Chula Vista Police Department 2005-06 hoax on behalf of Cheryl Cox and the Santa Barbara Sheriff

Chula Vista is not the place to go if you are looking for equal protection of the law. It makes a big difference to the CVPD if you're a Republican or Democrat. Republicans like Cheryl Cox get help from the CVPD in covering up crimes and other wrongdoing.

On the other hand, a Democratic employee of the City of Chula Vista who took two hours off work to spy on a Cheryl Cox fundraiser has been charged by Bonnie Dumanis with perjury for not admitting he was doing political work on the job.

There's a lot of political work being done on the job in Chula Vista, but you don't hear much about the work done by Republicans in the police department.

The Chula Vista Police Department is a friend of Cheryl Cox, who was a Chula Vista Elementary school board member before she was elected mayor. The CVPD failed for over a year to investigate a financial crime at Castle Park Elementary School reported in 2005. Why? The CVPD has a knee-jerk policy of covering up wrongdoing by Cheryl Cox and the other board members of Chula Vista Elementary School District, who include Pamela Smith, Patrick Judd, Larry Cunningham and Bertha Lopez.

In 2006 I pursued a public records request for months before the CVPD admitted that it had a record of a police visit to Castle Park Elementary on April 21, 2001. When they decided I wasn't likely to go away, I finally received a copy of the Castle Park Elementary School "call" report.*

But the Chula Vista Police Department was doing a lot more than illegally hiding public records in its efforts to support Cheryl Cox's campaign for mayor of Chula Vista in 2006.

Between 2000 and 2006 a long string of crimes had been committed at Castle Park Elementary which resulted from criminal actions by a Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputy and his sister, a teacher in Chula Vista. Cheryl Cox and CVESD committed bigger and bigger crimes to prevent the exposure of earlier, smaller crimes and violations of law committed at Castle Park Elementary in 2000 and 2001.

See "Castle Park Elementary," "Teacher Reports," and "Law Enforcement" at MAURALARKINS.COM (link available on this blog's link list).

In 2005-2006, the most newsworthy crime being covered up by the CVPD and the media to protect Cheryl Cox and the CVESD school board was the embezzlement of about $20,000 from the Castle Park Elementary PTA.

Apparently fearing that this crime would eventually become public knowlege, perhaps because it was being reported by this blog and the San Diego Education Report website, the Chula Vista Police Department seems to have developed a plan in November 2006 to create the appearance that it was no longer covering up the embezzlement. Of course, by November 7, 2006, the election was over. The cover-up was successful. Larry Cunningham crowed that voters had seen throught the lies of his opponents. The truth is that the voters saw almost nothing because Larry and Cheryl had spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to cover up crimes and other violations of law at CVESD.

The police asked former Castle Park PTA president Kim Simmons to come in the CVPD office, where she was interviewed and arrested. Was Simmons arrested after a careful investigation? No, the CVPD does not carefully investigate incidents that might embarrass Cheryl Cox and the school board. CVPD arrested Kim Simmons simply to create the impression that they weren't covering up Castle Park crimes, and passed on their humble efforts to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

What did Bonnie Dumanis do? Prosecute the crime? Not likely. Just as she had refused to prosecute CVESD Assistant Superintedent Richard Werlin for obstruction of justice, she also refused to prosecute Kim Simmons.

Why? Maybe because Kim Simmons knew too much about crimes at Castle Park Elementary.

Did I mention that Kim Simmons was a close friend of transferred teacher Robin Donlan, a member of a powerful teacher clique at Castle Park Elementary that received a great deal of support form local papers when she and several other teachers were transferred out of the school?

Robin Donlan and her friends created a bizarre brouhaha, in which they and the media attacked the principal of Castle Park Elementary without ever mentioning the crimes of which Donlan had been accused. The truth was that the principal was attacked for daring to challenge the authority of the "family" that had created a crime wave at the school.

In October 2004, Kim Simmons entered a Castle Park Elementary classroom, and asked to use the school phone during class time so she could call up Robin Donlan and ask for instructions on how to proceed with her attacks on the principal of the school. The teacher gave permission, and took the opportunity to explain to her students that she was "mad at the principal." (There has been a dearth of professionalism at Castle Park Elementary since this "Castle Park Family" teacher group took over.)

Kim Simmons, along with Gina Boyd, the president of the teacher union, and school site council President Felicia Starr were working with transferred teacher Robin Donlan to get rid of the first principal who had had the nerve to stand up to the arbitrary power of the group of teachers who ruled the school.

What was Cheryl Cox's role in all this? She and all the other board members authorized the payment of hundreds of thousands of public dollars to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz law firm to represent Robin Donlan and cover up the crimes initiated by her and Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin and several other CVESD officers and employees in 2000 and 2001. After fostering perjury and other crimes, and using huge sums of public money to keep bad teachers in power, Cheryl Cox ran for mayor on a platform of "charater" and "fiscal responsibility."

The San Diego Union Tribune has maintained to this day a complete black-out regarding crimes committed by Robin Donlan, Richard Werlin, Cheryl Cox and others at CVESD. On November 17, 2006 the SDUT published a small article about the arrest of former PTA Kim Simmons. The story immediately went into "partially hidden" status in the Union-Tribunes archives. (If someone does a signonsandiego search for "castle park PTA Simmons," he'll get a message back saying "No articles found.) The article can only be found by leaving "simmons" out of the search. If you already know about Kimberlee Simmons, the San Diego Union Tribune doesn't want you to know more.

Of course, there has been no follow-up to the SDUT story. But there should be--because the story created the false impression that the police were actually intending to do something about crime at Castle Park Elementary. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The police waited until Cox was elected, and then they did their hoax arrest, but Kim Simmons was never charged with anything.

When wil the SD Union Tribune publish the full story, revealing Kim Simmons' close association to Robin Donlan and the "Castle Park Five"? When will the San Diego Union Tribune apologize for so maliciously attacking the honorable and decent principal of Castle Park Elementary on behalf of Robin Donlan, Kim Simmons, and the rest of their clique, after the group was found to be responsible for yet another crime after the SDUT had written so much on its behalf? How about it, Don Sevrens?

The SDUT November 2006 story about Simmons arrest was published to create the impression that Bonnie Dumanis and the Chula Vista Police Department are not covering up crimes involving Cheryl Cox and Castle Park Elementary School. It appears that Simmons wasn't really the fall guy; she was actually the pretend fall guy.

Bonnie Dumanis, why don't you investigate the use of public resources for political purposes at CVPD? Why don't you investigate crimes at Chula Vista Elementary School District, including perjury by Cheryl Cox and Robin Donlan? Or do you only use the public resources under your control to investigate Democrats?


*The police "call' report that was hidden for months by the CVPD revealed Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin's attempt to silence a teacher who had suggested that the media might investigate what was happening at the school in 2001. The teacher clearly knew nothing about the media in San Diego. The San Diego Union Tribune, the Chula Vista Star-News and La Prensa still have not reported those crimes, although all three newspapers have long known about them. These three publications exposed their lack of journalistic ethics when they published a deluge of letters, articles and editorials defending the teacher, Robin Colls/Donlan who initiated the crime wave! All three papers were incensed when Robin Colls was transferred from Castle Park Elementary. Richard Werlin, who called the police when the teacher mentioned the media, didn't correctly estimate the power of his Chula Vista Elementary School Board bosses, including Cheryl Cox, to silence the media. Werlin did go on to achieve a certain amount of notoriety for his use of the police to silence teachers. He had second-grade teacher Jenny Mo arrested in front of her students at his new school district in Richmond, California this year when the teacher went to the media with a story about bullying at her school. Of course, Werlin didn't step up and take the credit/blame for the arrest. He let the principal sit in the hot seat. He took indefinite sick leave from his position.

Leslie Devaney and Cheryl Cox and the taxpayers of Chula Vista

Leslie Devaney, Cheryl Cox and Laurie Madigan.

There are a lot of school board members who love developers. Board members Cheryl Cox, Patrick Judd, Pamela Smith, Bertha Lopez, and Larry Cunningham of Chula Vista Elementary School District actually named a school after developer Corky McMillan.

And they got rewarded when the time came to collect donations for their political campaigns.

Interestingly, Cheryl Cox was there again, as mayor of Chula Vista, when Mike Madigan's wife fleeced the taxpayers of Chula Vista.

Madigan's attorney, Leslie Devaney, who is, ironically, a spokesperson for Californians Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA), helped Laurie Madigan collect big bucks to quit her job--after Madigan had taken a long paid sick leave because she feared she MIGHT get sick while being investigated for a conflict of interest."

