Inauguration, Part Two

I am reprising a post that I originally wrote on January 26, 2009; it was my reaction to President Barack Obama's first inauguration. I will most likely post more reactions to the second inauguration later this week, either here or in my Journalistic Writings, Two and/or Life-in-the-left-hand-lane.

"I watched last Tuesday's historic inauguration of Barack Obama during a Visual Communications class. About ten minutes into class, the instructor asked if there were any questions.

"Yeah, can we watch the inauguration?" someone asked. It was the question on everyone's minds.

A computer hooked up to a projector came on so we could watch.

I've watched my share of inaugurations on television, been aware of others. When one has lived over five decades, one does notice a few things.

There were many historic aspects to this inauguration, though. Of course, there's the obvious: the first African-American to become elected president. Backing up to the election, it became clear early on that the Democratic nominee would be a first: either the first African-American or woman as a major party's nominee. That alone seemed to get many people's attention.

Then there is the number of people who flocked to Washington, D.C. to watch Obama's inauguration in person. According to The New York Times, "An estimated 1.8 million people watched the inauguration of Barack Obama in person, the most for any inauguration. At least that is what the mayor of Washington said; the Park Service, no longer in the head-counting business, won't contest that number."(1) (Referrenced footnotes at end of today's blog.)

According to The New York Times' article's multimedia segment, 44,000,000 people watched on their computers using live streaming web videos. This broke down to 26.9 million watching CNN, 9.1 million on MSNBC and 8.0 million on AP. (2)

These are record breaking numbers. This alone would indicate interest. I do know that those around me were excited. Almost everyone I spoke with over the days surrounding the 20th mentioned excitement, hope, a sense that our collective lives had taken a turn for the better. Yes, there are nay-sayers, but they seem to be in the minority.

When Obama was sworn in, those in the class room cheered. We watched President Obama's speech in its entirety. I mention this because the speech ended at 12:30, fifteen minutes after the class ended. Only one or two students left at the end of the class period; the rest of us watched, enraptured, at history taking place.

My oldest son, Jason, lives and works in Knoxville, Tennessee. He does phone tech support. He told me that an older African-American lady named Anne works there. Everyone calls her Ms. Annie. She works part-time; as a part-timer, she doesn't always get to sit in the same place. But she usually tries to sit next to Jason.

Tuesday morning, Jason managed to save a place for Ms. Annie so she could sit next to him. Just before the inauguration was to take place, Jason and Ms. Annie left their phones, along with several other employees, so they could watch Barack Obama sworn in.

"Tears just rolled down Ms. Annie's face," Jason later said. Ms. Annie told the small group watching the inauguration that her father had been beaten up years ago for not crossing the street fast enough to let several whites pass, that he'd been hurt several times because of his skin color. "She told us, 'And now, we have an African-American president.' I wish my daddy were alive to see this."

So do I, Ms. Annie. So do I.


(1) "Streaming Onto the Mall, and Into Laptops," by Brian Stelter and Noam Cohen, January 24, 2009; Week In Review; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/weekinreview/25stelter.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=inauguration,%202009&st=cse

(2) http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/01/25/weekinreview/20090125-stelter-graphic.html "

Florida's Govenor Rick Scott

This past November, Republican Rick Scott was elected Florida's Govenor, beating out Democrat Alex Sink by a small margine.

Scott, the former CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, held no previous political office before running for govenor. His motto was: "Let's Get to Work." During Scott's time as HCA's CEO, the chain defrauded the federal government by falsely adding Medicare charges for work that was never done to the tune of several BILLION dollars.

Since becoming governor, Scott has cut entire departments in an effort to cut spending, thereby adding more Floridians to the unemployment ranks. He has also rejected federal money for a high-speed rail system which would have put the so-called "Bullet-train" between Orlando and Tampa. This would have added thousands of desperately needed jobs, as well as federal money to the local economy. He is also pushing to have the time a person can receive unemployment in Florida from 26 to 20 weeks.

And now this: he has proudly pushed through cuts for funding for the state's disabled.

