Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Congress Set to Give Itself More Money


September 30, 2009 02:31 PM EDT

The Politico reported September 30 that the U.S. Congress is all set to allocate more taxpayer dollars -- to itself. How much more are we talking here? According to Politico, it's a healthy 5.8% (contrast that with the 2% pay raise federal employees are expected to get in January, or the 2.9% pay raise military personnel are expected to get).

The story says, "Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion."

Nearly $5 billion? If my math is correct, that's nearly $9 million PER ELECTED OFFICIAL IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE. Seriously? Are you kidding me?

Politico continues, "The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants — with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more. There’s $15.8 million for salaries for the Senate Appropriations Committee — plus an extra $950,000 for the committee’s administrative expenses."

Almost a million dollars for administrative expenses for ONE committee? Are we getting the most bang for our buck, here, or is the term "administrative expenses" a cover for funneling the money somewhere else?

"Funding for House office buildings will jump a staggering 128 percent, to $84 million. Some of that money will go to replace a roof at the Rayburn House Office Building, and an additional $50 million is being allocated to renovate the Cannon House Office Building. The Architect of the Capitol will see a 17.8 percent hike to deal with infrastructure repairs, and the Government Printing Office’s revolving fund will increase a whopping 155 percent, to $12.7 million, to deal with technology upgrades and repairs, according to the conference report."

Oh, and it gets better (a relative term, in this case meaning better than last year). This increase of nearly 6% is dismissed by supporters as less than the 10.9% Congress upped its budget by last year!!

Okay, now for the competing quotes. First, Jake Thompson, spokesman for Democratic Senator Ben Nelson: "This is a fiscally responsible bill." I'll bet he said that with a straight face, too. Then there's Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense: "With an enormous deficit and rest of the country tightening their belts, Congress should be looking at doing the same." And Republican Senator John McCain: "The growth of expenditures particularly in these times is terrible."

Hey, what does Congress care. It's other people's money, right?

Okay, one more quote, and this one has to be considered right up there with the fiscally responsible comment. This one comes from a spokesman for Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman: "We have not seen a significant increase in overall legislative branch expenditures since nearly 2001. During this time, significant cost increases have occurred, and the Capitol complex has also seen significant deferred maintenance. Many of these maintenance expenses become much more expensive if they continue to be deferred."

I have to ask, what did they do with the 10.9% increase from last year? That wasn't significant?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090930/pl_politico/27732


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Monday, October 05, 2009

Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods


Monday, 5 October 2009, 1:17 pm
Press Release: Robt Mann

Commentary on Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods

September 2, 2009

GBC News Sep 1, 2009 http://gbcghana.com/news/27886detail.html

By Edem Srem

Sad to say, Genetically Modified foods have been introduced to the African Market. It is now up to African consumers to reject them. This will save lives and cost for the treatment of the side effects of consuming Genetically Modified foods.*

*The history of controlling the food industry in the world by the then American Government in 1973 under President Nixon started by introducing the "Food for Peace" programme which was led by Henry Kissinger, Nixon's Secretary of State and National Security Adviser.*

According to the New African Magazine, Kissinger controlled absolutely the US foreign policy and summarized his activities as "Control oil and you control nations, control food and you control the people". His idea of capturing the worldwide food industry started with the introduction of what was termed as the gene revolution.

The revolution did not succeed until 1990. a member of the South African consumer movement, Andrew Taynton explains that whereas natural breeding techniques select plants or animals with desirable traits and cross breed within a species to create better crops or animals, genetically modified are developed in laboratories by splicing genes from unrelated species into the host organism.

For instance, bacterial genes can be spliced into food crops and it will reproduce itself in each cell in the plants. Also scientists are now transferring anti-freeze genes from fish to tomatoes to keep it longer in the cold. There is also the splicing of pig genes into rice and daffodils to corn. All these have devastating effects, because of its imprecise processes.

The main effects of consuming genetically modified foods includes; allergies, new toxins, new diseases, antibiotic resistance and change in nutritional values. One other thing which needs to be mentioned is the "V Gurts" Varietal Genetic Use Restriction Technology which is popularly called the "Suicide Seeds" or terminator technology.

One expert believes Africa is in great danger now as genetically modified seeds are made in forms of herbicides and pesticides. These are normally exported to Africa and the Caribbean. The centre for Disease Control of the United States says that at lease 80% of food related illnesses are cause by viruses or pathogens that scientist cannot even identify.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British Throne, was once reported to have stated that "growing genetically modified crops in the developing world represents the biggest environmental disaster of all time".

With the realities of climate change, it is just an option to reject these kinds of foods on the market. More revelations have been made by Dr. Arpad Pusztai, when he found out that rat fed on genetically modified potatoes had smaller livers, hearts, testicles and brains.

It was also revealed that their immune systems have been damaged with a lot of structural changes in their white blood cells, making them vulnerable to infections and other diseases as compared to rats which were fed on normal organic foods. The same changes occur in humans who also take genetically modified foods.

Thus, the whole world could be exterminated if nothing is done to stop it. We have all become lab rats in mass human experiment with huge risks. The risks will be too late to detect and save the world especially Africa because it will take longer times to find the antidotes. By then the genetically modified companies would have made their money.

Apart from South Africa which has started growing genetically modified crops, the remaining African countries must reject and fight against governments who want to adopt the technology. Ghana should also try to establish strict checks on imported foods, seeds, herbicides and pesticides to control, if not to stop the spread of the genetically modified crops in the country.

The solution is to accept nuclear foods which are done through induced mutations. World examples of induced mutations include; Tek Bankye which has been developed by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the IAEA. The Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute has carried out researches that show that the Tek bankye yields as high as 17.84 tons per acre.

Kenya has also developed a high yielding and drought resistant wheat. Hopefully all Africans, especially, Ghanaians would reject genetically modified foods for a sustainable environment and good health.

ENDS




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US economic decline forges New World Order




The crisis is redrawing the world map of economic power as the influence of US consumer spending declines and major emerging markets like China and India take the lead, finance chiefs said.

“One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations,” World Bank president Robert Zoellick said Friday in Istanbul ahead of annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“Recent forecasts show that China and India are helping to pull the global economy out of recession…. A multipolar economy less reliant on the US consumer will be a more stable world economy,” he added.

Consumer spending accounts for around two-thirds of economic activity in the United States — by far the world’s biggest economy — and experts say lower spending could have radical effects on the US’s world standing.

The IMF on Thursday forecast emerging and developing economies would grow 5.1 percent in 2010 — in contrast with just 1.3 percent in advanced economies.

China’s economy was projected to grow by 9.0 percent next year and India’s by 6.4 percent — far ahead of 1.5 percent expansion in the US economy.

“The American engine is not as strong as it was before,” IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a speech in which he called for emerging markets to be given more say in the IMF’s decisions.

“Emerging economies are becoming more and more the real partners,” he said.
In a BBC World debate on the crisis held in Istanbul, Niall Ferguson, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in the United States, said: “The crisis has accelerated a shift from west to east.”

“That means rebalancing not only economically… but rebalancing geopolitically, which I think makes some people nervous,” Ferguson said.
“For the foreseeable future the US will be growing at a much lower rate while China is in fact growing at a much faster rate,” he added.

The shift is having far-reaching effects around the world.

