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From the Los Angeles Times

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U.S. jury convicts five Somalis of piracy

In the first such verdict in an American court in nearly 200 years, a federal jury convicts the Somalis of piracy on the high seas for shooting at a U.S. warship disguised as a merchant vessel in the Indian Ocean.

By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times

November 25, 2010

Reporting from Washington

A federal jury convicted five Somali men Wednesday of piracy on the high seas, the first such verdict in an American court in nearly 200 years, for shooting at a U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchant vessel in the Indian Ocean last spring.

The conviction on all counts after a dramatic trial in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va., carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison plus 80 years. Defense lawyers said they would appeal.

The five defendants stood without expression and listened to an interpreter through earphones as the court clerk pronounced them each guilty on 14 counts, including attempts to plunder a vessel and assault with a deadly weapon.

"Today's conviction demonstrates that armed attacks on U.S.-flagged vessels are crimes against the international community and that pirates will face severe consequences in U.S. courts," Neil H. MacBride, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, said in a conference call.

He emphasized that Somali sea bandits had devastated normal shipping off the Horn of Africa, and that U.S. courts and warships were not the only answer.

"It's an international problem, and it's going to require an international solution," MacBride said.

Defense lawyer Jon M. Babineau said in a telephone interview that his client, Abdi Mohammed Gurewardher, was "very solemn, very sad" after the verdict. "He now knows he's going to die in a U.S. prison," the lawyer said.

The five Somalis, all in their 20s, were accused of firing AK-47 assault rifles at the guided-missile frigate Nicholas as it patrolled for pirates more than 500 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia last April 1.

Prosecutors said Mohammed Modin Hasan, Gabul Abdullahi Ali and Abdi Wali Dire sped up to the warship in an open skiff shortly after midnight and began shooting. They surrendered after the Navy returned fire from heavy machine guns.

The other two Somalis — Gurewardher and Abdi Mohammed Umar — were captured several hours later on a so-called mother ship that carried fuel, water and other supplies.

The Nicholas had dimmed its running lights, slowed its speed and made other changes to resemble a cargo ship. No one was injured in the firefight.

The Somalis insisted in court that they were innocent fishermen who had been kidnapped and beaten by pirates, and then forced to attack the Nicholas. The real brigands, the defendants said, escaped on a third boat.

But James R. Theuer, another defense lawyer, said the jury believed the confessions that the five men gave to a Navy investigator several days after their capture, and not their denials in court.

"Frankly, it really came down to the confessions," Theuer said.

The five will be sentenced March 14. Whether the harsh punishment will deter others is unclear. Dozens of pirates have been convicted and jailed in Kenya, the Seychelles, the Netherlands and elsewhere, but attacks in nearby seas have barely slowed.

Somali brigands are holding at least 18 ships for ransom, according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau. This month, the owners of a South Korean supertanker, the Samho Dream, paid more than $9 million to Somali bandits to free the ship and its crew, an apparent record ransom.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pirates-20101125,0,5553402.story

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U.S. moves to ban chemicals in synthetic marijuana

The DEA says it is outlawing the substances in response to reports of seizures, hallucinations and dependency.

Associated Press

November 25, 2010

Washington —

Cracking down on fake pot, the government began emergency action Wednesday to outlaw five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana. They're sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet to a burgeoning market of teens and young adults.

The Drug Enforcement Administration responded to the latest designer drug fad by launching a 30-day process to put the chemicals in the same drug category as heroin and cocaine. The agency acted after receiving increasing numbers of reports of seizures, hallucinations and dependency from poison centers, hospitals and law enforcement.

It was the fastest action the agency could take to get the products off the legal market. DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno said makers of fake pot blends such as "Spice," "K2," "Blaze" and "Red X Dawn" labeled the mixtures as incense to try to hide the intended purpose.

There were indications that the producers were already moving to reformulate their products using chemicals not covered by the impending ban.

The fake pot — smokeable plant leaves coated with chemicals — has been the target of lawmakers and law enforcement around the country. At least 15 states have moved to regulate or ban one or more of the chemicals, as have some European and Scandinavian countries.

The man who created three of the chemicals as part of his government-sponsored research nearly 20 years ago said, "They are dangerous and anyone who uses them is stupid."

John W. Huffman, a retired organic chemistry researcher from Clemson University, said in a telephone interview from his Sylva, N.C., home, "They seem to be pretty toxic."

He said the reported medical problems had included overdoses, cases of addiction and suicide.

As of Sept. 27, the American Assn. of Poison Control Centers had reported receiving more than 1,500 calls from 48 states and the District of Columbia about products spiked with the drugs, the DEA said.

The agency first became aware of the designer drugs in November 2008 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency analyzed Spice. Sometimes the chemicals are produced abroad and shipped into the United States; this year, customs agents seized a 110-pound load of two of the chemicals.

E-mail and telephone messages left for companies that manufacture and sell K2 and Red X Dawn were not immediately returned Wednesday.

Huffman said his research developed three compounds that mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, but have very different chemical formulas. The idea was to study how they interact with the brain, said Huffman, who added that they were tested only in animals.

Carreno said the DEA, the Health and Human Services Department and the Food and Drug Administration had been studying fake pot with an eye toward stiff regulation or a ban but "the review process was taking too long."

In the meantime, synthetic pot has been readily available on the Internet, at drug paraphernalia shops and even convenience stores for about $10 to $20 a gram.

Mark Tucci, owner and chief executive of Customs Blends Tobacco of Hilton Head, S.C., said he had already heard from suppliers promising new products with different chemicals that complied with the new regulations.

"They knew about this thing coming down, and they said they are working on other blends," said Tucci, whose company has four franchises and two company-owned stores, all in Pennsylvania, that sell K2.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-synthetic-marijuana-20101125,0,7654014,print.story

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Holiday travelers greet security tactics with weary resignation

Airports around the country experience smooth operations despite the crush of Thanksgiving travelers and warnings about protests and delays related to new TSA safety procedures.

By Michael A. Memoli and Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times

November 24, 2010

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles

Despite the warnings about compromised civil liberties, offended modesty, grass-roots protests and possible delays, about 2 million Americans nonetheless flocked to their local airports Wednesday to engage in those most familiar of rituals brought on by the age of terrorism:

They stood in line. They placed baggies containing small bottles of lotion into X-ray bins. They removed shoes. And some put up with more intrusive hassles — X-rays that revealed an image of their naked selves and, for a select few, aggressive pat-downs.

What other choice did they have, if they wanted to get where they needed to be for Thanksgiving?

At Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday morning, Aaron Coleman, 44, a pastor, said he was aware of the furor surrounding the new federal safety measures — the full-body scans and pat-downs that include searches in the genital areas. The gradual phase-in of the new procedures was accelerated after U.S.-bound mail bombs from Yemen were intercepted last month.

Coleman said he'd really rather not have a pat-down.

"But I will have to get it if they want me to," he said.

Such weary acceptance of the latest new normal in air travel was one reason airports around the country experienced generally smooth operations at preflight checkpoints as of late Wednesday. Overall, it seemed that the desire to get it all over with and get on board eclipsed activists' call to protest.

A number of Web-based movements urged passengers to refuse to be subjected to the full-body scans and opt instead for time-consuming pat-downs.

Airports did see their share of protests Wednesday. But they were more of a sideshow than a roadblock for the millions of fliers taking part in the nation's annual pre-Thanksgiving rush.

At LAX, about 20 protesters, organized by the website wewontfly.com , handed out fliers reminding people that they have the right to opt out of the body scans, as well as stickers that read, "Don't touch my junk"— the now-famous words used by Oceanside resident John Tyner as he recently underwent a pat-down. About 133 LAX passengers ended up opting for pat-downs, officials said.

In Denver, four activists handed out pocket-sized copies of the Constitution and called for the dissolution of the Transportation Security Administration.

In Salt Lake City, a man strolled around the airport in a skimpy Speedo bathing suit, according to the Associated Press, an apparent attempt to make an anti-TSA statement — or, at least, a few waves on YouTube.

At John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, passenger Victor Allen, a Seattle computer programmer visiting his family in California, suspected that TSA workers were friendlier than usual.

"My impression was they put all their nicest, friendliest staff members on today," said Allen, 38. "I got the impression they were really trying not to get any bad press today."

Ridgeway Wilson, 21, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, flew into John Wayne from Philadelphia International Airport, where she said security personnel were usually "blunt bordering on rude." Yet they were all smiles Wednesday morning. "They're all nice, like, 'Please stand in this line.' …Even in Philly," she said.

Most passengers throughout the nation paid little attention to protest antics.

Southwest Airlines passenger Melanie Magee, 50, had decided that she would choose a scan over a pat-down at LAX.

"I don't want them groping me," she said.

But Magee, who was headed to Mississippi, said she was accustomed to an intense level of security after living in Israel for seven years.

"I have no problem with it," she said. "It's for keeping people safe."

That kind of qualified acceptance was reflected in a Gallup survey released this week. It found that 7 in 10 frequent travelers believed the potential loss of personal privacy from full-body scans or pat-downs was worth it to prevent acts of terrorism, while 27% said it was not.

Fifty-seven percent said they were not bothered by the full-body scans, though the same percentage said they were either angry or bothered by the pat-downs.

TSA Director John Pistole has defended the new procedures, and other federal officials have acknowledged that they are largely designed to detect PETN, an explosive substance favored by Al Qaeda and its allies. The search methods, however, have drawn controversy across the political spectrum.

The American Civil Liberties Union has said the body-scanning machines subject fliers to what amounts to a "virtual strip search." Some conservatives have described the new rules in the broader context of what they see as an invasive and overreaching federal power under a Democratic president.

"If he thinks this is an appropriate way for us to deal with security, as he has defended, then I've said, OK, Mr. Obama, take your wife, your two daughters and your mother-in-law to Washington Reagan National Airport and have them publicly go through both the body scanner and the full enhanced pat-down in front of others," said Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and current talk-show host, on Fox TV recently.

"And if it's OK for your wife, your daughters and your mother-in-law, then maybe the rest of us won't feel so bad when our wives, our daughters and our mothers are being put through this humiliating and degrading, totally unconstitutional intrusion of their privacy."

Some travelers on Wednesday also had serious concerns about the new rules.

Brian Thomas and Jessica Knutson, Brooklyn residents traveling together to Thomas' hometown of New Orleans, arrived for their flight out of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport four hours early in anticipation of taking part in the "opt-out" campaign and enduring a pat-down search.

They cited concerns about the level of radiation in the X-rays and invasion of privacy as their reasons for not wanting to walk through one of the new scanners. Despite government assurances that the radiation levels are negligible, "they say one thing, and 30 years later we find out something else," Knutson said.

Both also questioned why the more aggressive pat-downs had been introduced at the same time as the scanning machines.

"You reach this place, and all of a sudden it's OK to touch my groin," Thomas said as they waited in the departure lounge. "This is really the only instance where people feel their freedom is being taken away."

