Tuesday, February 28, 2012

My Verizon Nightmare

It began on November 2011. When I got the first bill, I noticed that Verizon was over charging my monthly bill. After several fruitless calls, I decided not to pay the February bill, knowing well that they will discontinue the service. On February 23rd, Verizon cut off both Internet and the telephone. Now it was my opportunity to start my inquiry focused on Verizon over charging my monthly bill.

After several hours on the telephone, I connected to an employee who listened to me. He found out that I was over charged $12.04 for four months. He dropped the over charges, and I paid the balance in full. And both telephone and Internet were restored. (This was on Thursday, February 23rd).

On the following Saturday (2/25/12) to my surprise neither my telephone, nor the Internet worked. They were disconnected again after I had paid Verizon’s bill in full. I have spent several hours calling Verizon to find out why my telephone an Internet have been cut off.


I wonder how many customers of Verizon here in New York State as well as the other 49 states are over charges by Verizon. If $12. are multiply by millions across the country that will be a big chunk of money into Verizon profit.


Why the Federal Government as well as the states Attorneys General are so silent when peoples are being rob by the present days ROBBER BARON?.

The dailies ignore on the Yonkers corruption trial; what's wrong with the Times?




A Blog Atlantic Yards Reporter Cracks A Media Cover-Up

From Norman Order's blog

The dailies ignore on the Yonkers corruption trial; what's wrong with the Times?(Atlantic Yards Review)

So Bruce Bender, long the top government relations official for Forest City Ratner and former Chief of Staff for Council Speaker Peter Vallone, testifies yesterday in federal court about the developer's nearly desperate search for the vote that green-lighted the Ridge Hill project in Yonkers--a process that led to corruption charges against two others--and what do the New York dailies do?

They ignore it. (The suburban Journal News has been covering the story and so has the Excellent blogger of Atlantic Yards Report Norman Oder)

You can almost understand the New York Post, which did have a reporter there (and did cover the testimony last week of Bender's colleague Scott Cantone), and the New York Daily News, which didn't send a reporter.

Monday, February 27, 2012

The New York Times

Santos & Phillips write about how the release of teacher evaluations could affect Michael Mulgrew and the United Federation of Teachers: “Mr. Mulgrew and his comrades had fought for more than a year to block release of the ratings, known as teacher data reports, which try to calculate how much value individual teachers add by predicting their students’ test scores and then measuring how much they exceed or fall short of those expectations. But the legal defeat a court dealt the union, by green-lighting the release, may yet be a political victory for the union — by galvanizing members and mobilizing allies on the left, including the Occupy movement and Change.org, through which scores of people signed petitions and sent letters to news organizations last week protesting the publication of the ratings.”

Sunday, February 26, 2012

NYPD surveillance of students called 'disgusting' Story user rating:


VERENA DOBNIK
Published: Yesterday


A man is dwarfed by the Columbia University Library as he sits outside the building, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012, in New York. The NYPD was revealed to be monitoring mosques in several cities and has kept files on Muslim student groups at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, including Columbia University. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NEW YORK (AP) - At Columbia University and elsewhere, the fear among students that the New York Police Department might secretly be infiltrating their lives has spread beyond the Muslim student population to others who find the reported tactics "disgusting," as one teenager put it.

The NYPD surveillance of Muslims on a dozen college campuses in the Northeast is a surprising and disappointing violation, students said Saturday in reaction to Associated Press reports that revealed the intelligence-gathering at Columbia and elsewhere.

"If this is happening to innocent Muslim students, who's next?" asked freshman Dina Morris, 18, of Amherst, Mass. "I'm the child of an immigrant, and I was just blown away by the news; it's disgusting."

Documents obtained by the AP show that the NYPD used undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups. An officer even went whitewater rafting with students and reported on how many times they prayed and what they discussed. Police also trawled college websites and blogs, compiling daily reports on the activities of Muslim students and academics.

It was all part of the NYPD's efforts to keep tabs on Muslims throughout the region as part of the department's anti-terrorism efforts. Police built databases of where Muslims lived and worked, where they prayed, even where they watched sports.

In the past week, Muslims and non-Muslims alike held a town hall meeting on the Manhattan campus of the Ivy League college to discuss the police surveillance. Concerned members of many school groups attended.

On Friday, some of their counterparts at New York University choked up as they gathered to voice their outrage at the notion that even students' religious habits were being tracked by the NYPD.

"Why is the number of times that we pray per day - whether or not I come in this space and put my forehead on the floor in worship of my Lord - why does that have anything to do with somebody trying to keep this country safe?" said Elizabeth Dann, 29, an NYU law student.

At first, when it was revealed last weekend that Muslim students were targets of police surveillance, "people were distressed and frazzled," Mona Abdullah, a member of Columbia's Muslim Students Association, told the AP.

But by Saturday, she said, a different mood descended on the campus.

