O'Brien, and with Suzanna Hamilton as Julia, quite a well-done production. See it at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15531.htm

Use the bottom right pulldown menu on the screen to switch to full screen.

Will what is depicted in this film be the ultimate fate of America? Many would argue that we are already half-way there, what with the frenetic National Security State that is always threatened by real, shadowy or futuristic enemies, with its corrollary manifestations, Homeland Security, an endless War on Terror, the Patriot Act, institutionalized torture and a consolidated media. And will the possibly coming impoverishment of the American people and perhaps the entire planet just accelerate the inevitable? Welcome to Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia?

Student of history, religion, exoteric and esoteric, the Humanities in general and advocate for peace, justice and the unity of humankind, not through force, but through self-realization and mutual respect. I have also just come out with my first book, a combination of poetry, photography and essays entitled "Post Katrina Blues", my reflections on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans two years after Katrina struck. Go to the store at http://sanfranciscobaypress.com/ to purchase.



* * * *
* * * *

http://starkravingviking.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

From the CT News Junkie blog:

Marshal Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case

by Melissa Bailey | March 7, 2008 3:18 PM
Posted to Courts

Melissa Bailey photo

Melissa Bailey photo

While pursuing a criminal justice degree, judicial marshal Jill D’Antona (pictured) was learning another skill on the side: How to game the system by taking thousands of dollars in bribes to push business towards the city’s most prominent bail bond family.

D’Antona, a former marshal at the Elm Street courthouse, has admitted to accepting over $5,000 in bribes from the Jacobs bail bond family over the past five years. The lucrative relationship ended when one of them, after being snared in a federal corruption probe, agreed to secretly tape their transactions and turn her in.

Click here to continue reading Melissa’s report.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Are most people totally f*'ing stupid, racist, or what?


click for larger image


Aiding Former [Connecticut] Hartford Officer
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund: An Uneven Split

By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN | The Hartford Courant
November 23, 2008


The appeal arrives on the personalized stationery of Mrs. Stephanie Lawlor, an emotional plea for contributions to a legal defense fund for her husband, former Hartford cop Robert Lawlor, who was indicted on "trumped-up charges" in the 2005 shooting death of 18-year-old Jashon Bryant.

The heartfelt note cites Lawlor's service in the Marines, his merit awards from the Justice Department and his close calls — he was stabbed once and shot at twice on the mean streets of the city.

The entreaty, suggesting donations starting at $25, is capped with a color photograph of a beaming Robert Lawlor, surrounded by his wife and six smiling daughters — "who may not see their dad again for the next 20 years!"

Lawlor's request has landed in mailboxes all over the country. And it is a fund drive that works.

The nonprofit behind the note, the Virginia-based Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, has already sent $45,000 to Lawlor and his attorney, with thousands more expected.

But to come up with all that cash, executives at the nonprofit are counting on Stephanie Lawlor's letter to generate vastly more money in donations to cover steep fundraising costs, hefty executive salaries and other administrative expenses.

Tens of thousands of Americans have contributed to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund after reading letters like Stephanie Lawlor's. But while those donations total millions every year, the fund spends only pennies on the dollar directly assisting officers facing criminal charges, state and federal filings show.

Over the past five years, the charity collected more than $13 million, primarily through direct-mail pitches. But most of that money — more than $9 million — went right back to the professional fundraisers hired by the nonprofit legal defense fund.

Last year, for example, the group spent 81 cents on fundraising for every dollar collected, according to federal tax forms. After other expenses, the defense fund last year devoted only about 8 cents on the dollar to charitable grants, the tax forms show.

That grant money — about $275,000 — was less than the group's co-founders paid themselves in salary and benefits for the year. David H. Martin, a Washington lawyer who serves as chairman, collected $156,000, while Alfred Regnery, publisher of The American Spectator Magazine, received $81,000 for the part-time job of secretary-treasurer. In addition, the charity paid $54,000 into retirement accounts for Martin and Regnery.

In a telephone interview earlier this month, Martin said the charity is at the mercy of expensive mail solicitations. "It's hard to raise money through direct mail. Why? Because postage is so expensive," he said. "It's just a killer."

Martin said he believed the group's fundraising efficiency had consistently improved in recent years. But federal filings suggest just the opposite, showing the cost of raising money increasing each of the last five years, from about 60 cents in fundraising costs for every dollar raised in 2003, to 81 cents last year.

At the same time, administrative costs have soared, particularly for salaries and rent. For years, the legal defense fund was run out of Martin's law office. But the nonprofit now subleases space at Regnery's financially strapped American Spectator. The initial rent in 2003 was $9,000 a year, but the nonprofit agreed last year to increase its payments to $42,000 a year — about a third of the total rent for the American Spectator's space. Martin said the rent covers a large amount of storage space and offices for himself and a clerk, and he said he thought the rent was fair.

And even as the charity devoted only a small fraction of its budget to grants, not all of the money doled out went to help accused officers. Instead, the charity's executives have sent a sizable and growing amount of cash to a small number of universities and conservative policy groups not mentioned in their fundraising pitches.

The charity's biggest beneficiary last year, for example, was not a police officer, but the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a national campus-based think tank that promotes "limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, market economy, and moral norms."

The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund sent $75,000 to the institute last year, part of at least $360,000 the defense fund has pledged. Regnery, secretary-treasurer of the defense fund, is chairman of the institute's board of trustees. The charity has also given tens of thousands of dollars to the Federalist Society, described by The American Conservative magazine as a "training ground for young conservative lawyers"; to the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University in Virginia, a leading center of conservative and libertarian legal studies; and to a project at McDaniel College — Martin's alma mater.

Martin said the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund takes a long-term view of its goal of helping police officers, and that its founding documents permit it to spend donor money to "improve citizens' understanding of how tough it is to be a law enforcement officer, and to present the opposite view of many academics, who view almost any action a police officer engages in as police brutality."

Hartford attorney Michael Georgetti, who represents Lawlor, said the legal defense fund made the first contact, asking if Georgetti and Lawlor would be interested in having the group solicit donations.

"Of course we would," Georgetti said. "Bob Lawlor did not have and does not have the resources to defend a case like this. There are very few people who could afford to defend a case like this."

The legal defense fund has paid for ballistics and use-of-force consultants, and has helped with living expenses for Lawlor. Last year, when Georgetti had to interrupt a vacation in Italy and return to argue before the state Appellate Court, the legal defense fund sent $5,000 to cover his unexpected travel expenses.

"We try to fund as much of the legal fees and the expert fees as we can," Martin said. "That's our goal. We don't always do it. But I would say in 95 percent of our cases, we cover all of the expenses."

But that is not likely to happen in the Lawlor case. Georgetti, who has asked the state Supreme Court to rule on an issue even before Lawlor's trial has begun, said the complex case has generated extraordinary legal fees and expenses. "It's already a six-figure case. And this is one of those cases that could turn into a seven-figure case," he said.

Lawlor, an 18-year veteran with the Hartford force, was working with a federal agent as part of an anti-gun task force on May 7, 2005, when he said he saw Jashon Bryant holding a gun as he got into a friend's car. The officers approached the car, and when the vehicle began moving toward them, Lawlor fired five shots, saying he feared the federal agent was going to be hit and that he believed Bryant was reaching for a gun. Bryant was struck in the head and died. Police later found cocaine in the car, but no weapon.

