This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Shitbags

  • Donating to a Charity That “Helps Vets”? Might Want to Check It Out First

    Charitable giving is good.  But there are good charities and there are those who give the word “charity” lip service.  It always pays to check before you send that check.

    For example:  are you thinking of donating to Help Hospitalized Veterans  – or any other organization founded by Roger Chapin?  If so, you might want to read this article first.

    Help Hospitalized Veterans  is pretty efficient at raising money – an average of $40+M a year over 10 years.  But it seems they’re not exactly one of the more effective charities when it comes to putting that money to good use.  In fact, it seems there are quite a number of questionable practices at  Help Hospitalized Veterans, such as

    • $80,000 golf memberships for board members
    • Loans and grants by Help Hospitalized Veterans to other organizations founded by Roger Chapin
    • Only around 35% of donations actually going towards program costs
    • Highly inflated and “spiked” salaries for senior officials, including Roger Chapin and his successor
    • A $2M “golden parachute” retirement for Roger Chapin when he retired from the charity in 2009

    Indeed, this isn’t the time Roger Chapin and Help Hospitalized Veterans have been in the public spotlight.  They were investigated by Congress in 2008 for allegations of mismanagement.

    But this does appear to be the first time they’ve been taken to court.  The state of CA is suing them for financial improprieties as a charitable organization.  The state is seeking the ouster of the current president and several board members – and to recover at least $4.3M that’s alleged to have been misspent.

    I’m not against the head of an organization with annual revenue of $40M+ receiving a good salary.  But I do have a problem with charities using donations as a “cash cow” and skimming big bucks off the top for salaries and perks for their leadership, then spending barely 1/3 of what they take in on actual charitable programs.  And based on what’s been made public to date that’s certainly what seems to have been be going on at Help Hospitalized Veterans – though it has yet to be proven in court.

    Given what’s been discovered at Help Hospitalized Veterans I’d also be wary as hell about giving my money to any other organization founded by Roger Chapin, too.  He’s apparently founded over two dozen other organizations besides Help Hospitalized Veterans.

    Hey, Yon:  if you want to spend time bitching about a charity, you really might want to check these guys out instead of Soldier’s Angels.

  • Abdo gets life

    Naser Abdo, the ambitious fellow who plotted to bomb and then shoot up a restaurant in Killeen, Texas, outside the gates of Fort Hood has been sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge, according to the Associate Press.

    Let’s recap, shall we; Abdo was AWOL from Fort Campbell after winning conscientious objector status from the Army, before child porn was found on his computer. His lawyer was James Branum, famous around these parts for defending countless deserters and AWOL soldiers at Fort Hood. After going AWOL himself, Abdo shows up in his lawyer’s stomping grounds, in the vicinity of “Under the Hood” an IVAW-sponsored coffee house where much of the local anti-war crowd gathered to plot the voicing of their displeasure with the wars. And where James Branum recruited clients for his law practice.

    Abdo had no visible means of support, yet he was living in a motel in Killeen and he was able to buy guns, ammunition and components for his bombs, not to mention military clothing he needed to execute his plot and the things like food and stuff.

    On the day Abdo was arrested, IVAW and James Branum went absolutely silent. Within a few weeks, Branum was out of the military lawyer thing and he’s gone back to Oklahoma to fail at practicing his trade there.

    We had IVAW members and some of their former fans from the Killeen area emailing us asking about how they could get in touch with the FBI in the hours following Abdo’s arrest. I don’t know how any of that turned out, and we’ll probably never know. But we can guess what all of that drama was about.

    Maybe someday Jason Abdo will tell us about it. I’d write his book for him.

  • Vietnam veteran lawyer catches the PTSD and steals from client

    Silicon Valley’s Mercury News tells the tale of a decorated Vietnam veteran, Eugene Hannon, who used his position as an officer of the court to steal funds from his client meant for child support of the client’s children so he could spend it on himself. Like he’d never get caught. And then he leans on the old PTSD crutch;

    Hannon argued that he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcoholism, numerous ailments and other family issues that led to his behavior. But a state bar judge in San Francisco found him culpable on four of five counts stemming from a family court case he started litigating a decade ago.

    Good on the court to see through that bullshit. PTS is losing it’s value when cum bubbles like Hannon try to use it an excuse for their bad behavior. So he’s been disbarred, but mother of the children from whom he stole hasn’t got back a penny of the tens of thousands of dollars Hannon spent.

    Someone ought to check into his records to see if he is even a Vietnam veteran, as well as his claim to be “heavily decorated”.