"We're now feeling a sense of unity, because this is not an issue that affects only Muslims," Abdullah said. "We're still worried, but there's also a sense of solidarity over an issue that has to be taken seriously by everyone."

Students are also feeling empathy for those outside the university community who are being subjected to the NYPD's "stop-and-frisk" policy targeting anyone who seems suspicious, mainly blacks and Hispanics.

"We're not the first and we're definitely not going to be the last," Abdullah said.

Police were interested in Muslim student groups because they attracted young men, a demographic that terrorist groups have tapped. The NYPD defended the effort, citing a dozen accused or convicted terrorists worldwide who had once been affiliated with Muslim student groups.

But students say that unfairly categorizes them all as potential terrorists.

The Muslim students "are just as American as anyone, and to make them feel unsafe and unwanted is really unfair!" said Morris, who attends Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia.

"There was a lot of police blowback after 9/11; they were not respecting civil liberties," said Leo Schwartz, 19, a political science major and columnist for Columbia's student newspaper, the Daily Spectator.

Anmol Gupta, 22, an engineering student, said that in a city like New York, which prides itself on ethnic diversity, "the idea of the surveillance of Muslims does surprise me, it's disturbing."

Sitting on a bench, he glanced across the university's quad at the students of many races and faiths who were walking around on a chilly winter day.

Gupta said he didn't feel students could do anything to stop the surveillance.

They certainly shouldn't do anything to change how they live from day to day - even if they're afraid they're being watched, Abdullah said. "We're saying, 'Don't change the way you act, don't change anything you do, because we're not doing anything wrong.'"

Still, many on the campus of more than 25,000 students craved reassurance.

University President Lee Bollinger plans to host a fireside chat on Monday evening to discuss the secret monitoring.

He said in a statement Friday: "We should all be able to appreciate the deeply personal concerns of the Muslim members of our community in learning that their activities were being monitored - and the chilling effect such governmental efforts have on any of us in a university devoted to the foundational values of free speech and association."

On Saturday, the unanswered question among Columbia students remained: Is the NYPD still conducting surveillance on students?

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday: "We're going to continue to do what we have to do to protect the city."

He did not elaborate.

And Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his police department's monitoring of Muslims - even outside the city at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York - was "legal," ''appropriate" and "constitutional."

Authorities left open what students most wanted answered - "if and when the surveillance ended," Abdullah said.

"I don't think it has ended."

___

Associated Press Writer Meghan Barr contributed to this report.

Blog for Spain's Lost Generation

Two young men in Barcelona have started a blog for jobless Spaniards to document their stories. Some fear the country's high youth unemployment is creating a brain drain and a lost generation. (Feb. 26)

Is Jesus Christ a radical?

Jesus Christ Radical

al (adjective)

1. Of or going to the root or origin; fundamental; a radical difference

2. Going to the extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms; radical change in policy

3. Favoring a drastic political, economic, or social reforms; radical ideas

Wow! I think Jesus was and is a REDICAL. He certainly brought a different doctrine from the one that was the norm in society and in the church. His message was and is extreme – not in the organized churches where His message has been corrupted, but His teachings and commandments are radical. He came to bring DRASTIC reforms of all systems; religious, social, political and economic.

Matthew 10:34-40 (CAME TO BRING THE SWORD)

34”Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

40He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”

That sounds radical to me. His message is we must give up everything, all earthly wealth and possessions. He knew this would not be accepted by most people.

He says, ”He that findeth his life on earth will lose it, but he that loseth his life for Me (God) will find it.”

This message is lost to most Christians who are a part of the status quo and fight against the teachings of Jesus.

Matthew 22:37-40

37”And He said to him, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

38"This is the great and foremost commandment.

39"The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'

40" On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 7:12 (GOLDEN RULE)

12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”

John 14:15 “If ye love me keep my commandments.”

How many Christians actually do the above? America is 80% Christian and we have 50 million neighbors without health insurance including 8 million children. Over 22,000 Americans die each year because they can’t get medical treatment for curable illness in the richest country in the world. We gave 400 American billionaires including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett worth over $1.3 trillion.

Is there one church in America that can be called “Radical”? No they are all status quo and support the existing exploitation of the poor, sick and children by the rich and greedy. These churches don’t demand higher taxes on the rich and more programs for the poor.

Tens of millions of Americans are Republicans and say they believe in Jesus. Is this possible? Over 80% of Republicans support the American occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What is wrong with this picture? Would Jesus Christ give billionaires more money and deny people healthcare?

Please email your senator and tell them to vote for the public option to provide healthcare for all Americans.

To read more stuff like this click here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Sen. Menendez Calls For Federal Investigation Into NYPD’s Muslim Spying

House Homeland Security Chair King Says Commish Kelly 'Should Get A Medal'

Sen. Robert Menendez (file / credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sen. Robert Menendez (file / credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Is it religious profiling or good police work?

