VeggieCooking.com
Vegan Cookbook
Vegan Recipes
Vegetarian Recipes
Donate!
Featured Articles:
My Vegetarian Cookbook Index
Healthy Eating
The Genetic Fad - A Medical Myth
Joel Wallach - Copper Deficiencies
Lawrence Broxmeyer - Mad Cow
Organophosphates - Mad Cow
Multiple Sclerosis and Mercury
Alternative Medicine Used for Flus
Good Fats (Omega-3 Fatty Acids)
Dr. Hulda Clark - Cancer and AIDs
Alternative Cancer Treatments
Vegans and Vitamin B-12
Aspartame, MSG - Excitotoxins
Sickle Cell Anemia
Jake Beason - Raising Children
Election Fraud 2004
9-11: A Government Operation
Pam Remembers Ronald Reagan
Family Values
Giving Thanks
Travel Page
Photo Gallery Main Page
The Peace (Flower) Gallery
Glacier National Park Gallery
Autumn Foliage Gallery
2004 New York City Protests
Yellowstone National Park Gallery
The Badlands Photo Gallery
The Main Caverns Gallery
Luray Caverns in Virginia
Shenandoah Caverns in Virginia
Skyline Caverns in Virginia
Endless Caverns in Virginia
Dixie Caverns in Virginia
Natural Bridge in Virginia
Crystal Caverns at Hupp Hill in Virginia
Cave of the Mounds in Wisconsin
Kickapoo Indian Caverns in Wisconsin
Crystal Cave in Wisconsin
Niagara Cave in Minnesota
Mena Airport Photo Gallery
Skyline Drive Photo Gallery
The House on the Rock Gallery
Wisconsin Windmill Farm
Copyright Notice & Limited Use
Other Health Web Sites:
Mercury Poisoned .com
Cancer Tutor .com
Dorway.com - Aspartame
Breast Implant Dangers
Dr. Hulda Clark - products
Dr. Clark Information Center
Dr. Joel Wallach
Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer
Mark Purdey
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Dr. Hal Huggins
Dr. Lorainne Day
Dr. Andrew Weil
Dr. Ralph Moss - Cancer Decisions
Dr. Patrick Flanagan - Neurophone
NUCCA-Certified Chiropractors
Pranic Healing
Alternative News Sites:
Rense.com
What Really Happened .com
Buzz Flash .com
Information Clearing House
Prison Planet.com
Alternative Radio:
WBAI - New York City
KPFK - Los Angeles
KPFA - Berkeley
WPFW - Washington, DC
Air America Radio
Check Amazon's prices first!
Pam Rotella's Vegetarian FUN page -- News on health, nutrition, the environment, politics, and more!
ARCHIVES 2009
Week of 27th of September to 3rd of October 2009
U.S. Review of Battle Disaster Sways Strategy on Afghanistan
The battle of Wanat is being described as the �Black Hawk Down� of Afghanistan, with the 48 American soldiers and 24 Afghan soldiers outnumbered three to one in a four-hour firefight that left nine Americans dead and 27 wounded in one of the bloodiest days of the eight-year war.
Soldiers who survived the battle described how their automatic weapons turned white hot and jammed from nonstop firing. Mortally wounded troops continued to hand bullet belts to those still able to fire.
The ammunition stockpile was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, igniting a stack of 120-millimeter mortar rounds � and the resulting fireball flung the unit�s antitank missiles into the command post. One insurgent got inside the concertina wire and is believed to have killed three soldiers at close range, including the platoon commander, Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom.
The description of the battle at Wanat � the heroism, the violence and the missteps that may have contributed to the deaths � ends with a judgment that the fight was �as remarkable as any small-unit action in American military history.�
The author, the military historian Douglas R. Cubbison, also included a series of criticisms in his review, sponsored by the Army�s Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., that laid blame on a series of decisions made before the battle.
The draft report criticized the �lack of adequate preparation time� before arriving in Afghanistan, which meant there was little training geared specifically for Afghanistan, and not even a detailed operational plan for the year of combat that lay ahead.
Pentagon and military officials say those initial criticisms are being revised to reflect subsequent interviews with other soldiers and officers who were at Wanat or who served in higher-level command positions. After a round of revisions, the study will go through a formal peer-review process and be published.
The battle stands as proof that the United States is facing off against a far more sophisticated adversary in Afghanistan today, one that can fight anonymously with roadside bombs or stealthily with kidnappings � but also can operate like a disciplined armed force using well-rehearsed small-unit tactics to challenge the American military for dominance on the conventional battlefield.
Official judgment on whether errors were made by the unit on the ground or by any leaders up the chain of command will be determined by a new investigation opened this week by Gen. David H. Petraeus of United States Central Command at the urging of Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The call for such an independent review came from family members of the fallen, including David P. Brostrom, father of the slain platoon commander and himself a retired Army colonel, as well as from a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia.
Lockerbie bombing victim's relative says she had 10 minute meeting with Gadhafi in NYC
Gibson said she gave the Libyan leader a pen and a card, in which she told him she had been praying for him.
"He was very friendly and cordial to us," Gibson said. "Honestly, I think he was touched by us being there."
Gibson said she's been to Libya three times, and through her humanitarian organization, Peace and Prosperity Alliance, she's helped to raise money for Libyan children with AIDS and other humanitarian projects.
The Libyan leader has been trying to restore his country's standing in the world and transform it from a pariah state to an accepted member of the international community.
US paid reward to Lockerbie witness, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi papers claim; Scottish detectives discussed secret payments of up to $3m made to witness and his brother, documents claim
Two key figures in the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber were secretly given rewards of up to $3m (�1.9m) in a deal discussed by Scottish detectives and the US government, according to legal papers released today.
The claims about the payments were revealed in a dossier of evidence that was intended to be used in an appeal by Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of murdering 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
Megrahi abandoned his appeal last month after the Libyan and Scottish governments struck a deal to free him on compassionate grounds because he is terminally ill with prostate cancer. Now in hospital in Tripoli, Megrahi said he wanted the public to see the evidence which he claims would have cleared him.
"I continue to protest my innocence � how could I fail to do so?," he said. "I have no desire to add to the upset of many people I know are profoundly affected by what happened in Lockerbie. My intention is only for the truth to be made known."
The documents published online by Megrahi's lawyers today show that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was asked to pay $2m to Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who gave crucial evidence at the trial suggesting that Megrahi had bought clothes later used in the suitcase that allegedly held the Lockerbie bomb.
The DoJ was also asked to pay a further $1m to his brother, Paul Gauci, who did not give evidence but played a major role in identifying the clothing and in "maintaining the resolve of his brother". The DoJ said their rewards could be increased and that the brothers were also eligible for the US witness protection programme, according to the documents.
The previously secret payments were uncovered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which returned Megrahi's conviction to the court of appeal in 2007 as a suspected miscarriage of justice. Many references were in private diaries kept by the detectives involved, Megrahi's lawyers said, but not their official notebooks.
PAM COMMENTARY: More evidence supporting the view that Libya was scapegoated for another government black op. Remember the seat cover with rocket fuel? And the brother who wouldn't take Libya's money because he thinks someone else did it? That was this same case. I'll post flashbacks for you.
(FLASHBACK) T.W.A. Pilot Stole a Piece Of Flight 800
A high-ranking Trans World Airlines pilot involved in the investigation of the Flight 800 crash has admitted stealing pieces of the reassembled wreckage and giving them to an author who contended that a missile downed the jetliner, the pilot's lawyer said yesterday.
The pilot, Terrell Stacey, is likely to plead guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge, the lawyer said, and is cooperating with a Federal investigation of the author, James Sanders, and his wife, Elizabeth Sanders, who is a flight attendant with T.W.A.
The Sanderses were charged yesterday with the more serious crime of illegally removing plane crash evidence. Charges against them and Mr. Stacey were filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where Mr. and Ms. Sanders are to surrender next week.
The charges result from an inquiry that began in March after the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned that pieces of fabric had been removed from some seats recovered after the Paris-bound Boeing 747 crashed off Long Island on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board.
Federal prosecutors said Mr. Stacey removed the fabric in January from the hangar on Long Island, where the plane's wreckage was being reassembled. His lawyer, John P. McDonald, said Mr. Stacey was frustrated by the lack of progress in the investigation and hoped that Mr. Sanders could help find an answer.
Mr. Sanders, who theorized that an errant United States military missile had destroyed the plane, wanted the fabric tested to determine whether a reddish substance on it was residue from rocket fuel, according to court papers filed by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District.
Mr. Sanders -- whose book, ''The Downing of TWA Flight 800,'' was published by the Kensington Publishing Corporation in April -- concluded that the tests helped confirm that a missile had caused the jetliner to explode. But according to prosecutors, an employee of the laboratory that conducted the tests told the F.B.I. that they were inconclusive.
Federal investigators have said that the reddish coloring was the residue of glue used when some seats on the plane were refurbished.
Last month, the F.B.I. suspended its criminal investigation into the crash because it had found no evidence that a crime had caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing its inquiry, and will hold hearings in Baltimore starting on Monday as part of its effort to determine why the plane's center fuel tank exploded.
Many Trans World Airlines employees and others in the industry contended throughout the investigation that a missile was the most plausible explanation, in part because they found it difficult to believe that a 747 could be subject to such a catastrophic mechanical failure.
(FLASHBACK) Lockerbie: Libyan compensation offer clarifies nothing
For those more sceptical of Libyan guilt, none of the innumerable unanswered questions were resolved. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed, said, �Compensation is one part of a complicated process. It doesn�t bring us any closer to the truth we have been fighting for 15 years.�
Another aspect of the Libyan offer is that it prejudices future compensation suits.
Matt Berkeley from Oxford, UK, whose brother Alistair died in the attack, refused compensation because he was unconvinced of Libyan guilt:
�I haven�t seen...credible evidence that Libya did it or that any admission by the Libyans would be truthful, rather than simply the result of them being put under enormous pressure... Also, there is a long list of organisations and people that I can�t subsequently sue. I don�t want to give up my right to sue. New evidence may appear tomorrow proving who was responsible.�
Charges Dropped Against Cop Caught Having Sex With Cows [WRH]
A former police officer accused of having a moonlight tryst with a group of cows will not be facing animal cruelty charges after all.
As it turns out bestiality is not a crime in New Jersey.
Former Moorestown police officer Robert Melia Jr. was charged last year with sexually assaulting three girls.
During the investigation, police say they found a video in the man's home that showed him sexually molesting cows.
According to prosecutors, Melia Jr. dropped his trousers and let the animals taste his genitals on a Southhampton farm in 2006.
Superior Court Judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence to jurors that proved that Melia's alleged actions in fact tormented the cows.
"I'm not saying it's okay," Judge Morley said in court after dismissing the charges.
"This is a legal question for me. It's not a question of morals."
Melia and former girlfriend Heather Lewis remain charged with molesting the three girls.
PAM COMMENTARY: Sounds like a good candidate for the psych ward.
DHS Doles Out Fed Cash to Deploy Military LRADs in U.S. Cities [AJ]
�It is designed to get people to do what police want. It makes them uncomfortable but does not hurt them,� he said Raymond DeMichiei, Pittsburgh�s deputy director of emergency management and homeland security.
In other words, as was the case in Pittsburgh, LRADs will be used prevent people from engaging in the First Amendment and the right to peacefully assembly and protest government policies.
American Technology stated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in September 2008 that the device is �capable of sufficient acoustic output to cause damage to human hearing or human health,� expressing concern that its misuse could lead to lawsuits. It is said the decibel range of the LRAD used in Pittsburgh was similar to standing next to an exploding IED.
�The association said that at 130 to 140 decibels, damage to the ear can be instantaneous, adding that the 145 to 151 range of the LRADS is �the kind of sound that can cause tinnitus and hearing damage immediately.� Tinnitus is a condition that causes ringing in the ears, sometimes permanently,� the Times reports.
Trends forecaster Gerald Celente has an uncanny ability to predict the future. In 1987, he predicted the stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union. In November of last year he predicted revolution in America, food riots, tax rebellions, and angry people taking to the streets as the economy implodes and the nation is wracked by mass unemployment.
�America�s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,� said Celente.
It looks like the government will be prepared � to assault the desperate hordes that will gather and make demands on the government � and that is why the Department of Homeland Security is doling out wads of cash to militarized and federalized cops around the country for high-tech weapons.
Most babies born this century will live to 100
Most babies born in rich countries this century will eventually make it to their 100th birthday, new research says. Danish experts say that since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living about three decades longer than in the past. Surprisingly, the trend shows little sign of slowing down.
In an article published Friday in the medical journal Lancet, the researchers write that the process of aging may be "modifiable."
James Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute in Germany and colleagues in Denmark examined studies published globally in 2004-2005 on numerous issues related to aging. They found life expectancy is increasing steadily in most countries, even beyond the limits of what scientists first thought possible. In Japan, for instance, which has the world's longest life expectancy, more than half of the country's 80-year-old women are expected to live to 90.
"Improvements in health care are leading to ever slowing rates of aging, challenging the idea that there is a fixed ceiling to human longevity," said David Gems, an aging expert at University College London. Gems was not connected to the research, and is studying drugs that can lengthen the life span of mice, which may one day have applications for people.
PAM COMMENTARY:
I'll believe it when I see it. For the few people who may actually live that long, I suspect they'd be healthier due to increased awareness of healthy lifestyles, not technology allowing emergency interventions. Quality of life is also an issue -- would these older people be housed in nursing homes and unable to walk at age 100, or would they be well enough to enjoy the last years of their lives?
Justice Kennedy Says Constitution Open to Interpretation [AJ]
The authors of the U.S. Constitution intentionally made it open to interpretation so that it could be adapted to meet changing societal issues, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Thursday in Norman.
�I think (they) sensed that they were on the edge of world history, but they were cautious and they knew it was difficult to rise above injustices and inequalities of their own time,� said Kennedy, who is often viewed as the swing vote on the Supreme Court.
PAM COMMENTARY: That's his way of justifying the bad decisions he's made over the years.
Bad news: Jobs market getting worse
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers cut more jobs from their payrolls in September and the unemployment rate hit another 26-year high, as the long-battered U.S. labor market took an unexpected turn for the worse, according to a government report Friday.
The Labor Department said there was a net loss of 263,000 jobs in the month, up from a revised loss of 201,000 jobs in August. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast losses would fall to 175,000 jobs.
Key figure in Polanski documentary says he lied; David F. Wells says he never told the judge to send the director to prison
LOS ANGELES - A former prosecutor says he made up a story he told a film crew about advising a judge handling Roman Polanski�s sex case to send the director to prison.
In �Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,� David F. Wells is depicted as conferring with a trial judge more than 30 years ago about Polanski�s case. Wells said in the documentary that the judge took his advice in deciding to renege on a plea bargain and give Polanski additional prison time.
�I made that up to make the stuff look better,� Wells said.
He also said he overstated his actions after being told the film would air in France, not the United States. The film aired on HBO.
Wells� statement on the documentary later became part of the basis for a move by Polanski�s attorneys to dismiss the case against the fugitive director, who was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday.
In France, several government officials who had initially rushed to Polanski�s defense were being more cautious on Thursday, stressing that the renowned filmmaker is not above the law.
Wells, who retired more than two years ago, did not handle Polanski�s case but was assigned to the courtroom where it was heard and had frequent interactions with the now-deceased trial judge Laurence J. Rittenband.
Health Care Overhaul and Mandatory Coverage Stir States� Rights Claims
ST. PAUL � In more than a dozen statehouses across the country, a small but growing group of lawmakers is pressing for state constitutional amendments that would outlaw a crucial element of the health care plans under discussion in Washington: the requirement that nearly everyone buy insurance or pay a penalty.
Approval of the measures, the lawmakers suggest, would set off a legal battle over the rights of states versus the reach of federal power � an issue that is, for some, central to the current health care debate but also one that has tentacles stretching into many other matters, including education and drug policy.
Opponents of the measures and some constitutional scholars say the proposals are mostly symbolic, intended to send a message of political protest, and have little chance of succeeding in court over the long run. But they acknowledge that the measures could create legal collisions that would be both expensive and cause delays to health care changes, and could be a rallying point for opponents in the increasingly tense debate.
PAM COMMENTARY: I don't think anything revived the issue of states' rights in recent times more than the Bush Presidency. For those who know history, the consolidation of power into the Constitution was controversial -- for example Patrick Henry (the "Give me liberty or give me death" founding father from the American Revolution) fought against the Constitution because it gave the central government too much power.
So after the Constitution was passed ONLY BECAUSE OF the addition of the Bill of Rights, what happens when a future president like Bush says that the Bill of Rights doesn't matter and he won't follow it? Doesn't that make the entire document null and void, to the point where Bush can pack his bags because his job was created in the same document just thrown out? A legal argument can be made for that, especially when so many parts of the Constitution are being blatantly violated.
Another argument over states' rights was the Civil War, and that was resolved when people the south called "Federalists" won. If you were a part of the northern forces invading the south, it was because you believed that states couldn't leave the union. Slavery was an issue, and introduced by Lincoln to bring abolitionists into the fold later, when he needed support for an unpopular war. But when the war first started, remember that it was a war "to preserve the union."
To follow are a few of Patrick Henry's observations on the Constitution, before the Bill of Rights was added (note how much of this is true in hindsight). It's always good to revisit the potential problems cited here, as they're our problems today -- even worse than Henry had imagined, with our huge modern military being used in resource wars for the wealthy. I like to bring Henry's old remarks up, because it shows that we're not married to the Constitution. It was a controversial system when first introduced, and we can change it again if it isn't working for us. Just something to consider, whether state rights change or not -- we don't have to go through another war to amend or replace a legal document. If we focus on solving our problems in a peaceful way, we might be able to come up with a better system for keeping tyrants in check:
Others spoke of union, Henry said, but he would speak of liberty -- "the greatest of all earthly blessings." "You are not to enquire how your trade may be increased, nor how you are to become a great and powerful people," Henry emphasized (to the gallery as much as to the delegates), "but how your liberties can be secured; for liberty ought to be the direct end of your government." "Those nations who have gone in search of grandeur, power, and splendor, have also fallen a sacrifice and been the victims of their folly," Henry warned, and he tried to call his audience back to the days when republican simplicity seemed the highest goal.
Henry reiterated his attack upon a consolidated government. He regarded it as a misguided lust toward greatness and power that would lead to large armies and navies, an expensive government of place men, colonels, courtiers, and tax gatherers that would design legislation to serve the interests of the "ambitious few." He ridiculed this "acquisition of strength" as a quest for "splendor," and he insisted that such a government would inevitably become tyrannical. Intended to prevent the "faction and turbulence" dreaded by creditors, it would aggrandize power and "oppress and ruin the people." "I dread the operation of it on the middling and lower classes of people," he said; "it is for them I fear the adoption of this system."
. . . When power is granted to the new government to suppress "sedition and licentiousness," Henry insisted, the proposal uses language that is "clear, express, and unequivocal." When the subject turns to rights and privileges, he warned, "there is an ambiguity, sir, a fatal ambiguity -- an ambiguity which is very astonishing."
. . . Henry saw only "specious imaginary balances" and "ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances" in the new system. The president, eligible for reelection as long as he lived, could easily become a despot, especially since he was given command of the army; the Senate, indirectly elected for long terms, could be dominated by a handful of members and become a sinkhole of corruption and the president's accomplice in diplomatic treachery; the national courts would not be bound, in all cases, to extend the protection of trial by jury.
Ordinary citizens needed protection against a consolidated government of such size, complexity, and power, and they had a right, nay a duty, to be suspicious of it. How could we punish abuses of power in such a government, without a bill of rights and sufficient powers retained by the states? "Will your mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment?" Henry asked. Is it not likely that there will be a national riot act that will prohibit "a few neighbors" from assembling without "the risk of being shot by a hired soldiery"?
- Henry Mayer, "A Son of Thunder; Patrick Henry and the American Republic," New York: Grove Press, 1991, pp. 405-08.
Obama wants a longer school year for U.S. students
"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.
"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
PAM COMMENTARY: I'd tend to disagree with this idea -- I remember my school days, could hardly wait to get out of there. Lots of bullies and verbal abuse, some teachers who just didn't belong there (in college even a serious sexual predator, seen prowling around outside with a stocking over his face), etc. And other than reading, writing, & arithmetic, the most important things I've learned have come AFTER school and college.
Just think of the computer field I work in -- MS Windows didn't exist back when I went to school, and DOS just barely existed. Everything I use for my job, and even to make this website, had to be learned AFTER I left school because that's how fast the world moves. And frankly, I don't remember much of the curriculum, and a lot of the facts taught in class have been proven incorrect since. (One of my old chemistry professors introduced his class by saying that half of what he was about to teach us was wrong, but he didn't know which half. I've since learned that 50% is a conservative estimate for the sciences.) I remember some of my professors saying that they were more interested in whether we could think critically, rather than remembering names and dates. And that philosophy of learning -- how to gather new information and make sense of it -- still seems to be the most important skill to leave school with.
It's not that I'd discourage people from going to college, or spending a lot of time on high school work, but I'd rather see kids spending the extra time on what THEY like doing. What if they're not into extra math or writing? What if they'd rather do music or photography or sports? Not everyone is going to benefit from a standard curriculum. President Obama is saying that it makes us more competitive with other countries -- for what? Jobs have been deliberately moved overseas, and they keep bringing more foreign workers into the country every year to take our jobs -- it's an issue of foreign labor being CHEAPER, not a training issue.
Maybe President Obama is thinking of inner city kids, that they spend time on the streets after school because they don't have as many opportunities as suburban kids for enrichment outside of the classroom. Well, how about just funding more optional after-school programs then, with enough variety to appeal to kids' natural creativity? I'm especially concerned that extra time in school could lead to extra indoctrination or just memorization. (Remember how they used to teach us that the United States never lost a war and never broke a treaty? There's your government propaganda woven into the school curriculum. So, will the kids be learning more of that, or what REALLY happened?)
And the real issue with college is giving more kids access to it. College was never a perfect system, and I'm just lucky that I could transfer into a decent, large state school after starting in such a poor one. But as-is, higher education does seem to give students better skills at critical thinking. It reminds me of my older sister giving me her perspective on college when I was a kid -- that you might not have many opinions now, but when you leave college, you'll have an opinion on EVERYTHING. That's because you've learned how to think critically, something you can get in a few hours a week if someone is willing to teach you.
Fmr. UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter Warns Against �Politically Motivated Hype� on Iran Nuke Program [DN]
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: And what would you like to see happen right now, in terms of the talks coming up on Thursday? This is the first direct talks between the US and Iran in more than thirty years. What would you like to see happen? And what ultimately can come out of this?
SCOTT RITTER: Well, I�d like to see diplomacy succeed. The bottom line is, the more the United States and Iran talk with one another, the less likely it is that the two will engage in hostile actions against one another. But you can�t have diplomacy if it�s a one-way street. If the talks open up with the United States providing a whole list of demands that Iran must accede to or else the talks will fail, then the talks are doomed to fail.
The United States�you know, here we have a president who says he wants to get rid of nuclear weapons in the world today, and he recognizes that a key aspect of this is a viable, valid nuclear nonproliferation treaty. But for a treaty to be viable and valid, it must be applicable to all powers. That means that when Iran signs the treaty, Iran must not only abide by the treaty, but also to be able to operate fully within the context of the treaty. And Article IV of this treaty clearly allows Iran to have the right to enrich uranium for the use�for use in nuclear power. The United States, in citing the law, must be willing to abide by the law, not only in terms of its own actions, but also to allow Iran full obligations and rights under the law.
If this isn�t what�s going to happen, then these talks are doomed to fail. I want these talks to succeed. And I�m hopeful that the Obama administration right now is carrying out pre-game posturing but, once it comes time to sit down at the table, will actually let the tools of diplomacy work, which means it has to be a two-way street.
PAM COMMENTARY: Remember that everything Ritter said about Iraq prior to that war was correct. Ritter was one of many credible witnesses touring the country and explaining to people that Bush's claims against Iraq were false. This is why people who paid attention to the news were able to know in advance that Bush's justifications for the war were total lies.
Super rich are $300 billion lighter
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The recession has taken its toll on the nation's super rich, whose collective net worth fell for only the fifth time in 28 years, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The collective worth of the 400 richest people fell by $300 billion, or 19%, to $1.27 trillion, according to the survey released by Forbes magazine.
As a result, the price of admission to appear on the list this year dropped to $950 million from $1.3 billion in the 2008 list.
The losses were driven by turmoil in the capital markets and plunging real estate values, according to the magazine. but fraud and divorce also took a toll.
Cockpit chatter cited in six crashes
Airline pilots regularly violate federal law by chit-chatting or joking during critical phases of flight � the kind of distractions that may have played a role in two recent fatal crashes that killed a total of 62 people, according to government records.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has cited violations of the "sterile cockpit rule" in six crashes since 2004, a USA TODAY review found. In addition, the pilots of a commuter plane that crashed Feb. 12 near Buffalo were casually talking minutes before the accident that killed 50 people.
More than half � 11 out of 20 � of the cockpit recording transcripts released in serious accidents during the past decade contain evidence of violations, USA TODAY found.
Comments that range from mimicking a chicken to expletive-laced jokes were captured on cockpit recordings. Since 1981, federal law has barred such banter while taxiing and flying below 10,000 feet.
American Police Force Corporation Takes Over Small Town Police Force and Prisoner-Less Jail [WRH]
HARDIN, Mont. (CBS/AP) This is the strange story of how American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana town's nonexistent police force.
After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over Hardin's jail, which has no prisoners.
Significant obstacles remain - including a lack of any contracts to acquire prisoners from other jails or other states.
And on Friday came the revelation the company's operating agreement for the facility has yet to be validated - two weeks after city leaders first unveiled what they said was a signed agreement.
Still, some Hardin leaders said the deal to turn over the 464-bed jail remained on track.
The agreement with American Police Force has been heavily promoted by members of the city's economic development branch, the Two Rivers Authority. Authority Vice President Albert Peterson on Friday repeated his claim to be �100 percent� confident in the company.
The lead public figure for American Police Force, Michael Hilton, said more than 200 employees would be sought for the jail and a proposed military and law enforcement training center.
PAM COMMENTARY: I normally wouldn't bother with a story on one guy like this before it even went to trial, but it seems that someone should have been more forthcoming to the town about a Blackwater takeover of its jail and police authority. I'm going to link to a few other articles on this, including some great original journalism by the Alex Jones organization.
Exposed: American Police Force Is A Blackwater Front Group [WRH/AJ]
American Police Force, the paramilitary unit patrolling a small town in Montana, has been exposed as being a front group for the disgraced private military contractor Blackwater, now called �Xe�.
. . . The U.S. Training Center is run by Blackwater. Indeed, The U.S. Training Center website, can be accessed via Blackwater�s forwarding URL at http://www.blackwaterusa.com/.
According to a February 2009 NY Times article, the U.S. Training Center is a Blackwater �subsidiary that conducts much of the company�s overseas operations and domestic training.� Blackwater changed the name of the facility from its old title, Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, earlier this this when they also changed their own name to �Xe�.
Calif. jail entrepreneur has checkered past [WRH]
The record says that he is a convicted felon with a number of aliases, a string of legal judgments against him, two bankruptcies and a decades-long reputation for deals gone bad.
American Police Force is the company Hilton formed in March to take over the Hardin jail.
"Such schemes you cannot believe," said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif. doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in a civil judgment against Hilton and several others.
"The guy's brilliant. If he had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire," Carella said.
Court documents show Hilton has outstanding judgments against him in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million.
As for Hilton's military expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, those interviewed knew of no such feats. Instead, Hilton was described alternately by those who know him as an arts dealer, cook, restaurant owner, land developer, loan broker and car salesman � always with a moneymaking scheme in the works.
APF Leader Exposed As Career Criminal As Hardin Patrols Labeled Unconstitutional [WRH/AJ]
The mystery surrounding the paramilitary force patrolling the streets of a town in Montana deepened last night after American Police Force founder �Captain� Michael Hilton was exposed as a career criminal and a convicted fraudster who has operated under numerous different aliases.
As we reported this week, Hardin Montana is currently being patrolled by a private organization completely outside the purview of the law as local authorities wait to seal a contract that will also see APF boss a $27 million dollar detention center located in the town.
APF�s founder, Michael Hilton, who ascribes himself the title �Captain� and speaks with an eastern European accent, has been at the center of the controversy after initially refusing to reveal his surname to reporters or even officials he was negotiating contracts with.
It has now emerged that �Michael Hilton� is merely the latest incarnation of a man previously known as Miodrag Dokovich, Michael Hamilton, Hristian Djokich and Michael Djokovich.
Hilton, who was born in the south-eastern European country Montenegro, is a �convicted felon with a number of aliases, a string of legal judgments against him, two bankruptcies and a decades-long reputation for deals gone bad,� according to an Associated Press report.
Hilton was sentenced to 6 years in jail in 1993 for �Such schemes you cannot believe,� according to Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif. doctor, namely a dozen counts of grand theft. Hilton has defrauded numerous different individuals to the tune of $1.1 million dollars over the past 20 years.
�Fraud cases include luring investors into a fake real estate development project, convincing a couple to give him a silver statue worth $100,000 dollars, and pocketing construction funds,� reports KURL 8 News.
Carella expressed his shock that authorities had even entertained Hilton�s proposal to have his paramilitary outfit take over the newly built detention camp while allowing his men to patrol the town.
�I didn�t even sleep last night because of the memories that it conjured up, he�s the reason I had to go bankrupt. I lost my practice, I had some mental issues because of this. He was using up other people�s money, mainly mine, and other people, like a Ponzi scheme,� said Carella.
Hilton�s claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan also appears to be a lie, according to the AP.
Both Al Peterson, vice president of Hardin�s Two Rivers Authority, and Becky Shay, the former Billings Gazette reporter who first broke the story but was bizarrely lured to become APF�s spokesperson after she was given a brand new car and a massive pay raise, dismissed questions about Hilton�s criminal past.
Judge Orders FBI to Release Cheney Interview in Leak Case [WRH]
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the FBI must publicly reveal much of its interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.
The FBI interviewed Cheney in June 2004 as it was investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity after her husband publicly criticized the Bush administration. Both the Bush and Obama administrations said they wanted to keep the interview confidential because future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could became public.
But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled there as no justification to withhold the entire 67 pages of records documenting the interview since the Plame leak investigation has concluded. He said that limited parts could be withheld to protect national security or personal privacy.
Report: Pentagon�s burn weapon could end up in police hands [WRH]
A powerful hand-held weapon being developed by the Pentagon could end up in police hands, says a report in a UK science journal.
The Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate has been developing the Thermal Laser System since 2005, with the purpose of developing a weapon that could disperse crowds or incapacitate individuals by causing them to experience burning sensations in their skin.
According to NewScientist magazine, the weapon has evolved into a rifle-mounted instrument, and there are plans for a hand-held model that could be used by police forces.
News of the possibility that police departments could obtain the burn weapon will likely concern civil-liberties advocates, who have been watching with alarm as the Taser conducted-energy weapon has gone into regular use in police forces across the United States.
Elizabeth Smart says she was raped daily
She was 14 when she was abducted from her Salt Lake City home at knifepoint in the middle of the night. Shortly after her abduction, Smart said Mitchell took her to a mountain camp and performed a ceremony she said was intended to marry the two.
"After that, he proceeded to rape me," Smart said.
She said he held her captive with a cable attached to her leg that had a 10-foot reach. That line was attached to another cable strung between two trees.
Smart said Mitchell plied her with alcohol and drugs to lower her resistance.
"He said that he would kill anybody that would come into the camp, or kill me if I ever tried to escape or yell out," Smart testified.
Smart said Mitchell was motivated by sex and used religion to get what he wanted.
Mitchell's defense attorneys had sought to limit Smart's testimony to her experiences with Mitchell, without her opinions about his mental state.
PAM COMMENTARY: After I've seen so many people making excuses for Polanski's rape of a child, I thought it was good to remind people of what sexual predators and pedophiles do. It's a lot easier to see how horrible it is for the victim when the predator isn't being praised for work that's supposedly more important than other types of work.
'Unresponsive' pilot crashes in Indiana as F-16s trail
A small plane crashed outside Muncie, Indiana, as military F-16s trailed it Wednesday after its pilot failed to respond to radio calls, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.
The plane crashed into a farm field in Randolph County, Indiana, near the town of Winchester, about 12:40 p.m. ET, NORAD said in a statement. There were no reports that anyone on the ground was hurt.
There was one fatality, believed to be the pilot and sole occupant of the plane, the Indiana State Police said. The person's identity had not been confirmed as of Wednesday afternoon.
The incident was not believed to be terrorism-related and may be a medical situation, officials said.
PAM COMMENTARY: Yet another case proving that 9/11 couldn't have happened without a stand-down order.
Chemical found in air outside 15 schools
The chemical that once was weaponized, acrolein, can exacerbate asthma and irritate the eyes and throat. It is a byproduct of burning gasoline, wood and cigarettes, but the EPA has not yet determined the specific sources for the elevated levels it found at each school.
EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said the initial readings show "more must be done to reduce the amount of acrolein the American people, especially children, are exposed to."
At the 15 schools � in Alabama, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio and South Carolina � regulators found average acrolein levels at least 100 times higher than what the government considers safe for long-term exposure.
The highest level was recorded in August at Spain Elementary School in Detroit. On Wednesday, the 830 students at Spain were paying homage to the late Michael Jackson when Principal Ronald Alexander heard about the monitoring results. "We've had a very marvelous day today, but this is a concern," he said of the acrolein levels.
Methadone deaths jump sharply in recent years; Rise in fatalities from drug greater than other opioid analgesics
The potential danger was underscored in a new federal report that said the number of deaths involving methadone jumped nearly sevenfold from 1999 to 2006.
The rise in methadone-related fatalities was faster than increases in deaths from other opioid analgesics � drugs usually prescribed to relieve pain such as OxyContin and fentanyl � and from other narcotics.
Overall, poisoning deaths involving all opioid analgesics more than tripled over the seven-year time frame, increasing among all age groups, said the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Methadone is widely known for treatment of heroin addiction, but it has been increasingly prescribed to manage pain.
The CDC statistics buttressed a March report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which said methadone�s growing use for pain management has made more of the drug available, thus contributing to an increase in methadone-related overdose deaths.
Drug deaths outpace car crashes in more states; Prescription painkiller overdoses triple, led by rise in methadone fatalities
ATLANTA - Drug-related deaths outnumber those from motor vehicle accidents in a growing number of states, according to new government data that highlight a shift in the top cause of deaths after disease and illness.
Crashes still cost more lives nationwide, but state-by-state calculations show the rate of drug-induced deaths outpaced vehicle accidents in 16 states in 2006, up from about a dozen states the year before and eight in 2003.
Drug overdoses make up the vast majority of the drug-related deaths, and there was a sharp increase in fatalities tied to cocaine and to drugs known as opioid analgesics � including methadone, fentanyl, sedatives and prescription painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin.
Majority of U.S. parents wary of H1N1 vaccine; Poll finds two-thirds will delay kids' immunization or not get shots at all
Consumer Reports, a magazine published by the nonprofit advocacy group Consumers Union, surveyed 1,502 adults by telephone from September 2-7.
It found that 50 percent of parents are delaying the vaccination decision, mainly because they were wary about whether the new H1N1 vaccine has been tested enough.
The same concerns were shared by 14 percent of parents who have ruled out vaccination altogether.
About 35 percent of adults surveyed said they would definitely have their children vaccinated, significantly higher than the 22 percent of 5- to 18-year-olds who are immunized in a typical year, according to federal statistics.
The survey also found 43 percent of parents were not too worried about their children contracting H1N1, while about the same number worried about other parents overreacting.
PAM COMMENTARY: Smarter than I thought!
Bank of America�s Lewis Resigns After Bet on Rebound [WRH]
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Kenneth D. Lewis bet Bank of America Corp.�s future on America at a time when America went bust.
Lewis, 62, said yesterday he will resign as chief executive officer at the end of the year, leaving his successor to capitalize on, or salvage, the acquisitions that led to his downfall. The bank didn�t name a replacement.
The CEO has become a distraction, pilloried by regulators and lawmakers since he engineered the $29 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. in January and bought subprime home lender Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008, said CreditSights Inc. analyst David Hendler.
World�s oldest human-linked skeleton found; �Ardi� predates Lucy by a million years, changes scientific view of origins
Rather than humans evolving from an ancient chimplike creature, the new find provides evidence that chimps and humans evolved from some long-ago common ancestor � but each evolved and changed separately along the way.
�This is not that common ancestor, but it�s the closest we have ever been able to come,� said Tim White, director of the Human Evolution Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
The lines that evolved into modern humans and living apes probably shared an ancestor 6 million to 7 million years ago, White said in a telephone interview.
But Ardi has many traits that do not appear in modern-day African apes, leading to the conclusion that the apes evolved extensively since we shared that last common ancestor.
A study of Ardi, under way since the first bones were discovered in 1994, indicates the species lived in the woodlands and could climb on all fours along tree branches, but the development of their arms and legs indicates they didn�t spend much time in the trees. And they could walk upright, on two legs, when on the ground.
I Apologize To The DEAD! For Not Voting To End This Holocaust In America Sooner! Rep Grayson (Video) [WRH]
PAM COMMENTARY: I don't see the demands for an apology from Grayson as appropriate. Congressmen say all kinds of things on the floor, including blatant lies (often on behalf of the special interests they've sold their souls to), and are never asked or expected to apologize. The reason another Congressman, Rep. Wilson, was asked to apologize is that he yelled remarks during a speech by the President, and for some reason Congress has the tradition of taking whatever nonsense the president happens to be dishing out without audible comments from Congress. I remember Democrats even applauding a few of George Bush's outrageous lies during his speeches. It all could be considered a little wimpy, but Presidential speeches are where Congress tries to behave. Speaking on the floor is NOT, they've always said whatever they wanted there.
Dem says GOP wants sick to just 'die quickly'; 'The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick,' says Rep. Grayson
Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida has refused to apologize for his remarks on the House floor Tuesday night in which he criticized Republican health care proposals as a "blank piece of paper."
"If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly," he said. "That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick."
18 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN AGAINST THE FLU [R]
5. This is the first year mock vaccines have been used to gain FDA approval. Mock vaccines are made to gain approval of the manufacturing method and then the prevalent virus strain in circulation is added just days before it is actually placed into use. Don�t subject your children to experimental vaccines. Yes, these vaccines have been tested on healthy kids and adults, but they are not the same vaccines your children will be given. Those children with asthma, allergies, type I diabetes, etc. are at greater risk for side effects. Children below the age of 2 years do not have a sufficient blood brain barrier developed and are subject to chronic brain infections that emanate into symptoms that are called autism. Toddlers should not be subjected to injected viruses.
6. Over-vaccination is a common practice now in America. American children are subjected to 29 vaccines by the age of two. This means a little bit of disease is being injected into young children continually during their most formative years! Veterinarians have backed off of repeat vaccination in dogs because of observed side effects.
7. Health officials want to vaccinate women during pregnancy, subjecting the fetal brain to an intentional biological assault. A recent study showed vaccines injected into women during pregnancy provoke a similar gene expression pattern in the fetus as that seen in autistic children.
8. Modern medicine has no explanation for autism, despite its continued rise in prevalence. Yet autism is not reported among Amish children who go unvaccinated. Beware the falsehoods of modern medicine.
9. School kids are likely to receive nasally-administered vaccines (Flu-Mist) that require no needle injection. But this form of live vaccine produces viral shedding which will surely be transmitted to family members. What a way to start an epidemic!
Many swine flu deaths linked with second infection [R]
A study of 77 patients who died of the new pandemic H1N1 virus showed 29 percent of them had so called bacterial co-infections, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
About half of these had Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can be prevented with a vaccine, the CDC said. It said doctors may be missing these infections in people severely ill with flu.
The CDC has already reported that H1N1, declared a pandemic in June, has become more active as weather cools and schools reopened after summer breaks. Cases are reported in all 50 states and it is still circulating globally.
H1N1 is not any more deadly than seasonal influenza so far but it attacks a younger age group than seasonal flu does and because virtually the entire population lacks immunity, it can infect far more people at once than seasonal flu usually does.
PAM COMMENTARY: Note the article below, saying that Reuters has conflicts of interests in promoting vaccines.
Media Issues Propaganda To Boost HPV Vaccine Sales And Renewed Confidence Following Children's Deaths [R]
LOS ANGELES -- Vaccine industrialist and media mogul, Mortimer Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief of US News & World Report, has fraudulently promoted the benefits of vaccines that are killing children, according to a public health expert whose research has identified shocking conflicts of interest between Zuckerman and the makers of the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) vaccine.
Merck's Gardasil and Glaxo-SmithKlein's Cervarix are being touted by Zuckerman's "yellow press" as beneficial, when growing evidence indicates the vaccines for HPV are neither safe or effective.
Dr. Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard-trained authority in vaccinations and emerging diseases says it takes months and years beyond their trial periods for vaccine injuries and related deaths to occur. Most adverse events are, therefore, never counted or considered by federal authorities that certify vaccines' safety. Nonetheless, news sources and health officials claim that vaccines receive adequate safety testing.
"Zuckerman's propaganda is completely discredited by his membership in a biotechnology trust that advances vaccines for global markets," Dr. Horowitz warns. "US News & World Report is among a group of 'yellow press' assets, controlled by drug industrialists, generating media persuasion and mass consumption of vaccinations containing intoxicating ingredients. causing hideous reactions in children and long term side effects including autoimmune diseases and cancers."
According to drug company studies accepted by the FDA, 13% of teenage girls faint after getting HPV vaccinations linked to dozens of deaths from blood clots, seizures, heart attacks, appendicitis, anaphylaxis, and Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Recent news that a 14-year-old British girl, Natalie Morton, died following her intoxicating inoculation against HPV has failed to alert people to the real risks downplayed by media companies whose owners have conflicting interests, including Zuckerman and Thomas H. Glocer, the media mogul CEO of Reuters News Service.
Reuters reported in August that few serious side effects were observed during trials conducted by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials to promote Merck's HPV vaccine, Gardasil. The CDC heavily favors drug industry initiatives, and collaborates on drug studies that are often biased in favor of pharmaceutical interests. Their studies are fraudulently designed to pass safety standards, Dr, Horowitz advises.
For example, toxic vaccine additives called "adjuvants," instead of pure saline, are used in safety trials as placebos. This results in fewer differences in adverse reactions between the experimental and control groups. Thus, claims of safety are completely unreliable.
Reuters's reliability is disqualified by Glocer's position on the board of directors of Merck since 2007. He is also partnered with David Rockefeller in the world's leading biotechnology trust called "Partnership for New York City (PFNYC). " Members of this trust advance the world's largest companies creating global drug markets.
FDA delays Glaxo cervical cancer vaccine ruling; Postponement follows death of British girl who received Cervarix shot
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a decision on GlaxoSmithKline's vaccine for cervical cancer, according to the British drugmaker.
The FDA was scheduled to announce its ruling Tuesday on whether to approve Cervarix, but a Glaxo spokeswoman said the review will continue.
The announcement came one day after British health officials reported a 14-year-old girl died a few hours after receiving the vaccine.
PAM COMMENTARY: See my earlier links on the HPV vaccine and vaccines in general.
You'd butter believe it: Margarine consumption is linked to lower IQs in children [R]
It became popular as a healthier alternative to butter.
But children who ate margarine every day had lower IQs than those who did not, a study has found.
At the age of three-and-a-half, they scored three points lower on intelligence tests than other youngsters.
Importantly, the link held even when parental occupation and other factors affecting wealth and class were taken into account, the study of children born in the mid-1990s showed.
PAM COMMENTARY: Not surprised, the wrong kind of fat. Kids need essential fatty acids for proper brain development.
Tehran dumps dollar for euro [AJ]
Iran�s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered the replacement of the US dollar by the euro in calculating the value of the country�s Oil Stabilisation Fund (OSF).
The edict, issued on Sept 12, follows a recommendation by the trustees of the country�s foreign reserves, Iran�s English-language daily The Tehran Times said on Monday, citing Iran�s semi-official Mehr News Agency.
The move was taken because the government wishes to protect itself from the fragility of the US economy and the weak dollar.
The OSF, which forms part of Iran�s foreign exchange reserves, is a contingency fund set aside to cushion the economy against fluctuating international oil prices.
PAM COMMENTARY: I wonder if this has anything to do with US nuclear accusations lately.
(FLASHBACK) Oklahoma City footage from movie "9/11; In Plane Site"
PAM COMMENTARY: This is a portion of the film "9-11; In Plane Site." The film's main subject is 9/11, but near the end they show early local news broadcasts from the Oklahoma City bombing, where local reporters are saying that bombs were INSIDE of the building, and that the second and third bombs -- both bigger than the first -- were defused. (Slightly different from the government's truck bomb story, although pictures of the building always seemed to indicate that a truck bomb wasn't likely.) The movie is great -- although clearly a low budget production, the evidence they cover is good -- and if you want to buy a full copy, you can order the DVD from ThePowerMall.com.
Material missing from Okla. bombing tapes, lawyer says
The tapes turned over by the FBI came from security cameras various companies had mounted outside office buildings near the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. They are blank at points before 9:02 a.m., when a truck bomb carrying a 4,000-pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the building, Trentadue said.
"Four cameras in four different locations going blank at basically the same time on the morning of April 19, 1995. There ain't no such thing as a coincidence," Trentadue said.
He said government officials claim the security cameras did not record the minutes before the bombing because "they had run out of tape" or "the tape was being replaced."
"The interesting thing is they spring back on after 9:02," he said. "The absence of footage from these crucial time intervals is evidence that there is something there that the FBI doesn't want anybody to see."
A spokesman for the FBI in Oklahoma City, Gary Johnson, declined to comment and referred inquiries about the tapes to FBI officials in Washington, who were not immediately available for comment Sunday.
The soundless recordings show people rushing from nearby buildings after the bomb went off. Some show people fleeing through corridors cluttered with debris. None show the actual explosion that ripped through the federal building.
PAM COMMENTARY: Well, we all saw THAT one coming.
Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland 31 years after fleeing trial
Polanski was 44 and already a twice-Oscar-nominated director in March 1977 when he had sex with Samantha Gailey, a 13-year-old model he had hired for a photoshoot, at Jack Nicholson's house in Los Angeles. He has argued that the sex was consensual, saying the girl was "not unresponsive", though Gailey said he drugged her with painkillers and champagne before carrying out a "very scary" assault.
The director pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in a deal with prosecutors that saw them drop charges of rape, drugging and sodomy, which could have carried a life sentence, but fled the country in February 1978 when it became apparent that he was likely to serve time in prison.
Polanski's arrest is the latest twist in an extraordinary life that has been marked by violence, tragedy and controversy. His family returned to Poland shortly before the outbreak of the second world war and were forced into the Krakow ghetto with thousands of other Jewish families. The young Polanski escaped from the ghetto in 1943, but his parents were shipped to concentration camps, and his mother was murdered in Auschwitz.
Polanski married American actor Sharon Tate in 1968, but the following year, when eight months pregnant with his baby, she and four other people were brutally murdered by members of Charles Manson's "family".
PAM COMMENTARY: Well, now I know why I've never seen anyone express sympathy for Sharon Tate's husband when they mention the Manson murders -- her husband was a child rapist! (I've seen this as a pattern of karma among rapists -- they lose the women in their lives.)
I've never watched Polanski's films because I don't have time to waste on very many films -- just the ones I really want to see. I never had the impression that he was a great director, although I do notice that some of his fans are assuming that because they like his movies, he must be an OK guy. I was especially shocked by reader comments under the Huffington Post's article on his arrest -- it seemed I had stumbled onto a board of sexual predators, so many people were blaming the victim or making excuses for sexual predation. It's sickening to see supposed liberals trying to justify raping women, especially the sexual abuse of CHILDREN. And as far as Polanski "having learned his lesson" or "not being a danger," as some of those readers claim -- we have no evidence of that. I've known a few sexual predators through the years, unfortunately. Just like the statistics predict, they didn't stop doing it. Some are just better at getting away with it longer due to lax police work. And although I have liberal tendencies and try to be sympathetic toward even criminals, my personal experience is that predators are psychopaths when you get to know them. Some have learned to con people into thinking that they're regular people, but with predators there's this whole mindset of being ENTITLED to do anything they want to other people -- that victims are there for the predator's personal sexual gratification, and that victims have no right to control what happens to their own bodies.
Take Huckabee's old buddy, the serial rapist Dumond, as a case study. (See previous links.) He raped MANY women (and that's just the women who came forward, who we know about) before being given the ONE conviction! Then after Huckabee helped Dumond gain an early release, two more women were raped and murdered before he was locked up again! The point is, there's no way of really knowing whether Polanski is continuing with sexual predation, and a lot of predators prefer foreign countries because they can get away with more abroad. Often people in foreign countries are more star struck than Americans. So you just have to go with what's already proven, what women have been willing to come forward with. And with regard to his legal case, he chose to become a fugitive which carries its own penalties, and if his rights to appeal or withdraw his guilty plea expired, that's the risk he took by fleeing to escape a sentence. He could have chosen to fight it from within the legal system, like most people do, often with success in at least reducing a sentence.
The good thing about the Huff Post's article is that one of the readers posted some good links from TheSmokingGun.com web site -- thanks to Huffington reader "RushHour-2" for these links and descriptions (very graphic, for those who want to skip them):
Mr Polanski admitted that he was well aware of the fact that the girl was 13 years old.
According to the girl's witness statements . . .
Mr Polanski (44), after having served the girl (13) alcohol and a potentially incapacitating drug (qualuude), engaged in oral, vaginal, and anal sex against her will ; the girl (13) describes herself as being afraid and alone with Mr Polanski (44) ; she repeatedly said no and pleaded to be sent home � ''I told him � I said I wanted to get � I wanted to go home''. Mr Polanski (44), ''Yeah, I'll take you home soon''.
(Note Polanski's remarks -- they seem to indicate that he had no concern for what the girl wanted. She was just there for his own sexual use, as with other predators I've known.)
TheSmokingGun also has a new write-up and links to the court transcript of his guilty plea here.
Back to Pam's NEWS ARCHIVES
Back to Pam's vegan vegetarian FUN page
Pam's vegan vegetarian cookbook, with vegan vegetarian recipes
Sources (if found on major news boards):
[AJ] - InfoWars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, or other Alex Jones-affiliated sites
[BF] - BuzzFlash.com
[DN] - DemocracyNow.org
[R] - Rense.com
[WRH] - WhatReallyHappened.com
---------------------------
__________
All original content including photographs © 2009 by Pam Rotella. (News excerpts copyright by their corresponding authors, news organizations, or other copyright holders, and quoted here typically as "fair use" or "teaser" paragraphs to generate interest in the full articles.)