The irony would be complete if we found out that Cheryl Cox is a member of CALA.


Madigan demands more money
Ex-assistant city manager wants $47,000 for legal bills
By Tanya Mannes
STAFF WRITER

April 19, 2007

CHULA VISTA – Laurie Madigan, the Chula Vista assistant city manager who resigned last month while being investigated for a potential conflict of interest, has demanded $47,000 from the city to pay her legal bills.


Laurie Madigan resigned as assistant city manager March 9.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told The San Diego Union-Tribune that Madigan wants money for her legal costs in addition to the severance package she received – $155,000 in salary through the end of this year and lifetime retirement benefits.

Madigan, who had worked for the city for four years, hired her own attorneys to defend her in the investigation and later negotiate the terms of her resignation. Her severance agreement was signed March 9.

Shortly afterward, Madigan's attorneys began speaking with city officials about additional payment, citing new issues, including public statements by Councilman John McCann about the conflict-of-interest probe, the sources said.

City officials are currently in closely guarded negotiations regarding Madigan's new demands.

The City Council met in closed session Tuesday night to discuss a legal matter, but officials would not confirm whether Madigan's case was the topic. The City Attorney's Office said the council did not report taking any action in the closed session, as it is required to do by state law if a settlement is reached.

Yesterday, Mayor Cheryl Cox declined to make “any comments regarding Laurie Madigan.”

Madigan's attorney, Leslie Devaney, who has acted as her spokeswoman, did not return calls seeking comment yesterday and several times during the past week.

Madigan, who began working for the city in January 2003, was in charge of processing development plans for Chula Vista's 550-acre bayfront. Gaylord Entertainment, a Nashville, Tenn.-based firm, is negotiating with the city to build a bayfront convention center and hotel of up to 2,000 rooms.

McCann recently told the Union-Tribune that he learned in January that Madigan's husband, prominent San Diego businessman Mike Madigan, was a consultant for Lankford & Associates – a firm looking to develop in Chula Vista on a site near the one being considered by Gaylord. Company officials approached the city about building an amphitheater and parking garage on the bayfront.

Overview

Background: Chula Vista Assistant City Manager Laurie Madigan took sick leave beginning Feb. 8 but continued teaching a course at UCSD – while collecting her city salary. In exchange for resigning, she is receiving $155,000 in severance pay and lifetime retirement benefits.

What's new: Madigan's attorneys have demanded more money – $47,000 for legal bills.

The future: City officials continue negotiating with Madigan.
McCann's remarks were published on March 27.

McCann said that he brought the matter to the attention of City Attorney Ann Moore in January. The council discussed it in closed session Feb. 6 and asked interim City Manager Jim Thomson to investigate a potential conflict of interest.

Madigan, 56, went on sick leave Feb. 8. She continued to collect her full salary of $189,212 per year. Federal law makes it difficult to discipline or fire employees while they are on medical leave.

About the same time, Madigan hired three attorneys: Devaney, Priscilla Dugard and Christina Dyer. She said her doctor prescribed leave because she was stressed from the conflict-of-interest investigation and at risk for a flare-up of rheumatoid arthritis.

Madigan resigned March 9, the day the Union-Tribune reported she was teaching at the University of California San Diego while still collecting her city pay.

In 2005, Moore supervised an investigation of the Madigans after receiving complaints that Laurie Madigan gave her husband's business partners an “inside track” on city projects. That probe led the city to cancel a redevelopment deal involving the old CinemaStar site on Third Avenue.

Devaney has said that in this case, Mike Madigan worked for Lankford in San Diego but wasn't involved with the Chula Vista proposal.

When Laurie Madigan resigned, Thomson authorized a severance package that keeps her on the payroll until January 2008, at which time she will be eligible for a pension. Her pay from March 9 through Jan. 10 will total $155,000. She will be able to collect $28,400 a year for life if she retires at age 60.

McCann has publicly called for a review of the city's policy for awarding severance packages to executives.

Many residents were outraged when details of Madigan's severance agreement were released through a California Public Records Act request by the Union-Tribune. Dozens of people called and e-mailed City Hall, and wrote letters to the editor, venting about an employee who had been teaching while on sick leave – and who might have had a conflict of interest – would be awarded a severance package...

Will this case be a showdown between secrecy and openness in education?

CTA lawyers are determined that a compendium of bizarre falsehoods will be the final record in the Chula Vista Elementary School District v. Maura Larkins case.

Maura Larkins believes that so many laws have been broken in this case, and that it is so symptomatic of the failure of our education system, that the truth must be known. I have posted two new documents about the case: the Court of Appeal pleading offers specific quotes from Elizabeth Schulman's disgraceful performance at her deposition. It serves as partial proof of the allegations in the original complaint against Schulman.

I'll soon post depositions and transcripts and documents from the Office of Administrative Hearings proceeding that resulted in a decision that is illegal on its face, since it dismisses Maura Larkins because she filed grievances and a lawsuit.

CTA and PERB were vexatious litigants in the Turlock case

California Teacher Association was a shamefully vexatious litigant in the Turlock case in 2003. The Court of Appeal had already ruled in San Diego that CTA buttons may not be worn by teachers during class time when CTA is fighting another union to represent teachers. But at the height of the budget crisis, when the Public Employee Relations Board was laying off at least one employee that I know of, PERB and CTA went all the way to the California Supreme Court in an effort to overturn PERB's OWN JUDGE (!) who had correctly relied on the San Diego case. CTA and its lapdog Bob Thompson, general counsel at PERB, wasted tax dollars and teacher dues in this vexatious litigation.

The vexatious lawyers in the Turlock case were: Robert Thompson, General Counsel, and Marie A. Nakamura, Legal Counsel, for PERB, and Priscilla Winslow, Beverly Tucker, Ramon Romero, Diane Ross, and Ballinger G. Kemp for CTA.

The lawyers who won were San Diego's own Currier & Hudson, Richard J. Currier, C. Anne Hudson, and Andrea Naested who represented Turlock Joint Elementary School District.

This is what the court of appeal told the vexatious Beverly Tucker:

"This is the bottom line: “The first rule of teaching should be that teachers shall teach. A classroom is not a place for proselytizing students to advance a teacher’s financial interests. Nor should a classroom be transmogrified into a teacher’s soapbox."

Beverly Tucker noted with outrage in recent pleadings that I had posted DOCUMENTS on my website. I think they were upset that I posted letters from them.

They specifically complained to the judge about this page.

Of course, Bev was even more upset that I accused her of destroying and altering documents and suborning perjury. But instead of trying to prove she is innocent (which she can not do), she is trying to stop me from filing any more lawsuits. She says I'm a vexatious litigant, failing to note in her pleading that my lawsuit against Kathleen Elton was settled in my favor for $75,000.

Why did Pamela Smith and union leaders suddenly become friends in 2006?

Pamela Smith has trouble making up her mind.

From 2001 to 2004, Smith put $100,000s of CVESD's taxpayer dollars into keeping teachers Robin Donlan, Peggie Myers, Nikki Perez and their friends in control of Castle Park Elementary. Smith voted to cover up teacher and administrator crimes, and to keep up the pressure on teachers and administrators to lie under oath.

Then in August 2004, Myers, Donlan and Perez were transferred out of the school. Pamela Smith and the rest of the board seem to have approved of that, since they all voted to keep Superintendent Lowell Billings in his position ever since.

Pamela Smith spent more tax money to defend the district FROM Robin Donlan and her friends, after having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend Robin Donlan and her friends. Is this making any sense?

Here's another puzzle. For years and years, Pamela Smith voted in lock step with anti-union board members Patrick Judd and Larry Cunningham.

Then everything changed in 2006. Pamela Smith (and the rest of the board) were suddenly best friends with the teachers union. Chula Vista Educators suddenly supported Pamela Smith in 2006 after many years of opposing her.

Why? Because the board and the union had something in common: they both wanted to cover up wrongdoing they had committed together since 2001. Both the incumbants and the union feared that an outsider might win, someone who would have no sympathy for the $100,000s of taxdollars the board had spent covering up crimes by administrators and union leaders illegal acts by administrators and union leaders.

Did CTA hire a hacker to hide a lawsuit?

On May 15, 2007, someone blanked a page on my website. It was the text of a lawsuit that had just been filed against Beverly Tucker, California Teacher Association's chief lawyer.

This lawsuit is a matter of public interest, concerning California teachers and students, and very powerful people who have violated the law. If you have any doubts, just read the text and click on the links.

If anything I have said is untrue, or if these matters are not of public interest, the defendants can sue me for defamation. But of course, they don't want to sue because they know everything I have said is true, and very much a matter of public interest.

I created a new page for the lawsuit. Here is the new link.
Here is the new link.

Is your property going to be on the beach front?

Clues to Rising Seas Are Hidden in Polar Ice
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
July 16, 2007


Few consequences of global warming pose as severe a threat to human society as sea-level rise. But scientists have yet to figure out how to predict it.

And not knowing what to expect, policymakers and others are hamstrung in considering how to try to prevent it or prepare for it.

To calculate sea-level rise, the key thing researchers need to understand is the behavior of the major ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica. The disintegration of one would dramatically raise the ocean. But while computer models now yield an increasingly sophisticated understanding of how a warming atmosphere would behave, such models have yet to fully encapsulate the complex processes that regulate ice sheet behavior...

It's not corruption, it's prioritizing based on contributions

Shankar Vedantam wrote for the Washington Post:
July 16, 2007

Through the first quarter of this year, according to data about presidential race contributions from the Center for Responsive Politics...

Real estate groups gave Mitt Romney $1.6 million,
Education groups gave Barack Obama $696,000,
Casinos gave Rudy Giuliani $118,000
and the entertainment industry gave Hillary Clinton $794,000.

Richard Hall ... came to Washington on a fellowship to work for then-Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). Hall and Daschle were fired up about a hunger relief bill that was working its way through Congress...it was an issue the senator cared about deeply, and Hall was enthusiastic to work on an issue that touched his conscience.

As Hall worked on amendments and helped deal with the minutiae of moving a bill through Congress, however, the outlines of a drought emerged in the eastern part of South Dakota.

By the time Hall finished..., he had gotten a lot accomplished to help dairy farmers.

But the hunger relief bill was still sitting on his desk.

...The only problem, of course, is that by focusing on some constituents, the politician no longer has time to focus on issues that help other constituents. Politicians may feel they are in the corner of both wealthy and poor constituents, but the money that flows into politics tends to get them to prioritize the concerns of the wealthy and the organized over those who are marginalized.

At the last minute, this man got a reprieve

This post has been moved to Man spared hours before his execution because police suborned perjury.

UW pays $480,000 to settle suit over sex abuse

Nick Perry of the Seattle Times writes about a man who was raped at age 13 by a female mental patient nearly three times his age. The lawsuit against the University of Washington was settled for $480,000.


"The alleged events took place 30 years ago in the summer of 1977, but the man's lawyer said the man in recent years had come to realize how damaged he was by the experience.

"The teen was admitted to a UW hospital psychiatric unit for a two-week evaluation. The teen was the only minor among a group of 25 to 30 adult patients who were free to walk about the ward and patient rooms, which didn't have locks. Patients, who were voluntarily committed, could also leave during the day and often visited the adjacent ship canal..."


July 16, 2007
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003791134_uwsettlement13m.html

Why Ronald Reagan didn't pardon Oliver North, Robert MacFarlane, & John Poindexter

Scooter Libby

In light of the President Bush II pardon of Scooter Libby, the number two man in VP Dick Cheney's office, for perjury, the following article about Ronald Reagan's refusal to pardon Oliver North and his co-conspirataors is interesting. Bush suffers in comparison to Reagan.

Walter Pincus wrote in the Washington Post on July 16, 2007:

"In his diary entry for Dec. 6, 1988, President Ronald Reagan wrote, "I lean very much toward a pardon" for Robert "Bud" McFarlane, his former national security adviser who had pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts for misleading Congress about the Iran-contra affair.

""He awaits sentence. . . . I don't think he deliberately lied," Reagan recorded, adding that McFarlane's wife had written him "on her own asking for a pardon for Bud."

"The issue had come up that morning, according to the diary, when Reagan's White House counsel, A.B. Culvahouse, began a 10 a.m. meeting talking about pardons -- not only for McFarlane but also for Oliver North and John Poindexter, the two main actors in the arms-for-hostages dealings.

"The matter reemerged on Dec. 22, less than a month before Reagan would leave office. The president wrote that he had sent Culvahouse "letters from Ollie North's lawyers asking me to pardon Ollie." Next, he wrote that at 10:30 a.m. on the same day, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh "came in with a well reasoned argument against pardons for North & Poindexter," who at that point were awaiting trial.



"On Jan. 10, 1989, Reagan noted, "The matter of a pardon for North is now being looked at as -- the judge should drop the charges." Part of Reagan's interest in the North trial is reflected in the next day's entry: "[T]he Justice Dept. will file a motion today to quash the subpoenas for Geo. [Secretary of State George P.Shultz] & me in the North case."

"On Jan. 16, Reagan recorded that he had "a 20 min. session on things hanging fire -- like pardons for several people." The only name Reagan mentioned was that of Michael K. Deaver, his former deputy chief of staff who had been convicted of not telling the truth to a congressional committee. Reagan noted that a Deaver relative had called a Justice Department official "about a pardon for Mike," but "Mike has passed the word he wouldn't accept a pardon."

"On Reagan's last full day in office, Jan. 19, he wrote that Thornburgh came "to see me about pardons." Reagan went on: "He doesn't believe I should pardon . . . North, Poindexter or McFarlane. I'm afraid he's right."

"In his autobiography, "An American Life," Reagan disclosed that "despite appeals from their supporters and despite my own sympathies," he had decided against pardoning the three. "I still felt the law had to be allowed to take its course," he wrote. It was Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, who would pardon McFarlane on Dec. 24, 1992. North's and Poindexter's convictions had been previously reversed.

"Now, after President George W. Bush has commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, it would be interesting to know what roles Bush's attorney general and White House counsel played in the decision...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/15/AR2007071501164.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

George Bush's heart goes out to those who outed Valerie Plame

In 2003, someone at the White House decided it was necessary to out a covert CIA agent because her diplomat husband was going around saying that there was no support for Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to build a nuclear bomb.

In 2007, the Washington Post quotes Bush as saying, "'It's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House."

According to papers released by special prosecutor Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame was indeed a covert agent at the time she was outed. (See www.thebluestate.com/ 2007/05/its_final_valer.html)

Dan Froomkin writes in washingtonpost.com about secrecy and misinformation at the White House.

"President Bush made several unsupported assertions about the war in Iraq during his press conference yesterday, but when it comes to sheer audacity, nothing came close to his response when asked how he felt about two of his top advisers leaking Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent to reporters.

"Jennifer Loven gets it right in her Associated Press story: "President Bush always said he would wait to talk about the CIA leak case until after the investigation into his administration's role. On Thursday, he skipped over that step and pronounced the matter old news hardly worth discussing.

"'It's run its course,' he said. 'Now we're going to move on.'

"Despite a long history of denouncing leaks, Bush declined to express any disappointment in the people who worked for him and who were involved in disclosing the name of a CIA operative. Asked about that . . . the president gave a dodgy answer.

"'It's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House,' he said.

"He didn't even acknowledge the undisputed fact that someone working for him was the source, saying only that 'perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person.'"

"In fact, Bush clearly seemed to be pointing his finger not at the two senior White House aides who leaked Plame's identity to reporters -- senior political adviser Karl Rove and former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- but at former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage..."

(More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/13/BL2007071301045.html?referrer=email&referrer=email)
Article published Friday, July 13, 2007.

This little girl is going to see a crueler world

I found this article by Karin Brulliard in the Washington Post.
Monday, July 16, 2007

Refugees of War-Ravaged Land Ordered to 'Still Volatile' Nation

Last month, finally, Bendu Simpson told her young daughter about the ticking clock that keeps Mom awake at night: Come October, no more karate class, no more zoo trips to see the otters, no more zipping around smooth suburban streets on your purple scooter. No more toilets, showers or central air.

On a recent night, 8-year-old Ami picked at her popcorn shrimp basket in the cool confines of a Gaithersburg Red Lobster and described her feelings upon learning she might soon have to abandon their neat Clarksburg townhouse for the war-shattered terrain of her mother's native Liberia, a nation Ami has never seen.

"Mad," grumbled Ami, her dark eyes gazing at the table. "I thought, I'm not going back. I'm scared of the things that are there."

