Archive for August 2017
NAATPN, Inc (2000ff, Total Current Assets, $0) and Caffee, Caffee and Associates PHF, Inc. (Hattiesburg, MS, 2003ff, Total Assets $0, Tax Filings Questionable), and others trying to squeeze a California Race-Based Stop-Smoking Network (AATEN) into that recipe. [Publ. Aug. 28, 2017]
Post title: NAATPN, Inc (2000ff, Total Current Assets, $0) and Caffee, Caffee and Associates PHF, Inc. (Hattiesburg MS, 2003ff, Total Assets $0, Tax Filings Questionable), and others trying to squeeze a California Race-Based Stop-Smoking Network (AATEN) into that recipe. (with short-link ending “-7rm,” started 8/15/2017). [Published 8/28/2017 evening and as usual may be updated for clarity, basic copyediting, or length (splitting)//LGH].
In my world, entity or non-entity is a very big deal; I don’t like the pretense that a “non-” is a real one. Or that those real entities whose track record of filing is absymal and whose IRS returns that do show up are themselves questionable (which in this case includes both groups mentioned in post title) are appropriate role models for training and technical assistance, consulting, or promoting a cause, even a noble cause. If people or groups want to lead, steer, or serve as positive front groups for social policy, let them first show credibility — not just the ability to parrot, to make friends in high places without specifying how this was done.
The alleged cause is not being helped much by very highly-positioned, and “flush” foundations continuing to churn the tobacco litigation master settlement agreement, RICO and other tobacco lawsuits, and exploit the networks formed as a result of it, and doing this as publicized through centers of dubious fiscal independence from law school “centers,” thus creating another barrier to disclosing conflicts of interest among the sponsors and more work for the public to untangle the mess.
I also don’t like* having to then figure out, which I’ve been attempting, how to present it coherently on my own non-sponsored blog.
*I’m doing this (a) as a parent (for beyond my lifetime) and a witness of developments in the 1990s forward and (b) and because over the years (decades) I have really grown to hate the bullying, lying, and spin from official sources who meanwhile fail to disclose their own financials, while the public (at the end of the day) bankrolls the profits. You cannot have a decent justice system saturated with bribes the public is forced to pay up front AND as consumers of government services. I don’t like scenarios that are basically built on extortion based on PR/negative publicity with a heavy dose of censorship of the facts — and these are doing a good imitation of it. I hope this blogging makes a difference in the freedom and at least secrecy in which it continues.
I’m ready to publish now, just about two weeks later (8/28/2017), and have yet to locate any real entity called “CALIFORNIA” “CALIFORNIA’s” or “….OF CALIFORNIA” associated with any “group” by the name of “African American Tobacco Education Network” although it was repeatedly referenced as if it were real. Just one example from within this post: ~RI State Legislature May 3 2005 Commends Bell Caffee’s African American Tobacco Educatn Network of CA (a non-entity?) for Not in Mamas Kitchen H6451 (printed Aug 2017) (two-page pdf, click page icon to see if first click doesn’t produce it. Two annotated images; my comments raise the question of “Who IS it?” and why not mention an real, identifiable entity where one is available instead of one strangely “not found” when looked up?
What does this say about the state legislators who will make resolutions without fact-checking first?
Click image (as needed) to enlarge, or see nearby pdf link for the whole resolution (it’s not long…)
Here also (shown near bottom of this post again) is a 1996 article referring to just the “African American Tobacco Education Network” without the word “California,” but quoting the same person (whose corporate entities identified so far are in NC and MS):
Rise of Discount Cigarette Stores Vexes Health Officials January 27, 1996 | JILL LEOVY | SPECIAL TO THE (Los Angeles) TIMES
…Brenda Bell Caffee, coordinator for African-American Tobacco Education Network, contends that discount cigarettes are aimed at the poor and at minorities. Rates of smoking among African Americans are among the highest of any ethnic group in California, according to the CDC…
So where was the link to either the entity she’s associated with (or its website), or the CDC claim? It may be a program or project, rather than a corporation or association. That’s the problem I have with journalism style attempting to put together facts into a story line– just not, typically, the fiscal or corporate filing facts. The hunt is always for a person with knowledge of the situation to quote, and an organization name to stick alongside the quote lending an air of authority on the facts… Whether or not the organization ends up existing, or has $10M, $1M, or $0 assets if it does exist, or is fiscally independent of government grants, doesn’t typically make it into the story.
