Corruption and Ineptness in Congress

Caught in the act? Example of corrupt self-serving Government elected officials who betray the public trust? Where are the checks and balances? This should be the top news story on every news program in the country this week...~ William Summs

Wes Criddle

May 2 at 3:34pm · Mineola, TX

{Facebook Post}

The US has entered into a contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. All 56 were built, operated, and paid for by tax-paying American citizens. Now enjoy reading the rest: The government has decided it no longer needs these buildings, most of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country.

The sale of these properties will fetch about $19 billion!

A regular real estate commission will be paid to the company that was given the exclusive listing for handling the sales. That company is CRI and it belongs to a man named Richard Blum.

Richard Blum is the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein! (Most voters and many of the government people who approved the deal have not made the connection between the two because they have different last names).

Senator Feinstein and her husband stand to make a fortune, estimated at between $950 million and $1.1 BILLION from these transactions!

His company is the sole real estate agent on the sale!

CRI will be making a minimum of 2% and as much as 6% commission on each and every sale. All of the properties that are being sold are all fully paid for. They were purchased with U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.

The U.S.P.S. is allowed free and clear, tax-exempt use. The only cost to keep them open is the cost to actually keep the doors open and the heat and lights on. The United States Postal Service doesn't even have to pay county property taxes on these subject properties. QUESTION? Would you put your house in foreclosure just because you couldn't afford to pay the electric bill?

Well, the folks in Washington have given the Post Office the OK to do it! Worse yet, most of the net proceeds of the sales will go back to the U.S.P.S, an organization that is so poorly managed that they have lost $117 billion dollars in the past 10 years!

No one in the mainstream media is even raising an eyebrow over the conflict of interest and on the possibility of corruption on the sale of billions of dollars worth of public assets.

How does a U.S. Senator from San Francisco manage to get away with organizing and lobbying such a sweet deal? Has our government become so elitist that they have no fear of oversight?

It's no mere coincidence that these two public service crooks have different last names; a feeble attempt at avoiding transparency in these type of transactions.

Pass this info on before it's pulled from the Internet. You can verify it on TruthorFiction and Snopes:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/…/Blum-Post-Office-Sale-06101…

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp

If this doesn't upset you, don't complain about the corruption and the ineptness in D.C.

Public Service Day June 23, 2013

By Terry Orr

The United Nations’ Public Service Day is held on June 23 each year. It recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on the foundation of a competent civil service. The day aims to celebrate the value and virtue of service to the community.

Background

On December 20, 2002, the United Nations General Assembly designated June 23 of each year as United Nations Public Service Day (resolution 57/277). It encouraged member states to organize special events on that day to highlight the contribution of public service in the development process.

This day was created to: celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community; highlight the contribution of public service in the development process; recognize the work of public servants; and encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector.

(COMMENT: While corruption, greed, personal agendas have created significant problem in America and many other countries – the goals and objectives of Public Service remain honorable and worthwhile.  I personally blame the citizens for allowing this to happen – and the only way to correct it – is by getting involved and righting the ship.)

The United Nations (UN) holds a Public Service Awards ceremony each year. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions worldwide. This event promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.  At the same time, Africa Public Service Day is celebrated in Africa to coincide with the United Nations Public Service Day.

Many public service organizations and departments around the world celebrate this day by holding various events to recognize the valuable role that public servants play in making improvements in society. Activities include: information days featuring stalls and booths about the public service; organized lunches with guest speakers; internal awards ceremonies within public service agencies or departments; and special announcements to honor public servants.

The Awards for 2013 will be bestowed in the following five categories:

1. Preventing and Fighting Corruption in the Public Service

2. Improving the Delivery of Public Services

3. Fostering Participation in Policy-making Decisions through Innovative Mechanisms

4. Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age

5. Promoting Gender Sensitive Public Service Delivery

What is your take on public service?

