IFS NEWS WRITERS

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales Named as Suspect in Afghanistan Massacre

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:11:00 +0000

DUNNINGAN, CA (IFS) - The United States Department of Defense must be proud today of its greatest achievements - that of driving a good man, a reasonable person to the brink of "snapped judgement" and then charge this person with murder and the like. You, the DOD caused this and you knew it would happen, it was just a matter of time. You broke this man and now you want to destroy him. This is what you created. You can not keep sending a person on repeated tours of duty, it will lead to destruction.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales Named as Suspect in Afghanistan Massacre
By the 5th Estate News Service

Military sources late Friday identified Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales as the name of the 38-year-old suspect accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a Sunday rampage. Bales has not yet been charged in the case. He was flown to the U.S. military maximum security prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas from Kuwait Friday.
"I can confirm" the name of the suspect is Robert Bales, a U.S. official told Yahoo News on condition of anonymity.
The revelation of Bales' identity comes after criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the lack of U.S. cooperation in investigating the massacre. Karzai also questioned whether just one American soldier was involved.
Bales' Seattle-area celebrity lawyer, John Henry Browne, said Friday that his client is in shock.
"He is in shock, kind of like a deer in headlights at the moment," Browne said Friday morning, a local station near Joint Base Lewis-McChord King 5 News, reported. "I told him not to talk about the allegations at all, so I cannot tell you how he is responding because I told him not to talk about it."
Browne earlier told reporters at a news conference Thursday that the decorated soldier wasn't happy that he had been deployed a fourth time despite sustaining two injuries, including a traumatic head injury and the partial loss of his foot in Iraq. Browne dismissed rumors that the soldier had marital troubles, and said he had two young children.

Has The Reno Blues Society Lost their Collective Minds?

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:51:00 +0000

HOLLYWOOD / RENO (IFS) - It appears that the Reno Blues Society has decided to "pass" on the endorsement and venue setting for the Bobby Haynes Blues Band and with internationally renown pianoist Ray Johnson.

Reno Blues Society vice president, Bill Nagel was given a practice DVD of the groups rehearsal at Hollywood's famed AF of M Local 47 Hall, ( currently available at youtube.com/scorpiontelevision) of the duo having a quick show rehearsal fr the cameras of HOTRAX Productions' R G Ingersoll who also happened to produce the one and only very successful Cambria / San Simeon tribute concert to Nat "King" Cole.

Ingersoll stated early, that he believes that this is "just a research error on the part of the Reno Blues Society team" and that he believes it will be "ironed out" in time. These fantastic musicians together have played on over 100 - Number One recordings, when most singers, songwriters and artists just dream of getting one "hit record".

Ingersoll who is no stranger to success as in his former Motwn Records days, he helped to create and package many of the labels acts for television, concerts and state fairs. His expertise as a songwriter isn't lost either as his catalog has been purchased from EMI Music by Sony Music.

Ingersoll, has stated that he will still need the Reno Blues Society to help sell tickets and with promotions, as Mr. Nagel pushed the project down the road to Harrah's Show rooms in Tahoe, when in fact, Ingersoll just wanted the Grand Concert Room at the Grand Sierra Hotel.

It's not quite clear where the communications' broke down, or if the endorsement of the "Real Blues" is a little to much to handle. What the heck, what can two eighty year old men do, they have just completed tours wwith the American idol Party and a set at the Kennedy Center Honorrs to boot.

The video uploaded by Ingersoll to youtube.com/scopriontelevision for the engineers in Reno to setup their equipment, but this little video clip has become one of the most requested clips in sdctv history after the Reno Blues Society "dismissed" this duo. The Local Hollywood blues community musicians in Los Angeles consider this as a "back handed slap".

We will never know what RBS were "thinking" as they have broken off all talks with Ingersoll. This is not to say that there is a real battle of the "Blues Guitar Strings" in Reno, as the best act in town for the Blues is Jason King Band who the RBS endorsed and sponsored in the Memphis Blues Concerts Playoffs this past month.

Jason King sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughn for two nights in a row.

Ray Johnson, known as the Nat "King" Cole of Japan, has just finished several recordings with some of American Idol finalists among others. Johnson's last studio CD was in 2000 with his Ray Johnson Country that is still a big seller at his other night gig at the Universal Hilton Piano Bar, as he greets and entertain many of his friends and fans who have come in from Asia on vacation here in California.

It's for sure that what one person calls the Blues and what another's perception of the Blues are two different types of Blues Power. Reno is not ready to hear the real Blues, yet. But don't let two old blues men show what the real blues can prdocue when played live in equal amounts in Reno. For the moment, this little "missunderstanding" could remain as such and the RBS works with HOTRAX to produce the concert. Are will RBS vice president let opportunity slide out of his fingers, when we know that opportunity only knocks once.

FBI in Major Drug Bust in Dunningan

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:40:00 +0000

By Dunningan News-Press Telegram

DUNNINGAN (IFS) – The little community of Dunningan was shaken up this morning on or around 6:29 am, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its’ contingent of approximately 60 officers with several heavily armored attack vehicles and personnel, like something out of a storm troopers movie, with flash-bang grenades rushed the pink painted stucco home located at 3396 Road 88A.

With a coordinated effort by the FBI, Homeland Security, DEA and Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, the raid on the house was over in under one minute. CSI investigators and California Bureau of Investigations agents continued combing the residence’s and its grounds compiling evidence.

FBI Special Agent Russell Custer from the Sacramento bureau led the charge on what appears to be an elaborate marijuana growing operation according to the Yolo County Sheriff’s office. This raid was one of many coordinated efforts by the Department of Justice to clean up the Mexico to USA drug connections.

Havana Parker-Smith of Your Dawg On The Beach TV passes

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:18:00 +0000

Havana Parker-Smith
1992-2011

DUNNINGAN, CA (IFS) – Our dear and beloved Havana has left us and is now in doggy heaven. Havana pasted away on May 16, 2011 on/or about 3:30pm in the afternoon sun under a large Eucalyptus tree in the middle of her property in Dunningan California.

Havana starred in over eighty (80) episodes of her own youtube television show, “Your Dawg On The Beach” Series. Born in Castle Rock Colorado in July 1992, the young Labrador caught the eye of Dr. Karen Andrea Parker-Smith, then married to renown record producer Kenneth Howard Smith.

Havana’s documented trips across America are legendary and will always be remembered.

Havana Parker-Smith, is quietly nosing through the flowers. Havana loved flowers, and there was not a driveway that she did not visit.

Havana we want to thank you for being the best companion ever.

Peyton Grass Range Fire

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:21:00 +0000

Glenn Beck - I Had A Dream or Did I Have a Night Mare

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:16:00 +0000

by Kenneth Howard Smith, IFS

LIMON CO (IFS) Well Mr. Beck, I guess you had a great meeting and so many of your friends did show-up to give you a wonderful rally and you did change American history for yourself. I hope that you sold a lot of books and t-shirts, and helped your television show gain so many more new viewers.

What's this about a "bullet proof vest" at a prayer meeting? Well, well, you created this night mare and you had the vest on the wrong part of your body, it should have been on your foot, because that's where the bullets did land.

We tried to tell you along time ago, what was going to happen to you. We told you that you had better put on the brakes, and repent and change your direction, but you did not listen to us. You had your television show to rely on, and of course you were the only one listening to your own voice, plus the left overs from the election who were going to take back our country. What I could not understand, where were you going to take our country back too?

Every few years, a person like you comes along and has a vision that the masses are going to follow, and you believed in your own publicity!! Fox News and their organization shows how much influence they have on the American public - not much would you say?

The real Americans are the silent majority. They let the "squeaky wheel" get the grease, they sit back and observe and make up their minds in the most heated battles of the talking heads. They very seldom call into a radio show or even participate in a television show -- but they watch with both eyes and they are all ears. When they make a decision, it's usually a very quick decision and they are usually right. The real Americans are not just sitting on the fence, they have an agenda. And when they vote, they shake up the country.

MYSPACE IS GREAT RECORDING COMPANY, LITTLE ELSE

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:25:00 +0000

By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette

LIMON CO (IFS) - It's just a matter of time that Myspace will only be used by musicians, as it continues to lose 20,000 subscribers a week. The lure of Myspace in the early days was just a social networking site, then came the music industry that really makes Myspace the great digital recording label designed by the earlier poineer J-Bird Records that invented the digital online recording label concept.

When its comes to the art of social networking, Facebook is adding news users and former Myspace members at approximately 1,000,000 new subscribers per week worldwide. This not so suttle expandion by Facebook is causing Rupert Murdock alot of heart burn, as the Fox News subsidairy continues to crash and burn.

One could blame it on the practices of Mr. Murdock's News Corporation's parent company and Fox News producers that has lead to it's loosing ground and causing users to abandon their accounts and go to someone else that is not so political with their hands and fingers in everything from degrading the president - to it's partners with Arabic sheiks.

At the present rate of subscriptions, Mysapce will only be a recording label for new music, other then that, it's useless as a networking site.

Google's GMail to Video

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:24:00 +0000

By Kenneth Howard Smith,
(IFS) SDCOG News-Gazette

LIMON CO (IFS) - Skype is going to take a large hit when Google's GMail goes to Video in the next few months. Google's telephone service that has been operating for the past several years teaming with the video conferencing features will put Google over the top and drive Skype to the back seat of the online video/telephone services. What the future will bring for both Google and Skype is only speculation, but the videoing-phone writing is on the wall with Skype being pushed to the side lines.

RIAA Urges Piracy Crackdown In Google-Verizon Net Neutrality Deal

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:58:00 +0000

21 August, 2010,
by ITProPortal Staff

Following open criticism from industry experts, law makers, privacy authorities, and government watchdogs, Google and Verizon's net neutrality plan has found some support.

Almost every music trade group in the US has urged Google to come up with clauses against suspected pirates and child pornography on the web, tech news site Cnet has reported.

In a letter written to Google chief Eric Schmidt, music organisations, including the American Association of Independent Music, the American Federation of Musicians, the Recording Industry Association of America, SESAC, Sound Exchange, and The Recording Academy, have shown interest in Google-Verizon Net Neutrality plan.

The plan is a composition of concepts proposed by both Verizon and Google over the future of the internet in the US.

“The Internet has become a crucial part of the music discovery process and a central platform for commerce. Our ability to invest in and create the next generation of music is grounded on crafting policies that respect intellectual property," the groups wrote in the joint letter.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/8/21/riaa-urges-piracy-crackdown-google-verizon-net-neutrality-deal/#ixzz0xFxvcrcE

The Fintons

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:29:00 +0000

LIMON CO (IFS) – It’s a great thing when you donate your time to giving a little sunshine to the lives of our seniors who are shut-ins and something just forgotten, as most of them are just “warehoused” in these nursing homes. Chaya and Kenny Finton have dedicated their lives to singing and playing for these wonderful poineers that have given so much and who now needs a little entertainment and appreciation in this fast paced world of ours.

Pat Condell on the Ground Zero Mosque

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Pat Condell on the Ground Zero Mosque

On 7/4/2010 9:55 AM, REGINALD GRAVES wrote:

Each day as I grow a little older; I truly question our leadership, ALL of them seemed to have the wrong ideas, but basically it comes back to MONEY, they can be bought as sold as easy as you purchase a Coke, on about the same frequency!

I must say that the major fault of this is our own fellow AMERICANS, they have lost their collective balls, by allowing idiots to frighthen them, weapons of mass destruction, Patriot Act so they can listen into our calls, read our emails. Did anyone take note when they told Bill Gates to hand over all his emails, the worlds richest guy, good or bad guy, could not stop them. I shuddered at that moment, Freedom is dead! Now look at us, We are cancelling Fourth of July Celebrations. Sorry, but to me that is THE MOST IMPORTANT HOLIDAY, PERIOD!!!!!!! THE DECLARATION OF OUR INDEPENDENCE ceremony has been put out. And we seem to have forgotten that only a few years ago, we were told all our bridges and roads are failing, Minnesota, and yet we march on, NO ONE has even marched or staged some form of organization, except for the Latino's about the Flag. We have become a nation of knotheads and well wishers. We are telling our Cops that they cost us too much, jackass, the price of freedom is always high. Fire Teachers, yeah, so that the next generation of Americans will know even less than this group. Stop for a minute and compare the education you received to that of your son or daughter. What do they know? If you know more than them, remember they have the internet, we did not, we had to read a thing called a book. First thing you can do is absolutely, without fail, no bullshit, is to email this to your elected representative and tell THEM NO ONLY NO, BUT HELL NO. I will email you my letter, I am not going to sit on my ass and say, Oh Well.

And while I'm on my soap box, BP. First, if you see a friend going to BP, ask the to stop going there. Yeah the local BP guys will get laid off, but should be be held prisoner for them when we know that there are GOING TO BE LAYOFFS IN ALL SECTORS BECAUSE OF THE SPILL. I could care less if BP goes absolutely broke. Since I have never used BP, we should try to Be American and Buy American, that's the reason there is an Olds, GMC, Caddy sitting in my yard. So what your Whatchumacallit has GreenSync and pushbutton start, we need to support our own industry, BECAUSE they sold more Buicks in China last year than in AMERICA, I challenge you to prove me wrong on that point, and the point is that China can manufacture and sell a million Buicks without exporting one car, Remember, 4.5 BILLION OF THEM WANT A CAR!!! We need to tell our leadership that this is wrong. I mean right a email just as you have taken the time to write this one to me. I got your back, I WILL TELL PARKER GRIFFITH I AM PISSED ABOUT THIS, AND RICHARD SHELBY AND JEFF SESSIONS. I also always hit YOUR Black Lady Of Politic's. If you don't know your reps name, then you are part of the damn promblem. Git off your duff and shake his cage. When I lived in Cali, You bet Leon Pinetta saw my dumbass with a list of HRs that I liked or did not like. I need some help out here shaking cages. Email me what you wrote so I can use it on these grits here.

By the way, Sessions and Shelby are Republicans, so I'm reaching across the aisle, as usual.

Dear Senator Sessions – I have recently viewed a video that I find troubling and outrageous at the same moment. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/06/pat-condell-on-ground-zero-mosque-is-it-possible-to-be-astonished-but-not-surprised.html

That WE Americans would allow A Mosque anywhere near Ground Zero, is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE AND REPREHENSIBLE. I can guarantee that any Politician that supports such an initiative, I personally and I believe all freedom loving citizens and my Fellow Veterans, who have not only the same emotions as our Fellow Americans, but we have actually closed and defeated a member of a foreign nation, we will be absolutely vivid with anger that everything that stands for America is defeated by this building. Listen to what this man says, let’s not totally theosophical, their religion is not about personal freedoms, they subjugate women to a lessor status, the Koran, makes references speaks of Infidels and Pureness and violence for none compliance to its tenets. We have all seen what they stand for, some of us have even been in their countries and there is ONLY one US OF A! The American dream is getting tarnished with all our overt ignorance of the dangers that are STILL out there. Some of us KNOW and knew that the Russian never stopped spying on us. OPSEC. But a lot of us have forgotten and the egregious part is THEY ARE THE ONE TASKED WITH OUR SECURITY!! Fund all the CyberIntell solutions that make Sense; We have allowed something or someone to jeopardize the operations of our Predator Fleet last year, how do you know that they can’t be jammed when necessary, NOW is not the time to demonstrate this capability, but we must be vigilant. Do you think that upon an invasion, shutting down our electric grids will not be paramount?? Take a look around DC, and imagine what a mess that could be if NOT an airliner came, but more than one aircraft? Four interceptors were protecting us back then, HOW many are there now. I know that you can’t give the number, OPSEC, but have we got better at this????

Someone continually yells, Look the Goodyear Blimp on us. We look up and all hell breaks loose on the ground. For some strange and arcane reason, I do not see the Mexicans as a Threat in the same manner that most do, and should do. How many Mexicans have we caught trying to harm our way of life, carrying suicide bombs into our shopping centers, how many have been caught spying on us. Yes, they are a situation, but we need to marshal our resources. In fact, why can’t we let an individual that serves for a honorable tour of duty in any military force, automatically earn their citizenship. Heck, they will have done more for their COUNTRY than a lot of NATIVE AMERICANS (NOT Indians). And IF they are ordered into harms way, to protect American Values and Ideals, I think they should go into combat as an AMERICAN, period!! If you can dodge bullets for America, then you damn sure are an American!!

Bill Wynne

CW3, US ARMY, Retired

I hold all these things near and dear to me. Have they ever even thought about building cars such as OURS any where else????? No Way Jose. There's America, and then there's Second Place

Google targeting Apple iPad with Chrome tablet?

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:15:00 +0000

August 18, 2010 - 7:07 P.M.

Google targeting Apple iPad with Chrome tablet?
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

TAGS:Android, Apple, Google, HTC, iPad, Linux, tablet, Verizon

IT TOPICS:Devices, Emerging Technology, Hardware, Laptops & Netbooks, Linux & Unix, Management, Mobile, Operating Systems

Google Android was always going to be the heart of many Linux-based iPad like devices. That's no news. But, what is new and news is that Google and Verizon appear to be working together to create a Chrome operating system based tablet.

According to the first report, from The Download Squad, HTC is building the Chrome OS tablet. The device will be sold in partnership with Verizon starting on November 26th. That date is already engraved in every retailer's heart as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and usually the biggest shopping day of the year.
After those nuggets of news, everything else that's been written about the Google Chrome tablet has been pure speculation. That said, I can believe this core of the story. Google already worked with HTC to deliver the one of first Android smartphones: the now for developers only Nexus One.

On the carrier side, everyone who pays any attention to telephone company business buddy relationships knows that Verizon and Google have been working closely together since the announcement of their Net Neutrality plan. So, sure, the business relationships to make a Chrome tablet a reality are in place.
Besides, I think Google wants to jump-start the Android/Chrome tablet market. The very first Android tablets, like the Augsen GenTouch78, have been less than impressive. Just the very hint that Google may be making an iPad competitor already has buzz going.

That last part may also be important in its own right. Lately, Apple and Google have been getting along like cats and dogs I think Google would be very, very, one more time with feeling, very happy to put a spanner in Apple's hopes for an iPad Christmas.

I'd say the odds are good we'll see a Chrome tablet under some of our holidays trees at year's end. What do you think?

Why GOP Rep. Bob Inglis is looking for a new job

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Why GOP Rep. Bob Inglis is looking for a new job.

— By David Corn

Tue Aug. 3, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

It was the middle of a tough primary contest, and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) had convened a small meeting with donors who had contributed thousands of dollars to his previous campaigns. But this year, as Inglis faced a challenge from tea party-backed Republican candidates claiming Inglis wasn't sufficiently conservative, these donors hadn't ponied up. Inglis' task: Get them back on the team. "They were upset with me," Inglis recalls. "They are all Glenn Beck watchers." About 90 minutes into the meeting, as he remembers it, "They say, 'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'" Inglis didn't know how to respond.
As he tells this story, the veteran lawmaker is sitting in his congressional office, which he will have to vacate in a few months. On June 22, he was defeated in the primary runoff by Spartanburg County 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who had assailed Inglis for supposedly straying from his conservative roots, pointing to his vote for the bank bailout and against George W. Bush's surge in Iraq. Inglis, who served six years in Congress during the 1990s as a conservative firebrand before being reelected to the House in 2004, had also ticked off right-wingers in the state's 4th Congressional District by urging tea-party activists to "turn Glenn Beck off" and by calling on Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to apologize for shouting "You lie!" at Obama during the president's State of the Union address. For this, Inglis, who boasts (literally) a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, received the wrath of the tea party, losing to Gowdy 71 to 29 percent. In the weeks since, Inglis has criticized Republican House leaders for acquiescing to a poisonous, tea party-driven "demagoguery" that he believes will undermine the GOP's long-term credibility. And he's freely recounting his frustrating interactions with tea party types, while noting that Republican leaders are pushing rhetoric tainted with racism, that conservative activists are dabbling in anti-Semitic conspiracy theory nonsense, and that Sarah Palin celebrates ignorance.
The week after that meeting with his past funders—whom he failed to bring back into the fold—Inglis asked House Republican leader John Boehner what he would have told this group of Obama-bashers. Inglis recalls what happened:

[Boehner] said, "I would have told them that it's not quite that bad. We disagree with him on the issues." I said, "Hold on Boehner, that doesn't work. Let me tell you, I tried that and it did not work." I said [to Boehner], "If you're going to lead these people and the fearful stampede to the cliff that they're heading to, you have to turn around and say over your shoulder, 'Hey, you don't know the half of it.'"

In other words, feed and fuel the anger and paranoia of the right.

During his primary campaign, Inglis repeatedly encountered enraged conservatives whom he couldn't—or wouldn't—satisfy. Shortly before the runoff primary election, Inglis met with about a dozen tea party activists at the modest ranch-style home of one of them. Here's what took place:

I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there's a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life's earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, "What the heck are you talking about?" I'm trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, "You don't know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don't know this?!" And I said, "Please forgive me. I'm just ignorant of these things." And then of course, it turned into something about the Federal Reserve and the Bilderbergers and all that stuff. And now you have the feeling of anti-Semitism here coming in, mixing in. Wow.

Later, Inglis mentioned this meeting to another House member: "He said, 'You mean you sat there for more than 10 minutes?' I said, 'Well, I had to. We were between primary and runoff.' I had a two-week runoff. Oh my goodness. How do you..." Inglis trails off, shaking his head.
While he was campaigning, Inglis says, tea party activists and conservative voters kept pushing him to describe Obama as a "socialist." But, he says, "It's a dangerous strategy to build conservatism on information and policies that are not credible...This guy is no socialist." He continues:

The word is designed to have emotional charge to it. Throughout my primary, there were people insisting that I use the word. They would ask me if he was a socialist, and I would always find some other word. I'd say, "President Obama wants a very large government that I don't think will work and that spends too much and it's inefficient and it compromises freedom and it's not the way we want to go." They would listen for the word, wait to see if I used the s-word, and when I didn't, you could see the disappointment.

Why not give these voters what they wanted? Inglis says he wasn't willing to lie:

I refused to use the word because I have this view that the Ninth Commandment must mean something. I remember one year Bill Clinton—the guy I was out to get [when serving on the House judiciary committee in the 1990s]—at the National Prayer Breakfast said something that was one of the most profound things I've ever heard from anybody at a gathering like that. He said, "The most violated commandment in Washington, DC"—everybody leaned in; do tell, Mr. President—"is, 'Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.'" I thought, "He's right. That is the most violated commandment in Washington." For me to go around saying that Barack Obama is a socialist is a violation of the Ninth Commandment. He is a liberal fellow. I'm conservative. We disagree...But I don't need to call him a socialist, and I hurt the country by doing so. The country has to come together to find a solution to these challenges or else we go over the cliff.

Inglis found that ideological extremism is not only the realm of the tea party; it also has infected the official circles of his Republican Party. In early 2009, he attended a meeting of the GOP's Greenville County executive committee. At the time, Republicans were feeling discouraged. Obama was in the White House; the Democrats had enlarged their majorities in the House and Senate. The GOP seemed to be in tatters. But Inglis had what he considered good news. He put up a slide he had first seen at a GOP retreat. It was based on exit polling conducted during the November 2008 election. The slide, according to Inglis, showed that when American voters were asked to place themselves on an ideological spectrum—1 being liberal, 10 being conservative—the average ended up at about 5.6. The voters placed House Republicans at about 6.5 and House Democrats at about 4.3. Inglis told his fellow Republicans, "This is great news," explaining it meant that the GOP was still closer to the American public than the Democrats. The key, he said, was for the party to keep to the right, without driving off the road.
Inglis was met, he says with "stony" faces: "There's a short story by Shirley Jackson, 'The Lottery.'" The tale describes a town where the residents stone a neighbor who is chosen randomly. "That's what the crowd looked like. I got home that night and said to my wife, 'You can't believe how they looked back at me.' It was really frightening." The next speaker, he recalls, said, "'On Bob's ideological spectrum up there, I'm a 10,' and the crowd went wild. That was what I was dealing with."
Inglis acknowledges he's intimately familiar with extreme politics. He was part of the GOP gang that went after Clinton and impeached him for the Lewinsky affair:

I hated Bill Clinton. I wanted to destroy him. Then I had six years out [after leaving Congress in 1999] to look back on that, and now I would confess it as a sin. It is just wrong to want to destroy another human being and to spend so much time and effort trying to destroy Bill Clinton—some of it with really suspect information. We went on and on about Whitewater. We had talked about the strange things about Vince Foster's death. The drug dealing at Mena airport. So in the six years I was out, I looked back and realized, "Oh what a waste."

When he returned to the House in 2005, Inglis, though still a conservative, was more focused on policy solutions than ideological battle. After Obama entered the White House, Inglis worked up a piece of campaign literature—in the form of a cardboard coaster that flipped open—that noted that Republicans should collaborate (not compromise) with Democrats to produce workable policies. "America's looking for solutions, not wedges," it read. He met with almost every member of the House Republican caucus to make his pitch: "What we needed to be is the adults who say absolutely we will work with [the new president]."
Instead, he remarks, his party turned toward demagoguery. Inglis lists the examples: falsely claiming Obama's health care overhaul included "death panels," raising questions about Obama's birthplace, calling the president a socialist, and maintaining that the Community Reinvestment Act was a major factor of the financial meltdown. "CRA," Inglis says, "has been around for decades. How could it suddenly create this problem? You see how that has other things worked into it?" Racism? "Yes," Inglis says.
As an example of both the GOP pandering to right-wing voters and conservative talk show hosts undercutting sensible policymaking, Inglis points to climate change. Fossil fuels, he notes, get a free ride because they're "negative externalities"—that is, pollution and the effects of climate change—"are not recognized" in the market. Sitting in front of a wall-sized poster touting clean technology centers in South Carolina, Inglis says that conservatives "should be the ones screaming. This is a conservative concept: accountability. This is biblical law: you cannot do on your property what harms your neighbor's property." Which is why he supports placing a price on carbon—and forcing polluters to cover it.
Asked why conservatives and Republicans have demonized the issue of climate change and clean energy, Inglis replies, "I wish I knew; then maybe I wouldn't have lost my election." He points out that some conservatives believe that any issue affecting the Earth is "the province of God and will not be affected by human activity. If you talk about the challenge of sustainability of the Earth's systems, it's an affront to that theological view."
Inglis voted against the cap-and-trade climate legislation, believing it would create a new tax, lead to a "hopelessly complicated" trading scheme for carbon, and harm American manufacturing by handing China and India a competitive edge on energy costs. Instead, he proposed a revenue-neutral tax swap: Payroll taxes would be reduced, and the amount of that reduction would be applied as a tax on carbon dioxide emissions—mainly hitting coal plants and natural gas facilities. (This tax would be removed from exported goods and imposed on imported products—thus neutralizing any competitive advantage for China, India, and other manufacturing nations.)
Here was a conservative market-based plan. Did it receive any interest from House GOP leaders? Inglis shakes his head: "It's the t-word." Tax. He adds, "It's so contrary to the rhetoric we've got out there, to what Beck, Limbaugh, and others are saying."
For Inglis, this is the crux of the dilemma: Republican members of Congress know "deep down" that they need to deliver conservative solutions like his tax swap. Yet, he adds, "We're being driven as herd by these hot microphones—which are like flame throwers—that are causing people to run with fear and panic, and Republican members of Congress are afraid of being run over by that stampeding crowd." Inglis says that it's hard for Republicans in Congress to "summon the courage" to say no to Beck, Limbaugh, and the tea party wing. "When we start just delivering rhetoric and more misinformation...we're failing the conservative movement," he says. "We're failing the country." Yet, he notes, Boehner and House minority whip Eric Cantor have one primary strategic calculation: Play to the tea party crowd. "It's a dangerous strategy," he contends, "to build conservatism on information and policies that are not credible."
Asked if there are any 2012 GOP contenders who can lead the party in a more credible direction, Inglis points to Rob Portman, a former House member who was President George W. Bush's budget director. But Portman is now running for Senate in Ohio. He's not 2012 material. What about Sarah Palin? Inglis pauses for a moment: "I think that there are people who seem to think that ignorance is strength." And he says of her: "If I choose to remain ignorant and uninformed and encourage people to follow me while I celebrate my lack of information," that's not responsible.
After winning six congressional elections since 1992, Inglis is now a politician without a party, a policy maven without a movement. And in a few months, he will be without his present job. He has no specific plan yet for his future. He mentions looking for "private sector opportunities" in a sustainable energy field—or an academic or think tank position. Becoming a lobbyist is another option he has started to mull.
Inglis is a casualty of the tea party-ization of the Republican Party. Given the decisive vote against him in June, it's clear he was wiped out by a political wave that he could do little to thwart. "Emotionally, I should be all right with this," he says. And when he thinks about what lies ahead for his party and GOP House leaders, he can't help but chuckle. With Boehner and others chasing after the tea party, he says, "that's going to be the dog that catches the car." He quickly adds: "And the Democrats, if they go into the minority, are going to have an enjoyable couple of years watching that dog deal with the car it's caught."

Glenn Beck: Obama's America is like 'Planet of the Apes'

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:21:00 +0000

LIMON CO (IFS) - I feel sorry for Mr Glenn Beck. You have to stupe so low into the slime to generate a few viewers for your show? Don Imus did the same thing, and lost his show for a couple of months. But Beck is still on the air. Why? Money!! For the love of good old "green energy" that keeps Beck and people like him of the edge of hate. Russ Lambaugh and his "kind" are just a couple of race baiters that are out to get ratings. What if no one listened to them?

Glenn Beck: Obama's America is like 'Planet of the Apes'

By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Aug 9th 2010 11:33AM

It appears that Glenn Beck enjoys the idea of comparing black people to monkeys. Beck's latest rant featured him comparing President Barack Obama's America to "the damn 'Planet of the Apes.'" Beck made these comments in response to the president's statements against the AFL-CIO.Beck seems to feel that the support of strong union pensions in the presence of a high-unemployment rate doesn't make any sense. His alleged confusion about Obama's actions forms the basis of Beck's comparison to 'Planet of the Apes,' where a man is pushed in to another segment of time/space to find that apes run the world and humans are their pets.

"Special interest! What planet have I landed on? Did I slip through a worm hole in the middle of the night and this looks like America? It's like the damn 'Planet of the Apes.' Nothing makes sense! The guy who's helped destroy all these pensions, Andy Stern, he is now on the financial oversight committee. Is this who we want to take advice from?

"The unions who have collapsed all of the businesses, who have collapsed all of their pensions, they are bankrupting everything they touch and we go to them and we say, yes, tell me, what should we do? It's like any marital tips from Tiger Woods."

I was once tempted to take Glenn Beck seriously, but now I just see him as a cute little monkey himself who seems to live off of attention. Making one outrageous statement after another is his way of keeping his ratings high, so that Fox will pay him more money. Perhaps his scheme is working, since I am writing about him right now.

While Beck's outrageous words (it was no accident that he compared Obama to an ape, which is highly offensive to black people) may gain him attention right now, he must also realize that he loses credibility with each ridiculous statement. I personally find myself less and less shocked by anything he says, and I hardly consider him to be a serious political figure.

Additionally, his ironic comparison of Obama's America to "Planet of the Apes" is interesting in that it seems to imply that he feels our nation has (as in the movie) shifted roles, where the apes are running the world and the humans are being subjected to their abuses.

Beck reflects the sentiments of many white Americans, who believe that a nation being run by black people is going to turn into a zoo.

With regard to the meat of Beck's disagreement with Obama's support of the AFL-CIO, his reaction is natural. Republicans tend to be pro-business, typically at the expense of working Americans.

Labor unions reduce corporate profits by demanding that rank and file Americans get their share of company revenue. Such a fight is important in light of the fact that undermining labor unions, business de-regulation and irresponsible globalization is part of the reason that the wage of the American worker has remained stagnant for the last decade.

The bottom line is this: Obama is right to support labor unions, since they need additional help. Beck is right to get angry over Obama's support for workers, since Beck's constituents have little incentive to back the idea of wage increases for working Americans (some say that this is why the Republicans have always turned a blind eye to cheap labor via illegal immigration).

What always confuses me, however, is how the Republican Party is able to recruit working class people who vote for interests that directly conflict with their own. While Beck and other Republicans reel in the poor on issues like guns, gay marriage and affirmative action, they are ultimately focused solely on keeping their pockets full at our expense. That's why they will never appreciate labor unions.

Ousted HP CEO settles with accuser

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:20:00 +0000

AP source: Ousted HP CEO settles with accuser

By JORDAN ROBERTSON (AP) – 1 hour ago

SAN FRANCISCO — Ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd has settled allegations of sexual harassment lodged against him by a female contract worker for HP, a person with intimate knowledge of the case told The Associated Press late Saturday.

The harassment accusations set off a chain of events that led to the discovery of allegedly falsified expense reports about Hurd's meetings with the woman and culminated in Hurd's stunning resignation this week that left a hole in the world's largest technology company.

The person familiar with the case told the AP that Hurd agreed to pay the woman, but this person wouldn't reveal the size of the payment. The settlement was between Hurd and his accuser and did not involve a payment from HP, this person said.

This person requested anonymity because of not being authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

The deal was reached Thursday, a day before Hurd's resignation.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the settlement.

Hurd engineered a stunning turnaround of the Silicon Valley stalwart before his ouster.

Under Hurd, HP has spent more than $20 billion on acquisitions to transform itself from a computer and printer maker dependent on ink sales for profits to a well-rounded seller of hardware and lucrative business services. HP's market value nearly doubled during his five years.

The company is suddenly leaderless as it stands at a turning point to integrate some of those acquisitions, the most recent of which was the purchase of smart phone maker Palm Inc. for $1.4 billion in June.

Hurd was forced to resign Friday after HP's board of directors said Hurd falsified expenses to hide numerous private dinners with a woman who was paid up to $5,000 per event to greet people and make introductions among executives attending HP events that she helped organize.

The expenses were scrutinized when the woman recently accused Hurd of sexual harassment. The nature of the complaint could not be learned. Hurd and a lawyer representing the woman, whose identity could not be learned, all said the relationship was not sexual.

Hurd insists they were legitimate business expenses. Hurd doesn't know the total value of expenses being disputed or have a full accounting of them, the person briefed on the situation said.

Hurd's departure leaves it to find another leader to keep HP on the course he mapped out.

HP's stock fell nearly 10 percent to $41.85 in after-hours trading, when the news was released after the close of markets Friday.

The company has a deep bench in management and the stock drop was reactive and doesn't reflect the company's prospects, an analyst said.

"I don't view his departure as catastrophic," said Dinesh Moorjani, an analyst with Gleacher & Co. "The strategy is working fine. The level of uncertainty for me is relatively low just given the circumstances. This wasn't a one-man company."

Hurd, who spent 25 years at ATM maker NCR Corp. before coming to HP in April 2005, became a Wall Street darling. The $13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems made HP a major player in technology services, challenging archrival IBM Corp.

HP also now offers computer networking, helped by the $2.7 billion takeover of 3Com Corp., racheting up the rivalry with Cisco Systems Inc. The Palm acquisition catapulted the company into the fast-growing smart phone business.

The additions also broadened the pool of people who could replace Hurd. It's a deep bench, and internal candidates could have an edge, given that Hurd and predecessor Carly Fiorina — who got the boot in 2005 over concern about her management style and her decision to buy Compaq Computer — both came from outside HP.

Inside candidates could include Todd Bradley, who oversees personal computers and mobile devices at HP; Vyomesh Joshi, who leads the printer division; Ann Livermore, in charge of servers, services, software and storage; and Shane Robison, leader of HP's corporate strategy and marketing. Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak, now interim CEO, took herself out of the running for the permanent job.

In recent weeks, Hurd had started talks for a three-year contract that could have been worth $100 million, the person close to the case said. Those went off track when the woman accused him and HP of sexual harassment, this person said.

The company determined Hurd didn't violate its sexual harassment policy but broke its rules of conduct.

The woman's lawyer, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, declined to describe the harassment. Allred would not identify her client or make her available for an interview.

Hurd will get about $28 million in cash and stock just to walk away. The person said Hurd realized he could no longer lead HP in part because at least two board members were convinced he had had a sexual relationship with the woman and was trying to cover it up.

Hurd is accused of listing other people as his dinner partners on expense reports when he'd been out with the woman. HP also claimed Hurd arranged for her to be paid for work she didn't do.

There was only one instance in which that occurred, the person close to the case said, but it was for an event that was canceled at the last minute and the woman's contract required that she would be paid unless an event was canceled 30 days in advance.

Hurd says the errors in the reports may have been entered unwittingly by an assistant, according to the person close to the case. Hurd hasn't gotten a full accounting from HP of the expenses he is alleged to have falsified or a total, though he has agreed to refund the company, this person said.

This person said Hurd met the woman, who is in her 40s, when interviewing her in 2007 for a job greeting and introducing executives at corporate events that she also helped organize.

They talked at a luxury hotel and met for a second time in Denver when she was flown in for a final interview at an HP event Hurd was attending, according to this person. Hurd approved the hire then, the person said.

Hurd and the woman often shared dinner after events she was hired for, said the person, who described the relationship as an acquaintance that became friendly.

Hurd's ouster is the third in five years at HP's top echelon. First was Fiorina's in 2005, then former Chairwoman Patricia Dunn was ousted in 2006 amid a boardroom spying scandal that involved spying on reporters' and directors' phone records to suss out the source of leaks to the media.

"It says they're off track in some fundamental way," said Stephen Diamond, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and an expert on business law.

"The first thing is, they have to find the right kind of CEO," he added. "And I think what that CEO needs to do is come in and say, 'How many board members were here during the last two scandals? If you were, please resign now."

RANDY WEAVER: SIEGE AT RUBY RIDGE

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:59:00 +0000

RANDY WEAVER: SIEGE AT RUBY RIDGE

By David Lohr

GOVERNMENT GONE WRONG

Ruby Ridge cabin, aerial view (AP)

In August of 1992 Americans tensely watched as events began to unfold on a remote ridge in Northern Idaho, involving a white separatist family and the FBI. Eleven days after it had begun, a 14-year-old boy, a 42-year-old mother, a federal marshal, and one yellow Labrador retriever had all been shot dead.

The incident ultimately led to one of the most intensive and controversial investigations in recent history. The FBI faced widespread resentment and Attorney General Janet Reno established a Justice Department task force to investigate what had happened. National debates on the case were said to have fueled anti-government sentiments, which eventually played a role in the Waco, Oklahoma City, and the Freemen conflict. Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the government building in Oklahoma City is said to be at least partially motivated by revenge for what happened at Ruby Ridge.

Prior to the incident, the Weaver family had moved to the remote mountaintop to escape what they viewed as a sinful world. Randy Weaver lived with his wife and four children in a cabin he himself built on Ruby Ridge, just 40 miles south of the Canadian border. The cabin had no electricity or running water. According to friends, the Weavers simply wanted to be left alone as they awaited Armageddon. While many may have viewed their intent as unusual, it appeared to be quite harmless to most who knew them.

Almost a decade later many questions remain: What went wrong at Ruby Ridge? Why did over 400 members of the FBI, military and local law enforcement converge on the mountain? Why did so many have to die? These and similar such questions are not easily answered, however; some answers may lay hidden within the details provided.

Text Messaging for the rest of us

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:16:00 +0000

Fox News Replaces Helen Thomas and AP in the front row seat

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:07:00 +0000

FCC, FDA Partner on Wireless Health IT

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:37:00 +0000

FCC, FDA Partner on Wireless Health IT
By Kenneth Corbin
July 27, 2010

The Federal Communications Commission and Food and Drug Administration have joined forces in an effort to promote the development and deployment of wireless technologies to improve health care and lower costs while also taking care to protect patients' safety.
Through the partnership, the agencies aim to streamline the approval process and regulatory requirements for wireless health IT device makers, spurring innovation and investment in an emerging sector of the medical industry.
Wireless health applications offer the potential to provide remote consults with specialists from distant medical centers, delivering a level of care beyond the reach for many rural Americans.
Similarly, medical monitoring applications can provide remote diagnostic information, such as a crop of smartphone apps that can check glucose levels in diabetics.
"The benefits that wireless technologies can provide to healthcare are clear, but to harness the full power of those benefits, we must navigate a delicate balance between innovation and safety and effectiveness," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. "Working alongside the FCC, we can improve the efficiency of regulatory processes in areas where our jurisdictions overlap."
The agencies developed a set of operating principles (PDF available here) and a memorandum of understanding (PDF) clarifying that the agreement is limited to areas that come under the regulatory purview of both the FCC and FDA.
Under the agreement, each agency will establish a liaison officer who will be responsible for sharing information of mutual interest.
The joint effort on wireless health IT marks the first partnership between the two agencies, and broadly aims to pair the FCC's technical expertise overseeing areas such as spectrum with the FDA's focus on consumer safety.
"The FCC is responsible for overseeing the efficient use of the airwaves, and the FDA is responsible for the safety and efficacy of medical devices," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at a health IT event announcing the partnership this week. "It's vitally important that we work together on issues where wireless meets medical."
The wireless health IT push builds on a set of recommendations included in the national broadband plan the FCC delivered to Congress in March, and extends the administration's advocacy of tapping advanced technology to overhaul the country's medical system.
In addition to the nearly $20 billion allocated to health IT initiatives in last year's economic stimulus bill, the administration has taken several steps to drive the adoption of electronic health records (EHR) and other similar initiatives.
Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services issued the final set of rules to reward providers for using EHRs with Medicare and Medicaid payment bonuses.
EHRs are widely viewed as a path to reduce manual errors in patients' records and improve the coordination of care, while helping to flag for harmful drug interactions and reduce duplicate or unnecessary tests.
The new rules aim to clarify the certification criteria that vendors' EHR systems will have to meet in order to qualify for the incentives, and provide similar guidelines for doctors and hospitals.
HHS said it could pay out as much as $27 billion in Medicare and Medicaid bonuses to providers that adopt EHR systems that satisfy the requirements for "meaningful use" under the new regulations.
The same week, the FCC announced a major initiative to expand broadband access to doctors and health facilities operating in remote and rural areas. The program would reallocate as much as $400 million annually under the FCC's Universal Service Fund to deliver high-speed connectivity to more than 2,000 rural health-care facilities.
The commission noted that nearly 30 percent of rural clinics receiving federal funding don't have broadband service that's either fast or secure enough to handle health IT applications such as a remote consultation with a specialist or the transmission of data-intensive records like X-rays or MRIs.

Kenneth Corbin is an associate editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

Criminals to be weeded out of medical marijuana centers

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:43:00 +0000

written by: Jeffrey Wolf Deborah Sherman
21 mins ago

DENVER - More than half of the medical marijuana
center owners in Colorado have criminal arrest or
conviction records for crimes like dealing drugs,
sexual assaults, burglaries and weapons, according
to statistics by the Drug Enforcement Agency
obtained by 9Wants to Know, but that will all change
on Sunday.
- Broomfield bans marijuana centers

The DEA says 18 percent of medical marijuana
center owners have been convicted of felonies.

"This business seems to have an inappropriate
number of people with criminal backgrounds
involved as business owners," Kevin Merrill,
assistant special agent in charge for the Denver field
division of the DEA, said. "I would be hard-pressed
to find any other business group where their
members have so many criminal violations, arrests
and convictions."

DEA statistics show while 8 percent of Colorado's
adult population has been arrested for drug crimes,
28 percent of the medical marijuana center owners
have drug histories.

The charges include 77 cases of assault, 22
burglaries, 34 cases of domestic violence, 11 rapes,
29 weapons charges and four arrests for murder,
attempted murder and/or involvement in a
homicide.

Those felons will be weeded out of the medical
marijuana business this weekend when new rules
take effect Sunday that prohibit anyone with a drug
felony conviction or anyone with a felony sentence
within the last five years from obtaining a medical
marijuana center license in Colorado.

Businesses that sell medical marijuana have been
commonly referred to as dispensaries, but the state
now official calls them centers.

Matt Obrochta, owner of Burnzwell Medical
Marijuana Center on Broadway in Denver, is now
scrambling to figure out what to do since he
received a five-year suspended sentence for
possessing pot, a felony, in 1998.

Obrochta did not want to comment on his old
conviction, but a representative of the medical
marijuana industry agreed to speak on behalf of
owners with criminal histories.

"They don't think it's fair," Sensible Colorado
Executive Director Brian Vicente said. "A lot of
people have been convicted of felonies or any crime
and they have done their time, they've paid their
debt to society and now want to move on and work
in this field and aren't able to do so."

Vicente believes someone with a criminal record for
marijuana may be best suited to work in the industry
because it shows they have experience working with
the drug.

"Many of those people the DEA arrested themselves
for growing marijuana legally under Colorado law,
so I don't think they're a credible source for
providing information about folks who are following
state law," Vicente said.

The DEA used public records, advertisements and
property records to collect the names of the owners
of medical marijuana centers. Then agents ran
criminal background checks to gather the data.

"The DEA investigates all drug crimes and marijuana

is still a schedule one and our job is to know who
we are dealing with because we may come into
contact with them at some time," Merrill said.

The state expects the new rules about felons along
with high licensing fees and in-state residency
requirements will reduce the number of medical
marijuana centers in the state by about 50 percent.

There are currently 1,100 medical marijuana centers
operating in Colorado, according to the Department
of Revenue.

DOR Senior Director Matt Cook is leading a team of
investigators for the Medical Marijuana Enforcement
Division that will be conducting an "exhaustive"
check of arrest records, business associations and
tax returns for anyone who applies for a medical
marijuana license.

"Anybody who has a prohibited conviction will not
be eligible to hold a license," Cook said. "They want
to make sure that the public has confidence in the
people that they're doing business with and that it's
not a drug cartel selling tainted medicine to them
they could harm them when they ingest it."

One of Cook's biggest concerns with the new
requirements is that some owners with criminal
backgrounds or drug cartels may try to hide their
ownership in a medical marijuana center.

"Those persons typically that would not qualify to
hold a license often times try and find somebody
else to front the business for them. They will fund
them through very elaborate lending schemes and
reap the benefits of the business," Cook said.

"It potentially may just push the true owners under
the carpet behind the closed door and make it even
more difficult for investigators to determine who
truly owns this," Merrill said.

The most abundant supply of marijuana is Mexican-
grown and is brought into and through Colorado by
poly-drug trafficking organizations, according to
the Office of National Drug Control Policy data in
June 2008.

In March, Erie Police arrested two suspected drug
runners on charges that they moved 64 pounds of
marijuana between Colorado and California
involving dispensaries. One suspect, Max
Hernandez, owned the Denver dispensary

Colorado Compassionate Caregivers', according to Colorado

Secretary of State Records.

Hernandez and Bryan Mark Manard have been
charged in Weld County with possession of
marijuana and intent to distribute, both felonies.

Anyone who lies on their Colorado medical
marijuana center application will be arrested and
charged for filing a false instrument, Cook said.

The state application is 22 pages long and asks for
bank account numbers, education and marital
information.

"I don't even know what my high school diploma has
to do with providing medicine to patients, but
apparently it's one of the requirements," Carl
Wemhoff, president of Herbal Remedies Inc. in
Westminster, said.

Wemhoff says the application is so long and
complicated he has taken some of his employees off
of other projects to get it done.

"We've got a four-man team working day and night
for three weeks to get this done. It's that involved,"
Wemhoff said.

Wemhoff, who does not have a criminal history,
hopes to benefit from the new regulations by buying
up a couple of medical marijuana centers that will
be forced to shut down. In addition to no prior felony drug convictions,
there are several other automatic disqualifiers for
holding a license: if you haven't paid student loans
or are in arrears for your taxes or child support.

The state says any dispensary caught operating
without having applied for a state license as of Aug.
1 will be prevented from ever holding a Colorado
license.

Even though the change is coming over a weekend,
the Department of Revenue will be open on Saturday
and Sunday to accept and start processing business
applications.

The first license will be issued on July 1, 2011. Until
then, medical marijuana centers are allowed to
operate with their application paperwork.

If you have any news tips, please e-mail 9Wants to
Know Investigator Deborah Sherman at Deborah.
Sherman@9NEWS.com.

(KUSA-TV © 2010 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

New gov't rules allow unapproved iPhone apps

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:34:00 +0000

By JOELLE TESSLER,
AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer

1 hr 15 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Owners of the iPhone will be able to legally break electronic locks on their devices in order to download software applications that haven't been approved by Apple Inc., according to new government rules announced Monday.
The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of new exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized uses. The Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing use of copyright-protected material.
In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:
• allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.
• allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.
• allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.
• allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.

‘Keep the Negroes Out of Most Classes Where There Are a Large Number of Girls’: The Unseen Power of the Ku Klux Klan and Standardized Testing at The University of Texas, 1899-1999

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:45:00 +0000

Thomas D. Russell
University of Denver Sturm College of Law

March 22, 2010

U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-14
Abstract:
The paper’s title is a quotation from The University of Texas registrar nine days after the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This paper examines 20th-century techniques of racial domination at The University of Texas by crosscutting two narratives.

The first narrative that the paper presents is one of the development of bureaucratic or institutional forms of racial exclusion. The paper describes the university’s efforts to limit the application of the Brown v. Board of Education.

In the immediate years after the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, The University of Texas developed and instituted entrance exams that university officials knew would exclude a disproportionate number of African-American applicants. Publicly, the university presented the testing as race-neutral. The university stalled post-Brown integration until the exclusionary admissions testing was in place.

An explicit concern of the university in seeking to exclude African-American students during the 1950s was a racialized sexual concern about the university’s white women.

The second narrative is the story of William Stewart Simkins, a law professor at The University of Texas from 1899 to 1929. Professor Simkins helped to organize the Ku Klux Klan in Florida at the conclusion of the American Civil War, and he advocated his Klan past to Texas students.

Like the university registrar during the 1950s, Professor Simkins was explicitly concerned with the sexual defense of white women. Relying upon the analysis of historian Grace Elizabeth Hale, the paper links Professor Simkins’s advocacy of the Klan to the early 20th-century history of lynching and white supremacist violence.

During the 1950s, the memory and history of Professor Simkins supported the university’s resistance to integration. As the university faced pressure to admit African-American students, the university’s faculty council voted to name a dormitory after the Klansman and law professor. The dormitory carries his name to the present day. During this time period, alumni also presented the law school with a portrait of Professor Simkins. Portraits and a bust of Professor Simkins occupied prominent positions within the law school through the 1990s.

The sources for the paper are drawn largely from primary materials of the university’s archives, including the papers of the university’s Board of Regents, Chancellor, President, and faculty committees. The author completed this research during the 1990s while a member of The University of Texas School of Law faculty.
Keywords: legal history, University of Texas, Simkins, Ku Klux Klan, legal education, law professor, race, racism, standardized testing, admissions, integration, segregation, Brown v. Board of Education, Sweatt v. Painter, USSC, Supreme Court, Thomas D. Russell, Tom Russell
Working Paper Series

Date posted: April 05, 2010 ; Last revised: May 19, 2010

Suggested Citation

Russell, Thomas D., ‘Keep the Negroes Out of Most Classes Where There Are a Large Number of Girls’: The Unseen Power of the Ku Klux Klan and Standardized Testing at The University of Texas, 1899-1999 (March 22, 2010). U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-14. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1583606

NY Times July 11 2010 Headline News

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:54:00 +0000

Sunday, July 11, 2010
Compiled 2 AM E.T.

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TOP STORIES

Wall St. Hiring in Anticipation of an Economic Recovery
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
While much of the country remains fixated on the bleak employment picture, hiring is beginning to pick up in the place that led the economy into recession.

Bank Bailout Is Potent Issue for Both Parties in Fall Races
By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Lawmakers who backed the Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue the banking system in 2008 are haunted by the vote.

In Haiti, the Displaced Are Left Clinging to the Edge
By DEBORAH SONTAG
Six months after an earthquake, only 28,000 of 1.5 million displaced Haitians have new homes, and Port-au-Prince remains a tableau of life in the ruins.

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Officer Johannes Mehserle - Oakland BART Officer Found Guilty Of Manslaughter In Oscar Grant Killing

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:22:00 +0000

LIMON CO (IFS) - Oscar Grant, a young 22 year old black male who was cooperating with the police as bystanders videos does show, was shot dead with his hands in cuffs and the bullet shot to his back. With is fellow officers standing there, they appears to be in shock as to what has happen, all while Mr. Grant was seated on the floor. Once again, a police officer, Johannes Mehserle gets off with cold blooded murder and the system has failed again when it comes to young black man and the police force. This will not go away. Oscar Grant will be the rallying cry heard all over the United States of America. For once, the police and the people are going to have a mass gathering and this meeting will not be a nice one. People are ready to die for the "cause", for they have had enough of this "justice" from ignorant and crazy police personnel. This officer will go to prison for four to 14 years, but Mr. Grant will never get a chance to fulfill his dream, and prison is a very bad place for ex police officers. Mr. Johannes Mehserle will meet his match with no gun and no support when he comes up against a lot of the people he help place there. Officer Johannes Mehserle life expectancy in prison? I'll give him three months in general population. And if he gets out of prison, his life on the streets is nil and none. He may get a witness protection deal, but there is a bounty on his head. That poor bastard, I feel sorry for him. He will pray to God for death. Prison will not be his friend. Officer Johannes Mehserle's plea on the stand is that "I made a mistake." Well well, we have untrained police personnel on the force, and he made a mistake? The city will pay dearly for that bullet. -KHS

The defense will focus on those aspects of the case as he presents evidence and makes arguments to the jury that the death, while tragic, was nothing more than an accident sparked by Mehserle believing he had a Taser in his hand when he pulled the trigger.Rains said in court documents filed last month he will not argue that Mehserle acted in self-defense. Rains said while Mehserle might have believed Grant possessed a gun, he did not believe Grant had opportunity to use it. Instead, Rains wrote, he will provide evidence that Mehserle was permitted, under the circumstances, to use a Taser to subdue Grant.
The fact that Mehserle used a gun and killed Grant was simply an accident, Rains argued, and does not merit a conviction of murder, either first degree, second degree or a conviction of manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.
"So, the relevant question in this case turns out to be very simple: Can the state supply proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Mehserle formed an intent to use the gun as opposed to his Taser," Rains wrote. "(Mehserle's) defense will rather be that he believed Grant might be armed, that Grant continued to resist, and that (Mehserle) properly concluded the appropriate response was to use his Taser."
In fighting that defense, Stein will have to convince the jury that Mehserle believed officers were losing control of the situation on the BART platform and therefore pulled out his gun.
If the jury believes the evidence shows Mehserle knew he was pulling out his gun, then it must decide if Mehserle purposely pulled the trigger or if the gun was fired by accident.
A decision by the jury that Mehserle purposely pulled the trigger would likely result in a second-degree murder conviction and at least 15 years in prison. A decision by the jury that the gun was fired by accident could result in an involuntary manslaughter finding and, at a minimum, a two-year stay in prison for Mehserle.
In addition to the videos and testimony from both BART officers who responded to the scene and passengers on the Dublin-Pleasanton-bound train, both attorneys will present the jury with detailed evidence about police officer training and responses to crowd control, court documents show.
Both attorneys will use the evidence about police training to show what Mehserle thought as he reached to his hip and pulled out his gun.
While presenting that evidence, Rains will have to walk a fine line of showing that the situation on the BART platform was chaotic enough for the officers to justify the use of a Taser while not completely out of control to warrant the use of a gun.
"To be sure, defense expert witnesses will explain that under the circumstances, and in light of Mehserle's training, BART policies, law and common sense, Mehserle was justified in his intention to use his Taser," Rains wrote.
Meanwhile, Stein will have to prove to the jury that Mehserle misread the situation on the platform as dangerous and in need of him pulling out a gun to gain control.
"The People contend that in order for the jurors to properly consider these questions, they must be informed about what the defendant knew about firearms and how he was trained," Stein wrote in a court pleading. "(Mehserle's) training in the academy as well as his training after becoming a sworn BART police officer is relevant to show not only his knowledge of firearms but such training is also circumstantial evidence of his state of mind at the time he fired the gun that killed Oscar Grant."

Mehserle: What was he thinking?

By Paul T. Rosynsky
Oakland Tribune

Posted: 05/30/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

Updated: 05/30/2010 09:01:10 AM PDT

OAKLAND — The central question in the murder case against former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle will probably never be directly answered.

What was Mehserle thinking in the four seconds it took him to grab his handgun, point it at the back of an unarmed and prone Oscar Grant III, and pull the trigger?
While Mehserle, 28, is not expected to answer that question during the murder trial against him that begins this week, a jury's interpretation of his thoughts in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2009, will determine if Mehserle — who served as a police officer for 22 months — is sent to state prison.
A prosecutor and defense attorney will spend at least the next four weeks trying to convince a jury of a dozen Los Angeles residents that they know what Mehserle thought when he killed Grant, 22, of Hayward.
For deputy district attorney David Stein, the answer lies in six videotapes of the shooting and the events that led to it. It can also be found in the actions of BART officers who, some argue, used excessive force in an attempt to detain Grant and four friends for fighting on a train, and in the training Mehserle received before and while he was an officer.
For defense attorney Michael Rains, Mehserle's thoughts can be found in the actions of Grant, a parolee who resisted arrest during what some described as a near riot on the BART platform, and from Mehserle's unfamiliarity in using a Taser. Rains said in court documents filed last month he will not argue that Mehserle acted in self-defense. Rains said while Mehserle might have believed Grant possessed a gun, he did not believe Grant had opportunity to use it. Instead, Rains wrote, he will provide evidence that Mehserle was permitted, under the circumstances, to use a Taser to subdue Grant.will focus on those aspects of the case as he presents evidence and makes arguments to the jury that the death, while tragic, was nothing more than an accident sparked by Mehserle believing he had a Taser in his hand when he pulled the trigger.The fact that Mehserle used a gun and killed Grant was simply an accident, Rains argued, and does not merit a conviction of murder, either first degree, second degree or a conviction of manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. "So, the relevant question in this case turns out to be very simple: Can the state supply proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Mehserle formed an intent to use the gun as opposed to his Taser," Rains wrote. "(Mehserle's) defense will rather be that he believed Grant might be armed, that Grant continued to resist, and that (Mehserle) properly concluded the appropriate response was to use his Taser."
In fighting that defense, Stein will have to convince the jury that Mehserle believed officers were losing control of the situation on the BART platform and therefore pulled out his gun.
If the jury believes the evidence shows Mehserle knew he was pulling out his gun, then it must decide if Mehserle purposely pulled the trigger or if the gun was fired by accident.
A decision by the jury that Mehserle purposely pulled the trigger would likely result in a second-degree murder conviction and at least 15 years in prison. A decision by the jury that the gun was fired by accident could result in an involuntary manslaughter finding and, at a minimum, a two-year stay in prison for Mehserle.
In addition to the videos and testimony from both BART officers who responded to the scene and passengers on the Dublin-Pleasanton-bound train, both attorneys will present the jury with detailed evidence about police officer training and responses to crowd control, court documents show.
Both attorneys will use the evidence about police training to show what Mehserle thought as he reached to his hip and pulled out his gun.
While presenting that evidence, Rains will have to walk a fine line of showing that the situation on the BART platform was chaotic enough for the officers to justify the use of a Taser while not completely out of control to warrant the use of a gun.
"To be sure, defense expert witnesses will explain that under the circumstances, and in light of Mehserle's training, BART policies, law and common sense, Mehserle was justified in his intention to use his Taser," Rains wrote.
Meanwhile, Stein will have to prove to the jury that Mehserle misread the situation on the platform as dangerous and in need of him pulling out a gun to gain control.
"The People contend that in order for the jurors to properly consider these questions, they must be informed about what the defendant knew about firearms and how he was trained," Stein wrote in a court pleading. "(Mehserle's) training in the academy as well as his training after becoming a sworn BART police officer is relevant to show not only his knowledge of firearms but such training is also circumstantial evidence of his state of mind at the time he fired the gun that killed Oscar Grant."

Former BART officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter

Prosecutors accused Johannes Mehserle of intentionally firing his handgun as he tried to handcuff Oscar J. Grant III on New Year's Day 2009. Mehserle testified that he thought he was pulling out his electric Taser weapon and not a firearm.

By Jack Leonard
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
4:11 PM PDT, July 8, 2010

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/39d2/3/0/%2a/w%3B226159175%3B0-0%3B0%3B12926869%3B4307-300/250%3B37355445/37373323/1%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bart-verdict-20100709%2C0%2C4079503%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eokv%3D%3Bptype%3Dps%3Bslug%3Dla-me-bart-verdict-20100709%3Brg%3Dur%3Bref%3Dlatimescom%3Bpos%3D1%3Bdcopt%3Dist%3Bsz%3D300x250%3Btile%3D1%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bart-verdict-20100709%2C0%2C4079503%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eaopt%3D2/0/8d66/0%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://clk.atdmt.com/ANY/go/245331818/direct/01/2369197" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src="http://view.atdmt.com/ANY/view/245331818/direct/01/2369197"/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;noscript&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/39d2/3/0/%2a/w%3B226159175%3B0-0%3B0%3B12926869%3B4307-300/250%3B37355445/37373323/1%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bart-verdict-20100709%2C0%2C4079503%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eokv%3D%3Bptype%3Dps%3Bslug%3Dla-me-bart-verdict-20100709%3Brg%3Dur%3Bref%3Dlatimescom%3Bpos%3D1%3Bdcopt%3Dist%3Bsz%3D300x250%3Btile%3D1%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bart-verdict-20100709%2C0%2C4079503%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eaopt%3D2/0/8d66/0%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://clk.atdmt.com/ANY/go/245331818/direct/01/2369197" target="_blank"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img border="0" src="http://view.atdmt.com/ANY/view/245331818/direct/01/2369197" /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/noscript&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

A former transit police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man at an Oakland train station was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, capping a racially charged case that raised fears in the Bay Area of possible violence after the verdict.

Prosecutors accused the ex-officer of intentionally firing his handgun as he tried to handcuff Oscar J. Grant III on New Year's Day 2009. Johannes Mehserle, 28, tearfully testified that the shooting was a tragic accident caused when he mistakenly grabbed his firearm instead of an electric Taser weapon during a struggle with Grant.

The shooting was captured on video by several witnesses. Mehserle, who is white, fired a single round into the back of Grant, who was black and was lying face-down on the station platform. Mehserle resigned a week after the shooting.

The killing provoked protests and violence in Oakland. The case, which has drawn comparisons to the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King that ultimately triggered riots in Los Angeles in 1992, was moved to Los Angeles for trial amid concern about the extensive media coverage of the slaying in the Bay Area.

Many civil rights activists considered the case a test of how the justice system treats police officers accused of abusing minorities. The trial also captured the attention of law enforcement officers who feared that a guilty verdict could raise the stakes for cops who make mistakes.

The shooting occurred soon after police responded to reports of a fight on a train stopped at the Fruitvale Station. Grant and four friends were detained by a different police officer who prosecutors said used excessive force against the men. Mehserle arrived on the platform after the men had been detained.

Alameda County Deputy Dist. Atty. David R. Stein rejected the idea that the shooting was a mistake, telling jurors that Mehserle's holster was specially designed to prevent easy release of his firearm. The prosecutor contrasted the light, bright yellow Taser gun with the heavier black Sig Sauer handgun that Mehserle fired.

"He let his aggression dictate his conduct," Stein told jurors.

The prosecutor urged jurors to find Mehserle guilty of second-degree murder, pointing out that the officer never told his colleagues that night that the shooting was an accident.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have not won a murder conviction in a police shooting case since 1983.

Mehserle testified that he intended to use his Taser because he believed Grant, 22, might be reaching for a gun in his pants pocket. While the officer's firearm was on his right side, the Taser was in a holster on the left side of his belt but angled so that it could be pulled out with his right hand.

Two people, including a friend of Grant's, testified that they heard the officer say he intended to use his Taser shortly before the shooting. In at least six other instances, officers have said they made the same mistake of firing a handgun when they intended to use a Taser.

Numerous witnesses said Mehserle looked shocked after the gunshot. Defense attorney Michael L. Rains said video footage shows his client holding his head in his hands in despair.

"He's sick to his stomach," Rains told jurors, "because he has shot a man who did not deserve to be shot."

jack.leonard@latimes.com

OAKLAND CA (IFS) - A former BART officer was found guilty of manslaughter in the slaying of Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009.

Prosecutors said that officer Johannes Mehserle, 28, deliberately shot his gun into Oscar J. Grant III’s back as he attempted to handcuff him on New Year's Day 2009. Mehserle testified in court that he thought he was unleashing his taser, not a gun.

The killing was video taped by several witnesses in Oakland. Mehserle, a White man, shot a round into the back of Grant, a Black man, who was face down on a train station platform. Police were working 12-hour shifts in preparation for riots and crowd control.

Mehserle resigned from the transit force a week after the shooting.

Alameda County Deputy Dist. Atty. David R. told jurors that Mehserle's holster was designed to avert discharge of the handgun, reports the L.A. Times. "He let his aggression dictate his conduct," Stein told jurors. Lawyers for Mehserle charged the gun and the taser had similar weight.

A friend of Oscar Grant testified that he heard Mehserle proclaim that he was going to use the taser to in the infraction that occurred with 22-year-old Grant and three other men. Grant was unarmed.

Others testified that Mehserle expressed immediate grief and despair after the killing of Grant.

Detractors of the police system and the case continue to express discontent with the verdict, considering it too light for Mehserle.

"He's sick to his stomach, because he has shot a man who did not deserve to be shot,” a defense attorney told the jury. A group of protesters expressed a unified discord after the verdict was announced.

Several members of Oscar Grant's family and friends have filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the BART transit agency.

Johannes Mehserle faces two to four years in jail for involuntary manslaughter.

Limon Colorado Storm - July 4 2010

noreply@blogger.com (SDC OmniMedia Group) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:57:00 +0000

LIMON CO (IFS) - Limon Colorado endured some nasty hail storms and 70 mile per hour winds on the eastern plains that did damage estimated at $10 Million throughout the community. On the western part of town, little damage was recorded and corp failure was minimum. The eastern part of town, crop failure was intense along with glass breakage and heavy tree damage with water overflowing the banks of the drainage ditches.