Fear and anger are pulsing these days through the Liberian community in the Washington region and nationwide. Barring action by the Bush administration or Congress, Simpson and about 3,500 other Liberians will be subject to deportation Oct 1. Since 1991, they have been allowed to live and work in the United States while civil war seethed in their homeland. They have had children, bought homes, paid taxes -- and they want to stay. But last year, the U.S. government deemed their West African nation stable, so Liberians with temporary protected status must go.

Is Jerry Sanders next going to say he's not part of the executive branch?

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders

Vice President Dick Cheney says he doesn't have to allow access to an executive branch oversight board because he's not part of the executive branch.

It seems that San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders is using Cheney as a role model.

I found this on Voice of San Diego's "This Just In" section today:

Donna Frye
Rob Davis writes:
"I just spoke again with Fred Sainz, spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders.
He said the Mayor's Office doesn't take Councilwoman Donna Frye's summons seriously. But the city staff that Frye requested will be attending tomorrow's council meeting on recycling.

"Sainz said he does not believe the charter section was intended to allow council members to formally summon city staff members.

"City Attorney Mike Aguirre disagreed. The charter does allow staffers to be summoned, Aguirre said.

"Sainz stopped short of admitting that Friday's memo -- which said no city staff would be attending tomorrow's committee meeting -- was a mistake, but said "we did not choose our words correctly."

""We wanted to communicate to the committee that we were not ready to appear," Sainz said. "We didn't want to waste anybody's time. We didn't want staff to waste their time to appear before committee and say they're not ready and then get browbeat for not being ready to speak.""

Good news for falsely-accused medics in Libya

Libya Lifts H.I.V. Case Death Sentence

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 17, 2007


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- The death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV have been commuted to life in prison, Libya's foreign minister said Tuesday.

The ruling came after the families of the children each received $1 million and agreed to drop their demand for the execution of the six, who deny having infected more than 400 children and say their confessions were extracted under torture.

Libya remains under intense international pressure to free the medical workers, and Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said Tripoli was willing to consider the medics' deportation to Bulgaria. He said the negotiations would take place within ''the legal framework and political context'' between the two countries.

Bulgaria's chief prosecutor, Kamen Mihov, said requests would be made Wednesday to have the medics leave Libya shortly. They have been jailed since 1999.

But the medics' main Libyan defense lawyer, Osman al-Bizant, told the Al-Jazeera television network that their deportation would depend on ''whether there is the possibility of carrying out the punishment there (in Bulgaria).''

Why people in their 30s are worse off than their parents

From Voice of San Diego:
By Murtaza Baxamusa, San Diego
Tuesday July 17, 2007 |

Thanks to the Union-Tribune for a crash course on the education of American workers.

Just two months ago, the Union-Tribune editorialized a report that young men in their 30s in the United States are not doing as well financially as their fathers' generation. The U-T thinks this is because of the "consequences of bad choices throughout their lives, such as whether to pursue more education." As I pointed out in my letter to voiceofsandiego.org, this was a false statement. Every indicator of education shows that the current generation is more educated than before.

In fact, a college degree does not ensure a bigger share of the economic pie for many graduates. In a recent study, two economists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology established that only college-educated women have seen their compensation grow in line with economy-wide gains in productivity. The earnings of male college graduates have failed to keep pace with productivity gains. Simply put, growth in business does not translate into growth in wages for workers.

Now the U-T apparently backs up into its argument by complaining that “...teens are spending more time going to summer school or studying” instead of learning job skills. It goes on to list things that “you cannot find in a book” such as flipping burgers.

So whether you are working or studying this summer, Americans deserve to be poorly paid, and our high wage jobs shipped overseas. Of course you can always find a minimum wage job without health care in a burger stand.

Today's Corruption Quiz

From "California Teachers" blog:

"His apparent lack of guilt about his actions speaks, I think, to his extraordinary capacity for self-delusion."
(Statement was made by SETH HETTENA, July 16, 2007 in Voice of San Diego)

Who is being discussed in the above statement?

A. Donald Rumsfeld
B. Richard Cheney
C. Randall Cunningham
D. George Bush

Answer: Hettena wrote a book about Randy "Duke" Cunningham, but he wanted readers to understand how the Cunningham case was a result of politics today, where defense contractors and others can buy access to, and a large amount of control over, those who make decisions about America's defense capabilities and way of life. How did these "deciders" gain power? By constantly repeating a set of messages about "values" and "terror," without ever bothering to pay attention to more immediate dangers to our country.

Getting a President to Apologize for Misleading the American Public

No, I'm not talking about George Bush. I don't think the current president has enough self-awareness or empathy to apologize to the American people.

But Richard Nixon did. Not at first, of course. In 1976 disgraced ex-President Nixon was interviewed for 20 hours by British journalist David Frost.

Frost relied on James Reston, Jr., a former soldier who abhorred Nixon's Vietnam War policy. In 1977 Reston wrote a book about the experience of working with Frost on this project, but for some reason, publishers decided that 2007 was the year to publish it. 30 years ago many of us baby boomers thought Nixon was as bad as a president could get. Now we know better.

Matthew Dallek of the Associated Press writes that Nixon was "vindictive and bewildered, angered and bemused...angst-ridden..." "Frost tossed his clipboard onto the coffee table and asked whether Nixon was ready to...acknowledge that the power of the presidency had been abused and apologize to the American people for having dragged them through two years of agony."

Los Angeles Catholic Diocese Finally Does the Right Thing

CARDINAL ROGER MAHONEY HAS FINALLY DONE THE RIGHT THING.

CARDINAL BROM OF SAN DIEGO IS KEEPING HIS DIOCESE FINANCIALLY RICH BUT MORALLY IMPOVERISHED, by hiding assets in bandruptcy court.


From the Associated Press
July 16, 2007

"A judge today approved a landmark $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy abuse.

"The deal was formally approved in a dramatic hearing marked by the sobs of victims and their attorneys, and a MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR THE VICTIMS WHO DIED DURING THE YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS.

""This is the right result," said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz. "Settling the cases was the right thing to do and it was done by dint of a number of extremely talented and dedicated people putting in an awful lot of time."

"The deal came after more than five years of negotiations and is by far the largest payout by any diocese since the clergy abuse scandal emerged in Boston in 2002. The amount averages a little more than $1.3 million per plaintiff, although individual payouts will vary according to the severity and duration of the abuse.

""It's their courage and commitment that made this possible and I think they deserve a tremendous debt of gratitude," [Ray] Bouchet said, struggling to hold back tears.

""I know it's hard for most of the victims whose scars are very deep ... and I know many will never forgive the cardinal," he said. "But he took steps that I think that only he could take and if left to the lawyers and others in the church he would not have settled this case."

MY COMMENT: I was watching the news yesterday, I'm pretty sure it was CNN, when a Los Angeles lady in wide-rimmed black hat said words to the effect of, "I don't believe all the claims were legitimate. And if they were, they should have just forgiven."

Just because someone works hard to demand reparation for horrible crimes does not mean that they haven't forgiven their attackers. I think victims too often are made to feel that they themselves are responsible for the crimes committed against them, but this is a new one. Does this lady think that NO criminal should EVER repair the damage he's done? I doubt it. I suspect that this lady has a bad case of "Don't rock the sacred boat" syndrome, even when the boat is filled with pedophile rapists.

Murderer Was a Religious Man

This killer could have said the Devil made him do it. Instead, he says God made him do it. Who exactly taught him this religion?

From "That's Life in the City" blog:

"A Cypress, Texas man charged in the death of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant said Saturday that he was doing God's work when he went to a Montrose-area bar last month, hunting for a gay man to kill.

""I believe I'm Elijah, called by God to be a prophet," said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. " ... I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing."

"Interviewed in the Brazoria County Jail Saturday morning, Mangum said he feels no remorse for killing 46-year-old Kenneth Cummings Jr. (shown in photo), whom relatives described as a "loving" son who never forgot a holiday and a devoted uncle who had set up college funds for his niece and nephew. He worked at Southwest for 24 years."

Ronald Reagan's Lawyer Wants Cheney Impeached

From "That's Life in the City" blog:

"According to recent polling by the American Research Group, 54 percent of Americans want Cheney impeached. Among Democrats, that number rises to 76 percent. A majority of self-described independents back action to hold the vice president to account, as do a striking 17 percent of Republicans.

"With conservatives such as former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein coming out strongly for Cheney's impeachment, the numbers of Republicans who are pulling for accountability is likely to grow.