In Latin America, IMF economists said the crisis is affecting countries differently depending on whether, like Mexico, they are more closely tied to the United States or, like Brazil, they have more links with China.

“If it was not for China we wouldn’t have seen positive growth in the second quarter in Brazil,” Ilan Goldfajn, chief economist at Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco, said at an IMF-organised conference in Istanbul.

Goldfajn said the world would now start to “rebalance towards Asia.”

Marek Belka, head of the IMF’s European department, cautioned however that for European countries, “demand from Asia is not enough — the recovery rests on the shoulders of European consumers and investors.”

This upheaval is changing institutions too, with the G20 group of developed and emerging economies turning into the main forum for international economic policy and strengthening the IMF as a guarantor of global stability.

The IMF has bailed out countries around the world in recent months and its members have tripled its lending resources to 750 billion dollars (515 billion euros).

Strauss-Kahn has more ambitious plans yet and is seeking more funding to strengthen the IMF’s role as a global lender of last resort.

“Our ultimate goal is financial and economic stability,” he said in a speech in Istanbul at which he outlined plans to even out global economic imbalances.

The G20 summit in the US city of Pittsburgh last month also agreed to give more voting shares to emerging and developing economies in the IMF and the World Bank — a reflection of the shift in economic power.

The World Bank’s Zoellick has also argued that developing countries in Southeast Asia, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and Africa should be seen as future “engines of growth” rather than recipients of charity from rich nations.

In a recent speech in Washington, Zoellick said: “The old international economic order was struggling to keep up with change before the crisis…. It is time we caught up and moved ahead.”



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The Money Masters. How International Bankers Gained Control of America

THE MONEY MASTERS is a 3 1/2 hour non-fiction, historical documentary that traces the origins of the political power structure.
Synopsis - The Money Masters

The Money Masters explains the history behind the current world depression and the bankers' goal of world economic control by a very small coterie of...
The Money Masters
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtlbl_the-money-masters-part-1-0f-2_businesshttp://


The Money Masters Part 1 0f 2
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The Money Masters Part 2 of 2
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Police Arrest Suspects After University of South Florida Lockdown

Police Arrest Suspects After University of South Florida Lockdown
Monday, October 05, 2009

Two men are in custody after several warnings were sent to students of a possible gunman on the University of South Florida's Tampa campus.

A police spokesman told the Tampa Tribune a man stood up on a campus bus and said he was the one authorities were looking for. He told them he had a bomb, but later said it was just a hoax, spokeswoman Laura McElroy told the newspaper.

The first suspect, described as an African American male in a green and yellow striped shirt, was seen as he entered a police car around 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.

Shortly after students received a text message saying: "White male subject seen in the Cooper Hall area in black tank top, cowboy hat carrying black puppy and a large hunting knife-officers in route."

Cooper Hall is the campus' main lecture hall.

It was not immediately clear which suspect was the one on the bus.

Police called in the Tampa Police bomb team to investigate the first suspect's belongings.

Students had been told to stay indoors and away from campus Monday afternoon, according to the university's Web site.

A message posted by the university said that officers were on scene and began searching the area just before 2 p.m.

Authorities said an off-campus call was transferred to USF police from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The caller reported that a man with a gun was in front of the university's library.

The campus transit system was shut down while police searched for the suspect.

Student Ella Michel, who spoke to FOX News from her dormitory, said she was informed that the school was on lockdown via a text message from the school's administrators.

USF, the ninth largest university in the United States, has more than 46,000 students.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,560462,00.html

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A Lesson to learn from Ireland's vote for the Lisbon Treaty





Don't let a good crisis go to waste


Compared to 16 months ago when Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty, this time around the country has 12.6% unemployment; In the midst of a global financial crisis the second referendum was approved with 67.1 percent voting in favor of the new rules while 32.9 percent voted against it. Many who voted against the treaty last year, just didn't bother to vote on Friday.

Many people felt that the first referendum should have been final; However, if you continue asking the same questions as conditions change you can get a different outcome. Hence, it has been approved.

In the face of the current world-wide economical collapse we will see more unity in diversity in regional and global consolidations, mergers, and unification. When the going gets tough, the people unite for survival: If the price is right!

The lesson to be learned from all this is that if you can deprive a people of the essentials for survival you can persuade them to do what ever you want. It's similar to the carrot and the stick approach, or Pavlov's dog experiments.

This is not the first time that Ireland has seen itself facing an economic crisis. During the Great Potato Famine of the 1840's, mass emigration was the solution; Today, the situation is not as extreme, but, the whole world is experiencing financial difficulties, so people will hold tight and unite with the European Union hoping for prosperity.

The change of opinion in Ireland, reminds me that in Revelation 13:17 , it mentions that a global (catholic) tyrannical (temporal/secular) law will stipulate that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. According to prophecy the whole world will comply with the Beast and his false prophet (2nd Beast) to accept the mark of the beast, except the Lord's faithful remnant who will not succumb to Satan and his human representatives. I see the framework being put in place that require countries, and ultimately individuals to conform with the call for unification (globalism/consensus), those that resist will be marked men. They will not be able to conduct their lives as usual, they will be restricted from participating in common affairs.

I foresee that the Bible believing, Commandment keeping disciples of Jesus will be persecuted and hunted like wild animals. This second referendum in Ireland brought to my mind how financial conditions can change people's minds. I saw that when the conditions are bleak, convictions can be changed from one point to another, a change of opinion as different as night is to day.
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Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Revelation 24:35.

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Arsenio.


References:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574451720408422980.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2009/gb2009105_247183.htm


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Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright


14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
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Sunday, October 04, 2009

Preparing Americans for Hyperinflation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbUIlH0stSc&feature=player_embeddedhttp://

Church Will Build Justice in Africa, Says Pope



ZE09100406 - 2009-10-04Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-27048?l=english

