Colorblind Justice From A Blind Judge, Maybe?

Justice is not always blind and seldom is it colorblind. But, can a blind judge bring us closer to that ideal? A Michigan attorney from a family of professional lawyers wants us to think so. The well known Bernstein law firm is run by daddy Sam and his siblings. So, the name Bernstein was worth a million dollars in campaign advertisements to Attorney Richard Bernstein in his contest for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. He began with name recognition that was off the charts.
“I want to bring blind justice to the Michigan Supreme Court,” said Detroit-area attorney Richard Bernstein as a Michigan Supreme Court candidate. Highlighting his struggles in education and his work as a legal advocate for the disabled.
"I have come to believe that life is not always fair, but judges should always be," Bernstein said. "I'm here because I believe in the idea of blind justice. I'm here because I believe in the idea of fairness for all people."



 (Attorney, Richard Bernstein, AP photo)
Legally blind since birth, Mr. Bernstein will get the chance on New Year’s Day 2015 when he’s sworn into office and makes history as the first blind person to serve on the state’s highest court.
 "It would be much easier if I could read and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was created," Bernstein said. "No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness. ... This is what I've done my entire life. This goes all the way back to grade school for me." This is his second bid for statewide office - he ran for attorney general four years ago but lost the Democratic nomination.
According to an Associated Press profile:

Bernstein is widely known in southeastern Michigan because his family’s personal-injury law firm regularly advertises on TV. He spent more than $1.8 million of his own money to campaign for the state Supreme Court. His slogan? “Blind Justice.”
As one of only two Democrats on the seven-member court, Bernstein is unlikely to crack the court’s conservative sway. But he’s still expected to make a difference.
“His own experience and background is different than anyone else’s at the conference table,” said Justice Bridget McCormack, who was a law professor before she was elected in 2012. “Richard knows a whole lot about disability law the rest of us don’t. We don’t get a lot of those cases. Who knows how it will be useful?”

 Hearing arguments and writing opinions is only part of a Supreme Court justice's job. They meet weekly to decide whether to accept or reject appeals in more than 2,000 cases a year. Because he's blind, Bernstein will be having many conversations with his law clerks instead of communicating through email or long memos.
"My chambers will be unique," he said. "Not many clerks will have as much interaction with a justice as mine will." In November, he was elected to an eight-year term. He’s not the first blind judge to sit on the highest court of a state.
Missouri Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Teitelman, who is legally blind, was appointed to the court in 2002. On the federal level, there’s David Tatel, a blind judge serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
To help prepare Mr. Bernstein for his first set of oral arguments on Jan. 13, an assistant has been reading him briefs.
“We do use technology but technology can only take you so far,” Mr. Bernstein said. “I internalize the cases word for word, pretty much commit them primarily by memory. I’m asking the reader to pinpoint certain things, read footnotes, look at the legislative record.”
(Gershman, Jacob, WSJ,  Dec. 29, 2014)

Binder & Binder Files For Bankruptcy

 

Social Security Disability Firm Binder & Binder Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

The Law Firm, Binder & Binder, a Long Island-based national Social Security Disability law firm had to reduce institutional debt after payments from the federal government slowed. The firm is dependent upon government-paid fees earned from shepherding Social Security Disability claimants through the system.The firm is now facing a shrinking number of people seeking benefits and tougher scrutiny from the Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) who decide cases.
Binder& Binder has about 58,000 active cases or its 966 employees, many of whom aren’t lawyers. (In 2004, Congress made it easier for non-lawyers para-legals to represent applicants for Social Security disability benefits.)
In projections filed in court papers, Binder estimates its employee head count will drop to less than 400 over the next two years.

Charles Binder began representing applicants for Social Security Disability Benefits with his brother, Larry, in the 1970s.  In 2010, Binder & Binder scooped up $88 million in fees representing applicants for Social Security Disability Benefits (SSI/SSDI). It was the largest firm of its kind, thriving amid an aging workforce, high unemployment and less oversight than in the current environment.
On Thursday night, the firm filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Wall Street Journal reports:

The firm listed assets and liabilities each between $10 million and $50 million in a bankruptcy petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y.
Those debts include $23 million in secured debt to lenders U.S. Bank and Capital One Bank and $16.7 million in unsecured debt to Stellus Capital Management, a spinoff of investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co., court filings show.
U.S. Bank and Capital One Bank are prepared to lend up to $26 million in bankruptcy financing, filings show, subject to court approval.

 The firm is dependent upon government-paid fees earned from shepherding Social Security disability claimants through the system.
The firm is now facing a shrinking number of people seeking benefits and tougher scrutiny from the Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) who decide cases.
Binder& Binder has about 58,000 active cases or its 966 employees, many of whom aren’t lawyers. (In 2004, Congress made it easier for non-lawyers para-legals to represent applicants for Social Security disability benefits.)
In projections filed in court papers, Binder estimates its employee head count will drop to less than 400 over the next two years.
U.S. Bank National Association and Capital One have agreed to provide debtor-in-possession financing of up to $26 million, the filings showed.
The case is in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York, Case No: 14-23728.

