the way I like it

In may 2009 someone signed me up for Apple emails

2011-09-01T16:44:00.001-07:00

I hate spam, spammers and anything spammy.

Particularly when it's someone ELSE that signed me up for those updates.

psycho!

2009-02-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Did we ever really expect Joe Cafasso to be able to stay underground for long?

The killer on this score is he hasn't been underground at all, he's been right in front of our noses - just changed identities and names again.

This time? He's Robert Stormer or Robin Storm! That's right, according to CN at Carteret Con Artist, he's been writing at "No Quarter", and even published at "Common Dreams" with his fantasies wrapped in things he was actually involved in.

The psychology of it is rather mind-boggling, though when you get down to it. He is still selling himself as a humanitarian who helps out in disasters (like he was after Hurricane Katrina), but - this time there's a twist with a nautical flare....he's about nautical disasters, and is billing himself as a diver, and of course, a retired military guy, except this time it's NAVY.

That's right, I know - hard to believe when you'd have to have some knowledge in order to choose the right pictures, but that's where he comes up short, you see.

The picture he put up on a dating website is completely wrong.

Wrong mask, wrong outfit, and wrong period of time. Wrong face, wrong nose, wrong eyes. It's obvious that picture isn't him.

You see, if you examine what it is he's putting out there, and have the ability to fact check - it isn't all that difficult to see that he's a con man.

What I don't understand is how he's able to spin a web and draw people into it, considering all these factors. Supposedly these people are 'smart'. Well...at least by Cramer-type standards, they are, but in the real world it takes the ability to reason without a political template to back facts into.

And that's what this merry band is doing. They have a political template that they want to back stories into, so it doesn't bother them one way or another that they're involved with a known con artist and fraud like Joe Cafasso, even if he's parading around with a new name and identity, and embezzling money. Yeah, embezzling is a charge that's been thrown about in discussions about his recent circus sideshow.

The problem is, he's not able to change his face - so putting a picture of himself out there in scuba gear - is about all he can do now, because there are a number of people watching.

Yeah, Joe and Kathryn, people are watching.

Some people think that this Andrea Ello is in fact Kathryn Cramer, but - unless she dumped her kids and husband, I don't think that is possible.

But, in this wacky world we live in, I suppose anything is possible.

If you can give CN a hand with getting a physical description of Cafasso's female accomplice - Andrea Ello, please do. If this girl went missing after she discovered Cafasso isn't who he said he is - then - there is something very serious he can be held on, and bond can be increased.

In the meantime, we'll continue poring over details and comparing notes.

It's the least we can do when there are allegations now that Andrea Ello is now missing, and that she'd recently discovered that Cafasso is a fraud.

That discovery could have led her into possible foul play; as I'm certain that Cafasso has done more terrible things in his life than just steal from people and threaten to kill them and hide their bodies where they can never be found - or has probably gone further than killing a woman's little lapdog (which I gather he actually did).

How Cramer could expose her children to this monster is beyond me, but it seems to me that she is lacking some very important survival skills such as common sense.

don't worry katrina lady

2008-07-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

I won't tell. But I can understand why you'd want to be rid of Cafasso forever and why you called the cops to run him out of town.

You are not alone in those sentiments, believe me.

Still interested in Joe Cafasso's whereabouts.

Check out carteret con artist for the aliases.

And leave a comment here or elsewhere; anonymously if you like, to let me know where you saw him last, and what he did to you.

If you don't want me to publish the comment, let me know that, too.

hmmmm delicious

2008-07-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

More moonbatty hypocrites live and dwell in the dank dark caves at the Mitch and Nan Show.

Every now and then you can hear them screeching at night.

A few illustrations of the hypocritical antics and projecting their faults onto others- will take you back to the days when Joe Cafasso was harrassing people online and in real life; calling peoples' employers to get them fired, leading women to believe he was a catch and would marry them in order to steal their money, laptops or belongings, and even killing one's dog.

Does Scott Covington have limits? It doesn't appear as though anyone has set limits for him for his entire life.

These are people with no conscience; so self-centered that they will break the law to post entire social security numbers of individuals who dared support someone they disagree with; again very similar to Cafasso. In fact, the very information I'm talking about was taken from Stuporpatriots and posted at the Mitch and Nan Show. Where this original information came from was an autotrack report that was run by a company called Locateplus. Publishing this information broke Locateplus's agreement with their accountholder and the account was suspeneded. That's lucky for anyone else who were being targeted by this individual, because Locateplus is the provider that was used to pull information on people they were stalking,

Publishing those personal details online was simply done in order to torment, humiliate, and intimidate the victim.

