There is double indemnity and then there is double depravity. Baltimore Pastor Kevin Jerome Pushia, 32, is accused in a shocking criminal conspiracy. He allegedly befriended a blind and disabled man, Lemuel Wallace, as part of his work with developmentally disabled people at his church, The Arc of Baltimore. He then allegedly used church funds to hire a hit man to kill him and collect on life insurance money. Police say that he has confessed to the conspiracy.
Pushia told police that he arranged to have various mentally challenged individuals to list him as a beneficiary on insurance policies. What is truly chilling is a notation made in Pushia’s day planner for February 5th (the day Wallace was found dead) that reads: “L.W. project completed.” On the insurance policy, Pushia was listed as Wallace’s brother in a $200,000 policy.
This is actually a common scheme in using homeless or disabled people, as shown recently in the “Black Widow” case.
Of course, this makes the recent minister found to be using church funds for botox looks positively divine in comparison.
For the full story, click here.
Dear PASTOR GOOD MORNING?
We came in your big organisation to need help.
We have our childs with disability of blind and mental ill.Excuse my language because i-m speak french.
Last time we will speak to you slow slow.Send us more information from Home.
Sincerely your brothers in Christ-Jesus.
A.Mingueli
Baltimore is such a hole.
Spindell: “With the reasoning you use with this then we shouldn’t prosecute any murder or attempted murder case, until we convict Bush/Cheney….”
Way to snipe at someone who actually shows some sensible priorities, one should learn to triage.
“I think the health and welfare of the multitudes requires primary attention over those wrongly held in Guantanamo.”
Well, and where would the health and welfare of the multitudes be if they can be wrongly held in Gitmo at any time??
Just thinking out loud.
“I feel I must further address your idea that the US shouldn’t care, nor do you, about detainees because we need triage of suffering.”
Jill,
I don’t at all mind your disagreeing with me, but misquoting me in tandem with a holier than thou attitude does piss me off. Now just where was it that I said “I don’t care” about detainees? What I was stating and rather clearly I think, is that we have to prioritize issues based on their urgency. Either you misunderstood what I clearly state, or in your zeal for your issue, deliberately mis-characterized it.
“The US doesn’t really have to triage in helping to ameloirate suffering.”
A statement true on its’ face, but meaningless in context. Do you realize that there is a political system that exists in this country? Yes, Jill I understand at least as well as you that the system has been set up to benefit the elite. Where we differ is I recognize that dismantling the unfairness of the system is not done over night and faces real obstacles. You, however, come from the standpoint of do it at once or your a hypocrite, liar and/or corrupt. How convenient that this viewpoint fits in exactly with your opinion of President Obama for at least the last year.
“Even the Huffington Post has an aritcle calling Obama the king of corporate welfare.”
I too read the HuffPost daily. Some of their articles are good, some are bad. Quoting someone’s opinion to make a point is not citing fact.
“We have a very expensive war on drugs. I suggest that corporate welfare, defense spending and the war on drugs would be excellent places to triage money.”
I have written as much on ending the war on drugs as anyone on this site. Your suggestion while sound, using my word triage highly snarky though, is fraught with difficulty. It will not be easy to end this stupid war and/or convincing those who need to be convinced to end it. That too requires political process.
“Finally, should you ever be in a foreign land and taken up by its govt. you would hope that the people of that country had more mercy than to say, I don’t really care about that detainee or any other one. Perhaps you would feel differently if you were rotting in a cell and you would hope that someone in that nation would have a sense of justice to care about your welfare.”
Jill the only way to characterize this is that it is a childish attack. I’m sorry, but in my critiques of your points I have not descended to this type of debate and it does you little credit. You in essence are saying that I don’t really care about the detainees and it is solely based on you mis-interpretation of my writing and a holier than thou attitude that is undeserved. I don’t like to make statements like this but this type of attack forces my hand.
When you have accomplished half of what I’ve done in my lifetime to help people who are downtrodden, at great personal expense to my own health and wealth, then perhaps you might be in a position to criticize me, but even so you would be wrong.
“In the case of my spouse, that war was Vietnam. 30+ years and one of the kindest, best people I have ever known still suffers from what happened there.”
As you may have read in my various comments I was active in the anti-war movement re: Viet Nam. In truth what I learned from that was that the leaders of that Movement, professing idealism, made the exact same mistake you are making and that led to Nixon and prolonged the War. Since you like to quote authority read “Nixonland” by Rick Pearlstein for the how and why. In short though the very movement pledged to stop the war prolonged it because they were determined to act outside the system to make things happen. They alienated a majority of the American people, who had been beginning to oppose the war and allowed the election of a mentally ill man who made a terrible war, worse.
You are making the same mistake in your urgency to see your agenda put forth. True radicals, of which I have the bono fides, recognize the nature of the enemy. They don’t give them aid and comfort through stridency of demand, because they understand that change is brought about gradually if it is to be effective. This is the difference between the extraordinary Saul alinsky and the a man in his dotage like Howard Zinn. About 45% of the American public believe torture keeps them safe. This is a wrong belief, but needs to be changed just as the Administration is now doing.