Church Will Build Justice in Africa, Says Pope


Underlines Need to Listen to Holy Spirit's Guidance


VATICAN CITY, OCT. 4, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is underlining the Church's dedication to fighting the injustices in Africa, by continuing in its evangelization mission and its charitable works.
The Pope stated this today in his homily at the inaugural Mass of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, which began today and will run through Oct. 25.
The synod is focusing on the theme: "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace. You are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world"
He observed that "the acknowledgment of the absolute Lordship of God is one of the salient and unifying features of the African culture."
"Naturally in Africa there are many different cultures," the Pontiff continued, "but they all seem to be in agreement on this point: God is the Creator and the source of life."
Drawing from the liturgy of the day, the Holy Father highlighted certain aspects for the synod participants gathered in St. Peter's Basilica, noting that these "call us to the work that awaits us."
He emphasized: "the primacy of God, Creator and Lord," matrimony and children.
Regarding the first aspect, Benedict XVI underlined Africa's "deep sense of God," as he experienced in his recent pastoral visit, which make it "an enormous spiritual 'lung' for a humanity that appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope."
He next spoke about matrimony, underlining its necessary relationship with God. "To the extent to which it looks after and develops its faith," he said, "Africa could discover immense resources to give in favor of the family that is built on matrimony."
The Pope next mentioned children, who constitute a "large and, unfortunately, suffering part of the African population."
Leaven
He stated that "the Church can most certainly give Africa a great contribution to all of society, which unfortunately experiences poverty, injustice, violence and wars in many countries."
The Pontiff continued: "The vocation of the Church, the community of persons reconciled with God and with each other, is that of being the prophesy and leaven of reconciliation among the various ethnic, linguistic and even religious groups, within each individual nation and throughout the continent.
"Reconciliation, a gift of God that men must implore and embrace, is the stable foundation upon which one builds peace, the necessary condition for the true progress of men and society, according to the project of justice wanted by God."
After the Eucharistic Celebration, when the Holy Father moved to St. Peter's Square to pray the midday Angelus with the pilgrims gathered there, he explained that this synod "is not a matter of a study group, nor a programmatic assembly."
He affirmed: "Communications and speeches are heard in the hall, there is discussion in groups, but we all know that we are not the protagonists: It is the Lord, his Holy Spirit, who guides the Church.
"The most important thing, for everyone, is listening: listening to each other and, everyone, listening to what the Lord wants to tell us. Thus the Synod takes place in a climate of faith and prayer, in religious obedience to the Word of God."
Benedict XVI pointed out the "extraordinary human wealth" in Africa, as well as the poverty and "terrible injustices" there.
He affirmed: "The Church is dedicated to overcome them with the power of the Gospel and the concrete solidarity of many charitable institutions and initiatives.
"Let us pray to the Virgin Mary that she bless the Second Special Assembly for Africa and obtain peace and development for that great and beloved continent."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text of homily: http://zenit.org/article-27046?l=english
Full text of Angelus address: http://zenit.org/article-27043?l=english


6 Supreme Court justices attend 'Red Mass'


1 hour 5 min 26 sec ago
6 Supreme Court justices attend 'Red Mass'

Play video or http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2009/10/04/6-Supreme-Court-justices/1254685356.html


(NECN/ABC: Washington, D.C.) - Six members of the Supreme Court attended the annual Red Mass in Washington, D.C. on Sunday held at St. Matthews Church.

Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito and Vice President Joe Biden attended the Mass. Justice Clarence Thomas, the sixth Roman Catholic on the high court -- Justice Breyer is Jewish -- did not attend.

As the attendees passed through security and entered the church, abortion opponents demonstrated across the street.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who delivered the homily, did not elaborate on the rights of the unborn, focusing instead on how the complexity of the law can have a de-humanizing effect on those who practice it.

The Red Mass has been held since 1953 at the cathedral by the John Carroll Society, a group of Washington professionals who are Catholic. It is held the day before the opening of the Supreme Court term.

The name of the service, which dates to the 13th century and is conducted to ask for guidance for those who seek justice, comes from the red vestments worn by the celebrants.

Material from The Associated Press used in this report.

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Source: http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2009/10/04/6-Supreme-Court-justices/1254685356.html


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Related:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmKgYyFWjmU&feature=player_embeddedhttp://


More:

Red Mass: lobbying high court or simple prayer service?
CNN - Bill Mears - ‎Oct 1, 2009‎
Washington's annual Red Mass, which celebrates the legal profession, will be held this year on Sunday, October 4 -- the day before the Supreme Court begins ...
Red Mass and Abortion: On October 4, 2009, DC Area Pro-life ... PR Newswire (press release)
All Eyes on Sunday's Red Mass, Unofficial Start of Supreme Court ... The BLT: Blog of Legal Times
all 16 news articles »

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The Pilgrims Society


The London Bush house, built in 1919 with funds provided by U.S. Pilgrim Irving T. Bush. Inscribed above the door is the text, "To the friendship of English Speaking Peoples". The two men represent the United States and Great Britain, holding a torch to symbolize their everlasting friendship.







The Pilgrims Society Membership list
A study of the Anglo-American Establishment
...

"[The aim of the international bankers was] nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences." - Professor Carroll Quigley, 'Tragedy & Hope', p. 324. Can the Pilgrims, which Quigley never mentioned, verify his story of an Anglo-American Establishment?
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What Is American Police Force?

September 14th, 2009

Update 7: 10/3/2009 03:00GMT: American Police Force Scam Unraveling Fast

Via: AP:

Mont. jail project begins to unravel; lawyer quits
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer
Posted: 10/02/2009 11:48:19 AM PDT
Updated: 10/02/2009 04:11:28 PM PDT

BILLINGS, Mont.—A California company’s bid to take over an empty jail in rural Montana appears to be unraveling, with an attorney involved in the project cutting ties Friday and a second company, once named as a subcontractor, denying any involvement.

Those moves followed revelations earlier in the week that Michael Hilton—the lead figure of the company, American Police Force—is a convicted felon with a history of fraud and failed business dealings in California.
“We met with him and he asked us if we can support him,” said Edward Angelino, chief executive of Allied Defense Systems, an Irvine, Calif.-based defense contractor. “We checked his background, we checked his company. He’s not an adequate person to do business with.”

American Police Force reached a deal last month with officials in Hardin to operate the city’s jail. The facility has never held an inmate since its 2007 completion.

Hilton pledged to open the jail by early next year and bring more than 200 new jobs to the struggling community, located in southeastern Montana on the border of the Crow Indian Reservation.

Hilton also said he would build a $17 million military training center in the city.

Citing concerns over the legitimacy of American Police Force, the Montana attorney general’s office on Thursday launched an investigation into the company. That included a demand for documents supporting Hilton’s claim that he’s backed by a major security corporation
Advertisement
wishing to remain anonymous.

American Police Force spokeswoman Becky Shay insisted Friday that the jail takeover remained on track. She said a job fair for prospective employees would still be held during the week of Oct. 12.

Hilton returned to California earlier this week after spending several days in Hardin. He intends to return for the job fair, Shay said.

City economic development officials and the company have agreed on the jail contract, but it hasn’t been ratified by US Bank. The bank has a stake as trustee for $27 million in construction bonds used to pay for the 464-bed facility.

No money has changed hands between Hardin and American Police Force. Hardin Mayor Ron Adams said Friday that despite his reservations about the project, he would still like to see it go forward so the jail can be filled.

Rumors continued to circulate in Hardin and on the Internet that American Police Force was backed by an unknown government agency with plans to use the jail as a detention or training center for foreign combatants.

Those rumors have been fueled by Hardin’s earlier efforts to bring in terrorism detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Friday dismissed the notion of any secretive government scheme.

“I think a low-level card shark is not going to rise to the level to get some kind of government defense contract,” the governor said.

Hilton had claimed Allied Defense Systems would provide the uniforms for guards at the jail. On Sept. 30, an attorney for the Irvine company sent a letter to Hilton threatening a lawsuit over the use of the company’s name.

Meanwhile, Maziar Mafi, a lawyer from Santa Ana, Calif., who served as the legal affairs director for American Police Force, said he wanted to see the project begin to move forward before he could continue his involvement.

“For the time, I’m pulling out,” Mafi said. “I need to see more concrete action before I can be involved.”

Shay said she was unaware of the move by Allied Defense Systems and had not spoken with Mafi directly.

Mafi’s involvement began last month—about the same time Hilton reached a contract agreement with Greg Smith of Hardin’s Two Rivers Authority, which owns the jail.

Smith has since been placed on paid leave from the quasi-public agency. And now, with Mafi’s departure, a jail critic said the project appeared doomed to failure.

“He sees the ship is going down,” said Alex Friedmann with the Private Corrections Institute, a group that has long been critical of Hardin for building a jail that would be privately run.

