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LAW ENFORCEMENT News:
20090328
 Alberto
R Gonzales -  John
C Yoo -  Douglas
J Feith
-  William
J Haynes II -  Jay
S Bybee
-  David
S Addington -  Dick
Cheney - Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Secret
- Prisoners
-  Politics
-  History
-  International
-  Law
-  US
- Guantánamo
Bay -  Cuba
-  Chile
-  Spain
"Spanish
Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials."
... "A Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal
investigation into allegations that six former high-level [Republican President]
Bush administration officials violated international law by providing the
legal framework to justify the torture of prisoners at Guantánamo
Bay, Cuba, an official close to the case said." ... "The case, against
former Attorney General Alberto
R. Gonzales and others, was sent to the prosecutor’s office for review
by Baltasar Garzón, the crusading investigative judge who ordered
the arrest of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The official
said that it was “highly probable” that the case would go forward and that
it could lead to arrest warrants." ... "The complaint under review also
names John
C. Yoo, the former Justice Department lawyer who wrote secret legal
opinions saying the president had the authority to circumvent the Geneva
Conventions, and Douglas
J. Feith, the former under secretary of defense for policy." ... "Spain
can claim jurisdiction in the case because five citizens or residents of
Spain who were prisoners at Guantánamo Bay [Cuba] have said they
were tortured there. The five had been indicted in Spain, but their cases
were dismissed after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained
under torture was not admissible." ... "The 98-page complaint, a copy of
which was obtained by The New York Times, is based on the Geneva Conventions
and the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which is binding on 145 countries,
including Spain and the United States. Countries that are party to the
torture convention have the authority to investigate torture cases, especially
when a citizen has been abused." ... "Gonzalo Boye, the Madrid lawyer who
filed the complaint, said that the six Americans cited had had well-documented
roles in approving illegal interrogation techniques, redefining torture
and abandoning the definition set by the 1984 Torture Convention." ...
"Secret memorandums by Mr. Yoo and other top administration lawyers helped
clear the way for aggressive policies like waterboarding and other harsh
interrogation techniques, which the [Central Intelligence Agency] C.I.A.
director, the attorney general and other American officials have said amount
to torture." ... "The other Americans named in the complaint were William
J. Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense; Jay
S. Bybee, Mr. Yoo’s former boss at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal
Counsel; and David
S. Addington, who was the chief of staff and legal adviser to [Republican]
Vice President Dick
Cheney." -By Marlise
Simons with contributions by Scott
Shane and Eric
Schmitt -NYTimes
20090326
 Barack
Obama - US
- Politics
-  Afghanistan
- Police
-  Pakistan
"Obama's
Afghanistan plan calls for 4,000 more U.S. troops."
... "[Democratic] President Obama announced Friday a proposal to stem the
worsening insurgency in Afghanistan by sending 4,000 more [United States]
U.S. troops and additional civilian aid workers, while also increasing
aid to neighboring Pakistan." ... "Obama said his objective is to suppress
the
spreading insurgency by placing more emphasis on building local governments,
wooing the civilian population with aid and providing more help to the
Afghan army instead of a deploying a large number of combat troops." ...
"Check
out Obama's address [PDF]" ... ""The situation is increasingly perilous,"
Obama said. "It has been more than seven years since the Taliban was removed
from power, yet war rages on, and insurgents control parts of Afghanistan
and Pakistan."" ... "Key elements of the plan include:" ... "• Sending
the 4,000 new troops, who would train Afghan soldiers and police. The plan
includes a goal of having 134,000 soldiers in the Afghan army, up from
about 65,000 soldiers now. "That is how we will prepare Afghans to take
responsibility for their security, and how we will ultimately be able to
bring our troops home," Obama said." ... "Pakistan long sponsored the Taliban
regime that ruled Afghanistan and harbored al-Qaeda terrorists until overthrown
by U.S. forces in 2001. Many Taliban members remain in the mountainous
border region between the two countries." -By David
Jackson with contributions by Tom Vanden Brook and John Fritze
-USATODAY
 Pennsylvania
- Secret
-  Corporate
-  Government
- Crime
- Prison
-  Children's
- Rights
- Politics
"Court
overturns hundreds of cases in court scandal." ...
