Several dozen Jewish community and rabbinic leaders representing major Orthodox Jewish organizations and large Jewish cities visited the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa - on July 31, 2008, and ruled out any criminal conduct by the owners - the Rubashkin family. The mission was led and coordinated by the National Council of Young Israel.The list of crooks and liars that were in attendance:
1. Rabbi Dovid Shochet, Rosh Bais Din of Toronto Bais Din, Rosh-Senior Rabbi of the Rabbinical Council of Ontario/Vaad Rabbonie Lubavitch USA Canada:
2. Rabbi Chanoch Nelkin, Executive Director of the Vaad Hatzedakos-Jewish Charity Commission-Toronto
3. Rabbi Naftali Burnstein, Rabbi of the Young Israel of Greater Cleveland
4. Rabbi Edward Davis, Chairman, ORB Kashrut Committee, Young Israel of Hollywood-Ft. Lauderdale
5. Mr. Yehuda Ceitlin, COL, Radio 10 (Flatbush), Bakehila (Israel) COL, Radio 10 (Flatbush), Bakehila (Israel)
6. Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Executive Vice Presidents of Agudath Israel of America.
7. Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Executive Rabbinic Coordinator of the Orthodox Union
8. Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel
9. Mr. Menachem Lubinsky, President and CEO of Lubicom Marketing and Consulting
10. Rabbi Seth Mandel, Rabbinic Coordinator in charge of meat production at the Orthodox Union
11. Rabbi Peretz Steinberg, morah d’asra of Young Israel of Queens Valley, Kew Gardens Hills, NY
12. Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, Spiritual Leader, B'nai Israel of Linden Heights and Director, Rabbinical Alliance of America
13. Nachman Aaron Troodler, Public Relations Coordinator for the National Council of Young Israel, Teaneck, NJ
14. Rabbi David Eliezrie, President of the Rabbinical Council of Orange County
15. Rabbi Chaim Goldberger, Rabbi of Congregation Knesseth Israel of Minneapolis, MN
16. Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, President of Chicago Rabbinical Council and Regional Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Illinois
17. Rabbi Yehiel Kalish, National Director of Government Affairs at Agudath Israel of America
18. Rabbi Sholey Klein, Director, Vaad Hakashrus of Dallas
19. Rabbi Gershon Gewirtz, Rabbi of the Young Israel of Brookline\
20. Rabbi Zvi Zuravin, Executive Director of the Vaad Hoeir of St. Louis/ Vaad Harabanim of St. Louis
21. Rabbi Yaakov Wasser, Young Israel of East Brunswick, First VP of RCA
22. Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, Editor-in-Chief of Yated Ne’eman
23. Rabbi Shlomo Rybak, Member of Rabbinic Kashrus Commission (RKC) of the Orthodox Union and Rabbi of Congregation Adas Israel in Passaic NJ
24. Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Reporter at the Five Towns Jewish Times
25. Rabbi Yochonon Donn, Reporter at the Hamodia
“This mission was meant to provide Jewish leaders from across the United States with a factual perspective of the true situation at the Agriprocessors plant, untainted by the rumors and innuendos that have been circulating in many circles,” said Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, before leaving for Postville.
“As one of the major producers of kosher meat in the US, the success or failure of Agriprocessors is an issue that will directly impact Jewish communities that purchase kosher meat and poultry across the country. The situation warrants that we approach this with an open mind and obtain a first-hand account of the situation so that we can draw our own conclusion for the betterment of the American Jewish community.”
The group toured the Agriprocessors plant and facilities, where there were meetings with corporate officials and managers, including Jim Martin, a former US Attorney responsible for all compliance issues for Agriprocessors. The group also met with senior representatives of the kashruth organization - the OU - who certifies the plant.
The 25 whiskered cows gave the plant a complete clean bill of health - and assured the Jewish communities around the world, that there are absolutely no concerns about criminal activity at the plant or should anyone be concerned about the integrity of the OU kashruth endorsement! There was not one rabbi who had any concerns at all about the validity of the hundreds, if not thousands of criminal allegations, by the employees and the U.S. government.
If any of these lying bozos had a shred of self-respect, every single one of these 25 criminals, would resign their positions! If you are a member of their congregations, you should have them terminated like cockroaches in a kitchen of a Pesach hotel!
(lifted in part - from Matzav.com)
Kosher Plant Struggles as Owner Faces Arrest and Fines
ReplyDeleteBy Marissa Brostoff - The Forward
Thu. Oct 30, 2008
The kosher meat giant Agriprocessors shut down major portions of its slaughter operations at the same time that the company’s former CEO was arrested and the state of Iowa imposed a $10 million fine on the meat producer.
On October 30, federal prosecutors arrested Sholom Rubashkin, son of Agriprocessors founder Aaron Rubashkin. The younger Rubashkin, who had run the company’s operations in the midwest, was charged with helping to procure false identification for undocumented immigrants who worked at the Postville, Iowa slaughterhouse.
The arrest came a day after the $10 million in fines, which the Iowa labor commissioner issued in response to the alleged failure of the company to pay proper wages to its employees.
“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa law,” said the labor commissioner, Dave Neil, in a statement.
Representatives for Agriprocessors did not return numerous calls from the Forward.
Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Orthodox Union’s kosher division, told the Forward: “We still have to evaluate what these events mean in terms of the viability of the company and sources of supply. We hope that this works out for him and his family, but obviously this is an ominous turn.”
Agriprocessors’s Postville plant was the subject of a federal immigration raid last May, in which nearly 400 immigrant workers were arrested. That raid came two years after an article in the Forward raised concerns about the treatment and pay of workers at the plant. In September, the owners of Agriprocessors were charged with more than 9,000 separate child labor violations, but until now, none of the members of the Rubashkin family had faced arrest in connection with problems at the plant.
Before the raid, Agriprocessors was the largest producer of both kosher beef and kosher poultry in the United States, and was the sole supplier of kosher beef to many parts of the country. In the days before the arrest and fines, the Postville plant had shut down its beef production.
“All the workers are walking the streets today,” Paul Ouderkirk, a priest at Postville’s Catholic church, said in an October 29 phone interview.
Jeff Abbas, who runs Postville’s community radio station, said that he saw live cattle being trucked away from the slaughterhouse on the morning of October 29.
Agriprocessors had attempted to deal with its problems by having Sholom Rubashkin step down as CEO of the company’s Midwestern operations. That move was announced in May, and in September the company brought on a New York lawyer to fill the post. The Rubashkins, however, are still involved in the company’s operations.
A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security wrote the affidavit that detailed the reasons for Sholom Rubashkin’s arrest. The special agent consulted a number of former Agriprocessors employees in drawing up the charges. According to the affidavit, Rubashkin personally helped procure fraudulent identification cards for undocumented immigrants working at the plant. In one case, Rubashkin allegedly loaned supervisors at the plant $4,500 in cash to pay for the cards, each costing $200.
Discussing one of the Agriprocessors employees, referred to as Subject A, the affidavit reports that “Subject A stated that Sholom Rubashkin inspected the first group of IDs and told him/her that, the IDs looked good to him, and that he would sign the I-9 Forms for the applications.”
Rubashkin was set to appear at a federal court in Iowa on October 30.
The charges against Rubashkin came shortly after an Agriprocessors human resources manager, Laura Althouse, pleaded guilty to federal charges that were filed against her because of her work at the plant. Althouse, who initially pleaded not guilty, has been charged with harboring undocumented workers and forging Social Security cards for them. She faces up to 12 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
The fines that the company is facing are not related to the immigration charges. According to a statement released by the commissioner’s office, more than 2,000 workers had their wages illegally reduced within the past two years. Most of the fines are civil penalties accrued by the company for allegedly forcing workers to pay for their own uniforms. Additional fines were levied because the company allegedly withheld employees’ paychecks during the weeks after the raid.
Agriprocessors has faced a steady flow of fines over the past year, but these appear to be the largest. A spokeswoman for the commissioner said that the fines were the largest the department had ever leveled in connection with wage violations.
The name that belongs at the top of this list is Weissmandl. His phony "hashgacha" of Rubashkin is the biggest kashrus scandal in history. From his lofty perch in Monsey, he continues to assert that everything is kosher in Postville. He has turned a blind eye to all the abuses: employee abuse, identity theft, child labor, animal abuse, severe environmental violations, severe safety violations, severe health violations and most importantly, KASHRUS VIOLATIONS!! Yes, kashrus violations. His public admission to the Wall Street Journal that he has nothing to do with the labeling and packaging speaks volumes of the massive fraud and coverup that has been perpetrated at Rubashkin. How does the OU and the Jewish community accept such kashrus standards? Not only do they accept, but they claim that these are the HIGHEST standards?
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious that the days of the Rubashkin horror show are numbered, baruch hashem. However, there is a strong lesson to be learned from this. Unless the scandal is exposed in its entirety and those resonsiblem, especially Weissmandl are held responsible, this will happen again and again. We need a complete overhaul of the kashrus industry immediately. Get rid of all these whiskered cows!!
Check out the pictures how they are all smiles.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=14011
Boruch Matir Asurim, Farbrengen Following Release
POSTVILLE, IA [CHI] – Following the quick release of Reb Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin , the community of Postville gathered in the “Ahavas Yisroel” Shul for a Farbrengen and Seudas Hodaah.
More pictures in the Extended Article!
Rubashkin had been arrested Thursday morning by federal agents on the accusation that he “knowingly hired illegal aliens for gain” and other accusations. Rubashkin awaited the agents in his home who arrested him and took him to federal court in the city of Cedar Rapids. The arraignment and subsequent release came really fast, at 4:30 in the afternoon.
At the seudah Rubashkin thanked everyone that helped him and said Tehillim.
More whiskered cows:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=14011
What exactly are they celebrating?
This was written in the '70's by Rav Shimon Shwab regarding Bernard Bergman and his nursing home scandal. It is relevant more than ever today. Read what chillul hashem means and how it is being perpetrated:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/chillul_hashem_r_schwab.pdf
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/facebook-hemorraging-cash-runs-to-dubai-for-money
ReplyDeleteFacebook Hemorrhaging Cash, Runs To Dubai For Money
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/business/31bailout.html?em=&pagewanted=print
ReplyDeleteOctober 31, 2008
Mortgage Plan May Irk Those It Doesn’t Help
By DAVID STREITFELD
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/business/yourmoney/01couples.html
ReplyDeleteWhy is UOJ picking on poor Yudi Kolko? He's a good guy at heart who only touches little boys out of love.
This is not in my normal range of issues, but like many people I have been following the Rubashkin story lately, and it's implications are frightening for all Orthodox Jews as well as for Judaism in America.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure, it is one of the biggest cases of redifa of yidden in a long time.
It is also an updated politically correct case of alilas damim (a literal blood libel), only in the case it is not Beilis who is being falsely accused of killing an innocent Christian boy, but the Rubashkins, and by implication they are implicating all shomrei Torah umitzvos, that now it is the PETA types who are accusing the shochtim and butchers of Rubashkin (all of whom are yerei shomayim and mumchim) of "cruelty" to animals by the way they allegedly mistreat and "kill" them and are shedding the blood of the animals. (Nowadays when Muslims kill out Christians like in the Sudan Civil War and Darfur the world does not scream or arrest people).
Then you have the labor union crowd that is acting holier than thou, when everyone knows that unions, especially ones in the meat packing industry, are totally corrupt and completely influenced by the mobs that control them inside out. These people decided to pick on Rubashkin because Rubashkin did not want to hire union workers (is that a "crime"?) and so Rubashkin as Hasidic Orthodox Jews were easy targets to slander, to cite them for violations for hiring and using illegals, when all of America is being serviced and run by illegals. The cops and the feds are free to take a ride down any street in America and stop at any store, gas station, construction site, lawn service, you name it, and you will see all those Hispanics and sometimes Asians (the days of Italian and Greek workers are long, long gone) and you can arrest a few million people in a week. Notice how they did not pick on the agricultural industry in California where the unions actually protect the illegals and try to bring more in from Mexico and central America where millions of them work without any permits and they provide them with benefits too.
Then you have the antisemites of Iowa and the Midwest who just hate the Jews in their midst and like Nazis would love to make Iowa "Judenrein" even if it will hurt them, they will cut of their noses to spite their own faces.
The reported incidents of misbehavior by members of the Chabad community in Postville, mostly some unruly youngsters not staff of Rubashkin, did not help matters. Iowa and being out of town is not like hanging out in Crown Heights. But honestly, that is more than off-set by the excellent record of good and harmonious relations with the general public and with public and government officials on all levels that all Chabad shluchim, their wives and families have with people in thousands of places in America and the world.
So all in all, it is a big tragedy, that a family business like Rubashkin, that has been providing excellent meat products at very affordable prices should be put through this.
The Young Israel and OU sent a rabbinic delegation that found everything to be in order in the kashrus department. Unfortunately, by the time the delegation of rabbis got there and put in their good word it was too late because the conglomeration of anti-Rubashkin (read: anti-Yiddiskeit) had already planned and made their moves and Rubashkin has now been hit from too many direction. People need Rubashkin's meat products, and the competitiveness that it brings to the meat market, more than ever
Let us hope it will have nitzchiyos for all the good it has done for Klal Yisroel and will have techiyas hameisim for every blow that knocked it down, and that they will be able to continue and be of service to all Jews in the ways of chesed that they are famous for.
I am suing Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, NJ. They have a history of burying "things" under the rug. This includes a teacher fraternizing with the girls and then running off with her when she turned 18.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone can help me out it would be appreciated as they owe me money and are trying to portray themselves as squeaky clean.
Let us oil that squeak.
Did teacher have sex with student?
ReplyDeleteFemale high school teacher suspected of engaging in sexual relations with 17-year-old boy
by Eli Senyor
Ynetnews.com
October 30, 2008
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3615566,00.html
A female teacher in the town of Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of engaging in sexual relations with a 17-year-old student. the teacher denied the claims during her interrogation, and the boy has been summoned to testify.
Police suspect that the English teacher, who is in her 30s, took the student to guest rooms and to the beach, and also bought him presents.
The teacher came under suspicion due to "inside information" received from within the school. Following the revelations, other students are being asked to come forward with information on the case.
Police intend to ask the courts to keep the teacher in custody until further information is received.
A similar case, also in Rehovot, was reported three years ago, when a substitute yeshiva teacher, 34-years-old and married, was arrested after having sexual relations with five students.
She admitted to the charges during questioning, after officers mentioned the names of the students.
"I did it because of sexual urges," she said. "It was silly and I regret it."
To see video of celebration of Rubashkin's bail release, go to shturem.net
ReplyDeleteA very emotion- packed farbrengen , with anoshim, noshin vetaf participating, took place in Postville to celebrate the quick and unexpected release of R' Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, who was arrested yesterday morning -U.S. time. Rubashkin expected the arrest and waited for the policemen in his home. He was taken to court, while at Agriprocessors work went on as scheduled.
This court procedure usually takes three day, in this case after three hours R' Sholom was released on bail, until Wedenesday, when he has to put up five hundred thousand dollars in cash, until the court trial.
The thanksgiving farbrengen took place in the shul with almost all the Yiddishe population taking part- men, women and children. Those workers on duty took a few minutes off to drop in and say l'chaim, and ran back to their posts.