Hilton, who claims an extensive military background and uses the title “captain,” initially described Mafi as a “major” in American Police Force. He later said Mafi was the company’s president—although Mafi denied the role and said he had no military or security background.

Mafi guaranteed the Sept. 10 purchase of two Mercedes SUVs by Hilton as part of his plans for the jail. They were among three Mercedes that Hilton brought to Montana last week, saying he intended to turn over to Hardin for use by law enforcement.

A financing payment on at least one of the vehicles is now overdue.

Only one Mercedes remains in Montana. It’s being driven by company spokeswoman Shay, who said Friday that she intends to register it soon.

Shay quit her job with the Billings Gazette to work for Hilton. She said Friday that she remained comfortable with that decision, and that Hilton told her before she was hired about his criminal record and several civil judgments against him totaling more than $1.1 million.

Those judgments remain outstanding.

“A lot of people that know me, know about me have asked me if I’ve been duped,” Shay said. “No.”

—End Update—

Update 6: 10/2/2009 03:10GMT: Private Corrections Institute Fact Sheet on American Police Force

For more, see: Private Corrections Institute.

Via: Private Corrections Institute (PDF):

Prison Legal News and the Private Corrections Institute have been closely following the situation in Hardin, Montana related to the Two Rivers Prison and a recent proposal by the “American Private Police Force Organization” to operate the facility and build a law enforcement training center in Hardin. Our research on this issue is summarized below, and was first shared with the Associated Press on Sept. 30, 2009.

Update 5: 10/2/2009 01:35GMT: Montana AG Launches Probe of Jail Deal

Via: AP:

By MATTHEW BROWN (AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana’s attorney general launched an investigation Thursday into a California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the rural city of Hardin, following revelations that the company’s lead figure is a convicted felon with a history of fraud.

Michael Hilton, who formed Santa Ana, Calif.-based American Police Force in March, came to Hardin last month promising to fill the city’s never-used jail and build a large military and law enforcement training center.

Hilton has a decades-long track record of fraudulent activities and spent several years in a California prison on grand theft charges. A native of Montenegro, he uses at least 17 aliases.

Citing “significant concerns” about the city’s dealings with American Police Force, Attorney General Steve Bullock asked Hardin economic development officials to produce by Oct. 12 all documents related to their dealings with the company.

His office made a similar demand of American Police Force, including information that would back up Hilton’s claims of multiple defense contracts with the U.S government and other agencies.

The launch of the investigation came as some Hardin officials began backing away from American Police Force. The city’s Two Rivers Authority reached a 10-year deal on the jail with the company last month.

But that was never ratified by US Bank, the trustee on the construction bonds used to pay for the 464-bed facility.

Attorney Becky Convery, who helped negotiate the deal, said Hilton overstepped his bounds when he showed up in Hardin last week with three Mercedes SUVs marked with fictitious “Hardin Police Department” logos.

He pledged to donate the SUVs to the city and also offered to provide law enforcement for Hardin for $250,000 a year. That prospect has stirred suspicion among critics that rural Hardin, population 3,500, could be transformed into a privately run police state.

Convery said Two Rivers director Greg Smith had a tentative deal with Hilton’s company to provide law enforcement service, but she said it was never finalized and she was uncertain whether it would be legal.

“We are not at all pleased with American Police masquerading as if they were the police for the city of Hardin,” she said.

Yet other Hardin officials remained loyal to American Police Force despite knowing little of its origins beyond what they’ve been told by Hilton.

“I don’t know that his background has affected his position or his ability to do his work,” said Carla Colstad, a member of the Hardin City Council. “I don’t consider it relevant to what’s going on today.”

Hilton — who came to Hardin last week in a black, military-style uniform — portrayed his company as an international player in the security industry. No records have been found of the extensive U.S. government contracts he claims.

Instead, documents and interviews with Hilton’s associates revealed a history of fraud and criminal activity. That includes outstanding judgments against him in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million.

“Such schemes you cannot believe,” said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif., doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in a civil judgment against Hilton and several others.

Carella, described in court documents as a “pawn” in the scheme, said he was never a willing participant. But he acknowledged partnering with Hilton in other failed business deals after being won over by his charm.

“The guy’s brilliant. If he had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire,” Carella said.

As for Hilton’s military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, several associates interviewed knew of no such feats, although one said Hilton had talked of being in the special forces in Greece decades ago.

Most who knew him described Hilton alternately as an art dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman.

Hilton did not return numerous calls seeking comment this week. American Police Force attorney Maziar Mafi referred questions to company spokeswoman Becky Shay.

When asked about court records detailing Hilton’s past, Shay replied: “The documents speak for themselves. If anyone has found public documents, the documents are what they are.”

The three SUVs Hilton brought to Montana have yet to be turned over to the city, which does not have a police force of its own but is considering forming one.

At least one is being driven by Shay, a former reporter who abruptly quit her job at the Billings Gazette to work for American Police Force. She said Hilton offered her $60,000 a year.

The jail deal is worth more than $2.6 million a year, according to city leaders.

His criminal record goes back to at least 1988, when Hilton was arrested in Santa Ana, Calif., for writing bad checks. In 1993, Hilton was sentenced to six years in prison in California on a dozen counts of grand theft and attempted grand theft and other charges including illegal diversion of construction funds.

—End Update—

Update 4: 10/1/2009 11:30GMT: American Police Force West Cost Office Shares Address with Medical Marijuana Dispensary

American Police Force listed the following address for its “West Coast Division”:

American Police Force – West Coast Division
1202 East 17th Street Suite 200
Santa Ana, CA 92701

(Screen shot at UAFF.)

That just happens to be the address for South Coast Patients Center, a medical marijuana dispensary.

—END UPDATE—

Update 3: 10/1/2009 10:50GMT: APF Head Hilton Has Criminal Past

Via: Billings Gazette:

RUFFIN PREVOST Gazette Wyoming Bureau Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 6:25 pm

CODY, Wyo. – Michael Hilton of American Police Force arrived in Hardin with promises of Mercedes police cars and expertise in operating prisons. He delivered the cars last week, but may have learned about prisons following a 1993 conviction for grand theft.

Public records from police and state and federal courts in California show that Michael Anthony Hilton, using that name and more than a dozen aliases over several years, is cited in multiple criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases, and was sentenced in 1993 to two years in state prison in California.

Hilton pleaded guilty in March 1993 to 14 felonies, including 10 counts of grand theft, one count of attempted grand theft and three counts of diversion of construction funds, according to Orange County court records. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but it is unclear how much time he served.
Court records in that case list his real name as Michael Hilton, but they also include the aliases Midrag Ilia Dokovitch, Midrag Ilia Dokovich and Michael Miodrag.Hilton, who speaks heavily accented English, has told reporters that he is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Montenegro, a country bordering Serbia, and once part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

The same aliases and other similar ones, all with slightly different spellings, show up in many other court documents citing Hilton, including a May 2003 Orange County case in which Hilton pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol.

A booking photo from the Huntington Beach Police Department from Hilton’s DUI arrest on March 14, 2003, shows him heavier, beardless and with more hair than he has now.

It also shows the same facial features, including a distinct arched wrinkle over his left eye, along with three deep brow furrows, small, circular indentations in the center of his forehead and a cleft tip on the nose.