Here is the article, taken from the Orlando Sentinel:
orlandosentinel.com/features/os-scott-cuts-disabled-20110331,0,7724142.story

OrlandoSentinel.com
Gov. Rick Scott orders immediate cuts to programs for disabled
By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel

8:33 PM EDT, March 31, 2011


Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered deep cuts Thursday to programs that serve tens of thousands of residents with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism and other developmental disabilities.

Though a range of state services face cuts from this year's Legislature, the governor invoked his emergency powers to order the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities to immediately roll back payments to group homes and social workers by 15 percent — an amount providers say could put them out of business and threaten their clients' safety.

"lt's not like, 'Gee, does this mean I have to skip a vacation this year?'" said Amy Van Bergen, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida. "Potentially, these cuts have life and death implications for these people."

An estimated 30,000 Floridians with severe developmental disabilities receive services that help them live outside of nursing homes — typically with family or in small group homes. Aides help them eat, bathe, take medication and otherwise care for themselves.

But the governor said the Agency for Persons with Disabilities' ongoing budget deficit — currently at $170 million — had reached a critical point and needed to be addressed immediately.

The cuts go into effect Friday and last at least through the fiscal year, which ends June 30. Lawmakers are currently debating what will happen after that.

Providers had not been informed of the cuts.

"No one has gotten any notice," said Linda Cumbie, an Orlando social worker who coordinates services that clients need to live outside of a nursing home — which would be a more expensive arrangement for the state. "We have to find out through the newspapers."

Cumbie said funds for the disabled already had been pared back to skeletal levels. She personally is holding a carwash and bake sale to help out one young disabled client so he can attend a daily workshop program.

Katie Porta, president of Quest Inc., which operates a series of group homes and programs for those with disabilities, said provider rates in Florida already rank in the bottom 10 percent for all states.

"We are almost to the point of impossibility in providing for our clients' basic health and safety needs," she said. "I just fear for our people."

She wasn't the only one. Alan McIntosh, a 57-year-old Orlando man with cerebral palsy, relies on an aide to do just about anything requiring movement. "I don't know what he [Gov. Scott] is thinking," McIntosh said. "As it is, I'm just trying to survive."

His aide, Debbie Pascascio, works 24 hours a day, four days in a row, to care for McIntosh and two other people with severe disabilities. Though she did not want to reveal her salary, other aides say $800 a week for round-the-clock care is typical, and many workers receive no health insurance, sick leave or retirement benefits.

APD Chief of Staff Bryan Vaughan said his department had no choice. "These actions are necessary … so that we are not forced to eliminate services to this vulnerable population," he said in a news release issued late Thursday. "APD is committed to protecting the health and safety of Floridians with developmental disabilities while living within our budget."

But at the Threshold Center for Autism in Winter Park, former CEO and current board member Bob Wright said something has to give. Staffers there work with children and adults who are severely impaired and sometimes violent.

"If this were any other workplace, you would consider it a war zone," Wright said. "My staff gets bitten, hit, kicked, spat upon, defecated on, urinated on — for $8.23 an hour. And every time we start talking about giving our guys a pay raise, the governor comes along and cuts the rates."

The center has not had a rate increase for its services since 2005, and it has had several rounds of cuts since then. At the same time, training requirements for staffers have increased.

"The state can cut my rates by 15 percent, but I can't cut my staffing 15 percent or I'll be in violation of staffing ratios," Wright added. "This may break our backs."

ksantich@tribune.com or 407-420-5503

Copyright © 2011, Orlando Sentinel

Miep Gies Dies; Helped Hide Anne Frank's family

Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank's family during World War II, died Monday January 11, 2009. She was a month shy of her 101st birtday.

According to Main Online, "Miep was Anne's confidante and the last of the handful of 'helpers' who enabled the Franks to hide for nearly two years before their capture. Her death is the final chapter in a tragic, but inspirational story."

The holocaust brought out among the worst that humanity has ever seen, along with some of the bravest people who ever lived.

To read more, please go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1242725/Painfully-shy-awesomely-brave-unknown-heroine-Anne-Franks-diary.html#ixzz0cRtiJaLE

Jackson (FL) Health System halts dialysis for poor patients

According to an article in today's Miami Herald, "Dozens of patients are facing a life-or-death situation after Jackson Health System stopped paying for treatment for their failing kidneys.

"The financially strapped Jackson Health System has stopped paying for dialysis treatments for 175 poor patients with failing kidneys -- a decision that experts say could be deadly."

