Sunday, March 23, 2014


News Clips For The Day


http://www.startribune.com/local/west/251443751.html?page=1&c=y
Deephaven couple with yacht, luxury lake home charged with welfare fraud
Article by: DAVID CHANEN , Star Tribune
Updated: March 22, 2014

Andrea and Colin Chisholm struggled financially for a decade, depending on welfare checks to pay for food and medical bills and for job training. They and their young son were forced to live with Andrea’s mother in south Minneapolis, and at one point had as little as $80 to their name.

At least, that’s what they led benefit workers to believe. In reality, authorities say, the Chisholms were living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

On public assistance forms they filled out yearly, they forgot to mention their $1.2 million yacht docked in Florida, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Friday as he announced welfare fraud charges against the couple. Or the $1.6 million house they rented on Lake Minnetonka. And that Cavalier King Charles Spaniel pedigree breeding business that produced an award-winning dog at the Westminster dog show.

Oh, and the Chisholms also had about $3 million tucked away in various bank accounts, the charges say. They even took to passing themselves off as Scottish royalty — “Downton Abbey,” Minnesota style.

“These were rich folks ripping off the system,” said Freeman, whose tone moved from humor to anger during Friday’s news conference. “I will make sure they do hard time.”
That’s if the police can find them. The Chisholms have been on the lam for six weeks, and Freeman hinted that they may be out of state and someplace warm.

Andrea Lynne Chisholm, 54, and Colin A.J. Chisholm III, 62, are accused of making $167,420 in fraudulent medical and food-stamp claims from 2005 to 2012.

Medica insurance fraud investigators suspected things were amiss when they learned the couple lived in a luxury lakeside home in Deephaven and that Colin Chisholm portrayed himself as a Scottish aristocrat who was a wealthy executive in the broadcasting industry.

Medica found that part of the $60,000 medical claims the company had paid out went for massages at The Marsh wellness center and spa in Minnetonka, court documents said. They received benefits from Minnesota even when they lived in Florida for two years, where they also obtained welfare checks.

The Chisholms were cut off at one point, but managed to get back into the system, Freeman said.

He referred to the couple as “Lord and Lady Chisholm,” calling Colin as a “con man of the first order and a flimflam man,” and describing their actions as something worthy of the movie “The Sting.”

Just weeks after applying for their first welfare payment, Colin Chisholm bought his yacht, named “Wishing Star,” from a man in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He told the seller that he controlled about $30 million in Network Television Advertising on CNBC, the documents said. Around that time, the Chisholms were telling benefit workers that they had moved in with Andrea’s mother in south Minneapolis.

Her mother still owns that home. Nobody was home to comment Friday.

State paid for pregnancy bills
In 2005, the U.S. Coast Guard seized the yacht, renamed the Amanda Aras, due to missed payments. That just pushed the couple to move inland, finding a home in a seaside community about 30 miles south of Palm Beach, authorities say.

They then engaged in a long legal battle to get their yacht back. At one point, Colin Chisholm told the judge he lived in Greenwich, Conn., an address investigators later determined was a UPS store. In the judge’s ruling on the lawsuit, he said that he found Chisholm’s testimony “at best evasive and at worst perjurious.”

Two days before their son was born in 2007, the Chisholms told Florida public assistance workers that they were indigent and received cash, food support and medical assistance, the documents said. Minnesota ended up paying more than $22,000 in medical bills for Andrea’s pregnancy.

$2,750 rent paid in cash
While the Chisholms consistently reported no income or job employment when they reapplied for welfare, they continued to operate businesses or start up new ones. When trying to woo investors to a satellite-delivered digital television network based in Miami, Colin Chisholm claimed to have assets totaling more than $97 million, documents say.

“It’s outrageous,” Freeman said. “You hear of people getting public assistance when they’re having a hard time in their lives and getting it back together. And then you see this.”

In 2009, the Chisholms were living in Deephaven with Andrea’s elderly grandmother, for whom Andrea had the power of attorney. The couple was funneling thousands of dollars from businesses that they hid from authorities through the grandmother’s account, the documents said. They paid their monthly $2,750 rent in cash.

