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Banking and Federal Reserve Qu
- From: indispair
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  The Rothschilds
  
     "The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it's profits or so dependant on it's favors, that there will be no opposition from that class." — Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863
  
  "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
  
  Senators and Congressmen
  
       "Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States" — Sen. Barry Goldwater (Rep. AR)
  
      "This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President [Wilson} signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized....the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill." — Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. , 1913
  
      "From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." — Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913
  
      "The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board as ministers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money" -- Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., 1923
  
      "The Federal Reserve bank buys government bonds without one penny..." — Congressman Wright Patman, Congressional Record, Sept 30, 1941
  
  "We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it". — Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932 (Rep. Pa)
  
      "The Federal Reserve banks are one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever seen.
  There is not a man within the sound of my voice who does not know that this nation is run by the
  International bankers — Congressman Louis T. McFadden (Rep. Pa)
  
      "Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are the United States government's institutions.
  They are not government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign swindlers" — Congressional Record 12595-12603 — Louis T. McFadden, Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (12 years) June 10, 1932
  
  "I have never seen more Senators express discontent with their jobs....I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have been accomplices in doing something terrible and unforgivable to our wonderful country. Deep down in our heart, we know that we have given our children a legacy of bankruptcy. We have defrauded our country to get ourselves elected." — John Danforth (R-Mo)
  
  "These 12 corporations together cover the whole country and monopolize and use for private
  gain every dollar of the public currency..." — Mr. Crozier of Cincinnati, before Senate Banking and Currency Committee - 1913
  
  "The [Federal Reserve Act] as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the
  currency... I do not like to think that any law can be passed that will make it possible to submerge the gold standard in a flood of irredeemable paper currency." — Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., 1913
  
  From the Federal Reserves Own Admissions
  
      "When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in out account to cover the check,
  but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money." — Putting it simply, Boston Federal Reserve Bank
  
  "Neither paper currency nor deposits have value as commodities, intrinsically, a 'dollar' bill is just
  a piece of paper. Deposits are merely book entries." — Modern Money Mechanics Workbook,
  Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 1975
  
  "The Federal Reserve system pays the U.S. Treasury 020.60 per thousand notes --a little over
  2 cents each-- without regard to the face value of the note. Federal Reserve Notes, incidentally, are the only type of currency now produced for circulation. They are printed exclusively by the
  Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the $20.60 per thousand price reflects the Bureau's full cost of production. Federal Reserve Notes are printed in 01, 02, 05, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar denominations only; notes of 500, 1000, 5000, and 10,000 denominations were last printed in 1945." —Donald J. Winn, Assistant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system
  
  "We are completely dependant on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar
  we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system.... It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon." — Robert H. Hamphill, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank
  
  From General Law
  
     "The entire taxing and monetary systems are hereby placed under the U.C.C. (Uniform
  Commercial Code)" — The Federal Tax Lien Act of 1966
  
  "There is a distinction between a 'debt discharged' and a debt 'paid'. When discharged, the debt
  still exists though divested of it's charter as a legal obligation during the operation of the discharge, something of the original vitality of the debt continues to exist, which may be transferred, even though the transferee takes it subject to it's disability incident to the discharge." —Stanek vs. White, 172 Minn.390, 215 N.W. 784
  
  "The Federal Reserve Banks are not federal instrumentalities..." — Lewis vs. United States
  9th Circuit 1992
  
  "The regional Federal Reserve banks are not government agencies. ...but are independent,
  privately owned and locally controlled corporations." — Lewis vs. United States, 680 F. 2d 1239
  9th Circuit 1982
  
  Past Presidents, not including the Founding Fathers
  
     "Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and
  commerce." — James A. Garfield, President of the United States
  
  "A great industrial nation is controlled by it's system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world--no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." — President Woodrow Wilson
  
  Founding Father's Quotes on Banking (Maybe some repeats from "Founding Father's Quotes" / Information tends to converge)
  
  Thomas Jefferson
       "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
  Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The
  issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to
  whom it properly belongs." — Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President.
  
  Andrew Jackson
      "If Congress has the right [it doesn't] to issue paper money [currency], it was given to them to be used by...[the government] and not to be delegated to individuals or corporations" — President Andrew Jackson, Vetoed Bank Bill of 1836
  
  James Madison
      "History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it's issuance." — James Madison
  
  Misc. Sources
  
  "Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing" — Ralph M.
  Hawtrey, Secretary of the British Treasury
  
      "To expose a 15 Trillion dollar rip-off of the American people by the stockholders of the 1000
  largest corporations over the last 100 years will be a tall order of business." — Buckminster Fuller
  
      "Every Congressman, every Senator knows precisely what causes inflation...but can't, [won't]
  support the drastic reforms to stop it [repeal of the Federal Reserve Act] because it could cost him his job." — Robert A. Heinlein, Expanded Universe
  
      "It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." — Henry Ford
  
      "[Every circulating FRN] represents a one dollar debt to the Federal Reserve system." — Money
  Facts, House Banking and Currency Committee
  
  "...the increase in the assets of the Federal Reserve banks from 143 million dollars in 1913 to
  45 billion dollars in 1949 went directly to the private stockholders of the [federal reserve] banks." — Eustace Mullins
  
      "As soon as Mr. Roosevelt took office, the Federal Reserve began to buy government securities
  at the rate of ten million dollars a week for 10 weeks, and created one hundred million dollars in new [checkbook] currency, which alleviated the critical famine of money and credit, and the factories
  started hiring people again." — Eustace Mullins
  
      "Should government refrain from regulation (taxation), the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent and the fraud can no longer be concealed." — John Maynard Keynes, "Consequences of Peace."
  
      "Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits." — SIR JOSIAH STAMP, (President of the Bank of England in the 1920's, the second richest man in Britain):
  
       "The modern Banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and unmint the modern ledger-entry currency." — MAJOR L .L. B. ANGUS:
  
  "While boasting of our noble deeds were careful to conceal the ugly fact that by an iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery. — Horace Greeley
  
       "People who will not turn a shovel full of dirt on the project (Muscle Shoals Dam) nor contribute a pound of material, will collect more money from the United States than will the People who supply all the material and do all the work. This is the terrible thing about interest ...But here is the point: If the Nation can issue a dollar bond it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is that the bond lets the money broker collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%. Whereas the currency, the honest sort provided by the Constitution pays nobody but those who contribute in some useful way. It is absurd to say our Country can issue bonds and cannot issue currency. Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurer and the other helps the People. If the currency issued by the People were no good, then the bonds would be no good, either. It is a terrible situation when the Government, to insure the National Wealth, must go in debt and submit to ruinous interest charges at the hands of men who control the fictitious value of gold. Interest is the invention of Satan." — THOMAS A. EDISON
  
      "By this means government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people,
  and not one man in a million will detect the theft." — John Maynard Keynes (the father of 'Keynesian Economics' which our nation now endures) in his book "THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE PEACE" (1920).
  
       "Capital must protect itself in every way...Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages
  foreclosed as soon as possible. When through a process of law the common people have lost their
  homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law applied
  by the central power of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principal men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd."-- Taken from the Civil Servants' Year Book, "The Organizer" January 1934.
  
  "The Federal Reserve banks, while not part of the government..." — United States budget for 1991 and 1992 part 7, page 10
  
  The Money Power! It is the greatest power on earth; and it is arrayed against Labour. No other power that is or ever was can be named with it... it attacks us through the Press - a monster with a thousand lying tongues, a beast surpassing in foulness any conceived by the mythology that invented dragons, were wolves, harpies, ghouls and vampires. It thunders against us from innumerable platforms and ,Yes, so far as we are concerned, the headquarters of the Money Power is Britain. But the Money Power is not a British institution; it is cosmopolitan. It is of no nationality, but of all nationalities. It dominates the world. The Money Power has corrupted the faculties of the human soul, and tampered with the sanity of the human intellect... Editorial from 1907 edition of The Brisbane Worker (Australia)
  
  ...I am convinced that the agreement [Bretton Woods] will enthrone a world dictatorship of private finance more complete and terrible than and Hitlerite dream. It offers no solution of world problems, but quite blatantly sets up controls which will reduce the smaller nations to vassal states and make every government the mouthpiece and tool of International Finance. It will undermine and destroy the democratic institutions of this country - in fact as effectively as ever the Fascist forces could have done - pervert and paganise our Christian ideals; and will undoubtedly present a new menace, endangering world peace. World collaboration of private financial interests can only mean mass unemployment, slavery, misery, degradation and financial destruction. Therefore, as freedom loving Australians we should reject this infamous proposal. -- Labor Minister of Australia, Eddie Ward, during the inception of the World Bank and Bretton Woods, he gave this warning.
  
  "Government spending is always a “tax” burden on the American people and is never equally or fairly distributed. The poor and low-middle income workers always suffer the most from the deceitful tax of inflation and borrowing." -Congressman Ron Paul
  
  "Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States" — Senator Barry Goldwater (Rep. AR)
  
  "From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." — Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913
  
  We are in a lot of trouble.......
- Blog post
- 1 month ago
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candy linked to crime in adult
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
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  By ALICE PARK Alice Park – 2 hrs 22 mins ago
  
  What parent hasn't used candy to pacify a cranky child or head off a brewing tantrum? When reasoning, threats and time-outs fail, a sugary treat often does the trick. But while that chocolate-covered balm may be highly effective in the short term, say British scientists, it may be setting youngsters up for problem behavior later. According to a new study, kids who eat too many treats at a young age risk becoming violent in adulthood.
  
  The research was led by Simon Moore, a senior lecturer in Violence and Society Research at Cardiff University in the U.K., who specializes in the study of vulnerable youngsters. Moore had been investigating the factors that lead children to commit serious crimes, when, during the course of his work, he discovered that "kids with the worst problems tend to be impulsive risk takers, and that these kids had terrible diets - breakfast was a Coke and a bag of chips," he says. (See nine kid foods to avoid.)
  
  Intrigued by this association, Moore turned to the British Cohort Study, a long-term survey of 17,000 people born during a one-week period in April 1970. That study included periodic evaluations of many different aspects of the growing children's lives, such as what they ate, certain health measures and socioeconomic status. Moore plumbed the data for information on kids' diet and their later behavior: at age 10, the children were asked how much candy they consumed, and at age 34, they were questioned about whether they had been convicted of a crime. Moore's analysis suggests a correlation: 69% of people who had been convicted of a violent act by age 34 reported eating candy almost every day as youngsters; 42% of people who had not been arrested for violent behavior reported the same. "Initially we thought this [effect] was probably due to something else," says Moore. "So we tried to control for parental permissiveness, economic status, whether the kids were urban or rural. But the result remained. We couldn't get rid of it." (See the 25 crimes of the century.)
  
  In other words, regardless of other environmental and lifestyle factors, like family-income level, parenting style or children's level of education, the data suggested it was only the frequency of confectionery consumption in childhood that strongly predicted adult violence. "The key message is that this study really raises more questions than answers," says Moore. (See the top 10 food trends of 2008.)
  
  One of those questions is whether sweets themselves contain compounds that promote antisocial and aggressive behavior, or whether the excessive eating of sweets represents a lack of discipline in childhood that translates to poor impulse control in adulthood. Moore is leaning toward the latter. It's possible that children who are given sweets too frequently never learn how to delay gratification - that is, they never develop enough patience to wait for things they want, leading to impulsivity in adulthood. It's also possible that children who are poorly behaved from the start tend to get more candy. (Read "Why Media Could Be Bad for Your Child's Health.")
  
  Moore acknowledges that there is also some intriguing data suggesting that diet itself may have a profound effect on behavior. A University of Oxford researcher recently published controversial findings hinting that prisoners who were fed vitamin supplements - and therefore presumably getting well-balanced nutrition - had lower rates of disciplinary events and aggressive outbursts than a control group who were given placebo pills. While the association is preliminary, says Moore, "I think looking at diet is a fairly novel way to think of behavior over the life course."
- Blog post
- 1 month ago
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Shootout at Tiajuana gangs
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – U.S. authorities closed the world's busiest land border crossing for several hours on Tuesday after a shootout between suspected Mexican human traffickers and U.S. agents, U.S. officials said.
  
  "The port is closed and will remain closed for several hours," U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokeswoman Angelica Decima said after the incident at the congested San Ysidro crossing between the Mexican city of Tijuana and San Diego.
  
  The suspected smugglers shot across lines of traffic at U.S. agents who tried to stop three vans packed with about 70 illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States, the officials said.
  
  The agents returned fire, and three people in the vans and a motorist were wounded, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
  
  Mack said the border crossing partially reopened on Tuesday evening. A Mexican border hotline for motorists said seven lanes at the crossing were open.
  
  Mexico's violent drug gangs are increasingly moving into the lucrative people-smuggling business, but tight U.S. border security is forcing them to take bigger risks to get narcotics and illegal immigrants into the United States.
  
  Tuesday's brazen attempt was unprecedented at the heavily guarded crossing where helicopters circle overhead and armed agents with dogs keep watch at a series of staggered checkpoints.
  
  All the illegal immigrants were arrested and taken into custody. The crossing, a major smuggling corridor for narcotics and illegal immigrants, was shut while police conducted the investigation.
  
  Some 90 million people a year use the California-Mexico land border crossings, with almost half the traffic going through San Ysidro.
  
  Angry drivers blared car horns as a huge traffic jam built up on the Mexican side while U.S. agents signaled them to turn around.
  
  "I've never known the entire crossing to be closed before. We just didn't believe the agents when they told us to turn around," said a Mexican student who gave his name as Juan Carlos and who crosses the border almost daily.
  
  U.S. officials are directing motorists to California's other six border crossing, which also handle trucks.
- Blog post
- 2 months ago
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gunmen kill 10 rehab hosp
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into a drug treatment center in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10 people, the second such mass killing this month.
  
  Investigators said the attack was part of a turf battle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels in the city, which has seen the worst of Mexico's drug gang violence.
  
  Gangs use some drug treatment centers to hide their members from rivals, Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Rodriguez said. She did not name suspects or say which cartel may have been behind the massacre.
  
  Police say nine men and one woman were killed in the attack just before midnight Tuesday at the Anexo de Vida center in Mexico's most violent city. Two people were seriously wounded.
  
  Most of the victims are believed to have been recovering addicts staying at the facility.
  
  "Why? Why them?" said Pilar Macias, weeping after she identified the body of her brother, Juan Carlos Macias, 39. "He was recovering, he wanted to get back on the right track and they didn't let him, they didn't give him a chance."
  
  "This is going to kill my mother," Macias said. "She's very sick and this is going to kill her."
  
  Macias said the mother had encouraged her son to enter the facility for treatment of his cocaine addiction three months ago.
  
  Maria Hernandez also had come to the state prosecutor's office to identify the body of her 25-year son.
  
  "He was good, he didn't hang out with gangs, he didn't have 'narco' friends," she said. "He just began with marijuana, and then ... they killed him."
  
  Pools of dry blood and bloodied footprints were visible Wednesday in the courtyard of the drug and alcohol rehab center where the shooting occurred.
  
  The center is located in a poor neighborhood with dirt streets, some of which were impassable due to recent rains.
  
  Regional Deputy Attorney General Alejandro Pariente said records showed the center had not been registered with the government and may have been operating clandestinely. He said 10 other centers in Ciudad Juarez have been closed for operating illegally.
  
  On Sept. 2, gunmen lined patients against a wall at another rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.
  
  Five men were killed at another rehabilitation center in June, and in August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have not said if any of the attacks are related.
  
  The Juarez cartel, named after its historic base in the border state of Chihuahua, is locked in a bloody battle with the Sinaloa cartel, another long-established gang, for lucrative drug routes into the United States.
  
  Ciudad Juarez is Mexico's most violent city, with more than 1,300 killings this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
  
  Early Wednesday, gunmen burst into a bar in Ciudad Juarez and shot to death five men, police said. They said they knew of no motive for the attack. Hours later, a federal investigator and a civilian were shot dead in front of the state attorney general's offices in Ciudad Juarez.
  
  Surging gang violence has claimed 13,500 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed extra soldiers across the country to fight cartels.
  
  Also Wednesday, navy personnel arrested of a suspect in the June 1 kidnapping of Francisco Serrano, the customs administrator for the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, who remains missing.
  
  Jose Osiris was captured in the port of Veracruz along with 10 other people who may have been accomplices, Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said at a news conference in which the suspects were presented to the media.
  
  Authorities, who did not take questions at the news conference, did not say what evidence there was against Osiris or if his capture might shed light on Serrano's fate. Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Serrano's whereabouts remain unknown.
  
  Serrano had recently launched a new system to check shipping containers at Veracruz, one of Mexico's most important ports and the scene of increasing drug violence.
  
  In the southern state of Guerrero, meanwhile, police reported they had found the decomposed bodies of four men by the side of a highway. Because of their poor condition, the cause of death and identity of the bodies has not yet been established.
- Blog post
- 2 months ago
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10 murdered at drug rehab mex.
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into a drug treatment center in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10 people, the second such mass killing this month.
  
  Investigators said the attack was part of a turf battle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels in the city, which has seen the worst of Mexico's drug gang violence.
  
  Gangs use some drug treatment centers to hide their members from rivals, Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Rodriguez said. She did not name suspects or say which cartel may have been behind the massacre.
  
  Police say nine men and one woman were killed in the attack just before midnight Tuesday at the Anexo de Vida center in Mexico's most violent city. Two people were seriously wounded.
  
  Most of the victims are believed to have been recovering addicts staying at the facility.
  
  "Why? Why them?" said Pilar Macias, weeping after she identified the body of her brother, Juan Carlos Macias, 39. "He was recovering, he wanted to get back on the right track and they didn't let him, they didn't give him a chance."
  
  "This is going to kill my mother," Macias said. "She's very sick and this is going to kill her."
  
  Macias said the mother had encouraged her son to enter the facility for treatment of his cocaine addiction three months ago.
  
  Maria Hernandez also had come to the state prosecutor's office to identify the body of her 25-year son.
  
  "He was good, he didn't hang out with gangs, he didn't have 'narco' friends," she said. "He just began with marijuana, and then ... they killed him."
  
  Pools of dry blood and bloodied footprints were visible Wednesday in the courtyard of the drug and alcohol rehab center where the shooting occurred.
  
  The center is located in a poor neighborhood with dirt streets, some of which were impassable due to recent rains.
  
  Regional Deputy Attorney General Alejandro Pariente said records showed the center had not been registered with the government and may have been operating clandestinely. He said 10 other centers in Ciudad Juarez have been closed for operating illegally.
  
  On Sept. 2, gunmen lined patients against a wall at another rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.
  
  Five men were killed at another rehabilitation center in June, and in August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have not said if any of the attacks are related.
  
  The Juarez cartel, named after its historic base in the border state of Chihuahua, is locked in a bloody battle with the Sinaloa cartel, another long-established gang, for lucrative drug routes into the United States.
  
  Ciudad Juarez is Mexico's most violent city, with more than 1,300 killings this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
  
  Early Wednesday, gunmen burst into a bar in Ciudad Juarez and shot to death five men, police said. They said they knew of no motive for the attack. Hours later, a federal investigator and a civilian were shot dead in front of the state attorney general's offices in Ciudad Juarez.
  
  Surging gang violence has claimed 13,500 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed extra soldiers across the country to fight cartels.
  
  Also Wednesday, navy personnel arrested of a suspect in the June 1 kidnapping of Francisco Serrano, the customs administrator for the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, who remains missing.
  
  Jose Osiris was captured in the port of Veracruz along with 10 other people who may have been accomplices, Navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said at a news conference in which the suspects were presented to the media.
  
  Authorities, who did not take questions at the news conference, did not say what evidence there was against Osiris or if his capture might shed light on Serrano's fate. Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Serrano's whereabouts remain unknown.
  
  Serrano had recently launched a new system to check shipping containers at Veracruz, one of Mexico's most important ports and the scene of increasing drug violence.
  
