Yagoda Commons
215 Lexington Ave. (at 33rd St.)
Yeshiva University, Beren Campus
Refreshments will be served - ["The Day The RCA Became Agudah"]
Free and open to the public with valid picture ID
ASL INTERPRETED
WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE
RSVP: ethics@yu.edu or (212) 960-0826
This panel will examine corruption as a failure of public integrity, and will include both Halakhic and secular perspectives. Issues to be discussed include political corruption in Israel and the United States and misconduct by community and religious leaders as well as those in politics and government. Co-sponsored by the Center for Ethics at YU, Social Justice Society, YU College Democrats, YU College Republicans, and Political Science Society
34 comments:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/prnewswire/2010/04/27/prnewswire201004271349PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC94271.html
A New York City federal grand jury returned an indictment against four individuals and three corporations for participating in mail and wire fraud conspiracies related to contracts for work performed at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), the Department of Justice announced.
The four-count indictment returned today in U.S. District Court in New York City, charges Michael Yaron and two companies owned by him, Cambridge Environmental & Construction Corp., which does business as National Environmental Associates (Cambridge/NEA), an asbestos abatement company, and Oxford Construction & Development Corp., a construction company, with engaging in wire and mail fraud conspiracies to defraud the NYPH. Also indicted on the same charges are Moshe Buchnik, the current president of two asbestos abatement companies; Emilio "Tony" Figueroa, a former Director of Facilities Operations at NYPH, and Santo Saglimbeni, a former Vice President of Facilities Operations at NYPH; and Artech Corp., a company owned by a relative of Saglimbeni.
According to the indictment, from at least as early as 2000 and continuing through at least January 2008, Saglimbeni awarded asbestos abatement contracts, air monitoring contracts and general construction contracts to Yaron, Buchnik, their companies, Cambridge/NEA and Oxford, and to their co-conspirators, at the same time that Saglimbeni was asking for and receiving cash kickbacks from Yaron and Buchnik. A substantial portion of those kickbacks were funneled by Yaron and Buchnik through various intermediary companies, and eventually to Saglimbeni through Artech, a company Saglimbeni created in a family member's name to conceal kickbacks, the department said.
Yaron, Buchnik, Saglimbeni, Cambridge/NEA, Oxford and Artech are also charged with wire fraud to achieve the objectives of the conspiracy, as they transferred money electronically from the bank account of one co-conspirator to the bank account of Artech on or about May 5, 2005, the department said in court documents.
The mail and wire fraud violations that the individuals are charged with each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The maximum fine for the charges may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of certain assets as they relate to the kickbacks received in connection with the mail fraud charges in the indictment.
The charges announced today resulted from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation of bid rigging, fraud, bribery and tax-related offenses relating to construction, maintenance and service contracts administered by the Engineering Department of Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine (Mount Sinai) and the Facilities Operations Department and the Engineering Department of NYPH. To date, eight individuals and three companies have pleaded guilty to charges arising out of this ongoing investigation.
-April 28, 2010. The House of Representatives today unanimously passed H.R. 3393, the “Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2009” (IPERA), to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent in the most responsible way possible and that if the government overpays for goods or services, it has the means to recover those overpayments.
April 28 (Bloomberg) — …That tense relationship [between Treasury and Inspector General Barofsky] has grown out of Barofsky’s mandate to monitor and root out fraud and waste in the management of TARP, the $700 billion program passed in October 2008 to remove toxic debt from the banks. The special inspector general, in a series of reports, interviews and congressional hearings, has heaped criticism on the Treasury Department’s operation of the program.
Barofsky’s most recent broadside came on April 20, when a SIGTARP report labeled a housing-loan modification program funded with $50 billion of TARP money as ineffectual.
…The TARP watchdog has also criticized Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner in reports and in congressional testimony for his handling of the process by which insurance giant American International Group Inc. was saved from insolvency in 2008, when Geithner was head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Who was it that said unpopular people should not run for President?
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-page-prays-obamas-death/story?id=10451069
Facebook group accused of praying for Obama's death passes 1 million members
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/gov_david_paterson_dares_legis.html
The rising rancor and frustration was clear shortly before Paterson’s press conference, in a usually staid Senate Finance Committee meeting that erupted into shouts and calls to “step outside.”
