Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Xelebes

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 24
16
Thought Reform / Re: The Canadian Vector
« on: April 13, 2012, 08:35:49 PM »
Quote from: "ajax13"
Quote from: "Xelebes"
I remember spotting the TRI ASI Chart on the Fifth Estate episode concerning AARC.

I don't.  While the SASSI has been used by AARC's unlicensed, unqualified staff to diagnose the addiction brain disease in Newcomers, the behavior menu used by AARC was the one used by Miller Newton.

I am a little more concerned about Frameworks and their involvement with coercing the population of Alberta into accepting AARC's disease model.

Of course.  I'm just saying I recognise the diagnosis chart that is being used, especially when somebody asks for what test is being used to measure the addiction.  Frameworks is the big fish, but I'm not so certain I can distinguish that from the episode.  You might be able to.

17
Thought Reform / Re: The Canadian Vector
« on: April 12, 2012, 09:44:48 PM »
I remember spotting the TRI ASI Chart on the Fifth Estate episode concerning AARC.

18
Hyde Schools / Re: Where's that "movement of concerned Americans?"
« on: April 12, 2012, 09:02:30 PM »
Well, let's hold back on the AIDS as a manufactured virus.  In some ways it is (shaming those who have it for having lived shameful lives) but in the most key sense, it is not (developed in labs to be released and wreak havoc on minorities.)

19
I hear a Pride Parade is being scheduled for Casa Grande.  Great opportunity for little Paul here. . .

20
Feed Your Head / Malaysian politician pushing for gay rehab centres.
« on: March 23, 2012, 12:36:07 AM »
BN lawmaker moots gay rehab centre

BN lawmaker moots gay rehab centre
March 21, 2012

A gay couple pose for photographs on Valentine's Day in Beijing February 14, 2009. A BN MP today claimed three in 10 Malaysian men are gay. — Reuters pic
KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — The government needs to create a “homosexual rehabilitation centre” to combat the phenomenon in Malaysia, according to Barisan Nasional MP who today claimed 30 per cent of Malaysian men were gay.

According to a Bernama Online report, Datuk Baharum Mohamad (BN-Sekijang) said in Parliament today that this was to aid those with homosexual tendencies or engaged in same-sex relationships to stop such behaviour.

    Right now, three out of 10 men in Malaysia are gay. This is scary

“We have to find a solution to combat these activities from getting rampant just like the efforts we take to combat drugs,” Baharum said.

“A study has found that, right now, three out of 10 men in Malaysia are gay. This is scary.”

It is unclear what study the lawmaker was citing when he made his address.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is increasingly viewed as moral deviants and targeted for their non-heterosexual orientation.

Last year, the Seksualiti Merdeka movement championing the freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity, was barred from holding its festival despite having held it annually since 2008.

In January, a bureau chief at Umno’s Utusan Malaysia also attacked the Bar Council for its “support” for homosexuality among Malaysians, calling it part of a “deviant wave” that is fast gaining acceptance throughout the world.

21
/partakes in the experiment

LEt's see how far the discussions go.  A moderated forum would be nice.

22
The Seed Discussion Forum / Re: PA Childcare - Kash for KKKids
« on: March 12, 2012, 11:37:54 PM »
I haven't found concrete proof that Joe is related to Greg yet.

Joe went to a school in NY, and might be of one of the New York clans.  Greg is firmly in the Pennsylvania clan.  I just need to know the birthplace of Joe or the parents of Joe to make any further conclusions.

