ANGELO MAKES A SALE, FOUR MORE COPS ON STEROIDsGATE, & IS OBAMA TO BLAME FOR $4-A-GALLON GAS?
BY DAN VALENTI
Angelo Makes a Sale
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, May 2, 2011) — Hear ye, Hear ye, be advised, all present, that late last week, disgraced ex-CEO Angelo Stracuzzi sold his house on Stonehedge Road. His wife, Rosanne, is listed on the sale document as a co-seller or grantor. The purchasers are listed as Geoffrey L. Lambert and Frances A. Eagle (no relation to the Boring Broadsheet). The Stracuzzis received $350,000 for the sale, although there is no mention of how much of that, if any, Angelo will end up having in his piggy bank.
There is also no mention in the deed of the description of the house. One wonders if there’s a rumpus room particularly suitable to the entertainment needs of young boys. For those keeping score at home, look up deed #803864. It’s in the books.
SteroidsGate: Four More Views from PPD Sources
The Planet continues to hear from sources from within or associated with the Pittsfield Police Department on SteroidsGate. Four other sources, call them Moe, Larry, Curley, and Shemp (although we are not saying they are all male), have contacted us in the last few days.
We share some of their remarks.
FROM MOE
“What kills me about you [The Planet] and Capt. [David] Granger is that you are both are in the same sort of business,” Moe says. “Getting information from informants is what it is all about in both police work and investigative journalism.
“[Granger] is highly disturbed by the fact that The Planet used informants (cops) to work your story. However, he sees no problem with law enforcement working informants to break a case. The cops use a two-pronged approach from cases [see link to Aguilar-Spinelli] to test the basis of knowledge and the veracity of the informants.
“It’s bothering Capt. Granger that he doesn’t know who is giving you the information, just like it disturbs a drug dealer when someone rats them out. You both use confidential informants to make your cases, don’t you? Seems Capt. Granger only wants it his way to me.
Here is the link to Aguilar-Spinelli: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguilar%E2%80%9A%C3%84%C3%ACSpinelli_test
FROM LARRY
“One lquestion you could ask Chief Wynn: Why was Mike Grady promoted to nighttime detective, a $100,000 a year position? That position was eliminated by Chief [Anthony]Riello 8-10 years ago, and the department operated fine without the position. Why now, when the economy is in the tank and their talking cuts across the board?”
FROM CURLEY
“[Capt. Granger’s] e-mail memo was one of the most stupid things I’ve seen come along,” Curley says. “Cops are a weird bunch, though. He can’t see the other side of an issue too well. You would think after his years of service he would sort of catch on or something.
“I was surprised at the few cops’ comments to me [about SteroidsGate]. Really surprised to hear one from a guy who will be retiring soon. He told me he doesn’t read the BB, your website, or even follow that stuff, but he stated that [officer David Kirchner [found guilty of criminality and conduct unbecoming and officer in an internal investigation headed by Capt. Granger] had back surgery about four years ago and took steroids to deal with the pain.
“This veteran cop thought the department treated Kirchner fairly for punishment [five-day unpaid suspension, busted to uniform], which was surprising to me. The other cop I asked about it was more of a supporter of Granger’s than I thought he would be, too.
“The over and under money in the department on Capt. Granger sitting down and talking to you would be pretty high odds in my bet for sure. You read his e-mail. These guys are not political. They are use to people falling in line with what they say. The other part of the puzzle that cracks me up is the difference between the staties and the PPD in meting out punishment. Well, hopefully this was helpful but keep up the good work you do.”
FROM SHEMP
“[Officer]Marc Maddalena [union head] did have a union vote. The purpose of this vote was a “no confidence” vote on the chief. When nobody came forward, especially after Maddalena sang the chief’s praises, it was decided to make cards where people could put issues and let the chief address them. My husband said the last time they did this was on [then chief] Tony Riello, one member, Tom Barber, raised his hand and began to voice his opinion. As soon as he got done, Nicole Gainer walked out of the meeting to let Riello know who voted against him. The guys weren’t falling for the same trick twice.”
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Boring Broadsheet Breaks Story: Gas Prices Up!
Anyone who saw the Boring Broadsheet’s story on $4-a-gallon gasoline must be wondering what the next big scoop the BB will have. Maybe: “Downtown Experiencing a Renaissance” or “Chamber of Commerce Sees Busy Tourist Season for Local Economy.” Not content with the usual “Dog Bites Man” of the BB, we have a commentary on gas prices submitted by an online contributor.