"Four more members of the U.S. House signed on this week as cosponsors of H. Res. 333, the measure that outlines articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney for actively and systematically seeking to deceive citizens and Congress about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda and for openly threatening aggression against Iran.

"Congressman Bob Filner, the chair of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, added his name, along with another veteran Democratic representative from California, Sam Farr.

"The additional cosponsorships from Washington Democrat Jim McDermott, a Vietnam-era veteran who has been one of the House's sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, and Virginia Democrat James Moran bring the number of supporters for the articles to 14, including sponsor Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

"House Members are backing impeachment for a number of reasons, including anger with Cheney's involvement with manipulations of intelligence regarding Iraq, illegal spying on Americans and the promotion of torture, as well his recent attempt to avoid scrutiny by claiming that the Office of the Vice President was not part of the executive branch. And then there was President Bush's decision to commute the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff and co-conspirator in moves to punish former Ambassador Joe Wilson for exposing the deceptions that led to war.

"The founders were very clear about the fact that abuses of the presidential authority to pardon or otherwise lift the burden of the law from subordinates was an impeachable offense."

from:
http://thatslifeinthecity.blogspot.com/2007/07/cheneys-actions-put-impeachment-on.html

My friend Lee Lipps (from CTA) meets the new administrator of San Diego's "underfunded and over-indicted" pension board

According to the Conta Costa Times:

"David Wescoe, San Diego's retirement system administrator, told commissioners about the eight city and union leaders in his city facing federal or local criminal charges -- or both -- for allegedly boosting their own pensions and doing other sneaky things.

"Wescoe, who came on board after the scandals, opened with this remark: "I often like to say I'm from the underfunded and over-indicted San Diego City Employees' Retirement System.""

Note by EVAN McLAUGHLIN, Voice of San Diego
July 16, 2007

"Wescoe was one of a handful of witnesses who testified in front of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission last week. At the meeting, California pension officials announced that retirement funds across the state are running a combined $63 billion deficit, but that funding levels for public pension systems had increased by 11 percent since 1991."

Maura Larkins note: CTA's Lee Lipps was recently chosen to sit on the Benefits Commission (see below).

Algae blooms when water is warm, or full of pesticides

I saw my first algae blooms in Mexico when my family drove past the Tropic of Capricorn to Guadalajara in 1961. I was fascinated with the ponds, all the same color, an opaque pale green without an inch of reflective water. People lived in jacales, round huts made of tropical leaves and branches. The warm rain poured down in the rainy season.

The Tropic of Capricorn seems to be creeping northward. Now they have algae blooms in ponds in Oregon.

Apparently, pesticides affect the grazers that naturally keep algae under control.

Snow in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires has first snow since 1918

The Casa Rosada, the Argentinian president's "Pink House", verged on turning white overnight after Buenos Aires was blanketed in snow for the first time in nearly 90 years.

Children threw snowballs while photographers tried to capture the falling flakes as a party atmosphere descended on the city. Crowds gathered at the Obelisk monument in central Buenos Aires, the traditional focal point for Argentinian celebrations and protests.

"Despite all my years, this is the first time I've ever seen in snow in Buenos Aires," said Juana Benitez, an 82-year-old who joined children celebrating in the streets...

Lakes froze over in Río Negro province as temperatures reached minus 32C, Clarín newspaper reported, and 500 travellers were forced to take refuge in Río Cuarto after roads were closed.

The snow followed a bitter cold snap in late May that saw subfreezing temperatures, the coldest in 40 years in Buenos Aires. That cold wave contributed to an energy crisis and 23 deaths from exposure.

by James Sturcke and agencies
Tuesday July 10, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,,2122983,00.html

Mr. Uribe comes up with a brilliant idea: make friends with paramilitaries, and when they kill legislators, rally the country

Update: October 3, 2007
The former mistress of the late cocaine trafficker Pablo Escobar has come out with a book that alleges that President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, when he was head of civil aviation, helped Escobar secure licenses for landing strips used for cocaine trafficking.

You don't think this guy actually created a problem so he could solve it and become a hero?

The story below is from "A hero at home, a villain abroad"
Jul 12th 2007 The Economist

Colombians reckon that Álvaro Uribe saved their country. It's a pity for them that so many outsiders don't see their president that way.

WHEN hundreds of thousands of Colombians poured into the streets on July 5th to protest at the killing of 11 hostages who had been held by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), President Álvaro Uribe chose to read this as support for his tough security policies. “This demonstration is notice to the international community that we cannot, in this hour of pain, give in to the criminals,” he said. But much of the “international community” no longer sees events in Colombia in the way most Colombians do.

At home Mr Uribe is seen as the saviour of a country that was in danger of being turned into a failed state by the rampaging violence of drug-traffickers, left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. Since he took office in 2002, violence has fallen sharply. As confidence returns, the economy is growing at 8% a year. According to Invamer-Gallup, a pollster, Mr Uribe's approval rating has remained steady at between 70% and 80% over the past year.


That is despite recent scandals in which a dozen legislators who support him, as well as a former intelligence chief, have been arrested on suspicion of having ties to the murderous paramilitaries; the latest to face investigation is Mario Uribe, a senator and the president's cousin. In the United States and Europe, on the other hand, Mr Uribe's reputation has suffered—so much so that in April Al Gore, America's former vice-president, refused to appear at the same conference as Mr Uribe in Miami.

Reactions to the killing of the hostages highlighted the widening gulf between the perceptions of Colombians and those of the outside world. The hostages were regional legislators who had been held by the FARC for five years. According to the guerrillas they died when an “unidentified military group” attacked the jungle camp where they were being held. Mr Uribe said that there were no government operations on the day in question in the area where officials believe the hostages were held.

Don't complain. If you do, YOU are likely to be investigated.

Betty Combier of ParentAdvocates.org writes:

"The problems that exist in the NYC school system also stem from the Department of Investigation not doing the work that they are mandated to do. They seldom investigate anything that an 'ordinary' citizen or parent of a public school child, reports, and when a teacher calls to ask for an investigation, if it is a teacher without political credentials, it is the teacher/parent/child who is investigated. They dont like people who call their bluff, either. I accompanied David Pakter to the SCI office when Thomas Comiskey, Deputy Chief Investigator, asked David to come into his office and tell him all about OTHER teachers who had broken the code of silence. Mr. Comiskey came over to me, put his finger in my face, and told me "Not you, we dont want to talk with you."

"The New York City Department of Investigations is located at 80 Maiden Lane in downtown Manhattan, near the South Street Seaport on the lower East Side.

"The following is the DOI mission, as stated on the website:

""The New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”) is one of the oldest law-enforcement agencies in the country and an international leader in the effort to combat corruption in public institutions. It serves the Mayor and the people of New York City by acting as an independent and nonpartisan watchdog for New York City government.""

The above was found at http://parentadvocates.org/nicecontent/dsp_printable.cfm?articleID=7337#null

Note by Maura Larkins: The NYC DOI's website states: "WHISTLEBLOWERS ARE PROTECTED," but they all say that, right?

Cheryl Cox says, "Eeeewww" when it comes to talking to workers

Cheryl Cox

EVAN McLAUGHLIN and ROB DAVIS, in a Voice of San Diego article on July 10, 2007, wrote:

"In Chula Vista, where Gaylord's work started under the watch of former Mayor Steve Padilla, the equation changed over the last year. Padilla, who was an ally of organized labor, was seen as a broker between the unions and Gaylord before he was ousted by Cheryl Cox last November.

"Cox took heated criticism from Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, last week after the deal fell through for not playing a more active role in maintaining that relationship. She was quick to blame the labor groups for dooming the city's development opportunities on the bay front.

""I don't think our [description of the project] ever said, 'Oh, by the way, you have to have labor unions on board,'" Cox said."

No, Cheryl, it didn't. Workers are automatons with arms and legs that come and build your billion-dollar projects, but you shouldn't be expected to actually TALK to them. As long as you pay them SOMETHING, they just automatically appear. I can certainly understand your rage and frustration. Who do these people think they are--Republicans? I know I can count on you to keep up your campaign to rally the "leaders" of Chula Vista to help you put the workers in their place. Chula Vista will surely thrive under your leadership. Sure, Gaylord would probably be a done deal if Stephen Padilla were still mayor, and in those circumstances, workers would probably be buying new cars and houses and washing machines in Chula Vista. But you and your friends didn't want that because... Wait a minute. Why were you elected, Cheryl?

Congratulations to my friend, Lee Lipps

I had an encounter a couple of years ago with Lee Lipps, who was recently appointed to the Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission.