An intense debate is underway in our area amid new revelations that NYPD spying on Muslim communities included neighborhoods in Nassau and Suffolk counties and Newark, N.J.

And as CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reports, the feds may soon get involved.

They are mosques and businesses, even a beauty salon, all over Newark and Long Island and they were all spied on by the NYPD in the wake of 9/11.

LISTEN: WCBS 880′s Steve Scott And Wayne Cabot With Sen. Menendez
(Suscribe to the Eye on Politics HERE)

One of the places under surveillance was a Valley Stream halal meat market. Undercover officers said that they found a collection box for a local mosque.

However, the butcher there said has no problem with the NYPD spying.

“NYPD is like … a good,” Wassim Naqva said. “No, I’m happy about it.”

But a woman at a Valley Stream mosque that was also on the watch list had a different take.

“I think that it’s a violation of our rights. It’s our right to practice religion freely,” she said.

The NYPD is on the hot seat over its surveillance practices in the Muslim community. U.S. Senator Robert Menendez is demanding a Justice Department investigation of what went on in Newark.

“I’m deeply concerned about reports that the NYPD focused on individuals in my state who were not suspected of any criminal activity,” Sen. Menendez said.

Sources told CBS 2’s Kramer that the Newark Police Department — the chief was then Garry McCarthy — was briefed both before and after, and that a Newark police liaison officer accompanied NYPD personnel.

Mayor Cory Booker brushed that aside on Thursday.

“They reached out as a courtesy to Garry McCarthy and asked for some basic information from our department,” Booker said.

However, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said on Thursday that Newark police were fully aware of the operation.

“In this particular case, [the NYPD] did notify Newark officials, before and after…a Newark liaison officer was assigned to the NYPD personnel when they were in there,” Browne told reporters.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS’ Eileen Lehpamer Reports

Inside The New York Times

Winnie Hu writes: “The New York City Education Department will release the ratings of thousands of teachers on Friday, ending a nearly year-and-a-half-long legal battle by the teachers’ union to keep the names confidential.”

Al Baker reports: “A police station house in the Bronx has a strict quota system that requires officers to produce a minimum number of arrests, summonses and street stops each month, a civil rights group claims in a federal lawsuit that contends the system has turned officers against one another.

And in his column, Baker looks at how Manhattan D. A. Cy Vance’s successful prosecution of a gun and drug crew has dramatically reduced crime in one area of Harlem.

Justice is A Political Game in NY

Did Parkside Stavisky Get Special Favors On His Rockland Mortgage to Protect His District Leadership in Queens The Mortgage Documents of Evan Stavisky & Kristen Stavisky For Their Home In Rockland County(Queens Politics)Please note the highlighted portion [linked] regarding establishing a permanent residence after 90 days of signing the document suffice a written dispensation from the broker and any convoluted election law loopholes that permit him to buy a home in Rockland County and live there while holding elected office in Queens.

A Strategic Living Arrangement For Top Democratic Strategist(City and State). The problem with the C&S piece was that it did not examine how their political connections to the Queens Democratic Party keeps Parksides which has lost many high profile elections (Weprin, Democratic State Senate majority) not only alive but making millions. NY's Politicals Consultant Monopoly(True News)

Brooklyn DA Ignores Repeated Complaints That Lopez Lives In Queens
In 2005 the NYP published a story Norman's Successor Facing Own Scandal that claimed three activists have filed a complaint with the Brooklyn DA, alleging Lopez used a fake address on his voter-registration form and doesn't live in his Brooklyn district. Instead, say the activists, Lopez for years has shacked up in a Queens condo owned by his Former Brooklyn Democratic party boss girl friend, Planning Commissioner Angela Battaglia. Garber, an activist in Lopez's district who has worked against Lopez-backed judicial candidates, said the pol's alleged fake address has been an open secret among insiders for years. In 2010 the Daily News said Brooklyn Dem boss Vito Lopez is hard to find at Bushwick home, but spends much of his time in Queens The Daily News found Lopez arriving at night and leaving in the morning from a condominium owned by his longtime girlfriend, Angela Battaglia - in Ridgewood, Queens.


Why Does the Media, Pols and DA's Protect Parkside and Vito Lopez and Watch O'Hara Be Destroyed for Residency
Why was John Kennedy O'Hara convicted for illegal voting by Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes for running for office out of his girlfriend's residence. While Evan Stavisky gets away with being registered in Queens while he lives with his wife in Rockland County? Lawyer O'Hara lost his law license which destroyed his life, while Stavisky makes millions with an incompetent politically connected consultant company? Why does the press ignore this outrageous legal injustice? They don't care and they are too dumb to understand. * O'Hara and Stavisky Voting Residence Injustice While the Media looks the other way(True News)


2 Ridge Hill foes testify on Sandy Annabi's vote

12:28 AM, Feb. 23, 2012
Sandy Annabi leaves federal court in Manhattan on Feb. 14.
Sandy Annabi leaves federal court in Manhattan on Feb. 14. / File photo by Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News
Dee Barbato was driving over the Tappan Zee Bridge one day in June 2006 when her colleague on the Yonkers City Council, Sandy Annabi, called her to say she had changed her mind and would vote in favor of one of the biggest developments in the city’s history, the $650 million Ridge Hill project.

