Providing A Criminal A Criminal Opportunity

Today I returned home from a 6-mile run and decided to wash my commuter bike while I was cooling off. I opened the garage and walked my commuter around to the back yard. While I was washing it down a young lady who lives next door to me ran up and breathlessly yelled, "Some asshole just stole a bike out of your garage." I looked and saw my Cannondale 29er was gone. Given her sense of urgency and excitement I thought it had just happened. I asked which way he went, jumped into the car, and went looking.

Nothing.

I went back home and asked her what she saw. She was driving home and saw this guy run into my garage and then come out on my bike. She almost hit him when he rode out into the street. She watched him go down the road and was freaked out by everything and wondered what to do. (She's a young person and has no experience with matters such as these.) She parked in her garage, went in the house, and told her dad what she had seen. He told her to tell me. She came to my front door and rang the bell. I didn't answer since I was in the back yard. As she crossed back to her house she saw the open gate and came to get me. So the guy had a good head start on me.

My now stolen bike.

She gave me a description and I drove around the surrounding neighborhoods for a couple of hours hoping I'd get lucky. I talked to quite a few people. Nobody had seen the bike. And I learned about more bikes stolen from garages. Still no luck.

It's only a bike. It can be replaced. 

But I was just around the corner. It's all I can do to keep the "if only's" out of my mind. As far as I know I gave this guy a perfect opportunity, which he probably would have had somewhere anyway but this time it was me.

Fuck!

Yep. That about sums it up.

Bad, CIA! Bad!

The Senate's Torture Report (big honkin' 500+ page PDF), otherwise known as the Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency 's Detention and Interrogation Program, was released today. Well, the Executive Summary was released.

To nobody's surprise, it describes the forms of torture our country used against people. Forms of torture we imprisoned or executed people for after World War II after finding them guilty of doing the same thing. Forms of torture we condemned other countries for using. Forms of torture never dreamed up before.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney had this to say:

“What I keep hearing out there is they portray this as a rogue operation, and the agency was way out of bounds and then they lied about it,” Mr. Cheney said in a telephone interview. “I think that’s all a bunch of hooey. The program was authorized. The agency did not want to proceed without authorization, and it was also reviewed legally by the Justice Department before they undertook the program.”

Cheney admits to the Bush administration's knowledge of and authorization for the use of torture. The euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques" made torture sound so much more acceptable, especially to protect ourselves from a global terrorism threat. Fear and propaganda can make you accept anything as reasonable. You can even contrive a legal justification for it even if it is discredited and withdrawn later.

But don't expect anything to come of this. After his first election, President Obama said he believed we needed to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.

In other words, nobody will be held responsible for the crimes committed in our country's name.

Doing the right thing is a hard choice. Should a former president and vice president be prosecuted and possibly imprisoned for war crimes or should our country admit to using torture and just say it's time to move on.

Yep. A hard choice.

The CIA should have no problem surviving the stern looks and finger pointing. Our country on the other hand abandoned the moral high ground years ago and has no chance of recovering it. We can express indignation at others all we want as long as we're prepared to have Guantanamo, Bagram, dark sites, water boarding, and rectal feeding thrown into our collective faces. Because now it's a shame we all share.

The Privileged Tier

We have two recent cases showing how our two-tiered justice system works. First of all, JP Morgan admits to fraud in the mortgage backed securities market, which also helped bring on the financial crisis in 2008. It will cost the company $13 billion. The fraud was actually committed by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, both of which were purchased by JP Morgan knowing full well the baggage that went with them. What's important to note is that nobody is going to jail. The feds prosecuted two Bear Stearns managers but botched it. They were found not guilty. Nobody from Washington Mutual was charged.

Secondly, we have a member of the House of Representatives, Trey Radel (R-FL), who pled guilty to possession of cocaine in Washington, DC. He's getting one year of probation. (Interestingly, Speaker Boehner thinks the issue of resigning his office for committing a crime is between Radel and his constituents. And yet he thought Anthony Weiner should have resigned for sexting, which is embarrassing but not a crime.) Radel admits he has a drug and alcohol problem--now that he's been caught. On a side note, Radel has cosponsored legislation to change mandatory minimum sentences. Now that's planning ahead.

