e Can See Everything
'We Can See Everythin
The GOP's top House investigator in the new Congress is putting the White House on notice that he's going to be aggressive in going after what he considers wasteful spending by the Obama administration.
California Rep. Darrell Issa is set to lead the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee -- and gain the chairman's subpoena power.
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday morning, Issa was asked about a suggestion he made in November following the elections that President Obama "has been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times." The Republican congressman found himself addressing the controversial remarks despite having already expressed regret over his choice of words.
I corrected -- what I meant to say -- you know, on live radio, with Rush going back and forth -- and by the way that was because Rush had me on to answer the question of -- about coming together, having compromise. He didn't like the compromise word, when I said we're going to agree to disagree and then we're going to find a kind of common ground, the kind of compromise that makes -- and gets things done.
In saying that this is one of the most corrupt administrations, which is what I meant to say there, when you hand out $1 trillion in TARP just before this president came in, most of it unspent, $1 trillion nearly in stimulus that this president asked for, plus this huge expansion in health care and government, it has a corrupting effect.When I look at waste, fraud and abuse in the bureaucracy and in the government, this is like steroids to pump up the muscles of waste.
In a separate appearance on "Fox News Sunday" over the weekend, Issa suggested the White House hire more accountants -- not lawyers -- to deal with requests for information from the Republican-led House. He said that it's "more of an accounting function than a legal function" and suggested the White House look at wasteful spending -- not the GOP -- as the enemy.
Issa took direct direct aim at Attorney General Eric Holder on the program.
"He isn't doing enough," explained the incoming committee chairman. "He's hurting this administration. If you're hurting the administration, either stop hurting the administration or leave."
Fox News reports:
The pointed words came after Issa was asked on "Fox News Sunday" about Holder's handling of several hot-button issues, including the possibility of legal action against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Holder has said that the Justice Department is conducting an investigation into the leak of thousands of diplomatic cables, pledging to hold accountable anybody found acting in violation of U.S. law.
The California Republican said Sunday that if President Obama is not treating the unauthorized disclosure as terrorism, then Holder needs to go after the leak as a criminal matter. "Otherwise the world is laughing at this paper tiger we've become," he sai
Treating young offenders like hardened criminals makes no sense -- sending a kid in trouble to a juvenile prison greatly increases that young person's chance of becoming an adult offender. Detaining kids also costs more money than community-based programs, which have a much better track record of preventing future criminality. Luckily, New York City is moving to eliminate unnecessary detention for youthful offenders, many of whom would otherwise be locked up while simply awaiting trial. The city isputting more kids into effective community-based alternatives to detention and reserving secure detention for only the most violent youthful offenders. New assessment tools have been developed to determine which youth should be sent to secure detention and which would be better served in the community. The bottom line is that secure detention for youth is now seen as the option of last resort, rather than the default option. For doing what's best for youth, the community, and the taxpayer, New York City's juvenile justice reforms are among this year's best public policies
The policemen who assaulted businessman Chia Buang Hing, 34, were picked out among six suspects lined up at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters here last week.
Selangor police chief said the two police constables, aged 25 and 27, from the Damansara police station were arrested after Chia identified them in a parade of six people.
He said, “Police view this case as serious because it concerns abuse of power among policemen and there will be no discrimination (against the accuser) if they are found guilty”.
However, the two policemen were released the following day, after an application for their remand was denied by the court.
One of the constable’s defence council Suraj Singh said registrar Zalina Ahmad Rani rejected a seven-day remand order following his objection.
“The reason for my objection, as is in any case, is that investigation must come first before they are detained.
“If the investigation can be done without detention then there is no need for a remand to carry out investigation,” he said after his client was released.
Chia had allegedly claimed he was beaten up by policemen, as he was travelling from his home in Tropicana to Kota Damansara.
Chia alleged that the policemen also ordered him to make a false report that he had been injured in a car accident and that, if he refused, they would plant a blood-stained machete or drugs in his car.
Why are we not surprised about the police’s actions? Because, this incident, is the latest in a long list of previous episodes of police brutality, cover-ups and deaths in custody. Also, fresh in our minds are the shootings of teenagers and the similar claims of parangs and drugs.