Here's what the press release says about Lee:

"Leonard Lee Lipps is a teacher who has worked in elementary, middle and high school classrooms in California. He currently serves the California Teacher’s Association as a regional manager where he works with school districts on budget analysis, State Teacher’s Retirement System issues and the economic impact of state legislation on education finance. Lipps has worked as the lead trainer for countless seminars on school finance and teacher retirement to fellow educators around California. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History and a lifetime teaching credential from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California and graduated from Harvard University’s Trade Union Program. Lipps is a Democrat."

Governor Schwarzenegger issued the following statement:

“Promised pensions and health benefits are vitally important to state workers and their families, especially public safety officers who put their lives on the line everyday. And they are obligations that must - and will - be paid by government.

"Soaring obligations of this type, however, also remain one of the biggest problems facing governments everywhere for the simple reason that rising pension and retiree health care costs mean less money for other government programs such as education, public safety, environmental protection and health care. We must seek ways to meet these obligations while not harming other government programs and taxpayers or handing invoices to future generations.

“I look forward to working with such a diverse and talented group of people who bring with them a wealth of knowledge in financial services in both the private and public sectors as well as have an extensive background in local, state and federal governments to find a solution to this immense problem facing California.”

Blowing the Whistle on the Powerful and Corrupt

From Parentadvocates.org:

Opening the Door to NYC Education Corruption Part I: Update on Retaliation of All Whistleblowers

The New York City Board of Education is throwing out good teachers who are either over 40 years of age and/or speak out against the corruption they see. Students who question or dispute the system are suspended or failed and thrown out, and parents who ask questions are told they will be arrested if they enter their child's school. this is New York City.

The New York City Board of Education - still the legal name - is continuing to defame anyone who dares to stand up and talk about the corruption and crimes going on inside our city schools. We all now know the routine: you may be a teacher, parent, student, or consultant, and you see students abused by school personnel, or you know of school funds being misappropriated; you cant sleep at night unless you mention it to your supervisor. In fact, you are probably encouraged by the BOE PR to speak out.

This is a trap.

The BOE expects complete silence about everything that occurs within the walls of any of their buildings or outside, and involves any BOE personnel or money.

Retaliation is always swift, unpredictable, incomprehensible, and random. Thus, everyone is kept in a state of constant terror: teachers who correctly fear for their jobs; parents afraid of the police and school personnel harassing or abusing their children; and children who feel the betrayal of trust for those who were supposed to protect them 'in loco parentis'...

by Betsy Combier
http://www.parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=6276

This man did something about crime in schools

Edward Stancik, school investigator, 47


Wednesday March 13 2002
Schools Investigator Stancik Is Dead at 47
By ALISON GENDAR and JOE WILLIAMS

Special schools investigator Edward Stancik, who for more than a decade worked to rid city schools of child molesters and crooks, died yesterday at NYU Medical Center.

Stancik, 47, had been hospitalized for at least several weeks and had a history of heart problems. His office listed the cause of death as heart failure.

During Stancik's tenure, more than 1,000 school employees were fired or disciplined as a result of his investigations. Many were later convicted of crimes.

"He had a very difficult job, and he did it well," said former Mayor David Dinkins, who created the post by executive order in 1990 and hired Stancik.

Stancik, then deputy chief of the rackets bureau for Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, was the only person who had held the job.

In his first six weeks in office, Stancik arrested five teachers and school workers on charges of sexually abusing students.

He continued to bulldoze his way through the school system, attracting both headlines and resentment.

In one of his most significant achievements, Stancik documented rampant patronage in local school districts and corruption in school board elections, helping to spur a change in state law in 1996 that stripped the city's community school boards of most of their power.

"We make people walk in the light. We shine a light in dark places," Stancik told the Daily News on Dec. 2, 2000, his 46th birthday..

http://slick.org/pipermail/deathwatch/2002-March/000073.html

Ten Years of Undercover Investigations in Schools Resulted in this Book

Betsy Combier of ParentAdvocates.org wrote the following book review:

Lydia Segal's book ["Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools"] puts the NYC, Chicago, and California Departments of Education on notice....we who have read this book know more about how the system is not there for our kids than "you" want us to know.

We can no longer assume that more money allocated to our schools will "fix" the disaster that is our public school system.

Lydia Segal draws on her 10 years of undercover investigation and research in over five urban school districts, including the three largest, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the two most decentralized, Houston and Edmonton, Canada, to provide, in her new book Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools, the details of the corruption, theft, fraud, and patronage that has overrun our public school establishment for several decades. There is no question that anyone who is interested in school reform -this means anyone who pays taxes, is a parent or guardian of a child attending school and/or who works toward a goal of establishing an education system that puts children first - must read this book...

I have it on good authority

I am a teacher who sued California Teachers Association recently for violations of statutes (PC 127 and others), and I got a response in the mail yesterday from CTA lawyer Beverly Tucker. This is the line that most intrigued me:

"For the last five years, Larkins has been attacking [CTA] Defendants...through a political campaign of sorts."

Is that what I'm doing? It's sounds pretty cool. I'm conducting a political campaign of sorts. I guess it's not a full-fledged political campaign because I'm not running for office. But if the co-head of CTA says that's what I'm doing, then I've got it on good authority. (Beverly Tucker and Executive Director Carolyn Doggett control CTA. President Daniel Vaughn is just a carefully-groomed talking head.)

My goal has long been to become a Democratic activist, working to strengthen my party against the corrupt influence of the California Teachers Association. Education is too important to be a political football. Carolyn Doggett and Beverly Tucker have for too long traded the best interests of children for political power for themselves. Lots of Democrats know this, but how can a Democrat get elected without support from CTA?

Note: CTA lawyers, according to their pleading, are ignorant of the fact that the statute of limitations for violation of a California statute is 3 years. They insist that I've missed the deadline. Perhaps a law review course would be in order?

Mitz Lee v. Katherine Nakamura on Betancourt

Retired Navy Admiral José Betancourt, SDUSD's CAO, pleaded guilty to an ethics violation recently, for his involvement in a Navy contract soon after he retired.

That doesn't seem to bother board member Katherine Nakamura.

But board member Mitz Lee says, "We are very hard on ethics, good judgment and being honest, open and forthright."
(San Diego Union Tribune July 13, 2007)

Are schools more corrupt than other public entities?

"San Diego Community College District tustees considered an unusual proposal yesterday to REPEAL A CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION LIMIT THAT ALREADY EXCEEDS those of San Diego city and county races."

Eleanor Yang Su wrote in her July 13, 2007 San Diego Union Tribune article that the SDCCD limit is already seven times larger than San Diego Unified School Distict and City College of San Francisco.

But here's what surprised me:

"The limit, passed in a 3-2 vote by the board in 1999, is THE ONLY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION LIMIT FOR ANY COMMUNITY COLEGE DISTRICT IN THE COUNTY"!!!!!!!

There is, however, a whole world of campaigning that is unaffected by these contribution limits: churches and the unions.

Big Brother is watching Tijuana-and sleuths are trying to find out his name

Nobody seems to know how Tijuana, a metropolis with limited revenues, paid for a $15.5 million surveillance system with over 400 cameras, including 68 that swivel toward the sound of gunfire. The command center is staffed by civilians, and operates 24 hours a day.

Anne Cearley, reporter for the San Diego Union Tribune, is investigating. The company that built the system is not registered with the state of Baja California, Mexico, and has no listed phone number.

The system was an initiative of Jorge Hank Rhon, a wealthy businessman who was mayor of Tijuana, and is now running for governor of Baja California.

My guess is that Mr. Bloch will be demoted and transferred by corrupt officials

Scott Bloch of the US Office of Special Counsel says that the FAA has been reclassifying mistakes for at least a year.

"This cuts to the core of air traffic safety," Bloch says.

He's absolutely right. Cover-ups damage the quality of the performance that is being covered-up. This is true in education as well as public health and air travel.

But will the problems be fixed, or will the whistle-blowers be punished?

My guess is that problems will be covered up, and whistle-blowers will be shut-up by officials who are loyal to the politicallypowerful, but disloyal to the American public.

Here's an article by DAVID WETHE of the Star-Telegram:

"Members of Congress are expressing concern about recent accusations that air traffic controllers and their supervisors at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport are covering up mistakes and in some cases blaming them on pilots.

"Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., chairman of the House Aviation subcommittee, said Friday that he and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to work closely with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

"On Monday, Scott Bloch, who heads the Office of Special Counsel, sent several letters and investigative reports to the Transportation Department.