Our Justice System At Work

From one of many sites bringing this to our attention:

In November 2008, [Darryl Lane] Woods, 48, who was the head of [Columbia, MO] Mainstreet Bank and the bank's holding company Calvert Financial Corporation, applied for TARP money on behalf of his bank, a press release states.  In January 2009, his bank received $1,037,000.  A month later, he used $381,487 of it to buy a place in Fort Myers, Florida. He pleaded guilty to misleading federal investigators about how he used the TARP money.    

Woods is no longer allowed to work in the banking industry, according to the release. He also faces a sentence of up to one year in federal prison without parole and a fine of up to $100,000 plus restitution. 

You'll notice he was not charged with theft or fraud. He was charged with making a false statement. I can't begin to explain how someone who steals $381,487 only get charged with making a false statement.

Behold, The Power Of Fear

In today's Spokesman Review we have an article about arming District 81 Resource Officers by January 2014.

What better way to demonstrate the power of fear than to have armed resource officers within your public schools?

We're telling our children that school is a dangerous place that requires armed guards. Yet the presence of armed guards is no guarantee for preventing a mass shooting. The expense of such security to counter a highly unlikely threat is illogical and wasteful. And if this is a must, why aren't we protecting shopping malls, churches, and other locations where mass shootings have taken place?  

Newtown triggered the recent changes, “but there have been other reasons for considering arming our resource officers,” said Jason Conley, the district’s safety, security and transportation director. “It’s those outside threats that are driving us to this next level of safety. In a criminal’s mind, a school resource officer would be the first target to eliminate to get into the school.”

What are these outside threats? What is their likelihood of happening?

The goal of arming the school resource officers, district officials say, “is to assist in better protecting the safety of students and staff … and provide a greater level of safety for the District’s School Resource Officers.”

We have to arm the resource officers for their own safety? How often have District 81 Resource Officers been in a school situation where they needed a firearm?

Interesting

From a May 30 Spokesman Review article about Gail Gerlach being charged with first degree manslaughter:

Gerlach’s wife, Sharon Gerlach, was about four steps behind her husband when she ran out the door, according to her statement. She said she didn’t see her husband fire his gun because she was watching as the Suburban drove away. She did hear some sort of explosion and saw the rear window break. She also reported seeing the driver make some sort of motion with his arm, but thought he could possibly be “flipping them off.”

From a May 30 post allegedly made by Sharon Gerlach on the Gail Gerlach Legal Defense Fund site:

My husband Gail is being charged with First Degree Manslaughter in the shooting death of a career car thief who, during the commission of the theft, made a threatening motion that made us both believe he was aiming a weapon at us.

Vandalism At Mead HS Yesterday

No doubt the idiot(s) who did this are not very smamrt.

You've Been Warned

This morning I noticed a warning sign about local vandals. It's in the area by Friendship Park on North Standard. I thought it strange that a bicycle was parked next to the sign and figured there had to be a story there so I stopped on the way home to ask.

It turns out some kids tried to steal the homeowner's flags from his flag pole along with those of two neighbors. They damaged the poles and ropes in the process so he made the sign to warn the neighbors and passersby.

And then a couple days later someone left this bicycle in his yard. So if you know someone in that area missing a Pat-Sprute-color-style Huffy Rock It, you can tell them where it's waiting for them.

While I Was Gone

We left Spokane on the same day as the school massacre in Newton, CT. On the following day, the Spokesman Review published an article that led with this sentence.

The tragedy in Connecticut could happen here.

That really bothered me as unnecessary fear mongering. No such warning prefaced the reporting about the mall shooting that took place in Portland just three days before, or the theater shooting in Aurora, CO, last July or any other shootings that have taken place in churches, shopping malls, colleges, the home, Post Offices, and elsewhere. Shootings happen everywhere and many innocent lives are lost every day. It's only the worst crimes that get our attention. 

For a little while.