Thus, it is not surprising because we have come to expect this sort of behavior from the police who are the ones who behave as if they are above the law, that they are supposed to enforce. In fact, they are the ones acting like gangsters.
Whilst the Malaysian public has formed a solid opinion about the police, it must be disheartening for the few policemen who are decent.
They must be demoralised by the behavior of their errant colleagues.
Of these, some act like they were instruments of the state, others are surly and brusque when discharging their duties, and a good number are time wasters, as many people know to their cost when making police reports.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — It began with a sheriff's deputy investigating a report of gunfire at a trailer park. By the time it was over, the deputy and the suspected shooter were dead, and a police officer was wounded in a gunbattle with the suspect.
"This is the worst day of my entire law enforcement career," said Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly, who has been sheriff for 24 years.
Deputy Suzanne Hopper was shot Saturday as she tried to photograph a footprint in the Enon Beach mobile-home park in western Ohio, Kelly said. Hopper, who was married last year and had two children, didn't have the opportunity to return fire or take cover, he said.
Police officers were trying to talk to the shooting suspect when he fired on them from inside a trailer, and a German Township officer was wounded in an exchange of gunfire, Kelly said. There were "many, many, many" shots fired by the suspect and eight officers, he said.
The wounded officer, Jeremy Blum, was hospitalized in fair condition, a hospital supervisor said.
WATCH
Authorities were still investigating and weren't ready to say whether police gunfire killed the suspect, whose identity wasn't released, Kelly said. It's possible the suspect, who had "a history" with the sheriff's office, killed himself, he said.
Enon Beach resident Angelina Inman said she looked out of her trailer at the park, which sits near a highway, to see the deputy lying on the ground. She watched as another officer tried to reach her body.
"He was itching to get her," Inman said. "He kept radioing in, can he please get her, and he was told no because it wasn't secure. You could see that male sheriff crying – he wanted to get her, he wanted to get her bad."
Sgt. Dustin White had accompanied Hopper to the trailer park, which is just southwest of Springfield and about 50 miles west of Columbus, and was interviewing a family whose trailer had been shot at when he heard Hopper scream, Kelly said.
"We believed we had an active shooter, which we did, and we wanted to get her some medical attention, but we didn't want to get anyone else shot," the sheriff said.
Enon Beach acts as a seasonal campground with some summer-only residents and others who live there year-round. A portion of Interstate 70 was closed twice for a total of about an hour because the trailer park is so close to the roadway, Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said.
A girl who lives in the trailer park said she knew the shooting suspect and he had a temper.
"He was a quiet person, but if you made him mad – he wasn't very pleasant," 15-year-old Chelsea Bagley said.
Her mother's boyfriend, John Burkhardt, said he heard the shots fired in the neighborhood. Police then arrived, Burkhardt said, and for several minutes authorities asked the suspect over a loud speaker to come out and surrender.
"They give him 25 chances to walk out of there," Burkhardt said. "They were begging him to come out, but he wouldn't come out."
Shortly after, Burkhardt said, authorities opened fire on the man's trailer.
"All hell broke loose," he said.
Police threw smoke grenades before storming the trailer and finding the suspect dead, Kelly said.
He said he had hired Hopper in 1999 and had known her since the police academy.
Hopper, 40, was known for her dedication to the job and adherence to keeping herself safe, Kelly said. The former officer of the year was wearing a protective vest Saturday, but it didn't shield her from the gunfire that killed her, he said.
"If she would have known there was a suspect in that trailer she'd have never walked that way without additional units and without taking cover," Kelly said.
Hopper once went six straight years without calling in sick and often put on charity events for the Special Olympics and other causes, Kelly said.
"Her personnel file is filled with accolades and commendations and always service before self," he said.
Earlier and even now, cops were the ones who used to launch manhunt for criminals. Of late, it's the anti-social elements who have started launching something akin to cophunt.
Like the cops take help of laws to go after the law-breakers, criminals have their rights for which they can nail the cops. In this scenario of law versus rights, cops seem to be the sadder ones as law-breakers often tend to tease them with their awareness of options to keep law-enforcers tightly within their limits.
