Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Forged Painting Was Once in Collection of Steve Martin, German Police Say

May 31, 2011, 11:24 am

Forged Painting Was Once in Collection of Steve Martin, German Police Say

Steve MartinSandee Oliver Steve Martin
1:28 p.m. | Updated
In addition to his talents for creating comedy, writing books and playing the banjo, Steve Martin possesses an eye for art. But he apparently did not detect a forged painting that was in his collection for almost two years and was probably created by a ring of criminals who have been duping art buyers for decades, according to the German police.
In a report in Der Spiegel, the German newsmagazine, investigators for Berlin’s state criminal police office said the painting, called “Landschaft mit Pferden” or “Landscape With Horses” and said to be the work of the modernist artist Heinrich Campendonk, was authenticated by an expert before it was sold to Mr. Martin in July 2004 by the Cazeau-Béraudière gallery in Paris for 700,000 euros (about $850,000 then). Mr. Martin sold the work in February 2006 at a Christie’s auction, where it was purchased by a Swiss businesswoman for 500,000 euros.
But the German investigators said that the painting was probably created by Wolfgang Beltracchi, the accused leader of a multimillion-dollar forgery ring, who with his wife, Helene, and her sister, Jeanette, and another accused forger, Otto Schulte-Kellinghaus, are suspected of selling dozens of fake paintings attributed to Campendonk, Fernand Léger, Max Ernst and others. The ring, which sold paintings it said came from the collection of Werner Jägers, a Cologne businessman and the grandfather of the two sisters, has been operating since the 1990s, and its members have been charged with fraud.
Mr. Martin, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was not aware his painting was a forgery when he purchased it nor when he sold it. “It wasn’t clear that it was a fake until after Christie’s had sold the picture, it was a long time after that, that it became known,” he said.
Though Mr. Martin was unsure if he had any legal liability resulting from the sale of the painting, he said, “The gallery that sold me the picture has promised to be responsible to me, if I’m responsible, but it’s still unclear.”
Mr. Martin said he had purchased forged artworks “once or twice in my life” previously, “and each time you become more and more cautious.”
“You always have to guard against it,” Mr. Martin said, adding that in this case, “The fakers were quite clever in that they gave it a long provenance and they faked labels, and it came out of a collection that mingled legitimate pictures with faked pictures.”
With a mordant chuckle, he added: “Of course, they’re all in jail now.”

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Friday, May 27, 2011

Make that two security tests at MSP, minutes apart, that cops didn't know about

Make that two security tests at MSP, minutes apart, that cops didn't know about

  • Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune
  • Updated: May 26, 2011 - 6:02 PM
A test of security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that police thought was real was actually one of two that happened minutes apart at neighboring checkpoints and fell victim to miscommunication between federal authorities and unsuspecting officers, according to newly released reports.
Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said Thursday that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had told airport police that there would be tests on May 12. However, when the tests at Terminal 1 began, no one from TSA told airport police that these were the tests mentioned earlier, Hogan said.
Hogan said that on-the-spot follow-up communication is needed to prevent police from assuming an actual security threat is a merely the anticipated test.
Because of that miscommunication, officers took various actions. One put his gun to the back of the tester.
Hogan said that the communication gaps between the two agencies have since been corrected.
According to the reports:
In the first test, at about 2:20 p.m. on May 12, a device in a shaving kit was made to look like a bomb. It was a cylinder with wires connected to a wrist watch. The device was brought to Checkpoint 1 by a man wearing casual business attire and with a calm demeanor.
Just as police orders to handcuff the tester and evacuate the area were to be carried out, TSA personnel revealed what was actually happening.
At about 2:40 p.m. at Checkpoint 2, two men were subjected to additional screening.
A checkpoint supervisor indicated to an officer that a white man wearing tan military-style garb had a suspicious device.
The officer pointed his gun at the man's back and ordered him to his knees. Another officer handcuffed him.
It wasn't until several minutes later, the police report added, that TSA employees approached the scene and revealed that this was a test.
The two police reports listed different officers responding to the two tests.
The tester in the first instances was described by police as appearing to be of Middle Eastern or south Asian descent. That prompted a leading U.S. Muslim watchdog group to accuse the TSA of discriminatory profiling in its procedures.
TSA spokesman Greg Soule countered Monday that the agency selects testers based on the demographics of the flying public but declined to provide any substantiation of that contention or reveal any specifics about this specific tester.
On Thursday, the TSA's security director for Minnesota, Thomas P. Connors, said that this particular tester was a U.S. citizen of South American ancestry. 

Witchy Town’s Worry: Do Too Many Psychics Spoil the Brew?

Witchy Town’s Worry: Do Too Many Psychics Spoil the Brew?