Others couldn't resist a bawdier take on the topic.

In Atlanta, Charles Sanders, a 71-year-old shoeshine man, told client Jennifer Walker that the hubbub was all coming from "these old women" worried they'd be busted with all the "false stuff" that was artificially enhancing their figures.

"Oh, is that it?" said Walker, 37, who was heading to San Francisco after her shoeshine.

At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Darnell Martin, 37, said he went through the full-body scan, but it didn't bother him. He was waiting to catch a flight to Las Vegas to visit family for the holiday.

As a medical equipment salesman, Martin said, he's used to technology. Though he didn't ask for the pat-down, it wouldn't have bothered him either, he said.

Plus, "I'm going to Vegas," he said jokingly. "People pay money for that in Vegas."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-1125-tsa-airports-20101125,0,6238660,print.story

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Mexico drug gang leader arrested

The arrest of Carlos Montemayor marks a fresh blow against the remnants of the once-formidable Beltran Leyva gang, battered by arrests, deaths and vicious internal fighting.

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

November 24, 2010

Reporting from Mexico City

Mexican authorities Wednesday announced they had arrested the new leader of the drug gang formerly run by suspected kingpin Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal.

The arrest late Tuesday of Carlos Montemayor marked a fresh blow against the remnants of the once-formidable Beltran Leyva gang, battered by arrests, deaths and vicious internal fighting.

Mexican federal police said Montemayor took over the faction once led by Valdez, a U.S. citizen arrested in August. The in-fighting has stoked months of killings and beheadings across the states of Morelos and Guerrero, home to the resort city of Acapulco.

Ramon Eduardo Pequeno, head of the anti-drug division of the federal police, told reporters that Montemayor had said that 20 Mexican men who disappeared in Acapulco in late September were seized and killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Montemayor, 38, said hit men who broke from his command confused the tourists, from nearby Michoacan state, for members of La Familia, a rival trafficking group from the same state, Pequeno said. He spoke as the suspect was paraded before news cameras.

That account appears to confirm the comments of two men who appeared in a video last month saying the Michoacan men had been killed to strike at La Familia. The men in the video turned up dead near a mass grave in Guerrero containing 18 bodies of the missing tourists.

Police said Montemayor's capture, in an upscale section of Mexico City, was helped by information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and leads developed after Valdez was jailed Aug. 30.

Authorities said Valdez tapped Montemayor, his father-in-law, to take over his faction.

The Beltran Leyva group has been embroiled in violent feuding since the January 2008 capture of one of its leaders, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, sparked a break with traffickers led by Joaquin Guzman. Then the December 2009 killing of another Beltran Leyva brother, Arturo, plunged the group into a bloody succession fight that has continued.

In other developments Wednesday, the United States delivered three Black Hawk UH-60M helicopters, valued at $64 million, to help Mexico's federal police fight drug cartels under the multiyear security aid plan known as the Merida Initiative.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-capture-20101125,0,6137525,print.story

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Lost life revives four others

NFL wide receiver Chris Henry, who died last year at 26, left his legacy through the donation of his organs. His mother made the decision, saying, 'They will know he didn't just die, but he left the world a better place by giving someone else a chance at life.'

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

November 25, 2010

Reporting from Charlotte, N.C.

Tom Elliott spoke first. For days, he had been debating what to say when he finally met the mother of the man whose death had saved his life.

Elliott, 63, had once been tethered to an oxygen tank, too weak to walk to his mailbox, as a result of lung and pulmonary diseases. Now, as he stood stiffly in a hospital conference room this month, Elliott squeezed the hand of Carolyn Glaspy.

"I'm the lung recipient," he said finally.

Glaspy fought back tears. At the same Charlotte hospital 11 months earlier, her son, NFL wide receiver Chris Henry, 26, had been declared brain dead after being thrown from the back of a pickup.

Her decision to donate his organs would forge an irrevocable bond with four families. Now they were finally meeting face to face, an extraordinary rendezvous in the recent history of organ donations. Normally donors are anonymous, but Glaspy longed to meet the recipients whose replenished lives promised redemption for her lost son.

After Elliott came Donna Arnold, 51, a diabetic with failing kidneys who had received Henry's kidney and pancreas.

She hugged Glaspy and said, "I'm Donna. I'm so blessed.... Thanks for giving us all another chance."

James Benton, 61, once left bed-ridden by progressive liver disease, received Henry's liver.

"If it wasn't for Chris," he told Glaspy, "I wouldn't be standing here."

And Brian Polk, 33, a dump truck driver whose faltering kidneys meant he would die without a transplant, received Henry's other kidney. He embraced Glaspy in a long bear hug, his face touching hers.

Glaspy, her voice breaking, said, "If there's anything else I can do…"

"You've done so much," Arnold told her.

On the afternoon of Dec. 16, Henry had been arguing with Loleini Tonga, his fiancee and mother of their three children. Henry jumped into the back of a pickup driven by Tonga. Police, who later ruled the death an accident, said he tumbled from the truck and struck his head. Henry was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center with massive brain trauma.

When Glaspy arrived that night from her home in Cincinnati, Henry was unresponsive. She whispered softly in his ear, "Say something to Mama."

Henry's year-old son patted his father's eyes and cried out, "Wake up, Daddy!"

Henry never regained consciousness. When a doctor told Glaspy that he had not survived, she fainted.

Among the hospital staff who helped revive her was Matthew Kinney, a family support coordinator for LifeShare Of The Carolinas, a nonprofit that facilitates organ donations in southwestern North Carolina.