Hartford police ruled the shooting justified. But after hearing from 48 witnesses, an investigatory grand jury recommended that Lawlor face charges.

In her fundraising note, Stephanie Lawlor says her husband is the victim of a racially charged prosecution led by Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly.

"All that matters to the politically connected bureaucrats here in Connecticut is that my husband is a white police officer who was forced to shoot a black suspect in the line of duty," she writes.

The charity's fundraising often includes a personal and emotional letter from the officer or a relative. To raise money for Stephanie Mohr, a former officer in Prince George's County, Md., who is serving a 10-year sentence for releasing her police dog on a burglary suspect, the defense fund's letter looked as though Mohr had typed it on a prison typewriter.

"Dear Caring Friend," the letter began, "It's cold in here. And I'm not sure if my hands are shaking from the cold, from fear, or because I'm about to cry — again."

A fellow officer testified that Mohr released the dog on a compliant homeless man after another officer asked a supervisor, "Sarge, can the dog get a bite?" Mohr denied that and said she released the dog because the suspect made a motion suggesting he was about to flee.

Regardless, her 2004 mailing brought in nearly $280,000 in donations, winning the charity an award from the Direct Marketing Association.

The legal defense fund, founded after the 1991 videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police, supports about five or six cases at a time, generally accepting only those that receive the unanimous support of the board of directors, which includes Martin, Regnery and three unpaid trustees: former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III; former Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds and Eugene Methvin, a senior editor at Readers Digest.

The charity's officials say they are troubled by cases in which officers face criminal charges for their split-second decision under difficult and often dangerous conditions.

"An officer in a tense situation has about three seconds to decide if he uses force, and it's a difficult decision," Martin said. "We decided that it was unfair — even if it's a mistake of judgment, even if an officer makes the wrong decision — we decided it was wrong to criminalize that."

Back in Connecticut, Lawlor's manslaughter trial has been delayed while the state Supreme Court considers whether he is entitled to see the original application a prosecutor filed requesting the grand jury. While he waits, his bills grow.

Georgetti — Lawlor's lawyer — said he was not familiar with the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund's finances, but added that he does not have the luxury of worrying about the efficiency of the group's fundraising or its choice of causes.

"Both Bob Lawlor and I are just thankful that someone has reached out to us and helped us," Georgetti said. "In the world that I'm in and Bob Lawlor's in, that's what matters to me."

Lawlor's appeal to the public pdf [click here]

* * * *

A post on "typical" police misconduct [click here]

Previous post on the "Teflon Badge", Robert Lawlor [click here]

* * * *

New Milford Connecticut Police Officer Scott Smith allegedly stood on an African American's back and executed him, firing next to his boot. The Connecticut prosecutor allegedly purposely botched the case so Smith could skate on appeal. Smith got a year SUSPENDED sentence for murder.

Will the same prosecutor intentionally botch Robert Lawlor's case?



This is how cops told the Smith Story:

Officer Charged with Murdering Violent Criminal

A plainclothes detective with the New Milford, Connecticut Police Department has been charged with the murder of a dangerous felon during an attempt to arrest him. Officer Scott Smith, 27, a highly respected two-year veteran of the force who had never fired his weapon in the line of duty, discharged one bullet that killed suspect Franklyn Reid, an illegal alien set for deportation by the U.S, Immigration Service.

Franklyn Reid's long arrest record included assault, sexual assault, resisting arrest, harassment, weapon in an automobile, and breach of the peace. He had a felony conviction for stabbing and seriously injuring a person with a knife in New Milford. He also had a history of assaulting and threatening the mother of his three children. A report by the State's Attorney claims that Reid had, at different occasions, pointed a gun at the mother's head, held a knife to her throat, and clutched an axe to her neck while telling onlookers that he would kill her. The same report quotes Reid as saying that he would "never be taken alive."

He was well-known to the New Milford Police Department for these charges, and for his attempt to knife an officer when he was arrested in May of 1998. In September 1998, he threatened to kill his own probation officer. He was rightly considered as an armed, violent and dangerous felon by the New Milford P.D.

On December 29, 1998, Franklyn Reid, then wanted on five arrest warrants, was spotted in New Milford by Officers Shortt and Scott Smith. Upon seeing the officers, Reid bolted and ran down a busy street, Route 202. Officer Smith pursued him on foot while Detective Shortt followed in the police car.

Officer Smith identified himself as a police officer and repeatedly ordered Reid to stop and raise his hands. As the officer chased him on Route 202, Reid suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. The officer ordered him to raise his hands, which were folded and hidden from view inside the front of his jacket. When he failed to comply and appeared confrontational, Officer Smith feared that Reid, who boasted he would never be taken alive, was about to draw a weapon.

The officer drew his service weapon and again ordered Reid to show his hands. Officer Smith approached and grabbed the suspect's right shoulder with his left arm extended, ordering Reid to lay down on the grass next to the road. He resisted, but the officer managed to get him on his knees.

Suddenly Reid started to stand up again, putting both hands inside the front of his jacket. Smith, who had his left hand on Reid's shoulder, instinctively felt that Reid was about to draw a weapon and again firmly ordered him to raise his hands. Instead Reid lunged upward and moved his arms up from his midsection. Sustained with the knowledge that Reid was a dangerous and armed felon capable of violence, and fearing at that moment that Reid had a gun or a knife that he was about to use, Smith fired one shot [discharged his weapon one time] which hit Reid's spine. Officer Shortt arrived on the scene and administered first aid. Reid was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A serrated knife with a 2-3/4" blade was found in the pocket of Reid's jacket.

This fatal incident was not the first time that Officer Smith had attempted to arrest Reid. Three months earlier, he had tried to serve the warrants on him without success. Officer Smith knew that the warrants involved death threats to Reid's probation officer and to the mother of Reid's children. The New Milford Police Department had advised that caution should be used in arresting Reid, as he was known to be violent and capable of killing.

Officer Smith, as mentioned, had never fired his service weapon on duty and was not known as a reckless cop. He is now on paid administrative leave and has the full support of the New Milford P.D.

The above [found here]

* * * *

My opinion on [OpEd]

my email: stevengerickson@yahoo.com

Friday, November 21, 2008

What does a cop or ex-cop have to do to get prison?


Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty to Fake Arrest , Asking Teen to Show Breasts
Steven Patrick Boyle ordered to pay fine after guilty plea
Last Edited: Tuesday, 18 Nov 2008, 8:02 AM CST
Created: Tuesday, 18 Nov 2008, 8:02 AM CST




MANKATO, Minn. -- A former Minnesota police officer has been sentenced to probation and a $200 fine after pleading guilty to faking the arrest of an 18-year-old woman and asking her to show her breasts.

Steven Patrick Boyle, 23, worked part time for the police department serving Amboy and Vernon Center at the time of the incident last July. Boyle resigned in August.

According to court documents, Boyle told the 18-year-old woman she would be released if she flashed her breasts. He was in uniform and driving a squad car at the time.

Assistant Blue Earth County attorney Chris Rovney says Boyle was sentenced for just a misdemeanor crime, but that it will be difficult for him to get a job on a police force again.