In March 2012, their benefits were finally cut off when they couldn’t explain how they were able to pay rent and personal expenses with no income.
‘How do you do this?’

An arrest warrant has been issued for the Chisholms, who vacated their Deephaven home with no notice to the landlord and withdrew their son from school.

If they are found and convicted, the presumptive sentence for their felony fraud charge is probation. The maximum sentence would be 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
“I can’t imagine a judge in this district allowing the Lord and Lady to get probation,” Freeman said.

He called the Chisholms’ alleged systematic abuse of government programs designed to help the poor “beyond real.” He said he couldn’t say why they chose to go down such a path and if they might have taken advantage of flaws in the system that should be corrected.

“Imagine people like us,” he said. “How do you do this?”
 
David Chanen • 612-673-4465




“Her mother still owns that home. Nobody was home to comment Friday.” I wonder what the Chisholms' told Andrea's mother, and if she knowingly provided cover for them. One of Chisholms' reported addresses turned out to be a UPS store. “$2,750 rent was paid in cash” to Andrea's grandmother in 2009. “In March 2012, their benefits were finally cut off when they couldn’t explain how they were able to pay rent and personal expenses with no income.” It looks as though it took that long for an administrator to finally ask that question.

So now the police are looking for them, so far to no avail. I would hope that if tried they will get the 20 years sentence rather than parole. Surely a judge would not let them get away with this. They were already wealthier than most people when they began this scam. It had to be a simple intent to do harm, possibly for the thrill of it. It also shows a profound scorn for the poor people who are supposed to be getting those payments and benefits. I do hope they are caught and punished soon. This story really makes me angry.





NATO: Russia Has 'Sizeable' And 'Ready' Forces At Ukraine Border – NBC

By Alastair Jamieson


Russia has amassed enough forces on Ukraine’s border to reach Moldova’s vulnerable Trans-Dniester region, NATO’s top military commander warned on Sunday.

Moscow has mobilized a “very, very sizeable and very, very ready” military contingent on Ukraine’s eastern boundary, Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Philip Breedlove told a conference in Brussels.

He said he was worried the troop build-up could pose a threat to the mainly Russian-speaking separatist region, whose local pro-Russia leader has already appealed to Moscow for an annexation similar to the one carried out in Crimea.

The president of ex-Soviet Moldova warned Russia last Tuesday against considering any move to annex Trans-Dniester.

Breedlove said NATO was very concerned that the region was, in Russia's view, was the "next place where Russian-speaking people may need to be incorporated."
"There is absolutely sufficient (Russian) force postured on the eastern border of Ukraine to run to Trans-Dniester if the decision was made to do that and that is very worrisome," he said, according to Reuters.

Russian forces are once again amassed in big numbers in the neighborhood. About two divisions – some 20,000 infantry, airmen and special operations forces – are poised along Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, ready to intervene if ethnic conflict endangers large concentrations of Russian speakers in Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions.

Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Moscow was “in compliance with all international agreements limiting the number of troops in the border areas with Ukraine,” according to the official Itar-Tass news agency.

On Tuesday, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) issued a statement saying the developments over Trans-Dniester were "disturbing, though not at all surprising."

"Our friends in Moldova - as well as the Baltic countries and every other country with ethnic Russian populations - are right to be concerned," their statement said. "The West must impose real costs on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. By failing to do so, we only invite further aggression elsewhere."

NBC News' Jim Maceda, Albina Kovalyova and Reuters contributed to this report.




Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are asking for “real costs” to be applied on Russia to prevent further aggression. I'm afraid they are right, but I would go on to say we need to deploy NATO troops now in Poland and other neighboring friendly states which have a sizable Russian-speaking population or which were, until the breakup of the Soviet Union, under Russian control. This further move by Russia looks like they are very probably readying themselves for further attacks on parts of Ukraine, and if they use the claim that the Russians in those areas are under assault, they have their handy pretext ready to justify their actions. Of course, it's just a “land grab,” actually. I think we need to put up a strong opposition to it, with our NATO allies of course, stopping short of sending troops directly into Ukraine, which might precipitate a Russian assault. See the article below on the Transdniester region today.


http://www.rferl.org/content/moldova-transdniester-crimea-russia-annex-warning-timofti/25301481.html
Moldova's President Warns Russia On Transdniester
Sunday, March 23, 2014

Moldova has warned Russia against any move to annex its breakaway Transdniester region in the same way it has taken control of Ukraine's Crimea.