The above article by John Dorschner and Juan Carlos Chavez, titled Jackson Health System halts dialysis for poor patients, may be found in today's Miami Herald. To read the article in its entirety, please go to: http://www.miamiherald.com/486/story/1413134.html .

Guess ethics and medicine no longer coexist.

46th Anniversary

Quick, what were you doing when you heard the news?

If you're asking What news?, you're probably under 50 years old. Today, November 22, is the 46th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assasination in Dallas, Texas.

Those of us old enough can attest that it had the same effect on us as the 9/11 attacks of 2001 had on us--and those born in the interim--all those years ago.

I was in school, getting ready to head home. As a "walker", I had to wait with the other walkers until the buses left with the bus kids. This was a yin/yang type situation: the bus kids got to leave a few minutes before the walkers, but the walkers usually managed to get home before the bus kids. We also got to do stuff for our respective teachers, such as running the day's roll to the office, clapping the dust off the erasers (way cool when you're 6 or 7 and the teacher has given you this responsibility).

The bus kids had were in the process of boarding their rides as I ran the roll to the office for my fifth grade teacher. Another walker, heading back to her classroom from the office, tears on her horrified face, sobbed, "The president's been shot." No way, I thought, unable to fathom such a horrible deed. I knew Lincoln had been assasinated almost a century earlier. But Kennedy? Who would do such a thing?

I had to announce myself several times to the office staff, as students were to physically hand the day's roll to one of the secretaries. Everyone in the office, secretaries, principal, teachers, were listening to a radio in stunned silence.

At home, minutes after leaving school, I found my mom with the TV on, something she rarely watched during the day. She had tears in her eyes and her voice was shaky as she told me the news.

The television stayed on the rest of the day. In a move that was unprecidented for the time, the networks broke from their daily schedules to bring updates on the assasination.

The remainder of the day went by in a numbing blur, the same numbing blur that most of us remember all too well during the days following the 9/11 attacks. Most of us were in shock, wanting this to be a horrible nightmare.

Since JFK's assasination, many things have changed--46 years worth of change. The only JFK sibling left alive is his sister Jean Ann Kennedy.

It is our duty, whether in memory of that fateful November day in 1963 or the September morning in 2001, to try to make this world a better place for all of us.

If not for the memory of the past, then do it for the future.

Exxon-Mobil Pleads Guilty to Killing Migratory Birds in Five States

Exxon-Mobil Pleads Guilty to Killing Migratory Birds in Five States

WASHINGTON – Exxon-Mobil Corporation, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in five states during the past five years, the Justice Department announced today.

The company has agreed to pay fines and community service payments totaling $600,000 and will implement an environmental compliance plan over the next three years aimed at preventing bird deaths on the company’s facilities in the affected states. According to papers filed in court, the company has already spent over $2.5 million to begin implementation of the plan.

The charges stem from the deaths of approximately 85 protected birds, including waterfowl, hawks and owls, at Exxon-Mobil drilling and production facilities in Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas between 2004 and 2009. According to the charges and other information presented in court, most of the birds died after exposure to hydrocarbons in uncovered natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities at Exxon-Mobil sites in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The company has entered into a plea agreement with the government, calling for guilty pleas to the five charges and a sentence of $400,000 in fines and $200,000 in community service payments. The fines will be deposited into the federally-administered North American Wetlands Conservation Fund. The community service payments will be made to a non-profit waterfowl rehabilitation foundation in Colorado and the congressionally-chartered National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, designated for waterfowl preservation work in each of the affected states. During a three-year probationary period, Exxon-Mobil must also implement an "environmental compliance plan" designed to keep birds from coming into contact with oily waters at its facilities in the five affected states.

"The environmental compliance plan that Exxon-Mobil has agreed to in this multi-district plea agreement is an important step in protecting migratory birds in these five states," said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

"We are all responsible for protecting our wildlife, even the largest of corporations," said Colorado U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette. "An important part of this case is the implementation of an environmental compliance plan that will help prevent future migratory bird deaths."