“He’s not ever going to be a cop in Minnesota again,” Rovney said. “I’m pretty much assured of that.

Copyright 2008 Fox Minneapolis (KMSP). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

* * * *
* * * *

What happens when a citizen gets mouthy about police misconduct? [answer]

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Endemic of Police Misconduct in the State of Connecticut?

Police corruption and brutality

Man Sues New Haven Over Planted Drug Evidence

By EDMUND H. MAHONY | The Hartford Courant
November 11, 2008


A New Haven man is suing the city for $10 million, claiming political pressure to crack down on drug dealing led to his arrest and incarceration two years ago by corrupt detectives who planted drugs in an apartment he was visiting.

Norval Falconer charges in the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New Haven that pressure by the mayor and chief of police to clean up drug-plagued city neighborhoods created a culture of lawlessness among narcotics detectives that led to the falsification of evidence and widespread civil rights abuses.

Despite its claim of systemic law-breaking, Falconer's suit is so far the only one to emerge from the arrests a year-and-a-half ago on corruption and civil rights charges of former Lt. William White, head of the city police department's narcotics enforcement unit, and Dets. Justin Kasperzyk and Jose Silva.

The three police officers were arrested in March 2007 following an undercover investigation by the FBI and state police. During the investigation, a state police detective joined the city's police narcotics unit to document the planting of evidence and theft by the three officers of money they thought had been discovered in the residences — and in one case an automobile — of suspected drug dealers.

White and Kasperzyk are in prison. Silva has completed his sentence.

Falconer's lawyer, Diane Polan, names the three detectives, as well as the city and former New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz, in the lawsuit, claiming that lax or nonexistent supervision by the chief and city officials led to a police culture of "widespread corruption and pattern of violating individuals' constitutional rights."

"The failure of Ortiz and City of New Haven to properly supervise White, Kasperzyk and Silva created a pattern and or custom of tacit approval to the custom of unlawful practices and policies that ultimately resulted in the violation of plaintiff's constitutional rights," Polan wrote in the lawsuit.

Ortiz, who resigned as chief in January and became a senior security official at Yale University, did not return a call. A city spokesman said Mayor John DeStefano Jr. condemns the corrupt behavior, but said that the FBI and a private consultant have concluded that it was limited to the three officers.

"Obviously, we deplore the actions of White, Kasperzyk and Silva, which we think were clearly illegal and corrupt," Robert Smuts, New Haven's chief administrative officer, said Monday.

"But we think that the FBI investigation as well as the internal review that we commissioned show that the corruption stopped there. The mayor expects the police department to put a stop to illegal narcotics activity but he does not think — and did not think — that translates to systemic law-breaking and corruption."

New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington said his office dropped the charges against Falconer after the arrests of the three officers. He said his office has found no additional cases tainted by police misconduct.

"When asked, we've reviewed cases," Dearington said. "When a defendant makes a claim, we will look at the file. So far we haven't found any where a red flag has gone up."

According to information provided by the FBI, the state police and Polan, Falconer was visiting an apartment on Truman Street in New Haven on Nov. 9, 2006, when members of the city's now-disbanded narcotics unit broke down the door and announced they had a warrant to search for drugs. Falconer was detained as he was leaving a rear bedroom.

During the confusion, according to court records, Kasperzyk transferred drugs he found in the building basement to the bedroom. Falconer was arrested based on a fraudulent report written by Silva.

White, who was later arrested for stealing money planted in the room by the undercover state police detective, supervised the raid.

Polan said in the suit that Falconer was charged with eight drug-related crimes and jailed when he was unable to make bail. Falconer pleaded guilty to reduced charges in December after being advised by a court appointed lawyer that it was the only way he could get out of jail for Christmas, Polan said.

* * * *
* * * *

[click here] for:

The Connecticut State Trooper Gene Pool?

Connecticut "Mafia Style"?


Louis DeLuca with his wife Alice on October 15, 2007. (SHANA SURECK)

Deluca Criticizes State Legislators

By CHRISTOPHER KEATING | The Hartford Courant
12:35 PM EST, November 19, 2008

Former Senate Republican leader Louis Deluca lashed out Wednesday, saying that legislators were hypocrites for investigating his misdemeanor conviction last year and refusing to investigate numerous Democratic lawmakers regarding drunken driving, sexual abuse, engaging in a bar fight, witnessing a bribe, forging an application for public campaign funds, and having an affair with a legislative liaison.

In a 33-minute news conference that he called at the state Capitol complex, DeLuca said he was not bitter or angry. Instead, he said he was "disappointed, probably a little hurt, and a lot frustrated'' over having to endure a Senate investigation last year while Democrats did not. While that investigation was still proceeding, DeLuca resigned from the Senate almost exactly one year ago.

DeLuca decided to speak out Wednesday because a long-running ethics complaint against him was finally settled this week. In the stipulated settlement with the state ethics office, DeLuca agreed to pay $2,500 on a complaint that he essentially received a gift from a registered lobbyist when he agreed that now-convicted Danbury trash magnate James Galante would have someone "pay a visit'' to the husband of DeLuca's grand daughter because DeLuca believed that the man was physically abusing her.

Under state law, Galante was deemed to be engaged in lobbying because his trash-hauling companies were registered lobbyists in Connecticut.

Despite paying the $2,500 civil penalty, DeLuca denied in the agreement "that his conduct violated Connecticut general statutes'' and that "he is entering into this stipulation and consent order solely to avoid the cost and uncertainty of litigation.'' DeLuca also denied that the Galante's offer of a 'visit' was actually a gift, "and because the visit never occurred, respondent denies that he accepted a gift,'' according to the five-page agreement that DeLuca signed.

DeLuca said he called the press conference so that he will sleep better at night.

"I know I did something wrong,'' DeLuca said. "I'm not here to alibi it.''

State Republican chairman Christopher Healy spoke after the news conference and defended DeLuca's main points. Healy said that DeLuca "absolutely'' would still be a member of the state Senate if he was a Democrat.

Derek Slap, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, said, "It is sad, considering the difficult times facing Connecticut and its families, that the leader of the Republican Party and a disgraced former senator would waste everybody's time slinging mud. We're focused on working with Governor Rell to solve the budget crisis.''

* * * *

This is how too many legislators act in Connecticut. If they are all "mobbed up" how can they actually "serve" constituents? If a citizen wants justice, wants ethics, and gets "mouthy", he or she can be falsely arrested and throw in prison. Lives are ruined because Connecticut is being run Deluca style. [more]

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Interesting Re-post?


'Goat-free roads made me speed'

.
.


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Police said goats had not been reported on eastern Ontario's roads

A Swiss man caught speeding on a Canadian highway has blamed his actions on the absence of goats on the roads.

The man was caught driving at 161 km/h (100mph) in a 100 km/h (60mph) zone.

A traffic officer's notes said the Swiss driver had said he was taking advantage "of the ability to go faster without risking hitting a goat". [more]

Another Connecticut Probate [Court] Victim

Rick Green, Hartford Courant [Connecticut]
November 11, 2008

I bring you another story about a probate-court kidnapping, another warning of the injustice unfolding in this dangerous, antiquated judicial system.