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
Lorelei Stathopoulos is concerned Salem will lose its "quaint reputation."
SALEM, Mass. — Like any good psychic, Barbara Szafranski claims she foresaw the problems coming.
Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
Christian Day, who owns two shops, thinks competition is a good thing.
Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
Debra Ann Freeman read a customer's tarot cards in Salem, Mass.
Her prophecy came in 2007, as the City Council was easing its restrictions on the number of psychics allowed to practice in this seaside city, where self-proclaimed witches, angels, clairvoyants and healers still flock 319 years after the notorious Salem witch trials. Some hoped for added revenues from extra licenses and tourists. Others just wanted to bring underground psychics into the light.
Just as Ms. Szafranski predicted, the number of psychic licenses has drastically increased, to 75 today, up from a mere handful in 2007. And now Ms. Szafranski, some fellow psychics and city officials worry the city is on psychic overload.
“It’s like little ants running all over the place, trying to get a buck,” grumbled Ms. Szafranski, 75, who quit her job as an accountant in 1991 to open Angelica of the Angels, a store that sells angel figurines and crystals and provides psychic readings. She says she has lost business since the licensing change.
“Many of them are not trained,” she said of her rivals. “They don’t understand that when you do a reading you hold a person’s life in your hands.”
Christian Day, a warlock who calls himself the “Kathy Griffin of witchcraft,” thinks the competition is good for Salem.
“I want Salem to be the Las Vegas of psychics,” said Mr. Day, who used to work in advertising and helped draft the 2007 regulations. Since they went into effect, he has opened two stores, Hex and Omen.
But not everyone is sure that quantity can ensure quality. Lorelei Stathopoulos, formerly an exotic dancer known as Toppsey Curvey, has been doing psychic readings at her store, Crow Haven Corner, for 15 years. She thinks psychics should have years of experience to practice here.
“I want Salem to keep its wonderful quaint reputation,” said Ms. Stathopoulos, who was wearing a black tank top that read “Sexy witch.” “And with that you have to have wonderful people working.”
Under the 2007 regulations, psychics must have lived in the city for at least a year to obtain an individual license, and businesses must be open for at least a year to hire five psychics. License applicants are also subject to criminal background checks.
Ms. Stathopoulos says a garden-variety reader makes 40 percent of a $35 reading that lasts 15 minutes. She charges $90 and up for a half-hour of her services, and keeps all of that.
Now, talk has started about new regulations that would include a cap on the number of psychic businesses, but the grumbling has in no way reached the level of viciousness that occurred in 2007, when someone left the mutilated body of a raccoon outside Ms. Szafranski’s shop and Mr. Day and Ms. Stathopoulos got into a fight.
Ms. Szafranski says she plans to send the council an official complaint in June.
This time, she has no prediction how it will turn out.

Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Curbing Unions

Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Curbing Unions

Ruling that Republicans in the State Senate had violated the state’s open meetings law, a judge in Wisconsin dealt a blow to them and to Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday by granting a permanent injunction striking down
Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County Circuit Court said the Senate vote on March 9, coming after 13 Democratic state senators had fled the state, failed to comply with an open meetings law requiring at least two hours notice to the public.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on June 6 , and Republican lawmakers are hoping that the court overturns Judge Sumi’s ruling and reinstates the law.
The State Senate could choose simply to pass the bill again while assuring proper notice. But some political experts say there might be some obstacles to re-enacting the vote because some Democrats could conceivably flee the state again, and some Republican Senators are frightened about pending recall elections.
The law, which generated huge protests in Madison, the state capital, bars public-sector unions, except for police officers and firefighters, from bargaining over health benefits and pensions. The law allows bargaining over wages alone, but does not allow raises higher than the inflation rate unless they are approved in a public referendum.
The Senate’s 19 Republicans approved the measure, 18 to 1, in less than half an hour, without any debate on the floor or a single Democrat in the room.
Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican who is the Senate majority leader, attacked Judge Sumi’s decision.
“There’s still a much larger separation-of-powers issue: whether one Madison judge can stand in the way of the other two democratically elected branches of government,” he said in a statement. “The Supreme Court is going to have the ultimate ruling.”
Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union, applauded the judge’s decision, saying the law was always intended to “bust unions.”
“In the wake of this ruling, state lawmakers should back down and not take another run at this divisive legislation,” she said in a statement. “It is not in the best interest of students, schools or Wisconsin’s future to take the voices of educators out of our classrooms.”
Republican senators asserted that they had enacted the collective bargaining law under emergency conditions, obviating the need to comply with the open meetings law. But Judge Sumi said she found no official evidence of emergency conditions or notice.
“This case is the example of values protected by the open meetings law: transparency in government, the right of citizens to participate in their government and respect for the rule of law,” Judge Sumi wrote in her conclusion.
She said the evidence demonstrated a failure to obey even the two-hour notice allowed for good cause if a 24-hour notice was impossible or impractical.
A Republican spokesman said party leaders were studying Judge Sumi’s ruling and were not yet ready to issue a statement. Cullen Werwie, a spokesman for Mr. Walker, declined comment, saying the Senate vote did not directly involve the governor.
Judge Sumi rejected the Republicans’ claims that the open meetings law did not allow bills passed by the State Legislature to be struck down, asserting that only laws by lesser bodies can be overturned under that law. She also rejected the idea that the law was so important that it should stand despite the open meetings violation.
Quoting a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision from last year, Judge Sumi wrote, “The right of the people to monitor the people’s business is one of the core principles of democracy.”

