Category: Hypocrisy

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion
Greg Skrepenak was warmly greeted when he appeared Sunday, two days after his sentencing, at the Festival and Flea Market at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Wilkes Barre. Parishioners offered him sympathy and support, and many expressed disgust at some of the things being said about him. With him is parish priest Father James Hayer.

The holy and sainted Democrats who run Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County drafted local sports legend and political neophyte Greg Skrepenak to run for county commissioner in 2003. He easily won as expected and was promptly named chairman of the board.

Skrepenak, known in the area as Skrep, won All-American honors in football and basketball at Wilkes Barre’s G.A.R. Memorial Junior Senior High School in the 1980s and was an MVP in baseball. Skrep went on to the University of Michigan were he became an All-American offensive lineman and was the Gator Bowl MVP in 1991. He went on to a respectable pro career with the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders and the Carolina Panthers.

Skrep’s life was not a bed of roses, however. Personal issues led to his retirement from football. His wife had become addicted to drugs and he was raising by himself his daughter and two sons.

Skrep as commissioner did as he was told and in return was given rein to indulge his dreams of expanding services to those with drug problems and youth at risk.  He ran for re-election in 2007 and again easily won.

Maybe the most damning thing Skrep  did in his tenure as Democrat Party puppet was vote to use private detention centers for juveniles. These centers were paid on a per prisoner basis. This resulted in horrifying abuse. Kids who committed rather minor offenses were ordered incarcerated by judges who received kickbacks. Anyway, the sin was not the vote, as dumb as it may have been in hindsight, but the kickbacks and Skrep has not been connected to them in the slightest.

What Skrep was connected to was taking a $5,000 discount from the fellow who was building his condo, a fellow who then at Skrep’s behest received some sweet tax breaks from the county. Skrep initially denied seeing anything wrong in this. He thought the discount was due to friendship and said he would have pushed for a tax break for the fellow anyway because, well, he was his friend. Those who know him believe him. Skrep could safely be described as the dream commissioner for a Luzerne County party boss.

Anyway, a hungry federal prosecutor couldn’t resist such an easy chance to put a new head on the wall and Skrep was charged with bribery, a charge to which he would eventually plead guilty.

With the big man safely down, the local media jumped on him with both feet. Every word he uttered in his defense was questioned. His children were ridiculed. The references to his religion he made during his apology at his sentencing were mercilessly mocked.

U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy gave him 24 months and those who leech pleasure from others’ pain gave themselves pats on the back.

Oh, if only Skrep had been a billionaire pedophile like Jeff Epstein for whom our courageous men and women in federal law enforcement managed to also get a two-year sentence. Then Skrep could have daily furloughs to his office for his first year and serve his second year under house arrest.

But the feds have their priorities, one guesses.

 

The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak

 

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

 

The Crucifixion Of Greg Skrepenak

 

Greg Skrepenak and His Luzerne County Crucifixion

JournoList Scandal Has Columnist’s Panties Bunched

JournoList Scandal Has Columnist’s Panties Bunched — Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will “He-ever-get-his-panties-out-of-a” Bunch threw a hissy fit a few days ago about being included on a list of propagandists pretending to be journalist that sought, with success, to influence the 2008 presidential election in the Democrat Party’s favor.

” . . .based on the increasingly unhinged comments I’ve been getting on the JournoList lately — thought I should check to see if I had been erroneously placed there as well. Of course, I was. It’s 100 percent wrong. I was never on the now-defunct JournoList at any time during its history, nor was I ever asked to be on it, ” he wrote.

Bunch speculates he is being tied to the scandal because he allowed his name to be attached to an open letter objecting to the questions posed by moderators George Stephanapoulos and Charlie Gibson to Barack Obama during an April primary debate with Hillary Clinton.

He says his objections were only driven by concerns of journalistic integrity. Why would Stephanapoulos — that communications director for the, apparently in Bunch’s view, right-wing Clinton administration — think it of relevance to ask about a possible president’s connections to bigots like Rev. Jeremiah Wright and radicals like Bill Ayers?

