IS IT TRUE June 10, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE June 10, 2013

IS IT TRUE the City County Observer would appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers for our publisher Mr. Ron Cosby who has been discharged but is under doctor’s orders to get his rest?…we also appreciate the calls and emails wishing him well?…doctor’s orders or not Mr. Cosby is mentally in the game of running the CCO and pushing for good public policy by exposing rotten actions of local government officials?

IS IT TRUE in what may be the most self serving “Community Comment” that the CP has ever published Barry Russell, the president and business manager for the Laborer’s Local 561 took the Evansville City Council to task for questioning the wisdom of former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel’s version of the Johnson Controls deal that he snuck through in his final hours in office?…Russell’s justifications include trade union endorsements, the competency of the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility, and even the “goodness” of the Johnson Controls contract?…it goes without saying that since the Johnson Controls deal is a public works project that it will be subject to Davis-Bacon laws and will provide work exclusively for trade union employees in and out of Evansville as labor demands require?…Mr. Russell states in his manifesto that he represents 170 local union workers who are eager to get to work on this project?…what Mr. Russell seems to forget is that there are now over 180,000 people in Vanderburgh County and 117,000 in the City of Evansville who elected officials represent as opposed to only 170 union workers?…the group of workers represents less than 1 in 1,000 people in Vanderburgh County and in spite of political contributions are a relatively insignificant percentage of the population?…the reality is that the Johnson Controls deal that Weinzapfel snuck through was so bad it was discarded by the IURC?…since then the due diligence of the City Council lead by Budget Chairman John Friend has been chipping away at the fluff until this contract may actually end up doing what it said and doing some good things to upgrade the crumbling infrastructure of Evansville?…for a union business manager to write the things that Mr. Russell wrote should be taken as a grain of salt to everyone but the small cadre of 170 members that he represents?…this whole deal has wreaked of SNEGAL (sneaky but legal) and a cronyism driven conflict of interest from day 1?…due diligence by good people with educated minds is always needed when this much money is on the table?

IS IT TRUE that long time CCO advertiser and the maker of the MOLES, Green Tree Plastics is about to take their ABC program nationwide?…A Bench for Caps is what ABC stands for and school kids in the Tri-State have been taking advantage of this opportunity for a couple of years now?…for 400 pounds of twist off soda caps and $200 through the ABC program one can get a recycled plastic bench?…Green Tree Plastics is to our knowledge the only manufacturing business in the history of Evansville that was founded to keep plastic out of landfills?…Green Tree has been practicing the triple bottom line mantra recently adopted by the Coachella Valley iHub of PEOPLE, PROFITS, AND PLANET (PPP)?…those of you who are in the market for a landscaping bench that is made from recycled plastics can go to the GTP website at www.greentreeplastics.com for all of the details?

IS IT TRUE that two teams with large local followings will be participating in the College World Series in Omaha, NE?…both the Indiana University Hoosiers and the University of Louisville Cardinals have qualified as among the 8 best baseball teams in the NCAA?…IU is the first Big Ten team since 1984 to have qualified and the Cardinals are making their first trip to Omaha since 2007?…the CCO wishes both teams a great CWS and will be rooting for one of these teams to prevail as national champions?

IS IT TRUE that a 29 year old government contractor named Edward Snowden has taken credit for leaking the information about spying on everyday American citizens by the NSA under the Obama Administration?…he made this claim from the safety of Hong Kong where he has sought refuge?…maybe this kid has broken some laws and could be sentenced to life in prison but the laws he has broken by blowing the whistle are a pittance when compared to the trampling of the Constitution that seems to have been carried out silently by both the NSA and the IRS under the Obama Administration?…we need this mess in government to be fixed and whistle blowers like Mr. Snowden are a vital part of the process of fixing it?…if by chance President Barack Obama is reading the CCO today we would like for him to consider a presidential pardon for Edward Snowden as a first step to eliminate the assault on the Constitution and Bill of Rights that set us apart from banana republics and totalitarian states?

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25 COMMENTS

  1. To the Editor: While there is legit basis for concern regarding the U.S. bureaucracy’s various means of invading the privacy of citizens, it seems that the actions of this Eddie Snowden fellow raises even greater concerns. Moreover, his actions point out the potential for even greater harm that could be perpetrated by others with access such as he had to our national security system.

    Here we have a high school dropout who couldn’t complete a GED course at a community college, and who then worked as a security guard for NSA and CIA, where he apparently obtained a high enough security clearance to obtain what he claims was a $200,000 rent-a-cop job for a private CIA contractor in Hawaii. Subsequently he sold hacked info, that he swore to protect, to a foreign press outlet.

    Seems if he had legit concerns about NSA invasions of citizens’ privacy, and wanted to be a legit whistle blower, that he would’ve taken such info to a judge or to one of the members of congress who are soapboxing about the same or similar issues.

    Instead, he now resurfaces in Hong Kong, an administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, where he is breaking both arms patting himself on the back as some sort of freedom fighter. Personally, I think he’s hyping a future book or a Bollywood spy thriller.

    Meanwhile, there are those who are using Eddie Snowjob as an opportunity to bash the Obama administration for the same type of snooping as has been done by all administrations at least back to Johnson or Nixon.