"The simcha is great, and we hope to see a continuation of Hashem's kindness in an open and revealed way", remarked a Postville resident.
To see video of celebration of Rubashkin's bail release, go to shturem.org
ReplyDeleteA very emotion- packed farbrengen , with anoshim, noshin vetaf participating, took place in Postville to celebrate the quick and unexpected release of R' Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, who was arrested yesterday morning -U.S. time. Rubashkin expected the arrest and waited for the policemen in his home. He was taken to court, while at Agriprocessors work went on as scheduled.
This court procedure usually takes three day, in this case after three hours R' Sholom was released on bail, until Wedenesday, when he has to put up five hundred thousand dollars in cash, until the court trial.
The thanksgiving farbrengen took place in the shul with almost all the Yiddishe population taking part- men, women and children. Those workers on duty took a few minutes off to drop in and say l'chaim, and ran back to their posts.
"The simcha is great, and we hope to see a continuation of Hashem's kindness in an open and revealed way", remarked a Postville resident.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081102/FREE/311029318/1008/TOC
ReplyDeleteNovember 01. 2008 11:01AM
Budget crisis will cut deep in NYC
More crowded classrooms. Longer waits in emergency rooms. Tax increases.
The impact of the state's budget crisis on New York City will be profound and will be felt in many ways. The city could face $1 billion or more in cuts from the state, which must close an unprecedented $12.5 billion budget gap next year.
The state cuts will be on top of ones imposed by the city to address its own deficit. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is cutting agency budgets and wants to raise property taxes by $1.2 billion. City income taxes could also be increased.
The first proposals to balance the state budget won't be unveiled for several weeks, but observers see schools, hospitals and nursing homes taking the biggest hits. That's because, as Willie Sutton famously said when asked why he robbed banks, that's where the money is. Education alone accounts for 29% of state spending, followed by other local aid at 21% and Medicaid at 15%.
New York City, with 40% of the state's population and two-thirds of its Medicaid recipients, will shoulder much of the burden from any cutbacks. The effects could be severe, because state aid accounts for $11.5 billion of the city's $59 billion budget. And state lawmakers may look to spare the struggling upstate economy, thus increasing the impact downstate, where the economy has been stronger in recent years.
Albany will shortchange the city “so bad it's going to make your head spin,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told City Councilman James Gennaro last week, according to Mr. Gennaro. “The only place where they can get money is New York City,” the mayor added.
Congress is looking to pass a stimulus package that could yield several billion dollars for New York state. But that won't close the gap. Nor can the city count on Albany using its old standbys of bookkeeping gimmickry and borrowing to postpone the day of reckoning; Gov. David Paterson has ruled that out. In light of the Wall Street meltdown that will depress state tax revenues for at least several years, he wants real, recurring cuts.
The $12.5 billion deficit, which represents nearly a quarter of the state's general fund budget for the next fiscal year, must be closed in the spring. But the Legislature will return to Albany Nov. 18 to fill a $1.5 billion hole in the current budget. Teams of lobbyists, union representatives and other special-interest types will tag along to defend their interests. The United Federation of Teachers and health care workers union 1199 SEIU will be especially active. Advertising campaigns to pressure lawmakers are expected.
“We may be staring at the biggest cuts we've seen in years, if not ever,” says a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents hospitals and nursing homes. “We're willing to be part of the solution. But we can't be the biggest target.”
Hospitals are likely to face “significant blanket cuts” and be forced to shed staffers such as emergency room doctors, and nursing homes could remove beds, the spokesman says. “It's going to be a horrible choice for health care administrators,” he adds.
Kosher Retailer Driven Out Of Business By Agriprocessors Responds To Rubashkin Arrest
ReplyDeleteI've had contact with this person for a few months now, and kept her story confidential as she requested. But now…
…Miriam Shear has sent out an email commenting on the arrest of Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin and has given me permission to reproduce it here – on the condition that I print her contact information along with it, as found in her email:
dear friends - i've heard from many of you over the last 24 hours regarding sholom rubashkin's arrest as you know that i have pending litigation against agri.
i want you to know that i get absolutely no pleasure out of seeing sholom rubashkin in handcuffs as he is being led to hear the numerous felonies with which he is being charged. i actually felt sadness - not pity - but true sadness.
the rubashkin family were zocheh to reap the abundance of america in all its forms. they could practice their religion without fear of torture, discrimination, harm or coercion - unlike many of their ancestors who hailed from other countries. they enjoyed the freedom to work hard, work smart, and enrich their lives with all of the material benefits of a prosperous society. they were given the opportunity to share some of this wealth with those less fortunate as well as support the causes they so passionately supported - and this they did, nobody can deny.
yet, somewhere along the way the freedom that america offers for prosperity became their stumbling block. they forgot that the same laws of the american government that provided them opportunity and wealth and protected them from abuse were also there for the protection of others.
they forgot that the anti-trust laws of the american government were there so that ALL could compete fairly in the market place. they forgot that the labor laws were there so that those who worked for others could do so in safety and dignity.
some how along the way, an arrogance seeped in that deluded them into thinking they were above the law and, for some reason, the opportunity to do business in america on a level playing field was their exclusive entitlement to which nobody else had a right to share in.
how this happened, when it happened is a mystery to most if not all of us. it may even be a mystery to the rubashkins themselves. however, there is something about the walls of an 8 x 8 prison cell that will provide them lots of thinking and introspection time. stripped of their freedom, their money, their families and the respect of those who honored them and mentioned their names with awe - these elements will create a living nightmare of horror, despair, depression. maybe, hopefully, it will also lead the rubashkin family to true contrition with amends made to those they hurt in so many ways.
do not kid yourselves: it was not "only" goyim, poor helpless mexicans who were grateful for any job - the rubashkins hurt their fellow jews too. with in-your-face, arrogant, shameless violations of anti-trust - sometimes in conjunction with alle (aka mealmart) - the rubashkins (sholom, heshy, and tattie) drove hard working, honest people out of business. in the process they stripped and robbed these people of their livelihood, their investment, their dignity, and the little piece of the american dream that all hard working, productive american citizens are entitled to. some of these people will never be able to recover their financial footing. some of these people will be so emotionally beaten up by their losses that they will never have the strength to reestablish themselves. when one loses their money, their shalom bayis suffers, their children are deprived of basic childhood pleasures, etc. bottom line: life is just not ever the same again.
so - why am i not reveling in the "glory" of seeing sholom rubashkin in handcuffs, charged with felonies that could put him in the slammer for a very long time when it was him and his family who hurt my family?
i'll tell you why.
the only thing worse than blowing a great opportunity is Chillul Hashem. this man has disgraced his religion as CNN makes agri's crimes their #2 story on prime time television. the rubashkin family has managed to add their name to other crime families with jewish names recently disgracing the pages of the wall street journal - right up there with shereshevsky and abramoff, all orthodox religious jews. these men forgot that being a Torah jew is supposed to be just that. it's supposed to mean something.
the rubashkins have also managed to disgrace Lubavitch, an organization that has made tremendous contributions to the Jewish people for their ahavas yisrael, their kiruv, and opening their hearts, homes, and institutions to all jews of every stripe. i truly hope that people will be intellectually honest and fair enough to know that the rubashkins' antics and crimes have absolutely nothing to do with lubavitch or their followers. to do otherwise will only compound the tragic injustices of their crimes.
i am also sad for those who could have continued to enjoy and benefit from the agri/rubashkin largesse: many lubavitch yeshivas in many states, many shluchim who could spread Torah to uninformed jews in their communities, for political activism that benefited klal yisrael, etc, etc. these are good people who work hard and devote their lives to their fellow jews. they are now left in a horrible predicament of finding funds for their endeavors during a severe economic recession throughout america. it will be no surprise if many of these institutions close their doors - just like jack abramoff's baltimore yeshiva did.
if any good can come from this let it be that all jews learn that there is a G-d and that the jews you hurt daven to the same G-d that their tormentors daven to. let all jews learn that bracha comes from tzedekah ONLY when it is earned legitimately. that means that dina malchusa dina is not always subservient to jewish law. and that jewish law demands adherence to dina malchusa dina in most cases of commerce. nobody - NOBODY - has the right to make our Torah a smorgasbord of pick and choose judaism for their own greed and enrichment.