"The documents detail accusations from two whistle-blowers working for the FAA at D/FW Airport that air traffic controllers were covering up mistakes.

"The mistakes include letting airplanes get too close to one another in the air or on the runway.

"Often, the mistakes would be incorrectly reclassified as pilot error.

"Mike Conely, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association Local D10, which represents controllers in the radar room at D/FW Airport, said air traffic controllers shouldn't be blamed."

A False Police Report

Usually people don't get charged when they make a false police report, but this man in Los Angeles got the book thrown at him.

City worker lied about attack, police say
By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
July 13, 2007

A former receptionist for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was charged Thursday with two misdemeanor counts of filing a false police report for allegedly lying about an incident in which he was stabbed last month.

Authorities said Nestor Lopez falsely claimed he had been attacked by a group of men in downtown Los Angeles. Lopez, who was bloody from stab wounds when he encountered City Hall security guards after the incident about 3:30 a.m. June 3, reported that he was the victim of a robbery attempt.

But Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney's office, said a police investigation concluded that Lopez had been slashed by a homeless woman. Mateljan said that Lopez startled the woman after touching her while she was sleeping under a blanket near the Civic Center subway station.

Americans are also harmed by bureaucrats

I think that the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu, 62 (see previous post), was excessive. It was done to help China save face after so many American pets died from melamine in wheat gluten from China. It was unfair because corruption is a way of life in China, and one man was singled out.

In the US we have the same problem China has: our food and safety regulators disregard science and punish whistleblowers in order to benefit their patrons. An example of this was when the Food and Drug Administration delayed release of information about a mad cow case in the US. Another came when the FDA forbade any company in the US from doing more mad cow testing than that prescribed by the FDA.

When Bureaucrats do favors for money, do they deserve to be executed?

For 2 Children, Ban of a Drug Came Too Late
New York Times
Photographs by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Du Haipeng, 6, with his mother, Fu Liguang, in Harbin, China. Today, the boy rarely speaks.


By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: July 13, 2007
BEIJING — While visiting relatives a year ago, Du Haipeng, 5, came down with a sore throat. Doctors prescribed a Chinese antibiotic, Xinfu. The boy’s reaction to the drug was so violent, he had to be taken to a nearby hospital.

“I remember clearly that I was shearing sheep when I got a call from my sister and her husband,” said Du Xinglong, 36, Haipeng’s father. “When I rushed to the hospital my son had already fallen into a coma.”

A week later, regulators banned Xinfu. Authorities eventually determined that the State Food and Drug Administration had granted the drug’s maker a seal of approval, even though Xinfu was not properly produced or sterilized.

The scandal was just one symptom of an ailing regulatory regime. Last year, the government uncovered 167,000 examples of illegal production and trade in medicine and medical equipment. In some cases, illegal factories are fined or closed; but their owners rarely face prosecution, and the problem persists.

Because of the public furor Xinfu set off, its producer, the Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Company, was an exception. Several senior executives at the company were dismissed; its production license was revoked; and last November, according to state-run media, the company’s general manager committed suicide.

That was too late for a 6-year-old named Liu Sichen. She had been given Xinfu for a tonsil infection. Soon she fell into a coma, and after several days she died.

“She was about to go to elementary school,” said Sichen’s mother, Guo Ping. “Her father bought her a new pink backpack.”

In the end, at least 14 people died after taking Xinfu, and perhaps hundreds more were severely sickened. Du Haipeng woke from his coma after 22 days of emergency treatment. But he wasn’t himself. “He didn’t recognize us,” said his mother, Fu Liguang, 38. “Over the next two and a half months, he didn’t say a single word.”

Today, the boy rarely speaks. He wets his pants, and his doctors say he may have permanent brain damage.

His father has no sympathy for Zheng Xiaoyu, the State Food and Drug Administration’s former chief, executed on Tuesday.

“If he hadn’t approved that company our family wouldn’t be shattered,” Mr. Du said. “He should have been killed a long time ago.”

Rujun Shen contributed reporting.

Most of the uninsured are workers

Voice of San Diego reports:
In California, 4.3 million adults live without health insurance. Of those, most are workers -- more than 2.9 million, according to a report released today by local liberal-leaning research group Center on Policy Initiatives.

And workers in the lowest-wage industries and occupations are least likely to have employer-provided insurance, the group found.

Only 20% of workers in the Accommodation & Food Service industry have job-based insurance, the fewest among the state's 17 major industries. ...

Only 18.5% of workers with income below the federal poverty level ($19,350 for a family of four) receive employer-based coverage, compared to 78% of workers whose income is above 250% of the poverty level ($48,375 for a family of four).

For example, 35% of workers in Food Preparation & Serving occupations are uninsured, and they make a median of $8.39 an hour, while 7% are uninsured in Management occupations, with median wages of $43.54 an hour.


Those lower-wage job pools related to tourism and food services have been gaining the most jobs locally recently.

Indeed, the region's hourglass economy puts more people at the ends of the wage spectrum, with a dwindling number in the middle.

Check out the whole report here.


-- KELLY BENNETT

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Why are so many schools run by a Kakistocracy? (2)

Our system requires that anyone who runs for office find big campaign donors, because candidates need lots of money for TV ads. Political races are getting more expensive all the time. Local developers are tiny termites compared to the big praying mantisses of Halliburton, Blackwater, and Titan Corporation, but all these companies buy access to the deep pockets of the American taxpayer. The only solution for this problem is to take money out of the campaigns. We need full public financing of campaigns.

This is also what happens when the truth stops mattering

Ex-surgeon general faults White House
Richard Carmona says the administration 'simply buried' his scientific data
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 11, 2007


WASHINGTON — President Bush's first surgeon general testified Tuesday that his speeches were censored to match administration political positions and that he was prevented from giving the public accurate scientific information on issues such as stem cell research and teen pregnancy prevention.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard H. Carmona, who was surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a congressional committee. "The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation — not the doctor of a political party."

Early in the administration, when the issue of federal funding for stem cell research arose, Carmona said, he felt he could play an educational role by discussing the latest scientific research. Instead, he said, he was told to "stand down" because the White House already had made a decision to limit stem cell studies. He said administration appointees who reviewed his speech texts deleted references to stem cells.

Carmona's remarks were the latest in a series of complaints from government scientists about what they say are administration efforts to control — and sometimes distort — scientific evidence in order to support policy decisions.

NASA scientists have complained, for example, of political pressure to tone down warnings about global warming. Environmental Protection Agency officials have complained that technical information on such subjects as power plant emissions and oil drilling have been ignored.

Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, recently dissented from the administration's position by saying its restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research were holding back progress and should be lifted.

Scientists outside the government also have complained about what some call the administration's "war on science."

In the case of the surgeon general, Carmona told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "the reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas."

This is what happens when the truth stops mattering

Libya's Supreme Court upholds death penalty against medics

Daily Star (Lebanon)
Thursday, July 12, 2007

Libya's Supreme Court upheld Wednesday the death penalty against six foreign medics convicted of infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus, but a reprieve may still be possible in the case that has dragged on for eight years. Foreign Minister Mohammad Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said the government-controlled High Judicial Council, which has the power to commute the sentence or even pardon the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor, will consider the case on Monday.

EU and Bulgarian leaders expressed regret at the court's ruling, the latest twist in a highly politicized trial, but said they remained confident. There have been lengthy efforts to secure a deal with the children's families.

"In the name of the people, the court has decided not to accept the defendants' appeal and confirms the death penalty against them," chief judge Fathi Dahan said.

Nurses Snezhana Dimitrova, Nasya Nenova, Valya Cherveniashka, Valentina Siropulo and Kristiana Valcheva and Palestinian doctor Ashraf Juma Hajuj - who now has Bulgarian nationality - have been behind bars since February 1999 but have always protested their innocence. The six were not in court for Wednesday's verdict.

They were convicted of infecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood at a hospital in the Mediterranean city of Benghazi and sentenced to death in May 2004. Fifty-six of the children have since died.

But foreign health experts have cited poor hygiene as the probable cause of the epidemic in Benghazi, Libya's second city.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the medics should be "returned immediately," but noted that Wednesday's court ruling was not the last word in the process.

Portuguese Premier Jose Socrates, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, expressed sorrow over the verdict and appealed for clemency.