A previous quote, 1995, (again, from near the bottom of this post) repeats the association, but with the word “California” prefixed:
Offended L.A. Groups Help Snuff Out New Menthol X Cigarettes : Protest: African Americans help get product shelved, saying the package used images linked to Malcolm X and racial pride. Maker denies trying to lure black smokers. March 17, 1995|PETER Y. HONG | TIMES STAFF WRITER
…Brenda Bell Caffee, coordinator of the California African American Tobacco Education Network, said her group became aware of the cigarette brand last month through a computer bulletin board for African Americans in California.
Where’s the evidence other than allegations that it existed, of the group?
Also as a Californian (currently and for over one generation now), I have certain issues with people from North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi and/or Georgia with known connections and support from a law-school nonprofit in St. Paul, Minnesota characterizing themselves as representing the best interests of people who, like I do, actually live in this state and must deal with some of the crazy policies set in place through social engineering here since 1996 Welfare Reform, PRWORA, let alone since the (two years later) Tobacco Litigation Master Settlement Agreement, not to mention the (in this state) increasing consolidation of control of the courts at the top level and in the administrative sector over time,** some of which I blogged about four years ago as it pertained to AFCC inordinate influence over family, divorce and custody courts, and ongoing reversal and erosion of whatever gains were made by laws against domestic violence and spousal battery.
(**Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Unification Act of 1997 (<==2005 Fact Sheet (partial image shown below) from Courts.CA.gov on this); then consolidation of already statewide Family Court Services with Children’s Services ca. 2000/2001 into the “CFCC” (Center for Families and Children in the Courts) under the Administrative Offices of the Courts (AOC), and gradual but consistent movement of operational (jursidictional?) responsibility for the court buildings, employees, and judges away from local upwards towards the state level — and we are a large state.)
(2pp, Click image to read the rest)
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Cont’d from my Aug. 5 post…An Alternate Viewpt. on the Anti-Smoking Campaign and its Syndicated Backers …1998 Tobacco Litigation MSA followed by the 2007 (Opinion) USDOJ RICO [started 8/7, published 8/19/17 + updated since]
Title, presently: Cont’d from my Aug. 5 post…An Alternate Viewpt. on the Anti-Smoking Campaign and its Syndicated Backers …1998 Tobacco Litigation MSA followed by the 2007 (Opinion) USDOJ RICO [started 8/7/2017] with case-sensitive short-link ending “-7pV”
At first the material was so vast, consequential, and filled with so many branches of related information, I simply called this one “Continued from the last post.” “Last” meaning “most recent,” of course.
Last post, title abbreviated: An Alternate Viewpoint on the Anti-Smoking / Smoking Causes Cancer! Campaign and its Syndicated Backers ….** and 1998 MSA Tobacco litigation. (shortlink ends “-7na”)
- **(mid-section of that long title….) incl. the Whiteheads, the Laskers, the NIH and the U.S. Congress (from SmokersHistory.com and Other Sources. See also Tobacco Lawsuits and 1998 MSA Settlement Funds ~~} American Legacy Foundation, now the so-called Truth Initiative®)
Mary Lasker with Albert D. Lasker. His third wife (her second husband; first had owned an art gallery, marriage didn’t last long). There appears to be something of an age difference… They married 1940; he retired (selling? Lord & Thomas) in 1942, which sale funded their foundation ($45M). L&T became Foote, Cone & Belding. By 1952 he was dead from cancer, which diagnosis (this article says) Mary kept from him…. (image of the Laskers from CBCRadio.com article, below).
After a week researching, compiling and writing the previous post, I gained a better understanding at least of the role of Mary Lasker (1900-1994), again, who, being Wife #3, outlived her wealthy husband Albert D. Lasker (1880-1952), owner of the dominating-the-field Lord & Thomas advertising agency in the early 1900s,** by some 42 years and who, with her powerful connections and relatives, made her will and influence known to a series of Presidents, Congresses, and NIH directors, as well as with some of them and/or other associates (people of influence in her social circle as a wealthy heiress of Mr. Lasker) running or re-directing a series of influential organizations central to public policy today, including at least a few associations mentioned as “Intervenors” in the USDOJ lawsuit against “big tobacco,” as shown here: [I re-post the same image and additional from the USDOJ Civil Actions lawsuit (Amended Opinion 2007) listing the intervenor associations images much further below, with quote from its Introduction. This gives an idea of the vast size of the proceedings. (My 12/16/2016 page has link to the entire opinion, and more)]
This image comes up again, further down in today’s (8/15/2017) post…USA Plaintiff, Tobacco-Free Kids, American~ Cancer,Heart,Lung, NonSmokersRights+NAATPN, *INTERVENORS* v. PhillipMorrisUSA et al CivilActn 99-2496(GK) [RICO] (Opin2007) (¼ images; cover page
Click to enlarge. Notice reference to “#BtheChange” and earlier comments from my Dec. 15, 2016 page, looking up the Intervenors.