Enter the stalker of today; who seems to be taking instruction from Joe Cafasso. He's replicated himself in the anonymous tradition of Joe Cafasso at Stuporpatriots, hiding behind an invented personality, much like Cafasso has done with aliases in the numbers so high we can't even keep track of them all. At Stuporpatriots, he claimed to be a group of individuals instead of a single person. So did Scott Wayne Covington at the Mitch and Nan Show. He joins the likes of Cafasso and his associates, posting under different pseudonyms on blogs and on discussion forums, sometimes having discussions with themselves under different names, who stalked Idema's friends and family members and extorted money.

Are we in a time warp into a parallel dimension with a slightly different theme, or what.

Scott Wayne Covington, from the Mitch and Nan Show who pretended to be Mitch from France, phoned Larry Sinclair's mother to extort money, published personal details from that illegal report "borrowed" from Joe Cafasso's Stuporpatriots, has maligned Sinclair for his offenses when it would appear Covington's offenses are longstanding and have continued into this year.

Scott Wayne Covington, of Sugarland, Texas, has scammed a number of people who thought they were buying pianos from his Piano Store in Houston, only to find out their money was gone, and there were no pianos. From the information available at Larry Sinclair's website, it appears as though Covington's father has bailed him out of this mess by paying restitution to those individuals in order to circumvent Scott's facing criminal charges.

Covington's father should find out about what "Tough Love" is and allow this now 49-year-old spoiled adolescent face the consequences for his behavior instead of continue preying on his father's guilt. Otherwise, his father will continue to see Scott's behavior escalate, because he has no concept of the real world; and will continue to believe that no matter what he does, he will get bailed out of it.

What is astonishing is Covington's a) support of Barack Obama and b) his contention that Sinclair's charges should be ignored because he has a record.

If people aren't familiar with the famous story "Catch me if you can" - you should familiarize yourself with it. This was the story of a very ingenius criminal who eventually came to terms with what he was doing, and started working to catch the bad guys for the FBI, using his vast intelligence and experience.

It's possible to turn things around. And Sinclair has faced his demons.

It's time that Covington did the same and got out of the stalking business for good.

sisters, sisters

2007-05-08T17:56:00.001-07:00

getting geared up here

2007-05-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

revving the engines...

I'd gladly take little hermie munster out of the picture...but I think he adds something to it, don't you? The big dark circles under his eyes, hiding behind his mom in the ugly green bathrobe?

Plotters Meeting in New York

2006-11-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

June 2, 2006 "Plotters" Meeting in New York????

side of a bullet

2006-11-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Uncle Sam taught him to shoot
Maybe a little too well
Finger on the trigger, loaded bullet
He hit the stage so full of rage
And let the whole world know it
Six feet away, they heard him say
“Oh God, don’t let him pull it”

Please God, don’t let him pull it
How could you put us through it?
His brother watched you do it

How could you take his life away?
How could you be so full of hate?
And when I heard you let him die
And made the world all wonder why
I sat at home and on my own,
I cried alone

And scratched your name
On the side of a bullet

And in the wake of his mistake
So many lives are broken
Gone forever from a loaded bullet
And no excuse that you could use
Could pull somebody through it
And to this day so many say
“God why’d you let him do it?”

How could you let him do it?
How could you put us through it?
His brother watched him do it

How could you take his life away?
How could you be so full of hate?
And when I heard you let him die
And made the world
all wonder why
I sat at home and cried alone
and on my own
I scratched your name
On the side of a bullet

On the side of a bullet
On the side of a bullet

Joe Cafasso is a STAR!!!!

2006-11-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

What a joke. I'm sure he's proud of himself, but this is pathetic.

it's the clipper ship!

2006-11-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

bullying

2006-11-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

Several of us have fallen prey to Cafasso's victimization of us, and I've often wonder why or how that could be. Never in my life have I run across a psychotic crazy man like Joe Cafasso, and so I started reading about 'bullies'. The bully phenomenon is relatively common, unfortunately, and it takes on several forms. Men who beat their wives are bullies; men in the workplace who sexually harrass their underlings or even co-workers are bullies; and it begins early in childhood. The bully learned at an early age that hurting people makes him feel good. And he generally needs to do it in order to feel 'better', because he doesn't feel very good when he looks in the mirror. I suspect that Cafasso doesn't look in the mirror very often because he doesn't like what he sees.

According to Wikipedia, this is the definition of bullying.