Bunch downplays that how to keep Wright and Ayers from being a topic of the election was a major discussion on the list, and apparently feels it isn’t strange that these connections never were discussed much by the old media despite its willingness to report Sarah Palin’s religious views and such things as claims that she sought a library book ban, despite the claims being political and overblown .

Bunch feels it important to note that working journalists did not make up most of the 400 or so posters who he describes “as working for publications like the Nation with an openly liberalorientation, as well as academics and a few advocates.” He did not feel obliged, however, to point out that the list was founded by Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein and that some of those working journalists included Ryan Donmoyer who was covering the campaign for Bloomberg News and Ben Adler who was then writing for Politico and is now an editor at Newsweek.

Here is a link to the list about which Bunch is objecting.

Bunch, btw, is someone who hides his bias in plain sight.

And Will, unless you think that blacks are somehow inherently different than whites — a distinct possibility since you are a leftist — the handling of the voter intimidation incident by New Black Panther Party thugs   is a serious scandal.

JournoList Scandal Has Columnist’s Panties Bunched

JournoList Scandal Has Columnist's Panties Bunched

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates — Pilgrims to the Imam Reza Shrine — one of Iran’s biggest tourist centers — are getting a special holy offer according to Planet-Iran .com, which is a website devoted to translating news and documents from Persian to English and letting the rest of us see for ourselves the bizarre world of the ayatollahs.

The document, dated July 18, offers, well, temporary marriages since “Marriage is among the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad” according to the Shrine’s “Bureau of Temporary Marriages”.

The temporary “marriages” are to females between the ages of  “12 and 35” and range in time from five hours to a whole 10 days. The shrinekeepers, of course, responsibly warn that for “sisters who are below 14 years of age, a written consent from their fathers or male guardians is required.”

Now, before you start reacting in rage and horror to this practice — especially if you should happen to be a Democrat voter — you ought to be aware of another recent event that you probably missed in the dino media.

Hedge-fund billionaire Jeff  Epstein became a free man earlier this month after serving an  25-month sentence in Palm Beach, Fla. for his  guilty plea  for “solicitation  prostitution”  and “soliciting a minor child for prostitution” which are state crimes. Michael Reiter, the man who was the police chief of Palm Beach during the investigation, was among those outraged at the deal since  what Epstein had been accused of was numerous sexual encounters with minor girls some of whom he imported from overseas including a trio of 12-year-olds from France. The federal  Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 demands a minimum sentence of 20 years for such things.

The feds, however, touched this case in the manner of a limo liberal removing a Baby Ruth candy bar from a country-club pool. That Jeff Epstein was close friends with and a major donor to Bill Clinton and a pre-disgraced Eliot Spitzer, and had gathered a legal team that included Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black and Kenneth Starr was merely incorrupt happenstance.

Sure.

That 25-month sentence, btw, included 12 months of house (mansion) arrest and 13 months in the county jail from which he was allowed to take daily field trips to his office.

Anyway, here’s a link to the Planet-Iran page containing the shrinekeepers’ offer in Persian if you should so desire to translate it yourself, and below will be the complete text in English.

And before you start hating the people of Iran — as many Arab Muslims do — know that those brave folk are in a near rebellion against their corrupt state, which is something else that is not being widely reported by the dinosaurs. The shopkeepers in the major bazaars continue their risky strikes and two major acts of sabotage have been made against the nation’s vital fossil fuel industry.

You certainly don’t see the Democrats rebelling against their perverse and totalitarian masters.

The shrinekeepers’ offer:

July 18, 2010

Bismellah al rahman a rahim

Temporary Marriage (Marriage is among the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad)

In order to elevate the spiritual atmosphere, create proper psychological conditions and tranquility of mind, the Province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan has created centers for temporary marriage (just next door to the shrine) for those brothers who are on pilgrimage to the shrine of  our eighth Imam, Imam Reza, and who are far away from their spouses.

