Scribd

Projet de loi El Khomri sur la réforme du code du travail
▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/299674147/Projet-de-loi-El-Khomri-sur-la-reforme-du-code-du-travail

Le texte du projet de loi qui sera proposé au conseil des ministres. Bon ça fait 131 pages mais nul doute qu’on trouvera des gens pour en faire une synthèse (ProTip : Scrutez les syndicats plutôt que les journaux de droite)(Permalink)

#luttes #syndicalisme

#Tarnac, quand l’anti-terrorisme, les fiches S, l’État d’urgence et tout le bordel ne vous quittent jamais...
▻http://www.davduf.net/tarnac-quand-l-anti-terrorisme-les-fiches-s-l

C’était la veille des élections régionales et du raz de marée (brune). Un petit post sur un forum Debian. Une histoire ordinaire d’un Etat d’Urgence ordinaire. Un souvenir qui remonte, Tarnac, et un contrôle à l’aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle d’un militant qui raconte. Juste comme ça, comme un trait de l’époque --- Et ils voudraient qu’on vote pour eux ? A piece of Planet Debian/ posts/ Everyone can be a target My flight from Athens where I had the pleasure to attend the first “reproducible world summit” (...)

#Tarnac,_magasin_général

#état_d_urgence

« ▻https://reproducible-builds.org/events/athens2015 »
« ▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/86586359/Rapport-RG-2008-Tarnac-Magasin-General »
« ▻http://www.marmottux.org/index.php/post/2005/07/14/205-photos-des-rmll-2005-nocturnes-aux-tanneries »
« 

https://people.debian.org/~lunar/blog/posts/everyone_can_be_a_target/bsp-flyer.jpg

Le lobby de l’industrie culturelle, réuni au Forum d’Avignon, propose une « Déclaration des droits de l’homme numérique » :

▻http://www.ddhn.org

Concrètement, elle propose de généraliser le droit soi-disant-d-auteur en supprimant les exceptions actuelles.

Si on veut un essai d’une déclaration des droits de l’humain en ligne, on peut plutôt regarder :

▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/99451710/Declaration-des-Droits-de-l-Internaute

#Internet #droits_de_l_homme #DDHN

#Perenco in the Democratic Republic of Congo : when oil makes the poor poorer
▻http://multinationales.org/Perenco-in-the-Democratic-Republic

Perenco’s operations in Bas-Congo are an example of how oil extraction can destroy the environment and the livelihoods of #local_communities, without giving them almost anything in return. In Muanda, the “poorest oil city in the world,” exploitation of petroleum by the Anglo-French company Perenco has brought no real development benefits. A report by the French NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire paints a damning picture of the situation: unwelcome news at a time when the Democratic Republic of Congo is (...)

#Investigations

/ #Extractive_Industries, #DR_Congo, Perenco, #Total, #Extractive_Industries, #biodiversity, local communities, #corruption, #human_rights, #tax_system, #social_impact, #environmental_impact, #extractive_industries, #commodities, #regulations_and_norms, #poverty, (...)

#corporate_social_responsibility #parent_company #transparency
« ►http://ccfd-terresolidaire.org/infos/rse/petrole-a-muanda-la »
« ►http://www.profundo.nl »
« ►http://www.perenco.com/fr/actualites/single/reussite-de-la-fracturation-sur-el-franig-en-tunisie.html »
« ►http://ccfd-terresolidaire.org/mob/agir/campagnes/investissements-hors »
« ►http://www.asso-sherpa.org/drame-au-bangladesh-le-gouvernement-se-defausse-sur-lue-plutot-que-dass »
« ▻http://oecdwatch.org/cases/Case_307 »
« ▻http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/central-africa/dr-congo/188-black-gold-in-the-congo-threat-to-stability-or-development-opportun »
« ►http://nawaat.org/portail/2013/10/29/enquete-sur-le-gaz-de-schiste-en-tunisie-des-profondeurs-du-sous-sol-tunisie »
« ▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/179884156/Mensonges-Gaz-de-Schiste-OTE-2013 »
« ▻http://platformlondon.org/carbonweb/documents/drc/A_Lake_of_Oil_Congo_DRC_Tullow_PLATFORM_May_2010.pdf »

#Facebook peut utiliser tout ce que vous écrivez, même si vous ne le publiez pas | Rézonances #ghost #mémoire

http://rezonances.blog.lemonde.fr/files/2013/12/facebook_knows_everything_large.jpg

Cet article s’appuie sur une étude (à consulter ci-dessous) consacrée au phénomène d’#autocensure sur Facebook.
▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/191876182/Etude-sur-l-auto-censure-sur-Facebook
« 71 % des profils étudiés ont autocensuré leurs messages au moins une fois en dix-sept jours. Nous présumons fortement que les 29 % restants n’ont tout simplement pas eu l’occasion de s’autocensurer, étant donné la brève période pendant laquelle a duré notre observation. »

#vie_privée
▻http://seenthis.net/messages/159715

#censure
▻http://torrentfreak.com/facebook-uses-social-signals-to-stop-piracy-131203

http://torrentfreak.com/images/facebook-pirate.jpg

Facebook doesn’t reveal whether the patented system is already in use or which personal details of Facebook users are considered. However, according to its privacy policy the company can use all available user information to protect “rights or property” of Facebook and others.

Mise à jour, le 17 décembre à 19 h 30. Les équipes de Facebook France ont tenu à réagir à cet article avec la déclaration suivante : « Les ingénieurs "data" de Facebook travaillent à comprendre la manière dont les gens utilisent notre plateforme afin d’améliorer l’expérience que nous leur proposons. Nous avons récemment conduit une étude pour comprendre à quelle fréquence les gens ne publient pas un texte après l’avoir commencé. Il est important de noter que l’étude en question n’analyse absolument pas le contenu des textes mais uniquement le comportement qui consiste à écrire un texte sans le publier. L’étude ne comporte que des informations anonymes et agrégées. »

Les données anonymisées, c’est aussi le bouclier dont se pare #orange quand on s’intéresse à son #pôle #smart_cities

HEAR EXPLOSIVE AUDIO: Bill Lockyer, Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack Secretly Own Indian Gaming Outfits in California - Clients of Howard Dickstein

BELOW MODIFIED VERSION OF COMMUNICATION FROM YR TO THIRD PARTY. AUDIO MODIFIED TO PROTECT IDENTITY OF SOURCE

AUDIO @:

▻http://lesliebrodie.blog.co.uk/2013/03/19/explosive-audio-bill-lockyer-thomas-girardi-and-walter-lack-sec

PART I:

1. ETHICS COMPLAINT / IN RE GIRARDI — In 2010, the United States Federal Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit issued its final ruling in the disciplinary matter of In Re Girardi by imposing close to $500,000 in sanctions on Walter Lack of Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese stemming from an attempt to defraud the court and cause injury to Dole Food Company in the underlying litigation. You may have heard of Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi as they are the lawyers who were featured in the movie “Erin Brokovich” involving utility company PG&E.

The court ruled that Walter Lack (who stipulated to Special Prosecutor Rory Little that his prolonged acts of misconduct were intentional) and Thomas Girardi intentionally and recklessly resorted to the use of known falsehoods for years. The Ninth Circuit ordered Girardi and Lack to report their misconduct to the State Bar of California.

The State Bar of California disqualified itself from handling the matter since Howard Miller (of Girardi & Keese) served at that time as its president, and had also made the decision to hire then-chief prosecutor, James Towery.

Mr. Towery, in turn, appointed Jerome Falk of Howard Rice (now Arnold & Porter) as outside “special prosecutor” to determine whether or not to bring charges against Girardi and Lack. (Mr. Falk is a colleague of Douglas Winthrop, and both represented PG&E in its massive bankruptcy proceedings.)

Mr. Falk, in turn, exercised prosecutorial discretion and concluded that he did not believe Lack acted intentionally and that no charges will be brought against the two attorneys.

Within days of Mr. Falk’s decision, I filed an ethics complaint with the State Bar of California against Jerome Falk, James Towery, Howard Miller, and Douglas Winthrop (managing partner of Howard Rice and then-elected president of the Foundation), alleging that it was improper for Mr. Towery to appoint Mr. Falk given the close personal relationship between Howard Miller and Douglas Winthrop. Specifically, Howard Miller — in his capacity as president of the State Bar — had appointed Douglas Winthrop as president of the California Bar Foundation, a foundation maintained and controlled by the State Bar. (Much later I also discovered that Jerome Falk is actually the personal attorney of Thomas Girardi, and that Howard Rice and Jerome Falk represented Walter Lack, Thomas Girardi, Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack, and Girardi & Keese in approximately 2007, and for a period of 2 years, in a malpractice action.)

2. FOGEL V. FARMERS — In the matter of In Re Girardi, Mr. Girardi and his law firm were represented by the firm of Skadden Arps. In reviewing the file of In Re Girardi, I discovered that, beginning in 2003, Girardi & Keese and Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack were prosecuting a class action case against Farmers Insurance Company, which was represented by Skadden Arps. This was a nationwide class action with estimated damages of close to $15 billion that had originally been filed by Texas Governor Rick Perry.

I thereafter informed the Los Angeles County Superior Court (Judge William Highberger) of this information, and filed a State Bar ethics complaint against attorneys Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese and Thomas Nolan and Raoul Kennedy of Skadden Arps because neither the class of plaintiffs (consisting of 14 million Americans), nor the courts (the Ninth Circuit in the matter of In Re Girardi and the Los Angeles County Superior Court in the matter of Fogel vs. Farmers) had been informed of the concurrent representation by which Skadden Arps represented Girardi & Keese (in the Ninth Circuit matter), while at the same time defending Farmers.

Shortly after I filed this ethics complaint, Skadden Arps and Dewey Lebeuf (representing Farmers’ parent company, Zurich Financial) moved ex parte (which was unopposed) to amend the settlement agreement in the Fogel matter and the notice to the class of 14 million Americans throughout the country to include a proviso by which members of the class would be prohibited from suing anyone due to the concurrent representation described above. Nevertheless, the State Bar of California decided not to take any action on this ethics complaint.

3. CaliforniaALL — When researching the relationship of Girardi & Keese and Howard Rice and the appointment of Douglas Winthrop as president of the California Bar Foundation by Howard Miller of Girardi & Keese, I reviewed the California Bar Foundation’s annual reports to familiarize myself with the names of the Foundation’s board of directors. I stumbled upon the fact that the Foundation ended 2008 close to $500,000 in the negative. Specifically, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES in 2007 equaled plus +$373.842.00. However, in 2008, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES equaled minus -$537,712.

I discovered that the money had been transferred to a newly-created Section 501(c)(3) non-profit entity (headed by Ruthe Catolico Ashley — a friend of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakayue) known as CaliforniaALL, which obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from utility companies PG&E, SCE, AT&T, and Verizon. In turn, CaliforniaALL funneled a large portion of the money to the UCI Foundation, where a friend and former partner of Mark Robinson (of the Judicial Council), State Bar of California Executive Director Joe Dunn, served as trustee in 2008-9 to launch a new entity known as Saturday Law Academy.

Various factors and evidence caused me to suspect that a significant portion of the funds transferred from the California Bar Foundation ended up financing a newly-created online publication which Joe Dunn had launched with the help of Thomas Girardi and James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster; this online publication is known as “Voice of OC.”

Those factors include, but are not limited to, the fact that some individuals and entities involved in the creation of CaliforniaALL and the subsequent transfer of $780,000 from the Cal Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL were also involved in assisting Joe Dunn with the creation of “Voice of OC” to wit – Morrison & Foerster’s Susan Mac Cormac as legal counsel for CaliforniaALL; Girardi & Keese’s Howard Miller in his capacity as BOD member of Cal Bar Foundation; and BOG members who voted to endorse CaliforniaALL and consider it to have been a partner of the State Bar of California. Also relevant was that Morrison & Foerster’s James Brosnahan and Girardi & Keese’s Thomas Girardi also assisted Joe Dunn in establishing Voice of OC, the fact that Saturday Law Academy was established many years earlier, and the fact that Ruthe Ashley exited CaliforniaALL in the same month and year Joe Dunn established Voice of OC (September 2009).

Based on my concerns, I requested that Voice of OC provide me with copies of its IRS 990 forms. Voice of OC did not comply with applicable IRS regulations in that it failed to reply to my request for copies of its 990 forms submitted to the IRS, whereupon I filed a complaint against Voice of OC and Joe Dunn with the IRS.

Later, after thorough research, I discovered that events surrounding CaliforniaALL, OBAMA FOR AMERICA, and those responsible for the financing of OBAMA FOR AMERICA are highly related, to wit, Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich, Ron Olson, Brad Phillips (of Munger Tolles & Olson) Ambassador John Roos and Mark Parnes (of Wilson Sonsini) James Brosnahan, DOJ’s Tony West, Chris Young, Annette Carnegie (of Morrison & Foerster) Steven Churchwell (of DLA Piper in Sacramento — where CaliforniaALL resided free of charge) Kamala Harris, as well as Freada Kapor - a California Democratic Party operative who served as a director of CaliforniaALL, and that The Kapor Center generally used to fund-raise on behalf of the many foundations located there, were additionally used to contact potential voters and encourage them to vote for then candidate Barack Obama. Her husband, Mitchell Kapor, was part of a tech team working for the campaigns of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris of CaliforniaALL.

