Kevin and Laro I both told you there is a slimy worthless guy named David Dorn who                                           has been telling people                                                  that I am a  snitch.

Well this is the

asshole himself.

This creeps name is

David Dorn and the

Jerk started telling

people back in

1998 that I was

a government

snitch. I think the

guy is probably

also a stuck up creep

and gets his jolly’s

from hurting people

that he thinks are

inferior to                                                                        him.

I didn’t find out the creep was spreading lies about me until three years ago when he told Ernie Hancock at the Freedom Summit. Ernie Hancock also seems to be a creep to and instead of fixing the problem I think Ernie Hancock started spreading more lies around about me.

David Dorn is Ernie Hancock’s sugar daddy and gives Ernie money for his Libertarian adventures.

David Dorn seems like a stuck up creep. I only talked to him once and that was at his F.R.E.E. Supper Club. There  he bragged that he was a freedom fighter and a member of the Scottsdale Militia. He said that his weapon of choice was a 9 iron and that the Scottsdale Militia does it’s freedom fighting at the Country Club. From that statement I though he was a real jerk although I didn’t tell it to him then.

Perhaps he is a stupid moron and just makes up lies about people that he doesn’t know. That could be the case. But

         I don’t think it is because the guy has a business

                     makes lots of money so he might have a few

                             brains. Although he could have been

                               handed the business by his parents

                                  and perhaps is a stupid moron who

                                    doesn’t know how to make money

                                     on his own. But if the dude is a

                                     smart business man and knows

                                       how to make money that is why

                                        I suspect that he is a stuck up

                                         asshole and gets his jollies

                                          by making fun of people that

                                                    he considers inferior to

                                                   himself. I suspect that he

                                                 decided to start spreading

                                               his lies about me because I

                                                wear levis and a t-shirt

                                                 instead of a stinking suit

                                                  like he does. And perhaps

                                                     he didn’t like low life

                                                      people like me who

                                                     wear levis and have

hair showing up at his F.R.E.E. Supper Clubs and lowering the property values. The asshole didn’t have to start making up lies about me. If he told me that he didn’t like low life rif raft like me at his F.R.E.E. Supper Club I would have stopped coming.

Just so the internet robots can pick up the information his business is Dorn Agency. He is in north Scottsdale at:

                Dorn Agency

                11335 N 104^th Place

                Scottsdale, Arizona 85259

                (480)614-2507

                (800)478-9605

Perhaps some of you felons and maybe future felons can help me picket his office or home. The guy is a liar, slander, and hate monger. He certainly is not a Libertarian as he claims to be.

And after seeing how Erie Hancock uses this guy as a sugar daddy to get his publicity I don’t think that Ernie Hancock is a real Libertarian any more. Ernie seems to be more of a publicity hound out to make the world look at him.

Any how fuck David Dorn, fuck Ernest Hancock, and fuck Ernie’s stupid Western Libertarian Alliance that he uses as his soap box to get publicity since his Arizona Libertarian Party soap box crashed and burned. And now let’s get on with the news of government assholes who are making the world a worse place to live. Hell we got enough government assholes screwing up things we certainly don’t need any Libertarian assholes        screwing up the world also. Fuck David Dorn may      your soul burn in hell for eternity you filthy bastard!

<*==*>

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/ROGUE_PILOTS?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

May 8, 6:29 PM EDT

Military Confronts Reckless Air Crashes

By TED BRIDIS

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A deadly aircraft accident in Afghanistan last summer is one of a series of exasperating crashes in the military that was blamed on recklessness, not enemy gunfire or faulty equipment, The Associated Press found.

Events that led to the crash unfolded as 11 Marines packed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter in eastern Afghanistan asked for an exciting flight on an otherwise dull mission, demonstrating for visiting dignitaries how troops are sped into battle.

"Fly hard," the Marines asked. The cockpit responded, "You asked for it."

Climbing and swooping, the Black Hawk pilot crested a 400-foot hill then deliberately nosed into a dive so steep and abrupt that everyone inside felt weightless. A wheel chock rose off the floor like a magician's prop and flew forward into the cockpit, jamming the controls.

In the horrific, tumbling crash that followed, a crew chief in the doorway died. Everyone else was injured. The $6 million helicopter was destroyed.

"Top Gun"-style flying, personified by Tom Cruise as a brash Navy pilot in Hollywood's 1986 film, presents the Pentagon with a dilemma: How to breed aggressive aviators in high-performance jets and helicopters capable of extraordinary maneuvers without endangering crews, passengers and aircraft.

The pilot in Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Darrin Raymond Rogers, 37, of Mililani, Hawaii, pleaded guilty last week at his court-martial to charges of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, property destruction and failure to obey orders.

"I'm not a bad person," Rogers told the judge. He acknowledged that he was "trying to impress the guys in the back." Rogers was sentenced to 120 days without pay at Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas. He also must retire from the Army, but will retain his pension.

Military Air Crashes Blamed on Reckless Pilots

"There's a difference between aggressiveness and recklessness," said Richard A. Cody, a four-star general who holds the Army's No. 2 job. "We want them to be aggressive but also disciplined, so they don't get themselves in an envelope they can't get out of."

Some pilots bristle over challenges to how they fly, says a retired Marine Corps judge.

"Hot-dogging is not necessarily negligent," says Patrick McLain of Dallas, who presided at courts-martial. "You need a person who's bold and daring and courageous. It rubs against the grain to have this sort of nitpicking oversight. A very small minority would be in favor of scrupulous adherence to the voluminous rules about flying."

A retired Marine fighter pilot, Kris Elliott of New Orleans, said: "Anybody who says they haven't hot-dogged as a pilot probably isn't being truthful."

In one case, a Naval Reserve pilot, Cmdr. Kevin Thomas Hagenstad of Marietta, Ga., ejected and survived a crash in rural Tennessee last year that investigators attributed to flying so low that his $40 million fighter jet struck power lines three miles from the Watts Bar nuclear plant.

Hagenstad, who broke his ankle, said he was "not at liberty to discuss this."

The Navy's top safety commander, Rear Admiral Dick Brooks, cited "blatant" rules violations by Hagenstad.

Reckless accidents, which happen every year, frustrate senior military commanders because these typically occur during training flights and are considered easily avoidable. Air Force crews are encouraged to announce, "Knock it off," when a pilot begins to fly unsafely.

"There will be repercussions," the head of Army aviation, Brigadier General E.J. Sinclair, said in an interview with the AP. "If someone goes out there and does that and it's observed, I usually hear about it from another pilot."

At the same time, Sinclair said, the Army is rewriting rules to specify which maneuvers are allowed and teaching pilots aggressive new aerial techniques that push helicopters closer to their engineering design limits.

"We make it very clear, this is not something you go out and do on your own," Sinclair said.

For training, the Army uses a dramatic cockpit video from the crash of an Apache attack helicopter at Fort Campbell, Ky. It shows the co-pilot yelling, "Yeehaw!" during one maneuver banned as unsafe by the Army.

The tape also shows the pilot and co-pilot debating whether they can fly safely between tall trees while traveling nearly 90 miles per hour at 16 feet above ground.

"Think I can make it in between there?" the pilot asks.

"Nope," the co-pilot answers.

"Oh, ye of little faith. Look how big that is," the pilot says.

Seconds later, the Apache's rotors struck a huge limb, shattering one blade as the pilot struggled to land safely. "C'mon, get it under control, Mark!" the co-pilot shouts. Both crew survived. The 1997 accident caused $1 million in damage.

Marine Lt. Gen. Mike Hough complained last summer in a memorandum to his aviation commanders: "We are killing more aircrew in training mishaps than during combat missions. ... I will not tolerate the blatant violations and lack of leadership I am seeing from our aviators."

Hough's tough message came weeks before a Hornet fighter crash in Quantico, Va., that the Navy blamed on "unacceptable" flying.

But serious criminal charges such as those against Rogers are unusual. Prosecuting pilots in public deeply divides military aviators, who more commonly face quiet administrative proceedings that include warnings and temporary grounding.

"As long as they don't embarrass the government or hurt anybody, they'll typically be counseled and that will be the end of it," said law professor Michael Noone at Catholic University. The retired Air Force colonel has prosecuted and defended pilots in crash investigations.

Investigators said the helicopter pilot who was court-martialed rejected an earlier request by Marines for acrobatics during the flight. But he agreed to a second request and radioed, "Taking room to maneuver," after a demonstration for Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of the U.S. European Command, was delayed 10 minutes, according to an Army report. Crew chief Daniel Lee Galvan, 30, died in the crash.

Rogers, a veteran pilot with a reputation in the 25th Infantry Division as an able flier, would not talk about the accident when the AP contacted him at home in Hawaii. He said his lawyer also would not comment.

Other Army pilots said such requests for acrobatics are common from passengers.

"I've been asked that; I always felt like I had to enforce the rules," said Herb Rodriguez of Clarksville, Tenn., a retired Black Hawk pilot who won the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in the Somalia deployment in 1993. "I was like a parent."

On a memorial Web site dedicated to her husband, the widow of Daniel Lee Galvan described her young children's grief and lying atop her husband's grave. She said she hoped Rogers "lives with the guilt of taking my beautiful angel away from his family."

"I just don't want this pilot to think he can do this again, to hurt anybody else," Sonya Galvan of Lubbock, Texas, told the AP before the court-martial in Hawaii.

"At some point or another," she said, "they need to make someone accountable."

Associated Press writer Jaymes Song contributed to this report from Hawaii.

On the Net:

Video available at http://wid.ap.org/video/pilots.rm

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

<#==#>

the feds stole $216,063 from this guy and the state stole $43,213 from him too. gee the government thugs stole over 30% of his winnings of $864,253. hell a mafia thug would have only take ten percent.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/azetc/articles/0509bet09.html

Firefighter's wild ride at the races

Loses ticket, learns it won, bartender finds it

Emily Bittner and Holly Johnson

The Arizona Republic

May. 9, 2005 12:00 AM

Sipping Bud Light from a plastic cup Sunday, Phoenix firefighter Chris Hertzog clapped his hands and stuck his tongue out in glee.

Hours earlier, he thought he lost a ticket worth $864,253 for accurately predicting the Kentucky Derby's top four horses.

He and a lawyer were driving to Turf Paradise Race Course to battle for the money with the owners.

Then the woman who sold him the ticket called. She found it lying beside a register.

Still, Hertzog's victory dance was for another reason.

He said his divorce was finalized last week.

"This ain't changing my life," said the 39-year-old father of three. "I'm going back to the firehouse on Wednesday."

To celebrate Sunday night he planned to eat with friends - at least a dozen of whom called him in less than 30 minutes - at Richardson's, a central Phoenix restaurant.

Maybe buy a Rolex GMT to replace one he lost fishing.

Maybe a Dodge Viper.

Hertzog's drama started Saturday when he decided to make one of his usual quick picks on a race.

Hertzog placed 100 $1 bets on Saturday's Kentucky Derby with Brenda Reagan at Turf Paradise. A computer randomly generated the picks. Fifty were trifectas - which name the top three finishing horses, in order - and 50 were superfectas, which select the top four finishers.

Hertzog put the tickets in his back pocket and had lunch. After the race, he didn't think he won. So he put the tickets on a table and got up to stroll around the track.

Then everything changed.

"(Turf Paradise owner) Jerry Simms took me aside and asked me if I had the ticket, and I said no, that it'd been thrown away," Hertzog said. "So he took us down to the mechanical room and we started going through trash cans."

Track security guards brought in trash from all the areas where Hertzog thought he had been.

They gave Hertzog and a handful of friends all the time they needed to sift through it.

Hours after they started Saturday, the men gave up.

It was a temporary setback.

After working his regular shift Sunday at Phoenix fire Station 28, Hertzog and his lawyer drove to the track, prepared to argue that Hertzog should get the payout even though he didn't have the ticket.

State law requires a winner to present the actual ticket to receive the winnings.

But there was video of Hertzog buying the ticket at the time the computer sold it. The track sold only one winning superfecta ticket. The woman who sold it said Hertzog was the only buyer.

Meanwhile, Reagan also a bartender at Turf Paradise was working her shift behind the bar. She wasn't looking for Hertzog's ticket.

By chance, she glanced over and saw it lying beside her ticket machine.

She wasn't sure at first if it was the winner. She asked customers at her bar which horses were the Derby's top finishers.

She started waving and shaking.

First she called her boss. Then Hertzog.

"Oh my God," said Reagan, a mother of four. "This is it."

Traditionally, the bettor gives the ticket seller some kind of reward.

Hertzog said he hasn't decided what to give Reagan.

"I'll take care of her," he said. "I'll take care of my guys."

The winnings were the track's biggest payout on a single ticket in memory, Simms said.

Six other tickets were issued across the nation choosing Giacomo, Closing Argument, Afleet Alex and Don't Get Mad as the winning Thoroughbreds.

Turf Paradise wrote Hertzog a check for $604,977.50. Hertzog's federal withholding was about $216,063 and his state was $43,213.

Hertzog asked Kyle Israel, his lawyer (and friend of 15 years, Israel was quick to point out), to show a reporter the check.

"Do you have the check?" Hertzog said.

"Yes, sir," Israel answered.

Aside, Israel said to the reporter, about calling his friend "sir": "There's probably a few choice things I used to call him, but now he definitely gets the nickname upgrade."

After a long day confronting skeptics, Hertzog was relaxed and personable Sunday night.

And what of those skeptics, who didn't believe he could have won?

"Now they do," he laughed.

Reach the reporter at emily.bittner@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-4783.

<#==#>

and the governments stupid drug war is forcing many of these people to STAY IN PAIN. because the stupid drug war will jail any doctor that gives these people drugs to releive their pain.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0509pain09.html

Poll says 19% of U.S. adults in chronic pain

Steve Sternberg

USA Today

May. 9, 2005 12:00 AM

A new USA Today/ABC News/Stanford University Medical Center poll indicates that 19 percent of American adults, almost 40 million people, say they suffer from chronic pain; 44 percent have acute, or short-term, pain.

Half of the 1,204 respondents cite the source of their discomfort as a medical injury or condition such as joint pain, heart disease or cancer. (The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.)

"The problem is absolutely enormous," says Russell Portenoy, chairman of pain medicine at New York's Beth Israel Medical Center. "It rivals every serious public-health issue, whether you're talking about heart disease, cancer, obesity or anything else."

Still, the burden of pain will grow as the population ages. More than half of patients reporting chronic pain were older than 55.

A study of pain's effect on worker productivity reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November 2003 calculated the cost in the United States at more than $62 billion a year from reduced performance alone. Add in the cost of treatment and lost workdays and the total climbs to an estimated $100 billion, according to the American Pain Foundation.

The psychological effects of pain amplify the trauma, contributing to depression, anxiety, sleeplessness and suicide. "Many people in severe pain from terminal illness fear their pain more than they fear death," says Scott Fishman, chief of pain medicine at the University of California-Davis.

Despite the burden that pain imposes on society, pain relief has long been a stepchild of medicine. Many pain medications derive from aspirin and opium, whose origins date back 2,000 years.

Pain medicine isn't recognized as a full-fledged medical specialty on par with cardiology, oncology or anesthesiology, despite the growing pool of desperate patients. At this time, the American Board of Medical Specialties does not recognize pain medicine as a primary medical specialty.

The American Board of Pain Medicine has taken the lead in educating and credentialing pain-medicine specialists. The board has certified just 1,700 doctors as pain specialists. That's about one pain specialist for every 23,500 people who need care.

With specialists so rare, many pain patients are cared for by doctors who lack training and experience in the appropriate use of a range of pain therapies, among them drugs, spine stimulators and implanted pumps, and alternative therapies, including acupuncture.

Patients hopscotch from doctor to doctor for years before they're given an accurate diagnosis, pain specialists say, and it may take even longer to find appropriate care.

"I always ask my incoming patients, 'How many physicians have you gone to with this complaint?' " says B. Todd Sitzman, medical director of the Center for Pain Medicine in Hattiesburg, Miss. "It's unusual to see someone who hasn't gone to at least three other physicians looking for answers."

The upshot, doctors say, is that patients suffer. The survey bears this out. Of those surveyed who sought care, 90 percent reported that the doctor understood their pain problem well, but just 30 percent reported getting a "great deal" of relief.

<#==#>

f*ck the 4th these government buerocrats in the government run public schools are going to find one way or another to make your kids test for drugs

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0509drugtest.html

Middle schools offer parents drug-test kits

Ofelia Madrid

The Arizona Republic

May. 9, 2005 12:00 AM

When the Paradise Valley Unified School District recently announced that it would hand out free drug-testing kits to parents of seventh-grade students, district officials did it with confidence.

They had surveyed middle school parents about the idea, and the results were overwhelmingly supportive. That's why Jim Lee, director of student services for the district, was disappointed when fewer than 100 parents from the two pilot schools showed up for a meeting to get the free test.

District officials and notMykid.org, which is working with Paradise Valley, hoped as many as 800 parents would show.

Passing out free drug-testing kits in Arizona middle schools comes at a time when Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is recommending school boards across the county implement random drug testing at the high school level. And the Scottsdale Unified School District is considering bringing drug-sniffing dogs to high school campuses.

The low turnout hasn't deterred notMykid.org founder Debbie Moak. Plans to expand Project 7th Grade nationwide are already in the works.

Even though parents from Desert Shadows Middle School and Vista Verde Middle School seemed cool to the idea, the phone has been ringing off the hook, she said.

"We're getting calls from other states, asking, 'Do we have to wait until fall? We need this now,' " Moak said.

The program will next move to Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Boston, California, Arkansas and Rhode Island.

Other states have experimented with giving away home drug-testing kits. A high school near Dallas has given out about 300 tests in three years. A Utah school district sells the kits for $7 and communities in Michigan also sell them. In 2003, a Wyoming school board purchased 100 kits and made them available to parents.

Parent Renee Weiss was recently getting ready to attend the Desert Shadows meeting, when her husband asked, "Why are you going to this?"

Their daughter, who is in the seventh grade, gets good grades and Weiss knows all her friends. There's no reason to suspect that her daughter would even consider using drugs.

Still, Weiss wanted to get the information and the free drug-testing kit.

"We may not need this in our house, but even if it just opens a conversation, that's a good thing," Weiss said.

At the school meetings, parents are given drug-abuse information along with the multidrug test, to use in their homes. The urine test screens for marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and opiates. Parents get results within 8 minutes.

Many of the parents will probably do what Weiss plans to do: not rush home to use it, but to use it to talk to her daughter.

"We have a great community of kids, but there is the underlying stress to get good grades and social pressures," she said. "It's a very interesting age. I think it's a good idea if it's used as a preventive measure."

Students in middle school are under tremendous peer pressure, said Desert Shadows Principal Carol Kendrick.

"I do believe the earlier we can get students to start talking about this, the earlier we can prevent it," she said. "It's not that we want to catch the child with a drug problem, but help them."

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he favors the effort to keep students drug-free.

"Seventh grade is the right grade, because unhappily that's when the bad habits start," he said.