To that end, we call on all our sisters who are virgins, who are between the ages of 12 and 35 to cooperate with us. Each of our sisters who signs up will be bound by a two year contract with the province of the Quds’eh-Razavi of Khorassan and will be required to spend at least 25 days of each month temporarily married to those brothers who are on pilgrimage. The period of the contract will be considered as a part of the employment experience of the applicant. The period of each temporary marriage can be anywhere between 5 hours to 10 days. The prices are as follows:

* 5 hour temporary marriage – 50,000 Tomans ($50 US)
* One day temporary marriage – 75,000 Tomans ($75 US)
* Two day temporary marriage – 100,000 Tomans ($100 US)
* Three day temporary marriage – 150,000 Tomans ($150 US)
* Between 4 and 10 day temporary marriage – 300,000 Tomans ($300 US)

Our sisters who are virgins will receive a bonus of 100,000 Tomans ($100 US) for the removal of their hymen .

After the expiration of the two year contract, should our sisters still be under 35 years of age and should they be so inclined, they can be added to the waiting list of those who are seeking long-term temporary marriage. The employed sisters are obligated to donate 5% of their earnings to the Shrine of Imam Reza. We ask that all the sisters who are interested in applying, to furnish two full-length photographs (fully hijabed and properly veiled), their academic diplomas, proof of their virginity and a certificate of good physical and psychological health which they can obtain through the health and human services of the township of their residence. Please forward all compiled material and send to the below address by the 31st of the month of Ordibehesht, 1389 (May 21st, 2010).

Attention: For sisters who are below 14 years of age, a written consent from their fathers or male guardian is required.

Address: Mash’had, Shrine of Imam Reza, Shaheed Navab-Safavi, Kossar passage, Bureau of Temporary Marriages

or call Haji Mahmood Momtaz : 98/511/222-5790

For further information, please refer to the Quds’eh Razavi website.

Clearly, they don’t need Jeff Epstein to help them.

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

Jeff Epstein Iranian Pilgrims, Soulmates

 

Swarthmore Celeb Author Likes His Quiet In Wasilla

Swarthmore Celeb Author Likes His Quiet In Wasilla — Expose author Joe McGinniss, whose HQ was once for many years Swarthmore, Pa. has moved his base to Wasilla, Alaska right next door to Sarah Palin.

McGinniss was a sportswriter for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (the original one), then a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer before hitting the big time in 1969 with the Selling Of The President, which described the marketing techniques used in the successful Nixon campaign the year before. He is best known for his true crime books Fatal Vision, Blind Faith and Cruel Doubt, all of which became TV miniseries.

McGinniss generally portrays his subjects rather unflatteringly.

McGinniss, who has written a critical magazine piece on Mrs. Palin, is allegedly writing a book about the former Alaska governor, but perhaps his move to Alaska is really motivated by a desire for peace and privacy. McGinniss has placed “no trespassing” signs all over the rented property and has threatened at least one news crew with arrest after they showed up at his door. The Palins have compassionately erected a 14-foot-high fence between the homes on his behalf.

McGinniss does appear to have a fixation on Mrs. Palin, almost  like something of out a Robert Mitchum movie — think Cape Fear or Night of the Hunter. He bid $60,100 at a Ride 2 Recovery eBay charity auction in order to win a dinner with Mrs. Palin. His bid came in second.

Still, maybe the best way for the Palins to handle this tense situation would be to invite this strange person over for coffee and cookies. The kids don’t have to be there, just Todd, Sarah and the firearms. They could set up videocameras to record the conversation, ask McGinniss a lot of personal questions and make sure he doesn’t get a copy of the tape.

OTOH, the fence works pretty well too.

Here is what Mrs. Palin has to say about it.

Swarthmore Celeb Author Likes His Quiet In Wasilla

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse?

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse? — A libertarian activist who began videotaping when federal officers confronted his three-man group distributing fliers outside the federal courthouse in Allentown, Pa. has been charged with assaulting a court officer after he struggled to keep court officer Claire Burns and Deputy U.S. Marshal Enrique Trevino from taking his camera.

The incident began after Ms. Burns, who was part of a contingent of several officers, approached Julian Heicklen of Fully Informed Jury Association — a group that feels jurors are often not adequately aware of their powers and obligations under the Constitution — and Heicklen began to argue.