  In the southern state of Guerrero, meanwhile, police reported they had found the decomposed bodies of four men by the side of a highway. Because of their poor condition, the cause of death and identity of the bodies has not yet been established.
- Blog post
- 2 months ago
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Prison riots reveal more probl
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  The exact cause of the 11-hour riot that broke out Aug. 8 at the California Institution for Men in Chino, Calif., won't be known until an official investigation by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is completed. However, to some criminal-justice experts the violence that erupted at the facility, located about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, was an inevitable consequence of a state prison system long hobbled by massive overcrowding, program cuts and understaffed facilities. And given the state's ongoing budget woes - with $1.2 billion in cuts mandated to the prison budget - the situation is likely to only get worse.
  
  "The overcrowding is the first issue," says Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in Oakland, Calif. "You're talking about hundreds of men moved into triple bunks in what used to be gyms and cafeterias. They're not even cells. They're just empty places where we're shoving people." According to the most recent statistics from the CDCR, California's 33 state prisons house 154,649 prisoners in facilities designed to hold just 84,271 prisoners. The Chino prison is among the worst, with 5,877 prisoners in a facility designed to hold 2,976. (Read about the problem with cell phones in prisons.)
  
  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state political officials have been well aware of the issue of overcrowding, and the deplorable conditions that go along with it, for some time. In 2006 Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency because of "severe overcrowding" in California's prisons, saying it had caused "substantial risk to the health and safety of the men and women who work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in them." In response, legislators passed AB 900, which earmarked $1.2 billion in jail-construction funding through state lease-revenue bonds. However, more than two years later, construction is still on hold as lawmakers quibble about the details. But it's not just a lack of buildings that is the problem. Says Krisberg: "Without programs and without services, the tensions that exist to begin with are going to be greatly exacerbated. The elected officials of California have been playing Russian roulette with the lives of the guards and the inmates in these prisons." (Read about California's growing prison crisis.)
  
  "You can't build yourself out of this mess," says Jeanne Woodford, former warden at San Quentin and former head of the CDCR. "The state can't afford it." Apparently, California only accounted for the construction costs and never included the operating expenses. "So even if those places are built," says Woodford, "where will California get the money to staff them? We're broke. How the heck are we going to operate these prisons? Most prisons cost from $150 to $200 million a year to operate. There's just no money for it."
  
  In addition to overcrowding, the state's corrections efforts are the nation's most expensive - and one of the least effective. The state spends $10 billion annually, or $49,000 per inmate for a year in custody, according to statistics from the nonpartisan policy-advising group Legislative Analyst's Office. Yet, California's recidivism rate is 70%, one of the worst in the country.
  
  Given the state's lack of traction on prison reform, a federal three-judge panel recently ordered California to come up with a plan in the next 45 days that reduces the inmate population by nearly 43,000 prisoners. Seth Unger, press secretary for the CDCR, says they will appeal any final ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. "Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act to limit the power of the federal courts to take control of state prison systems and to order population caps or early release of inmates and we certainly believe the court has overstepped its bounds in this case," says Unger.
  
  He says his department recently introduced a proposal, yet to be deliberated on by legislators, that would reduce the average daily prison population by 27,300. Of course, politicians, particularly state Republicans, are loath to endorse any measure that smacks of releasing prisoners early or that could be viewed as being soft on crime - which has been a roadblock to reforming the system in the past. Prison-reform advocates are hoping the ruling by the federal court will inspire political will for their cause.
  
  Even if California avoids federal intervention and the CDCR's current proposal is adopted, mandated state budget cuts will force the department to cut half of the already depleted programs for rehabilitation, substance abuse and vocational training. That would spell disaster, according to Woodford. "We release 10,000 [prisoners] a month now and in that 10,000 very few have been involved in anything to improve who they are as human beings. That should scare us. And in that 10,000 are some very violent people that left a lockup unit like Pelican Bay [to go] right back to the streets - that should scare us. What should scare us is our broken policy and not the fact that 40,000 more are going to come out because we should be scared already."
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- 3 months ago
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China riots rise death tolls 1
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  China raised the death toll from riots in its Xinjiang region to 184, state media said Saturday, giving an ethnic breakdown of the dead for the first time after communal violence broke out in this far western city.
  
  The official Xinhua News Agency said 137 of the victims belonged to the dominant Han ethnic group. The rest included 45 men and one woman who were Uighurs, and one man of the Hui Muslim ethnic group, the report said, citing the information office of the regional government.
  
  The previous death toll was 156. Xinhua gave no details on the newly reported deaths, including whether any were from Tuesday, when Han men seeking revenge for the original Uighur-led protest that turned violent marched through the streets with clubs and cleavers, trying to push past police guarding minority neighborhoods.
  
  Nearly a week after the rioting began, paramilitary police carrying automatic weapons and riot shields blocked some roads leading to the largely Muslim Uighur district of the city Saturday, and groups of 30 marched along the road chanting slogans encouraging ethnic unity.
  
  Some shops were still closed, and a police van blared public announcements in the Uighur language urging residents to oppose activist Rebiya Kadeer, a 62-year-old Uighur businesswoman who lives in exile in the U.S., whom China says instigated the riots. She has denied it.
  
  Protests continued Friday after a petite Muslim woman began complaining that the public washrooms were closed at a crowded mosque — the most important day of the week for Islamic worship. Muslims perform required ablutions, or washing, before prayer.
  
  When a group gathered around her on the sidewalk, Madina Ahtam then railed against communist rule in Xinjiang.
  
  The 26-year-old businesswoman eventually led the crowd of mostly men in a fist-pumping street march that was quickly blocked by riot police, some with automatic rifles pointed at the protesters.
  
  Women have been on the front line in Urumqi partly because more than 1,400 men in the Muslim Uighur minority have been rounded up by police since ethnic rioting broke out July 5. As the communist government launches a sweeping security crackdown, the women have faced down troops, led protests and risked arrest by speaking out against police tactics they believe are excessive.
  
  The violence came as the Uighurs were protesting the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers in a brawl in southern China. The crowd then scattered throughout Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese, burning cars and smashing windows.
  
  Many Uighurs who are still free live in fear of being arrested for any act of dissent.
  
  Thousands of Chinese troops have flooded into Urumqi to separate the feuding ethnic groups, and a senior Communist Party official vowed to execute those guilty of murder in the rioting.
  
  A report in the Urumqi Evening News on Friday said police had caught 190 suspects in four raids the day before.
  
  In many Uighur neighborhoods during the crisis in Urumqi, the women did much of the talking with reporters as the men gathered in small groups on street corners and in back alleys, speaking quietly among themselves.
  
  "I can't speak freely. The police could come any minute and haul me away," said a Uighur man who would only identify himself as Alim.
  
  But on Friday, some men challenged officials when they showed up for prayers at Urumqi's popular White Mosque and found the gate closed. Officials had earlier said the mosque would be closed for public safety reasons as security forces tried to pacify the capital.
  
  The mosque was eventually opened when the crowd swelled and there was a threat of unrest, police said.
  
  Most Muslim Uighurs practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam or follow the mystical Sufism tradition. The women often work and lead an active social life outside the home. Many wear brightly colored head scarves but the custom is not strongly enforced. Young Uighur women often wear jeans, formfitting tops and dresses.
  
  As the faithful streamed into the White Mosque, Ahtam arrived holding a lilac umbrella and told foreign reporters in broken English, "Toilet no open. No water."
  
  She led reporters to an area where the faithful are supposed to cleanse themselves before prayers and said with tears running down her cheeks, "Washing room not open. Everybody no wash."
  
  After the prayers, she continued speaking on the sidewalk and attracted about 40 people who applauded when she criticized the government.
  
  "Every Uighur people are afraid. Do you understand? We are afraid. Chinese people are very happy. Why?" said Ahtam.
  
  The government believes the Uighurs should be grateful for Xinjiang's rapid economic development, which has brought new schools, highways, airports, railways, natural gas fields and oil wells in the sprawling, rugged Central Asian region, three times the size of Texas.
  
  But many of the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, with a population of 9 million in Xinjiang, accuse the dominant Han ethnic group of discriminating against them and saving all the best jobs for themselves. Many also say the Communist Party is repressive and tries to snuff out their Islamic faith, language and culture.
  
  As Ahtam's crowd became more agitated, about 20 riot police with clubs marched toward the group. The Uighurs pumped their fists in the air and walked down the street with Ahtam leading the pack.
  
  About 200 more riot police arrived and cut off the group, with some of the security forces kneeling down and pointing their automatic rifles at the marchers. Foreign reporters were led to a side alley, out of view of the protesters, who were forced to squat on the sidewalk along a row of shuttered shops.
  
  Hours later, calls to Ahtam's cell phone went unanswered and it was unknown what happened to her.
- Blog post
- 4 months ago
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Iran riots in street for votes
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  Thousands of protesters defied Iran's highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons as the crisis over disputed elections lurched into volatile new ground.
  
  In a separate incident, a state-run television channel reported that a suicide bombing at the shrine of the Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least two people and wounded eight. The report could be not independently evaluated due to government restrictions on journalists.
  
  If proven true, the reports could enrage conservatives and bring strains among backers of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Another state channel broadcast images of broken glass but no other damage or casualties, and showed a witness saying three people had been wounded.
  
  The extent of injuries in the street battles also was unclear. Some witnesses said dozens were hurt and gunfire was heard.
  
  Some bloggers and Twitter users claimed that there had been numerous fatalities in Saturday's unrest, reports that could not be immediately verified.
  
  The clashes along one of Tehran's main avenues — as described by witnesses — had far fewer demonstrators than recent mass rallies for Mousavi. But they marked another blow to authorities who sought to intimidate protesters with harsh warnings and lines of black-clad police three deep in places.
  
  The rallies also left questions about Mousavi's ability to hold together his protest movement, which claims that widespread fraud in June 12 elections robbed Mousavi of victory and kept hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in office.
  