Democratic Sen. Kevin Parker of Brooklyn, who is black, was defending a Paterson nominee to one of the state authorities during a debate over the nomination. After questioning by Republican Sen. John DeFrancisco of Onondaga County, who is white, Parker shouted that a white nominee wouldn’t be questioned so aggressively.
“How dare you!” Parker shouted at DeFrancisco. “You racist people in here,” he said in the committee room. “People like you don’t understand ... that’s why people have policies to counteract that.”
Then Democratic Finance Committee Chairman Carl Kruger shouted at Parker: “One more outburst like that, and I’ll ask you to be removed.”
“OK, then, get somebody to remove me,” said Parker.
I know that some of you will take this badly but take a gander any way.
http://www.lakewood246.com/news/10127/thousands-saying-tehillim-at-the-kinnus-for-r-sholom-rubashkin.html
guess what
if all the people who dont like aguda join the anti aguda lobby group they will be the largest lobby in the jewish community
someone asked rabbi matz the aguda representitive in south fla the following question
how many jobs have you helped find answer was none even though it was on the brochure job creation
how many schools have you helped re homeland security
he answered 6 even though the grants were secured nor thru his efforts
what is your position on rabbinical molesters being prosecuted
guess what no answer
thank you aguda for all you do
Will someone be recording this event?
At least YU is willing to admit "gedolim" are falable. But then, they're Modern Orthodox. "We don't hold from them."
"We" at the Agudah have "The Moetzes Gedolei HaToiyra" and "The Gedolim" are all-knowing and perfect. The words of "The Gedolim" are like Hashem's words. "Tzadik gozer v'Hashem mekayeim" (and we have lots more "Torah-True" Chazal quotes to prove it!) And "The Gedolim" of the Agudah never make mistakes. It's apikorsus to say they do! Chas V'shalom we should doubt them! Even if you have proof that they made mistakes, it's not true because "The Gedolim" are the embodiment of Torah, and Torah is True!
Anyway, it's refreshing to see that the "Modern Orthodox" are willing to face their own demons. Too bad Modern Orthodoxy is not considered "Torah-True-Judaism" or "Emesse-Toiyra-Frumkeit" by the Agudah/Yeshivishe Oiylam.
And about the "Gedolim" - has anyone tried to confront them about the following REAL bizayon to Torah?
[WARNING: Reading the essay at the following link may give you a good excuse to go off the derech completely, if you've ever contemplated it.]
The essay is about many things, but most disturbing to me, about how "Gedolim" in Israel and America have taken to LYING about what Rishonim, Geonim, and Acharonim wrote by selectively misquoting and distorting their words. This was all done in a sefer written to promote blind faith in Rabbonim.
Read it, all of it, and weep:
http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/chaim.html
http://www.zootorah.com/controversy/ChaimBEmunasam.pdf
Hey, my name could be Ivrit or Chinese!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/world/asia/01china.html?hp
Chinese Preschoolers Hurt in New Attack
By MICHAEL WINES 3:19 AM ET
In the latest in a bizarre series of attacks, a man beat children with a hammer before setting himself on fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/business/30case.html?hp
Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which two weeks ago filed a civil fraud suit against Goldman, referred its investigation to prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, which has now opened its own inquiry.
Many in Congress have been pressing for a criminal inquiry. This week, 62 House members sent a letter to the Justice Department asking it to conduct an investigation into Goldman’s actions.
This is another reason why Pinchos Lipschutz and the heimish street should stop screaming "anti-Semitism"
Here is a first time white collar offender who only managed to steal $200,000 and pleaded guilty (unlike Rubashkin who won't accept responsibility for anything he did). He was still sentenced to a record 309 years in prison.
http://www.wdam.com/Global/story.asp?S=12000328
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A Louisiana man whom prosecutors said was the ringleader of an identity theft scheme with dozens of victims has been sentenced to 309 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney David Dugas said the sentence handed down Wednesday to 43-year-old Robert Thompson, of Zachary, is the longest prison sentence for any white-collar crime in the history of his Baton Rouge-based office's jurisdiction.
Thompson, also known as John Lawson, allegedly used the identities and financial information of 61 individuals, churches, financial institutions and businesses to steal more than $200,000 worth of cash and goods. Prosecutors said Thompson also tried to steal $20 million from an unidentified victim's bank accounts, but authorities foiled the scheme.
Thompson pleaded guilty to fraud and theft charges last May.