Crime branch recently faced some tough time as a youth from Madhya Pradesh sought protection against the city cops from privately-run human rights organizations in in Nagpur and MP. "We had evidence and hence got him finally behind the bars," said a senior cop who is also a law graduate. "He definitely wasted our time and delayed his arrest," he said.
Lakadganj cops had recently nabbed a hardcore criminal for chain-snatching. The criminal would threaten them with going to court and to human rights activists every time he would be grilled in custody. The cops simply sent him to jail after showing his involvement in one crime though they knew he was into many.
A senior officer expressed his grievance that a bunch of people having records of criminal activities had formed an organization to champion human rights. It had a former gangster, booked in Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), as one of the margdarshaks (patrons) and office-bearer.
A section of so-called social-workers has become self-styled rights activists despite themselves being charged with duping others under different legal provisions, said an officer. "First you dupe someone and then come forward to save others who have been facing charges of illegal activities," he said.
"Ask them about the human rights charter of UN and other issues about it and their ignorance would be exposed. Their forming such rights bodies is to simply bring cops under pressure. This is not a system of checks and balance," said a senior cop.
A source from Ganeshpeth police station narrated how a human rights activist had come to protect a man who had created a ruckus with a scrap-dealer and his wife recently. The rights activist had earlier been booked in a couple of offences. The same activist had earlier made allegations of corruption against two officers of Imambada police station too.
"Pity on us as time has come to learn law from people who mislead others in the name of rights," said a cop. Another rights activist drove his wife away retaining their two children after getting divorce. He apparently also colluded with another activist to keep the estranged wife away from his properties. "These people torture human beings and then take shelter of rights provisions," said a citizen.
Some cops claimed that such mushrooming activists were so active that they had almost overshadowed, state mechanisms for protection of rights. "They use cars with stickers or plates claiming to be official of human rights organisation. They have letterheads and visiting cards making it look as if they represent state human rights bodies. State police have issued a circular to cops to take action against anybody doing so. But cops have themselves forgotten about the circular," said an officer.
With the activists are athorn in cops' side, a section of the police department could not be happier. "Some cops hide behind human rights smokescreen whenever their performance is questioned by seniors. They claim they were not able to prevent or detect crime or even arrest criminals and recover stolen properties because of human rights obstacles. Sometimes the cops talk as if the human right activists also snatch their salaries," said a senior officer.
I don't see the justice, you steal eleven dollars and you go to jail forever, but you steal billions for tax payers and you get off scot-free. If you're poor and a minority you get the heavy hand of justice but if you're rich and powerful you get the whisper of imprisonment but in the end everyone goes free.
The settlement of US$137 million (RM413 million) by Alcatel-Lucent SA (AL) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department of charges of bribery of government officials in Costa Rica, Honduras, Taiwan and Malaysia, is damaging to the image of Malaysia. There are many issues of governance and corruption to observe.
It was alleged that AL had paid bribes to employees of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), a GLC (government-linked corporation) to obtain confidential information relating to a public tender for a contract worth US$85 million that AL won. AL had paid US$200,000 and US$500,000 to two consultants but they “did not appear to render any legitimate services to Alcatel Malaysia in connection with these payments.” If these consultants did not provide legitimate services of value to AL then what type of “services” did they provide? The use of “consultants” or middlemen/ facilitators, especially in closed or negotiated tenders raises strong suspicion of corrupt practices. Many of them are RM2 companies with no relevant expertise or experience or even the resources to offer the services which they are supposed to provide.
In addition to possibly being conduits for bribes, in some cases, there are several layers of consultants and/or sub-contractors. The actual contractor doing the work gets a fraction of the contract value and middlemen/facilitators get significant portions for facilitating the contract. The consequences of such procurement practice are highly inflated prices, shoddy work, goods not delivered to specification in quantity and quality, etc.