The move will allow the firm to reduce institutional debt after payments from the federal government slowed, hurting cash flow, said Kenneth Rosen, an attorney with Lowenstein Sandler representing Binder & Binder. The company listed both assets and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million, according to court papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
"We have filed papers to pay our employees in the ordinary course. We don't want the employees to feel anything; they will not. We don't want the clients to feel anything; they will not," Mr. Rosen said. "The last thing we would want is there to be any interruption. It's business as usual."
U.S. Bank and Capital One made a $23 million secured loan to the company. The financing will allow for operations to continue without interruption, Mr. Rosen said.
The law firm, with about 57,000 clients, has approximately 900 employees in 13 states, including New York, where it has offices in Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island City and Hauppauge, L.I.
The company's largest unsecured creditor was Houston-based Stellus Capital Management, which had loaned the company $16.7 million. Google and Manhattan-based Integrated Media Solutions were also among the firm's largest creditors, with $800,000 and $2.7 million owed for services, respectively.
Manhattan management consultant Development Specialists will provide a chief restructuring officer to manage the bankruptcy and improve operating performance, according to the filing.
Binder & Binder was founded in 1975 by brothers Harry and Charles Binder. Charles would appear in TV commercials, saying in the ads "You have enough to worry about."

(By Jonathan LaMantia ,December 19, 2014) 

When reached for comment, while vacationing in Hungary Judge London Steverson, USALJ (Retired)

formerly of the Downey, California, Social Security Office Of Hearing And Appeals had this to say: "Wow! What a surprise.
I really like Manny Serpa, Esq. He usually represented Binder&Binder in cases that came before me. His cases were usually well prepared and he did a good job of presenting the merits of the claimant's case. And he won most of his cases. In 1990 the attorney would get an average fee of about $750 for winning a case, but they had to chase the client to get paid, because SSA did not withhold money and pay the attorney directly. Well, in 2009 when I retired the minimum fee was $2 thousand to $3 thousand per case, and the Government would hold back the money and pay the attorneys. Of course, some law firms would collect up to $28 thousand dollars in attorneys fees for a case with large amounts of past due benefits. It was a high volume business with rapid turnover. Even a para-legal could make $1 million dollars a year if he got enough referrals. I never did agree with the idea that para-legals should get paid at the same rate as lawyers, since para-legals do not have a law school education and are not members of the Bar. But, no one listened to me.
  http://www.amazon.com/socialNsecurity-Confessions-Social-Security-Judge/dp/1449569757
I just can't believe that a law firm specializing in Social Security benefits would ever go bankrupt. It's the easiest legal job in the world. The cases are all tried before a judge sitting alone without a jury and the other side is not represented.  The lawyers are nothing more than baby-sitters for the claimants, and the judges ask all the questions at the Hearing. It is like losing an uncontested divorce; it never happens. That is why it is so astounding to hear that Binder&Binder is going bankrupt. There must be some other reason; possibly some kind of gross mismanagement, or some one might have been siphoning funds under the table. I'm not saying that that is a possibility, but this whole thing does not sound quite right to me. As we used to say in the Coast Guard "it will all come out in the wash". I wish old Manny Serpa well."

What Binder & Binder’s Bankruptcy Means for Your Disability Law Practice

(Nathan Chapman, President of The Marketing Center, sees opportunity for your practice in 2015 from Binder & Binder's bankruptcy)

If you’re a Social Security Disability attorney, you don’t need anyone to tell you 2014 has been challenging.
On the other hand, if you think you had a bad year, at least you don’t owe $40 million.
According to news reports at the end of last week, national disability advocacy firm Binder and Binder “is preparing for a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing… as it faces roughly $40 million of debt and shrinking demand for its services amid tightening government scrutiny of claims.”
Gee, it wasn’t so long ago The Wall Street Journal reported, “The $88 million the Binder firm collected in 2010 was more than triple the $26 million it got in 2006, according to data obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.”
We can trust that H.I.G. Private Equity, which bought a stake in Binder & Binder in 2010, knows some good lawyers and accountants. So, I don’t want to write today about the Goliaths. What’s it all mean for the Davids of the Social Security Disability profession?

