Brown calls anti-police booby traps in Riverside County 'urban terrorism'

The California attorney general seeks the public's help in solving the attacks, so far without injuries, targeting an anti-gang task force and police officers in Hemet.

By David Kelly

8:58 PM PDT, March 18, 2010

Reporting from Riverside

Describing it as "urban terrorism," California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown joined with Riverside County officials Thursday in asking the public to help find those who tried at least three times to kill officers assigned to a Hemet-based gang task force.

"It is incredible and even unprecedented for police officers here to be subject to terrorist attack," Brown said at a Riverside news conference. "We have seen it south of the border, but not here yet."

The attacks have involved booby traps aimed at either the headquarters of the Hemet-San Jacinto Gang Task Force or officers assigned to the unit, officials said.

Last December a utility line was redirected to flood the offices with gas so any spark would cause an explosion. In February, a modified handgun was hidden by the gate to the office and rigged to fire. When a gang officer opened the gate, the weapon went off, narrowly missing him. And two weeks ago, police said, a "dangerous" device was found near the unmarked car of a task force member.

Officials have put up a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the investigation.

"Unfortunately, somebody out there is trying to kill our police officers," said Hemet Police Chief Richard Dana. "The only reason they haven't killed an officer yet is because [officers] have been observant enough to see the devices, but we can't expect their luck to hold up."

He said the department is toughening security at its offices, including erecting fences and barricades. Dana said his officers had spotted people watching his headquarters.

The gang task force was formed in 2006 and comprises local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

So far there are no suspects, but on Wednesday authorities said they led raids on the Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang, which has a large presence in Hemet. Thirty people were arrested on charges that included possession of drugs and weapons.

"They aren't your typical street gang hanging out on a corner slinging rock cocaine," said Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco. "It is a well-established pattern of the Vagos to infiltrate police departments. They do a lot of surveillance."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hemet-brown19-2010mar19,0,5101711,print.story

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Al Qaeda's new tactic is to seize shortcuts

U.S. officials believe Al Qaeda and affiliates now favor opportunity over complex, multilayered mass casualty attacks. And that makes prevention tougher.

By Greg Miller

March 19, 2010

Reporting from Washington

Al Qaeda and its affiliates have adapted their tactics to emphasize speed and probability of success over spectacle, U.S. intelligence officials believe, a shift in strategy that poses problems for spy agencies that were reorganized in recent years to stop large-scale attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001.

The new emphasis is seen as a significant departure for a terrorist network that had focused on sophisticated plots involving synchronized strikes on multiple targets, and teams of operatives coordinating across international borders.

An examination of recent plots, including the bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, has convinced U.S. counter-terrorism analysts that Al Qaeda is becoming more opportunistic, using fewer operatives and dramatically shrinking the amount of planning and preparation that goes into an attack.

In interviews and public testimony, U.S. officials have voiced concern that though the more modest schemes are less likely to lead to mass casualties, they are considerably more difficult to thwart.

"What is particularly concerning . . . is the compactness and maybe the efficiency that they are applying to this process," Garry Reid, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and combating terrorism, said in congressional testimony last week. "It really cuts underneath our ability to detect it and do something about it; the tighter they compress that, the harder it gets for us."

U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda may have taken the new approach reluctantly, weakened by a campaign of drone strikes on its base region in Pakistan, and frustrated by its inability in the last nine years to orchestrate a follow-on strike of similar magnitude to that of Sept. 11. But if Al Qaeda had misgivings about downscaled ambitions, U.S. officials said, it probably was emboldened by the reaction in the United States to the Christmas Day plot, even though it failed.

The lesson Al Qaeda probably took was that, " 'Jeez, the damn bomb didn't go off and the Americans are still going out of their minds,' " a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said, describing the political fallout for President Obama, as well as finger-pointing among U.S. intelligence agencies.

Officials emphasize that they do not believe Al Qaeda has abandoned efforts to orchestrate large-scale attacks. But, the senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said, Al Qaeda and affiliated groups are moving "away from what we are used to, which are complex, ambitious, multilayered plots."

Instead, the network is showing just how quickly and seamlessly it can deploy operatives to other nations.

New evidence of this adaptation surfaced recently with the release of a longer version of a video recorded by a Jordanian physician shortly before he carried out a suicide attack on a base used by the CIA in Khowst province in Afghanistan. The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal Balawi, had been sent into Pakistan by the Jordanian intelligence service as an informant, but was working with Al Qaeda.

Upon his arrival, Balawi said, local operatives swiftly formed a shura , or council, to devise a plan for how to use him. At first, the aim was to kidnap a Jordanian intelligence officer. But when Balawi learned that he was being summoned to a meeting with members of the CIA, the shura quickly developed a deadlier scheme.

"We planned for something but got a bigger gift," Balawi said in the video.

Balawi told CIA operatives that he could provide the coordinates of Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri. On Dec. 30, when Balawi arrived at the U.S. compound, he detonated a device that killed seven CIA employees and contractors, as well as a Jordanian intelligence officer.

U.S. officials have expressed dismay over how much detail Balawi had about the CIA presence at the meeting, but also over how swiftly and expertly his handlers were able to improvise a new plan.

Similarly, the Christmas Day plot showed how quickly Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen was able to devise an operation taking advantage of the arrival in its midst of a Nigerian with a U.S. visa. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab arrived in Yemen in August, and within a matter of months was on a flight to the United States with a bomb sewn into his underwear.

But Al Qaeda also is running risks by using operatives with less training, said Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and counter-terrorism expert. Farouk fumbled with his device and was subdued by other passengers.

"It looks like he panicked," Riedel said, noting that a similar device was used successfully in an attack on a Saudi official last year. "That's the downside of seizing these moments of opportunity -- you can end up with people who weren't up to the task."

U.S. officials said they had not seen a large-scale plot since 2006, when British authorities derailed a plan to detonate liquid explosives on 10 airliners bound for Canada and the U.S.

More typical of the emerging trend is the case of Najibullah Zazi , an Afghanistan native who pleaded guilty last month to charges of training in Pakistan to carry out a suicide attack on the New York City subway system.

"Zazi was dangerous and could have killed a lot of people," the senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said. "But he doesn't reflect Al Qaeda in its heyday."

U.S. intelligence agencies are struggling to stay abreast of the evolving threat. The National Counterterrorism Center expects to add as many as 50 analysts this year focused exclusively on tracking emerging threat data that previously might have been overlooked when the emphasis was on trying to detect and prevent a mass- casualty plot.

The smaller scale operations tend not to involve multiple targets or teams of would-be terrorists.

"But it does involve something that is much harder to penetrate," the American counter-terrorism official said. "One guy who has no record of terrorism who is given a bomb is a hell of a lot harder to figure out than 25 guys in London manufacturing hydrogen peroxide explosives."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-qaeda19-2010mar19,0,1689220,print.story

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'Jihad Jane' pleads not guilty

Colleen LaRose of Pennsylvania appears in federal court, accused of working with foreign terrorists in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist.

By Jenna Portnoy

March 19, 2010

Reporting from Philadelphia

Colleen R. LaRose, the so-called Jihad Jane, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that she conspired with foreign terrorists to kill a Swedish cartoonist who insulted Islam.

LaRose, appearing in a Philadelphia courtroom, looked nothing like the pictures of her that had been previously released.

Gone was the heavy eyeliner and shock of blond hair. Gone was the black burka.

Instead, the tiny 46-year-old Pennsburg, Pa., woman entered the courtroom wearing a dark green prison uniform and her hair braided in cornrows.

She almost smiled when greeting her public defenders.

Marshals briefly removed her handcuffs, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne Sitarski asked for her answer to the four-count indictment.

Aside from responding "not guilty," LaRose remained silent during the brief arraignment.

A trial was set for May 3. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $1-million fine.

Also Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, citing anonymous sources, reported that LaRose confessed to the FBI about her role in the plot.

Outside the courthouse after the hearing, one of her public defenders, Mark Wilson, declined to comment on LaRose's mental state but said no friends or relatives were in the courtroom to support her.

Asked whether she had reacted to the possibility that she could face a life sentence, Wilson would say only, "Of course she has."

LaRose, who authorities say referred to herself online as "Jihad Jane" and "Fatima Rose," departed for Europe in August to carry out the mission against the cartoonist, who had drawn the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

LaRose returned to the U.S. in mid-October, when the FBI took her into custody at Philadelphia International Airport. She has been held in a Philadelphia prison since.

The case became public March 9, when federal authorities unsealed a four-count grand jury indictment.

The indictment alleges that she wrote in a Sept. 30 e-mail that it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill" and "only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!"

The indictment does not link her to an organized terrorist group, but federal authorities say she used the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jennifer Arbittier Williams and Matthew F. Blue, an attorney with the counter-terrorism section in the Justice Department's National Security Division, declined to comment.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he was briefed several times on the LaRose case, most recently on March 12.

She has been cooperating with an international investigation of radical Muslims, and Dent said he believed the indictment was filed after authorities had learned what they could from her.

LaRose's actions should be taken seriously, despite her apparently unsophisticated tactics, such as posting YouTube videos, Dent said.

"Basically, what we know is she conspired to kill another human being," he said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has questioned the religious devotion of supposed converts like LaRose, noting that her live-in boyfriend said she never expressed Islamic sympathies and that she apparently never pledged her faith at a mosque.

"Maybe it's not the Islamic faith that is making them do this; maybe it's just their personal demons," said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the council.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-jihad-jane19-2010mar19,0,7142403,print.story

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U.S. to buy Illinois prison even if it won't hold terror suspects, official says

A Justice Department official says the near-empty Thomson facility could still house high-security federal inmates if lawmakers reject it as a new home for Guantanamo detainees.

By Christi Parsons

March 19, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration plans to purchase a state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., regardless of whether Congress allows terrorism suspects to be transferred there, a Justice Department official said Thursday.

In a letter to a member of the Illinois congressional delegation, Assistant Atty. Gen. Ronald Weich spelled out the administration's intent to go ahead with plans to buy the nearly empty Thomson prison, even if lawmakers refuse to approve its use as a new home for detainees at the military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

At the least, Weich said, the federal Bureau of Prisons intends to use the facility for high-security inmates. The letter comes in response to questions from Rep. Donald Manzullo, the Republican who represents the area in Congress.

The Department of Justice has asked for $237 million in next year's budget to buy and begin operating the Thomson prison. It has the option of requesting funds sooner to upgrade security and prepare the prison for federal use.

President Obama has directed the department to buy the site "to fulfill both of the goals of reducing federal prison overcrowding and transferring a limited number of detainees out of Guantanamo," Weich wrote in the letter. The Thomson prison is crucial to Obama's plan to shut down the Guantanamo prison, which administration officials consider a recruiting tool for anti-American extremists worldwide.

But the department "would be seeking to purchase the facility in Thomson even if detainees were not being considered for transfer there," Weich's letter says.

Such an assurance could ease some lawmakers' objections to the purchase. Some members of Congress are worried about the potential political and security fallout of moving terrorism suspects to a domestic site. Unless Congress changes current law, however, Guantanamo inmates couldn't be transferred to the U.S. for any purpose other than trial.

But the prospect of a downsized plan could concern local and state officials, who are eager for the jobs that would come with expanded use of the facility.

The Justice Department's operation would involve a third of the prison's space, although the number of Guantanamo detainees who might be moved there is uncertain. White House officials say only that they would keep the number of Guantanamo transfers "in the range of" 100.

The Bureau of Prisons would use most of the prison and require 895 staff members, according to a letter sent Thursday from the Department of Justice to U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). The number is of great interest to local officials, who had hoped the state prison would bring jobs to the area. Because of budget constraints, however, the state has never been able to bring the prison into full operation.

Durbin is an avid supporter of the Thomson project.

Manzullo has voiced support for opening the center as a federal prison because it would provide jobs for the area, but he has said he has "serious reservations" about moving Guantanamo detainees there.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-thomson-prison19-2010mar19,0,3551565,print.story

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Bipartisan immigration reform framework announced

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) have laid out the framework for a comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform bill that would include tougher border enforcement, creation of biometric Social Security cards and a path to legalization for the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

The announcement of the plan, which brought immediate praise from President Obama, comes days before a pro-immigration march scheduled for the nation's capital on Sunday.

”It thoughtfully addresses the need to shore up our borders, and demands accountability from both workers who are here illegally and employers who game the system,” Obama said in a prepared statement.

“A critical next step will be to translate their framework into a legislative proposal, and for Congress to act at the earliest possible opportunity.”

The plan includes four basic pillars, including the creation of biometric Social Security cards to ensure illegal workers cannot get jobs in the future; fulfilling and strengthening border security and interior enforcement; creating a process for admitting temporary workers; and implementing a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here.

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

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A long run to help veterans. Share your inspirational L.A. Marathon stories

So you think you're busy?

Permanently disabled Iraq war veteran Mervin Roxas of Fullerton works as a life skills coach for Easter Seals of Southern California daily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Then the Marine veteran goes to Cal State Fullerton until 10 p.m., studying history while working toward a teaching degree.

And, by the way, he's training for Sunday's L.A. Marathon .

Roxas lost his left arm in 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The roadside bomb that injured him also caused various facial injuries and left him with permanent scars. But he refuses to let any of that deter him from a planned career as a high school teacher.

When a friend told him about an organization called U.S. Vets, he decided to run the marathon to raise awareness and funding for the organization, which provides housing and employment assistance for homeless veterans.

If you'd like to sponsor Roxas, go to http://firstgiving.com/mervinroxas , and if you'd like to learn more about his story be sure to read my column in Sunday's paper.

And, in the comments below, please send along other inspirational stories related to the marathon.

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

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Gang Questioned in Mexico Killings

A group of 200 U.S. federal, state and local law-enforcement agents on Thursday questioned members of a dangerous El Paso, Texas, gang authorities say they believe may have been involved in the killings of three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The investigation, aimed at a gang called Barrio Azteca, was meant to "generate any leads and intelligence that we can gather on the [consular] murders and on vicious activity on both sides of the border," said Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington.

Mr. Payne said the El Paso gang had been targeted because of their "significant knowledge and possible involvement" in the killings.

Authorities questioned around 100 members of the gang in the field, said Andrea Simmons, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the El Paso office. Some arrests were made, but only in relation to outstanding warrants and no gang members were brought in for direct involvement in the killings, she said.

Consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, a detention officer with the El Paso Sheriff's Office, were gunned down in their car after having been chased through Juárez's streets by men in another vehicle on March 13, police said. Both were U.S. citizens and were traveling with a baby who was unharmed.

Within minutes of the first attack, gunmen chased and killed Jorge Alberto Salcido, a Mexican citizen whose spouse was a consular employee, authorities said.

The killings drew outrage from President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón. On March 23, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to lead a top-level delegation visit to Mexico to discuss security and drug enforcement in the country.

Shortly after the killings, Mexican authorities said they suspected Barrio Azteca along with another border gang known as La Linea as having been involved in Saturday's killings.

The gangs are notorious along the border for their allegiance with a drug cartel known as the Juárez Cartel, which since 2007 has been involved in a bloody turf dispute with the Sinaloa Cartel for the power to move lucrative marijuana and cocaine across the border, Mexican authorities say.

U.S. authorities may have more success in targeting Barrio Azteca, given their presence in El Paso, where they are believed to be based. The gang, which was founded in 1986, is one of the country's most dangerous, and in addition to its drug ties is involved in criminal racketeering and money laundering, according to the DEA.

Authorities don't yet know why the three people were killed. One theory is that it was a case of mistaken identity. Ms. Enriquez and Mr. Redelfs, who were together in one car, and Mr. Salcido were driving white sport-utility vehicles. Officials say gang members could have had orders to attack a white SUV but shot up the wrong ones.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523204575130182149262918.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews#printMode

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Chicago Man Pleads Guilty To Plotting Mumbai Terror

CHICAGO—An American man pleaded guilty Thursday to helping to plot the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai and an attack on a Danish newspaper that never was carried out.

David Headley, 49 years old, will be spared the death penalty in exchange for his cooperation with federal prosecutors in the investigation of the Mumbai assault and other U.S. terror probes.

Mr. Headley, wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles around his ankles in federal court, pleaded guilty to all 12 federal terrorism charges that were brought against him in December. Mr. Headley, a U.S. citizen who is partly of Pakistani descent, will face a sentence of up to life in prison on charges that include conspiring to murder and maim people in India and providing material support to a terrorist group.

Mr. Headley, who previously had entered a plea of not guilty, admitted to conducting video surveillance in Mumbai to help plot an assault that left more than 160 people dead in November 2008, including six Americans. He repeatedly said "yes" or "that's correct" as Judge Harry D. Leinenweber recited the terms of his plea agreement.

Thursday's 36-page plea agreement included new details about the alleged plot against the newspaper, Jyllands Posten. According to the agreement, one of Mr. Headley's co-conspirators, Ilyas Kashmiri, told him around May 2009 that the newspaper attackers should behead captives and throw their heads out of the newspaper building to heighten the impact of the attack. Mr. Kashmiri, who authorities allege is a Pakistani terrorist leader in contact with al Qaeda, also was indicted but remains at large.

Mr. Headley traveled to Copenhagen to help plot the Danish attack.

Mr. Headley, born in Washington, D.C., to a Pakistani diplomat and a Philadelphia socialite and educated in a military boarding school in Pakistan, has cooperated with federal prosecutors since his arrest Oct. 3.

After Thursday's court proceeding, one of Mr. Headley's attorneys, Robert D. Seeder, told reporters that Mr. Headley feels remorse. Mr. Seeder said Mr. Headley has provided "significant, useful information to the government" related to the Mumbai case and other intelligence matters.

He said the information potentially had saved "hundreds, if not thousands" of lives. Mr. Seeder declined to elaborate on the nature of the information.Separately, a Pennsylvania woman pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that she conspired to wage jihad abroad, including a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist whose work in 2007 enraged Muslims. Colleen LaRose, who prosecutors said used the Web alias "JihadJane," on sites including YouTube,made her first courtroom appearance since a U.S. indictment against her was made public last week.

At a brief arraignment hearing in federal court in Philadelphia, the 46-year-old Pennsburg, Pa., woman was led into a courtroom packed with media, handcuffed and wearing a green prison suit and orange shoes, her blond hair styled in cornrows. U.S. Judge Lynne Sitarski scheduled a trial to begin May 3.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement echoed that sentiment. As the case demonstrates, Mr. Holder said, "we must continue to use every tool available to defeat terrorism both at home and abroad."

In the Mumbai attack, gunmen for several days assaulted luxury hotels, a train station and other sites in India's largest city.

Co-defendant Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian living in Chicago, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. He met Mr. Headley in military school in Pakistan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704207504575129700468567236.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews#printMode

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In Mile High City, Weed Sparks Up a Counterculture Clash

Medical Marijuana Brands Like 'AK-47' Harsh the Mellow of Upscale Potrepreneurs

DENVER—Attorney Warren Edson would like to throttle the anonymous marijuana breeder who named a potent strain of weed "Green Crack."

He's not too fond, either, of those breeders who have given strains names like "Jack the Ripper," "White Widow," "AK-47" and "Trainwreck."

"How can I find them and strangle them?" Mr. Edson asks.

His beef: Mr. Edson is in the vanguard of an aggressive movement to make pot respectable —but decades of stoner culture keep dragging him down.

Medical marijuana is now legal in 15 states for patients suffering certain conditions, including, in Colorado, chronic pain. More than 60,000 Coloradans have doctor recommendations allowing them to buy marijuana; physicians are approving about 400 new patients a day. Pot shops have popped up all over, including at least 230 here in the Mile High City.

Many of the new dispensaries are dingy and cramped, with bars on the windows, psychedelic posters on the walls and a generally furtive feel.

But a growing number of potrepreneurs have gone upscale, investing as much as $100,000 to launch "wellness centers" that look like spas—and just happen to sell weed. This new breed of marijuana "pharmacist" is pushing hard to professionalize the industry.

That means promoting a voluntary code of conduct at odds with the traditional buck-the-system stoner culture. The new pot professionals look down on neon cannabis-leaf signs, wince at tie-dye Bob Marley posters, and cringe at the in-your-face swagger of the names traditionally used to differentiate varieties of marijuana.

The result: a brewing culture clash within the counterculture.

"Some people don't even want to use words like 'stoner' and 'pothead,' " complains Steve Bloom, co-author of "Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life." He has no patience for that: "We should embrace those terms. This is who we are."

In 2000, Colorado voters amended the state constitution to let patients seek relief from pain, nausea and other symptoms by working with medical marijuana "caregivers." For years, all was discreet. Then, last summer, the Board of Health approved a liberal definition of "caregiver," opening the door to commercial dispensaries. A few months later, President Barack Obama ordered federal narcotics agents to respect state medical-marijuana laws.

The green rush was on.

Self-styled pot experts like Nick Paul, an out-of-work handyman, found that for an investment of a couple thousand dollars, they could rent a small shop, set out a dozen strains of marijuana in glass jars and reinvent themselves as bud-tenders, ringing up $80,000 a month in sales. An industry took root, complete with security consultants, zoning advisers, even crop insurance. Westword, a Denver weekly newspaper, hired a medical marijuana reviewer.

Then came the backlash, as communities statewide moved to restrict dispensaries. The most organized and wealthy of the potrepreneurs formed trade associations to protect their interests; they hired lawyers and lobbyists, pollsters and publicists. They also took a close look at their industry—and, in some cases, recoiled.

Wanda James, a recreational smoker, says some dispensaries have such a disreputable feel, "they put me on edge."

Determined to show there's a classier way, Ms. James and her husband run the Apothecary of Colorado in a gentrified building with exposed-brick walls, airy views and unimpeachable fellow tenants—architects, software engineers, wind-energy consultants. The bud bar is lined with live cannabis plants, and a gourmet goodie-shop stocks medicinal banana-nut bread and organic-vegan-gluten-free granola.

A couple blocks away, Shawna Brown creates a similar mood at Lotus Medical, an elegant space with muted lighting, antique furniture, massage tables and a Zen garden. This, she says, is the true face of medical marijuana: dignified care for patients with AIDS, cancer or other chronic illnesses.

"People need to wake up and see this in a different light," Ms. Brown says. "It's not about Pink Floyd posters all over the walls."

But Ms. Brown says it is hard to convey that sober image and stave off a regulatory crackdown when other dispensaries glory in jaunty names ("Dr. Reefer"), goofy slogans ("If you got the pain, I got the strain!") and cut-rate deals ("Free med grab bag for the first 100 patients").

"A doctor wouldn't offer, 'Buy one Vicodin, get one free,'" she says. "It turns my stomach."

To which her low-rent rivals respond: Mellow out.

"This is a simple business. Get them in and out, like a gas station," Ms. Macauley says, nibbling on Doritos. "I just want to make my money."

Across town at the Denver Marijuana Medical Center, a bare-bones shop with a three-foot-high plastic alien in the window, owner Julian Sanchez is equally dismissive of attempts to pretty up the industry.

"They're not doctors. They're people selling marijuana," he says. "It's all a money game."

A customer in a hooded sweatshirt—who calls himself Patrick and says he needs meds like Purple Urkle and Sour Diesel for chronic pain—chimes in. "You want us to sugarcoat it?" he asks. "Why?"

Economics may be behind the culture clash, with upscale joints trying to muscle out the competition, but there's also a real philosophical debate.

Rob Corry, a lawyer and longtime marijuana activist, sympathizes with those who want a neon pot leaf on every corner. "Part of normalizing this is putting it in peoples' faces and saying, 'You'll get used to it,'" he explains.

Yet Mr. Corry thinks the best way to win acceptance is to be discreet. He'd like to do away with the more violent names for marijuana strains. "Maybe we could come up with holistic names that reflect the wellness idea? Like Harmony," he says. "I can tell you, 'Trainwreck' isn't a great name for a medicine."

Mr. Corry considers a moment. "Or maybe it is," he says. "I've heard 75-year-old grandmas say, 'I need more Trainwreck.' "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704784904575111692045223482.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_3#printMode

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Fence Frustrates Minutemen, Too

East of San Diego, Conservatives Rig Up Cameras and Sensors—and Encounter Same Snafus as the Feds

CAMPO, Calif.—Jim Wood doesn't think the U.S. government is adequately guarding the border with Mexico here. So he has taken on the job himself.

While the federal government fumbles with mishaps and delays in the so-called virtual fence—a network of cameras, sensors and radar that has cost more than $600 million—Mr. Wood is installing his own surveillance system with equipment from Fry's Electronics and eBay.

The decision by the Department of Homeland Security to freeze funding for the federal project this week only intensified his sense of mission. "As a nonprofit, we're far more efficient than them," he said.

The 45-year-old Web developer has set up 20 cameras at a private ranch here, 50 miles east of San Diego. He wants to eventually over the roughly 2,000 miles from Texas to California.

But if the goal is to show up the government, it isn't working as Mr. Wood planned, thanks to the border's tough weather and vast wilderness.

On a recent rainy afternoon, 16 of Mr. Wood's cameras, which run on solar power, were down; the water had disabled two of the remaining four. The motion detector was off because it was mostly triggered by wind-stirred vegetation, not illegal crossers.

Similar snags prompted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday to divert some of the federal project's funding towards more practical tools, such as mobile radios and laptops. With the exception of a small section in Arizona currently being tested, spending on the ambitious border-long system is on hold until a review she ordered in January is completed.

Known as the Secure Border Initiative Network, the federal project was supposed to be working along most of the Southwest border by 2009.

Federal agents in Campo are still waiting. Rich Gordon, the second in command at the local border patrol station, says he welcomes citizens' help in monitoring the rugged ranch land, a passageway for immigrants and drug traffickers. But he warns the public not to confront any suspicious passersby. Last year, a Campo border patrol agent was killed on duty.

Mr. Wood says he would detain illegal aliens if he had permission from Campo ranchers. For now, though, he is focused on expanding his surveillance system at the pace his two herniated discs and Parkinson's disease allow.

As part of the conservative nonprofit Declaration Alliance, he raised money for the project through his Web site, borderfenceproject.com. He and a small crew of volunteers have spent $40,000 to fortify ranch fences with chicken wire and set up cameras. The captured images are transmitted on the Internet.

The operation's command center is in a trailer near the border where Howard "Ridgerunner" Smith keeps tabs on the cameras amid gutted computers and recycled metal cans, including one filled with cigarette butts.

"It's tough to keep all the units up and running," says Mr. Smith, a 59-year-old retired mechanic.

At first, the system got too saturated with images and crashed, until Mr. Wood and his fellows figured out how to reboot it every four hours with digital timers. Their latest idea is to add a $200 power-generating windmill to keep the cameras running 24 hours a day.

Mr. Wood says that about 1,000 people have passed a test on his Web site to gain access to the camera signals. Among the questions: Why is it good to note if migrants are carrying big backpacks? Correct answer: C) Big backpacks are normally used to carry drugs.

The cyber-Minutemen call the border patrol when they spot suspicious crossers, because many of them, like Mr. Wood, live hours away from the border.

On a recent afternoon, those who logged on would have seen a border patrol truck, and perhaps Mr. Wood, who was on one of his regular visits from his home in Mission Viejo, Calif., about two hours north.

He admits that being a Minuteman, a volunteer border watcher, is less exciting now that the weak economy has scared off many immigrants.

Still, he and Mr. Wood say their presence forced the government to install a hefty fence nearby. Mr. Gordon, from the Campo border patrol, said the fence was in the works for a long time.

Mr. Wood's main worry these days is raising funds to finish the project, which he calculates will cost at least $20 million. He will donate some of the proceeds from an animated film he is working on, which he describes as a cross between "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "Jackass," television shows known for their crude humor. He has yet to find a distributor.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703523204575129902304382316.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5#printMode

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From Fox News

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The photo taken by John and Patti Muldowney of Manheim last fall was turned over to the FBI, because John says he has a gut feeling it may be the missing Alabama honor student who disappeared in Aruba nearly five years ago.		Couple Believes They Have Underwater Photo of Natalee Holloway's Remains FOXNews.com March 18, 2010 In this October 2009 underwater photo provided by John F. Muldowney, shows a portion of the ocean floor off the coast of Aruba. Muldowney feels the photo, taken by his wife, Patti, while the couple was on vacation in Aruba, may show the remains of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama honors student who disappeared in Aruba nearly five years ago. (AP Photo/Patti Muldowney) A Pennsylvania couple believes an underwater snapshot they took off the coast of Aruba reveals human remains on the ocean floor that could be those of Natalee Holloway, Lancasteronline.com reported.  The photo taken by John and Patti Muldowney of Manheim last fall was turned over to the FBI, because John Muldowney says he has a gut feeling it's the missing Alabama honor student who disappeared in Aruba nearly five years ago. "We did receive the photo, and it was sent to the lead agent down in Miami who handles that area in the Caribbean," Special Agent Frank Burton Jr., a spokesman for the FBI's field office in Philadelphia, told the newspaper.
However, it's a mystery as to what happened to the photo after that.  The Miami office and the FBI's legal attache in Barbados, which has control over the Aruba area, both told the newspaper they have no record of getting it. Patti Muldowney took the shot while snorkeling near the Caribbean island. Only later did the couple notice one photo shows what could be a human corpse or skeleton.. "It just seems so strange that that girl never showed up, and here we are right off the shoreline, right where she disappeared, and there's a body lying there," John Muldowney, 78, told the newspaper. A teen at the time, Joran van der Sloot 22, was last seen with Holloway before her disappearance in 2005 while on her high school's graduation trip. He has since gave various confessions as to what happened to her, but prosecutors in Aruba say they lack evidence to charge Van der Sloot. In December 2007, authorities officially closed the case.  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/18/couple-believes-underwater-photo-natalee-holloway-remains/

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Ore. lawsuit claims Boy Scouts sex abuse coverup

The "perversion files," a nickname the Boy Scouts are said to have used for the documents, have rarely been seen by the public, but that could all change in the coming weeks in an Oregon courtroom.

The lawyer for a man who was molested in the 1980s by a Scout leader has obtained about 1,000 Boy Scouts sex files and is expected to release some of them at a trial that began Wednesday. The lawyer says the files show how the Boy Scouts have covered up abuse for decades.

The trial is significant because the files could offer a rare window into how the Boy Scouts have responded to sex abuse by Scout leaders. The only other time the documents are believed to have been presented at a trial was in the 1980s in Virginia.

At the start of the Oregon trial, attorney Kelly Clark recited the Boy Scout oath and the promise to obey Scout law to be "trustworthy." Then he presented six boxes of documents that he said will show "how the Boy Scouts of America broke that oath."

He held up file folder after file folder he said contained reports of abuse from around the country, telling the jury the efforts to keep them secret may have actually set back efforts to prevent child abuse nationally.

"The Boy Scouts of America ignored clear warning signs that Boy Scouts were being abused," Clark said.

Charles Smith, attorney for the national Boy Scouts, said in his own opening statement the files were kept under wraps because they "were replete with confidential information."

Smith told the jury the files helped national scouting leaders weed out sex offenders, especially repeat offenders who may have changed names or moved in order to join another local scouting organization.

"They were trying to do the right thing by trying to track these folks," Smith said.

Clark is seeking $14 million in damages on behalf of a 37-year-old man who was sexually molested in the early 1980s in Portland by an assistant Scoutmaster, Timur Dykes.

Clark said the victim suffered mental health problems, bad grades in school, drug use, anxiety, difficulty maintaining relationships and lost several jobs over the years because of the abuse.

Dykes was convicted three times between 1983 and 1994 of sexually abusing boys, most of them Scouts.

Although there have been dozens of lawsuits against the organization over sex abuse allegations, judges for the most part have either denied requests for the files or the lawsuits have been settled before they went to trial.

The Boy Scouts had fought to keep the files being used in the Portland trial confidential. But they lost a pretrial legal battle when the Oregon Supreme Court rejected their argument that opening the files could damage the lives and reputations of people not a party to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because the Mormons acted as a charter organization, or sponsor, for the local Boy Scouts troop that included the victim. But the church has settled its portion of the case.

The Portland trial comes as the Boy Scouts are marking their 100th anniversary.

"They spent a century building the Boy Scout brand," said Patrick Boyle, author of a book about sex abuse in the Boy Scouts. "It's one of the most respected organizations in the world."

The trial "can only erode what they have been doing for 100 years," he said.

The Portland case centers on whether the Boy Scouts of America did enough to protect boys from Dykes.

The Mormon bishop who also served as head of the Scout troop, Gordon McEwen, confronted Dykes after receiving a report of abuse by the mother of one boy in the troop in January 1983.

In a video deposition played for the jury, the bishop said Dykes admitted abusing 17 boys.

But McEwen said he contacted the parents of all 17 boys and the boys themselves, and none would confirm any abuse.

Dykes was arrested in 1983 and pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse, received probation and was ordered to stay away from children.

Clark told the jury Dykes continued with his scouting activities until he was arrested in July 1984 during a routine traffic stop while he was driving a van full of Scouts on a camping trip.

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America at its headquarters in Irving, Texas, said in a statement the organization cannot comment on details of the case. But it has worked hard on awareness and prevention efforts, including background checks.

"Unfortunately, child abuse is a societal problem and there is no fail-safe method for screening out abusers," Deron Smith said.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/crime/ci.Ore.+lawsuit+claims+Boy+Scouts+sex+abuse+coverup.opinionPrint

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From MSNBC

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Medical marijuana a target for criminals

SAN FRANCISCO - Patients, growers and clinics in some of the 14 states that allow medical marijuana are falling victim to robberies, home invasions, shootings and even murders at the hands of pot thieves.

There have been dozens of cases in recent months alone. The issue received more attention this week after a prominent medical marijuana activist in Washington state nearly killed a robber in a shootout — the eighth time thieves had targeted his pot-growing operation.

Critics say the heists and holdups prove that marijuana and crime are inseparable, though marijuana advocates contend that further legalization is the answer. News of crimes related to medical marijuana comes at an awkward time for California and Washington advocates who are pushing to pass ballot measures to allow all adults, not just the seriously ill, to possess the drug.

"Whenever you are dealing with drugs and money, there is going to be crime. If people think otherwise, they are very naive," said Scott Kirkland, the police chief in El Cerrito, Calif., and a vocal critic of his state's voter-approved medical marijuana law.

"People think if we decriminalize it, the Mexican cartels and Asian gangs are going to walk away. That's not the world I live in," Kirkland said.

Too little data

Activists and law enforcement officials say it is difficult to get an accurate picture of crimes linked to medical marijuana because many drug users don't report the crimes to police for fear of arousing unwanted attention from the authorities. But the California Police Chiefs Association used press clippings to compile 52 medical marijuana-related crimes — including seven homicides — from April 2008 to March 2009.

There also is plenty of anecdotal evidence:

• A man in Washington state was beaten to death last week with what is believed to be a crowbar after confronting an intruder on the rural property where he was growing cannabis to treat painful back problems.
  
  
• Medical marijuana activist Steve Sarich exchanged gunfire with intruders in his Kirkland, Wash., home near Seattle on Monday, shooting and critically injuring one of them.
  
  
• In California, a boy was shot to death while allegedly trying to steal a cancer patient's pot plants from his home garden.
  
  
• A respected magazine editor was killed in 2007 by robbers who targeted his Northern California home for marijuana and money after hearing that his teenage son was growing pot with a doctor's approval.
  
  
• Robbers killed a security guard at a Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary in 2008.
  

Pot activists say the opposite: that prohibition breeds crime and legalization would solve the problem. They also say the robberies have exposed the need for more regulation of medical marijuana laws in states like California, Washington and Colorado.

"The potential for people to get ripped off and for people to use guns to have to defend themselves against robbers is very real," said Keith Stroup, founder and chief legal counsel for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "But it's nothing to do with medical marijuana. It is to do with the failure of states to regulate this."

Marijuana advocates say there is adequate regulation in New Mexico, where officials say there have been no violent medical marijuana robberies.

Medical cannabis is primarily grown by a small number of regularly inspected nonprofits in New Mexico, and the state keeps their names and locations confidential. The law includes extensive requirements covering security, quality control, staff training and education about the use of the drug.

Most medical marijuana states have only vague rules for caregivers or dispensaries participating in a business with products that can fetch $600 an ounce. Some states, including California and Colorado, can only guess how many pot dispensaries they have because the businesses don't have to register with the state.

"This is ridiculous, in my opinion, to have medical marijuana and no regulation," Stroup said. "A jewelry store wouldn't open without security, and if it did, a scuzzy person's going to break in and steal all their diamonds."

Stephen Gutwillig, California director of the pro-pot Drug Policy Alliance, said that while the robberies are disturbing, there is no way to conclude that legalized marijuana breeds any more crime than convenience stores, banks or homes stocked with expensive jewelry and electronics.

In fact, Denver police said the 25 robberies and burglaries targeting medical marijuana in the city in the last half of 2009 amounted to a lower crime rate than what banks or liquor stores there suffered.

"I think what we are seeing is a spate of crime that reflects the novelty of medical marijuana cultivation and distribution through unregulated means," Gutwillig said.

Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, but the Obama administration loosened its guidelines for prosecutions of medical pot last year. The Justice Department told federal prosecutors that targeting people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws was not a good use of their time.

The decision energized the medical marijuana movement and came as Washington state and California are trying to get pot legalization measures on the ballot. Activists are still gathering signatures, and it's not yet known if the measures will qualify for the ballot.

Meanwhile, California cities have been trying to rein in the drug in response to a medical marijuana law that is the nation's most liberal.

Detective Robert Palacios of the Los Angeles Police Department said he has investigated a half-dozen dispensary robberies in the last year, but he has seen the number of such crimes drop in recent weeks after the City Council moved to close many stores.

In all the cases he's investigated, armed robbers have stolen marijuana, cash and other items. They often resell the drug on the street.

"They are going into a business and using a threat of force," Palacios said. "Even though they are in an establishment that itself is questionably legal, it's our duty to investigate."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35940756/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/print/1/displaymode/1098/

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From the White House

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Remarks by the President before Signing the HIRE Act

White House Rose Garden

11:20 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  Please have a seat.

Well, on this beautiful morning, we are here to mark the passage of a welcome piece of legislation for our fellow Americans who are seeking work in this difficult economy.  But first, let me say a few words about the latest development in the debate over health insurance reform.  I don't know if you guys have been hearing, but there's been a big debate going on here. 

This morning, a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office concludes that the reform we seek would bring $1.3 trillion in deficit reduction over the next two decades.  (Applause.)  That makes this legislation the most significant effort to reduce deficits since the Balanced Budget Act in the 1990s.  (Applause.)  And this is -- this is but one virtue of a reform that will bring new accountability to the insurance industry and greater economic security to all Americans.  So I urge every member of Congress to consider this as they prepare for their important vote this weekend. 

And I want to welcome all the members of Congress who are here, those who are on stage -- Madam Speaker, Majority Leader Reid -- as well as some of my Cabinet members who are here.

In a few moments, I'll sign what's called the HIRE Act -- a jobs bill that will encourage businesses to hire and help put Americans back to work.  And I'd like to say a few words about what this jobs bill will mean for workers, for businesses, and for America's economic recovery.

There are a number of ways to look at an economic recovery.  Through the eyes of an economist, you look at the different stages of recovery.  You look at whether an economy has begun to grow; at whether businesses have begun to hire temporary workers or increase the hours of existing workers.  You look at whether businesses, small and large, have begun to hire full-time employees again.

That's how economists measure a recovery -- and by those measures, we are beginning to move in the right direction.  But through the eyes of most Americans, recovery is about something more fundamental:  Do I have a decent job?  Can I provide for my family?  Do I feel a sense of financial security?

The great recession that we've just gone through took a terrible toll on the middle class and on our economy as a whole.  For every one of the over 8 million people who lost their jobs in recent years, there's a story of struggle -- of a family that's forced to choose between paying their electricity bill or the car insurance or the daughter's college tuition; of weddings and vacations and retirements that have been postponed.

So here's the good news:  A consensus is forming that, partly because of the necessary -- and often unpopular -- measures we took over the past year, our economy is now growing again and we may soon be adding jobs instead of losing them.  The jobs bill I'm signing today is intended to help accelerate that process.

I'm signing it mindful that, as I've said before, the solution to our economic problems will not come from government alone.  Government can't create all the jobs we need or can it repair all the damage that's been done by this recession.

But what we can do is promote a strong, dynamic private sector -- the true engine of job creation in our economy.  We can help to provide an impetus for America's businesses to start hiring again.  We can nurture the conditions that allow companies to succeed and to grow.

And that's exactly what this jobs bill will help us do.  Now, make no mistake:  While this jobs bill is absolutely necessary, it's by no means enough.  There's a lot more that we're going to need to do to spur hiring in the private sector and bring about full economic recovery -- from helping creditworthy small businesses to get loans that they need to expand, to offering incentives to make homes and businesses more energy efficient, to investing in infrastructure so we can put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done.

Nevertheless, this jobs bill will make a difference in several important ways.  First, we will forgive payroll taxes for businesses that hire someone who's been out of work at least two months.  That's a tax benefit that will apply to unemployed workers hired between last month and the end of this year.  So this tax cut says to employers:  If you hire a worker who's unemployed, you won't have to pay payroll taxes on that worker for the rest of the year.  And businesses that move quickly to hire today will get a bigger tax credit than businesses that wait until later this year.

This tax cut will be particularly helpful to small business owners.  Many of them are on the fence right now about whether to bring in that extra worker or two, or whether they should hire anyone at all.  And this jobs bill should help make their decision that much easier.  And by the way, I'd like to note that part of what health insurance reform would do is to provide tax credits for over 4 million small businesses so they don't have to choose between hiring workers and offering coverage.

The second thing this bill does is to encourage small businesses to grow and to hire by permitting them to write off investments they make in equipment this year.  These kinds of expenses typically take years to depreciate, but under this law, businesses will be able to invest up to $250,000, let's say, in a piece of factory equipment, and write it off right away.  Put simply, we'll give businesses an incentive to invest in their own future -- and to do it today.

Third, we'll reform municipal bonds to encourage job creation by expanding investment in schools and clean energy projects.  Say a town wants to put people to work rebuilding a crumbling elementary school or putting up wind turbines.  With this law, we'll make it easier for them to raise the money they need to do what they want to do by using a model that we've called Build America Bonds -- one of the most successful programs in the Recovery Act.  We'll give Americans a better chance to invest in the future of their communities and of the country. 

And finally, this jobs bill will maintain crucial investments in our roads and our bridges as we head into the spring and summer months, when construction jobs are picking up.

I want to commend all the members of Congress, and their leadership is what made this bill possible.  Many of them are here today.  I'm also gratified that over a dozen Republicans agreed that the need for this jobs bill was urgent, and that they were willing to break out of the partisan morass to help us take this forward step for the American people.  I hope this is a prelude to further cooperation in the days and months to come, as we continue to work on digging our way out of the recession and rebuilding our economy in a way that works for all Americans and not just some Americans.

After all, the jobs bill I'm signing today -- and our broader efforts to achieve a recovery -- aren't about politics.  They're not about Democrat versus Republican.  This isn't a game that we're playing here.  They're about the people in this country who are out of work and looking for a job; they're about all the Americans -- of every race and region and age -- who've shared their stories with me over the last year.

The single mother who's told me she's filled out hundreds of job applications and been on dozens of interviews, but still hasn't found a job.  The father whose son told me he started working when he was a teenager, and recently found himself out of a job for the very first time in his life.  The children who write to me -- they're worried about their moms and their dads, worried about what the future holds for their families.

That's who I'm thinking about every morning when I enter into the Oval Office.  That's who I'm signing this bill for.  And that's who I'm going to continue to fight for so long as I am President of the United States.

So with that, let me sign this bill and let's get to work.  (Applause.)

(The bill is signed.)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-signing-hire-act

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