Michael Hilton and his aliases are listed as defendants in various Orange County civil cases alleging fraud and breach of warranty, including a March 2000 case where he is accused of fraud, larceny, breach of contract and false pretenses.

Court documents in that case allege that Hilton and others solicited investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the plaintiff for the creation of collectible Super Bowl commemorative coins.

The complaint alleges that Hilton and others falsely told the plaintiff that the money would be used for the design and manufacture of the coins, and to pay for a National Football League license to produce them.

In fact, the complaint states, no such license was ever issued by the NFL.

Court documents show that the plaintiff obtained a 2001 judgment for $200,000 against Hilton, listing his aliases of Miodrag Dokovich and Midrag Ilia Dokovich.

Hilton also declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy twice during a 15-month period.

He filed under his real name, citing the alias Miodrag A. Dokovich, in November 2002, listing a Stanton, Calif., home address and a Fountain Valley, Calif., business address tied to the Belgrade Market Liquor and Deli.

In February 2004, Hilton filed under his real name, citing the alias Miodrag Dokovich, and listing a Santa Ana, Calif., home address. He estimated his assets at less than $50,000, and listed as creditors only a credit union and his landlord.

Both bankruptcy filings appear to have been intended to delay eviction proceedings against him. Under federal bankruptcy law, tenants are generally protected from eviction while they reorganize their finances.

Anh Q.D. Nguyen, a Garden Grove attorney, said in an e-mail that he represented Hilton’s landlord in an eviction case against Hilton that was filed in January 2004.

Nguyen said that Hilton “filed an eleventh-hour bankruptcy petition in which my office successfully obtained relief from the bankruptcy automatic stay, in order to reclaim possession of the rented premises.”

Hilton had also been named as a defendant in July 2002 as part of separate eviction proceedings before his bankruptcy filing that year.

Hilton filed both bankruptcies without an attorney, paying less than $275 in filing fees for each. Both petitions were dismissed by the court after Hilton failed to provide necessary documentation, including a financial reorganization plan.

Chapter 13 bankruptcies generally remain on personal credit histories for seven years, and show up on standard credit checks.

When asked on Wednesday about Hilton’s business dealings before his involvement with APF, company spokeswoman Becky Shay said, “That information is not going to be made available at this point.”

“That’s his private business. He is a man who distinguishes between private and business, between personal and corporate,” she said.

Shay said she would check with Hilton for a comment about his DUI arrest, but did not provide further details.

She did not respond to an additional call made later Wednesday seeking more information about Hilton’s other past legal problems.

—End Update—

Update 2: 10/1/2009 02:40GMT: California Jail Entrepreneur Has Checkered Past

Put a fork in it… It’s done.

Via: AP:

Calif. jail entrepreneur has checkered past

By MATTHEW BROWN (AP)

BILLINGS, Mont. — Michael Hilton pitched himself to officials in Hardin, Mont. as a military veteran turned private sector entrepreneur, a California defense contractor with extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city’s empty jail into a cash cow.

Hardin’s leaders were desperate to fill the $27 million jail, which has sat empty since its 2007 completion.

So when Hilton came to town last week — wearing a military-style uniform and offering three Mercedes SUVs for use by local law enforcement — he was greeted with hugs by some grateful residents. The promise of more than 200 new jobs for a community struggling long before the recession hit had won them over.

But public documents and interviews with Hilton’s associates and legal adversaries offer a different picture, that of a convicted felon with a number of aliases, a string of legal judgments against him, two bankruptcies and a decades-long reputation for deals gone bad.

American Police Force is the company Hilton formed in March to take over the Hardin jail.

“Such schemes you cannot believe,” said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif. doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in a civil judgment against Hilton and several others.

“The guy’s brilliant. If he had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire,” Carella said.

Court documents show Hilton has outstanding judgments against him in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million.

As for Hilton’s military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, those interviewed knew of no such feats. Instead, Hilton was described alternately by those who know him as an arts dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman — always with a moneymaking scheme in the works.

Hilton did not return several calls seeking comment. American Police Force attorney Maziar Mafi referred questions to company spokeswoman Becky Shay.

When asked about court records detailing Hilton’s past, Shay replied, “The documents speak for themselves. If anyone has found public documents, the documents are what they are.”

Shay declined comment on Hilton’s military experience.

Al Peterson, vice president of Hardin’s Two Rivers Authority, which built the jail, declined to comment on Hilton’s legal troubles. He refused to say if he knew about Hilton’s past when the authority reached a 10-year agreement with American Police Force last month.

The deal is worth more than $2.6 million a year, according to city leaders.

Hilton has also pledged to build a $17 million military and law enforcement training center. And he’s promised to dispatch security to patrol Hardin’s streets, build an animal shelter and a homeless shelter and offer free health care to city resident’s out of the jail’s clinic.

Those additional promises were not included in the jail agreement, which remains in limbo because US Bank has so far declined to sign off on the contract. The bank is the trustee for the bonds used to fund the jail.

A US Bank spokeswoman declined to comment, but Peterson was adamant the deal would be approved.

“It’s a solid deal. That’s all I’ll say,” he said.

But a representative of a corrections advocacy group that has been critical of Hardin’s jail and has investigated Hilton’s past said city leaders dropped the ball.

“I’m amazed that city officials didn’t do basic research that would have raised significant questions about American Private Police Force and Mr. Hilton’s background,” said Alex Friedmann, vice president of the Private Corrections Institute.

Hilton, 55, uses the title “captain” when introducing himself and on his business cards. But he acknowledged it was not a military rank.

He said he is naturalized U.S. citizen and native of Montenegro. Aliases for Hilton that appear in court documents include Miodrag Dokovich, Michael Hamilton, Hristian Djokich and Michael Djokovich.

One attorney who dealt with Hilton in a fraud lawsuit referred to him as a “chameleon” and he has a reputation for winning people over with his charm.

His criminal record goes back to at least 1988, when Hilton was arrested in Santa Ana, Calif. for writing bad checks.

Beginning in 1993, Hilton spent six years in prison in California on a dozen counts of grand theft and other charges including illegal diversion of construction funds.

The charges included stealing $20,000 in a real estate swindle in which Hilton convinced an associate to give him a deed on property in Long Beach, Calif., ostensibly as collateral on a loan. Hilton turned around and sold the property to another party but was caught when the buyer contacted the original owner.

After his release, he got entangled in at least three civil lawsuits alleging fraud or misrepresentation. Those included luring investors to sink money into gold and silver collectible coins; posing as a fine arts dealer in Utah in order to convince a co uple to give him a $100,000 silver statue; and, in the case involving co-defendant Carella, seeking investors for an assisted living complex in Southern California that was never built.

Carella said he was duped into becoming a partner in the development project and that Hilton used Carella’s status as a physician to lure others into the scheme. He was described in court testimony as a “pawn” used by Hilton to lure investors.

Those involved with Hilton say he is an accomplished cook with a flair for the extravagant — wining and dining potential partners, showing up at the Utah couple’s house to negotiate for the silver statue in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes.

“This is the way we got taken,” said Carolyn Call of Provo, Utah, who said she gave Hilton her family’s silver statue to sell on the open market.

According to court documents, Hilton turned around and gave the statue to an attorney to pay for his services.

