← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Okiereddust
Thread ID: 15940 | Posts: 14 | Started: 2004-12-11
2004-12-11 18:17 | User Profile
'Nanny problem' forces Kerik to withdraw
"I owe the president an enormous amount of gratitude for this consideration. I owe him a great apology that this may have caused him and his administration a big distraction," Kerik said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in
"[B]I'm going to spend some time with my family.[/B](Okie -guess he'll have to now, since his live at home wetback has left the premises. Oh the sacrifices of public life:lol:) I'm going to work on getting messages out to people close to me who have been supportive, apologizing for the embarrassment," Kerik said.
The surprise withdrawal late Friday sends Bush back in search of a Cabinet official to help guard the country against terrorists. While assembling paperwork for his Senate confirmation, Kerik said he uncovered questions about the immigration status of a housekeeper-nanny that he employed. As homeland security secretary, Kerik would oversee the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.(Okie - the "Foxe" (pun intended)guarding the chicken coop)
"I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to Bush.
Former
"Every time immigration issue came up this would be a problem," said Giuliani. (Okie - no shit. Well Actually the Bushes would view it as a mark in his favor probably, but a few others might think differently) Had he continued "it would have been a bitter, difficult battle that probably would have ended without him getting confirmed," said Giuliani. "...The irony of this is he's about as qualified as you could possibly be for this job."
In the AP interview, Kerik said that on Wednesday he discovered financial records "that led me to question the tax filings regarding a housekeeper and nanny that was employed by me in my house, a very nice woman, a very good woman, someone who loves my children and they love her."
By Friday afternoon, Kerik said, "[B]I came to realize that that there was not only a problem with the filings, there may have been a question with regard to her legal status in the country. [/B] (Okie - my oh my, he just "realized" it on Wednesday :lol:)
"Based on that, and based on precedent, and really it was the most important that this was the right thing to do, I contacted the White House late yesterday afternoon and told them I would like to withdraw my name."
In the letter to Bush, Kerik said he could not allow personal matters to "distract from the focus and progress of the Department of Homeland Security and its crucial endeavors."
Kerik was among a small group of leaders who became the face of the response to the attacks of
When Bush announced Kerik's nomination last week, he won early support in Republican and some Democratic quarters.
But others questioned whether Kerik had the management experience to continue the nearly 2-year-long effort to meld the Homeland Security Department, which has more than 180,000 employees from 22 federal agencies.
Democrats also were focusing on Kerik's recent financial windfall from exercising stock options in a stun gun company that does business with the Department of Homeland Security. He earned $6.2 million from the options received from Taser International.
Kerik's announcement marked an unusual disruption in the White House's normally well- choreographed personnel moves. But he is not the first prominent government official to fall victim to the "nanny problem."
Similar issues killed the nominations of three candidates for top administration posts in the
When Bush set up his first Cabinet in 2001, conservative commentator Linda Chavez also stepped aside as the nominee for labor secretary after it was disclosed that she had given money and shelter to an illegal immigrant who once did chores around her house.
While Kerik confided in a close circle of associates, the announcement came as a surprise to many government insiders.
One administration official helping prepare Kerik for Senate confirmation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his decision shocked senior Homeland Security leaders.
As recently as
Among those mentioned as possible candidates before Kerik was chosen were Joe Allbaugh, a former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt and White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend.
Others believed to be interested in the job include Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security.
Kerik's first anti-terrorism work was as a paid private security worker in
In 2003, he took on a temporary assignment in
---
Associated Press writers, Donna de la Cruz, Ted Bridis and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.
[I]The Linda Chavez thing all over again[/I] :lol:
2004-12-12 01:20 | User Profile
Okiereddust,
It is sickening to see so many people willing to let turd world savages care for their children.
2004-12-12 02:21 | User Profile
Faust? show me a white world savage who is willing to take crap from your kids and wife and say nothing when they are insulted.
Show a so called "white" who is willing to work in the hot fields for pennies a day with no medical or retirement benefit and not even a thanks from the patron.
Now even in Clifornia the low paying jobs at Taco Bell, MaCdonalds, Wendies and so on are being taken by the "brown turds" because those jobs are not paying what the "whites" wants to earn.
All those taking care of your garden are also "brown turds" because the pay is to low and the hours to long working in the hot sun.
Don't blme the "Turds world savages" of the world wanting those jobs that the prouds "whites" don't want.