Horne was school board president of the Paradise Valley School District for many years and helped the district become a leader in the area of drug-testing high school students. It became the first district in the state to adopt a random drug-testing policy for athletes in 1991. The district spends about $21,000 per year testing 400 to 500 high school students. Queen Creek and Show Low school districts also test.

It's not known yet whether Project 7th Grade will expand to the rest of the Paradise Valley middle schools in the fall, but Moak is hopeful.

"We have left the kits with the district and are willing to come back in and provide the education," she said. "This isn't just about sending home a test kit. We want to educate and prevent substance abuse. We want parents to know there are resources for getting help at all different levels."

<#==#>

this isnt a question of safety for the patient. it is a jobs protection program for ophthalmologists forced on us by the state of arizona.

ARS 32-1968 says:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/32/01968.htm

B. A prescription order shall not be renewed if it is either:

1. Ordered by the prescriber not to be renewed.

2. More than one year since it was originally ordered.

so basicly it is a jobs protection program for ophthalmologists that forces you to get a new perscription every year.

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

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0509actionnew09.html

Clearing up glasses question

Question: I tried to buy new lenses for my glasses at a major chain and was told my prescription from four years ago had expired. They said state law required a new examination before they could re-order my lenses. Am I really forbidden from replacing my scratched lenses without another expensive exam? - Nancy Glasmann, Phoenix

Answer: According to the Arizona Medical Practices Act, a doctor must have a prior relationship with a patient before writing a prescription. The statute also prohibits any action that is harmful to the patient or the public. With this as a guide, it is up to each doctor in the state to decide whether an exam is necessary before replacing someone's lenses. Requiring an exam would not be unreasonable if a doctor believes there is a valid medical reason to do so. Your prescription was 4 years old. After speaking with several ophthalmologists, your doctor's decision does not seem to fall outside the normal standards of care.

Send your consumer questions to askdavecherry@12news.com

<#==#>

Date: Sun, 08 May 2005 22:02:19 -0700

From: "Alan Korwin" alan@GUNLAWS.COM

Subject: Pistol Permits, 10 years later

To: AZRKBA@asu.edu

In addition to Vermont and Alaska, Montana requires no permit for concealed carry outside of city limits, which is 99% of the state.

Alan.

<#==#>

copwatchers get video of los angeles county pigs shooting 120 rounds at an unarmed person in an SUV in compton. compton is an almost all black community and is just east of south central los angeles.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0510la-chase10.html

LA car chase ends in gunfire

Deputy, suspect, residents caught in hail of bullets

Tonya Alanez and Monte Morin

Los Angeles Times

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

LOS ANGELES - Ten Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies opened fire early Monday on a sport utility vehicle they were chasing, discharging 120 rounds in a frenzied crossfire that injured a deputy and the unarmed suspect while sending bullets into nearby homes.

The shooting on a narrow residential street in Compton sent residents diving for cover as bullets zipped over their heads and through their windows. In the aftermath, bullet holes pocked the walls of at least five homes.

Sheriff Lee Baca pledged a full investigation into the incident, which was caught on an amateur's videotape.

"The aspect of shooting in an urban area is problematic and dangerous under all circumstances," Baca said. "There's no such thing as a safe shooting under any conditions."

Internal affairs investigators are trying to determine whether the gunfire was a case of "contagious fire," meaning that some deputies incorrectly believed their colleagues' shots were coming from the suspect, prompting them to open fire.

"There are questions about whether one deputy shooting caused the others to fire," said Michael Gennaco, head of the Sheriff's Department's Office of Independent Review.

Residents in the neighborhood off Alondra Boulevard said the deputies put their lives in jeopardy.

"This is crazy, really, really crazy," said Trina Hays, 42, who dove onto her lawn when the shooting erupted 20 feet away. "They didn't have any concern for anybody's life, including their own. That's why their own police officer got hit. . . . They could have just sat there and waited it out, but they opened fire."

The incident began shortly after midnight, when deputies responded to a call of gunfire and were told to look for a white SUV.

Winston Hayes, the suspect, had been driving his white Chevrolet Suburban around the neighborhood for about four hours, playing music from his car stereo to residents who were celebrating Mother's Day by lounging on their front lawns.

Hayes grew up in the working-class neighborhood, a stretch of modest bungalows where many families have lived for decades. Residents knew him well, and some joked that he was going to run out of gas if he kept driving around.

When deputies arrived, they tried to talk to Hayes. But he sped off, leading deputies on a chase that circled the block several times at speeds up to 35 mph.

Some residents said they believed he was showing off and teasing the officers.

"I saw him and the police going around and around and around, back and forth like a merry-go-round," said resident Tarae Smith, 41, who went to elementary school with Hayes.

"He'd stop and when it looked like the police were going to get out, he'd take off. He was playing a little cat and mouse game with them," added Smith's sister Terry Moore, 48.

As the chase continued, some residents screamed at the officers not to shoot him.

Deputies eventually threw down a spike strip, hoping that he would run over it and puncture his tires. But the chase came to an abrupt halt before Hayes reached the strip.

Deputies used their patrol cars to block Hayes not far from where the chase began.

With nowhere else to go, Hayes swerved onto Moore's lawn and headed for her home, authorities said. Moore said she was horrified to see the headlights looming in her front window.

"It really spooked me, because when he came up in the grass I thought he was going to come up all the way into the house," Moore said.

At that point, Hayes stopped and backed into the street, toward three deputies, authorities said. The deputies begin firing, hitting the vehicle repeatedly. In the videotape, a deputy can be heard shouting, "Watch your crossfire! Watch your crossfire!"

Moore, who had run into her home when she saw deputies draw their weapons, huddled on the floor of a back room with her daughter, sister and niece. Moore's sister, Smith, said she was scared that Hayes would try seek refuge in their home.

"I was terrified. We were on top of one another and I was praying and hoping he wouldn't come in here," Smith said.

About 100 yards down the street, Pedro Mendez said he had stepped to his bedroom window when he heard the sirens, then saw the gunfire begin.

Two bullets smashed into the window over his head, through his bedroom, a closet door and a back wall before burying themselves in a kitchen cupboard.

"The bullets almost grazed my head," Mendez said, adding that glass from the window landed on his scalp. "They passed like one inch above my head."

Mendez yelled to his wife and her 14-year-old daughter to take cover.

Authorities said that the deputies fired at least 120 rounds, and videotape shows them pumping rounds at Hayes' vehicle in two sustained volleys. During the second volley, Hayes' vehicle rolls slowly into a police cruiser as bullets shatter the upper windshield.

Hayes was struck four times, in the toe, finger and shoulder. He was listed in "stable" condition at Torrance Harbor General Hospital on Monday afternoon.

A deputy, Edward Clark, was struck in the upper part of his protective vest during the crossfire. Clark's injuries were not serious, officials said. A second deputy tripped and fell during the gunfire, and his colleagues may have assumed he had been brought down by gunfire, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Baca said deputies can use deadly force when they believe their lives or the lives of bystanders are in jeopardy. He said he would not speak to what was in the minds of deputies but noted they were responding to a call that they believed was "gang-related gunfire."

Authorities said they have no evidence that Hayes was involved in the shooting that brought deputies to the area except that he was driving a similar vehicle to one possibly involved in that incident. Whitmore said that Clark told deputies after his arrest that he was high on drugs. The 44-year-old handyman has prior convictions for resisting arrest, battery, public drunkenness and reckless driving, according to court documents.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chase10may10,0,2324774.story?coll=la-home-headlines

May 10, 2005 latimes.com : California E-mail story   Print   Most E-Mailed

THE STATE

2 Hurt in Deputies' Crossfire

At least five Compton homes are left with bullet holes as officers fire 120 rounds at SUV.

By Tonya Alanez and Monte Morin, Times Staff Writers

Ten Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies opened fire early Monday on an SUV they were chasing, discharging 120 rounds in a frenzied crossfire that injured a deputy and the unarmed suspect while sending bullets into nearby homes.

The shooting on a narrow residential street in Compton sent residents diving for cover as bullets zipped over their heads and through their windows. In the aftermath, bullet holes pocked the walls of at least five homes.

Sheriff Lee Baca pledged a full investigation into the incident, which was caught on an amateur's videotape.

"The aspect of shooting in an urban area is problematic and dangerous under all circumstances," Baca said. "There's no such thing as a safe shooting under any conditions."

Internal affairs investigators are trying to determine whether the gunfire was a case of "contagious fire," meaning that some deputies incorrectly believed their colleagues' shots were coming from the suspect, prompting them to open fire.

"There are questions about whether one deputy shooting caused the others to fire," said Michael Gennaco, head of the sheriff's Office of Independent Review.

Residents in the Butler Avenue neighborhood off Alondra Boulevard said the deputies put their lives in jeopardy.

"This is crazy, really, really crazy," said Trina Hays, 42, who dove onto her lawn when the shooting erupted 20 feet away. "They didn't have any concern for anybody's life, including their own. That's why their own police officer got hit…. They could have just sat there and waited it out, but they opened fire."

The incident began shortly after midnight, when deputies responded to a call of gunfire and were told to look for a white SUV.

Winston Hayes, the suspect, had been driving his white Chevrolet Tahoe around the neighborhood for about four hours, playing music from his stereo as neighbors celebrated Mother's Day by lounging on their front lawns.

Hayes grew up in the working-class neighborhood, a stretch of modest bungalows where many families have lived for decades. Residents knew him well, and some joked that he was going to run out of gas if he kept driving around.

When deputies arrived, they tried to talk to Hayes. But he sped off, leading deputies on a chase that circled the block several times at speeds up to 35 mph.

Some residents said they believed he was showing off and teasing the officers.

"I saw him and the police going around and around and around, back and forth like a merry-go-round," said resident Tarae Smith, 41, who went to elementary school with Hayes.

"He'd stop and when it looked like the police were going to get out, he'd take off. He was playing a little cat-and-mouse game with them," added Terry Moore, 48, Smith's sister.

As the chase continued, some residents screamed at the officers not to shoot him.

Deputies eventually threw down a spike strip, hoping that he would run over it and puncture his tires. But the chase came to an abrupt halt before Hayes reached the strip.

Deputies used their patrol cars to block Hayes not far from where the chase began.

With nowhere else to go, Hayes swerved onto Moore's lawn and headed for her home, authorities said. Moore said she was horrified to see the headlights looming in her front window.

"It really spooked me, because when he came up in the grass I thought he was going to come up all the way into the house," Moore said.

At that point, Hayes stopped and backed into the street, toward three officers, authorities said. The officers begin firing, hitting the vehicle repeatedly. In the videotape, a deputy can be heard shouting: "Watch your crossfire! Watch your crossfire!"

Moore, who had run into her home when she saw officers draw their weapons, huddled on the floor of a back room with her daughter, sister and niece. Moore's sister, Smith, said she was scared that Hayes would try to seek refuge in their home.

"I was terrified. We were on top of one another and I was praying and hoping he wouldn't come in here," Smith said.

About 100 yards down the street, resident Pedro Mendez said he had stepped to his bedroom window when he heard the sirens, then saw the gunfire begin.

Two bullets smashed into the window over his head, through his bedroom, a closet door and a back wall before burying themselves in a kitchen cupboard

"The bullets almost grazed my head," Mendez said, adding that glass from the window landed on his scalp. "They passed like one inch above my head."

Mendez yelled to his wife and her 14-year-old daughter to take cover.

Authorities said that the deputies fired at least 120 rounds, and videotape shows them pumping rounds at Hayes' vehicle in two sustained volleys. During the second volley, Hayes' vehicle rolls slowly into a police cruiser as bullets shatter the upper windshield.

Hayes was struck four times, in the toe, finger and shoulder. He was listed in stable condition at Torrance Harbor General Hospital on Monday afternoon.

A deputy, Edward Clark, was struck in the upper part of his protective vest during the crossfire. Clark's injuries were not serious, officials said. A second deputy tripped and fell during the gunfire, and his colleagues may have assumed he had been brought down by gunfire, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Baca said deputies can use deadly force when they believe their lives or the lives of bystanders are in jeopardy. He said he would not speak to what was in the minds of deputies but noted they were responding to a call that they believed was "gang-related gunfire."

Authorities said they have no evidence that Hayes was involved in the shooting that brought officers to the area except that he was driving a similar vehicle to one possibly involved in that incident.

Whitmore said that Hayes told deputies after his arrest that he was high on drugs. (The 44-year-old handyman has prior convictions for resisting arrest, battery, public drunkenness and reckless driving, according to court documents.)

Baca said it is difficult to put oneself in the position of officers at the scene.

"It would certainly appear that there may be some control issues, but the reality is that when the shooters are shooting, they're not hearing the other people shooting," the sheriff said. "I think there was this intensity level that was evolving here."

Baca said one issue that investigators will examine is whether the amount of gunfire was excessive.

"We have to ask ourselves why did 10 people shoot their weapons as opposed to five," he said.

The sheriff said he would also consider possible changes to the department's pursuit policy depending on the outcome of the investigation, although he doesn't believe any changes would be needed. The Los Angeles Police Department in recent months has tightened its policy on officers firing at pursuit vehicles after two fatal shootings.

Some residents say it's a miracle that the bullets did not hit bystanders.

Doris Bradford, 73, said her home was one of those hit by the gunfire.

Like many in the neighborhood, she said she was angry at the deputies for unleashing such deadly force in front of her home. As she spoke, a bullet remained embedded in a wall behind her china cabinet.

"The bullet could have come straight through, and if it did, it would have come straight through my bedroom," Bradford said. "They should be more careful when they do stuff like that. They could kill an innocent person."

\

Times staff writers Nick Shields, Susana Enriquez, Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.

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just where in the constitution does it give the feds the power to pass laws regualting gang bangers?????

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0510warongangs10.html

Debate rages over bill to fight violent gangs

David Crary

Associated Press

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

NEW YORK - The rapid spread of vicious street gangs such as MS-13 is causing alarm in cities and suburbs nationwide, igniting bitter debate about how best to combat the threat and inspiring a comprehensive anti-gang bill in Congress.

The measure is depicted by supporters as the only effective way to counterattack gang violence and assailed by critics as an overreaction that could clog both federal courts and adult prisons with youthful offenders, most of them minorities.

Sponsored by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., the bill moved swiftly through the House Judiciary Committee last month.

"These aren't petty hoodlums," Forbes said. "They're cutting people's heads off, doing countersurveillance on police. . . . They're trained in a type of violence we've not seen heretofore."

In Virginia recently, gang victims have been hacked by machetes and had fingers cut off. Affiliated gangs in Central America are suspected in several recent beheadings of young women.

The bill's supporters include the National Sheriffs' Association and the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest law enforcement union.

Opponents include numerous high-powered civil rights groups: the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and others.

They cite FBI findings that serious youth crime is declining and say states, not the federal government, can best address the gang problem and worry about long-term consequences for teenage offenders sent to adult prisons.

"We, too, want to do something about gang violence," said Angela Arboleda of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. "But punitive measures that lock up youths with adults is not a smart approach."

Arboleda says that Forbes' measure, which the representative has nicknamed "The Gangbusters Bill," "is one of the worst bills we've ever seen."

According to Forbes, street gang membership in the United States has grown steadily to more than 750,000, outnumbering police officers.

He said a federal approach is needed because gangs such as MS-13, the Central American-influenced Mara Salvatrucha, have spread to many states.

"They're organized; they have a board of directors inside prison and outside prison," Forbes said. "Even while in prison, they recruit teens, even down to elementary school."

Critics of the bill say state and local police agencies could escalate the fight against such gangs under existing laws.

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drunk cops also cheats city out of over time. isnt "failing to honestly report over time" a suger coated word for stealing over time. but i guess we cant expect cops to be punished or god forbid fired for stealing money from the city by reporting too much over time

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0510nebriefs10.html

Scottsdale/Northeast Valley briefs

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

Drinking before shift gets officer suspended

SCOTTSDALE - A Scottsdale police officer has been suspended for 80 hours following an internal investigation launched after he was found sitting drunk in his SUV near a police station.

Gareth Braxton-Johnson was off-duty Dec. 15 when he drove his personal vehicle to the station after a night of drinking at Next, a club in Old Town Scottsdale.

Officers found him about 2:45 a.m., parked near a four-way stop at North 75th Street and East Second Street.

Braxton-Johnson's blood-alcohol content was 0.174 percent, more than twice the limit at which one is legally presumed to be drunk.

No officer saw him driving, but Braxton-Johnson admitted to officers that he had driven to the station.

He was scheduled to work eight hours later, so his supervisors told him to take a vacation day, and they decided to launch an investigation into his conduct. He was not cited for DUI.

The investigation found that Braxton-Johnson "used poor judgment by choosing to drive after consuming several alcoholic drinks . . . within 10 hours of his next work shift start time."

Braxton-Johnson previously received an 80-hour suspension for failing to honestly report overtime. He also was reprimanded for excessive tardiness, violating the department's pursuit policy, failing to appear in court and failing to secure equipment.

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perhaps this guy was framed for murder like ray krone was. he refused to seek parole for a number of years because he said it would mean admitting to being guilty something he claims he isnt

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0510macdonald10.html

MacDonald finally seeks parole

Former Green Beret still says he didn't kill family

Sue Anne Pressley

Washington Post

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

When former Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald appears at his first parole hearing today in Cumberland, Md., he will provide a detailed account of his 25 years as a model prisoner. What he will not offer is any statement of remorse for the 1970 slaying of his pregnant wife and two young daughters, because, now as always, MacDonald maintains that he is innocent.

"He is going to continue to assert his innocence, at the same time presenting the merits of why he should be released at this time," said Kathryn MacDonald, who married Jeffrey MacDonald in prison in 2002 and will be speaking on his behalf. "It is an avenue he is legally entitled to pursue. And he has a wife who loves him and a home and all the support he needs."

MacDonald, 61, whose notorious case has been the subject of several books and a television miniseries, has been eligible to apply for parole since 1991 but had refused to do so because, he said, it would involve a tacit admission of guilt. This year, he changed his mind, urged by his revamped legal team to explore all options for release. His marriage to Kathryn, 44, which led to his transfer from a California prison to the Western Maryland facility, also influenced the decision, she said.

His stance is unusual. The majority of prisoners coming before the U.S. Parole Commission asking for release say they are sorry for the crimes they were convicted of, commission spokesman Tom Hutchinson said. But nothing in the commission rules says that an expression of remorse is required for parole, he said.

"You evaluate a person on a whole bunch of things. You start off by evaluating the severity of the offense and the person's criminal history," Hutchinson said. "It gets dicey when a person expresses innocence; you can't accept responsibility for it when it's something you say you never did."

Kathryn, who owns a West Laurel, Md., children's drama school, said, "Even given the frustrations of being wrongly convicted, he has done everything expected of him and more. He is an ideal candidate for parole."

But some are determined, even from beyond the grave, to see that MacDonald is not released. His former in-laws felt so strongly about his guilt that when they died in 1994, they left behind a letter and a videotape to be presented to the parole commission for review. It is not likely that the tape will be played at the hearing, but it will be included in the files given to the commission.