Your way of dealing with this is that from Day 1 of the Administration the President should have focused primarily on this issue. Had he done so his popularity ratings, thus his ability to accomplish anything would be plummeting. I must say though having seen your writings viz President Obama from this past year I really believe that had he done as you wanted, you would still not trust him. You have made your pre-judgement and by God you’re going to stick to it.
That is perfectly fine, but please while you’re in that process try to refrain from casting aspersions at me and debating me honestly.
Mike S.,
I feel I must further address your idea that the US shouldn’t care, nor do you, about detainees because we need triage of suffering. To me there is an additional logic flaw in this reasoning. The US doesn’t really have to triage in helping to ameloirate suffering. That we think it is necessary to do so, is the result of years of propaganda. There is no need to pit suffering and rights against each other. We have a bloated military budget. Even now we have suddenly “found” money to patroll the waters surrounding Somalia. Where did that money come from? Even the Huffington Post has an aritcle calling Obama the king of corporate welfare. Why do we have money to give to large corporations but not to the poor or detainees. We have a very expensive war on drugs. I suggest that corporate welfare, defense spending and the war on drugs would be excellent places to triage money. Yet ever more money goes into these things. Why is that?
Further, to imprison and torture detainees takes money and resources. Why not do the right thing and release the innocent. It would save more money than spending money on false imprisonment and torture. It does take many resources to build prisons, fly in prisoners, fly in interrogators, and bring in the apparatus of torture, so I’m not clear on how this saves money.
Finally, should you ever be in a foreign land and taken up by its govt. you would hope that the people of that country had more mercy than to say, I don’t really care about that detainee or any other one. Perhaps you would feel differently if you were rotting in a cell and you would hope that someone in that nation would have a sense of justice to care about your welfare.
Jill,
Mame, I could not agree with you more and the post. It cuts across both isles. Now you understand the particular sensitivities that I was speaking about. So, if we want to get anything going correctly, it has to be done right.
Sand for the bottom of the pool after the hole is dug. This prevents the pool from rising above the ground. This keeps the water drained underneath, so there will not be any cracks in the bottom, so it will maintain the desired level.
I don’t think that Obama will do anything half cocked. He will do it correctly unlike the last administration. Where the fire was started and then they tried to figure how to put it out. Nothing planned passed the ideal stage.
Vietnam and Iraq are alike in that we were lied into both wars.
Here’s what Paul Krugman says and I think it applies:
“One addendum to today’s column: the truth, which I think everyone in the political/media establishments knows in their hearts, is that the nine months or so between the summer of 2002 and the beginning of the Iraq insurgency were a great national moral test — a test that most people in influential positions failed.
The Bush administration was obviously — yes, obviously — telling tall tales in order to promote the war it wanted: the constant insinuations of an Iraq-9/11 link, the hyping of discredited claims about a nuclear program, etc.. And the question was, should you stand up against that? Not many did — and those who did were treated as if they were crazy.
For me and many others that was a radicalizing experience; I’ll never trust “sensible” opinion again. But for those who stayed “sensible” through the test, it’s a moment they’d like to see forgotten. That, I believe, is the real reason so many want to let torture and everything else go down the memory hole.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
I think this nation is at another 9/11 tipping point. Either we are going to hold firm to the rule of law or we will not. It’s not just Republicans that do not support an honest look at what happened. Democrats are involved up to their necks in the whole thing. It’s also not true that all Republicans oppose an impartial investigation. There is no water to prepare. Both sides are guilty and both will do anythng they can to stop a true investigation. Therefore, we either decide to be a nation of laws or we walk away. There is never going to be that perfect time. This is our chance to get it right. We got it wrong as a nation after 9/11. We abandoned who we were. We cannot make the same mistake again. I don’t think you and I will ever agree on this issue but that’s how I feel.
Jill,
I understand what you are saying. I would like to see Bush but more so Cheney be publicly quartered and hung.
Suppose Holder does his job, today the way you want it. What is going to happen in Congress during that time. Nothing, Nothing will happen that will be of benefit to the country as a whole.
Why do we have wars, when it is known that some will die. The rational is, some must die for the benefit of many.
You cannot compare Vietnam to Iraq. Both we should never have gotten involved with. That I can agree. The Bullshit the Vets from Vietnam went through when they got home should have never been. This was done to suppress Communism, albeit it was a French Revolution, we stuck our noses in and we did have an embarrassment from the Bay of Pigs.
With that said, Iraq was nothing more than getting even with Saddam after his threat to assassinate Geo the First. They did not start this. We were supposed to go to Afghanistan to level Osama for the 9-11 attacks. But we could not because of the Bin Ladin hold on construction in the Mid East.
We went to Iraq to protect American Bankers and Oil Companies. Look at the Big Picture. From the Presidents agenda to having to deal with Congress. Do you think that the Republicans would do the right thing for this country if Bush and Cheney are under fire. I don’t think so. I think that there would be a lot Quid Pro Quo and Tie Bar Legislation that would effectively cease the ground work that Holder is doing.