23
The Seed Discussion Forum / Re: PA Childcare - Kash for KKKids
« on: March 11, 2012, 03:18:01 AM »
OpEd News

Quote
High Crime - and Profit - in Jailing Kids: Monopoly Capitalism at Work
Add this Page to Facebook!
Submit to Twitter
Submit to Reddit
Submit to Stumble Upon

Tell A Friend

Become a Fan
SAVE AS FAVORITE
VIEW FAVORITES
Get Embed HTML Code
By Rowan Wolf (about the author)

Become a Fan Become a Fan   --

opednews.com
I have long been enraged by the idea of for-profit corrections facilities. It is just not a good idea to make locking people up (or detaining them) profitable. In a capitalist system such as the U.S., profit becomes king - ruling over all other consideration. This is something we have seen a lot of lately. However, a case in point is the Pennsylvania corruption case that has resulted in overturning hundreds of juvenile convictions. The short version of the story is that two (and perhaps more) Luzerne County PA judges (Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan) received $2.6 million for sending juveniles who came before them to private juvenile facilities. They have plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. However, while the short version is shocking, tracking down the details is educational. The Longer Story The two judges involved, did not just take kickbacks for sending juveniles to private "kiddie prisons." In 2002, Conahan, then president judge of Luzerne County, had shut down the county facility, and signed an agreement to send juveniles to PA Child Care LLC (AP). Then Conahan and Ciavarella, started sending a disproportionate (compared to other juvenile court judges - 25% compared to 10%) number of juveniles to two private facilities - PA Child Care and Western PA Child Center. So the two judges received the $2.6 million from 2002-2008. Now PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care are owned by Mid-Atlantic Youth Services. The owner of Mid-Atlantic is one Gregory Zappala. Zappala is also an attorney (among other things). The "other things" makes for interesting reading. Gregory Zappala is the son of former state Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Zappala. Aside from being an attorney himself, he was also the head of a municipal financing company RRZ Public Markets - later purchased by JP Morgan (Pittsburgh City Paper). Zappala is also connected to Bush Jr.'s "go to guy" Tom Hardiman - who married into the well-connected (democratic) family.

    Side Note from Lord article: (Hardiman) met Lori Zappala, who would become his wife, bring him to Pittsburgh -- and give him instant entrée into the legal and political circles that have made him a nominee for judge. Lori Zappala is the daughter of Richard A. Zappala, whose real-estate interests include the McIntyre Square shopping center in Ross Township. Her uncle is former state Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Zappala, whose son and namesake is Allegheny County's district attorney. Another of the former justice's sons, Gregory Zappala, headed up municipal financing firm RRZ Public Markets, until it was purchased by New York-based JP Morgan Chase & Co. in February. Hardiman married into the politically connected, heavily Democratic clan...

In the purchase of RRZ, Gregory Zappala became JP Morgan's VP of Pennsylvania operations. One has to think that the well placed Zappala was part of the reason for the "no questions asked" investment by Pennsylvania educators in JP Morgan.

    Schools Flunk Finance: Education officials in Erie and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, were so impressed with the quantitative skills of JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley that they bought interest-rate swaps without ever knowing the price. That cost taxpayers millions of dollars for the errant financings. ... David DiCarlo, an Erie-based JPMorgan Chase banker, told Barker and the school board on Sept. 4, 2003, that all they had to do was sign papers he said would benefit them if interest rates increased in the future, and the bank would give the district $750,000, a transcript of the board meeting shows. "You have severe building needs; you have serious academic needs," Barker, 58, says. "It's very hard to ignore the fact that the bank says it will give you cash." So Barker and the board members agreed to the deal. What New York-based JPMorgan Chase didn't tell them, the transcript shows, was that the bank would get more in fees than the school district would get in cash: $1 million. The complex deal, which placed taxpayer money at risk, was linked to four variables involving interest rates. Three years later, as interest rate benchmarks went the wrong way for the school district, the Erie board paid $2.9 million to JPMorgan to get out of the deal, which officials now say they didn't understand. ... During the past four years in Pennsylvania alone, banks have pitched at least 500 deals totaling $12 billion like the one JPMorgan Chase sold to Erie, according to records on file with the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Most of the transactions--which occurred outside the state's largest cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh--have been made without public bidding, which means that banks and advisers privately arranged the deals with small school districts, the records show. (I recommend reading the whole article)