Message to Sholom and Heshy: I want my check. i want every dime you stole from my family. while you were raping my family business with glee and impunity, i was davening that you would get your comeuppance and that your hand would be stayed from doing to others what you did to us. G-d listened. and He answered better than i could have ever imagined.
miriam shear
permission is granted to forward
216-502-2325
I am sending the following letter to Dr. Steve Nasatir, President of the Jewish United Fund-Jewish Federation of Chicago:
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong supporter of the JUF, I have the following concerns vis-Ã -vis the financial support levels given to the Orthodox community in Chicago.
The Jewish Federation specifically requires all non-profit recipients of Federation dollars to have accurate accounting measures in place.
Documents have surfaced indicating that the Telshe-Yeshiva-Chicago on Foster Ave. fails to meet the minimal requirements for eligibility. The documents indicate that funds raised for the Telshe Yeshiva-Cleveland annual dinner were diverted into an account bearing the Telshe-Yeshiva-Chicago EIN. This leads one to question the ethical accounting measures organization wide. Why should this institution be above the rules?
The Jewish Federation funded Project Shield, for the specific purpose of dealing with sex abuse in the Orthodox community.
What about the Chicago rabbi caught last year having relations with a teenage boy at the Touhy Mikvah? The incident was reported to Project Shield, who then consulted the Beis Din of Rabbis Fuerst, Cohen, Levin and Schwartz. They told Project Shield to drop the matter and are convincing the family to stay quiet, as these allegations, if proven, would destroy this Rabbi's life. Rabbi Schwartz, the only voice of reason on the Beis Din, is pretty much regarded as an "honorary" member by the other Rabbis and his opinion is not taken seriously. Fuerst, Cohen and Levin make all the decisions. These rabbis have effectively neutered Project Shield.
You have no idea how many Jewish men walk around the Chicago community free and clear who have been reported to Project Shield and brought to the "special" bait din set up for the purpose of sexual abuse/molestation charges. I'm sure you don't have a clue because their names are well-hidden/protected so as not to speak loshon horah and ruin their lives.
In summation, there is absolutely no accountability from the Orthodox rabbis. It is time to reevaluate the support levels to Telshe-Yeshiva-Chicago. JCFS,Project Shield’s parent organization must be given more oversight and accountability to ensure maximum benefit of hard-earned Federation dollars.
To Barack Obama,
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times carried a story on Saturday, October 4, 2008, that proved
you had a significantly closer relationship with Bill Ayers than what you
previously admitted. While the issue of your relationship is of concern, the
greater concern is that you lied to America about it.
The Chicago Sun reported on May 8, 2008, that FBI records showed that you
had a significantly closer relationship with Tony Rezko than what you
previously admitted. In the interview, you said that you only saw Mr. Rezko
a couple of times a year. The FBI files showed that you saw him weekly.
While the issue of your relationship is of concern, the greater concern is
that you lied to America about it.
Your speech in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008, about "race" contradicted
your statement to Anderson Cooper on March 14 when you said that you never
heard Reverend Wright make his negative statements about white America.
While your attendance at TrinityChurch for 20 years is of concern, the
greater concern is that you lie d to America on March 14.
In your 1st debate with John McCain, you said that you never said that you
would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea
without "preparations" at lower levels ... Joe Biden repeated your words in
his debate with Sarah Palin ... while the video tape from your debate last
February clearly shows that you answered "I would" to the question of
meeting with those leaders within 12 months without "any" preconditions.
While your judgment about meeting with enemies of the USA without
pre-conditions is of concern, the greater concern is that you lied to
America in the debate with McCain.
On July 14, 2008, you said that you always knew that the surge would work
while the video tapes of you from more than a year ago show that you stated
that the surge would not work. While your judgment about military strategy
as a potential commander-in-chief is of concern, the greater concern is that
you lied to America on July 14.
You now claim that your reason for voting against funding for the troops was
because the bill did not include a time line for withdrawal, while the video
tapes of you from more than a year ago show that you voted against
additional funding because you wanted our troops to be removed immediately
... not in 16 months after the 2008 election as you now claim. While your
judgment about removing our troops unilaterally in 2007 is of concern, the
greater concern is that you lied to America about your previous position.
You claim to have a record of working with Republicans while the record
shows that the only bill that you sponsored with a Republican was with Chuck
Lugar ... and it failed. The record shows that you vote 97% in concert with
the Democrat party and that you have the most liberal voting record in the
Senate. You joined Republicans only 13% of the time in your votes and those
13% were only after agreement from the Democrat party. While it is of
concern that you fail to include conservatives in your actions and that you
are such a liberal, the greater concern is that you distorted the truth.
In the primary debates of last February, 2008, you claimed to have talked
with a "Captain" of a platoon in Afghanistan "the other day" when in fact
you had a discussion in 2003 with a Lieutenant who had just been deployed to
Afghanistan. You lied in that debate.
In your debates last spring, you claimed to have been a "professor of
Constitutional law" when in fact you have never been a professor of
Constitutional law. In this last debate, you were careful to say that you
"taught a law class" and never mentioned being a "professor of
Constitutional law." You lied last spring.
You and Joe Biden both claimed that John McCain voted against additional
funding for our troops when the actual records show the opposite. You
distorted the truth.
You and Joe Biden claim that John McCain voted against funding for alternate
energy sources 20 times when the record shows that John McCain specifically
voted against funding for bio fuels, especially corn ... and he was right
.... corn is too expensive at producing ethanol, and using corn to make
ethanol increased the price of corn from $2 a bushel to $6 a bushel for
food. You distorted the truth.
You and Joe Biden claim that John McCain voted like both of you for a tax
increase on those making as little as $42,000 per year while the voting
record clearly shows that John McCain did not vote as you and Joe Biden. You
lied to America.
You and Joe Biden claim that John McCain voted with George W. Bush 90% of
the time when you know that Democrats also vote 90% of the time with the
President (including Joe Biden) because the vast majority of the votes are
procedural. You are one of the few who has not voted 90% of the time with
the president because you have been missing from the Senate since the day
you got elected. While your absence from your job in the Senate is of
concern, the greater concern is that you spin the facts.
You did not take an active role in the rescue plan. You claimed that the
Senate did not need you while the real reason that you abstained was because
of your close relationships with the executives of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,
Countrywide, and Acorn ... who all helped cause the financial problems of
today ... and they all made major contributions to your campaign. While your
relationship with these executives and your protection of them for your
brief 3 years in the Senate (along with Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Maxine
Waters, and Chris Dodd) is of concern, the greater concern is that you are
being deceitful.
You forgot to mention that you personally represented Tony Rezko and Acorn.
Tony Rezko, an Arab and close friend to you, was convicted of fraud in
Chicago real estate transactions that bilked millions of tax dollars from
the Illinois government for renovation projects that you sponsored as a
state senator ... and Acorn has been convicted of voter fraud, real estate
sub prime loan intimidation, and illegal campaign contributions. Tony Rezko
has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to your political
campaigns. You personally used your political positions to steer money to
both Tony Rezko and Acorn and you used Acorn to register thousands of phony
voters for Democrats and you. While your relationships with Rezko and Acorn
are of concern, the greater concern is that you omitted important facts
about your relationships with them to America.