Although the regulators have espoused good governance especially for public listed companies (PLC) and while many have published beautifully drafted statements of good governance in their annual reports, actual measures to implement good governance may still be lacking especially in procurement. Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) advocates a set of integrity tools that are often missing from PLC compliance measures. These are:
(1) Each PLC, GLC and government-owned enterprise to make a public anti- corruption pledge similar to the pledge signed recently on 9th December, 2010 by the heads of chambers of commerce and industry/ trade associations. This pledge is a commitment to comply with a set of good business principles including the implementation of an anti-bribery policy in accordance with global standards. Furthermore, the enterprise shall do a periodical self-assessment as to its level of compliance preferably using an independent third-party assessor and the result of which should be made public.
(2) Implementing a public and open tender system for procurement and a set of integrity compliance tools especially the use of TI’s Integrity Pact (IP) and a whistle blowing policy. An IP is a legally enforceable agreement signed between both the buyer and the sellers with severe sanctions for defaults, such as termination of contract, black-listing, damages to the buyer and unsuccessful bidders. In IPs, the buyer commits not to solicit bribes and to put in place all possible measures to ensure its officials comply and the sellers commit to not paying bribes. All commissions and other payments paid directly or indirectly by the sellers must be disclosed to the buyer. The best practice of IP requires all stages of the procurement process, including tender specifications, prequalification, appointment of consultants, tender evaluation and award, contract performance and post-contract evaluation, especially for large projects, to be monitored by an independent external monitor with the requisite integrity and relevant expertise. For example, The upcoming MRT infrastructure project announced by the government would be an ideal candidate to implement these important measures given its magnitude, costing RM 36 billion cost and will have a direct impact on the general public.
Although regulations and governance measures may not completely eliminate fraud and corruption, TI’s experience is that the measures mentioned above together with top management setting the tone of integrity and zero tolerance of corruption, do mitigate the risk significantly. Recently, multi-billion losses of PLCs and government enterprises like those at Sime Darby Berhad and Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) highlight the urgent need for stronger good corporate governance. The regulators, boards of directors, CEOs, and political leaders must take heed. If not, there may be more scandals to come!
Finally, in an article that appeared in our local media entitled “ Getting corruption right”, Jagdish Bhagwati, professor of economics and law at Columbia University, said “But where substantial corruption can be unambiguously be found, as it often can, one must recognize that it is not a cultural given. On the contrary, it is the result of policies that have fed it.”
(Paul Low is the current president of Transparency International)
Much has been said about Ratan Tata's story of a fellow industrialist calling him stupid for not paying a Rs 15 crore bribe to a minister for approval of a project. I don’t know whether this bribe story is true or not, but it is true that honest people in our contemporary society are called stupid. Today, "success" is important, not "means". Performance is judged on "profits", not "probity". Hence, many journalists do not find anything wrong in being used by a high-profile public relations consultant, Nira Radia (read vested interests), so long as they get the “news”. The Radia tapes also reveal that industrialists projected as sacrosanct are not 100% stupid.
But these people are only mediocre in the art of “cleverness”. The rot is much deeper and the reality ugly beyond imagination. So, don’t be surprised if tomorrow you find that the tape leak was part of a bigger design. Also, don’t blame Rajas and Kalmadis entirely for the 2G or CWG scam. If they succeeded, it is because the system is full of such people. Most of us are more than eager to be part of the loot, otherwise a scam of such magnitude is impossible. It's also hard to believe that the top brass of the ruling Congress were really not aware of the “making of the scams”. This is true of other political parties as well. No scam can take place without the patronage of higher-ups and involvement of people lower down the order.
It is not the first time that the UPA government has been caught “red-handed”. In July 2008, during the trust vote in Parliament over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the ruling coalition had shown that it could go to any length to save the government. This raises the question what's the use of having an honest Prime Minister like Manmohan Singh when he cannot prevent corruption in his own Cabinet? What's the use of finding water on the moon when you cannot provide safe drinking water to over 70% of the population? I am not trying to undermine the honesty of the Prime Minister or efforts made by our scientists for a successful Chandrayan mission, but only presenting the view of the common man living in abject poverty who doesn't have money to bribe officials for getting a BPL card and has to walk 10km daily to fetch drinking water (and that too is not safe for drinking). We cannot blame the government alone. If only 10 paise out of Re 1 sanctioned by the government is reaching the bottom, all those from top to bottom who gulped the remaining 90 paise are guilty.