Abuse - failure to screen workers
Haaretz
A 70-year-old man with past convictions for murder and rape was arrested on Thursday for allegedly molesting a suicidal 14-year-old girl at the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.
Yoseph Nino, a Herzliya resident, had been hired by the hospital through a manpower agency to supervise the teen during nighttime hours to prevent her from hurting herself. The teen had been hospitalized in the hospital's children's wing after attempting to kill herself [...]
There are kosher restaurants in NY that do this and they take more than just a few pennies. This is usually done by the restaurant owner himself since it is his money - workers don't care as much because it's not their money. Count your change carefully.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/complaint-box-rounding-up/?hp
April 30, 2010, 9:55 AM
Complaint Box | Exacting Change
By STEVEN JAY WEISZ
I dine out often, and lately I’ve noticed a new trend occurring in some restaurants. I call it the Great Roundup.
The last time it happened, I was having a perfectly adequate meal at one of my favorite neighborhood bistros. My lunch, including tax, was $14.71. I placed a crisp $20 bill in the leatherette folder and waited for change. After a few minutes, the waitress returned. I was given a $5 bill and one quarter.
Several questions began to fill my mind. Had I misread the check? Did the waitress forget the monies due? Could this be some new Metropolitan Transportation Authority or stimulus tax?
The waitress, sensing that something was amiss, returned to my table. And then it came, the moment of truth. I was a lone cowboy in the midst of the Great Roundup and, in an effort to right all the wrongs in life and commerce, I said, “Excuse me, but I believe you gave me the incorrect change.”
My twentysomething server picked up the check and squinted at it. She then looked at the folder, which still contained the fiver and the quarter. “You mean you want the four cents?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said (instantly feeling like the lowest invertebrate to inhabit Manhattan Island). “Yes, I do.”
Even if it is pennies, is this even legal?
I am not sure what possessed me to make my stand against the fickle forces of shortchange-dom. The waitress did return and, though neither one of us could look the other in the eye, she presented me with a shiny new nickel and, hence, a one-cent profit
Two years ago when the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the country was raided by the government after horrible tales surfaced about the abuse and exploitation of its mostly immigrant workforce,
Shmuly Yanklowitz
refused to stand idly by. As the Founder and Co-Director of Uri L'Tzedek,
Shmuly Yanklowitz
immediately rallied the American Jewish community to stand up for greater transparency in the kosher food industry, organizing a nation-wide campaign to which over 2,000 Jewish leaders signed on. After meeting with workers in Postville and winning this campaign,
Shmuly Yanklowitz
and Uri L'Tzedek launched the Tav HaYosher, an Ethical Seal affirming justice in the workplace and worker rights for all the employees of Kosher restaurants. Since this local, grassroots initiative was launched in May, over fifteen kosher eating establishments have been awarded the Tav HaYosher. When he is not saving the world one Kosher restaurant at a time,
Shmuly Yanklowitz
is a Rabbinical Student at YCT Rabbinical School in New York City where he is a Wexner Graduate Fellow - and a Doctoral Candidate in Developmental Psychology at Columbia University.
Lag Ba'Omer is a time of comraderie and feelings of responsibility of one Jew to the next. One prayer from a broken person can help fix so many problems for the person prayed for. Those who guide and inspire us are in our positive thoughts daily. While those who seek to cause them trouble are in our thoughts for the negative. Hashem looks out for those who are being chased and harmed.
On Lag Ba'Omer think about the empty seats of those pushed away becuause of the acts and coverups of a few criminals. Think about the criminals who are covered for and get free passes for violent crimes, while a man who was a financial criminal is facing life in jail. Is this fair? Where is Hashem and mercy in all this?
Our rabbi and those who help us know who they are. They should all continue to experience mazal tov and all good things should come their way. We were thinking good thoughts about all of you.
At yesterday's sentencing hearing, Rubashkin's accountant Abe Roth blamed the banks for the money the banks lost – it wasn't Rubashkin's fault, he claimed – also calculated the bank's loss in the low millions, instead of more than $25 million.
So? Who is he? Who is Abe Roth?
News reports yesterday call him an old family friend of the Rubashkins. But who is he really?
http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-07-13/news/his-dear-friends
Tom Robbins of the Village Voice tells us:
…Former city councilman Noach Dear picked up decidedly modest support from the Kushner fundraising machine when he ran for Congress in 1998 and 2000. Records show he received about $7,500 from Kushner and his associates.