    Hannon suffered from numerous health conditions, including nearly dying from an intestinal blockage, and stress from family issues and a house fire, his attorney said. The “heavily decorated Vietnam War veteran,” who served from 1966 to 1969, had a clean record over 28 years of litigating and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, along with alcoholism, according to the ruling.

    I don’t usually doubt the claims of a veteran when it comes to PTS, but if they’re using it as a legal defense, I’ll question it every time.

  • High School shooting thwarted

    Fox News reports that a taxicab driver’s tip led to the arrest of 18-year-old Timmy Eike who, it seems, was in possession of a rifle, a shotgun and a few hundreds rounds of ammunition that he bought illegally;

    “I did what I figured anybody else would have done,” said the cab driver, who wishes to remain anonymous.

    Eike is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and lying to a licensed dealer about his mental condition, according to KSWO-TV.

    Compliments to the cab driver who can be credited with, at the very least, saving Eike’s life.

  • Stolen Valor Happens on Twitter Too

    I don’t really go on Twitter to find phonies at all. I just happened to see someone retweet (basically copy and republish what was said to the “twitter-uninitated”) something from a user with the name “FormerGrunt”. I thought, well.. let’s take a look at the Former Grunt.

    Something I noticed right off the bat is the profile photo. I’ve seen that photo before. Quick search and found it: SFC Daniel Crabtree. He’s a Special Forces soldier that was killed in Iraq in 2006. Quick lineup and flip in Photoshop and we have an exact match.

    So I decide to ask him about it… but since he’s a secret squirrel, he’s fuzzy on details. (more…)

  • Oily Titz and her really bad legal advice

    The head Birther nutjob, Oily Titz, or Orly Taintz, or whatever, is giving really bad legal advice in an attempt to destroy the military careers of some more service members. Somehow she thinks that the Pentagon’s decision to allow military personnel to wear their uniforms at the gay pride event in San Diego this weekend also allows them to wear their uniforms at a protest at the Democrat National Convention this summer;

    Breaking news: members of the military can demonstrate in uniforms in front of the DNC convention against usurper Obama with forged papers

    Until now members of the military were not allowed to demonstrate in uniforms. Now this ban was lifted, when members of the US military were allowed to march in their uniforms in a gay pride parade.

    Here is a new line of attack: “American patriots against the usurper pride parade” in military uniforms. We need members of the military in their uniforms demonstrating in front of the DNC, RNC conventions and in front of the American Bar association convention in Chicago. We need signs “Proud Americans against the Usurper”. “End usurpation of the US Presidency, send Obama to prison” “Prison for Obama and accomplices for forgery”.

    Important: if members of the military can demonstrate in uniforms in gay pride parade, they can demonstrate in their uniforms in front of the DNC convention and demand prosecution of Obama for usurpation of the Presidency using forged papers.

    PS. If someone is not given permission to demonstrate in a uniform in American pride against the usurper parade, let me know, we will sue the military for the discrimination. what’s good for the goose, good for the gander.

    Yeah, Titz is a self-promoting shyster. Three officers have trashed their careers in her name when they refused to deploy to the wars until the president shows his birth certificate, and now she wants you to trash your career so she can lose your case when you protest at a political event in your uniform.

    Since I’m most familiar with the Army Regulation 670-1, that’s the one I’ll quote. I’m sure the other services have similar regulations;

    j. Wearing Army uniforms is prohibited in the following situations:
    (1) In connection with the furtherance of any political or commercial interests, or when engaged in off-duty civilian
    employment.
    (2) When participating in public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies, or public demonstrations, except
    as authorized by competent authority.
    (3) When attending any meeting or event that is a function of, or is sponsored by, an extremist organization.
    (4) When wearing the uniform would bring discredit upon the Army.
    (5) When specifically prohibited by Army regulations.

    So, Orly Taintz doesn’t care about you or career, she wants you to martyr yourself for her and her intellectually stunted minions.

    ADDED: Someone sent us a copy of the letter that was meant for interim guidance pertaining to the wear of a military uniform in public from the Department of Defense;
    (more…)

  • The Michael Yon story

    Michael Yon is busy stirring up his minions to incite them to kill me (yes, at least one of them over there has been quoted as wanting to “kill him stop that gean pool”). I’ve been blocked for months from Yon’s Facebook page, so it’s been reported to me.

    He’s upset because because he’s been picking on TSO again and I sent him the picture from his FOIA that I’ve had for months. There was nothing in there that was really earth-shattering, so I didn’t bother with it. But since he’s hinting that I broke into 10th Special Forces Group headquarters to get that picture which he claims was taken just prior to some secret mission he was going on, I figured I’d better show him how I do my business.

