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From LA Times

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L.A. County opens up distribution of H1N1 flu vaccine to the public

Los Angeles County public health officials have opened up distribution of H1N1 flu vaccines to the general public and plan to increase efforts to vaccinate African Americans .

High-risk “ priority groups ” were given early access to the vaccine by private healthcare providers and county-sponsored clinics. They included pregnant women, caregivers for infants under 6-months-old, healthcare workers, youths 6 months to 24 years old and those age 25 to 64 with chronic illnesses.

Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, director of the county's Department of Public Health, said today that the department was opening up vaccines to the public because of their increased availability among local doctors, clinics and pharmacies.

“Given there's more vaccine, it makes sense to open it up,” Fielding said.

Local healthcare providers have received about 2 million H1N1 vaccines so far this flu season, Fielding said. He said more vaccine shipments are expected in coming weeks, although he does not know how much is being shipped or how soon it will arrive.

The vaccines are bought by the federal government and delivered to states by private distributors. “We will have enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone who wants it,” Fielding said.

County clinics will continue to focus on providing the vaccine to the uninsured or those without access to healthcare, Fielding said. At the end of last month, 133,202 people had been vaccinated at county-sponsored clinics, mostly Latinos and Asians.

Of those vaccinated, 44.2% were Latino, 29% Asian, 19.2% white and 3% African American. L.A. County's population  is about 46% Latino, 30% white, 13% Asian and 9% black, according to the most recent census figures.

Of those who have died of H1N1 flu statewide, 46% were Latino, 35% white, 7% Asian and 9% black, according to state figures released last month.

This morning, county supervisors approved a proposal to double funding for H1N1 flu outreach, particularly to African Americans, bringing total funding to $1 million. Outreach will include bus and radio advertisements as well as campaigns by community leaders to raise awareness among minority groups, Fielding said.

“We had planned to have this campaign earlier, but because of the shortages, we delayed it,” Fielding said.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas directed the county's chief executive and public health officials to report back Dec. 22 with more details on how they plan to improve H1N1 outreach to African Americans.

“We are looking for the department to provide leadership in implementing a more comprehensive, aggressive, innovative and strategic outreach campaign to African Americans,” the supervisor said.

Fielding said he met Monday with New York City's public health director and discussed the difficulty they have faced in persuading African Americans to get vaccinated.

“They've had similar problems with under-representation,” of African Americans, Fielding said. “We need to do more to get African Americans in. The African American community is still concerned about the safety of the vaccine.”

Those fears do not appear to be shared by Asians, who have outnumbered African Americans even at county-sponsored clinics in predominantly African American neighborhoods. Fielding said many Asians getting vaccinated experienced or followed reports about outbreaks of SARS or avian flu overseas, and were more aware of the risks associated with such pandemics.

“I've had people tell me that carries over,” to H1N1 flu, Fielding said. “There's a sense that this is a real problem.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/la-opens-up-distribution-of-h1n1-flu-vaccine-to-the-general-public.html#more

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Border agents rescue smuggled San Diego Christmas puppies

Federal authorities in San Diego County rescued 15 sick puppies that were being smuggled across the U.S. border from Mexico to be sold here as Christmas presents, officials said today.

The 2-month-old puppies, described as mixed-breed miniature poodles, were discovered Monday evening by Customs and Border Protection officers at the Tecate Port of Entry, according to San Diego County officials.

A majority of the animals were suffering from parvo, a virus that is often deadly. The puppies would be receiving intensive care from San Diego County Department of Animal Services or a local adoption center, officials said.

Officials identified the alleged smuggler as Raul Jimenez Gonzalez. He told authorities that he had a bottle of tequila as he attempted to cross the border, but federal officers saw something move in the back seat of his vehicle, according to county officials.

The puppies were discovered under a blanket in the back seat.

Jimenez Gonzalez allegedly admitted that he was taking the puppies to Los Angeles to be sold for presents, county officials said.

Officials with the Department of Animal Services were working with federal authorities to determine what, if any, charges would be filed against the alleged smuggler.

This is apparently not the first time Jimenez Gonzalez has been accused of puppy smuggling. Officials said they rescued 27 puppies in 2006 and 11 in 2007 in incidents allegedly involving Jimenez Gonzalez.

The director of the department, Dawn Danielson, said that smuggled puppies are in demand during the holidays.

"Unfortunately, most of these puppies are sick," Danielson said in a statement. "So the buyer ends up spending a great deal of money trying to save the puppy's life, usually without success."

Anyone interested in adopting puppies in San Diego County is asked to visit the department's website .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Mother in San Clemente murder-suicide had just lost custody of young daughters

Authorities on Tuesday identified the four victims of a murder-suicide that took the lives of a mother, her two daughters and their grandmother in San Clemente on Monday.

Elizabeth Fontaine, 38, her daughters Catherine Fontaine, 4, and Julia Fontaine, 2, and their maternal grandmother, Bonnie Hoult, 67, were found dead Monday afternoon in a home where they were staying in a gated community in the upscale Talega community, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Each was shot and died of a single gunshot wound to the upper torso. A handgun was recovered at the scene, but authorities said it was unclear who fired the shots.

Officials are investigating the slayings as part of a child-custody dispute. The family was visiting Orange County for a hearing Monday during which Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Shulte gave temporary custody of the two daughters to an aunt, and the mother was instructed to return the next day, according to court records.

The family was found lying together in a hallway on the second floor of the home after deputies arrived shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, Amormino said. Their bodies were situated so close together they were touching.

“There's no question the two children were killed first, and one of the adult females is the killer, which is unusual by itself,” Amormino said.

He said the girls' father is not a suspect in the case. "The father was nowhere near the crime scene," Amormino said.

Amormino said the victims were in town from Houston for the custody hearing and were staying with friends Kevin and Leslie Herbert, who lived in the rented house on the small cul-de-sac with their young son.

Just an hour before sheriff's deputies came to the house on Calle Sonador, next-door neighbor Rebecca Vandehei, 43, said she heard a high-pitched cry from what sounded like a young girl and wondered what was going on.

”It was like someone was waking up from a nap or didn't like something,” she said.

Vandehei said Herbert told her that he realized something was wrong, got out of the house and called police.

“He had heard something that bothered him and told his wife to leave,” Vandehei said. “He heard them talking about some plans and shortly after that police came.”

Investigators are awaiting autopsies, which should determine how each member of the family died. If classified as homicides, they would be the first of the year for the city of 61,000 just north of Camp Pendleton, according to officials at the Sheriff's Department's San Clemente station.

In May of 2008, two young women, their parents and their grandmother killed themselves in their San Clemente home using Vicodin, sleeping pills, antidepressants and a gun. Police closed the case after a six-month investigation.

On Tuesday on Calle Sonador, investigators made their way in and out of the home and mourners placed flowers at a gate in front of the home, Vandehei said.

“I've been lighting incense since sunrise,” she said. “It's the little girls that I think about. I'm a little spooked. It's nothing we would expect out here.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Body of missing Santa Ana College student found near Fullerton creek

Fullerton police said they have found near a creek bed the body of a 21-year-old Santa Ana College student who vanished over the weekend while taking his girlfriend's dog for a walk.

The remote area where the body of James Patrick Wernke was found this morning was heavily wooded, and the creek could have been overflowing from recent heavy rains, said Lt. Alex Bastreri of the Fullerton Police Department.

"There is nothing suspicious" Bastreri said.

Police were still waiting for the Orange County coroner's office to pick up the body and conduct a proper identification.

Family, friends and authorities had been searching frantically for Wernke, who was last seen Saturday afternoon in the 3000 block of Sunnywood Drive in Fullerton, walking his girlfriend's yellow Labrador retriever, Kealie.

“This isn't like him at all, he wouldn't do something like this,” Bock said, the sound of tears often muffling the phone. “He's very outgoing … very charismatic. He's not going to just go on a walk and disappear.”

Bock, 20, is attending Long Island University in Brooklyn and said the last time she heard from Wernke was at 1:40 p.m. Saturday, and the message was nothing out the ordinary. She flew in last night from New York and said she thinks being around family will be good for her.

She said Wernke, a pitcher for the Santa Ana College baseball team, was working toward a full athletic scholarship to Cal State Long Beach.

“I don't know… maybe he struggled. …He's out there with the dog,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion. “Maybe something took a toll on him, and he's just out there – I don't know.”

Bock said they would spend weekends talking to each other on Skype, an online video conferencing site. She said he wasn't the type to go out and party and drink.

Bob Wernke, James Wernke's father, said he and his wife last heard from their son about 1:15 p.m. Saturday and after a number of unreturned text messages, they began to worry. Then they received a phone call from Diana Bock, Sami's mother, that she was calling the police to report him missing.

The Wernkes immediately flew from their Colorado home to Fullerton. Because of James Wernke's stature, he stood 6-feet-2 and weighed about 190 pounds, Bob Wernke said he had played every scenario in his head as to what could have happened to his son but “nothing works.”

“We're ruling out foul play; it would take quite a lot of guys to take him down," said Bob Wernke, in a telephone interview before the discovery. "Maybe he slipped in the wet rain and banged his head or something. What makes this really bizarre to me is that he's grown up in this area. He's not lost.”

But, he continued, “If he fell and was hurt, we would have found him by now, or at least the dog. We're beside ourselves.”

Bloodhounds traced a scent to a nearby 7-Eleven store about a mile away before losing it near Imperial Highway. The Labrador, who is microchipped, hasn't been located, Bastreri said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/missing-fullerton-student.html#more

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Orange County man faces sentencing for 693 felony counts of defrauding elderly investors

A San Juan Capistrano man is being sentenced this week in Orange County Superior Court after his conviction on 693 felony counts of defrauding more than 125 senior citizens out of their life savings.

Sentencing began Friday for Jeffrey Gordon Butler, who was convicted in June of stealing more than $11 million from elderly investors through the illegal sale of unqualified promissory notes or stocks and filing false tax returns on his ill-gained profits, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.

Because so many victims want to make statements to the court, sentencing is expected to stretch into the rest of the week and possibly the next.

"This is a very large case that took awhile to investigate," Emami said. 

Butler, 51, was found guilty by a jury on charges of making untrue statements in selling securities and unqualified securities, theft from elderly persons, using a scheme to defraud in the sale of a security, and filing false tax returns from 2001 to 2004 and failing to report income of more than $5.5 million, resulting in an unpaid tax liability of more than $530,000. He faces a maximum sentence of more than 300 years in state prison.

Butler sold more than 300 promissory notes or stocks without obtaining a license for the notes from the California Department of Corporations, as required by law, according to court records. He met his first victims while operating a company called Senior Information Services, which offered to help senior citizens create living wills, trusts and other estate planning structures for a fee.

While operating a series of businesses that changed names from 1995 to 2004, the records said, Butler failed to provide his investors with documents and information about his companies, including how they made money and the risks involved in investing in the companies, as required by law.

In 2000, Butler moved his clients' funds to his newest venture, Global Network Providers (Grenada) Inc., without the knowledge of the investors. The clients' money went to the development of a "telecommunications" company supposedly located on the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada. The company had few assets and no income, according to court records.

Emami said Butler's wife, Peggy Warmath Butler, 49, was convicted on the same day as her husband on four felony counts of filing false tax returns. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.

Jeffrey Butler's nearly eight-month jury trial began in November 2008 and included testimony from 92 victims, including 82 people aged 65 and older. Video testimony was presented by 49 other victims who recorded their statements before the trial began in case they were later unavailable due to illness or death, Emami said.

At least six victims died during the course of the trial, and 52 victims died prior to the case being brought before a jury. Prosecutors expect surviving victims, victims' spouses and their children to make statements during sentencing proceedings, Emami said.

"We do see Ponzi schemes often, but this one was on a larger scale, with a lot of victims," she said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/orange-county-man-faces-sentencing-for-693-felony-counts-of-defrauding-elderly-investors.html#more

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Man convicted in shootings at Seattle Jewish center

Naveed Haq is automatically sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 attack that killed one woman and injured five.

Mcclatchy Newspapers

December 16, 2009

Seattle

A King County jury on Tuesday found Naveed Haq guilty of aggravated first-degree murder in the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, a verdict that carries an automatic life sentence.

After hearing seven weeks of testimony, the jury also found Haq guilty of five counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime law.

Haq opened fire in the center's offices, killing Pamela Waechter, 58. Several of the shooting victims who were in the courtroom hugged tearfully when the verdicts were announced.

In 2008, Haq's first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors deadlocked on all but one of 15 criminal counts. Prosecutors announced they would retry him, and they reduced the number of charges to simplify deliberations.

The focus of the second trial was Haq's mental state at the time of the attack. The defense did not dispute that he carried out the shootings, but it argued he was legally insane at the time and should be sent to a state mental hospital rather than prison.

Prosecutors agreed that Haq had a mental illness, but contended he was sane when he entered the federation and opened fire on the six women.

"He wanted to kill these women," senior deputy prosecutor Erin Ehlert said during her closing argument last week.

Prosecutors had introduced as evidence recordings from 10 phone calls Haq, 34, placed to his family after his arrest. In them, Haq told his mother he was "a soldier of Islam." The recordings were not introduced during the first trial.

Witnesses also testified that Haq, who is of Pakistani descent, had railed against Jews and U.S. and Israeli policies as he opened fire. He surrendered after talking with a 911 dispatcher.

On the 911 tape, which the prosecution played for jurors, Haq said he was tired of the world ignoring the Muslim point of view.

"I don't care if I die," Haq said to the dispatcher. "This is just to make a point."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-jewish-center16-2009dec16,0,2697449,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Gun control's NRA supporters

A poll finds surprising support among NRA members for some aspects of gun control.

December 16, 2009

Gun control is one of those culture-wars issues on which liberals and conservatives often don't even seem to be speaking the same language, let alone coming to consensus. Gun owners -- especially the hard-core enthusiasts who belong to the National Rifle Assn. -- are often thought to oppose any restriction on their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. Except that, according to a recent poll, they don't.

The gun-control debate is replete with suspect polls and fishy statistical analyses, so when Mayors Against Illegal Guns set out to survey gun owners, it knew it would be accused of putting a liberal slant on the questions. That's why the group, a coalition of 500 mayors started in 2006 by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, hired a conservative pollster to do the job: Frank Luntz, an occasional commentator on the Fox News Channel. Luntz surveyed 401 NRA members and 431 gun owners who don't belong to the group, and came up with some surprising results.

When asked whether they supported or opposed a "proposal requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct criminal background checks of the people buying guns," 69% of the NRA members and 85% of the nonmembers were in favor. This goes to the so-called gun-show loophole, which allows used-gun merchants to sell firearms without doing the background checks that are required when selling new guns. Attempts in Congress to close this loophole have died after meeting strong opposition from the NRA.

Gun owners also were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement: "The federal government should not restrict the police's ability to access, use and share data that helps them enforce federal, state and local gun laws." This goes to the Tiahrt Amendments, provisions attached to federal spending bills that interfere with the ability of police agencies to use federal gun-trace data. The NRA is a big supporter of these amendments, but it's out of touch with its members; 69% of those polled agreed there should be no federal restrictions on trace data, as did 74% of gun owners as a whole.

Why are the NRA's leaders more absolutist than its members? At least in part because they have a financial incentive. It's a common practice by the NRA to send out mailers when a firearms-related bill is proposed that exaggerate its provisions and claim that lawmakers are out to grab guns from law-abiding citizens. Inciting hysteria is a surefire way of increasing contributions, but when NRA members learn that these efforts are really focused at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, they tend to support them. Knowing this won't change the behavior of the NRA's leadership, but it should help give lawmakers the courage to stand up to the organization. By simply countering NRA propaganda with facts, they can persuade liberals and conservatives alike to back sensible gun-control measures.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-guns16-2009dec16,0,7999078,print.story

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The slippery slope of marijuana regulation

Social attitudes toward the drug have moved beyond legal and political thinking. No wonder the L.A. City Council is having such a tough time.

by Tim Rutten

December 16, 2009

There are about 120 Starbucks coffee outlets within the Los Angeles city limits. According to the most reliable estimates, there are somewhere between 900 and 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries.

Mull over the implications of that comparison and you're on the way to understanding why the City Council seems enmeshed in an endless wrangle over how to regulate the number and sites of the nonprofit cooperatives allowed by local ordinance to distribute cannabis to individuals with doctors' prescriptions. So far, it's been a debate whose observers could be forgiven for wondering whether they'd entered the council through a looking glass. All that's missing is the Hookah-smoking Caterpillar.

Last week, for example, the lawmakers -- who are scheduled to take another cut at an ordinance today -- voted to cap the number of dispensaries at 70, though the 186 establishments that registered with the city after a poorly drafted 2007 "moratorium" on new dispensaries was ruled illegal will be allowed to stay open. Got that? The number is "capped" at 70, but 186 will be allowed to operate.

Today, the council again will take on the vexing question of whether to increase the distance between dispensaries and schools, parks, churches and private residences.

Councilman Jose Huizar told Time magazine this week that the council came up with a cap of 70 because that translates into two cooperatives for each of the city's community planning districts, which should allow for increased oversight, even in these cash-strapped times. As The Times previously has reported, "With no ordinance in place to control their location, dispensaries have clustered in some neighborhoods, such as Eagle Rock, Hollywood and Woodland Hills, drawn by empty storefronts or by proximity to night life."

Maybe there's something to be said for medicine that gets sick people back on their feet and out for a little night life. Perhaps that's why marijuana advocates are concerned that if the council adopts a requirement that dispensaries be located at least 1,000 feet from any private residence, it will push them into the handful of industrial spaces on the city's margins. Perhaps.

Meanwhile, county Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who must have time on his hands since his office ran out of violent felonies, devastating financial frauds and political corruption to prosecute, has decided to make "an issue" of the dispensaries. He says that if the council's new ordinance diverges from the state statute, he'll "ignore their act and enforce the law." His protege, City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, is of one mind with the D.A. (Of course he is.)

Frankly, they'll both need night-vision goggles to find the bright line in state law on this question. An official website maintained by the state attorney general, for example, says that even though federal authorities -- who flatly hold that cannabis has "no current effective medical use" -- argue that California's medical marijuana law contradicts the Controlled Substances Act, no such contradiction exists. That's because "California did not 'legalize' marijuana, but instead exercised the state's reserved powers to not punish certain marijuana offenses under state law when a physician has recommended its use to treat a serious medical condition." (In other contexts, that's the sort of reasoning that made "Jesuitical" and "Pharisaical" pejorative adjectives.)

No one is quite sure how many of those physician recommendations have been made since 1996, when 55.6% of the state's voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act, and authorized medical marijuana prescriptions. At the moment, there are 300,000 patients registered as part of a voluntary program created by Senate Bill 240 in 2003. Tens of thousands are Los Angeles County residents.

In 1996, medical marijuana was promoted as a substance that would alleviate the suffering of people going through chemotherapy or battling AIDS. Today, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, 40% of the prescriptions are for chronic pain, 22% for AIDS-related conditions, 15% for "mood disorders" and 23% for "other" illnesses. The source of the DEA's numbers? Why, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The real reason the City Council is having such a hellish time coming to grips with this issue is that this is one of those areas where social attitudes and thinking simply have moved beyond conventional legal thinking or, for that matter, the permissible language of politics. Medical marijuana was, from the start, a back door to legalization, and now it's swung wide open. If we really believed cannabis was a normative medical remedy, it would be sold in pharmacies like everything else your doctor prescribes. Instead, the council is trying to regulate it in just the way we control bars or liquor stores or any other vendor of recreational intoxicants, while paying lip service to the really rather limited medicinal necessities.

A recent Field Poll found that 60% of Los Angeles County voters and 56% statewide favor legalizing and taxing marijuana. As The Times reported Tuesday, a proposition to do both those things already has qualified for next year's ballot.

In the meantime, the council would be well advised to ignore Cooley and Trutanich and adopt sensible regulations that treat the dispensaries pretty much like bars -- allowing them to operate in appropriate areas but not to become public nuisances.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rutten16-2009dec16,0,157792,print.column

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From the Washington Times

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Justice Department restrains lawyers in Panther probe

by Jerry Seper

The Justice Department has told the federal attorneys who filed a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party for disrupting a Philadelphia polling place last year not to cooperate with an investigation of the incident by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The commission last week subpoenaed at least two Justice Department lawyers and sought documents from the department to explain why the complaint was dismissed just as a federal judge was about to punish the New Black Panther Party and three of its members for intimidating voters.

Joseph H. Hunt, director of the Justice Department's Federal Programs Branch, ordered the lawyers' silence in a letter to the attorney for J. Christian Adams, the lead attorney for the department in the New Black Panther case. The letter said "well-established" and "lawful" Justice Department guidelines prohibited Mr. Adams' cooperation in the commission probe.

In the letter, Mr. Hunt said the Civil Rights Commission "possesses no authority to initiate criminal prosecution of anyone" and has the ability only to make referrals to the Justice Department recommending that a criminal case be opened. The commission does not have the authority to enforce subpoenas, he added.

Mr. Adams' attorney, Jim Miles of Lexington, S.C., had asked the Justice Department whether his client would be subject to prosecution if he declined to respond to a commission subpoena. Mr. Miles wrote that he thought Mr. Adams had a "statutory obligation superior to that imposed by the Department of Justice" and that his refusal to cooperate might subject him to imprisonment or contempt charges.

In response, Mr. Hunt said, "There is no reasonable likelihood of imprisonment" for Mr. Adams because "the Department of Justice itself has instructed your client not to provide any information (either via testimony or documents) to the commission."

Mr. Hunt said the Justice Department thinks that federal agencies should cooperate fully with the commission so it can carry out its duties. But he added that the department needed more time to determine what could be provided, given the extent of the commission's request.

"We are, after all, dealing with information that belongs to the Department of Justice, not to any individual (current or former) departmental official or employee," he said.

Mr. Hunt also said Mr. Adams would place himself in jeopardy "in a manner that would violate the lawful regulations by which he is obliged to abide" if he disregarded the department's decision.

Mr. Miles, a former South Carolina secretary of state, told The Washington Times that he did not think the commission's subpoena "would be subjugated to some internal procedural personnel rule" at the Justice Department.

Todd Gaziano, a nonpartisan member of the Civil Rights Commission, challenged the Justice Department's ruling, saying that the regulations cited do not apply and that the commission is "duly authorized by statute to review and report on enforcement activities of the Justice Department and other similar agencies."

"Our job places a premium on our role as a watchdog of federal and state enforcement agencies, and to that end, Congress has instructed all agencies to comply fully with our requests," he said.

Mr. Gaziano, a former Justice Department lawyer who served in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations, said the Justice Department "had it exactly backwards" when it suggested that there could be negative consequences for those who comply with the commission's subpoenas. He said a lawyer cannot refuse to comply with a subpoena he knows to be lawful.

He also said the commission's investigation could include public hearings in Washington and Philadelphia. The commission wants to know whether the decision to drop the charges constituted a departure from prior enforcement policy and whether its actions might lead to more voter intimidation, he added.

"The dismissal of the lawsuit ... has the potential to significantly change the understanding some officials have regarding the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, for good or for bad," he said.

The commission, in a 5-2 vote, issued the subpoenas in an effort to determine how the civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party had been handled, including an explanation of why the complaint was dismissed and why there has been a "dearth of cooperation" from the department in response to six months of letters by the commission seeking information on the case.

In addition, the commission seeks to review copies of all e-mails or memos sent to or received by political appointees at the Justice Department concerning the case and any reports or documents about the case prepared by the career attorneys for an ongoing internal review by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

In August, Mary Patrice Brown, acting OPR counsel, said she had "initiated an inquiry into the matter."

Records show that the Justice Department attorneys, led by Christopher Coates, chief of the voting rights section, decided as early as Dec. 22, 2008, to seek charges against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members.

The decision to dismiss the complaint came after a delay in the case was ordered by then-Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after an April 2009 meeting with Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the department's No. 3 political appointee, according to interviews with lawyers familiar with the case.

At the time, the career attorneys had recommended that the department seek sanctions against the defendants because the government had already won a default judgment in the case. The attorneys were in the final stages of completing that work when they were told to seek the delay, according to federal records and interviews with the same lawyers familiar with the case.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has said the department has an "ongoing obligation" to be sure the claims it makes are supported by the facts and the law. She said that after a "thorough review" of the New Black Panther Party complaint, top career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division determined the "facts and the law did not support pursuing the claims against three of the defendants" in the New Black Panther Party case.

Two senior House Republicans have not been convinced and continue to demand that they be allowed to speak directly with the career attorneys who brought the complaint.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the department's refusal to provide Congress with an explanation of the dismissal "only further raises concerns that political favoritism played a role in this case." Rep. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was "deeply troubled by this questionable dismissal of an important voter-intimidation case in Philadelphia."

Filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, the complaint said two New Black Panther Party members in black berets, black combat boots, black shirts and black jackets with military insignias intimidated voters with racial insults, slurs and a nightstick. A third party member was accused of directing and endorsing their behavior.

The incident was captured on videotape and gained national attention after it was shown on YouTube.

Accused were the party; its chairman, Malik Zulu Shabazz, a D.C. lawyer; Minister King Samir Shabazz, head of the Philadelphia chapter who was accused of wielding the nightstick; and Jerry Jackson, a Philadelphia party member.

Justice later sought an injunction against Mr. Samir Shabazz, who carried the nightstick, barring him from displaying weapons at polling places until 2012.

New Black Panther Party members have not returned telephone calls and e-mails seeking information on the case, but Mr. Malik Shabazz told the Associated Press last week that the decision to drop the complaint was correct. He called the resulting criticism a "political witch hunt" by the Republicans to target Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/16/justice-restrains-lawyers-in-panther-inquiry//print/

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Iran test-fires its most advanced missile

by Ali Akbar Dareini ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West.

The test stoked tensions between Iran and the West, which is pressing Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it showed the need for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran.

"This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions. We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves," Brown said after talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon in Copenhagen.

Wednesday's test was for the latest version of Iran's longest-range missile, the Sajjil-2, with a range of about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers). That range places Israel, Iran's sworn enemy, well within reach, as well as U.S. bases in the Gulf region and parts of southeastern Europe.

The two-stage Sajjil-2 and is powered entirely by solid-fuel while the older, long-range Shahab-3 missile uses a combination of solid and liquid fuel in its most advanced form.

Iran has repeatedly warned it will retaliate if Israel or the United States carries out military strikes against its nuclear facilities, at a time when the U.S. and its allies accuse Tehran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the claim, saying its program is intended solely to generate electricity.

Nuclear negotiations have been deadlocked for months, with Iran equivocating over a U.N.-drafted deal aimed at removing most of its low-enriched uranium from the country so it would not have enough stockpiles to produce a bomb. The U.N. nuclear watchdog last month sharply rebuked Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

State television broke the news in a one-sentence report accompanied by a brief clip of the test, showing the missile rising from the launch pad in a cloud of smoke.

Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi vowed that the Sajjil-2 would be a "strong deterrent" against any possible foreign attack. He said the new version can be fired more quickly and flies faster than previous ones making it harder to shoot down, though he did not give further details.

"Given its high speed," he said, speaking on state TV, "it is impossible to destroy the missile with anti-missile systems because of its radar-evading ability."

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on the latest missile test.

Iran has intensified its missile development program in recent years, a source of serious concern in Israel, the United States and its Western allies at a time when they accuse Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon. Iran, which is under several sets of U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, denies the charges and says its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating electricity.

Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran, in turn, has threatened that such an attack would be retaliated against with strikes on Israel's own nuclear sites.

The name "Sajjil" means "baked clay," a reference to a story in the Quran, Islam's holy book, in which birds sent by God drive off an enemy army attacking the holy city of Mecca by pelting them with stones of baked clay.

The Sajjil-2 was first tested in May. Iranian officials touted it as a breakthrough over the Sajjil-1 unveiled months earlier, saying the new missile had a more sophisticated navigation system. The Sajjil-2 was tested a second time in September.

Solid-fuel missiles like the Sajjil-2 are more accurate than the liquid fuel missiles of similar range currently possessed by Iran. They are also a concern because they can be fueled in advance and moved or hidden in silos. Iran previously had a solid-fuel missile, the Fateh, with a far shorter range of 120 miles (200 kilometers).

Iran's arms manufacturing program began during the country's ruinous 1980-88 war with neighboring Iraq to compensate for a U.S. arms embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and a fighter plane. The actual capabilities of the weapons, including the accuracy and range of the country's homemade missiles, are difficult to ascertain given the secrecy of the Iranian military.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/16/iran-test-fires-its-most-advanced-missile//print/

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Obama writes letter to North Korean leader

by Matthew Lee ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il as part of an intense effort to draw the reclusive nation back to nuclear disarmament talks, a senior State Department official said Tuesday.

The letter was delivered to North Korean officials last week by Obama's special envoy for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, during a visit to Pyongyang aimed at restarting the stalled negotiations, the official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the diplomacy, would not describe the contents of the letter but said they fit with Bosworth's general message.

"The North Koreans have a choice: continued and further isolation or benefits for returning to the six-party talks and dismantling their nuclear weapons program," the official said.

The official was not aware whether Kim had responded to Obama's missive. Bosworth's visit did not include a meeting with the North Korean leader.

The existence of the letter has been closely held, with the administration insisting to its partners in disarmament talks with North Korea that it not be publicly discussed, according to The Washington Post, which first reported Tuesday night that the letter had been delivered.

Bosworth's talks were the Obama administration's first high-level contact with North Korea. He said after leaving the North on Thursday that the two sides reached a "common understanding" on the need to restart the nuclear negotiations, which involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, the U.S. and Russia. The six-party talks are aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Bosworth, who visited the capitals of all those countries last week and this, is scheduled to brief reporters about his trip on Wednesday at the State Department.

After returning to Washington from Moscow on Tuesday, Bosworth held closed-door talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss his visit to North Korea, his first to the country in his current position.

Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also sent personal letters to Kim, although not as early in their terms as did Obama. Bush wrote Kim in December 2007, raising the possibility of normalized relations if the North Korean leader fully disclosed his nuclear programs by year's end. Bush's letter was seen as a turnabout for a president who had labeled the communist regime part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and prewar Iraq.

Clinton wrote to Kim in October 1994, promising to organize financing for a $4 billion nuclear plant to replace equipment suspected of making plutonium for nuclear weapons if the North kept its new agreement to give up the equipment. Then-Ambassador-at-Large Robert Gallucci told reporters the letter was addressed "To The Supreme Leader of the DPRK" -- the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Post said efforts early in Bush's term to send a letter were stymied by an intense debate over whether to use an honorific such as "his excellency" to address Kim.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/16/ap-obama-writes-letter-north-korean-leader//print/

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EDITORIAL

Psssst ... Let's nail the sheriff

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., is no stranger to hardball tactics, so he probably isn't fazed by being on the receiving end of rough politics. Still, that doesn't excuse the Obama administration's apparent ideological vendetta against him.

By the (il)logic of the administration and its allies at the American Civil Liberties Union, Sheriff Arpaio should not set up a phone tip line to search for immigration violators, and he is not allowed to tell the public about federal immigration enforcement policies even if he is merely disputing demonstrable falsehoods told about him; yet the Justice Department can set up an anonymous tip line to gather evidence against the sheriff.

Of course, the administration isn't much worried about consistency. Moral grandstanding is its game, and its intended prize is the scalp of a pestilent sheriff.

Mr. Arpaio is famous as a tough, lock-'em-up lawman who has housed prisoners in tent cities and even made them wear wimpy pink clothing for identification. What really enrages liberals, however, is his arrest of many thousands of illegal immigrants over the years. In 2008, he was sued, by plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, for purported civil rights violations involving ethnic profiling of Latinos in the county. Among the lawsuit's allegations was the claim that the "telephonic hot line" he set up to unearth suspected immigration violations was, by its very nature, sure to generate "false, inaccurate and racially motivated reports about Latino residents."

In March, the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation against the sheriff. Even though a Department of Homeland Security audit has since found no evidence of ethnic profiling, the Justice Department investigation continues. Meanwhile, officials from both federal departments were caught improperly collaborating with each other in the course of the investigation. Worse, Homeland Security officials accused the sheriff, quite implausibly, of going soft on illegal immigrants - and when the sheriff played audio tapes proving that it was the department that ordered him to let some illegals free, Homeland Security told him he was in violation of a gag order. In short, the administration's position was that he had no First Amendment right to correct the public record.

At some point earlier this month, the Justice Department set up an anonymous tip line, 877/613-2137, to encourage complaints against the sheriff.

Tip lines to solve specific crimes are a common law enforcement tool, but this one is unusual. "I've never seen one directed at a particular entity like the sheriff," said Robert N. Driscoll, an attorney for Sheriff Arpaio and himself a former deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division. In other words, tip lines are to find an unknown criminal when a crime is discovered, not to find a crime to pin on a specific individual.

Sheriff Arpaio probably can handle just about anything the administration throws at him. The public, however, will suffer if the Justice Department's dirty tricks are allowed to go unchallenged. Political vendettas should not enjoy the status of legitimate law enforcement.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/16/psssst-lets-nail-the-sheriff//print/

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Congress Travels More, Public Pays

Lawmakers Ramp Up Taxpayer-Financed Journeys; Five Days in Scotland

EDINBURGH -- The expenses racked up by U.S. lawmakers traveling here for a conference last month included one for the "control room."

Besides rooms for sleeping, the 12 members of the House of Representatives rented their hotel's fireplace-equipped presidential suite and two adjacent rooms. The hotel cleared out the beds and in their place set up a bar, a snack room and office space. The three extra rooms -- stocked with liquor, Coors beer, chips and salsa, sandwiches, Mrs. Fields cookies and York Peppermint Patties -- cost a total of about $1,500 a night. They were rented for five nights.

While in Scotland, the House members toured historic buildings. Some shopped for Scotch whisky and visited the hotel spa. They capped the trip with a dinner at one of the region's finest restaurants, paid for by the legislators, who got $118 daily stipends for meals and incidentals.

Eleven of the 12 legislators then left the five-day conference two days early.

The tour provides a glimpse of the mixture of business and pleasure involved in legislators' overseas trips, which are growing in number and mostly financed by the taxpayer. Lawmakers travel with military liaisons who carry luggage, help them through customs, escort them on sightseeing trips and stock their hotel rooms with food and liquor. Typically, spouses come along, flying free on jets operated by the Air Force. Legislative aides come too. On the ground, all travel in chauffeured vehicles.

Such gatherings also allow legislators to meet "members of parliaments who play important roles in their own countries in shaping the security agenda that their governments pursue at NATO," added Mr. Tanner's spokesman, Randy Ford. As for the three rented rooms not used for sleeping, these provided a "secure space for members to conduct meetings," he said.

Lawmakers take scores of overseas trips each year to visit military bases, meet foreign officials, attend conferences and see how U.S. funds are spent. Ever since a corruption scandal in 2005 led to restrictions on privately funded travel, legislators have been taking more trips paid for by the government.

The cost they reported for such travel abroad was $13 million in 2008, a 70% jump from 2005, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records. Lawmakers don't have to report the cost of domestic travel when the government pays. The $13 million didn't include the expense of flying on Air Force planes, which lawmakers don't have to disclose.

Over the 2005-08 period, the cost of legislators' privately funded travel, both domestic and overseas, fell 70%, to $2.9 million, according to LegiStorm.com, a Web site that tracks it.

Members of Congress who went to Scotland for a conference also saw the sights:

The blending of business and pleasure on the trip to Scotland was typical, aides and lawmakers say. In August, two Republican senators, Richard Shelby of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas, went to Europe with their wives and aides to meet with banking regulators and industry executives. Military officials picked up Mr. Shelby's luggage at his office. A separate government car drove him and his wife to the airport. "That is typically how the military handles departures on congressional delegations," said a spokesman for the senator.

His spokesman, Jonathan Graffeo, said the trip's chief purpose was to discuss with foreign officials the global financial crisis and regulatory reform. The senators spent the first five days in Germany, where they had three meetings with banking officials, according to an itinerary and Mr. Graffeo. They also were briefed on port security and had dinner with industry and government officials.

In September, five senators went to England for four days to attend a conference with British lawmakers. The senators and four of their wives stayed at the Danesfield House Hotel & Spa overlooking the River Thames, in $340-a-night rooms, according to an itinerary and the office of the group leader, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

One evening, they took a riverboat cruise on the Thames, paid for by their British hosts. Another day, they had a private tour of Windsor Castle, said David Carle, a spokesman for Mr. Leahy.

While the senators attended the conference, their wives shopped and toured Cliveden Manor, a home once owned by the Astor family. There they had a traditional English cream tea that cost $40 a person. The tea was paid for by the British government, according to Mr. Carle.

It is "useful for our leaders to talk with other countries' leaders, and it's fitting that the Senate's oldest exchange program is this one, with the British Parliament," Mr. Carle said. He said there are "social and cultural components...and the hosts try to make them interesting as well as practical."

The conference attended by Mr. Tanner's group in Scotland, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, isn't affiliated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It provides a forum for lawmakers from NATO countries and several others to discuss security and political and economic matters, its Web site says.

The group flew on a passenger plane provided by the Air Force. Accompanying them were five legislative aides and the spouses of nine of the 12 House members.

Lawmakers say traveling with spouses compensates for being away from them at lot in Washington. Rep. David Scott (D., Ga.) sees his family on weekends and often attends public events during that time, "so having a spouse travel helps keep the family together," said his chief of staff, Michael Andel.

In Edinburgh, the lawmakers stayed at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa. With "state-of-the-art spa and leisure facilities including a rooftop indoor/outdoor pool," says Frommer's guidebook, "this hotel pretty much has it all."

The group stayed in top-floor rooms overlooking the 12th-century Edinburgh Castle. The government rate for the rooms is at least $300 a night, according to the hotel. On top of that was the control room of three adjoining rooms stripped of beds. Lawmakers and aides say a control room is necessary to provide work space, meeting rooms and easy access to American-style food.

Two Air Force liaisons went to a wine and liquor store called Oddbins. With one aide reading from a shopping list for scotch, they bought three bottles of 12-year old Auchentoshon for $42 apiece and a bottle of 14-year old Clynelish for $52, according to the clerk who rang up their order. Mr. Tanner's spokesman said the group reimbursed the military liaisons.

The overall cost to the government of the trip won't be public for a few weeks. Mr. Tanner has taken seven previous trips to the NATO assembly. Their total reported cost, for him and his co-travelers, came to $575,000, not including the undisclosed cost of travel on Air Force planes.

Mr. Tanner is a founder of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats dedicated to curbing government spending and balancing the budget. On his Web site is a ticker keeping tabs on the national debt. Five of the eight Democrats on the trip were Blue Dogs.

The conference ran Friday through Tuesday. Everyone except Mr. Tanner skipped the last two days. Two of the lawmakers, including Mr. Tanner, aren't seeking re-election next year.

The first day there were meetings of the NATO organization's leadership. Half of the legislators, not being in the leadership, instead traveled with a group of spouses to Glasgow. There, according to a spokesman for one House member, they met with some Scottish officials.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D., N.Y.) attended the conference in Edinburgh on Friday but left at 4:30 p.m. and went to the spa. On Sunday, the third meeting day, she spent some time in the afternoon walking around Edinburgh and shopping at the House of Fraser, a department store.

Ms. McCarthy said she paid for the spa treatment herself and went "partly due to the fact that over the summer I underwent major back surgery." She also said her back "tightens up and I need to go for walks from time to time to stretch it out." On one such walk, she said, she passed the department store and purchased a few items.

While in Edinburgh, the lawmakers visited the Scottish Parliament to meet with officials and tour the building. They visited Edinburgh Castle for more meetings and another private tour. They also toured Rosslyn Chapel, a 500-year-old church featured in Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code."

They dined at the 900-year-old Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. A bagpiper played as they stepped off the bus. The U.K. government paid for the dinner, Mr. Tanner's office said.

The group had a bus and a Mercedes minivan at their disposal for touring, shopping trips and transportation to dinners and the conference. The quoted rate for the two vehicles and their drivers is $2,500 a day.

On Sunday evening, the last night for most of the lawmakers, they, their spouses and the congressional aides were seated in a private dining room at the Rhubarb restaurant, which has been described in the Sunday Times of London as "the preferred destination for cash-flash celebrities." For a private dinner, the restaurant offers dishes including grouse with sauerkraut and prunes with Armangnac for $54 and a 12-ounce Chateaubriand steak with béarnaise sauce and Madeira jus, for two, at $106. Mr. Tanner's spokesman said the lawmakers paid with their own money.

"That was awesome," Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (D., Mo.) said to one of her companions afterward. A spokesman for Ms. Emerson said he didn't know what such a remark would have been about and couldn't confirm it.

Early Monday morning, military escorts helped the 11 who were leaving early to check out, while hotel staff loaded a truck with luggage and shopping purchases. The hotel billed the delegation $200 for hauling suitcases and suit bags, seven brown boxes, a liquor box and a large white cooler.

An hour later, the lawmakers' bus left for the airport with everyone except Mr. Tanner and two aides, who were staying for the last two days of the conference. The bus drove directly to an Air Force DC-9 waiting on the tarmac. After they landed in the U.S., a van and a bus brought them back to Capitol Hill.

The lawmakers, spouses and aides chatted in front of the Rayburn House Office Building. Rep. Baron Hill (D., Ind.) hugged Georgia Rep. Scott's wife and said: "It was fun."

A spokeswoman for Mr. Hill said the congressman doesn't recall making the comment and could have been "talking about the bus ride, some random event or life in general." Mr. Scott's spokesman said Mr. Hill was "just saying goodbye."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126092430041092995.html#printMode

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Bail Denied for Accused Terrorist

CHICAGO -- A federal judge ordered an accused terrorist detained until trial, saying Tahawwur Hussain Rana has the means and ability to flee abroad.

Prosecutors allege Mr. Rana, 48 years old, helped plan an attack on the offices of a Dutch newspaper after the paper ran cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that many Muslims found disparaging. This week, prosecutors also alleged that Mr. Rana knew about last year's attacks on Mumbai before they occurred.

On Tuesday, Judge Nan R. Nolan cited Mr. Rana's net worth of $1.6 million along with his international business contacts, frequent trips abroad and his Canadian citizenship when she declined to set bail.

"Mr. Rana has the means and the knowledge to flea internationally," Judge Nolan said. "The court finds he is a serious risk of flight."

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Rana helped arrange for David Coleman Headley to travel to Copenhagen to scout out an attack on the newspaper. They also taped a conversation between Mr. Headley and Mr. Rana, which they say shows that Mr. Rana knew about the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai several days before they happened. Those attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 160 people, including six Americans.

Mr. Rana's attorney, Patrick Blegen, argued that prosecutors took the conversation out of context and denied that his client had any knowledge of the attacks beforehand. Mr. Blegen has argued that his client was duped by Mr. Headley, who has been charged in connection with the Mumbai attacks as well as the plan to attack the Dutch newspaper. Mr. Headley is cooperating with authorities.

Born in Pakistan and educated as a medical doctor in the army there, Mr. Rana sat impassively as Judge Nolan ordered him to remain in custody. Mr. Rana has a full, graying beard and glasses and wore an orange jumpsuit to court. He has lived in Chicago for about 15 years. He no longer practices medicine but owns several businesses in Chicago, including an immigration service.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126091895631192759.html#printMode

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OPINION

Democracy Under Arrest

'Universal' human- rights law never seems to apply to the likes of Kim Jong Il.

'Universal jurisdiction" sounds like a term plucked from obscure international law journals, but it has pernicious and profoundly antidemocratic consequences in the real world. A British arrest warrant, issued over the weekend in London for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, shows precisely why.

The warrant charged Ms. Livni—the current leader of the Knesset opposition—with war crimes allegedly committed by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last winter. Ms. Livni and other Israeli leaders have always staunchly defended their operation against Hamas, and the arrest warrant was withdrawn Monday when it became clear Ms. Livni would not be in Britain as previously scheduled. But the fallout from this misguided warrant will linger long after it fades from the headlines.

Universal jurisdiction originated centuries ago to deal with hostes humani generis ("the enemies of all mankind") such as pirates or slavers, who were not under any state's control but legitimately concerned them all. It has grown explosively in recent years, as self-styled human-rights advocates have pushed to criminalize national actions that they find offensive.

When leaders of constitutional, representative governments are targets, there is simply no argument for applying universal jurisdiction. Ms. Livni and her colleagues won free and fair Israeli elections, and were in fact defeated in subsequent free and fair elections. Israel's laws have been adopted by democratically elected Knesset members and enforced by an independent judiciary. If crimes under Israeli law have been committed, they can be prosecuted by Israel's courts. Same goes for the United States.

Augusto Pinochet's 1999 arrest in Britain on a Spanish warrant for offenses committed while overthrowing Chile's Salvadore Allende first brought universal jurisdiction global prominence. But Pinochet's arrest was followed by Belgium's toying with the idea of arresting Donald Rumsfeld for having the temerity to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels. Now Ms. Livni and other Israeli officials involved in recent regional conflicts are subject to potential arrest and trial if they travel beyond Israel's borders.

It is no accident that arrest warrants never seem to be issued for the likes of Kim Jong Il or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, since the real targets of universal jurisdiction these days are Western nations. Ultimately, what it targets is the very ideas of sovereign accountability and political independence. These goals largely motivated the 1998 Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court, itself a step toward constraining states' abilities to police their own affairs, and an institution that the Obama administration yearns to join.

Transferring accountability for decisions from democratic politics to the criminal justice system understandably intimidates policy makers from making perfectly justifiable choices, such as defending against terrorist threats. Moreover, "command responsibility" has been transmogrified from liability for failing to stop known criminal activity, to liability when officials "should have known" their subordinates were committing crimes. This further ups the ante and explains why former foreign ministers like Ms. Livni or Henry Kissinger are at risk.

This deterrent impact is exactly what universal jurisdiction advocates seek—both to affect decisions at the highest national levels, and to discourage mid- and low-level officials from implementing disfavored policies. Some foreign critics hope to prosecute former President George W. Bush for enhanced interrogation techniques and the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. While they likely won't get to the former president, they'll be at least somewhat content prosecuting the attorneys who wrote the underlying legal justifications. Incredibly, the Obama administration has yet to definitively reject the possibility of allowing such prosecutions overseas.

Universal jurisdiction against officials of authoritarian regimes sounds appealing. But in these cases, the real goal should be replacing such regimes with representative governments that undertake sovereign accountability for prior transgressions.

Nonetheless, human-rights activists who view their morality as higher than that of elected governments are satisfied by nothing less than prosecution. That is precisely why contemporary universal jurisdiction is so profoundly antidemocratic.

Undoubtedly, leaders of constitutional democracies make mistakes about whom they do and do not prosecute. But to substitute the judgments of self-designated international Platonic Guardians for representative governments and independent judiciaries is perilous at best, and authoritarian at worst. It's the time to unambiguously reject universal jurisdiction before its infection spreads even further.

Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704398304574597913245752256.html#printMode

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From the White House

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Holiday Cheer for the Heroes

Ed. Note: Thanks to Tech. Sgt. Nathan Gallahan for the post below, send your own video message to the troops via the DOD website .

I started this year's holiday season off right - waking up Thanksgiving morning in a tin building with 200 Army soldiers at a combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan.

I'm a U.S. Air Force Airman, journalist and photographer deployed to the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul. My two-week mission was to document and tell the story of the Afghan National Security Forces. I visited many locations including battalion headquarters and combat outposts; I witnessed everything I expected... and then some.

I went out anticipating combat patrols and handing out supplies, check.

I went out anticipating the Afghan's taking greater control of their country, check.

I went out anticipating the Afghan's tracking down bad guys, check.

Then there were the holiday cards and smiles. I didn't anticipate that.

At each location I visited, there were all these cards and banners reassuring the soldiers America loved them, supported them and prayed for their safe return. I saw soldier upon soldier holding these cards up and showing their friends what amusing little anecdote was scribbled within. The only possessions these soldiers had were what they could carry on their back and holiday cards from school children from across our beautiful nation.

Unfortunately, I'm no stranger to sacrifice. After 12 years, and five deployments, in the Air Force, I've only spent four Christmas' with family. I've become hardened. But this letter isn't about me, this is about the guys in the field I took photos of, and who would never admit what I'm about to tell you, because they're disciplined, strong and sacrifice all they know for causes so big, the effects will be felt across generations.

These letters, cards, candies, cookies … especially cookies … reach these guys and bring smiles to their faces when happiness in warzones is a rare commodity.

But these days, sending care packages via mail to such remote sites is really hard, especially since you need to know someone here before you can send anything (for security reasons, sending them to units or “any soldier” is no longer allowed).  The Department of Defense has a site though, that allows you to send video messages to service members.  It's a great way to show support over the holidays and is a lot faster than mail, which can take a month or more, sometimes, to arrive here.

I went to the site skeptically and opened up the videos and discovered they delivered something a card, some candy or a cookie never could.  They delivered an experience, a portal, a visual of happy, smiling, free people taking the time to say Happy Holidays and thank you. These are the people we're here for, and in one video I saw snow and a full-sized Christmas tree decorated to the nines! It was a video of the holiday season. When you're out here, as much as everyone says Happy Holidays, it's still a cold, sandy, treeless place. Seeing all of those videos, and the happy people saying thanks brought a tear to my eye. To those who submitted the videos, thank you for the moment.  For a little while, I felt the warmth of the holiday season. 

I found out the videos are not limited to the site either.  The best ones are shown on the Pentagon Channel, which is broadcast all around Afghanistan and Iraq (and also to my wife back in England - we've been stationed there since 2007).

There is also a small link at the bottom of the page to a form that helps Americans get in touch with veterans organizations in their area that help them show support.

Obviously, the internet in a warzone can be as difficult to receive as a package of grandma's cookies.  But for those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen I met out there, every little bit of support does make an impact, regardless of whether it's during the holidays or not. 

From all of the ground pounders here in Afghanistan (and even us Airmen), have a great holiday season and please hug your families a little tighter, smile at your neighbor a little wider and share the joy and happiness of the holiday season with everyone you see.  Not all of the places in this world share the same peace and happiness that we do back home… yet. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/15/holiday-cheer-heroes

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Secretary Napolitano Highlights DHS' Major Accomplishments in 2009

Release Date: December 15, 2009

Fact Sheet: Department of Homeland Security 2009 Accomplishments & Reforms
(PDF, 8 pages - 118 KB)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today highlighted the Department's 2009 accomplishments in an address to employees—emphasizing the major steps the Department has taken this year to enhance America's capabilities to guard against terrorism; secure the nation's borders; engage in smart enforcement of our immigration laws; prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters; and unify and mature the Department and its 230,000-employee global workforce.

"We have built a spirit of collaboration into everything we do—within DHS and with our state, local, tribal, private sector and international partners," said Secretary Napolitano. "DHS and our 230,000 employees are connected by a common mission and responsibility to protect the United States from all threats and disasters."

The year-end accomplishments outlined today reflect Secretary Napolitano's commitment to strengthening activities in each priority area through three cross-cutting initiatives—increasing cooperation with federal, state, local tribal, private sector and international partners, deploying the latest science and technology to support DHS' mission; and maximizing efficiency in operations across the Department.

To guard against terrorism and threats to cyber networks and critical infrastructure , Secretary Napolitano forged new global partnerships in 2009 to share information, facilitate scientific research and coordinate law enforcement efforts; opened a new DHS-led coordinated cybersecurity watch and warning center; and created a new Fusion Center Program Management Office to support information sharing between federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners.

To secure our borders while facilitating lawful travel and trade , Secretary Napolitano deployed additional personnel and technology to the Southwest border while increasing coordination with federal, state, local and Mexican law enforcement as part of the Obama administration's Southwest Border Initiative; implemented the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative for land and sea travel to the United States; expanded Global Entry, a pilot program that streamlines the screening process at airports for trusted travelers through biometric identification; and entered into new partnerships across the federal government and with international counterparts to crack down on drug and firearms trafficking.

To engage in smart and effective enforcement of our immigration laws , Secretary Napolitano implemented a new, comprehensive worksite enforcement strategy to reduce demand for illegal employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation's lawful workforce; initiated major reforms to the nation's immigration detention system to enhance security and efficiency while prioritizing the health and safety of detainees; and expanded the Secure Communities program, which uses biometric information to target criminal aliens in U.S. correctional facilities, to over 100 jurisdictions across the country.

To prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters , Secretary Napolitano awarded more than $2.1 billion to Louisiana and Mississippi for recovery and rebuilding from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; established two joint public assistance teams and a new arbitration process to resolve long-standing issues over public assistance funding; and partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide long-term housing to more than 11,000 families displaced by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike while providing families remaining in temporary Katrina-Rita housing new options to buy their mobile homes and park models.

To unify and mature the Department , Secretary Napolitano has launched major reforms to foster a culture of responsibility and fiscal discipline, including a Department-wide Efficiency Review to cut costs and streamline operations through a series of initiatives ranging from eliminating non-mission critical travel to acquiring enterprise licenses for commonly used software—collectively expected to lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in cost avoidances.

To view a comprehensive list of DHS accomplishments in 2009, visit www.dhs.gov .

Presidential Task Force on Controlled Unclassified Information Releases Report and Recommendations

Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder announce dedicated offices to support threat-based information sharing and reporting between all levels of government

Report and Recommendations of the Presidental Task Force on Controlled Unclassified Information
(PDF - 50 pages, 1.25 MB)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder today announced two major steps in their efforts to implement reforms to enhance information sharing among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies and safeguard sensitive information used by the government—designed to expand joint capabilities to protect the United States from terrorist activity, violent crime and other threats to the homeland.

The Presidential Interagency Task Force on Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), led by Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder, today released a report recommending a single, standardized framework for marking, safeguarding and disseminating sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information across the federal government. SBU information refers collectively to the various designations for documents and information that are sufficiently sensitive to warrant some level of protection but that do not meet the standards for classification.

Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder also announced the creation of dual Program Management Offices (PMOs) to coordinate support for state and local Fusion Centers and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI), housed within DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), respectively, to work in partnership to enhance information sharing between federal, state, local and tribal agencies and the private sector. Coupled with the CUI framework, these new offices represent a significant milestone toward fully implementing information sharing reforms called for following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Our review of policies and procedures for access to and sharing of sensitive but unclassified information across the U.S. Government revealed a need for a more open, standardized approach," said Secretary Napolitano. “The task force recommendations, coupled with newly-dedicated federal-wide resources to support Fusion Centers, will improve information sharing, transparency and engagement with our partners in state and local law enforcement as we work together to combat terrorism, violent crime and other dangerous threats to the homeland."

"Our recommendations will allow the federal government to be more open and transparent while still meeting our first priority of keeping the American people safe," said Attorney General Holder. "By streamlining and modernizing the system for designating, marking and handling sensitive information, we can achieve the appropriate balance between the public's right to access information and the government's imperative to maintain the security and privacy of all Americans."

Both announcements reflect the Obama administration's commitment to improving the ability of federal state, local and tribal governments as well as the private sector to gather, analyze, share and utilize information in order to protect communities from violent crime including terrorism, while protecting the privacy and civil rights of Americans.

The Task Force report proposes 40 actions intended to mitigate current inconsistencies among SBU information policies in federal agencies by simplifying and consolidating procedures—intended to enhance standardization, information sharing, government transparency, and protection of information only where there is a compelling requirement to do so. The recommendations also seek to balance the imperatives of protecting legitimate security, law enforcement, privacy and civil liberties interests.

The Task Force was directed to review the ongoing efforts of the CUI Council, which was established by a 2008 Presidential Memorandum, and its ongoing efforts to establish a CUI Framework for terrorism-related information. One significant recommendation in the report would expand the scope of the CUI Framework to the designation, marking, safeguarding and dissemination of all SBU information.

The new PMOs will work jointly to provide sustained funding and personnel support to 72 state and local Fusion Centers nationwide and provide training and resources to frontline law enforcement officials to better document activities possibly linked to terrorism through NSI, a DHS-DOJ collaboration designed to detect, analyze and share intelligence about suspicious behavior and other indicators while protecting privacy and civil liberties.

The Fusion Center and NSI PMOs will establish strong cross-linkages, including the exchange of senior-level specialists and management personnel, and joint program performance measures in order to ensure efficient oversight and coordination of current initiatives and successfully facilitate ongoing efforts to build and develop the Information Sharing Environment.

State and major urban area Fusion Centers help fulfill key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission by providing critical links for information sharing between and across all levels of government. NSI operates in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Major City Chiefs, Major County Sheriffs, and other state, local and tribal partners to gather, blend and analyze information gathered from local law enforcement about suspicious activity.

There are more than 100 different SBU markings and handling procedures currently in use across the federal government. The report recommends that all SBU markings be replaced with one, simplified set of markings—"CUI"—which will be standardized under the CUI Framework. Additional recommendations include simplifying the definition of CUI; clarifying that CUI markings have no bearing on releases either under the Freedom of Information Act or to Congress; and phasing in implementation of the expanded scope of the CUI Framework.

President Obama initiated the review on May 27 with a Presidential Memorandum directing Secretary Napolitano and Attorney General Holder to lead a 90-day review of current procedures for categorizing and sharing SBU information. If implemented, the recommendations would revise the 2008 Presidential Memorandum that established the CUI Framework for handling and disseminating CUI information.

The Task Force, which involved senior representatives from 12 federal agencies, met with representatives both within and outside the information sharing environment; state, local and tribal partners; privacy and open government organizations; and members of Congress. The Task Force also analyzed previous studies of SBU and the efforts of the CUI Council.

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov or www.justice.gov .

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1260887995817.shtm

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From the Department of Justice

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Thank you, Mike. I'd also like to thank you, Dr. Franklin, and Morehouse College for hosting this important conversation. Before I became Attorney General I was a proud member of the board of the Morehouse Medical School. And I also want to express my appreciation to my fellow panelists here this evening.

As Attorney General, I serve as our nation's chief law enforcement officer. In that role, I have the responsibility of protecting our national security and promoting public safety. And yet, there are days when these responsibilities, as grave as they are, seem manageable in comparison with the awesome responsibilities that I face as a father of three children. To me, being a responsible and engaged father is every bit as demanding, and every bit as important, as being the Attorney General of the United States.

Let's be clear -- a father's role in the life of a child is irreplaceable. I know this not just from the studies and the research that I've read and that I will share with you later, but from my own experiences parenting two teenage daughters and a 12-year-old son. And believe me, when I'm not up late thinking about how I can help to keep our nation safe, I'm up late thinking about how I can help my kids. It is both my commitment to public safety and my concern for my own children -- and for all the other children throughout this country -- that brings me here tonight.

I'm honored to be joined here this evening by fellow dads and leaders focused on fatherhood. In the course of our discussions, I hope we will be open and honest enough to ask ourselves tough questions -- father to father, parent to parent -- about what our communities and the federal government can do to strengthen our families and support those fathers who are trying to do the right thing.

Tonight is my second visit to Morehouse College as Attorney General. I was first here in March of this year for the unveiling of a portrait of my late sister-in-law Vivian Malone Jones, one of the two courageous college students who integrated the University of Alabama in 1963 and the first black graduate of that institution.. During that visit, we honored the impact that Vivian had on our nation's history. She understood that the choice she made was not the easy one. But she also understood that to realize a better society, a better world, individuals must take responsibility for changing the situations that they cannot accept. It is that same sense of responsibility that I want to talk about tonight.

Those of us who are fathers have opportunities -- big and small everyday -- to take responsibility in the lives of our children. We can spend time with our sons and daughters, we can help with their homework, we can teach them to play well together, we can get to know their friends and classmates, and we can serve as role models for how to interact with others and how to handle the challenges of life. Stated simply, we can – and we must – assume the responsibility for being involved in our children's lives. And by being involved, and by being good role models, we each have the opportunity to impact our kids' lives, as well as the future of our nation, in profound ways.

If we are truly to call ourselves "men" we must recognize that a defining characteristic of that word is the care and nurturing of those we bring into this world. You simply cannot be a real man if you don't do all that you can to care for those who have the greatest right to depend on you. We cannot leave this awesome responsibility to the women in our lives and in our communities who too often labor alone, taking care of our sons and daughters. This must end.

I don't pretend that this is easy, especially for fathers who have been incarcerated. So I come here with great respect for those of you who have made some mistakes, but have chosen to appear here tonight because you know that someone else is counting on you.

People sometimes make bad choices. As a result, they end up in prison or jail. But we can't permit incarceration of a parent to punish an entire family.

More than 1.5 million American children have fathers in prison. More than half of these children are African American. And we know that children of incarcerated parents suffer from: the physical and emotional separation; the stigma associated with having a parent detained; the loss of financial support; and the disruption caused by introducing new caregivers into a child's life, no matter how well meaning those caregivers may be. As a result, children of incarcerated parents often struggle with anxiety, depression, learning problems, and aggression, undermining their own chances of future success. We know that in many cases maintaining relationships with their parents during incarceration can improve the lives of children, and yet too often our policies have failed to support these relationships.

Even when fathers are released from prison and return to their families, we have failed to properly support family reunification. We don't adequately address such pressing issues as the role that these fathers will play in their children's lives. And yet, if we care about what happens to these children, their families, and their communities – if we care about public safety – we have to help these men play a central role in their children's lives.

Research reveals that incarcerated men who maintain strong family ties while behind bars are more successful when they are released. They have an easier time finding jobs and staying off drugs. In fact, a recent study done for the Department of Health and Human Services found that people who were married or in committed relationships were half as likely to use drugs or commit new crimes after they were released from incarceration.

There's a theme here: family connections improve public safety, and responsible and engaged parenting improve public safety. It's time we started to think about this issue in that context.

It may surprise you to learn that approximately 700,000 people return to their communities from prison every year. Seven hundred thousand. And yet, only a small percentage of these people receive any help preparing for their return to their communities. Surely this failure must play a role in the fact that two-thirds of men released from prison are re-arrested within three years of their release.

Those fortunate enough to get help typically receive temporary housing, job training, and substance abuse or mental health treatment. Of course, all of these supports are critical to successful reintegration. But until recently we haven't paid enough attention to the family, which is remarkable, given that we know that family involvement improves an individual's chances at success.

But we've finally seen the light. We are now using science and evidence supported policies, not political dogma, to tackle this issue. This year, the Department of Justice awarded $28 million under the Second Chance Act for reentry programs. These programs include grants to 15 states that will help formerly incarcerated people successfully transition back into their communities. These grants include parenting training inside facilities and reunification programs for when people are released from incarceration.

I'm happy to note that in Tennessee, the city of Memphis has hired a family liaison who works with formerly incarcerated people to help them reconnect with family members when they return to town. In South Dakota, the Department of Corrections has launched a Fatherhood and Families Program to address the challenges faced by incarcerated fathers and to promote healthy relationships. And in Oregon, Marion County is deploying an evidence-based parenting curriculum called "Parenting Inside Out," and a family reunification curriculum called "Restoring Relationships." These are just three examples of how we're shifting resources to support family reunification for formerly incarcerated people and their families.

Similarly, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded 13 grants to encourage responsible fatherhood and to help strengthen family ties among men returning from incarceration. Those programs are undergoing a national evaluation, and the results of that evaluation will help us ensure that we are implementing data-driven, evidence-based programs that work to keep families together and communities safer.

In the meantime, we're learning some important lessons. We're seeing encouraging results from parenting programs in prison. Men who participate in these programs are more positive about their role as fathers, and they have more frequent contact with their children. Relationship intervention programs have also shown promise in improving communication between formerly incarcerated parents and their children.

But challenges remain. Successful family programs demand close coordination between criminal justice and human service agencies, and those groups aren't always on the same page. Often the distance between the family's home and the prison makes contact difficult. And prison rules do not always allow for the best visits. These are institutional problems, but they are not insurmountable problems. And given the stakes, they are worth our focus and energy.

Many of you are struggling with these challenges but also finding innovative solutions; and I look forward to hearing your stories this evening. We should celebrate your personal successes, of course, but we should also look for ways to replicate them for others. In doing so we will leave a legacy for our children, and our children's children, of which we can all be proud.

Thank you once again for welcoming me here this evening. Let us not be afraid tonight to ask hard questions and to face difficult truths. Let us support one another. That is the only way we can make real progress.

I now look forward to hearing from many of you as you share your knowledge, your insights, and your personal experiences.

http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-091215.html

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From the FBI

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http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec09/jihadists_121509.html

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Two Shenandoah, Pennsylvania Men and Four Police Officers Indicted for Hate Crime and Related Corruption

WASHINGTON—A federal grand jury has returned multiple indictments arising out of a fatal racially motivated beating and related police corruption in Shenandoah, Pa., the Justice Department announced. The three indictments include federal hate crime, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, official misconduct, and extortion charges. The indictments were unsealed today after being returned under seal on Dec. 10, 2009.

The first indictment charges Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky with a federal hate crime for fatally beating Luis Ramirez, a Latino male, while shouting racial epithets at him. According to the indictment, on July 12, 2008, the defendants and others were walking home from a local festival when they encountered Ramirez. The defendants then attacked Ramirez in a public street by striking and kicking him while members of the group yelled racial slurs at him. Ramirez died two days later from his injuries. The indictment also alleges that, immediately following the beating, Donchak, Piekarsky, and others, including members of the Shenandoah Police Department, participated in a scheme to obstruct the investigation of the fatal assault. As a result of this alleged obstruction, Donchak is charged in three additional counts for conspiring to obstruct justice and related offenses.

If convicted, Piekarsky and Donchak face a maximum penalty of life in prison on the hate crime charge. Donchak faces 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction charges and an additional five years in prison for conspiring to obstruct justice.

“Violence motivated by bigotry and hate has no place in America, and yet it remains all too prevalent in many of our communities,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Department of Justice. “The Civil Rights Division stands ready to bring perpetrators of hate crimes to justice.”

A second indictment charges Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Police Officer Jason Hayes with conspiring to obstruct justice during the investigation into the fatal beating of Ramirez. Moyer has also been charged with witness and evidence tampering and with lying to the FBI.

If convicted, the defendants face 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction charges and an additional five years in prison for conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer faces an additional five years in prison for making false statements to the FBI.

A third indictment charges Chief Nestor and his second-in-command, Captain Jamie Gennarini, with multiple counts of extortion and civil rights violations. According to that indictment, from 2004 through 2007, Nestor conspired to extort cash payments from several illegal gambling operations in the Shenandoah area and obstructed the investigation of the extortion scheme. The indictment also alleges that on May 17, 2007, Nestor and Gennarini committed extortion by demanding a $2,000 cash payment from a local businessman and his family in exchange for releasing the businessman from their custody.

“The power granted to law enforcement officers does not place them above the law. We will continue to aggressively enforce the law to combat obstruction and corruption in law enforcement agencies,” Assistant Attorney General Perez said. “We thank the FBI for their work in this investigation.”

If convicted on these charges, Nestor and Gennarini face maximum penalties of 20 years in prison for each of the extortion counts. Additionally, the defendants face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy to violate civil rights.

These cases were investigated by Special Agents Alan Jones and Adam Aichele of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, and are being prosecuted by Civil Rights Division Trial Attorneys Eric L. Gibson and Myesha Braden.

The FBI wants to hear from anyone who may have information regarding alleged civil rights violations or public corruption in Schuylkill County, Pa. If you feel you have been victimized or have any additional information, please call FBI Special Agents Alan Jones or Anthony Cavallo at the Allentown, Pa., Resident Agency of the FBI at (610) 433-6488.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://philadelphia.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ph121509.htm

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