Notice “BHthechange” =/= “BtheChange. The BH stands for “Behavioral Health.”
“BtheChange.org.UK” focuses on behavioral modification, peer mentoring for offenders. The phrase seems over-used, but here’s the log. This seems unrelated, I’m just referencing it because of the similar sound-bite:
(Logo from SaferStronger.com apparently uploaded July 2017? it seems to be an EU charity, (guess the UK hasn’t finished its BREXIT yet, the location seems to be in the UK). Also found at BtheChange.org.uk.
POST OVERVIEW: — I NOW HAVE A SEQUEL TO THIS POST READY TO GO; SOME OF ITS MATERIAL OCCURS NEXT, BUT MAY BE RE-ARRANGED. THIS RECURRING SITUATION COMES UP FREQUENTLY BECAUSE I AM INVESTIGATING (WRITING ALMOST AS QUICKLY AS I DISCOVER THE MATERIAL) NETWORKED ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR WEBSITE CLAIMS AND CONSIDERING WHERE THESE FIT INTO, FOR EXAMPLE, THE HISTORY OF THE RAPID PROLIFERATION OF NIH INSTITUTES AND CENTERS, AND FUNDING FOR THE SAME.
So, after several days’ work on this one, I’m going to publish it at 11,100 words, but expect to move some sections around, including to or from the next post in the sequence. Currently the content here may be more or less directly tied into post title. Taken as a whole, however, I am continuing to bring the topics into a “systems view.”
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An Alternate Viewpoint on the Anti-Smoking / Smoking Causes Cancer! Campaign and its Syndicated (?) Backers incl. the Whiteheads, the Laskers, the NIH and the U.S. Congress (from SmokersHistory.com and Other Sources. See also Tobacco Lawsuits and 1998 MSA Settlement Funds ~~} American Legacy Foundation, now the so-called Truth Initiative®) (Published 8/5/2017)
PREVIEW on a REVIEW:
An Alternate Viewpoint on the Anti-Smoking / Smoking Causes Cancer! Campaign and its Syndicated (?) Backers incl. the Whiteheads, the Laskers, the NIH and the U.S. Congress (from SmokersHistory.com and Other Sources. See also Tobacco Lawsuits and 1998 MSA Settlement Funds ~~} American Legacy Foundation, now the so-called Truth Initiative®) (post started 7/31, published 8/5/2017) with case-sensitive short-link ending “-7na” (15,400 words, “Fasten Your Seatbelts –this one’s details are SO still relevant to FAMILY COURT issues!! <~That comment, Aug. 7, 2019. I’m re-posting this (or Tweeting, etc.) in preparation for a follow up post//LGH)
(Section background-color reverts to this color after preview)
PREVIEW
After working on this post and its background material for about a week, I’m publishing it “as is,” with an alert that it may be revised substantially after publication, or further split. It is a good read, however some of its information leads to awarenesses and understandings that are disturbing, if not shocking, on the scope of activities and reach (influence on government policies) by some of the people and organizations covered.
I wouldn’t expect it to be grasped in a single read anyhow. If there are substantial revisions (you’re reading one right now), the purpose is to clarify, or supply missing documentation to support some statements where a post-publication read may reveal the need.
Some areas in this post newer to me, others not entirely new, but not my main area of research (such as the details of the tobacco class action and RICO litigation, although I have looked at periodically and am aware of it as a force in social services programming — such as the First 5-type funds — at the state levels).** On other areas (backgrounds of some of the greats in psychology or public relations — this post adds a key advertising great name) I may sound more authoritative because I have done more research on them over the years, as it intersects/overlaps with “Family Court Matters.”
** USDOJ Tobacco Lawsuits and Settlements (Just a~First 5~Footnote to the 2016 TOC Intro. (a Page with WordPress-generated, case-sensitive shortlink ending “-5e8” published Dec. 2016. Added to the sidebar near top of “Vital Links/Info” menu in Aug. 2017.)
However, probing this new area and historic account of major system movements referenced by the website “SmokersHistory.com,” I am seeing people, foundations, and systems transformation characteristics in common with material I’ve already processed in and around this blog. If I’d not seen the commonality, I would probably not have referenced so prominently the “smokershistory.com” post, especially not even knowing who its author is. Because just now I do not know, and because of some of the angry tone of that website, I felt obliged to look further, and more independently at at least its claims which resonated as reasonably probable with what I already knew.
In the process, I ended up learning more about key foundations and people, as well as about organization of the NIH, the NCI (National Cancer Institute) and putting some serious timeline and dates to changes within the NIH, which is to say, also within HHS. I’m confident most readers also will. I also found it reassuring not to be the only person (many MIT faculty were asking the same question in the early 1980s) (NYT article links below) asking just HOW MUCH of our current universities and current federal agencies is really “up for sale to the highest bidder,” and how reliable is conflict-of-interest-funded science? Is that what our nation needs?