Two California attorneys said Wednesday that after learning of Hilton’s latest activities they planned to follow him to Montana to seek payment on the outstanding judgments against him.

“Once I know that there is an asset or some sort of funds to go after, we’ll go after it,” said Call’s attorney, Roger Naghash.

Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana and Greg Risling in Los Angeles and researcher Barbara Sambriski in New York contributed to this story.

—End Update—

Update 1: 9/30/2009 03:05GMT: Residents Surprised to See Mercedes SUVs Marked ‘Hardin police’

Is Michael Hilton this guy’s real name?

Via: AP:



Michael Hilton with American Police Force, a private California security company seeking to take over a $27 million jail in Hardin, stands outside the city offices after meeting with Hardin officials on Friday. Associated Press photo.

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press – Posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 6:45 am

HARDIN – After arriving in this rural city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a nonexistent police department, representatives of an obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over Hardin’s never-used, $27 million jail.

Significant obstacles remain – including a lack of any prisoner contracts on the part of the company that wants to run the jail, American Police Force.

And on Friday came the revelation the company’s operating agreement for the facility has yet to be validated – two weeks after city leaders first unveiled what they said was a signed agreement.

Still, some Hardin leaders said the deal to turn over the 464-bed jail remained on track.

The agreement with American Police Force has been heavily promoted by members of the city’s economic development branch, the Two Rivers Authority. Authority vice president Albert Peterson on Friday repeated his claim to be “100 percent” confident in the company.

The lead public figure for American Police Force, Michael Hilton, said more than 200 employees would be sought for the jail and a proposed military and law enforcement training center.

That would be a significant boost to Hardin, a struggling town of 3,500 located about 45 miles east of Billings. An earlier announcement that a job fair would be held during the last week never came to fruition.

The bonds used to pay for the jail have been in default since May 2008.

Hilton also said he planned a helicopter tour of the region in coming days to look at real estate for a planned tactical military training ground. He said 5,000 to 10,000 acres were needed to complement the training center, a $17 million project.

But the company’s flashy arrival stirred new questions. The logo on the black Mercedes SUVs said “City of Hardin Police Department.”

Yet the city has not had a police force of its own for 30 years.

“Pretty looking police car, ain’t it?” Hardin resident Leroy Frickle, 67, said as he eyed one of the vehicles parked in front of a bed and breakfast where Hilton and other company representatives were staying. “The things you hear about this American Police, I don’t know what to think.”

Hilton said the vehicles would be handed over to the city if it forms a police force of its own. The city is now under the jurisdiction of the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office.

After meeting briefly with Hilton on Friday, Mayor Ron Adams said he wanted the police logos removed.

“This helps, but it doesn’t answer everything until the contract is signed,” Adams said. “Talk is cheap.”

Hilton said the company’s arrival in Hardin would help allay such concerns. And he promised that on Feb. 1, 2010, Hardin would receive its first check under a deal said to be worth more than $2.6 million annually.

Little has been revealed to date about American Police Force. The company was incorporated in California in March, soon after Hardin’s empty jail gained notoriety after city leaders suggested it could be used for the Guantanamo Bay terrorism detainees.

Members of Montana’s congressional delegation say they have been closely monitoring the events in Hardin, but the city has largely been going it alone.

In the two years since the jail was built, city leaders have clashed repeatedly with the administration of Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who opposed efforts to bring in out-of-state prisoners.

After then-Attorney General Mike McGrath issued a 2007 opinion saying prisoners from other states were prohibited, Hardin successfully sued the state.

Despite the city’s contention that the state has continued to foil its efforts to find prisoners, Montana Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Anez said his agency is no longer involved. “That’s water under the bridge,” Anez said.

On Friday, American Police Force announced its first local hire: a reporter for the Billings Gazette, Becky Shay, who has covered events surrounding the jail since its construction. She will be the company’s spokeswoman for $60,000 a year.

Shay said she intended to bring new transparency to the process, but declined to directly answer the first question posed to her: Where is American Police Force getting the money to operate the jail and build the training center?

“I know enough about where the money is coming from to be confident signing on with them,” she said.

Gazette editor Steve Prosinski said he was first informed about Shay’s decision to leave the paper on Friday. “We weren’t aware that she was talking with them about employment,” he said.

Hilton said he also had a job discussion with Kerri Smith, wife of Two Rivers Authority executive director Greg Smith, who helped craft the deal to bring American Police Force to Hardin. Greg Smith was placed on unpaid leave two weeks ago for reasons that have not been explained.

Kerri Smith is one of two finalists in the city’s mayoral race. Hilton said he asked her to call him about possible employment if she did not win the race. Smith could not be reached immediately for comment. A message was left by the Associated Press at a theater owned by the Smith family. Her home number is unlisted.

—End Update—

defenseproductsolutions.com is hosted on the same IP (97.74.186.121) as americanpolicegroup.com. Both sites feature the same logo. Click on the Catalog link on defenseproductsolutions.com and say ‘hello’ to Edward Angelino.

Other business names associated with him: Allied Defense Systems, Inc. (allieddefensesystems.com) and Defense Consulting Group, Inc. There are almost certainly many more. I only spent ten minutes on this.

I looked through a couple of the sites that use the same template and noticed this:

allieddefensesystems.com/aboutus.htm:

Founded in 1990, ADS and its veteran team have serviced a variety of contracts under extreme conditions in the Middle East. Our projects have ranged from base camp construction operations to supplying world-class military vehicles. In the midst of international tensions, ADS will perform.

defenseproductsolutions.com/aboutus.htm:

Founded in 2004, DPS and its veteran team have serviced a variety of contracts under extreme conditions in the Middle East. Our projects have ranged from base camp construction operations to supplying world-class military vehicles. In the midst of international tensions, DPS will perform.

HAHA.

Searching eangelino@aol.com will bring up more links for anyone who’s interested in unraveling these antics. Oh yeah! Do you have a, “2002 Lamborghini Murcielago tail winng or spoliler”[sic]? You might have a buyer. Guess who? Yep, that’s right.

There are many addresses, phone and fax numbers associated with all of this. I’m not sure why the Associated Press and others haven’t made these connections, but it’s all available on Google.

Via: AP:

The Two Rivers Detention Center was promoted as the largest economic development project in decades in the small town of Hardin when the jail was built two years ago. But it has been vacant ever since.

City officials have searched from Vermont to Alaska for inmate contracts to fill the jail, only to be turned down at every turn and see the bonds that financed its construction fall into default. They even floated the idea of housing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay at the jail.

So when Hardin officials announced this week that they had signed a deal with a California company to fill the empty jail, it was naturally a cause for celebration. Town officials talked about throwing a party to mark the occasion, their dreams of economic salvation a step closer to being realized.

But questions are emerging over the legitimacy of the company, American Police Force.

Government contract databases show no record of the company. Security industry representatives and federal officials said they had never heard of it. On its Web site, the company lists as its headquarters a building in Washington near the White House that holds “virtual offices.” A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force never completed its application to use the address.

And it’s unclear where the company will get the inmates for the jail. Montana says it’s not sending inmates to the jail, and neither are federal officials in the state.

An attorney for American Police Force, Maziar Mafi, describes the Santa Ana, Calif., company as a fledgling spin-off of a major security firm founded in 1984. But Mafi declined to name the parent firm or provide details on how the company will finance its jail operations.