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, enacted in 1918, implements this country’s commitments under avian protection treaties with Great Britain (for Canada), Mexico, Japan and Russia. The Act creates a misdemeanor criminal sanction for the unpermitted taking of listed species by any means and in any manner regardless of fault. The maximum penalty for a corporate taking under the MBTA is $15,000, or twice the gross gain or loss resulting from the offense, and five years probation. The birds killed in the five cases include ducks, grebes, ibis, passerines, shorebirds, owls, martin and a hawk. None of these species is listed as endangered or threatened under federal law.

Migratory birds often land on open wastewater ponds at oil and gas facilities and become coated with, or ingest, fatal amounts of hydrocarbons discharged into the water during drilling or production operations. Such killings can be prevented by scrubbing the water of contaminants before discharge, removing the ponds, placing an obstruction such as netting or plastic "bird balls" over the water to prevent contact, or installing commercially-manufactured electronic hazing devices which detect incoming flights of migratory birds and deploy noise and lights to scare them away from the area. Exxon-Mobil’s environmental compliance plan will employ these techniques, tailored to each facility, to prevent future mortality.

The cases were investigated by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Robert S. Anderson of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Carey of the District of Colorado.


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This article was taken from the Department of Justice website. The press release, posted here in its entirety, may be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-enrd-795.html . For more news from the Department of Justice, go to www.usdoj.gov .

Scholar's Arrest: How Far Has Equality Come?

One of America's most prominent African-American scholars was arrested last week after an incident with police.

Henry Louis Gates had arrived home from a trip abroad to find the front door to his Cambridge, Mass. house stuck shut. Entering his home from the back door, he managed to force the door open with the help of a car service driver. Gates was on the phone with the Harvard leasing office when a white police sergeant arrived. Stories differ as to what exactly happened next, but the end result was that Gates was charged with disorderly conduct after repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number. The charges were later dropped.

Gates is a Harvard professor, PBS documentarian, acclaimed historian, recipient of a MacArthur "genius grant" and Summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale.

My question is this: Would Gates have been arrested if he had been all of the afforementioned and white? If the answer is a resounding yes, that's one thing. But if the answer is no, then maybe, just maybe, we ought to reexamine how far we've come over the last few decades.

Equality doesn't mean treated better than. Women shouldn't have more rights than men, blacks shouldn't be treated better than whites, the GBLT community shouldn't be seen as needing more rights than straights. The flip side is that women, blacks and the GBLT community shouldn't have less rights, either.

Try this: how about treating each other as human. Now there's a thought for you.


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The information on Mr. Gates' arrest came from MSNBC and can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32077998/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/?GT1=43001.

FBI, KCSO (TN) Looking for Bank Robbery Suspect

FBI, KPD, and KCSO, as Part of the Safe Streets Task Force, and the KCSO Major Crimes Unit are Searching for Man who Robbed a Knoxville Bank Late Today

The Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the man who robbed a Knoxville bank late this afternoon, according to a press release issued Friday by the FBI.

At approximately 5:20 p.m., a man entered the First Tennessee Bank located at 10606 Hardin Valley Road, in Knoxville, Tennessee. After displaying a dark, large frame revolver with wooden grips, the suspect jumped the teller counter, obtained an undetermined amount of money, and fled the scene on foot headed east into nearby woods.

Witnesses described the suspect as an unshaven white male in his 50s to early 60s with gray facial hair, tanned arms, approximately 5’7” tall, with a slim build, and weighing approximately 160 pounds. The suspect was wearing blue jeans, a yellow or gold shirt, black gloves, black dress shoes and a black ski mask.

A reward is being offered for information which leads to the arrest of this individual. Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 865-544-0751 or the KSCO at 865-215-2243. This matter is being investigated jointly by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and KCSO Major Crimes Unit.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.








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The article above was taken directly (via cut-and-paste) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (Knoxville, TN)web site. To view the article on the FBI's site, go to http://knoxville.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/kx062509.htm.

Other news items from the FBI's Knoxville site can be viewed at http://knoxville.fbi.gov/press.htm.

Unemployment Up in May

Over three hundred thousand people lost their jobs in May, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in May that resulted in the separation of 312,880 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month," the report stated. Each of the mass layoff actions affected a minimum of 50 employees.


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To read the entire Bureau of Labor Statistics report, please go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/mmls.pdf.