  Mousavi bewildered many followers by not directly replying to the ultimatum issued Friday by Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His stern order to Mousavi and others: Call off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for "bloodshed, violence and rioting."
  
  A police commander sharpened the message Saturday. Gen. Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said more than a week of unrest and marches had become "exhausting, bothersome and intolerable." He threatened a more "serious confrontation" if protesters return.
  
  Mousavi broke his silence after the melee with another call to annul the election results. But there was no mention of the clashes — suggesting he wants to distance himself from the violence and possibly opening the door for more militant factions to break away.
  
  Amateur video showed clashes erupting in the southern city of Shiraz and witnesses reported street violence in Isfahan, south of Tehran.
  
  Other footage posted in the hours after the crackdown showed blood pouring from a young woman's nose and mouth as frantic people tried to help her. Two separate videos of the incident, each shot from a different angle, were uploaded onto the social networking sites Facebook and Youtube. The Youtube video described the location of the incident as Amirabad, central Tehran, and said the woman had been fatally shot.
  
  The Associated Press could not independently verify the content of the video, its location, or the date it was shot.
  
  "I think the regime has taken an enormous risk in confronting this situation in the manner that they have," said Mehrdad Khonsari, a consultant to the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies.
  
  "Now they'll have to hold their ground and hope that people don't keep coming back," he added. "But history has taught us that people in these situations lose their initial sense of fear and become emboldened by brutality."
  
  In Washington, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people." He said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assembly and free speech.
  
  Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach.
  
  Full details of the street battles could not be obtained because of Iranian media restrictions. But witnesses described scenes that could sharply escalate the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
  
  An estimated 3,000 marchers — some chanting "Death to dictatorship!" — marched directly onto a blockade of security forces keeping them from approaching Azadi Square, where Mousavi gathered hundreds of thousands of people on Monday.
  
  Police first fired tear gas and water cannons at the protesters, witnesses said. Then came a second wave. It included volunteer militiamen on motorcycles chasing down demonstrators.
  
  Witnesses claimed some marchers were beaten with batons by security forces or metal pipes wielded by the militiamen known as Basijis, who are directed by the powerful Revolutionary Guard.
  
  An old woman cloaked in a head-to-toe black chador shouted, "Death to the dictator," drawing the attention of Basij members who ran from the other side of the street and clubbed her, according to one witness contacted by the AP.
  
  Protesters lit trash bins on fire — sending pillars of black smoke over the city — and hurled rocks. Some managed to wrestle away a few motorcycles and set them ablaze.
  
  One witness told the AP that people came from apartments to aid the wounded demonstrators or allowed them to take shelter. Helicopters hovered over central Tehran until dusk.
  
  The witnesses told AP that between 50 and 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to Imam Khomeini hospital in central Tehran. People could be seen dragging away comrades bloodied by baton strikes.
  
  Nearby, Tehran University was cordoned off by police and militia.
  
  On the streets, witnesses said some protesters also shouted "Death to Khamenei!" — another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the authority of the successor of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution.
  
  All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared government reprisals. Iranian authorities have placed strict limits on the ability of foreign media to cover events, banning reporting from the street and allowing only phone interviews and information from officials sources such as state TV.
  
  Mousavi, who served was prime minister during the 1980s, is not believed to seek the collapse of the Islamic system. But he claims that state powers were abused to skew the election results and re-elect Ahmadinejad in a landslide.
  
  That stand has increasingly brought him and his supporters into direct confrontation with Iran's highest authorities.
  
  A statement on Mousavi's Web site said he and his supporters were not seeking to confront their "brothers" among Iran's security forces or the "sacred system" that preserves the country's freedom and independence.
  
  "We are confronting deviations and lies. We seek to bring reform that returns us to the pure principals of the Islamic Republic," it said.
  
  Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad on Friday, saying the vote reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end street protests.
  
  A report on Press TV listed the fallout from the unrest, including 700 buildings and 300 banks damaged and 400 police hurt. It gave no similar list for the protesters. At least seven people have died, according to the official Iranian count, but the total could be more.
  
  Mousavi's extremely slim hope of having the election results annulled rest with Iran's Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts. But Mousavi and another moderate candidate in the race, Mahdi Karroubi, did not appear at a meeting called to discuss their allegations of fraud, a council official told state TV.
  
  The council has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities.
  
  In a letter to the council, posted on one of Mousavi's Web site, he listed alleged violations that include his representatives being expelled from polling stations and fake ballots at some mobile polling stations.
  
  The government has blocked Web sites such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites used by Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Text messaging has not been working in Iran since last week, and cell phone service in Tehran is frequently down.
  
  But that won't stifle the opposition networks, said Sami Al Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies.
  
  "They can resort to whispering ... they can do it the old-fashioned way," he said.
- Blog post
- 5 months ago
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1 in 4 African men admit Rape
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  A leading South African research group said one in four male South Africans it surveyed admitted to committing rape — a finding that cast a harsh light on a culture of sexual violence that victims groups say is deeply embedded in society.
  
  According to police statistics, some 36,000 women were raped in 2007 — nearly 100 per day. But victim support groups and government-backed research say the vast majority of rapes go unreported because of the stigma and trauma involved. South Africa is home to about 50 million people.
  
  The government-funded Medical Research Council, whose findings often influence official policy, said it conducted the survey to deepen understanding of men's attitudes and behavior.
  
  Chief researcher Rachel Jewkes said Friday that the findings were "shocking" but "not unexpected." Opposition political parties said they were horrified, but victim support groups said they were not surprised.
  
  "The report indicates that rape has become 'normalized' as a feature of masculine identity in a society that has emerged from years of oppression — a tragic development for both women and for men," said Anne Marie Goetz, chief of the Governance, Peace and Security section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
  
  "The implications of this are grave for women's security but also for long-term development, which relies upon deepening gender equality," Goetz said.
  
  South Africa's newly installed president, Jacob Zuma, has made combatting crime one of his top priorities and has set up a new ministry to promote women's and children's rights.
  
  The government had no immediate comment, but the study is expected to be one of the focal points of a conference on sexual violence early next month.
  
  "Rape is a crime of a sense of entitlement. It comes from a notion of power," Jewkes said, adding that South Africa's male dominated cultural traditions were partly to blame.
  
  "I don't think there is a quick fix," said Jewkes. "If people were concerted about trying to fix it, it would take a generation."
  
  Researchers interviewed men from just over 1,700 households from a cross-section of the population in the rural provinces of the eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
  
  The survey gave no margin of error. The research council is internationally respected and regarded as reliable. It said it surveyed a representative cross-section of men of all races in the two provinces, which are representative of South Africa.
  
  It was not immediately known if any comparable surveys on this sensitive topic have been published. Sexual abuse is rife in a number of African countries but none have the sophisticated survey methods of South Africa, and in some other countries it is a taboo subject.
  
  Nearly 28 percent of men interviewed said they had forced a woman or girl to have sexual intercourse against her will, according to the survey. It said that 14 percent said they had raped a former or current girlfriend; 12 percent said they had raped someone who was not their partner; and 10 percent said they had raped both a stranger and a partner.
  
  The research council survey said that nearly 20 percent of those who admitted sexual abuse had the AIDS virus — only slightly higher than the 18 percent infection rate among men not involved in rape.
  
  It said that 17 percent of the men surveyed admitted to attempted rape, and 9 percent said they had taken part in gang rapes. In all, 42 percent of men surveyed said they had been physically violent to an intimate partner (current or ex-girlfriend or wife), including 14 percent in the past year.
  
  "Our study suggests that the pathway which leads to these ideas and the practices of rape and other forms of violence toward women starts in childhood," said Jewkes, head of the research council's gender and health unit. She said the results backed up findings of earlier research among younger men.
  
  She said that "rape is far too common, and its origins too deeply embedded in ideas about South African manhood," for it to be regarded merely as a criminal problem which could be solved by prosecuting the rapists.
  
  "You can't change behavior practiced by one quarter of the population if the main strategy is through the use of police and courts," Jewkes told The Associated Press. "The police and courts are important but they are only part of the solution."
  
  Many victim support groups complain that rape cases are repeatedly postponed and little is done to protect the woman from the trauma of facing her tormentor. Most cases don't even reach court.
  
  "Rape is one of the most brutal human rights violations in the world," said Maria Jose Alcala, who heads the U.N. development fund's effort to curtail violence against women. "It is a stark manifestation of just how little value our societies place on the lives and dignity of women and girls."
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- 5 months ago
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People return to Irans streets
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  Tehran on Tuesday in rival demonstrations over the country's disputed presidential election, pushing a deep crisis into its fourth day despite a government attempt to placate the opposition by recounting a limited number of ballots.
  
  Iran's supreme ruler drew a firm line against any threats to the regime, warning Iranians to unite behind the country's Islamic system as authorities imposed severe restrictions on independent media.
  
  After days of dramatic images of Iranians protesting the declaration of victory for hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the government said employees of foreign media could only cover events authorized and announced by the government.
  
  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made an extraordinary appeal in response to tensions over the disputed election, which has presented one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
  
  "In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said at a meeting with representatives of the four presidential candidates. "Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots."
  
  A day after a massive opposition rally that ended in deadly clashes with pro-government militiamen, Iran's main electoral authority said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities took place.
  
  Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has called the election an "astonishing charade," demanding it be canceled and held again.
  
  His representative, reformist cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, reiterated that demand Tuesday after a meeting of the Guardian Council, calling along with representatives of two other candidates for an independent investigation of voting irregularities. The Guardian Council is an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the supreme leader and seen as supportive of Ahmadinejad.
  
  Mousavi said Monday he believes the council is not neutral and has already indicated support for Ahmadinejad.
  
  "If the whole people become aware, avoid violent measures and continue their civil confrontation with that, they will win. No power can stand up to people's will," Mohtashamipour said. "I do not think that the Guardian Council will have the courage to stand against people."
  
  A spokesman for the Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, did not rule out the possibility of canceling the results, saying that is within the council's powers, although nullifying an election would be an unprecedented step.
  