What We Heard in 2014…

I like to joke that at our specialized marketing agency for disability attorneys, we talk to more disability lawyers than anyone in America other than Barbara Silverstone. So what did we hear in 2014? Well, a lot of pain and concern – starting with repercussions from the October 2013 federal government shutdown. That resulted in claimant files that didn’t get processed, hearings that didn’t get scheduled, benefits that didn’t get awarded and, yes, legal fees that didn’t get paid.
And then there were the horror stories of ALJs being coached and even punished when they awarded benefits too often. We all cried, “Where is the similar coaching for the judges who deny too many?”
I know of some Social Security attorneys who went into early retirement in 2014. Others laid off staff. The Davids were getting hit by some pretty large slingshot rocks.
Yet, not every conversation with a disability attorney in 2014 was one of pain. While some attorneys may have gotten out, others called us to get in: Yes, there are still attorneys wanting to enter the disability arena, or if already there, to ramp up their practices.
Most significantly, I remember one particular conversation with a disability attorney that was a message of hope. I repeated it often to others. While commiserating about the problems of this era, this attorney said to me: “The attorneys who are having the hardest times are the ones who have been doing the same thing the same way for so long, they are unable or unwilling to change. Those are the ones most in trouble.”

Resolve to Evolve in 2015…

“…Unable or unwilling to change.” Those words linger in the air as we cross over into a new year.
At the Las Vegas NOSSCR Conference this year, we presented a clients-only Internet-themed presentation entitled, “Evolve or Die.” (Watch for it as a webinar early next year.)
Here are some ways that your disability law firm can consider changing:

• Diversification. We think you should consider diversifying your client base. In 2014, we created new television and/or Internet marketing campaigns for LTD cases, Veterans Disability, Workers’ Compensation, Bankruptcy, Special Education, Employment Law and even Personal Injury for attorneys who also represent Social Security claimants.
• Improve your Website Conversion. Much is written how SEO can help a Social Security Disability lawyer rank higher in search engine results for increased traffic. We recommend equal study, testing and improvements to help your law firm’s website convert a greater percentage of the traffic into actual leads.
• Paid Search. When handled by pros and reinforced with branding efforts, a Paid Search campaign be more cost efficient via better conversion than buying leads that have no branding element to them.
• Better Branding. If you agree that not all attorneys are alike, shouldn’t they not look alike? In 2014, The Marketing Center handled more logo and brand refreshes than any other year in our history.
• Initial Applications. It’s more important than ever that your marketing messages urge claimants to call when they need to apply, not just after being denied. Then, resolve to get efficient in handling those applications.
• Believe in yourself. American history shows that in periods of economic panic and market contractions, there are always some who use the retreat by others as an opportunity to grow their brand while competition, in this case Binder & Binder, is less active. Fortunately, at The Marketing Center, we’ve had those conversations in 2014 as well.

For 2015, The Marketing Center’s clients have booked a greater amount of marketing exposure than the year we leave behind. We see that as a positive sign for all - one of hope, optimism and confidence.
Here’s hoping YOU have a prosperous new year. Of course, let us know if you’d like some help with that.

Murder Most Foul In New York City

Murder Most Foul. What does lynching look like in 21st Century America?

This is one version. Another season, another reason to kill an unarmed Black man in America.

"It's a very painful day for so many New Yorkers," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Citing "centuries of racism that have brought us to this day," Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the fact that protesters have rallied around the statement "Black lives matter" reflects a sad situation, that such an idea needs to be both stated and repeated.
"It's a phrase that should never have to be said," the mayor said. "It should be self-evident."
De Blasio also said that after the grand jury's decision, other inquiries continue, including one by the New York Police Department. Saying that he had just spoken with Attorney General Eric Holder, de Blasio said that the federal government is "clearly engaged and poised to act."

The U S Justice Department will launch a federal civil rights investigation after the Staten Island grand jury declined to bring charges in the case of Eric Garner, an African American who died this summer after a white New York City police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold during an arrest.

Garner, 43, died July 17 after Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in what appeared to be a chokehold during an arrest that was recorded on videos, which have contributed to public anger over the treatment of African American men by police.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, expressed outrage at the decision. “I don’t know what video they were looking at, not the same one as the rest of the world,” Carr said at a press conference. “How could we put our trust in the justice system when they fail us like this?”  

Eric Garner’s widow, Esaw, said  that “it was like a modern-day lynching. They had it out for him.”
 "It's a very emotional day for our city. It's a very painful day for so many New Yorkers," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "We're grieving — again — over the loss of Eric Garner, who was a father, a husband, a son, a good man — a man who should be with us, and isn't."
There were five Staten island police officers involved in the chocking death of Garner. Other officers present on July 17 were not facing indictment as they were offered immunity in exchange for testimony.
The police officer who applied the choke hold to Garder was Officer Daniel Pantaleo. He is the plains clothed officer in the above photo wearing number 99. He issued a statement which he said was in the nature of an apology.  When asked  whether she accepted Police Officer Pantaleo’s apology, Esaw Garner flatly declared: “Hell no.”
“The time for remorse would have been when my husband was yelling to breathe. That would have been the time for him to show some type of remorse or some type of care for another human being’s life—when he was screaming 11 times that he can’t breathe,” Esaw Garner said.  “There’s nothing that him or his prayers or anything else will make me feel any different. No, I don’t accept his apology. No, I can care less about his condolences. He’s still working, still getting a paycheck, still feeding is kids when my husband is six feet under and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids now.”