But Dear, who served 18 years in the council representing Brooklyn's Borough Park, and who once boasted a close relationship to Bill Clinton due to his ability to raise money for the Clinton-Gore ticket among New York's Orthodox Jewish business community, came in for blistering language in a recent FEC audit. During his unsuccessful run for the Ninth District congressional seat representing Brooklyn and Queens (a seat won by Anthony Weiner), auditors found that Dear and campaign treasurer Abraham Roth—a certified public accountant—accepted "several sets of sequentially numbered money orders." The money, purportedly from 47 individual contributors, totalled about $40,000.
When interviewed, however, those whose names appeared on the money orders told FEC investigators they had never made donations to Dear's committee.
So where did the money orders come from? Auditors discovered that the culprits were two key aides to Dear's campaign committee. Nicholas Lagemann, Dear's campaign finance director, and Bella Vais, his chief of staff, "executed at least some of those money orders in the name of others," according to a civil complaint filed against Dear in federal court.
Nor were fraudulent money orders the only problem the audit found. In his 1998 campaign, Dear accepted a whopping $564,000 in contributions that exceeded federal limits, according to the FEC. Dear's committee agreed to return the excess contributions, and in its midyear 1999 filing claimed to have done just that, making refunds of more than $300,000. But that wasn't true either, auditors discovered. In fact, the complaint stated, the refunds were never made. As late as June 2003, when the FEC, unable to get Dear to agree to pay up, filed its complaint, he still had failed to refund more than $200,000 of the excess contributions.
Last month, Dear and Roth, his former campaign treasurer, quietly agreed to pay fines to resolve the matter. Roth pledged to pay $45,000, while Dear will ante up all the remaining funds in two committees, Dear for Congress and Friends of Noach Dear '93. It's not much. In its last filings, Dear for Congress listed $710 in cash on hand and debts of $148,000; Dear '93 no longer exists.
Since term limits forced him out of his council seat, Dear has been perpetually seeking elected office. He ran in 2002 for a newly created state senate post in Flatbush, but was defeated by political novice Kevin Parker. This year, he is again running for the seat, and his new state committee (which is off-limits to the FEC's enforcement agents) lists $290,582 in funds raised. Dear didn't respond to several messages left at his home and at his current campaign office.
http://www.fec.gov/law/litigation_CCA_FEC_D.shtml
The FEC summary of the case:
FEC v. DEAR FOR CONGRESS (03CV2897)
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100429/NEWS03/4290410/-1/newsfront/Ramapo-woman-sentenced-to-year-in-jail-for-stealing--283G
A 43-year-old Monsey woman has been sentenced to a year in jail for scamming two people out of $283,000.
Yitty Shteierman, the mother of eight, pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny in state Supreme Court in January for stealing the money. She used a phony deed on her 41 S. Parker Drive house to get money from fellow members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and neighbors, first in 2005 and then again in 2007.
Shteierman would have been placed on probation had she been able to repay the $283,000 to her victims. But her New City lawyer, Kenneth Gribetz, said she had used all of the money to raise her children.
"What she did was totally wrong but she did this to support her family," Gribetz said this morning. "She abused trust. There's no two ways about it."
State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly sentenced Shteierman on Wednesday. Gribetz said his client is taking today to making living arrangements for her four children under the age of 18.
Shteierman is due to surrender at 9:30 a.m. Friday to begin her term at the county jail in New City.
I posted something over at Shmarya's for the first time in ages. I used a different computer and screen name & the information is even of interest to Shmarya, but because I also criticized him, he erased the comment in about a minute flat. This from the guy who claims he "allows" criticism of himself.
In any case, I pointed out that Rubashkin's fraud accountant Abe Roth reports to work in Boro Park every day at 1428 36th St, Suite 200.
Guess who is across the hall from him in Suite 219?
Menachem Lubinsky and Lubicom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/business/02workout.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
April 30, 2010
Who Knew Bankruptcy Paid So Well?
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and JULIE CRESWELL
MORE than $263,000 for photocopies in four months. Over $2,100 in limousine rides by one partner in one month. And $48 just to leave a message. Explanations for these charges? Priceless.