Bullying involves the torment of others through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation.

Take a looking at what he's written at Stuporpatriots and tell me that's not proof of what I'm illustrating here.

Research indicates that adults who bully have personalities that are authoritarian, combined with a strong need to control or dominate.^[3] It has also been suggested that a deficit in social skills and a prejudicial view of subordinates can be particular risk factors.^[4]

Further studies have shown that while envy and resentment may be motives for bullying,^[5] there is little evidence to suggest bullies suffer from any deficit in self esteem.^[6] However there are instances where bullying takes place only for humor. It is generally used in this instance by children who were bullied earlier in their lives. The fact that those who bullied them derrived fun from their acts this would teach the victims to do the same.

Researchers have identified other risk factors such as quickness to anger and use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviors, mistaking others' actions as hostile, concern with preserving self image, and engaging in obsessive or rigid actions. ^[7] It should also be noted that in most schools there is reward for bullies such as apearing aggressive and more attractive while drawing lines that they are better than their victims.

Bullying may also be "tradition" in settings where an age group or higher rank feels superior than lowerclassmen.

It is often suggested that bullying behavior has its origin in childhood:

"If aggressive behaviour is not challenged in childhood, there is a danger that it may become habitual. Indeed, there is research evidence, to indicate that bullying during childhood puts children at risk of criminal behaviour and domestic violence in adulthood."^[8]

Bullying does not necessarily involve criminality or physical violence. For example, bullying often operates through psychological abuse or verbal abuse.

I'll be looking more at this. No doubt it's a fascinating subject; and equally of interest is the subject of how the bully motivates others to jump in -the gang mentality of bullying, which I've witnessed in horrifying displays of physical violence, where the associates stand by and let the physical abuse occur without a single objection.

Cyber-bullying

Main article: Cyber-bullying

Cyberbullying occurs in electronic space^[9]. According to Canadian educator Bill Belsey, the creator of the term, it:

"involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, blogs, online games and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others".

Bullies will even create blogs to intimidate victims worldwide.

It was clearly time to knock this thing up a knotch. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? He's been sarcastically laughing at his blog and calling people names, and visiting chatrooms pointing to that blog, and generally making a pain in the ass out of himself. It was finally time to turn the tables on him and give him some of his own medicine.

Here's a website about bullying at school. Here's some advice that some of the kids offered on bullying. Joe Cafasso is little more than a child who bullied people who's grown up into an adult; and he's not grown up enough to realize that this is unacceptable behavior.

This is what a commenter called Ash said, and I think it's valuable to the discussion on Joe Cafasso:

What's always worked for me is bullying them back. Bullying doesn't just refer to taking lunch money and beating kids up. It's more like a way in which the idiots demonstrate their "power" over you. I'm a nice guy, but the way I see it is, if someone is going to be a jerk to me, I'm going to be a jerk right back. When I first started getting bullied in elementary, it was over stupid stuff. I got tired of it and eventually I clocked one of the bullies in the face.

Now, this doesn't have the effect you think it would. What this does is it creates a kind of 'uncertainty' in the minds of bullies. They pick on you all the time but suddenly you're going to do something to them if they do it any more. Which tells them that you are no longer afraid of them, and won't put up with their crap. This does one of two things; it either changes the way bullies treat other people and causes them to realize how stupid they act (this fortunately is what happened in my case, and now he's a good guy), or, they move on to smaller, weaker opponents.

If A happens, that proves that some people can be better than that. If B happens, your best bet is stay away from them. Those people are the kinds of people that just get dumber and worse, and spin off into a downward spiral and go NOWHERE in life. Those are the kinds of psychos that end up as drug dealers and serial killers.

Another alternative is to act like you're crazy.... which has also worked for me... The next time someone tells you to hand over their money, calmly tell them that you are going to come to their house and burn it down. And that you are going to eat their unborn children. Now this may sound a little off, but it causes the bully to literally think you're crazy. And then they stay away from you. OR they beat the crap out of you for threatening them..... which is why you have to be calm about it, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. And you have to be consistent; every time you see the person you have to tell them something different.... like you enjoy knitting sweaters in your free time. And by "knitting" I mean 'kicking' and "sweaters" I mean 'babies'.

A third option you have for dealing with bullies is to take some sort of defense class. Karate is PERFECT. Or you can join the wrestling team. This also teaches you patience and discipline, so that you may be above your enemies. This is for the next time they get in your face. You calmly ignore them, deny and refuse them, or otherwise keep yourself from doing anything they say, and eventually they might get mad enough to where they resort to physical violence against you.

That's where the training kicks in. You can't get in trouble for it since you're only defending yourself. But it's important to ONLY defend yourself; don't go too far like break all their ribs if they slap you. And it's also important not to provoke them. Not provoking bullies doesn't just go for self defense, it's a rule in general and common sense. If you beat them enough, they'll learn not to screw with you anymore, and potentially, not to screw with anyone else either.

If physical violence is where he's at, and I've heard that it is, there are things we can do to prepare for that. No matter, he's done enough harms and pissed off enough of the right people for this to come to a swift end at some point soon.

what you deserve

2006-11-07T03:25:00.000-08:00

It's too bad that you have made mistakes.

Too bad that I cannot relate.

When all else fails

When all else fades.

I kept my word through bitter days

(Through bitter days)

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Won't leave a scar.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Hasn't killed you so far.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Is who you are.

I just give you something to talk about.

What you don't know.

It's too late that now.

I've changed my mind.

Too late somehow.

To recognize

When all else fails

When all I find

Are all my words

Perdido in time.

(Just lost in time)

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Won't leave a scar.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Hasn't killed you so far.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Is who you are.

I just give you something to talk about.

So you lost yourself.

Turned to someone else.

And you can't give up your will to want to know.

Then you find yourself.

And you're someone else.

In the end you only get what you deserve.

(What you deserve)

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Won't leave a scar.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Hasn't killed you so far.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Is who you are.

I just give you something to talk about.

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

What you don't know.

(Don't know)

Cafasso's famous last words

2006-11-07T03:20:00.000-08:00

This is the line quoted from Cafasso at the end of the Rutenberg piece.

"...I will not be tried by the press and small-minded individuals such as these that have no clue to what is real or not."

THE HELL HE WON'T...

side splittingly hilarious!

2006-11-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, but this is so funny to me, since Simpson even looks to me like Cafasso.

it's turning out to be a fountain all right

2006-11-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

First, we have the tangled web, as you can bite me says. We have some fakeumentaries coming out using Cafasso as the top secret source with the White House Clearance! This would seem to be fodder for a Stephen Spielberg film.

Then we have another amazing story that Cafasso cooked up about the house he owns overlooking the ocean in Rhode Island, the 1940's clipper ship that he was updating!~ And the place in France, and a slew of other things I can't even keep track of! What is this guy smoking?

Then we have the Robert Pelton/Kathryn Cramer/Joe Cafasso collaboration on a couple of projects, none of us, through conversations and instant messaging-are certain where one thing ends and another starts at this point.

the fountain of bullshit

2006-11-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

Heard of the Fountain of Youth? Well Cafasso is the Fountain of Bullshit. You don't believe me? Well read this and think again.

Born in 1956, I graduated from Carteret High School in Carteret, N.J., but claim I have a PhD in a variety of subjects, from nuclear physics to military affairs. I have never had a passport, and never left the United States, but have claimed that I was part of the Delta Force mission in Iran to rescue American hostages. I also like to tell people that I was the one who ran onto the burning C-130 a Desert One and saved the aircrew. Unfortunately I have never even seen a C-130 except in pictures, and I generally take the train when my mother would buy me a ticket. I was discharged from the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey after only 44 days. The Army found me unsuitable for service and kicked me out as a private, but that hasn't stopped me from claiming that I'm a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served in Delta Force and was commander of all intelligence operations in the first Gulf War. I haven't had a real job since about 1993, but FOX News was stupid enough to actually believe my background and make me their top military analyst and Special Forces expert during the 2001/2002 war to liberate Afghanistan. I got a hoot out of that. The New York Times exposed me but I stalked and harassed the reporter to the point he hid, ha, that was neat.

Then I changed my name to Colonel Gerry Blackwood, lost 50 pounds, and changed my hair style! I was reborn! An all new American hero Colonel, speaking at prestigious universities like Columbia in New York and getting more journalists to believe my tales, this time how I worked on the White House staff and was really a CIA agent. I tried putting a patch over one eye, just to really tweak my war hero persona, but it made me cross-eyed, so I told people that Walter Reed repaired my war injury with a new procedure for CIA agents.