 The NYPD bans the use of the chokehold; Pantaleo’s attorney, Stuart London, argued that the officer used an approved take-down move, which he learned in police academy, because Garner was resisting arrest.  “There was no pressure ever applied to his throat or neck area,” London said.

 The New York City medical examiner’s office classified Garner’s death as homicide due to “compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” The office also mentioned Garner’s asthma and hypertensive cardiovascular disease as contributing factors.
London said Pantaleo remains on modified assignment on Staten Island.

 The NYPD will conduct an internal investigation, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New York’s two U.S. senators, Charles Schumer (D) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D), had said they would urge the Justice Department to investigate.
 New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said, “While there will be people who disagree with today’s grand jury decision, it is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law.”
Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. is seeking a court order that would allow him to release “specific information in connection with this grand jury investigation". Donovan has not commented on which charges the grand jury considered. Legal experts agree that the grand jury could have considered lesser homicide charges, including second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Since the New York City medical examiner’s office classified Garner’s death as homicide, it was reasonable to assume that some one was responsible for Garner's death, since he did not die of natural causes. As such, a reasonable Grand Jury member would have been constrained to return an indictment for negligent homicide, at the very least. Not to do that flies in the face of all logic, and renders the Grand Jury process devoid of all credibility.

Peaceful protests began immediately in New York City. Above is a "Die-In' at New York's Grand Central Train Station.

Largely peaceful demonstrations gathered strength and snarled traffic in locations throughout the city, including Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and near Rockefeller Center, after it was announced that no criminal charges would be brought against officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner.

International Business? Can We Talk?

Kedves Ügyfeleink! (Dear Clients!)
Do you want to start a company abroad?
Figyelmükbe szeretnénk ajánlani KÜLFÖLDI CÉGALAPÍTÁS szolgáltatásunkat!
Céget szeretne alapítani külföldön? Szeretné egy kézben tudni a cégkezeléssel összefüggő összes adminiszrációs ügyet?

Vállaljuk cégek alapítását ...
We undertake the creation and management of companies,  in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Chile, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Malta, Panama, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA.
Demand in other countries too!
Quick and complete range of advice in General, we welcome you!
VAN ÜGYVÉDED!
YOUR ATTORNEY AT LAW,
 Dr. Császár Ügyvédi Iroda

Dr. Császár Katalin ügyvéd, az iroda vezetője üdvözli Önt!

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We want to offer our services to FOREIGN COMPANY!
You want to start a company abroad? Do you want a hand with the cégkezeléssel all related administrative case?

We undertake the creation and management of companies, the posting of the székhelyszolgálatásól, in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bulgaria, Chile, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Malta, Panama, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA.
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Ministers Must Marry Homosexuals Or Face Jail And Fines Of $1,000.00 Per Day

Government to Ordained Ministers: Celebrate Same-Sex Wedding or Go to Jail

For years, those in favor of same-sex marriage have argued that all Americans should be free to live as they choose. And yet in countless cases, the government has coerced those who simply wish to be free to live in accordance with their belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

Ministers face a 180-day jail term and $1,000 fine for each day they decline to celebrate the same-sex wedding.

Just this weekend, a case has arisen in Idaho, where city officials have told ordained ministers they have to celebrate same-sex weddings or face fines and jail time.
The Idaho case involves Donald and Evelyn Knapp, both ordained ministers, who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel. Officials from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, told the couple that because the city has a non-discrimination statute that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, and because the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Idaho’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the couple would have to officiate at same-sex weddings in their own chapel.
The non-discrimination statute applies to all “public accommodations,” and the city views the chapel as a public accommodation.
On Friday October 17, a same-sex couple asked to be married by the Knapps, and the Knapps politely declined. The Knapps now face a 180-day jail term and $1,000 fine for each day they decline to celebrate the same-sex wedding.
A week of honoring their faith and declining to perform the ceremony could cost the couple three and a half years in jail and $7,000 in fines.
Government Coercion
The Knapps have been married to each other for 47 years and are both ordained ministers of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. They are “evangelical Christians who hold to historic Christian beliefs” that “God created two distinct genders in His image” and “that God ordained marriage to be between one man and one woman.”
But as a result of the courts redefining marriage and a city ordinance that creates special privileges based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the Knapps are facing government coercion.
Governmental recognition of same-sex relationships as marriages need not and should not require any third party to recognize a same-sex relationship as a marriage. Government should respect the rights of all citizens. Indeed, a form of government respectful of free association, free contracts, free speech and free exercise of religion should protect citizens’ rights to live according to their beliefs about marriage.
The Knapps have been celebrating weddings in their chapel since 1989. Government should not now force them to shut down or violate their beliefs.
After all, protecting religious liberty and the rights of conscience does not infringe on anyone’s sexual freedoms. No one has a right to have the government force a particular minister to marry them. Some citizens may conclude that they cannot in good conscience participate in same-sex ceremonies, from priests and pastors to bakers and florists. They should not be forced to choose between strongly held religious beliefs and their livelihood.
What Can Be Done
At the federal level, Congress has an opportunity to protect religious liberty and the rights of conscience.

