Life On the Farm
Shalam Israel, We are the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge. The HOME OF THE TRUTH! In the Spirit of the Most High, in the name of Christ under Commanding General Yahanna, we have dedicated our lives to bringing the 12 Tribes of the nation of Israel back to the Father in spirit and truth. The people of Negro, and Indian descent, scattered throughout North, South, Central America and the West Indian Islands are the Lost Tribes of Israel. Wherever we are; in the ghettos, the barrios, the reservations or shanty towns; on the web, and in our everyday lives we strive to wake up our people.
Merriam Webster's Dictionary: Indentured Servant - a person who signs and is bound by indentures (an agreement) to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance.
Growing up in America, terms like indentured servant were used in school to describe the work available to former slaves and migrant workers in the late 1800's. An indentured servant was a slight step above a slave. The indentured servant was bound by a contract to perform a duty for his master, but yet was not owned as a piece of property. In exchange for food, clothing, and shelter, the indentured servant completed the tasks that his master hired him to perform.
In 2013 indentured servitude is alive and thriving in America. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the grand master of countless indentured servants who today are called "student athletes." In exchange for food, clothing, travel expenses, and education; student athletes in every major and minor collegiate institution around this country, are bound by contracts, to perform specific tasks for their master.
Recently a video surfaced of student athletes being physically and verbally abused on the campus of Rutgers University. In the video, basketball head Coach Mike Rice is seen kicking players, throwing balls at their heads and backs, and hurling slurs such as, "faggot, fucking fairy, and pussy motherfucker." Mike Rice was paid a salary of 1.2 million dollars a year while his players were unpaid, and powerless against his abuse. This case is only a slight peek behind the scenes of these collegiate athletic programs.
1 Maccabees 1:11- In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us: for since we departed from them we have had much sorrow.
13 - Then certain of the people were so forward herein, that they went to the king, who gave them licence to do after the ordinances of the heathen:
14 - Whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem according to the customs of the heathen:
15 - And made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to do mischief.
In Ancient times when the Greeks first conquered the known earth, there were wicked men amongst Israel who persuaded our people to join themselves to the so called white man. The way in which they first showed their allegiance was in building a gymnasium in Jerusalem. In the gymnasium we made ourselves unclean, and turned our backs on the customs the Most High gave to our forefathers, and we were sold to do evil.
The selfish, wicked deeds committed by men like Martin Luther King Jr. and those involved in the civil rights movement is a very ancient evil that has long plagued the children of Israel. Dating back to the times of the Greek empire, there have been men amongst us who continually sought ways to get rich, and famous, by joining our nation to the heathens that oppress us.
Jackie Robinson destroyed the Negro baseball leagues when he forsook the wealth that blacks were amassing amongst themselves, for fame and acceptance in the white man’s Major Leagues. Jackie Robinson endured abuse, degradation, and belittlement on the grandest scale, in the name of proving to the white man, who hated niggers, that he was worthy to play on their field? What the hell was wrong with the Negro Leagues?
Jackie Robinson today is not praised, and remembered because of how great an athlete he was; he’s remembered because he’s the sell-out negro that strengthened the white man’s businesses while destroying ours. The evil brought upon our people because of integration in sports is a direct result of the evil Martin Luther King Jr. committed by joining our people spiritually to this wicked society.
Collegiate athletics in America are a multi-million dollar industry. The stars of the sports that make the most money, also face the greatest risk of injury. These sports are full of black, Hispanic, and Native American Indians. We've almost all seen the gruesome leg injury suffered by Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware. Or the horrific knee dislocation suffered by South Carolina all-American running back Marcus Lattimore. Our strong men are sold to give their blood, sweat, and tears, risk their lives and their health; in exchange for a college education?
Jeremiah 2:14 - Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave ? why is he spoiled?
Are the twelve tribes of Israel servants? Were we made to be a homeborn slave? Why are they destroyed?