Tom Jacobs’ piece was first published yesterday by Yahoo. We present it here, to stimulate discussion. Jacobs blames President Obama’s policies. What do you think? Can one blame the President for $4-a-gallon gas, or is the argument shallow? Let’s hear.
OBAMA TO BLAME FOR HIGH GAS PRICES
BY TODD JACOBS
COMMENTARY |
The oil industry is enjoying record profits as the price for a barrel of oil soars to more than $110. Chevron posted its profit numbers for the first quarter. The numbers were tough to stomach. Chevron reported earnings of $6.2 billion ($3.09 per share — diluted) for the first quarter 2011, compared with $4.6 billion ($2.27 per share — diluted) in the 2010 first quarter.
The Chevron press release set off a media blitz vilifying the big oil companies. How can these oil companies be making so much money while the American people are struggling to make ends meet and fill their gas tanks. Americans are making daily decisions on sacrifices they must make to put food on the table and pay their mortgage as the oil companies are making obscene profits.
Be careful where the blame is laid in this situation. The Obama administration has laid the groundwork for this situation and it is now their responsibility to correct it without getting its hands into private industry. The problem can be solved with a simple change in the administration’s policies.
If the Obama administration allows the oil companies to drill and relieve this pressure, prices will fall almost immediately on a barrel of oil. The speculators will flee oil in a second once we announce the United States will make it a priority to drill.
The administration is committed to alternative energy. I agree with its aggressive solar and wind energy policies, but it must not destroy the economy to make it a reality. It must allow the oil companies to spend their profits on drilling new wells and developing alternative energy at the same time.
We can solve this immediate issue with the economy by simply being flexible when it comes to our energy policy. Allowing new wells and existing wells to resume operations will send a sign to our enemies and our debt holders that we are committed to doing whatever it takes to correct our economy in the short run. In the long run we must not turn our back on solar and wind energy.
The next time you drive by a gas station and see the price of a gallon of unleaded gas more than $4 a gallon, focus on the root cause of the problem. The Obama administration’s refusal to allow oil exploration and bring the United States back to fore front as a leading producer of oil.
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SO LONG FOR THE MOMENT, MY GOOD FRIENDS.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE!”
LOVE TO ALL
Just because the oil might come from US sources does not insure that the greedy oil companies will just give it away …why do they have to have such huge profits???
perhaps the high prices are a blackmail effort to get Obama to allow drilling in US
“In devastation there is opportunity.”
@Dusty,
You write:
“…why do (greedy oil companies) have to have such huge profits???”
Gee, I dunno, why do municipalities, and states, and the federal government have to have such high taxes?
Oil should be priced to get what the market will bear/ its a finite resource in bgreater demand than ever. $4, $5 a gallon. Fine with me. I don’t own a car!
How the heck do you work or get anywhere?
Work from home. Computers.
Aaahhhh is your company hiring I’m about sick of driving to work!
@fan Dan Go,
You write:
“It (Oil) (i)s a finite resource.”
What is your source for this statement?
It will be gone some day ask anyone.
Paul Hawken The Ecology Of Commerce or is that an unreliable source?
Why do you claim Paul Hawken is any more reliable as an expert on oil than those ‘experts’ from the 1880’s then 1920’s then 1950’s who repeatedly predicted ‘peak oil’ and were found to be dead wrong?
Hate to clue you in, pal, but geologists don’t even understand the process by which crude oil got created in the first place.
The Earth’s oceans cover the top 2.4 miles of the planet’s surface, the diameter of which is about 7,900 miles.
So how much oil might be contained within that lower 7,897.6 miles?
There may be as much crude oil beneath the planet’s surface as water above that surface — and there could even be more.
No one knows.
So should a public policy of getting away from using crude oil be pursued on the basis of fantasy or reality?
Thats like the corn industry telling you high fructose corn syrup isn’t fattening. Also as we’ve noticed recently in the Gulf off shore drilling is not good for the environment.
@Scott,
You write:
“Also as we’ve noticed recently in the Gulf off shore drilling is not good for the environment.”
Leftist propaganda and hogwash, literally.
Oil has been seeping into the Gulf of Mexico and into all the oceans of the Earth literally for eons.
There’s no evidence whatsoever that crude oil is anything but a natural part of the environment just like rain.