George Donnelly began videotaping the incident. Ms. Burns attempted to take his camera, Donnelly struggled to keep it and Trevino and other marshals came to her assistance.

Donnelly was arrested and charged. He was released on his own recognizance after spending two days in custody. He must remain in his home and wear an electronic bracelet until his May 25 hearing.

The charge comes with an eight-year jail sentence.

Here is the story from the The Morning Call of Allentown .

Here is the one from FIJA.

See if you can spot the differences.

8 Years For Videotaping Outside Fed Courthouse?

Dems Against Local Government

Dems Against Local Government — In their holy quest to make all Pennsylvania like Philadelphia, a group of Democrats in the State House, happily assisted by a pair of tamed Republicans have introduced a bill to amend the state constitution and make the county the basic unit of government in the state.

The bill, HB 2431, would give counties jurisdiction over personnel, law enforcement, land use, sanitation, and health and safety.

The bill would also prohibit any county, municipality or incorporated district to become a stockholder in any company, association or corporation, or to obtain or appropriate money for, or to loan its credit to, any corporation, association, institution or individual.

The bill was introduced April 20 by Thomas Caltagirone, with fellow Democrat co-sponsors Peter Daley, Jaret Gibbons, Ted Harhai, Patrick Harkins, Tim Mahoney, Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Joseph Preston Jr. , and Rosita Youngblood .

The Republican sponsors are Jim Marshall of the 14th District  and RoseMarie Swanger of the 102nd District.

 

Dems Against Local Government

Uniter Not A Divider?

A study by the University of Minnesota shows that President Barack Obama has made more than four times as many “remarks” on foreign soil than he has in states that did not vote for them. So much for being a uniter not a divider.

Hopefully, next time Pennsylvania declines to vote for the Young Man From Wherever and he stops pestering us with his presence.

Education Department Wants Short-Barrel Shotguns

Education Department Wants Short-Barrel Shotguns — The federal Department of Education is soliciting bids for 27 Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotguns with 14-inch barrels.

Why does the federal Department of Education need 27 Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotguns with 14-inch barrels?

Now, someone might make a comment like “ho ho ho, maybe they might have to enter South Philadelphia High” and think they are being smart, but someone making such a comment would only show themselves to be rather stupid.

The Department of Education has absolutely no defense or law enforcement purpose. Buying guns indicates a perverse mission creep and that those running the department are not really people we want in government.

Education Department Wants Short-Barrel Shotguns

Education Department Wants Short-Barrel Shotguns

State-Owned Vehicles Almost Tripled Since ’80

State-Owned Vehicles Almost Tripled Since ’80 — State Sen. David Argall (R-29) is reporting that the number of state vehicles owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has increased from 5,700 in 1980 to 16,186 today.

The state had 161,528 full-time equivalent employees as of December 2009 for a population estimated at 12.6 million.

It had 123,284 full-time equivalent employees in July 1992 for a population estimated at 12 million.

State-Owned Vehicles Almost Tripled Since ’80

Pa House Members Use Per Diem To Buy Houses

Pennsylvania state representatives  who don’t live within 50 miles of Harrisburg are eligible for a $163 per diem when in the state capital on legislative business. The money is supposed to be used for food and board — $111 for housing and $52 for meals.

It turns out some of members of our legislature are using it to solve the housing crisis.

For instance Jim Wansacz (D-114), rather than stay at hotels, bought a three-story row home at314 S. Second St. on Oct. 2, 2003, for $72,000, and is using the per diem to pay off his 30-year mortgage. Pretty clever.

He acknowledges he also rents to other legislators.

Now you might wonder why our representatives need the stipend since they are already getting a base pay of $78,000 along with a lot of really great benefits, but that would just show your insensitivity and intolerance to the important work they do.

For a list of other houses being bought by House members see this story from the Scranton Times-Tribune.

For solution to the problem, see this.

Kudos to Nathan Benefield of Commwealth Foundation for the tip.

 

Pa House Members Use Per Diem

 

Pa House Members Use Per Diem To Buy Houses