Americans have forgotten where they came from and how they got to America, they forgotten how to work with their heart at the same time that they do it with their hands.
SHAME ON YOU FOR INSULTING THOSE WHO DO THE JOBS THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO IN ORDER TO FEED YOUR FAMILY.
" En defensa de los pobres",,,,, " In defense of the poor's",,,, Ponce
2004-12-12 06:06 | User Profile
You guys are drunk without drinking.
The 'nanny' business is a smokescreen. The Kerik Debacle is rooted squarely in [I]corruption [/I] and [I]influence-peddling[/I].
[QUOTE][url]http://nydailynews.com/front/story/261052p-223581c.html[/url]
Friends said the nanny problem developed while Kerik, who has two young daughters, was in Iraq helping to form an Iraqi police force.
Some observers said it was unlikely the Senate would reject Kerik under those circumstances, but Giuliani said this was one issue "that was not manageable," considering that Kerik would oversee immigration enforcement.
The fall of Kerik, 49, was sudden, but reporters had been delving into his background since the nomination a week ago.
After an initial glowing reception that included strong support from New York's Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, negative media reports were starting to surface.
Sources told the Daily News that FBI Director Robert Mueller was starting a file on the public controversies to make sure nothing caught him off-guard, even as FBI agents were beginning formal background checks.
The most troubling new reports about Kerik were accounts that he earned some $6 million by exercising stock options from Taser International, which is seeking business with the Department of Homeland Security.
He drew sharp criticism for bugging out of his Iraq police job just 14 weeks into his six-month assignment. Although his mission was to help build a strong and efficient Iraqi police force, that force remains mostly a joke.
Other issues have dogged Kerik. Last summer, questions arose about his decision as police commissioner to order four high-tech $50,000 security doors for headquarters. The Internal Affairs Bureau found no wrongdoing, but noted that a proper engineering study wasn't done.
As the city's Corrections Department boss, Kerik allegedly "blocked the promotion of a qualified jail supervisor" because the man had reprimanded a female officer Kerik had dated. Both allegations, however, remain unproven.
Some of his appointees have also wound up in hot water. Last June, a Kerik crony was sentenced to a year in prison for embezzling $142,733 from a charity. Kerik was one of four people ever on the charity's board, but denied knowledge of its finances. The former boss of Rikers Island, whom Kerik had promoted six times, is facing allegations he pressured underlings to work on Republican political campaigns.
A rap that didn't stick happened three years ago when Kerik allegedly sent five top homicide cops to the homes of some Fox News staffers - one as far away as New Jersey - when talk-show host Judith Regan suspected them of stealing her cell phone. Regan is the publisher of Kerik's memoir "The Lost Son."
The outraged Fox folk threatened a suit against the city and Kerik, but later gave up the idea. Kerik swore he never gave his gumshoes that particular go-ahead.
Kerik also used NYPD investigators to research the murder of his mother, a former prostitute killed when he was 4, for his book. He had to pay the city $2,500 under a settlement with the Conflict of Interest Board.
In the 1980s, while working as chief of investigations for a Saudi Arabian hospital complex, Kerik allegedly abused his authority to delve into the private lives of women with whom his boss was romantically involved.
Kerik is not the first official to fall victim to the "nanny problem." Similar issues killed the nominations of three candidates for posts in the Clinton administration.
One administration official helping prepare Kerik for Senate confirmation said Kerik's unexpected decision shocked senior leaders at the Homeland Security Department.
The official said Kerik still had not filled out all his ethics filings - which would detail his sources of income and financial liabilities - and said the FBI background investigation of Kerik was still incomplete.
Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) said the White House earlier in the day had E-mailed him some talking points in support of Kerik for King's appearance on CNN yesterday.
"Clearly, nobody in the White House knew this was going to happen," said King.
"Personally I'm very surprised and disappointed for New York, the nation and for Bernie. I was very confident he would be confirmed." [/QUOTE]
Hmmm. A cop who joined the force in '86 - and declared personal bankruptcy in '89 - falls into a 6 million dollar stock-option windfall with a company that just happens, Cheney-style, to be angling for gov't contracts, little more than a decade afterwards. Moreover, his involvement with a little scam called "Giuliani Partners" (not mentioned in the above story) could only further complicate his position. Something tells me we'll have to wait until 2008 to see any in-depth investigative reporting on [I]that [/I] story.