The lawyers, accountants and restructuring experts overseeing the remains of Lehman Brothers have already racked up more than $730 million in fees and expenses, with no end in sight. Anyone wondering why total fees doled out in the Lehman bankruptcy alone could easily touch the $1 billion mark merely has to look at the bills buried among the blizzard of court documents filed in the case.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-foot_01met.ART.State.Edition1.b3357.html
Daniel Wayne Staley is fascinated by death – so much so, police say, that he dug up a grave and used a hatchet to cut off the foot of a corpse in a private Jewish cemetery in Pleasant Grove.
Police plan to charge Staley, 18, with abuse of a human corpse or grave. He faces up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine in the Class A misdemeanor case.
He is being held in the Dallas County Jail on $10,000 bail.
"He's infatuated with death and decided to do it," said Sgt. Bruce McDonald, a homicide unit supervisor. "He has some very serious issues and possibly mental problems. He knew what he was doing was wrong."
About 12 hours later, Staley approached police officers and told them that he had a human foot in his bag. Police said he pulled the foot out of the bag and showed it to the officers about 3:30 a.m. Friday, telling them that he dug it up from a nearby grave and took the foot from a "Jew girl."
Police found a small hatchet and fragments from the foot in the bag.
Staley then led officers to the Tiferet Israel Agudas Achim Cemetery on Buckner Boulevard near Scyene Road. He showed them the grave he had dug up. He was then arrested.
Police found a shovel thought to have been used to dig up the grave. They also searched the woods behind the cemetery, looking for more body parts. A rabbi also came to the cemetery to check out the grave. Police believe the foot came from the grave of Leibe Vener, who died in 1941.
McDonald of the homicide unit said Staley didn't take the foot because the corpse was that of a Jewish person.
McDonald said officials are trying to reach Vener's family.
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57921/why-my-meeting-with-the-pope-is-good-for-the-jews/
Why my meeting with the pope is good for the Jews
by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Archie Bunker
Guess who lives across from me.Jack The Ripper.What does that make me? Ridiculous,stupid you say?No more ridiculous then your above statement.
Are people insane?Does every narishkeit have to be published as,excuse the expression,Gospel truth?
Some shmendrick in DC says that he has "circumstantial evidence"
that meth was manufactured in Postville.Shmarya the infallible one comes out with some "electrifieng" news every other day about Rubashkin etc. and we accept all this garbage as halocho leMoshe miSinai.
On the other hand if someone says something positive about Rubashkin he's tarred and feathered.
I'm no great fan of Pinny Lipshitz but hey lets forget about the messenger and listen to the message (cliché).Why are we so accepting of any thing negative said about Rubashkin no matter how inane,but lambaste anything positive said or written about him?
Yes he definitely committed crimes, deserves punishment and will be, but must we continuously be mikatrig on the man? The least we can do is shut up.
Bunker,
You really should get over your obsession with Shmarya and join forces. The evil we are facing is bigger than all of us
Any man who chooses to be a ‘rabbi’ (‘true teacher’ of Torah) or a ‘dayan’ (‘judge’), or a ‘mekubal’ (‘kabbalist’) should be doing so Voluntarily. Out of his pure love for Hashem and the Torah. And his Ahavat Yisrael.
If he refuses to do community work voluntarily, and wants and accepts payment for everything he does, such a man should not be heading a community. He should get a job and earn a living. He can collect milk bottles or clean the windows. That is what is called ‘earning a living’.
Torah is learned, studied and taught: out of Love. Voluntarily. But the ‘rabbis’ have turned the Torah into their ‘Profession’, from which they earn money.
We are commanded in the Shema to:
‘LOVE Hashem, your G-d, WITH ALL YOUR HEART, and with all your soul and with all your might.’
‘VE’AHAVTA et Hashem Elokecha BECHOL LEVAVECHA uvechol nafshecha uvechol meodecha.’ (Devarim, Vaethanan, 6:4-5)
Is the ordinary man or woman PAID to pray to Hashem, or to say some words of Torah? No. Has veshalom! But the rabbis are. These men can give ‘lovely’ shiurim that they have rehearsed. But they would not give a shiur without being paid for it.
The true hachamim and rabbis of old, all actually worked at proper jobs and professions.
Wake up! Even a little child could have worked this out. These salaried men can never truly stand for the Torah, because in a case of conflict between a correct course of action according to the Torah, and the rabbi or rav’s pocket – his pocket and position will always prevail.
