Israel's Olmert: Building to Continue in East Jerusalem
A partial list of United Nations Resolutions against Israel
United Nations Resolution 127: " . . . 'recommends' Israel suspends it's 'no-man's zone' in Jerusalem".
United Nations Resolution 162: " . . . 'urges' Israel to comply with UN decisions".
United Nations Resolution 250: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to refrain from holding military parade in Jerusalem".
United Nations Resolution 251: " . . . 'deeply deplores' Israeli military parade in Jerusalem in defiance of Resolution 250".
United Nations Resolution 252: " . . . 'declares invalid' Israel's acts to unify Jerusalem as Jewish capital".
United Nations Resolution 267: " . . . 'censures' Israel for administrative acts to change the status of Jerusalem".
United Nations Resolution 271: " . . . 'condemns' Israel's failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem".
United Nations Resolution 298: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's changing of the status of Jerusalem".
United Nations Resolution 446: " . . . 'determines' that Israeli settlements are a 'serious obstruction' to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".
United Nations Resolution 452: " . . . 'calls' on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories".
United Nations Resolution 465: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel's settlements program".
United Nations Resolution 471: " . . . 'expresses deep concern' at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention".
United Nations Resolution 476: " . . . 'reiterates' that Israel's claim to Jerusalem are 'null and void'".
United Nations Resolution 478: " . . . 'censures (Israel) in the strongest terms' for its claim to Jerusalem in its 'Basic Law'".
United Nations Resolution 673: " . . . 'deplores' Israel's refusal to cooperate with the United Nations.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
CHECK OUT THIS BLOG!!!!
FROM MY BROWN EYED VIEW
A sistah like myself moves around all time looking at this world we live in.
I like looking in the past, the present, and into the future.
There is always something to focus in on.
This is the space where I plan to share my visions.
msladydeborah
FROM MY BROWN EYED VIEW
A sistah like myself moves around all time looking at this world we live in.
I like looking in the past, the present, and into the future.
There is always something to focus in on.
This is the space where I plan to share my visions.
msladydeborah
Monday, March 17, 2008
BUSTED : Story behind the 2004 Election lockdown
Breaking > 12 20 08 > Michael Connell DEAD!
Cincinnati Enquirer -Mar 16, 2008
BY JON CRAIG
Cincinnati Enquirer -
BY JON CRAIG
It’s one of the lingering mysteries of the 2004 presidential election.
In a key county in Southwest Ohio – amid vague references to “homeland security” – officials locked everyone else out of the board of elections as they counted punch-card ballots. President Bush emerged with more than 72 percent of the votes in Warren County, helping him narrowly win Ohio – and a second term.
Secrecy surrounding the count galvanized bloggers, anti-Bush activists and conspiracy theorists from around the globe. To this day, the lockdown is cited as evidence of an election stolen from Sen. John Kerry and the Democrats.
Now with another presidential election coming, The Enquirer, through public-records requests and interviews, can unravel the story of what happened on the night of Nov. 2, 2004 – and how officials tried to spin the event afterwards.
• Read more documents
The Enquirer has learned:
- A casual conversation about terrorism between the county emergency services director and a friendly FBI agent in a parking lot may have been the final trigger for the lockdown.
Warren County’s Administration Building – which houses the Board of Elections offices – was shuttered to the public shortly after the polls closed. The lockdown came on top of government warnings issued to elections officials nationwide, stating al-Qaida might attempt terrorist attacks on polling places.
- In the weeks after the election, county officials were bombarded with hundreds of angry e-mails and hit with intensifying media scrutiny from across the country.
“Stop destroying our democracy!” wrote a North Myrtle Beach, S.C. woman.
One e-mail came from an angry overseas voter living in the United Kingdom.
- As national criticism mounted in the following weeks, a county commissioner was persuaded to gut a press release, while trying to align conflicting versions of what happened.
The county sheriff suggested the official leave out references to the FBI, warning,
“This is inviting the hornets out of the nest.’’
No conclusive evidence has ever emerged showing the lockdown affected the vote count, which was monitored by Democratic and Republican observers.
But on the Web, it became one of the oft-cited “irregularities” in the 2004 election in Ohio.
“You can Google it and get 10,000 versions” of what happened, says Pat South, then and now president of the Warren County Board of Commissioners. She acknowledged this month that the county made a mistake in locking the building and miscommunicating as to when, how and who recommended it.
“2004? Hindsight? Wrong move,” she says.
LOOKING BACK
The fall of 2004 was a time of election fervor – and terrorism paranoia. President Bush and challenger John Kerry criss-crossed Ohio. Fear-provoking campaign ads filled mailboxes and airwaves. Meanwhile, the nation was placed on “orange’’ alert – the second-highest level – several times.
Federal officials blanketed the nation with terrorism warnings in September and October, prompting 18 Ohio counties to activate their Emergency Operations Centers on Nov. 2, 2004. Forty-eight other Ohio county emergency centers were on standby Election Day in case of an emergency, according to state records.
Among the warnings to county officials was a four-page Oct. 4 memo from the Ohio Army National Guard that stated: “Homeland Security Department has indicated al-Qaida is plotting to disrupt US elections. Potential exists that disruptions could occur at campaign stops and/or polling places in the upcoming elections. Many polling places are located in churches, schools, community centers, local and state government facilities.”
While no terror incidents occurred anywhere in the United States on Election Day 2004, Ohio Emergency Management Agency incident reports, obtained last month by The Enquirer, show a “terrorism threat rumor’’ in Tuscarawas County and complaints about people of “Middle Eastern descent’’ in Allen and Lorain counties.
The Lorain County incident turned out to be an international monitoring group photographing a polling place in Grafton. The Allen County incident was reported to the Defense Department as suspicious people in a gold minivan with California plates. It turned out to be four Latino males doing a film project, according to state EMA records.
In Warren County, Lebanon police, two county pick-up trucks and a bomb-sniffing dog helped guard the Administration Building on Election Day.
Board of elections officials compiled a list of people approved for after-hours access to the Administration Building. The list didn’t include reporters or other approved ballot-counting observers.
Among those locked out were an Enquirer reporter, a TV reporter, and a stringer from the Associated Press. The AP had stringers at all 88 boards of elections, and only in Warren County were they not allowed in. James Lee, spokesman for then Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, told the Enquirer then that no other county had similar restrictions Election Night.
“We weren’t trying to hide anything from them,’’ said then-Warren County Board of Elections Director Susan Johnson, who now works at the Clinton County Board of Elections. “It had never ever been the practice (for the media) to be in the room with the counting anyway.’’
The building’s front doors were locked shortly after polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
Even Jeff Ruppert, Warren County counsel for the Kerry-Edwards campaign, was initially denied admission before presenting credentials. Ruppert told reporters he observed nothing inappropriate at the board of elections.
The Ohio Republican Party’s election night rally in Columbus exploded in cheers at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday as Fox News Channel became the first to called Ohio for Bush. NBC later called the state as well.
But Kerry spokeswoman Mary Beth Cahill issued this statement at 1:30 a.m.: “The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes.”
FBI, OR NOT?
Frank R. Young, director of the county’s Department of Emergency Services, said in an interview last week that he recommended the lockdown.
He said it was inspired, in part, by a conversation he had with an FBI agent in October, while planning security for an unrelated public event. That conversation took place in the parking lot of the Hamilton Township Administration Building.
Young asked the FBI agent how seriously to take the threats. The agent – whom Young would not identify – told him: “We take it very seriously. There are factions in this country that want to go after – and see disruption of whatever it is – whether it’s an election or whatever.’’
Young said the conversation “was not necessarily what prompted the actions… We just wanted to have some extra protection around the building, because you never know what kind of a nut is out there.’’
But Warren County Sheriff Tom Ariss has a different recollection of decisions leading to the lockdown: “My understanding is the FBI was never contacted. They never talked to anybody.”
The FBI looked into whether anyone had told Warren County authorities about a threat to the board of elections, FBI spokesman Michael Brooks said last week.
“We concluded that there was no information given to Warren County of an imminent terrorist threat to that county or to Southern Ohio,’’ Brooks said. “None of our agents did anything wrong (or) advised of any type of any terrorist threat or anything like that.’’
THE PRESS RELEASE
In fact, Ariss advised South, the commission president, to leave out references to the FBI or Young in a press release South was preparing amidst the hubbub over the lockdown that month.
In a Nov. 15, 2004, e-mail to South, county Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel and others, Ariss wrote: “This is inviting the hornets out of the nest. I still like the press release that was made up on Friday.’’
South complied, cutting more than half the detail from her draft press release including this line: “While there was never any specific terrorist threat or warning directed against the County Administration Building or any venue in Warren County, we were adequately convinced that if any attempts were going to be made to interfere with the election process, Warren County was one of three counties ranked at highest risk.’’
“I’m pretty sure that that was a ranking from emergency management,’’ South said Thursday. She thought it came from Young via the FBI.
In an interview last week, Ariss insisted that Young “would never talk to anybody (from the FBI) in a parking lot, because they wouldn’t know who the hell he was. But I better keep my mouth shut,” he said with a laugh. “I won’t even touch it. Just knowing the FBI, they would have no reason to be up here. . . Had there been any concern, it should have been addressed to us because we are the provider of security on the county buildings.’’
“Well, he wasn’t there,’’ Young said of the sheriff.
“It’s terribly disconcerting,’’ Daniel J. Hoffheimer, a Cincinnati attorney, said of the discrepancies about whether the FBI was involved or not.
Hoffheimer, who was Kerry’s legal counsel in Ohio, said, “Here you’ve got two people … who have two different recollections, or two different stories about what happened, and at least, for now, no way of resolving which is the truth.’’
AS OHIO GOES. . .
After returns were certified, Bush won Ohio by 118,601 votes out of more than 5.6 million cast statewide. The Republican president beat Kerry by nearly 42,000 votes in Warren County, including a 14,000-vote boost early Wednesday morning that prompted television news networks to project him as the winner in Ohio.
Bush won Ohio by 50.8 to 48.7 percent and Warren County by 72.3 to 27.7 percent.
In a federal lawsuit and subsequent books, Richard Hayes Phillips, a scientist from Canton, N.Y., and Columbus attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Robert J. Fitrakis, among others, documented what they described as abnormalities in the county’s punch-card ballot counts, including high numbers of Republicans who voted in favor of gay marriage in Southwest Ohio – contrary to elsewhere in the state – and supporting a Democratic candidate for chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. They contend the anomalies indicate ballots were mishandled, miscounted or tampered with, and that the Warren County “lockdown’’ allowed this to happen undetected. Their lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
Hoffheimer said no one may ever know the full story of what happened in Warren County, or Ohio that night.
“But Bush still carried the state by a large enough margin that it seems unlikely … that even with all of these errors that Kerry could have won Ohio,’’ Hoffheimer said.
Changes recommended by South and others are now in place: A window for media and other observers was installed overlooking the boardroom where vote tabulations take place, according to current Board of Elections Director Michael E. Moore. And three polling precincts that had been in the county administration building in 2004 have been removed.
Warren County will never lock down its administration building during an election again “unless there was well-documented, unquestionable’’ cause, South promised.
“Could things have gone smoother here? Yup, we learned some lessons,’’ Young said. “It’s just like any fire, flood or tornado that you would have. Sometimes you sit back and you say, ‘What could we have done better to approach that situation?’ I learned to stay the hell away from it…. The only time (since 2004) I had anything to do with the polling place is when I walked in to vote. That was it.’’
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Ohio's voting machines
are now an official crime scene
are now an official crime scene
At least 15 touch-screen voting machines that produced
improbable numbers in Ohio's 2006 statewide election
are now under double-lock in an official crime scene.
And the phony "Homeland Security Alert" used by
Republicans to build up George W. Bush's 2004 vote count
in a key southwestern Ohio county has come under new
scrutiny.
improbable numbers in Ohio's 2006 statewide election
are now under double-lock in an official crime scene.
And the phony "Homeland Security Alert" used by
Republicans to build up George W. Bush's 2004 vote count
in a key southwestern Ohio county has come under new
scrutiny.
State fails to heed warning
© Copyright 2008, The OklahomanPOTEAU — DHS was warned.
"I called them crying several times. I begged them not to put my children with those people,” said Melissa Castillo, 26, of Fort Smith, Ark.
"They're both awful people.”
DHS ignored the warnings.
Castillo's 4-year-old son, JaJuan Flowers, is now dead.
The boy's stepmother, Maria Torres-Vasquez, is charged with second-degree murder in his death.
His father, Beltan Vasquez, is serving a 12-year prison sentence for molesting another child in the home.
The Oklahoman looked into JaJuan's Dec. 11, 2006, death as part of its continuing investigation into children who have died or been abused in Oklahoma Department of Human Services custody. DHS spokesman George Johnson said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on why employees made the decisions they did in JaJuan's case.
‘What did DHS know?'
The cries of an anguished mother were not the only warnings Oklahoma Department of Human Services workers ignored when they placed Castillo's two children in the Vasquez home in 2006, records reveal.They weren't even the strongest.
Because the Vasquez home was located across the eastern Oklahoma border in Arkansas, Oklahoma DHS workers had to ask their Arkansas counterparts to do a foster care home study.
Arkansas workers rejected the home.
Vasquez, 39, was an illegal immigrant, had been unemployed for more than a year and already had seven children in his home, Oklahoma child welfare workers were told.
Vasquez did not have a Social Security number, so a nationwide criminal background check could not be obtained, the report said.
The Arkansas officials also reported that Vasquez had been arrested on a domestic battery allegation in Arkansas two years earlier.
Oklahoma DHS workers already knew that. In 2004, an Arkansas police detective had called to inform them Vasquez had been arrested on a complaint of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend. The detective made the call because the girlfriend said Vasquez had "threatened to kill JaJuan's Oklahoma child welfare worker.”
Stepmom also a risk
Vasquez's 34-year-old wife also posed a risk.Torres-Vasquez had a 1996 misdemeanor assault conviction out of Newport News, Va., records show.
It is unclear whether Oklahoma DHS workers knew about that conviction.
DHS workers knew something else, however.
Castillo's two children were taken away from her in 2002 because of injuries that JaJuan's half-sister, Jonesia Youngblood, allegedly suffered while in Torres-Vasquez's care, records show.
Jonesia came home with bruises on the side of her face and the back of one leg after Torres-Vasquez had been baby-sitting the two children, Castillo said.
Castillo said her sister, who lived in Oklahoma, then came to pick the children up for the weekend.
"I told her what happened, and she acted like it was no big deal,” Castillo said.
However, after her sister crossed the border back into Le Flore County, she took the children to an Oklahoma hospital and told doctors she thought the 21-month-old girl had been abused.
DHS was contacted and did an investigation.
Castillo and several other witnesses told DHS workers the bruises were sustained while Jonesia was in Torres-Vasquez's care, records reveal.
DHS then interviewed Torres-Vasquez, who "confirmed that three of the child's injuries had occurred while the children were in her home,” according to a child death review report prepared at The Oklahoman's request by the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.
DHS made a "confirmed finding of physical abuse,” and stated the identity of the alleged perpetrator was "unknown.”
The children were taken away from their mother for "failure to protect” and "threat of harm.”
The children spent most of the next three years in the foster care of Castillo's Oklahoma sister, who wanted to adopt them.
Records show the sister spent those years on an emotional roller coaster as DHS vacillated between efforts to help her adopt the children and efforts to reunite the children with their biological parents.
In March 2006, the sister gave up, declaring, "(I) can't do this anymore,” records reveal. She turned the children back over to DHS.
DHS child welfare workers then focused their efforts on placing the children in the Vasquez home.
When Arkansas rejected the home as unsuitable, Oklahoma child welfare workers could have let the matter drop.
Instead, they worked out an arrangement.
Vasquez moved his family across the border from Arkansas to Arkoma, OK, and DHS placed JaJuan and Jonesia in his home.
Three months later, JaJuan was killed after the family had secretly moved back to Arkansas. He died from nonaccidental blunt force trauma to the head, the autopsy revealed.
Torres-Vasquez's second-degree murder trial is set for April 7 in Fort Smith, Ark.
‘Beyond negligence'
Castillo said she blames DHS "100 percent” for JaJuan's death.Placing the children in the Vasquez home was a bizarre decision that "goes beyond negligence,” said Gary Buckles, Castillo's Poteau attorney.
DHS took Castillo's children away from her because she failed to protect them from her baby-sitter, then turned around and placed the children in the home of the baby sitter, he said.
Buckles said he tried to obtain a tape recording of the court hearing where the decision was approved, but the recording had "mysteriously disappeared.”
No DHS employees have been disciplined over the matter, he said.
In August, Buckles filed a wrongful death claim with DHS in which he asked the state for $20 million.
DHS rejected the claim by failing to respond.
Buckles said he expects to file a state lawsuit against the agency within the next few days and may file a federal lawsuit later.
Castillo, who is now married and lives with her husband and a 4-year-old son, said she is still pursuing efforts to get her daughter back.
In June, Arkansas child welfare workers did a home study on her Fort Smith home and rejected her, citing the earlier incident in which her children were taken away and her parental rights to JaJuan were terminated.
They said she was listed on "Arkansas criminal and central registries for several counts of failure to protect and neglect,” so placement of her daughter in her home would be inappropriate.
"I don't know who to trust,” she said. "I can't trust anybody. ... DHS has ruined my life and my children's lives. It ended the life of one of my children. It's a big nightmare I'll probably never wake up from.”
Contributing: Staff Writer Nolan Clay
http://newsok.com/article/3216744/?print=1
Writers Strike at Daily Kos? Try a Readers Strike.
"Alegre", a longtime Daily Kos diarist,
has called for a writers strike at the world's
largest supposedly-Progressive blog site,
due to what she says has become a
"hostile environment" for pro-Clinton supporters.
She writes that the place has become
"little more than an echo chamber with an
attitude that harkens back to the early days of
Dubbya’s administration - yer either
with us or yer a’gin us, heh!
We don't know whether that's the case or not,
since we haven't much followed what
goes on at dKos for years for our own
personal, if not necessarily unrelated,
reasons.
READ MORE!
Bush's Grandfather Traded with Nazis - Even After Pearl Harbor
Documents in National Archives Prove George W. Bush's
Grandfather Traded with Nazis - Even After Pearl Harbor
Grandfather Traded with Nazis - Even After Pearl Harbor
by John Buchanan (Exclusive to the New Hampshire Gazette)
WASHINGTON'S SUPPRESSED PROSTITUTION CASE
Read More
Friday, March 14, 2008
Dead heads AGAINST the NWO
Grateful Dead and other Jam Band fans
against the New World Order.
join Today!
Grateful Dead and other Jam Band fans
against the New World Order.
join Today!
Spitzer Defense Lawyers Worked in Prosecutor's Office
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer may have made a smart move when choosing lawyers to help him avoid criminal charges for soliciting prostitutes. Two were top attorneys in the same office handling his case.
Michele Hirshman, now a defense lawyer, ran the unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan that's investigating whether the governor broke the law by allegedly paying thousands of dollars to an international call-girl operation. Mark Pomerantz headed the office's criminal division and was once the boss of Michael Garcia, now the top federal prosecutor in New York.
In private talks with the government, the two white-collar defense partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York may know precisely how to tailor arguments to sway prosecutors, citing past instances when law enforcement officials chose not to press charges.
``White-collar practice in New York is substantially dominated by former prosecutors for good reason,'' said Daniel Richman, an ex-prosecutor in same office and now a Columbia Law School professor. ``So much of white-collar lawyering is understanding where the government is coming from and explaining to them that what your client did may have been illegal but nonetheless ought not to be pursued by the government.''
Garcia's spokeswoman, Rebekah Carmichael, declined to comment on negotiations between the two sides, which have begun, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. Paul Weiss spokeswoman Madelaine Miller declined to comment on the firm's role in the talks.
Emperors Club VIP
Spitzer, who resigned two days ago, effective March 17, is under investigation for payments he made to what prosecutors said was an international prostitution and money-laundering ring called the ``Emperors Club VIP,'' the official said.
Prosecutors are trying to determine whether any of Spitzer's campaign funds were used in connection with prostitutes, the New York Times reported today, citing three unidentified people familiar with the inquiry. The government lawyers have asked for information about hotel and travel costs, the newspaper said.
Spitzer told his aides his use of prostitutes began eight months ago and didn't involve campaign funds or public money, the Times cited some of the unidentified aides as saying.
In a criminal complaint against four people linked to the ring, prosecutors said March 6 that an unidentified person known as Client 9 paid $4,300 for sex with a New York prostitute named ``Kristen'' at a Washington hotel in February. Front companies for the club accepted payments, according to the complaint.
Mann Act
Client 9 is Spitzer, the law enforcement official said. Spitzer's lawyers are seeking to negotiate a settlement of possible charges including violations of the Mann Act, which makes it a crime to transport someone across state lines for prostitution, and improper structuring of financial transactions, the official said.
Kristen was identified by the New York Times as Ashley Dupre, 22, of Manhattan. Her original name was Ashley Youmans, the paper said. On March 10, Ashley Youmans appeared in Manhattan federal court, where her lawyer, Don Buchwald, said she was subpoenaed as a witness in a grand jury investigation, according to a recording of the proceeding. Buchwald confirmed she received a subpoena, declining to say she is Kristen or whether she testified.
Spitzer hasn't been charged nor has he said he paid any prostitutes, apologizing only for ``a private matter.''
Lawyers' Relationships
Individual relationships among the lawyers probably won't be an issue. Two of the three assistant prosecutors handling the probe, Daniel Stein and Rita Glavin, weren't in the prosecutor's office while Pomerantz and Hirshman were there. The third, Boyd Johnson, was handling minor drug cases during Hirshman's last months in the office.
Pomerantz and Hirshman do bring to Spitzer's defense team an intimate knowledge of many of the major decisions made by the U.S. Attorney in the 1990s.
A 56-year-old Brooklyn native, Pomerantz was a law clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart before joining the prosecutor's office. He rose to oversee the appellate unit. After working in private practice, he returned to run the criminal division.
Hirshman spent 11 years as a U.S. prosecutor, including a stint as chief of the public-corruption unit. She left in 1999 to become Spitzer's top aide when he was New York attorney general.
Also part of the team is Theodore Wells, who unsuccessfully defended former vice presidential aide Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby last year for lying about the leak of the identity of a U.S. intelligence agent.
Represented Torricelli
Pomerantz and Wells represented former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was the focus of a four- year investigation into his personal and campaign finances. U.S. prosecutors in New York closed a criminal investigation in January 2002 without filing charges.
Prosecutors will focus first on the facts, the strength of their evidence and the length of Spitzer's alleged involvement with the Emperors Club.
If the case against Spitzer is ambiguous or the law is murky, arguments advanced by the Paul Weiss lawyers may prevail.
``It is a clubby place,'' said Andrew McCarthy, former chief assistant U.S. attorney, who worked under Pomerantz and Hirshman and was Garcia's onetime boss. ``It always made a difference to me if it was someone who served with me in the office. It didn't mean I would necessarily cut the person a break but I was probably more inclined to listen to the person more.''
To contact the reporters on this story: David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net ; Patricia Hurtado in New York state Supreme Court at pathurtado@bloomberg.net .
Michele Hirshman, now a defense lawyer, ran the unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan that's investigating whether the governor broke the law by allegedly paying thousands of dollars to an international call-girl operation. Mark Pomerantz headed the office's criminal division and was once the boss of Michael Garcia, now the top federal prosecutor in New York.
In private talks with the government, the two white-collar defense partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York may know precisely how to tailor arguments to sway prosecutors, citing past instances when law enforcement officials chose not to press charges.
``White-collar practice in New York is substantially dominated by former prosecutors for good reason,'' said Daniel Richman, an ex-prosecutor in same office and now a Columbia Law School professor. ``So much of white-collar lawyering is understanding where the government is coming from and explaining to them that what your client did may have been illegal but nonetheless ought not to be pursued by the government.''
Garcia's spokeswoman, Rebekah Carmichael, declined to comment on negotiations between the two sides, which have begun, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. Paul Weiss spokeswoman Madelaine Miller declined to comment on the firm's role in the talks.
Emperors Club VIP
Spitzer, who resigned two days ago, effective March 17, is under investigation for payments he made to what prosecutors said was an international prostitution and money-laundering ring called the ``Emperors Club VIP,'' the official said.
Prosecutors are trying to determine whether any of Spitzer's campaign funds were used in connection with prostitutes, the New York Times reported today, citing three unidentified people familiar with the inquiry. The government lawyers have asked for information about hotel and travel costs, the newspaper said.
Spitzer told his aides his use of prostitutes began eight months ago and didn't involve campaign funds or public money, the Times cited some of the unidentified aides as saying.
In a criminal complaint against four people linked to the ring, prosecutors said March 6 that an unidentified person known as Client 9 paid $4,300 for sex with a New York prostitute named ``Kristen'' at a Washington hotel in February. Front companies for the club accepted payments, according to the complaint.
Mann Act
Client 9 is Spitzer, the law enforcement official said. Spitzer's lawyers are seeking to negotiate a settlement of possible charges including violations of the Mann Act, which makes it a crime to transport someone across state lines for prostitution, and improper structuring of financial transactions, the official said.
Kristen was identified by the New York Times as Ashley Dupre, 22, of Manhattan. Her original name was Ashley Youmans, the paper said. On March 10, Ashley Youmans appeared in Manhattan federal court, where her lawyer, Don Buchwald, said she was subpoenaed as a witness in a grand jury investigation, according to a recording of the proceeding. Buchwald confirmed she received a subpoena, declining to say she is Kristen or whether she testified.
Spitzer hasn't been charged nor has he said he paid any prostitutes, apologizing only for ``a private matter.''
Lawyers' Relationships
Individual relationships among the lawyers probably won't be an issue. Two of the three assistant prosecutors handling the probe, Daniel Stein and Rita Glavin, weren't in the prosecutor's office while Pomerantz and Hirshman were there. The third, Boyd Johnson, was handling minor drug cases during Hirshman's last months in the office.
Pomerantz and Hirshman do bring to Spitzer's defense team an intimate knowledge of many of the major decisions made by the U.S. Attorney in the 1990s.
A 56-year-old Brooklyn native, Pomerantz was a law clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart before joining the prosecutor's office. He rose to oversee the appellate unit. After working in private practice, he returned to run the criminal division.
Hirshman spent 11 years as a U.S. prosecutor, including a stint as chief of the public-corruption unit. She left in 1999 to become Spitzer's top aide when he was New York attorney general.
Also part of the team is Theodore Wells, who unsuccessfully defended former vice presidential aide Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby last year for lying about the leak of the identity of a U.S. intelligence agent.
Represented Torricelli
Pomerantz and Wells represented former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was the focus of a four- year investigation into his personal and campaign finances. U.S. prosecutors in New York closed a criminal investigation in January 2002 without filing charges.
Prosecutors will focus first on the facts, the strength of their evidence and the length of Spitzer's alleged involvement with the Emperors Club.
If the case against Spitzer is ambiguous or the law is murky, arguments advanced by the Paul Weiss lawyers may prevail.
``It is a clubby place,'' said Andrew McCarthy, former chief assistant U.S. attorney, who worked under Pomerantz and Hirshman and was Garcia's onetime boss. ``It always made a difference to me if it was someone who served with me in the office. It didn't mean I would necessarily cut the person a break but I was probably more inclined to listen to the person more.''
To contact the reporters on this story: David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net ; Patricia Hurtado in New York state Supreme Court at pathurtado@bloomberg.net .
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Brunner teamed up with publicly-funded lawyers from Attorney General Marc Dann's officeThe Ohio Supreme Court late Thursday denied two requests from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner
for an order to shield from disclosure her videotape deposition in a legal battle with the Summit County Republican Party. (Gongwer News Service)
to first argue against making her testimony public, then against videotaping the deposition, and finally against allowing the tape to be accessed by the public.
The court ruled against Dann's lawyers in all three arguments.
The Akron Beacon Journal joined the case as a "friend of the court," arguing
Brunner's claim that the tape could be used against her politically is not enough to keep it private:
"That records may be filed which are embarrassing to one party or another is not
determinative of whether they should be sealed," Ms. Lefton said. "Rather, it is whether having open access would in some significant, measurable way impair the administration of justice. In this case, no such result was even alleged."
So we're back to the political hypocrisy of Marc Dann and Jennifer Brunner
campaigning for office on open government but arguing just the opposite when it impacts them.
http://ohiogop.blogs.com
House Closes Its Doors for Spying Bill
WASHINGTON - The House held a closed session Thursday for the first time in 25 years to discuss a hotly contested surveillance bill.
Republicans requested privacy for what they termed "an honest debate" on the new Democratic eavesdropping measure that is opposed by the White House and most Republicans in Congress.
Lawmakers were forbidden to disclose what was said during the hour-long session. The extent to which minds were changed, if at all, should be more clear Friday, when the House was expected to openly debate and then vote on the bill.
Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas said she didn't believe anyone changed positions but that the session was useful because no one would be able to complain on Friday that their views had not been heard.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/03/13/ap/headlines/d8vd01qg0.txt
House going to secret session for FISA
UPDATE - 8:36 p.m. - With the help of Minority Whip Blunt's office, I got hold of a Congressional Research Service report that gives you all the detail you ever wanted about secret sessions.
The House chamber is sealed and undergoing its security sweep. The secret session will begin at some point in the next hour or two.
This is from a May 25, 2007 CRS report by Mildred Amer:
The Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention met in secret. The Senate met in secret until 1794, its first rules reflecting a belief that the body's various special roles, including providing advice and consent to the executive branch, compelled it to conduct its business behind closed doors. The Senate's executive sessions (to consider nominations and treaties) were not opened until 1929.
Since 1929, the Senate has held 54 secret sessions, generally for reasons of national security. On November 1, 2005, the Senate met behind closed doors to discuss Iraq war intelligence. Six of the seven most recent secret sessions, however, were held during the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. In 1997, the Senate met in secret to consider the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty and in 1992, to debate the "most favored nation" status of China. The Senate also closed its doors during the impeachment trial of federal judges in 1933 and 1936 and on six occasions in the 1980s.
The House met frequently in secret session through the end of the War of 1812, and then only in 1825 and in 1830. Since 1830, the House has met behind closed doors only three times: in 1979 to discuss the Panama Canal, in 1980 to discuss Central American assistance, and in 1983 to discuss U.S. support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.
Members and staff of both houses are prohibited from divulging information from secret sessions, and all staff are sworn to secrecy. Violations of secrecy are punishable by the disciplinary rules of a chamber. A Member may be subject to a variety of punishments, including loss of seniority, fine, reprimand, censure, or expulsion. An officer or employee may be fired or subject to other internal disciplinary actions.
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UPDATE - 7:25 p.m. - Some House Democrats are raising objections to the secret session, but Majority Leader Hoyer is trying to persuade them to agree to one, in an interesting floor debate.
It appears he has just succeeded, after Rep. David Scott, Georgia Democrat, withdrew his objection.
"We walk a very delicate balance this evening. Let us hope that we walk it right," Mr. Scott said, just before agreeing to drop his reservation.
The vote will now occur tomorrow, regardless.
Nick Simpson, spokesman for House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, says the House has gone into secret session five times since 1825.
Here are the five occasions:
December 27, 1825 — To receive a confidential message from the President regarding relations with Indian tribes.
May 27, 1830 — To receive a confidential message from the President
on a bill regulating trade between the U.S. and Great Britain.
June 20, 1979 — Panama Canal Act of 1979; implementing legislation.
February 25, 1980 — Cuban and other Communist-bloc countries
involvement in Nicaragua.
July 19, 1983 — U.S. support for paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.
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UPDATE - 4:41 P.M. - Democratic leaders are already saying they don't think the secret session will be persuasive. Here's House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Michigan Democrat, who has already been briefed by the White House on the classified details of the FISA program.
My colleagues who joined me in the hearings and reviewed the Administration's documents have walked away with an inescapable conclusion: the Administration has not made the case for unprecedented spying powers and blanket retroactive immunity for phone companies.
Whether this is a worthwhile exercise or mere grandstanding depends on whether Republicans have groundbreaking new information that would affect the legislative process. There must be a very high bar to urge the House into a secret session for the first time in 25 years. I eagerly await their presentation to see if it clears this threshold. As someone who has seen and heard an enormous amount of information already, I have my doubts.
It should be noted that Majority Leader Hoyer complained today that "the President is asking Congress to immunize companies for their conduct, despite the fact that Congress is not sure what conduct it would be immunizing."
But the White House says they've briefed lawmakers such as Mr. Hoyer, along with the rest of the House leadership and members of the intelligence and judiciary committees. Mr. Conyer's point that he has been briefed but not persuaded seems to contradict Mr. Hoyer's point that Congress doesn't know what they're being asked to do.
I've asked Mr. Hoyer's office for a clarification but have not received an answer so far today.
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UPDATE - 4:30 P.M. - Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, has indeed agreed to go into secret session, his office announced. Here is his statement:
"The Majority received a request from the Minority Whip, Mr. Blunt, for the House to go into secret session. Mr. Blunt stated that Members in the Minority believe they have information relevant to the debate on FISA that cannot be publicly discussed. The Majority agreed to Mr. Blunt’s request so that the Members may hear this information in a secret session that will proceed for one hour, equally divided, and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader. At the conclusion of the debate, the secret session shall be dissolved.â€
A House staffer says that the secret session will convene around 8 p.m.
This is interesting: the House will recess after they finish voting this afternoon, and then security officers will do a sweep of the House chamber prior to the secret session. This is required before every secret session, the staffer said, to make sure there are no listening devices in the chamber.
No word yet on whether the House will actually vote tonight on FISA.
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UPDATE - 2:45 P.M. - Apparently, the earliest that the House will vote on the FISA bill is probably around 6:30 this evening, and there is still a possibility that the House will come back tomorrow morning for the vote.
After the House recesses, either tonight or tomorrow, they are out until Monday, March 31.
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This just came in from Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican:
Folks - I wanted to make sure all of heard that it is our understanding that Majority Leader Hoyer has agreed to our request that the House go into a secret session today. We will discuss the importance of permanently extending the Protect America Act, the flaws in the Democrats' new FISA legislation, and why immediate passage of the bipartisan, Senate-passed FISA bill is the best solution to protect the American people and our Armed Forces around the world. I believe this will be the first secret session in the House since 1983.
Mr. Boehner said in his press conference today that the session is needed "to have a candid discussion about the urgent need to give our intelligence officials all the tools they need to protect the American people."
"Sometimes we have these conversations in public settings, other times we have them in more classified briefings," Mr. Boehner said.
A Hill source says that this closed session will allow Republicans to talk more openly with members about classified information, such as what exactly the telecom companies will be getting immunity for if the White House gets what it wants.
There are, however, four members who will not be allowed to attend the secret session, having refused to sign the oath of confidentiality. They are all Democrats: Rep. George Miller of California, Rep. Jim McDermott, of Washington Rep. Peter Stark of California, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, of Ohio.
— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Rep. Ron Paul Stands Alone (defying AIPAC)
Mr. Speaker I rise in opposition to H. Res. 951, a resolution to condemn Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. As one who is consistently against war and violence, I obviously do not support the firing of rockets indiscriminately into civilian populations. I believe it is appalling that Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured.
Unfortunately, legislation such as this is more likely to perpetuate violence in the Middle East than contribute to its abatement. It is our continued involvement and intervention - particularly when it appears to be one-sided - that reduces the incentive for opposing sides to reach a lasting peace agreement.
Additionally, this bill will continue the march toward war with Iran and Syria, as it contains provocative language targeting these countries. The legislation oversimplifies the Israel/Palestine conflict and the larger unrest in the Middle East by simply pointing the finger at Iran and Syria. This is another piece in a steady series of legislation passed in the House that intensifies enmity between the United States and Iran and Syria. My colleagues will recall that we saw a similar steady stream of provocative legislation against Iraq in the years before the US attack on that country.
News 03 012 08
Iraq Veterans Against the War
From March 13-16th, U.S. veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will testify to what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground in these occupations. To provide a preview, we've created this short film. The film features three members who will be testifying at Winter Soldier and includes videos and photographs of Iraq from their deployments. This video contains graphic content. We need your support to help make Winter Soldier a success.
Not about Elliot Spitzer
Not about Elliot Spitzer
Disturbing revelations, not about Elliot Spitzer but about the scope of domestic surveillance and law in America.
Israeli at center of Spitzer scandal
Israeli at center of Spitzer scandal
How soon we forget the blockbuster ABC News scoop that was - and then wasn't - much bigger and more explosive then Governor Spitzer's, because it alleged Dick Cheney was a client.
The brutal attack on a Jewish religious seminary in Jerusalem shocked the world. Such attacks on students in their schools are more familiar in the United States than in Israel. Scenes of the tragedy, accompanied by scenes of some Palestinians condoning the crime, filled the media, causing a natural reaction against Palestine and more sympathy for Israel, in spite of the brutal siege of Gaza. One can only wonder why such a crime occurred - and at this time.
"The current issue of Esquire Magazine portrays Fallon as the one person in the military or Pentagon standing between the White House and war with Iran. The article credits Fallon with "brazenly challenging his commander in chief" over a possible war with Iran, which Fallon called an "ill-advised action," and implies Fallon would resign rather than go to war against Iran."
Hillary Campaign Commits Credit Card Fraud Against Delightful Lady
Wikipedia Wales in more hotwater
9/11 Questioned in European Parliament
Meet Kathy Callahan, who now supports Obama: "I voluntarily left the Hillary Finance Committee after I discovered more than $3,000 in unauthorized charges from HRC campaign on my own VISA card!"
Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen
Wikipedia Wales in more hotwater
WHACKYPEDIA'S credibility [Surely an oxymoron? - Ed] took a further tumble this week after it appeared that founder Jimmy Wales was trousering donations on the promise of giving people positive entries
The world's largest prison--Gaza prison with 1.5 million inmates, many of them starving, sick and penniless--is receiving more sympathy and protest by Israeli citizens, of widely impressive backgrounds, than is reported in the U.S. press.
A retired physics professor became the latest public figure to debunk the myth of a "consensus" behind man-made global warming when he slammed big money interests for pushing climate change propaganda that was at odds with real science in a speech yesterday.
9/11 Questioned in European Parliament
In putting together my new book, So Wrong for So Long, on Iraq and the media, I revisited the good, the bad, and the ugly in war coverage from the run-up to the invasion through the five years of controversy that followed. Even though I monitored the coverage closely all along, I was continually surprised to come across once-prominent names, quotes, and incidents that had faded to obscurity. Here is a list of 18 of those nearly forgotten episodes, in roughly chronological order.
BBC's killer documentary called "The Power of Nightmares". Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after "the bad guy of their choice" namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and "criminal organizations" such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundreds of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Government's story of Al-qaeda, a "group" or criminal organization they could "legally" go after.
UK top cop who led CIA probe found dead
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Michael Todd, left,
with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seen outside
Greenheys Police station in Manchester, England,
in this Nov. 16, 2007 file photo.
ARTICLE:
MANCHESTER, England - A city police chief who led an investigation into charges
that Britain cooperated with secret CIA flights to transport terrorism suspects without
formal proceedings has been found dead, his deputy said Tuesday.
Manchester Chief Constable Michael Todd, 50, was found dead in Snowdonia,
about 240 miles northwest of London, Deputy Chief Constable Dave Whatton said.
He had been missing since going out for a walk Monday during his day off.
Todd was elected vice president of the Association of Chief Police Officers of England and
Wales in 2006, according to a biography on his Web site.
The association gave him the task of looking into accusations that Britain allowed the CIA
to use the country's airports to fly terrorism suspects to other countries without any extradition
hearings, a clandestine procedure known as "extraordinary rendition."
Todd's investigation concluded last June that there was no evidence to back the claim. Last month,
however, Britain admitted one of its remote outposts in the Indian Ocean had twice been used by
the United States as a refueling stop for the secret transfer of two terrorism suspects.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_re_eu/britain_police_death
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
N.Y. Gov. Spitzer in sex scandal; pimp said to hold Israel passport 
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| N.Y. Gov. Spitzer in sex scandal; pimp said to hold Israel passport | |||||
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Tags: Eliot Spitzer  | |||||
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, touted in the past as the first potential Jewish U.S. president, found his political career on the brink of collapse Monday after he was accused of paying for a romp with a high-priced call girl, in a prostitution ring allegedly led by a man found with an Israeli passport at his home. ----------------------------- Spitzer's Nemesis had TWO israeli passportsMarch 7, 2008 -- The feds busted a diamond-studded international call-girl ring that offered well-heeled johns "fashion models, pageant winners and exquisite students" for up to $5,500 an hour - after one of the prostitutes turned on her pimp, authorities said yesterday. The johns paid as much as $50,000 for a weekend with a prostitute and had the option of purchasing a "buy out" of their favorite girls, which allowed them to book trysts directly with the hookers, Manhattan federal prosecutors said. The Emperors Club, an upscale escort service, ranked its hookers on a seven-diamond scale on its Web site and then charged its wealthy clientele accordingly for "dates," court papers said. Four people were charged with prostitution and tax crimes for allegedly raking in more than $1 million with a stable of 50 girls that serviced clients in New York, Washington, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, London, Paris and Vienna. Mark Brener, the 62-year-old alleged ring leader from Monmouth Junction, NJ, along with his girlfriend and alleged top madam, 23-year-old Cecil "Katie" Suwal, , from Cliffside Park, NJ, both face up to five years in prison on prostitution charges and 20 years behind bars for money laundering. Authorities raided Brener's home early yesterday and found $600,000 in cash and 19,000 in Euros in various safes, prosecutors said. Brener, they said, had two Israeli passports in addition to his US passport. | |||||
Sunday, March 9, 2008
911 was an Inside Job; say it till they hear It!
Joe Scarborough calls for members of the 9/11 Truth movement to be thrown into secret prisons; possibly the greatest and most soulless whore to appear on television, ever; Geraldo Rivera, states that the
Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water of 24 major metro areas
| 3/9/2008, 12:32 p.m. EDT The Associated Press |
Columbus, Ohio: 5
(azithromycin, roxithromycin, tylosin, virginiamycin and caffeine)
(AP) — At least one pharmaceutical was detected in tests of treated drinking water supplies for 24 major metropolitan areas, according to an Associated Press survey of 62 major water providers and data obtained from independent researchers.
Only 28 tested drinking water. Three of those said results were negative; Dallas says tests were conducted but results are not yet available. Thirty-four locations said no testing was conducted.
Test protocols varied widely. Some researchers looked only for one pharmaceutical or two; others looked for many.
SEE AND HEAR ABOUT THE HORRORS IN GAZA ON VIDEO ~~ INTERVIEW WITH MOHAMMED OMER
Live from Gaza. Mohammed Omer describes the awful scenes in the streets of Gaza where human bodies and limbs scattered in the streets after ... the Israeli bombing of Civilian homes. Babies and infants as young as two weeks old with fatal bullet wounds in the mouth and skull.
The United States plotted the armed overthrow of the Hamas government elected by the Palestinian people in January 2006, according to "The Gaza Bombshell", an article based on leaked documents and interviews with key players in the Bush administration that was published in the latest edition of the US magazine Vanity Fair.
9Wants to Know has learned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is investigating Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham for the third time in the past year.
He is being investigated for improper judicial conduct after his full name and personal cell phone number appeared on a list of clients from a Denver prostitution business.
Oil
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The price of unleaded super gasoline is $4.019 at a Valero gas station in Los Angeles March 7, 2008. Gas prices extended their advance toward record levels on Thursday. The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.185, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices are following oil higher, and are expected to peak this spring well above last May's record of $3.227 a gallon. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) |
Related News
- Oil, logic mutually exclusive
Tulsa World - 10 hours ago - Is $100 oil here to stay?
BloggingStocks - Mar 7, 2008
Caucus chair uncovers discrepancies - Top Stories
Caucus chair uncovers discrepancies - Top Stories
Volunteers who worked the Jester Center caucus on Tuesday are suspicious of at least one of the caucus lists, the precinct chairman said late Thursday night. At least three students who signed the list verified that the candidates attached to their names were not the candidates they voted for.
Government senior Ray Skidmore, precinct chair for the voting precinct that includes all UT dorms, said one of the caucus volunteers on Thursday noticed almost identical handwriting on one of the caucus sheets. Volunteers were recounting the caucus numbers Wednesday and Thursday, Skidmore said, just to double-check before turning them in today. Information from all caucuses - forms and the official delegate counts - are due to the Travis County clerk's office today by 6 p.m.
When recounting, the volunteer noticed a whole list had Sen. Hillary Clinton written in similar handwriting in the presidential preference column for each of the six voters on that list. Skidmore started calling each of the voters on the list when he reached finance senior Ronesha Holmes, who told him she did not write Clinton as her preference; Holmes said she was instructed to leave that line blank.
Even one discrepancy threw up a flag of suspicion, Skidmore said.
As he continued calling people on the list Thursday, he found that two other students, history and pre-med sophomore Abigail Cheney and government sophomore Adam Aldrete, said they did not fill in a presidential preference and that Clinton was not who they would have listed.
Volunteers who worked the Jester Center caucus on Tuesday are suspicious of at least one of the caucus lists, the precinct chairman said late Thursday night. At least three students who signed the list verified that the candidates attached to their names were not the candidates they voted for.
Government senior Ray Skidmore, precinct chair for the voting precinct that includes all UT dorms, said one of the caucus volunteers on Thursday noticed almost identical handwriting on one of the caucus sheets. Volunteers were recounting the caucus numbers Wednesday and Thursday, Skidmore said, just to double-check before turning them in today. Information from all caucuses - forms and the official delegate counts - are due to the Travis County clerk's office today by 6 p.m.
When recounting, the volunteer noticed a whole list had Sen. Hillary Clinton written in similar handwriting in the presidential preference column for each of the six voters on that list. Skidmore started calling each of the voters on the list when he reached finance senior Ronesha Holmes, who told him she did not write Clinton as her preference; Holmes said she was instructed to leave that line blank.
Even one discrepancy threw up a flag of suspicion, Skidmore said.
As he continued calling people on the list Thursday, he found that two other students, history and pre-med sophomore Abigail Cheney and government sophomore Adam Aldrete, said they did not fill in a presidential preference and that Clinton was not who they would have listed.
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