Tests Reveal Mislabeling of Fish

Tests Reveal Mislabeling of Fish


iStockphoto/Illustration by The New York Times
Scientists aiming their gene sequencers at commercial seafood are discovering rampant labeling fraud in supermarket coolers and restaurant tables: cheap fish is often substituted for expensive fillets, and overfished species are passed off as fish whose numbers are plentiful.
Yellowtail stands in for mahi-mahi. Nile perch is labeled as shark, and tilapia may be the Meryl Streep of seafood, capable of playing almost any role.
Recent studies by researchers in North America and Europe harnessing the new techniques have consistently found that 20 to 25 percent of the seafood products they check are fraudulently identified, fish geneticists say.
Labeling regulation means little if the “grouper” is really catfish or if gulf shrimp were spawned on a farm in Thailand.
Environmentalists, scientists and foodies are complaining that regulators are lax in policing seafood, and have been slow to adopt the latest scientific tools even though they are now readily available and easy to use.
“Customers buying fish have a right to know what the heck it is and where it’s from, but agencies like the F.D.A. are not taking this as seriously as they should,” said Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist of the nonprofit group Oceana, referring to the Food and Drug Administration.
On Wednesday, Oceana released a new report titled “Bait and Switch: How Seafood Fraud Hurts Our Oceans, Our Wallets and Our Health.” With rates of fraud in some species found to run as high as 70 percent, the report concluded, the United States needs to “increase the frequency and scope” of its inspections.
DNA bar coding, as it is called, looks at gene sequences in the fish’s flesh. “The genetics have been revolutionary,” said Stefano Mariani, a marine researcher at University College Dublin, who has published research on the topic. “The DNA bar coding technique is now routine, like processing blood or urine. And we should be doing frequent, random spot checks on seafood like we do on athletes.”
Policing the seafood industry has historically been challenging because even the most experienced fishmongers are hard pressed to distinguish certain steaks or fillets without the benefit of scales or fins. And many arrive in supermarkets frozen and topped with an obscuring sauce.
Older laboratory techniques to identify fish meat looked at the mix of proteins in flesh samples, but were unreliable, expensive and cumbersome. Investigators often relied instead on laborious legwork, tracking inconsistent fish names on paperwork as seafood moved across international borders. Eighty-four percent of seafood consumed in the United States is now imported, often passing through a multistep global supply chain.
With the new genetic techniques, the gene sequence found in a fish sample is compared with an electronic reference library like that maintained by the International Barcode of Life Project, which now covers 8,000 varieties of fish compiled by biologists over the last five years. The testing is now relatively cheap: commercial labs charge about $2,000 for analyzing 100 fish samples, for an average of $20 apiece, but the cost is under $1 per sample for labs that own the equipment.
Douglas Karas, a spokesman for the F.D.A., said in an e-mail that the agency had been working with scientists to “validate” DNA testing for several years. It recently purchased gene sequencing equipment for five F.D.A. field laboratories and hoped to use it “on a routine basis” by the end of this year.
This new type of scrutiny could allow hundreds of thousands of samples to be tested each year, rather than the hundreds that are now rigorously analyzed, said Dr. Paul Hebert, scientific director of the Barcode of Life project, based in Guelph, Ontario. In March, the F.D.A. issued an alert to inspectors about mislabeled fish. It had already used bar coding as irrefutable evidence to prosecute sellers or issue warnings involving seafood “misbranding,” Mr. Karas said, much as prosecutors use DNA evidence in sex crime cases.
But it will take time to clamp down on a lucrative and, apparently, widespread practice. Dale Sims, chief fishmonger for Cleanfish, a San Francisco-based supplier of high-end sustainable seafood, said he’d seen thresher shark labeled as shark, swordfish and mahi-mahi all in the same market, as well as many other obvious substitutions.
“It infuriates me but it’s hard to correct,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to say that there’s been a lot of fragmentation in this industry. So if someone is unscrupulous, it’s been easy to get away with it.”
For consumers, the issue is about dollars and cents — wanting to get the quality and type of fish they paid for. “If you’re ordering steak, you would never be served horse meat,” said Dr. Hirshfield of Oceana. “But you can easily be ordering snapper and get tilapia or Vietnamese catfish.”
Environmentalists worry that duped diners may be unwittingly contributing to declining fish stocks, buying food they have been told to avoid. Dr. Hebert said that in testing samples from the United States and Canada, his lab had even detected meat from endangered sharks being sold to diners. “If it were labeled endangered species,” he said, “you couldn’t sell it and you wouldn’t buy it, right?”
Most of the research has been done not by regulators but by individual fish biologists and geneticists; to date no definitive national study has been carried out on the scope of the fraud.
Dana Miller, a doctoral student who worked with Dr. Mariani in Dublin studying the mislabeling of cod, the most popular fish in Ireland, said, “we expected with all the policies and legislation and inspections, the numbers would be pretty low.” But 25 percent of samples of fresh cod and haddock and over 80 percent of the smoked products, were in fact something else. Irish cod stocks are overfished.
“If you can’t even trust that the name is right, then how can you trust anything else on the package, including the date?” she said. In Europe, seafood labels include the fishery where it was caught. In the United States, it must list only a “country of origin” although that is often the processing country rather than where it is caught.
The group Cleanfish is experimenting with an electronic tagging system through which each fisherman or processor would enter his code onto a tag on each fish, making its journey from the sea to the plate fully transparent. Cleanfish buys only whole fish since its outward appearance helps to verify its identity.
And bar coding is becoming more accessible every year. Today, fish samples are sent to labs for testing, but scientists predict that there will be desktop DNA bar coding systems within five years and, in 10, inspectors will carry hand-held detectors.
“Everyone should be using this technique — there should be spot checks and fines,” said Dr. Hebert of the DNA bar coding project. “If there were no speed traps and radar checks, there would be a lot more speeding.”

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Man Nearly Explodes After Compressed Air Valve Lodges In Buttocks

Man Nearly Explodes After Compressed Air Valve Lodges In Buttocks

Trucker Said He Blew Up Twice His Size, 'Like A Balloon'

Steve McCormack fell on a compressed air valve and nearly exploded after the nozzle penetrated his buttock
Steve McCormack fell on a compressed air valve and nearly exploded after
the nozzle penetrated his buttock