  In the afternoon, the government organized a large rally in Tehran, as if to demonstrate it also can bring people into the streets. Thousands waved Iranian flags and pictures of the supreme leader, thrusting their fists into the air and cheering as speakers denounced "rioters" and urged Iranians to accept the results showing Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a landslide Friday.
  
  "This nation will protect and defend its revolution in any way," Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a prominent lawmaker and Ahmadinejad supporter, told the pro-government crowd in Vali Asr Square.
  
  He called on Mousavi's supporters to accept the results and press their complaints through legal means.
  
  "After all, in all elections there will be losers and winners, naturally," he said. "This should not cause a rift between the people."
  
  The appeal for unity failed to calm passions, and a large column of Mousavi supporters — some of them with green headbands and their faces masked against tear gas or to hide their identities — marched peacefully along a central avenue in north Tehran, according to amateur video.
  
  A witness told The Associated Press that the pro-Mousavi rally stretched more than a mile (1.5 kilometers) along Vali Asr avenue, from Vanak Square to the headquarters of Iranian state television.
  
  Security forces did not interfere, the witness said, and the protest lasted from about 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Other witnesses told the AP that about 100 people continued the protest in front of state TV past 9:45 p.m. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.
  
  Mousavi appeared to be trying to harness the days of street rage into a more carefully directed campaign of civil disobedience. In a message on his Web site, he said he would not attend Tuesday's demonstration and urged his supporters not to resort to violence.
  
  The Web site said Mousavi and his supporters planned another large demonstration along the path of Monday's massive protest, for Wednesday afternoon. It said they have asked the Interior Ministry for permission but didn't say whether they got a response or if they would go ahead if rejected.
  
  Ahmadinejad, who has dismissed the unrest as little more than "passions after a soccer match," attended a summit meeting in Russia that was delayed a day by the unrest in Tehran. That allowed him to project an image as Iran's rightful president, welcomed by other world leaders.
  
  In Washington, President Barack Obama expressed "deep concerns" about the legitimacy of the election and post-voting crackdowns but declined to term Ahmadinejad's re-election a fraud.
  
  "I do believe that something has happened in Iran," with Iranians more willing to question the government's "antagonistic postures" toward the world, Obama said. "There are people who want to see greater openness, greater debate, greater democracy."
  
  After images were shown around the world of Monday's mass protests and violence, authorities said foreign media, including Iranian employees, could only work from their offices, conduct telephone interviews and monitor official sources such as state television.
  
  The rules prevent media outlets, including The Associated Press, from sending independent photos or video of street protests or rallies.
  
  Also Tuesday, foreign reporters in Iran to cover last week's elections began leaving the country. Iranian officials said they will not extend their visas.
  
  At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, "and we are very worried about them, we don't know where they have been detained," Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders told AP Television News in Paris. He added that some people who took pictures with cell phones also were arrested.
  
  A Web site run by former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said the reformist had been arrested.
  
  Saeed Hajjarian, a prominent reformer, also has been detained, Hajjarian's wife, Vajiheh Masousi, told the AP. Hajjarian is a close aide of former President Mohammad Khatami.
  
  Iranian state radio said seven people were killed in Monday's protests — the first confirmation of deaths from the demonstrations that started Saturday after the election results were announced. It said people were killed during an "unauthorized gathering" at a mass rally after protesters "tried to attack a military location."
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- 5 months ago
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2 Bodies found from Plane
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  RECIFE, Brazil – Searchers found two passengers' bodies and a briefcase containing an Air France Flight 447 ticket in the Atlantic Ocean near where the jetliner is believed to have crashed, a Brazil military official said Saturday.
  
  The French agency investigating the disaster, meanwhile, said airspeed instruments were not replaced as the maker recommended before the plane disappeared in turbulent weather nearly a week ago during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard.
  
  All were killed, the world's worst commercial air accident since 2001, and Air France's deadliest plane crash.
  
  The bodies of two male passengers were recovered Saturday morning about 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of where Air France Flight 447 emitted its last signals — roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.
  
  Brazilian air force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said an Air France ticket was found inside a leather briefcase.
  
  "It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," he said.
  
  Admiral Edison Lawrence said the bodies were being transported to the Fernando de Noronha islands for identification. A backpack with a laptop and a vaccination card also was recovered.
  
  The finds could potentially establish a more precise search area for the crucial black box flight data and voice recorders that could tell investigators why the jet crashed.
  
  The U.S. Navy is sending two high-tech devices to French ships that will help them locate the black boxes, a senior U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
  
  The Towed Pinger Locators, which can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), are being flown to Brazil on Monday with a U.S. Navy team, said the official, who requested anonymity because the decision, which came in response to a request from France, has not been announced.
  
  The team will deliver the locators to two French tugs that will use them to listen for transmissions from the black box, the official said.
  
  Finding the flight recorders is not the concern, however, of the Brazilian searchers, who don't have the deepwater submersibles needed to find the black boxes. Those are being provided by France.
  
  "The black box is not the responsibility of this operation, the aim of which is the search for survivors, bodies and debris — in that sequence of priority," said Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz.
  
  The discovery of the bodies and debris gave relief to some family members, many of whom gathered in a hotel in Rio, where they've received constant updates about the search.
  
  Others, however, refused to give up on the chance for survivors.
  
  "We're shaken, but we still have hope," Sonia Gagliano, whose grandson Lucas Gagliano was an air steward on the flight, told the O Globo newspaper. "He was a young boy, just 23 years old, and he spoke eight languages. I'm in a complete daze with all this."
  
  Investigators have been searching a zone of several hundred square miles (square kilometers) for debris. A blue plane seat with a serial number on it has been recovered, but officials were still trying to confirm with Air France that it was a seat belonging to Flight 477.
  
  The French accident investigation agency, BEA, found the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a massive thunderstorm.
  
  The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake in severe turbulence.
  
  Airbus recommended that all its airline customers replace instruments that help measure speed and altitude, known as Pitot tubes, on the A330, the model used for Flight 447, said Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the agency.
  
  "They hadn't yet been replaced" on the plane that crashed, said Alain Bouillard, head of the French investigation.
  
  Air France issued a statement Saturday saying it began replacing the monitors on the Airbus A330 model on April 27 after an improved version became available.
  
  The statement stressed the recommendation to change the monitor "allows the operator full freedom to totally, partially or not at all apply it." When safety is at issue, the aircraft maker puts out a mandatory service bulletin followed up by an airworthiness directive, not a recommendation.
  
  The Air France statement said that icing of the monitors at high altitude has led at times to loss of needed flying information, but only a "small number" of incidents linked to the monitors had been reported.
  
  Air France has already replaced the Pitots on another Airbus model, the 320, after its pilots reported similar problems with the instrument, according to an Air France air safety report filed by pilots in January and obtained by The Associated Press.
  
  The report followed an incident in which an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris reported problems with its airspeed indicators similar to those believed to have been encountered by Flight 447. In that case, the Pitot tubes were found to have been blocked by ice.
  
  The same report says Air France decided to increase the inspection frequency for its A330 and A340 jets' Pitot tubes, but that it had been waiting for a recommendation from Airbus before installing new Pitots.
  
  Arslanian of the BEA cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions about the role of Pitot tubes in the crash, saying that "it does not mean that without replacing the Pitots that the A330 was dangerous."
  
  He told a news conference at the agency's headquarters near Paris that the crash of Flight 447 does not mean similar planes are unsafe, adding that he told family members not to worry about flying.
  
  As part of their investigation, officials are relying on 24 messages the plane sent automatically during the last minutes of the flight.
  
  The signals show the plane's autopilot was not on, officials said, but it was not clear if the autopilot had been switched off by the pilots or had stopped working because it received conflicting airspeed readings.
  
  The flight disappeared nearly four hours after takeoff.
  
  The head of France's weather forecasting agency, Alain Ratier, said weather conditions at the time of the flight were not exceptional for the time of the year and region, which is known for violent stormy weather.
  
  On Thursday, European plane maker Airbus sent an advisory to all operators of the A330 reminding them of how to handle the plane in conditions similar to those experienced by Flight 447.
  
  Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that advisory and the Air France memo about replacing flight-speed instruments "certainly raises questions about whether the Pitot tubes, which are critical to the pilot's understanding of what's going on, were operating effectively."
  
  Arslanian said it is vital to locate a small beacon called a "pinger" that should be attached to the cockpit voice and data recorders, now presumed to be deep in the Atlantic.
  
  "We have no guarantee that the pinger is attached to the recorders," he said.
  
  Holding up a pinger in the palm of his hand, he said: "This is what we are looking for in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."
- Blog post
- 5 months ago
- Views: 147
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Vortex 2: Success!!!
- From: zackshields
- Description:
  
  Last Friday an amazing thing happened in the meteorology field. It took 4 weeks but the Vortex 2 project (the great tornado hunt) anaylzed a tornado for 25 minutes from start to finish. This was the first time that 35 science vehicles and 80 meteorologist collected data on one tornado. This could be the breakthrough that we need in order to get better warnings.
  
  Here is what the vortex 2 project is trying to find out....
  
  How, when, and why do tornadoes form? Why some are violent and long lasting while others are weak and short lived?
  
  - What is the structure of tornadoes? How strong are the winds near the ground? How exactly do they do damage?
  
  - How can we learn to forecast tornadoes better? Current warnings have an only 13 minute average lead time and a 70% false alarm rate. Can we make warnings more accurate? Can we warn 30, 45, 60 minutes ahead?
  
  Here is what and who is involved with the massive mission.
  
  An armada of 10 mobile radars, including the Doppler On Wheels (DOW) from the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR), SMART-Radars from the University of Oklahoma, the NOXP radar from the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), radars from the University of Massachusetts, the Office of Naval Research and Texas Tech University (TTU), 10 mobile mesonet instrumented vehicles from NSSL and CSWR, 38 deployable instruments including Sticknets (TTU), Tornado-Pods (CSWR), 4 disdrometers (University of Colorado (CU) and U of Illinois), weather balloon launching vans (NSSL, NCAR and SUNY-Oswego), unmanned aircraft (CU), damage survey teams (CSWR, Lyndon State College, NCAR), and photogrammetry teams (Lyndon State Univesity and NCAR), and other instruments.
  