Black, Hispanic, and Native American Indians weren't made to be slaves in America. The Most High bestowed upon us the gifts necessary to rule the planet earth. It's not a coincidence that the strongest, fastest, most athletic people on earth are the chosen people of the Most High Power, creator of all living things.
What we have yet to acknowledge is that our physical superiority means nothing when we aren't in line with the source of our spiritual power. We are spoiled because we have turned away from the laws, statutes, and commandments of the Most High. We have become home born slaves because we choose to serve our oppressor and not the Most High.
What is going on in collegiate athletics today is a farce and a sham. Young black, Hispanic, and Native American Indians are coaxed into slaving and putting their blood, sweat, and tears into sporting activities that make universities rich beyond imagine, in exchange for a college degree? What guarantees come with that piece of paper? None! What is guaranteed however is fans flocking to arenas year round, paying money, to see our choice athletes entertain.
Proverbs 3:31 - Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
The Most High told us not to envy our oppressors, and to choose none of his ways.
Basketball, football, soccer, baseball, and all other sports involving balls and physical competition are customs of the heathens. In our homeland Israelites didn't compete against one another, we trained for war. Sports in America have robbed our strong men of that honor. There is nothing honorable, or praiseworthy about putting a ball in a hoop, or bashing in the brains of another brother trying to score a pigskin in other teams goal. These are the goals that our strong men have been reduced to competing for.
Men like Jackie Robinson following behind Martin Luther King Jr, envied the glory and fame the white man gave to sports figures. Before integration, sports to blacks, Hispanics, and Native Indians were merely leisure and exercise. Making money and prospering from sports came secondary. It wasn't until we joined hands with our oppressor that these once leisure activities began to take prevalent roles in our society.
Deuteronomy 28:43 - The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
The Most High warned us that the heathens that are living around us will rise up very high; and that we would be brought down very low.
By joining ourselves to America, and believing in the false hopes of making it in professional sports, we have been brought down very low. The NCAA raked $871.6 million dollars of revenue in 2011-2012, from its television and marketing deals, championship games, and ticket sales during its athletic events. How much of that money, went to the student athletes who the spectators pay to see? ZERO!!! How much money is set aside to ensure injured players are able to make a living for after their careers are ruined? ZERO!!! How much money does the NCAA use to help Israelites struggling in the ghetto to climb out of poverty? ZERO!!!
Ecclesiastes 7:7 - Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
One thing that's for sure is a wise man gets mad when he sees that he and his people are being oppressed. A gift from the oppressor can destroy the anger in the mind of the wise man.
Professional athletes and so called Black, Hispanic, and Native American Indian leaders are not wise in America. Mostly all professional athletes today came through the ranks of the NCAA. If these men were wise, having made their money, you’d think that they would have enough manhood and courage to speak out against the evil going on in the college ranks. How is it that we should accept the $840 million dollars brought in by the NCAA, while the grunts doing all the work are punished for accepting money? The gift of a multi-million dollar professional contract makes Israelites that come from drug riddled, violent, murderous streets, forget about the oppression that we face everyday here in America.
The young, strong, mighty men of our nation should be training and building themselves up to protect our families. Instead they waste the choicest years of their lives sacrificing themselves for the hopes of making America greater. While we struggle, fight, and die in the ghetto, the few of us that make it out with our physically superior, god given talents, are forced to accept abuse, and belittlement by rich, overpaid, man beaters like former coach Mike Rice of Rutgers.
Take those same black men being abused by their coach at Rutgers; being called “faggots, pussies, and punk motherfuckers,” having basketballs thrown at their heads and being shoved in the back by their coach. Put those same young men on the basketball court anywhere else in America. Now throw a basketball at their heads, call them names like the ones their coach used, and lay a finger on them in a non basketball manner, and watch them half kill the man who they feels is violating them.
Don’t think we’re still in slavery? Go ask LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, or any other superstar professional athlete to profit from a commercial with their name on a jersey. Then you’ll find out they can’t because their name and likeness is owned by the team they are paid under contract to work for.