Government should not now force ordained ministers to shut down or violate their beliefs.

Policy should prohibit the government from discriminating against any individual or group, whether nonprofit or for-profit, based on their beliefs that marriage is the union of a man and woman or that sexual relations are reserved for marriage. The government should be prohibited from discriminating against such groups or individuals in tax policy, employment, licensing, accreditation or contracting.
The Marriage and Religious Freedom Act—sponsored by Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, in the House (H.R. 3133) with more than 100 co-sponsors of both parties, and sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in the Senate (S. 1808) with 17 co-sponsors—would prevent the federal government from taking such adverse actions.
States need similar policy protections, including broad protections provided by state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) and specific protections for beliefs and actions about marriage.
Indeed, Idaho has a RFRA, called the Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act (FERPA). State RFRAs prevent the imposition of substantial burdens on sincere religious beliefs unless the government proves that such a burden advances a compelling government interest that has been pursued through the least restrictive means possible.
Protecting Religious Liberty
It is unclear how the city could claim that forcing the Knapps to perform a same-sex wedding is a compelling government interest being pursued in the least restrictive way. There are numerous other venues where a same-sex couple could get married. Indeed, there is a county clerks office directly across the street from the chapel.
States must protect the rights of Americans and the associations they form—both nonprofit and for-profit—to speak and act in the public square in accordance with their beliefs. It is particularly egregious that the city would coerce ordained ministers to celebrate a religious ceremony in their chapel. The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a motion arguing that this action “violates [the Knapps’s] First and 14th Amendment rights to freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion, substantive due process, and equal protection.”
Citizens must work to prevent or repeal laws that create special privileges based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We must also insist on laws that protect religious freedom and the rights of conscience.
Protecting religious liberty and the rights of conscience is the embodiment of a principled pluralism that fosters a more diverse civil sphere. Indeed, tolerance is essential to promoting peaceful coexistence even amid disagreement.(By Ryan T. Anderson  Oct 18, 2014 )

Security Guard Sues Social Security Judge For Sexually Assault

Woman claims she was assaulted by judge, sues for $3 million

The Duryea woman who said she was groped by a federal administrative law judge (ALJ) from the Social Security Administration (SSA) has sued two government agencies, SSA and (Department of Homeland Security) DHS, for $3 million, according to court papers filed Tuesday.
Alice De Quevedo has accused Judge Sridhar Boini of grabbing her breast and attempting to kiss her non-consensually in July 2012.
She was working as a security guard at the Social Security Administration’s office in downtown Scranton when the judge, who reviews Social Security cases, allegedly assaulted her.
 Mrs. De Quevedo agreed to the use of her name.
Last year, the plaintiff filed the complaint directly with the Social Security Administration, which employed Judge Boini, and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for protecting federal property. The action was required as a prerequisite to the civil suit in federal court.
Now she’s suing them for failing to protect her from abuse.
Mrs. De Quevedo immediately reported the 2012 incident to Scranton police. An investigation revealed Judge Boini was previously accused in 2011 of similar conduct with another woman.
He pleaded guilty in January 2013 to a simple assault charge involving Mrs. De Quevedo and was sentenced to three months of house arrest and two years of probation. The other charges involving the second woman were dropped in exchange for the plea.
Larry Moran, Mrs. De Quevedo’s attorney, has said that the fact federal officials knew of a previous accusation against Judge Boini makes his client’s case all the more egregious.
(By PETER CAMERON)
Contact the writer: pcameron@timesshamrock.com, @pcameronTT on Twitter

SDA Pastor Kidnapped During Worship service

Church leaders call for prayer while seeking to learn Litovchenko's whereabouts

September 30, 2014 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Andrew McChesney/Adventist Review

A Seventh-day Adventist pastor is missing after being abducted by gunmen during a communion service last Sabbath at a church in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, local church leaders said.

Unidentified men carrying machine guns and wearing camouflage burst into the church in the city of Horlivka on September 27 and seized Pastor Sergei Litovchenko, the Ukrainian Union Conference said.

“They interrupted the worship service and forced the worshipers to disperse,” it said in a statement. “They ordered Pastor Sergei Litovchenko to close the church, forced him into a car, and drove away in an unknown direction.”