“It’s like one of those moments, ‘Where were you when Kennedy was shot?’ ” Barbato recalled Wednesday on the witness stand at the federal corruption trial of Annabi and Zehy Jereis. “My response was: ‘Oh Sandy. Oh no. Don’t do that.’ ”

The two and John Murtagh were the opponents of Ridge Hill on the seven-member council and the developer, Forest City Ratner, needed one of them to switch their vote because a supermajority, or five votes, was needed for approval.

Annabi changed her vote after the developer promised a $10 million payment to the city and $500,000 for a traffic mitigation study.

Barbato and Murtagh both testified Wednesday that they had no idea that Annabi had a financial relationship with Jereis, a former chairman of the Yonkers Republican Party, and that Jereis was getting a consulting job with the developer.

But Murtagh said that he wished he had had that information at the time.

“If someone is influencing (a council member) in some way, it’s something I’d want to know as a councilman and something the public has a right to know,” Murtagh said.

Annabi and Jereis, distant cousins, are charged with conspiracy, bribery and extortion and she is also accused of lying on mortgage applications and filing false tax returns.

Prosecutors contend that Jereis controlled Annabi by giving her $174,000 over several years for car payments, utility bills, downpayments on homes and monthly maintenance fees.

In return, Annabi voted in favor of two projects — Ridge Hill and the Longfellow housing project that was later scrapped — that she had initially opposed.

The defense maintains there was no quid pro quo between the payments and Annabi’s votes — that Jereis gave her the money because he hoped she would have a romantic relationship with him.

Annabi changed her mind about Ridge Hill because she thought the $10 million offer was “the best the city could get,” her lawyer, William Aronwald, said in opening statements last week.

Barbato represented the 6th District, where Ridge Hill is, and was never expected to support the project.

She said that the money that swayed Annabi wasn’t “chump change” but that considering what Ridge Hill might have contributed to the city if it got no tax breaks — she estimated as much as $270 to $300 million — the $10 million was a “pittance,” a “one-shot” typical of the modest infusions the city seeks just to tide it over until the next fiscal crisis.

She said she thought Annabi would remain opposed after telling her in the fall of 2005 that she shared Barbato’s concerns with the project’s finances and environmental issues. “She stated she would not support the project until I was satisfied and my constituents were satisfied,” said Barbato, who served on the council until 2010.

And after a May 2006 meeting with the developer’s representatives at the Westchester Country Club, Barbato recalled, Annabi was still in the fold.

“I recall Sandy saying ‘if we stick together we can do this thing. We can get what we wanted,’ ” Barbato said.

She told Aronwald that her relationship with Annabi had cooled after the crucial vote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Halperin, concerned jurors might think her testimony was some kind of payback for the flip-flop on Ridge Hill, asked Barbato if she had any animosity toward Annabi.

“Absolutely none,” Barbato responded. “I’ve always been fond of Sandy and I’m still fond of Sandy.”

Murtagh, who lost the race for Yonkers mayor in the fall, served on the council through last year and is now a lawyer in White Plains.

He said Forest City Ratner’s lobbyist Albert Pirro presented him the same $10 million offer as Annabi in 2006, but he was unswayed because the city would have needed more money.

“It was essentially meaningless,” Murtagh said of the offer. “You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. $10 million is $10 million. But it in no way addressed” all the concerns of opponents.

He conceded there were circumstances when legislators change their votes, often after negotiations and concessions are made.

Aronwald asked Murtagh if he knew whether Annabi “ever got a penny” for her votes on Ridge Hill and Longfellow.

“No. I have no knowledge of that at all,” Murtagh answered.

Jereis’ lawyer, Anthony Siano, got Murtagh and Barbato to acknowledge that they had supported Jereis as GOP chair manand that he had helped their respective campaigns.

Siano showed Barbato four checks totaling $795 in campaign contributions Jereis had given her and thank-you letters she sent him for his support.

Halperin, on redirect, asked her how many times Jereis had paid her student loans, or utility bills, or other items.