Given how relatively little crude oil was found after the BP oil ‘leak’ it shows how the ocean, its micro-organisms and processes take care of dispersing that crude oil.
Crude oil is as much a natural part of the environment as rain, or lava, or undersea volcanism.
One might ask you, GMH, for the basis of YOUR assertions here. But one won’t do that, because that might be “proof” of a Liberal, Leftist Plot or some such. For a man who claims to have command of fact and dispassionate logic, you are perhaps the most ideologically blinded person I’ve come across. I’d say the same if you were blinded in an equal way with the other side of the spectrum. As I’ve tried to point out as wise counsel, your penchant for casting practically ALL national and international events in terms of RABID RIGHT (good) versus LOONEY LEFT (bad) undermines the rest of what you say. Your babies are too often thrown out with the rhetorical bath water.
Mr. Valenti,
For which assertions do you seek validation?
fan Dan Go,
You don’t own a car?
How old are you?
On the matters of money: (1) was Angie’s golden parachute amount from Greylock ever made public? (2) If that is really true about PPD and the promoted Lt, where is this endless cash flow into the PPD coming from? And if this position was eliminated years ago, what is the reasoning to bring it back now? I heard from a PPD neighbor, that the person promoted served with “Delusions of Granger” a few years ago in the drug bureau. If this is true Dan, it does lead credence to those inside PPD talking about haves and have nots.
I believe I coined that phrase! Looks like it’s catching on!
trade mark it.
I should but they’re Grandeur Granger’s delusions he owns them.
Mr. Valenti:
RE: The price of oil: In U.S. dollars, that price is rising; In Gold, that price remains constant.
The falling value of the U.S. dollar in relation to other currencies is reflected directly in the value of the price of oil, a world commodity.
Note that Gold and Oil always stay relatively close in parity.
An ounce of Gold buys about the same amount of Crude Oil in 2011 as it did in 1911.
You can thank the Obama Administration’s present economic policies for creating money out of thin air with Qualitative Easing 1 and QE2, programs which both appear to be the prime movers behind the debasement of the value the world’s currency exchanges assign to U.S. paper currency.
It pays to consider this: Take a One Dollar bill from your pocket or purse and decide just exactly what is the value of that piece of paper based upon — who decides?
Each trading day, stock and currency exchanges throughout the world grapple with this question and based upon supply and demand, traders on those exchanges collectively judge daily — hourly — the value of that US dollar in comparison to other currencies.
The verdict today, right now, is that buck is worth far less today than just 2 years ago, hence the price of commodities priced in U.S. dollars (like Oil, Gold, Platinum, and Silver) are skyrocketing as that perceived value of the U.S. Dollar continues to drop.
The price of the crude goes up exactly in parity to the drop in the value of the dollar, it’s NOT the other way around.
Thank you, Barack Hussein Obama.
When and if the value of the paper U.S. Dollar recovers, the price of crude will drop commensurately.
How do we make our dollars recover? Also I do not understand (even after researching and reading about it.) why we can’t just print money forever what does it even matter and this has happened in other countries (hyper inflation.) so is it a side effect of a monetary based economy or just carelessness? also what exactly would republicans do differently?
@Scott,
In your opinion, does running the printing press with nothing to back up that paper’s value appear to be working?
Crude Oils price is merely a thermometer indicating the value that millions of private investors around the world are placing on the U.S. Dollar.
Why do you think Warren Buffett is investing Berkshire Hathaway cash as fast as possible into hard assets such as companies like Burlington Northern and Lubrizol that can raise prices and ride out massive inflation?
The answer: Because U.S. paper currency is worth less and less as the seconds tick by as the Obama Administration is continuing to generating paper currency with nothing behind it.
Thank you Barack Hussein Obama and Liberal Democrats!
You didn’t answer my questions. Plus doesn’t our gov’t have a stock pile of gold?
You haven’t answered my questions either, so we are even.
@GH
Well said.
While I won’t enter an opinion on your way of stating facts, I will say that due to much research on my part, I have to agree with all above posts by you.
To those who don’t get what Glenn is saying, check out the facts on your own. There are many, many sources besides the MSM to enlighten you.
The policies that are in practice by the 0bama admin, the FED etc are destroying the dollar, is this through poor planning? Doubt it. Appears intentional to me.