Kinney consoled her and gave her time to "decouple," as he put it — to absorb Henry's death and begin to grieve with assembled family and friends.

When Glaspy seemed ready, Kinney mentioned organ donation.

"Chris was young and healthy," Kinney said. "He can leave a legacy, something his kids can be proud of. They will know he didn't just die, but he left the world a better place by giving someone else a chance at life."

Glaspy discussed it with family members. Then she thought: I've got to talk to Chris. She went back to where he lay, his brain function gone but his body attached to mechanical support systems.

She whispered to Chris that she knew what his answer would have been if he had been able to make a decision.

"Chris was a giver," Glaspy recalled. "If he knew he could help someone, he would have said yes."

Three weeks ago, Glaspy flew back to Charlotte. She knew virtually nothing about the four recipients, but had wanted to meet them almost from the moment she decided on donation. LifeShare told her they wanted to meet her too. In cases where both the organ recipients and the donor family ask to meet, according to LifeShare, the agency will reveal their identities to one another.

This was the first time LifeShare brought together multiple recipient families with a donor family. Nationally, such encounters are extremely rare but not unprecedented, said Joel Newman of the United Network for Organ Sharing.

LifeShare hoped media coverage of Henry's mother meeting organ recipients would promote organ donation and raise awareness, said Debbie Gibbs, an agency spokeswoman.

All four recipients had heard the news about Henry's accident just hours before they received urgent calls to rush to a hospital for possible transplant surgery. Each suspected Henry was the donor, but LifeShare did not confirm it until shortly before they gathered to meet Glaspy.

So on the morning of Nov. 6, Glaspy was sitting in a cramped hospital consultation room, trying to keep her emotions under control. For nearly a year, she had been trying to decide what to say to the four strangers who carried her son's organs.

It was important to her to see Chris' gifts represented in living, breathing human beings. "I wanted to look at them, see they were OK and with their families, and know that it's real," she said.

She hoped no one would focus on her son's suspensions from college football and the NFL, or his arrests on marijuana, gun and drunk driving charges.

"Chris just needed a chance, and now he got that chance," she said. "Why remember the bad things when he did so much for so many people? That's a journey anybody would be proud to take."

In addition to donating Henry's organs, Glaspy also agreed to donate his corneas, improving the sight of two patients. A man in Tennessee received Henry's heart but later died from causes unrelated to the transplant, according to LifeShare.

Since her son's death, Glaspy has become a passionate organ donation advocate. She speaks at community groups and at her church in Cincinnati, where her husband is the pastor. She often wears a T-shirt printed with the messages "Organ and Tissue Donor" and "Rush to Your DMV."

Henry's death was a tragedy, Glaspy said, but it also gave new meaning and purpose to her own life.

"I lost my son, but I found four new families," she said.

The four recipients, and their families, assembled in the hospital conference room, waiting to meet Glaspy for the first time. They were far healthier than a year earlier, though they require follow-up treatment and will take anti-rejection drugs the rest of their lives.

Polk says he feels like he's 23 instead of 33. He jogs and swims and lifts weights, and looks like the vigorous athlete of his high school days. He's now a vegetarian whose weight, once a life-threatening 400 pounds, is down to 280.

Arnold, a diabetic since age 16, once suffered blackouts and had barely enough energy to get out of bed. Now she's able to travel and to volunteer at her son's school in Mooresville, N.C.

Benton was so debilitated by liver disease that he was "just plain sick of being sick," he said. Now he cherishes time spent with his wife and daughters in Greensboro, N.C., and has been attending drag races for the first time in years.

And Elliott, who was so ill that he once was given three to five years to live, can now walk a mile, hit golf balls, ride a bike and drive a tractor on his Virginia farm.

Glaspy strode in to meet them, her jaw set, her head held high. She walked straight to the four and embraced each of them. For a moment, no one spoke; everyone was trying not to weep. The silence was broken by a burst of applause from family members and hospital staff.

Glaspy, struggling to hold back tears, unfurled a blanket. It was printed with an image of Henry in his Cincinnati Bengals uniform. She carries it everywhere.

"This is Chris," she said.

She began to sob. "Just to see you all standing here … to know he lives on … oh, thank you," she said.

Until this moment, Glaspy told them, she had not cried over her son's death.

"Believe it or not, this is my first tear," she said. "I think this is my closure. This is what he wanted me to do. I can rest in peace now.

"I know people said some things about him, but he was a giver. And you all just gave him back to me. Today I got him back."

Then it was their turn.

"My life is completely different, thanks to you," Polk said. "You gave me a second chance.... I'm going to make the most of that second chance."

He added, "I never have a bad day, because in a sense I'm not supposed to be here."

Benton, his voice barely above a whisper, said, "I think about Chris every day."

"Chris is never going away," Glaspy told Benton, holding his hand. "He's with us all right here, right now."

Polk gave Glaspy flowers. Elliott handed her a letter — written, he said, "from the heart." Arnold's son, Austin, 10, presented Glaspy with a jersey from his youth football team, telling her, "We know football means a lot in your life."

Everyone posed for photos. They exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and promised to stay in touch.

Before Glaspy left, there was one more thing she needed. She asked Elliott if she could listen to her son's lungs.

Someone found a stethoscope. Elliott inhaled deeply. The mother of the late Chris Henry put the stethoscope to his chest and heard her son's lungs breathe, flowing cleanly, delivering life.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-donor-20101125,0,3089522.story

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Southern California charities seek help for the holidays

Many agencies are asking for the public's help as they face a surge in need and a drop-off in donations.

November 25, 2010

On a day of plenty, there are still many in need.

