A friend on the near west side of Elgin suggested I post this link to a Nightline report from February 11th.
The number one place in the world for kidnappings is Mexico City.
Number two? Phoenix.
Here's a link to the seven minute report by ABC News:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6860892
I make no comment since some folks in the community are watching my words closely:)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Someone doesn't like AFLA...
...or maybe Charlene...or both.
Dave White received this message from AOL:
Dear Member,
AOL has a Terms of Service agreement which provides community guidelines for online conduct. We want to inform you that we received a report regarding a violation of those guidelines. Here is the information we have placed on the account regarding this incident:
Date: 2009-02-11 19:18:21.0
Violation Clip: Subject: City council election
February 18, 5:00p.m. - 8:30p.m.
Salon Couture Pampering Night http://www.saloncouture.biz/
176 East Chicago Street, Elgin 60120
$25.00 Campaign Contribution
Come out and receive mini spa treatments such as massages, facials and manicures along with discounts on Aveda products. The first 25 people will also receive a $20 certificate towards a coloring.
Also, you are invited to attend our election night party.
February 24 and April 7, 6:30p.m. - 10:00p.m.
Mad Maggies Election Night Party http://www.madmaggies.net/
51 South Grove, Elgin 60120
We will be on the top floor. This is a kid friendly event.
Our Terms of Service agreement, which was presented during the sign up process, allows AOL to be informative, entertaining and, above all, fun for all of our Members. You can review that agreement by using Keyword: TOS or by going to the following AOL page:
http://help.aol.com/help/legal.do?kcp=memberagreement
Please be advised that further violations may result in closure of your AOL account(s).
Now, think for a minute about the tons of messages you get every week for Canadian prescriptions, fake watches, Nigerian bank accounts, body part enlargements, diet pills...and AOL is telling Dave he can't tell people about a candidate fundraiser!!!???
Of course, the key is that some opponent took offense to the message and contacted AOL.
It's nice to be noticed.
Dave White received this message from AOL:
Dear Member,
AOL has a Terms of Service agreement which provides community guidelines for online conduct. We want to inform you that we received a report regarding a violation of those guidelines. Here is the information we have placed on the account regarding this incident:
Date: 2009-02-11 19:18:21.0
Violation Clip: Subject: City council election
February 18, 5:00p.m. - 8:30p.m.
Salon Couture Pampering Night http://www.saloncouture.biz/
176 East Chicago Street, Elgin 60120
$25.00 Campaign Contribution
Come out and receive mini spa treatments such as massages, facials and manicures along with discounts on Aveda products. The first 25 people will also receive a $20 certificate towards a coloring.
Also, you are invited to attend our election night party.
February 24 and April 7, 6:30p.m. - 10:00p.m.
Mad Maggies Election Night Party http://www.madmaggies.net/
51 South Grove, Elgin 60120
We will be on the top floor. This is a kid friendly event.
Our Terms of Service agreement, which was presented during the sign up process, allows AOL to be informative, entertaining and, above all, fun for all of our Members. You can review that agreement by using Keyword: TOS or by going to the following AOL page:
http://help.aol.com/help/legal.do?kcp=memberagreement
Please be advised that further violations may result in closure of your AOL account(s).
Now, think for a minute about the tons of messages you get every week for Canadian prescriptions, fake watches, Nigerian bank accounts, body part enlargements, diet pills...and AOL is telling Dave he can't tell people about a candidate fundraiser!!!???
Of course, the key is that some opponent took offense to the message and contacted AOL.
It's nice to be noticed.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
ID theft on steroids
Disclaimer: If you are looking for the race card, this man is from Romania.Sergiu Daniel Popa had a six-month visitor visa. It expired but he stayed here anyway. About seven years too long.
But how could he bear parting with the USA? We gave him a free education and all the goodies a person can't get in Romania.
It seems that Mr. Popa opened a "phishing" business here in the United States.
He was just convicted in October of 2008 of the following crimes:
*Selling a "phishing/spamming toolkit" on the Internet for $1,500
*Offering to sell stolen personal identification information
*Creating fictitious credit cards
*Creating fictitious ID cards (including Driver's Licenses)
*Possession of credit card information of 5,889 people
*Stealing $700,000 from credit card accounts
In addition to phishing, Sergui was also able to hijack credit card information from retailers and credit card companies.
Out of the blue we received a letter from the FBI indicating that the evidence against Popa included information on our family. As victims we were entitled to our rights, including information about the various hearings.
What no one was willing to tell us was exactly which information he had on us. Social security number? Credit card numbers? Which ones? Bank account numbers? Fake Driver's License? NO ONE IN THE GOVERNMENT WOULD TELL US. They just advised us to watch our accounts and get a credit report.
Lisa Madigan's office just gave us forms to fill out with the same suggestion to keep an eye on our accounts.
The Elgin Police didn't want to take a report, telling us instead to get a Social Security Statement and check it for accuracy, even after the IRS indicated that our Social Security number had been used on another return. (By the way, it takes five weeks to get that report and new earnings aren't updated until six months into the next year.)
Multiply this mess TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES for all the people who received one of those letters and you can see that this one illegal alien certainly left his mark on society.
His sentencing is pending. I really don't want to know if he is out on the street.
Here's Sergui's Interpol wanted poster. It's kinda neat:
By the way, if you have a story to tell about our lax immigration enforcement, please share it with us at the AFLA website HERE:
Another myth down the drain
Conventional wisdom says that illegal aliens who use the Social Security number of another are really doing no harm. It’s a “victimless crime” as they like to say.
The theory is that they don’t make enough money to pay taxes and so all this extra cash winds up in the coffers at Social Security, and heaven knows we need more money in that fund.
Nice theory but it’s WRONG.
Here are some cases to prove my point:
On January 30, 2009 the Daily Herald reported that Armando Cruz of Carpentersville was charged with stealing the identity of a 7-year- old and then using it to get a job, buy a home, and some cars. Can you say, “Ruined credit history?”
(By the way, there are cases on the books where babies are born with their identities already stolen. The thieves make up a nine digit number that hasn’t been issued yet, only to have the government assign that number to a newborn!)
Another case:
Catalina Amezquita-Mares of Chicago was earning money against the Social Security number of a woman in Carpentersville. Those earnings disqualified the real owner when she sought Medicaid benefits for her sick daughter.
Here’s more proof
Last year Cirilo Centeno of Streamwood left a different 7-year-old from Carpentersville with a tax bill on $60K.
From February of last year Marcelina Castenada up at Fisher Nuts owes taxes on $49,833 earned under the name of another.
Also from last February Cesar Vega-Gonzalez at Assured Staffing in Crystal Lake. His unreported earnings were $23,706.
Or Adriana Campos of McHenry owed the IRS more than $300 in taxes from her job at Trim Rite Industries.
Then there was Felipe Orsornio of Carpentersville.
Emilio Velazquez-Villa and Gabriel Fuentes-Garcia of Rolling Meadows.
Ambrosio DeJesus-Flores of West Chicago.
I’m afraid that all this extra income earned under someone else’s name really is creating victims in its wake.
Be sure to check your Social Security Income Statements carefully.
The theory is that they don’t make enough money to pay taxes and so all this extra cash winds up in the coffers at Social Security, and heaven knows we need more money in that fund.
Nice theory but it’s WRONG.
Here are some cases to prove my point:
On January 30, 2009 the Daily Herald reported that Armando Cruz of Carpentersville was charged with stealing the identity of a 7-year- old and then using it to get a job, buy a home, and some cars. Can you say, “Ruined credit history?”
(By the way, there are cases on the books where babies are born with their identities already stolen. The thieves make up a nine digit number that hasn’t been issued yet, only to have the government assign that number to a newborn!)
Another case:
Catalina Amezquita-Mares of Chicago was earning money against the Social Security number of a woman in Carpentersville. Those earnings disqualified the real owner when she sought Medicaid benefits for her sick daughter.
Here’s more proof
Last year Cirilo Centeno of Streamwood left a different 7-year-old from Carpentersville with a tax bill on $60K.