    Here’s the FOIA form on him;

    Here’s the photo that he says I broke into 10th SFG’s HQs to steal. Anyone in the military in the 80s would recognize it as a standard ID card photo;

    Here’s his assignments for his whole 4 years and 11 months of service;

    It looks like out of his 4 years and 11 months of service, he spent 2 years and 3 months as a student. Then he spent 14 months at 10th Group in Ft Devens, MA, then 17 months at 10th Group at Bad Toltz in Germany before he was discharged.

    And his awards and schooling;

    See? It’s all pretty boring. But there it is, it all came from the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis, not from one of my countless ninja assaults on a Special Forces Headquarters somewhere.

    Yeah, I know, that’s pretty boring, too. I’m sorry. But it’s Sunday and I’m trying to watch reruns of Maggie Q in Nikita on Netflix.

    As the Wikipedia page on Michael Yon quotes him “If a writer wants to make money, he should avoid truth and tell people what they want to hear. Yet to win the war, tell the truth.” I guess he opted for making money.

  • Dallas Wittgenfeld – A Recap

    There’s been a lot of rambling and invective on the recent Wittgenfeld threads at TAH (here and here).  As a result, it’s been easy to lose track of precisely what claims our “friend” Wittgenfeld actually has and has not made – and which of those claims are valid.  Since he’s now entered in the Ballduster McSoulpatch Memorial Stolen Valor Tournament, it’s probably best to have that info immediately available.  So I thought I’d take a shot at summarizing Wittgenfeld’s claims and their status.

    If anyone finds what they feel to be an error in the information below, please let me know and I’ll correct it – provided I agree, of course.  (And if you’re reading this, Wittgenfeld, the only way I’ll accept corrections from you is if they’re accompanied with paperwork you haven’t provided previously.  Like a copy of your CIB orders, for example.)

    The Legitimate Claims

    1.  Wittgenfeld claims to have served on active duty with the US Army.  That claim is backed by his DD214 and his FOIA report.  He served on active duty from Sep 1968 to July 1972.

    2.  He claims to be a Vietnam Veteran.   This claim appears valid.  Per the assignments section of his FOIA report, he served in-country from Aug 1969 to Aug 1970.

    3.  Wittgenfeld claims to have seen combat in Vietnam.  This claim appears accurate.  Per the assignments section of his FOIA report, Wittgenfeld saw combat in Vietnam with 2 different units.  The first was D Co 151st Inf (Ranger) – which was reflagged D Co 75th  Inf (Ranger) while Wittgenfeld was assigned to the unit (Aug 1969 to Apr 1970).  The second was HQ 2nd  Field Force Vietnam (HQ II FFORCEV) from Apr 1970 to Aug 1970.

    4.  Wittgenfeld claims to have an Air Medal for his service in Vietnam.  This claim appears accurate.  He was awarded one Air Medal, NOT for Valor, while assigned to HQ II FFORCEV.  (The orders for this Air Medal have been removed from their former location on-line.  However, I personally reviewed these orders prior to their removal from their former location on-line; they appeared legitimate.  I will attempt to coordinate with the owner of the site where they were formerly posted to have them re-posted.)

    5.  Wittgenfeld claims he has two Purple Hearts.  This claim appears accurate.  He was awarded  two Purple Hearts while assigned to HQ II FFORCEV.

    6.  Wittgenfeld claims to have been awarded the Army Commendation Medal with V Device (ARCOM w/V).  That claim appears accurate.  Per his DD214 and FOIA Report, he was awarded the ARCOM w/V, apparently while assigned to D Co 151st Inf (Ranger).

    7.  Wittgenfeld claims to be Airborne.  That claim appears accurate.  Per his DD214 and FOIA report, Wittgenfeld is Airborne qualified.

    8.  Wittgenfeld claims to have been a drill instructor.  That claim appears accurate.  After his return from Vietnam, per the assignments section of his FOIA report he served as a Drill Instructor (Oct 1970 – Jul 1972).

    9.  Per his DD214, Wittgenfeld received an honorable discharge.

    10.  Based on new information brought to my attention on 9 October 2012, it appears that Wittgenfeld’s CIB is legitimate as opposed to questionable.  Apparently US Army Vietnam (USARV) –  in an exception to Department of the Army regulation and policy of the day – authorized 05B RTOs serving with infantry units whose primary duties were to accompany infantry units on tactical operations to be awarded the CIB.  While I have not yet personally located and verified the full text of the USARV exception, the exception is unambiguously referenced in a decision of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records (ABCMR).  The ABCMR doesn’t tend to get things wrong.

    OK, so much for the “good”.  Now for the “bad” and the “ugly”.  And, finally, my attempt to make sense of it all.

    (more…)