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It is Financial Wellness Month - 2013

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By Terry Orr

Financial Wellness is a wonderful concept and if one can participate all the better.  Fact is that many folks simply cannot! They are living day to day - often wondering where their next meal will come from. I am not talking about those individuals who chose not to work.

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I am writing about those who volunteered to protect our way of live, our freedom and others - making terrible sacrifices - all too often the ultimate by giving their lives to a government that has turned their backs on these people!

I am writing about those hard working individuals who have lost their jobs through mismanagement, government bungling, and outsourcing to other countries.

I am writing about the millions of honest, hardworking people who lost their entire life savings at the hands of greedy financial individuals and the government gross neglect. to my knowledge, not one government person has yet been held accountable for their actions.

 I am writing about the corruption in our elected officials over the past one hundred years.  Stealing money from Social Security and other places - failing to repay those it – and now wanting to refer to it as an entitlement - even though millions of hard working people have been contributing to throughout their entire lives as a benefit. Must be part of that New Congressional Math they have been talking about.  Financial wellness was lost to our citizenry through the greed and corruption of elected officials.

I am writing about the lack of true leadership, integrity, honesty, and doing the right thing!

January is Financial Wellness Month. Few if any of us planned to live in these financial hard times, our budgets stretched and often broke - force to decide between a new pair of shoes or a hot meal for the family.

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January is the start of a new year - perhaps a time of hope, a fresh start, for a better tomorrow.

National and International Anti-Corruption Day

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By Terry Orr

Put a stop to bribery and corruption or risk leading business down a path of destruction!

International Anti-Corruption Day

9 December 2012

International Anti-Corruption Day - In 2010 the Secretary-General of the United Nations broadcasted a message loud and clear about the role of the day!

So what is anti-corruption? It’s businesses taking the initiative to adopt strong policies against corruption. Why? Because corruption crimes like bribery and extortion, corporate espionage can be detrimental to businesses and eventually democracy.

And there are signals that corruption could be occurring. If cash payments seem abnormal, lavish gifts are appearing out of the blue or normal procedures are suddenly being bypassed you might want to consider if there is something else at work.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has opened a past event which saw her voicing some very serious words about the issue! She emphasized the importance of fighting together to prevent the weakening of our economic climate by stopping criminals from feeding into black markets. Basically, the clearer the rules and leadership, the more transparent organizations will be forced to become! (Source: national-awareness-days.com)

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2012 Theme: Act Against Corruption Today

Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. Economic development is stunted because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the "start-up costs" required because of corruption. (Source: UN)

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Corruption is an appearance known since ancient times, and includes practically every corner of the world. Recently this problem is perceived negatively in the international scale. Corruption, after the organized crime, is regarded as the greatest threat to the economy and democracy.

Corruption deprave society and denies the fundamental moral values. It is a crime primary associate with the public sector, but also applies to business, where impede free competition. (Source: Pepe.com)

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So my fellow citizens I ask you just how the heck can we correct this significant and ever increasing dilemma?

• Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country. ~ Karl Kraus
• I am against government by crony. ~ Harold L. Ickes
• I have often noticed that a bribe has that effect -- it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has paid for a woman. ~ Graham Greene
• Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life. ~ Saul Alinsky

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Top 7 Corruption Quotes:

1.    “Corruption is authority plus monopoly minus transparency.”  - Unknown

2.    “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

3.    “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton

4.    "Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." - George Bernard Shaw

5.    "Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible." - Frank Herbert

6.    "It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression." - Eric Hoffer

7.    "Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash." - Robert A. Heinlein

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Depending upon your source of information the past US Presidential cost exceeds $4 billion and up to $8 billion.  There are lots of folks wanting something for all that money.  Think of all the good that kind of money could take care of – especially in the wake of Sandy.  Is there any hope of changing the direction we are headed in America?

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Your thoughts and recommendations are most welcome!

References and Links:

• http://www.national-awareness-days.com/international-anti-corruption-day.html
• http://www.un.org/en/events/anticorruptionday/
• http://www.aeriagloris.com/YesToRiches/Top7CorruptionQuotes.htm