I invite you to visit the below link for more details:

▻http://la.indymedia.org/news/2012/09/255420.php

4. UC DAVIS QUADRAPLEGIC LAW STUDENT SARA GRANDA / JUDGE MORRISON ENGALND /RACHEL GRUNBERG / LARRY YEE — Also in connection with CaliforniaALL, I advanced a judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Morrison England since State Bar of California Executive Director Judy Johnson, Judge England, his wife (Torie Flournoy-England), and State Bar of California employee Patricia Lee were all members of CaliforniaALL’s board of directors and/or advisory council. The basis for that complaint was these individuals’ failure to inform plaintiff Sara Granda — who had filed an action in federal court naming the State Bar of California as a sole defendant that was heard by Judge Morrison England — of these facts.

Specifically, without informing plaintiff Granda of his relationship with Judy Johnson (the State Bar’s Executive Director) vis-a-vis CaliforniaALL and either obtaining a waiver from this plaintiff or independently recusing himself, Judge England summarily dismissed Ms. Granda’s complaint against the California State Bar. Fortunately for Ms. Granda, several days later then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger championed her cause and pressured the California Bar to accommodate her needs.

I invite you to visit the below link to CaliforniaALL’s own publication which shows the relationship I described.

▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/48722718/9-CaliforniaALL-Newsletter-announcing-change-of-address-and-DLA-Piper-Pro-Bo

▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/100876445/CalALL-Mar2009Newsletter

In connection with the failure to disclose the relationship to plaintiff Sarah Granda, I also filed an ethics complaint with the State Bar of California against its own employees/attorneys which represented the State Bar in the litigation — Rachel Grunberg, Mark Torres Gil, and Larry Yee.

5. JUSTICE MING CHIN / DEPARTURE FROM CAUSE — While researching CaliforniaALL, I stumbled upon a separate non-profit entity in Southern California which was also absorbing money from utility companies known as CAUSE.

Since Justice Ming Chin was part of the entity’s board/council, I filed a complaint with the Office of Judicial Performance, and very shortly thereafter I was informed by CAUSE’s legal counsel that Justice Chin quit the entity.

6. JEANNINE ENGLISH / HOWARD DICKSTEIN — Upon further familiarizing myself with the members of the State Bar Board of Governors, I also filed a complaint with the Board of Governors against Public Member Jeannine English — the wife of Howard Dickstein, an Indian gambling attorney. Weeks later, US Senator John McCain (Arizona) filed a complaint against Howard Dickstein for various acts of misconduct and asked that he be investigated.

–-------------------------------------------------------------------------

6/12/2011

Dear President Hebert, Senator Dunn, Members of the Board of Governors, and to whom it may concern:

While examining circumstances concerning the California Consumer Protection Foundation ("CCPF"), which was secretly controlled by State Bar Executive Director Emeritus Judy Johnson (and which will be the subject of an upcoming request for investigation), I fortuitously stumbled upon troubling facts and events relating to Board of Governors ("BOG") member Jeannine English.

As such, and despite its anticipated futility, this correspondence is intended to advise the BOG of these events and officially request an investigation into irregularities, conflicts of interest, self-dealing, breach of fiduciary duties, and lack of disclosures by BOG member Jeannine English. Those irregularities relate to circumstances surrounding the following:

1. Keker & Van Nest’s representation of Jeannine English’s spouse, Mr. Howard Dickstein, in an action for, among others, fraud, advanced by the Rumsey Tribe and related lack of disclosure on the part of Ms. English and Jon Streeter concerning the existence of a past business relationship.

2. Misconduct by Howard Dickstein against the tribes, and related involvement by Jeannine English, who was also concurrently representing the tribe in her role as “Lobbyist.” Subsequently, when the tribe advanced a suit against Dickstein claiming he had taken advantage of them by defrauding the tribe of millions of dollars over more than a decade, Dickstein referred to the suit as a “pack of lies,” whereupon Keker & Van Nest was summoned to defend the action.

3. An unusually large cy pres award of $900,000 to the AARP in a class action suit in which Girardi & Keese (specifically, Thomas Girardi and Graham Lippsmith) represented the plaintiff. Jeannine English has strong ties to the AARP and, in fact serves as the president of its California branch.

4. Lack of disclosures on the part of Girardi & Keese’s Howard Miller and Jeannine English of the existence of the transaction. Aggravating the lack of disclosures are circumstances surrounding misconduct by Girardi & Keese and Howard Miller in the Dole Litigation, the subsequent handing of the matter by the State Bar which assigned the matter to the firm of State Bar of California Foundation president Doug Winthrop, my own involvement, and the involvement Alec Chang.

THE RUMSEY MATTER

The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians ("Rumsey") consists of 40 adult members who reside in Brooks, California, which is situated in Capay Valley — 50 miles northwest of Sacramento and 90 miles northeast of the Bay Area. From a fledgling bingo business to what is now a thriving establishment known as “Cache Creek Casino,” attorney Howard Dickstein, a pioneer in tribal gambling law and the spouse of Jeannine English, helped dig the tribe out of poverty.

In and about 2007, and in addition to the services offered by Mr. Dickstein, Ms. Jeannine English and her company — Jeannine English & Associates — were also conducting business with Rumsey, by which lobbying and consulting services were purveyed by Ms. English.

Toward the end of 2007, Rumsey — represented by Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy — filed a suit in Yolo County Superior Court against Howard Dickstein and Jane Zerbi of Dickstein & Zerbi and Arlen Opper, a financial consultant, accusing them of unjustly enriching themselves with tribal money by defrauding the tribe of millions of dollars over more than a decade.

In statements to the media, Howard Dickstein referred to the allegations in the suit as a “pack of lies,” while disparaging his client. Dickstein also stated that he plans to fight the suit and “fight hard.” Appearing on behalf of defendant Dickstein was Elliot Peters of Keker & Van Nest.

The undersigned submits that because of the attorney-client relationship between Rumsey and Dickstein, it was questionable for Ms. English to enter into a business relationship with Rumsey and reckless for Jon Streeter and Jeannine English to conceal the past relationship from the public. If in fact a disclosure was made by any of them in a conspicuous place available for public viewing, please forward it to the undersigned in order for this portion of the complaint to be withdrawn.

These events lead one to wonder whether, hypothetically speaking, in the upcoming election for State Bar president Jeannine English would vote for Jon Streeter and not Michael Tenanbaum or Linda Davis as consideration for the representation Keker & Van Nest provided to her spouse. At least in part, it also explains to the undersigned the zeal and desire of Ms. English to be a member of the BOG. Clearly it was not to protect and serve the public; rather, it was to protect the interests of her husband (and, by extension, herself) who was accused of defrauding the Rumsey tribe of millions of dollars. In addition, it leads one to question whether the State Bar of California was not as vigorous as it should have been in protecting Rumsey from Dickstein.

THE AARP MATTER

In addition to serving on the State Bar’s BOG, Jeannine English also serves as the President of the AARP’s California branch, and is also involved with the AARP on a national level. Assuming no shenanigans, financial improprieties, or self-dealing with the AARP (which by the way, also operates a for-profit insurance brokerage), Ms. English deserves great credit for her outstanding contribution to the community. However, due to the overall set of circumstances surrounding English as described above, and as it is obvious that she serves on the BOG to serve the interests of her husband (and, by extension, herself), the undersigned is far from impressed.

Specifically, within the past few years, a plan has been devised by which a cy pres amount of $900,000 will be funneled to the AARP from a class action in which the law offices of Girardi & Keese serves as counsel. (Attridge v. Visa Case No. CGC-04-436920)

While the sums will not go directly to Ms. English, they will indirectly benefit her vis-a-vis the associated prestige resulting from successful fund raising efforts. The lack of disclosure regarding the proposed cy pres is alarming, especially considering events relating to the State Bar’s handling of attorney misconduct in the Dole matter, my ethics complaint and request for an inquiry of 5 months ago as to James Towery, Jerome Falk, Douglas Winthrop, and Howard Miller as well as the overall circumstances surrounding the State Bar/BOG disinclination to deal with the matter. To date, only myself and, later, David Cameron Carr (a former State Bar prosecutor) have spoken about this grave injustice. Of those who had a moral, legal, and ethical obligation to disclose conflicts, and to otherwise speak, now you know why at least one more such person — namely, Jeannine English — has failed to do so.

Thank you for time.

–-----------------------------------------------------------------------

7. On June 17, 2011, shortly after I filed the complaint against Jeannine English, a special meeting of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California took place to introduce amendments to proposed legislation. The proposed amendments , among others, called for a change to the conflict of interest policies. Specifically, public members should not be permitted to serve if they are involved in the legal profession or are the spouses of lawyers.

8. After I asked the BOG to investigate Ms. English, a confidential source from Southern California informed me that Howard Dickstein and Thomas Girardi are business partners. Out of an abundance of caution, this information was forwarded on June 22, 2011 by me to the Deputy Executive Director of the State Bar of California, Robert Hawley, as follows:

Mr. Hawley:

This is to inform the State Bar about information I recently received
concerning Jeannine English, Howard Dickstein, and Thomas Girardi.

Based on what was communicated to me, Howard Dickstein and Thomas
Girardi are involved in some sort of a joint venture; or otherwise are
business partners in areas relating to Indian gambling.

Please note that I do not personally vouch for the credibility of the
source nor the accuracy of the information.

However, based on the totality of the circumstances, it is a lead
worth following.

Thanks

Bientôt une loi sur la neutralité du net - Nouvel Obs
▻http://obsession.nouvelobs.com/high-tech/20130312.OBS1554/bientot-une-loi-sur-la-neutralite-du-net.html#rapport

« Le Conseil national du numérique recommande l’inscription dans la loi du principe de neutralité afin de garantir la liberté d’expression sur le réseau. » "Le principe de neutralité doit être reconnu" puisque « la liberté d’expression n’est pas suffisamment protégée dans la loi française face au développement des pratiques de filtrage, de blocage, de censure et de ralentissement ». L’avis du CNNum : ▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/129907876/CNNum-rapport-sur-la-neutralite-du-net Tags : (...)

#netneutrality #netneutralité #politiquespubliques

Drone Nations
▻http://cryptome.org/2013/02/drone-nations.htm

I have been updating my notes, which I call “Drone Nations” as I see news reports, and government reports, identifying where drones are operating in which nations, doing what.

My Drone Nations notes on Scribd:

▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/105613448/Drone-Nations-Al-Mac

My collection of drone documents on Scribd:

▻http://www.scribd.com/collections/3807680/Drone-Info

#drones #données #cartographie_radicale

Contrary to a common misconception, most drones are not weaponized. US military statistics indicate that only 4-5% of US military drones carry weapons. Most drones in the skies are used for #surveillance. The military also operates drones on the ground, on and under the sea. We also have robot drones in outer space.
Drones are not all operated by some person at some remote site. Many drones are operated by someone on the ground who can see the drone involved. Typically there is one person piloting the thing, seeing what it can see,and another observer watching what is all around the drone, to help try to avoid collisions. Some drones are operated by another person in a manned chase plane. Some are now self-operated, using some internally loaded programming, which tells them what to do. Those kinds can refuel in mid-air, like man operated aircraft, and they can also land on air craft carriers. I do not know how they get landing permission, since air craft carriers are often quite busy with man operated flights.

L’histoire secrète du programme culturel du candidat Hollande | Mediapart
▻http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/050612/lhistoire-secrete-du-programme-culturel-du-candidat-hollande?page_article=
J’étais sûr d’avoir partagé ça ici mais en fait non #politique #culture #hadopi #piratage #lobbies #bureaucratie et #paywall #csa #audiovisuel #médias #technocratie
▻http://www.scribd.com/doc/96139783/Programme-FH-2012-Culture

As public service to the community, staff members of The Leslie Report shall publish a copy of a complaint YR submitted to the IRS, below:

August 31, 2012

Internal Revenue Service
Exempt Organizations Unit
1100 Commerce St.
Dallas, TX 75242-1198

Re: A referral for noncompliance with tax laws against exempt organizations Edison International Foundation EIN:95-4383002; Southern California Edison Co Veba Represented Trust Ein: 95-4372790; Southern California Edison Co Veba Non Represented Trust EIN: 95-4372792

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT:

In lieu of using IRS Form 13909 (Tax-Exempt Organization Referral Form), please consider this communication a formal complaint (referral) against Rosemead, California-based Edison International , Southern California Edison; Edison International Foundation EIN:95-4383002; Southern California Edison Co Veba Represented Trust Ein: 95-4372790; Southern California Edison Co Veba Non Represented Trust EIN: 95-4372792.

On August 22, 2012 Edison International (“EIX”) and Southern California Edison (“SCE” — collectively, “Edison”) were duly served with a request for production of IRS Form 990, Form 990 Schedule A, and Form 1023. (See Exhibit 1.)

Specifically, the request stated in part: “Please consider this communication a formal request to SCE and EIX (including, but not limited to, all subsidiaries and foundations owned and maintained by SCE/EIX) to produce their IRS Form 990, Form 990 Schedule A, as well Form 1023. ”

In a letter dated August 30, 2012 (see attachment), Edison (through their senior attorney Allan D. Johnson) informed me that they will not comply with the request. Edison wrote: “EIX and SCE are unaware of any authority that would obligate them to produce these documents to you.” Furthermore, Edison also wrote: “Neither EIX nor SCE plan to take any further action in response to your request.”

In view of Edison’s anticipatory failure to comply, the undersigned reluctantly makes this referral.

INTRODUCTION:

Close to one year ago, I fortuitously stumbled upon unusually large and highly peculiar financial transactions in conjunction with what appeared to me to be clear attempts to conceal and mislead involving the California Bar Foundation, CaliforniaALL, as well as utility companies Southern California Edison, PG&E, AT&T, Sempra, and Verizon.