Whichever way you look at it, Kerik was up to his eyeballs in war profiteering: his name keeps coming up in conjunction with companies lined up to divvy up the ultra-lucrative 'democratic rebuilding' of Iraq. Typically, he is perfectly willing to scapegoat an immigrant nanny (believe it or not, these immigrant nannies tend to be horribly pilloried in both the press and among racialists. Most of them are not only competent and law-abiding, they are [I]devoted [/I] to their small charges, which is more than can be said of their photo-opping, careerist parents....most of these poor kids get little more than cameo appearances from their parents, and get most of their actual care and parenting from the nannies.)
2004-12-12 07:42 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]You guys are drunk without drinking.
The 'nanny' business is a smokescreen. The Kerik Debacle is rooted squarely in [I]corruption [/I] and [I]influence-peddling[/I].
Don't disagree. In this administration, and most of the coast establishment, hiring an illegal is probably considered a plus. But it makes for a good excuse when things go South in much more (at least to the press) areas.
I suspect all prospective candidates keep an illegal hired for just that reason. The establs can say "gosh, he was a great candidate, but those rednecks in the heartland just don't understand this illegal stuff
Hmmm. A cop who joined the force in '86 - and declared personal bankruptcy in '89 - falls into a 6 million dollar stock-option windfall with a company that just happens, Cheney-style, to be angling for gov't contracts, little more than a decade afterwards. Moreover, his involvement with a little scam called "Giuliani Partners" (not mentioned in the above story) could only further complicate his position. Something tells me we'll have to wait until 2008 to see any in-depth investigative reporting on [I]that [/I] story. Give me a break. You think the Dem's really care about corruption? Bush has probably bought them off already.
If not, Kerik, as NYC police chief, probably had enough dirt on everyone to keep the inquisitorial types down.
Typically, he is perfectly willing to scapegoat an immigrant nanny (believe it or not, these immigrant nannies tend to be horribly pilloried in both the press and among racialists. Most of them are not only competent and law-abiding, they are [I]devoted [/I] to their small charges, which is more than can be said of their photo-opping, careerist parents....most of these poor kids get little more than cameo appearances from their parents, and get most of their actual care and parenting from the nannies.)[/QUOTE] Sounds like a little "immigrants do the work Americans won't do" type of bleeding heartism Raggy :lol: Although actually in NYC its probably true. The native NYers make anyone from outside seem kind and hardworking.
And nanny is actually an unusual type position, one historically associated with caste type significance. I actually agree, it is one position people really frown upon assuming for people of their own. But I think debating the virtues of nanny's is rather beside the point, what's important is the people who hire them are socialy degenerate, just like any other illegal employers.
2004-12-12 08:42 | User Profile
The typical immigrant nanny is more the grandmother type - over 40, devoutly religious, dotes on/protective of children. I think - rightly or wrongly - most people are suspicious of young, white au pairs/nannies ever since Louise Woodward.
The question that occurred to me was why, in a household with a net worth approaching seven figures like the Keriks, would both parents find it [I]necessary [/I] to work? Not to help make ends meet. Some of these kids barely see their real parents an hour a day, if that.
[QUOTE]Give me a break. You think the Dem's really care about corruption? Bush has probably bought them off already.[/QUOTE]
Yes, if it involves Iraq. I think the 'rebuilding' windfall everyone is fighting for a piece of is a kettle of fish just waiting for a can-opener to become a major scandal.
Also, cops who amass personal fortunes of that size in less than 15 years on the force...following a declaration of bankruptcy...always raise the wrong sorts of antennae, as well.
[QUOTE]If not, Kerik, as NYC police chief, probably had enough dirt on everyone to keep the inquisitorial types down.[/QUOTE]
In his own bailiwick, probably. On a national scale is a different matter. Locally, Kerik is juiced-in and probably has enough strings he can pull that- if he were ever to face serious scrutny - he'd likely avert any prospective penalty by retiring with his full pension and end up with a six-figure private-security consultant gig somewhere. Nationally, each and every shenanigan he could be linked to is fair game.
[QUOTE]Sounds like a little "immigrants do the work Americans won't do" type of bleeding heartism Raggy [/QUOTE]
Hey, if you're a five year old kid and Mommy and Daddy are power-player celebs who are otherwise strangers to you, you're going to bond emotionally with whoever it is who [I]does [/I] care for you and gives you whatever nurturing you [I]do [/I] get. If people tend to look for older immigrants to do this work, it's likely because they recognize more of themselves in the younger white applicants than they're comfortable with: the self-absorption and ridiculous overestimation of their own worth.