“Never,” Barbato said.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Newark Mayor Cory Booker in disbelief over NYPD spying on Muslims in his city: ‘We’re going to get to the bottom of this’

Database details where Muslims work, shop and pray; cites no evidence of terrorism

Comments (181)
Mohammed and Nagiba el-Sioufi are seen in their office as they are interviewed by the Associated Press about the New York Police Department's surveillance of the Muslim community in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. Mohammed is an accountant and vice president of the Islamic Culture Center, a mosque in Newark. Americans in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department’s effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive, even the city’s mayor says he was kept in the dark. For months in mid-2007, plainclothes NYPD officers snapped pictures of mosques and eavesdropped in Muslim neighborhoods. The result was a 60-page report, obtained by The Associated Press. It cited no evidence of crimes. It was just a guide to Newark’s Muslims.  (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Charles Dharapak/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mohammed and Nagiba el-Sioufi, who viewed the NYPD report, said the people who were spied on are innocent.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said he never knew the NYPD was conduction a widespread spying operation on the the city’s Muslims.  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, right, speaks while sitting next to Newark Mayor Cory Booker during a panel discussion on recruiting teachers, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 in Newark, N.J. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is in Newark publicizing a program aimed at recruiting more teachers to work in urban and rural areas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Julio Cortez/AP

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said he never knew the NYPD was conduction a widespread spying operation on the the city’s Muslims.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Americans living and working in New Jersey's largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department's effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive even the city's mayor says he was kept in the dark.

For months in mid-2007, plainclothes officers from the NYPD's Demographics Units fanned out across Newark, taking pictures and eavesdropping on conversations inside businesses owned or frequented by Muslims.

The result was a 60-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, containing brief summaries of businesses and their clientele. Police also photographed and mapped 16 mosques, listing them as "Islamic Religious Institutions."

The report cited no evidence of terrorism or criminal behavior. It was a guide to Newark's Muslims.

According to the report, the operation was carried out in collaboration with the Newark Police Department. But the Newark police director at the time said no local officers participated. And Newark's mayor, Cory Booker, said he never authorized the spying and was never told about it.

"Wow," he said as the AP laid out the details of the report. "This raises a number of concerns. It's just very, very sobering."

Police conducted similar operations outside their jurisdiction in New York's Suffolk and Nassau counties on suburban Long Island, according to police records.

Such surveillance has become commonplace in New York City in the decade since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police have built databases showing where Muslims live, where they buy groceries, even what Internet cafes they use and where they watch sports. Dozens of mosques and student groups have been infiltrated and police have built detailed profiles of ethnic communities, from Moroccans to Egyptians to Albanians.

The documents obtained by the AP show, for the first time in any detail, how those efforts stretched outside the NYPD's jurisdiction. New Jersey and Long Island residents had no reason to suspect the NYPD was watching them. And since the NYPD isn't accountable to their votes or tax dollars, those non-New Yorkers had little recourse to stop it.

"All of these are innocent people," Nagiba el-Sioufi of Newark said while her husband, Mohammed, flipped through the NYPD report, looking at photos of mosques and storefronts frequented by their friends.

Egyptian immigrants and American citizens, the couple raised two daughters in the United States. Mohammed works as an accountant and is vice president of the Islamic Culture Center, a mosque a few blocks from Newark City Hall.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/newark-mayor-cory-booker-disbelief-nypd-spying-muslims-city-bottom-article-1.1026939#ixzz1nCn7jlOg

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Muslim-groups- call-for-probe-of-nypd-surveillance

Rafael,
I recently visited your blog and read your post regarding
the NYPD surveillance of Muslim students. I was interested
to learn that the forwarding of an email about a conference
was what triggered the police department to start watching
these students in the first place. It’s amazing how far
outside of New York the police department monitored.
I am working for Newsy, which is an multisource video news
site. At Newsy we seek to provide accurate news coverage by
using multiple sources in our stories. We recently posted a
video regarding the NYPD investigation of Muslim student
groups. In the video we discuss the extent in which the
operation took place and what was involved in the monitoring
of these groups. I was wondering if you would consider
embedding the Newsy video into your post or if you might be
interested in adding a link to Newsy in your blogroll. I
think the video would add to the already informative post you
have provided. The video can be found at the following link:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/muslim-groups-
call-for-probe-of-nypd-surveillance/

White House Blues Party

Mick Jagger, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and more belted out the blues for President Obama in an East Room concert celebrating the rich history of the rich history of the blues and its impact on American music. (Feb 21)

Monday, February 20, 2012

NYPD kept tabs on Muslims not just in New York, but throughout the Northeast

AP: Police surveillance spanned far beyond the city's borders Comments (2)






The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the University at Buffalo, seen here.

David Duprey/AP

The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the University at Buffalo, seen here.

Take our Poll

Spy Games

Should the NYPD be monitoring Muslim students outside of New York City?

Yes, they have obtained valuable information that has helped keep the city safe from attack.
No, this is a blatant violation of civil rights and completely un-American.

W YORK -- One autumn morning in Buffalo, N.Y., a college student named Adeela Khan logged into her email and found a message announcing an upcoming Islamic conference in Toronto.