Bob Stevenson, 65, the only sibling of MacDonald's slain wife, Colette, said he promised their stepfather, Alfred Kassab, "on his deathbed" to fight MacDonald's parole efforts.

"The fact is, this is a sociopath, and in one moment, he destroyed his family and mine," said Stevenson, a Huntington, N.Y., resident, who will speak at the hearing. "This is a stupid game, a stupid exercise, a waste of his time. Of course, he won't get out."

MacDonald's parole hearing falls on what would have been the 61st birthday of Colette MacDonald, who was 26 when she died on Feb. 17, 1970, along with daughters Kimberley, 5, and Kristen, 2.

MacDonald has always said that a group of intruders entered their apartment on the Fort Bragg Army post in North Carolina, stabbed and bludgeoned his family to death and left him seriously injured. An Army hearing cleared him. But a 1979 federal jury rejected his account, and he received three consecutive life sentences.

An appeal gained MacDonald his freedom, but the appeals court ruling was overturned in 1982, and he has been in prison ever since, through an array of civil suits and appeals. Over the years, the Princeton-educated MacDonald, who had no previous criminal record, often has been the subject of news interviews, always appearing hopeful of vindication.

The parole hearing, like most such proceedings, will be closed to the news media and the public at MacDonald's request, Hutchinson said. MacDonald and his wife will speak, as will Stevenson and Brian Murtagh, who was the federal prosecutor at the 1979 trial.

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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0510abramoff10.html

Marines hit rebels near Syria

Richard A. Oppel Jr.

New York Times

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

BAGHDAD - A Marine task force swept through a wide area of western Iraq near the Syrian border, killing 100 insurgents and raiding desert outposts and city safe houses belonging to insurgents who have used the area to import cars, money, weapons and foreigners to fight U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad, Mosul and other cities, American military officials said Monday.

The attack, involving more than 1,000 troops including a Marine regimental combat team that consists of soldiers and sailors, appears to be the largest combat offensive in Iraq since the Marines invaded Fallujah six months ago.

It comes as senior U.S. commanders have increasingly blamed the porous border with Syria for allowing a never-ending stream of armed jihadists to enter Iraq and replenish the insurgency as quickly as fighters can be killed and captured.

The military believes the insurgents have had a free run in the heavily Sunni area around al Qaim and Ubaydi, in the Al Jazirah Desert near where the Euphrates River crosses from Syria to Iraq.

At least three Marines have been killed in the operation, two on Sunday in al Qaim and Ubaydi and one Monday in al Qaim. Some insurgents killed in the operation are believed to be foreign fighters, military officials said Monday.

U.S. officials said the offensive had been a long time coming but was spurred by a fresh batch of intelligence gleaned from Iraqis who live in the area as well as interrogations of newly captured aides to the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The offensive came as Iraq's new defense minister, Sadoon al-Dulaimi, said he intended to continue military policies set by the outgoing administration of Ayad Allawi, who aggressively pursued operations against insurgents.

Dulaimi also made what appeared to be a concession to the principal partners in the new government, the Shiites and Kurds, stating in an interview on the Arab news channel Al Arabiya that he will not seek to integrate politically controlled militias into the military.

This appeared to be a move away from the U.S. insistence during the early stages of the occupation that independent militias such as the Kurdish pesh merga and the Shiite Badr Brigade would have to be absorbed in the new Iraqi army.

The Marines' fight in western Iraq began during the weekend and involves more than 1,000 Marines supported by helicopter gunships, fighter jets, tanks, and light armored vehicles.

The attacks included F-15E Strike Eagle fighters from the Air Force that dropped two 500 pound laser-guided bombs and fired 510 20mm cannon rounds on Sunday against insurgents in the vicinity of al Qaim, according to a summary of air operations released by the military.

Marine F/A-18 fighters also fired 319 20mm cannon rounds.

Some targets for the U.S. ground forces were shelters used as remote bases by the insurgents, who fired at Marines as they approached these outdoor compounds, said Marine Col. Bob Chase, chief of operations for the 2d Marine Division, based at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi.

Marines also raided selected homes in the towns along the western stretch of the Euphrates that were used as urban safe houses, Chase said.

The border near al Qaim has been a trouble spot for the U.S. forces for nearly the entire two-year occupation.

Insurgents have used it on and off as a sanctuary, taking advantage of its seclusion as well as its proximity to Syria and the former Baathists who fled there and who now help finance the insurgency.

U.S. forces have periodically launched raids into the area.

Hoping to clamp down on the smuggling of people and weapons, the United States is paying for the rebuilding of 190 Iraqi border forts, including 58 already completed, accounting for a large portion of nearly $2 billion being spent on Iraqi camps, barracks and other military structures, according to U.S. officials involved in training the new Iraqi forces.

About 140 miles of berms also is being constructed, mostly along the Syrian border.

A senior U.S. commander familiar with the border situation said effective control of foreign-fighter infiltration is still "some months away."

But he added that border control is crucial to Iraq's security because foreign fighters are believed to make up a large percentage of suicide bombers. "It's not Iraqis who are blowing themselves up," he said.

American military commanders have increasingly expanded their pursuit of insurgents up the Euphrates River.

After the taking of Fallujah, the insurgency that had used the city as a sanctuary metastasized, sending fighters to Mosul; West Baghdad; the "Triangle of Death," south of the capital; and to various desert towns along the Euphrates in western Iraq.

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sure some government is about providing services for the people. but most of it is stealing money from one group of people and giving it to another group of people.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0510abramoff100.html

Hayworth, 2 others account for skyboxes

New filings omit links to lobbyist

Jon Kamman

The Arizona Republic

May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

Years late, three congressman trying to account for fund-raising events linked with once-mighty lobbyist Jack Abramoff have filed updated financial disclosures with one thing in common:

Abramoff's name is nowhere to be found.

The three, including Arizona's J.D. Hayworth, were allowed free use of Abramoff's sports skyboxes for fund-raisers held as long ago as 1999.

They didn't declare the value of the accommodations until records surfaced in ongoing U.S. Senate and criminal investigations of suspected exploitation by the lobbyist in charging six Indian tribes $82 million for representation.

Although Abramoff or a company he formed held the lease on the basketball, football and baseball suites in the Washington, D.C., area, none of the three Republican congressmen named him as the benefactor.

In reports required by the Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign-finance laws, each listed different providers: an individual donor, a lobbying firm that has since refused to accept the payment and a pair of Indian tribes.

Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, says erroneous or inconsistent reporting of contributions attests, in part, to unclear legal requirements but also may stem from "sloppiness" or "willful neglect."

"Everybody makes errors, but you get very suspicious when the errors seem to always revolve around controversial figures," Noble said.

Hayworth filed statements late last year showing that his campaign fund paid the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana nearly $13,000 for the five times he used Abramoff suites from 1999 to 2001.

The payments raise questions about whether the boxes were the tribes to lend.

Joe Eule, Hayworth's chief of staff, said in December that Indian tribes were footing the bill for the boxes regardless of whose name was on the lease.

Several tribes have disclosed paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the skyboxes, but no evidence has emerged that they had any role in choosing who could use them.

Also, federal lobbying records indicate that the Chitimachas were not registered as paying clients of Abramoff when four of the events took place.

Eule did not respond to repeated calls and an e-mail this month asking for documentation of why the tribes should be paid and how it was determined that they should receive equal amounts.

Neither of the tribes responded to inquiries.

Eule said previously that Hayworth had met Abramoff only once or twice. He said no one dealt directly with the lobbyist on using the boxes, and Abramoff never attended the events.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. John T. Doolittle of California reported that in January his campaign fund sent a check for $1,040 to one of Abramoff's former employers, the Preston Gates lobbying firm, to pay for a skybox used in a fund-raiser at a 1999 basketball game.

What the congressman's office did not report, however, is that the lobbying firm returned the check because it had never owned the skybox. The refusal to accept payment means that Doolittle still must find and pay the actual provider of the box to set the record straight.

Doolittle campaign-fund spokesman Richard Robinson acknowledged that the rejection of the check should have been reported to the FEC by now and said a corrected accounting will be filed.

Robinson said Doolittle's fund is determined to rectify the six-year lapse in paying for the box.

"If we find out that Jack Abramoff paid for the suite, then we'll reimburse Jack Abramoff, because we want to reimburse the person or entity who paid for the box," Robinson said. "We thought we were doing that in January."

A third congressman, Bob Ney of Ohio, took still another approach to accounting for two uses of skyboxes.

Ney's political organization reported last fall that an individual lobbyist affiliated with Abramoff provided the boxes in 2002 and 2003.

The lobbyist was Neil Volz, who had served as Ney's chief of staff before going to work with Abramoff.

Neither Volz nor a spokesman for Ney responded to questions about whether Volz provided the skybox as a personal contribution and, if so, how he came to have possession so he could lend it to Ney.

Politicians turn skybox seats into campaign cash by inviting lobbyists or other supporters to buy tickets, typically for $200 to $1,000, to watch games and enjoy catered food in the 20-seat luxury boxes. If the box is donated for the fund-raiser, its value must be reported as an in-kind contribution.

The FEC requires accurate, timely reporting of contributions and expenditures, direct or indirect, spokesman Bob Biersack said.

Whether the lateness of the reports or questions about their accuracy trigger further investigation or disciplinary action will not be disclosed until the commission makes a ruling, Biersack said.

In the absence of a specific complaint, the commission is less likely to take up the matter, he said.

Noble said, "The legal question of who it (an in-kind donation) actually came from can get complicated," but he emphasized that hundreds of candidates manage to meet reporting rules flawlessly.

"What should have happened is that at the time the box was loaned, there should have been a discussion of who's paying for this and who's responsible for it," he said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and a freshman GOP senator, former Congressman David Vitter of Louisiana, have had to bring their accounting up to date by paying for meals served at fund-raisers at Signatures, a D.C. restaurant owned by Abramoff.

Also, Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., earlier settled an unpaid bill for a fund-raiser at another Abramoff eatery, the Stacks deli.

Noble said some omissions no doubt are the fault of lower-level people who are not keeping close track of contributions, "but when you're dealing with people like Jack Abramoff, whose career is based on knowing the players personally, it's hard to believe that these are mere oversights over and over again."

"In many cases, it's what I would call willful neglect," Noble said. "Either they know or they don't want to know. They don't want to ask the questions because they're afraid of the answers."

Abramoff, once one of Capitol Hill's premier lobbyists, and public-relations associate Michael Scanlon are at the center of federal investigations for billing six tribes $82 million over three years.

The probes have branched out from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, headed by Arizona Republican John McCain, to include possible abuses of non-profit organizations' tax-free status, funding for junkets for congressmen and their aides, unreported campaign contributions and questions about activities of a GOP environmental group funded, in part, by the tribes.

Reach the reporter at jon.kamman@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-4816.

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http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/crime.html

Chicago's two-fisted street cops have a new kind of backup: a point-and-click surveillance network tied to a citywide crime-fighting database. (Smile for the camera.)

By Noah Shachtman

On a warm afternoon on Chicago's West Side, a young African-American man leans against the wall of the One Stop Food and Liquor store at the corner of Chicago Avenue and Homan Street. His puffy black jacket is so oversize that the collar hangs halfway down his back. Thirty feet up, a camera mounted on a telephone pole swivels toward him.

Three miles away, in a bunkerlike, red granite building near Greektown, Ron Huberman watches the young man on a PC screen. "You see that guy?" asks Huberman, the 33-year-old chief of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "He's pitching dope - you can tell. Fucker."

The corner of Chicago and Homan used to be a haven for dealers slinging heroin and rock cocaine, the heart of a gangbanger free-fire zone. In 2003, the Windy City had 598 homicides, making it the country's murder capital.

"We've gotta figure out where's he keeping the goods," says Huberman, his voice breaking from a bout with the flu. "We're gonna go on the air" - call for a police car - "and bust him."

With a move of his mouse, Huberman pans to the right. We're looking down at a second man, in a beige coat. He has a brown paper bag in one hand and a wad of cash in the other. "He's involved," Huberman says, staring hard at the screen. No cop, even undercover, could ever get this close for this long. But the cameras - housed in checkerboard-patterned, 2-foot-tall boxes the police here call pods - can zoom in so tight I can see the wisps of a mustache. Huberman decides not to have his suspected dealers picked up; too much of an Enemy of the State move to pull with a reporter around, perhaps. But the footage will be stored for review by antinarcotics teams. "Now you see the power of what we're doing?" Huberman asks, still staring at the screen.

IT has been key to crime-fighting since patrol cars got radios in the 1920s. A couple of decades ago, London started installing surveillance cameras. In the 1990s, New York began crunching crime statistics and produced a near-miraculous improvement in public safety. By comparison, Chicago was a Cretaceous backwater.

But Chicago has evolved. A pilot network of 30 cameras keeps watch over the West Side, capturing images that have been used in more than 200 investigations. It's the first step on the way to a 2,250-camera system. And the electronic eyes are merely the most visible part of a strategy to completely remake police work in Chicago. A massive set of databases now collects and collates the minutiae of law enforcement - everything from mug shots to chains of evidence. Installed in patrol cars, it turns every PC in every station house into a node on a crime-fighting network. At headquarters, superintendents and commanders use it to pore over patterns of criminal behavior, figuring out how to deploy swarms of cops. Today, the murder rate is at its lowest point since the mid-'60s.

By embracing the cameras, the network, and this immensely powerful database, Chicago's once-creaky police force has become an inspiration for departments around the country looking to get spry. "There has never been another comprehensive program like this in a major police department," says Northwestern University political scientist Susan Hartnett, who's been studying the CPD for more than a decade. Whether it means the end of crime or the beginning of the surveillance state - or both - Chicago is building the future of law enforcement.

Officer Dave Dombkowski spent 13 years on the streets of Chicago before he went to work for Huberman. Today he's staring at the face of a thug on the screen of his gunmetal-gray laptop.

We're looking at a local street gang leader busted 16 times since 1996 - for heroin, DUIs, sex abuse, murder. We know all that because of a network of databases called Clear - Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting. Clear lets Dombkowski tab through every mug shot, every alias, every scar. Give Clear a partial address, a nickname, a description of that tattoo on your perp's right arm, and it will track him down - even bring up his picture, for proof. The old databases would cough up information only if suspects gave their real names to the arresting officers, which happened about as often as the Cubs win the World Series. When Dombkowski was a patrol officer, he would trick people into the truth, telling them that the computer in his car was actually a new-jack polygraph, a "lie box" that could sort out fact from bullshit. But with Clear in his car, there's no more lying to Officer Dombkowski. No more tricks. "This is the real lie box," he says. "We can tell who you are."

Online rap sheets are really just a sliver of what Clear knows. In the station houses and at police headquarters, the database has become a kind of central nervous system for Chicago crime-fighters. It tracks all 466,000 pieces of CPD evidence, from recovered cigarette butts to confiscated drugs. But perhaps most important, it makes clear - and even predicts - patterns in the timing and geography of criminal behavior. That lets CPD chiefs know where to hang cameras. And it tells commanders like Jim Keating where to send troops.

A 25-year veteran - old-school enough to call police "coppers" - Keating heads up the department's Targeted Response Unit, a squad of 240 of Chicago's most amped-up officers assigned to the most crime-ridden neighborhoods of the city. It's not a stretch to call TRU the system's fist.

On his PC, Keating calls up Clear and shows me his hunting grounds. It's a map of the 25th District, near the city's northwest border. Every crime in the 25th from the past month is marked with an icon - black masks for robberies, orange bodies for homicides, blue guns for aggravated batteries with firearms. "Before, it would take six to eight months to develop a set of contacts in your district. And we had to rely on the detectives to put together the patterns," Keating says. "Now, it's click, click, click, and we have it all citywide." The 25th's map is dotted with a half-dozen blue guns, six black masks, and two orange corpses. Keating sends one of his guys to get me a Kevlar vest; we're going to the 25th tonight.

next to me in the back of a patrol car buzzing down North Avenue, Officer Danielle Philp - she goes by Nicky - is hoping, begging, for someone to do something wrong and give her a little action. "We're out here hunting, hunting all the time," she says, adjusting her red ponytail as we fly past the Planet Earth African Hair Braiding Salon and the Ea$y Ca$h stand. Kerry DeLisle, with deep dimples and a devilish smile, has the wheel. Their sergeant calls them the Evil Stepsisters. Another officer, Everardo Bracamontes, rides copilot.

When I tell them I'm writing a story about police technology, the Stepsisters laugh. "Oh yeah," Philp says, "we're soooo advanced." Clear is cool, sure - if you're back in the station house. Right now, only about 50 patrol cars have it, and this isn't one of them. That's slated to change when Verizon switches on its high-speed cellular network, unleashing enough bandwidth to connect thousands more. Meanwhile, the Panasonic Toughbook laptop mounted in between the two front seats looks like it would choke on Windows 3.1. It takes only a couple of hours out on patrol to see how badly they need an upgrade.

The night starts out quiet. They bawl out a teenager for pissing behind a KFC. They pull over a gray Cadillac for running a red light (or maybe it was a yellow). Then, as they search a silver Dodge Magnum station wagon, the call comes. "Nick! Robbery on Cicero!" DeLisle screams as Philp hustles back into the car.

Bracamontes hits the lights. Sirens blare. Cutting past an SUV, DeLisle yanks the wheel hard to the right, sending me thumping into Philp. The radio says to be on the lookout for a carjacked green Intrepid, headed north. As they hit Cicero Avenue, they see the vehicle - maybe. But it's going south. And it's gray, not green. If they had Clear in their squad car, they might have been able to get updates on the Intrepid's description or run its plates. Bracamontes yells that it's the wrong car, but DeLisle follows anyway, cursing. "Move!" she yells at an ambulance puttering in front of us. "We move for you all the time! Now get out of our way!"

The Intrepid spins right, now heading west on Chicago Avenue. A half-dozen other police cars have joined the chase, and they pin the Intrepid in at Kilbourn Avenue. Officers pile out, guns drawn. For a moment, everything is quiet. If there were a pod camera nearby, the cops back in Huberman's headquarters could get a look at the man behind the wheel or run the license plate number. But there isn't. "I knew this wasn't it," Bracamontes mutters.

But then the Intrepid takes off - plowing over an officer and, we hear later, snapping his leg. Two blocks further on, in front of a town house, we come upon the Intrepid, empty. He's on the run, but the place is already swarming with badges. The Stepsisters take that as their cue to leave. When they get Clear in their car, they'll be able to submit paperwork on the chase and the rundown from their laptop - but if they stay tonight, they'll spend the rest of the shift at the station house, filling out reports.

Not that they manage to avoid some paperwork. In the 25th District's dingy, fluorescent-lit station house, Bracamontes uses two fingers to try to enter an arrest report into Clear. He can't quite swing it. "Hey, man," he says in a half-whisper to another cop, "got any paper?"