“It will gradually be more clear as things go along,” said Mafi, a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in Santa Ana who was only hired by American Police Force a month ago. “The nature of this entity is private security and for security purposes, as well as for the interest of their clientele, that’s why they prefer not to be upfront.”

On its elaborate Web site and in interviews with company representatives, American Police Force claims to sell assault rifles and other weapons in Afghanistan on behalf of the U.S. military while providing security, investigative work and other services to clients “in all 50 states and most countries.”

The company also boasts to have “rapid response units awaiting our orders worldwide” and that it can field a battalion-sized team of special forces soldiers “within 72 hours.”

Representatives of American Police Force said the company presently employs at least 16 and as many as 28 people in the United States and 1,600 contractors worldwide.

“APF plays a critical role in helping the U.S. government meet vital homeland security and national defense needs,” the company says on its Web site. “Within the last 5 years the United States has been far and away our” number 1 client.

However, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal government contractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.

Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of American Police Force, although they added secrecy was prevalent in the industry and it was possible the company had avoided the public limelight.

“They’re really invisible,” said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the Professional Services Council. The group’s members include major security contractors Triple Canopy, DynCorp and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

“Even a single unclassified contract in the last couple of years should show up” in the federal database, Chvotkin added.

Spokesmen for the State Department and Defense Department said they could not immediately find any records of contracts with the company. The city has not released a copy of its agreement with American Police Force. But the deal as announced would be a sweet one for Hardin, a depressed rural town of 3,500 about 45 miles east of Billings.

The company is pledging to fill the 464-bed facility by early next year.

Hardin officials say the first payment on the contract is due Feb. 1 — regardless of whether any prisoners are in place. The city’s economic development authority would get enough money to pay off the bondholders and receive $5 per prison a day.

American Police Force also is promising to invest $30 million in new projects for the city, including a military and law enforcement training center with a 250-bed dormitory and an expansion of the jail to 2,000 beds. The company says it will build a homeless shelter, offer free health care for city residents and even deliver meals to the needy.

Where the prisoners would come from is unclear. City officials said California was the most likely possibility, but a spokesman for that state’s corrections system said there was no truth to the claim.

Federal prisoners also were mentioned by both American Police Force and the city. U.S. Marshal Dwight MacKay in Billings said he would have been notified if such a plan was pending.

“There’s skepticism over whether this is a real thing,” MacKay said.

Hardin officials said they were approached by American Police Force about six months ago, soon after the city made international news in its quest to become “America’s Gitmo.” American Police Force incorporated around the same time.

Albert Peterson, the city’s school superintendent and vice president of the authority that built the jail, said the city was “guaranteed” the contract would be upheld.

“There’s never a question in my mind after I’ve done my homework. It’s legit,” Peterson said of American Police Force. “We believe in each other.”

The contract was still being reviewed by the city attorney, he said.

Peterson refused to answer when asked if he knew the name of American Police Force’s parent firm. He said news coverage of the city’s political tussles with the administration of Gov. Brian Schweitzer had left him suspicious of the press. The administration brought a court challenge over whether Hardin could take out-of-state inmates at the jail.

“If you’re looking for the source of the money, you’re not going to find it from me,” Peterson said.

A member of the Texas consortium that developed the jail, Mike Harling, said he had “every reason to believe they’ll be successful.”

Mafi, the American Police Force attorney, said his company intends to reverse Hardin’s recent problems with the jail and give the town an economic boost.

In Santa Ana, American Police Force occupies a single suite on the second floor of a two-story office building. During a visit to the location Thursday, a reporter for The Associated Press encountered a uniformed man behind a desk who would identify himself only as “Captain Michael.”

The man declined to discuss basic details about the company and referred the reporter to the company’s Web site. In a subsequent phone interview, he provided his surname but insisted it not be used because of security concerns. The man said he was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Montenegro with decades of experience in military and law enforcement operations.

The man said his boss is a retired U.S. Army colonel named Richard Culver who is currently overseas. Culver’s role with the company could not be immediately verified.

The company claim of a headquarters address is just up the street from the White House.

The K Street building houses “virtual offices,” where clients pay to use the prestigious Pennsylvania Avenue address and gain access to onsite conference rooms but have no permanent presence.

“It lets small businesses get started up and have a professional front and not have a lot of a cash to do it,” said Ashley Korner with Preferred Offices, which leases the location.

She said American Police Force’s application to use the address was pending, but incomplete.
.
.
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Montana attorney general probes secretive American Police Force


We posted an item yesterday about a secretive California security company called American Police Force that was set to take over operation of a never-used jail in Hardin, Mont.

APF raised eyebrows in town after Mercedes SUVs belonging to the company arrived bearing decals that read, "City of Hardin Police Department."

The company, and the city's economic development arm that has negotiated a deal with APF, refused to give details about its plans, including where it expects to get prisoners to put in the jail.

Today comes word from The Billings Gazette, which has been following the story closely, that Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has launched an investigation into APF to find out what's going on.
That came after the newspaper and the Associated Press published stories saying that Michael Hilton, the apparent founder of APF who claims to be a military veteran, has a lengthy criminal record and has served time in prison in California.
The attorney general has sent a nine-page demand letter to Becky Shay, a former Gazette reporter who is now spokesman for APF. The paper says Shay did not respond immediately to its inquiries

According to the document, Bullock is launching a civil investigation to determine if APF is violating the Montana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.

Bullock is demanding that the company provide proof for some of the claims on its website, such as having contracts with the U.S. government and operations in all 50 states.
The newspaper says it has turned up no record of APF contracting with the federal government.

Bullock also requested a copy of the agreement between APF and Two Rivers Authority, the Hardin economic development arm that built the white elephant jail two years ago.

The Gazette also reports that the state's three-man congressional delegation and the governor have raised concerns about APF project.

(Photos: Left, of MIchael Hilton, and right, of police decal, by Matthew Brown, AP)

Posted by Doug Stanglin at 10:57 AM/ET, October 02, 2009 Permalink
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Saturday, October 03, 2009

The American Police Force in Hardin, Montana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y5qL3Vi9H0&feature=player_embeddedhttp://


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb1UR65yIWY&feature=player_embeddedhttp://

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2azITjr2gqU&feature=player_embeddedhttp://

What Is Going On In Hardin, Montana?

watchman08

What Is Going On In Hardin, Montana? Tue Sep 29, 2009 18:4372.201.43.207

It Is Hard To Understand What Is Going On In Hardin, Montana, But We Need To Make Sure That It Does Not Go Unnoticed.

September 29, 2009 ·

American Police Force officials showed up in Mercedes SUV’s that had “Hardin Police” stenciled on the vehicles. The twist, the city of Hardin doesn’t have a police department.

Two Rivers Authority officials say having APF patrol the streets was never part of their agenda. “I have no idea. I really don’t because that’s not been a part of any of the discussions we’ve had with any of them,” said Two Rivers Authority’s Al Peterson.

As it stands now the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department is contracted to patrol the city and APF has no jurisdiction. If that was changed Peterson says it would have to go through the city council.

As for the detention facility contract with APF, both sides are yet to agree to a deal as bondholders rejected it again on Thursday morning. “It’s a complicated issue there are a lot of tax laws to work through we were hoping to get it by Tuesday night now we’re hoping to get it by Friday night,” said Peterson.