Khan clicked "forward," sent it to a group of fellow Muslims at the University at Buffalo, and promptly forgot about it.

But that simple act on Nov. 9, 2006, was enough to arouse the suspicion of an intelligence analyst at the New York Police Department, 300 miles away, who combed through her post and put her name in an official report. Marked "SECRET" in large red letters, the document went all the way to Commissioner Raymond Kelly's office.

The report, along with other documents obtained by The Associated Press, reveals how the NYPD's intelligence division focused far beyond New York City as part of a surveillance program targeting Muslims.

Police trawled daily through student websites run by Muslim student groups at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers and 13 other colleges in the Northeast. They talked with local authorities about professors in Buffalo and even sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip, where he recorded students' names and noted in police intelligence files how many times they prayed.

Asked about the monitoring, police spokesman Paul Browne provided a list of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States and abroad who had once been members of Muslim student associations, which the NYPD referred to as MSAs. They included Jesse Morton, who this month pleaded guilty to posting online threats against the creators of the animated TV show "South Park." He had once tried to recruit followers at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Browne said.

"As a result, the NYPD deemed it prudent to get a better handle on what was occurring at MSAs," Browne said in an email. He said police monitored student websites and collected publicly available information in 2006 and 2007.But documents show other surveillance efforts continued for years afterward.

"I see a violation of civil rights here," said Tanweer Haq, chaplain of the Muslim Student Association at Syracuse University. "Nobody wants to be on the list of the FBI or the NYPD or whatever. Muslim students want to have their own lives, their own privacy and enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that everybody else has."

In recent months, the AP has revealed secret programs the NYPD built with help from the CIA to monitor Muslims at the places where they eat, shop and worship. The AP also published details about how police placed undercover officers at Muslim student associations in colleges within the city limits; this revelation has outraged faculty and student groups.

Post a Comment »

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/nypd-tabs-muslims-york-northeast-article-1.1025644#ixzz1mwc1g9t9

Jeremy Lin headline slur was ‘honest mistake,’ fired ESPN editor Anthony Federico claims

EXCLUSIVE: 'This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny' Comments (127)
  NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 19: Jeremy Lin #17 of the New York Knicks looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden on February 19, 2012 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Jeremy Lin looks on during Knicks' victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

TakeOur Poll
Do you believe Anthony Federico made an 'honest mistake'?

The ESPN editor fired Sunday for using "chink in the armor" in a headline about Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin said the racial slur never crossed his mind - and he was devastated when he realized his mistake.

"This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny," Anthony Federico told the Daily News.

"I'm so sorry that I offended people. I'm so sorry if I offended Jeremy."

The headline - "Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin's 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets" - appeared on ESPN's mobile website at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and was removed by 3:05 a.m.

FORMER NBA STAR TWEETS RACIST JEREMY LIN JOKE

Battling to contain a furor, the sports network fired Federico and suspended anchor Max Bretos for 30 days because it turned out he had used the same expression on the air last week. ESPN offered profuse mea culpas and promised to be "better in the future."

Federico, 28, said he understands why he was axed. "ESPN did what they had to do," he said.

He said he has used the phrase "at least 100 times" in headlines over the years and thought nothing of it when he slapped it on the Lin story.

Federico called Lin one of his heroes - not just because he's a big Knicks fan, but because he feels a kinship with a fellow "outspoken Christian."

"My faith is my life," he said. "I'd love to tell Jeremy what happened and explain that this was an honest mistake."

PHOTOS: LINSANITY TAKES OVER

It was Federico's last headline of the night before heading home at 2:30 a.m. It might be the last he ever writes.

"I had a career that I was proud of," mourned Federico, who worked at ESPN since getting his start there as a temporary intern in 2006. "I'm devastated that I caused a firestorm."

A gracious Lin, who led the Knicks to another dazzling hardwood victory Sunday, gave Federico and Bretos the benefit of the doubt.

"They've apologized, and so from my end, I don't care anymore," Lin said. "You have to learn to forgive, and I don't even think that was intentional."

Bretos, too, said he didn't think of the slur Wednesday when he asked Knicks legend Walt (Clyde) Frazier about Lin on the air.

"If there is a chink in the armor, where can he improve his game?" Bretos asked.

The moment passed almost entirely without notice. A video replay suggests Bretos was not trying to be funny but made a poor choice of colloquialism. He tweeted his apologies Saturday, saying he meant no racial reference but would be extra-careful in the future.

"My wife is Asian, would never intentionally say anything to disrespect her and that community," Bretos wrote. "Despite intention, phrase was inappropriate in this context."

Anchor Michael Kim took to Twitter to defend Bretos. "I truly believe it was an unfortunate use of words but I KNOW there was no malice there," he said.