The tale of 85-year-old Marilyn Plank is a chilling example of why the renegade probate courts must be reined in.

Plank, a mentally and physically fragile woman and lifelong resident of Michigan, was stealthily moved to Greenwich by two of her daughters via private jet in May 2007. She was not a resident of the state of Connecticut.

She does not want to be here.

But with the assistance of some slick lawyering, daughter Linda Higgins took control of her mother's assets. Along with another sister, she brought her mother to Greenwich, unbeknownst to three other sisters living elsewhere. One of seven children fighting over control of the family's 1,600-acre ranch in Michigan, Higgins moved the elderly Plank to an assisted living facility in Greenwich. Just days before, she signed a lease in Plank's name.

Plank, court documents say, was told she was going to a hotel. She had left her home in Michigan thinking she would visit a grandchild in California for a few days.

Within days of her arrival in May 2007, Greenwich Probate Judge David Hopper appointed Linda Higgins as temporary "conservator of the person" for her mother, based on the fact that there was a lease with Plank's name on it. That means Plank lost her civil rights.

"The statute is absolutely clear," Superior Court Judge Joseph T. Gormley Jr. stated in 2006 in the infamous case of Daniel Gross, another victim of probate-sanctioned kidnapping. "You can't appoint a conservator of someone's person unless that person is domiciled in the state of Connecticut or resides in the state of Connecticut."

Hopper has had numerous chances to correct the mistake of May 2007. For the last eight months, even the plea of a permanent conservator appointed in July 2007 has gone unanswered.

"Sooner or later the court will review the domicile of Mrs. Plank," that conservator, Richard J. Margenot, wrote in a brief filed in March. The law "requires the court to review the domicile every 60 days."

"The evidence overwhelmingly supports her wishes. She has friends [in Michigan] that came to probate court … and talked of Mrs. Plank's extensive involvement in her community."

"Even through her dementia, Mrs. Plank is consistent in her statements about returning to Michigan," Margenot wrote earlier this year. "A conservator must listen to the wishes of the conserved individual."

"Not only does the evidence support a return to Michigan, it is in her best interest that she do so."

Meanwhile, Plank's expensive care in Connecticut — about $9,000 per month at the Greenwich facility — and the fees of numerous lawyers working at $300 and $400 an hour have steadily depleted her estate. Margenot has concluded that "every day spent in Connecticut puts Mrs. Plank deeper into financial chaos."

For a time, the three sisters fighting to move Plank back to Michigan hired state Sen. Andrew McDonald as their lawyer, until they ran out of money. McDonald has been at the forefront of probate reform efforts in the legislature, where he co-chairs the judiciary committee.

"There is no question but that this court lacks jurisdiction over Mrs. Plank, a citizen, domiciliary and resident of Michigan," McDonald wrote in a brief filed in July 2007. Plank "has repeatedly expressed to various persons" including her aide, lawyer, pastor and friends that she wants to go home.

Plank, McDonald concluded, "was brought here without her consent, admitted to a nursing home under the guise that it was a hotel, and has essentially been incarcerated in a locked facility."

Maybe Hopper will reconsider. Perhaps Judge Paul Knierim, the new administrator of the unwieldy 117-court probate system, will tackle this rogue judiciary.

In the meantime, remember that Marilyn Plank is not an exception. She is a symptom of a sick court system that unblinkingly sanctions and enables the kidnapping of the elderly and infirm.

•Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. Read his blog at courant.com/rick.

* * * *
* * * *

Read about more citizen abuse, scroll down in [this post], called "Hell, USA"

* * * *

The definition of "scagging", "to scrag", and "scragged" [found here]

In Connecticut, the word "lynching" isn't used much anymore. But when DCF lies to officially kidnap your kids, or if Connecticut Corrupticourts (new word for Kangaroo) separate you from your cash, assets, home, family, and freedom for profit, or for retaliation, you've been "scragged".

* * * *



Story about Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell while she was LT Governor below. Story on John G. Rowland [here], known as "Johnny" to both Presidents Bush. Johnny went to Federal Prison for corruption. [Text] of my letter sent by me meant to be his first in prison.

Curry on Rell

Email in to me blasting Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell?:

"CCR: Has the Lt. Governor, Jodi Rell [Connecticut], been implicated?

CURRY: When her son was found by state environmental officers to be running a stolen property ring out of her basement for Skidoos, the environmental officerswho made the arrests had their careers threatened. They suffered until it hit the press and then the administration backed off. She denied any involvement in the retaliation.

Again, Connecticut's extraordinary unwillingness to investigate the apparent corruption of its own elected officials saved her from further public embarrassment. In any event, she has been a happy, willing partner and an insider in the Rowland administration for nine years." [more]

* * * *

The Steven G. Erickson Mugshot

The above is the Steven G. Erickson Mugshot (taken Oct. 2001), former Political Prisoner, People's Republik of Corruptikut Inmate # 305662



I pepper sprayed an attempted mugger, a felon who attacked me from behind in my dark driveway admitting on the record to demanding money from me, telling me he'd kill me if I did not. Brian Caldwell was given immunity to prosecute me for defending myself with pepper spray. Self-defense is not legal in Connecticut. I was sentenced to a year in prison, 3 years probation based on Connecticut State Troopers, Amaral and Langlois, perjury. [re-post from here]

* * * *

My letter to George W. Bush mailed 9-15-01 [found here], the set up for my false imprisonment occured 10-11-01. I got a letter back indicating Bush actually read my letter.

* * * *


M. LISA MOODY, the Governor's Chief of Staff, testifies before the Government Administration and Elections committee about her role in a controversial fundraiser to benefit the governor. (SHANA SURECK / May 16, 2006)

[click here] for "What did Rell know, and when didn't she know it?"

M. Lisa Moody and M. Jodi Rell allegedly went out and got first initials together. What does the "M" stand for in their names?

The above link just gives a little taste of the election rigging, fraud, felony behavior, and abuse of the public going on in Connecticut.

Is the ethics committee in Connecticut ethical? [more] Duggan, below, is still getting her 6 figure salary paid for by taxpayers.


MAUREEN DUGGAN, right, addresses the committee reviewing misconduct charges against her related to a fraudulent letter she wrote in 2004 while a staff lawyer with the State Ethics Commission. The letter led to the firing of ethics chief Alan S. Plofsky. Her lawyer, Hope Seeley, is at left. (BOB MACDONNELL / HARTFORD COURANT / November 5, 2008)

* * * *

Police Recruits: young, armed, dangerous, horny

New recruits figure out they can get away with almost anything as long as they don't break ranks. That feeling of "anything goes" lasts entire police careers.

::::::::

The State Police in many, or most, states are White and Male. Connecticut is no exception, and might just show what is most wrong with our nation's policing.