Answering all these questions is not just a matter of posting links and throwing them up in the air, hoping they come down in some sort of order. It is a LOT of reading; this type of reading involves processing the information as it comes up with an awareness of reasonably objective (vs. name-calling, or personal-values-laden) categories and at a minimum the ability and willingness to look at tax returns, comparing one to another within organizations or across organizations, and an awareness what decision-making by the very-well-endowed may affect in a given year, whether the “Total Assets” are very very big and growing, or while still large by many standards, being spent down. And an awareness that when the issue (goal) is steering the direction of a federal agency along with the future of a certain are of scientific research, those determined — with each other — rarely operate through just one organization, foundation, or media at a time.
It takes time, and its part skill, part “art” in the sense of a developed skill over time. I look forward to, ideally, connecting conversing with more people who are willing to use some of these skills and willing to encourage/exhort/persuade others that they are basic to comprehending government — with regard to our individual AND collective relationships to it. Unfortunately (?), when it comes to many advocacy groups (especially in some well-worn ruts within the family court reform advocacy arena) what I know better is where NOT to find such people, or exhaust personal energies attempting to reason with people who for years have continued to demonstrate that group-membership/brainwashed state on the chosen cause is, like old blue jeans conformed to one’s body countours, just more “fun,” or standing apart, too scary.
Previous and related post: Who? (besides Harvard, MIT and other Boston-based Institutes) is Funding and Promoting/Soliciting for Personal Genomics (volunteer your personal, identifiable, genetic code for a global database to be shared internationally) — GET Research (fine-tuning and equipping the Nature vs. Nurture debate) as Essential for Global Public Health Issue? (title’s short-link ends “-7m3”; published 7/31/2017)
This post was inspired mostly by the urge to report on the confluence and long-term influence of two) organizations involving two family lines. Those two family lines are the Whiteheads and the Laskers, and the two organizations (who both also show close connections with a third organization the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, EIN#061043412) are the Albert & Mary Lasker Foundation (EIN#131680062, with another trust which poured is assets into them on dissolution; see next table below*) and the other, much smaller but well-connected (with Congressmen on board, literally) “Research! America (<==EIN#521609875, link to FY2015 Form 990; see next image).” (for contrast, FY2005 Form 990):
Rsrch!America Form 990 FY2005 (10 yrs earlier) showing highest paid fees-for services (see CATEGORIES) and employees (2 diff’t categories). This year Mary Woolley’s salary was 310K + benefits.
Rsrch!America Form 990 FY2005 (10 yrs earlier) describing exempt-purpose activities.
Rsrch! America FY2015 “Additional” page from Form 990 describing PR activities. Not their largest expenses this year (see return for more info).
Porter-Novelli PR Business Agency Report 2015 (4/27/2015):
Former Unilever marcomms chief Christine Cea returned to the firm to lead its global consumer practice, based in New York. She previously worked in Porter’s London and New York offices from 1999 to 2005. Ted Sabarese joined as regional creative director for North America, focused on content strategy, development, and production, as well as advertising, experiential marketing, and design. He previously worked at Chobani. … Amy Nicole Nayar took up the newly created role of SVP of global health and wellness and lead for longtime client Johnson & Johnson. She previously ran a consultancy called Forefront Leadership.
Growth in North America
The North American region grew the fastest in 2014, with New York serving as the impetus after the office added work from Pfizer, Merck, and other blue chips in the healthcare space, expanding digital and analytics work, and a communications brief for The Shops at Columbus Circle. Read more at [PRWeek.com/article/1344304]
With Porter-Novelli a main contractor of Research! America in 2005, and William D. Novelli on the board (1h/week unpaid) at Research! America, I decided to look further.
I found he was CEO of AARP 2001-2009 (severance pay of over $1M protested there, next image) and “his LinkedIn” (another image) shows that, besides co-founding Porter-Novelli and running it (1972-1990) he also founded “Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids” and ran it 1995-1999. See where I’m going with that? He’s now professsor of “Global Social Enterprise Initiative” (“GSEI”) at “George McDonough School of Business” at the prestigious Georgetown University(since 2011)… While there I see that Georgetown also started, looks like around the same time, a “Global Human Development Initiative” (<=link to Novelli as faculty on it) stemming from the “Jesuit ideal of using knowledge to serve society” and an “initiative” (guiding paradigm) crossing different schools and degrees within the university. (use that link to access the “About” page on the GHD). It says in part:
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Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History 