Rawstory: Washington Times liaison sent Social Security scam mailings

[Stephanie]

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=138


Washington Times liaison targeted seniors with Social Security scam letters

By Larisa Alexandrovna | RAW STORY News Editor
3/1/2005
— site admin @ 12:26 pm

See the letter here

The government liaison of the Washington Times foundation, Gary Jarmin, raised money for his lobbying efforts by targeting senior citizens with “scare letters” on Social Security and Medicare, and has been operating some six organizations from what appears to be a drop box in Alexandria, Virginia, RAW STORY has learned.

The letters are sent from the American Federation of Senior Citizens, a group Jarmin founded with his father-in-law, Marvin Mondres. One such letter aimed at frightening seniors is signed by Mondres, the “Honorary Chairman” of AFSC, while other letters are signed by Jarmin.

Jarmin, an ‘operative’ of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the secretive and powerful head of the Washington Times, United Press International and the Unification Church, booked the room in a Senate office building in which the Rev. Moon was crowned Messiah (Washington Post). Jarmin was also responsible for the invitations that misled congressmembers into attending Moon’s coronation.

Jarmin’s letters scare seniors into believing Social Security and Medicare will collapse unless they donate and claim Democratic senators are working to “plunder” the Social Security trust fund. <more at link>

[understandinglife]

1. Excellent story. Recommended. (nt)

BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION;24/7

[merh]

2. Very important story - these guys have tenacles all over.

lala_rawraw does it again with a great article!

[Supersedeas]

14. will the MSM have the integrity to pick this story up?

[merh]

15. How many articles like this can be published and missed or

totally ignored by the MSM? One would think eventually the crap would catch up with these guys.

I pray this catches up with them. Send this to your favorite news caster or talking head.

[lala_rawraw]

3. thanks Steph

And the rest of you, thank you very much. I thought I was crazy or maybe I just am. Thanks so much for your help... i am going to sleep and when I wake up then I am sure it will all make sense again:) HUGS

my online sanity center:)
:grouphug:

[merh]

27. Here are some links from October when DUers worked on this

and did some fine research.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1108892

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1154535

[Kimber Scott]

4. Can't the Postmaster General do something to this guy? nt

[starroute]

11. They've gone after them at times, but it never lasts

Here's an episode from 1977 (!) described in Alan Crawford's "Thunder on the Right," an expose of the New Right published in 1980:

In 1977, RAVCO raised funds for a project called the Children's Relief Fund. A program of the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, the Children's Relief Fund is part of the world-wide operation of the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon of South Korea. Its president is Colonel Bo Hi Pak, widely regarded as Moon's right-hand man and believd to have close ties to the Korean CIA. On its board of directors is Neil Salonen, president of the Unification Church of Amer­ica. Fund-raising literature for this organization states: "As I write you this letter thousands of little boys and girls are suffer­ing from the terminal forms of malnutrition.... What better gift could you give than a gift to fight suffering and death?" That way, of course, was to send money, and lots of bighearted Americans did. The New York state auditors discovered that, in all, $1,508,256 came in from the appeals, although less than 6.3 percent ever got back to the needy, starving Asian children. "The disproportionate and wholly inadequate expenditures for program services ($95,674)," the attorney general concluded, "was the direct result of the unconscionably high fees of $920,302 (60 percent of expenses) disbursed to the professional fundraiser Viguerie. . . ."

The state of Ohio brought action against the operation, charging the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation with filing a financial statement that was "inaccurate, false and misleading," and Viguerie with failing to register as required by law as a fundraiser in the state. Officials concluded that the project had caused "substantial annoyance, inconvenience and pecuniary injury to residents," and Viguerie agreed to sign a consent order to limit its costs for solicitations within Ohio. As a result of the investigation he was temporarily barred from mailing in Ohio and Connecticut. State officials in Massachu­setts, Minnesota, Vermont, Illinois, and Arizona, along with the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investiga­tion, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, made special inquiries into the New York investigation.

And of course we all know how both Viguerie and Moon were totally crushed by this investigation and never heard of again -- right?


When I was looking up this quote, something else caught my eye in a discussion of Viguerie on an earlier page: "Beyond great generosity shown some of his employees (he has been known to treat them to European trips for annual "Richard A. Viguerie" golf tournaments in Scotland) . . ." Is it just coincidence that the Jack Abramoff scandal being reported in Raw Story also involves flying particular friends off to play golf at St. Andrew's in Scotland? Inquiring minds want to know.

[tlcandie]

18. Is this the same person/famly that lil' shrubbie went to spend time

as a sheep herder? It was in Scotland, no? :shrug:

[Kimber Scott]

21. And Martha Stewart sits in prison...

Not that I'm a big Martha fan, but jeez, where's the justice? She sits in jail and Moon gets crowned Messiah. Only in America...

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

5. has anyone recieved that "chain email" that misleads the reader?it rambles

this email is so widespread-nearly everyone I've talked to got this--
It pretends to be "activist"
NOTICE: the roundabout deception!!
Roverer's little chainmails are so cute aren't they?
This is a copy of the email :


IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT!