Connecticut State Police Academy Graduation


=====

If women are raped, especially in downtown area, officers can threaten the victims with arrest for making a "false statement", if officers are too lazy to do an actual investigation. When officers rape, assault, rob, murder, and are responsible for murders and mayhem, officers aren't even investigated. [video of hearing testimony]

Bill Collins, the former mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut, talks about officers wearing ski masks abducting citizens to beat them at waterfront warehouses, officers throwing beer bottles on his porch, vandalizing his house, and putting up police union stickers on his vehicles and house. [video of official testimony]

In Connecticut, the State Police have a "100 Club", where an officer belongs to the special club, and can go on golf outings, if he has more than 100 driving while drunk, or impaired, arrests (DUI, DWI, OUI). [info on 100 club]

A false arrest can land a citizen in prison. It can mean job, home, and family loss. Taxes being paid in by an individual stop, and he, or she, is now a burden on taxpayers based on a false report, false arrest, lies to be part of a club!

A prison sentence can mean a citizen is ruined for life, never trusting authorities again. Maybe the citizen will never support a family, be productive, or even pay taxes, ever again. All over "fun in a club".

If police will lie, falsify and manufacture evidence to arrest citizens for driving while drunk and for drugs, they will alter and fix ANY case. If police, police themselves, police aren't policed.

A campaign manager for the rival party's governor choice, can mean being placed on the secret police "Enemies List". Kenneth Krayeske, also a journalist was placed on "the list", and arrested on sight. [story]

Connecticut State Police Colonel Lynch was allegedly asked to change an official police report. The heirs of Neil Esposito, wanted the millions of Neil's money. Esposito and been died driving drunk and Heather Specyalski was allegedly performing oral sex on him at the time of the crash. I assume there was evidence of this as Heather was in coma for months following the accident.

[story]










Heather Specyalski










Neil Esposito

So, if an important doner to former Republican Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland requests an official State Police investigation be changed, orders from the top will see that it will. These "law enforcement" can't be trusted when they come up with DNA and other lab results when they can just alter official reports. They're willing to put an innocent woman in prison for manslaughter at the request of the rich and powerful.

If a police officer breaks ranks with other officers by actually protecting and serving the public, caring about the law, he can get felony arrested and his sons can be hauled out of his house to be beaten at the State Police HQ. For police to retaliate against police who break ranks, the courts ALSO, have to be rigged. [story]

Judicial Branch employees can blow the whistle on judges and judicial managers rigging cases, racketeering, obstructing justice, nepotism, bid rigging, the altering of court hard drives, retaliation, and felonies committed. The "public comment" will then be sealed and the "mouthy" employees will be retaliated against. [CT Judicial Branch whistle blower video]

Every citizen who I know who has proposed Civilian Oversight of Police has been terrorized out of the state, into silence, and/or is falsely arrested and imprisoned. Richard "Ritt" Goldstein proposed Civilian Oversight of Police to the Connecticut Judiciary Committee assembling international experts on the subject and victims of Connecticut State Police misconduct and brutality. Ritt fled to Sweden seeking political asylum, so terrorized by police after making [this video].

Police use state registered confidential informants to kill, beat up, and terrorize citizens making misconduct complaints. [video of an informant under oath]

The police misconduct only gets worse with each passing year. There is more technology, more money, more of them, and less and less oversight and accountability. We have "Black Water"-style policing inside the US. God help us all ...

My beefs can be found in "Faces of a Police State".

-Steven G. Erickson

[links to police, attorney, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct stories]

[video, witness to the basics of police retaliation]

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
[pass Private Atty Gen. bill in US Judiciary Cmmt]

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

I am a freelance cameraman, documentary producer, screenwriter, sometimes journalist, and can and will travel anywhere if the terms are right.



The above re-posted [from here]
stevengerickson@yahoo.com
To share this post, click on white envelope below.

* * * *
* * * *

Are Connecticut officers too busy sleeping with prostitutes, organizing criminal gangs, and breaking laws to protect and serve the public. The below video shows all too typical behavior of Connecticut Police Officers. Many continue to cover for each other, and less than 1% of police misconduct complaints in the state of Connecticut actually get investigated.

[CT] Officer Durgin abused database, other crimes - fired


Do you want to score heroin or crack cocaine, find a prostitute, do you want to have someone killed or beaten up? Well, in Connecticut, your needs are close and easy, just having cash on you, and knowing which cop to ask and there you go.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Do you want to score drugs?


Lt. William White (Photo: New Haven Register)

Well, Connecticut cops might have the strongest drugs at the best prices. Want to score "jail bait"? Again you might want to ask a Connecticut Police Officer. There are a greater percentage of good officers, why are they so often silent?

New Haven police officers arrested

[click here for piece]

(New Haven-WTNH) _ At least five people, including two New Haven police officers, were arrested Tuesday. The charges include conspiracy and theft of government funds, and bribery.

The officers are identified as Lt. Billy White, Sr., the head of the department's Narcotics Division, and Det. Justin Kasperzyk.

"I'm disguested, I'm upset, frustrated," New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said.

White is accused of theft of government funds and conspiracy. In an afternoon court appearance, the FBI said they have video and audio evidence of White that was taken during a sting operation.

The officers are accused in part of taking money from drug scenes. In one piece of evidence, prosecutors showed a picture of someone they say is White holding a bag that contained $27,000 in cash.

Kasperzyk was charged with a misdemeanor crime of stealing less than $1,000.

Authorities say their investigation also led them to Jacobs Bondsman, a New Haven bail bonds business.

The three bondsmen face bribery and conspiracy charges. They are identified as Robert Jacobs, Paul Jacobs, and Philip Jacobs. They are accused of bribing White and other police officers to recapture fugitives who disappeared while on bond.

Both officers were put on administrative leave by Chief Ortiz, and an internal affairs investigation has been launched.

"There's a presumption here of innocence, but from what I've seen and what I hear and my experience tells me, um, folks ought to have known better."

A federal magistrate judge ordered White to undergo a psychological exam after learning that White made statements to police after his arrest indicating he might harm himself.

White is due back in Hartford federal court tomorrow for a hearing on whether he should be detained.

FBI Spokeswoman Marybeth Miklos says White has been with the New Haven Police dept. for about 30 years. His home was searched as part of the investigation.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who was in Washington D.C., said in a news release, "We are attempting to learn more about the charges, and will be fully cooperating with the investigation," said DeStefano.

DeStefano said he's been in contact with Ortiz, and will hold a news conference about the arrests at 9:30 tonight.


[click here] for above story told at CTnewsjunkie blog
* * * *
* * * *

Raped?



[click here] for more

* * * *
* * * *

[click here] for:

The Connecticut State Trooper Gene Pool?



keywords: Connecticut State Police misconduct brutality Judicial Peter Coukos Barbara Sattel Colonel Thomas "The Duck Davoren Attorney Michael H. Agranoff weasel Stafford Springs Enfield Somers Somersville Hartford Stamford Norwalk Wethersfield West East Judge Jonathan Kaplan Rockville Superior Court [more]

* * * *

[click here] for post called, "Taxpayer Paid Liars, Cheats, and Thugs"

[click here] for post called, "End of America"

* * * *

Pedicure or Toenail Painting?


Richard "Dick" Blumenthal, the Connecticut Attorney General.

He calls himself the "Public's Lawyer". Blumenthal seems too busy to care about citizen complaints or [public corruption].

The Connecticut "Justice System" has the morals of a Whorehouse. If those you complain to about public corruption are allegedly part of the profiteering, racketeering, obstruction of justice, and the attorney, legislator, executive branch, judicial, prosecutorial, official, and police misconduct, what do you think happens to the complainer? How "ethical" are any investigations if there is no requirement that there is ethics in government?