WHAKATANE, NZ (PIX11) -- New Zealand trucker Steven McCormack is either the luckiest or unluckiest person in the world, depending on one’s perspective.
McCormack was working on his tractor trailer at a gas station in Whakatane, on the North Island’s east coast, when he slipped and fell, landing on a broken high pressure air valve.
“In a matter of minutes my body blew up to twice the size, I could only see out of one eye,” McCormack told 3News.
The nipple of the valve punctured the 48-year-old’s left buttock, pumping air into his body at 100 lbs. per square inch.  The pressure drove air into every possible space in his body, separating fat from muscle and compressing his lungs and heart.
“The sensation was like when you’re diving with the bends, and you have to go back down to let the air pressure come off your body,” McCormack said.  “I could hear the sound of the air going into me and the people walking around me, but they didn’t want to get near because of what they could see, it wasn’t a very nice sight.”
His boss, Robbie Peterson, and two other workers tried to pull him off the valve -- to no avail.  “We couldn’t get him off the nipple because the angle acted like a hook,” Peterson said.
There were able to shut off the airflow, but the tank had already pumped half its contents into McCormack’s body, according to Peterson.  Barely able to breath, blind in one eye and in excruciating pain, paramedics still didn’t arrive at the gas station for about an hour.
Paramedics had a difficult time treating him because of the pressure his body was under.  “They went to put a drip in me, and they pushed the needle in and it spat right out,” McCormack said.  Once in the emergency room, doctors had to insert a breathing tube through his torso into his lungs, allowing him to breathe normally.
It took the trucker about three days to shrink back to his normal size, the time for the air to naturally disperse.  “You can’t turn a tap on and let it out,” McCormack said.  “You just have to fart it out, or burp it out.”
McCormack is now looking forward to getting back to work after making a miraculous recovery, considering that he didn’t suffer any permanent damage.

Disney Withdraws Trademark for 'Seal Team 6'

Disney Withdraws Trademark for 'Seal Team 6'

(FILE)
(FILE)

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- The Walt Disney Company has decided Wednesday to drop all efforts to trademark the name of the now-famous counter-terrorism team responsible for killing Osama bin Laden.

The California-based company filed a trademark for "Seal Team 6" on May 3, the day after news of bin Laden's death broke.

Navy officials filed a counter application ten days later.


“Out of deference to the Navy’s trademark application, we have decided to abandon our claim,” a spokesperson for Disney told the Orange County .

Disney's application was intended for a television show but also optioned the name for clothing, footwear, headgear, toys and other entertainment services.

The name was previously trademarked for computer and video gaming in 2006 by NovaLogic.

Leaders Hold Tight to Rescue Hopes in Joplin

Leaders Hold Tight to Rescue Hopes in Joplin


JOPLIN, Mo. -- The search for missing victims of Joplin's lethal twister inched forward methodically on Wednesday, with city leaders refusing to abandon hope that they would find more survivors even as rescuers prepared to go over ground searched as many as three times already.
The death toll ticked upward to at least 122, with 750 people hurt, from a mighty twister that the National Weather Service said was an EF5, the strongest rating assigned to tornadoes, with winds of more than 200 mph.
"We are still in a search-and-rescue mode," said Mark Rohr, Joplin's city manager. "I want to emphasize that."
Even as Joplin limped forward, violent weather struck again, killing at least five in Oklahoma, two in Arkansas and two more in Kansas. Late-night tornado sirens had Joplin's residents ducking for cover again before the storm brushed past without serious problems.
Shadowing the rescue work in the southwest Missouri city of 50,000 people was uncertainty over just how many survivors remained to be found. Nine people have been rescued since Sunday's disaster, including two on Tuesday, but authorities have hesitated to say how many people are unaccounted for. They also said many were believed to have simply left the area safely.
Social networks were the tool of choice for many people trying to track the missing -- or to let their loved ones know they were OK.
Several online efforts have focused on Will Norton, a teenager who vanished on his way home from his high school graduation ceremony. Norton was driving with his father, Mark Norton, when the storm hit his Hummer H3. The vehicle flipped several times, and Will was thrown from it, likely through the sunroof.
Sara Norton was on the phone with her father as the two drove home. Mark Norton asked her to open the family's garage door so Mark and Will could get inside quickly. But the two never made it.
I could hear him saying, `Will, pull over, pull over,"' Sara Norton said.
Mark Norton tried to grab his son, but the storm was too strong. He was hospitalized Tuesday, seriously hurt but still able to talk to his family about what happened.
Will's sister, Sara Norton, and other relatives drove to hospitals throughout Missouri to search for Will. More than 19,000 people supported the "Help Find Will Norton" community page on Facebook, and Twitter users were tweeting heavily about the missing teen.
"I just want to find him, that's all," Sara Norton said Tuesday, on her way home from a Springfield, Mo., hospital. "I'm just determined. I have to find him."
Many posted prayers for Norton's safe return or repeated rumors about where he might have been taken. Others commented on videos that Norton, an avid videographer with plans to study film in college, had posted on YouTube.
Joplin schools were ravaged by the twister and classes have been canceled the rest of the school year, but district officials are trying to locate both faculty and many of the school's 2,200 students. The effort has been crippled by downed phone lines. Some students have been located using Facebook.
"We just want to be able to find who we can find and then as confirmation happens offer support to the families if we find out that a kid didn't make it," Joplin High Principal Kerry Sachetta said. "When a tragedy happens for a kid or a family, everybody tries to come together and console everybody and make up what we can whether it is food or emotional support or a place to stay. That's what we are trying to do a little piece at a time."
The Joplin tornado was the deadliest single twister since the weather service began keeping official records in 1950 and the eighth-deadliest in U.S. history. Scientists said it appeared to be a rare "multivortex" tornado, with two or more small and intense centers of rotation orbiting the larger funnel.
Bill Davis, the lead forecaster on a National Weather Service survey team, said he would need to look at video to try to confirm that. But he said the strength of the tornado was evident from the many stout buildings that were flattened: St. John's Regional Medical Center, Franklin Technology Center, a bank gone except for its vault, a Pepsi bottling plant and "numerous, and I underscore numerous, well-built residential homes that were basically leveled."
Davis' first thought on arriving in town to do the survey, he said, was: "Where do you start?"