Clear was born out of anger and frustration. Chicago had been trying to upgrade its computer network for most of the 1990s, in timid fits and starts. A 1999 rollout of an automated case reporting application went so badly that a detectives' newsletter warned the IT guys to watch their backs on the street. So the CPD decided to start from scratch with a database for arrest reports and case histories. As the system began to take shape in 2000, Ron Huberman returned to the department from a stint with a think tank in Washington, DC. Just 28 years old, with a crew cut and cordwood arms, he had already spent four years as a beat cop and gang specialist in Rogers Park, working nights while studying for dual master's degrees - in business administration and public policy - during the day. Coming back to Chicago, Huberman had a kind of epiphany. All of the department's district houses had already been linked in a 500-mile fiber-optic network, thanks to 1980s and 1990s investments. New York was already making statistics-based policing famous with its CompStat system. But in New York, information flowed only one way, up to the chiefs and the crime analysts, who then ran the numbers and sent reports and data out to the rest of the city. Huberman believed that fiber could help the police figure out who the real crooks were. Information could gush in every direction, linking systems from investigations to evidence tracking to personnel management to community involvement. Oracle bought into the idea, contributing $20 million in time, software, and hardware. The eventual result was Clear.

In 2003, Huberman - by then an assistant deputy superintendent - started Operation Disruption, a pilot program to string 30 surveillance cameras along the West Side. The idea was simply to put the silent sentries up on telephone poles, to let the bad guys know they weren't invisible anymore. During its first seven months, drug-related calls to the police in those neighborhoods went down 76 percent; serious crimes dropped by 17 percent. It's hard to tie correlation to cause, but the broad anticrime strategy - surveillance cameras, real-time data updates, and smarter deployment of tactical police units - seems to have helped bring down the body count. The city had 445 killings last year, a 25 percent drop from 2003. "This is about restoring a sense of order, about taking streets from the gangbangers," Huberman says.

Police departments often tout the latest toys and gadgets as the way to win the war on crime. Usually these programs are tepid solutions to systemic problems. Or they're great ideas too narrowly deployed. But what's happening in Chicago is different. No police force this size has ever gone this digital. No major department has ever connected so many street cops to so much information, or backed them up with a vast network of cameras.

Now the Chicago model is spreading. Nearly 300 local law enforcement agencies in 35 Illinois counties have tapped into Clear. So have agents from the FBI, Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Officials from the LAPD have been to Chicago to study the system; the mayor of San Francisco cited Chicago when he touted networked surveillance cameras for his city's most dangerous neighborhoods. In Washington, DC, police department tech czar Phil Graham is designing a regional data hub that he says is "absolutely inspired by Clear."

All that support has fueled Huberman's next big idea: Expand the panopticon even further, to include more than 2,000 private and public surveillance cameras around Chicago. Huberman has snared $34 million from the Department of Homeland Security, and another $5 million from the city, to put 250 more cameras downtown and link them to Chicago's emergency center through the city's fiber backbone.

In other surveillance cities, like London, squads of monitor jockeys have to make sense of confusing, overlapping video feeds. Huberman plans to make all that observation more focused. Every day, his 911 emergency hotline gets 18,000 calls; once the cameras get linked, every 911 call will turn on the nearest camera, showing dispatchers the scene in real time.

Funded with $3.5 million from local drug busts, the next wave of pod cameras will have audio sensors that listen for gunshots (and distinguish between them and similar noises, like the pop of a firecracker). Software will scan the video feeds for suspicious behavior. Come too close to a restricted government building, leave a package on an El platform, or even hang out for too long on a ghetto street corner and - smile - you're on Criminal Camera.

All this technology has some longtime Chicago community activists squirming. History has provided several reasons to mistrust the police. Former Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley's notorious Red Squad snooped on such groups as the League of Women Voters and the American Jewish Congress, and kept files on 200,000 Chicagoans. The unit was officially disbanded in 1981, but in 2002, the police infiltrated five antiglobalization protest groups and then undertook four more unspecified "spying operations" a year later, according to the Chicago Tribune. Reports of corruption on the force are still all too common. "It's almost inevitable, considering the nature of the Chicago police, that we're going to hear about abuses regarding this technology," says Representative Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther who has represented the South Side in Congress for 13 years.

For years, the CPD's solution to street crime was to clear the sidewalks. A controversial 1992 anti-loitering law allowed police to arrest entire groups of people if just one of them was a known gang member. The US Supreme Court struck down the law in 1999 as a violation of the right to free assembly. Critics worry that the cameras and tactical units are more of the same - and see in other cities evidence to support their fears. In New Orleans, for instance, surveillance cameras were originally envisioned as witnesses that couldn't be intimidated. The problem, critics say, is that the cameras make the streets so unfriendly that no one feels comfortable leaving the house, whether they're planning to break the law or not. One inarguable effect, says NOPD detective Mike Carambat: "You put one of these cameras up and these thugs, they scatter like roaches in the spotlight."

Critics also note that surveillance cameras seem to get pointed at certain minority groups. One Hull University study found that "nine out of ten targeted surveillances were on men, particularly if they were young and black." Another discovered that blacks were twice as likely as whites "to be surveilled for no apparent reason." Paul Jakes Jr., a reverend whose Old Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church is not far from where Chicago's first surveillance camera was mounted, says the pods are another way to turn his neighbors into suspects. "They have criminalized the whole community," thunders Jakes, who ran for mayor in 2003, partially on a platform of keeping the cops in check.

Yet not every community leader agrees with Rush and Jakes. "People are asking for these cameras; there's not enough to go around," says Ed Smith, an alderman on the West Side. "Look, I'd love to live in a community filled with elegance, opulence, and complete serenity. But that's not the case. So we have to do what we have to do in order to keep our citizens safe."

That's pretty much the city hall line, too. Richard M. Daley, who won a fifth term in 2003 by defeating Jakes with 79 percent of the vote, had a simple, unapologetic message when he introduced the gunshot-sensing cameras last year. He stood up at a press conference and said: "We own the street."

Back in the Emergency Management Center, Sergeant Greg Hoffman is watching a pair of suspicious fortysomethings on a 10-foot wall of video monitors. From a half-block away, the sergeant sees one deal go down. And then another. "Maybe they really need the money," Hoffman later muses. "Maybe they think that we can't see from this far away." Whatever. He calls in a local antidrug team, which recovers 14 tiny tinfoil packets of heroin. "When we locked 'em up," Hoffman says, "we told 'em: We can see you. We are watching. Let the people know."

Scrutinize: Chicago's pilot network of 30 cameras, soon to be expanded to more than 2,000, will also sense gunfire and zoom in on trouble in response to 911 calls.

Analyze: This year, patrol cars will be hooked into a database that connects officers to rap sheets, evidence logs, mug shots, and real-time updates.

Mobilize: The same database collects crime statistics and parses geographic patterns, so police know where to deploy members of the Targeted Response Unit.

Noah Shachtman (noahmax@inch.com) wrote about online detectives in issue 12.08.

<#==#>

To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com

From:  "eichraoren"

Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 05:34:56 -0000

Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Re: feds want to make gang bangers illegal

Several years ago there was a USSC case (Lopez, or a follow up case?).

 In oral arguments the US Atty was making broad assertions of the

reach of the Commerce Clause.  One of the Justices asked him if he

could name an economic activity that would NOT fall within such a

construction.  The guy stood there with his mouth open, frozen,

blinking, with that "Fish" look and finally said "No."  If everything

is included then why the pretence of "dual sovereignty"?  Franz Kafka

chuckled in the gallery.

Eric

--- In lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Renzulli"

<vivaspooner@c...> wrote:

> Oh. That comes from the commerce clause since these guys

participate in

> commercial sales of illicit drugs. Didn't ya know????

> 

>  Mike

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "mike ross"

> To: "lp az discuss" <lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com>

> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 9:14 AM

> Subject: [lpaz-discuss] feds want to make gang bangers illegal

> 

> 

> > just where in the constitution does it give the feds

> > the power to pass laws regualting gang bangers?????

> >

> >

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/arti

cles/0510warongangs10.html

> >

> > Debate rages over bill to fight violent gangs

<SNIP>

To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com

From: "Mike Renzulli" <vivaspooner@cox.net>

Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 18:31:20 -0700

Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] feds want to make gang bangers illegal

Oh. That comes from the commerce clause since these guys participate in

commercial sales of illicit drugs. Didn't ya know????

 Mike

----- Original Message -----

From: "mike ross"

To: "lp az discuss" <lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 9:14 AM

Subject: [lpaz-discuss] feds want to make gang bangers illegal

> just where in the constitution does it give the feds

> the power to pass laws regualting gang bangers?????

> 

> 

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0510warongangs10.html

> 

> Debate rages over bill to fight violent gangs

> 

> David Crary

> Associated Press

> May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

> 

> NEW YORK - The rapid spread of vicious street gangs

> such as MS-13 is causing alarm in cities and suburbs

> nationwide, igniting bitter debate about how best to

> combat the threat and inspiring a comprehensive

> anti-gang bill in Congress.

> 

> The measure is depicted by supporters as the only

> effective way to counterattack gang violence and

> assailed by critics as an overreaction that could clog

> both federal courts and adult prisons with youthful

> offenders, most of them minorities.

> 

> Sponsored by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., the bill moved

> swiftly through the House Judiciary Committee last

> month.

> 

> "These aren't petty hoodlums," Forbes said. "They're

> cutting people's heads off, doing countersurveillance

> on police. . . . They're trained in a type of violence

> we've not seen heretofore."

> 

> In Virginia recently, gang victims have been hacked by

> machetes and had fingers cut off. Affiliated gangs in

> Central America are suspected in several recent

> beheadings of young women.

> 

> The bill's supporters include the National Sheriffs'

> Association and the Fraternal Order of Police, the

> nation's largest law enforcement union.

> 

> Opponents include numerous high-powered civil rights

> groups: the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union,

> Human Rights Watch and others.

> 

> They cite FBI findings that serious youth crime is

> declining and say states, not the federal government,

> can best address the gang problem and worry about

> long-term consequences for teenage offenders sent to

> adult prisons.

> 

> "We, too, want to do something about gang violence,"

> said Angela Arboleda of the National Council of La

> Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. "But

> punitive measures that lock up youths with adults is

> not a smart approach."

> 

> Arboleda says that Forbes' measure, which the

> representative has nicknamed "The Gangbusters Bill,"

> "is one of the worst bills we've ever seen."

> 

> According to Forbes, street gang membership in the

> United States has grown steadily to more than 750,000,

> outnumbering police officers.

> 

> He said a federal approach is needed because gangs

> such as MS-13, the Central American-influenced Mara

> Salvatrucha, have spread to many states.

> 

> "They're organized; they have a board of directors

> inside prison and outside prison," Forbes said. "Even

> while in prison, they recruit teens, even down to

> elementary school."

> 

> Critics of the bill say state and local police

> agencies could escalate the fight against such gangs

> under existing laws.

> 

<#==#>

4th amendment is now null and void in high schools.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0511drugdogs11.html

Dogs will hunt down drugs in high schools

Ofelia Madrid and Anne Ryman

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

Drug-sniffing dogs will begin roaming Scottsdale high schools as early as this fall.

The Scottsdale School Board voted 4-1 on Tuesday to use the canines for random searches, a response to an investigation by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who said a drug ring was targeting Scottsdale students because of their wealth.

"It sends a message that drugs aren't allowed on campus," board member Molly Holver said.

But board member Eric Meyer, who cast the dissenting vote, disagreed.

"It doesn't deter drug use. It deters keeping drugs in their locker," he said.

The random searches will occur while students are in class and could begin as soon as August. The dogs will be used primarily to search school lockers.

Scottsdale isn't the first district to use dogs to combat drugs. The Paradise Valley School District in northeast Phoenix had drug-sniffing dogs on its high school campuses in the late 1990s, but officials later stopped the searches after they failed to turn up drugs.

Arpaio on Tuesday said he is glad to see Scottsdale school officials taking steps to combat drugs, but he believes the real solution is random, voluntary drug-testing of students with the parents' permission, an idea he first raised in March.

"I think we have to look further than dogs searching some foot locker," he said.

The Scottsdale Police Department has agreed to conduct the searches at the four high schools in Scottsdale: Chaparral, Desert Mountain, Saguaro and Coronado.

District officials said they plan to talk to Phoenix police about conducting searches at Arcadia High School, which is part of the district but within Phoenix city limits.

In addition, the Scottsdale School District also plans to phase in a new drug-prevention curriculum this fall.

In March, Arpaio announced the results of a months-long investigation into a drug ring that sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana to current and former Scottsdale students.

Deputies arrested 14 undocumented immigrants suspected of selling drugs, and eight teens face drug charges. Working through informants, the Sheriff's Office also identified the names of 146 students and former students who were suspected of using or selling drugs.

<#==#>

hey kevin dont feel bad about that cop changing his story on you and committing perjury in an attempt to jail you for the rest of your life. even prosecutors commit perjury. check out this stuff where ireland where maricopa county has been declared a police state because of that idiot and criminal sheriff joe

       Wallace wanted to know why Arpaio’s quotes in British newspapers contradict sworn claims by county prosecutors that inmates are treated humanely, aren’t degraded and their rights aren’t violated.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0511colleary11.html

Prison-walk photos may derail extradition

Michael Kiefer

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

For more than three years, a Catholic priest has refused to leave his native Ireland to face two counts of felony sexual conduct with a minor in Arizona.

On April 22, the High Court of Ireland was going to rule on whether to extradite the Rev. Patrick Colleary to Phoenix.

But that morning, according to Colleary's lawyer, a Dublin cabdriver showed a government attorney riding in his cab newspaper photos of jail inmates dressed in pink underwear and flip-flops being paraded in pink handcuffs down a Phoenix street.

It took a week for the photos to reach Ireland of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's much advertised April 15 migration, when about 700 nearly nude prisoners walked the block from the old Madison Street Jail to the new Fourth Avenue Jail. But it took just moments for that photo to derail years of negotiation on the extradition.

On Tuesday, a letter from the Irish Chief State Solicitor's Office arrived at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office - via the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. - asking prosecutors there to explain the apparent discrepancies between the photographed pink-underwear odyssey and earlier affidavits saying that the underwear was always worn under jail uniforms and was not intended as a form of humiliation.

The County Attorney's Office replied with its own condemnation of the pink parade, questioning "whether there were necessary security or penological interests requiring the mass disrobing of inmates before they entered the new jail," and stating its own regrets.

"That these prisoners were . . . paraded semi-nude through a downtown section of Phoenix is . . . not a practice that this office can defend," it read.

The County Attorney Office's response suggested that Colleary be held in federal custody instead.

Arpaio downplayed the dispute and vowed not to change a thing.

"I don't see what the problem with pink underwear is," he said. "The pictures were taken on county property when we were moving from one jail to the other. But I'm not changing anything when this guy comes into the jail. He will be wearing pink underwear."

Colleary was initially indicted in an incident of sexual misconduct that prosecutors said took place in 1978, while he was a priest at a parish in Tempe, but that charge was dropped in January 2003. Colleary left for his native Ireland before he was re-indicted that May and accused of having sex with a teenage boy while he was a priest in Scottsdale in 1978. He has fought extradition on several grounds, including his assertion that Maricopa County jails are inhumane.

When the photos were published in Ireland, Colleary's Arizona lawyer, David Myers, says, "The prosecutor then realized that there was a serious issue of perjury on behalf of the people from Maricopa County."

The letter from Irish solicitor Charles Wallace reprinted passages from an earlier affidavit from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office that said, "Inmates wear the underwear under their ordinary jail clothing and it is in no way used to inflict humiliation on the prisoners."

But to the solicitor, the news photos suggested the opposite, and he demanded an explanation.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=41088

Arpaio jail march stalls priest’s return

By Gary Grado, Tribune

Patrick Colleary

A march of semi-nude Maricopa County jail inmates stopped extradition proceedings in Ireland for a suspected pedophile priest.

View copy of letter from Irish officials

Now prosecutors are scrambling to find another jail to house the Rev. Patrick Colleary if he’s returned to Arizona to stand trial.

On April 15, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had 700 inmates — clad only in pink underwear and flip-flops — move from old jails to new ones. The march raised concerns with the Irish government that Colleary, former associate pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale, would be mistreated in a county jail, according to a letter sent Tuesday between Irish and U.S. government officials.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas will ask the federal government to hold Colleary pending trial rather than Arpaio, wrote his chief assistant.

"The extradition of Patrick Colleary remains a high priority of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. The crimes for which Mr. Colleary stands accused, involving the sexual abuse of children, are reprehensible and must be addressed. We firmly believe our community should not suffer because of this illadvised act by the Sheriff’s Office," wrote Sally Wolfgang Wells, chief assistant county attorney.

Arpaio said he is being made the "sacrificial lamb" and that Thomas is bowing to Irish officials.

"That’s garbage," Arpaio said. "I’m not going to talk about all their ill-advised acts."

The inmates were moved in their underwear so they couldn’t hide contraband and his jails have always passed constitutional muster, Arpaio said.

"If the guy doesn’t want to come to my hotel, he can go to the country club federal prison," Arpaio said.

An Irish judge was going to decide April 22 whether Colleary was to be returned to Arizona. The proceedings were stopped, however, after news articles of the march appeared in The Sun, a London tabloid newspaper, according to a letter from Charles Wallace, an attorney with the Chief State Solicitor of Ireland, to Tressa Borland, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wallace especially wanted an explanation about the Arpaio quote, "I put them on the streets so everybody could see them. . . . If a kid asks his mother what was going on, she could tell him this is what happens to people who break the law. I view it as another deterrent to fight crime."

Wallace wanted to know why Arpaio’s quotes in British newspapers contradict sworn claims by county prosecutors that inmates are treated humanely, aren’t degraded and their rights aren’t violated.

Wallace, reached in Ireland, and Borland in Washington, D.C., refused to comment.

"We don’t comment on ongoing extradition cases, even to confirm or deny they’re pending," Borland said.

The county attorney’s office regrets the way in which inmates were relocated and believes it was not necessary to do it in that manner, Wells wrote.

Arpaio said Colleary would be segregated and protected if he were in county jail, but he would still be given standard jail meals and made to wear pink underwear and a striped jail uniform.

"I’m not going to change any of my policies," Arpaio said.

Colleary spent a month in jail under Arpaio’s often controversial administration after he was arrested Dec. 4, 2002, on a grand jury warrant accusing him of molesting Chandler resident Mark Kennedy in 1979.

The case was dismissed under the statute of limitations.

Colleary was long gone to Ireland when he was indicted again May 28, 2003, on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, this time accused of molesting a different boy in the same time period.

Colleary sent Christmas cards to his supporters in December 2003, thanking them and proclaiming his innocence.

Kennedy and the other victim, whose identity the Tribune is not revealing because he’s never spoken publicly about the molestations as Kennedy has, have both sued Colleary.

Contact Gary Grado by email, or phone (602) 258-1746

a copy of the letter from ireland to the USA is at:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/supplemental/cwletter.html

<#==#>

kevin did you have something to do with this :) first it was that idiot larry naman who cant shoot straigh and now these idiots.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/11/international/i080119D22.DTL

Inactive Grenade Found at Bush Speech Site

By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 (05-11) 08:01 PDT , (AP) --

TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia's security chief said Wednesday that an inactive grenade was found near the site where U.S. President George W. Bush made a speech in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, denied earlier reports that the device had been thrown near the stage during Bush's appearance before a vast crowd Tuesday and insisted that the U.S. leader had not been in any danger.