I am divorced, and have been thrown in jail periodically for nonpayment of child support, after all, kids are just a burden when your primary job is stalking women. I used to live with my mother and sister, until my mother died. Now my family barely speaks to me, so I live in a flop house in NYC where I can freely associate with people of my caliber, hookers, drug addicts, and other bums. But that still doesn't stop me from hanging out with high-powered people in powerful positions who don't bother to look into my background. Too bad for them. Nobody's ever seen me pick up a tab and I don't have to, I keep them occupied with my tales of heroism and military service and great stories about how I lost my entire company of soldiers in Vietnam who died before my very eyes. People feel sad for me, and gladly pay my bills. I guess they aren't smart enough to know I was too young for Vietnam - funny that no one knows enough math to figure it out. I also like to bother women because it makes me feel like a big man.

I have been a lawyer, a marine specialist, a harbor master, a surveyor, an architect, a White House staff member, a Lieutenant Colonel in Delta Force, a Colonel in CENTCOM, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a biological weapons specialist, a master of martial arts, chief of humanitarian operations around the globe, a specialist in nuclear fission and weapons, a consultant to the United States Senate and Congress, and television editor and producer. Most of those things I made up, but some I actually did until I got dime'd out as a fake and fraud by people. Most recently I was the CIA source for several stupid journalists and authors, like the Columbia Journalism Review, the New York Magazine, and I even fooled Robert Pelton who thought he was so smart.

My new venture is credit card scams, mostly unsuspecting stupid homely women that fall for my charm and intellectual style. Once I get their card number, it's all over but for the crying. And who cares about that, I'm laughing all the way to the bank. There's nothing they can do about it, anyway.

Just as hokey as Cafasso

2006-11-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

And women who are sucked in by his bullshit are stupid in spite of their high IQs. He might like them smart, but from what I've seen, they're all dumpy.

"I ain't got nobody" is his theme song right now, lol...

claimed he killed a 14-year old child in a war he never fought in

2006-11-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

Cafasso claimed, according to Carteret Con Artist, that the reason he was working for Knightsbridge was because he'd killed a 14-year-old-child working a black op in Vietnam. You know...one of those missions that's so top secret, nobody's allowed to talk about it and there's no record of it. shhhhh!

But as Causal Nexus points out, what kind of man would claim that he killed a child in a war he never fought in? It's impossible for him to have fought in Vietnam for crissake, he didn't even graduate High School until 1974. We're looking for confirmation the he did, in fact graduate High School, by the way. He didn't go to Texas A&M, he didn't graduate Brown-his father did. His lies about higher education demonstrate just like his tales of military heroism that he very badly wants people to give him praise, adoration and even pity, for things he never did or achieved. In other words, he's full of bullshit!

Who knew? Military posers like Joe Cafasso are cropping up all over!

2006-10-31T22:46:00.000-08:00

Who knew this phenomenon was so widespread?

Real war veterans increasingly uncover truths of 'wannabes'

Actor Brian Dennehy is among those who have either exaggerated their experiences or lied outright about serving.

By Mike Hudson

Toronto Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson fired up his baseball teams with bloody tales of his days as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam. War was hell. He had killed a little girl and her brother who happened into the line of fire.

The truth: He had been in the Marine Reserves. An exemption for baseball players had kept him out of combat.

The Blue Jays fired Johnson. Now he manages in the bush leagues.

U.S. Rep. Wes Cooley told reporters he'd fought in Korea as a Special Forces "demolition expert" trained in mountain climbing and escape tactics. The Oregon Republican said he'd engaged in countless secret missions.

The truth: Cooley never left the states during his military career. He hadn't even finished his training when the Korean conflict ended.

After his lies unraveled, Cooley dropped his re-election bid. He was convicted of falsifying campaign documents.

Actor Brian Dennehy, one of the stars of the Rambo movie "First Blood," said he served five years in Vietnam. He'd been hit by shrapnel. Combat, he told Playboy magazine, was "absolute f---ing chaos."

The truth: Dennehy had been a Marine, but his only overseas assignment had been as a football player on a service team in Okinawa.

After a long delay, Dennehy admitted his lies.

Pulitzer-winning historian Joseph Ellis spiced his lectures with tales of his Vietnam service. His unit had been nearby during the My Lai massacre. He served on the staff of America's top commander in Vietnam, Gen. William Westmoreland.

The truth: Ellis never fought in Vietnam. During the war, he taught military history at West Point.

Ellis made a tepid apology: "Even in the best of lives, mistakes are made."

Stolen glory

Veterans call them by all sorts of names: phonies, fakes, imposters, wannabes. Some claim they fought in wars they never served in. Others served honorably but exaggerate their exploits; they claim service in elite units, tell tales of top-secret suicide raids, wear medals they never earned.