The CWG, Aadarsh Society and 2G scams, the Radia tapes, and corruption charges against judges and the chief vigilance commissioner are only a fraction of corruption prevalent in the country. It is an open secret that kickbacks, manipulation, favouritism and cheating are an integral part of almost all the dealings in the government or the private sectors. The only difference this time is that all the institutions meant to safeguard the interest of the nation are in the dock at the same time — executive, legislature, judiciary, media and industry.
Corruption is not about money and power alone. It is anything and everything that compromises morality. And today morality is the first casualty everywhere — from Parliament to panchayat, from mall to mandi and from stock market to schoolq.
Today, people who talk about morality and ideals are mocked at and discouraged by colleagues, friends and family. In the name of professionalism and practicality we do or are forced do things which don’t qualify the definition of propriety. Even if we do not contribute in corruption, we are told by peers to remain silent for the sake of livelihood. And, this "conspiracy of silence" has made India a nation of scams. But is there a way out? I think we need more stupid people, well-organised, united and daring, having presence in every section of society. In fact, the country requires "stupidity" of the highest order, to the level of obsession, to combat the deadly virus C which has got into our blood streams and has crippled our conscience.
But expecting change in the system is meaningless till we stop ourselves from indulging in corruption — be it out-of-turn admission to school or bribing for out-of-turn allotment of a contract. Gandhi defined the term "swaraj" not only as the political self-governance but also self-discipline at the individual level. The self-discipline includes righteousness, "Be the change you want to see in this world," he said. He also said that any system of government can fail if people do not show scrupulous honesty. Hence, the fight against corruption will have to begin from within. Only the conquest of Self can bring the change. And for that we will have to make sacrifices required to lay the foundation of the ideological revolution essential for overhauling the system.
The hero of the Kakori train robbery of 1927, Ram Prasad Bismil, who also penned "sarfaroshi ki tamanna", was lodged in Lucknow jail for some time before being hanged to death. The jailer respected Bismil for his righteousness and allowed him to move around freely on the campus. Bismil got three opportunities to escape but he didn’t as that would have meant breach of trust. Bismil’s escape would have strengthened the revolutionary movement. Nobody would have questioned his integrity. But, still Bismil chose to die rather than ditch the jailer. He could have also come out of the jail by pleading mercy before the British government but preferred martyrdom.Upholding moral values was much more important for Bismil than the result. He believed that his death will produce many more like him till moral values are alive. Corruption begins the day we first defy our conscience and make a compromise even if it is for a small gain.
Bhagat Singh allowed himself to be arrested, faced trial and embraced death to awaken the conscience of the sleeping nation. Subhas Chandra Bose could have enjoyed a comfortable life after being selected in the Indian Civil Service but chose a life full of hardships. Our freedom struggle is full of such examples. But today most of us argue that freedom fighters were great and we cannot rise to that level. But by calling them great, we deliberately distance ourselves from the freedom fighters and use it as an excuse to justify our corruption. Freedom fighters were ordinary people like us but did extraordinary work in extraordinary situations. Besides British rule, their fight was against a corrupt system which prevails even today. We need to fulfil the wish of our freedom fighters.
It’s true that nobody is perfect but the argument cannot be used to justify corruption or unethical behaviour. The ideals cannot be lowered down because of our lack of capacity to lift our conduct. And not everyone is corrupt. There are honest people who have waged wars against corruption without expecting anything in return. But since honest people are considered stupid today, a majority of us don’t take inspiration from them. I don't blame the 70% population of the country living on or below poverty line because it is not strong enough to change the system. The elite (5% of the population) know that money rules no matter who is in the power. The onus thus comes on the middle class, which constitutes 25% of the population, to take the initiative.
The middle class led India’s freedom struggle. Even today a majority of bureaucrats, managers and politicians come from the middle class background. They can bring change. Bhagat Singh and his comrades were of the view that when the middle class walks with the poor, it creates a revolution, but when it decides to serve the elite, it becomes reactionary. But the majority today has chosen to be reactionary.
