On Tuesday, federal prosecutors presented Mr. Cordaro and Mr. Munchak in a different light, not as reformers, but modern versions of Boss Tweed, who used the sixth-floor commissioners office in downtown Scranton to run a criminal enterprise that collectively generated at least $475,000 in kickbacks or bribes from vendors looking for county contracts.
The alleged kickbacks came from companies working at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, planning the botched intermodal bus station in downtown Scranton that cost taxpayers almost $1 million and a cell phone tower deal at the county's 911 center.
Besides the cash, there were the perks, including a free trip to Monte Carlo that one contractor, identified as Company #8, paid for Mr. Cordaro in May 2006, and another free trip in 2004 to the Playboy Mansion that was paid for by Charles "Chuckie" Costanzo, who used some of the almost $650,000 he stole from the county's workers compensation fund, a job Mr. Cordaro gave him in a no-bid contract, according to the indictment.
Munchak, Cordaro indicted on corruption charges
Bob Cordaro: A leader falls far and hard
A.J. Munchak: A partner in government and, feds say, in crime
After indictments, controller calls for more-open bidding in county government
Scranton vs. Wilkes-Barre: which is more corrupt?
Hey, what's going on here? We are more corrupt! - Wilkes-Barre/Luzerne County "Kids for Cash" judges
Don't forget about us!!!
the Wilkes-Barre/Luzerne County Federal Corrupton Probe Page
The Wilkes-Barre/Luzerne County "Kids for Cash" Judges scandal:
Jon Stewart pretends he has the same rights as a corporation:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| In Dodd We Trust | ||||
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Banks apply pressure to keep fees rolling in. Industry mounts campaign aimed at keeping billions flowing into coffers
Michelle Bisutti borrowed $250,000 to pay for medical school. The debt has since ballooned to $555,000.
Michael Moore on fixing Wall Street and thanking Dennis Kucinich for standing up for millions of Americans:
The video that will put Geithner behind bars:
Holy Sh*t
The Catholic Church punishes Patrick Kennedy for being pro-choice, but takes 20 years to suspend a pedophile priest.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Rush Limbaugh represents: BILLIONAIRES AGAINST HEALTH CARE
Special Commentary by Big Dan: "WHO exactly is against health care reform? Bush was the president from 2000 to 2008 and the Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate from 2000 to 2006 and they proposed NO HEALTH CARE REFORM. Not even 'pre-existing condition' - NOTHING! And now they just say no to all health care proposals with none of their own. So, it's safe to say that Republicans are against ANY type of health care reform. Filthy rich people don't need health insurance. If you're a millionaire or a billionaire or even extremely well off, you can pay cash for any health care you want. Even if you live in Canada or England and have universal health care, if you're filthy rich you can go out of the system and simply pay cash, so if we had universal health care here, it wouldn't affect our millionaires and billionaires. They could pay cash for whatever they wanted outside the system. The health insurance companies do NOT want health insurance reform, or they wouldn't be paying politicians hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying against it and they wouldn't be be spending the same amount on advertising (propaganda) against health care reform. So, Republicans, the filthy rich or well off people, and health insurance companies don't want or need health care reform - they are against health care reform. Now here are the Americans who WANT health care. If you're one of 50 million Americans with NO health care, it's safe to say you want health care reform. If you're one of the several hundred million Americans who have lousy, overpriced health care where you're paying $1,000.00/month for it, your claims get denied and you're always on the phone fighting with them, your co-pays keep rising, your deductibles keep rising, your premiums have tripled or rose 39% for less coverage, you have a 20% CO-INSURANCE (that means your health insurance DENIER won't cover 20% of every single thing - a $100,000.00 heart operation? fork over $20,000.00 even though you're covered!), then you want health care reform. So, it sounds like hundreds of millions of Americans want health care reform, and an extreme minority do not: Republicans, the filthy rich or well off, and health insurance companies. If the majority of Americans want health care reform and only an extreme minority do not, then why does the mainstream media and the government not reflect that? Because the government is made up of filthy rich people (with the best health care coverage paid by taxpayers who don't have it) who are paid off by the filthy rich health insurance companies and the media is OWNED by filthy rich people and corporations who want us to think the media THEY OWN AND CONTROL is 'LIBERAL'!!! It's also funny how they can tell us how much covering all Americans with health care will cost and that we cannot afford this cost, but those SAME people never tell us how much the wars are costing and how we can't pay for that, either. They say they don't want their tax money (that they're not paying because they have accountants who get them out of it) to go towards health care for all Americans, but they want OUR tax money to go towards the wars we're against, instead of towards health care for US. Here's something you will never see on THEIR media they want us to think is liberal: an American with no health care saying they don't want health care! There's only people on THEIR media WITH great health care saying they don't want the REST OF US to have health care like they do! The rich people with great health care are the ones on TV telling us that WE don't want health care while OUR tax money is instead being used for wars and bailing out filthy rich banksters. That is TAXATION without REPRESENTATION! THAT is a reason for a Tea Party protest!"
About 1 in 4 in California lack health insurance, a UCLA study finds. The jump in 2009 to 8.2 million adults and children from 6.4 million in 2007 stems largely from job cuts and the loss of employer-sponsored coverage amid the recession.
Republicans Are A Disease…dot com...
Sadly, I have to post from Russian Television and other foreign news far too often. See my comment above about who OWNS the media in the United States:
Webster Tarpley: 'Virtual flag terrorism' is next threat
Connect All The Dots – Solve The Entire Global Crime
Is this what they have planned to derail health care reform???
Final destination Iran? Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
In honor of the beautiful sunny weather we've been having here in NEPA, here's 3 "SUN" songs by my favorite group The Beatles:
