-Caveat Lector- At 09:22 AM 6/4/01 -0700, you wrote: >-Caveat Lector- > >townhall.com > >Michelle Malkin >May 31, 2001 > >The Department of Embezzlement > >President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" school reform proposal passed in >the >House last week. Considering what a colossal black hole the U.S. >Department of Education has become, the $24 billion plan would be more >appropriately dubbed: No Dime Left Behind. > >If Beltway pols were truly interested in educational accountability, they >wouldn't be funneling billions of dollars through a government bureaucracy >that can't keep track of its funds. The Education Department failed its >last >three financial audits and is on track to fail again. On the same day the >House approved Bush's school spending package, U.S. Attorney Kenneth >Wainstein issued indictments against 11 people involved in a theft ring of >outside contractors working with Education Department employees. Three >former >Education Department workers have already pled guilty. > >I read the federal grand jury's 64-page indictment papers over the weekend. >I >wish every member of Congress would do the same. >This million-dollar criminal enterprise is just the tip of the iceberg of >fraudulent federal spending "for the children." > >The ring centered around Elizabeth C. Mellen, an award-winning, >high-ranking >telecommunications specialist in the Education Department's Office of the >Chief Information Officer. Her indicted co-conspirators include her >children >and husband, an employee at the Environmental Protection Agency; her sister >and two nieces (both of whom worked in the Education Department's financial >assistance office); her nephew (who worked as a technical specialist in the >Education Department's financial assistance office); and a Bell Atlantic >employee. > >Mellen and her family apparently turned the Education Department into their >own Home Shopping Network. The indictment says Mellen directed the Bell >Atlantic worker, Maurice Hayes, to order equipment through his company's >outside contract (paid for by the Education Department and subsidized by >taxpayers). She then had various contract employees deliver her $300,000 >worth of electronic goods. In exchange, the contract employees collected >more >than $600,000 in false overtime pay. > >Mellen's sister reportedly visited her workstation several times to shop >from >electronics catalogs; others put in their orders by phone or e-mail. >According to the indictment, Mellen plundered public funds to pay for: 10 >Gateway computers and accessories, 15 printers, 4 Yamaha CD drives, 9 >laptops >for family birthday and graduation gifts, a 61" Sony television, and 7 cell >phones (on which a total of nearly 12,000 calls were made). > >Also: 169 cordless phones (46 with caller ID, 5 with headsets), 6 Olympus >digital cameras and 4 Olympus printers, 8 Sony digital cameras and >accessories, 4 Sony digital camcorders and accessories, 4 Sony Handycams >and >accessories, 4 Sony video Walkmans, 7 PalmPilot personal organizers, 50 >Motorola Talkabouts, and 2 Philips audio CD recorders. > >In addition, Mellen arranged for a toll-free telephone number to be routed >through the Education Department so that family members and friends could >call >Mellen's sister's home in Mechanicsville, Md., without any toll charges. >She >also ordered the Education Department's Bell Atlantic contract employees, >at >taxpayer expense, to install an additional phone line in her apartment and >an >extra phone jack in her sister's home. > >Finally, Mellen used outside contractors as family chauffeurs and handymen. >She ordered them to drive to Baltimore to purchase crab cakes for her, >shuttle >her daughter and granddaughter to a medical facility, powerwash her son's >deck >and perform other yard cleanup. > >The Education Department can't claim such theft is rare. It doesn't know. >Government auditors have identified accounting discrepancies totaling up to >$6 >billion. Federal education aid has been embezzled to pay for luxury cars, >real estate, diapers and rent. If this agency were a private company, it >would have been shut down by government regulators long ago. Instead, it >grows fatter and more unaccountable every year. >Republicans, who once led the crusade to eliminate the department, are now >tripping over each other to feed the beast. > >"The federal role in education is not to serve the system. It is to serve >the >children," the Education Department's motto preaches. I imagine Mrs. >Mellen >told herself the same as she phoned in another electronics order for her >children and licked the crab cake crumbs off her light and greasy fingers. > > >======================================================= > Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT > > FROM THE DESK OF: > > *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends >======================================================= > ><A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> >DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER >========== >CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic >screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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CTRL gives no >credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. > >Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. >======================================================================== >Archives Available at: >http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html > <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of >[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> > >http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> >======================================================================== >To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: >SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: >SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Om > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