You can’t have a swimming pool unless you have it all prepared and obtain the correct permit(s). Holder and Obama are getting the permits and it will take some time. We are ready to swim aren’t we?
Mike S.,
I have never doubted your loathing for bushcheney. I am completely on topic here. I am trying to show what the arguments that you guys use for lack of prosecution sound like in every day situations. They don’t make sense there and they don’t make sense for bushcheney. I only quoted just a few of the arguments I have heard for justifying the lack of prosecution.
Suffering does not have to be either or. It is not necessary to ignore one type of suffering to attend to another. The United States can take them all on. In my opinion it is callus and also counterproductive to not care about detainee torture. Torture is a horrible thing to experience. Not recconning with the fact that we tortured and are quite possibly still torturing, is a mistake. The world is looking to us to hold true to our values. Failure to do so gives us much less clout in the world. We may think we can handle 3 wars and an economic crisis without friends in the world, but we are mistaken to believe this. It is also one of the best terrorist recruitment tools ever devised. Further, failure to take action puts our troops in harms’ way (this is a proven fact) and it opens our country to terrorist attack. So for both moral and practical, as well as strictly legal reasons, we should follow the law post haste. You should remember also that there was another war crime committed on our population–lying the country into a war that has cost over 4000 lives and so many wounded.
I do not tend to talk about my personal life, except to joke about it but I will open up here. I am married to a combat vet. It is deeply personal to me that any soldier was sent to war, suffered injury, physical or mental, as the result of a lie. In the case of my spouse, that war was Vietnam. 30+ years and one of the kindest, best people I have ever known still suffers from what happened there. In my own life I have been through the small box with the insects. Because of these experiences I can not so easily blow away the suffering of either detainees or our soldiers who have and will suffer because of the decisions of truly evil men and women.
This man ordered helpless people killed. That is evil and he should be held to account. Bush and friends ordered the torture and murder of so many people they cannot be counted. How much more then they should be held to account, not excused for political expediency.
“This is where I feel our country has entered the realm of surrealism. This man did exactly the same thing as bush and cheney. Why do we think he should be prosecuted?”
Jill,
You couldn’t have gone more off topic and your connection doesn’t fly. The man did not do the exact same thing as Bush/Cheney and they were in charge of the Executive Branch of Government. With the reasoning you use with this then we shouldn’t prosecute any murder or attempted murder case, until we convict Bush/Cheney. The logical conclusion to this is that the entire operations of government shut down while we prosecute. How about the deaths and despair that such an impasse might lead to. The people dying daily for lack of health care. The unemployed workers killing themselves, or drinking themselves to death because of the despair of not being able to care for their families.
There is a lot of death and despair in this world and I know better than most having worked against it for 38 years. Sadly, when faced with life and death situations, as I have been, one must learn to triage and deal with the most emergent. Call me callous but while I decry torture, I think the health and welfare of the multitudes requires primary attention over those wrongly held in Guantanamo. The oppression of women around the world also takes precedence, as does the needless incarceration of millions in the US. It’s a very bad world out there for those without privilege and the scope of the battle for humanity is overwhelming. I am personally thrilled with the progress made since this last election, while at the same time I spend much effort in apprising this new Administration with what I think they’re doing wrong and have documented some instances here.
The man is President and not some mythic hero. AY and I share the same take on what’s happening and please understand my loathing for Bush/Cheney is at least the equal of yours.
I base this on many years of working in the Government and within the system. If I had to promise you they will be prosecuted, I cannot. If my sources and gut feelings are correct, they will be.
It is kind of like Harold not wanting the Blood on his hands. But something had to be done to shut down the insurrection that man was causing. That was why John had to go too.
Economy First, War crimes Next. Really.
Anon Yours,
What evidence do you base your assertion that bushco will be prosecuted for their crimes?
Jill C.
Believe me he will. I read a case about a man in Prison that solicited for hire his ex-wife and son. He only got 240 months. He will be Prosecuted I am sure. This was in Maryland btw.
I know of an Atty that got busted after 4 murder trial in Federal Court. He was busted for drug dealing and murder. But the Feds waited until after his last trial. They did not want an ounce of appealable error.
This is why I say just chill out and wait a while. Perspectives is what it is all about.
This is where I feel our country has entered the realm of surrealism. This man did exactly the same thing as bush and cheney. Why do we think he should be prosecuted? Is what he did really more despicable than what they did? This is why I feel that prosecution is a necessity. How can we in good faith sanction this man for doing the same thing, on a much smaller scale, that they did? Why should anyone be held accountable for anything? Why don’t we say we can’t prosecute because that takes public funds? We can’t prosecute because it’s not the “right” time? Why don’t we say prosecution is vengence? We don’t say these things when it comes to ordinary people, why do we say them when it involves the most powerful members of society?
So he wanted clean hands … therefore have the help do it?
Lordy lordy the effects of deceit are everywhere and then some: http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/01/deceive-business.html
Can we sing, sign and sign in unison to “Bringing in the Creep” to the tune of “Bringing in the Sheep.”
I think that a lot more of this goes on than is published. This is one of the most depraved acts of man kind, human kind. It is hard to think of this person as being a man.