In my opinion, and based on the information I’ve discovered, it appears that funds were misappropriated and/or laundered through the misuse of non-profit entities California Bar Foundation and CaliforniaALL. Although other potential explanations certainly exist, based on these individuals’ involvement in the “OBAMA FOR AMERICA” 2008 presidential campaign, one likely possibility is that funds originating from utility companies were unlawfully misdirected to that campaign by representatives of those utility companies (i.e. Edison International, Southern California Edison) who supported then Senator Barack Obama in hope he would expand the Smart-Grid and clean energy initiatives.

INTRODUCTION OF ACTORS:

1. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY BLEICH — Mr. Bleich served as a director with the Foundation in approximately 2007-2008, as well as president of the State Bar of California.

In 2007, Mr. Bleich established “OBAMA FOR AMERICA” National Finance Committee and served as its Chair.

He is a personal friend of President Obama, who served as President Obama’s personal attorney and subsequently was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Mr. Bleich was a partner with the San Francisco office of Munger Tolles & Olson, which represents clients Edison International, Southern California Edison, and Verizon Wireless.

Out of close to 230,000 lawyers in California, also serving as a director with the California Bar Foundation in approximately 2007-2008 was another attorney from Munger Tulles Olsen, Mr. Bradley Phillips. Presently, Ms. Mary Ann Todd (also of Munger Tolles & Olson) and Richard Tom of Southern California Edison are directors with the California Bar Foundation.

2. DEREK ANTHONY WEST OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE — Mr. West, who goes by the name “Tony West,” presently serves as third in command within the Department of Justice below Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer.

Around 2007-2008, Mr. Tony West also served as Chair of the “California Finance Committee” of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA.”

Prior to joining the DOJ, Mr. West was a partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster, the law firm which assisted with the legal aspects of creating CaliforniaALL.

Along with attorneys Raj Chaterjee and Susan Mac Cormac, Mr. West was part of senior partner James Brosnahan’s clique. For example, it was Brosnahan, West, and Chaterjee who defended John Walker Lindh, who is more widely known as the “American Taliban.” (It should be noted that it was actually Mr. Brosnahan who initially agreed to the representation since he knows Lindh’s father — Frank Lindh — who served as in-house Chief Legal Counsel at PG&E; Mr. Lindh is presently the Chief Legal Counsel of the CPUC.)

Mr. West is married to Maya Harris, sister of Kamala Harris, who was part of CaliforniaALL.

3. STEVEN CHURCHWELL OF DLA PIPER — Mr. Churchwell is a partner at the Sacramento office of DLA Piper, where non-profit CaliforniaALL was housed free of charge. Churchwell served as Treasurer, draft committee of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA” — also housed at the Sacramento offices of DLA Piper, adjacent to its roommate — CaliforniaALL.

DLA Piper represents client Sempra Energy which owns San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).

4. RON OLSON OF MUNGER TOLLES & OLSON — Mr. Olson is a partner with the Los Angeles office of Munger Tolles & Olson, which represents clients Edison International, Southern California Edison, and Verizon Wireless. In addition to representing Edison, Olson is also a board member of Edison International and Southern California Edison, as well as the board of Berkshire Hathaway, City National Corporation, The Washington Post Company, Western Asset Trusts, RAND Corporation, the Mayo Clinic, and the Council of Foreign Relations.

As of 2008, in-house general counsel for Edison International and Southern California Edison is Mr. Robert Adler — former managing partner of Munger Tolles & Olson.

Around 2007-2008, Ron Olson was also part of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA.”

5. JAMES J. BROSNAHAN OF MORRISON & FOERSTER – Mr. Brosnahan is presently a senior partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster.

He considers himself to be the “mastermind behind the Democratic Party.” CaliforniaALL was created by Morrison & Foerster, under the supervision of Mr. Brosnahan (known as the prosecutor of Caspar Weinberger). Specifically Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate assisted with the legal aspects of creating the entity. Mr. Brosnahan represented utility companies during California’s energy crisis (which Joe Dunn, Martha Escutia, and Geoffrey Brown were investigating) opposite Thomas Girardi.

Later, Dunn, Escutia, Brosnahan, and Girardi launched the online publication known as Voice of OC.

6. CHRISTOPHER JACOB YOUNG OF KEKER & VAN NEST — Mr. Young, commonly known as “Chris Young,” is currently listed on the State Bar of California’s database as an associate with Keker & Van Nest. Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young was an associate at Morrison & Foerster.

Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young served as “Northern California Deputy Finance Director” for “OBAMA FOR AMERICA.”

As noted above, State Bar of California records still show that Chris Young is an employee of Keker & Van Nest. However, very recently, Keker & Van Nest ( at the direction of partners John Keker and Jon Streeter, who also worked on the 2008 campaign as a “bundler” and is presently a director with the Foundation) abruptly removed Chris Young’s name from its web-site.

7. ANNETTE CARNEGIE — Ms. Carnegie is presently employed at the Kaiser Foundation. Around 2007-2008, she was a partner at Morrison & Foerster and served as a director of the California Bar Foundation. In 2008, the Foundation poured into CaliforniaALL the large sum of $774,247; by comparison, most other donations were around $10,000 to $20,000. As shown below, the transfer of said money appears to be imbued with fraud and secrecy, especially in connection with four utility companies (Verizon, PG&E, Edison, and AT&T).

8. KAMALA HARRIS — In around 2007-2008, Ms. Harris served as the District Attorney in San Francisco while at the same time she was also Co-Chair of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA.” Ms. Harris was part of CaliforniaALL’s “Advisory Council.” She is the sister of Maya Harris, who is married to Tony West. Media reports provide that parliamentarian Willie Brown served as mentor to both Tony West and Kamala Harris, and was Ms. Harris’s paramour. John Keker of Keker & Van Nest (known as the prosecutor of Oliver North) is also considered to be a “mentor” of Kamala Harris. (Incidentally, State Bar of California Board of Governor member Gwen Moore — also a “mentee” of Willie Brown — was honored by CaliforniaALL at a lavish dinner in a Sacramento hotel. Parliamentarian Moore is no stranger to your agency, having been the target of a sting operation known as Shrimpscam.)

9. OPHELIA BASGAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (“HUD”) — In around 2007-2008 , Ms. Basgal was Vice President of Civic Partnership and Community Initiatives at PG&E, where she managed the company’s $18 million charitable contributions program, and oversaw its community engagement programs and partnerships with community-based organizations. Separately, around that time she surprisingly served as “Treasurer” with the “California Supreme Court Historical Society.” In that role, she presumably had contact with many judges, including those who were handling matters dealing with PG&E, such as Justice (Ret.) Joseph Grodin who acted as the mediator in a case Attorney General Bill Lockyer advanced against PG&E, which Jerry Brown (cousin of Geoffrey Brown) later dismissed in his capacity as the new Attorney General for California.

Ms. Basgal served as a director of CaliforniaALL.

10. VICTOR MIRMAONTES — Mr. Victor Miramontes, a resident of San Antonio, TX and business partner of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros in an entity known as CityView, was the chairman of CaliforniaALL.

Mr. Miramontes has various connections to Orange County, and is otherwise familiar with its various legal circles.

11. SARAH E. REDFIELD — Ms. Redfield is presently a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, and served as the interim director of CaliforniaALL. Events surrounding Redfield, as shown below, also appear to be imbued with fraud and deceit, and it appears her role was to create a subterfuge to justify the existence of CaliforniaALL. Since CaliforniaALL’s main achievement was the purported creation of a “Saturday Academy of Law” at UC Irvine (“SALUCI”), Ms. Redfield pretended to have engaged in Requests for Proposals (“RFP”), as well as falsely claiming that she “launched” SALUCI. For her services as interim executive director and an alleged consultant of CaliforniaALL, Professor Redfield was paid approximately $160,000 as an “independent contractor.” She gave very little, if anything, in return for the $160,000 she was paid. In fact, she took credit for the extremely hard work of others, especially that of Rob Vacario of Santa Ana who co-founded SALUCI several years earlier.

12. JUDY JOHNSON – Ms. Johnson is the former Executive Director of the State Bar of California. Ms. Johnson (along with Robert Hawley and Starr Babcock) is no stranger to financial schemes. For the past 8 years, she has been quietly serving as the president of an entity with a misleading name (California Consumer Protection Foundation AKA “CCPF”). This entity absorbed close to $30 million in class action cy pres awards, as well as fines and settlements imposed by the CPUC on utility companies. CCPF forwarded those funds to mostly questionable ACORN-like entities in South Los Angeles or to an entity headed by Michael Shames known as UCAN — presently under federal grand jury investigation in San Diego. It appears that Ms. Johnson used her position as executive director of the State Bar of California (which is supposed to supervise and discipline lawyers) as “clout” to obtain cy pres awards from the settlement of class actions prosecuted and defended by various law firms in courts and before the CPUC. In addition, while never prosecuted for the scheme, some have speculated that Johnson and cohorts Hawley (whom Johnson labeled the “Wizard of OZ”) and Babcock were “in” on a financial scheme perpetrated by former State Bar employee Sharon Pearl, who was lightly prosecuted by then-attorney general Jerry Brown, cousin of Geoffrey Brown.

Ms. Johnson was part of CaliforniaALL’s Advisory Council and was responsible for maintaining secrecy over the project by misleading the public, including a quadriplegic law-student, litigant Sara Granda.

13. RUTHE CATOLICO ASHLEY — Ms. Ashley is a former employee of McGeorge School of Law who later served as a “Diversity Officer” at Cal PERS. Ms. Ashley also served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors alongside Mr. Bleich, and came up with the idea to create CaliforniaALL during a meeting with Sarah Redfield and Peter Arth, Jr. (the assistant to CPUC President Michael Peevey). After CaliforniaALL came into existence, Ms. Ashley, after a simulated search, was selected to serve as CaliforniaALL’s executive director.

14. SONIA GONZALES — Ms. Gonzales presently serves as the Foundation’s executive director as of earlier this year, after the former executive director (Ms. Leslie Hatamyia) suddenly quit. Ms. Gonzales is a close friend and confidante of Ms. Maya Harris, the wife of Mr. Tony West.

She presently serves the same function as current Foundation directors Mary Ann Todd of Munger Tolles & Olson, Jon Streeter of Keker & Van Nest, Douglas Winthrop of Howard Rice, Richard Tom of Southern California Edison, and Raj Chatterjee of Morrison & Foerster.

15. JOE DUNN — Mr. Dunn is the creator of online publication “Voice of OC” – Orange County’s Nonprofit Investigative News Agency. He is also a Trustee of the UCI Foundation (an entity which obtained funds from a separate charitable entity known as CaliforniaALL (FEIN Number 51-0656213). Presently, Dunn serves as Executive Director of the State Bar of California – an entity which also controls and maintains a foundation known as the California Bar Foundation. The California Bar Foundation very quietly transferred close to $780,000 to CaliforniaALL. Previously, In his role as a politician and business partner of Martha Escutia, Dunn was involved in matters relating to utility companies operating in California.

16 . GEOFFREY BROWN – a former commissioner with the CPUC and former board member of the California Bar Foundation. While at the CPUC, Brown was the assigned commissioner in the application Edison International/ Southern California Edison — owners of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) – submitted to the CPUC for authorization: (1) to replace SONGS 2 & 3 steam generators; (2) establish ratemaking for cost recovery; and (3) address other related steam generator replacement issues.

Messrs. Geoffrey Brown, Michael Peevey, and Peter Arth were also involved in countless proceedings involving California energy crisis. Those proceedings were mainly litigated by the law offices of Munger Tolles & Olson (representing Southern California Edison), Morrison & Foerster, Keker & Van Nest (representing PG&E), DLA Piper (representing Sempra Energy — owner of San Diego Gas & Electric). At times, said proceedings concluded in settlements worth billions of dollars.

Previously, I asked the State Bar of California to investigate this matter. Within a few hours of sending the request, Geoffrey Brown sent me a demand to cease and desist from insisting that he had done anything wrong under threat of litigation. In essence, Brown wanted me to ignore the circumstances dealing with the fact that he was both a CPUC Commissioner and a Director with the Foundation when it quietly made the largest grant in its history to an entity that was conceived by CPUC’s Peter Arth to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars from utility companies.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND:

In approximately 2007, Ruthe Catolico Ashley — an attorney from Sacramento and a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors — was employed by Cal PERS as a “Diversity Officer.” Prior to her employment with Cal PERS, Ms. Ashley was employed as a career counsel at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. While at McGeorge, Ms. Ashley met diversity expert Sarah Redfield. At that time, Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson was serving as President of the State Bar. Both Bleich and Ashley are politically active, and were supporting the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama for President. Ruthe Ashley was involved in the Asian-Americans for Obama branch in Sacramento.

In April 2007, Ashley and Sarah Redfield were urged to meet Peter Arth, Jr. of the California Public Utilities Commission at a restaurant in San Francisco. During that meeting, the idea to create CaliforniaALL (initially named CaAAL or CaALL) was conceived. Eventually, Cal PERS, the CPUC, and the State Bar of California endorsed in principle the creation of CaliforniaALL – a Section 501(c)(3) entity that would raise funds to be used to support a more diverse workforce in California.

At that time, both Ashley and Redfield were also part of the State Bar of California’s Council on Fairness and Access, as well as a separate project by the State Bar of California known as The Diversity Pipeline Task Force, through which both presumably amassed vast amounts of data and information on the topic of diversity pipeline projects.

Subsequent to the meeting with Peter Arth, on June 26, 2007 State Bar BOG member Ruthe Catolico Ashley and Patricia Lee presented to the entire BOG a proposal (see ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48713393/1-In-June-26-2007-Member-of-State-Bar-Board-of-Governors-Ruthe-Ashley-Presen ) urging the BOG to support the creation of California Aspire Achieve Lead Pipeline Project (CaAAL), later named CaliforniaALL.

For reasons that are not clear to me, Jeffrey Bleich saw fit to call an urgent, emergency-like meeting of the State Bar of California Board of Governors, Committee on Operations in order to appoint Peter Arth of the CPUC as member of the State Bar of California’s Council on Fairness and Access. See: ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/103136304/2nd-Upload-of-Document-Peter-Arth-Assistant-of-CPUC-s-Michael-Peevey-Emergen

Papers were filed with both state and federal agencies to allow CaliforniaALL to operate as a tax exempt entity. Victor Miramontes listed himself as Chairman of the Board, and Sarah E. Redfield served as CaliforniaALL’s interim executive director for a period of 6 months. Serving as CaliforniaALL’s legal counsel were Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate of Morrison & Foerster.

Despite the fact that she served as interim executive director, and despite the fact that it was a given that Ruthe Catolico Ashley would be hired as the permanent CEO, Sarah Redfield nevertheless apparently engaged in an RFP (request for proposal) which was closed just as quickly as it started even before Ms. Ashley was hired as the permanent CEO.

CaliforniaALL’s web site (www.calall.org) stated:

“Saturday Law Academy RFP

PLEASE NOTE:

The application process for this RFP is closed. Please contact Sarah Redfield at sarah.redfield@gmail.com or (207) 752-1721.

RFP PROPOSAL INFORMATION

California ALL seeks proposals to implement its law career pathway starting with the 2008-09 academic year (AY).

The following and attached document describes a program area in which California ALL has particular interest based on its initial research. An additional RFP will follow for college level prelaw work. Self generated proposal for other parts of the pipeline will also be considered, and another round of RFPs is possible. California ALL has not attached a specific dollar amount to the RFP, though cost effectiveness and the presence of a competitive match will be part of its consideration. California ALL has some funding in hand from a generous grant from Verizon for the Saturday Academy and intends to seek additional funding as needed to support programs selected. It is anticipated that funding will be provided for year one of the (3 year) proposal, with following years contingent on successful completion of the prior year(s). ”

The California Attorney General RCT reflects that CaliforniaALL obtained its “Charity” status on March 14, 2008 (FEIN Number 510656213). The address for CaliforniaALL is listed as 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, California. This is actually the address of the law firm of DLA Piper, where CaliforniaALL resided free of charge courtesy of partner Steven Churchwell – an attorney specialized in the representation of political entities.

CaliforniaALL’s 2008 tax-return shows an expense of around $16,000 for “occupancy.” See ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48714110/6-CaliforniaALL-2008-Tax-Return

In June 2008, after a nationwide search and aided by a pro bono head-hunting firm in its search for a permanent CEO, CaliforniaALL not surprisingly hired Ruthe Catolico Ashley as its chief executive officer. (See Press Release ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48717715/5-California-ALL-Announces-Hiring-of-Ruthe-Ashley-as-CEO-on-June-4-2008 )

As the purpose of CaliforniaALL was to transfer funds forward, it did so by awarding small grants to the UCI Foundation (FEIN Number 952540117), where State Bar of California executive director Joe Dunn serves as trustee and chair of the Audit Committee, for the purported purpose of establishing a Saturday Law Academy at UC Irvine known as SALUCI.

Sarah Redfield’s CV, which states (falsely) that she launched SALUCI, can be found at: ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48772426/10-Resume-CV-of-University-of-New-Hampshire-School-of-Law-Professor-Sarah-E-

In September 2009, Ruthe Catolico Ashley exited CaliforniaALL (►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48713268/7-Ruthe-Ashley-Announces-Departure-from-CaliforniaALL-in-September-of-2009 ), the entity which she previously proclaimed to Diane Curtis that it “will change the face of the future in the workplace and of our leaders,” “will be a model for other states,” and “is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

Ultimately, the following events prompted me to ask Voice of OC to make its tax returns available for my review, as required by IRS regulations: the sham RFP by Sarah Redfield, who pre-selected the UCI Foundation as the only recipient of funds from CaliforniaALL; Joe Dunn served as chair of the UCI Foundation audit committee; in September 2009 Ruthe Ashley abruptly exited CaliforniaALL; in September 2009 Joe Dunn (together with his business partner Martha Escutia, James Brosnahan — who created CaliforniaALL, and Thomas Girardi of In Re Girardi, Erin Brokovich, and the one who James Towery appointed his personal attorney (Jerome Falk of Howard Rice) to act as special prosecutor against him) launched an online “news agency” known as Voice of OC. I also suspected that James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster (who represented various utility companies during California’s energy crisis) may have engaged in a scheme with Joe Dunn, as Dunn was the person investigating those utility companies and California’s energy crisis. In fact, Dunn was discredited by the media for claiming that he was the one who “cracked” Enron.

Voice of OC ignored my request for its tax records, whereupon I filed a complaint with the IRS. To date, I have not received a response from the IRS indicating that it has taken any steps to help me obtain those much needed records and impose the appropriate sanctions against Voice of OC.

Nevertheless, I continued with the inquiry as large pieces of the puzzle were missing. Later, when Mr. Tony West was appointed third in command at the DOJ, I learned of his identity due to wide media coverage and his association with Morrison & Forester and James Brosnahan. From there, it became harder to ignore the common denominator of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA” involving James Brosnahan, Tony West, Chris Young, Annette Carnegie, and Susan Mac Cormac (of Morrison & Foerster) Geoffrey Bleich, Ron Olson (of Munger Tolles & Olson) Steven Churchwell ( of DLA Piper) in conjunction with Kamala Harris — which is that money originating from utility companies was misappropriated or laundered through the California Bar Foundation / CaliforniaALL to the campaign of “OBAMA FOR AMERICA.”

Other then collecting close to $2 million directly from utility companies (including the “hush-hush” transfer of $774,247, comprised of one installment of $5000 and another contribution of $769,247 from the Foundation which was never mentioned in the Foundation’s “newsroom” or by any other of its publications such as the California Bar Journal or by any of the newsletters and alerts published by CaliforniaALL), CaliforniaALL appears to have been be a sham, phantom entity from its inception in 2008 to the day it began to slowly be dissolved in approximately 2009, subsequent to the election of Barack Obama as president of the U.S. Its only alleged achievement was providing some money for the creation of the Saturday Academy of Law at UC Irvine (“SALUCI”) in approximately 2008-2009. Here too vast and intense suspicious circumstances exist as the funds from CaliforniaALL actually went to the UC Irvine Foundation, where the present executive director of the State Bar of California (Senator Joe Dunn) serves as a member of the audit committee, and it turns out that the SALUCI was actually already created in 2005 and was fully operational before CaliforniaALL arrived on the scene. In addition, some records seem to indicate that Verizon Wireless funneled the money directly to SALUCI , while CaliforniaALL took the credit.

Specifically, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES in 2007 equaled plus +$373.842.00. However, in 2008, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES equaled minus -$537,712. In its 2008 Annual Report (See page 9 : ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation ), the Foundation alludes to CaliforniaALL by stating:

“In 2007-2008, the Foundation supported the launching of CaliforniaALL and, as the project filed for incorporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, served as CaliforniaALL’s fiscal sponsor. A collaboration between the California Public Employment Retirement System, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Department of Insurance, and the State Bar of California, CaliforniaALL was created in an effort to close the achievement gap among California students from preschool to the profession and, specifically, to bolster the pipeline of young people of diverse backgrounds headed for careers in law, financial services, and technology. Once CaliforniaALL obtained its tax-exempt status and was able to function as a fully independent nonprofit organization, the foundation granted the balance of funds raised for the project – totaling $769,247 – to the new entity.”

Also cleverly buried in the California Bar Foundation’s 2008 annual report was the following sentence :

“We thank the following corporations for their gifts in support of CaliforniaALL:

AT & T

Edison International

PG & E Corporation Foundation

Verizon”

See page 24 : ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation

While I was able to ascertain from California Bar Foundation’s tax records an “exit” of the $774,247 in 2008 (the apparent source of which was allegedly the above-referenced 4 utility companies), I was unable to ascertain when and where the Foundation reported to the IRS — either in 2008 or 2007 or 2006 or 2005 — an “entry” of those funds which it allegedly held in trust for CaliforniaALL.

(Later, Jill Sperber of the State Bar of California, in a letter she sent to me dated July 28, 2011 claimed that “….No State Bar or California Bar Foundation funds were used for CaliforniaALL creation…The California Bar Foundation served as CaliforniaALL’s escrow holder only to hold fundraising funds before its formal incorporation… Once CaliforniaALL was formed as a non-profit entity, the funds were paid over to it…”

Most troubling, however, is the fact that Verizon did not report to the IRS either in 2007 or 2008 that it had contributed any money to the California Bar Foundation or CaliforniaALL. See :

►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325087/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2007
►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325330/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2008

As such, several days ago, on August 22, 2012, in search of the truth, Edison was duly served with a request for production of IRS Form 990, Form 990 Schedule A, and Form 1023. On August 30, 2012 Edison stated that it does not plan to comply with the request.

In view of the above, I urge you to investigate this matter to determine whether Edison’s refusal violated IRS rules and regulations. I ask that you impose appropriate sanctions against any and all involved, if supported by the results of your investigation.

I look forward to your response. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need additional information.

Alain Cottereau – La #tuberculose : maladie urbaine ou maladie de l’usure au #travail ? (1978) « Espace contre ciment
►http://raumgegenzement.blogsport.de/2012/10/11/alain-cottereau-la-tuberculose-maladie-urbaine-ou-maladie-

►http://www.scribd.com/doc/109685879/Alain-Cottereau-La-tuberculose-maladie-urbaine-ou-maladie-de-l-usure-au-trav

Sociologie du travail , avril-juin 1978, pp. 192-224.

French press wants you to pay for indexing their content and linking to it. Do they really want to die in obscurity ? ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/106565372/Projet-de-proposition-de-loi-sur-les-droits-voisins-pour-les-organismes-de-p

Techniques autoritaires et démocratiques - #Lewis_Mumford
►http://www.magmaweb.fr/spip/spip.php?article638

« #Démocratie » est un mot dont le sens est désormais confus et compliqué par l’usage abusif qu’on en fait, souvent avec un mépris condescendant. Quelles que soient nos divergences par la suite, pouvons-nous convenir que le principe qui sous-tend la démocratie est de placer ce qui est commun à tous les hommes au- dessus de ce que peuvent revendiquer une organisation, une institution ou un groupe ? Ceci ne remet pas en cause les droits de ceux qui bénéficient de talents naturels supérieurs, d’un savoir spécialisé, d’une compétence technique, ou ceux des organisations institutionnelles : tous peuvent, sous contrôle démocratique, jouer un rôle utile dans l’économie humaine. Mais la démocratie consiste à conférer l’autorité au tout plutôt qu’à la partie ; et seuls des êtres humains vivants sont, en tant que tels, une expression authentique du tout, qu’ils agissent seuls ou en s’entraidant.

De ce principe central se dégage un faisceau d’idées et de pratiques connexes que l’histoire met en évidence depuis longtemps, bien qu’elles ne se trouvent pas dans toutes les sociétés, ou du moins pas au même degré. On peut citer parmi ces éléments : l’autogouvernement collectif, la libre communication entre égaux, la facilité d’accès aux savoirs communs, la protection contre les contrôles extérieurs arbitraires, et un sentiment de responsabilité morale individuelle quand le comportement touche toute la communauté. Tous les organismes vivants possèdent un certain degré d’autonomie, dans la mesure où ils se conforment à leur propre forme de vie ; mais chez l’homme, cette autonomie est la condition essentielle de son développement. Lorsque nous sommes malades ou handicapés, nous renonçons en partie à notre autonomie : mais y renoncer quotidiennement, et en toute chose, transformerait notre vie même en maladie chronique. La meilleure vie possible – et ici j’ai parfaitement conscience d’ouvrir un débat – est une vie qui exige plus d’auto-organisation, d’expression et d’accomplissement de soi. Dans ce sens, la personnalité, autrefois attribut exclusif des rois, appartient à tous les hommes en vertu du principe démocratique. La vie, dans sa plénitude et son intégrité, ne se délègue pas.

Christiania : micro-société subversive ou « hippieland » ?
►http://www.scribd.com/doc/106238283/Christiania-micro-societe-subversive-ou-%C2%AB-hippieland-%C2%BB #PAZ #ZAP #Christiana #Danemark #autogestion #squat #société #copenhague #ville

Christiania semble pouvoir être qualifiée de zone autonome permanente, selon la définition d’Hakim Bey, écrivain américain qui est principalement connu pour ses théories des zones autonomes. Auto-proclamée « ville libre », le quartier de Christiania s’auto-organise selon des principes de démocratie directe et offre un contraste saisissant avec le reste de la ville,bien plus commun aux grandes villes traditionnelles.

Bien qu’il existe ou ait existé d’autres expériences de « zones autonomes permanentes » à travers le monde, Christiania parait toutefois atypique. A la différence des villages autogérés du Chiapas et d’Oaxaca au Mexique, fruits d’une lutte armée entamée par une partie de la population qui s’est élevée face aux autorités, Christiania a été conquis de manière pacifique, face à la quasi-indifférence des autorités en 1971. Sa particularité provient aussi de sa situation géographique :en plein centre-ville d’une capitale européenne, à un kilomètre à peine du parlement s’érige donc, une zone auto-proclamée « ville libre » (« freetown »), en opposition et en décalage total avec l’image de la métropole. Les quarante ans de la « ville libre de Christiania » (« Fristaden Christiania » en danois) furent célébrés par une semaine entière de festivités à partir du 26septembre 2011.