It’s time for us to awake from the mad spell that we are under in America. Black, Hispanic, and Native American Indian, man, woman, and child, you are far greater than an entertainer for the so called white men. We are the chosen people of the Most High and he didn’t bless us with strength, speed, size, and athleticism to be entertaining slaves in America. The Most High created us to be Priests, Kings, and Princes’ to rule on this earth. As long as we settle for the crumbs that the white man throws us, we’ll never see our true potential.
Every Monday Night, check out the Live Radio Broadcast, with Commanding General Yahanna from 9-11pm, at www.ISUPK.com or listen in live on Skype @ 215-586-4851.
Enroll free in our live online classes, Tuesday through Friday from 7-9pm EST, on the website or call in on the same Skype number. Don’t forget to pay your tithes and your freewill offerings.
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Get down with this truth, get down with this body, let us come together, and build this nation up right for the Most High and Christ. We love you Israel, Shalam!!!
Wednesday
Bishop Eddie Long Gets Sued For Serious Financial Deception
Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has been sued
for allegedly encouraging his congregants to enter into a Ponzi scheme. The documents were filed in DeKalb County about three weeks ago, and hold
Bishop Long accountable for bringing Ephren Taylor into the church to encourage
members to invest in his company, which was allegedly operating at a massive
deficit.
New Birth members lost over $1 million dollars in their investments, and
they now hold Bishop Long responsible for their decision.
“If Bishop Eddie Long hadn’t endorsed this they wouldn’t have invested,”
said Jason Doss, attorney representing the former members.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Taylor of running a Ponzi
scheme, and he has been charged in
a pending civil suit. Effectively, a Ponzi scheme is when you tell your
someone that you’re investing their money in one thing, but using it for
another. Some companies seek out additional “investor” capital in order to
simply pay the bills or keep other investors happy. The last investor
holding the bag is the one who ends up broke.
“He preyed upon investors’ faith and their desire to help others, convincing
them that they could earn healthy returns while also helping their
communities,” said David Woodcock, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional
Office in Texas.
The good Lord knows that I haven’t been kind toward Bishop Eddie Long over
the past two years. I am firmly convinced that he is not healthy for his
church and certainly not fit for leadership. I also believe that his
members have failed to hold him accountable for past decisions: When he
was first accused of abusing young boys in his church, he promised to reveal
everything. But a few months later, he simply settled the suit behind
closed doors.
But as a Finance Professor, I have to step in and say that this unfortunate
incident doesn’t necessarily imply that Bishop Long deliberately deceived those
who invested in Taylor. I truly believe that Long felt that he was
helping a young black man build his business and encouraging wealth-building in
the African American community. At worst, Long is guilty of not properly
vetting the companies that use his reputation, which would make him no more
guilty than Tavis Smiley during his interactions with predatory lender Wells
Fargo.
This might be an odd and unpopular thing to say, but I could care less about
that. The point is that there is a thin line between predatory investing
and simply losing money. Had the economic crisis of 2008 never occurred,
I argue that 80% of the lawsuits that were filed for predatory/illegal behavior
on the part of investment management
companies would never have been filed. People are happy when their
investments work out, but when things go south, they look for someone to sue.
I doubt that either Long or Smiley knew that they were endorsing toxic
organizations, and I’m willing to bet that most of us would have made the same
decision.
This does not, in any way, say that the members of New Birth do not have a
legitimate legal claim against Bishop Long. The bottom line is that there
are serious problems with the way Ephren ran his company, and the former
financial golden boy reminds us that all that glitters isn’t gold. But
Long’s public video asking Taylor to give the money back is, in my opinion, a
legitimate reflection of the fact that Long was just as shocked by this outcome
as anyone else. The mistake that Long appears to have made is that he presumed
that because Taylor was his friend, he must also be a good investment manager.