Bezhuashvili said the Soviet-era grenade was found 100 feet from the tribune where Bush spoke behind bulletproof glass.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fallen to the ground. Bezhuashvili said, however, that it was not thrown, it was "found."

"The goal is clear — to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," he said. "The goal has been reached, and that is why I'm talking to you now."

"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said.

Bezhuashvili said the grenade was found in "inactive mode." He described it as an "engineering grenade" — one that is used for demolition or to simulate the effect of an artillery shell. Such grenades' blast-effect can be fatal at close range, but unlike offensive grenades, they are not designed to spread shrapnel.

"I am not an expert, but it was not possible to detonate it there," Bezhuashvili said.

However, military expert Tamas Khachidze disputed Bezhuashvili's description, saying the grenade was an RDG-5 combat hand grenade.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Khatiya Dzhindzhikhadze said the investigation would be handled jointly by American and Georgian specialists.

Security was very tight at Freedom Square, where Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili gave speeches before tens of thousands of people. Georgian police were deployed, and U.S. snipers were visible on the rooftops, scanning the crowd with binoculars.

U.S. agents and their Georgian counterparts manned the security gates at the square, making even Georgian performers — some of whom wore costumes with fake ammunition — remove every piece of metal before passing through the detectors.

Many in the crowd were carrying plastic bottles filled with water, which some high-spirited youths lobbed at each other during the speeches.

Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze accused unnamed forces of trying to sabotage U.S.-Georgian ties, describing the grenade incident as a "provocative fact."

"There are many forces which are not interested in good relations between Georgia and the United States," she told reporters, refusing to go into any further detail.

Georgia's pro-Western leadership is locked in dispute with two breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have de-facto independence and close ties with neighboring Russia.

Russia's ties with Georgia have sharply deteriorated recently over stalled negotiations on the withdrawal of two Soviet-era bases from Georgian territory, seen in Tbilisi as a legacy of Moscow's historical domination of its smaller southern neighbor.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/11613342.htm

Posted on Wed, May. 11, 2005

White House: Grenade was no threat to Bush

MARA D. BELLABY

Associated Press

TBILISI, Georgia - White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday that U.S. officials never believed President Bush's life was in danger from an inactive grenade that was found 100 feet from the site where the president made a speech in the Georgian capital Tuesday.

Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said the Soviet-era grenade was found in "inactive mode" near the tribune where Bush spoke on Tuesday.

Bush wasn't even aware of the grenade report until Secret Service agents on the plane told him about it as his plane was returning to Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, McClellan said.

"The Secret Service and FBI are continuing to look into it," McClellan said. "There have been different reports about what happened and what exactly it was."

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fallen to the ground.

Bezhuashvili said, however, that it was not thrown but "found."

"The goal is clear - to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," he said. "The goal has been reached and that is why I'm talking to you now."

"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said, referring to Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Bezhuashvili described it as an "engineering grenade" - one that is used for demolition or to simulate the effect of an artillery shell. Such grenades' blast-effect can be fatal at close range, but unlike offensive grenades, they are not designed to spread shrapnel.

"I am not an expert, but it was not possible to detonate it there," Bezhuashvili said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Khatiya Dzhindzhikhadze, said "this question will be resolved jointly by American and Georgian specialists."

Security was very tight at Freedom Square, where Bush and Saakashvili gave speeches. Georgian police were deployed, and U.S. snipers were visible on the rooftops, scanning the crowd with binoculars.

U.S. agents, together with their Georgian counterparts, manned the security gates, making even Georgian performers - who in some cases were decked out with fake ammunition as part of their costumes - remove every piece of metal before passing through the detectors.

Many in the crowd were carrying plastic soda bottles, which they used to squirt water on each other to stave off the heat after hours of standing without shelter under the bright sun. Many young people were horsing around during the speeches - especially when the translation was muffled and the speech unintelligible - and some threw plastic bottles at one another for entertainment.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8458499

Bush never in danger despite Georgia grenade

Wed May 11, 2005 12:17 PM ET

By Margarita Antidze

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian security officials discovered a hand grenade close to President Bush as he addressed a rapturous crowd in Tbilisi on Tuesday, but the White House said on Wednesday his life was never in danger.

Officials in the former Soviet republic, which was hosting a serving U.S. president for the first time, were at pains to play down the incident, saying it was a dud that could not explode.

Washington said security measures were tight enough as Bush hailed the ex-Soviet country's new democracy in front of a 150,000-strong crowd and that details of the grenade incident were sketchy.

Asked whether Bush's life was ever in danger, White House spokesman Scott McClellan replied: "No."

"The Secret Service goes to great lengths to ensure that the appropriate security measures are in place," he told reporters.

"There are different reports about exactly what this was and what happened, and the Secret Service continues to look into it."

Georgia's security chief, speaking to journalists on Wednesday, did not confirm an earlier report from Washington that said the device had been thrown within 30 meters (100 feet) of Bush during his speech on Tbilisi's Freedom Square.

"A (Soviet-made) RPG-5 hand grenade was found at the square," Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of Georgia's Security Council, said. It had been discovered 50 meters (160 feet) from where Bush stood, he said, but he gave no more precise details.

"It was not in working condition. In fact there was no chance it could explode. I think the aim was to scare people and attract attention," he said.

Another Georgian official, speaking anonymously, confirmed the device had been found while Bush was making his speech.

There was no word on whether anyone had been detained in connection with the incident.

"These reports are completely false," an Interior Ministry official said. "There were no explosives."

Earlier, the U.S. Secret Service said it was investigating a report by Georgian authorities that a possible hand grenade had been thrown to within 30 meters (100 feet) of Bush.

Georgia was the scene of a "Rose Revolution" in late 2003 that installed a pro-Western government and Bush hailed its new democracy as a "beacon of liberty" to chants from a crowd of nearly 150,000 people.

The Caucasus region is home to a string of local conflicts arising from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia borders Russia's troubled Chechnya region and is on the route for a U.S.-backed pipeline linking Caspian oilfields to world markets.

(Additional reporting by Niko Mchedlishvili and Washington Bureau)

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0511license11.html

Driver's licensing rule will cost states

Samantha Levine

Houston Chronicle

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - A new law to stop undocumented immigrants from getting driver's licenses is causing anxiety in many states, including Texas, over its potential costs and procedural complexities.

The provisions are in an $82 billion military spending bill for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan that President Bush is expected to sign this week. The Senate unanimously approved it Tuesday; the House passed it May 5.

Under the new rules, all applicants for driver's licenses must prove their legal residency in the United States. Motor vehicle offices must check applicants' names against federal immigration databases.

The measure includes $274 million to hire 500 Border Patrol agents as well as additional immigrations investigators and detention officers. The infusion is a down payment, said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, on the president's unfulfilled promise to hire 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents over five years.

When it comes to the new license rules, Texas will probably face an easier transition than some other states.

The state's Department of Public Safety, which issues driver's licenses, is in the midst of a $40 million technology and software upgrade that will get the state closer to being able to take on new tasks in the license-issuing process.

And like Arizona, the state's driver's license rules already make it almost impossible for undocumented immigrants to get valid driver's licenses in Texas, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said.

But Texas officials, like those in many other states, are concerned about having to pay for the bill's new verification requirements.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the new provisions will cost states a total of $100 million over five years. The National Conference of State Legislatures puts the price tag at up to $700 million.

"I don't know where the states are going to find the additional funding to do this," said Kathy Walt, Gov. Rick Perry's spokeswoman.

Several Hispanic groups, including the National Council of La Raza and the League of United Latin American Citizens, strongly oppose the provisions and plan to monitor how fairly they are implemented.

"You are shooting yourself in the foot. The licenses help you document who is here," said Gabriela Lemus, director of policy and legislation for LULAC. "From a security perspective, this is counterproductive. They are just going to drive these people further underground."

Civil rights lawyers at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund say that federal immigration documents are confusing and that even valid papers could be rejected by untrained license office workers.

Driver's licenses represent a golden key to the United States, the bill's proponents say, and a major security loophole. A valid license allows people to open bank accounts, rent cars and apartments, and board airplanes, things that the 9/11 hijackers did to complete their deadly mission.

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does this mean that when ever a cop is killed the 4th amendment is declared null and void and cops can search anybodys house looking for the killer????

         Despite an intensive six-hour,

         house-to-house search, police

         were still looking for the killer

         late Tuesday.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0511copshot11.html

Valley officer killed during traffic stop

Judi Villa, David J. Cieslak and Brent Whiting

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

A veteran Phoenix police officer who chose to spend his entire 22-year career patrolling the city's streets was shot twice Tuesday during a routine traffic stop and left to die in the roadway.

Officer David Uribe, 48, didn't even have a chance to draw his gun.

Despite an intensive six-hour, house-to-house search, police were still looking for the killer late Tuesday.

Uribe's son, Adam, followed his father's footsteps into the Police Department and was on duty in a different part of the city when his father was shot. Uribe, who patrolled in the Cactus Park Precinct in northwest Phoenix and was married to a Glendale police dispatcher, was the fifth Phoenix officer to die in the past year.

From inside his home, Eugene Butler and his girlfriend, Dawn Cross, heard the fatal shots, then found Uribe lying on his back on Cactus Road at 34th Avenue. Butler, 30, ripped off his tank top and wrapped it around the officer's bleeding head. Cross, 32, tried to plug the bullet holes in Uribe's head and neck with her fingers.

"I didn't care about anything but him," Cross said hours later, still crying.

Moments before the shooting, Uribe had called a license plate in to dispatchers for what should have been a routine traffic stop. The plate had been stolen from a vehicle in Scottsdale, but it was unlikely Uribe knew that when he pulled the Chevy over and stepped out of his patrol car.

"It happened so fast," said Sean Jones, who lives across the street. The officer wasn't even there when Jones, 24, came back from walking his dog. In the time it took him to hang up the leash and reach for a pack of cigarettes, the shots rang out. Five of them. Jones rushed outside.

"I knew he was gone (from) the way he was laying there," he said. "It was sad.

"He wasn't moving. Nothing. They were picking up his arms, and they were just dropping."

Paramedics rushed Uribe to a hospital, where doctors kept him alive on life support for more than four hours, until his family could say their goodbyes. Uribe, of Glendale, a father of five and stepfather to two, was pronounced dead at 3:50 p.m. His family and officers on his squad were at his side.

"(Uribe) paid the ultimate sacrifice with his life in doing his job," Phoenix police Cmdr. Kim Humphrey said. "He is going to be greatly missed."

Shortly after the shooting, the killer abandoned his vehicle about a mile away. Police launched an intensive search for a 6-foot-2, 200-pound bald man in a white T-shirt. Officers also were looking for a second man but gave no description. One man was seen walking from the car with a handgun.

Officers, their weapons drawn and assisted by K-9 units, scoured the area from Cactus Road to Dunlap Avenue, between 28th Drive and 35th Avenue.

Eight schools were locked down during the search.

No suspect was found by Tuesday night, but police said evidence found in the abandoned car led them to believe the men may have been at a Denny's restaurant at 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road at 4:40 p.m. Monday. The restaurant provided security camera footage of two men, and police said they looked similar to the men seen walking from the car.

Police Chief Jack Harris promised, "We will not leave any stone unturned in apprehending (the shooter). We have to do everything in our power to make sure these people are captured and punished to the extent of the law."

Sgt. Randy Force said Uribe called in the traffic stop at 11:10 a.m. Shortly after, a citizen called 911 to report an officer had "fallen backwards."

"Clearly, this was a situation in which an officer was taken by surprise," Humphrey said. "You don't expect something like this to happen when you make a routine traffic stop.

"It doesn't make any sense at all."

Hundreds of officers arrived throughout the afternoon at John C. Lincoln Hospital- North Mountain, where they consoled each other and wiped away tears. Witnesses said officers at the shooting scene also were crying and could be seen kicking their cars and hitting their windows.

Tylor Garrett, 25, who lives nearby, said a prayer for the officer's family.

"He was just lying there lifeless," Garrett said. "He didn't even have a chance."

At the hospital, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon was among those who stood vigil.

"I absolutely believe there is a special place in heaven for people like David, who live and give their lives for others," Gordon said. "Today, he joins his fellow heroes in that special place."

Uribe's death comes a year to the day that Phoenix police Officer Don Schultz was pulled from a canal after an on-duty diving accident and during the week officers were gathering at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor those killed in the line of duty. Five Arizona officers, including three from Phoenix police, are to be honored at a candlelight vigil Friday night.

Uribe is the fifth Phoenix police officer to die in the past year. Schultz died two days after he was pulled from the canal.

In August, Officers Jason Wolfe and Eric White were shot dead at an apartment complex. Officer Darrol Yoos died in December, 10 months after he was injured in a car accident on his way to work.

Officer Joe Clure, who worked with Uribe in the Maryvale Precinct for about 13 years, described Uribe as a "great guy," "a fantastic cop" and a spiritual man.

"It's kind of tough right now," Clure said before Uribe was pronounced dead. "We're waiting for the inevitable."

Clure later continued, "This is a terrible loss, not just for the family but for the whole community. Dave was a wonderful police officer and a wonderful human being. He died doing what he loved."

Clure said Uribe was a dedicated street cop who was easygoing, personable and the kind of officer he'd want to respond if his parents ever needed help. Uribe, he said, was "a man of character" who "would do anything for you."

"He's just in a better place. Ultimately, we'll all be there," Clure said. "You can't make rhyme nor reason of something like this. You just have to ask the Lord to help you cope."

Reporters Emily Bittner, Ginger Richardson, Holly Johnson and Karina Bland contributed to this article.

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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/tempe/articles/0511t-legalZ10.html

Police Dept. gets funding for attorney

Katie Nelson

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

Tempe's Police Department soon will have its own attorney on call 24-hours a day.

The department is joining others in the Valley, including Phoenix, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler and Glendale, that have their own in-house legal staff.

The attorney position is just one of the Tempe Public Safety Departments' slots for which the City Council has approved funding.

Both the Police and Fire departments wanted about $500,000 each to boost their departments with at least 21 hires. Most would be replacements for employees who will retire in the next year. "It's an aggressive way of filling positions and keeping people in the pipeline," Police Chief Ralph Tranter said.

And the in-house legal adviser is needed, not because the department is being sued more often but rather to be pro-active, Tranter said.

"Given the demands we face with the level of activity because of all the special events, it's important we have immediate access (to a legal adviser) to help us out on the complex and criminal and civil situations that we deal with," he said.

Now, Tempe police get legal advice from the City Attorney's Office on an as-needed basis after a sticky situation arises.

But the full-time attorney on staff would be available as events happen and could coach police officers on the best way to handle the situation. Dealing with child custody or landlord-tenant or business partner disputes could fall into this category, police said.

"We need someone with a legal background who understands all the nuances," Tranter said. "As of now we don't have anyone who has the time or the expertise."

The adviser will sit in on command staff meetings to answer administrative questions, and would be asked to develop training that the department could conduct for police officers based on litigation trends, Tranter said.

In all, the Police and Fire departments landed more than a million additional dollars.

Police received $472,000; Fire requests were funded with $561,000.

About 40 percent of the expense will be offset by fire and court revenues or budget shifts, according to calculations by the city's Financial Services Department. The difference is being provided from contingency reserve funds.

In addition to the legal adviser, the Police Department money will go toward hiring four to eight officers to replace a group that will be retiring, as well as hiring two dispatchers.

The Fire Department asked for money to fill 12 firefighter slots.

The department also received funds for a new medical transportation contract supervisor and an additional fire inspector, a position that might be broken up into part-time work, said Assistant Fire Chief Jim Gaintner.

The money also will help pay for firefighter medical exams, and truck and machinery repairs.

<#==#>

emperor bush doesnt have to tell us anything

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0511cheney11.html

Unanimous Appeals Court ruling preserves White House privilege

Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei

Washington Post

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The unanimous ruling on private energy policy meetings was a major legal and political victory for the White House, further solidifying the president's power to deliberate and seek advice behind closed doors without disclosing details.

The eight judges supported the administration's contention that forcing the executive branch to produce information about its internal deliberations is unnecessarily intrusive and violates the president's constitutional powers.

"The president must be free to seek confidential information from many sources, both inside the government and outside," Judge Raymond Randolph wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court, prompted by a 2004 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, stressed the necessity of protecting the separation of powers for the executive branch. advertisement

In lawsuits filed four years ago, the advocacy groups Judicial Watch and Sierra Club contended there was evidence that members of large energy corporations and industry groups effectively became members of Cheney's energy task force and helped write the administration's energy policy, parts of which are now before Congress. Suing under the Open Meetings Act, the two groups sought minutes of task force meetings and records of who attended.

But the court concluded that the groups failed to show that people other than federal officials were members of the energy task force under the court's admittedly narrow definition. Randolph noted that White House officials had testified that industry members offered opinions only at advisory meetings and did not have a vote or veto in writing the administration's recommendations. Therefore, he wrote, Cheney had no duty to disclose details of internal meetings.

"What this court decision does ... is to preserve the confidentiality of internal deliberation among the president and his advisers that the Constitution protects as essential to wise and informed decision-making," said Steve Schmidt, a senior Cheney adviser.

But environmentalists and advocates of open government called the decision a double blow.

"As a policy matter, we see the Bush administration has succeeded in its efforts to keep secret how industry crafted the administration's energy policy," said David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club's lead attorney on the case. "As a legal matter, it's a defeat for efforts to have open government and for the public to know how their elected officials are conducting business."

The decision is unusual for two reasons, according to law professors and lawyers involved in the case. First, it was unanimous, an atypical result for a court whose members are not hesitant to disagree. Some experts say unanimity is the judges' way of signaling that their court should not be used to settle political scores.

"Rightly or wrongly, this is their view of the way to get good government: to have discussions in secret," said Richard Lazarus, a Georgetown University law professor. "At a time when the judiciary is under attack for being partisan, and in this very high-profile case, they made clear they were speaking with one voice."

The decision also hinges on accepting assertions by two senior administration officials who said industry members were not task force members.

Randolph wrote that Karen Knutson, who was one of Cheney's deputy assistants for energy policy, said in her affidavit that industry members participated in smaller stakeholder meetings but that these "were simply forums to collect individual views rather than to bring a collective judgment to bear."

"The only individuals the president named to the (task force) were federal officials; only federal officials signed the final report," he wrote.

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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0511iraq-main11.html

Marines find foreigners in insurgency

James Janega

Chicago Tribune

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

AL QAIM, Iraq - U.S. Marines rolling though towns on the upper Euphrates River said Tuesday that they found dead insurgent fighters in bulletproof armor and wearing foreign clothes. In the towns, they reported finding caches of weapons and suicide-bomb vests as well as car bombs rigged to explode.