KEEP IT GOING!!!!



2008 Election Issue!!

GET A BILL STARTED TO PLACE ALL POLITICIANS ON SOC. SEC.



This must be an issue in "2008" Please! Keep it going.

----------------------------------

SOCIAL SECURITY:

(This is worth reading. It is short and to the point.)

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years.

Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security and, of
course, they do not collect from it.

You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their
rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for
themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it.
After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die.

Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments..

For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect
to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand
Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of
their lives.

This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two
Dignitaries.



Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more
during the rest of their lives.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA....ZILCH....

This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick
up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come
directly from the General Funds;

"OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK"!

>From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into,
- every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) -
we can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement.

Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly
benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator! Bill Bradley's
benefits!




Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.

That change would be to:



Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and
Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us!



Then sit back....and watch how fast they would fix it.

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and
maybe good changes will evolve.



How many people can YOU send this to?



Better yet.....



How many people WILL you send this to?

[lala_rawraw]

6. No, did not get that

[pinerow]

7. My "bullshit filter" is set too high for that e-mail to reach me...

:wtf:

[Obamanaut]

12. Snopes says this is an old email

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/pensions.asp

<snip>
This piece has been circulating on the Internet since April 2000. So much of it is outdated, inaccurate, or misleading, it's difficult to know where to begin.

It is not true that Congressmen do not pay into the Social Security fund. Since 1984 they have paid into the fund just as most everyone else does. (A few odd exceptions to the Social Security program still exist, both inside and outside of government, but not for members of Congress.)


<snip>
It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983:
In 1983, Public Law 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an 'offset plan' that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual's contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced ('offset') by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

30. thank you! I'm going to send this to the address chain on the email

so all those recipients have a chance to see it's old news !!!

[enough]

8. kick

[ellenfl]

20. i'm a newbie . . . what means this 'kick'?

i figured out that n/t means the same as eom but don't know what 'kick' means.

tia

ellen fl

[diamond14]

23. Hello ellenfl !!!! Welcome to DU.......here's some of the short 'kicks'

"kick" is done when you want the 'thread' to go back up to the top of the list...so when you add a remark, it goes to the TOP, but even if you have NOTHING TO SAY, but still think the topic is important, then you just KICK....or :kick: ....or even "bump" or whatever...some people just put two DOTS....it doesn't matter...put anything and that topic will pop up to the TOP....


here's some more:

eom end of message
n/t no text
IMO in my opinion
IMHO in my HUMBLE opinion
LOL laughing out loud

ROFL rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLMAO rolling on the floor laughing my ass off


you can make up your own, or use those made up by others...it's constantly evolving along....


anyhow: WELCOME, we're glad you joined us....

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:


:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:


:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:


if you want to add these to YOUR posts, just look up above your text box...and the link for "Smilies lookup table"...go there and then post the text shown...and YOUR VERY OWN smiley will pop up...like this :nuke: (semicolin 'the word "nuke"' semicolin)

[Eloriel]

9. This is dynamite

Wonder if it will hit the MSM -- OR, more accurately, how many bloggers have to pile on before it does, and then gets explained away as nothing important.

[Lizzie Borden]

10. KICK!

.

[xchrom]

13. those moonies -- they gotta have a little cash

so they can support bush and all his invasion/rape and plunder plans.

[starroute]

16. Nobody knows where the Moonies get their cash

For example, they're said to have dropped over a billion dollars on the Washington Times since 1982. And suffice it to say they can't have gotten that much just by scamming little old Japanese ladies.

The main theories I've seen are (1) involvement in the drug trade and (2) access to the hoards of gold that the Japanese are said to have looted from China during World War II and stashed in the Philippines and elsewhere. Both theories are on the tinfoil side, but there actually is some evidence to support both of them.

Meanwhile, it remains an interesting question.

[deacon]

17. More from the RW propaganda machine n/t

[paineinthearse]

19. Larisa is aDU'er, too

:yourock:

[diamond14]

22. FOUND IT !.....the DU research threads on this topic (October 2004) HELP ?

there's a LOT of really good DU research already done on this whole Social Security scam....here's a summary thread link for other DU threads in this MASSIVE DU research from October 2004....

could someone figure out how to get this to the RAW STORY editor?? HELP ???


check out this AMAZING DU Research at this link....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1108892#

[merh]

26. The author of this article is a DUer

She posted in this thread - lala_rawraw.

[Stephanie]

28. got to post #3

and pm lala_rawraw if you have info for her

[Rex]

24. Misled my ass, those congress ppl knew exactly what they were going to.

They were going to kiss the ass of Crazy Moon, maybe a few bucks would fall out of Moon's crack. Speaking of crack, I believe money to be more addictive than any drug.

[diamond14]

25. PHOTO: bushites and moonies have been GOOD FRIENDS for a long time

[Stephanie]

29. that is a devastating photo

not that anyone cares - but I do

[diamond14]

31. kick...this is a very important story....one that could take bush* down

and it's another great research effort by DUers....four months, and now breaking into some BIGGER on line time....there's more to come, and DUer could help here a LOT....


:kick: