THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

Feds Plan to Build National 'Teacher Training' Site

Teacher accountability and professional development are among the many target areas that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, hypothetically, seeks to strengthen. Despite claims that the Act oversteps constitutional boundaries --arguably interfering with state and local control of education policy -- the federal government continues to exhibit leadership in preparing aspiring teachers for public service. Specifically, the Bush Administration is planning to build a national Teacher Training Facility as part of a larger program of assisting in the "rehabilitation, livelihood, and rebuilding of economic and social infrastructure" of the nation, according to procurement documents that Exhortations to the Oblivious has obtained.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately for American educators, administrators, and students, the above-mentioned nation to reap the fruits of such a government compound is not the United States. Rather, the U.S. Agency for International Development will fund construction of the facility in the Aceh province of Indonesia.

It remains unknown whether the school will offer the existing popular course of study "Educating Students in Jihadist Techniques for Slaughtering Christians." The class clearly has come in handy for local Indonesians who in recent years participated in attacks on missionaries and other relief workers during international post-tsunami recovery efforts.

ABC News Interviews TPR's Steve Peacock for Helmsley Story

ABC News yesterday interviewed Steve Peacock for a follow-up article on the death of hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, the so-called 'Queen of Mean.' Peacock from 1987-1992 was a House Officer at the Helmsley Palace, Leona's flagship hotel, and published Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze, a memoir of that once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In the piece Was the 'Queen of Mean' a Victim?, ABC reporter Marcus Baram says that "Leona Helmsley will go in down in history for being rich, mistreating her employees and cheating on her taxes," then poses the question, "But did the "Queen of Mean," as the New York tabloids dubbed her, really deserve the reputation?"

Peacock helps to answer that question on the top of page 2 of that article.

Many thanks to Mr. Baram for having the wherewithal to contact Hotel Dick publisher iUniverse in his efforts to reach Peacock.

Also see Hookers, Hoopla & Handshakes: Pigsylvania Society 2006 (TPR, 12/14/06), for additional insight on Hotel Dick and the Helmsley Palace.

Leona Helmsley, R.I.P.

EX-HELMSLEY PALACE SECURITY STAFFER AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 20, 2007

Contact: Steve Peacock, stevepeacock@yahoo.com

WHO: Steve Peacock worked as one of the late Leona Helmsley’s house security officers at her flagship Helmsley Palace hotel from 1987-1992 – the tumultuous years before, during, and after her federal tax-fraud conviction. Peacock is the author of Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze (iUniverse, available via Barnes & Noble.com), a memoir about his encounters with the often bizarre guests of the 55-story, 1,000 room Helmsley Palace.

WHAT: Brief statement from Steve Peacock:

" The short story is this: Leona was a walking contradiction. Sometimes she quietly passed through the lobby en route to her executive office. And yet other times she was as mean and out of control as her reputation now accurately reflects.

"During that time I had personally witnessed Leona’s increasingly erratic behavior, which included face-to-face encounters with the self-appointed Queen. One day, for instance, she simply halted the march of her entourage walking through the Palace lobby, with the express purpose of gently urging me to "get a haircut," while another time -- in a drunken rage -- she screamed in my face, arms flailing, because a visitor moments earlier was smoking in the lobby; something that was permitted at the time. She was utterly unpredictable."

ABOUT "HOTEL DICK" (excerpt from back-cover info):

"Steve Peacock had taken a unique five-year peek into the lives of the wealthy, the powerful and the 'lower' classes that serviced their every desire. This experience was a rare chance to immerse him in the subculture of the privileged… He served as a buffer between the so-called elite and the hookers, thieves, and street people who were drawn to this glass-and-steel luxury tower… Hotel Dick reveals what went on behind the former playground of the rich and famous. The story of the rise and fall of Harry and Leona Helmsley has already been told; however, Hotel Dick is the first book to provide a secret window into the lives of the other bizarre and lust-filled personalities who roamed this notorious Manhattan landmark."

RELATED READING: Hookers, Hoopla & Handshakes: Pigsylvania Society 2006 (TPR, 12/14/06).

Links to U.S.-Romanian Military Base Story Restored

To all visitors and researchers whom have accessed the Oct. 11, 2005, story New U.S. Base in Romania To Be Larger Than Previously Estimated, please be advised that The Peacock Report (TPR) as of Aug. 15 has updated the contracting-document link embedded in that story. FedBizOpps, the federal government's primary procurement-opportunities database, generally archives such documents at some point as a matter of routine database maintenance, thereby changing the original links it previously generated for those documents (although, as TPR reported in the unrelated story U.S. Commerce Dept. Hires Consultant for Iraq Energy Project -- Then Covers Tracks of Contracting Action, sometimes the government archives documents immediately, consequently making such information more difficult to locate).