During your campaign, you said: "typical white person." "They cling to their
guns and religion." "They will say that I am black." You played the race
card. You tried to label any criticism about you as racist. You divide
America.
You claim that you will reduce taxes for 95% of America, but you forgot to
tell America that those reductions are after you remove the Bush tax
reductions. You have requested close to $1 billion in earmarks and several
million for Acorn. Your social programs will cost America $1 trillion per
year and you claim that a reduction in military spending ($100 billion for
Iraq) can pay for it. While your economic plan of adding 30% to the size of
our federal government is of concern, the greater concern is that you are
deceiving America.
The drain to America's economy by foreign supplied oil is $700 billion per
year (5% of GDP) while the war in Iraq is $100 billion (less than 1% of
GDP). You voted against any increases to oil exploration for the last 3
years and any expansion of nuclear facilities. Yet today, you say that you
have always been for more oil and more nuclear. You are lying to America.
Mr. Obama, you claimed that you "changed" your mind about public financing
for your campaign because of the money spent by Republican PACs in 2004. The
truth is that the Democrat PACs in 2004, 2006, and 2008 spent twice as much
as the Republican PACs (especially George Soros and MoveOn.org). You are
lying to America.
Mr. Obama, you have done nothing to stop the actions of the teachers union
and college professors in the USA. They eliminated religion from our
history. They teach pro gay agendas and discuss sex with students as young
as first grade. They bring their personal politics into the classrooms. They
disparage conservatives. They brainwash our children. They are in it for
themselves ..... not America. Are you reluctant to condemn their actions
because teachers/professors and the NEA contribute 25% of all money donated
to Democrats and none to Republicans? You are deceiving America.
Oh, Mr. Obama, Teddy Roosevelt said about a hundred years ago that we
Americans should first look at the character of our leaders before anything
else.
Your character looks horrible. While you make good speeches, motivating
speeches, your character does not match your rhetoric. You talk the talk,
but do not walk the walk.
1. You lied to America. You lied many times. You distorted facts. You parsed
your answers like a lawyer.
2. You distorted the record o f John McCain in your words and in your
advertisements.
3. You had associations with some very bad people for your personal
political gains and then lied about those associations.
4. You divide America about race and about class.
Now let me compare your record of lies, distortions, race baiting, and
associations to John McCain: War hero. Annapolis graduate with "Country
first." Operational leadership experience like all 43 previously elected
presidents of the USA as a Navy officer for 22 years. 26 years in the
Senate. Straight talk. Maverick. 54% of the time participated on bills with
Democrats. Never asked for an earmark. The only blemish on his record is his
part in the Keating 5 debacle about 25 years ago.
Mr. Obama, at Harvard Law School, you learned that the end does not justify
the means. You learned that perjury, false witness, dishonesty, distortion
of truth are never tolerated. Yet, your dishonesty is overwhelming. Your
dishonesty is tremendously greater than the dishonesty that caused the
impeachment and disbarment of Bill Clinton. Your dishonesty is tremendously
greater than the dishonesty of Scooter Libby. You should be ashamed.
Mr. Obama, it is time for us Americans to put aside our differences on
political issues and vote against you because of your dishonest character.
It is time for all of us Americans to put aside our political issues and
vote for America first. It is time for America to vote for honesty.
Any people who vote for you after understanding that you are dishonest
should be ashamed of themselves for making their personal political issues
more important than character. Would these same people vote for the
anti-Christ if the anti-Christ promised them riches? Would they make a
golden calf while Moses was up the mountain? Would they hire someone for a
job if that someone lied in an interview? Of course not. So why do some of
these people justify their votes for you even though they know you are
dishonest? Why do they excuse your dishonesty? Because some of these people
are frightened about the future, the economy, and their financial security
.... and you are preying on their fears with empty promises ... and because
some (especially our young people) are consumed by your wonderful style and
promises for "change" like the Germans who voted for Adolf Hitler in 1932.
The greed/envy by Germans in 1932 kept them from recognizing Hitler for who
he was. They loved his style. Greed and envy are keeping many Americans from
recognizing you ... your style has camouflaged your dishonesty .... but many
of us see you for who you really are ... and we will not stop exposing who
you are every day, forever if it is necessary.
Mr. Obama, you are dishonest. Anyone who votes for you is enabling
dishonesty.
Mr. Obama, America cannot trust that you will put America first in your
decisions about the future.
Mr. Obama, you are not the "change" that America deserves. We cannot trust
you.
Mr. Obama, You are not ready and not fit to be commander-in-chief.
Mr. Obama, John McCain does not have as much money as your campaign to
refute all of your false statements. And for whatever reasons, the
mainstream media will not give adequate coverage or research about your
lies, distortions, word parsing, bad associations, race baiting, lack of
operational leadership experience, and generally dishonest character. The
media is diverting our attention from your relationships and ignoring the
fact that you lied about those relationships. The fact that you lied is much
more important than the relationships themselves .... just like with Bill
Clinton and Richard Nixon ... Monica Lewinski and Watergate were not nearly
as bad as the fact that those men lied about the events ... false witness
... perjury ... your relationships and bad judgments are bad on their own
.... but your lies are even worse.
Therefore, by copy of this memo, all who read this memo are asked to send it
to everyone else in America before it is too late. We need to do the job
that the media will not do. We need to expose your dishonesty so that every
person in America understands who you really are before election day.
Mr. Obama, in a democracy, we get what we deserve. And God help America if
we deserve you.
Michael Master
McLean, Virginia
column by Chava Willig Levy
ReplyDeleteFull disclosure: I believe that God guides history. The improbable, meteoric rise of Barack Obama offers a case in point.
The facts are common knowledge: In 2000, Obama was a virtual unknown. He had to scrape together the airfare to attend that year’s Democratic National Convention, to which he had not been invited. Three months later, he was trounced in his run for an Illinois congressional seat. But in 2004, not yet a United States senator, he was the Democratic National Convention’s keynote speaker, an honor usually reserved for political icons; he became an overnight sensation. Just two years after he became Illinois’s junior senator, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States.
But here are some less well-known facts:
• Obama’s 2004 victory might never have occurred were it not for an unprecedented financing loophole. Because his opponent in the Democratic primary had financed his campaign with over $28 million of his own money, Obama was permitted to accept as much as $12,000 from each donor, or six times the limit at that time.
• Obama’s opponents for that coveted Senate seat evaporated at every turn like morning dew. As a 2004 New York Times editorial put it:
It’s been looking a little too easy lately for Barack Obama, the Democrat running for United States Senate in Illinois against whom? Let’s see. It’s a little complicated. The race has been a little like the football scene in a Marx Brothers movie, with the candidate sprinting past a squad of defenders who look mean and beefy but end up slipping, sliding, colliding and falling all over themselves.
Even Obama acknowledges his “spooky good fortune.”
It certainly looks as if God is guiding Mr. Obama straight to the White House. But if God is guiding his history, and ours, aren’t we mere spectators forced to watch passively — some might say helplessly — as it unfolds? Several of my coreligionists think so, fatalistically pointing to the fact that the secular date of Obama’s breakthrough keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention — July 27 — coincided with Tisha B’Av, a fast day commemorating the many seismic tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people.
I can understand their prediction of impending doom. Reasons abound:
• Barack Obama or, as New York Times columnist David Brooks has called him, “Fast Eddie Obama”:
He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside. But he’s been giving us an education, for anybody who cares to pay attention. Just try to imagine Mister Rogers playing the agent Ari in Entourage and it all falls into place.