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

China orders suspension of death sentences

China orders suspension of death sentences

Convict sentencing, Wenzhou, April 2004 
 
Earlier this year China reduced the number of crimes that carry the death penalty by 13 to 55

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China has apparently introduced new standards to reduce the number of criminals it executes.
The Supreme People's Court - the highest in China - has told lower courts to suspend death sentences for two years.
But this should only happen in cases where there is no need for "immediate execution", the court said.
China has introduced a number of measures over recent years to cut down the number of executions.
This latest development appeared in the annual report of the supreme court.
"Suspend the death sentence for two years for all cases that don't require immediate execution," read the report.
The court does not say why some cases might need to be carried out immediately, although in the past the government has instructed judges to be more severe in cases that involved crimes it was targeting.
Those benefiting from the changes will probably never be executed.
Criminals given a suspended death penalty usually have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
China does not reveal the number of executions it carries out each year, but it is thought to kill more people than any other country.
Four years ago the Supreme People's Court took back the right to review every death sentence handed out by lower courts.
The result has been fewer executions.
Earlier this year China reduced the number of crimes that carry the death penalty by 13 to 55.
"Strictly control and unify standards relating to the death penalty, and ensure that it only applies to a very small minority of criminals committing extremely serious crimes," read one section of the supreme court's report.

Did Peter Fonda Commit a Federal Offense by Threatening President Obama?

Did Peter Fonda Commit a Federal Offense by Threatening President Obama?

Published May 24, 2011
| FoxNews.com
While promoting a new documentary at the Cannes film festival in France last weekend, Peter Fonda made comments that could be construed as threats against President Obama.
“I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles,” the actor told The Daily Telegraph at the international film festival. “For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words 'Barack Obama,' but …”
With those words, the “Easy Rider” star may have committed a federal crime.
“Clearly, there is a federal law that prohibits threatening the president,” Washington, D.C.-based attorney Ross Nabatoff tells FOX411.com. “Now, the question is, is that a threat as opposed to him expressing his First Amendment rights? But you could conceivably construe that as a threat—he names the president. It’s a federal offense. He could be incarcerated.”
Fonda’s comments could attract the attention of the Secret Service, Nabatoff said.
“They take threats against the president pretty seriously these days,” explains Nabatoff. “There’s a lot of angry people.”
The Secret Service had no comment on the matter.
Fonda's attorney did not return a request for comment, and Fonda's representative was unable to reach the actor.
Back at Cannes, the actor wasn't finished.
“We are heading for a major conflict between the haves and the have nots," Fonda said. "I came here many years ago with a biker movie, and we stopped a war. Now, it’s about starting the world."
“There’s no room any more for a sissy and, like I said, don’t forget that I’ve got grandsons who I’ve trained with long-distance rifles," Fonda repeated. "We have to run like mofos to change this world.”
The fact that Fonda, 71, made his comments overseas could work in his favor should legal trouble ensue.
“The federal courts may not have jurisdiction in France,” Nabatoff said.
Fonda was in Cannes promoting "The Big Fix," a documentary about the BP Gulf oil spill, a movie critical of Obama's handling of the crisis.
Last week while promoting the film, Fonda said that he "sent an email to President Obama saying, 'You are a f***ing traitor,' using those words... 'You're a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military -- in this case the Coast Guard -- what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do'."
Fonda is the son of Hollywood legend Henry Fonda and the brother of actress Jane Fonda.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/05/24/did-peter-fonda-commit-federal-offense-threatening-president-obama/#ixzz1NKq9PX1q

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan

Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan


Brendan Bannon for The New York Times
The Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul, talked to the media during an early morning campaign stop on the election day.
Democrats scored an upset in one of New York’s most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party’s plan to overhaul Medicare.

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The results set off elation among Democrats and soul-searching among Republicans, who questioned whether the party should rethink its commitment to the Medicare plan, which appears to have become a liability as 2012 elections loom.
Two months ago, the Democrat, Kathy Hochul, was considered an all-but-certain loser in the race against Jane Corwin. But Ms. Hochul seized on her Republican rival’s embrace of the proposal from Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, to overhaul Medicare, and she never let up.
Voters, who turned out in strikingly large numbers for a special election, said they trusted Ms. Hochul, the county clerk of Erie County, to protect Medicare.
“I have almost always voted the party line,” said Gloria Bolender, a Republican from Clarence who is caring for her 80-year-old mother. “This is the second time in my life I’ve voted against my party.”
Pat Gillick, a Republican from East Amherst, who also cast a ballot for Ms. Hochul, said, “The privatization of Medicare scares me.”
The district, which stretches from Buffalo to Rochester, has been in Republican hands for four decades, producing influential Republican figures like Representative Jack Kemp. The campaign drew intense interest, with both major parties in Washington and their allies flooding the district with radio and television advertising. Total spending exceeded $6 million.
On Tuesday, Republicans were already debating the factors that shaped the outcome of the race. The mood inside a meeting of the House Republican caucus in the Capitol was anxious, and some members suggested that it would be oversimplifying to attribute the results to one cause.
Some said Ms. Corwin proved a less nimble and ultimately less appealing candidate than Ms. Hochul, who was an energetic campaigner and seemed to connect with audiences on the trail.
So, when Medicare erupted as a driving issue in the race, Ms. Corwin, a wealthy former Wall Street analyst, was knocked off balance and struggled to respond.
In the closing hours of the race, Ms. Corwin admitted as much, saying about her rival’s attacks: “When she started making these comments, I thought, ‘This is so outrageous no one would ever believe it.’ Apparently some people did.”
Others cited the presence of a third candidate, Jack Davis, who ran on the Tea Party line after failing to win the Republican nomination. Mr. Davis not only drew conservative support away from Ms. Corwin, but also turned his aggressive attacks on her in the end, contributing to her negative numbers.
And Ms. Hochul seemed genuinely well-liked by the public. As the clerk of Erie County, she oversees the autos bureaus, which issue driver’s licenses; she became more prominent in 2008 when she challenged former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to issue licenses to illegal immigrants.
“I remember when she was in the auto bureau in Buffalo, she did a lot with the license plates,” said Jim Van Wagner, a Republican and former auto worker from Albion, adding: She’s a good one.”
Still, given the makeup of the district, one of four in the state that John McCain carried in 2008, Republicans said they needed to understand if they had misread the public.
“It’s a Republican district with a solid Republican candidate,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island. “What went wrong? We definitely have to determine the extent to which the Medicare issue hurt us.”
The seat became vacant in February when Representative Christopher Lee, a Republican, abruptly resigned after he e-mailed a shirtless photo of himself to a woman and it was published on the Internet.
Top Republicans, including House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, traveled to the district to provide support to Ms. Corwin. At the same time, the national party and its allies, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group tied to the Republican strategist Karl Rove, jumped in, spending at least $1.1 million on radio and television ads supporting Ms. Corwin.
Democrats brought out their heavy hitters too, including Bill Clinton, who recorded a phone message that reached homes throughout district; and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, who sent out fund-raising solicitations casting the race as an opportunity for Democrats to win in the backyard of Republicans.
The race also marked the debut of House Majority PAC, a group recently established by Democratic strategists as a counterbalance to the conservative organizations that helped Republicans make significant gains in the 2010 elections. House Majority PAC spent nearly $400,000 on advertising in the race.

House to Hold Straight Debt Ceiling Vote Next Week

House to Hold Straight Debt Ceiling Vote Next Week

by Chad Pergram | May 24, 2011


The office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., confirms that the House will hold a "straight" vote on increasing the debt ceiling next week by $2.4 trillion.

This ceiling is not expected to pass as there are almost no Republicans who would vote for this, without requisite cuts. So in a way, this is a moot vote to show a group of 100 Democrats who keep calling for a "clean" debt ceiling increase that there aren't the votes to do so.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is unhappy with the Republican tactic.

"I will not vote for a clean debt limit extension if no Republicans vote for it and instead use it just to demagogue," Hoyer responded Tuesday. "We need to pursue a responsible course to pay our bills and set forward a plan to reduce our deficits. I hope Republicans will work with us toward those goals, rather than making this a partisan issue used for political gain."

The vote is expected to hit next Tuesday or Wednesday. In addition, while campaigning last fall for Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Va., Cantor said he "would advocate" a clean, up or down vote on the debt ceiling.

This year, Republicans have said repeatedly that they would only vote for hiking the debt ceiling if there is a framework for substantial cuts.

Over the past decade, Congress has used a variety of parliamentary gambits and "chicanery" to approve debt ceiling increases. Voting to increase the debt ceiling is toxic in Congress, which is why this issue is so big now.

In the past, both Democratic and Republican Congresses have upped the debt limit by hooking the increase to another "must pass" bill (usually something defense oriented) or have made the debt ceiling hike conditional. In other words, once Congress passes something else (often completely unrelated), they have simultaneously increased the debt ceiling -- all without the fingerprints of increasing the debt ceiling.

Fox has obtained talking points and "suggested responses" offered up the House Republican Conference to its rank and file members, giving them guidance on how to explain next week's "clean" debt ceiling vote. The list highlights arguments like the increase would burden the country's children, the country is in this position because Democrats went on a spending spree, and it's bad for the market. The GOP also notes there have been nine clean debt ceiling votes in the House and Senate that have failed since the mid-1970s.

In an effort to tamp down criticism that Republicans are playing "chicken" with the debt ceiling, the GOP notes that this vote (which no one fully expects to pass) is taking place two months before the August 2 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. That way, if there is no agreement, the GOP can say they voted well in advance of the deadline.

In addition, note some parliamentary gimmickry of sorts by the GOP. Republicans are bringing this bill up under the procedure called "suspension of the rules. This requires a two-thirds threshold to approve the bill. In other words, with 432 members now in the House, 288 would have to vote yes. That is a high bar. That pretty much assures the GOP that it won't pass. If they left it to a simple majority (meaning 217, under these circumstances, there's a chance) it could pass.



Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/05/24/house-hold-straight-debt-ceiling-vote-next-week#ixzz1NJxEDx9D

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says no aid for Joplin without cuts

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says no aid for Joplin without cuts

May 24th, 2011 12:28 pm ET

Ryan Witt

The horrific tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri may have also created a political battle in Washington D.C. The death toll from the tornado now stands at 119, making it the single deadliest tornado since modern record-keeping began 60 years ago. The financial toll is also expected to be high, with initial estimates putting damages at around $3 billion. Without significant aid from somewhere Joplin will simply not be able to recover from a tornado that literally ripped the town in half. Today House Majority Leader Eric Cantor signaled that the Congress may not be willing to provide aid without accompanying spending cuts to other programs.

[SLIDESHOW: Images of destruction from the Joplin tornado]

Today President Obama pledged to provide "every ounce" of federal resources to helping the victims in Joplin. Thus far FEMA has been on the scene to help with rescue operations. However, in the long-term the President would likely need congressional approval in order to provide a package of financial aid. Any aid package would have to pass through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where Cantor serves in a powerful leadership position. As the Washington Times reports, Cantor said any aid would need to be offset by other spending cuts, "If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental." The term "pay-fors" means either spending cuts or tax increases, and the Republicans have firmly stated that they would not pass any tax increases this year. The Washington Times also points out that six years then-House Majority Leader Tom Delay approved Hurricane Katrina aid without offsetting spending cuts. At the time Delay said it was acceptable to just add the Katrina aid on to the deficit.

Finding offsetting spending cuts for the aid to Joplin may be hard in the current political climate.  The Democrats and Republicans just got done passing a very tough set of spending cuts which upset both sides.  Currently the Congress and White House is busy trying to negotiate a deal on the debt ceiling.  Finding cuts to offset aid to Joplin may take weeks if not months, and in the meantime the people of Joplin will be left waiting.
Some might also argue that the money for Joplin should come from private individuals or the state.  Charitable groups and individuals certainly are helping the people of Joplin with supplies including water bottles, first aid kits, and tarps.  However, no group or individual has come forward to pledge the $3 billion needed to rebuild Joplin.  On the state level, Missouri was already struggling to meet budgetary demands before the Joplin disaster, and tax increases are limited by a provision in the Missouri Constitution called the Hancock Amendment.


