What constitutes Domestic Terrorism?

How do we define domestic terrorism?

What comes to mind is often easier to describe: The September 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks; the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City (April 19, 1995); the Anthrax and Ricin threats.

Back to the definition. Cornell University Law School defines domestic terrorism thus: "The term 'domestic terrorism' means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002331----000-.html)."

Not something that a rational person would want to be associated with, right?

There are many issues that rely simply on personal preference: Do you prefer red or blue? Are you a summer or winter kind of person? Spaghetti with white or red sauce?

Then there are the heavy hitting issues that tend to polerize people. Abortion is one of these issues. People tend to consider themselves pro-life or pro-choice.

This morning, Dr. George Tiller was murdered while at church. Why did this horrible act take place? Apparently, someone was not thrilled with Dr. Tillman, especially the fact that he performed abortions.

In a press release, the National Organization for Women (NOW) states, "NOW Identifies Murder of Dr. George Tiller As Domestic Terrorism, Calls for Action from Justice Department and Homeland Security."

I'm sure that there are those who feel that Dr. Tiller "had it coming." But think for a minute. What happened when the U.S. was attacked during the 9/11 attacks? Yes, most of us were shook. But in the weeks and months following this, most of us decided, "I'm not going to let them stop me from doing..." I had taken part in a local 5K race in previous years. I had briefly wondered if I should take part in it after the attacks. But I did. Something along the line of "they won't stop me from doing this!" went through my head.

Chances are there will be doctors doing abortions. Abortion is legal. Murder isn't. And anyone who wants to change the system needs to do so within the confines of the law, not by using domestic terrorism.

Tampa Judge Shuts Down Tax Preparer

"WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Tampa, Fla., has permanently barred a Port Richey, Fla., tax preparer and his firm from preparing federal tax returns, the Justice Department announced today. U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich of the Middle District of Florida entered the permanent injunction against Frank Lighty and his firm, Lighty and Associate. Lighty consented to the permanent injunction."

Disclaimer: This is from the Department of Justice website; for the rest of the article, check: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-tax-515.html

Guess doctoring returns can be taxing...especially when you're caught!

Former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik Indicted

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was indicted was indicted by a federal grand jury for "making false statements to White House officials during his vetting for the position of Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security," according to Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Lev L. Dassin yesterday.

(Info taken from the DOJ press release on the FBI website)

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To read more, go to the DOJ press release on the FBI website at: http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/nyfo052609.htm

Lawyer Charged in 40 Count Indictment

A Columbus, Georgia attorney was indicted by a federal grand jury of 40 charges stemming from actions between 2005 and 2008, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

To read more, go to http://atlanta.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/at052109a.htm.

Obama to Nominate Sonia Sotomayer

Breaking News

President Barak Obama is expected to name his nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter at 10:15 this morning. He intends to nominate Sonia Sotomayer, a federal appeals court judge.

The daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, Sotomayer was nominated to the U.S. District Court by George H.W. Bush in 1991. She recieved her law degree from Yale University.

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To read more, go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30938978/.

Missing Children

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, besides being Memorial Day, today is also Missing Children's Day.

Most of us will never know the horror of dealing with a missing child. I'm sure not a day goes by that John and Reve Walsh wish that they didn't know that horror. Thank God they were able to use their pain to help thousands of others going through the same pain.

Here is where you can help. Check: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/may09/missingkids_052509.html. The site has photos of missing children, as well as links to help parents of missing children.

If you know of the whereabouts of any missing child, please contact your local police department and/or the FBI.

Memorial Day

Most of us have known someone who has served in the Armed Forces. Maybe you served.

Today is Memorial Day, a day when we are to honor those who have died in service to our country. According to Wikipedia, "Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action."

If you enjoy the freedoms afforded to our citizens, please give thanks...and remember those in the Armed Forces.

Thanks, Dad, Paul, Kevin, BJ, Eric, Mara and her husband, and everyone else in service to this country.

Segregation in the U.S.? Now?

It's the time of year when hope, and summer, springs eternal. To quote the song, Summertime, and the living is easy...

The school year is winding down: younger students look forward to end-of-year parties, both at home and during class-time, while high school students deal with finals and, possibly, proms.

Entire classes of prom-goers will gather in their finest to dance the night away. But in one small Georgia town, the high school had not one, but two proms. On the surface, one might think, two proms? How cool is that? Except that it isn't--not by a long shot.

On May 21, the New York Times reported that the class of 2009 at Montgomery County High School did, indeed, have two senior proms: On Friday, May 1, the white students had their prom; the following night, the black students had theirs.

Excuse me? Segregated proms? Does anyone else find this somehow disturbing? This is the twenty-first century, not the 1950s!

According to the article, while many rural Southern towns have traditionally had segregated proms, many communities have successfully pushed for change to this practice. Last year, Morgan Freeman offered to pay for an intergrated prom at Charleston High School in his home state of Mississippi, the students embraced the idea. (Hooray, Morgan! Yay, students!) However, several white parents were unhappy about an integrated prom and opted to have a privately-held competing prom.

Excuse me, but aren't parents supposed to teach? What, exactly, is this teaching?

According to the article, "interracial friendships are common at Montgomery County High School (New York Times, May 21, 2009, byline: Sara Corbett)."

It seems strange that in 2009, we still have segregated anything. And while retro might seem cool in many areas, this isn't one of them.

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To read the New York Times article, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24prom-t.html.

Biologists Call For Network Of Protected Rivers

By now, most of us are beginning to wake up to the fact that we're all interconnected to the natural world around us: screw with Mother Nature, our actions are liable to come back and bite us. Anyone remember Love Canal? ("Quick, honey, Google up Love Canal, would you?") How about Hinkley, California? (Hint: Hollywood made a movie about it, starring Julia Roberts as single mother, Erin Brockovich.) Does anyone in St. Petersburg, Florida recognize the name Raytheon?

Then there's the fact that we've managed to put an obscene number of species on the endangered list. Some of them, we've even managed to push over the edge. (A good site to check out is that of Endangered Species International: http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/overview.html?gclid=CKjcnYmk05oCFQq3sgod6RP82Q .)

I ran across this article today from Science Daily; I feel that it is important.

Biologists Call For Network Of Protected Rivers

ScienceDaily (2009-05-22) -- Scientists have used the Guadiana River basin, in which 92% of the species are under threat, as a reference point to measure the loss of aquatic biodiversity and its conservation value. A new study reveals that the state of fragmentation of Iberian river basins is “seriously endangering” the freshwater fish that inhabit them, and highlights the need to create new protected aquatic reserves. ... > read full article

DOJ files suit against Marion, Arkansas

The Justice Department has filed suit against the city of Marion, Arkansas, alleging the city subjected one of the city's part-time police officers to racial discrimination.

According to the DOJ website, whenever the city has an opening for a full-time position on its police department, the city routinely promotes the most senior part-time officer into the full-time position. However, in the case of Stacy D. Allen, an African-American and a former City part-time patrol officer, when the city of Marion had two full-time positions come available, it failed to promote Allen to one of the two positions. Allen was a senior part-time officer at the time.

Allen is currently working full-time on the West Memphis, Arkansas police department.

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Information for this article is from the Department of Justice website and may be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-crt-502.html.

Ouch! Feds to help Philly with Elections

Philadelphia's March 19 elections will have the usual people showing up at local polling places: voters, officials and volunteers to help voters, an occasional media-type...and the Department of Justice.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice website (http://www.usdoj.gov/), Philadelphia has alledgedly violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Therefore, DOJ "will monitor the election in the city of Philadelphia to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws."

Info taken from http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-crt-482.html.

Algerian National Transferred from Gitmo

An Algerian national was transferred to France after being held at Guantanamo Bay detention facility since 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Justice web site. The transfer was carried out Friday May 15.

According to the DOJ site, Lakdar Boumediene's case was reviewed by the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force following President Barak Obama's Executive Order, signed January 22, 2009.

"Boumediene was involved in the Supreme Court case, Boumediene v. Bush, which in June 2008 established the writ of habeas corpus for detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. In November 2008, a federal court ordered the U.S. government to take all necessary and appropriate steps to facilitate the release of Boumediene from Guantanamo Bay. He is the second Guantanamo Bay detainee to be transferred to a foreign country following consideration by the Guantanamo Review Task Force (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-ag-477.html)."

To read the entire U.S. Department of Justice article, please go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/

So. FL Businessmen Plead Guilty to Conspiracy of Money Laundering, Bribery

Two Miami-Dade (FL) businessmen pleaded guilty of conspiracy to bribe foreign government officials and money laundeing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The two Miami men went before U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in Miami.

For the full press release, please check: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-crm-476.html.

Reward Offered for Information on Burglary of FBI Vehicle

DISCLAIMER: The following post was cut-and-paste from the FBI's site and can be found at: http://memphis.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/me051509.htm. Anyone with any information on this is urged to contact the numbers at the end of the post.

"The FBI is offering a reward of $5,000.00 for information leading to the return of stolen property and the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the theft. In the early morning hours of Wednesday May 13, 2009, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employee's official vehicle was burglarized in a north Jackson subdivision. Two other vehicles in the same subdivision were burglarized at the same time. Among the items stolen were a Colt M-4 Semi-automatic tactical rifle (black with collapsible stock), a Remington 12-gauge law enforcement model pump shotgun (black with short barrel), and a blue ballistic vest with the letters "FBI" printed in yellow on the front and back of the vest. There is no information to suggest anyone plans to use the equipment to pose or impersonate an FBI agent; however, in an abundance of caution and with public safety in mind, it is necessary to inform the public about the theft.

"We understand the seriousness of those weapons in untrained hands," said Special Agent in Charge (SAC) My Harrison, of the FBI's Memphis Division. SAC Harrison adds "We have committed significant resources and have been working on this theft since it occurred. We are doing everything possible to identify those responsible and recover our property." All Special Agents of the FBI carry identification credentials bearing a photograph and signature of the employee, as well as a badge identifying themselves as an FBI agent.

Officers and detectives from the Jackson Police Department (JPD) and the Madison County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) have also been involved in this investigation. JPD Chief Rick Staples and Sheriff David Woolfork have committed significant resources to this matter.

Anyone with information about these thefts should immediately contact JPD and MCSO through Crime Stoppers, which offers an additional $1,000 for information leading to an arrest, at (731) 424-8477 or the FBI at (731) 668-9578 or (901) 747-4300.

For additional information contact Supervisory Senior Resident Agent A. Todd McCall in the Jackson FBI Office at (731) 668-9578."

DISCLAIMER: The above was cut-and-pasted from an FBI press release. Anyone with info should contact the above phone numbers.

Operation Cross Country

Chalk one up for the feds.

According to Neal Schiff of Inside the FBI, "The FBI and local and state police agencies around the country are working hard to crack down on child prostitution. Cross Country is what the operation is called." (http://www.fbi.gov/inside/inside.htm)

Rob King, an FBI Special Agent assigned to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia, said that the Bureau has conducted three Operation Cross Countries since 2008.

The FBI, along with state and local police departments, has used Operation Cross Country to both help underage prostitutes escape prostitution and arrest the pimps responsible.

To read more, check: http://www.fbi.gov/inside/inside.htm.

Protecting Our Children

In the United States, most of us pride ourselves in how we care for our children. Most of us make sure they go to school, do their homework, go to the doctor's when they're sick, make sure they have their vaccinations, keep them safe from any number of things. We even have laws to keep our children safe, upgrading these laws as we see fit: laws to make sure that we keep them in car seats, keep them seat-belted in when they've outgrown their car seats, laws to require pedophiles and other sex offenders register with local police and maintain a certain distance away from schools. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need such laws, but this isn't a perfect world, even in the United States.

But as imperfect as the U.S. is, our children, for the most part, are luckier than those in other places. Yes, there are children in the U.S. born into poverty, those who are abused or neglected for a variety of reasons, those who need that "entire village" to protect them when their parents or guardians don't. That is a story for another day.

In the winter, 2009 issue of Ms. Magazine is an article about a brave girl in Yemn. The article Too Young to Marry by Allison Ford begins, "In April of 2008, 10-year old Nujood Ali walked into a courthouse and demanded a divorce. Raised in poverty in Yemen, she had been forced into marriage with a stranger by her father. Although she claimed that her 30-year-old husband beat and sexually abused her, her family refused to intervene (Ms. Magazine, winter 2009, p. 30)."

Yes, you read correctly. She was 10, her husband, 30. The article goes on to state that in Africa and South Asia, "42 percent and 48 percent (respectively) of girls are married before age 18. In especially poor countries such as Yemen, it is not unusual for girls to wed even before reaching puberty."

On May 1, 2009, the St. Petersburg (FL) Times carried an Associated Press article about a girl in Saudi Arabia. The article ("Girl, 8, divorces man, 50") states that "her father forced her to marry him in August in exchange for $13,000." According to the article, "there are no laws in Saudi Arabia deining the minimum age for marriage."

The same article, with added information, was published the same day in The Boston Globe. The Globe article (byline: Hadeel Al-Shalchi of the Associated Press) states, "The marriage was not the only one in the kingdom to receive attention. Saudi newspapers have higlighted several cases in which girls were married off including a 15-year-old girl whole father, a death-row inmate, married her off to a cell mate." http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/05/01/8_year_old_saudi_girl_granted_a_divorce/

Excuse me, but does anyone else find this especially disturbing? One can say, "But that's their culture," to which I ask, "What if that was your child? What if that child was you?"

Yes, we need to continue to protect our children. But when children around the world are treated the way these articles show, what kind of children will they raise? How can you raise a civilized child when you have been treated this way? How will it affect future generations? How will it affect the world?

How will affect you?