President Nicolae Timofti said on March 18 that Russia would be making a "mistake" if it agreed to a request for annexation from Mikhail Burla, Transdniester's parliamentary speaker.

Burla on March 17 urged Russia to incorporate the mainly Russian-speaking region.

Traian Basescu, the president of neighboring Romania, said he fears that Moldova is "in great danger."

In 2006, Transdniester held a referendum similar to the March 16 referendum in Crimea, which has been occupied since late last month by thousands of Russian troops, in which 97 percent of participants voted in favor of joining Russia.

Transdniester declared independence in 1990 over fears Moldova would reunite with neighboring Romania.

Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any nation.




“Transdniester declared independence in 1990 over fears Moldova would reunite with neighboring Romania. Transdniester's independence is not recognized by any nation.” “Traian Basescu, the president of neighboring Romania, said he fears that Moldova is "in great danger." One other article stated that there is a large Romanian part of the population in this area as well.

The fact that there are so many different ethnic groups is a large part of the fact that they keep having conflicts and can't remain stable. Whenever there is a disagreement, they fight rather than compromising. The US has many different ethnic groups, but they are not all residing together in one place so as to make a unified community capable of rebelling. Of course there are a few bids for separatist status, one recently in Texas, but the hold of the federal government over the whole country prevents small splinter groups from actually gaining control. Thank goodness. I like our “big government.” If it weren't for that I would be living in a slave holding state at this time.




Elephants Escape from Circus, Damage Cars in Missouri – NBC
First published March 22 2014

Several elephants escaped from a circus in a Missouri city on Saturday, damaging vehicles in a parking lot before they were corralled and returned to their quarters.

The elephants from the Moolah Shrine Circus escaped Saturday afternoon at the Family Arena in St. Charles, NBC station KSDK of St. Louis reported. The station showed images of several trucks with damage to their sides from the elephants. There were no injuries.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that three animals escaped about 5 p.m. during a performance and went out the back of the arena to a lot where circus and Shriners employees’ cars were parked. They eventually were taken back to their compound.
The elephants didn’t take part in Saturday night’s performance, the newspaper said, but were expected to perform on Sunday.

The Post-Dispatch said the show is run by the Royal Hanneford Circus.




There are numerous articles on the Net, including from PETA, on the “flagrant abuse” of animals in circuses, even some of the big and well-known circuses. Elephants are “trained” to do “unnatural” tricks by beating and the use of tools like cattle prods, all too often. Every now and then one goes berserk and kills a trainer. I think these elephants were trying to escape. Unfortunately, according to this article, they are “expected to perform on Sunday,” despite their civil disobedience. Elephants are smart and are known to communicate with each other by ultrasound – a low frequency sound that can be heard by another elephant over great distances. They are presumably saying things to each other – “water hole at Great Rock is dried up” and such things. Maybe they can say “If we all go at once, they can't stop us!”

This particular circus, the Royal Hanneford Circus, has 20 reprimands against it for animal abuse by the USDA between 1993 and 2005. This was an old article, so maybe they have even more now. Apparently the USDA either doesn't have the will or the power to shut the circus down. People enjoy these shows because they don't know much about the situation. It's bad enough to keep animals in zoos, but most modern zoos, such as the Jacksonville Zoo and the NC state zoo in Asheboro do both have large fields in which their elephants can move about freely, and they are not required to do any tricks for their food. Unfortunately zoo life may be the final refuge for elephants when the Ivory hunters succeed in killing off the last wild ones. People are really very destructive and harmful in too many cases. It makes me deeply sad.




Why the U.S. and Iran Are Both Desperate to Seal Nuclear Deal – NBC
By Ali Arouzi
First published March 22 2014


VIENNA -- The latest round of Iran nuclear negotiations closed with an unprecedented outbreak of cordiality.