The incident occurred as the pastor was leading the congregation in a communion service in the small, rectangular church located at 1 Ulitsa Horlovskoi Divizii. Adventist churches around the world commemorated Jesus’ Last Supper on September 27 as is customary on the last Sabbath of each quarter.

The Horlivka gunmen justified their actions by saying that "this is Orthodox land and there is no place for various sects here," the conference statement said.

They refused to say who they were and what right that had to disrupt the church’s activities, replying bluntly to church members’ questions, “It’s none of your business.”

The Ukrainian Union Conference was trying to establish the whereabouts of the pastor.

“Where he is and what has happened to him is unknown,” said Vassily Nichik, director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the West Russian Union Conference, which borders eastern Ukraine.

“Please pray for him,” he said on his Facebook page.

The abduction is a troubling development for the Adventist Church in eastern Ukraine, where clashes between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian government forces have killed more than 3,500 people since April. Separatists, who support the Orthodox faith and have spoken critically of Protestantism as a sect, have detained several church members in the past but always released them quickly.

No Seventh-day Adventists have been injured or killed in eastern Ukraine, where the conflict de-escalated into an uneasy ceasefire on September 5. Only one church building has suffered major damage.

John Graz, director of the Adventist world church's Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department, expressed deep concern over the kidnapping and said he was puzzled over why anyone would target the pastor.

“Our church is officially recognized in Russia and Ukraine, and we expect our members and pastors to be respected by the authorities on the territory of eastern Ukraine,” Graz said Monday. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not involved in politics, and we don’t understand why it should be attacked.”

http://news.adventist.org/all-news/news/go/2014-09-30/pastor-abducted-during-church-service-in-east-ukraine/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ann-en+%28Adventist+News+Network+-+English%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Self-Help Selfdefense. USTigers Taekwondo

Post by Joshua Kim.

Social Security 79th Birthday Plagued By Massive Problems

SSA Service Cuts, Computer 

Problems Plague 

Social Security’s 79th Birthday.

Recent reports slam the Social Security Administration (SSA) for (1) reduction in staff, (2) cutting operating hours and (3) computer systems that do not work.
The SSA should have reason to celebrate. After all, August 14, 2014, marked its 79th Birthday, the day when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which ushered in the landmark entitlement program.
However, the SSA’s birthday was less than cheerful, coming on the heels of an audit that criticized the SSA for deciding to cut staffing and reduce its service hours. At the same time, the SSA learned that its new multimillion-dollar computer system may very well have turned out to be an expensive failure.
According to the audit produced by the SSA’s own Inspector General’s (IG)  Office, “overall service has suffered” because of the agency’s 2011 decision to trim its staff by nearly 11,000 employees and reduce its weekly field office hours from 35 to 27. The audit found that the end results of the agency’s cutbacks were felt as soon as fiscal year 2013, when “the public waited longer for a decision on their disability claim, to talk to a representative on the National 800-Number and to schedule an appointment” at a field office.
The process of applying for Social Security disability benefits takes a significant amount of time and is very complex. The Inspector General’s findings represent unwelcome news for disabled Americans who need a speedy resolution of their claims.
Compounding the critical assessment from the Inspector General’s Office, an internal report has concluded that the SSA’s new $300 million computer system, which was designed to handle its disability claims, does not work.
The agency laid the groundwork for the new system in 2008 when its aging computers were swamped by disability claims. But the recent report found that delays and mismanagement still plague the new system. And SSA officials have not been able to answer queries on when the new system will be up and running.
The Social Security Administration may have thought that its new computer system could make up for its decision to cut back service, but that assumption was dependent on the system actually working. Instead, already long wait times for the processing of disability claims are getting even longer.

Any Publicity Is Good Unless It Is Your Obituary

United States Coast Guard Academy Alumni: London Steverson, G. William Miller, Thad Allen, James Loy, Bruce E. Melnick, Harvey E. Johnson, JR.

ISBN13: 9781155406800  ISBN10: 115540680x

 0  19  0  0  21

 All publicity is good. There is no such thing as bad publicity. It is better to be attacked and slandered than to be ignored. You must not discriminate between the different types of attention. In the end, all attention will work to your favor. Welcome personal attacks and feel no need to defend yourself. Court controversy, even scandal. Never be afraid or ashamed of the qualities that set you apart or draw attention to you. Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in a crowd, or buried in oblivion. Stand out; be conspicuous at all costs. Make yourself a magnet for attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and the timid masses.
Burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born with. You have to learn to attract attention. At the start of your career, you have to attach your name and your reputation to a quality or an image that sets you apart from other people. This image can be something characteristic like a style of dress, or a personality quirk that amuses people and gets you talked about. Once the image is established, you have an appearance, a place in the sky for your star. Attack the sensational, the false, the scandalous, and the politically correct. Keep reinventing yourself. Once you are in the limelight you have to renew it by reinventing ways to court attention.
People feel superior to people whose actions they can predict or control. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you will gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention. Society craves people who stand apart from general mediocrity.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Chapters:

 London Steverson, G. William Miller, Thad Allen, James Loy, Bruce E. Melnick, Harvey E. Johnson, Jr., Erroll M. Brown, James C. Van Sice, Chester R. Bender, Peter Boynton, J. William Kime, Charles D. Wurster, Owen W. Siler, Daniel C. Burbank, Thomas H. Collins, Paul A. Yost, Jr., John B. Hayes, Willard J. Smith, Timothy S. Sullivan, William D. Baumgartner, Thomas T. Matteson, Terry M. Cross, Steven H. Ratti, Edwin J. Roland, Robert E. Kramek, Billy Tauzin III, James S. Gracey, George Naccara. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: 

  London Eugene Livingston Steverson (born March 13, 1947) was one of the first two African Americans to graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1968. 

Later, as chief of the newly formed Minority Recruiting Section of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), he was charged with desegregating the Coast Guard Academy by recruiting minority candidates.

 He retired from the Coast Guard in 1988.

In 1990 was appointed to the bench as a Federal Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration. Steverson was born and raised in Millington, Tennessee, the oldest of three children of Jerome and Ruby Steverson. 

At the age of 5 he was enrolled in the E. A. Harrold elementary school in a segregated school system. He later attended the all black Woodstock High School in Memphis, Tennessee, graduating valedictorian.
A Presidential Executive Order issued by President Truman had desegregated the armed forces in 1948, but the service academies were lagging in officer recruiting. 

President Kennedy specifically challenged the United States Coast Guard Academy to tender appointments to Black high school students. London Steverson was one of the Black students to be offered such an appointment.

More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=432685

Synopsis:

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. 

Chapters: 

London Steverson, G. William Miller, Thad Allen, James Loy, Bruce E. Melnick, Harvey E. Johnson, Jr., Erroll M. Brown, James C. Van Sice, Chester R. Bender, Peter Boynton, J. William Kime, Charles D. Wurster, Owen W. Siler, Daniel C. Burbank, Thomas H. Collins, Paul A. Yost, Jr., John B. Hayes, Willard J. Smith, Timothy S. Sullivan, William D. Baumgartner, Thomas T. Matteson, Terry M. Cross, Steven H. Ratti, Edwin J. Roland, Robert E. Kramek, Billy Tauzin III, James S. Gracey, George Naccara. 

Excerpt:  

Wilbert Joseph Billy Tauzin III was born December 1, 1973 in Thibodaux, Louisiana, the son of Congressman Billy Tauzin and Gayle Clement Tauzin. After graduating from Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, VA, as a National Honor Society Student and 3 sport lettermen (football, wrestling and lacrosse), Tauzin accepted an appointment to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. After quitting the Coast Guard Academy his junior year, Tauzin finished his bachelor's degree in marketing at Louisiana State University in 1996. That summer he applied for and accepted an entry-level position selling wireless phones for Bell Atlantic Wireless in suburban Virginia. Three promotions later, he moved to outside sales in Rockville, Maryland. When the desire to return to his home state overwhelmed him, he applied for and accepted a job in Metairie, Louisiana as a Corporate and External Affairs Manager for BellSouth. In a decision that provoked internal dissension in the Louisiana Republican Party, the 30-year-old Tauzin was endorsed by the Republican Party executive committee as its candidate to fill the open seat caused by his father's 2004 retirement from the United States House of Representatives due to his battle with pancreatic cancer. Tauzin bested a crowded ...