Indeed, JP Morgan did well with Zappala at the helm of the Pennsylvania "operations." The very busy Zappala was also a partner with Gladstone Partners, L.P. which is trying to get an cargo-capable airport built in Hazle Township, Luzerne County. The proposal received a "Conditional No Objection" from the FAA in May 2007 (Bond Buyer). The Zappala family is obviously a big player in Pennsylvania, and Greg Zappala is no exception. He has contributed politically personally, and through his companies, to both Republican, and Democratic campaigns. It does not appear that he contributed to the Biden Presidential campaign; however, there is a Charles Robert Zappala who was listed as a Congressional Staffer for Biden in 2005 and 2006. Summing Up The story of the kids summarily sent to private detention centers for profit is a case study in power, money, and its abuses. Just as Bernie Madoff bilked his friends and those who trusted him of billions of dollars with apparently no qualms, Zappala and Judges willing threw aside any care for the juveniles who were shunted into for-profit facilities. Just as Wall Street and big finance went on an exploitation scheme that we may never know the full extent of. One and all, they are reflective of a perverse system where people's lives are below consideration. The U.S. public has been told for decades that "What's good for business is good for us." We have been fed a line that "Government is bad and business is good." We have been told that "Government is inefficient and business is efficient." So we were sold a bill of goods to privatize as much of government as we could, and private corrections are right up there at the top of the list. As the Pennsylvania situation shows, "corrections" can be very profitable indeed. However, that does not mean that is a cost saver for the public. It does mean that there are incentives to throw away important considerations - like people's lives, worker safety, environmental protections, troop safety - so more money can be made. In the corrections arena this translates into more people incarcerated for longer periods of time - because there is more money to be made that way. So we get the constant spin of crime out of control and "let's get tough on criminals." We take away discretionary sentencing and put in mandatory sentencing. We say "lock them up forever" with the "three-strikes" law. So the incarcerated population grows, and the cost grows, The "solutions" we are offered are to undercut prisoners detainment facilities (decrease health care, education, even prisoner population limits), force prisoners to "work" for their keep, and privatize, privatize, privatize. Of course this means that private facilities get to stack prisoners on top of each other, decrease staff training, and use the incarcerated population as a low wage captive workforce. Meanwhile, they also collect from the government for each prisoner for the duration of their incarceration. A nice deal for the corporations, though perhaps not what the public thought they were signing onto. The "game" is rigged, and the sooner people quit buying into the lies the more likely we will get to a reality-based life. Aside: I am vehemently against the death penalty, and am heartened that it is finally coming under serious questioning by the states. However, life imprisonment in a privatized prisons scenario makes me wonder at the sudden change of heart. This is particularly true since it is being said that it is "cheaper" to keep someone for a life sentence than it is to execute them. Cheaper for whom? Profitable for whom? Court Documents: PA Childcare LLC v Stephen Flood, Thomas Crofcheck and Leonard Pocius - regarding release of audit of PA Childcare. (2005)

 
Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for more...)

24
The Seed Discussion Forum / Re: PA Childcare - Kash for KKKids
« on: March 11, 2012, 12:51:52 AM »
Ok, looking up the Zappala Family

Stephen Zappala Sr. - Supreme Court Judge, Pennsylvania,
- Gregory Zappala - owner of PA ChildCare, Owner of Russell, Rea & Zapella Public Markets (bought by JP Morgan)
- Stephen Zappala Jr. - District Attorney
Richard Zappala -
- Lori Zappala Hardiman - Married Bush Jr's Go to Man, Tom Hardiman; Registered the Richard A Zappala Family Foundation (Charity)
Charles Robert Zappala - Congressional Staffer for Biden



Now I'm wondering if Joseph Zappala is a brother of Stephen and Charles Zappala.

Link to Blogspot post.

Quote
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Zappalas: Influence, Big Business, Exploitation and Vulgar Silence
The Zappala family is best known as a legal and judicial powerhouse encompassing a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, the current Allegheny County District Attorney and a present candidate for judge on the Court of Common Pleas.

Its also encompasses family members who deal in sweeping business interests -- not only in Pittsburgh, but sprawling ventures impacting the breadth of the Commonwealth which can best be described as controversial.

One of those business endeavors has just set off a tripwire on the contentious City of Pittsburgh political landscape. Others continue to be alarming.