This gets a lot of people into trouble.
The final lesson to be learned for all of us is that you should NEVER trust
the bulk of your resources to any person, whether it be your pastor, a close friend or
anyone else. The trust that Bishop Long’s congregants placed in him has
likely put young boys at risk and led to the financial ruin of people in his
church.
One of the reasons that Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey have so
much wealth is because they were always careful and well-educated about anyone
who had access to their money. There is no excuse to not be financially
literate – if the investment is too complex for you to understand, then you
probably don’t want to make it.
No one should leave himself in the dark.
SCRIPTURES
MATTHEW 7: 15Beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. 16Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of
thistles? 17Even
so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. 18A
good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
ROMANS 2: 21Thou
therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that
preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22Thou that sayest a
man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23Thou that makest thy
boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24For
the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
MALACHI 3: 8Will a man rob
God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes
and offerings. 9Ye
are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole
nation. 10Bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.
Puerto Rico bans gay adoptions
Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday voted 5-4 to ban gay couples from
adopting children, with judges claiming that a child’s dignity, stability and
well-being can only be ensured if raised in a “traditional” family.
The vote comes two days after 200,000 religious Christians held a rally against granting
same-sex couples any sort of legal rights. As the largest anti-gay rally in the
history of the US commonwealth, the gathering portrayed the immense opposition
gay couples continue to face in Puerto Rico.
Although some lawmakers support granting gay couples with certain legal
rights, many public figures remain starkly opposed to the idea. The Supreme
Court decision came in response to a woman’s eight-year-long attempt to adopt a
12-year-old girl that her partner had given birth to through in vitro
fertilization. Even though the woman’s girlfriend was the mother of the girl,
the court upheld the constitutionality of a law that prohibits someone in a
same-sex relationship from adopting the child.
“The state … does not have a constitutional obligation to award this
relationship the same rights that other relationships have when it comes to
adoption procedures,” read the majority’s opinion, which also added that
children would only receive a good upbringing if raised by both a mother and
father.
The Supreme Court majority also said that second-parent adoptions, which
would allow same-sex couples to jointly adopt children, do not apply in Puerto
Rico because US territory laws do not have a solution for that kind of a
situation. The judges said that rather than take the issue to court, same-sex
couples trying to adopt a child should instead ask legislators to change the
law.
The court’s ruling prevents the 12-year-old girl from receiving the woman’s
medical insurance and prevents the woman from gaining custody of the girl if
her birth mother ever died. Because the girl has no legal ties to the woman who
helped raise her, she is deprived from financial benefits that translate from
parents to a child.
Chief Justice Federico Hernandez Denton, who voted against the ban, said the
law is unconstitutional and that the plaintiff’s lawyer’s have successfully
proven that the 12-year-old benefited from being raised by two women, AP
reports.
“Both (women) have ideal emotional skills, intuition and protective
instinct to guarantee the girl’s full and health development,” he wrote. “In
addition, tests showed that (the girl) is mentally stable, does exceptionally
well in school and gets along very well with children her age.”
But both the court and the territory remain divided about the idea of granting
same-sex couples with legal rights. Protesters who rallied outside the Capitol
on Monday denounced legislation that would protect same-sex couples from
domestic violence and condemned legislation that would ban employment and
housing discrimination based on someone’s sexual preference. The Supreme
Court’s decision further demonstrates the wave of opposition gay couples face
in the US territory that has not yet embraced the idea of homosexual
relationships.
SCRIPTURES
LEVITICUS 20: 13If
a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them.
2 PETER 2: 6And
turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live
ungodly; 7And
delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For
that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
HIV increase in gay men caused by fall in condom use
A fall in the proportion of gay and bisexual men using
condoms is behind the rise in HIV infections in those groups in the UK, say
researchers.
Wider use of anti-retroviral drugs has helped to stop a sharper rise, a
study by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and a number of universities found.