Catherine Ashton, the chief negotiator for world powers trying to make sure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons, wished her Iranian counterparts “Happy Nowruz,” or New Year, in Persian.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, meanwhile, said he was “optimistic” that a July deadline for a deal could be reached.

Wednesday's upbeat statements, which were accompanied by the now-regular smiles and jokes between Zarif and Ashton, are the latest indication of how desperate both sides are to resolve a dispute that in recent years has threatened to trigger a new war in the Middle East.

U.S. could use a diplomatic victory
An agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is peaceful but the West fears could be aimed at developing nuclear weapons, would be rare good news for the United States.

“Elsewhere in the world the U.S. is trying to manage one crisis after another. Iran is [President Barack] Obama’s best opportunity for a major foreign policy victory,” said Karim Sadjadpour, a researcher on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Even the fact that talks are continuing can be seen as a success against a backdrop of seemingly intractable challenges facing the U.S. and its allies.

Russia has annexed part of Ukraine, the Israelis and Palestinians have not agreed to an American-backed peace plan, and Afghanistan’s president refuses to sign a key security agreement with the U.S.

Meanwhile in Syria, a war rages even after Obama set “a red line” on the issue of chemical weapons for President Bashar Assad, and then did not act when evidence emerged that forces loyal to the Syrian leader had gassed civilians.

Iran wants a deal, too
Iran also really needs a deal, or the end of international economic sanctions crippling its economy and making life almost unbearable for regular Iranians. Inflation is running at close to 50 percent, sending the price of basic necessities like bread and soap skyrocketing, and raising the prospect of paralyzing popular unrest.

A recent sign of Tehran’s commitment to talks came when senior lawmaker Abbas Ali Mansouri urged “all political parties to avoid making remarks which might weaken the negotiating team,” according to the state-run IRNA news service.
Meanwhile, the usually constant drumbeat of anti-Western proclamations from Iranian hardliners has been more muted recently.

And earlier this month, a spat that in the past would have derailed talks ended up being a bump in the road. During an unprecedented visit to Tehran earlier in March, Ashton infuriated the government by meeting rights activists and mothers of protesters killed during 2009 demonstrations.

The foreign ministry reprimanded Ashton’s “unsanctioned” visit, and a traditional dinner between her and Zarif on the eve of the negotiations was canceled. But while the last team of negotiators may have allowed this kind of diplomatic scuffle to torpedo talks, this time they didn't.

Key for the Iranian team is that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's backs the talks, something neither of his predecessors enjoyed.

“The game changer from where I sit is that [President Hassan] Rouhani seems to enjoy support of the supreme leader,” said Eugene Rogan, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at Oxford University and author of "The Arabs: A History."

“It makes me think that there may really be a chance here, that there is something in this and we should be pursuing this with everything within our means.”
The “terrible” alternative would be “a nuclear Iran, and America trying to go war with it,” Rogan said. “It would be beyond disruptive, a regional war so big that it is irresponsible even to contemplate it.”

Still long way to go
Both sides might want a deal, but major sticking points remain.
Negotiators haven't agreed on how much uranium Iran should enrich and keep. Or whether Tehran will close the heavy-water reactor near Arak, which the West sees as a possible source of plutonium for bombs.

Indeed, Russia said both sides were still "far apart" on the issue of uranium enrichment, Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying after the latest round of talks ended in Vienna this week.

Iran had "very far-reaching demands" on enrichment, Ryabkov added.
Mark Fitzpatrick, who heads up the non-proliferation and disarmament program at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, agreed that huge obstacles remain and gave talks only a 10 percent chance of success.

So while there was a lot of pressure on Obama to complete a deal, an agreement is far from a foregone conclusion.

“Some might say that given all the other troubles that Obama is now faced with, it sure would be nice to have a political victory on Iran. And that victory appears to be in sight, so there may be all the more interest in getting a deal,” said Fitzpatrick, who is a former American diplomat.

I don’t think for a moment that the Obama administration would cut corners and give up more to get a deal," he added. "I think they will hold pretty firm on the red lines on what is required."