Tout cela implique une série de questionnement concernant les relations entre l’Etat, et les différentes institutions compétentes, en résumé « le pouvoir », et Christiania, ainsi que sur la portée contestatrice d’une telle « ville libre » après quarante ans d’existence

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Larry Sonsini Asked to Conduct Formal Investigation Into Actions of John Roos, Mark Parnes:

Mr. Sonsini:

In that I entertain thoughts that around 2007-2008 John Roos and Mark Parnes may have participated in a scheme to embezzle and/or launder money from/through the California Bar Foundation in conjunction with non-profit entity CaliforniaALL to benefit “Obama for America”, this will serve to discuss the following:

Unlike James Brosnahan, Tony West, Annette Carnegie, Chris Young,
Susan Mac Cormac (of Morrison & Foerster), Ron Olson, Jeff Bleich,
Brad Phillips (of Munger Tolles & Olson), Steven Churchwell (of DLA
Piper), Kamala Harris, Judy Johnson, and Holly Fujie — where
evidence provides a clear enmeshment between the actors, the firm, as
well as an intense desire by the clients (i.e.Southern California
Edison, PG&E, Sempra Energy) to finance the scheme; as far as Messrs. Roos and Parnes, I don’t see the same level of involvement on your part, your firm, or any your clients.

Nevertheless, I must ask Wilson Sonsini to conduct a formal
investigation into the past actions of Messrs. Parnes and Roos.
Specifically, while Mr. Parnes served as director and secretary of the
California Bar Foundation, the Foundation reported to the IRS that
REVENUE LESS EXPENSES in 2007 equaled plus +$373.842.00. However, in 2008, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES equaled minus -$537,712 .

In its 2008 Annual Report, the Foundation offers an excuse as to the
negative balance (See page 9:
►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation
)by stating:

“In 2007-2008, the Foundation supported the launching of CaliforniaALL
and, as the project filed for incorporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt
status, served as CaliforniaALL’s fiscal sponsor. A collaboration
between the California Public Employment Retirement System, the
California Public Utilities Commission, the California Department of
Insurance, and the State Bar of California, CaliforniaALL was created
in an effort to close the achievement gap among California students
from preschool to the profession and, specifically, to bolster the
pipeline of young people of diverse backgrounds headed for careers in
law, financial services, and technology. Once CaliforniaALL obtained
its tax-exempt status and was able to function as a fully independent
nonprofit organization, the foundation granted the balance of funds
raised for the project – totaling $769,247 – to the new entity.”

Also cleverly buried in the California Bar Foundation’s 2008 annual
report was the following sentence :

“We thank the following corporations for their gifts in support of
CaliforniaALL:

AT & T

Edison International

PG & E Corporation Foundation

Verizon”

See page 24 : ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation

Unfortunately, while I able to ascertain from Foundation’s tax records
an “exit” of the $774,247 in 2008 (the apparent source of which was
allegedly the above-referenced 4 utility companies), I was unable to
ascertain when and where the Foundation reported to the IRS — either in 2008 or 2007 or 2006 or 2005 — an “entry” of those funds which it allegedly held in trust for CaliforniaALL.

Also troubling, for example, is the fact that Verizon did not report
to the IRS either in 2007 or 2008 that it had contributed any money to
the California Bar Foundation or CaliforniaALL. See :

►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325087/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2007
►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325330/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2008

Other then collecting close to $2 million directly from utility
companies (including the “hush-hush” transfer of $774,247, comprised
of one installment of $5000 and another contribution of $769,247 from
the Foundation which was never mentioned in the Foundation’s
“newsroom” or by any other of its publications such as the California
Bar Journal or by any of the newsletters and alerts published by
CaliforniaALL), CaliforniaALL appears to have been be a sham, phantom
entity from its inception in 2008 to the day it began to slowly be
dissolved in approximately 2009, subsequent to the election of Barack
Obama as president of the U.S. Its only alleged achievement was
providing some money for the creation of the Saturday Academy of Law
at UC Irvine ("SALUCI") in approximately 2008-2009.

Here too vast and intense suspicious circumstances exist as the funds
from CaliforniaALL actually went to the UC Irvine Foundation, where
the present executive director of the State Bar of California (Senator
Joe Dunn) serves as a member of the audit committee, and it turns out
that the SALUCI was actually already created in 2005 and was fully
operational before CaliforniaALL arrived on the scene. In addition,
some records seem to indicate that Verizon Wireless funneled the money
directly to SALUCI , while CaliforniaALL took the credit.

CaliforniaALL was conveniently housed free of charge at the offices of
DLA Piper in Sacramento, alongside the draft committee of OBAMA FOR
AMERICA . Steve Churchwell of DLA Piper in Sacramento served as
Treasurer of the draft committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA.

As matters presently stand, and while other potential explanations
certainly exist, my inquiry leads me to suspect that in 2007 - 2008
the following actors:

Morrison & Foerster’s James Brosnahan (self-proclaimed “mastermind
behind the Democratic Party”),

Morrison & Foerster’s Tony West (Barack Obama’s Chair of California
Finance Committee),

Morrison & Foerster’s Chris Young ("Obama for America" Northern
California Deputy Finance Director) ,

Morrison & Foerster’s Annette Carnegie ( 2007-2008 director with the
California Bar Foundation),

Munger Tolles & Olson’s Jeff Bleich (president of the State Bar of
California, director with the California Bar Foundation, founding
member and Chair of Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee),

Munger Tolles & Olson’s Brad Phillips (2007-2008 director with the
California Bar Foundation),

DLA Piper’s Steven Churchwell (Treasurer, draft committee of OBAMA FOR
AMERICA) ,

Wilson Sonsini’s Mark Parnes ( 2007-2008 director and secretary of
the California Bar Foundation),

Wilson Sonsini’s John Roos ( friend of Jeff Bleich, “bundler” for
Barack Obama) ,

Kamala Harris (Obama for America, CaliforniaALL),

may have participated in a scheme to misuse the California Bar
Foundation/CaliforniaALL for the purpose of embezzling /laundering
funds originating from utility companies which were unlawfully
misdirected to Obama for America.

Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, please do not
hesitate to have your assistant contact me.

GOOD Ol’ BOYS

Ronald Leroy Olson is a man proud of his humble Iowa background. Like his two close friends and business partners from across the Missouri River in Omaha, Nebraska — Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger —Olson prefers to not flash his wealth and engage in conspicuous consumption.

Given the opportunity, Olson will boast about his upbringing in Iowa, which he claims instilled in him an honest work ethic. To hear him talk, one would often believe that Olson is a good-ol’ country farmer who sweats profusely while tilling the land and fears the limelight lest it fade his suit, rather than the shrewd, well-connected attorney who sits on the board of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, Southern California Edison, City National Corporation, The Washington Post Company, Western Asset Trusts, RAND Corporation, the Mayo Clinic, and the Council of Foreign Relations, or the attorney who in his spare time practices law out of Los Angeles-based Munger Tolles Olson on behalf of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, Southern California Edison, Western Asset Trust, and many other entities such as The Yucaipa Company, Hollywood studios, and other major banks and utility companies. (A similar tactic is used by Warren Buffett, who portrays himself as the harmless average Joe who drinks 5 cans of Cherry Coke a day and spends his time playing bridge.) Gold? That’s for Jews to sew into their garments, Charlie Munger declared recently. We are into value investing in productive and honest businesses. Greed ? Speculation? Hollywood? Churning ? Control and influence over banks, monetary policies, the media, utilities, and the government? Not us, no sirree Bob.

WAR STORY TIME

The second-in-command at Berkshire Hathaway — Charlie Munger — is not currently actively practicing law, although he holds the position of “of counsel” at Munger Tolles & Olson — a firm previously described by various media outlets as the best law firm in the country with an army of lawyers ready to wage war, and whose client list includes Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon Communication, and Southern California Edison.

Those warring lawyers often win various awards and designations by major California legal newspapers such as the “Los Angeles Daily Journal” and “San Francisco Daily Journal,” coincidentally owned by Charlie Munger, one of the founding fathers of Munger Tolles & Olson.

Other corporate law firms operating in California with large books of business from major utility companies include Northern California-based Morrison & Foerster (PG&E, El Paso), Keker & Van Nest (PG&E), DLA Piper (Sempra Energy, owner of San Diego Electricity ), and now-defunct Howard Rice (PG&E), which is now part of Arnold & Porter.

Beginning in 2000, these law firms were busy defending utility companies in the countless lawsuits and monumental proceedings stemming from California’s energy crisis. A unique features of those law firms is a tendency to obscure their corporate practices (i.e. defending tobacco companies, banks, utilities, mortgage companies) from public view. Instead, they would rather publicize their effort to promote diversity, and their alleged contributions to equal rights for all. For example, in the “Prop 8 marriage cases” Keker & Van Nest, Munger Tolles & Olson, Howard Rice, and Morrison & Foerster played pivotal roles. However, and although I may be mistaken, a quick review of Morrison & Foerster’s website listings for its California offices does not show even one male, African-American attorney working in California; moreover, Howard Rice has been sued for rescinding an offer of employment to a Latina attorney on the grounds of downsizing, only to continue to hire white men.

Those firms which represented the utility companies during California energy crisis, and the class-action plaintiffs’ firms who sued on behalf of consumers (such as Girardi & Keese and Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy) developed a penchant for congregating around the State Bar of California, and more specifically the California Bar Foundation. At times, strange though it may seem, two representatives from the same firms would serve as directors of the California Bar Foundation, as was the case in 2007-2008 when Jeff Bleich and Bradley Phillips of Munger Tolles & Olson served as directors, or currently where there are two directors from Arnold Porter.

A GOLDEN CAPED SUPERMAN

In 2007, Jeffrey Bleich was a ready-to-wage-war attorney working for Ronald Leroy Olson at Munger Tolles & Olson who was dubbed by some media outlets as Superman.

Bleich (if you believe Charlie Munger, while he had gold sewed into his cape) launched and co-chaired the national finance committee of Obama for America. Other attorneys from law firms representing utility companies seeking to place Obama in office because they hoped he would support the Smart-Grid and clean energy initiatives followed suit. Steven Churchwell of DLA Piper in Sacramento , James Brosnahan, Tony West and Chris Young of Morrison & Foerster, Kamala Harris (a protege of Willie Brown - a lackey of PG&E), and Doug Scrivner (who served as chief legal counsel of Accenture- a relatively unknown yet powerful entity) organized to push for the election of Barack Obama on behalf of those seeking to promote green energy.

At that time, Bleich was on a mission to put Obama in office on behalf of utility companies. The cover story was that Bleich and Obama are “good friends” ever since Bleich was asked to recruit Obama as clerk for appellate court Justice Abner Mikva.

Bleich — while serving as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors and as director of the California Bar Foundation (alongside another war ready, gold sewing attorney from Munger Tolles, Bradley Phillips) — was a man on a mission.

SMART GREED

While an officer at the State Bar of California, Jeffrey Bleich and James Brosnahan were instrumental in pushing for the urgent creation of a non-profit entity known as CaliforniaALL.

My inquiry into CaliforniaALL began close to one year ago when I stumbled upon unusually large and highly peculiar financial transactions in conjunction with what appeared to me to be clear attempts to conceal and mislead. In order to deflect potential allegations that I am motivated by politics, I wish to assure the readers that my inquiry into these issues was not and is not motivated by politics. In fact, the only actor that I have ever met is James Brosnahan, who I met once for a short period of time while a volunteer with BASF - VLSP, a volunteer organization that awarded me a volunteer of the year award.

In 2010, the United States Federal Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit issued its final ruling in the disciplinary matter of In Re Girardi by imposing close to $500,000 in sanctions on Walter Lack of Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese stemming from an attempt to defraud the court and cause injury to Dole Food Company in the underlying litigation. You may have heard of Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi as they are the lawyers who were featured in the movie “Erin Brokovich” involving utility company PG&E.

The court ruled that Walter Lack (who stipulated to special prosecutor Rory Little that his prolonged acts of misconduct were intentional) and Thomas Girardi intentionally and recklessly resorted to the use of known falsehoods for years. The Ninth Circuit ordered Girardi and Lack to report their misconduct to the State Bar of California.

The State Bar of California disqualified itself from handling the matter since Howard Miller (of Girardi & Keese) served at that time as its president, and had also made the decision to hire then-chief prosecutor, James Towery.

Mr. Towery, in turn, appointed Jerome Falk of Howard Rice (now Arnold & Porter) as outside “special prosecutor” to determine whether or not to bring charges against Girardi and Lack. (Mr. Falk is a colleague of Douglas Winthrop, and both represented PG&E in its massive bankruptcy proceedings.)

Mr. Falk, in turn, exercised prosecutorial discretion and concluded that he did not believe Lack acted intentionally and that no charges will be brought against the two attorneys.

Within days of Mr. Falk’s decision, I filed an ethics complaint with the State Bar of California against Jerome Falk, James Towery, Howard Miller, and Douglas Winthrop (managing partner of Howard Rice and then-elected president of the Foundation), alleging that it was improper for Mr. Towery to appoint Mr. Falk given the close personal relationship between Howard Miller and Douglas Winthrop. Specifically, Howard Miller — in his capacity as president of the State Bar — had appointed Douglas Winthrop as president of the California Bar Foundation, a foundation maintained and controlled by the State Bar. (Much later I also discovered that Jerome Falk is actually the personal attorney of Thomas Girardi, and that Howard Rice and Jerome Falk represented Walter Lack, Thomas Girardi, Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack, and Girardi & Keese in approximately 2007, and for a period of 2 years, in a malpractice action.)

As such, while at the time I was not familiar with those individuals, I reviewed the Foundation’s annual reports to familiarize myself with the names of the Foundation’s board of directors, and to try to resolve various inconsistencies regarding who was serving as the Foundation’s president and why Robert Scott Wylie appeared to be the president when data showed that he had relocated to Indiana in 2006. I checked the Foundation’s tax returns and it was then that I fortuitously stumbled upon the fact that the Foundation ended 2008 close to $500,000 in the negative. Specifically, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES in 2007 equaled plus +$373.842.00. However, in 2008, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES equaled minus -$537,712.

In its 2008 Annual Report (See page 9 : ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation ), the Foundation alludes to CaliforniaALL by stating:

“In 2007-2008, the Foundation supported the launching of CaliforniaALL and, as the project filed for incorporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, served as CaliforniaALL’s fiscal sponsor. A collaboration between the California Public Employment Retirement System, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Department of Insurance, and the State Bar of California, CaliforniaALL was created in an effort to close the achievement gap among California students from preschool to the profession and, specifically, to bolster the pipeline of young people of diverse backgrounds headed for careers in law, financial services, and technology. Once CaliforniaALL obtained its tax-exempt status and was able to function as a fully independent nonprofit organization, the foundation granted the balance of funds raised for the project – totaling $769,247 – to the new entity.”

Also cleverly buried in the California Bar Foundation’s 2008 annual report was the following sentence :

“We thank the following corporations for their gifts in support of CaliforniaALL:

AT & T

Edison International

PG & E Corporation Foundation

Verizon”

See page 24 : ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation
*

While I was able to ascertain from Foundation’s tax records an “exit” of the $774,247 in 2008 (the apparent source of which was allegedly the above-referenced 4 utility companies), I was unable to ascertain when and where the Foundation reported to the IRS — either in 2008 or 2007 or 2006 or 2005 — an “entry” of those funds which it allegedly held in trust for CaliforniaALL.

(Later, Jill Sperber of the State Bar of California, in a letter she sent to me dated July 28, 2011 claimed that “....No State Bar or California Bar Foundation funds were used for CaliforniaALL creation...The California Bar Foundation served as CaliforniaALL’s escrow holder only to hold fundraising funds before its formal incorporation... Once CaliforniaALL was formed as a non-profit entity, the funds were paid over to it...”

Most troubling, however, is the fact that Verizon did not report to the IRS either in 2007 or 2008 that it had contributed any money to the California Bar Foundation or CaliforniaALL. See :

►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325087/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2007
►http://www.scribd.com/doc/102325330/Verizon-Foundation-IRS-990-Year-2008

Ultimately, by conducting further research into the actors and events surrounding the Foundation, CaliforniaALL, and related entities, individuals, and events, I unearthed what appears to be a lengthy trail of attempts to mislead and defraud.

CaliforniaALL - Obama for America

In approximately 2007, Ruthe Catolico Ashley — an attorney from Sacramento and a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors — was employed by Cal PERS as a “Diversity Officer.” Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson was serving as President of the State Bar. Both Bleich and Ashley are politically active, and were supporting the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama for President. Ruthe Ashley was involved in the Asian-Americans for Obama branch in Sacramento.

In April 2007, Chief of Staff to CPUC’s President Michael Peevey, Peter Arth, Jr. urged Ruthe Catolico Ashley to meet him at a restaurant in San Francisco. During that meeting, the idea to create CaliforniaALL (initially named CaAAL or CaALL) was conceived.

In its brief existence, CaliforniaALL collected close to $2 million from utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Verizon, Sempra, Southern California Edison), including a sub-rosa "hush -hush"contribution of $769,247.00 from the California Bar Foundation — —CaliforniaALL appears to have been be a sham, phantom entity.

CaliforniaALL was conveniently housed free of charge at the offices of DLA Piper in Sacramento, alongside the draft committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA . Steve Churchwell of DLA Piper in Sacramento served as Treasurer of the draft committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA.

Subsequent to the election of Barack Obama, CaliforniaALL was dissolved.

As matters presently stand, my inquiry leads me to suspect that in 2008 Morrison & Foerster attorneys:

James Brosnahan (self-proclaimed "mastermind behind the Democratic Party.),

Tony West (Barack Obama’s Chair of California Finance Committee),

Chris Young ("Obama for America" Northern California Deputy Finance Director)

Annette Carnegie (former director with the California Bar Foundation

In conjunction with:

Kamala Harris (Co-Chair, Obama for America ; member of CaliforniaALL)

Jeffrey Bleich (Munger Tolles & Olson, president of the State Bar of California, director with the California Bar Foundation, founding member and Chair of Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee)

Steven Churchwell ( DLA Piper, Treasurer, draft committee of OBAMA FOR AMERICA)

Executed a sophisticated financial scheme to misuse all or part of the “hush-hush” $780,000.00 originating from the California Bar Foundation by improperly transferring the money to Barack Obama’s coffers via a separate foundation created ad hoc by Susan Mac Cormac of Morrison & Foerster — CaliforniaALL.

CaliforniaALL - The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS)

Given the above suspicious circumstantial evidence surrounding CaliforniaALL, due to recent wide media coverage dealing with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), I begun to also entertain thoughts that the owner of SONGS (Edison International and Sempra Energy) as well as the law firms which represent Edison International and Sempra Energy (Munger Tolles & Olson and DLA Piper, respectively) may have also taken the opportunity to misuse the California Bar Foundation / CaliforniaALL to bribe CPUC officials in matters relating to SONGS.

Specifically, serving alongside Jeffrey Bleich and Bradley Phillips as director of the California Bar Foundation was also CPUC Commissioner Geoffrey Brown, cousin of California Governor Jerry Brown.

See bottom page: ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48712884/3-2008-Annual-Report-of-Foundation-of-the-State-Bar-of-California-Foundation

As a reminder, while Jeff Bleich, Bradley Phillips and CPUC Commissioner Geoffrey Brown served as director of the California Bar Foundation an unusually large and unexplained sum of money (courtesy of utility companies) was allocated to be transferred to CaliforniaALL — an entity created through the urging of Peter Arth of the CPUC.

Incidentally, during the same time period, Geoffrey Brown was the assigned commissioner in the application Edison International/ Southern California Edison submitted to the CPUC for authorization: (1) to replace SONGS 2 & 3 steam generators; (2) establish ratemaking for cost recovery; and (3) address other related steam generator replacement issues.

Les Inrocks - Garde à vue : la combine des policiers pour les fumeurs de cannabis
►http://www.lesinrocks.com/2012/07/26/actualite/garde-a-vue-les-policiers-appliquent-une-combine-pour-les-fumeurs-de-can

Le 28 mars 2011, Marin s’est adressé à Christian Flaesch, patron de la police judiciaire (PJ). Dans sa missive intitulée “limitation du recours à la garde à vue lors de la constatation de délits présentant un caractère de gravité modéré“, le procureur souhaite développer les auditions “sans mesure de contrainte“. En guise de consigne, le boss de la PJ a diffusé quelques jours plus tard le document à ses services.

►http://www.scribd.com/doc/101043885/Lettre-de-Jean-Claude-Marin-a-Christian-Flaesch

La “GAV”, french way of life

Pendant le quinquennat sarkozyste, les policiers ont pris la fâcheuse habitude de faire du chiffre. En 2010, un record avait été atteint : environ 800 000 personnes ont été placées en GAV, dont près d’un quart pour usage de stupéfiants. “Sous Sarkozy, le curseur de la politique des chiffres était effectivement placé sur les gardes à vue“, reconnait Patrice Ribero, secrétaire national du syndicat Synergie-officier. Cependant, à l’époque de Daniel Vaillant ou Jean-Pierre Chevènement, il y avait aussi des dérives.“ Un ex-agent de la BAC nous décrit sans ambages la méthode qu’il pratiquait pour remplir ses objectifs de GAV.

“En général, on arrêtait tous les shiteux** de notre secteur. C’est facile, t’es toujours sûr qu’ils ont un peu de matos** sur eux. T’en boucles une vingtaine la première semaine du mois. Comme ça, tu es tranquille sur tes chiffres et, ensuite, tu peux faire autre chose de plus intéressant.”

Le talon d’Achille du dispositif porte le nom barbare “d’état 4001“. Dans la statistique institutionnelle policière, arrêter un fumeur de shit revient à comptabiliser un “fait constaté” et un “fait élucidé“. Inconvénient : cela entraine une hausse de la délinquance. Avantage : le taux d’élucidation des délits augmente… “Cela trompe la cartographie réelle de la sécurité en France“, conclue un officier de police judiciaire.

Pour pallier le côté chronophage de ces dérives, le procureur de Paris propose de ne plus placer automatiquement en garde à vue les auteurs de certains délits, pourvu que leur identité ait été vérifiée, qu’ils possèdent un “domicile certain” et une absence d’antécédent. Parmi les cinq délits concernés, car présentant “un caractère de gravité modéré“, figurent “les usages de cannabis seul” et “les conduites sous l’influence de cannabis seul“.

#cannabis

Amid Concerns of Cover-Up by DOJ’s Lanny Breuer YR Submit Narrative to FBI Re DOJ’s Tony West, Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich, HUD’s Ophelia Basgal, Keker & Van Nest’s Chris Young, Kamala Harris, Phantom Non-Profit CaliforniaALL, Obama for America :

Per our telephone conversation, following is a narrative describing the suspicious circumstances relating to non-profit entity CaliforniaALL (FEIN Number 51-0656213), Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich, United States Department of Justice’s Tony West, Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Ophelia Basgal, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster, and Chris Young of Keker & Van Nest.

The narrative is divided to 4 parts: 1. General Introduction; 2. Introduction of Actors; 3. Fortuitous Discovery of CaliforniaALL; and 4. Factual Background Regarding CaliforniaALL.

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION:

As described below, my inquiry began close to one year ago when I stumbled upon unusually large and highly peculiar financial transactions in conjunction with what appeared to me to be clear attempts to conceal and mislead. I immediately notified various entities, including submitting a tip to your agency. Due to circumstances which cannot be viewed as mere coincidence, I was under the impression that funds might have been misappropriated by Voice of OC — specifically, by its founders 1) Joe Dunn and 2) Martha Escutia (both former state senators who were overseeing utility companies and the CPUC and investigating the California energy crisis), and 3) Thomas Girardi and 4) James Brosnahan who were litigating cases involving the California energy crisis on opposite sides, and/or Geoffrey Brown, former Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission and 2007 Director of the California Bar Foundation (the “Foundation”) during the time of the suspicious transfer of funds to CaliforniaALL (an entity of which CPUC’s Peter Arth was one of the main initiators).

However futile, I also asked the State Bar of California to investigate this matter. Within a few hours of sending the request, Geoffrey Brown sent me a demand to cease and desist from insisting that he had done anything wrong under threat of litigation. In essence, Brown wanted me to ignore the circumstances dealing with the fact that he was both a CPUC Commissioner and a Director with the Foundation when it quietly made the largest grant in its history to an entity that was conceived by CPUC’s Peter Arth to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars from utility companies.

While the Foundation alleges that the source of the (relatively) large sum of $774,247 which it transferred to CaliforniaALL was from four utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Edison International, and Verizon Wireless — as reflected in the Foundation’s 2008 Annual Report and tax return showing contributions to CaliforniaALL), there is no corresponding entry in any Foundation tax return (for tax years 2007 or 2008), nor any mention in the Annual Report, showing the initial receipt of those funds. These facts raised suspicions that money may have been misappropriated from the Foundation, and places those individuals who controlled the Foundation (Jeffrey Bleich, Annette Carnegie, Douglas Winthrop, Ruthe Catolico Ashley, Geoffrey Brown, and others), who “legally” created CaliforniaALL (James Brosnahan, Tony West, Chris Young and the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster), who controlled the money (Ophelia Basgal of PG&E; Douglas Winthrop, attorney for PG&E; Jeffrey Bleich, attorney for Verizon Wireless; and Edison (client of James Brosnahan, Tony West, Chris Young, and Annette Carnegie), who controlled CaliforniaALL (Ruthe Ashley, Ophelia Basgal), and who controlled the finances for the Obama for America’s 2008 campaign (Jeffrey Bleich, Tony West, and Chris Young) in a very awkward position.

Other then collecting close to $2 million directly from utility companies (including the “hush-hush” transfer of $774,247, comprised of one installment of $5000 and another contribution of $769,247 from the Foundation which was never mentioned in the Foundation’s “newsroom” or by any other of its publications such as the California Bar Journal or by any of the newsletters and alerts published by CaliforniaALL), CaliforniaALL appears to have been be a sham, phantom entity from its inception in 2008 to the day it began to slowly be dissolved in approximately 2009, subsequent to the election of Barack Obama as president of the U.S. Its only alleged achievement was providing some money for the creation of the Saturday Academy of Law at UC Irvine ("SALUCI") in approximately 2008-2009. Here too vast and intense suspicious circumstances exist as the funds from CaliforniaALL actually went to the UC Irvine Foundation, where the present executive director of the State Bar of California (Senator Joe Dunn) serves as a member of the audit committee, and it turns out that the SALUCI was actually already created in 2005 and was fully operational before CaliforniaALL arrived on the scene. In addition, some records seem to indicate that Verizon Wireless funneled the money directly to SALUCI , while CaliforniaALL took the credit.