TPR attempts to update document-links as frequently as possible. We therefore apologize to the hundreds of visitors whom have located this web site through Google Romania in search of verifiable data on the growing U.S. presence at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base. Stay tuned for further updates on that $100 million Forward Operating Base project of Joint Task Force-Europe (JTF-E).

Feds Seek Expert Review of Highway Investments

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in the aftermath of the deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse, is hiring a world-renowned expert to assess the level of U.S. transportation-infrastructure investments, according to a contracting document dated Aug. 8. However, it does not appears that FHWA is conducting this action as a matter of public safety; rather, this expert assessment will be carried out as a means of weighing the extent of financial benefits that such investments will have for consumers and manufacturers.

According to a presolicitation notice that The Peacock Report located via routine search of the FedBizOpps database, FHWA intends to award a sole-source contract to University of Cyprus Professor Theofanis P. Mamuneus to:

[C]onduct a study on the Contribution of Highway Investment to National Economic Growth. This research will update the estimates of the consumer and producer rates-of-return to highway investment using the latest National Income and Product Account Data. [emphasis added]

FHWA did not disclose the value of the anticipated contract.

Cheney Clip Reveals VP's Original Rejection of Iraq Occupation

A video interview of Vice President Dick Cheney has emerged in which the former Defense Secretary wholeheartedly rejected the notion of the U.S. military invading Baghdad and overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Such an action is not worth losing American lives, he said. Such an action only would lead to a "quagmire," he added. A must-see clip.

Chauncey Bailey, Career Journalist, R.I.P.

What more can be said about the highly publicized assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey? Simply put, Bailey had the guts to investigate and seek to expose the alleged criminality of a Black Muslim group in Oakland. A suspect now is in custody. May justice be served.

Army to Outsource 'Wounded Soldier' Call-Center Ops

The U.S. Army Contracting Agency intends to partially outsource call-center operations for its Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline project, an initiative that it launched earlier this year in the aftermath of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal.

It should be noted that the Army officially unveiled the call center initiative in March -- around the same time the Pentagon hired a Beltway public relations firm following revelations of substandard health care provided to soldiers returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan (see TPR, March 24, Pentagon Hires P.R. Firm to Put Spin on Soldier Healthcare Debacle).

According to a presolicitation notice dated Aug. 10, the goal of creating the call center was to:

[P]rovide a toll free call line for Army families, Soldiers, Retirees, Veterans, and Disabled Soldiers (beneficiaries) who are seeking information, submitting suggestions, registering complaints, or raising issues about their outpatient medical care. The Call Center is aimed at instilling confidence in our Army and the American people that the Army Medical Department delivers exceptional service and care.

The extent of the outsourcing has not been disclosed; the notice only says that this latest contracting action is being undertaken "in support" of the Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline endeavor. Eligibility to compete for the new contract will be"limited to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Concerns only," the document emphasizes. Further details will become available when the Army releases a formal Request for Proposals "on or around Aug. 24."

U.S. Commerce Dept. Hires Consultant for Iraq Energy Project -- Then Covers Tracks of Contracting Action

A private contractor tasked with training Iraqi oil- and gas-sector officials on matters pertaining to international trade agreements and law is being hired by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Lex Mercatoria, a London-based publishing house and consultancy, will be responsible under the contract to provide "technical assistance to Iraq to ensure that laws and regulations pertaining directly or indirectly to the Iraqi oil and gas sector are compliant with international trade law, with international trade agreements to which Iraq is, or may become, a party...", according to a recently obtained contracting document.

In an unusual move within the FedBizOpps database, which is where the Commerce document was located, the Aug. 5 presolicitation notice was archived the same day it was uploaded to the federal contract-opportunities system; in other words, the document was immediately removed from the daily listing of business dealings made public by the government. Only a word-specific search by The Peacock Report of the FedBizOpps archives produced evidence of this contracting action.

A more detailed solicitation (zip file) also is available.

U.S. Special Ops Finds New Tool in GWOT: Al Jazeera

U.S. Special Forces are arming themselves with an additional tool in the so-called Global War on Terror (GWOT): a subscription to the Al Jazeera news network. The Peacock Report (TPR) has learned that the U.S. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) "requires access to the Al Jazeeran Network, local, regional, and international news" and intends to award a sole-source, no-bid contract for the service to Echostar Communications, parent company of Dish Network.

"Dish Network is the only satellite television provider that provides the Al Jazeera Network in the Continental United States as part of its Arabic channel pack," according to a Special Notice dated Aug. 3 that TPR located via a routine serach of the FedBizzOpps database. "These channels are vital due to the sensitive nature of our mission. They provide SOCCENT situational awareness as well as cultural sensitivity to our war fighters in the global war on terror."

Editor's Note: FedBizOpps plans to archive the Special Notice on Aug. 30 as part its regular database maintenance, thereby rendering the above link inoperable. TPR attempts to update links provided via this site as soon as possible; however, if you find that this link at some point does not work, please contact us at stevepeacock@yahoo.com.