They found a 26% rise, from 1990-2010, in the proportion of men who have sex
with men who did not use condoms.
The report said the figures showed it was vital to promote safe sex.
Rates of HIV have been rising in recent years with latest figures showing
cases among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the UK reaching an all-time
high.
A recent report from the
HPA found that nearly half of the 6,280 people diagnosed in the UK in 2011
were MSM (Homosexuals) .
Overall, one in 20 MSM are infected with HIV.
Case study
Darren, Greater Manchester, writes:
"I suspect the rise is more among young MSMs.
"They see HIV positive men
like myself and think it is just a matter of popping a few pills if they catch
it, so they are not that phased about becoming HIV positive or not using
condoms.
"There also seem to be more bisexual men or curious men around now who
are used to not bothering with condoms with heterosexual encounters so prefer
not to use them elsewhere too.
"When I do have sex I tend to use condoms as there are worse things you
can get like Hepatitis C or an alternative strain of HIV which can reduce your
highly active antiretroviral
therapy drug pool."
For this study, researchers analysed data from 1990 to 2010. They concluded
that, without the introduction of anti-retroviral drugs to treat those with
HIV, infections would be 68% higher in MSM.
Therapy with anti-retrovirals lowers the risk of people with HIV infecting
others.
The report suggested the incidence of HIV could be 32% lower if all
anti-retroviral treatment were prescribed from the moment of diagnosis rather
than when health declined.
Informed choices
Further analysis showed that, if all MSM
(Homosexuals) had stopped using condoms from
2000, rates of HIV in this group would now be 400% higher, the journal PLoS One
reported.
The data also showed that the incidence of HIV could have dropped by a
quarter if more HIV testing had
been done.
“Start Quote
Everyone should use a condom when having sex with new or
casual partners, until all partners have had a sexual health screen.”
Dr Valerie Delpech Health Protection Agency
But the researchers said the results showed that even a modest increase in
unprotected sex was enough to erode the benefits of other interventions.
Study leader Professor Andrew Phillips, from University College
London, said: "By better understanding the driving forces behind the
trends we've seen in the past, it will allow us to make informed choices to
reduce new HIV infections in the future."
Co-author Dr Valerie Delpech, who is head of HIV surveillance at the HPA,
said: "Everyone should use a condom when having sex with new or casual
partners, until all partners have had a sexual health screen.
"We also encourage men who have sex with men to get an HIV and STI
screen at least annually, and every three months if having condomless sex with
new or casual partners - and clinicians to take every opportunity to recommend
HIV testing to this group."
Sir Nick Partridge, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said
condom use by gay men had played a key part in containing the spread of HIV in
the UK.
"Without it, there would have been 80,000 more gay men with HIV between
2000 and 2010."
He added that the study showed the impact of the combined HIV strategy of
promoting condoms, increasing regular HIV testing and encouraging the earlier use
of anti-HIV drug therapy.
He added: "At a time when funding for local HIV prevention programmes
is under threat, this only reinforces the important role which local
authorities can and must play in funding local HIV prevention."
SCRIPTURES
ROMANS 1: 26For this cause God
gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature: 27And likewise also
the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Mississippi finally ratifies ban on slavery
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which outlaws slavery, was
passed 150 years ago. But the state of Mississippi never ratified it – until
the movie ‘Lincoln’ led to the discovery of the missing paperwork.
Mississippi has already come into the spotlight for its inaction regarding
the official ban on slavery. It wasn’t until 1995 that the state voted to
ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, long after all other states had voted to do
so. But even though lawmakers unanimously voted for the resolution, the
paperwork was never submitted and the amendment failed to become official.
After watching the movie ‘Lincoln’, which premiered in late 2012, a
Mississippi professor’s curiosity led to his discovery of the state’s
shortcoming. Dr. Ranjan Batra, an associate professor of neurobiology and
anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, conducted
further research on the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment after watching
the film.