Commanders said they believe the finds are strong indications that foreign fighters make up part of the resistance facing them as they conduct a large offensive aimed at rooting out insurgents near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

"I've always been skeptical of the amount of foreign fighters said to be out here," said Col. Stephen Davis, commander of Regimental Combat Team-2, responsible for this corner of Anbar province. "That skepticism is removed as of this operation."

Davis said his assessment was based on the examination of dead insurgents as well as the interrogations of captured fighters. Some, he said, wore white clothes favored by Yemeni or Saudi men, contrasted with the colorful garb favored by Iraqis. One dead man wore a beard trimmed in a manner common to Saudi Arabia, compared to the Saddam Hussein-style mustaches seen among Iraqis.

During interrogations, many prisoners speak with foreign accents or use foreign phrases, said an interpreter who asked not to be identified. And some prisoners "just flat-out admit" that they were from other countries, Davis said, without identifying the countries.

Three Marines died in the first 48 hours of the offensive along the Euphrates, the U.S. military announced. Though the military in Baghdad also has estimated that up to 100 insurgents have been killed, reliable reports are somewhat lower.

Rules for reporters embedded with American units require reports about those killed to be delayed for 72 hours, so that families can be notified. Blackhawk helicopters used for evacuating casualties have flown steadily since the operation began Sunday.

Though Marines met only light resistance on Tuesday, the fighting may intensify in the next few days, commanders warned. Marine units have moved methodically through places where the insurgents could hide, searching house to house. An area dense with houses on the north bank of the Euphrates is directly ahead of advancing Marine armored columns.

Since the fighting began Sunday, Marines backed by armored vehicles have moved north of the Euphrates, where the U.S. military believes a group of insurgents numbering in the hundreds has taken refuge. The remote area is home to many Sunni Muslims opposed to the Shiite-dominated government that took office late last month, touching off a bloody round of suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks that have killed more than 300 people.

American intelligence also has suggested that insurgents have used the region as a haven, often floating across the Syrian border.

Early reports say the fighting, door to door in some towns, is the toughest since the fight for Fallujah in November. Though U.S. military commanders have said their goal is to turn over responsibility for the entire country to the fledgling Iraqi army, the current offensive involves only American personnel.

"Those (Iraqi) operational forces have simply not extended their reach far enough west to join the U.S. forces there," said Marine Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon. "If the fight continues, if it does involve fighting in built-up areas, that's not to say you won't see Iraqi forces involved."

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cops like when the evidence isnt just right. as in:

First, the officer claimed that he was standing outside the work bay when he fired. Later, Hernandez said he was standing "eye to eye" inside the work bay with Ramirez-Diaz.

if we do it its called perjury and we can be jailed for it. if cops do it it's called testilying and it isn't a big deal

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0511verdict11.html

Jury gives $1 mil in Phoenix shooting

Jahna Berry

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 12:00 AM

A federal jury awarded $1 million on Tuesday to the family of a man who was wounded by a Phoenix police officer in May 2001.

Officer Hector Hernandez shot Gerardo Ramirez-Diaz, during a confrontation at an east Phoenix storage business.

Police said Ramirez-Diaz threw a vacuum at one officer and Hernandez shot him in the abdomen when Ramirez-Diaz seemed poised to hurl a brake drum at him. The Police Department's Professional Standards Bureau investigated the shooting and cleared Hernandez. Ramirez-Diaz's family, however, filed an excessive-force lawsuit in federal court.

During the weeklong trial, the jury was swayed by evidence that Ramirez-Diaz was not physically intimidating, the plaintiff's lawyers said. Ramirez-Diaz was mentally ill, half-blind and relatively short.

The jury also heard evidence that Hernandez changed his story, said Ramirez-Diaz's attorneys, Augustine Jimenez and Stephen Montoya. First, the officer claimed that he was standing outside the work bay when he fired. Later, Hernandez said he was standing "eye to eye" inside the work bay with Ramirez-Diaz.

The eight-person jury awarded $750,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

The defense won't have to pay any damages if Magistrate David Duncan determines that the officer's actions are covered by "qualified immunity," said David Damron, a Sanders & Parks attorney who helped represent Hernandez.

Qualified immunity would apply to the case if the officer's actions were reasonable and if the officer believed at the time that his actions were constitutional.

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http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=41126

U.S. Capitol, White House evacuated briefly

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Capitol and White House were briefly evacuated Wednesday after a small plane entered restricted airspace over the city. Security officials in several other government buildings, including the Treasury Department and the U.S. Supreme Court, ordered people to safer locations.

Several other government buildings, including the Treasury Department and the U.S. Supreme Court order people to safer locations.

President Bush was away from the White House exercising on his bicycle. Congressional leaders were moved from the Capitol.

A small plane breached the security zone over Washington, several law enforcement officials said, prompting alerts across the city.

The plane was approached by a fighter aircraft and veered away, according to a Federal Aviation Administration official speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the plane was a Cessna.

President Bush was away from the White House, biking at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville, Md. Vice President Dick Cheney, in the White House, was moved to a "secure location" elsewhere, said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Congressional leaders were hustled from the Capitol by armed officers.

A Cessna 150 aircraft breached the security zone over Washington, law enforcement officials said, prompting alerts across the city.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the appropriate security measures consistent with this type of violation went into effect," said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

The plane was approached by a fighter aircraft and veered away, officials said according to a Federal Aviation Administration official speaking on condition of anonymity.

But in the meantime, armed security officers raced through the Capitol shouting for people to leave. "This is not a drill," guards shouted as they moved people away from the building.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., was on the Senate floor when police told him they needed to evacuate. "They said get out of here, so I ran. There's no joking about this kind of stuff," Shelby said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert was on the House floor talking to members when the evacuation siren went off. He left quickly with his security detail.

Large black armored SUVs often used by House and Senate leaders sped away from the Capitol as a military jet flew overhead.

"People were surprised. I was surprised," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was on the House floor when the evacuation began. "There was so much commotion in the gallery. People were yelling in the gallery. We thought something had happened in the gallery, and then the alarm came to evacuate."

Sarah Little, an aide to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. said the order to evacuate came over the special pager devices that every congressional office has. "They said ... there is an imminent aircraft threat," she said.

The incident sparked a flurry of emergency activity throughout the capital, which was targeted on Sept. 11, 2001 and has been under a heightened state of alert since then.

Washington's Reagan National Airport has been closed to general aviation since the Sept. 11 attacks. In the 3 1/2 years since then, hundreds of small planes have flown within the restricted airspace around the capital - a 15 3/4-mile radius around the Washington Monument.

However, it's rare for fighter jets to be scrambled.

Military aircraft were scrambled over the city.

In the most dramatic incident since the Sept. 11 attacks, thousands of people fled the Capitol, packed with members of Congress and other dignitaries, when a plane flew into the restricted air space just before the funeral procession for President Ronald Reagan last June.

A communications breakdown led federal officials to believe the plane might be targeting the Capitol, but it turned out to be carrying Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who had been cleared to fly into the area.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-10-ridge-alerts_x.htm

Posted 5/10/2005 11:21 PM

Ridge reveals clashes on alerts

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or "high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's homeland security apparatus.

Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.

AP

Ridge

"More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told reporters. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on (alert). ... There were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "

Revising or scrapping the color-coded alert system is under review by new Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff. Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said "improvements and adjustments" may be announced within the next few months.

The threat level was last raised on a nationwide scale in December 2003, to orange from yellow — or "elevated" risk — where the alert level is now. In most cases, Ridge said Homeland Security officials didn't want to raise the level because they knew local governments and businesses would have to spend money putting temporary security upgrades in place.

"You have to use that tool of communication very sparingly," Ridge said at the forum, which was attended by seven other former department leaders.

The level is raised if a majority on the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs. Among those on the council with Ridge were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Ridge and Ashcroft publicly clashed over how to communicate threat information to the public. But Ridge has never before discussed internal dissention over the threat level.

The color-coded system was controversial from the start. Polls showed the public found it confusing.

Contributing: Associated Press

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Heroic Freedom Fighters in the war against crooked cops? Donald David Delahanty 18, and Chris Wilson, 27.

I don’t know what it says but it is from Italy Indy Media and it is a photo of the pope dressed as a Nazi. It is at:

http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2005/04/777206.php

and says:

Questo PAPA , e' il peggio nazista che potevan mettere a capo del vaticANO 

by ANTI PA' Wednesday, Apr. 20, 2005 at 3:26 PM

Detto anche NAZINGER

QUESTO PAPA e' proprio intollerante , nazista , schiavista , odia le donne in maniera particolare e metterebbe nei forni gli uomini sessuali !!

I translated it with google and it gave me this garbage:

This POPE, e' the worse nazi who potevan to anti put head of vaticANO

by the PA' Wednesday, Apr. 20, 2005 at 3:26 PM

Saying also NAZINGER THIS just intollerante, nazi, schiavista POPE e', hates the women in particular way and would put in the furnaces the sexual men!!

<*==*>

the pigs plan to spend $45,000 trying to catch these guy(s). of course the libertarian solution is to get rid of the cops and let the private people pay for the cost of protecting their property

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/0511sr-dinnertime11-ON.html

Burglar in Scottsdale hits when residents are at dinner

Holly Johnson

The Arizona Republic

May. 11, 2005 03:45 PM

NORTHEAST VALLEY - Forget the Rock Burglar - there's a new bad guy on the scene in the Northeast Valley.

Cops dub him the "Dinnertime Burglar."

The Dinnertime Burglar "appears to surveille houses and, when people go out to dinner at 7 or 7:30 p.m., hits the house very quickly," Paradise Valley Police Chief John Wintersteen said.

The burglar can be in and out of a house in one or two minutes. Like the Rock Burglar, the Dinnertime Burglar swipes mostly jewelry. But unlike the Rock Burglar, who uses boulders to break through windows, the Dinnertime Burglar doesn't have to force entry into the home - the doors are already unlocked.

Police have been investigating the crimes for about a year, Scottsdale Police burglary Sgt. Eric Rasmussen said. The Dinnertime Burglar hasn't struck in Scottsdale since March.

"It got hot and heavy for a while, but we haven't had any in a while," he said. Rasmussen supervises the six-detective burglary unit, which is often assisted on high-volume cases by the Police Department's six-person repeat-offender unit. Police won't say how many times the burglar has struck.

"We're doing everything we possibly can" and logging thousands of hours of manpower to catch all multiple offenders, Rasmussen said, adding that police do have considerable leads in the dinnertime burglaries.

Wintersteen said Tuesday that he plans to budget about $45,000 for special projects to help prevent and solve burglaries in the town.

The Rock Burglar, who has hit dozens of times and made off with untold millions, "is still striking in North Scottsdale" and Paradise Valley Wintersteen said.

The most recent rock burglary in Scottsdale was in March, on 124th Street south of Shea Boulevard.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_US_PROTEST?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

May 11, 8:49 PM EDT

Anti-U.S. Riot Turns Deadly in Afghanistan

By MUSADEQ SADEQ

Associated Press Writer

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) -- Shouting "Death to America!" more than 1,000 demonstrators rioted and threw stones at a U.S. military convoy Wednesday, as protests spread to four Afghan provinces over a report that interrogators desecrated Islam's holy book at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Police fired on the protesters, many of them students, trying to stifle the biggest display of anti-American anger since the ouster of the ruling Taliban militia 3 1/2 years ago. There were no reports of American casualties, but the violence left four dead and 71 injured in Jalalabad, a city 80 miles east of the capital, Kabul.

Mobs smashed car and shop windows and attacked government offices, the Pakistani consulate and the offices of two U.N. agencies in Jalalabad. Smoke billowed from the consulate and a U.N. building. More than 50 foreign aid workers were reportedly evacuated.

The protests may expand into neighboring Pakistan, where a coalition of hard-line Islamic parties said it would hold nationwide demonstrations Friday over the alleged desecration of the Quran.

Many of the 520 inmates in Guantanamo are Pakistanis and Afghans captured after the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite both governments' support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, suspicion lingers in the conservative Muslim nations about the American military.

Growing urban unrest could pose another security challenge for the U.S.-backed Afghan government, which is already battling a reinvigorated Taliban insurgency. About 18,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, fighting rebels and searching for Taliban and al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

President Hamid Karzai, who travels to Washington this month for talks with President Bush, played down the violence.

"It is not the anti-American sentiment, it is a protest over news of the desecration of the holy Quran," Karzai told reporters after talks with NATO officials in Brussels, Belgium.

Afghan Protest Over Quran Turns Deadly

"Afghanistan is now a democratic country, people can come out and protest and demonstrate and express themselves," Karzai said. "It also shows that Afghanistan's institutions, the police, the army, are not yet ready to handle protests and demonstrations."

The source of anger was a brief report in the May 9 edition of Newsweek that interrogators at Guantanamo placed Qurans on toilets to rattle suspects, and in at least one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico said the U.S. military was investigating. "This allegation is contrary to our respect for cultural customs and fundamental belief in the freedom of religion," Plexico said.

Last weekend, Pakistan's government said it was "deeply dismayed" about the report and registered its disapproval to Washington. Many Afghans read Pakistani papers and understand Pakistani broadcasts; access to satellite TV has mushroomed since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

The report of the alleged Quran desecration at Guantanamo has had little impact in the Arab world, however. The news stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyya reported the protests in Afghanistan and said the U.S. was investigating, but no mention was made in Islamic Web forums where militants often comment on news reports.

Aid workers in Jalalabad suggested conservative clerics had been agitating for days in the mosques of the city, which lies in a Pashtun-dominated area that once welcomed the Taliban and al-Qaida.

"They take things like that (reported abuse of the Quran) and link it to the U.S. presence here," said Phil Halton of the Afghan NGO Security Organization. "It's a familiar theme."

The unrest in Jalalabad began Tuesday, when protesters burned an effigy of Bush. It flared again Wednesday, when more than 1,000 university and high school students marched through the city and stoned a convoy of U.S. military vehicles.

The American troops fired into the air to force the crowd back and quickly left the scene, provincial intelligence chief Sardar Shah said.

U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cindy Moore said American forces were ordered to their camps but had no information on whether any of them were caught up in the unrest.

Associated Press Television News footage showed Afghan troops firing dangerously low over the heads of fleeing demonstrators.

The Interior Ministry said four people were killed and that the 71 injured included six police officers.

Deputy provincial health chief Mohammed Ayub Shinwari said most of the injured were students. He said two of the dead had been shot and many of the injured also had suffered bullet wounds.

"There is a lot of damage to the city, they have burned a lot of things," Shah said. "These are the enemies of peace and stability in Afghanistan who don't want people to be able to get on with their lives in peace."

Students held similar protests in three other provinces - Laghman, Khost and Wardak - but there were no reports of violence.

Wednesday was not the first time Pakistan's diplomatic missions have been targeted in Afghanistan. The two countries' bilateral relations have historically been strained by border disputes.

An Afghan opposition leader claimed the demonstration reflected frustration at the role of the United States and Karzai's plans for military ties, which could include long-term U.S. bases.

"From the beginning, people have disagreed with these things, but when the government makes one announcement after another, people lose patience and explode," said former presidential candidate Mohammed Mohaqeq.

Afghan leaders have long complained of heavy-handed search operations and the deaths of civilians in U.S. operations. They have also called for the release of those still held at Guantanamo, the naval base on Cuba where the United States is detaining more than 500 prisoners from its war on terror.

Some men who have been released from Guantanamo have accused their American jailers of defacing Qurans as part of the alleged psychological and physical abuse they endured during interrogation.

"They did everything to us - they tortured our bodies, they tortured our minds, they tortured our ideas and our religion," former prisoner Mohamed Khan told The Associated Press a year ago when he was among two dozen Afghans sent home.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday that U.S. personnel assigned to Guantanamo go through training to ensure they understand the procedures for protecting the rights and dignity of detainees.

"There is an opportunity to worship. People can get copies of the Quran. They get prayer beads," he added.

"The call to prayer is played over camp loudspeakers at the appropriate times every day. And the detainees have stenciled arrows pointing in the direction of Mecca so people are afforded the opportunity to pray as they wish."

Associated Press writers Stephen Graham in Kabul and George Gedda in Washington contributed to this report.

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well we will just slap this guy on the wrist and pertend it will prevent this from ever happening again

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRISONER_ABUSE_PUNISHMENT?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

May 11, 9:05 PM EDT

Colonel Reprimanded Over Abu Ghraib Abuse

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army reprimanded and fined a colonel who was in charge of an intelligence unit at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq during the period of prisoner abuse, but the service chose not to press criminal charges, an official said Wednesday.

Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, based in Germany, had faced the possibility of criminal prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but a two-star general instead administered what the military calls nonjudicial punishment.

Pappas is among the highest ranking officers whose actions have been scrutinized in the abuse scandal. Only one general - Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski - has been punished. She was demoted to colonel.

The question of whether Pappas would be relieved of his command had not been settled Wednesday, according to an Army official who discussed the matter only on condition of anonymity because it had not been publicly announced.

Pappas was not accused of ordering abuse or participating in it, but the Army said some soldiers under his command were involved and he was faulted for two instances of dereliction of duty.

Maj. Gen. Bennie Williams, who decided not to press criminal charges, ordered Pappas to repay $8,000 in salary and gave him an official letter of reprimand. Taken together the penalties essentially stop him from being promoted in rank and thus hasten the end of his career.

Williams is commander of the 21st Theater Support Command. He was given the task of deciding the Pappas case because Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the 5th Corps commander who might otherwise have handled it, had to recuse himself in light of questions about his own role in Abu Ghraib. The Army recently cleared Sanchez and two other generals of any wrongdoing in the matter.

Pappas had the option of refusing the nonjudicial punishment and contesting the allegations in a court martial, but he chose not to, the Army official said.

The Army said it verified a finding by previous Army investigations that Pappas had failed to obtain approval from superior commanders before authorizing an unsanctioned interrogation method: the presence of military dogs during interrogations as a method of scaring prisoners.

The Army also said Pappas was derelict in his duties by failing to ensure that soldiers under his command were informed of, trained in and supervised in the application of interrogation procedures.

The Abu Ghraib abuses happened mainly in the fall of 2003. They evoked outrage around the world when photographs were published in April 2004 depicting U.S. soldiers subjecting naked Iraqi detainees to sexual humiliation and physical abuse. One senior Army investigator described the abuses as "sadistic, blatant and wanton" criminal acts. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said he twice offered his resignation to President Bush in response to the public outcry, but Bush rejected the offers and asked him to stay for a second term.

Pappas is one of the higher ranking officers whom investigators said were partly to blame for a breakdown in discipline and other shortcomings that contributed to the misbehavior.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has said it intends to hold hearings to assess whether senior Defense Department civilian and military leaders were held accountable for Abu Ghraib.

An Army investigation of Abu Ghraib, known as the Fay-Jones-Kern report, concluded that Pappas failed to execute his assigned responsibilities, failed to properly discipline his soldiers, failed to learn from prior mistakes and failed to provide continued training in the detention mission.