No Court-martial For Coast Guard Academy Cadet

Coast Guard cadet won't be court-martialed

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) 12 June 2014 — A U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet accused of entering a classmate's room and touching her leg will not face a court martial, the Academy said June 12, 2014.
http://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-weak-case-for-court-martial.html
Coast Guard Academy Superintendent, Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz, agreed with the recommendations of an Article 32 Investigating Officer that reasonable grounds did not exist to support the charge of abusive sexual contact against cadet Alexander Stevens. Rear Adm. Sandra Stosz, also agreed with a recommendation to impose nonjudicial punishment (NJP) on Cadet Stevens for unlawfully entering a cadet barracks room while drunk and touching another cadet on the leg, Coast Guard officials said.
The academy did not disclose details of the punishment, citing Stevens' privacy rights. Nonjudicial punishment may include a reprimand, arrest in quarters for up to 30 days, pay forfeiture or expulsion from the academy.
"The Academy has remained committed to providing all needed support to the victim, ensuring a full and fair proceeding in compliance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and holding those who commit misconduct accountable for their actions," said Capt. James McCauley, the Commandant of Cadets at the U S Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT..
In September 2013, Stevens said, he went into the fellow cadet's room by mistake, believing it was his girlfriend's room, an investigator testified.
He was drunk at the time and made a mental mistake, Lt. John Cole, who represented Stevens, said during the Article 32 Pre-trial investigation at the Academy in April 2014.
The female cadet classmate testified that a man entered her room in the middle of the night, touched her on her thigh and moved his hand up her leg before she screamed and kicked him. The cadet said she found it hard to sleep and concentrate after the encounter, and her grades suffered.
A Government appointed prosecutor, LT Tyler McGill, at the Article 32 Investigation argued that Stevens was on a mission for sexual gratification. The room Stevens went into was about 300 feet from his girlfriend's room, Lt. Tyler McGill said, and noted that the classmate was lower in rank.
"Cadet Stevens did not walk into the room right next door," McGill said.
But the government failed to prove sexual intent, Cole argued.
"Just because he accidentally touched the wrong cadet's leg doesn't mean he should go to court martial," Cole said.
Stevens did not testify.
A conviction in a court martial can lead to prison time.
The only cadet ever court-martialed at the academy, Webster Smith, was tried in 2006 and convicted on extortion, sodomy and indecent assault charges.

(By John Christoffersen, AP)
http://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-weak-case-for-court-martial.html

Why I Believe the Department of Homeland Security Is Doomed

 Most American do not feel as secure today as they did on 9/10/2001, nor do they feel as free. We have sacrificed freedoms, but we have not gained security. We have spent millions of dollars to fight a so-called War on Terror and have few tangible results to show for it. Much of the money has gone to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Why do we do not need a Department of Homeland Security (DHS)? Most of its work is wasteful and duplicated by other government agencies.  Most of DHS's efforts appear to be oriented toward domestic law enforcement and not towards foreign terrorists. The activities being performed by DHS agents would not have prevented the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.
It appeared to be a good idea at the time President George Bush proposed forming it, because the public needed to be reassured that Government was doing something to protect us. Our national leaders assure us that Osama bin Laden is dead and Al-Qaeda is on the run. Today the DHS appears to be a bloated  and mismanaged bureaucracy of marginally qualified civil servants. 
http://voices.yahoo.com/why-believe-department-homeland-security-12669563.html?cat=9
All of the various components should be broken up and sent back to the Government Agencies they came from.

The Coast Guard is and was the lead agency. Other agencies; such as, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),  Defense,  Interior, and Health and Human Services have contributed components. At last count there were an estimated 15 to 20 spy agencies in the DHS.
 Why I Believe the Department of Homeland Security is Doomed
http://voices.yahoo.com/why-believe-department-homeland-security-12669563.html
Moreover, as of May 21, 2014 according to a Washington Post article by Jerry Markon, the DHS is homeless. The construction site in Southeast Washington, DC on the grounds of the old Saint Elizabeth's Hospital is over-budgeted by billions of dollars and may not be completed before 2016, if ever. The site is completely undeveloped except for the Coast Guard Headquarters building.
As events have unfolded, it seems to me that the underfunding of the project may not be entirely accidental. A great way to kill a project is to underfund it. That is just what Congress has done to DHS. Congress funded the Coast Guard Headquarters move from Buzzard Point to Saint Elizabeth's, but had not appropriated sufficient funds to move DHS. That means the Coast Guard was considered essential but DHS was not.
The Coast Guard has been around since 1790, but DHS came into existence in 2002. The Coast Guard has a proven track record and enjoys favorable public support.
Homeland security is not the top priority item with most Americans anymore. The DHS has succeeded in curtailing many civil liberties that American are not happy about. Privacy rights have been eroded. Air line security is cumbersome and intrusive. Immigration enforcement has not managed to curb the flood of illegal immigrants coming into the country. Phone calls and Emails are being monitored at an alarming rate. We are practically in a police state. Since the establishment of the DHS and the Patriot Act, Americans have given up freedoms and civil liberties for security, but most American do not feel any more secure than they did before 9/11/2001.

At the rate that Congress is approving funding to move DHS Headquarters to the new Saint Elizabeth site, some lawmakers are urging that plans for such an ambitious headquarters complex be scrapped.

“Sometimes you just have to drop back and punt,” said Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), whose oversight subcommittee has criticized federal management of the project. “At what point in time does the government just cut its losses and look for a better way of doing things?”

Former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, who had called a consolidated headquarters essential for his department’s mission to protect the homeland, acknowledges that the project has become a victim of Washington’s budget wars.

 Republicans are calling for a reevaluation of the project, suggesting for instance that private developers could build a more modest office complex and lease it to the government. The proposal to raise the kind of headquarters envisioned after Sept. 11 is now practically an orphan in Congress.

“It’s just not going to happen,” said a Republican congressional aide. “The money doesn’t exist.”

 ( Markon, J. and Crites, A.; Washington Post, May 21, 2014, p. A1)