Nevertheless, I continued with the inquiry as large pieces of the puzzle were missing, and in fact stated so in a letter seeking information about one of the actor’s employment history. However, within the past several weeks, I believe that I finally managed to put all the pieces together. In my opinion, and based on the information I’ve discovered, it appears that funds were misappropriated and/or laundered through the California Bar Foundation by various individuals through the misuse of CaliforniaALL. Although other potential explanations certainly exist, based on these individuals’ involvement in the “Obama for America” 2008 presidential campaign (as discussed below), one likely possibility is that the funds were unlawfully misdirected to that campaign.

PART 2: INTRODUCTION OF MAIN ACTORS:

1. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY BLEICH — Mr. Bleich served as a director with the Foundation in approximately 2007-2008, as well as president of the State Bar of California.

In 2007, Mr. Bleich established Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee and served as its Chair.

He is a personal friend of President Obama, who served as President Obama’s personal attorney and subsequently was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Mr. Bleich was a partner with the San Francisco office of Munger Tolles & Olson, which represents client Verizon Wireless.

Out of close to 230,000 lawyers in California, also serving as a director with the Foundation in approximately 2007-2008 was another attorney from Munger Tulles Olsen, Mr. Bradley Phillips. Presently, Ms. Mary Ann Todd (also of Munger Tolles & Olson) is a director with the Foundation.

2. DEREK ANTHONY WEST OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE — Mr. West, who goes by the name “Tony West,” presently serves as third in command within the Department of Justice below Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer.

Around 2007-2008, Mr. Tony West also served as Chair of the “California Finance Committee” of “Obama for America.”

Prior to joining the DOJ, Mr. West was a partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster, the law firm which assisted with the legal aspects of creating CaliforniaALL.

Along with attorneys Raj Chaterjee and Susan Mac Cormac, Mr. West was part of senior partner James Brosnahan’s clique. For example, it was Brosnahan, West, and Chaterjee who defended John Walker Lindh, who is more widely known as the “American Taliban.” (It should be noted that it was actually Mr. Brosnahan who initially agreed to the representation since he knows Lindh’s father — Frank Lindh — who served as in-house Chief Legal Counsel at PG&E; Mr. Lindh is presently the Chief Legal Counsel of the CPUC.)

Mr. West is married to Maya Harris, sister of Kamala Harris, who was part of CaliforniaALL.

3. JAMES J. BROSNAHAN OF MORRISON & FOERSTER - Mr. Brosnahan is presently a senior partner at the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster.

He considers himself to be the “mastermind behind the Democratic Party.” CaliforniaALL was created by Morrison & Foerster, under the supervision of Mr. Brosnahan (known as the prosecutor of Caspar Weinberger). Specifically Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate assisted with the legal aspects of creating the entity. Mr. Brosnahan represented utility companies during California’s energy crisis (which Joe Dunn, Martha Escutia, and Geoffrey Brown were investigating) opposite Thomas Girardi.

Later, Dunn, Escutia, Brosnahan, and Girardi launched the online publication known as Voice of OC.

4. CHRISTOPHER JACOB YOUNG OF KEKER & VAN NEST — Mr. Young, commonly known as “Chris Young,” is currently listed on the State Bar of California’s database as an associate with Keker & Van Nest. Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young was an associate at Morrison & Foerster.

Around 2007-2008, Mr. Young served as “Northern California Deputy Finance Director” for “Obama for America.”

As noted above, State Bar of California records still show that Chris Young is an employee of Keker & Van Nest. However, very recently, Keker & Van Nest ( at the direction of partners John Keker and Jon Streeter, who also worked on the 2008 campaign as a “bundler” and is presently a director with the Foundation) abruptly removed Chris Young’s name from its web-site.

5. ANNETTE CARNEGIE — Ms. Carnegie is presently employed at the Kaiser Foundation. Around 2007-2008, she was a partner at Morrison & Foerster and served as a director of the Foundation. In 2008, the Foundation poured into CaliforniaALL the large sum of $774,247; by comparison, most other donations were around $10,000 to $20,000. As shown below, the transfer of said money appears to be imbued with fraud and secrecy, especially in connection with four utility companies (Verizon, PG&E, Edison, and AT&T).

6. KAMALA HARRIS — In around 2007-2008, Ms. Harris served as the District Attorney in San Francisco while at the same time she was also Co-Chair of “Obama for America.” Ms. Harris was part of CaliforniaALL’s “Advisory Council.” She is the sister of Maya Harris, who is married to Tony West. Media reports provide that parliamentarian Willie Brown served as mentor to both Tony West and Kamala Harris, and was Ms. Harris’s paramour. John Keker of Keker & Van Nest (known as the prosecutor of Oliver North) is also considered to be a “mentor” of Kamala Harris. (Incidentally, State Bar of California Board of Governor member Gwen Moore — also a “mentee” of Willie Brown — was honored by CaliforniaALL at a lavish dinner in a Sacramento hotel. Parliamentarian Moore is no stranger to your agency, having been the target of a sting operation known as Shrimpscam.)

7. OPHELIA BASGAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ("HUD") — In around 2007-2008 , Ms. Basgal was Vice President of Civic Partnership and Community Initiatives at PG&E, where she managed the company’s $18 million charitable contributions program, and oversaw its community engagement programs and partnerships with community-based organizations. Separately, around that time she surprisingly served as “Treasurer” with the “California Supreme Court Historical Society.” In that role, she presumably had contact with many judges, including those who were handling matters dealing with PG&E, such as Justice (Ret.) Joseph Grodin who acted as the mediator in a case Attorney General Bill Lockyer advanced against PG&E, which Jerry Brown (cousin of Geoffrey Brown) later dismissed in his capacity as the new Attorney General for California.

Ms. Basgal served as a director of CaliforniaALL.

8. VICTOR MIRMAONTES — Mr. Victor Miramontes, a resident of San Antonio, TX and business partner of former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros in an entity known as CityView, was the chairman of CaliforniaALL.

Mr. Miramontes has various connections to Orange County, and is otherwise familiar with its various legal circles.

9. SARAH E. REDFIELD — Ms. Redfield is presently a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, and served as the interim director of CaliforniaALL. Events surrounding Redfield, as shown below, also appear to be imbued with fraud and deceit, and it appears her role was to create a subterfuge to justify the existence of CaliforniaALL. Since CaliforniaALL’s main achievement was the purported creation of a “Saturday Academy of Law” at UC Irvine ("SALUCI"), Ms. Redfield pretended to have engaged in Requests for Proposals ("RFP"), as well as falsely claiming that she “launched” SALUCI. For her services as interim executive director and an alleged consultant of CaliforniaALL, Professor Redfield was paid approximately $160,000 as an “independent contractor.” She gave very little, if anything, in return for the $160,000 she was paid. In fact, she took credit for the extremely hard work of others, especially that of Rob Vacario of Santa Ana who co-founded SALUCI several years earlier.

10. JUDY JOHNSON – Ms. Johnson is the former Executive Director of the State Bar of California. Ms. Johnson (along with Robert Hawley and Starr Babcock) is no stranger to financial schemes. For the past 8 years, she has been quietly serving as the president of an entity with a misleading name (California Consumer Protection Foundation AKA “CCPF”). This entity absorbed close to $30 million in class action cy pres awards, as well as fines and settlements imposed by the CPUC on utility companies. CCPF forwarded those funds to mostly questionable ACORN-like entities in South Los Angeles or to an entity headed by Michael Shames known as UCAN — presently under federal grand jury investigation in San Diego. It appears that Ms. Johnson used her position as executive director of the State Bar of California (which is supposed to supervise and discipline lawyers) as “clout” to obtain cy pres awards from the settlement of class actions prosecuted and defended by various law firms in courts and before the CPUC. In addition, while never prosecuted for the scheme, some have speculated that Johnson and cohorts Hawley (whom Johnson labeled the “Wizard of OZ”) and Babcock were “in” on a financial scheme perpetrated by former State Bar employee Sharon Pearl, who was lightly prosecuted by then-attorney general Jerry Brown, cousin of Geoffrey Brown.

Ms. Johnson was part of CaliforniaALL’s Advisory Council and was responsible for maintaining secrecy over the project by misleading the public, including a quadriplegic law-student, litigant Sara Granda.

11. RUTHE CATOLICO ASHLEY — Ms. Ashley is a former employee of McGeorge School of Law who later served as a “Diversity Officer” at Cal PERS. Ms. Ashley also served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors alongside Mr. Bleich, and came up with the idea to create CaliforniaALL during a meeting with Sarah Redfield and Peter Arth, Jr. (the assistant to CPUC President Michael Peevey). After CaliforniaALL came into existence, Ms. Ashley, after a simulated search, was selected to serve as CaliforniaALL’s executive director.

12. SONIA GONZALES — Ms. Gonzales presently serves as the Foundation’s executive director as of earlier this year, after the former executive director (Ms. Leslie Hatamyia) suddenly quit. Ms. Gonzales is a close friend and confidante of Ms. Maya Harris, the wife of Mr. Tony West.

She presently serves the same function as current Foundation directors Mary Ann Todd of Munger Tolles & Olson, Jon Streeter of Keker & Van Nest, Douglas Winthrop of Howard Rice, and Raj Chatterjee of Morrison & Foerster.

PART 2: FORTUTIOUS DISCOVERY OF CaliforniaALL

At the outset, and to deflect potential allegations that I am motivated by politics, I wish to assure you and the agency that my inquiry into these issues was not and is not motivated by politics. In fact, the only actor referenced above that I have ever met is James Brosnahan, who I met once for a short period of time while a volunteer with BASF - VLSP, a volunteer organization that awarded me a volunteer of the year award. In fact, I initially suspected the misconduct described herein was committed primarily by various other people (i.e. Holly Fujie, Leslie Hatamiya, Ruthe Catolico Ashley, Robert Hawley, Starr Babcock, and Judy Johnson). However, the facts eventually led me to Mr. Brosnahan. Following is a brief overview describing how I stumbled upon this information.

In 2010, the United States Federal Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit issued its final ruling in the disciplinary matter of In Re Girardi by imposing close to $500,000 in sanctions on Walter Lack of Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack and Thomas Girardi of Girardi & Keese stemming from an attempt to defraud the court and cause injury to Dole Food Company in the underlying litigation. You may have heard of Walter Lack and Thomas Girardi as they are the lawyers who were featured in the movie “Erin Brokovich” involving utility company PG&E.

The court ruled that Walter Lack (who stipulated to special prosecutor Rory Little that his prolonged acts of misconduct were intentional) and Thomas Girardi intentionally and recklessly resorted to the use of known falsehoods for years. The Ninth Circuit ordered Girardi and Lack to report their misconduct to the State Bar of California.

The State Bar of California disqualified itself from handling the matter since Howard Miller (of Girardi & Keese) served at that time as its president, and had also made the decision to hire then-chief prosecutor, James Towery.

Mr. Towery, in turn, appointed Jerome Falk of Howard Rice (now Arnold & Porter) as outside “special prosecutor” to determine whether or not to bring charges against Girardi and Lack. (Mr. Falk is a colleague of Douglas Winthrop, and both represented PG&E in its massive bankruptcy proceedings.)

Mr. Falk, in turn, exercised prosecutorial discretion and concluded that he did not believe Lack acted intentionally and that no charges will be brought against the two attorneys.

Within days of Mr. Falk’s decision, I filed an ethics complaint with the State Bar of California against Jerome Falk, James Towery, Howard Miller, and Douglas Winthrop (managing partner of Howard Rice and then-elected president of the Foundation), alleging that it was improper for Mr. Towery to appoint Mr. Falk given the close personal relationship between Howard Miller and Douglas Winthrop. Specifically, Howard Miller — in his capacity as president of the State Bar — had appointed Douglas Winthrop as president of the California Bar Foundation, a foundation maintained and controlled by the State Bar. (Much later I also discovered that Jerome Falk is actually the personal attorney of Thomas Girardi, and that Howard Rice and Jerome Falk represented Walter Lack, Thomas Girardi, Engstrom Lispcomb & Lack, and Girardi & Keese in approximately 2007, and for a period of 2 years, in a malpractice action.)

As such, while at the time I was not familiar with those individuals, I reviewed the Foundation’s annual reports to familiarize myself with the names of the Foundation’s board of directors, and to try to resolve various inconsistencies regarding who was serving as the Foundation’s president and why Robert Scott Wylie appeared to be the president when data showed that he had relocated to Indiana in 2006. I checked the Foundation’s tax returns and it was then that I fortuitously stumbled upon the fact that the Foundation ended 2008 close to $500,000 in the negative. Specifically, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES in 2007 equaled plus +$373.842.00. However, in 2008, the Foundation reported to the IRS that REVENUE LESS EXPENSES equaled minus -$537,712.

I was also troubled by the fact that the 2008 California Bar Journal Annual Report noted that the Foundation was the “fiscal sponsor” of CaliforniaALL, while the same report also mentioned that the source of the money was 4 utility companies.