That’s not my beef but what is the right going to do different? Perhaps starve the poor to balance it all out?
@Scott,
How is stopping wasteful spending considered ‘starving the poor’?
In 21st Century America, ‘the poor’ never had it so good.
Name one other time in history when people who are supposed to be in poverty are in fact fat?
What other society bills taxpayers so that those who are incarcerated for crimes against society may have expensive sex-change surgery?
On a different note from all this: Osama Bin Laden was shot and killed tonight by US Troops.
So does this mean Osama Bin Laden finally gets his 72 Virgins?
Also, if Osama Bin Laden were to be decapitated, doesn’t that mean he would be unable to enter Paradise?
If Barack Hussein Obama personally decapitates Osama Bin Laden’s corpse on national television, it might be the thing to turn the tide of the 2012 election in Obama’s favor.
What d’ya say, Barack?
He’s gonna have o produce the death certificate I ain’t buying it!
So if the side of one’s head is blown away, does that count as being decapitated in the Koran?
he sleeps with the fishes…..
Mr. Valenti,
You write:
“FROM CURLEY:
‘I was surprised at the few cops’ comments to me [about SteroidsGate]. Really surprised to hear one from a guy who will be retiring soon. He told me he doesn’t read the BB, your website, or even follow that stuff, but he stated that [officer David Kirchner [found guilty of criminality and conduct unbecoming and officer in an internal investigation headed by Capt. Granger] had back surgery about four years ago and took steroids to deal with the pain.’ ”
Assuming ‘arguendo’ that Officer David Kirchner did indeed have back surgery a few years back and did indeed have pain, why did he go to an anabolic steroids drug dealer for medication?
Please correct me if I am wrong, but it’s my understanding that PPD employees have a fine guaranteed medical plan hammered out in great detail in collective bargaining between the police union and the City of Pittsfield.
There are doctors and treatments available to PPD employees with all of it paid for ‘through the nose’ by city taxpayers.
So why didn’t Officer Kirchner just go to his taxpayer paid-for physician and get taxpayer-paid-for prescription medication for his back pain, or even a prescription for the steroid compounds he ultimately self-prescribed?
Not only would doing that have been legal, but Mr. Kirchner would not have had to pay a dime since city taxpayers would have been on the hook for all his pain medications.
the ironic thing about the oil is its ours, its in the u.s. the oil companies pull it up and whack the people who it belongs to….they get the money and we bitch about it…..if obama wants to put people to work then we should own our own rigs, put people to work and put big oil out of buisness.
@Rick
Its ours???? Really? Did you pay to find it? Did you pay for the equipment to recover it? Did you build the facilities to refine it?
No sir you didn’t.
Perhaps a small portion of your tax dollars went to it through unConstitutional subsidies, if so that is wrong.
However what you propose will actually look like this- the “peoples oil” would be stolen by the government, the recovery/refining of said oil would go to government union employees. Then the price would shoot through the roof. But that would be of no concern because with typical gov management you wouldn’t be able to buy it anyway since the production would be backed up with regulations and all the other bullshit they put into every entity they run.
Been to the dmv lately? You want your oil production run like that? How about your health care?
When you compare it to the DMV it sends chills up my spine.
Scott,
Everything the gov gets involved is
*+cked up.
Leave me the hell alone, I got it covered, don’t need gov telling how to live. I have $, I have food, I can defend myself and my family. The way this country was originally concieved was that the government would build roads and provide for the national defense. That’s about all. Anything else is BS.
If today’s oil/gas prices are the fault of Obama’s policies then the oil/gas prices during the Bush years had to be the fault of Bush’s policies. Seeing how their policies were totally different this immediately takes Jacob’s assertions and throws them out the window. The complete lack of logic and truth in these articles and blogs is amazing. 2 always equals 2, no matter who is president and whether you are a Rep, Dem, or Independant. But according to Todd Jacob’s article 2 was equal to 2 when Bush was president but now that Obama is president 2 now equals 5.
I can’t believe people believe this crap. Just like the fools who thought Obama was not born in this country and the idiots who claimed the Bush admin was behind the 911 attacks.
These so called experts first create a ‘theory’ then only select data out of the sea of information that support their positions. Any data out there that contradicts their ‘theories’ is convienently ignored. This is calling ‘lying by omission’. But it still a lie.
thanks, Planet, for a great entertaining lively important service. Finally, i feel that we the people have a forum!!