"The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court said it would overturn the convictions
of hundreds of juveniles sentenced in the midst of the Luzerne County kickback
scheme." ... "Calling it a "first step," the court wielded a little- used
proceeding to throw out and expunge the case records of first-time offenders
convicted of minor crimes who appeared before Luzerne County Juvenile Court
Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. between 2003 and 2008." ... "In a report to
the Court, a specially appointed judge, Arthur E. Grim, said his investigation
uncovered "routine deprivation of children's constitutional rights to appear
before an impartial tribunal and have an opportunity to be heard."" ...
"Today's ruling, which authorizes Grim to overturn the cases, affects as
many as 1,200 juveniles, he said. Their cases will be reviewed individually
to determine if they meet the court's conditions." ... "Ciavarella and
another former Luzerne County judge, Michael T. Conahan, have pleaded guilty
earlier this year to taking $2.6 million in secret payments from the former
owner of two juvenile detention centers." ... "The judges admitted that
they helped the centers secure a county contract worth millions of dollars.
Ciavarella routinely sentenced children to them." -By
John Sullivan -Philly.com
Barack
Obama - Federal
- Enforcement
- Financial
-  Accounting
- Politics
-American
International Group - Consumer
- Crises
- History
- US
- International
"Geithner
to Propose Vast Expansion Of U.S. Oversight of Financial System."
... "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plans to propose today a sweeping
expansion of federal authority over the financial system, breaking from
an era in which the government stood back from financial markets and allowed
participants to decide how much risk to take in the pursuit of profit."
... "The [Democratic President] Obama administration's plan, described
by several sources, would extend federal regulation for the first time
to all trading in financial derivatives and to companies including large
hedge funds and major insurers such as American International Group. The
administration also will seek to impose uniform standards on all large
financial firms, including banks, an unprecedented step that would place
significant limits on the scope and risk of their activities." ... "Most
of these initiatives would require legislation." ... "In coming months,
the administration plans to detail its strategy in three other areas: protecting
consumers, eliminating flaws in existing regulations and enhancing international
coordination." ... "The nation's financial regulations are largely an accumulation
of responses to financial crises. Federal bank regulation was a product
of the Civil War. The Federal Reserve was created early in the 20th century
to mitigate a long series of monetary crises. The Great Depression delivered
deposit insurance and a federally sponsored mortgage market. In the midst
of a modern economic upheaval, the Obama administration is pitching the
most significant regulatory expansion since that time." ... "The administration's
signature proposal is to vest a single federal agency with the power to
police risk across the entire financial system." (1, 2,
3)
-By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho with contributions
by Zachary A. Goldfarb -WashingtonPost
20090325
 Hillary
Clinton - US
-  Mexico
- Criminal
-  Drug
- Law
"Clinton:
U.S. drug habits fuel border violence: Secretary
of state in Mexico to bolster anti-narcotics cooperation." ... "[United
States] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday pledged
to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Mexico in its violent struggle against
drug cartels, and acknowledged the U.S. shares blame because of its demand
for drugs and supply of weapons." ... "She said the United States shares
responsibility with Mexico for dealing with violence now spilling across
the border and promised cooperation to improve security on both sides."
... ""The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode
the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us that support
our continent. They will fail," she told Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary
Patricia Espinosa. "We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.""
-AP via -MSNBC
Hillary
Clinton - Barack
Obama - US
- Mexico
- Illegal
- Drug
- Enforcement
-  Military
-  Health
-  Brazil
-  Colombia
"Clinton:
U.S. Drug Policies Failed, Fueled Mexico's Drug War."