In its 2008 Annual Report ( See ), the Foundation alludes to CaliforniaALL by stating:

“In 2007-2008, the Foundation supported the launching of CaliforniaALL and, as the project filed for incorporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, served as CaliforniaALL’s fiscal sponsor. A collaboration between the California Public Employment Retirement System, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Department of Insurance, and the State Bar of California, CaliforniaALL was created in an effort to close the achievement gap among California students from preschool to the profession and, specifically, to bolster the pipeline of young people of diverse backgrounds headed for careers in law, financial services, and technology. Once CaliforniaALL obtained its tax-exempt status and was able to function as a fully independent nonprofit organization, the foundation granted the balance of funds raised for the project – totaling $769,247 – to the new entity.”

Also cleverly buried in the California Bar Foundation’s 2008 annual report was the following sentence (which should be scrutinized by your agency):

“We thank the following corporations for their gifts in support of CaliforniaALL:

AT & T

Edison International

PG & E Corporation Foundation

Verizon”

*

I believe that the statement that the Foundation granted “the balance” of funds raised for the project most likely refers to a previous $5000 sum which the Foundation awarded to CaliforniaALL for “research,” also in 2008. As such, $769,247 plus $5000 equals $774,247, which is the sum the Foundation reported to the IRS.

However, I find mildly problematic the claim that the Foundation raised funds specifically for “the project” in 2007 (per the sentence “granted the balance of funds raised for the project”), especially in conjunction with a separate disclosure by which the Foundation thanks four utility companies (which are incidentally clients of Morrison & Foerster, Howard Rice, and Munger Tolles Olsen). In my opinion, this may reflect an attempt to engage in financial shenanigans through the Foundation — otherwise, why wouldn’t the four utility companies just give the funds to CaliforniaALL directly?

Even more troubling, while I was able to ascertain from Foundation’s tax records an “exit” of the $774,247 in 2008 (the apparent source of which was allegedly the above-referenced 4 utility companies), I was unable to ascertain when and where the Foundation reported to the IRS — either in 2008 or 2007 or 2006 or 2005 — an “entry” of those funds which it allegedly held in trust for CaliforniaALL.

(Later, Jill Sperber of the State Bar of California, in a letter she sent to me dated July 28, 2011 claimed that “....No State Bar or California Bar Foundation funds were used for CaliforniaALL creation...The California Bar Foundation served as CaliforniaALL’s escrow holder only to hold fundraising funds before its formal incorporation... Once CaliforniaALL was formed as a non-profit entity, the funds were paid over to it...”

Ultimately, by conducting further research into the actors and events surrounding the Foundation, CaliforniaALL, and related entities, individuals, and events, I unearthed what appears to be a lengthy trail of attempts to mislead and defraud.

PART 3: FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In approximately 2007, Ruthe Catolico Ashley — an attorney from Sacramento and a member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors — was employed by Cal PERS as a “Diversity Officer.” Prior to her employment with Cal PERS, Ms. Ashley was employed as a career counsel at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. While at McGeorge, Ms. Ashley met diversity expert Sarah Redfield. At that time, Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson was serving as President of the State Bar. Both Bleich and Ashley are politically active, and were supporting the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama for President. Ruthe Ashley was involved in the Asian-Americans for Obama branch in Sacramento.

In April 2007, Ashley and Sarah Redfield were urged to meet Peter Arth, Jr. of the California Public Utilities Commission at a restaurant in San Francisco. During that meeting, the idea to create CaliforniaALL (initially named CaAAL or CaALL) was conceived. Eventually, Cal PERS, the CPUC, and the State Bar of California endorsed in principle the creation of CaliforniaALL – a Section 501(c)(3) entity that would raise funds to be used to support a more diverse workforce in California.

At that time, both Ashley and Redfield were also part of the State Bar of California’s Council on Fairness and Access, as well as a separate project by the State Bar of California known as The Diversity Pipeline Task Force, through which both presumably amassed vast amounts of data and information on the topic of diversity pipeline projects.

Subsequent to the meeting with Peter Arth, on June 26, 2007 State Bar BOG member Ruthe Catolico Ashley and Patricia Lee presented to the entire BOG a proposal (see ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48713393/1-In-June-26-2007-Member-of-State-Bar-Board-of-Governors-Ruthe-Ashley-Presen ) urging the BOG to support the creation of California Aspire Achieve Lead Pipeline Project (CaAAL), later named CaliforniaALL.

Eventually, Cal PERS (Ashley’s employer), the CPUC, and the State Bar of California endorsed in principle the creation of CaAAL. For reasons that are not clear to me, CaAAL was apparently a secret project since the California Bar Journal never bothered to report about it, and a press release issued by the State Bar of California was only delivered to CaAAL. Specifically, on August 1, 2007, California Bar Journal’s editor Diane Curtis issued a very limited press release on behalf of the State Bar which I was only able to locate on CaAAL’s now defunct website (www.calall.org) stating:

"STATE BAR JOINS DIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP

San Francisco, August 01, 2007 — The State Bar of California is joining forces with the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Public Retirement System and the state Department of Insurance in a united effort to promote diversity in the workplace.

California Aspire Achieve Lead Pipeline Project (CaAAL Pipeline Project) will focus on education and mentoring, starting as early as pre-school, to provide skills and instill motivation in young people who are not well represented in the legal, financial and information technology professions.

“The real winners are the young people of California who will advance from these programs and the entire populace of California that will have the benefit of a diverse and vibrant pool of bright young people from all sectors of our diverse population,” said State Bar President Sheldon Sloan. Sloan beefed up a bar diversity pipeline project put in place by his predecessors that has been embraced by lawyers and jurists statewide.

Bar Vice President Ruthe Ashley, who chairs the bar’s Pipeline Task Force and recently became Cal PERS’ Diversity Officer for External Affairs, “has done a fantastic job of moving this initiative forward,” added Sloan. “Now that she has brought in Cal PERS and CAL PUC, this program is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

In large part because of the bar’s experience and success in identifying programs that help young people move on to successful careers in law, CaAAL’s first-year focus will be on diversifying the legal profession. “We have relationships in place. We have best practices. We have done the research,” said Ashley. The second-year focus will be on financial institutions and the third year on information technology. Funding for the new nonprofit is expected to come from private partners and public sector grants.

Ashley said the nonprofit will be the umbrella organization that will coordinate activities in five different geographic “centers of excellence.” She is hoping that the board for the new nonprofit will promote replication proven programs, such as Street Law, Pacific Pathways and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity, and that the new entity “will be a model for other states.”

“The vision is that it will change the face of the future in the workplace and of our leaders,” said Ashley."

Papers were filed with both state and federal agencies to allow CaliforniaALL to operate as a tax exempt entity. Victor Miramontes listed himself as Chairman of the Board, and Sarah E. Redfield served as CaliforniaALL’s interim executive director for a period of 6 months. Serving as CaliforniaALL’s legal counsel were Susan Mac Cormac and Eric Tate of Morrison & Foerster.

Despite the fact that she served as interim executive director, and despite the fact that it was a given that Ruthe Catolico Ashley would be hired as the permanent CEO, Sarah Redfield nevertheless apparently engaged in an RFP (request for proposal) which was closed just as quickly as it started even before Ms. Ashley was hired as the permanent CEO.

CaliforniaALL’s web site (www.calall.org) stated:

“Saturday Law Academy RFP

PLEASE NOTE:

The application process for this RFP is closed. Please contact Sarah Redfield at sarah.redfield@gmail.com or (207) 752-1721.

RFP PROPOSAL INFORMATION

California ALL seeks proposals to implement its law career pathway starting with the 2008-09 academic year (AY).

The following and attached document describes a program area in which California ALL has particular interest based on its initial research. An additional RFP will follow for college level prelaw work. Self generated proposal for other parts of the pipeline will also be considered, and another round of RFPs is possible. California ALL has not attached a specific dollar amount to the RFP, though cost effectiveness and the presence of a competitive match will be part of its consideration. California ALL has some funding in hand from a generous grant from Verizon for the Saturday Academy and intends to seek additional funding as needed to support programs selected. It is anticipated that funding will be provided for year one of the (3 year) proposal, with following years contingent on successful completion of the prior year(s).”

The California Attorney General RCT reflects that CaliforniaALL obtained its “Charity” status on March 14, 2008 (FEIN Number 510656213). The address for CaliforniaALL is listed as 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, California. This is actually the address of the law firm of DLA Piper, where CaliforniaALL resided free of charge courtesy of partner Gilles Attia — an attorney specialized in the representation of wi-fi companies.

CaliforniaALL’s 2008 tax-return shows an expense of around $16,000 for “occupancy.” See ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48714110/6-CaliforniaALL-2008-Tax-Return

In June 2008, after a nationwide search and aided by a pro bono head-hunting firm in its search for a permanent CEO, CaliforniaALL not surprisingly hired Ruthe Catolico Ashley as its chief executive officer. (See Press Release ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48717715/5-California-ALL-Announces-Hiring-of-Ruthe-Ashley-as-CEO-on-June-4-2008 )

As the purpose of CaliforniaALL was to transfer funds forward, it did so by awarding small grants to the UCI Foundation (FEIN Number 952540117), where State Bar of California executive director Joe Dunn serves as trustee and chair of the Audit Committee, for the purported purpose of establishing a Saturday Law Academy at UC Irvine known as SALUCI.

Sarah Redfield’s CV, which states (falsely) that she launched SALUCI, can be found at: ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48772426/10-Resume-CV-of-University-of-New-Hampshire-School-of-Law-Professor-Sarah-E-

In September 2009, Ruthe Catolico Ashley exited CaliforniaALL (►http://www.scribd.com/doc/48713268/7-Ruthe-Ashley-Announces-Departure-from-CaliforniaALL-in-September-of-2009 ), the entity which she previously proclaimed to Diane Curtis that it “will change the face of the future in the workplace and of our leaders,” "will be a model for other states," and “is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

Ultimately, the following events prompted me to ask Voice of OC to make its tax returns available for my review, as required by IRS regulations: the sham RFP by Sarah Redfield, who pre-selected the UCI Foundation as the only recipient of funds from CaliforniaALL; Joe Dunn served as chair of the UCI Foundation audit committee; in September 2009 Ruthe Ashley abruptly exited CaliforniaALL; in September 2009 Joe Dunn (together with his business partner Martha Escutia, James Brosnahan — who created CaliforniaALL, and Thomas Girardi of In Re Girardi, Erin Brokovich, and the one who James Towery appointed his personal attorney (Jerome Falk of Howard Rice) to act as special prosecutor against him) launched an online “news agency” known as Voice of OC. I also suspected that James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster (who represented various utility companies during California’s energy crisis) may have engaged in a scheme with Joe Dunn, as Dunn was the person investigating those utility companies and California’s energy crisis. In fact, Dunn was discredited by the media for claiming that he was the one who “cracked” Enron.

Voice of OC ignored my request for its tax records, whereupon I filed a complaint with the IRS. To date, I have not received a response from the IRS indicating that it has taken any steps to help me obtain those much needed records and impose the appropriate sanctions against Voice of OC.

Nevertheless, I continued with the inquiry as large pieces of the puzzle were missing. Later, when Mr. Tony West was appointed third in command at the DOJ, I learned of his identity due to wide media coverage and his association with Morrison & Forester and James Brosnahan. From there, it became harder to ignore the common denominator of “Obama for America” involving Morrison & Foerster’s James Brosnahan, Tony West, Chris Young, Annette Carnegie, and Susan Mac Cormac, in conjunction with Geoffrey Bleich and Ruthe Ashley — which is that money was misappropriated or laundered through the Foundation.

Thank you for your assistance. I will keep you updated if I obtain any further information. In the interim, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Les cabinets sans curiosités du nouveau pouvoir | Mediapart
►http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/130612/les-cabinets-sans-curiosites-du-nouveau-pouvoir

Mediapart a passé au crible les listes parues au Journal officiel entre le 16 mai et le 13 juin : les 80 conseillers de l’Elysée et de Matignon, et les 306 noms des collaborateurs des ministres nommés jusqu’ici, sur un total attendu de 430.

Plus que jamais, les énarques et les grands corps de l’administration (Conseil d’Etat, Cour des comptes, Inspection des finances...) ont le pouvoir : 23 des 34 ministres ont un diplômé de l’Ena à la tête de leur cabinet. Deuxième enseignement : si le gouvernement est paritaire (pour la première fois de l’histoire) et si certains ministères ont fait un effort, les femmes ne représentent que 31 % des effectifs. Enfin, si plusieurs cabinets se targuent d’une certaine diversité car ils ont mêlé des diplômés de l’#Ena à d’autres grandes écoles (Sciences-Po, Polytechnique, HEC...), les équipes sont largement blanches. [...]

Enfin, en privé, certains socialistes pestent sur les couples politiques du #gouvernement. La directrice de cabinet d’Aurélie Filippetti est aussi la compagne du conseiller politique de François Hollande à l’#Elysée, Aquilino Morelle. Le conseiller d’Arnaud Montebourg au Redressement productif, Boris Vallaud, est l’époux de la #ministre des droits des femmes, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. Laurent Olléon, directeur adjoint du cabinet de Marylise Lebranchu à la réforme de l’Etat, est l’époux de la ministre déléguée à l’économie numérique Fleur Pellerin. A chaque fois, leur compétence n’est pas en cause : la première était responsable des affaires culturelles auprès de Bertrand Delanoë à la mairie de Paris, le deuxième est un homme de confiance de Montebourg – ex-directeur général des services du conseil général de Saône-et-Loire –, le dernier est membre du conseil d’Etat. « J’aurais du mal à l’expliquer à ma grand-mère ! » soupire un dircab socialiste.

#sociologie #politique #démocratie

The dirty job of keeping Facebook clean: ►http://www.scribd.com/doc/81863464/oDeskStandards - costly associal moderation for the rich associal site.