Continue reading on Examiner.com House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says no aid for Joplin without cuts - National Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/house-majority-leader-eric-cantor-r-va-says-no-aid-for-joplin-without-cuts#ixzz1NJtqqkoO

Monday, May 23, 2011

Ruling Raises Stakes in California’s Fiscal Crisis

May 23, 2011

Ruling Raises Stakes in California’s Fiscal Crisis

LOS ANGELES — The Supreme Court’s order to California to ease overcrowding in the state’s prisons, by releasing tens of thousands of inmates if no other solution can be found, will probably aid Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to move more inmates from state prisons to county jails.
But it is also sure to set off a fresh round of budget battling in the financially distressed state as the governor and local officials insist on ensuring state financing before changing the system.
The ruling has also already inspired a fresh round of political recriminations, with some law-enforcement officials and Republicans echoing the Supreme Court’s dissenters by saying the release will result in more violence as released inmates, unable to find jobs, return to their former way of life.
“We’re bracing for the worst and hoping for the best,” said Mark Pazin, the Merced County sheriff and chairman of the state’s sheriffs’ association. “This potential tsunami of inmates being released would have such an impact on local communities. Each of those who would be released have really earned their pedigree as a criminal. It could create real havoc.”
And since the court requires that the state reduce the population one way or another, California’s residents were greeting the decision with a mix of nervousness and fatalism. That anxiety is unlikely to be eased by the news that some 200 prisoners took part in a fight on Sunday in the dining hall at San Quentin State Prison in which four men were stabbed or slashed. The cause of the melee was under investigation.
Matthew Cate, the secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, called the court ruling disappointing because it did not recognize improvements the state had made over the last several years. But Mr. Cate said state officials would push even harder for the Legislature to approve the governor’s plan, which he said would save money over time.
“Our goal is to not release inmates at all,” Mr. Cate said, adding that the governor’s plan would mostly address the overcrowding problem, although it would take three to four years to do so, longer than the two-year timeline laid out by the court. He said the state could apply for an extension and added, “I don’t think we can guarantee anything at this point.”
With the state facing a $10 billion deficit, Republicans have refused to sign on to the governor’s plan to ask voters to approve tax extensions. Under Mr. Brown’s proposal, some of that money would go to the counties, which would have responsibility for housing and rehabilitating the inmates.
According to Mr. Brown’s plan, no inmate convicted of violent, sex-related or otherwise serious crimes would be sent to the county jail systems. And while many counties have said that they can cope with the inmates, they say it would be impossible without extra money from the state.
“The only logical way to deal with the court order in a manner that continues to protect the public is to send some people to the counties,” said Paul McIntosh, the executive director of the California State Association of Counties. “A one-time release would be a terrible decision, and we need a fundamental change in the way we deal with criminals. The state really needs to step up quickly to give us the ability to deal with this.”
Lee Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, said the state, with the help of local officials, should immediately begin devising a plan, particularly to assure the public that hardened criminals would not soon be roaming the streets.
“The public does not want to see a violent predator slip through the cracks on this,” Sheriff Baca said. “We have to assure them that the department of corrections will not make a mistake on who gets released.”
Los Angeles County is expected to have some 11,000 prisoners come into its system under the plan. Sheriff Baca said he was confident that the county had programs to deal with the additional inmates and could do even more with programs to reduce recidivism.
“But you can’t just foist the problem on us without any more money,” he said.
Donald Specter, who argued for the prisoners before the Supreme Court, called the landmark ruling “fantastic” and said it would force the state to deal with problems it had long tried to avoid.
“The state has a lot of options,” Mr. Specter said. “It can reduce sentences for parole violations or change sentencing law or go along with the governor’s plan, but it has to do something.”
In Sacramento, Sheriff Scott Jones was less enthusiastic. He said the ruling could have “horrific consequences” in his jails, which are nearly filled to capacity each day.
“Whatever money they don’t give us, we have to make up with letting go a commensurate number of parolees or people who should be behind bars,” Sheriff Jones said. “There has to be a better way, but I don’t think we are going to get it here.”

Analysis: Insurers face big losses from weather disasters

Analysis: Insurers face big losses from weather disasters

An entire neighborhood lay in ruin after a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri May 23, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Stone
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina | Mon May 23, 2011 5:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - Devastating tornadoes, floods, earthquakes overseas and a busier-than-usual hurricane season have U.S. insurance companies bracing for record losses in 2011.
Insurers could suffer as much as $10 billion from weather-related losses in the United States in 2011, which is up from the average of $2 billion to $4 billion, according to EQECAT Inc, which provides disaster and risk models to insurance companies.
On top of the potential U.S. losses, insurers are also reeling from disasters overseas, including large earthquakes across the Pacific Rim. And as if that was not enough, analysts now expect an above-average Atlantic hurricane season.
"This is not a black swan year that is an absolute worst case, but it is significant and it is close to that," said Jose Miranda, director of client advocacy at EQECAT Inc, which provides disaster and risk models to insurance companies.
Globally -- including the major earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan -- U.S. and overseas insurers could post up to $55 billion in losses, EQECAT projects.
Some insurers have already posted large losses due to the Japan and New Zealand quakes.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N)(BRKb.N) lost $1.07 billion from the Japan earthquake and $412 million from the quake in New Zealand.
During the annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on April 30, CEO Warren Buffet said the company would likely post its first full-year loss in insurance underwriting in nine years.
And insurance stocks have lagged the broader market because of investor worries about catastrophic losses.
The S&P Insurance Index .IUX is flat since the beginning of the year, lagging the broader S&P 500 Index .SPX, which has risen 4.7 percent.
ROUGH WEATHER
In the United States, spring storms -- and the billions of dollars in damage left behind -- were the result of a rare confluence of more violent weather hitting densely populated areas, said James Aman, a senior meteorologist with Earth Networks Inc - Weatherbug.
"It has been a particularly devastating year," said Aman.
Over a six-week period this spring, tornadoes ripped through Southeastern and Midwestern states flattening neighborhoods in large Southern cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
So far, tornadoes have killed 365 people in the United States, a figure nearly six times higher than the three-year average of 64 deaths, according to the National Weather Service.
Already, 1,151 tornadoes have occurred in the United States this year, nearing the 1,282 reported in all of 2010, but below the all-time high of 1,820 in 2004.
The increase in Spring storms has insurers preparing for the worst.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (HIG.N) Chief Executive Liam McGee said the company expected second quarter catastrophic losses to rise.
"I don't think there's any question that there will be a bit more to handle," McGee said on May 2 after Hartford reported first quarter results.
Others are increasing the disclosure of their losses. The nation's largest home insurer, Allstate Corp (ALL.N), said last week it would take the unusual step of disclosing any monthly catastrophic loss estimates that exceed $150 million. The company projected the April storms would cost $1.4 billion and totaled more than 100,000 claims.
As tornado season slows this summer, insurers will have to contend with a busy hurricane season, although less active than last year.
The National Weather Service projects as many as 18 named storms this year, compared with the long-term historical average of about 11.
Miranda said insurers avoided large losses last year, despite a record number of hurricanes, because none made landfall in the United States, a lucky break that is unlikely to be repeated.
"Chances of that happening again are definitely slim," he added.
(Reporting by Joe Rauch; editing by Andre Grenon)

Students Locked Out of School After Rent Dispute

Students Locked Out of School After Rent Dispute


Lou Danztler Preparatory Charter Middle School in South Los Angeles. (KTLA-TV)
Lou Danztler Preparatory Charter Middle School in South Los Angeles. (KTLA-TV)
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- Teachers, parents and students arrived at a South L.A. charter school Monday morning to find its doors were locked and would not be opening.

Lou Dantzler Preparatory Charter School was shut down without notice Monday, leaving 400 students out of class three weeks before the school year ends.

The Charters Boys and Girls Club, which rents the land to the organization that runs the school, says that the Inner City Education Foundation has not paid rent for six months.


"We got a letter from them that they were under financial constraints and that going forward that they would promise to pay on time," club president Corey Dantzler told KTLA.

"I don't think it's right," parent Darren Jordan said. "Don't punish my babies for something they didn't do."

The club tells KTLA they have reached an agreement with ICEF and the school will be reopened Tuesday.

ICEF, which is run by former Mayor Richard Riordan, has not released a statement.

Tornado response update- restricted zones on the North Side

Tornado response update- restricted zones on the North Side

This morning the Minneapolis Police Department in cooperation with other City departments has developed an exclusion zone in the hardest hit areas of North Minneapolis into which only residents will be allowed once the areas are considered to be safe.
Currently crews are in the area repairing gas leaks, clearing roads, locating and neutralizing downed power lines and assessing the damage to buildings.  This work will continue through the day until it is complete.  As such it is necessary to prohibit all access to a block until that block is considered safe.  Once a block is considered safe residents of that block can enter the area through one of the designated checkpoints. 
Checkpoints are located at the following intersections:
  • 42 Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue North
  • Dowling Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue North
  • Lowry Avenue North and Lyndale Avenue North
  • 26th Avenue North and Fremont Avenue North
  • West Broadway and Fremont Avenue North
  • Penn Avenue North and Golden Valley Road
  • Oak Park/ Thomas Avenue North
  • Golden Valley Road and Xerxes Avenue South
  • Penn Avenue North and 12th Avenue North
  • Penn Avenue North and 26th Avenue North
  • Penn Avenue North and Lowry Avenue North
  • Penn Avenue North and Dowling Avenue North
  • 42nd Avenue North and Humboldt Avenue North
Non-residents will not be permitted into the exclusion zone until such time as City services can support such traffic.  Persons who attempt to enter the exclusionary zone prior to areas being opened, attempt entry without going through an authorized checkpoint or who are non-residents can be charged with a misdemeanor under Minnesota State Statute 12.45.  These restrictions are in place to ensure the safety of everyone. 
Only residents will be allowed to enter after the areas have been cleared of major hazards.  Anyone in the North Minneapolis area should be aware that emergency responders have found quantities of small debris that have damaged numerous vehicle tires. There are barricades outside of the exclusion zone.  These are in place to exclude traffic from areas in which roads are impassable or hazards exist.
Minneapolis schools in the exclusion zone
The Minneapolis Public School District has informed the Minneapolis Police Department that the following schools in the exclusion zone will be closed Monday, May 23:
  • Lucy Laney
  • City View
  • Nellie Stone Johnson
  • Hmong International Academy
  • Northstar
  • Plymouth Youth Center
No school buses will be able to enter the exclusion zone as many roadways are still impassable. 
I-94 exit ramps on Northside to remain closed until further notice
As many main thoroughfares on the Northside are impassable the following exits from northbound I-94 will be closed starting at 5 a.m.:
  • Broadway/Washington Avenue
  • Dowling Avenue
  • 49th  Avenue North /53rd Avenue North
It is unknown when these off ramps will re-open.  All on ramps onto I-94 are unaffected.
Some Metro Transit bus service will also be affected.  Please consult Metro Transit for those changes.
May 23, 2011 9:45 a.m. update