    I’d be more concerned about the potential for other even more sinister Eddie Snowdens out there who would use their same security access to sell even more vital information to governments, terrorists, etc. rather than hyping for personal glory or movie rights.

    • BTW, I’m sure that the snakepit is already working on how to destroy Snowden’s personal credibility. It is their longstanding M.O., and it works like a charm.

      By the end of the week, we’ll probably read about his bizarre sexual preferences, his various financial pecadillos, and his former live-in girlfriend will show up with evidence of domestic battery.

      None of this changes the essential rightness and bravery of his actions.

    • What Snowden currently presents is a huge problem. Where ever he is, and where ever he goes, there are people and foreign governments who would like to snatch him up because of what he knows. I am not sure just how well he thought this through, concerning his own personal security, before he made his opening move. I would say, right now, the United States intelligence community has been pitted against their adversaries in an effort to get there hands on an asset who knows too much, and could most likely be “persuaded” to offer up what he has stored in that hard drive between his ears.

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      • The government is probably plotting a way to kill that boy right now. I bet they already knew it was him that blew the whistle and he got scared and headed to Hong Kong. His only safety was to out himself. If he gets offed now the US government is the prime suspect.

    • Interesting that a self-described “liberal” would take this stance on civil liberties. I guess you’re a-ok with government spying. Someone frame that quote and whip it out next time a Republican is the top dog and there is a civil liberties scandal involving invasion of our privacy and Fourth Amendment rights. Should be interesting to watch the backtracking that takes place.

      This man, and other whistleblowers like him, are American heroes. In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is an act of defiance. It’s just too bad we still have a nation half-filled with bootlickers.

      • House Speaker John Boehner calls Snowden a “traitor”.

        Rep. Peter King, a Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee said Snowden was a “defector.”

        Rand Paul is “reserving judgment”.

        Meanwhile, Russia has offered to consider an asylum request from Edward Snowden.

        • Does anyone else remember when we were the good guys?

          You know, when people actually risked life and limb to defect to OUR side?

          • They may not have to risk life and limb now, but they are still coming. I am amazed at the number of Russian emigres we have here locally.

            Remember the old saw from years ago about the US and Russia eventually meeting somewhere in the middle?

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      • I did not say I was okay with gov’t spying. I said there is legit concern over it, in fact.

        What concerns me is that some under-educated, self-important, pseudo-folk hero type techie can subvert, if his claims are true, the entire NSA/CIA network from a remote and relatively low level cubicle somewhere in Hawaii. And additionally make himself, and all the security secrets he alleges to possess available to China or Russia.

        Like we need that crap!

        • I doubt he possesses anything truly threatening for all the reasons you mentioned. My guess is this guy became aware of a program and couldn’t live with doing the work he was doing, so like a good American, he blew the whistle. And now you are wanting to shoot the messenger. Who told you you should shoot the messenger? Was it MSNBC or CNN?

        • Sounds to me like it is the cost of doing business.

          You hire a bunch of techies to spy on American citizens, a few of them are bound to grow a conscience.

          Don’t like it? Here’s a novel concept: stop spying on American citizens.

        • Do either of you actually understand how Prism works, what its value is with regard to identifying terrorist communications, or what this guy potentially has exposed or has remaining to expose and the damage it can cause?

          • The one thing that NSA has not come forward with is a number. Just how many requests for further information have they sent out to the major social media providers in a given time period of your choosing? Is it a few hundred, or a few thousand, or tens of thousands?

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          • Pressanykey:

            The problem is that the most powerful agencies at all levels of our government operate without accountability, without transparency, and without any obvious connection to Constitutional government.

            The NSA
            The Federal Reserve
            The Evansville Redevelopment Commission

            etc. etc. etc…

      • Army Gen. Keith Alexander, National Security Agency director and head of U.S. Cyber Command, will testify before the full House Armed Services Committee today Wednesday 6-12-2013. You can watch it on C-Span.

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  2. I couldn’t disagree with you more, Bill. Regardless of his motives, Eddie Snowden is a global hero in the mold of Che Guevara, Cesar Chavez, Mohandas Ghandi, and Nelson Mandela.

    I don’t hold the Obama administration any more responsible for this disgusting invasion of worldwide privacy than I do previous administrations: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, etc…They are all responsible, as this has been a key element of US geopolitical strategy for decades.

    There is an unholy alliance between centralized banks, the US government, and large multinational corporations (Google, Apple, Verizon, Monsanto, etc.) to control the flow of capital, innovation, resources, and freedom around the world. We are sowing the wind, and one day, our children or grandchildren are going to reap the whirlwind because of our actions (or inactions).

    What the world needs today is MORE Eddie Snowdens, more brave (perhaps even naive) individuals willing to risk life, limb, and liberty by blowing the whistle on this international mafia.

    To hell with them all.

  4. Surely the CCO is joking when it states that it gives John Friend the major credit for cleaning up the Johnson Control mess. Friend helped, but Mayor Winnecke led the charge by pressuring Johnson Control to modify the contract that Weinzapel signed right before he left office.

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