Vets and journalists who have delved into the world of military impostors say untold thousands of masqueraders are using make-believe war records to polish resumes, collect veterans benefits, or impress business associates, friends or romantic partners.

"The sheer number is just mind-boggling," said Mark Bowden, author of "Black Hawk Down," a bestselling book about a U.S. Army Ranger engagement in Somalia. "And it's frankly put me in a position of doubting anybody who tells me a war story."

B.G. "Jug" Burkett, a Vietnam vet who is now a stockbroker in Dallas, feels the same way. Almost any time he reads a newspaper article about someone claiming to be a Vietnam veteran, he digs into their background and files a request for their military records.

Over the past 15 years, Burkett said, he has investigated perhaps 2,000 claims of military service; at least 1,500 of them were bogus in one way or another. Rep. Cooley was among the storytellers he helped expose.

Burkett, co-author of "Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History," is in many ways the godfather of a growing network of debunkers of false military claims. One retired SEAL commander told The New York Times that he and others connected with the elite Navy unit had exposed more than 7,000 SEAL impostors.

Waving the flag

It can take time, but it's almost always possible to prove or disprove whether someone served in the military, where they served, whether they saw combat, and whether they earned medals.

The military keeps records on almost everything. On a typical day in Vietnam, Burkett noted, there were always more clerks with typewriters than riflemen in the field. "Everything is done in triplicate," he said.

People should be skeptical, he said, about those who wear heroism on their sleeves, tell wild tales of wartime mayhem or claim to have led clandestine missions that the government won't acknowledge.

In his book, Burkett notes the story of a man named John Murray who claimed to be an ex-prisoner of war and retired lieutenant colonel. During a POW-MIA Day ceremony in New York, Murray stepped forward with a tiny framed American flag. He said he had made it in his POW camp by shredding his clothing and dyeing the cloth with berries and his own blood. Each day he raised the flag on a bamboo stick so he and his fellow prisoners could honor it.

He got permission to hold a ceremony on National Park Service grounds and persuaded retired Gen. William Westmorland to attend.

That night, Murray, driving drunk and on antidepressants, smashed his car into a utility pole. Police efforts to ascertain his true identity - he claimed three different birthdays and had two Social Security numbers - unraveled his patchwork of lies. Murray had never been in the military. He later pleaded guilty to lying to obtain a government permit.

Murray explained his deception by saying, "I only wanted to help."

Victims and heroes

False warriors are a phenomenon that happens after every war. Historian William Marvel has written that every one of the last dozen recognized living Confederate veterans was bogus. Marvel found that the last one, Walter Williams of Texas, would have been 5 in 1860 and 10 when the war ended. Williams didn't begin identifying himself as a Civil War veteran until 1932, when he applied for a Confederate pension.

Society honors warriors. Movies and television are obsessed with war. Many Americans equate honor and masculinity with military service. Men - and women - with low self-images sometimes try to build up themselves by claiming service and even heroism, say those who have investigated the problem. Cooks and clerks and others who served in noncombat slots feel guilt that they had it easy compared with comrades who risked and sometimes gave their lives in battle.

Society is fascinated, too, with victims and heroes. For self-aggrandizers, Burkett said, Vietnam is alluring because its tortured history allows them to meld two identities. Like Rambo, they can be both heroes who fought for their country as well as victims betrayed by politicians and the public.

Some fakers are compulsive liars who convince themselves of the truth of their own stories. And while most fakers are trying to bolster fragile egos, some use their stories for grander aims: to win elections, steal money, hype their public images as entertainers or business executives, make political statements for or against U.S. military actions.

When confronted with evidence of their duplicity, Burkett said, most will stick with their stories, even presenting doctored and forged documents for support. "It's very rare that they'll cough it up."

Undying beliefs

In his book, Burkett argues that the problem goes beyond acts of individual dishonor. He says military pretenders often appear in news stories that contribute to stereotypes of Vietnam vets as violent, drug-addled, psychologically wasted and homeless.

The image is so universally accepted, he says, reporters and producers are quick to use stories that fit the stereotype, and rarely check the veracity of the source.

And what happens when someone questions the record of a veteran quoted in a news story? Most of the time, Burkett said, reporters, editors and producers refuse to admit their mistakes.

Bowden, the "Black Hawk Down" author, found this to be true when he did his own investigation of the media's handling of this problem: Many journalists simply didn't care about finding out the truth. "It was just an outrage," Bowden said. "It was frankly somewhat disillusioning to me."

The media and the public live by stereotypes; rarely do they willingly forsake long-held beliefs. It's not an easy battle to challenge oft-repeated stories of a community hero's valor, or to correct a flawed but long-accepted historical record.