( Dr. Ranjan Batra )
The recent immigrant from India then discovered something that state
lawmakers had failed to notice: a clerical error prevented the ratification
from becoming official after the Senate voted upon it in 1995. The state had
never officially notified the US Archivist, the Clarion Ledger reports.
Batra immediately informed Ken Sullivan, an anatomical material specialist
for UMC’s body donation program, of his discovery – and Sullivan conducted
further research to confirm his colleague’s findings.
“What an amendment to have an error in filing,” Dick Molpus, former
Mississippi secretary of state, told the Clarion Ledger. “Thanks to Ken
Sullivan for being a good citizen in bringing this oversight to light, so it
can be corrected.”
In the months since Batra noticed the error in November, the state has
worked towards completing the paperwork to officially ban slavery. The Office
of the Federal Register received a copy of the resolution on Jan. 30, and the
state officially ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on Feb. 7.
“We’re very deliberate in our state. We finally got it right,” Charles
Barth, director of the Federal Register, told the Clarion Ledger.
“Now it’s officially filed and recorded.”
The move is long overdue: 36 US states had already ratified the amendment
when it was adopted in 1865 and most other states added their votes in the late
1800s. Kentucky ratified the amendment in 1976, after having rejected it in
1865.
But even though all US states have been opposed to the use of slavery for
decades, Mississippi did not officially ban the use of slavery and involuntary
servitude until the year 2013.
“It was long overdue,” Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert
Hosemann said after the final papers
were filed this month.
And 150 years after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Americans can
finally rest assured that every state has agreed to it.
SCRIPTURES
DEUTERONOMY 28: 68And the LORD shall
bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee,
Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies
for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
ZECHARIAH 11: 5Whose
possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them
say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity
them not.
Former San Diego mayor admits misusing charity to fund $1 billion gambling habit
Los Angeles (CNN) -- The first woman mayor of San Diego has
acknowledged in court she misappropriated more than $2 million from her late
husband's foundation to fund a casino gambling
habit with which she allegedly won and lost $1 billion over nine years.
Her attorney said a brain tumor affected Maureen
O'Connor's judgment in playing video poker.
She's now broke and suffering cognitive impairment following brain surgery and
a stroke in 2011, prosecutors said.
O'Connor, mayor of San Diego from 1986 to 1992,
reported to the IRS more than $1 billion in casino winnings but also reported
losses bigger than those winnings, resulting in a net loss from 2000 to 2009,
prosecutors said in court papers.
Those net losses amounted to $13 million, her
attorney said.
O'Connor was married to Robert O. Peterson, founder
of the Jack in the Box restaurant chain, from 1977 until his death in 1994, but
court documents don't disclose the size of the couple's fortune that apparently
funded O'Connor's gambling habit.
O'Connor, 66, entered a deferred prosecution
agreement Thursday in federal court in San Diego in which she admitted
misappropriating money from the R.P. Foundation, on which she served as a
trustee.
Under the agreement, she will repay the foundation
$2,088,000, pay owed taxes, and be treated for her gambling addiction,
prosecutors said.
O'Connor, however, is bankrupt and unable to work,
court papers say. Her ability to repay the foundation is "limited,"
they say.
In 2011, surgeons removed a large tumor from
O'Connor's brain, and she suffered complications that included cognitive
impairment and a pulmonary embolism,
prosecutors said. Magistrate Judge David Bartick found that her continuing
health problems made it highly improbable she could be brought to trial,
prosecutors said.
If O'Connor repays the foundation and satisfies the
conditions of her deferred prosecution, the government will dismiss its
prosecution in two years, prosecutors said.
She faces an unlawful monetary transaction charge
carrying a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, documents say.
"Maureen O'Connor was a selfless public
official who contributed much to the well-being of San Diego," U.S.
Attorney Laura Duffy of San Diego said in a prepared statement. "However,
no figure, regardless of how much good they've done or how much they've given
to charity, can escape criminal liability with impunity."