... "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Mexico on Wednesday
with a blunt mea culpa, saying that decades of U.S. anti-narcotics policies
have been a failure and have contributed to the explosion of drug violence
south of the border." ... ""Clearly what we've been doing has not worked,"
Clinton told reporters on her plane at the start of her two-day trip, saying
that [United States] U.S. policies on curbing drug use, narcotics shipments
and the flow of guns have been ineffective." ... ""Our insatiable demand
for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she added. "Our inability to prevent
weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals
causes the deaths of police, of soldiers and civilians."" ... "More than
7,000 Mexicans have been killed in the bloodletting since January 2008,
with the gangs battling authorities and one another for supremacy." ...
"The [Democratic President] Obama administration announced Tuesday that
it is sending hundreds more agents and extra high-tech gear to the border
to intercept weapons and drug proceeds heading south." ... "Last month,
former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico called on the United States
in a report to consider legalizing marijuana use and focusing more on treatment
for drug users. Obama has emphasized his support for expanded treatment
facilities, although not for allowing marijuana use. " (1, 2)
-By Mary Beth Sheridan
-WashingtonPost
20090321
 Israeli
- Religious
-  Terrorism
- Military
- War
Crimes - Politics
-  Land
- Palestinian
-  Human
- Rights
- Investigation
"Israelis
told to fight 'holy war' in Gaza." ... "Many Israeli
troops had the sense of fighting a "religious war" against Gentiles during
the 22-day offensive in Gaza [Palestinian territory], according to a soldier
who has highlighted the martial role of military rabbis during the operation."
... "The soldier testified that the "clear" message of literature distributed
to troops by the rabbinate was: "We are the Jewish people, we came to this
land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to
fight to expel the Gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this
holy land."" ... "After the offensive, Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights
group called for the dismissal of the military's head chaplain, Rabbi Avichai
Rontzki, a brigadier general. It said that he had distributed to troops
a booklet saying that it was "terribly immoral" to show mercy to a "cruel
enemy" and that the soldiers were fighting "murderers"." ... "The longer
transcript conveys a fuller sense of the debate involving graduates from
the Yitzhak Rabin military preparatory course." ... "The latest casualty
figures published by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights list the names
of 1,434 dead of whom they say 926 were civilians, 236 fighters and 255
police officers." -By Donald Macintyre
-Independent.co.uk
20090215
Secret
- Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prison
-  Psychological
- Terrorism
- Military
- Government
- 
- Medical
- Human
- Rights
- Law- US
- Guantánamo
- Cuba
"Former
Gitmo Guard Tells All." ... "Army Private Brandon
Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo [US military prison
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba] in the first years the facility was in
operation. With the [Republican President] Bush Administration, and thus
the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step
forward and tell his story. “The stuff I did and the stuff I saw was just
wrong,” he
told the Associated Press. Neely describes the arrival of detainees
in full sensory-deprivation garb, he details their sexual abuse by medical
personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration,
fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous
shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and
beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally
ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees,
and his conversations with prisoners David Hicks and Rhuhel Ahmed. It makes
for fascinating reading." ... "Neely’s comprehensive account runs to roughly
15,000 words. It was compiled by law students at the University of California
at Davis and can be accessed
here." ... "... Neely and other guards had been trained to the U.S.
military’s traditional application of the Geneva Convention rules. They
were put under great pressure to get rough with the prisoners and to violate
the standards they learned. This placed the prison guards under unjustifiable
mental stress and anxiety, and, as any person familiar with the vast psychological
literature in the area (think of the Stanford Prison Experiment, for instance)
would have anticipated produced abuses. Neely discusses at some length
the notion of IRF (initial reaction force), a technique devised to brutalize
or physically beat a detainee under the pretense that he required being
physically subdued. The IRF approach was devised to use a perceived legal
loophole in the prohibition on torture. Neely’s testimony makes clear that
IRF was understood by everyone, including the prison guards who applied
it, as a subterfuge for beating and mistreating prisoners—and that it had
nothing to do with the need to preserve discipline and order in the prison."
... "[Neely] describes body searches undertaken for no legitimate security
purpose, simply to sexually invade and humiliate the prisoners. This was
a standardized [Republican President] Bush Administration tactic–the importance
of which became apparent to me when I participated in some Capitol Hill
negotiations with White House representatives relating to legislation creating
criminal law accountability for contractors. The Bush White House vehemently
objected to provisions of the law dealing with rape by instrumentality.
When House negotiators pressed to know why, they were met first with silence
and then an embarrassed acknowledgement that a key part of the Bush program
included invasion of the bodies of prisoners in a way that might be deemed
rape by instrumentality under existing federal and state criminal statutes.
While these techniques have long been known, the role of health care professionals
in implementing them is shocking." ... "Neely’s account demonstrates once
more how much the Bush team kept secret and how little we still know about
their comprehensive program of official cruelty and torture."
-By Scott Horton
-Harpers.org
"Testimony
of Spc. Brandon Neely." via "The
Guantánamo Testimonials Project." ... "Testimonies
of Military Guards." via humanrights.ucdavis.edu
20090214
Jay
Bybee - John
Yoo -  Steven
Bradbury
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Investigators
-
- Politics
"A
Torture Report Could Spell Big Trouble For Bush Lawyers."
... "An internal Justice Department report on the conduct of senior lawyers
who approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics is causing
anxiety among former [Republican President] Bush administration officials.
H. Marshall Jarrett, chief of the department's ethics watchdog unit, the
Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), confirmed last year he was
investigating whether the legal advice in crucial interrogation memos "was
consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of
Justice attorneys." According to two knowledgeable sources who asked not
to be identified discussing sensitive matters, a draft of the report was
submitted in the final weeks of the Bush administration. It sharply criticized
the legal work of two former top officials—Jay
Bybee and John
Yoo—as well as that of Steven Bradbury, who was chief of the Office
of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the time the report was submitted, the sources
said." ... "[T[he OPR probe began after Jack Goldsmith, a Bush appointee
who took over OLC in 2003, protested the legal arguments made in the memos.
Goldsmith resigned the following year after withdrawing the memos, and
later wrote that he was "astonished" by the "deeply flawed" and "sloppily
reasoned" legal analysis in the memos by Yoo and Bybee, including their
assertion (challenged by many scholars) that the president could unilaterally
disregard a law passed by Congress banning torture." ... "OPR investigators
focused on whether the memo's authors deliberately slanted their legal
advice to provide the [Republican President Bush] White House with the
conclusions it wanted, according to three former Bush lawyers who asked
not to be identified discussing an ongoing probe." -By
Michael
Isikoff -Newsweek
20090212
 Nuclear
-  Computers
-  New
Mexico
"67
computers missing from nuclear weapons lab." ...
"The Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory in New Mexico is missing 67
computers, including 13 that were lost or stolen in the past year. Officials
say no classified information has been lost." -By
Joan Lowy -AP
via -Yahoo
Criminal
- Drug
- War
- Government
- Law
- Politics
- Health
- US
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Colombia
- World
"Latin
American Panel Calls U.S. Drug War a Failure." ...
"As drug violence spirals out of control in Mexico, a commission led by
three former Latin American heads of state blasted the [United States]
U.S.-led drug war as a failure that is pushing Latin American societies
to the breaking point." ... ""The available evidence indicates that the
war on drugs is a failed war," said former Brazilian President Fernando
Henrique Cardoso, in a conference call with reporters from Rio de Janeiro
[Brazil]. "We have to move from this approach to another one."" ... "The
commission, headed by Mr. Cardoso and former presidents Ernesto Zedillo
of Mexico and César Gaviria of Colombia, says Latin American governments
as well as the U.S. must break what they say is a policy "taboo" and re-examine
U.S.-inspired antidrugs efforts. The panel recommends that governments
consider measures including decriminalizing the use of marijuana." ...
"The report, by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, is
the latest to question the U.S.'s emphasis on punitive measures to deal
with illegal drug use and the criminal violence that accompanies it. A
recent Brookings Institution study concluded that despite interdiction
and eradication efforts, the world's governments haven't been able to significantly
decrease the supply of drugs, while punitive methods haven't succeeded
in lowering drug use." ... "The three former presidents who head the commission
are political conservatives who have confronted in their home countries
the violence and corruption that accompany drug trafficking." ... "The
report warned that the U.S.-style antidrug strategy was putting the region's
fragile democratic institutions at risk and corrupting "judicial systems,
governments, the political system and especially the police forces."" ...
"Latin America, he [former President of Colombia César Gaviria]
said, should adapt a more European approach, based on treating drug addiction
as a health problem." -By José de Córdoba
with contributions by David Luhnow, Louise Radnofsky and Evan Perez
-WSJ.com
20090211
 Poll
- Criminal
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Torture
- War
Crimes -  Wiretapping
- US
Attorney
"Poll:
Most want inquiry into anti-terror tactics." ...
"Even as Americans struggle with two wars and an economy in tatters, a
USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds majorities in favor of investigating some of
the thorniest unfinished business from the [Republican President] Bush
administration: Whether its tactics in the "war on terror" broke the law."
... "Close to two-thirds of those surveyed said there should be investigations
into allegations that the Bush team used torture to interrogate terrorism
suspects and its program of wiretapping [United States] U.S. citizens without
getting warrants. Almost four in 10 favor criminal investigations and about
a quarter want investigations without criminal charges. One-third said
they want nothing to be done." ... "Even
reversed, Bush policies divide" ... "Even more people want action on
alleged attempts by the Bush team to use the Justice Department for political
purposes. Four in 10 favored a criminal probe, three in 10 an independent
panel, and 25% neither." -By Jill Lawrence
-USATODAY
 Food
-  Safety
-  Manufacturers
- Federal
-Inpectors
- Corporate
- Law
-  Ga
"Salmonella
found at Ga. plant as early as 2006: Owner Stewart
Parnell refused to testify at hearing; 9 have now died." ... "See the jar,
the congressman challenged Stewart Parnell, holding up a container of the
peanut seller's products and asking if he'd dare eat them. Parnell pleaded
the Fifth." ... "The owner of the peanut company at the heart of the massive
salmonella recall refused to answer the lawmaker's questions — or any others
— Wednesday about the bacteria-tainted products he defiantly told employees
to ship to some 50 manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream." ...
""Turn them loose," Parnell had told his plant manager in an internal e-mail
disclosed at the House hearing." ... "Shortly after Parnell's appearance,
a lab tester told the panel that the company discovered salmonella at its
Blakely, Ga. [Georgia], plant as far back as 2006. Food and Drug Administration
officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent
the outbreak." -AP
-MSNBC
Phoenix
-  Arizona
- Law
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Drugs
-  California
-  Texas
- US
-Mexico
"Kidnapping
Capital of the U.S.A.: Washington Too Concerned With
al Qaeda Terrorists to Care, Officials Say." ... "In what officials caution
is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, [Arizona's capital] Phoenix,
Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents
than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City [Mexico's capital]
and over 370 cases last year alone. But local authorities say Washington,
DC [America's capital is too obsessed with al Qaeda terrorists to care
about what is happening in their own backyard right now." ... ""We're in
the eye of the storm," Phoenix Police Chief Andy Anderson told ABC News
of the violent crimes and ruthless tactics spurred by Mexico's
drug cartels that have expanded business across the border. "If it
doesn't stop here, if we're not able to fix it here and get it turned around,
it will go across the nation," he said." ... "California Attorney General
Jerry Brown warned that as the U.S. [United States] government focuses
so intently on Islamic extremist groups, other types of terrorists those
involved with the same kidnappings, extortion and drug
cartels that are sweeping Phoenix are overlooked." ... ""Those [criminals],
for the average Californian or the average America, may be a more immediate
threat to their well being," Brown said." ... "In fact, kidnappings and
other crimes connected to the Mexican
drug cartels are quickly spreading across the border, from Texas to
California." (1, 2)
-By Brian Ross, Richard Esposito and Asa Eslocker
-ABCNEWS.com
Barack
Obama -  Eric
Cantor - Obscenity
-  Video
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
-  Workers
- Investment
- Advertising
-  VA
"Anti-Obscenity
Crusader Eric Cantor Sends Out Profanity-Laced Attack On Union."
... "Today, public-workers union AFSCME [American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees] launched
a massive advertising campaign targeting [Republican] neo-Hooverite
conservatives who are trying to block [Democratic] President Obama’s recovery
and reinvestment plan. One target is [Virginia Republican Representative]
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA [Republican-Virginia]), whom the union faults for
declaring he was proud that his party was “just
saying no” to Obama. A Cantor spokesman responded by sending around
a profanity-laced
video portraying AFSCME as mob goons. The video uses the F-word six
times in one minute and ends with the tagline: “AFSCME: We’re the f*cking
union that works for you.”" ... [ Video.
Not Safe For Work.] "Cantor claimed the video was a “joke,” though
AFSCME didn’t
think it was very funny." ... "Yet it’s not just unions who could be
offended by the video; Cantor himself has railed against obscenity, voting
for the Broadcast Deceny Enforcement Act that allowed fines
of up to $500,000 on broadcasters for airing any “obscene, indecent,
or profane” material. Speaking on the House floor in support of the bill,
Cantor condemned “offensive television” that will “damage our society”
and “cannot
be tolerated“ [PDF]:"
"CANTOR:
The
use of obscenity…should not and cannot be tolerated. As a parent, I
share the concerns of many regarding the level of offensive television
and radio programs that are transmitted into our homes. The recent violations
that have occurred disgusted not only me, but damage our society."
"He
added that “we will not be satisfied until those responsible” for disseminating
obscenity “have been reprimanded.” The heads of Americans
United for Change, the AFL-CIO,
and AFSCME
have already reprimanded Cantor." -ThinkProgress.org
Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- PA
- Kids- Prisons
- Enforcement
"Pa.
judges accused of jailing kids for cash: Judges allegedly
took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juveniles in lockups ." ... "For years,
the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre [Pennsylvania] operated like
a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer,
given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile
prison for months for minor offenses." ... "The explanation, prosecutors
say, was corruption on the bench." ... "Prosecutors say Luzerne County
[Pennsylvania] Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million
in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC
[Limited Liability Company] and a sister company, Western PA Child Care
LLC." ... "In Luzerne County, prosecutors say, Conahan shut down the county-run
juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure rich contracts
worth tens of millions of dollars, at least some of that dependent on how
many juveniles were locked up." ... "One of the contracts — a 20-year agreement
with PA Child Care worth an estimated $58 million — was later canceled
by the county as exorbitant." ... "Robert J. Powell co-owned PA Child Care
and Western PA Child Care until June." (1, 2)
-AP via -MSNBC
20090209
 Michael
Steele - Political
- Money
- Federal
- Law
-  Maryland
- 2006
Election
"RNC
[Republican] chief Michael Steele says he'll cooperate with FBI:
enying allegations of impropriety in his 2006 campaign spending, Steele
says he will voluntarily hand over papers to the FBI [Federal Bureau of
Investigation],
which had contacted his sister over payments her company received." ...
"Reporting from Washington -- Republican National Committee Chairman Michael
S. Steele said Sunday that he would provide records from his 2006 [election,
Maryland, United States] U.S. Senate campaign to the FBI in an effort to
speed an apparent investigation into allegations of improper campaign spending."
... "Steele confirmed that his sister was recently contacted by FBI agents
looking into allegations that his campaign paid a company she owned more
than $37,000 in 2007 for campaign work that was never performed. The allegations
were made by Steele's former campaign finance chairman in an attempt to
gain a more lenient prison sentence after he was convicted of fraud in
an unrelated case." ... "Alan B. Fabian, who had been finance chairman
of Steele's Senate campaign in Maryland, made the allegations in March
in an effort to get a reduced sentence for his part in a $40-million fraud
scheme." -By Paul West
-LAtimes
Drug
- Investigation
- Federal
- Law
- History
- Texas
- Calif
-  New
York
"Sources
tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003."