Being on a cruise, I was off the grid for a week and I essentially stayed that way for the remainder of our vacation. But the ship had some television, which included Fox News and CNN. I normally never watch either one but the few times I checked them it seemed like it was nonstop 24-hour repetitious talk about the Newton massacre and guns. I did happen to catch our own Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers making a rather sad statement.

“I think we have to be careful about new, suggesting new gun laws. We need to look at what drives a crazy person to do these kind of actions and make sure that we’re enforcing the laws that are currently on the books. And yes, definitely, we need to do everything possible to make sure that something like this never happens again.”

If only her concern with Fourth Amendment rights, such as extending Patriot Act provisions and granting immunity to telecom companies, was as strong as her concern with Second Amendment rights. And crazy people.

By the way, Congresswoman, if you check the links I provided above, you'll find this happens. All. The. Time. And the last thing I want to see is a teacher carrying a concealed weapon at school. What if the teacher is a crazy person?

I heard ridiculous "causes" of the shooting being proffered, such as no men working at the school and God being taken out of our schools. No such reasons were given for shootings occurring at theaters, churches, shopping malls, or even at house fires. The religious agenda doesn't work so well in those examples as it does in public schools. And then there was Wayne LaPierre's idiotic proposal to have armed guards at every school. One wonders why we don't have armed guards at theaters, churches, shopping malls, and house fires. The gun nut crazy train is headed for the cliff. I hope they make it over the edge with plenty of clearance.

Speaking of extremists, I heard House Speaker Boehner came up with an alternative for avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff of our own political leaders' making. Unfortunately, a number of his party members rose up like bible thumping pharmacists and said, "No Plan B for you!" How ironic.

I'm sure there was much more covered in the 24/7 news cycle, but I avoided it. That's what vacations are for.

An Evening With Norm

I spent the evening at The Bing Theater. Norm Stamper spoke about Policing for Safety with Professionalism and Civil Rights and then fielded questions from a panel populated by Spokane Police Guild President Ernie Wuthrich, Human Rights Educator and Advocate Rachel Dolezal, and Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart (left to right in the picture with Stamper off to the right).

Stamper is an entertaining and informative speaker almost to a fault. While answering questions he tended to segue from one topic to another until he reached a point where he stopped because he forgot the question that began the process. I wasn't annoyed by that but I could see how someone expecting an answer to stay on point might be.

During his initial discussion about policing with professionalism he talked about the good intentions when he first became a police officer but almost immediately ended up doing things he never thought he'd do. I was reminded of similar behaviors I adopted and exhibited when I became a Law Enforcement Specialist and arrived at my first assignment way back in 1975. The badge and gun were symbols of our authority. Our authority was not to be challenged. If it was we took it personal. We wore mirrored sunglasses so you couldn't see our eyes. We hooked our thumbs in our gun belts while we talked to you. We were bad-asses and and we didn't take shit from anybody. We set ourselves apart from the people we were there to serve. In short, we were running fast down the wrong track. Quite a few of us, just like Stamper, had some sort of reckoning moment where we realized we were doing it wrong. Funny how some lessons have to be learned through experience for so many.

I particularly enjoyed how he addressed the need for the police leadership and police guild leadership to be involved with the community. He makes a good case for strong and effective civilian oversight. Last of all he touched on the senselessness of the so-called war on drugs and drew the parallels with Prohibition and the repeal thereof. He's all for passing Initiative 502 in Washington because even thought federal law trumps state law concerning marijuana, if enough states decriminalize or legalize it then something will have to give at the federal level. Maybe so. He's not endorsing the use of marijuana, but he is saying that what we're doing now isn't working. Drugs are cheaper, more potent, and easier to get than when President Nixon declared the war on them.

I'm Gonna Be So Frickin' Rich

I received this letter in the mail yesterday. The envelope was addressed to my name and address, complete with ZIP Plus Four and "United States". The stamp on the envelope is pictured here on the right. It's from South Africa and has "International Airmail Small Letter" on it. There's no return address. What a surprise, right? Above my address is the text "REACH YOUR CUSTOMERS DIRECTLY : CONTACT OUR DIRECT MAIL CENTRE". Note the non-American-English form of spelling "centre".

The horrible grammar and spelling, all capital letters, tempting me to share information in order to get 25% of "ONE HUNDRED AND EIGTHEEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS", and keeping it secret so I don't blow the deal scream of it's authenticity--as a scam.

So don't tell anybody about this, okay? I want to get what's coming to me.

Interesting Terminology

Check out the brief news reports at the Spokesman Review, KXLY, etc., concerning an explosive device found outside the Thomas S. Foley Courthouse.

From the Review:

Federal authorities are investigating the discovery 10 days ago of an improvised explosive device found next to the Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse in downtown Spokane but had not alerted the public until today based upon a direct inquiry by The Spokesman-Review.

I'm curious about the use of the phrase "improvised explosive device" in this report. The context of IEDs has always been in terms of explosive devices used in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were artillery shells wired to cell phones and buried in a roadway or something along those lines. Until reading the Wikipedia article, I've never heard that term used for home made bombs.

In the past, explosive devices were referred to as homemade bombs or pipe bombs. Of course, I have no idea if this was the terminology used by the authorities or by the media. The authorities are being tight-lipped about it, but if they used "IED", I wonder if anyone in the media asked
why. So many questions....

*** Update ***

The article in today's Spokesman Review uses "bomb" instead of "improvised explosive device", but that term is a tag for the article.

Spam For Online Meds

Most of the spam I receive in my gmail account is for online meds. Hydrocodone is always 80% off and I can presumably save all kinds of money on all the name brand pharmaceuticals. Just for grins I looked at the latest spam I received for drugs this morning. It was a short message that said

Special Spring RxMedDiscounts are Here! -> http://warehouseofmeddies.com

WARNING: Visiting web sites listed in spam messages is dangerous. Do not try this on your computer at home. Do this on someone else's computer at someone else's home.

No, seriously, you should just delete spam. Don't visit the site because it will quite likely try to infect your computer with malware. But since I'm on someone else's computer...

First I looked up the domain name which is owned by someone named Yan Hua who also owns about 652 other domain names.


And is this person busy or what? The domain name was just created yesterday.


Amazing, this short-lived site already has 35,000+ satisfied customers.


The site has a page of testimonials. That's a sure-fire way of telling if it's bogus or not. Ha! As if you're not convinced already, right? So I searched for similar testimonials. The links are on the phrases I searched for.

Alex, 34

Cheers to Viagra! I couldn't feel so inspired for long. Now, I'm on top of the world and my wife started to look at me with mystique...

David, 45

Your services were everything advertised. And your prices were the lowest, by far. You have it all.

Samuel, 39

I had serious doubts, that generic Viagra is as good, as the brand-one, but not only it is highly effective but also its much cheaper than the brand one! You have no idea how my wife and I are happy now :) Thx, one more returning customer for you.
I will continue biz with u.

According to McAfee, this and similar sites specialize in identify theft and credit card fraud.

You just can't trust anyone these days, including other people using your computer. I'd better get off now. People here are starting to look at me with mystique...

An Ingenious Thief

There's a fascinating story over on Wired about a brilliant young man's criminal career. His career ended eventually, but he did some audacious stuff.

The plane slowed and leveled out about a mile aboveground. Up ahead, the Viennese castle glowed like a fairy tale palace. When the pilot gave the thumbs-up, Gerald Blanchard looked down, checked his parachute straps, and jumped into the darkness. He plummeted for a second, then pulled his cord, slowing to a nice descent toward the tiled roof. It was early June 1998, and the evening wind was warm. If it kept cooperating, Blanchard would touch down directly above the room that held the Koechert Diamond Pearl [Sisi Star]. He steered his parachute toward his target.

...

Within minutes, the Sisi Star was in Blanchard’s pocket and he was rappelling down a back wall to the garden, taking the rope with him as he slipped from the grounds. When the star was dramatically unveiled to the public the next day, Blanchard returned to watch visitors gasp at the sheer beauty of a cheap replica. And when his parachute was later found in a trash bin, no one connected it to the star, because no one yet knew it was missing. It was two weeks before anyone realized that the jewelry had disappeared.