Pirkei Avot: (2:2)
“Raban Gamliel beno shel Rabi Yehuda HaNassi omer: yafeh talmud Torah im derech eretz, sheyegiat shenaihem mashkachat avon. Vechol Torah she’ein imah melacha sofa betailah ve’goreret avon. Vechol haoskim im hatzibbur yiheyu imahem leShem Shamayim……”
“Rabban Gamliel, the son of Rabi Yehuda HaNassi, said: It is good to combine Torah study with a worldly occupation, for working at them both drives sin from the mind. All Torah without an occupation will in the end fail and lead to sin. And let all who work for the community do so for the sake of Heaven………”
The sins of the father may finally be visited on the sons of Bernie Madoff.
The jailed-for-life Ponzi schemer's two sons and brother - who were bosses at a legitimate wing of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities - will likely face tax-fraud charges later this year, sources told The Associated Press.
Mark and Andrew Madoff have been spared from criminal charges in the $65 billion swindle that destroyed investors' portfolios and landed their old man in federal prison for 150 years.
Only six people - including Bernie, his right-hand man Frank DiPascali and bean-counter David Friehling - have been charged in the epic ripoff.
That could soon change, two people familiar with the investigation told The AP.
Madoff's sons, who heard their father's confession in December 2008 before turning him in to the feds, will be charged in coming weeks, along with at least two employees, the sources said.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the report, which said the sons could dodge more severe securities fraud charges if authorities cannot prove they knowingly duped investors.
A criminal complaint against Madoff's former operations chief, Daniel Bonventre, implicated Madoff relatives without naming them. He allegedly never logged loans of more than $50million that helped Madoff relatives and employees buy posh homes.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2010/04/rice-dream.html
OU is caught by rabbonim allowing the popular "Rice Dream" product to be cooked in the same vats as treif chicken soup!
The OU is hiding behind their low level employee Howie Katzenstein who was sent out to give some lame excuse about kashering ben yomo which is not allowed in halacha unless there is an emergency.
http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2010/05/robert-frank-v-orthodox-union.html
Full text of Federal lawsuit against the OU & Montefiore for covering up treif.
The first comment here slandering the whistleblower mashgiach was planted by an OU operative.
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/04/28/2010-04-28_none_of_the_sec_workers_who_searched_for_porn_will_be_fired.html
None of the SEC employees who surfed the Web for porn at work will be fired
BY AMANDA MASTRULL
DAILY NEWS WRITER
At many jobs, employees couldn’t use company computers to search for Internet pornography without getting fired. It appears this isn’t the case at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Despite using government computers to view online porn, none of the 28 SEC workers investigated will be fired, the Washington Post reports.
The SEC’s inspector general sent a letter detailing the measures taken against the staffers to Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley. Six were suspended, while others received formal reprimands and warnings. Eight resigned.
One accountant who was suspended for two weeks tried to access porn sites more than 16,000 times in one month.
Though the investigation dates back to five years ago, most of the searches occurred within the past couple years, while the economy was collapsing.
The SEC workers – some of whom were earning more than $200,000 per year – used search engines like Google and Yahoo! to find the Web sites and bypassed Internet filters.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/05/someone_tried_to_set_off_a_car.html
Here's what we know so far about last night's failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in the heart of Times Square, which resulted in the evacuation of the area and no casualties:
The car was a SUV (a dark green Nissan, according to the Times; the Daily News says it was a blue Pathfinder) parked awkwardly on the curb with the motor running at the corner of Broadway and 45th, just outside The Lion King. Security cameras caught it travelling west on Broadway at 6:28pm. The vehicle was reported as suspicious just a few minutes later.
It contained three propane tanks, two red 5-gallon plastic jugs of gasoline, three propane tanks, some fireworks and two clocks with batteries. There was also a two-by-two-by-four-foot metal box, described as a "gun locker," which police removed from the scene to detonate elsewhere. According to police, the device "looked amateurish," and seemingly malfunctioned in the process of detonating. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said "I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire."
The bomber appears to have been caught midway through trying to detonate the car. A Times Square T-shirt vendor (a Vietnam veteran named Lance Orton who apparently doesn't trust the media) noticed smoke emanating from the vehicle, and alerted mounted officer Wayne Rhatigan, who smelled gunpowder and began to clear the area with the help of two other cops.