Gandhi had foreseen the crisis we are in today. Three days before his assassination, he had warned: (January 27, 1948, The Hindu) "... Corruption will go when people will realise that the nation does not exist for them to exploit but that they exist to serve the nation. This requires morals, and extreme vigilance on the part of those who are free of the taint. Indifference will be criminal…"
During the past two weeks, in response to successful grassroots campaigns, two governors have released black Americans who had been railroaded by our nation's criminal justice system. Together, these cases speak to the urgent need for the work the NAACP and our allies are doing to encourage more Governors to use their clemency authority as our nation's founding fathers intended by freeing more deserving people more frequently.
The most recent victory is that of Jamie and Gladys Scott, two Mississippi sisters who have been imprisoned for 16 years on double-life sentences. They were each condemned to this extraordinary sentence as teenagers for a first-time offense in which $11 was stolen and no one was hurt. The Scott sisters were convicted of luring two men to be robbed by three teenage boys. The boys each received eight years and served less than three. Moreover, there are compelling reasons to believe the sisters are innocent. Their case has become increasingly tragic and urgent over the years. While in prison, Jamie has lost use of both her kidneys.
At Thursday's press conference for the Scott Sisters, I praised Governor Barbour for his decision to release both sisters from prison:
This is a shining example of the way clemency power should be used. Governor David Paterson did it last week in the John White case. Now, Governor Barbour. We hope next will be the governor of Georgia, the John McNeil case. These are important cases, and it's important governors realize that they have a role to play in advancing justice.
As the Scott sisters' lawyer Chokwe Lumumba has observed, we are further heartened that by indefinitely suspending their sentences Governor Barbour is taking the same first step he took in each of the cases he later pardoned.
Many have objected to Governor Barbour attaching a condition to Gladys Scott's release that she follow through on her promise, long blocked by the Mississippi penal system, to donate her kidney to her sister.
We share these concerns. We would fight anyone who ever tried to activate such a clause and we would win.
Attorney Lumumba has noted what many legal scholars have also observed:
We are much better off with Gladys out of prison on a condition that is constitutionally unenforceable than behind bars in a prison that repeatedly refused to let her help her sister. Not only has the Governor's office assured us that they will never enforce this clause, they couldn't do it if they wanted to.Why he let them out is an argument for historians, getting people like them out is what we have to be about.
In the meantime, our eyes remain firmly focused on the prize: assisting the Scott sisters in getting the freedom they have won, the health care they need, and ultimately the full pardon they deserve.
The victory of their release encourages us to press on in our nationwide efforts to convince more governors to use their clemency powers to free more people who desperately deserve it.
Like the struggle to win justice for the Scott sisters, the struggle for full and fair usage of clemency powers is as urgent as it has been long. For more than a century, the NAACP has pushed Governors and Presidents publicly and privately to use their clemency powers to advance justice. Yet, the roots of this struggle go much deeper. Alexander Hamilton predicted in Federalist Paper number 74 that without "easy access" to clemency our nation's justice system and democracy would not work properly. "The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel."
In addition to dealing with a justice system that has indeed become "too sanguinary and cruel" we are also confronting one that is grossly overcrowded with Americans of all colors (especially black men and women), and leaders who are too fearful to do much about either aspect of the problem. Ten years ago, I played a small role in helping free Kemba Smith -- a young black woman sentenced to more than twenty years on drug conspiracy charges despite her prosecutor's own admission that Ms. Smith had never used, sold, nor benefited from the sale of drugs. When I met with President Clinton about the case, it was clear he had studied her case and understood why she deserved freedom. He commuted her sentence a few months later as he left office.
As Kemba Smith has often said, her case is remarkable not because there are so few "Kemba Smiths" in our justice system (there are thousands), but rather because there are so few commutations for people who deserve them.
Gladys and Jamie Scott's freedom is just as rare and precious. Let's keep this movement growing by ensuring the pleas of others who deserve clemency are heard, and they are set free.
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