With Ole Skaar

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2012 The Manhattan Reform Movement in Ashes



In the 1960's Anti-War Organizers Made Manhattan the Center of the Cities Reform Movement

The Rise of the Reform Democrats in Manhattan to the late 1960s (Tails From the Sausage Factor). By the later 1960s, antagonism to the Vietnam War had generated rapid growth in the Manhattan reform movement. With a huge influx of student activists, the new umbrella group of reform Democratic clubs, the New Democratic Coalition began to beat Tammany Hall last lion Carmine DeSapio.

Anti-War Activist Pushed the Machine Out of Manhattan in the 60's

By 1968, the new group of young reformers were able to take leading positions in Eugene McCarthy’s presidential primary campaign in New York, and in 1970, they elected one of their own, Richard Gottfried, age 23, to the New York State Assembly. As of 2012, he’s still there. Another, Jerrold Nadler, went to the Assembly in 1976 and to Congress in 1992, where he continues to serve. Some of the other names — Dick Morris, Mark Leeds, Sy Barsky, Joe Mercurio. Former Assemblyman Dan Feldman the author of Tails from theSausage Factor wrote about anit-war activist in the 60's recruited college students to join Democratic clubs to take over the clubs and local politics.

2012 The Manhattan Reform Movement in Ashes


Boss Pick Judges Again
Manhattan Democratic boss Keith Wright must reveal who are his judicial screeners (NYDN Ed) The party’s reform legacy is being eroded. Manhattan Democratic boss Keith Wright must reveal who are his judicial screeners -- The party’s reform legacy is being eroded. Assemblyman Wright is picking judges with minimal transparency.Manhattan Democrats have long expressed pride that they picked their judges in a transparent, merit-based process a world apart from the backroom dealings of the other boroughs. Their chairman, Wright, is trashing the tradition. Since the 1970s, Manhattan Dems subjected all judicial candidates to screening by committees composed of representatives of law school deans, bar associations and lawyers’ groups. Party members got the nod for judgeships only after passing muster as qualified.

Today, Manhattan Bosses picked Elected Officials . . . OWS Has No Anti War Movement Impact On Local Politics

Up Through System Profession Pol
New Elected Officials Come From the Political System Not Movements
Most if Not All of the Recent State Elected Officials Have Won Their Positions in Special Elections. Given the Democratic Nomination by a Party Boss, devoid of any activists movement. Professional pols like Liz Kruger, Dan Quart, Micah Z. Kellner all won in party controlled special elections. Almost a third of those serving in Albany were elected by party bosses. Most of those elected in special elections come from staffs of other elected officials. Former NYT Reporter Frank Lynn used when he wrote in the 1980's used to put reform in quotes when he was writing about elected officials because he believe with the Plunkett of Tammany Hall theory of reform, that a reformer once elected becomes the machine.
OWS Empty Movement Leadership
Today the only thing left of reform in Manhattan is the name of the clubs: Three Park Independent Democrats, Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, Tilden Independent Democrats. Thomas Jefferson said for good government to existed their has to be a revolution or renewal ever 20 years. Unlike the anti-war generation 40 years before the OWS activists have stayed clear of the local politics and not working to get activists elected to public office. It seems the impact of OWS on local politics is as empty as Zuccotti Park.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

"City Comptroller Liu Delivers First State of the City Address"

Dear Friends,

I’ve been privileged to serve as New York City Comptroller for two years, just past the halfway point in my term of office.

This week, I laid out where we are with the City’s economy and budgetary outlook, what my office has been doing with short and long term fiscal challenges, and some ideas and initiatives to make New Yorkers and the City as a whole more economically and fiscally secure.

Through it all, I continue to stress that...
It’s not just about numbers, it’s about people.
It’s not just about costs, it’s about need.
It’s not just about recovery, it’s about equity.

As we all work to move New York City forward, you can expect me and my office to vigorously discharge our duties. Expect us to be objective and diligent. And expect us to defy conventional thinking and past practice when we feel it necessary.

Take a look at some recent news reports below.

Sincerely,

John C. Liu

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NY1: "City Comptroller Liu Delivers First State of the City Address" - 2/16/2012
<http://www.ny1.com/content/156143/ny1-online--city-comptroller-liu-delivers-first-state-of-the-city-address>

On Thursday, February 16, City Comptroller John Liu delivered the first "State of the City" address for a comptroller at City College.
[41 minutes]

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NY1 INSIDE CITY HALL: "City Comptroller Discusses Vision For The City And Fundraising Scandal" - 2/16/2012
<http://www.ny1.com/content/156163/ny1-online--city-comptroller-discusses-vision-for-the-city-and-fundraising-scandal>

Inside City Hall’s Errol Louis asked City Comptroller John Liu about his state of the city address and the ongoing investigation into his campaign fundraising.

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WNYC RADIO: "Comptroller Liu on the State of the City" - 2/17/2012
<http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2012/feb/17/comptroller-liu-state-city/>

New York City Comptroller - and expected 2013 mayoral candidate - John Liu discusses his state of the city address.