Who would you rather trust with [I]your [/I] kids - a grandmother who keeps a crucifix prominently displayed on her kitchen wall, or a ditz who burns up your phone line, invites her boyfriends over while you're at work, rifles your liquor and/or medicne cabinets and plays U2 and Madonna on her cd walkman when she's [I]supposed [/I] to be watching your kids?
QUOTE [/QUOTE]
Exactly. There have been enough confirmation-hearing nannygates in the recent past to render this explanation unlikely, if not ludicrous. So it has to be something else.
2004-12-13 01:02 | User Profile
Kerik is one of those NYC thug-types that just make a frippy foppish Anglo-Saxon who doesn't drop his g's like me uncomfortable. I see these guys in operation every day: they're white, a blessed change, but just pulsing with stupidity. They do well by associating with the right people, and they always have a very mafia-style attitude: We's heah to make ah money and protect ah own. Eff da rules, eff da feds, eff da rats. All of which is great, under the right circumstances, but without proper direction is just plain ugly. Actually, it's probably ugly even with the proper direction, but better that than the other.
Truth on NYPD is lots of these guys are great, traditional, loyal white men, but some of 'em just give me the willies with their adolescent disregard. They work for whoever's boss. But you shouldn't forget that many are just 10-year-old boys with big hairy bodies and guns.
My guess is Kerik would have been in over his head.
2004-12-13 03:55 | User Profile
[COLOR=Navy][I]Why oh why was I cursed with this gift of prognostication??[/I][/COLOR]
[QUOTE][url]http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/261266p-223749c.html[/url] [FONT=Book Antiqua] [B]News finds Kerik in cash conflict [/B]
[I]Got thousands, didn't report it[/I]
By RUSS BUETTNER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik accepted thousands of dollars in cash and gifts without making proper public disclosures, a Daily News investigation has revealed. Kerik failed to report the gifts on financial disclosure forms he was required to file with the city as head of the both the NYPD and, before that, the Department of Correction.
The revelations come in the wake of Kerik's stunning announcement Friday night that he was withdrawing his nomination as President Bush's secretary of homeland security.
Kerik maintained yesterday that he pulled out on his own after discovering he may have failed to pay required taxes on behalf of a nanny whose immigration status was uncertain.
However, his announcement came after a week of intense media scrutiny into his business and private life.
As the White House scrambled yesterday to find a new nominee, a Bush spokeswoman blamed the mess on Kerik.
"He should have brought this to our attention sooner," spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said.
But Kerik's friends came to the defense of NYPD's leader at the time of 9/11.
"It doesn't take away from Bernie's heroism. It doesn't take away from his decency," said ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "He made a mistake. It cost him a job."
In a news conference outside his $1.2 million lakeside New Jersey home, Kerik insisted it was the nanny issue alone that led him to withdraw. "Based on that, and based on precedent, and really it was the most important that this was the right thing to do, I contacted the White House late [Friday] afternoon and told them I would like to withdraw my name," Kerik said.
However, The News probe calls into question his conduct while holding two of the city's most important public offices.
The probe revealed that for many years, one of Kerik's main benefactors was Lawrence Ray, the best man at Kerik's 1998 wedding, according to Ray, other sources and checks shown by Ray to The News.
Ray and another Kerik pal, restaurant owner Carmen Cabell, helped bankroll Kerik's 1998 wedding reception, contributing nearly $10,000.
Ray also gave Kerik nearly $2,000 to buy a bejeweled Tiffany badge that Kerik coveted when he was Correction commissioner.
And Ray said he gave Kerik $4,300 more to buy high-end Bellini furniture when Kerik allegedly griped that he couldn't afford to furnish a bedroom for a soon-to-be born daughter.
The city's Conflicts of Interest Board requires officials to report any gifts of $1,000 or more.
The board's definition of gifts includes cash, free travel, and wedding presents not given by relatives.
Intentionally failing to report gifts is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $1,000. The board also can impose civil fines of up to $10,000. The News has examined Kerik's disclosure forms and there is no record of any of the gifts for the period concerned.