... "In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL
Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex
Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have
independently told Sports Illustrated." ... "Rodriguez's name appears on
a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs
in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part
of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was
conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug
testing across the major leagues in 2004." ... "Though MLB's drug policy
has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription
since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results
of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous
under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association.
Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents,
armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive
Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif. [California], one of two labs
used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure
took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into
10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez
himself has never been connected to BALCO." ... "Anticipating that the
33-year-old Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs, could become the game's
alltime home run king, the [New York] Yankees signed him in November 2007
to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305
million. Rodriguez is reportedly guaranteed $275 million and could receive
a $6 million bonus each time he ties one of the four players at the top
of the list: Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank
Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million
for passing Bonds." -By Selena Roberts and David Epstein
-SI.com
20090207
Michael
Steele - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
-2006
Election - Maryland
"Steele's
Campaign Spending Questioned: Agents Contact Sister
After Ex-Aide's Claims." ... "Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman
of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign
to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never
performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors."
... "Federal agents in recent days contacted Steele's sister, a spokesman
for Steele said yesterday." ... "The claim about the payment, one of several
allegations by Alan B. Fabian, is outlined in a confidential court document.
Fabian offered the information last March as he was seeking leniency for
himself during plea negotiations on unrelated fraud charges." ... "Fabian's
claims emerge as Steele begins his new role at the RNC [Republican National
Committee], where he oversees the raising and spending of hundreds of millions
of dollars in party money. The former Maryland lieutenant governor has
faced questions about his handling of campaign money in prior elections
and was twice fined for missing filing deadlines." ... "The recent allegations
outlined four specific transactions. In addition to the payment to Steele's
sister, Fabian said that the candidate used money from his state campaign
improperly; that Steele paid $75,000 from the state campaign to a law firm
for work that was never performed; and that he or an aide transferred more
than $500,000 in campaign cash from one bank to another without authorization."
... "In one of his allegations, Fabian points to a February 2007 payment
by Steele's Senate campaign of more than $37,000 to Brown Sugar Unlimited,
the company run by Steele's sister, Monica Turner. Campaign finance records
list the expense as having been for "catering/web services." Turner filed
papers to dissolve the company 11 months before the payment was received."
(1, 2,
3)
-By Henri E. Cauvin with contributions by Aaron C.
Davis, Matthew Mosk, Katherine Shaver, John Wagner and Meg Smith
-WashingtonPost
Dick
Cheney - Criminal
- KBR/Halliburton
- Corporation
- Government
- Politics
-
- Military
- People
- Texas
- US
-  Iraq
-  Nigeria
-  Oil
-  Construction
"KBR
wins contract despite criminal probe of deaths."
... "Defense contractor KBR Inc. [Incorporated] has been awarded a $35
million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is
under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two
[United States] U.S. soldiers in Iraq." ... "The announcement of the new
KBR contract came just months after the Pentagon, in strongly worded correspondence
obtained by The Associated Press, rejected the company's explanation of
serious mistakes in Iraq and its proposed improvements. A senior Pentagon
official, David J. Graff, cited the company's "continuing quality deficiencies"
and said KBR executives were "not sufficiently in touch with the urgency
or realities of what was actually occurring on the ground."" ... ""Many
within DOD (the Department of Defense) have lost or are losing all remaining
confidence in KBR's ability to successfully and repeatedly perform the
required electrical support services mission in Iraq," wrote Graff, commander
of the Defense Contract Management Agency, in a [September] Sept. 30 letter."
... "Graff rejected the company's claims that it wasn't required to follow
U.S. electrical codes for its work on U.S. military facilities in Iraq."