"The absence of effective leadership was a factor in not sooner discovering and taking actions to prevent both the violent/sexual abuse incidents and the misinterpretation/confusion incidents," the Fay-Jones-Kern report concluded last year.

That report also said the command relationship between Pappas' brigade and Karpsinski's brigade was "dysfunctional," but it said the primary cause of the most egregious violent and sexual abuses was the individual "criminal propensities" of the individual perpetrators, not the commanders.

The Army has yet to announce the outcome of its review of the case against Lt. Col. Stephen Jordan, who directed the prison's interrogation center. He could face criminal charges, Army officials have said.

---

On the Net:

Army: http://www.army.mil

<#==#>

protecting the american emperor and royality in congress and the senate, and other royal government rulers

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0511Capital11-ON.html

No charges for 2 who flew into restriced airspace in D.C.

Associated Press

May. 11, 2005 05:15 PM

WASHINGTON - A small plane strayed within three miles of the White House Wednesday, forcing an evacuation of government buildings so quick that Capitol police, rushing to get House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to a secure location, lifted her out of her shoes.

The stocking-feet Pelosi, other House and Senate leaders and Vice President Dick Cheney were spirited away and thousands of others evacuated from the White House and the Capitol after the plane entered restricted airspace over Washington, sending the capital into a temporary frenzy of emergency activity.

President Bush, biking with a high school friend at a Maryland nature reserve, was unaware of the 15-minute scare that set the government on edge. He learned the details at the conclusion of his ride; his security detail had been informed when the White House threat level was raised to red.

Shouts of "For your safety, exit the building!" and "This is not a drill!" touched off an organized but hurried rush out of the Capitol. At the White House, people were either urged to leave the building or head to the basement.

Within minutes, the words were "all clear." Warplanes scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base had fired four flares when they got no response from the pilot. Only then did the plane veer west and the jet fighters escorted it to an airport in Frederick, Md.

A pilot and student pilot, flying from Pennsylvania to an air show in North Carolina, were taken into custody. The government decided not to press charges after interviewing the men and determining that the incident was an accident. "They were navigating by sight and were lost," said Justice Department spokesman Kevin Madden.

Officials had been concerned because the plane appeared to be "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area," said Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer.

The White House raised its threat level to red - the highest - for eight minutes, said spokesman Scott McClellan. First lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, overnighting at the White House for a special event, were moved to secure locations.

At the Capitol, lawmakers, tourists and reporters raced out of the building, dodging the speeding motorcades of Latin American leaders who had been meeting with members of Congress.

At the Supreme Court, guards told some people to leave the building while others were shepherded into the underground parking garage, where Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer were seen chatting. At Treasury, an announcement on the loudspeaker advised employees to move to a shelter.

The Justice, Defense and State departments were exceptions, with none evacuated. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld remained at the Pentagon, where many were killed when terrorists crashed an airliner on Sept. 11, 2001. Pentagon officials decided the two-seater plane was too small to do serious damage to the five-sided building. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conducted a television interview unaware of the plane.

The incident began at 11:28 a.m. EDT, when Federal Aviation Administration radar picked up the aircraft, a small Cessna 152 with high wings. Gainer said the first alert went out when the plane was 21 miles - 17 minutes - from the city.

One Black Hawk helicopter and one Citation jet were dispatched at 11:47 a.m. from Reagan National Airport. Two F-16 jet fighters, scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base, fired four warning flares when the Cessna's pilot did not respond to radio calls.

"If he wouldn't have responded, intentionally or not, he could have been shot down," said Master Sgt. John Tomassi of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The men were identified as Hayden Sheaffer, of Lititz, Pa., and Troy Martin, of Akron, Pa., according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plane was registered to Vintage Aero Club, a group of people who fly from Smoketown Airport in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, said club member Merv King. Former club member John E. Henderson said the plane was to be flown by Sheaffer and Martin to an air show in Lumberton, N.C.

Sheaffer confirmed he had been released by authorities but declined to comment further when reached on his cell phone by The Associated Press.

Martin's wife, Jill, said: "Troy was discussing with me last night after they made their flight plans all about the no-fly zones and how they were going to avoid them. He said they were going to fly between two different restricted areas."

Washington's Reagan National Airport has been closed to general aviation, the non-airline planes, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In the 3 1/2 years since then, hundreds of small planes have flown within the restricted airspace around the capital - a 15 3/4-mile radius around the Washington Monument.

However, it's rare for fighter jets to be scrambled in response.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512CapitalAlert12-ON.html

Small plane sets off big reaction in Washington

Associated Press

May. 12, 2005 07:50 AM

WASHINGTON - The terror alert system in the nation's capital was put to the test by a small plane that flew within three miles of the White House, leading to the frantic evacuation of government buildings.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Thursday praised security officials for quick, appropriate response as the lost pilot was being diverted away from Washington.

"It was a successful intervention by the Department of Homeland Security, by the Department of Defense," Ridge said on NBC's "Today" show. "They saw it was a Cessna, saw it was a single-engine plane, and they took care of it."

Alert levels at the White House and Capitol were raised to their highest state Wednesday when the Cessna 152 crossed into restricted air space and failed to respond to a Homeland Security helicopter scrambled to stop it. Military jets fired four warning flares at the single-engine aircraft, which was carrying a pilot and a student pilot flying from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, before it turned away from the national landmarks.

The plane appeared to be "on a straight-in shot toward the center of the Washington area," Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer said.

The scare, which lasted about 45 minutes, sparked a frenzy of activity that tested the capital's post-Sept. 11 response system. Homeland Security officials said smooth coordination among a handful of federal agencies to share information and quickly scramble warplanes showed the defense system worked as designed.

"Security measures were effectively executed," Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

President Bush, biking with a high school friend at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville, Md., was unaware of the midday scare as it was occurring. His security detail knew of the raised threat level.

Mayor Anthony Williams said city officials also weren't told about the threat until the all-clear was sounded, more than 10 minutes after the White House and Capitol were evacuated. A city government building that houses the mayoral and District of Columbia Council offices, located two blocks from the White House, was not evacuated.

"Critical and potentially life-or-death information about threats facing district residents needs to be shared immediately, not five, 10 or 15 minutes after the fact," Williams said.

While praising the fast federal response, experts said the alarm highlighted security measures that still need to be put in place.

David Heyman, homeland security director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said more needs to be done to prevent unauthorized flights and protect restricted airspace from violations like Wednesday's.

"The scare today reminds us both of the challenges we still face in securing our nation's skies as well as the significant steps we've taken to protect against future attacks," Heyman said.

"We have more work to do."

The incident began at 11:28 a.m. when Federal Aviation Administration radar picked up the small, two-seater aircraft. Gainer said the first alert went out when the plane was 21 miles - about 17 minutes flying time - from the city.

One Black Hawk helicopter and one Cessna Citation jet, assigned to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were dispatched at 11:47 a.m. from Reagan National Airport. Authorities said the Citation established communication with the Cessna's pilot around 12:06 p.m. as two F-16 jet fighters moved in. The jets, scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, fired four warning flares before the plane turned away.

"If he wouldn't have responded, intentionally or not, he could have been shot down," said Master Sgt. John Tomassi of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The plane then turned to the west and the warplanes escorted it to the airport in Frederick, Md., where the men aboard were taken into custody shortly after 12:38 p.m. The government decided not to press charges after interviewing the men and determining the incident was an accident.

"They were navigating by sight and were lost," Justice Department spokesman Kevin Madden said. The men were identified as Hayden Sheaffer of Lititz, Pa., and Troy Martin of Akron, Pa., who were on their way to an air show in Lumberton, N.C.

Homeland Security officials said the alarm marked the first time the public has been told that terror alert levels were raised to red.

At the White House, the Secret Service raised the alert level to red for eight minutes, starting at 12:03 p.m., as the Cessna moved within 10 miles, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said. Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush and former first lady Nancy Reagan, overnighting at the White House for a special event, were moved to secure locations.

Capitol Police put the Capitol on red alert at 12:04 p.m. Lawmakers, tourists and reporters raced out of the building, dodging the speeding motorcades of Latin American leaders who had been meeting with members of Congress. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was hustled to a secure location. Police, rushing to get House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi out of the building, lifted her out of her shoes.

At the Supreme Court, guards told some people to leave the building while others were shepherded into the underground parking garage. Neither the Defense nor State departments were evacuated.

Ridge said individual judgments were made at each of the federal facilities. "The appropriate buildings were evacuated," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512alert-emergency12.html

Small-aircraft ban may stay

Washington Post

May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Until Wednesday, federal officials felt confident enough in new air security procedures to consider lifting a ban on small aircraft flying in and out of Reagan National Airport, possibly by the end of the year.

Momentum was building to end the prohibition, but after a single-engine Cessna flew alarmingly close to the White House on Wednesday, administration officials are taking a second look at that plan.

"These incidents should give pause to the whole question of reopening National Airport to small planes," said an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter has not been decided yet. "Certainly a high-profile incident does not help the case."

The Washington area has the most restricted airspace in the nation, and incursions occur at a rate of about three a day. Black Hawk helicopters patrolling the sky have responded to more than 280 incursions from January to mid-April this year. Most involve recreational pilots who mistakenly cross into the airspace and then are escorted out by the Black Hawks.

Private pilots flying into the 2,000-square-mile zone encompassing the region's three largest airports must maintain constant communication with air-traffic controllers. Pilots are required to check navigational maps, which clearly outline the restricted area, although some forget and cross into the airspace accidentally.

Black Hawks, small police jets or military fighter jets meet wayward pilots and try to get their attention by flying in close.

"There's no better way to determine whether there's a friend or foe than to pull up close to him and look at him," said one pilot who flies the Black Hawks but spoke on condition of anonymity because of Homeland Security rules. Pilots quickly understand they are in trouble, the pilot said.

<#==#>

Smart, fat, unhealthy kids are better then dumb, skinny healthy kids.

by Fat, dumb, and happy government employee

Smart, fat, unhealthy kids are better then dumb, skinny healthy kids. At least thats what the govennmnent schools think

Schools pressured to cut recess

Instructional needs mean less time for kids to play

Karina Bland

The Arizona Republic

May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

Kids are spending less time hanging upside down on the monkey bars and more time at their desks as pressure is put on schools to score better on standardized tests and do well in state and federal rankings.

A growing number of Arizona schools are trading playtime for more instructional time, part of a national trend. An estimated 40 percent of elementary schools have eliminated or cut back recess, according to the American Association for the Child's Right to Play. In Atlanta, recess has been abandoned altogether and new schools are built without playgrounds.

"There's too much to do," says Rosemary Agneessens, principal of Creighton Elementary School in Phoenix, where morning and afternoon recesses for even the littlest kids were eliminated two years ago.

Her students still get time on the playground before lunch, and teachers take students for water and bathroom breaks and even outside for a quick run or some jumping jacks if they are particularly wiggly.

"It' s about re-energizing, not play," Agneessens said.

Schools across the Valley are making similar cuts. Tonight, the Washington Elementary School District board will consider a proposal to make instructional time uniform at its schools, including a maximum of 15 minutes a day for recess.

The trend has some worried, particularly at a time when research is showing that kids are increasingly overweight and at risk of chronic diseases.

About 15 percent of kids ages 6 to 19 are considered overweight, three times as many as in 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"Children need time to stretch, run, jump, giggle and socially connect in an unstructured environment with their classmates," said Kay Price Olsen, a Peoria mother of three and teacher. "Children should have the right to recess. It is part of the pure joy of being a child and one of the biggest reasons kids give for wanting to come to school."

On the playground at Peoria Elementary School, second-grader Kasey Chandler, 8, claims a 20-minute record for hanging from the monkey bars. She said she and her friends really like recess.

"We don't sit together," Kasey explained.

"At recess, we get to hang out with each other," said Melinda McCarty, also 8. "We get to run and scream, if we want."

"And we chase boys," admitted Balera Torres, 8.

Many childhood lessons are learned on the playground: what to do if you don't get picked for a pickup game, how to stand up to a bully and the antidote for cooties.

It's a time to blow off energy, for boys to be boys and for a kid who just wants to be alone to watch the clouds. Kids get to make the rules, practice social skills and explore.

"Life is a balance," said third-grade teacher Mary Bien, watching her students play earlier this week. "You have to have some fun in between all the work."

Federal law requires breaks in the workday for grownups. It should be the same for children, contends Jan Wilson, a Peoria mother of two. She thinks all kids, up through eighth grade, should get morning, lunchtime and afternoon breaks: "I'm like an (attention-deficit disorder) parent. I don't think I could sit still in a classroom all day."

A short break can make students more focused, less fidgety and less disruptive, said Kenneth Cameron, director of research and evaluation for the Glendale Union High School District.

Cameron, who used to teach physical education at West Point, spoke about the value of recess at a March meeting of the Peoria United Parent Council.

"These students can't sit for long blocks of instruction," he said. "Physical activity allows them to come back in and refocus and be more attentive."

A 2002 study by the California Department of Education showed that children who are physically active actually scored better on the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition, given as part of the state's standardized testing program.

The study recommends quality physical-education classes for all kids and other opportunities for physical activity, such as recess, during the day.

Yet, physical education and electives, such as music and art, also are waning under the same academic pressures.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said he thinks schools are doing the best they can. Educators are finding it difficult to schedule 90-minute blocks of reading instruction as recommended by the federal government and still work in recess, he said.

They know kids need physical activity, but they feel the pressure to improve test scores, up their average yearly progress figures and state and federal rankings. They get no credit for how much time their kids spend on the playground.

Often, afternoon recess is the first to go.

Children at Peoria Elementary School used to have morning, lunchtime and afternoon recess. But when the school was labeled "underperforming" three years ago, Principal Fritz Maynes cut back.

"We were grasping quickly for some extended learning time," he said.

Children up through fourth grade get morning and lunchtime recess. Kids in fifth through eighth grade get a break at lunch. Maynes said: "I'm a big advocate for recess. I need one once in a while."

A 15-minute recess easily can take up a half-hour as kids line up, go outside, get a drink and get back to work. With the loss of an afternoon recess and more rigorous instruction, the school earned a "performing" label the following year.

Children at Gateway Elementary School in Phoenix have always just had one short recess just before lunch. Principal Kathy Tegarden said children already have plenty of time to be active, with bathroom breaks, physical education, art and music.

The littlest students often work in centers, moving from activity to activity in their classrooms.

"Classrooms are different from when I was in school and you sat in a desk and you didn't move," Tegarden said. "They do move around a lot more."

www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512recess12.html

<#==#>

George W. Hitler and Prime Minister Tony Blair planned to invade Iraq a year before Bush made up the Weapons of Mass Destruction lie.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512iraq-memos12.html

British documents stir protest in United States

John Daniszewski

Los Angeles Times

May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

LONDON - Reports in the British media this month based on documents indicating that President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair had conditionally agreed by July 2002 to invade Iraq appear to have blown over quickly in Britain. But in the United States, where the reports at first received scant attention, there has been a growing groundswell of indignation among critics of the Bush White House, who say the documents help prove the leaders made a secret decision to oust Saddam Hussein nearly a year before launching their attack, shaped intelligence to that aim, and never seriously intended to avert the war through diplomacy.

In a letter to Bush last week, 89 House Democrats expressed shock at the documents.

They asked if the documents were true and if so, did they not prove that the White House had already agreed on an invasion months before seeking authorization from Congress.

The documents, obtained by Michael Smith, a defense specialist writing for the Sunday Times of London, include minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting of Blair and his intelligence and military chiefs, a briefing paper for that meeting, and a Foreign Office legal opinion prepared before the summit of Blair and Bush in Crawford, Texas, on April 6-7, 2002.

The picture that emerges from the documents is of a British government convinced of the United States wanting to go to war against Saddam Hussein and Blair, agreeing, subject to several specific conditions.

Since Smith's report was published May 1, Blair's Downing Street office has not disputed the papers' authenticity. A Blair spokesman asked about them Wednesday said the memo published May 1 added nothing of significance to the much-investigated record of the lead-up to the war.

"At the end of the day, nobody pushed the diplomatic route harder than the British government. ... So the circumstances of this July discussion very quickly became out of date," said the spokesman.

The leaked minutes summed up a July 23 meeting held at Downing Street, where Blair, his top security advisers and his attorney general discussed Britain's role in Washington's plan to oust Saddam. The minutes written by a foreign policy aide, Matthew Rycroft, indicate general thoughts among participants about how to create a political and a legal basis for a war. The case for military action at the time was "thin," Foreign Minister Jack Straw was characterized as saying, and Saddam's government was posing little threat.

Labeled "secret and strictly personal - UK eyes only," the minutes begin with the head of British intelligence, MI6, identified as "C," telling meeting participants that he had returned from Washington, where there was a "perceptible shift in attitude. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy."

Straw agreed that Bush seemed determined on military action, though the timing was not certain.

Both Blair and Bush have denied a war decision was made in early 2002. The White House and Downing Street maintain that they were preparing for military operations as one option, but the option to not attack also remained open until the start of the war on March 20, 2003.

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another cop lie trying to brainwash the public into thinking cops jobs are dangerous and they risk their lives for us. well if check out stats for how dangerous being a cops is compared to other jobs cops rarely even make it into the top 10. only once did i see them get into the top 10 and they made number 7. and when you look at the stats on that most of the cops are hurt not by criminals but die in traffic accidents.

the pigs say:

        But there is nothing routine or even predictable about a traffic stop.

but this is  bullshit. trafic stops are routine and predictable. 99.9999 percent of the time the cop stops the car writes a ticket, generates revenue for the city, and the cop leaves.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512copfolo12.html

Traffic stops hold dread for police

Latest shootings reflect the danger

Judi Villa

The Arizona Republic

May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

Traffic stop.

Two small words that can strike fear in even the most hardened police officers.

Go to a family dispute and you expect to see people fighting. Go to a car crash and you expect to see wrecked vehicles. Go to a shooting and you expect there to be a gun.

But there is nothing routine or even predictable about a traffic stop.

"You could get anything," said Officer Rich Germaine of the state Department of Public Safety. "It's kind of like playing the slot machine. Every time you pull the handle, you never know what you're going to get. You can win or you can lose."

The dangers were underscored this week when a Phoenix police officer was shot twice and killed Tuesday during a traffic stop. Officer David Uribe, a 22-year veteran, had pulled over a vehicle with a stolen license plate and was shot in the neck and head when he got out of his patrol car. His killers are still on the loose.

Then, on Wednesday, an officer in west Phoenix attempted to pull over a stolen car and the driver fled, ditching the Honda in a residential neighborhood and jumping fences. Gustavo Ricardo Becerra, 22, who also was wanted for a home-invasion robbery and kidnapping, then pulled a gun on police and was shot to death, officials said. Officer Lane White suffered bruising to his head.

"Here we are, presented with the same incident again, a stolen vehicle we are trying to pull over," Phoenix police Sgt. Lauri Williams said. "It reminds us as police officers how risky and dangerous this is.

"Typically, on a traffic stop, you don't know anything. You're taking your chances about who's in the car. You're going in blind."