O'Connor told reporters Thursday that for a while,
she didn't know she had a brain tumor.
"There were two Maureens -- Maureen No. 1 and
Maureen No. 2," she said. "Maureen No. 2 is the woman that did not
know she had a tumor growing in her head."
She described that era as "the last chapter of
my life where I lost my husband, I lost three of my siblings, I lost my two
best friends and I had a difficult time.
"I think most of you who know me here would
know that I never meant to hurt the city," she told reporters. She began
to choke up and cry.
O'Connor was described as "a public figure and
a civic treasure to the San Diego community" for 30 years, according to
court papers filed by her attorney.
She is the eighth of 13 children of a mother who was
a registered nurse and a father, Jerome, who was a boxer known as "Kid
Jerome" and later became a prominent businessman, defense documents said.
She was elected to city council at age 25 in 1971
and, later as mayor, "put our city on the map as a destination for
international tourism," partly by presiding over the completion of the
city's Convention Center, defense documents said.
O'Connor's attorney attributed her gambling
addiction to her medical condition.
"This was not, we think, a psychiatric problem
or a characterological defect because there is substantial evidence that during
this same time, there was a tumor growing in her brain, in the centers of the
brain that affect and control, logic, reasoning and, most importantly,
judgment," attorney Eugene Iredale said at a news conference Thursday.
O'Connor sat next to him with her head lowered.
O'Connor didn't plead guilty this week and the
charge is played in abeyance for two years, Iredale said.
"It is fair to say in the last eight to 10
years a multiple amount of tragedies have befallen a person who was a great
civic leader -- one of the sweetest, funniest people who ever existed in our
city's history," the attorney said. "She suffered from terrible
loneliness. She began around 2001 to gamble heavily."
"Although it's not fair of us to say there is
no moral culpability, Maureen acknowledges doing something she ought not to
have done," he added.
Photographs of her head after surgery show a
fluid-filled cavity without brain matter at all, he said.
From 2000 to 2008, O'Connor gambled in Las Vegas,
Atlantic City and San Diego casinos, court papers said. In 2008, when she
became nearly broke, she began to siphon off funds from the R.P. Foundation and
continued the activity into 2009, court documents said.
To fund her high-stakes gambling, she had liquidated
her savings, sold several real estate holdings, auctioned valuables, and
obtained a third mortgage on her home in La Jolla, California, the documents
say.
O'Connor allegedly bankrupted the foundation and
tried to avoid paying federal income taxes on the charity's money by
characterizing what she took as "loans," court papers say.
"Despite having limited, if any, assets other
than the funds misappropriated from the foundation, defendant continued
high-stakes gambling," the documents say.
By March 2009, O'Connor allegedly had paid off
casinos' gambling markers, or lines of credit, but hadn't repaid the
foundation, prosecutors said.
She then enjoyed a streak of "several large
gambling winnings after March 2009 that were used to continue gambling, not
bring the foundation out of bankruptcy," court papers say.
Prior to 2008, the foundation funded such
philanthropies as City of Hope, the Alzheimer's Association, Sharp Healthcare,
Little Wishes Foundation, San Diego Hospice and the John Burton Foundation,
authorities said.
CNN's Jaclyn Wang contributed to this report.
SCRIPTURES
JOHN 8: 44Ye
are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a
liar, and the father of it.
1 TIMOTHY 6: 6But
godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing
out. 8And
having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9But they that will be rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which
drown men in destruction and perdition. 10For the love of money is the root
of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
RI records spotlight double life of Legion founder
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Newly unsealed documents in a lawsuit
brought against the Roman Catholic order Legion of
Christ show the group's former second-in-command testified he discovered
the order's founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel,
had fathered a daughter in 2006, but never confronted him about his double life
and didn't share the news with the group's broader membership.