At the time of the gifts, Ray was working for Interstate Industrial, then a major city contractor. City ethics rules bar officials from accepting gifts worth more than $50 from anyone doing business with the city. The company hired Ray based on a recommendation from Kerik, according to a sworn deposition by Interstate's owner Frank DiTomasso. New Jersey gaming regulators said Kerik had confirmed to them that he had vouched for Ray.
Kerik has run afoul of ethics rules before, having been fined $2,500 by the board for dispatching detectives to investigate his mother's death as part of the research for his best-selling memoir, "The Lost Son."
Thanks to the fame he achieved standing next to Giuliani after Sept. 11, 2001, Kerik now enjoys tremendous wealth. He recently turned a profit of$5.5 million by selling stock options earned during his 18 months on the board of Taser, a company that makes controversial stun guns.
But until his last year in public office, Kerik had money problems. He filed for bankruptcy in 1987 as a rookie city cop, when he earned $25,000 a year and had $11,782 in debt. By the time he became correction commissioner in January 1998, his only asset was a condo in New Jersey that had been in foreclosure throughout the 1990s, according to his financial disclosure forms and court records in New Jersey.
In connection with that case, he was cited for contempt by a New Jersey judge, according to Newsweek magazine.
Despite his finances, Kerik's November 1998 wedding was a grand affair. It was attended by Donna Hanover, then Mayor Giuliani's wife, Deputy Mayor Joseph Lhota, and state Supreme Court Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder.
The reception was held at The Chanticler, in Millburn, N.J., one of the Garden State's premier catering facilities. Kerik and his new wife, Hala, entertained 230 guests in the facility's Empress Room.
"This thing was top shelf," said one person who attended. "Martini bar, full spread, the works."
Ray wrote a check for $1,000 in July 1998 to cover the deposit. Cabell wrote a check for $6,688 to the Chanticler on the day of the wedding. Six weeks after the wedding, Cabell wrote another $2,000 check to the Chanticler.
"Bernie was a close friend of myself and Larry's that needed help," Cabell told The News. "I helped him in the planning, details and cost of the wedding."
Kerik still couldn't pay the remaining balance, and the Chanticler threatened to sue, Ray and Cabell said. Ray's attorney's handled correspondence with the Chanticler, until Ray and Cabell covered the remaining balance.
"Bernie told everybody those guys paid for it," said one official who attended.
The reception was not the first time that Ray covered Kerik's tab. After Kerik was named correction commissioner in January 1998, he pleaded with underlings to buy him a Tiffany badge like the one given to the police commissioner, department sources told The News.
"He just had to have one because the police commissioner always gets one," said a source who then worked at Correction Department headquarters.
In April 1998, Ray wrote a check out to Jorge Ocasio, then Kerik's chief of staff, for $1,895 with "Tiffany badge" written in the memo field.
Ray's wife, Teresa, issued the certified check to Bellini on Feb. 22, 2000, shortly before the March 3 birth of Kerik's daughter, Celine.
Ray, who acknowledged the gifts to The News after the paper showed him other evidence of the pattern, said he was flush at the time and Kerik always complained about surviving on his civil servant salary.
"He was always crying about money," Ray said. "Like before Celine was born, he was always saying he couldn't believe how much everything cost and they were out of money."
Ray also showed The News a check for $2,500 that his wife made out to "cash" on Aug. 29, 1999. The check was endorsed and cashed by Kerik.
In total, Ray and Cabell showed The News checks to the value of $18,400.
At the time, Ray's own finances were deteriorating.
A week after Kerik's daughter was born, Ray and 18 other men were indicted in a $40 million, mob-run, pump-and-dump stock swindle. Kerik repeatedly spoke to Ray's criminal defense attorney before the indictment, but he dropped his longtime benefactor when the case became public.
"We never saw Ray around Corrections again," said the headquarters source.
On Dec. 2, The News asked Kerik to discuss issues raised by the paper's six-month investigation. Kerik never responded.
[B]He tells media it's nannygate[/B]BY PAUL H.B. SHIN and TRACY CONNOR DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Standing in front of his stately New Jersey home yesterday, Bernard Kerik insisted it was the nanny flap alone that doomed his chance to become Homeland Security secretary.
Kerik blamed himself for his nanny problem and apologized to President Bush and the American people.
"It's my fault," New York's former police commissioner told reporters at a low-key press conference outside the three-story waterside home in Franklin Lakes. "It was a stupid mistake."
It was Kerik's first public appearance since he told the White House on Friday night that he was was taking himself out of the nomination process.