Officials say the contract only deals with the detention facility and a police training center. There’s no mention of a homeless shelter, animal shelter, or any services for the area.

“That was never in the contract to begin with. I think it was on a wish list of what Captain Michael (APF) wanted to do here,” said Peterson. American Police Force officials plan to stay in the area for the next month.

According to local news and residents who live in Hardin they are harassing the whole town. The American Police Force are integrating themselves with the Sheriff’s department, patrolling the streets, pulling people over, and even have been said to be building some kind of heavy duty gates at the entrances of the town. Even a Two Rivers Authority official said that the aggressive tactics of the APF was never part of their agenda.

A concerned citizen said: “I am also told by a reliable source that today one of the managers at a local business in Hardin was visited by this new private security force which is now the new Hardin Police Department. He is an avid hunter and they came to inform him that they had a list of all firearms that he owned; this includes all the residents of our town, and that he would need to take his guns down to have them put a marking device on them.”

This really has the residents of Hardin, Montana upset, as they rightfully should. It sounds like this private security force is doing things the city council did not contract for them to cover.

Is this a private organization overstepping their bounds? I do recall Obama saying that he wanted “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the US military.

Below is a story by Matthew Brown with Associated Press Regarding This “Firm”

The Two Rivers Detention Center was promoted as the largest economic development project in decades in the small town of Hardin when the jail was built two years ago. But it has been vacant ever since.

City officials have searched from Vermont to Alaska for inmate contracts to fill the jail, only to be turned down at every turn and see the bonds that financed its construction fall into default. They even floated the idea of housing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay at the jail.

So when Hardin officials announced last week that they had signed a deal with a California company to fill the empty jail, it was naturally a cause for celebration. Town officials talked about throwing a party to mark the occasion, their dreams of economic salvation a step closer to being realized.

But questions are emerging over the legitimacy of the company, American Police Force.

Government contract databases show no record of the company. Security industry representatives and federal officials said they had never heard of it. On its Web site, the company lists as its headquarters a building in Washington near the White House that holds “virtual offices.” A spokeswoman for the building said American Police Force never completed its application to use the address.

And it’s unclear where the company will get the inmates for the jail. Montana says it’s not sending inmates to the jail, and neither are federal officials in the state.

An attorney for American Police Force, Maziar Mafi, describes the Santa Ana, Calif., company as a fledgling spin-off of a major security firm founded in 1984. But Mafi declined to name the parent firm or provide details on how the company will finance its jail operations.

“It will gradually be more clear as things go along,” said Mafi, a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in Santa Ana who was hired by American Police Force only a month ago. “The nature of this entity is private security and for security purposes, as well as for the interest of their clientele, that’s why they prefer not to be upfront.”

On its elaborate Web site and in interviews with company representatives, American Police Force claims to sell assault rifles and other weapons in Afghanistan on behalf of the U.S. military while providing security, investigative work and other services to clients “in all 50 states and most countries.”

The company also boasts to have “rapid response units awaiting our orders worldwide” and that it can field a battalion-sized team of special forces soldiers “within 72 hours.”

Representatives of American Police Force said the company presently employs at least 16 and as many as 28 people in the United States and 1,600 contractors worldwide.

“APF plays a critical role in helping the U.S. government meet vital homeland security and national defense needs,” the company says on its Web site. “Within the last five years the United States has been far and away our” No. 1 client.

However, an Associated Press search of two comprehensive federal government contractor databases turned up no record of American Police Force.

Representatives of security trade groups said they had never heard of American Police Force, although they added that secrecy was prevalent in the industry and it was possible the company had avoided the public limelight.

“They’re really invisible,” said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the Professional Services Council. The group’s members include major security contractors Triple Canopy, DynCorp and Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

“Even a single unclassified contract in the last couple of years should show up” in the federal database, Chvotkin said.

Spokesmen for the State Department and Defense Department said they could not immediately find any records of contracts with the company. The city has not released a copy of its agreement with American Police Force. But the deal as announced would be a sweet one for Hardin, a depressed rural town of 3,500 about 45 miles east of Billings.

The company is pledging to fill the 464-bed facility by early next year.

Hardin officials say the first payment on the contract is due Feb. 1 – regardless of whether any prisoners are in place. The city’s economic development authority would get enough money to pay off the bondholders and receive $5 per prisoner a day.

American Police Force also is promising to invest $30 million in new projects for the city, including a military and law enforcement training center with a 250-bed dormitory and an expansion of the jail to 2,000 beds. The company says it will build a homeless shelter, offer free health care for city residents and even deliver meals to the needy.

Where the prisoners would come from is unclear. City officials said California was the most likely possibility, but a spokesman for that state’s corrections system said there was no truth to the claim.

Federal prisoners also were mentioned by both American Police Force and the city. U.S. Marshal Dwight MacKay in Billings said he would have been notified if such a plan was pending.

“There’s skepticism over whether this is a real thing,” MacKay said.

Hardin officials said they were approached by American Police Force about six months ago, soon after the city made international news in its quest to become “America’s Gitmo.” American Police Force incorporated around the same time.

Albert Peterson, the city’s school superintendent and vice president of the authority that built the jail, said the city was “guaranteed” the contract would be upheld.

“There’s never a question in my mind after I’ve done my homework. It’s legit,” Peterson said of American Police Force. “We believe in each other.”

The contract was still being reviewed by the city attorney, he said.

Peterson refused to answer when asked if he knew the name of American Police Force’s parent firm. He said news coverage of the city’s political tussles with the administration of Gov. Brian Schweitzer had left him suspicious of the press. The administration brought a court challenge over whether Hardin could take out-of-state inmates at the jail.

“If you’re looking for the source of the money, you’re not going to find it from me,” Peterson said.

A member of the Texas consortium that developed the jail, Mike Harling, said he had “every reason to believe they’ll be successful.”

Mafi, the American Police Force attorney, said his company intends to reverse Hardin’s recent problems with the jail and give the town an economic boost.

In Santa Ana, American Police Force occupies a single suite on the second floor of a two-story office building. During a visit to the location Thursday, a reporter for The Associated Press encountered a uniformed man behind a desk who would identify himself only as “Captain Michael.”

The man declined to discuss basic details about the company and referred the reporter to the company’s Web site. In a subsequent phone interview, he provided his surname but insisted it not be used because of security concerns. The man said he was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Montenegro with decades of experience in military and law enforcement operations.

The man said his boss is a retired U.S. Army colonel named Richard Culver who is currently overseas. Culver’s role with the company could not be immediately verified.

The company claim of a headquarters address is just up the street from the White House.

The K Street building houses “virtual offices,” where clients pay to use the prestigious Pennsylvania Avenue address and gain access to onsite conference rooms but have no permanent presence.

“It lets small businesses get started up and have a professional front and not have a lot of a cash to do it,” said Ashley Korner with Preferred Offices, which leases the location.

She said American Police Force’s application to use the address was pending but incomplete.
http://onemansthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/it-is-hard-to-understand-what-is-going-on-in-hardin-montana-but-we-need-to-make-sure-that-it-does-not-go-unnoticed/


Related:

http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=126560;title=APFN


Source: http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=126548;title=APFN

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