Interesting Scam On Craigslist

A friend passed on a couple of emails and asked if this seemed legitimate. Their child had applied for a job after seeing an employment notice on Craigslist entitled "FRONT DESK OFFICE CLERK POSITION - FULL & PART TIME AVAILABLE".

Hello (name removed),

My name is John. I am the office manager here at Home Giants, Inc. I will be handling your job application.

I've skimmed through your resume and everything looks good. I will review your resume in detail and contact you with further information in regards to your application. There were a few applications submitted before yours, so expect a reply in a day or two.

In the mean time, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.


Thank You,

John Williams
Office Manager
Home Giants, Inc.
JWilliams@homegiants.com
1-800-987-3400 ex. 78

And the second email read like this:

Hello (name removed),

I have reviewed your resume and I am very interested in hiring you for the available position. Before I can setup an in person interview, our company requires your recent credit score. Your credit score is required because the position you applied for includes handling company cash and using our company credit card (for the ordering of office supplies and other miscellaneous purchases). If your credit score is low for a legitimate reason, you will have an opportunity to explain why. Please remember to bring a printout of your score when coming in to our office for your interview.

You can find a list of sites where you can get your credit score for no charge here: http://top3review.org/finance/1-free-credit-reports.html

When you get your credit score do not email it directly to me. It will only delay your application process. Please submit your credit score here:

http://homegiants.com/submit-your-credit-score?(name and email removed)

First, they ask for their credit score. You have to pay to get your credit score. You can get a free credit report from each of the three bureaus free once each year, but that is different from a credit score. If they need to, employers typically order a credit report for the prospective employee.

The site they refer them to, top3review.org/finance/1-free-credit-report.html lists three possible sites to get a free report from. The first is the "Editors Pick Award" winner. The second once has a negative of "spammy emails and affiliate ads" and the third one is "not an actual credit bureau", but none of them are actually credit bureaus.

If you go to the first, Free Credit Report 360, you are offered free credit scores as long as you get the "Free Credit Diagnosis Trial". The trial lasts seven days and you have to pay $1 processing fee with a credit or debit card. After the seven days you are charged/debited $29.95 a month for Credit Diagnosis.

If you go to homegiants.com and click on the Contact Us link, you'll find they don't have an address. If you call their toll free number, nobody answers. Well, at least not for me. Their site is remarkably short on detail of any kind. The image on the Buy/Sell page looks like the Home Giants part was photoshopped in. The lighting on it is all wrong.

If you go to http://homegiants.com/submit-your-credit-score you'll find a form to enter a name, email address and a credit score. I entered John Smith, my "trash" email at hotmail.com and a bogus number and got an error page with this in the address box: http://homegiants.cohttp//homegiants.com/submit-your-credit-score-success

So I "fixed" the address and entered http://homegiants.com/submit-your-credit-score-success and darned if I didn't get a page that said my credit score was successfully submitted.

I did a lookup of homegiants.com and the domain name is a private registration by an outfit in Arizona called Domains by Proxy, Inc., who provide a service of registering domain names so the real owner's name can remain secret.

This looks like a scam to drive people towards getting suckered into signing up for a "free" credit service that results in their bank account or credit card getting shanked for a couple of $29.95 hits.

*** Update 1 ***

Not long after posting this I received an email from a person who replied to the same job ad.

I recently applied for a “Front Desk Clerk” position at a real estate office on Craigslist. After the second email back requesting that I find out my credit score, I immediately became suspect. I decided to Google the company, Home Giants, for any complaints, negative reports, etc. That is how I found you and your blog post. I just thought I would inform you that the two emails I received read the exact same as those sent to your friend’s child.

I have not clicked on the link in the second email yet, that according to you, will direct me to the list of credit score companies. I think the only thing I will be clicking on is the delete tab in my inbox.

So that was cool.