With a black-clad bodyguard standing in the background and an American flag waving from a pole on his lawn, Kerik was somber as he explained how he discovered problems with his nanny's immigration and tax status.
He said he first realized there could be trouble while he was filling out paperwork for the cabinet job Wednesday night, and 48 hours later, he alerted Bush.
"I think if I tried to move forward with the confirmation process, it would have been messy, it could have been ugly," he said. "Most important to me, it would have been an embarrassment to the President and his administration, and I just couldn't do that."
Kerik, who wore a mustard-colored blazer with an American flag pin on the lapel, was protective of the unnamed nanny who cared for his two daughters.
"She was a lovely woman, someone that my children loved, my family loved. She loved them," he said. He wouldn't comment on the details of her immigration and tax status out of "respect for her privacy."
Taking questions from reporters, Kerik denied that recent reports about questionable financial dealings in his past played a role in his decision.
Kerik scoffed at a story on Newsweek's Web site that said a New Jersey judge had issued an arrest warrant for him in 1998 as part of a lawsuit over unpaid bills on a property he owned.
"When you're in a position like this, there is constant scrutiny," he said. Kerik's family was nowhere to be seen during the press conference, but he said he's looking forward to spending time with his kids.
"I have two little girls who are extremely happy today that Daddy didn't go to work," he said. A short time later, Kerik was busy unloading Christmas decorations for his home from his pickup truck[/FONT].[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE][url]http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/261332p-223653c.html[/url]
[FONT=Book Antiqua][B]Life catches up to Bernie [/B]
A few years back, when he was police commissioner, I came away from a lunch with Bernie Kerik shaking my head. The table chatter was pleasant, but what stood out was Kerik's enthusiastic description of his lifestyle. He was sleeping only a few hours a night, often got home to his wife and baby after midnight, yet hardly ever missed a workout in the gym. "He can't keep that up," I said to myself.
Indeed he couldn't, and the lunch immediately flashed through my mind when I heard that Kerik had withdrawn his nomination to be the next head of Homeland Security.
Bernie Kerik's messy personal life finally caught up with him. It was only a matter of time.
His statement that he had a nanny problem is no doubt true, but hardly the whole truth. Kerik was a walking contradiction, a terrific head of the NYPD but also someone who lived too fast and too close to the edge. Nobody can keep that up, especially in the public eye.
His biography could be summed up as going from zero to hero. Thanks to his steely steadiness after Sept. 11 and some publishing house sandpapering, he was becoming the stuff of legend.
A successful autobiography was being turned into a movie. A little more than a decade out of bankruptcy, he was a multi-millionaire thanks to stock options he received in his new consulting gig. Bernie the street cop was now Bernie the Star. Not bad for a hooker's son.
Reality has crashed the party. Not paying the proper taxes and maybe hiring an illegal immigrant are no-nos for any cabinet spot, especially one whose job includes cracking down on illegal immigration.
Yet if it hadn't been that, it would have been something else. Kerik was running as fast he could, but he got such a late, rotten start in life that he could never keep up.
That can happen when your mother abandons you when you're 4 and is killed a few years later.
Kerik often made it seem he'd escaped his past, and maybe he even believed it. But the drumbeat of newspaper articles in recent days had him neck-deep in a mud bath. The rumors of more to come were beyond the whisper stage.
This is not just a personal tragedy. It is a loss for America, too. I believe Kerik, warts and all, would have been a dedicated and successful director of Homeland Security.
Finding a replacement is President Bush's problem, but not his only one. For even if Kerik had been confirmed, there was plenty to worry about in the still disorganized behemoth of the Homeland Security agency.
Start with the fact that Congress has treated security funds as routine political pork, a process that wastes millions and millions of dollars in rural areas without making a single American safer. It is a disgrace that some Podunk in Wyoming gets state-of-the-art equipment while New York and other cities that are the real terror targets go begging. Kerik might have been able to change that.
Then there's the Swiss-cheese safety net. Security at many nuclear and chemical plants has barely budged despite the clear goal of terrorists to use weapons of mass destruction against us. And, as Sen. Chuck Schumer has pointed out, as little as 2% of the ship cargo entering U.S. ports gets inspected.
Finally, outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson's candid blast about the food chain curbed my appetite. "I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," Thompson said.
There is, then, no shortage of things to do for the new man at Homeland Security. But first, we have to find somebody worthy of the challenge. [/FONT] [/QUOTE]
2004-12-14 01:55 | User Profile
You are good, sir.