Nationally, more officers have been killed during traffic pursuits and stops than in any other situation except arrests. From 1994 to 2003, 101 law enforcement officers, an average of 10 a year, died in traffic stops, according to an FBI report on officers killed and assaulted. One in three, like Uribe, were killed approaching an offender.

"You don't know what's being planned or what's being thought up when you're walking up to the vehicle," Phoenix police Officer Shayne Tuchfarber said. "The unknown is one of the biggest fears.

"You can only assume things when you walk up to a vehicle. Anything can happen at any time."

Tuchfarber said tragedies like Uribe's death are a brutal reminder that "nothing's routine, not on a traffic stop."

"Our hearts go out to the family," Tuchfarber said. "We don't know what he went through. But we all know he died a hero."

Across the Valley, officers say traffic stops are some of the most dangerous work they do. They usually are alone and often stop vehicles with multiple passengers. If a person is wanted or driving a stolen vehicle, an officer may not initially know that and could become even more vulnerable to an unexpected attack.

Still, police caution every stop is different and, because of that, procedures vary. Although all agencies stress stopping in safe places and avoiding standing directly between two vehicles so officers don't get hit by another car, there are differences in whether officers approach from the right side or left and whether they prefer violators to remain inside their vehicles or to stand outside with them.

A common thread, though, in police training Valley-wide is to watch the hands. Hands can kill. "If you can see the hands, they can't hurt you," Tuchfarber said.

Officers also train to expect the unexpected, to keep track of all the people inside a vehicle, to notice smells, like alcohol or marijuana that may indicate trouble and to never take their eyes off the violator. Germaine uses a vehicle's mirrors to see what's going on inside.

Tempe police Sgt. Don Yennie said he positions himself "in such a way that it's uncomfortable for the driver."

"You stand behind them so they have to turn three-quarters of the way around," Yennie said. "It puts you at the advantage."

Chandler police Officer Robert Krautheim said he remains on guard by acting as if the vehicle's occupants are "wanted criminals." He also makes sure to never have anything in the hand he uses to draw his gun, just in case.

"There's so many variables. It's overwhelming sometimes," Krautheim said. "(We say it's) routine because we do it all the time, but there's nothing routine about a traffic stop. They all have different dynamics and inherent dangers."

Germaine, who also is a DPS firearms instructor, said officers have to concentrate 100 percent on the stop, not on their families or what they'll do after work or anything else.

"What's important is what's in front of you," Germaine said. "If you're not careful, he's got his gun out and he's pointing it at you before you even know you've been invited to a shootout."

Reporters Brent Whiting, Senta Scarborough, Katie Nelson and Lindsey Collom contributed to this article.

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its not about a census or even about good government. its all about $REVENUE$. or better worded its about how much money the city of phoenix can get the state and federal governments to steal for them.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512phx-census12.html

Phoenix wants you to know everyone counts in census

Ginger D. Richardson

The Arizona Republic

May. 12, 2005 12:00 AM

PHOENIX - City officials are gearing up for a mid-decade census, a survey that could save or cost millions in state and federal funding.

The federal government conducts a census, or a demographical survey of the country's population, every 10 years. But local and state officials have the option of doing a count halfway through the decade if they think their populations are growing.

"We already know that we are going to lose funding, but we could lose a lot more if people don't participate and return these forms," said Norris Nordvold, city intergovernmental affairs coordinator. "That's our biggest concern."

All Valley municipalities are coordinating with the Maricopa Association of Governments to conduct the survey, which will be sent out at the end of August.

A lot is at stake.

City population determines the portion of state-shared revenues and helps set the amount of federal dollars received. Phoenix's population isn't growing as fast as some other municipalities, like Gilbert or Avondale.

Phoenix officials estimate they will lose $20 million to $25 million in state shared revenues, beginning in July 2006.

The funding is a critical part of the city's overall operating budget. In fiscal 2005-06, state-revenues comprise 36.2 percent of the General Fund, the pool of money used to pay for everything from new fire trucks and police equipment to library books and park space.

So if residents don't return their census forms, the city could lose even more money than it anticipates.

"For every person that isn't counted in this census, Phoenix will lose thousands of dollars," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said.

To make sure residents return forms, Phoenix is educating people about their importance and what is at stake.

"Of all the cities and the county, we are the hardest to count," Nordvold said. "We have the greatest low-income and minority populations."

Phoenix officials are forming five subcommittees, each bearing responsibility of reaching minority groups typically undercounted. Those groups include the city's Hispanic and Somali populations, Nordvold said.

The count will be conducted using a statistical survey. Officials will send mailers to randomly selected households; about three out of every 20 will be asked to participate.

It will cost the county about $7 million, officials said.

If residents don't return their surveys, they will be sent a card in the mail reminding them to do so. If the city still gets no response, someone will go to the home to conduct the count.

The forms will be mailed Aug. 29, and the census is expected to be complete by Thanksgiving.

Reach the reporter at ginger.richardson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2474.

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sorry to offend any of the socialists who read this but this libertarian bit attacking socialized medicine was too damn funny to pass up and not put on this letter.

To: rexy@ij.net

From: "POINTER INSTITUTE" <rexy@ij.net>

Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 10:01:12 -0400

Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Socialized Medicine explained

Socialized Medicine Explained

Q. What is "National Healthcare"?

A. Its roots go back to a concept pioneered by the Three Stooges of the Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million served by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 35 million served by the Peoples' Republic of China; and 21 million served by the National Socialist German Workers' Party. There, it was discovered that a patient could be made to forget the pain in his foot if he was starving from lack of food, freezing from lack of clothing, or dying from lack of heat and electricity in his home. Sometimes the modern medicine could be provided by transferring the patient for treatment by specialists in camps at far-away places. The travel and lodging was all provided "free" by the government. It led our government to a miraculous discovery about how to end ALL sickness: kill ALL sick people.

Q. I just love that socialized medicine idea and the price sounds right! How difficult will it be to choose the doctor I want?

A. Just slightly more difficult than choosing your parents. Your government will tell you where to go and how long to stay. The doctors basically fall into two categories - those who are accepting new patients to add to their waiting list, and those who are in the same camp with you. But don't worry, there remains the possibility of actually paying a doctor for competent prompt care. After you have been cured you will be convicted for your crimes, tortured and executed but not necessarily in that order. You can also get on the waiting list for permission to travel to a barbaric capitalist country that hasn't progressed to socialized medicine, but why would you? Even so, many barbaric countries are progressing as their governments legislate wonderful HMO schemes and other laws in the constant moves toward socialism.

Q. Do all diagnostic procedures require pre-certification?

A. No. No procedure requires anything and its all free as your right under the law. You have the right to write your name on the list as many times as you wish, even hourly, daily, monthly or yearly. Once your turn for care arrives, and assuming you still need care, it will be "free." And remember, funerals are also "free" and are even considered part of the comprehensive healthcare quality-control system. If you die, please let us know so that your name can be removed from the waiting list and others can move up.

Q. Can I get coverage for my preexisting conditions?

A. Certainly, as long as they don't require any treatment. And also see the previous answer.

Q. What happens if I want to try alternative forms of medicine?

A. You'll need to find alternative forms of payment. Afterward, you will be convicted for your crimes, tortured and executed but not necessarily in that order. You can also get on the waiting list for permission to travel to a barbaric capitalist country that hasn't progressed to socialized medicine, but why would you? Even so, many barbaric countries are progressing as their governments legislate wonderful HMO schemes and other laws in the constant moves toward socialism. So you better hurry!

Q. My pharmacy plan only covers generic drugs, but I need the name brand. I tried the generic medication, but it gave me a stomach ache. What should I do?

A. Poke yourself in the eye. Remember, with socialized medicine you will not be confused and ripped off with "name brands" and dizzying choices. Also, the best treatment for stomach ache is vodka. In fact it works well for everything. And you will not be ripped off with "name brands" and dizzying choices for vodka either. You're welcome.

Q. What if I'm away from home and I get sick?

A. You really shouldn't do that. How did you do that? Please fill us in when you return.

Q. I think I need to see a specialist, but my doctor insists he can

handle my problem. Can a general practitioner really perform a heart transplant right in his/her office?

A. That sounds odd. Are you the donor or recipient? Back when heart transplants were actually being performed, they were done in hospitals. Check to see if your name is still on the list in case heart transplants have been re-authorized. If your doctor really is "part of the program" then there is no need to question the doctor as they all receive the same top-notch training. Considering that you are risking nothing, and it is all "free," there's no harm in giving it a shot. What year are you scheduled?

Q. Last week, I heard my neighbor Ivan Brodsky talking about the government's healthcare system and he said "You never know how expensive something can be until you get it for 'free.'" What does that mean?

A. He was probably delirious from vodka that he was taking for his stomach ache from cancer. The vodka had confused him the first time we saw him one wintery day years ago when he complained about waiting a mere 3hours in line to write his name on the list. We will never know what his latest riddle meant because records indicate that he has sense succumbed to the horrid disease. His name will be removed from the waiting list. Thanks.

Q. Will health care be different in the next century?

A. Yes, one big planned improvement is that your grandchildren will have a device that is known as a "phone" and this futuristic wonder will enable them to get on the list without spending hours waiting in line to write their names. Socialized medicine is always improving and in the next century your name can be removed from our list as another one of our "success" stories.

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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0512fbi-cocainesting-ON.html

Military, law enforcement caught in FBI drug trafficking sting

Arthur H. Rotstein

Associated Press

May. 12, 2005 12:10 PM

TUCSON - FBI agents posing as cocaine traffickers in Arizona caught 16 current and former U.S. soldiers and law enforcement personnel who took about $220,000 in bribes to help move the drugs through checkpoints, Justice Department officials said Thursday.

Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state corrections department, and a Nogales, Ariz., police officer, officials said.

"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of protecting society and securing America's borders. The importance of these tasks cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can the American people afford, this type of dereliction," FBI Special Agent Jana D. Monroe, who directs FBI operations in Arizona, said during a news conference in Tucson.

All 16 have agreed to plead guilty to being part of a bribery and extortion conspiracy, the result of the nearly 3 1/2-year FBI sting, acting assistant attorney general John C. Richter and Monroe said. Officials said more arrests are anticipated.

The single conspiracy count carries a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of $250,000. The 16 defendants have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, officials said.

The FBI set up the phony trafficking organization in December 2001, then lured military and police personnel with money to help distribute the cocaine or allow it to pass through checkpoints they were guarding, officials said.

One defendant, John M. Castillo, 30, was on duty as an INS inspector at a border checkpoint in Nogales in April 2002 when he twice allowed a truck he believed was carrying at least 88 pounds of cocaine to enter the country without being inspected, the Justice Department said.

In another instance, also in 2002, several of those charged met an aircraft piloted by undercover FBI agents that was carrying 132 pounds of cocaine at a remote desert airstrip, officials said. In full uniform, they supervised the loading of the cocaine into two military Humvees assigned to the National Guard and another government vehicle, then drove to a resort hotel in Phoenix. There, another undercover agent posing as a trafficker paid them off in cash, the Justice Department said.

The FBI used real cocaine seized in other operations, the officials said. The 16 suspects transported more than 1,230 pounds of cocaine and accepted more than $222,000 in bribes, the officials said. Each escorted at least two shipments of cocaine to Phoenix, Las Vegas and other locations, they said.

Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

On the Net:

FBI: www.fbi.gov

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http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=41166

Sheriff’s fingerprint patrols roll into East Valley

By Kristina Davis, Tribune

Starting today, motorists may be asked for more than their license and registration if pulled over in the south East Valley.

Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies will now ask drivers for a thumbprint as Sheriff Joe Arpaio expands his contentious pilot program aimed at fighting identity theft to county islands in east Mesa, Queen Creek, Chandler and Gilbert.

Since the program was launched in the West Valley three months ago, 774 fingerprints have been collected, the sheriff’s office said.

Of those, 294 were randomly selected and scanned in a fingerprint database to search for identity thieves. Eleven hits came back on motorists who provided false identification or stolen identities.

Some of those also had warrants or were illegal immigrants.

"Even though it’s voluntary, we feel it’s been a little eye-opening here," Arpaio said. "We’ve been that successful. We’re not just going to pick on the west side. We’re going to go to the East Valley and see what we come up with for those who give us their prints."

Arpaio said 38 percent of the prints run belonged to people with a criminal record.

"That’s a high percentage we got back on a random basis. That might mean crooks are bad drivers," Arpaio said.

After the prints are run through the database, they are destroyed if there are no matches, he said.

By using fingerprints, innocent people can quickly clear their names, he said.

The program raised civil liberties concerns when it was launched in February. At the urging of the American Civil Liberties Union, deputies were instructed to provide additional assurance to drivers that the fingerprints were voluntary.

"Preliminary research indicates it may be illadvised and ineffective, but it probably doesn’t violate the Constitution as long as it’s voluntary and motorists stopped are very, very clearly advised that it is voluntary and there are no consequences if they refuse," said Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona chapter of the ACLU.

Bill Norton, chairman of District 22 Republicans, said the committee still stands by a unanimous resolution it passed in February declaring its objection to the program and calling for all the data to be destroyed within six months.

Contact Kristina Davis by email, or phone () -

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when did it become OK to have fighter planes shoot down any airplane that gets too close to the president????

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0513alert13.html

Errant plane over U.S. capital in security cross hairs

Lara Jakes Jordan

Associated Press

May. 13, 2005 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - As a wayward Cessna flew deep into restricted airspace, national security officials were on the phone discussing whether to implement the last line of defense: shooting it down.

The single-engine Cessna that prompted a frenzied evacuation of the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court on Wednesday veered from downtown landmarks just before that decision needed to be made. It was a close call.

One senior Bush administration counterterrorism official said it was "a real finger-biting period because they came very close to ordering a shot against a general aircraft."

"How many more seconds away or minutes - it was within a very small window where there would have been the decision," said the official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Administration officials spent Thursday reviewing the bizarre series of events involving the small plane, which was carrying a pilot and a student pilot from Pennsylvania to an air show in North Carolina. It entered restricted airspace then continued flying toward highly sensitive areas, prompting evacuations of tens of thousands of people as military aircraft scrambled to intercept it.

Hundreds of planes have encroached on the airspace since the Sept. 11 attacks, but none is believed to have traveled so close to the White House.

Lt. Col. Tim Lehmann, one of two F-16 fighter pilots who tracked the Cessna, said he was prepared to use deadly force. He said he realized how serious the situation became when he looked at the plane and saw the Washington Monument, too.

"We may have been on the cusp of some kind of engagement," Lehmann said. "I don't know how close we came."

A response system put in place after the attacks, coordinated in part by the Department of Homeland Security's classified operations center, alerted other areas of the federal government to the incoming plane. Security forces at individual facilities and agencies decided on whether to evacuate or raise their alert level.

Alert levels at the White House and the Capitol were raised to their highest level - red - at the height of the frenzy.

President Bush, biking at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Beltsville, Md., was unaware of the midday scare as it was occurring.

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http://www.prensahispanaaz.com/index.asp?id=965

Edición en línea - Principal

Edición: 710. Del 11 de mayo al 17 de mayo del 2005

Asesinan a policía mientras cumplía con su deber

Un agente de la Policía de Phoenix fue asesinado a balazos mientras cumplía con su deber al momento de levantar una infracción de tránsito al vehículo del supuesto agresor.

La víctima fue identificada como David Uribe, de 48 años, quien tenía 22 años de pertenecer a la corporación y estaba comisionado a la subestación de Maryvale.

Los hechos ocurrieron a las 11:00 de la mañana del martes en la calle Cactus y 35 Avenida, en el Oeste de Phoenix.

El oficial David Uribe recibió dos impactos de bala, uno en la cabeza y otro en el cuello; fue declarado muerto a las 3:50 de la tarde en el Hospital John C. Lincoln.

La muerte del policía causó consternación entre la comunidad, y en una acción justa para con la familia, el alcalde de Phoenix Phil Gordon giro instrucciones a la Policía para que se buscara casa por casa, en el sector donde se registraron los hechos, hasta dar con el paradero del homicida.

Hasta el cierre de la edición, la Policía tenía bajo custodia a una persona, pero se ignoraban mayores datos.

El asesinato del oficial David Uribe causó la movilización de un gran número de agentes de la Policía de Phoenix, quienes realizaron un gran despliegue en el sector de Maryvale en busca del homicida.

A la búsqueda del asesino se sumaron los agentes de las fuerzas especiales del equipo SWAT.

El despliegue abarcó varias millas a la redonda en el sector de la 35 Avenida entre Dunlap y Cactus, donde se registraron los hechos.

Los agentes andaban en busca de un hombre de aproximadamente 6´2” de alto, que pesa alrededor de 200 libras, calvo y con bigote, al parecer de origen anglosajón y otro sujeto del que no se proporcionaron datos.

De acuerdo con informes de la Policía de Phoenix, el oficial David Uribe iba a levantar una infracción de tránsito al conductor de un auto que se había pasado una señal de alto.

El oficial se comunicó con la central de radiopatrullas para reportar que iba a detener a un vehículo por una infracción de tránsito.

Antes de que proporcionara el número de las placas del vehículo, recibió dos impactos de bala en la cabeza y el cuello respectivamente.

El oficial David Uribe fue trasladado de emergencia al Hospital John C. Lincoln, en el Norte de Phoenix, donde horas más tarde fue declarado muerto.

Su esposa y uno de sus hijos, también agente de la Policía de Phoenix, lo acompañaban en el momento en que murió.

Desde 1925, 29 agentes de la Policía de Phoenix han perdido sus vidas mientras desempeñaban su misión.

Antes del cierre de la edición, la Policía informó que encontró el vehículo donde viajaba el asesino del oficial Uribe, un Montecarlo que fue localizado en el 3100 W. Christy, dos cuadras al norte de Peoria.

<*==*>

pig lover

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0514satlets144.html

'Republic' disrespected slain officer

May. 14, 2005 12:00 AM

The front-page of The Republic on Wednesday featured an article at the top half of Page 1 about Phoenix Zoo deaths. The story talks about the plight of Ruby the elephant and other animals.

At the bottom of the front-page begins the story of Phoenix police Officer David Uribe, who was shot and killed while making a traffic stop. Is there anything else you need to know how the Republic values police officers?

God bless Ruby the elephant and Officer David Uribe.

Terry Molinari

Phoenix

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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0515sunlets153.html

Wrongful death still unacceptable

May. 15, 2005 12:00 AM

Regarding "This 'deadly force' not bound by rules" (Letters, Friday):

The letter writer seems to postulate that all policemen are vindicated for wrongdoing when one of them is killed in the line of duty.

Not all citizens kill policeman; not all policeman are heroes. I will not fall for her illogical reasoning born out of the emotionalism of the moment. It doesn't change the fact that police brutality has killed people.

Taser guns, meant to stun, have killed people. Thirteen-year-olds with knives have been shot and killed, and the police have been pronounced innocent of wrongdoing.

I'm not confusing Phoenix police Officer David Uribe with any of these other officers, but his death does not make wrongful death at the hands of law enforcement more palatable to me.

Susan Gupton

Glendale

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