##

First let us make some distinctions.

One business and lobbying-oriented family member is Charles Zappala, brother to Supreme Court justice Stephen Zappala, Sr. Charles Zappala, for example, was tapped to be a 9% investor in the would-be Harrahs casino project in Station Square, care of Forest City Enterprises. An occasional business partner, Squirrel Hill insurance broker turned political player and financier William Lieberman, also was accorded a prospective 9% stake. The casino license went to Don Barden and the Majestic Star on the North Shore after former mayor Tom Murphy floated suspicions that "the fix was in" for Harrah's.

Another one is Greg Zappala, son to Stephen Zappala, Sr. and brother to Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Jr.

##

Patrick Dowd started it. An as-yet unidentified Channel 11 News reporter made it happen.

Mark Ratuerkus & Running Mates provides the video. I don't know if WPXI carried it on-air, or if any of the other news outlets attending the press conference utilized it.

    WPXI: Alright. Who's doing the bond deal, who did the deal?

    Dowd: The folks who were associated with that: Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan. Go back and look at the names of the people that pitched the deal to the city.

    WPXI: No, I want you to tell me. I want you to...

    Dowd: I believe the Zappalas and Mossie Murphy were people -- two people among others who were associated with that deal. Greg Zappala, Mossie Murphy, others. (video)


"The Zappalas", he said.


    WPXI: Are you suggesting that something was wrong with the deal?

    Dowd: I think people need to take a look at it. We need to look in to that. I've called for an audit, I hope we get a chance to review it. I think we need to think about who did that deal and why it was done... but most importantly, my number one concern and I've said this before, repeatedly, going forward. How are we going to solve the problem of that bond deal. It's going to end up costing taxpayers more and more money. (ibid)


The known, potential and likely effects of the deal have been previously covered.

Pittsburgh is only one among many places in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in which public officials are feeling duped and taken advantage of by RRZ and by JPMorgan -- together.

    JPMorgan turned to other politically connected friends to win contracts in Western Pennsylvania in 2003. That year, it bought Cranberry Township-based underwriter RRZ Public Markets Inc., near Pittsburgh.

    Greg Zappala, the son of former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Zappala and the brother of the Allegheny County district attorney, brought his local government clients to the Wall Street bank. Along with them, according to two lawsuits, came windfall profits on derivative deals.

    Zappala urged the Butler Area School District, in the countryside 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh, to take cash out of bonds that couldn't be refinanced until 2008. (Bloomberg, Selway and Braun)


The article goes on and on and on. To give you an idea, starting at this point, the ensuing sections are headlined as follows: Bank Got More, Inappropriate Transactions, 'They Assured Me', Conflict of Interest, 'I Can't Quantify That', $5.4 Billion in Swaps, $100 Million More (that one deals with Jefferson County, Alabama), 'We Were Boxed', and 'Overwhelming Greed'.

    JPMorgan, which, like other banks, balances the swaps by selling similar derivative deals on the open market, took a fee of $1.23 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's almost 10 times the fair rate, according to a lawsuit filed by the (Erie) school district against JPMorgan and its adviser in federal court.

    There had been no court-filed responses as of mid- October. DiCarlo, Zappala and IMAGE didn't return requests for comment. (ibid)


Two well-placed sources who wish to remain anonymous further confirm to the Comet that RRZ was more generally pushing these bond deals aggressively all over the Commonwealth.

##

More about that RRZ outfit.

    The residents in the neighborhood did not know what was being built at Front and Thurlow streets, and the sign that read Delaware County Resource Recovery Facility gave no real indication of what the facility actually was. They had no idea how enormous the facility would be, or how much it would affect their daily lives. By 1991 the construction of the incinerator was complete. In a feeble attempt to win over the residents, Westinghouse provided free hot dogs, sodas, and balloons at the grand opening celebration.

