iePolitics: Extensive Investigation at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

Sources have confirmed that officials from the state regulatory agency have converged on Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in what has been described by one long-term employee as the most extensive investigation/inspection of the facility since its opening ten years ago.  The investigation involves all units in the hospital including the behavioral health unit.

Complaints have previously been lodged with both former County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer and Chief Operating Office Patrick Petre over the care of patients in the behavioral health (lock down) unit.  Those complaints appeared to have fallen on deaf ears.  It is not clear how this investigation/inspection was initiated.

Concerns addressed by employees in the behavioral health unit include misuse of restraints and over-medication of patients.  Our sources tell us that patient records were falsified by a nurse manager with the knowledge of the unit manager in an effort to keep several patients in restraints for a period of months.  Nursing staff is said to have overheard two of doctors discussing the situation and expressing concern that they could lose their licenses to practice medicine because of the situation.

US navy crash blamed on ‘catastrophic’ leadership

A collision between a nuclear-powered US Navy submarine and a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz was caused by “catastrophic failure” in management, a US Navy report says.

US Navy investigators found that “ineffective and negligent” management and the failure of navigation practices were to blame for a March 2009 collision between the USS Hartford and the USS New Orleans, an amphibious vessel.

“This incident comes down to weak and complacent leadership, which led to inadequate planning and preparation of the crew,” the Navy Times said in its report.

Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes Backs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill

Incoming Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes says he’s still stunned by his election victory over incumbent Tom Carr. One area where Holmes hopes to bring change is in the city’s attitudes toward marijuana enforcement. Holmes says he has no plans to charge anyone with simple marijuana possession. And he’s supporting a state bill to decriminalize small amounts of pot altogether.

Newly elected city attorney Peter Holmes says the transition process is more chaotic and uncharted than he expected. He will take office in January. Holmes says the success of his “outsider” campaign has clearly left employees with the city’s legal department nervous, and he’s trying to change that.

Holmes: “And I’m also in the process of reaching out to a 159–employee law department trying to calm them, that this is going to be a very deliberate process, that I’m going through. That I’m going to meet every one of them and talk with them before any decisions are made.”

Los Angeles DA Joins Ranks of Drug Cartel Bitches Against Medical Marijuana

It was a petulant fit of pique, certainly entertaining, and potentially hilarious — if safe access for so many medical marijuana patients weren’t hanging in the balance.

After things didn’t go his way at Monday’s Los Angeles City Council joint committee meeting, District Attorney Stephen Lawrence (“Steve”) Cooley pronounced Tuesday that he’d keep prosecuting medical marijuana dispensaries, even if the council adopts an ordinance that doesn’t ban sales. Cooley said his office was already prosecuting some dispensaries, and he promised to step up such efforts in December.

The D.A.’s public meltdown was a result of his frustration that the council ignored the advice of L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and changed a provision in L.A.’s proposed medical marijuana ordinance, allowing cash transactions as long as they complied with state law.

“The City Council has no authority to amend state law or Proposition 215 (Compassionate Use Act of 1996). Such authority is solely possessed by California voters,” Cooley said. “What the City Council is doing is beyond meaningless and irrelevant.”

It was a richly ironic little hissy fit, given that drama king Cooley just handed pot advocates one of their best arguments in the unfolding culture war between those who insist on the lawful implementation of Proposition 215, California’s medical marijuana law, and those asserting, damn it, all weed sales are illegal, medical or not.

Russia confirms adherence to death penalty ban obligations

Moscow will stick to its commitments on the abolishment of the capital punishment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said on Thursday.

Constitutional Court of Russian Federation extended a moratorium on capital punishment earlier on Thursday. The court said that the ban, introduced in 1999, had begun an “irreversible process” toward the abolition of the death penalty in the country. The 1999 decision imposed a moratorium until jury trials were introduced in all of Russia’s regions.

Chechnya, the only region where jury trials are not available, is due to introduce them on January 1, 2010. However, Constitutional Court chairman Valery Zorkin said that the introduction of jury trials in Chechnya “does not make it possible to apply the death penalty on Russian territory” as Russia has signed international agreements banning the death penalty.

Russia imposed the moratorium after it joined the Council of Europe in 1996 and signed the European Convention on Human Rights, but it has not ratified the document yet.

“The resolution by the Constitutional Court confirms that the Russian Federation remains true to commitments it undertook when joining the Council of Europe,” the ministry said.

The Council of Europe welcomed on Thursday the Russian court’s decision to extend the moratorium.

 

 

Privacy concerns as NSA admits “helping” Microsoft

Security experts raised privacy concerns after a US National Security Agency official revealed that the Agency collaborated with Microsoft during the development stage of Windows 7. The revelation was made in a prepared statement by NSA information assurance director Richard Schaeffer, before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which operates under the Judiciary panel.

Speaking during a hearing on cybersecurity on November 17, Schaeffer acknowledged that the NSA drew on its “unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft’s operating system security guide”. Schaeffer ‘s prepared statement is available on video here (forward to 32^nd minute).

Commenting on Schaeffer’s revelation, security experts and watchdog groups expressed privacy concerns, citing the Agency’s controversial domestic intelligence operations in recent years.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said “the obvious concern is [that the NSA has built] in back doors that enable tracking users and intercepting user communications”. This is the third time in recent years that the NSA is found to have collaborated with Microsoft in developing operating systems. The secretive Agency worked with the US-owned vendor on Windows 9X, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista.

 

The Coming Nuclear Crisis

The world is about to enter a period of unprecedented investment in nuclear power. The combined threats of climate change, energy security and fears over the high prices and dwindling reserves of oil are forcing governments towards the nuclear option. The perception is that nuclear power is a carbon-free technology, that it breaks our reliance on oil and that it gives governments control over their own energy supply.

That looks dangerously overoptimistic, says Michael Dittmar, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich who publishes the final chapter of an impressive four-part analysis of the global nuclear industry on the arXiv today.

White House nominates a new slate to the Broadcasting Board of Governors

The Broadcasting Board of Governors oversees the United States Government’s non-military broadcasting. Its function is to provide managerial guidance from talented private sector leaders. The combined audience of the broadcasting it oversees is over 171 million, an increase of 71% over 2003, according to the BBG. Programming is in 60 languages and is provided though online media, satellite, terrestrial and cable television, as well as shortwave, AM, and FM radio. Like most advisory boards, the Governors, including the Chairman, are part-timers.

The Board is to have eight members, including the Chairman, plus the Secretary of State as an ex officio member. For over a year, however, the Board barely had quorum, and only if the Secretary of State was included. Four seats on the Board have been vacant for between one year to nearly 4 years while the terms of the seated Governors expired between 3.5 and 5.5 years ago. For all the lip service to the urgency to communicate with the world, the Board has been long neglected.

Yesterday, the White House announced a whole new slate for the Broadcasting Board of Governors: Walter Isaacson, as Chairman, Michael Lynton, Susan McCue, Michael Meehan, Victor H. Ashe, Dennis Mulhaupt, Dana Perino, and S. Enders Wimbush. The announcements and bios are here and here. Isaacson has been a candidate for over six months but has rumored to have held out until all the vacancies were filled.

Judge: Retrial possible for pardoned Virginia sailor

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge says prosecutors can retry an ex-sailor who received a conditional pardon from Virginia’s governor after spending more than a decade in prison for rape and murder.

Derek Tice was one of four ex-sailors known as “The Norfolk Four” who claimed their confessions to the rape and murder of 18-year-old Michelle Moore-Bosko were coerced. Gov. Tim Kaine freed three of the men from prison in August. The fourth had already served his time and was not eligible for a conditional pardon.

Although the men were released, the convictions remained on their records. Tice’s convictions were later tossed out, but it was unclear until Thursday whether he could be retried. U.S. District Judge Richard Williams said Thursday that prosecutors have 120 days to decide whether to retry Tice.

Navy chief gets 18 months for lying about fraud

A Navy chief was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Tuesday for lying about his role in a credit card fraud scheme.

Chief Storekeeper Antonio Allen, 36, of Memphis, Tenn., pleaded guilty in April to making false statements about the wrongful use of government-issued credit cards used to steal more than $350,000 worth of computers and other items, according to the U.S. Attorney in Virginia’s Eastern District.

Allen was stationed at Naval Support Activity Norfolk (Naval Station Norfolk), where his job was to oversee and approve credit card purchases. He supervised an employee accused of fraud and initially denied knowledge of the fraud. Allen later admitted that he knew about and participated in some of the fraud schemes, federal officials said.

Ex-recruiter sentenced to prison for sex crimes

HEMET, Calif. — A former Marine Corps recruiter has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Southern California’s Riverside County after pleading guilty to child sex charges.

Prosecutors say former Staff Sgt. Bryan Damone Cunningham pleaded guilty Friday to felony charges of committing lewd acts and sodomy with a child under 14.

The girl told police she met Cunningham online and had sex with him and two other men. She also told police Cunningham wanted her to work as a prostitute and had tried to take her to Los Angeles County against her will.

Cunningham could have faced life in prison if convicted of a kidnapping for rape charge, in addition to an attempted pimping charge and two other felonies that the district attorney’s office agreed to dismiss.

2 life sentences for convicted Carson soldier

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Fort Carson soldier convicted of killing two people with an AK-47 was sentenced Thursday to two consecutive life terms in prison.

A judge in Colorado Springs also sentenced 25-year-old Jorma Falu-Vives to another 140 years for wounding a fellow soldier in another drive-by shooting.

A jury convicted the Iraq war veteran of first-degree murder and attempted murder after nearly seven hours of deliberation Wednesday.

Falu-Vives’ gun was used in the shootings, but his attorneys had argued that he did not pull the trigger.

Falu Vives was a member of an infantry unit within 4th Brigade Combat Team that nicknamed itself the “Lethal Warriors.”

See also: Carson soldier convicted in double homicide

 

Soldier charged with making threat at school

SEDALIA, Mo. — The Pettis County prosecutor has charged a soldier who had been reported missing from Fort Leonard Wood with making a terrorist threat at a Sedalia high school.

Pettis County Sheriff, Kevin Bond, says 19-year-old Michael John Frederick of Kansas City was charged Thursday after being arrested in Excelsior Springs.

Prosecutors allege that Frederick went to Smith-Cotton High School on Saturday night during a senior dinner fundraiser. He allegedly told an assistant superintendent that the Army had told him to warn all schools in the area about six escaped convicts that might be coming to the school to kidnap or hold students hostage.

He drove away from the school. The report of escaped prisoners was not true.

Army officials say Fredrick had been reported as absent without leave from the fort.

FBI kept tabs on Pulitzer-winning author Studs Terkel for 45 years

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which acted as America’s political police during the Cold War, spent several decades watching Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel, who died earlier this year at age 96.  The revelation was made by the City University of New York’s NYCity News Service, which acquired 147 of the 269 pages in Terkel’s FBI file through a Freedom of Information Act request.  The FBI said that it intends to keep the remaining 122 pages kept secret “because of privacy and other reasons”.  The FBI appears to have opened a file on Terkel in 1945, in an attempt to discern whether he was affiliated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

The released pages contain an intense dialogue among FBI agents and informants, with some suggesting that Terkel was not a CPUSA member and the file should be closed, and others arguing that the author of Working and The Good War was “a concealed C[ommunist] P[arty] member in 1945” and “subscribed to the Daily Worker”, the CPUSA’s newspaper. The file appears to contain some reports from the 1960s and 1970s, and was last updated in 1990, when for some bizarre reason an FBI agent in Miami, Florida, filed a copy of an article in The Wall Street Journal about a high-yield bonds scandal, in which Turkel was quoted.

A complete copy of the released pages in Studs Terkel’s FBI file is available here (.pdf).

Global Fertility Rates Falling

Uffer Era Ends on a 3-2 Vote

Mark H. Uffer’s five-year tenure as the county’s top administrative officer drew to a close this week with a 3-2 vote of the board of supervisors.

The sacking of Uffer, who was named interim county administrative officer in March 2004 and then given the official title as CAO in September 2004, was not done for cause, the county board members said. Rather, the three supervisors who favored having him take his leave said it was simply a matter of their changing management and policy imperatives rendering him out of step with their collective marching orders that sealed Uffer’s fate.

“The board felt it was necessary to move in a different direction at this time.” said board of supervisors chairman Gary Ovitt, who joined with supervisors Brad Mitzelfelt and Neil Derry in approving the motion to terminate Uffer.

“The board felt it was a time for a change in leadership and direction and that is why the board made this change,” said Derry. “Despite the end result of the vote, I believe Mark Uffer has done his best for the county.”

Since no cause was cited in giving Uffer his pink slip, he will be granted a full year’s pay and benefits as a severance package, as per the terms of an ordinance passed by the board in January.

Thus, Uffer will be paid his annual salary of $273,748 and about $50,000 more in deferred compensation and benefits, including cell phone, car allowance, retirement plan contributions and health insurance. Those payments will run through November 16, 2010. Thereafter, Uffer, 56, will be eligible to begin drawing retirement.

Multiple efforts by the Sentinel to reach Uffer for his reaction were unsuccessful. A secretary at the county administrative office on Wednesday said, “I do not believe we are at liberty to provide you with his contact number at this point.”

When It’s Crunch Time at College, Students Turn to Adderall

Can ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) stimulants like Adderall (amphetamines) be the answer for college students looking to increase academic performance? They think so.

It’s a week before final exams and you haven’t begun studying. These general education classes are, simply, a drag and you’re already tired from fraternity, sorority or extracurricular activities. Besides, your friends are partying this weekend anyway.

You should, (A) clamp down and study for a few hours every night this week, pacing yourself for finals. But you know you’ll probably (B) start absentmindedly perusing your books four days before the exam to make yourself feel better, or (C) free your mind of finals worries until two days before testing, then pop an Adderall pill and spend 10 and 12 hours a day in the library maniacally whirring through your textbooks.

For a small, but growing, minority of college students, the answer is clearly (C).

In 2005, a national survey found that students’ nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (like Adderall) ranged from zero to 25 percent among four-year colleges and universities. Building on this prior research is a 2009 study, headed by Duke University’s David L. Rabiner, which explores why these students chose to illicitly use these prescription stimulants.

Overwhelmingly, college students use prescription ADHD stimulants to concentrate better while studying and to increase academic performance. These results might shock a few but — as many college students (and freelance journalists) know — the Adderall culture has been a long established university tradition for overachievers, underachievers and chronic procrastinators.

Mexican Consulate will provide temporary vehicle import permits for persons who plan to travel to Mexico

Drawn by its beauty, mysticism of ancient traditions, or love of the country, hundreds of thousands of tourists and Mexican nationals will defy the weather and possible bad road conditions and will venture into Mexican territory during the holidays by vehicle.

However, in order to avoid infractions and legal troubles, those adventurous travelers would have to obtain a temporary vehicle import permit at the border or could save time by visiting the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino, where an immigration officer will be offering the service from Nov. 16 to Nov. 24.

“We are bringing the service to their backyard. It is very important that in addition to planning and knowing where they are going, travelers should have their documents ready, including the temporary vehicle permits,” said Carolina Zaragoza-Flores, Mexican Consul. “But first, travelers should cancel their past permits so Mexican authorities know where the vehicle is. They should render the hologram and get a new one to avoid consequences.”

By law, all vehicle owners who travel beyond 20 to 30 kilometers from the border zone must possess a tourist card and a temporary import permit for the vehicle, which can be easily obtained by showing proof of citizenship, or residence, and the car title along with a valid driver’s license to staff at Banjercito, National Bank of the Air and Armed Forces.

Why We Must Not Always Be Compliant

You may recall this incident in which Steven Bierfeldt, a Ron Paul supporter, was detained by TSA screeners for no other reason than that he was carrying a box of cash:

But it was a good thing he chose to disobey the Transportation Security Administration agent’s unlawful request. His defiance has led to some positive changes:

Bierfeldt and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented him in a lawsuit, announced in a news release this week that the TSA had changed its rules in response to the litigation.

“It’s a huge victory for civil liberties that TSA agents no longer have free rein to conduct sweeping, baseless searches and detain passengers who don’t pose a threat to flight safety,” Bierfeldt said in a statement.

Sometimes refusing to play the role of a compliant sheep pays off in the long run.

iePolitics Commentary: Sheriff Hoops

Rod Hoops	Bart Gray

I am not surprised to hear that you are going to try and let the issue with Captain Bart Gray and his wife die a quiet death. More on that in a moment.

I direct these statements to you because you are the Sheriff. As you know you get tagged with all the good, bad and ugly things attached to the Department. You took the job, now you get the headaches too.

First let me address your concerns about where all these leaks are coming from and how many people are talking about all the corruption and double standards within the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The leaks are coming from everywhere and it isn’t just rank and file. Do you believe that the 3,000 plus employees working for you all think you and the Executive Staff’s way of conducting business is all right and they support corruption? No they don’t, they are tired of the “good ol’ boys” way of business. If folks are telling you or your staff everyday that your awesome and morale is high, someone is lying to you. But you believe what ever you want.

You will not find the leaks, because a leak could be someone’s spouse who has confessed his or her sins after getting home from work and having to “look the other way” at your behest or someone else’s.

It gets old after awhile.

Why would you or anyone else be worried about the leaks in information on corruption issues? SHOULD you not be investigating them like anything else?

No, you and a few others have elected to terminate and prosecute rank and file employees on a whim, add a couple Sergeants to the mix.

But anything that comes up involving a Lieutenant, Captain, or higher rank, nothing happens, or they are allowed to retire, or told to retire.

ACTION ALERT: Force DEA to Tell the Truth About Medical Marijuana

In a significant reversal, the American Medical Association on November 10 acknowledged the medical value of marijuana and called for the U.S. government to reconsider marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I substance (drugs that the government says have “no currently accepted medical use”).

However, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) still claims on its website that, “The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance.”

Please use the form at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/dea to send a message to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice, asking them to correct this misinformation on a government website.

Anti-immigrant tea-party wankers think again ;)

Hacked: Controversial holocaust historian David Irving emails, Nov 2009

Attached is an email message database for the controversial holocaust historian David Irving. The email addresses used by Mr. Irving are focalp@aol.com and info@fpp.co.uk. The data was passed to WikiLeaks by an anti-fascist hacker.

Mr. Irving is speaking on November 14th 2009 in New York City.

DOWNLOAD/VIEW FULL FILE FROM

fastest (Sweden), slow (US)

2010 Army Weapon Systems Handbook

The U.S. Army has published the latest edition of its Army Weapon Systems handbook, cataloging dozens of Army weapons with descriptive information, status updates, contractor relationships, and images.

“The systems listed in this book are not isolated, individual products,” the introduction says. “Rather, they are part of an integrated investment approach to make the Army of the future able to deal successfully with the challenges it will face.”

“We have received extraordinary funding support through wartime Overseas Contingency Operations funds, but they have only enabled us to sustain the current fight. We look forward to continued Congressional support to achieve our broad modernization goals.”

Ex-Army counterintelligence worker executed

JARRATT, Va. — A former Army counterintelligence worker was executed by electric chair Tuesday for killing a Virginia couple, becoming the first U.S. inmate to die by electrocution in over a year.

Larry Bill Elliott was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. He was convicted of the January 2001 shooting deaths of 25-year-old Dana Thrall and 30-year-old Robert Finch.

Prosecutors said Elliott killed the couple to win the love of former stripper and escort Rebecca Gragg, who was involved in a bitter custody dispute with the man who was killed. Elliott claimed he was innocent.

In the death chamber, Elliott would only say he had prepared a statement for his attorneys to read after the execution.

Jurors decide soldier’s homicide case

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jurors are deciding the case of a Fort Carson soldier accused of killing two people in a drive-by shooting.

Attorneys for Jomar Falu-Vives said in closing arguments Tuesday that the Iraq war veteran’s AK-47 was used to kill 18-year-old Amairany Cervantes and 20-year-old Cesar Ramirez-Ibanez last year as they posted yard sale signs. But the soldier’s lawyers say someone else in his SUV pulled the trigger.

Prosecutors countered that Falu-Vives was the gunman in those shootings and in another drive-by shooting last year that wounded Army Lt. Zachary A. Szody as he stood on a street corner.

Jurors were considering the case Wednesday.

Trial begins for ex-Air Force nurse in 3 deaths

SAN ANTONIO — A former Air Force nurse intentionally gave three elderly Texas patients lethal doses of medication, killing them with his self-described “aggressive” care for end-of-life patients, prosecutors said Tuesday at the start of a court-martial.

Capt. Michael Fontana has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and a charge of conduct unbecoming an officer. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The three patients who died in intensive care last summer at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio were nearing the end of their lives, but family members wanted them comfortable, not hastened to death, said Capt. Ja Rai Williams, an Air Force prosecutor.

“All three people had something in common: excess doses of medication given by the accused resulting in a quicker death than anticipated,” Williams told the military judge, Col. William Burd, who will decide the case at Lackland Air Force Base.

A terrible week for German spy agencies

Germany’s largest intelligence agencies are in for a challenging few days, as two spy scandals are making headlines in the country’s media.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV), Germany’s foremost domestic intelligence organization, is firmly in the hot seat after it emerged that a woman it employed as an undercover informer was among seven extremists indicted for helping operate a hardcore neo-Nazi online radio station.

The woman, who has been identified only as “Sandra F.”, had been hired by the spy agency to monitor the German People’s Union (Deutsche Volksunion or DVU), a national socialist political grouping with substantial following in Brandenburg and Saxony. But in turns out that, while spying for the government, she was also busy strengthening the neo-Nazi group’s online presence through the European Brotherhood Station, which, among other things, aired instructions on how to build homemade bombs.

Another court case due to start this week will undoubtedly draw the public’s attention to the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst or BND), Germany’s primary external intelligence agency. Court papers reveal that a BND field agent stationed in Kosovo, where German intelligence is currently extremely active, shared intelligence secrets with his gay lover for several years.

The agent, identified only as “Anton K.”, is accused of passing classified information to his Kosovar interpreter, Murat A., who was “involved with the Albanian (Sherbimi Informativ Shteteror, SHISH or State Intelligence Service) and Macedonian (Agencija za razuznavanje) intelligence agencies”. According to Der Spiegel magazine, the information Anton K. shared with Murat A. included “insights into the entire network of sources of the BND’s Kosovo office”.

State police want nearly $7 million to fulfill FOIA request

The Michigan Department of State Police is charging the Mackinac Center for Public Policy nearly $7 million to fulfill its Freedom of Information Act request for information on how the state has used homeland security grant money since 2002, the nonpartisan research group reported.

A communications specialist at the center requested information after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general released a report that detailed multiple implementation problems in how $129 million in security grants was spent in seven Michigan counties between 2002 and 2004.

The center filed a follow-up FOIA request for all documents relating to homeland security grants in the state since 2002, but the state police department, which administers homeland security grants in Michigan, said there would be more than 2 million pages and that it would cost $6.9 million to process the request.

Billo Interview Lou Dobbs About His Termination

Sheriff bailiffs assigned other jobs

VICTORVILLE • Sheriff bailiffs who normally police the courts everyday to assure order take on a different task one day a month as they assist the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with warrant sweeps, use-of-force training in the courtroom and even do sex offender compliance checks.

The 140 San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriffs assigned as bailiffs throughout the county are given different duties on the third Wednesday of every month when the superior courts are closed  due to budget cuts.

“The deputies will network with all the divisions in the department to help out and can be assigned to jail duty or special training,” said Lt. Todd Patterson, Executive Officer of Court Services.

Jurors to hear criminal past of San Bernardino teen shot by officer with 5 prior shootings

SAN BERNARDINO – A jury will get to hear about the possible gang involvement and criminal history of a teenager who was shot by police two years ago after allegedly reaching for a gun at the end of a foot chase.

It is undecided, however, whether the jury will learn about the officer’s five prior shootings.

Terrell Markham, 18, has been identified by police as a gang associate. His juvenile record began at age 7 and includes robbery, punching a teacher and shooting someone with a B.B. gun, court documents show.

Adam Affrunti spent years on the police department’s SWAT and gang team before switching to patrol this year. He has been involved in six on-duty shootings in his seven-year career.

Germany opposes bank data deal with US

Germany has announced its opposition to a European Union agreement to share bank data with the United States for anti-terrorist investigations.

According to the draft, financial records stored by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) financial data system including “name, account number, address, national identification number, and other personal data”, can be shared with the US.

Germany’s justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said she was against the deal because of lack of “legal protection provisions.”

“I am still critical of the extent of the information transfer to the USA and the lack of legal recourse,” Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said.

The German government also called on its representative in the European Union to refrain from signing the deal.

500 Million New Terrorists!

The world is becoming less safe by the day. Before the end of November, half a billion new terrorists will be added to the list kept by the US government.

On November 30, one day before the Treaty of Lisbon is scheduled to take effect, the ministers of justice of the European Union’s 27 member states will sign yet another security agreement with the US. It is supposed to be an essential weapon in the global “War on Terrorsim” the US claims to be fighting.

Under the new agreement, the US government will get access to all the banking data of all Europeans. This means that from December 2009, every single financial transaction done by every single European banking customer will come under the scrutiny of the US authorities. Henceforth, whenever the US government suspects a European “citizen” of supporting terrorism, it can request all his or her banking data, including all bank statements as well as any and all personal data connected with the account.

In The End, Fall Of Berlin Wall Was Gorbachev’s Call

Twenty years ago, the world was transfixed by images of spirited Germans clambering on top of the forbidding Berlin Wall and beginning to dismantle its legacy with each swing of their pickaxes and hammers.

The events of Nov. 9, 1989 — the day the wall fell — became the primary symbol of renewal and rebirth for all of Eastern Europe.

But historians who are reviewing formerly classified documents and materials from the period say the events of Nov. 9 looked very different at the time.

“Looking back, we feel the happiness and the joy,” says Thomas Blanton, who runs the National Security Archive at George Washington University. “We’re so far away from the real anxiety and fear of the speed of change.”

Blanton and his colleagues have been working to assemble a massive collection of internal government documents from the United States, Western Europe and the former Soviet bloc. Their book, ‘Masterpieces of History’: The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe 1989, is scheduled to be published early next year, but some of the key documents are being released early on the group’s Web site.

The wall’s fall is remembered in the United States as a triumph of U.S. diplomacy and the administration of George H. W. Bush over Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. But Blanton says the documents tell a different story.

“The United States was in many ways peripheral to the events,” he says. “There is a profound sense of the missed opportunities of the period when Gorbachev was at the height of his powers.”

Analysts: US capitalism on verge of collapse

The declining state of the US economy has convinced a growing number of American analysts that the US capitalist financial system is doomed to disintegrate.

Citing the works of other leading economists such as Jack Bogle and Marc Faber, Market Watch commentator Paul B. Farrell gives 20 reasons, in a recent article, why the “American capitalism has lost its soul” and will.

Farrell points to Faber’s Doom, Boom and Gloom Report and asserts that the economist is warning of the fall of “the entire system of capitalism.”

“The future will be a total disaster, with a collapse of our capitalistic system as we know it today,” Farrell adds, quoting the report. “Get it? The engine driving the great ‘American Economic Empire‘ for 233 years will collapse, a total disaster, a destiny we created.”

He writes that based on Faber’s predictions, capitalism, which has been the driving engine of America and global economies for over two hundred years, will collapse and, consequently, trigger global “wars, massive government-debt defaults, and the impoverishment of large segments of western society.”

Poll: US views Israel exempted from law

The US apparently views Israel as being exempted from abiding by international law, the results of a recent online opinion poll indicate.

Press TV asked in an online poll about the respondents’ opinion on a recent motion by the US congressmen against the Goldstone report (United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict), which accused Israel of war crimes during its December onslaught on Gaza which killed 1,387 Palestinians.

The report was published on September 25 by Richard Goldstone, the head of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Gaza Conflict.

More than 56 percent of respondents said Israel was viewed by the US as exempted from abiding by international law.

US lawmakers call for ending Cuba travel ban

Two key American lawmakers say that Washington should allow its citizens to travel to Cuba to help promote ‘democratic reforms’ in that country.

Veteran Republican Senator Richard Lugar and Democratic Congressman Howard Berman insist that the Cuba travel ban has been obsolete and should be discarded as a foreign policy measure.

Lugar, the top Republican on the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Berman, who chairs the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, noted that legislation to overturn the ban has been introduced in both chambers of the US Congress.

“US law lets American citizens travel to any country on earth, friend or foe, with one exception, Cuba. It’s time for us to scrap this anachronistic ban, imposed during one of the chilliest periods of the Cold War,” said Republican Senator Richard Lugar and Democratic Congressman Howard Berman, a joint statement.

Ohio designs single-drug execution

COLUMBUS – Ohio yesterday announced it will become the first state in the nation to switch to a one-drug method of execution, essentially administering a massive barbiturate overdose.

The state also will employ a back-up of injecting drugs directly into a muscle when prison medical technicians can’t find useable veins, such as occurred Sept. 15 in the failed execution of Romell Broom.

Broom’s execution team struggled unsuccessfully for two hours to insert intravenous shunts into his arms to administer three drugs, prompting Gov. Ted Strickland to take the unprecedented step of stopping an execution.

When it proceeds smoothly, lethal injection lasts about 15 minutes.

Global survey on free market capitalism: Majority say fix it or ditch it

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new BBC poll has found widespread dissatisfaction with free-market capitalism (laissez-faire).

In the global poll for the BBC World Service, only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said that it was working well. Most thought regulation and reform of the capitalist system were necessary.

There were also sharp divisions around the world on whether the end of the Soviet Union was a good thing

Increasing number of corporations toppled by industrial espionage

Industrial espionage is no longer the part-time job of secret agents from spy movies. It is prospering in everyday life and growing at a phenomenal rate.

Billions of dollars and thousands of jobs are being lost due to the theft of trade secrets.

In recent years the definition of industrial espionage has broadened from the more obvious kinds of activities, such as the theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail, and technological surveillance to the sabotage of corporations.

Jakob Scharf, head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Services (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste or PET), cited by the Copenhagen Post newspaper, pointed out that, “the fall of the [Berlin] Wall did not lead to a fall in espionage activities – almost the opposite. The activities have changed in nature, but spies are still a real threat to Denmark’s safety and competitiveness.”

Beat anti-military bias with these replies to ‘loaded’ questions Now !!!

You know all too well the value of your military service. You’ve spent years getting high-tech training and developing leadership, problem-solving and project-management skills. You’re reliable, disciplined and mature.

The trouble is that the person who will decide whether to hire you for that coveted civilian job may not have a military clue.

The result: If you’re not prepared to win over an uninformed hiring manager, your military service could ultimately hurt — not help — your post-service career prospects.

A 2007 Department of Veterans Affairs study surveyed more than 100 experts from the private sector to find out why veterans are less likely to get hired than their civilian counterparts.

Hiring managers identified what they perceive as the positive aspects of hiring veterans — including integrity, leadership, reliability and maturity — and the negative ones, such as inflexibility, rigidity, “behavior limited to taking orders” and “risk of the effects of combat.”

The good news, however, is that the problem appears to be more about perception than outright prejudice.

Being smart about how you reply to certain “loaded” interview questions — and watching what you say in interviews in general — could help you overcome any anti-military stereotypes a civilian hiring manager may have.

Most importantly, keep your answers tailored specifically to the job and your ability to do it, said Marilyn Robideaux, Army Career and Alumni Program transition counselor at Fort Sill, Okla.

“Don’t use the interview as an opportunity to talk about your combat experiences,” Robideaux said. “Don’t bring up failures or weaknesses. Keep your answers tailored specifically to the job and your ability to do it.”

And if you’re hit with loaded questions, here’s how Robideaux recommends you reply:

Society in Jail

“What are you in for?” the inmate of Lee County jail asked the new prisoner.

“Rolling through a stop sign in my subdivision,” answered the new inmate, to gales of laughter from others languishing in the same cell.

As they laugh, crumbs from their hard, dry sandwiches — distributed by the wardens twice per day — flew from their mouths to add to the debris of filth on the floor that was ground up by the cracked plastic sleeping mats and absorbed by the old, thin blankets inmates use to keep warm in this cold and wet 8×8 room.

The new inmate today joined the 500 prisoners, among whom were some of the most violent threats to society — but also people who, like Inmate 501, are no threat to anyone.

Earth to Lou: It Could Have Been Different

It didn’t have to end this way for Lou Dobbs. He could have been a contender.

But Dobbs, a supremely self-confident man who often mentions his Harvard University education in private conversation, just wouldn’t listen. Time after time, as the “Lou Dobbs Tonight” show he has hosted on CNN (Cable News Network) since 2003 grew more rabidly critical of undocumented immigrants, he was warned of the kind of people he was putting on his show. He was told that many of the “facts” he was presenting just weren’t so. At first, he was gently called out for his defamations of Latino immigrants, then, as his tone grew sharper still, he was subjected to all kinds of public criticism from human rights groups, the journalism trade press, even a leading New York Times financial columnist. Instead of righting his course, or even slightly moderating his tone, Dobbs called his critics “commies” and “fascists.” He fudged facts, defended earlier falsehoods, and promoted racist conspiracy theories. He fumed.

It all ended last night, when Dobbs announced on his program that he was resigning from CNN effective immediately. In a moment of supreme irony, he complained that public political debate was now overtaken with “partisanship and ideology,” and promised to use “the most honest and direct language possible” in whatever future role he plays in public life. For once, he did not attack his critics.

From cop to politician

San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops has spent a career in law enforcement, but now he’s running for elective office and it’s a new ball game for him.

“I don’t really like that part of the job,” he told the San Bernardino County Democratic Club on Friday, Nov. 13. Even though his personality had to be a factor in his elevation from deputy to sheriff, he said he does not relish the thought of real campaigning, and said his appearance at the club was not a part of his campaign for reelection.

He started with a brief autobiography: Born to an unwed teenager, raised partly by his grandparents and partly by his mother and an alcoholic stepfather, he followed the love of his life from Nebraska to San Diego, where he decided to stay until he landed as job as deputy sheriff in San Bernardino in 1978.

“I didn’t even know where San Bernardino was,” he smiled.

Pendleton Marine Beats Woman’s Face with Beer Mug, Nearly Severs Ear

A woman’s ear was nearly severed at a Temecula bar early Wednesday when a 22-year-old Marine struck her in the head with a glass object, authorities said.

About 12:30 a.m., police were called to Aloha J’s at 27497 Ynez Road, where they found Jackson Gabriel Reyes, of Camp Pendleton, detained by security. They also found a Murrieta woman, who is in her early 20s, suffering from serious injuries, Temecula police Sgt. Mike Canizales said.

The woman was treated at the scene, then taken to a hospital, a news release said.

Preschool Hype: National Security Edition

Retired officers push early childhood benefits to help national security

A bipartisan group of retired military officers says without more educational and health investments in children the country will face a growing “national security threat.”

Now, the group is pushing for significant investments in early childhood education, parenting guidance as well as mental and nutrition services.

“The safety of our country demands urgent and intelligent action,” the group says in its mission statement. “We call on all policymakers to ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship.”

Congress is considering legislation for a new initiative called the “Early Learning Challenge Fund” designed to help states improve their early education programs and expand access to include more at-risk kids. The House already passed its version of the bill, which would fund $1 billion annually for eight years in competitive grants to states. The Senate has yet to vote on that bill.

Berlin Wall: 223 dead. Wall that separates the USA from Mexico: 5.6 thousand dead

On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world lives with a number of barriers that serve to restrain the free movement of people. The wall that divides the West Bank from Israel and preventing the passage of Mexican immigrants to the United States are the best known, but there are others.

The latest example comes from Slovakia. In October, a wall 150 meters long and two meters high was erected in the city of Ostrovany, a rural community in the northeast of the country, in order to isolate a gypsy camp.

The action, approved in 2008 by local authorities and put into practice last week, is the last chapter of the growing tension between the inhabitants of the community and the Gypsies. The inhabitants of Ostrovany accuse them of stealing fruit from private gardens. Violent episodes were recorded, such as the death of a farmer by members of the gypsy community and far-right groups and events that qualify for what they call “terror gypsy”.

The mayor of Ostrovany, Cyril Revákl, told the Slovak daily SME that the measure is not racist. “I know there are many decent living among the Gypsies, but no one should go through the hell of daily clashes.” The agency that represents the Roma announced that it will investigate the construction of the wall. The official, Ludovit Galbavý, described the construction as “discriminatory.”

Supreme Court hears case on prosecutorial immunity

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral argument in an important snitching case: Pottawattamie County v. McGhee. Two prosecutors are being sued for fabricating evidence — essentially pressuring a criminal informant until he came up with the story they wanted and then using that story at trial. The issue is whether they have absolute immunity, as prosecutors typically do for trial-related decisions, or whether they were acting more like investigators and therefore would only have qualified immunity from suit. Radley Balko over at Reason has posted this comprehensive discussion of the case and oral argument. For defendants who have been convicted based on fabricated evidence, the only remedy to which they are typically entitled is the overturning of their conviction. See this post: Judge finds prosecutorial misconduct in permitting false informant testimony. A finding that prosecutors who fabricate evidence might be personally liable would significantly alter the dynamic between informants and the government.

 

Recruiting new informants

Here’s a revealing article in the Buffalo News: Walking thin line in Village of Attica: Would-be informant says police coerced her into cooperation. It’s about Bianca Hervey, a 20-year-old college student who got pulled over by police for failing to pay her traffic tickets. The police threatened to put her in jail for the night, unless she agreed to become a drug informant. Although Hervey did not use drugs or have any connections to the drug world, police told her it didn’t matter–she could still work as a snitch and try to set people up. Frightened of going to jail, Hervey signed the informant agreement. When she told her father, attorney Richard Furlong, what had happened, however, he “went ballistic.” Furlong went to the police and to the City of Attica and complained about the recruitment of young people into the world of drugs, but the police and the Village Board refused to change the policy.

This story illustrates how snitching has quietly become such an immense part of the criminal justice system. Many cities have policies like Attica’s, in which police can recruit any potential offender as a drug informant–even a 20-year-old guilty of nothing more than a traffic violation. It was this same type of policy that led to the death of 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman in Tallahassee, Florida, and triggered Florida’s ground breaking legislation on the subject of informant-creation. See post: Florida’s “Rachel’s Law” offers some protections for informants.