  The tornado was captured in Southeastern Wyoming. Everybody was in place from start to finish and the visibility was great. Plus the tornado did not hurt or damage anything.
  
  Here is video of the tornado from the Weather Channel.
- Blog post
- 5 months ago
- Views: 545
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7 Theories on the Crash of Fli
- From: arkscx
- Description:
  
  Was it a lightning strike, an electrical failure, or violent turbulence? As possible debris of Air France 447 surfaced 600 miles off the coast of Brazil on Tuesday morning, The Daily Beast tracked down seven expert theories on the cause for the mysterious crash that killed all 228 on board.
  
  1. Lightning Strike
  
  Lightning appears to be the most plausible cause for the disappearance of Flight 447. But it’s still unlikely that lightning alone could bring down such a big jet like an Airbus 330. After all, jets are engineered to weather lightning strikes without severe damage. When lightning hits, it usually does so on the aluminum body of the plane at the wings—far from the engine and the insulated plastic cabin where the passengers sit. Only 50 minutes after making contact via radar, Flight 447 reported via an automatic transponder that it had an “electrical circuit malfunction,” which means it could have fallen victim to an electrical storm. If a lightning strike did indeed damage the fuselage, aviation expert Clive Irving writes, it should be regarded as a serious warning for engineers of new planes like the carbon-fiber Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which is being designed without metal. "Because no airliner has ever been built this way before," he writes, "the 787’s ability to demonstrate a level of lightning protection at least equal to a conventional all-metal airplane is crucial."
  
  2. Violent Turbulence
  
  We know that Flight 447 encountered heavy turbulence associated with a thunderstorm before losing signal. At 4:14 a.m. Paris time, the plane released an automatic message that it had suffered an electrical problem and lost cabin pressure. But what caused that? It's possible that the plane flew into a fierce tropical storm over the Atlantic Ocean, The Washington Post reports, but pilots are trained to go around tropical storms—never through them. And the pilot of Flight 447 must have known that: He had clocked more than 11,000 hours in the air—including 1,100 hours on the Airbus jets. According to a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather, the thunderstorms in that part of the Atlantic Ocean towered up to the 50,000 feet that night—which could mean that the plane flew into the most treacherous part of the storm. Thunderstorms at that altitude, the Times of London reports, can have the “energy of nuclear explosions.” According to Pierre Henri Gourgeon, chief executive of Air France-KLM: “Lightning alone is not enough to explain the loss of this plane, and turbulence alone is not enough. It is always a combination of factors… A completely unexpected situation occurred on board the aircraft.”
  
  3. Hail Storm
  
  Just before the plane fell off the map, it reported a loss in cabin pressure—which could mean a break in the body of the aircraft. If Flight 447 flew into a particularly violent storm, The New York Times reports, it’s possible that hail could have broken the windshield. But pilots would have immediately reported distress had that happened—not just drop off the radar altogether.
  
  4. Electrical Failure
  
  We know that Flight 447 experienced an electrical failure before losing contact. But experts say a simple electrical fault doesn’t bring down an Airbus—so if the electrical outage is responsible, it must have developed into something greater. The Airbus was as “fly-by-wire” plane, which means that the flaps on the wings are commanded by wires rather than manual tubes. This allows planes, in many circumstances, to automatically correct if something goes wrong. But this electronic control can also backfire, as it did with an Australian Qantas A330 last year: When something goes wrong on some fly-by-wire planes, the pilot is blocked from overriding commands. On the Qantas jet, inertia sensors overrode manual commands, causing the plane to correct something that wasn’t wrong—and a nosedive resulted.
  
  5. Fire on Board
  
  The electrical fault may have also caused a short circuit, which, according to David Learmount, operations/safety editor of FlightGlobal, can create an intense heat or sparking on the plane. That could have resulted in a fire, which brought down a Swiss Air Boeing jet in 1998. There’s been a call for smoke detectors to be placed throughout aircrafts—not just in the bathrooms, cargo area, and engines—so that crew members can be informed of fire on board, but it's so far been largely ignored by airlines.
  
  6. Hijacking or Sabotage
  
  Theories of sabotage or hijacking circulated following news of the disappearance, but have been all but dismissed as aviation experts weigh the facts. There were no suspicious people on board, the Times of London reports, and had a hijacking occurred, the crew would surely have time to radio to the base.
  
  7. Missile or Bomb
  
  The Times of London also speculates that a missile could have caused the disappearance, but that it’s “highly unlikely given the altitude.” It’s also conceivable that a bomb may have exploded on board—explaining its immediate disappearance from radar—as the Times reports that security at the Rio airport is widely thought to be lax.
- Blog post
- 5 months ago
- Views: 2602
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Toni Bravo’s Diverse Space Dan
- From: WyattBrand
- Description:
  
  Toni Bravo’s Diverse Space Dance/Theatre and The Violet Crown Players Present
  
  6 months ago
- Views: 452
- Forum: Events...
Cheny is in Hot Seat Lies
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.
  
  In his address to the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative policy organization in Washington , Cheney said that the techniques the Bush administration approved, including waterboarding — simulated drowning that's considered a form of torture — forced nakedness and sleep deprivation, were "legal" and produced information that "prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people."
  
  He quoted the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair , as saying that the information gave U.S. officials a "deeper understanding of the al Qaida organization that was attacking this country."
  
  In a statement April 21 , however, Blair said the information "was valuable in some instances" but that "there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is that these techniques hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."
  
  A top-secret 2004 CIA inspector general's investigation found no conclusive proof that information gained from aggressive interrogations helped thwart any "specific imminent attacks," according to one of four top-secret Bush-era memos that the Justice Department released last month.
  
  FBI Director Mueller Robert Muller told Vanity Fair magazine in December that he didn't think that the techniques disrupted any attacks.
  
  — Cheney said that President Barack Obama's decision to release the four top-secret Bush administration memos on the interrogation techniques was "flatly contrary" to U.S. national security, and would help al Qaida train terrorists in how to resist U.S. interrogations.
  
  However, Blair, who oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, said in his statement that he recommended the release of the memos, "strongly supported" Obama's decision to prohibit using the controversial methods and that "we do not need these techniques to keep America safe."
  
  — Cheney said that the Bush administration "moved decisively against the terrorists in their hideouts and their sanctuaries, and committed to using every asset to take down their networks."
  
  The former vice president didn't point out that Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahri , remain at large nearly eight years after 9-11 and that the Bush administration began diverting U.S. forces, intelligence assets, time and money to planning an invasion of Iraq before it finished the war in Afghanistan against al Qaida and the Taliban .
  
  There are now 49,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan fighting to contain the bloodiest surge in Taliban violence since the 2001 U.S.-led intervention, and Islamic extremists also have launched their most concerted attack yet on neighboring, nuclear-armed Pakistan .
  
  — Cheney denied that there was any connection between the Bush administration's interrogation policies and the abuse of detainee at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, which he blamed on "a few sadistic guards . . . in violation of American law, military regulations and simple decency."
  
  However, a bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report in December traced the abuses at Abu Ghraib to the approval of the techniques by senior Bush administration officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld .
  
  "The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," said the report issued by Sens. Carl Levin , D- Mich. , and John McCain , R- Ariz. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality and authorized their use against detainees."
  
  — Cheney said that "only detainees of the highest intelligence value" were subjected to the harsh interrogation techniques, and he cited Khalid Sheikh Mohammad , the alleged mastermind of the 9-11 attacks.
  
  He didn't mention Abu Zubaydah, the first senior al Qaida operative to be captured after 9-11. Former FBI special agent Ali Soufan told a Senate subcommittee last week that his interrogation of Zubaydah using traditional methods elicited crucial information, including Mohammed's alleged role in 9-11.
  
  The decision to use the harsh interrogation methods "was one of the worst and most harmful decisions made in our efforts against al Qaida ," Soufan said. Former State Department official Philip Zelikow , who in 2005 was then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's point man in an internal fight to overhaul the Bush administration's detention policies, joined Soufan in his criticism.
  
  — Cheney said that "the key to any strategy is accurate intelligence," but the Bush administration ignored warnings from experts in the CIA , the Defense Intelligence Agency , the State Department , the Department of Energy and other agencies, and used false or exaggerated intelligence supplied by Iraqi exile groups and others to help make its case for the 2003 invasion.
  
  Cheney made no mention of al Qaida operative Ali Mohamed al Fakheri , who's known as Ibn Sheikh al Libi , whom the Bush administration secretly turned over to Egypt for interrogation in January 2002 . While allegedly being tortured by Egyptian authorities, Libi provided false information about Iraq's links with al Qaida , which the Bush administration used despite doubts expressed by the DIA.
  
  A state-run Libyan newspaper said Libi committed suicide recently in a Libyan jail.
  
  — Cheney accused Obama of "the selective release" of documents on Bush administration detainee policies, charging that Obama withheld records that Cheney claimed prove that information gained from the harsh interrogation methods prevented terrorist attacks.
  
  "I've formally asked that (the information) be declassified so the American people can see the intelligence we obtained," Cheney said. "Last week, that request was formally rejected."
  
  However, the decision to withhold the documents was announced by the CIA , which said that it was obliged to do so by a 2003 executive order issued by former President George W. Bush prohibiting the release of materials that are the subject of lawsuits.
  
  — Cheney said that only "ruthless enemies of this country" were detained by U.S. operatives overseas and taken to secret U.S. prisons.
  
  A 2008 McClatchy investigation, however, found that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees captured in 2001 and 2002 in Afghanistan and Pakistan were innocent citizens or low-level fighters of little intelligence value who were turned over to American officials for money or because of personal or political rivalries.
  
  In addition, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Oct. 5, 2005 , that the Bush administration had admitted to her that it had mistakenly abducted a German citizen, Khaled Masri , from Macedonia in January 2004 .
  
  Masri reportedly was flown to a secret prison in Afghanistan , where he allegedly was abused while being interrogated. He was released in May 2004 and dumped on a remote road in Albania .
  