2004-12-14 02:55 | User Profile
For all of Kerik's shady past, I simply thought that he wasn't [I]enough[/I] of a thug to assume the position of Minister of Motherland Security. When I saw him juxtaposed with Bush, Kerik looked like a Boy Scout. Kerik's thuggery is perfect for NYC, but not the Feds.
2004-12-14 19:02 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Hugh Lincoln]Kerik is one of those NYC thug-types that just make a frippy foppish Anglo-Saxon who doesn't drop his g's like me uncomfortable. I see these guys in operation every day: they're white, a blessed change, but [I]just pulsing with stupidity[/I]. They do well by associating with the right people, and they always have a very mafia-style attitude: We's heah to make ah money and protect ah own. Eff da rules, eff da feds, eff da rats. All of which is great, under the right circumstances, but without proper direction is just plain ugly. Actually, it's probably ugly even with the proper direction, but better that than the other.
Truth on NYPD is lots of these guys are great, traditional, loyal white men, but some of 'em just give me the willies with their adolescent disregard. They work for whoever's boss. But you shouldn't forget that many are [I]just 10-year-old boys with big hairy bodies and guns[/I].
My guess is Kerik would have been in over his head.[/QUOTE]Whatever faults Kerik had lack of courage was not one of them. Many members of this board would do well to have half his balls.
2004-12-14 19:17 | User Profile
I don't dispute that, E.G. That wasn't my point. What I was trying to say is that - given how prominent, and recent, the prior nannygates were, and Kerik's trail of financial shenanigans, which have been alluded to for some time in the NYC area - the timing of his 'nanny' story was highly suspect. Radioactive, in fact.
I'll throw you another one. Who is the [I]big [/I] loser in this story, albeit not readily apparent? I'll give you a hint. His initials are R.G., he speaks with a lisp, and he has probably been throwing furniture across the room the past three days..
2004-12-14 20:38 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]I don't dispute that, E.G. That wasn't my point. What I was trying to say is that - given how prominent, and recent, the prior nannygates were, and Kerik's trail of financial shenanigans, which have been alluded to for some time in the NYC area - the timing of his 'nanny' story was highly suspect. Radioactive, in fact.
I'll throw you another one. Who is the [I]big [/I] loser in this story, albeit not readily apparent? I'll give you a hint. [COLOR=Red]His initials are R.G., he speaks with a lisp, and he has probably been throwing furniture across the room the past three days[/COLOR]..[/QUOTE]Rudy has been described as a "hero" by the New York media. He did nothing remotely heroic.
New York politicians have long pandered to Jews who obtain blood and allegiance from them.
From my book: [QUOTE]Mr. Levy warned that Israel might retaliate if attacked by Iraq. These have been legitimate concerns and rights of states, but as ever there was never any question by the American press if American and Israeli concerns diverged.[1] Colonel Summers was incensed by a letter to the Washington Post where the writer admitted not knowing any soldiers, but said the military men were hired to do a job. Nor did Colonel Summers care for the governor of New York, [COLOR=Red]Mario Cuomo[/COLOR], who true to his alleged verbal abilities said that a "reasonable" denouement to the crisis would have to include something to obliterate the capability of Saddam Hussein to use chemical or nuclear agents against the world.
That "something" would be the United States military which would require putting American lives at risk. As so many politicians did, Governor Cuomo went on the "Larry King Live" television show and told a nationwide audience that he could not favor a reinstitution of the draft because that might make his two sons as well as his two daughters eligible for military service.[2] That Governor Cuomo evaded military service during the Korean War has never bothered the voters of New York, but probably has been seen by them as evidence of his "street smarts". His publicly expressed concern for his children's safety was another election gambit as he knew the power brokers of New York would not consider his remarks as evidence of personal cowardice, but of his much lauded cunning. In early February of 1991 Governor [COLOR=Red]Cuomo[/COLOR] would praise Israel for its "magnificent restraint".[3] Mr. Cuomo could cry on cue and scream defamation by race faster than any white man in America....
Governor Cuomo of New York previously had likened Republicans to Nazis.[5]
I tolerate some shenanigans much more than those that deeply offend me.
2004-12-21 00:28 | User Profile
edward gibbon,
You are most Right! Rudy has been described as a "hero" by the New York media. He did nothing remotely heroic.