    The towering furnace across the street was an imposing sight for the residents of Front, Thurlow, Booth, 2nd, and 3rd streets and Highland Avenue. As the 300+ trash trucks per day began rumbling down their neighborhood streets on their way into and out of the Westinghouse site, the residents of the west-end of Chester started to feel the full impact of their new unwanted neighbor: the truck traffic from LCA Leasing and Abbonizio was increased many times over, the trash odors began competing with DelCora's sewage odors as the worst in the neighborhood. (EJNet, Russell)


Many other subsidiaries of the interconnected RRZ waste management empire were opening up operations nearby.

    On December 18, 1992, all of the City Council members except for the mayor sent a letter to the governor and to the DER asking them to expedite the permitting of Thermal Pure. Holding no public hearing, the DER granted Thermal Pure a permit. State law instructs the DER to hold a public hearing as part of the permitting process when the permit is controversial or there is known public opposition. By not holding a public hearing, DER was saying that there was no known public opposition to Thermal-Pure, in spite of the 500+ signatures they had in opposition to BioMed.

    In 1993, Thermal Pure Systems was permitted to sterilize 4 to 5 times the amount of infectious waste produced in the entire state of Pennsylvania -- 288 tons per day. Under state law, any incinerator or other disposer of medical waste can only take in 70% of the waste produced in that section of the state. This law suggests that Thermal Pure should only be able to process about 29 tons per day, or 10% of their permitted capacity. CRCQL sued the state on the basis of that claim, and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled in their favor. Thermal Pure was ordered to shut down because their permit was deemed invalid. (ibid)


Now get this.

    But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, using its King's Bench Power, snatched the case out of the Commonwealth Court and granted a stay on the order to shut down Thermal Pure. Recently, that same court overturned the Commonwealth Court's decision, re-validating Thermal Pure's permit.

    Not coincidentally, one of the State Supreme Court Justices is named Stephen Zappala, brother of the partner in Russell, Rea, and Zappala. While Justice Zappala recused himself from the case, he clearly exercised his influence by convincing the court to use the outdated King's Bench statute.

    While the Thermal Pure battle was underway, CRCQL had found out that Soil Remediations Services, a contaminated soil burning plant, was seeking a permit to operate behind Thermal Pure. SRS, the next in a seemingly endless line of waste industries trying to site in Chester, received immediate and intense opposition from the a now more organized CRCQL. Petitions, protests, and testimony at public hearing combined to send a clear message to SRS and DEP that the community did not want another polluter. In a strange twist of fate, the residents were able to convince all five members of City Council to oppose the permitting of SRS. (ibid)


A strange twist of fate indeed. Funny how those work.

The story continues. The community of Chester and Delaware County is obviously desperate to defend itself, and well-enough organized to do so.

##


Finally, there is the matter of these juvenile detention facilities.

    Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and former Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan are accused of taking $2.6 million for sending children to two facilities owned by Pittsburgh businessman Greg Zappala.

    Judges Ciavarella and Conahan each could face prison terms of up to seven and three months, according to the terms of plea agreements they signed last week.

    No charges have been filed against Mr. Zappala, who is the brother of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. and son of former state Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Zappala Sr. (P-G, Tracie Mauriello)


So it is a crime to accept kickbacks, but paying them out is tolerable?

    Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court has agreed to review all juvenile cases adjudicated in Luzerne County during in the last five years.

    That's good news to parents such as Susan Mishanski, whose 17-year-old son was sentenced by Judge Ciavarella last year to 90 days in a juvenile facility in Carbon County.

    She said the punishment was excessive and that it traumatized her son, a first-time offender who was expecting community service or a fine for punishing another boy last year. Instead, he was taken from the courtroom in shackles and brought to Camp Adams, where he was beaten by other teenagers, forced to wear ripped clothes four sizes too big and permitted visitors only twice a month for an hour, she said.

    "He was humiliated and he was scared," said Ms. Mishanski of Luzerne County. "I'm absolutely thrilled now that [these judges] got caught." (ibid)


Further allegations emerged as the accused started pleading guilty.

