Mike Ference, running mate, Letter to Editor, Time to Attack in Pennsylvania

By Mike Ference

Clairton, PA 15025, Email: Ference@icubed.com

Every day brings new evidence that we no longer live in a civilized and principled society. The worst part, it usually concerns another case of corruption involving a member of the PA Senate or House; a PA judge; law enforcement officer; District Attorney or some other Pennsylvania public servant. (I prefer, serpent). However, the latest news of wrongdoing in Pennsylvania involves what I call child trafficking at its lowest level.

As reported in the Associated Press, Pennsylvania President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan agreed to plead guilty to various federal charges (no state charges, PA politicians take care of their own) and face seven years in prison. Their crime, court documents said they took kickbacks for sending children to detention facilities run by PA Child Care in Luzerne County and a sister company in western PA. Altogether the judges took $2.6 million in bribes.

PA Child Care is owned by Gregory Zappala, a son of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Zappala, Sr., and brother of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr.

As more and more cases of corruption — and cover-up — come to light, one begins to wonder whether Pennsylvania politicians should be considered any more trustworthy than, say, Saddam Hussein.

So — what should be done? Given the level of wreckage and anguish caused in the lives of so many people, it seems appropriate to look to the war on terror for a model strategy.

A first prong of attack might involve a Special Forces unit made up of highly skilled and trained military personnel capable of tracking down and obtaining confessions from any current or former owners of businesses that deal in child trafficking. Did more judges take kickbacks for sending innocent children to detention homes? How many dysfunctional Pennsylvania politicians, police officers and other scoundrels working for the state were involved?

If rights are violated, if military personnel sometimes go a little too far, so be it. Those incapable of civilized behavior shouldn’t expect the rights and privileges of civilization.

A deck of cards can be created to help identify the hard-to-find as well as the disgraceful political leaders who permitted, and in essence, condoned the incarceration of young children. Photos of the most deviant and reprehensible Pennsylvania officials accompanied by a list of their offenses will encourage us all to do our patriotic duty in helping the authorities track down suspected Pennsylvania politician/terrorists.

Another option would be to divide Pennsylvania into territories. A color-code warning system would be established, alerting parents about crooked judges, corrupt cops and district attorneys holding court in their respective regions. Depending on the designated color for a particular region, parents would know whether their children should attend a juvenile hearing or escape to a third world country where children are treated with more dignity and respect.

To aid this unique war on terror, a pool of money should be collected, not involuntarily from taxpayers, but voluntarily from those decent human beings who believe crimes committed against our children are sins that God takes very seriously. Some of the funds raised could then be turned into outrageously tempting reward sums for information leading to the capture of our targeted criminals. Once the rogue politicians have been imprisoned and forced to talk, I recommend that their confessions be given to someone like Steven Spielberg or George Romero. Hollywood writers and producers could create a blockbuster movie like Roots or Schindler’s List to serve as a bitter reminder that these crimes should never again be permitted to occur. Tom Savini could be hired to recreate the horror on the faces of child actors chosen to play parts.

Proceeds from the movie could go to victims of abuse and their families. And no matter how old the crime, compensation would be available. There should be no statute of limitations when the rights of children have been violated by those who lived much of their adult lives perched on a pedestal heightened by the trust of innocent and vulnerable residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In fact, I would extend compensation to the second and perhaps even third generation of sufferers. It would certainly include siblings denied the experience of growing up with a brother or sister untraumatized by such abuse. And since crimes of abuse tend to echo, it would extend to the victims of the victims as well.

If all else fails, is it any less rational to declare war on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as part of a war on child abuse than it was to declare war on Iraq (which had nothing to do with 9/11 or Al-Qaeda and apparently had no weapons of mass destruction) as part of a war on terror? How many innocent children have been verifiably lost to this menace — and how many more will be lost if we don’t make a preemptive strike?

Child trafficking and those who willfully hid the crimes as far as I can see, this brings us much closer to the realm mortal sin. And the sinners include not just the judges who sentenced the children and took the money but also those who are staying silent because of concerns about a paycheck, a 401K, a pension, or a fear of standing up to the mobsters who orchestrated this crime. God has a place for everyone — and if you abuse children or protect the abusers of children, we can only hope that your place is called hell.