... "The deaths of [Staff Sergeant Christopher Lee] Everett and [Staff
Sergeant Ryan] Maseth are among the 18 under review by the Pentagon's inspector
general." ... "KBR was previously owned by Halliburton Co. [Company], the
oil services conglomerate that former [Republican] Vice President Dick
Cheney once led." ... "Separately, court papers filed in Houston [Texas]
on Friday show KBR is preparing to plead guilty to federal bribery charges
for promising and paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to officials
in Nigeria in exchange for engineering and construction contracts between
1995 and 2004." -By Kimberly Hefling
-AP via -Yahoo
Nuclear
-  Science
- Secrets
- Investigation
- Military
-  Intelligence
- History
- Legal
- Politics
- Pakistan
-  Iran
-  Libya
-  North
Korea - US
-  British
-  Italian
-  Switzerland
- 
- International
"Nuclear
Scientist A.Q. Khan Is Freed From House Arrest."
... "Early yesterday, the Pakistani scientist at the center of one of history's
worst nuclear scandals walked out of his Islamabad [Pakistan's capital]
villa to declare his vindication after five years of house arrest. "The
judgment, by the grace of God, is good," a smiling Abdul Qadeer Khan told
a throng of reporters and TV crews." ... "Moments earlier, a Pakistani
court had ordered the release of the metallurgist who had famously admitted
selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Through years of
legal limbo, Khan, 72, had never been charged, and now he never will be.
"The so-called A.Q. Khan affair is a closed chapter," a Pakistani government
spokesman said." ... "Nearly five years after Khan's smuggling operation
came to light, the international effort to prosecute its leaders is largely
in shambles, yielding convictions of only a few minor participants and
no significant prison time for any of them." ... "Khan's international
network collapsed in 2003 after U.S. [United States], British and Italian
officials halted a Libya-bound ship in the Mediterranean loaded with machine
parts used to make enriched uranium." ... "That discovery was the culmination
of more than a decade of secret investigation by the CIA [Central Intelligence
Agency] and other agencies of the business dealings of Khan, one of Pakistan's
best-known scientists and the father of the country's nuclear weapons program."
... "U.S. and U.N. [United Nations] investigators ultimately accused Khan
of heading a sophisticated network of businesses and front companies that
manufactured and sold components needed to make nuclear bombs. But while
the factories and shipping offices were dismantled, Khan proved to be beyond
Washington's reach. Pakistan's then-President Pervez Musharraf, confronted
with evidence of Khan's deeds, persuaded the scientist to make a public
confession but then officially pardoned him. Khan would remain under house
arrest, but Pakistani officials refused to allow him to be questioned by
U.S. officials or investigators of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the U.N. nuclear watchdog." ... "Efforts to prosecute alleged members of
the network in Switzerland touched off a series of squabbles between Swiss
and U.S. officials. Swiss prosecutors accused the [Republican President]
Bush administration of withholding critical evidence needed to put three
Swiss businessmen -- a father and two brothers who worked with Khan in
the 1980s and 1990s -- behind bars." ... "Last month, one of the brothers
confirmed in a Swiss television interview that he had been working undercover
for the CIA, prompting the Swiss parliament to ask why Switzerland had
not been informed about covert action inside its territory. " -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
Criminal
- Food
- Safety
- Science
- Consumers
- Health
- Ga
- Agricultural
- Corporation
- Plant
"FDA:
Plant knew peanuts laced with salmonella." ... "As
far back as 2007, salmonella-laced products were shipped by a Georgia peanut
company [owned by Stewart Parnell] that knew the peanuts probably were
tainted and sometimes after tests confirmed that contamination, inspection
records show." ... "Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under
conditions that could make it harmful to consumers' health." ... "Food
and Drug Administration officials earlier had said Peanut Corp. [Corporation]
of America waited for a second test to clear peanut butter and peanuts
that initially were positive for salmonella. But the agency amended its
report Friday, saying that the Blakely, Ga. [Georgia], plant actually shipped
some products before receiving the second test and sold others after confirming
salmonella." ... "The salmonella outbreak has been blamed for at least
eight deaths and 575 illnesses in 43 states. The Justice Department has
opened a criminal investigation. More than 1,550 products have been recalled."
-By Brett J. Blackledge and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
with contributions by Mary Clare Jalonick -AP
via -Yahoo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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