From February of last year Marcelina Castenada up at Fisher Nuts owes taxes on $49,833 earned under the name of another.
Also from last February Cesar Vega-Gonzalez at Assured Staffing in Crystal Lake. His unreported earnings were $23,706.
Or Adriana Campos of McHenry owed the IRS more than $300 in taxes from her job at Trim Rite Industries.
Then there was Felipe Orsornio of Carpentersville.
Emilio Velazquez-Villa and Gabriel Fuentes-Garcia of Rolling Meadows.
Ambrosio DeJesus-Flores of West Chicago.
I’m afraid that all this extra income earned under someone else’s name really is creating victims in its wake.
Be sure to check your Social Security Income Statements carefully.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Tag, you're it
The city inspectors have worked hard to determine properties that are unsafe and then they condemn them.
The houses get "tagged" as a way of notifying the owner, the tenants, and potential renters that the building needs work.
Well, here's the code enforcement tag on a Kimball Street property (gee, why aren't those rowhouses selling?) with some added artwork.
A gangbanger has "tagged" the tag!
Nice touch, but just another sign that things have gotten out of hand.
(Yes, I have altered the city markings at the bottom to protect the innocent.)
The Broken Windows Theory...
...illustrated!
Charlene Sligting mentioned the "broken windows theory" at the city council candidate forum last night. The idea is that if you allow illegal activity in the neighborhood more of the same will follow.
This is a photo taken on January 16, 2009 over on Dundee Avenue. Note the graffiti.
And this is a photo of the same wall taken today, February 6th. If you look closely more graffiti has been added. Perhaps rival gangs have crossed out the marks of people they don't like. Some have added their own.
Now, let's put it all in perspective. This shot has all the elements. The wall of graffiti, the SCHOOL ZONE speed limit sign, and the Boys and Girls Club sign. No, I didn't Photoshop anything here. This is what the kids see every day.
Blame the city for not keeping up? Maybe, but I've been in close contact with EPD and they are hampered by bad weather. It obviously doesn't slow down the gang bangers.
This is symbolic of what we will tolerate before local elected leaders push back hard at every pulpit they can. Noland, Farnham, Foster, Durbin...
Whatever approach we've taken is not effective. What are the candidates going to do about it?
The incumbents have a leg upon on the challengers because they "know" what they cannot do. They "know" the restrictions. They "know" what the gang report says. Of all people, those sitting on the council now ought to have something to say about it.
We all ought to listen carefully to the answers.
Charlene Sligting mentioned the "broken windows theory" at the city council candidate forum last night. The idea is that if you allow illegal activity in the neighborhood more of the same will follow.
This is a photo taken on January 16, 2009 over on Dundee Avenue. Note the graffiti.
And this is a photo of the same wall taken today, February 6th. If you look closely more graffiti has been added. Perhaps rival gangs have crossed out the marks of people they don't like. Some have added their own.
Now, let's put it all in perspective. This shot has all the elements. The wall of graffiti, the SCHOOL ZONE speed limit sign, and the Boys and Girls Club sign. No, I didn't Photoshop anything here. This is what the kids see every day.
Blame the city for not keeping up? Maybe, but I've been in close contact with EPD and they are hampered by bad weather. It obviously doesn't slow down the gang bangers.
This is symbolic of what we will tolerate before local elected leaders push back hard at every pulpit they can. Noland, Farnham, Foster, Durbin...
Whatever approach we've taken is not effective. What are the candidates going to do about it?
The incumbents have a leg upon on the challengers because they "know" what they cannot do. They "know" the restrictions. They "know" what the gang report says. Of all people, those sitting on the council now ought to have something to say about it.
We all ought to listen carefully to the answers.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Our picks for city council
People are asking, "Who do you like for city council?"
Well, here's what we have so far. We're done with the two year endorsements but are still working on other four year candidates. Check back another day for more.
If you know any candidates who haven't responded to our questionnaire, let them know they are missing out. We'd be glad to let them tell their story in our Candidate Central.
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