Nelson brings oil fight to Panhandle

There comes a time when common sense needs to take the reins away from greed. It appears that Florida Senator Bill Nelson is again trying to grab those reins.

"I don’t think Florida should have to trash its coastline and its $65 billion economy just so big oil can increase its profit margin," Nelson said in a statement. He planned to stop this morning at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa before heading to Tallahassee, Panama City and Pensacola on Monday.

According to an article from Florida Trend, The Aquarium is "home to some of the state’s marine life from the common to the most rare. He chose the aquarium in part because it showcases the richness of Florida’s environment and way of life that will face destruction from offshore drilling in the Gulf."

Nelson, who has fought against drilling in the Gulf, spoke by phone with Florida Governor Charlie Crist about the proposed drilling. Nelson has said that he "will not only argue environmental damage but also a national security angle," stating that drilling will reduce "the last remaining unfettered training range" for military pilots.

"The operative policy and law of the United States is to use much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico as the last remaining training range for our military pilots," he said. "Give that up to the oil boys and you sacrifice national security."

Might I add this: Right on, Bill. Florida needs all the voices of reason we can muster.


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Information for this article was taken from both Florida Trend and TampaBay.com's The Buzz. To read more on this, please check out Florida Trend at http://floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=51240, as well as TampaBay.com's The Buzz at http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/bill_nelson/.

New Jersey University Hospital to Pay Additional $2 Million to Resolve Fraud Claims

WASHINGTON - The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) has agreed to pay the United States $2 million to resolve federal civil fraud allegations that its hospital defrauded Medicaid, the Justice Department announced (Tuesday). From 1993 to 2004, UMDNJ’s University Hospital submitted claims to Medicaid for outpatient physician services that were also being billed by doctors working in the hospital’s outpatient centers. By submitting duplicate claims for payment, University Hospital effectively doubled billed the government’s Medicaid program.

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To read the entire article that this is from, check the U.S. Department of Justice's website (www.USDOJ.gov) or, for a direct link to the article, go to http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-566.html.

Four Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support Terrorists

Disclaimer: The following article is cut-and-paste from The United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York via the U.S. Department of Justice website (www.USDOJ.gov) or at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2009/2009jun09.html.

FOUR PLEAD GUILTY TO CONSPIRING TO PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT TO THE LTTE, A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

DEFENDANTS INCLUDE THE LEADER OF THE LTTE IN THE UNITED STATES AND ONE OF THE LTTE'S SENIOR ARMS PROCUREMENT AGENTS

Defendants’ Wide-Ranging Support of the LTTE Included the Purchase of Arms and Explosives, Attempted Bribery of U.S. State Department Officials, Fundraising, and Covertly Financing a U.S. Congressman’s Trip to Sri Lanka


Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, defendants Karunakaran Kandasamy, Pratheepan Thavaraja, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, and Vijayshanthar Patpanathan pled guilty to, among other crimes, conspiring to provide material support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The guilty plea proceedings were held before Chief United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie. Kandasamy and Pratheepan face a 20-year maximum statutory sentence. Vinayagamoorthy and Patpanathan face a 15-year maximum statutory sentence.

The LTTE was founded in 1976 and uses illegal methods to raise money, acquire weapons and technology, and publicize its cause of establishing an independent Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka. The LTTE began its armed conflict against the Sri Lankan government in 1983, and utilizes a guerrilla strategy that often includes acts of terrorism. With an army of several thousand combatants, the LTTE had, until the last several months, controlled most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka. Over the past 17 years, the LTTE has conducted over 200 suicide bombings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of victims, and carried out numerous political assassinations, including the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the 1993 assassination of the President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, the July 1999 assassination of Neelan Thiruchelvam, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament, the June 2000 assassination of C.V. Goonaratne, the Sri Lankan Industry Minister, the August 2006 assassination of the Sri Lankan government’s peace secretariat, Ketheshwaran Loganathan, the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, D.M. Dassanayake, and the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highways Minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Beginning in 2002, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government operated under a tenuous cease-fire agreement, but that agreement ended, and between April 2006 and May 2009, tens of thousands of people were killed in the escalating conflict. In May 2009, after 25 years of armed conflict, the current LTTE leadership was defeated by the Sri Lankan military, resulting in the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and several other senior LTTE officials.

The LTTE relies on sympathetic Tamil expatriates residing in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and several other countries to raise and launder money and smuggle arms, explosives, equipment, and technology into LTTE-controlled territory. To coordinate these activities, the LTTE established “branches” in at least 12 countries, including the United States. Defendant Kandasamy was the director of the American branch of the LTTE, which operated through charitable front organizations, including the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (“TRO”). As the director of the American branch, Kandasamy oversaw and directed the LTTE’s various activities in the United States, including raising millions of dollars for the LTTE and laundering it through the TRO. Defendant Vijayshanthar Patpanathan assisted Kandasamy and others in these fundraising and money laundering activities.

Defendant Pratheepan Thavaraja was a senior procurement agent for the LTTE, involved in the purchase of improvised explosive devices, missiles, machine guns, artillery, radar, and other equipment and technology from countries around the world, including the United States. A single spreadsheet of “priority” items to purchase, which was found in Pratheepan’s laptop computer, totaled $20 million in arms and equipment. It included, among other things, six “25mm Anti Aircraft Gun[s]” at $160,000 each, six “30 mm Twin Barrel Mounted Naval Gun[s] Type 69 (with base)” at $30,000 each, thousands of automatic rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, grenade launchers, 50 tons of C4 explosive, five tons of “Phlegmatized RDX” explosive, 50 tons of “TNT - based on Chinese specification,” and 50 tons of Tritonal explosive. Pratheepan and defendant Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy were also involved in the attempted bribery of purported U.S. State Department officials to remove the LTTE from the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. In addition, Vinayagamoorthy participated in laundering LTTE money through a Swiss bank account to covertly fund a U.S. Congressman’s trip to LTTE-controlled territory in Sri Lanka.

“Just weeks after the LTTE’s leaders in Sri Lanka were defeated in that country, the leader of the LTTE in the United States and other LTTE supporters have been brought to justice,” said United States Attorney Campbell. “The defendants were convicted for their involvement in efforts to raise millions of dollars and acquire arms and technology for use by the LTTE.” Mr. Campbell added that this successful prosecution is the result of a coordinated international effort by law enforcement led by the Newark and New York Divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, with assistance provided by more than 20 of the FBI’s Field Offices, including New Haven, Buffalo, Seattle, Baltimore, Chicago, and San Jose; the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the U.S. Department of State; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Security Program; and British and Indonesian law enforcement authorities.

The government’s LTTE cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey H. Knox, Andrew E. Goldsmith, Greg D. Andres, and Marshall L. Miller.

The Defendants:

KARUNAKARAN KANDASAMY, also known as “Karuna”

PRATHEEPAN THAVARAJA, also known as “Raja Pratheepan,” “Thambi Sampras,” and “Steeban”

MURUGESU VINAYAGAMOORTHY, also known as “Dr. Moorthy” and “Vinayagamoorthy Murugesu”

VIJAYSHANTHAR PATPANATHAN, also known as “Chandru”

Disclaimer: The previous article is cut-and-paste from The United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York via the U.S. Department of Justice website (www.USDOJ.gov) or at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2009/2009jun09.html.

United States Files Suit Against California Mortgage Lender

The Department of Justice filed suit Tuesday against California mortgage lender Capmark Finance Inc., charging that Capmark violated the False Claims Act by making false statements on applications for federal mortgage insurance covering residential nursing homes, according to a DOJ news release (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-570.html).

In the suit, filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles, the United States alledges to that Capmark made false statements in HUD applications when applying for mortgage loans.


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To read the U.S. DOJ release, please check http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-570.html.

U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Klansmen's Conviction Challenge

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a challenge to the conviction of a former member of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi Friday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice website.

In 2007, a federal jury in Mississippi convicted James Ford Seale and other klansmen of "conspir(ing) to abduct, interrogate, beat and eventually murder Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charlie Eddie Moore" in 1964. Seale was sentenced to three life terms in prison.


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The entire release can be read on the U.S. Department of Justice website (http://www.usdoj.gov/) as well as http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-558.html.

Medical Students and Dr. George Tiller

Medical Students for Choice has been assisting abortion providers since 1993. An article on med students' reaction to last Sunday's murder of Dr. George Tiller is available at Women's Enews. The link to the article is http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/4035/context/cover/.