  In January 2007 , the German government issued arrest warrants for 13 alleged CIA operatives on charges of kidnapping Masri.
  
  — Cheney slammed Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and criticized his effort to persuade other countries to accept some of the detainees.
  
  The effort to shut down the facility, however, began during Bush's second term, promoted by Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates .
  
  "One of the things that would help a lot is, in the discussions that we have with the states of which they (detainees) are nationals, if we could get some of those countries to take them back," Rice said in a Dec. 12, 2007 , interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. "So we need help in closing Guantanamo ."
  
  — Cheney said that, in assessing the security environment after 9-11, the Bush team had to take into account "dictators like Saddam Hussein with known ties to Mideast terrorists."
  
  Cheney didn't explicitly repeat the contention he made repeatedly in office: that Saddam cooperated with al Qaida , a linkage that U.S. intelligence officials and numerous official inquiries have rebutted repeatedly.
  
  The late Iraqi dictator's association with terrorists vacillated and was mostly aimed at quashing opponents and critics at home and abroad.
  
  The last State Department report on international terrorism to be released before 9-11 said that Saddam's regime "has not attempted an anti-Western terrorist attack since its failed plot to assassinate former President ( George H.W.) Bush in 1993 in Kuwait ."
  
  A Pentagon study released last year, based on a review of 600,000 Iraqi documents captured after the U.S.-led invasion, concluded that while Saddam supported militant Palestinian groups — the late terrorist Abu Nidal found refuge in Baghdad , at least until Saddam had him killed — the Iraqi security services had no "direct operational link" with al Qaida .
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 142
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catch a cheating spouse
- From: bigmike555
- Description:
  
  Do you suspect that your wife is cheating on you? If you do, you are definitely not alone. Infidelity is actually quite common these days. You can see it all over the media and almost everyone knows or has heard of someone who has been cheated on, in one way or another.
  
  Discover how to catch a cheating spouse from a private eye.
  
  If you are a husband who thinks that your wife is unfaithful, there are a number of signs that you will want to be on the lookout for. The following are four signs that could very well confirm your suspicions.
  
  1 - A Change in her Appearance
  
  If your wife has gone through a change in her appearance, it could be a sign that she is cheating on you. What you will want to look for is small, but significant changes in appearance.
  
  For example, has she always worn glasses but has all of a sudden opted for contact lenses? Has your wife recently started showing more skin? Dressing provocatively is a common sign of cheating, especially if your wife typically dresses conservatively. Switching perfumes or wearing it more often can be another sign of cheating. This can be done to impress a new man or to cover up another man's scent.
  
  2 - A Change in Affection
  
  A change in the amount of affection that your wife shows you could be seen as a sign of her having an affair. For example, has your love life been happy and healthy in the past? Was your relationship filled with fun, adventure, and great sex? If so, has that changed? If your wife no longer compliments you as she did before or does something as simple as pull away during a kiss, an affair may be going on. Many cheating women try to avoid close contact with their husbands in fear of getting caught or letting their guilt show.
  
  3 - Secrecy
  
  A wife becoming more secretive can often point to an extramarital affair. For example, does your wife spend too much time on the phone or the internet? If so, what does she say when you ask her what she is doing? If you receive a "nothing," or a "not your business," response, something may be going on.
  
  In keeping with phone and internet use, does your wife automatically hang-up the phone whenever you walk into a room? Does she shut off the computer or try to block your view of it? If so, your wife's secrecy may mean that she is trying to cover up an affair.
  
  4 - Changes in Bills
  
  One of the simplest ways to catch a cheating wife is to start paying your bills. In most relationships, this is the woman's responsibility, but you can make it yours. Examine your wife's cell phone bills. Does it show what phone numbers are called or what numbers text messages and pictures are received from? Also, closely examine credit card bills. Are there expenses listed for hotel rooms, vacations, restaurants, or anything else that you have no idea about? If so, you may have a cheating wife
  
  The above mentioned signs are just a few of the many that you will want to look for to find out if she is having an affair. If you think that your wife is cheating on you, just be sure to keep your eyes and ears open. Unfortunately for the cheaters, they often make mistakes. Many women get so comfortable, that they slip up at one time or another. If you know what to look for, this is when you may be able to catch your wife cheating.
  
  If you do find out that your wife is being unfaithful, you may want to carefully approach the subject. Never confront your wife in front of your children. Keep this matter from them since this is too painful and difficult to understand for adults, let alone for children. No matter how angry you are, do not get violent and try to keep your voice at a reasonable level. As hard as it can be, calming approaching the situation can better allow you and your wife to have an honest discussion. This is where you can decide what will happen you to and your relationship next.
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 563
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usa bombs Pakistan towns
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Bombs destroyed an Internet cafe, wrecked a bus carrying handicapped children and spread panic through Pakistan's main northwestern city on Saturday, killing at least 11 people in a day of carnage across the militancy-plagued region.
  
  An apparent U.S. missile strike annihilated a Taliban raiding party mustering to cross into Afghanistan, officials said, while Pakistani troops claimed another 47 kills in their bid to retake the Swat Valley.
  
  Violence is engulfing Pakistani territory along the Afghan border as American and allied forces crank up the pressure on al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the forbidding and barely governed mountains and valleys.
  
  Washington and other nations are pouring in billions of dollars in aid and military assistance to prop up the pro-Western government in Islamabad, which on Saturday sought to allay concerns that its nuclear weapons could fall into extremist hands.
  
  The first of two bombs to explode in Peshawar on Saturday was hidden in a car and devastated a street busy with traffic, shoppers and worshippers heading to mosques to pray.
  
  Television images showed several vehicles burning fiercely and a stricken white-and-green bus that had been dropping handicapped children at their homes around the city.
  
  All eight students still on board were injured, one seriously, along with the driver and an assistant, medics and police said. Four other children and seven adults were killed, and dozens more people injured, they said.
  
  Ahmad Khan, a nine-year-old who had been on the bus, sat shaking on his mother's lap at the Lady Reading hospital as surgeons tried to save the life of a classmate.
  
  He struggled to tell her what had happened to him, throwing up his arms to mimic the explosion, then burst into tears and buried his bandaged head in her arms.
  
  "My child is mentally impaired, but we had hope for him and sent him to school. Now I am even more worried for his future," said his veiled mother, Gul Bibi. "How could any human being do this?"
  
  Safwat Ghayur, a senior police official, said one of several buildings badly damaged by the blast was an Internet cafe — a favorite target for violent Islamist extremists in Pakistan who consider the Web a source of moral corruption.
  
  Ghayur said the cafe had received several threats and was attacked recently by gunmen. But it was unclear if any of the bomb victims had been in the cafe or if it was the intended target.
  
  No group claimed responsibility for the car bomb, or a smaller explosion in the evening in a bazaar filled with ladies' clothes stores that police said injured four people.
  
  An Associated Press reporter saw bystanders carrying away a screaming man, his bloodstained clothes shredded by the blast. Women streamed out of the area clutching shopping bags and wailing children.
  
  Militants have vowed to carry out a constant stream of attacks in Pakistan in retaliation for dozens of American missile attacks on their strongholds in Pakistan's tribal areas.
  
  In the latest strike, Pakistani officials said several missiles hit a religious school and a nearby vehicle on Saturday morning near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan tribal region.
  
  Two intelligence officials, citing reports from agents in the field, said 29 people were killed, including four foreign militants, and dozens more were wounded.
  
  The identity of the victims was not immediately clear, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to the media.
  
  However, they said the school was being used as a training camp by Gul Bahadur, a prominent Taliban commander, and that the group had been mustering for a mission in Afghanistan.
  
  President Barack Obama has identified the elimination of militant sanctuaries in Pakistan as critical if America is to crush al-Qaida and turn around its faltering Afghan war effort.
  
  U.S. officials say the missile strikes, launched from remotely piloted aircraft, have killed a string of al-Qaida commanders in the Pakistani border region over the past year. The area is considered the likely hiding place of Osama bin Laden.
  
  However, Pakistan publicly protests the tactic, arguing it kills too many civilians and undermines efforts to turn tribal leaders away from hard-liners. The army this week rejected media reports that it was jointly controlling U.S. drone missions over Pakistan.
  
  Further north, the army was preparing to assail Taliban militants entrenched in Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley, from where nearly a million civilians have fled a three-week-old military offensive. About 100,000 are housed in sweltering camps south of the war zone.
  
  The army says it has killed more than 800 of the estimated 4,000 militants in the valley and that many more have fled, some after shaving off their beards to blend in with the refugees.
  
  Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Saturday that 47 militants had been killed in the previous 24 hours and that one pocket of the valley near the town of Khwazakhela was safe enough for residents to return.
  
  Militants had blocked roads around Mingora to hamper troops encircling the town, he said at a news conference.
  
  The military says it is advancing slowly in Swat to limit civilian casualties. Public opinion appears to support the offensive, but the mood could quickly turn against the pro-Western government if the fighting drags on and civilian hardship mounts.
  
  Pakistan's army is pressing the United States to give it helicopters, night-vision equipment and its own drones to boost its oft-criticized counterinsurgency capacity.
  
  The government is also trying to counter speculation that extremists could seize Pakistan's nuclear weapons or that the U.S. might intervene to safeguard them.
  
  Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani complained Saturday about an "orchestrated campaign" to "discredit Pakistan's nuclear capability."
  
  "We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all cost while ensuring fail-safe security of our nuclear assets," Gilani told lawmakers, according to a statement from his office. "No amount of coercion, direct or indirect, will ever force Pakistan to compromise on its core security interest."
  