*** Update 2 ***

My hotmail account received this reply:

Hello John Smith,

Just to keep you updated, I received your credit score submission. I will further review your resume and contact you shortly about the available position.



Thank You,

John Williams
Office Manager
Home Giants, Inc.
JWilliams@homegiants.com
1-800-987-3400 ex. 78

I'll post more if this goes any further.

*** Update 3 ***

Received this in my hotmail account on Mar 1.

Hello John Smith,

After reviewing the qualifications of all of the applicants for the office clerk position, we have selected another candidate whose skills and experience better match our needs at this time. We would like to thank you for your interest in Home Giants, Inc. and we will keep your application on file for 90 days.


Thank You,

John Williams
Office Manager
Home Giants, Inc.
JWilliams@homegiants.com
1-800-987-3400 ex. 78

Damn! Just my luck. Someone else got the bogus job. And I didn't even send in an application that they could keep on file for 90 days.

Terrorism And Our Economy

Geoff introduced me to TED some time ago where you can watch, listen to and learn about a wide variety of subjects. In this TED Talk, Loretta Napoleoni talks about the relationship between terrorism and the world's economy. This will not be a waste of 15 minutes. And kudos to TED for providing closed captioning on their videos.


I love her advice at the end.

"You got to question everything that is told to do, including what I just told you today."

Gimme Your Money Please

Lately, I've been getting comments like this from evil spambots:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post

*****

Hello !.
You re, I guess , probably very interested to know how one can make real
money .
There is no initial capital needed You may begin to receive yields with as
small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.

AimTrust is what you need
AimTrust represents an offshore structure with advanced asset management
technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.

It is based in Panama with structures around the world.
Do you want to become an affluent person?
That`s your choice That`s what you desire!

I feel good, I began to get income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. It`s all about how to choose a proper
companion who uses your savings in a right way - that`s the AimTrust!.
I earn US$2,000 per day, and my first deposit was 1 grand only!
It`s easy to start , just click this link (bogus site name removed)
and go! Let`s take our chance together to become rich

*****

Aimtrust?

According to McAfee they don't try to download malware from their web site.

BizInformation, whatever the hell that is, values the site at a cool million dollars.

There's a discussion forum hosted on hyip.com which lists AIM TRUST ONLINE as a premier HYIP and states "AIM Trust is a financial company working in the metal market, and opened for small cap investors." The metal market? But the email said pipes for oil and gas. I'm sure that's an honest mistake.

There are comical posts from Jane--well, one of them--from AIM TRUST. "She" goes by "Sincerely yours, Jane." Sprinkled in between are posts that claim to be satisfied customers like "TH" and "EliteTrader" that, in a weak attempt to make AIM look legitimate, have some complaints but are still making money regardless. "TH" even provides easy to fake images as proof.

BTW, HYIP is a high-yield investment program.

It's an excellent way for you to make money...disappear!

With apologies to Bachman-Turner Overdrive for trashing their song.

I was surfing out on the intertubes
When a site I've never seen
Popped up from all the redirection
With yet another get rich scheme.

And I saw that I'd been hijacked
And the pop-up screens -- you know -- the pop up screens were the key
And they said, "Boy, I'm gonna make you rich
If you just gimme your money please."
They said, "Gimme your money please."

Wasn't that strange
Wasn't that strange indeed
Wasn't that strange
Wasn't that strange indeed
They said, "Gimme your money please."
They said, "Gimme your money please."

So I may resort to using CAPTCHA to thwart the evil spambots.

Only One And One-Half To Five Percent

From a story in the Guardian from a couple of days ago.

The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.

In a defiant and provocative statement, issued following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, the Holy See said the majority of Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not paedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males.

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.

He added that sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbours, and male children were quite often guilty of sexual molestation of other children.

In a nutshell: There aren't that many, it's not just us and it's more likely to happen elsewhere.

I feel better already.

Let's see, there are something like 400,000 priests in the world. If you apply the numbers to today's population, does that mean anywhere from 6,000 to 20,000 could be involved in child sex abuse? Probably not because we've seen how well the church has been "busy cleaning its own house"--well after the fact.