As the nation attempts to recover from recession, many remain out of work, or are struggling to get by on part-time jobs. In Los Angeles County alone, more than 1.56 million residents lived below the poverty level last year, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

"You think there's signs of a turnaround, but there's no sign of a turnaround here," said the Rev. Andy Bales, who heads the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles' skid row. "There's a lot of people barely making it."

At the same time, contributions to charitable organizations are dropping as donors become stretched.

Many families will be sitting down to a chicken dinner this Thanksgiving because food pantries decided they could help more people by forgoing the traditional turkeys.

"L.A. at times gets a bad rap, but this is a giving community," said Michael Flood, president of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. "I would just appeal to people who are doing OK financially to do what they can to help people who are struggling."

There are many ways to give. You could buy a gift for a needy child, hand out food to people living with HIV, donate your legal expertise to female offenders who are rebuilding their lives, or foster an abandoned pet for the holidays.

Here are a few of the many places where you can contribute:

AIDS Project Los Angeles provides care and support to about 10,000 people affected by HIV, most living on less than $10,000 a year. Needs financial contributions, non-perishable food items and volunteers for its food pantries and special events. By mail: The David Geffen Center, 611 South Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90005. (213) 201-1600. http://www.apla.org

A New Way of Life Reentry Project provides housing and support to female offenders transitioning back into the community. Needs women's undergarments, baby clothes, diapers, toiletries, cleaning supplies, grocery store gift cards, a cargo van, financial contributions and volunteers who can donate counseling, dental care, household maintenance and legal services. Box 875288, Los Angeles, CA 90087. (323)-563-3575. http://www.anewwayoflife.org

Animal shelters and rescue groups are seeing an increase in abandoned pets and a decline in adoptions because of the economy. Need families willing to foster a pet for the holidays, which could help them decide if they are ready to adopt. To find a participating shelter in your area: http://www.petfinder.com/fosteralonelypet

Firefighters from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties and the city of Los Angeles collect gifts for needy children. Need new, unwrapped toys or sports equipment. Drop off donations at any local fire station until Dec. 24. To donate: http://www.calfund.org/give/giving_sparkoflove.php

Fred Jordan Missions serves about 600,000 meals a year to homeless people living on skid row and in nearby communities. Needs new or gently used warm clothing, meat and nonperishable food items, financial contributions. Box 12345, Covina, CA 91722. (800) 964-3663. http://www.fjm.org

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles has helped hundreds of families move out of substandard housing since 1990. Needs financial contributions and volunteers to build homes. c/o Development Department, 17700 S. Figueroa St., Gardena, CA 90248. (310) 323-4663. http://www.habitatla.org

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles offers services for disadvantaged residents, senior citizens and a volunteer literacy program. Needs financial contributions and volunteers. Goldsmith Center, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048. (866) 968-7333. http://www.JewishLA.org

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank supplies food to more than 550 pantries and other charities. The group needs nonperishable food items and financial contributions, or go to its website to find a pantry near you that needs volunteers. 1734 E. 41st St., Los Angeles, CA 90058. (323) 234-3030. http://www.lafoodbank.org

MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity) assists as many as 31,000 people in need in the San Fernando Valley each month. The group needs volunteers to help collect, sort and distribute holiday donations; new, unwrapped gifts for children ages 10 -14; new blankets; frozen turkeys; apples and oranges; baking supplies; store gift cards; financial contributions. 10641 N. San Fernando Road, Pacoima, CA 91331. (818) 897-2443. http://www.mendpoverty.org

The Salvation Army Southern California Divisional Headquarters distributed more than 100,000 toys and provided more than 250,000 meals last holiday season. Go to http://www.jcp.com/angel to find needy children and senior citizens by ZIP Code and send them a gift from their wish lists. The group needs volunteers to pack and distribute donations; new, unwrapped toys for children up to age 16; new clothing; food items; financial contributions. 180 E. Ocean Boulevard, Suite 500, Long Beach, CA 90802. (800)-725-2769. http://www.salvationarmy-socal.org

Umma Community Clinic provides free and low-cost primary care medical services to about 170 patients a week in South Los Angeles. The group needs financial contributions and volunteers to do office work. Box A52, Los Angeles, CA 90044. (323) 967-0375. http://www.ummaclinic.org

Union Rescue Mission houses about 1,800 people and serves about 5,000 meals a day over the holiday period. The group needs new, unwrapped toys; wrapping paper and ribbon; nonperishable food items; financial contributions. 545 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. (213) 347-6300. http://www.urm.org

For other ideas go to http://www.volunteermatch.com or http://www.greatnonprofits.org

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charity-list-20101125,0,2553786,print.story

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From the New York Times

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U.S. to Drop Color-Coded Terror Alerts

There goes another punch line.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to get rid of the color-coded terrorism alert system. Known officially as the Homeland Security Advisory System, the five-color scheme was introduced by the Bush administration in March 2002.

Red, the highest level, meant “severe risk of terrorist attacks.” The lowest level, green, meant “low risk of terrorist attacks.” Between those were blue (guarded risk), yellow (significant) and orange (high).

The nation has generally lived in the yellow and orange range. The threat level has never been green, or even blue.

In an interview on “The Daily Show” last year, the homeland security chief, Janet Napolitano, said the department was “revisiting the whole issue of color codes and schemes as to whether, you know, these things really communicate anything to the American people any more.”

The answer, apparently, is no.

The color-coded threat levels were doomed to fail because “they don't tell people what they can do — they just make people afraid,” said Bruce Schneier, an author on security issues. He said the system was “a relic of our panic after 9/11” that “never served any security purpose.”

The Homeland Security Department said the colors would be replaced with a new system — recommendations are still under review — that should provide more clarity and guidance. The change was first reported by The Associated Press.

“The goal is to replace a system that communicates nothing,” the agency said, “with a partnership approach with law enforcement, the private sector and the American public that provides specific, actionable information based on the latest intelligence.”

The department has already begun working toward the goal of providing more specific alerts.

After a Nigerian citizen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was accused of trying to bring down a Detroit-bound plane last Christmas with explosives, the department issued new guidelines to airports and airlines without raising the threat level.

While the system may have had limited usefulness for the American people, it proved to be comedy gold for late-night shows.

Conan O'Brien joked, “Champagne-fuchsia means we're being attacked by Martha Stewart.” Jay Leno said, “They added a plaid in case we were ever attacked by Scotland.”

Meanwhile, critics of the Bush administration argued that the system was a political tool.

And even Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush, has raised questions. In his memoir, “The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege ... And How We Can Be Safe Again,” Mr. Ridge said Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, pushed for an elevated terrorism level in October 2004 after a threatening tape from Osama bin Laden was revealed.

Mr. Ridge wrote that after “a vigorous, some might say dramatic, debate, I wondered, ‘Is this about security, or politics?' ” While the security level ultimately was not raised, he said the incident helped him decide that it was time to leave the government in February 2005.

Amy Wax, president of the International Association of Color Consultants North America, said — perhaps not surprisingly — colors could be an effective part of a warning system if tied to specific action. “How are we going to take those instructions and apply it to our lives?” she said. “Are we going to go to the airport, or not go to the airport?”

She said the agency's use of “childish” primary colors like red, yellow and blue might have diluted the impact. “Purple, orange and magenta might create a sense of something that would get attention,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/us/25colors.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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OPINION

North Korea Will Never Play Nice

Busan, South Korea

WHILE it is cowardly and foolish not to resist an act of aggression, the best way to deal with a provocation is to ignore it — or so we are taught. By refusing to be provoked, one frustrates and therefore “beats” the provoker; generations of bullied children have been consoled with this logic. And so it is that the South Korean and American governments usually refer to North Korea's acts of aggression as “provocations.”

The North's artillery attack on a populated South Korean island is now getting the same treatment, with the South's president, Lee Myung-bak, vowing that Pyongyang will be “held responsible” and that “additional provocative acts” will be punished “several times over.”

There is no reason that North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-il, should take those words seriously. Mr. Lee made similar noises in March, when the North was accused of killing 46 South Korean sailors by torpedoing a naval vessel, the Cheonan, and what was the result? A pacifist South Korean electorate punished Mr. Lee's party in regional elections, and the attack faded from the headlines.

The North's attack on Yeonpyeong Island has been more shocking to South Koreans, but not much more. At my local train station the morning after the attack, a grinning crowd watched coverage of the Asian Games in China on a giant TV screen. The same ethno-nationalism that makes South Koreans such avid followers of international sports also dilutes their indignation at their Northern brethren. South Korea's left-wing press, which tends to shape young opinion, is describing the shelling of the island as the inevitable product of “misunderstandings” resulting from a lack of dialogue.

Sadly, South Korea's subdued response to such incidents makes them more likely to happen again. This poses a serious problem for the United States; we have already been drawn into one war on the peninsula because our ally seemed unlikely to defend itself.

Unfortunately, Washington shares to a certain degree the South Korean tendency to play down North Korean “provocations.” In our usage, the word reflects the America-centric perception that everything Kim Jong-il does is aimed at eliciting a reaction from Washington. His actions are trivialized accordingly, to the extent that our top policymakers have publicly compared him to a squalling, attention-hungry child.

Not surprisingly, then, the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong is seen by many Americans as an effort to force us to make concessions, to reopen negotiations, and so on. Thus we can pretend that simply by leaving sanctions in place, we are really hanging tough, even pursuing a “hard-line” policy.

The provocation view of North Korea's actions also prevents us from seeing them in context. Since a first naval skirmish in the Yellow Sea near Yeonpyeong in 1999, there has been a steady escalation in North Korea's efforts to destabilize the peninsula. In 2002, another naval skirmish killed at least four South Korean sailors; in 2006 the North conducted an underground nuclear test; in 2009 it launched missiles over the Sea of Japan, had another nuclear test and declared the Korean War armistice invalid; and in March the Cheonan was sunk.

This behavior is fully in keeping with the ultramilitaristic ideology of a regime that remains publicly committed to uniting the peninsula by force: “Reunification is at the ends of our bayonets,” as the omnipresent slogan in the North goes.

North Korea cannot hope to win an all-out war, but it may well believe that by incrementally escalating its aggression it can bully the South into giving up — or at least sharing power in a confederation.

The provocation view of North Korean behavior also distorts our understanding of the domestic situation. Analysts tend to focus too much on the succession issue; they interpret the attack on the island as an effort to bolster the reputation of Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il's son and anointed successor. Their conclusion is that North Korea will play nice once the young man is firmly in power.

In fact, as both its adversaries and supporters should realize, the North can never play nice. Just as our own economy-first governments must ensure growth to stay in power, a military-first regime must deliver a steady stream of victories or lose all reason to exist.

There is no easy solution to the North Korea problem, but to begin to solve it, we must realize that its behavior is aggressive, not provocative, and that its aggression is ideologically built in. Pyongyang is thus virtually predestined to push Seoul and Washington too far, thereby bringing about its own ruin.

The Chinese should take note of this, since their rationalization for continuing to support North Korea derives from the vain hope that they can prop it up indefinitely. The military-first state is going to collapse at some stage; let's do what we can to make that happen sooner rather than later.

B. R. Myers, the director of the international studies department at Dongseo University, is the author of “The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves — and Why It Matters.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/opinion/25myers.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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Pimp convicted of forcing girls from Mexico into prostitution

November 25, 2010

BY GREG BLUESTEIN

ATLANTA -- A Mexican man has been convicted on federal charges of orchestrating a sex-trafficking scheme in which, prosecutors say, he lured impoverished young Mexican women to the Atlanta area with false promises of better lives, high-paying jobs and even hints of romance.

Amador Cortes-Meza, 36, could face life in prison after a jury in U.S. District Court convicted him of the 19 counts he was facing, including sex trafficking of minors, conspiracy and smuggling charges for bringing the women to metro Atlanta and then making them work as prostitutes. A sentencing date has not been set.

Prosecutors said Cortes-Meza and several of his relatives targeted uneducated women and then paid smugglers to bring them across the border illegally. They said he even convinced a 14-year-old girl that he loved her to get her to make the trip. In all, he was accused of bringing at least 10 women to the area between spring 2006 and June 2008.

But when the women arrived, prosecutors say, Cortes-Meza was transformed into a ruthless pimp. The women said they were forced to work as prostitutes indefinitely to repay transportation costs and living expenses. And if they didn't, they often faced consequences.

Some days, prosecutors said, Cortes-Meza brutally beat the women with irons, electric cords and other items. At other times, he threatened to go after a loved one. A victim testified during the two-week trial that Cortes-Meza told her he would kill her parents in Mexico if he were ever arrested.

Soon, prosecutors say, the women were caught in a complex operation.

Cortes-Meza arranged for drivers to pick up the girls and drive them to clients throughout greater Atlanta and as far away as North Carolina. New women would sometimes be forced to perform sexual acts with more than 20 people on their first night, and on busy nights with more than 40 customers, according to court testimony.

"He treated these women like merchandise, like goods for sale, something he could just import into Georgia to fatten his wallet," federal prosecutor Karima Maloney said in opening arguments.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said the case provided a "glimpse into the monstrous world of human trafficking."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2921792,CST-NWS-pimp1125.article

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From the White House

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Weekly Address: President Obama Delivers Thanksgiving Greeting

WASHINGTON – During this holiday season, President Obama used his weekly address to give thanks for the blessings of America, in particular that distinctly American impulse to give something of ourselves and do what is required to make tomorrow better than today.  With that sense of determination and sacrifice, America has built a powerful economy, stood against tyranny, fought for equality, and connected the globe with our own science and imagination.  And by working together as one people – as Americans -- we can overcome the challenges currently facing our nation.

Today, like millions of other families across America, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will sit down to share a Thanksgiving filled with family and friends – and a few helpings of food and football, too.  And just as folks have done in every Thanksgiving since the first, we'll spend some time taking stock of what we're thankful for: the God-given bounty of America, and the blessings of one another.

This is also a holiday that captures that distinctly American impulse to give something of ourselves.  Even as we speak, there are countless Americans serving at soup kitchens and food pantries; contributing to their communities; and standing guard around the world.

And in a larger sense, that's emblematic of what Americans have always done.  We come together and do what's required to make tomorrow better than today.  That's who we are.

Consider our journey since that first Thanksgiving.  We are among the world's youngest of peoples, but time and again, we have boldly and resiliently led the way forward.  Against tough odds, we are a people who endure – who explored and settled a vast and untamed continent; who built a powerful economy and stood against tyranny in all its forms; who marched and fought for equality, and connected a globe with our own science and imagination.

None of that progress was predestined.  None of it came easily.  Instead, the blessings for which we give thanks today are the product of choices made by our parents, and grandparents, and generations before – whose determination and sacrifice ensured a better future for us.

This holiday season, we must resolve once more to do the same.

This is not the hardest Thanksgiving America has ever faced.  But as long as many members of our American family are hurting, we've got to look out for one another.  As long as many of our sons and daughters and husbands and wives are at war, we've got to support their mission and honor their service.  And as long as many of our friends and neighbors are looking for work, we've got to do everything we can to accelerate this recovery and keep our economy moving forward.

And we will.  But we won't do it as any one political party.  We've got to do it as one people.  And in the coming weeks and months, I hope that we can work together, Democrats and Republicans and Independents alike, to make progress on these and other issues.

That's why, next week, I've invited the leadership of both parties to the White House for a real and honest discussion – because I believe that if we stop talking at one another, and start talking with one another, we can get a lot done.

For what we are called to do again today isn't about Democrats or Republicans.  It's not about left or right.  It's about us.  It's about what we know this country is capable of.  It's about what we want America to be in this new century.

A vibrant nation that makes sure its children are the best-educated in the world.  A healthy, growing economy that runs on clean energy and creates the jobs of tomorrow.  A responsible government that reduces its deficits.  An America where every citizen is able to go as far as he or she desires.

We can do all this, because we've done it before.  We're made of the same sturdy stuff as the travelers who sat down to the first Thanksgiving, and all who came after – who worked, and sacrificed, and invested, because they believed that their efforts would make the difference for us.

That's who we are.  We shape our own destiny with conviction, compassion, and clear and common purpose.  We honor our past and press forward with the knowledge that tomorrow will be better than today.  We are Americans.  That's the vision we won't lose sight of.  That's the legacy that falls to our generation.  That's the challenge that together, we are going to meet.

To every American, I am thankful for the privilege of being your President.  To all our service members stationed around the world, I am honored to be your Commander-in-Chief.  And from the Obama family to yours, have a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Thank you.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/11/25/weekly-address-president-obama-delivers-thanksgiving-greeting

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From ICE

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Gulf Coast BEST members seize sailing vessel with 4,500 pounds of marijuana; arrest 3 suspects

GULFPORT, Miss. - On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-led Gulf Coast Border Enforcement Security Taskforce (BEST) Sunday reported the arrest of three individuals and the seizure of a sailing vessel and approximately 4,500 pounds of marijuana on the Mississippi Sound south of Bay St. Louis, Miss.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Air and Marine assets located the sailing vessel, "Sarah Moira," an 80-foot steel hull sailboat sailing from the Caribbean into the Gulfport area. BEST assets maintained surveillance until it was boarded by BEST task force members.  The task force members who participated in the operation included ICE's Homeland Security Investigations; CBP's Air & Marine Operations, Office of Border Patrol, and Office of Field Operations; the U.S. Coast Guard; and the Harrison County (Mississippi) Sherriff's Office.  The boarding revealed two large wooden containers in the forward hold of the vessel containing contraband, weighing approximately 4,500 pounds.  The three individuals aboard the vessel were taken into custody and the vessel was brought to the USCG Station in Gulfport, Miss., where the task force worked in a combined effort to offload the seized contraband. 

"Sunday's arrests clearly show how the extensive cooperation of all members of the Gulf Coast BEST can bring to justice a criminal organization that was transporting illegal drugs into the United States," said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans. "This organization was reaping profits by bringing these drugs into the country and distributing them to our communities. ICE and our BEST partners are dedicated to targeting and dismantling criminal organizations that endanger public safety."

"The success of this operation was due to the close collaboration between law enforcement agencies in the region," said Nicholas Doucet, CBP Director Air Operations for the New Orleans Air and Marine Branch. "These partnerships provide for an all-threats multi-agency approach to maritime law enforcement that enhances our effectiveness in securing our borders from those who wish to harm us.  CBP utilizes various aviation and maritime assets throughout the Gulf Coast region to protect the United States from the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs and other contraband toward or across our country's borders."

The Gulf Coast BEST is a DHS initiative established in New Orleans, Gulfport and Mobile, Ala., that is designed as a multi-agency response to address national security and other law enforcement concerns affecting the Gulf Coast.  It is comprised of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, CBP, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard, Internal Revenue Service, and several state and local law enforcement agencies from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.  BEST members are co-located so that they can effectively share information. Close coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies helps to identify and eliminate cross-border criminal organizations such as alien and drug smuggling networks and the infrastructures that sustain them.

This seizure highlights the success of the Gulf Coast BEST and its commitment to identify, disrupt and dismantle dangerous transnational crime which threatens the United States.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1011/101123gulfport.htm

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From the FBI

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Smishing and Vishing

And Other Cyber Scams to Watch Out For This Holiday

11/24/2010

You receive a text me ssage or an automated phone call on your cell phone saying there's a problem with your bank account. You're given a phone number to call or a website to log into and asked to provide personal identifiable information—like a bank account number, PIN, or credit card number—to fix the problem. 

But beware:  It could be a “smishing” or “vishing” scam…and criminals on the other end of the phone or website could be attempting to collect your personal information in order to help themselves to your money. While most cyber scams target your computer, smishing and vishing scams target your mobile phone, and they're becoming a growing threat as a growing number of Americans own mobile phones. (Vishing scams also target land-line phones.)

“Smishing”—a combination of SMS texting and phishing—and “Vishing”—voice and phishing—are two of the scams the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning consumers about as we head into the holiday shopping season. These scams are also a reminder that cyber crimes aren't just for computers anymore. 

Here's how smishing and vishing scams work:   criminals set up an automated dialing system to text or call people in a particular region or area code (or sometimes they use stolen customer phone numbers from banks or credit unions). The victims receive messages like: “There's a problem with your account,” or “Your ATM card needs to be reactivated,” and are directed to a phone number or website asking for personal information. Armed with that information, criminals can steal from victims' bank accounts, charge purchases on their charge cards, create a phony ATM card, etc.

Sometimes, if a victim logs onto one of the phony websites with a smartphone, they could also end up downloading malicious software that could give criminals access to anything on the phone. With the growth of mobile banking and the ability to conduct financial transactions online, smishing and vishing attacks may become even more attractive and lucrative for cyber criminals.

Here are a couple of recent smishing case examples:

• Account holders at one particular credit union, after receiving a text about an account problem, called the phone number in the text, gave out their personal information, and had money withdrawn from their bank accounts within 10 minutes of their calls.
  
  
• Customers at a bank received a text saying they needed to reactivate their ATM card. Some called the phone number in the text and were prompted to provide their ATM card number, PIN, and expiration date. Thousands of fraudulent withdrawals followed.

Other holiday cyber scams to watch out for, according to IC3, include:

• Phishing schemes using e-mails that direct victims to spoofed merchant websites misleading them into providing personal information.
  
  
• Online auction and classified ad fraud, where Internet criminals post products they don't have but charge the consumer's credit card anyway and pocket the money.  
  
  
• Delivery fraud, where online criminals posing as legitimate delivery services offer reduced or free shipping labels for a fee. When the customer tries to ship a package using a phony label, the legitimate delivery service flags it and requests payment from the customer.

For more information about the latest cyber crime scams, visit IC3's website.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/november/cyber_112410/cyber_112410

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