DOJ Launches Investigation into Fed. Crimes of Tiller's Death

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas has launced an investigation into federal crimes in the connection with the Sunday murder of Dr. George Tiller.

The USDOJ released the following statement on their website: "The federal probe will consist of a thorough review of the evidence and an assessment of any potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) or other federal statutes. The federal investigation will be conducted in close coordination with the Office of the Sedgwick County, Kan., District Attorney, and the state's ongoing murder prosecution will have the full support of federal investigators (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html)."

Congress enacted the FACE Act in 1994 "to establish federal criminal penalties and civil remedies for violent, obstructionist or damaging conduct affecting reproductive health care providers and recipients (USDOJ)."

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Loretta King has directed the U.S. Marshals Service to protect "appropriate people and facilities" following the May 31 murder of Dr. Tiller.

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To read the USDOJ's entire press release, please go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html.

House Passes Federal Paid Parental Leave Act

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Federal Paid Parental Leave Act in a 258 to 142 vote last night. The bill would Federal Employees with 4 weeks of paid parental leave after the adoption or birth of a child. If the Senate passes the bill, it is expected that President Obama will sign the bill into law.

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To read more, go to the Feminist Daily News at http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11738 or to Govtrack.us at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-626 .

Planned Parenthood Statement on Dr. Tiller's Murder

The murder Sunday of a doctor who performed late-term abortions might not have come as a complete surprise, but it has saddened many in the pro-choice community. In fact, Dr. George Tiller had received death threats and a previous attempt on his life. Yet he continued to perform lat
e-term abortions when a woman's life was endangered.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America released a statement on Sunday, which reads as such:
"NEW YORK, NY — Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, today issued the following statement on the murder of reproductive health care provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, KS.

"The entire Planned Parenthood family is deeply saddened by the murder of Dr. George Tiller. While he was not a Planned Parenthood provider, he was an integral part of our community and his loss is felt by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and those close to him who are suffering a personal tragedy.

"Dr. Tiller was the epitome of high-quality medical care underscored by deep compassion for his patients. He provided critical reproductive health care services, including abortion services to women facing some of the most difficult medical circumstances. He was continually harassed by abortion opponents for much of his career — his clinic was burned down; he was shot by a health center protester; and he was recently targeted for investigation only to be acquitted by a jury just a few months ago. None of this stopped George Tiller from his commitment to providing women and their families with compassionate care that others were unwilling to offer.

"His death is an enormous loss for the patients who relied on him, his dedicated staff, the medical community and for women and their families across America." (Planned Parenthood Federation's website)

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The above statement, as well as a summary of Planned Parenthood Federation, can be read online at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-federation-america-statement-murder-dr-george-tiller-27643.htm.

Bartender Saves Woman from Burning Building

Think only Superman and firefighters save people from burning buildings? Think again.

Shortly after midnight Thursday, Dustin Harper was with friends at Original Joe's in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada when someone told them that the apartment building next door was on fire.

In spite of, or maybe because of the smoke and fire pouring out of the building, Harper and one of his friends went inside and started banging on doors to alert tenets. After Harper's friend left, one of the tenets helped Harper continue alerting others inside the building.

Harper entered one apartment and called to Dorothy Sparks that her home was on fire. Sparks, 55, had just woken up and was looking for her glasses.

According to an article in the Red Deer Advocatem Sparks "'was in her socks, so I picked her up and started running out and the embers are coming down,' Harper said.

"His friend was yelling at the bottom of the stairs, 'Get out, get out, the roof’s coming down.' ("Bartender makes daring rescue," by Stacy O'Brien, Red Deer Advocate, May 29, 2009)"

Pieces of the roof, as well as embers, fell around them as they made their escape.

Sparks lost everything she owned in the fire, but later said that she was greatful to have been saved. All the tenets made it out safely.

"Harper shrugs off any suggestion that he is a hero. The bartender at Original Joe’s said he has never done something like that before, but he knew someone was in there and would have felt sick to his stomach if he didn’t go in after her ("Bartender...")."

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The article from the Red Deer Advocate can be found here: http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/local/Bartender_makes_daring_rescue_46461717.html.

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.