  He didn't identify those involved in the alleged campaign.
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 406
- Not yet rated
warescomments
- From: me.yahoo.com/a/xjWTQQRlncMpbS9G2BTy43Y4DJfUs54.US8rqRLDO28ny7DNESs-
- Description:
  
  It just hurts me how the parents are being bashed and maligned behind the shooting that occured. I have had opportunity to to meet all the parents except the young man that was killed. These parents invested morals, education and a quality living experiene for these boys. They choose friendships and an enviorment that turned violent. Why does the community contnue to lash out at them making assumptions that they were dead beat parents? These moms are hurting and scared to death for their children. Also, why are so many of the community ready to call the the yong men "hoodlums," and "thugs," who deserved to die." They had a friend whom they loved that made some lifestyle choices that were criminal. What happened to their humanity and their civil rights? I am not minimizing the illegal actions that the deceased young man made in his short life time. What concerns me is that some bloggers are implying these young men lost their right to be treated as humans and lost their civil rights because of lifestyle choices. I think compassion, sympathy and empathy should be offered to these youngmen, their moms and their friends. Also, I am looking for the facts in this situation and I am considering them as they occur. I am even search for the facts. Has anyone noticed that most of the information aired has been retracted. The young man called "the driver," was not a driver in the incident of the shootings. He was seen by the officer driving from a club with the young victims in the back seat. He had gotten out of the car, went to an apartment and was returning to the car when he was handcuffed and put in a police car. His statement is on file. Has the news media asked for it, why hasnt parts of it been published so that the community can get both sides. Since this incident occured in one of the most violent apartments on the east side of Austin, everyone is ready to "draw conclusions." Why did a decorated vetran police office, attempt to address suspected criminals in a vehicle without his video running, nor the other officer with him? Why did he choose to shoot the victim in the head first and then offer two other shots to him? Why did he choose to use deadly force? Susposedly, he knocked on the window of the vehicle equiling no response from either shoot victim, then he opened the door and attempt to pull the deceased young man out. Why didnt he use the tazer? He had another officer assisting him with the other young man who survived. Initial reports and sources on the scene say that the "decorated officer" shot the surviving young man as well, then another officer shot him as he exited the car headed towards other officers. Why, (if in point it is true) did the one officer attempt to handle the situation al by himself? Does anyone know how long it took before EMS was called to the scene? Typically, they are called immediately. Does the community know that the young man who suvived was begging for help after the officer told his peers that he was dead? Does the community know that their are at least 0-30 witnesses to this that were around when this was going on but APD has avoided their pleas to be heard? They are asking for the opportunity to give depositions but they are being ignored. Take this situation out of Walnut Creek Apartments and put it in your driveway, put it in Westlake, or maybe Logo Vista. Would their be a different outcry for truth, for justice or the victims, or for the parents? Would the "whole truth" be saught or would it be dismissed? Would we want justice and truth finaly because the situation was no longer surrounded by gang violence, drugs, organized crime, or "thugs and hoodulms from the hood? I think that civil rights activits, neighborhood associations, and just you alone would search for just and your heart cry would be more about seeking answers, offering sympathy, empathy and compassion, and a lot about getting the whole story about what happened. I think this mainly because, we as a society tend to offer those typed of civil rights and human eminities to surburbia and ourselfs because we are much more deserving than those we deed beneath us, those less deserving
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 123
4 citizens killed in Tijuana
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  TIJUANA, Mexico – The slayings of four young Americans in Tijuana sowed fear in Southern California on Friday as Mexican prosecutors tried to determine whether the youths were involved in the country's violent drug trade or innocent victims of a brutal crime.
  
  The victims, two men and two women in their teens and early 20s, said they were headed for a night of partying across the border only to be found strangled, stabbed and beaten a few days later.
  
  Mexican officials are investigating whether any of the four San Diego-area victims had ties to the drug trade, after a toxicology report tested positive for cocaine on the body of Brianna Hernandez, who was either 18 or 19.
  
  Another victim, Oscar Jorge Garcia, 23, was apprehended in the San Diego area in January 2008 with six illegal immigrants in the car, but never charged in the case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
  
  The parents of 20-year-old victim Carmen Jimena Ramos Chavez on Friday described a vibrant Chula Vista High graduate who worked at an amusement park for children and planned to become a hair stylist.
  
  "She was a happy girl, with a desire to explore the world," said her father, Rogelio Ramos Camano, of Chula Vista. "Young people are like that. They think nothing will happen. I was like that, too."
  
  Mexican prosecutors said the victims had been bound and tortured — common tactics by Mexican drug gangs — before being left in a van in a dusty slum on the outskirts of Tijuana.
  
  Jose Manuel Yepiz, a spokesman for the Baja California state prosecutor's office, said investigators were examining a threatening letter to one of the victims from a jail inmate in San Diego.
  
  Prosecutors said they had ruled out the possibility that the killings were a case of drug gangs targeting tourists.
  
  Tijuana, which sits across the border from San Diego, has a reputation as one of Mexico's most violent border cities. Authorities said 843 people were slain there in 2008, many in drug-related violence.
  
  Since taking office in December 2006, President Felipe Calderon has sent more than 45,000 soldiers to combat drug cartels in the country whose turf battles have killed more than 10,750 people over the last two-and-a-half years.
  
  Violence had diminished in Tijuana in recent months, only to pick up a few weeks ago with seven police officers killed in brazen attacks on one day.
  
  Victor Clark, a professor at San Diego State University's Center for Latin American Studies, said criminal ties with any one of the Americans could have spelled disaster for the group.
  
  "Maybe they broke the rules, which means death" when dealing with Mexico's drug cartels, said Clark, a Tijuana resident and native. "And they dragged their friends down with them."
  
  Relatives said the victims were familiar with both sides of the border and navigating the area's bilingual culture — but may have taken their safety for granted.
  
  Ramos said he had often told his daughter, who was born in Tijuana but raised from a young age in the U.S., that Tijuana was too dangerous, and she assured him she was always careful.
  
  But Ramos said he didn't offer any warnings as his daughter got ready ready to go out with her friend Brianna on May 7, even as he watched a news program about killings in Tijuana on Mexican television.
  
  "I think God put that out there so I would do something, but I didn't dare," he said in Spanish, shaking his head, recalling how they were already primped and ready to go.
  
  U.S. tourists, already warned by the U.S. State Department to be cautious in Mexico because foreign bystanders have been killed, now appear even less likely to visit once-popular destinations like Tijuana.
  
  "I'm not going to T.J. unless it's absolutely necessary," Amelia Lopez, a friend of a victim told television station San Diego 6. "Before, you know, you go to eat or have a good time or shopping. Nothing like that."
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
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49 Dead hospital bombed
- From: CRYSTALCHRIS
- Description:
  
  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – A mortar shell struck the only functioning medical facility in Sri Lanka's northern war zone Tuesday morning, killing 49 patients and bystanders and wounding more than 50 others, a government health official said. It was the second time this month that the facility was hit.
  
  The attack came after a weekend of heavy shelling that killed hundreds of civilians trapped in the war zone. The military has denied accusations that it was still shelling the tiny coastal strip under rebel control, which is packed with an estimated 50,000 civilians.
  
  Dr. Thurairaja Varatharajah, the top government health official in the war zone, said a single mortar shell hit the admissions ward in the makeshift hospital Tuesday morning. In addition to the 49 killed, scores of others were wounded, and he expected the death toll to rise, he said.
  
  Shells were still hitting the area hours later, including one that landed about 150 yards (meters) from the hospital, Varatharajah said.
  
  A second hospital official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said a hospital administrator was among those killed.
  
  It was the second time this month that the facility had come under heavy fire. On May 2, 64 civilians died when the hospital was hit by artillery.
  
  Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
  
  Rebel spokesman Seevaratnam Puleedevan blamed the attack on the government, and said civilians were fleeing in all directions inside the tiny war zone, seeking safety.
  
  "There's no place to seek shelter or protect themselves," he said.
  
  He called on the international community to force the government to stop its offensive against the violent separatist group, which has been fighting for a homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority for more than a quarter century.
  
  "We are really afraid that if the Sri Lankan government is not being pressured to stop the carnage, that many more civilians will die in the hundreds," he said.
  
  Sri Lankan defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella denied the army had launched the attack. He said government forces had not launched any airstrikes or artillery into the area.
  
  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that he was "appalled at the killings of hundreds of civilians in Sri Lanka over the weekend. Thousands of Sri Lankans have already died in the past several months due to the conflict, and more still remain in grave danger."
  
  In a statement, Ban reiterated his call for both parties to cease using heavy weapons and accused the rebels of "reckless disrespect" for the safety of civilians. Human rights groups accuse the rebels — who are listed as a terror group by the U.S. and E.U. — of keeping the civilians hostage for use as human shields.
  
  Two overnight artillery barrages pounded the area over the weekend, with several shells landing inside newly demarcated "safe zone," where the government had urged civilians to gather, according to Dr. V. Shanmugarajah, another doctor at the hospital.
  
  A total of 430 ethnic Tamil civilians, including 106 children, were either brought to the hospital for burial or died at the facility after those attacks, he said. But the death toll was likely closer to 1,000 because many of those killed would have been buried in the bunkers where they were slain, and many of the gravely wounded never made it to the hospital for treatment, he said.
  
  The shelling attacks — which the U.N. labeled a "bloodbath" — marked some of the worst violence in this Indian Ocean island nation since the civil war flared up again more than three years ago.
  
  In New York, the British, French and Austrian foreign ministers urged the U.N. Security Council to take action to prevent more killings of civilians. Sri Lanka is not on the Security Council agenda because Russia, China, Japan and Vietnam consider the fighting an internal matter.
  
  "Are we waiting, all of us, to the end of the bombing, to the end of any life — not only suffering, but any life in this siege pocket?" asked French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
  
  U.N. figures compiled last month showed that nearly 6,500 civilians had been killed in three months this year as the government drove the separatist rebels from their northern strongholds and vowed to end the war.
  
  The rebels, listed as a terror group by the U.S. and the EU, blamed the artillery assaults on the government. Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe denied the government was responsible and claimed health officials in the area were under pressure from the rebels to lie.
  
  Army troops pushed further into the remaining rebel territory Monday, killing dozens of rebels in fierce fighting.
  
  Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said troops found 35 rebel bodies after the fighting. He did not provide details on casualties suffered by army.
- Blog post
- 6 months ago
- Views: 156
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