Self-policing doesn't work. Richard Blumenthal Whorehouse Miss Connecticut Heidi Alice Voight


* * * *
* * * *

I sent the below email to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at 11:19 AM EST Oct. 2, 2008:

To Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal,
attorney.general@po.state.ct.us

Subject: Reporting Public Corruption to you

I hear you are going public, asking citizens to report public corruption to you. I didn’t see it, a friend quoted you from a Connecticut newspaper. Well, let's see.

That is probably smart to go public with what you are supposed to be doing anyway. What the Feds might be working on right now, would make you look foolish, if they are breaking cases for prosecutions, and you just shine the seat of your chair. This email to you [posted here].

What are you doing about investigating my complaints [more], and Chris Kennedy’s complaints [more] against Rockville Judge Jonathan J. Kaplan?

What are you doing about the seeming Whorehouse that is the Connecticut Judicial Branch run by “Uncle Joe D”? Just the tip of the iceberg of the nepotism, bid rigging, case fixing, no-bid contracts, manufacture and destruction of evidence on court hard drives, taxpayer fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering, etc is exposed in [this video].

Are you running interference for Judges allegedly taking in Casinos' "protection fund" through the backdoor? Are Connecticut judges buying their judgeships by making campaign contributions? Why don’t you ask Jim Parks about [this] [and this] [and this]?

Was there election fraud perpetrated after the public voted to abolish the Connecticut Sheriff system because it was a “patronage system” whereas the Connecticut Judicial Branch seems to be an even worse and more outrageous “patronage system”? If the Connecticut Constitution is already illegally altered, shouldn’t you be asking citizens to vote “yes” on the upcoming Constitutional Question [post] so we have a legal Connecticut Constitution, not one illegally altered without the will of the people, or not being currently followed by what is existing as Connecticut Government, all 3 branches? Should official Connecticut be shut down until it is running according to its own Constitution?

If someone googles “Judencia” the first thing they see is your picture and information about you, Mr. Blumenthal. I’ve made mention of that in Federal circles. Was this [video] from Jan. ’08 passed to the Feds, and did it help bring down Elliot Spitzer because his finances were under investigation?

We the People are pissed and want corrupt officials from George W. Bush on down, arrested, prosecuted, and jailed if found guilty. Judges have been allowed to be miscreants too long, and should also be included in the upcoming sweep.

If you are interested in going after public corruption, please contact me, and I’ll come down to your office.

-Steven G. Erickson

* * * *

Lawyers in Connecticut can lose the attorney/client agreement, not keep records, falsify documents, have "improper relationships" with young clients, make conflicting statement in writing when being "investigated" by other lawyers on the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee pretending to look in Attorney Misconduct, not defend clients, make illegal deals with judges and prosecutors, steal client funds, misuse funds, destroy and manufacture evidence, and further threaten their victims after they have been falsely arrested and railroaded to prison based on perjury and a rigged trial. How is that for a run on sentence?

Lawyers should help defend clients not help break up families, wreck lives, make taxpayers unemployable, wreck the economy, and live off the blood of others.

Stafford Springs and Ellington Connecticut Attorney Michael H. Agranoff exposed [here] [and here]

Is the "DCF Specialist" Michael H. Agranoff the worst, most corrupt, and most incompetent lawyer in Connecticut?



[click here] for information on Stafford Springs and Ellington, CT, area Attorney Michael H. Agranoff

* * * *

When there is a public hearing on on Connecticut Judicial Branch and Court Ethics called, "The Public Service and Trust Commission", those being complained about for having perpetrated the defrauding of taxpayers, theft, nepotism, racketeering, bid rigging, falsifying court documents, manufacturing evidence, destroying and altering files on court hard drives, retaliation, obstruction of justice, and treason against the United State of America, allegedly sat on the below panel to see that the "public comment" was sealed from the public and that the whistle blower(s) was (were) retaliated upon by being either fired or suspended:



* * * *

This blogger's email: stevengerickson@yahoo.com
To share this post, click on white envelope below

Friday, November 07, 2008

Lincoln Rockwell and admirers, in Arlington, VA, in October 1963



The above photo was found within [this post] on OpEd News

As where these:


The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., his father and his son. Pictured in Atlanta, Georgia. (MLK)


William Casby, born in slavery in 1863 in Algiers, Lousiana


Malcolm X in New York. Picture taken in March of 1963

stevengerickson@yahoo.com

To share this post, click on white envelope below.

"The Obamessiah"?



A Black religious movement to impeach Barach Obama even before he actually takes his oath to become US President? [click here] for more on William N. Grigg


* * * *
* * * *

[click here] for my thoughts on prosecuting George W. Bush for murder and heroin and cocaine smuggling AND the Judicial, Prosecutorial, Attorney, Official, Police, and Legislator misconduct in Connecticut.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Daniel Geery

(I found the below person interesting, and re-posted his "open letter")



April 24, 2006 at 23:00:00

Response to Osama bin Laden

by Daniel Geery

Osama bin Laden addressed the American people on several occasions. As far as I know, no one's taken the time to write him back.


Dear Mr. bin Laden,

I read your letter of November 2002 to the American People, along with your recent letter calling for jihad [shortly before June 24, 2004], and several interviews you have given over the years. Here is my reply:

You are correct in many of your criticisms about America, as any open-minded person who does their homework knows. At the same time, you show no more respect for life than does George Bush or Arial Sharon.

You have brought many valid complaints, wherein you claim to speak on behalf of the Muslim people, and it is evident to me that you have not been taken seriously, but rather ignored or treated with contempt. America has indeed disrespected Muslims time and again, and Americans in general seem oblivious to this fact, even after September 11, and even after your November letter, which I regret to say was not widely published here.

America’s active role in the death of no less than 500,000 Iraqi children, and in sabotaging the water system of Iraq, knowing it was the young and innocent who would die, is as appalling to me as it has been to you. Even now, under the malicious John Ashcroft, our government is sueing Voices in the Wilderness, a small group of Americans who tried to help Iraqi children. It is not hard for me to understand how a pediatrician such as Mr. Al-Zawahiri, who dedicated his life to helping children, would come to the conclusion that violence against America is the only answer.

I believe I understand your frustration, your pride, your sense of oneness with your people, and your dedication to what you believe is correct. But I cannot agree with you that more bloodshed is the answer.

I have done some reading of the Koran to learn more about your religion. It did not take long to come upon certain passages (might I attribute this to Allah?), which read as follows:

[2.8] And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers. [2.9] They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive. [2.10] There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease and they shall have a painful chastisement because they lied. [2.11] And when it is said to them, Do not make mischief in the land, they say: We are but peace-makers. [2.12] Now surely they themselves are the mischief makers, but they do not perceive.

From your letter it would appear that you are calling yourself a peace-maker, and thereby lying to Allah and deceiving yourself, just as George Bush does every time he calls himself a Christian.

Like George Bush, you have been blessed with riches beyond most people's imagination, and yet you have used those riches to bring misery and heartache to human beings on this tiny planet. So I have much difficulty understanding why you advocate the destruction of life, and then pretend to be speaking for Allah Himself, when there is so much important work that needs to be done.

I also do not comprehend your claim that George Bush, perhaps the biggest liar in American history, was chosen by the people of America. He was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court, after the people of America voted for Mr. Gore. Surely you are aware of this and falsely make this claim; or, if you weren’t aware of it, you have no business holding yourself up as a leader of the Muslim people.

Nonetheless, your words have called attention to the atrocities committed by America, the recent ones especially, which include aiding oppressive dictators, providing arms to those who serve capitalist interests, most notably Israel, and our bombing of civilians in places too numerous to mention. I do not fault your list when you mention our intrusions into Somalia, Palestine, Chechnya, Kasmir, Saudi Arabia, and now, of course, Iraq. If anything, you have left out many dark crimes we are guilty of, most of which can readily be found on the internet.

And thus I join you in condemning our atrocities, along with the American government’s patterns of deceit and corruption. I am ashamed to see what America has become, particularly under the Bush Administration.

Surely you are aware of the millions of Americans who protested the war in Iraq, and you must know it is not we who are your enemies. At the same time, those of us who clamor for peace on earth—the same peace spoken of in the Koran and other holy works—do not condone violence, whether it is George Bush’s, Ariel Sharon’s or yours. Countless numbers of us have written letters to the editor, encouraging peace in every way we can, but often those letters don't get published. We can and do vote for advocates of peace, even though all too many Americans are kept in the dark by an oppressive media, or are misled by the media, and thus continue to support Mr. Bush and his deranged colleagues.

I am a sixth grade teacher in a school which has students from all over the world—Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Tonga, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, the Congo, Cambodia, China, Bosnia, Vietnam, and many other countries—students from different cultures, religions, languages, and backgrounds. (Many of these students are here because we forced them to be, with our insane foreign policies).

These are wonderful young people, deeply concerned about getting along with those around them, interested in learning about science and history and math (when it is presented correctly) and how to improve themselves to better serve the world around them, and how to make this world a better place. Like most teachers in America, I make a great effort to teach my students values such as kindness, compassion, understanding, and tolerance. I also try to teach sincerity, good manners, righteousness, mercy, and honor--the very values your letter calls us to teach!

Last year I had five Muslims in my class. One of them was my best student, ever. She came from Afghanistan, and wanted to learn and learn some more, and she asked me countless questions all year long. I loved to hear voice, as she bounded into my class on Monday morning, “Hi, Mr. Geery!” She was and is my friend as well as a former student, as are most children in my class.


Are you angry at me for trying to help Muslim children, and other children from all over the world? Are you angry at me because our corrupt system, over which I have so little control, produced George Bush?

I would like you and Mr. Bush and every adult who advocates violence to understand that all the students I have had, from so many corners of the world, have been able to get along in a friendly manner, and with some guidance and effort, somehow resolve their differences without violence. Certainly if twelve year olds can do this, grown adults can try a little harder to do the same.

You claim that governments we support prevent your people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so. While I and millions of other Americans condemn the US Government for its lies and the violence it engages in, we also continue working against this government’s hypocrisy. But what about your hypocrisy?

I found the website of the Islamic Shariah Institute, after reading your letter. This institute claims to have dedicated itself to bringing “the pure and pristine message of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims via authentic and classical established Islamic material.” Following are two messages from that website:

"Invite (mankind) to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and reason with them in the best manners possible" (Sura Al-Nahl 16, Ayah 125).

“Let there be amongst you a group who invite to good, enjoin what is right and forbid evil. These are the ones who are successful.”(Al Imran, verse 104)

Rather than listen to such wisdom, you prefer to play the role of Allah, destroying the very souls He brought to life. And so it is difficult for me to see how any right-minded Muslim could look up to you. In advocating violence as you do, you have sunk to the same depths that your enemy has sunk. Your harboring of hatred and your desire to play Allah is no different than that of Mr. Sharon, and you are no more of a peace-maker than he is. Even my sixth graders can tell you that people need to put their weapons down, and be sincere in seeking other solutions.

In fact, I would like to quote to you some words from my sixth graders, words they wrote about the war in Iraq. I tried hard not to influence them, and I encouraged them to think for themselves, as I always do. I hope you will read their words several times:

Becoming president means to be responsible, to think about the people first, and to make the right decision, and in this case Bush made a bad one. If I got to ask George one question I would ask him is it worth it? Is it worth losing lives over war?

The war is just killing people and there dreams. George Bush is making a big mistake by leading us into a bigger war.

I don’t like the war at all. Everytime I hear there is war it makes me want to cry. Sometimes at night I would have nightmares. I would dream that my dad got sent to war and that he got killed. What we need in the world is Peace, not wars. If I was in the war I wouldn’t fight I would help the injured people instead of fighting for something stupid.

I don’t like wars because it makes everybody sad and angry... I think Bush and Saddam Hussein are acting like two persons from kindergarten and they are fighting like kids. The children in Iraq are seeing their mother and their father dying. Some of the children in America are waiting for their father and they don’t know if their father will come home or die.

I don’t think we should go to war because all you grownups are telling us that fighting is not how to solve problems but there you grownups are going to war.

We should not take the lives of innocent people that have nothing to do with it. I think Bush just wants to be powerful and I also think he want to start wars with everyone who does not like him. How I feel about the war is angry and I also think it is useless. If I were president I would try to get along with all the countrys and not start wars!

I’m so sad about this war against Iraq. I’ve experienced difficulties in a war because I was born in Somalia. I hate wars because young children see their mothers and fathers die and the children die of hungry. People’s homes burn and they have to leave their families, friends and jobs. Sometimes I pray to God that the war will stop. Sometimes I think if little kids can have a truce why can’t Saddam and Bush?

I think that there should be no war because there is no point. At the end of the war all George Bush will have is a group of died people. I think he lost his mined. He has no proof of Sadam Hussan or Osama ben laden being friends. He has no proof of WMDs. I feel sad because the solgers in Iraq and the USA all mite die and their family and friends are going to cry and they are all going to be missed.


I believe George W. Bush is starting to become a bully... Why is George W. Bush just charging in? He is the problem. He doesn’t have any evidence that Saddam Hussein is making weapons of mass destruction.

I want the people to stop the war. It’s not just me a lot of people in world wants to stop the war. I’m so sad for those children who lost their parents and those women who lost their husbands. President Bush is making a lot of reason for war. He says that Iraquians are making weapons. If they really are then why they are not using it?

Nobody knows the reason why there is war. If George Bush wants to get revenge with Saddam Hussin they why doesn’t he get revenge by himself. The world needs peace instead the world is having no peace.

The President thinks we want Osama bin Laden but really what we want is peace. The US is all about peace. But why don’t we have Peace? “In God we trust” I said to myself one day but I think the President doesn’t know that. If the president knew that we wouldn’t fight.

What’s the difference? Me and my family got away from Somalia because of all the war. Now come to America. Sometimes my mom waches the news to see what’s happening. When I wach it with my mom it make me wish that I never wached it. I see bomb going from every direction and mistals flying around. I pray to my God hoping the wars will stop soon. I think we are all one wrold. If me and my enemies can get along why can’t Saddam and Bush?

I think the war is stupid and meaningless. Even if we win, what are we going to get as a feedback? What is the point of this war? My opinion is that George W. Bush is a stupid brainless, dumb guy that can’t settle this thing with Iraq in a peaceful way. Why don’t George B go to war too?

I really want to tell you how kids feel about the war. We feel unsafe and scared. We feel like Bush doesn’t care about us, he only cares about himself... It is horrifying when you see bombs and missiles hiting a building. Parents should ask their kids if they are scared about the war. If they are, don’t make them talk, listen and watch things about the war. Let them do their homework and watch T.V. Do something that will take it off their mind. [I promised this girl we would not talk about the war any more].

So there you have it, Osama--the wisdom of 12 year olds, from many countries and backgrounds (one student did support the war in Iraq, but I must add that he did not seem to have much grasp of the facts).

Do you think these children would agree with you, any more than they do with George Bush, that sending young men or women, with a life ahead of them, to take their own lives and those of innocent bystanders, is a good idea? Would you like to argue to these twelve year olds, who are so pure of heart, as you claim we all should be, that fighting violence with violence is the answer? Wouldn’t your message in fact pollute their hearts? Do you really think violence is Allah’s recommended approach to humanity's problems?

If so, then you have become as pathetic as George Bush, and you have cast the Koran in Allah’s face. In addition, you have done the very thing that turns Good Americans away from even considering your religion.

Did you ever wonder what might happen if you were to use your enormous influence and wealth in a manner consistent with the teachings of all religions, that you profess to believe in, in the same spirit that was shown by Mother Theresa? Has it occurred to you that your following and influence might be far greater, and there would be many more positive changes in human souls, even though the results might not be so immediate and flashy? Or is it immediate and flashy results that you want?

You made many noises in your letter about the rights of women, even though you worked hand-in-hand with the oppressive Taliban, which has demonstrated nothing but disrespect for women. Consequently, you appear on this matter as a laughable cartoon figure. I must say the same in regard to your condemnation of drugs, when it is common knowledge that Afghanistan's economy ran on the trade of opium, which you did nothing to oppose. Apparently that trade suited your ends well enough.

You have used your enormous wealth to buy influence and favors and to get your way, like a spoiled rich kid, like George Bush. You may have forsaken creature comforts, living in caves as you have, but the Great Big Thrill for you appears to be Power, as it does for George and his father. You and the two Georges appear to abominate the humility that the Koran and other religious books teach us, and I can say the same for the genuine helping of others.

And did your wealth not come from the same rich-get-richer system that you so loudly condemn? Do you wish to tell the world that you have not made interest, or usury as you call it, on your own money, that you were so fortunate to inherit? Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t think so. You appear to me as no less of a hypocrite than George Bush, and you are a "man of peace" in the same manner as Ariel Sharon.

You claim that we flee from the embarrassing question posed to us: “How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?”

I can think of many answers, but I’ll give you the one I believe is most important for humankind: If we recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters on this small planet, with many different ideas and backgrounds and points of view, and we actually treat each other as brothers and sisters (as religion and science tell us we are), then the law which will govern our lives will be a simple one: It will be kindness to one another.


I have a friend who is 86. She was raised as a Mormon, but fell away from her religion after much studying and soul searching. Now she is an atheist—an “infidel” in your dictionary. Yet she is kind and gentle and considerate of others, and one of the most wonderful people you could meet. I would take a million “infidels” like my friend over any number of “true believers” who advocate violence. My friend practices kindness, the law that was placed in our hearts at birth, and that we can hear if we listen to our hearts.

Do you believe in that law? Do you really listen to the heart you were blessed with at birth?

You mention kindness in your letter, but you evidently fail to understand or practice it. So many of your words are as hollow as are those of George Bush. If you want to convert me to your religion, or even begin thinking about it, you will need to start by good example and showing me peace and kindness—like the student I mentioned earlier, who touched my soul far more than you have—and not by using force and violence.

As for changing America, I and countless others are working hard to bring that change about. We are dismayed that our country has sunk to the depths the world now sees, and we remain committed to changing that. We don’t wish to shake a fist at the world, but to extend a helping hand and to take care of our own enormous problems as quickly as possible. Even though we seem to be victims of our own system--even now we are largely ignored by the press--we continue working to elect a president who believes in the America we are supposed to be.

Here is what I would like to see: A leader who will stand up to corruption and who has the vision to move our country away from the shoals of insanity that George Bush and others have taken us into. I would like to see a leader who supports the United Nations and wants to make that body what it is meant to be: a body of nations that resolves differences in a just and peaceful manner. I’d like a leader who makes nonviolence a principle of society, and who seeks to make war archaic. One who believes in peace, and settling differences amongst people without killing, in accord with the commandment of many religions: Thou shalt not kill.

I’d like a leader who realizes that other countries are our neighbors and potential friends, and sees each person as sacred. One who understands that every person makes a difference, and that each choice we make influences those around us, and that an injury to one person is a grievous injury to all. One who believes that justice must be uniformly applied, and who thinks vengeance is to be reserved to the Lord.

I want a leader who would stand by treaties that have been made in the past, and who wants to support the Kyoto Protocol. One who wants nuclear disarmament on a global scale, and wants to do away with weapons of mass destruction everywhere. I’d like a leader who would give strong safeguards to protect the environment, and who would abolish NAFTA and WTO, which do so much harm to people and places of the world. A leader would develop clean and renewable energy sources, and who would work to end corporate influence in politics, and assure that future elections truly represent the voice of the American people.

I think all this would be a good place to start, for all right-minded people who want positive changes. And I encourage people everywhere, particularly in America, to rise up and become educated about what is going on and what is at stake.

I also encourage you, Osama bin Ladin, along with Mr. Al-Zawahiri, to raise your standards for yourselves and those who listen to you: Stop being a destroyer of life and become a real peace-keeper, with kindness in your heart, courage in your soul, and good will toward fellow humans. Reread the Koran and respect that, rather those things that anger drives you to find.

I realize nothing is likely to come of this letter, and that, like many of my letters, there will be no one to even publish it. But if I fail to say these things, I cannot have peace and honor within myself. I have also written this because you made accusations and complaints and suggestions to me, as an American citizen, which I have read and considered carefully.

I have responded in good faith to your allegations, and it is only fair that you consider my concerns carefully too. I would be pleased to hear your response, particularly if my thinking is somehow incorrect. Do you want to continue like the person you repeatedly condemn, or would you prefer to join the people of our planet, acting as a voice of reason and compassion?

With kindest regards,

Daniel Geery

* * * *

www.hyperblimp.com


Geery lived off the grid for 15 years in an earth-sheltered, solar heated home, while his kids learned in school that solar energy isn't feasible. NAPTA hosts a page on Geery's foibles in education, and explains how he got his butt fired from a tenured teaching position. Here's a short clip of his most recent solar contraption; for more on that project, and Geery's contention that the Wright Brothers took a wrong turn, please visit his airship page (hyperblimp.com). Apparently, Geery is the only one in the world to respond to Osama bin Laden, call bullshit on him and George together, and expose them for the pansy ass rich kids that they are. Unfortunately, bin Laden has been too scared to write back and explain himsself; and George is still working hard to finish his goat book.

Hit Counter