"We will continue our efforts together with our European and other international partners toward reaching a final agreement and for a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council which will be positive for our medical workers," Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb


Hopes were raised for a deal to win their release on Tuesday evening when Libya's Gadhafi Foundation charity said it had reached an accord with the children's families that "puts an end to the crisis."

A representative of the victims' families had said the compromise deal would also see the death penalty commuted to jail terms, which could be served in the medics' country of origin, as Libya and Bulgaria have an extradition treaty.

Libyan officials say the High Judicial Council would only agree to the release of the nurses if a settlement were reached in private talks between the families and the EU on funding for the children's medical care.

Update: Good news! See July 17, 2007 post (above) for story of commutation of death sentences.

Lawsuit against law firm

from Voice of San Diego:

A National Law Firm's illegal practices have a San Diego connection

On my first day at voiceofsandiego.org, back in those innocent, hazy days of 2005, I was asked to type up a quick snippet on the legal woes of one William S. Lerach, a very prominent San Diego attorney.

I must confess that, at the time, I was rather baffled about what Lerach’s troubles were all about.

This article in today’s Los Angeles Times has done a great job filling me in as to the details of the case against Lerach and others.

The story focuses on David Bershad, an ex-partner at Milberg-Weiss, a New York-based firm that, according to the Times, made more than $45 billion for investors in large shareholder class action lawsuits. The firm is accused of running a huge kickback scheme.

On Monday, Bershad reportedly made a plea agreement. According to the Times, Bershad’s guilty plea could spell trouble for Lerach and Milberg-Weiss co-founder Melvyn I. Weiss:

Bershad's plea in Los Angeles federal court "makes it practically inevitable" that the prosecutors will indict Lerach and Weiss, said John C. Coffee, a Columbia Law School professor.

"This is playing out with the slow inevitability of a Greek tragedy," Coffee said.


Here’s what the Milberg-Weiss lawyers are accused of doing:

Milberg's enormous success was attributable in part to the fact that the firm often was the first to file a lawsuit against a company and thus became the lead lawyers in a class action against it. Prosecutors have alleged that Milberg won the race to the courthouse and a larger share of legal fees because it kept a stable of plaintiffs on standby to whom it paid kickbacks, often through intermediaries.


The Times reports that Bershad told the court Monday that he and two other individuals, (identified only as Plaintiff A and Plaintiff B but “widely believed” to be Lerach and Weiss), pooled money into a fund kept in Bershad’s office that was used to supply cash for secret payments to be paid to plaintiffs and others.

Here’s a bit more on Lerach from the story:

Lerach, 61, is planning to retire this year as head of his firm, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, according to reports published Monday. Dan Newman, a spokesman for the firm, said Lerach hadn't set a date for his departure, but "he's promised to retire before he will allow the Milberg Weiss matter to become a distraction to this firm."


The remaining defendants’ trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 8, the Times reports.


-- WILL CARLESS

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Sandra Day O'Conner knew exactly what she was doing when she allowed George Bush to destroy her legacy

"During the final weeks of the Supreme Court term, it was hard not to be struck by one recurring theme: Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor—a few short years ago the "most powerful woman in America," a "majority of one," the "most powerful person on the court," and the most "powerful Supreme Court Justice in recent history"—had somehow become the most disregarded. With the court's newly dominant conservative wing focused pretty much on whether to ignore or overrule her outright, it's clear that one real casualty of the new Roberts Court is O'Connor's lifetime of work on an extraordinary range of constitutional issues."
by Dahlia Lithwick
Slate Magazine.
Monday, July 9, 2007

Yes, O'Conner's legacy is being quickly erased, but that's how she wanted it. She knew that she'd be followed by someone different from herself. Her successor would either be a liberal appointed by Bill Clinton, or an extreme conservative appointed by George Bush. She chose the extreme conservative. She timed her retirement so Bush would be in office.

In fact, she chose Bush to be President in her controversial 2000 decision about the Florida vote. Clearly, she was an extreme conservative at heart. I suspect she was a moderate because she didn't want to have to be DIRECTLY responsible for the consequences of ideologically-driven decisions.

Was Lowell Billings Quoted Correctly?

Superintendent Lowell Billings of Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego County seems to think that there is a basic conflict between being a union leader and raising the bar of teaching performance.

It is true, of course, that unions work to protect incompetent teachers.

But so do administrators.

I'm afraid that most teachers and admininstrators in schools care more about how they are perceived than how they actually perform.

But that's true in most professions, isn't it? Isn't it also true in most professions that currying favor with the powerful will get you farther than striving for excellence? Look who we have for president of our country. This is not a man who strives. He's not really concerned about learning as much as he can, or asking how he could do better. And his recent pardon of Scooter Libby proves beyond a doubt that loyalty matters more to him than honesty and obedience to the law. Yet he has risen as high as a human being can rise.

Can we expect more from our teachers than we expect from our president?

Here's the quote from the June 5, 2007 CVESD board meeting minutes:
Dr. Billings bid farewell to outgoing CVE Vice President Robyn Higginson. He mentioned that she is a formidable advocate for all teachers and strong union leader, yet (!) someone who raised the bar with our articulation/collaboration curriculum and instruction.

Judge says it's okay for students to wear Tigger socks

from California Teachers Blog
by Jane Swanson

Teachers at Napa Valley's Redwood Middle School will have to get a life now. They can no longer suspend students for wearing Winnie the Pooh-themed socks to school, according to a ruling on July 2, 2007 by Judge Raymond Guadagni of Napa County Superior Court.

An Open Letter to Cheryl Cox about Gaylord--and Blackmail

Dear Cheryl:

It was odd that you accused the unions of blackmail regarding the Gaylord project that failed in Chula Vista. Whatever did you mean when you talked about blackmail on TV on January 6, 2007?

Here's how Merriam-Webster defines blackmail:
"Extortion or coercion by threats especially of public exposure or criminal prosecution."

Now Cheryl, did the unions do that? Does Gaylord (or you?) have a dirty secret that the unions threatened to expose? Isn't it really that you are blackmailing the unions by blaming them for the deal gone sour, when the true reasons have to do with envirmonmental problems?

Let me assure you, Cheryl, that if anyone is trying to blackmail you, the perfect defense against blackmail is to come clean in public, apologize, repair the harm you’ve done.

You know what I suspect? I suspect you were thinking about me and my pending lawsuit against you when the word “blackmail” popped out of your mouth so awkwardly. It’s your guilt that is talking, and your contempt for the law. You won’t give an inch, you won’t say you’re sorry, you just point the finger at someone else.

Instead of admitting you broke the law, you charge that someone who talks about your violations of law in public is “blackmailing” you. But if someone talks about your secrets PUBLICLY, Cheryl, that means they’re NOT blackmailing you. Me, for example. I believe that someone as dishonest and contemptuous of the law as you should not have control over public policy and public dollars. Of course, you have the option of becoming an honest person who respects the law. I urge you to do so. Right now you’re not making a wise choice, Cheryl.

Let’s see, who could really blackmail you? The press! Bonnie Dumanis! They are keeping your secrets. It sure isn’t me. Why don’t you do the right thing, and apologize, and come clean about what you and your lawyers did to Chula Vista Elementary School District and Castle Park Elementary. It would help taxpayers all over San Diego county. Your lawyer Dan Shinoff has gone on to cause even more trouble at MiraCosta College than he did at CVESD. The price tag for his folly was $3 million at MiraCosta.

It was a shame that you couldn’t tell the truth in the "Castle Park Five" case at CVESD. You wasted tax dollars once again. You forced Superintendent Lowell Billings to hide the truth about Robin Donlan and her friends, so you lost. Shame on you for wasting so many hundreds of thousands tax dollars on multiple criminal cover-ups.

Good Riddance, Gaylord

Below is a letter I found in Voice of San Diego about the Gaylord Entertainment project that fizzled in Chula Vista yesterday. Gaylord (and mayor Cheryl Cox) blamed the unions, but many believe that it was environmental problems on the sensitve bayfront that discouraged the developer. It's interesting that mayor Cheryl Cox, a longtime trustee of the nature preserve next to the planned development, never made a peep about environmental problems.


Ted Kennedy, Chula Vista
Thursday, July 5, 2007
My suspicion is that Gaylord actually read the environmental-impact report and isn't about to try to ameliorate the impacts and was looking for a dignified backdoor escape hatch. Too bad none of our local politicians read those pesky things or they wouldn't be so enamored of the good old boys from Tennessee. I am also concerned that it took our local environmental watchdogs quite a while to not be lapdogs instead. Now if we can just scare the Chargers away...