    Judge Ciavarella and a co-conspirator, former Luzerne County Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, agreed in their plea deal to serve a little more than 7 years in prison and to be disbarred. (P-G, Tracie Mauriello 2)


Elsewhere in that article:

    Dan Fee, a spokesman for Greg Zappala, said Mr. Zappala had no knowledge of the payments to the judges. Mr. Zappala has not been accused of any wrongdoing and is not a target of the investigation, according to a source close to the federal probe.

    Attorneys for Mr. Zappala's former partner in the centers, Hazleton attorney Robert Powell, have said Mr. Powell made payments to the Luzerne judges. But they also called Mr. Powell a victim of extortion, and said he ultimately reported the shakedown to authorities. (ibid)


Again, these are the folks that sold Pittsburgh's Water Authority a bill of goods. I suppose they'll be deserving of a bailout.

##

Some of this material has recently been discussed on an electornic bulletin board hosted by the Meadville Tribune. Here is how one reader put it:


    But the vulgar silence on this issue is revolting. Have we become so self absorbed that we cannot see how those with influence continue to profit from our sheeple mentality, realizing that their crimes will go unpunished because either no one is paying attention, or the masses have become so accustomed to this type of behavior that even a horrific crime like this against children does not cause them to so much as raise an eyebrow let alone ask questions? If we don't challenge this type of abuse of power, then we deserve everything they do to us! (Meadville Tribune commenter)


Remember that Charles Zappala is a business partner of William Lieberman. Lieberman is the former chairman of the Intergovernmental Coooperation Authority (ICA), and has been the primary backer of its longtime Executive Director, Henry Sciortino.

Although I conducted primary interview research during my examination of Mr. Sciortino, I did not reach out to Mr. Zappala (nor to any Zappala, nor a Lieberman) for this blog post. The way I figure it, Greg Zapalla already turned down Bloomberg on this topic, and I wasn't in the mood for frustration. An expanse of information exists, and time is decidedly a factor.



We have the time.

There is much folklore about "the political machine", and certainly the Democratic party committee -- county and state -- is in one sense the machine, along with the elected officials they sponsor. Yet members of these parts of the machine by and large are not the machine operators -- not whom it ultimately serves.

The political superstructure actually accrues to the benefit of surprisingly few individuals -- lobbyists, financiers, industry leaders and power brokers -- roughly a third of which, by some estimates, may be Zappalas.

Lieberman is one example of another prominent figure in this much-discussed constellation of influence. He has the noteworthy and unfortunate distinction of having been a significant fundraiser for convicted State Sen. Vincent Fumo, among others. Among political wags, other local names discussed occasionally as stars unto themselves include John Verbanac and Ed Grattan.
Posted by Bram Reichbaum at 6:00 AM

25
The Seed Discussion Forum / Re: PA Childcare - Kash for KKKids
« on: March 11, 2012, 12:39:08 AM »
He owns his own investment firm operating from Florida, Joseph Zappala & Associates.  He is also currently on the Gold Mercury International Advisory Board.

From 2008.



However, I'm trying to look up who is all a part of Zappala Family LLC and what industry they serve.

26
Quote from: "??????????"
FUCK YOU!

**tee-hee!!!**

27
Yes, but I shudder to think what makes you choose the news & link aggregator that is Breitbart.

Solely on the video, "He who declares war on a country, shouldn't be surprised that the targeted country takes you out."  It's a bit of a grim analysis, but that's how the die roll.

28
The Seed Discussion Forum / Re: PA Childcare - Kash for KKKids
« on: March 10, 2012, 03:52:35 AM »
Joseph Zappala likely has connections to The Seed Inc.

The folks at PA ChildCare might have connections to Joseph Zappala.

We're seeing if we can connect the dots.

29
Breitbart has always been a source that has always sought a market position among the tabloids.  It appeals to racial and sexual paranoia and throws legitimate careers and organisations under the bus.  Now that the one and only Breitbart has passed away, the site will humble itself into inefficacy and Falstaffish impotence.

30
Quote from: "Froderik"
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta appeared at a Senate Armed Services Committee congressional hearing, where he said “legal basis” was needed to initiate a no-fly zone over Syria:

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2 ... Permission

Oh look, breitbart.com, flaming-bag of race-bait.

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 24