Burkett said one thing his campaign has taught him is that people want to hang onto their myths, whether it's a society certain that Vietnam veterans are woebegone cases, or a spouse who wants to blame her husband's problems on the trauma of war.

"They want to believe," he said. For some people, "there's a point where, once you cross that threshold, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not."

Journalists don't care about the truth, of that sorry fact I'm increasingly more convinced. And they desperately cling to their myths. Our skepticism should be on red alert about people like Joe Cafasso (who isn't mentioned here but should have been) because he's one of those who brags of heroic events (like rescuing people off a burning C-130 during the Iran crisis), and doesn't hesitate to tell wild tales of wartime and clandestine CIA missions. Sorry failures with self-esteem issues like Joe Cafasso build themselves up with lies about their military service, hoping nobody will notice. Although in truth he only has 44 days in bootcamp at Fort Dix to brag about, he must feel guilty that his entire life he's been nothing but the nephew of a smalltime Italian crook and a soft cowardly mama's boy who lived with his mother until she died. So he makes it up!

As evidence that our society is fascinated with with victims and heroes, Joe Cafasso's story stands above the rest. Although he isn't old enough to have served in Vietnam, his brazen self-aggrandizing tales of Vietnam have allowed him to meld two identities: He's cleverly depicted himself as an unsung hero who fought for his country as well as a victim betrayed by politicians and the public. On a grander scale, we have the question as to what motivated him to claim the Gerry Blackwood PHD and Lt. Col. (ret) persona. I would theorize that today, with the surge in publicity around "outfoxed" and moveon.org's parading him as a fraud that Fox fell for-and as a victim of the rightwing must have been a humiliating experience. He was used as a weapon against the 'evil christian rightwing' in the campaign about Rupert Murdoch's war on journalism. Fox isn't the only outfit that got suckered by this con artist. I would bet that the cool reception he received as a poser and a fraud in "Outfoxed" was what motivated him to take the leap and morph into Gerry P. Blackwood, drop 50 pounds, and even wear a Halloween costume of sorts-an eyepatch and an Indiana Jones hat. Considering how far he got with that, they ought to take a look in the mirror.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T21:58:00.000-08:00

Just imagine this is Cafasso...

2006-10-31T10:05:00.000-08:00

And maybe this is the Senton HOtel. Just imagine it's a flophouse dump they're in. Now imagine some guy like Ed Asner playing him instead of Leonard Dicaprio. And his teeth are all screwed up. Now you've got it. Get him with an eyepatch and an indiana jones hat, lol...he just can't keep running this game forever. Some day it's going to end, and I'm hoping that it's some day soon. The complaints are pouring in...POURING. When it rains, it pours!

It's almost Halloween, I'm diggin' it

2006-10-30T19:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so nightmare and I have similar tastes in some areas...like men. What are you gonna do, make a federal case out of it?

It's an animal thing.

If this is true, I'm gonna puke

2006-10-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

Did that scumbag Joe Cafasso really threaten someone and say he could put their body where it couldn't be found??? That is pretty sick. That's almost as bad as someone who kills dogs. That threat should be spread across the blogosphere; can't you get arrested for stalking someone like that? Or for making mafia-style breakyourknees kind of statements toward people to instill fear and intimidation?

all his tricks and identities have caught up to Joe Cafasso

2006-10-29T05:53:00.000-08:00

Joe Cafasso was Gerry Blackwood in April 2004....but I guess what he calls himself depends on the circles he's traveling in. For example, he was himself; Joe Cafasso in July 2004 when he was on OUTFOXED. Gosh, can you imagine having so many identities, depending on who you're running into, like for example - the city of Manhattan? It's no wonder the more we find out, the more it looks like he's ready for the loony bin. In the West Side of New York he is Blackwood. On the Lower East Side he is Cafasso! In Little Italy, he's Big Joey Mosca. When he steps into the Village, he is Jay Mosca! When he hits the steps of the St. Patrick's Chancery for the Catholic Charities - too close to the UN - he is Lt. Col Blackwood!

Honest to God if this were not so nuts, I could wholeheartedly laugh but how the hell does someone just exist like this? What do you do if you are walking down Broadway one day and you meet one friend on one block - another friend on another block! He must really walk a fine line between utterly madder than a hatter and a full blown Silence of the Lambs mate! He reminds me of that character who held the girl in the basement!

I hope they put him in a jail where some shrink can benefit from his psychosis! What a specimen!