• He has inveigled his way into the hearts of diametrically opposed constituents. According to New York Times reporters Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, here’s how he did it:
He moved from his leftist Hyde Park base to more centrist circles; he forged early alliances with the good-government reform crowd only to be embraced later by the city’s all-powerful Democratic bosses; he railed against pork-barrel politics but engaged in it when needed; and he empathized with the views of his Palestinian friends before adroitly courting the city’s politically potent Jewish community.
His chameleon-like charisma reminds me of my favorite scene from Fiddler on the Roof. In it, Tevye and his friends are immersed in a debate. One villager expresses an opinion; Tevye, nodding, says, “He’s right.” “That’s nonsense,” another man retorts and refutes his friend’s idea. Tevye, nodding, says, “He’s right.” “He’s right and he’s right?” interrupts a third man. “How can they both be right?” “You know,” says Tevye, “you’re also right!” Back in 1966, I laughed uproariously at this bizarre interchange. But Obama’s run for the White House has given it an ominous overtone. For when a Broadway musical makes all characters — even those with opposite opinions — right, it is amusing. When a politician does the same thing, it’s no laughing matter.
• He is admired by untold numbers of American Jews, as well as millions of people who call for the destruction of not only Israel but of world Jewry as well.
• He is guilty of politically motivated flip-flopping to woo Jewish voters. Hours after securing the Democratic nomination, when the cameras were rolling, when the reporters were taking notes, when influential Jews were listening with rapt attention, Obama addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference and declared, to thunderous applause, “Now, let me be clear: Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is nonnegotiable… And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” Hours later, he issued a retraction, subsequently calling “undivided” a “poorly chosen” word.
• He favors talks — without preconditions — with Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who, in the words of Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, is a “Holocaust-denying, virulently anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist,” the Hitler of our era.
• Hours after visiting Sderot, hours after a Palestinian terrorist wreaked havoc outside the Jerusalem hotel where Obama would be staying, the senator spoke to an adoring throng in Berlin, proclaiming, “We must defeat terror…in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.” To glaringly omit cities in the country that has suffered the greatest number of terrorist casualties per capita in the world is hypocrisy and political expediency of the lowest order.
Full disclosure: With pundits predicting a landslide victory for Obama, I feel pessimistic not infrequently — but never permanently. Here’s why: God may guide history, but He does so without full disclosure. Part of what the Almighty hides from us is how we, in tandem with Him, can guide history too. The question isn’t: What does God want? The question is: What does God want of us?
Esther, heroine of the holiday of Purim, guides us to our answer. We just need to examine a pivotal point in the book that bears her name.
In Chapter 4, things are looking pretty dismal for her fellow Jews. It looks as if the smooth-talking Haman, whose ambitions have been fulfilled at every turn, who has been blessed with “spooky good fortune,” is destined to succeed. It looks as if God is guiding his history so that he will have his way. But Mordechai knows that, at this juncture, fatalism would be fatal. He beseeches Esther to intervene, to help halt history in its tracks. And when she demurs, Mordechai upbraids her (Esther 4:14): “Who knows whether it was for just such an opportunity as this that you attained your royal position?”
In the absence of full disclosure, Esther has to resist her temptation to follow protocol, to be politically correct. But she accedes to Mordechai’s demand only after he agrees to accede to hers (Esther 4:16): “Go and gather all the Jews in Shushan, and fast on my behalf for the three days…My maidens and I will also fast.”
We have no Esther today. But over 2,400 years after she left the world’s stage, her example remains. We must emulate her two-pronged strategy: politics and prayer.
Full disclosure: Come Election Day, I will not be voting for Barack Obama, a man who sold out on full disclosure long ago. Furthermore, whatever the election’s outcome, I will watch the White House vigilantly, lifting my pen and voice whenever necessary to help safeguard the welfare and security of Americans and Jews worldwide. And finally, I will remember that God rules the rulers. He is the King of all kings, and no one rises to or falls from power unless He wills it.
Chava Willig Levy is a New York-based writer, editor and lecturer who zips around in a motorized wheelchair and communicates about the quality and meaning of life.
Unfortunately, there are way too many people that are so desperate for “change and hope” that all it takes is a charismatic, poised, articulate young candidate voicing just those two words over and over ad-nausium for these desperate souls to completely suspend there disbelief and their ability for critical thinking. Never mind that the candidate has virtually no experience (he makes Sarah Palin look like a seasoned politician), never mind that he has accomplished virtually nothing, and never mind a lifetime of Marxist/radical black associations that formed the basis of his world view.
ReplyDeleteHe offers “Change and Hope” as if dangling a hypnotist’s watch. Well, if he’s elected, things are sure as heck going to CHANGE, and you’d better HOPE to G-d that we all survive these changes.
This article originally appeared In Pittsburgh's Jewish Newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle
ReplyDeleteAgriprocessors defended; company deserves its day in court
by Rochel Shlomo1 month ago
America’s premier kosher slaughtering plant — Agriprocessors, a company which has worked tirelessly to bring affordable kosher meat and poultry to every far flung Jewish community, is under attack. The accusations throughout the media abound, and all seem to agree that something certainly is not “kosher.”
But there is a lot more that is “not kosher” going on.
For the past three years both PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the labor union United Food and Commercial Workers have been working around the clock, each with its own interests in mind, to destroy Agriprocessors. There never was a slaughtering plant that PETA loved, nor a factory, which resisted unionizing, that escaped the UFCW’s wrath, and so the same has been happening here.
This well-publicized smear campaign was taken to the national level. Then followed the unprecedented raid in May by federal immigration authorities, where workers were rounded up and thrown in jail without given due process.
And the outcries reached an even higher crescendo, but little for the legal and human rights of the poor workers. Only against Agriprocessors, despite the fact that they have answered many of the complaints leveled against them, such as hiring a qualified compliance officer, former U.S. Attorney Jim Martin, and professional OSHA specialists.
The key question is whether Agriprocessors was actually complicit in hiring illegal workers — an allegation the company firmly denies. They reported that applicants indicated a legal age and proof of citizenship on the papers they presented and that they had no reason or legal right to challenge the authenticity of those papers. This issue of hiring illegal workers is not unique to Agriprocessors, but is a national problem. There are approximately 13 million illegal aliens in this country and their labor fuels the economy of America, especially in states such as Florida, California and Arizona.
Two years ago, the world’s second largest nonkosher meat processing company, Swift and Company, was raided by the federal government and forced to close six of its plants. During this raid, however, the government took no action against the company management, in stark contrast to its treatment of Agriprocessors. Interestingly, it did not receive the media bashing that America’s No. 1 kosher meat packing plant has sustained.
But what is even more troubling is how so many Jewish and national publications have joined the chorus of accusations, despite the fact that the case has not even had its day in court. It is probable that some charges may ultimately prove correct, many of which Agriprocessors has already addressed.
But most will probably not hold up in court. The trumped up sum of over 9,000 child labor violations in fact is the product of the 32 underage employees multiplied by the number of days worked, making the violations appear grossly exaggerated. There is no evidence alluding to the alleged meth factory, or any records that indicate rabbis allegedly spent their time duct taping workers’ eyes. An officer conducting the raid found a mezuzah on a table and commented that there may be pipe bombs on the premises. The same workers who illegally deceived their employer by presenting false papers are the ones who now claim charges of abuse, in hopes of having their sentences commuted.
With 20 full-time USDA inspectors in the plant how could so many alleged infractions go on?
So something else is certainly “not kosher.”
Why has Agriprocessors taken more heat than Swift and Company or any of the others? Why has a kosher company been singled out in such an unprecedented way, when the entire meat industry employs illegals? Why is PETA and the media so aggressively focused on their case? Why all the uproar over Agriprocessors’ products to the point that organizations are proclaiming that they are “Rubashkin-free?” Shouldn’t we also stop purchasing products made in China, where we know that working conditions are substandard?
We are very close to Rosh Hashana, when we are reminded to not slander our fellow Jew, to judge another favorably and to assume innocence until proven guilty. This is the “ethical” and “kosher” Jewish way.
Agriprocessors has a “right” to their day in court. The fact that the company finds itself in this predicament today, may actually tell us as much about the accusers as the accused.
(Rochel Shlomo is co-owner of Sampo Distributors, the McKees Rocks-based distributor of kosher food
Gosh, I could not have said this better.
ReplyDeletePLEASE, send this "letter to Obama" to ALL your contacts, ASAP!
state of the Jews says...
ReplyDeleteon the Fabrengen in Postville celebrating Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin's release on bail:
No regrets
No apologies
No remorse
No saichel
1 day to go to the Election:
ReplyDeleteVOTE: McCAIN-PALIN!
Your life and Israels life depends on it!
Read this:
http://www.usweekly.com/
The following message is going around:
ReplyDeleteCall 212-444-9555
Listen to the message, and then forward to all your contacts.
TODAY!
Thank you and may G-d help the US
Another example of the perversion of the laws of pidyon shvuyim. They YWN asks for your help tomorrow in springing Moishe Rubashkin and his son so they can perpetrate some more chillul hashem by their criminal activities:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/25308/Monday+Morning:+Rare+Opportunity+for+Pidyon+Shevuyim.html
DISGUSTING!!!!
Call the Osama campaign and ask them to refund taxpayer money for the years she shnorred from us while living in Public Housing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/us/politics/02campaign.html?em
November 2, 2008
Obama Was Unaware of Aunt’s Status, Aides Say
By GARDINER HARRIS and ABBY GOODNOUGH
WASHINGTON — Responding to a report that a Kenyan relative of Senator Barack Obama was living in the United States illegally, his campaign said Saturday that he had no knowledge of her immigration status and that “any and all appropriate laws” should be followed.
The woman, Zeituni Onyango, referred to as Auntie Zeituni in a passage in Mr. Obama’s memoir, applied for political asylum in the United States in 2004, but a federal immigration judge rejected her request and instructed her to leave the country, said a government official with knowledge of the case who asked not to be identified because of its delicate nature. Ms. Onyango’s legal status was first reported by The Associated Press on Friday.
The disclosure came as the presidential campaign hurtled toward Election Day, and it left Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, answering questions about what he knew of Ms. Onyango’s situation.
Some Democrats suggested that the timing of the disclosure could have been politically motivated, and some immigration lawyers said that for government officials to disclose information about an asylum applicant was unethical or perhaps illegal.
“People are suspicious about stories that surface in the last 72 hours of a national campaign, and I think they’re going to put it in that context,” Mr. Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters on Saturday.
Senator John McCain’s campaign declined to comment, and neither Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, nor his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, raised the issue on the campaign trail.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, Kelly A. Nantel, said the agency’s inspector general and office of professional responsibility were looking into whether there was a violation of confidentiality policy.
Ms. Onyango, 56, is the half-sister of Mr. Obama’s father and is part of an extensive network of paternal relatives with whom Mr. Obama has had limited contact, his aides said. Mr. Obama, who was largely raised by his maternal grandparents in Honolulu, first met Ms. Onyango when he traveled to Africa as an adult.
Mr. Axelrod said that Mr. Obama and Ms. Onyango did not have “a real close relationship.”
Ms. Onyango attended the ceremony in January 2005 when Mr. Obama was sworn in as a senator from Illinois, but campaign officials said he had provided no assistance in getting her a tourist visa and did not know the details of her stay. At the time of the ceremony, Ms. Onyango and another relative said in interviews that they had flown to the United States from Kenya to witness the event.
Mr. Obama last heard from Ms. Onyango about two years ago when she called to say she was in Boston, but he did not see her there, the campaign said.
Federal Election Commission records list a Zeituni Onyango in South Boston as making a series of contributions, totaling $265, to the Obama campaign, with the most recent contribution, $5, made on Sept. 19.
Mr. Obama’s campaign said the money was being refunded. It is illegal for foreign citizens and immigrants without green cards to make political donations. Aides said that the donations came through the normal channels and that no one at the campaign knew of Ms. Onyango’s immigration status or that she was related to Mr. Obama.
The Times of London reported on Thursday that Ms. Onyango lived in public housing in Boston. On Friday, The A.P. reported that she was in the country illegally and that her case had led to an unusual nationwide directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement requiring that any deportations before the election on Tuesday be approved at least at the level of regional directors.
Ms. Nantel, the agency spokeswoman, said she could not comment on the matter. A White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel, said the White House had no involvement in the matter.
Ms. Onyango lives in an apartment that is handicapped accessible and volunteered as a resident health advocate for the Boston Housing Authority before stopping recently because of back surgery that required physical therapy, said William McGonagle, the authority’s deputy director.
On Saturday, a police officer was stationed outside the low, brick public housing complex where Ms. Onyango lives. The officer said she was not at home and told reporters not to enter the building.
PAUL KRUGMAN: WHEN CONSUMERS CAPITULATE
ReplyDeletePublished: Sunday, November 2, 2008 2:56 AM EST
The long-feared capitulation of American consumers has arrived.
According to Thursday’s GDP report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent.
To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. Consumer demand kept rising right through the 2001 recession; the last time it fell even for a single quarter was in 1991, and there hasn’t been a decline this steep since 1980, when the economy was suffering from a severe recession combined with double-digit inflation.
Also, these numbers are from the third quarter — the months of July, August, and September. So these data are basically telling us what happened before confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000. Nor do the data show the full effects of the sharp cutback in the availability of consumer credit, which is still under way.
So this looks like the beginning of a very big change in consumer behavior. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
It’s true that American consumers have long been living beyond their means. In the mid-1980s Americans saved about 10 percent of their income. Lately, however, the savings rate has generally been below 2 percent — sometimes it has even been negative — and consumer debt has risen to 98 percent of GDP, twice its level a quarter-century ago.
Some economists told us not to worry because Americans were offsetting their growing debt with the ever-rising values of their homes and stock portfolios. Somehow, though, we’re not hearing that argument much lately.
Sooner or later, then, consumers were going to have to pull in their belts. But the timing of the new sobriety is deeply unfortunate. One is tempted to echo St. Augustine’s plea: “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” For consumers are cutting back just as the U.S. economy has fallen into a liquidity trap — a situation in which the Federal Reserve has lost its grip on the economy.
Some background: One of the high points of the semester, if you’re a teacher of introductory macroeconomics, comes when you explain how individual virtue can be public vice, how attempts by consumers to do the right thing by saving more can leave everyone worse off. The point is that if consumers cut their spending, and nothing else takes the place of that spending, the economy will slide into a recession, reducing everyone’s income.
In fact, consumers’ income may actually fall more than their spending, so that their attempt to save more backfires — a possibility known as the paradox of thrift.
At this point, however, the instructor hastens to explain that virtue isn’t really vice: In practice, if consumers were to cut back, the Fed would respond by slashing interest rates, which would help the economy avoid recession and lead to a rise in investment. So virtue is virtue after all, unless for some reason the Fed can’t offset the fall in consumer spending.
For the fact is that we are in a liquidity trap right now: Fed policy has lost most of its traction. It’s true that Ben Bernanke hasn’t yet reduced interest rates all the way to zero, as the Japanese did in the 1990s. But it’s hard to believe that cutting the federal funds rate from 1 percent to nothing would have much positive effect on the economy. In particular, the financial crisis has made Fed policy largely irrelevant for much of the private sector: The Fed has been steadily cutting away, yet mortgage rates and the interest rates many businesses pay are higher than they were early this year.
The capitulation of the American consumer, then, is coming at a particularly bad time. But it’s no use whining. What we need is a policy response.
The ongoing efforts to bail out the financial system, even if they work, won’t do more than slightly mitigate the problem. Maybe some consumers will be able to keep their credit cards, but as we’ve seen, Americans were overextended even before banks started cutting them off.
Letter of Outrage to LA Times By President of Young Israel
ReplyDeleteNovember 2, 2008
Los Angeles Times
To the Editor:
The election of the President of the United States and the peaceful transition of power from one president to the next is the hallmark of America’s constitutional democracy. The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of the press, another hallmark of our democracy. It is, therefore, most disturbing that your paper is hypocritically hiding behind a promise to a source and withholding information from the public that could affect the outcome of next week’s presidential election.
Senator Barack Obama became the Democratic candidate for President, despite his affiliation with Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The Senator’s repudiation of his pastor was accepted by Americans who believed the assurances of this charismatic candidate.
The Times is in possession of a tape of a 2003 event that Senator Obama attended with Palestinian scholar Rashid Khalidi. The Times is refusing to allow the pubic to review the tape claiming that they promised anonymity to the source who provided them with the tape.. Steve Barry, writing in your paper on March 24, 1998, criticized the secret settlement of civil cases because they often hide issues that are “immensely important to the public.” Tresa Baldas in the National Law Journal of September 15, 2005, quoted Susan Seager, an attorney representing a number of media outlets, including the LA Times, who did not want the court records sealed in the case of Armour v Ritter. Ms. Seager said: “When courts conduct private proceedings behind closed doors, it creates public mistrust and suspicion.”
In an August 29, 2003 interview with Joe Scarborough, Mr.Khalidi hedged when Mr. Scarborough asked him if he said “Israel is a ‘racist’ state with an ‘apartheid’ system and that America has been brainwashed by Israel.” The transcript of that broadcast provided the actual cite for Mr. Khalidi’s quote. (Jordan Elgrably, “Crisis of Our Times: Nationalism Identity and the Future of Israel/Palestine, an Interview with Rashid Khalidi.”)
Your paper claims that the outcome of civil court proceedings is “immensely important to the public” and that “private court proceedings create public mistrust and suspicion.” These positions are ludicrous in light of your intentionally withholding information of grave concern to members of the public. Surely the outcomes of civil court proceedings pale in comparison to the importance of a presidential election. The failure to publicize the video “creates mistrust and suspicion” among Jewish and pro-Israel voters as to Senator Obama’s record. “The public has the right to know.”
Sincerely,
Shlomo Z. Mostofsky, President
National Council of Young Israel
(To voice your outrage to the LA Times, send them an email to letters@latimes.com)
The Democraps are screaming bloody murder about the "timing" of the story with Osama's auntie. It's always the Democrap mamzerim who pull stunts like this before every election like what they did to George W. & Laura Bush in two different episodes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, is Osama's henchman Axelrod related to the molester from Baltimore who became a Conservative "rabbi" in Whitestone, Queens?
Gruesome Scenes From the Poultry Line Are a Sign of Agriprocessors’ Troubles
ReplyDeleteBy Nathaniel Popper
Sun. Nov 02, 2008
POSTVILLE, IOWA — Oscar Andres has worked on the poultry line at the kosher meat producer Agriprocessors here since September and he says that a few dead chickens always make it out of company holding pens and onto the slaughter line conveyor belt.
On October 31, though, Andres said that nearly half the chickens coming down the conveyor belt were dead — many of them rotting so completely that when he went to pick up the legs of the chickens they would fall out of the body.
“It was really terrible,” said Andres, a 29-year-old who came to work at the factory from Palau. “It’s really hard in the close conditions that we work — this bad smell was everywhere. It’s like we work and throw up at the same time. Even myself, I was throwing up. It’s really, really bad — but they never stop. They keep us going and going.”
“We have never experienced anything like this before,” Andres added.
The Friday on which this happened was just one day after Agriprocessors, the beleaguered kosher meat producer, ran into its greatest legal difficulties yet. On Thursday October 30 a bank sued Agriprocessors for defaulting on a $35 million loan. That same day, the former CEO of the Iowa slaughterhouse, Sholom Rubashkin, was arrested for allegedly helping undocumented immigrants land jobs at the plant. The arrest and lawsuit came a few months after Agriprocessors was the subject of a massive federal immigration raid in which nearly 400 workers were arrested.
A company spokesman, Chaim Abrahams, was asked on November 2 about the proliferation of dead chickens on the slaughter line, and said: “I have no idea.” He declined to answer any other questions. Previously, the company had not responded to multiple calls for comment.
Agriprocessors’ financial difficulties have been building — early last week, all beef production was halted. But the company’s struggles were nowhere more gruesome than in the ongoing effort to produce poultry last week. Jeff Abbas, who runs the local radio station, said that it appears the company has not been able to come up with the money to feed the live chickens that it still has. Father Paul Ouderkirk, a priest at Postville’s Catholic church, said he has been hearing reports from workers “telling us that they saw trucks of poultry sitting there for days.”
Indeed, the evening of November 1, after the plant had been closed for more than 24 hours, a reporter driving around Postville came upon two tractor trailers full of turkeys in an otherwise depopulated parking lot near the slaughterhouse. The turkeys had been left with no apparent food or water. The white-plumed animals were four to a cage, and a rough count indicated that the two trucks held over 1,000 animals. A number of turkeys appeared to have already died. The trailers full of birds were in the same place early the next morning.
Andres said that the plant’s chicken production had been decreasing steadily over the last month, and this week dropped to below half of what it was when he arrived.
Andres’s eyes were noticeably red and swollen, and he said he has had a persistent sickness from the conditions inside the slaughterhouse. But he said it has been the nature of his work during the last week that has been particularly distressing. In addition to the dead chickens, Andres said, most of the living chickens on the conveyor belt were still very young. “Some of them were still without feathers. Like naked chickens. They’re really small, like this small,” he said gesturing with cupped hands.
“I asked my supervisor why we are killing them,” Andres said. “He just said, ‘This is what we have.’ He wouldn’t give any more of an answer.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3616443,00.html
ReplyDeleteReligious leaders indicted over false ordinations
Ten defendants, including Rabbinate bureau chiefs, charged with operating 'colleges' that falsely ordained 1,500 officers of security forces, who received pay raise from State due to rabbinical certification
Aviad Glickman
Ten leaders of the religious community were indicted Sunday in the ongoing case against hundreds of fraudulently ordained rabbis of the IDF and other security forces. The defendants include the bureau chiefs of both Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and former Chief Rabbi Meir Lau.
The 10 have been indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust, and blackmail for fraudulently ordaining various officers and military men as rabbis.
The Jerusalem District Prosecutor's Office is claiming that some of the defendants established various "colleges" throughout Israel between the years 1999-2003, in which officers of security forces studied for a few hours a week, for up to two years.
Then, by collaborating with the director of ordinations at the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the defendants obtained documents for the officers certifying five years of studies.
The fraudulent paperwork was then submitted to the different organizations employing the officers – including the police, the IDF, and the Prison Service – which then granted the officers a pay raise. Around 1,500 officers received a pay raise of up to NIS 4,000 (approximately $1,200) a month.
The prosecution further claims that most of the certificates were transferred to the students at the colleges by a number of mediators, among them Meir Rosenthal, Metzger's bureau chief, who is
suspected of swiping millions in the process. The certificates were issued by the Chief Rabbinate's director of ordinations, Yitzhak Ohana.
In August, the IDF announced that it would demand the fictitious rabbis refund the money they received on top of their regular paycheck. In addition, the State is expected to indict hundreds of the falsely ordained officers on criminal charges for receiving illegal pay benefits.