After evacuation, police and firefighters surrounded the SUV. Several pops were heard from inside, but it failed to detonate. The bomb squad checked out the interior using a remote-controlled robot, then disabled the explosives.
The Daily News says police are investigating reports of a man running away from the SUV; the Times says there were no such reports. Mayor Bloomberg, who rushed back from the White House correspondent's dinner in Washington, said "We have no idea who did this or why." Police are reviewing security videotapes. However, the SUV's windows were tinted, which could make it hard to see anyone inside on the tapes. On "Meet the Press" this morning, Janet Napolitano said fingerprints and other forensic evidence were recovered.
Apparently stolen, the SUV had Connecticut license plates from another car, a Ford F-150. Police interviewed the owner of that car but said he was not a suspect; they're investigating the junkyard where the Ford was left.
Broadway shows were canceled or delayed. The area between West 43rd to 47th Streets along Broadway and Seventh Avenue was blocked with metal railings last night, and parts of West 48th Street were also closed.
Belongs to the Conservative Beth El in New Rochelle but his kids went to YU
http://www.medisyshealth.org/profile-rosen.htm
David P. Rosen is president and chief executive officer of MediSys Health Network, Inc., parent company of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, and The Brookdale University Hospital
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/family_money_tree_QpsoQSIq6JualBvF51ef0O
A hospital group linked to an influence-peddling scandal in Albany put three members of a prominent family of Brooklyn politicians on its payroll, records and e-mails obtained by The Post show.
Prosecutors say MediSys Health Network, which runs Jamaica, Flushing and Brookdale hospitals and other ventures, gave $390,000 in "corrupt payments" to crooked ex-Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio's bogus consulting firm for help with government funding and acquisition of hospitals.
It also paid three members of the Boyland family, a force in central Brooklyn politics for decades:
* Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr., a Democrat who represents Brownsville, was a "patient recruiter" for the MediSys-managed Brookdale Medical Center for years while helping the hospitals get state grants and lobbying for the network.
* His father, former Assemblyman William F. Boyland Sr., spent years on Brookdale's payroll, doing "public outreach."
"I improved the image of the hospital and tried to get patients to go there," he told The Post. He said he "retired" last June, the same month Seminerio pleaded guilty to fraud.
* Boyland Jr.'s sister, former City Councilwoman Tracy Boyland, helped Brookdale get $2.6 million in grants when she represented Brownsville. After leaving office in 2005, she was hired by Neighborhood Health Providers, a MediSys health-insurance company. She did not return calls.
The US Attorney's Office said only that its probe stemming from the Seminerio case is ongoing.
http://www.wben.com/Paladino-Calls-on-Cuomo-to-Give-Back--Blood-Money-/6940402
Buffalo, NY (WBEN) -- Buffalo businessman and gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, is calling on State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to return campaign contributions from an investor with connections to Goldman Sachs.
According to published reports, investor John Paulson and Goldman Sachs were partners in a scheme that manipulated the sub-prime mortgage market, ultimately resulting in hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. Eric Stein - who was appointed as Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary by President Obama - also had a role in the fraudulent operation.
Paulson allegedly made $15 billion dollars from the scheme. He recently made a $100,000 campaign contribution to Andrew Cuomo, who still has not officially declared himself as a candidate in the governor's race.
"Today, I call on State Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, to return that blood money," Paladino told reporters on Friday.
But that's not all Paladino wants. He's also asking Cuomo to launch an investigation into Paulson's role in the Goldman Sachs fraud case.
"Now we'll see if... [Cuomo] has the guts to take on the big guys on Wall Street who cheat," Paladino said.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/cuddly_moneyman_khDcc1djIqySyJeV2o1xdO
Former Secretary of the Treasury and Citigroup chairman Robert Rubin just wants to cuddle -- with women other than his wife, in the middle of a financial meltdown.
Dr. Iris Mack, a 53-year-old mathematician, wrote on a Web site that Rubin asked her after a romantic 2007 dinner in Miami if she wanted to go to his room at the Ritz and "cuddle."
"And not long afterward the former Treasury secretary had his tongue down my throat and hands everywhere sort of like an octopus," wrote Mack.
Rubin could not be reached for comment. Mack said she left Rubin in the hotel lobby that night.
" The sins of the father may finally be visited on the sons of Bernie Madoff."
I'm mamash not mekabel!
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