The View from Inside: Iran's Nuclear Ambitions

* To: radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu
* Subject: The View from Inside: Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
* From: "Gerry Blackwood"
* Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 20:28:20 +0000
* Reply-To: "Gerry Blackwood"
* Sender: owner-radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu

For those of you in NYC who can spare the time.....

Thursday April 29th

The Student Council on Islamic World Affairs and the Middle East Institute
Lecture: The View from Inside: Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
Speaker: Nasser Hadian, Adjunct Professor, MEALAC; Professor, Tehran
University

12:30 PM Columbia University 1118 International Affairs Building
115th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY

Gerry Blackwood
New York, New York

"Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over, but continually
expecting a different result." -- Sigmund Freud

That last phrase is cracking me up. Of all the people to use that in their online signature, it's funny that Joe Cafasso would talk about the definition of insanity, but then...he should know.

Blogger beta

2006-10-29T05:42:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know how the features work and if I will suffer trashing of my template?

Wow, look at all Joe Cafasso's aliases!

2006-10-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

I absolutely had no idea that he was so imaginative! When you look at him, he looks like a complete and homeless bum, which is exactly what he is! Especially when he was wearing that tacky eyepatch!

Causal Nexus has the post up at Carteret Con Artist, and here's the list.

J Anthony Cafasso,
John J Cafasso
Joseph Cafassaro (check made out to him by Buchanan Campaign)
Gerard Pal Blackwood Ph.D
Gerard Blackwood
Gerry P Blackwood
Gerry Pal Blackwood
Dr. Gerry Blackwood
Dr. Gerry P Blackwood
Lt. Col Gerry Blackwood
Lt. Col Gerry P Blackwood
Lt. Col Joseph A Cafasso
Lt. Col Joesph Cafasso
Lt. Col Joe Cafasso

Gerry Blackwood Ph.D
LTC US Army (ret)

Managing Director, North American LCC Group Ltd.
PO Box 1201
New York, New York 10024
cell: 732-453-4647

And then there's a list of email addresses, but I think there's one missing.

Gerry.Blackwood@gmail.com
gpblackwood@hotmail.com
JAnthony@gmail.com
JACafasso@aol.com
PoppingSmoke@aol.com
GPBlackwood@yahoo.com
Gerry.Blackwood@justice.com

We're missing...ghostwriter512@yahoo.com

Otherwise, it's a very good post overall. Fascinating! And doesn't it just make you laugh to think someone is seriously all about morphing into another identity? Pathetic. And that this individual would become violent when he's 'found out'? Because he's all about 'control' because his life is actually spinning out of control. He possesses an incredibly powerful feeling of 'entitlement' toward others and their things, e.g., passwords, bank accounts, credit cards, etc. The reason for this could be that he has nothing but a lonely hotel room to go back to, and his family wants nothing to do with him. I wonder what kind of relationship he has with his kid.

Late to the party for Joe Cafasso, but I'm in

2006-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'm in, I'm in, just late in arriving. I like to be 'fashionably late' with a dramatic entrance, lol...so here it is. And you don't want to miss what we have for you on this story...so stay tuned, caped crusaders. Sorry, nightmare, I've got this one...

Going through the pages of my fantasies
Pushing all the mercy down, down, down
I wanna see you try to take a swing at me
Come on, gonna put you on the ground, ground, ground

Why are you trying to make fun of me?
You think it's funny?
What the fuck you think it's doing to me?
You take your turn lashing out at me
I want you crying with your dirty ass in the front of me

All of my hate cannot be bound
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So you can try to tear me down
Beat me to the ground
I will see you screaming

Come and fill the pages of my fantasies
I'm above you, smiling at you, down, down, down
I wanna kill and rape you the way you raped me
And I'll pull the trigger
And you're down, down, down

Why are you trying to make fun of me?
You think it's funny?
What the fuck you think it's doing to me?
You take your turn lashing out at me
I want you crying when you're dirty in the front of me

All of my hate cannot be bound
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So you can try to tear me down
Beat me to the ground
I will see you screaming

All my friends are gone, they died (gonna take you down)
They all screamed, and cried (gonna take you down)

Never gunna forget
Never forget
I can't get no where, I
I never forget
Never forget
I can't getttt... x4
Gonna take you down

All of my hate cannot be bound
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So you can try to tear me down
Beat me to the ground
I will see you screaming
All of my hate cannot be bound
I will not be drowned by your thoughtless scheming
So you can try to tear me down
Beat me to the ground
I will see you screaming