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WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Liu Presses Ahead With Policy Plans" - 2/17/2011
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204880404577227721087411102.html>

EXCERPT - Mr. Liu, the first Asian-American to hold citywide elected office, said he's troubled by the city's widening economic divide, a theme he could place at the center of a campaign for mayor next year.

"Economic recovery is not our only objective; so is economic equality," said Mr. Liu, sparking applause during his address at City College of New York in Upper Manhattan. "There is no real prosperity when wealth is shared by only a tiny proportion of the city's residents."

Some of the key proposals in Mr. Liu's speech included:

*Creating a hotline to allow members of the public to report incidents of government waste;
*Requiring city agencies to track their technology projects according to budget, schedule and performance; *Accelerating construction projects during the next two years to take
advantage of low interest rates.

The comptroller also voiced strong support for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stinger's proposal to revise the city income tax code.

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NEW YORK TIMES: "Amid Run of Tough Press, Liu Aims to Cut Waste" - 2/16/2012
<http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/amid-run-of-tough-press-liu-aims-to-cut-waste/>

EXCERPT - Mr. Liu also encouraged the city to accelerate its investments on construction projects as a way to create jobs, saying that his staff would be prepared to help raise money in the capital markets. And he endorsed the idea of a progressive personal income tax system in the city, while vowing to push for a reduction in the city’s sales tax if extra income taxes were generated by a better-than-anticipated economic recovery.

As for the content of Mr. Liu’s 40-minute speech, the comptroller said that his office would establish a telephone hot line for city residents to report government waste and a companion Web site. He also said that he would call for systems to track both information technology projects and government subcontracting.

Mr. Liu was applauded when he mentioned issues like income inequality and his criticism of the cost overruns associated with the city’s automated payroll system, CityTime.

“We need to ensure that people don’t get left behind,” he said.

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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "City Controller John Liu gives a shout-out in his State of the City speech to Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin" -
2/16/2012
<http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/city-controller-john-liu-a-shout-out-state-city-speech-knicks-sensation-jeremy-lin-article-1.1023864>

EXCERPT - It was the first time in recent memory that a controller gave a state of the city address.

Liu also gave an overview of the citys economy, predicting slow and steady growth, barring "catastrophes in Europe or Washington."

He also summarized a "four-point campaign to cut waste”:
- Establish a waste hotline where people can report fiscal waste.
- Implement checkbook 2.0 so the public can track city finances.
- Establish a system so the city can better track it's info stood and technology spending.
- Create a new system to track government subcontracting.

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THE CAPITAL: "After dancing dragons and choir songs, Liu defends public-employee pensions in his State of the City speech" - 2/16/2012
<http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2012/02/5280252/after-dancing-dragons-and-choir-songs-liu-defends-public-employee-p>

EXCERPT - The most far-reaching idea he unveiled in his speech was that the city should help manage private-sector pensions, which he proposed could be "pooled together to leverage the economy of scale and provide portable, efficient and low-cost pension benefits." Liu said the move to help the private-sector better manage its pensions would benefit the city.

"If we don't help people plan for their eventual retirement now, the increasing strain on the city's social services from seniors living in poverty will be overwhelming," he said.

"Poor market returns have been the main driver of escalating pension costs," Liu said. "It's just silly to blame our police officers, firefighters, teacher and other city employees for what happened during the recession," he said. "They didn't cause it and they're certainly not responsible for the economic problems we have today."

McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin Us Now" blared from the speakers after the speech was over.

Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC37, which has 125,000 members in New York City, was in the front row for the speech and told me it was "excellent, innovative, outside of the box."

Bill Lynch, the operative and former deputy mayor who helped elect David Dinkins in 1989 and is currently working as a consultant to Liu, was also in the front row for the speech. "It's not going to reset the discussions [with reporters]," Lynch said. "I think it will reset the
conversation with rank-and-file voters."

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AMSTERDAM NEWS: "Liu's State of the City addresses broadband access" - 2/16/2012
<http://www.amsterdamnews.com/politics_noir/liu-s-state-of-the-city-addresses-broadband-access/article_e8b5bfb4-58cf-11e1-89d3-001871e3ce6c.html>

EXCERPT - New York City Comptroller John Liu's State of the City address Thursday will touch on an under-discussed but important topic: broadband access for low-income New Yorkers.

"The wealth divide is not the only profound gap in our society," said Liu in an excerpt from his address obtained by the AmNews. "It rests on top of another divide that needs to be addressed immediately in order for prosperity to be shared equitably; I'm talking about the digital divide that makes it difficult for kids without access to technology and the Internet to do their homework and to perform to the best of their ability in school.

"This digital divide also affects the unemployed or underemployed, who cannot look for work successfully without the ability to search and apply for jobs online," he said.