( Rev. Marcial Maciel )
The documents, previously sealed in a lawsuit in Rhode Island, include
thousands of pages of testimony from high-ranking leaders at the Legion, its members, and relatives of Rhode Island
widow Gabrielle Mee, who bequeathed $60 million
to the Legion before her death at age 96 in 2008.
The Legion, founded by Maciel decades ago in
Mexico City, was taken over by the Vatican in 2010 after a church investigation
determined that Maciel had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three
children by two women.
The scandal, which tarnished the legacy of Pope John Paul II, has been cited
as an especially egregious example of how the Vatican ignored decades of
reports about sexually abusive priests because church leaders put the interests
of the institution above those of the victims.
The documents released Friday, at the request of The Associated Press and
other news organizations, include the first-ever depositions made available of
high-ranking Legion officials, including the Rev. Luis Garza, the Legion's
former No. 2.
In a deposition December 2011, Garza says he became suspicious while
visiting Maciel in 2006 at a Jacksonville, Fla., hotel about two women he saw
there. He later learned they were Maciel's daughter and her mother, a fact he
confirmed with both women.
Garza said he obtained the daughter's birth certificate as proof — listing
the father as "Jose Rivas." Later, it was revealed that Maciel used
the "Jose Rivas" pseudonym with his other hidden family, a Mexican
woman with whom he had two sons.
Yet Garza said he never asked Maciel about his daughter or discussed it with
him, and he didn't think it was necessary to share the news with the Legion's
membership or its lay movement, Regnum Christi. He said he only told the
Legion's superior and two other priests.
"I didn't think at the time that the fact that fathering a child would
change in any way the way we needed to behave vis-a-vis Father
Maciel or the actions that we needed to do," Garza said in the
deposition. "Because we needed to comply with indications of the Holy See
and also because there was an issue of privacy and respect for the mother and
the daughter."
The Legion didn't acknowledge Maciel's children or the sexual abuse
allegations against him until February 2009, about a year after he died.
Mee's niece, Mary Lou Dauray, filed the Rhode Island lawsuit after her aunt
died, saying Mee was defrauded by an order whose leaders orchestrated an effort
to hide its founder's misdeeds from her aunt. A Superior Court judge ruled in
September that Dauray did not have standing to sue.
But the judge noted that the documents filed under seal raised a red flag.
He referred to the Legion's top officials as "clandestinely dubious
religious leaders," and said there was evidence that Mee had been unduly
persuaded to change her trusts and will.
Bernard Jackvony, the lawyer for Mee's niece, said taken as a whole, the
depositions expose how the Legion knew by 2004 that the Vatican was
investigating Maciel for sexual abuse and by 2006 that he had a daughter yet
kept the information private. He argued that Mee never would have given the
Legion her money had she known of Maciel's true nature.
"In terms of fraud, when you withhold information from people, that's
the same as if you said something to them that's not true," he said.
The Legion said Friday it didn't exert undue influence over Mee's
decision-making and she made her gifts of her own will.
Among other documents released Friday was 2001 testimony from Mee in a
separate lawsuit, showing her complete trust in the Legion.
"I know they needed money and what their dealings were, and I have
complete confidence and trust. I know it's all above board. It's all very
honest," she said. "I know no details and I don't ask."
The documents in Dauray's lawsuit were kept under seal until the AP, The New
York Times, the National Catholic Reporter and The Providence Journal
intervened, arguing that the documents were in the public interest. The Legion
argued that media coverage of the documents could taint prospective jurors if
there was a trial.
___
Winfield reported from Rome. Contributing to this report are Associated
Press writers Matt Brown in Billings, Mont., Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia
and Chris Sherman in McAllen, Texas, and AP Projects Editor Brooke Lansdale in
New York.
SCRIPTURES
MARK 5: 8For he said unto him,
Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9And he asked him, What is
thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. 10And
he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. 11Now there was
there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And
all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter
into them. 13And
forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered
into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,
(they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
2 CORINTHIANS 11: 3But
I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye
receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye
have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
JOHN 3: 19And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil.
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