Pegah Parsafar of NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report. F. Brinley Bruton reported from London.




The consensus seems to be that though the parties are “making nice” together, Iran still wants to keep what is deemed to be too much nuclear material for peaceful use. According to Mark Fitzpatrick there is only a 10% chance of an agreement. Zarif himself is “optimistic,” however, of a July deal. Let's hope he knows more about it than the writers of this article do, then. Appearances can be deceiving in these international relationships, but he seems to be more cordial toward Obama and Catherine Ashton than anybody from Iran in the last 30 years or so has been. I feel hopeful.




Currency for a modern world
CBS News March 23, 2014

Though it's recently brightened up a bit of late, the color of money here in the U.S. is still on the drab side, not at all like the bills you can find in wallets overseas. Rita Braver takes a look:

These days American money is all about our celebrated statesmen: Washington, Lincoln, Franklin. But once upon a time our currency was more adventuresome, featuring Native Americans, the Pilgrims, Martha Washington, and Lewis and Clark! And back at the end of the 19th century, there was an inventive line of bills known as the "Education Series."

"The name of this particular design is actually 'Electricity presenting light to the world,'" said U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios. "So you can see the allegorical figure, she's literally holding a light bulb."

We could understand why Rios (whose signature you'll find in your wallet today) looks back longingly at the money of yesterday.

Braver said, of the bills featuring cherubs and partially-clothed women, "To tell you the truth, this looks a lot more exciting than our current currency."

In 1929 we got the dollar we know today, and the look hasn't changed much. But see what the rest of the world is spending: colorful and creative bills, bank notes, graced with birds and beasts, technology, even sports scenes.

"A banknote could be the calling card for what that country represents in the international market," said Alan Newman, director of design at De La Rue, a British firm that's designed paper money for more than 150 countries. "So you're trying to capture the culture of that particular country."

Newman's company has helped create or print the British pound, the Icelandic krona, and two-time Banknote of the Year winner, the Kazakhstani Tenge.

De La Rue helped create the new Libyan dinar, created after the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi.

"So on the front there's a celebratory image of a crowd scene," he said, "and on the back depicts the 17 doves above the new Libyan flag."

As for who appears on the most currency worldwide, for decades it's been Queen Elizabeth, what with the reach of the British Commonwealth.

In the U.S., the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces $1.3 billion worth of currency a day.

Director Larry Felix says our current focus is on using technology to thwart counterfeiters, as in the new $100 bill: "In this blue ribbon, it contains hundreds of thousands of microlenses," Felix demonstrated. "When you tilt the note left and right, the images actually move up and down."

But we've still got Ben Franklin.
Canada not only put an astronaut on its $5 bill, but also beamed the news from space. "I just want to tell you how happy I am to be able to see Canada's achievements in space highlighted in our money," International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield said -- in orbit -- last April.

But we Americans can only dream of what could be. In fact, a few years back when the website Dollar Rede$ign Project put out a call for designs to update the dollar, suggestions poured in. How about the Statue of Liberty? Amelia Earhart? Marilyn Monroe?

But officials say that changing the images on U.S. bills would become a political quagmire.

Besides, they insist, the world's most trusted currency needs to keep its somber and iconic look.

"One thing that people do rely on when they look at U.S. currency is that familiarity," said Rios. "And so when you go overseas, they may not know who [Benjamin Franklin] is, but they know that they're going to look for it on the $100 note every time."

And so that's why you can bet your bottom dollar that our money will keep its iconic look.




“Director Larry Felix says our current focus is on using technology to thwart counterfeiters, as in the new $100 bill: "In this blue ribbon, it contains hundreds of thousands of microlenses," Felix demonstrated. "When you tilt the note left and right, the images actually move up and down. But we've still got Ben Franklin.” U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios states, too, that our currency is familiar worldwide, which is an advantage. Personally I would hate to see some of the images mentioned in this article on the money – Marilyn Monroe, for instance. Even if you consider her to be an icon of womanly virtue, I would like for our government to be represented still by those statesmen who set up our democracy. All in all they did an amazingly good job. Besides, it's dignified as it is now, and it represents what we stand for.