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From the Los Angeles Times

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Obama makes surprise trip to Afghanistan

A dust storm prevents Obama from meeting in person with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The U.S. leader speaks to U.S. troops at Bagram airfield.

By Laura King, Christi Parsons and Aimal Yaqoubi

December 3, 2010

Reporting from Dubai, Washington and Kabul

President Obama made a brief, unannounced visit Friday to Afghanistan. But in a scenario that seemed symbolic of star-crossed U.S. relations with the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the two leaders were unable to meet face to face.

The U.S. president visited American troops at Bagram airfield, a sprawling base north of Kabul. But a massive dust storm prevented him from making the short helicopter trip to meet with Karzai at his presidential palace in the capital, as the two men had planned.

Obama instead reportedly held a videoconference meeting with his Afghan counterpart.

Already tense relations with Karzai have been worsened in recent days by leaked U.S. diplomatic cables portraying the Afghan leader as a weak and paranoid figure at the helm of a government riddled by corruption.

While the broad outlines of this diplomatic depiction came as little surprise, the timing was awkward, coming only days before the White House is expected to complete a major review of the state of the nearly decade-old U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

This has been the war's most lethal year for U.S. forces, and Obama faces intense political pressure to justify the long and costly conflict — a task made more difficult by his own envoy's scathing assessment of Karzai. American criticism of the Afghan president has been widely reported, but the damning details in the leaked documents laid bare a relationship beset by mutual mistrust.

At the presidential palace in Kabul, the red carpet was literally rolled up as it became clear that weather conditions would prevent Obama's visit. Hamid Elmi, the deputy spokesman for Karzai, confirmed that it had been hoped Obama would come to Kabul but conceded flatly: "That will not be happening."

Obama's previous trip to Afghanistan, a little over eight months ago, was a similarly speedy fly-in, but one that left lingering feelings of acrimony on both sides. Karzai's inner circle deeply resented blunt criticisms leveled on the press plane by James L. Jones, the national security advisor, and the White House, for its part, concluded that the Afghan administration did not take seriously enough concerns over graft and corruption.

An aide said Obama had not been carrying any "major new piece" of news Friday to deliver to Karzai. The two men met before Thanksgiving on the sidelines of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Lisbon.

Even the release of diplomatic cables in recent days did not occasion the need for a detailed conversation between the two leaders. The Obama administration has "weathered those kinds of revelations before as it relates to President Karzai and the Afghan government," said the aide, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.

Though Obama missed an opportunity Friday to try to establish some sort of personal chemistry with the increasingly distant and mercurial Afghan leader, his three-hour stay gave him an opportunity to meet with U.S. troops, a holiday season morale boost amid a long slog of war.

The two top U.S. officials in Afghanistan — Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of Western forces in the country, and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry — were on hand to greet the president.

In his speech to troops, delivered in a drafty aircraft hangar, Obama seemingly sought to balance the optimism expressed of late by his field commanders with a somber acknowledgement that Western forces face a resilient and resourceful foe.

"We said we were going to break the Taliban's momentum; that's what we're doing," the president, clad in a leather jacket and dark sweater and slacks, told the assembled troops, who cheered raucously as he listed their branches of service. But he added: "I don't need to tell you this is a tough fight.... Progress comes at a high price."

American commanders have pointed to significant success in recent months in driving Taliban fighters out of districts surrounding Kandahar city, the hub of the south and the Taliban's spiritual base. But it remains to be seen how durable that progress will prove to be. Senior Western commanders have acknowledged that insurgents are likely to regroup in the spring after a winter break in Pakistan.

Most of the troops present at Obama's speech were with the Army's 101st Airborne Division, which is on its fourth combat deployment in recent years to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

In the moments before the president spoke, his hosts broadcast a security reminder — ominous to the visitors, but a daily fact of life for those stationed in Afghanistan.

"If we get indirect fire while this ceremony is going on," the announcement went, "stay put. Do not go anywhere. If you have to do something, get down. Do not move out of this building."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-1204-obama-afghanistan-20101203,0,7077667.story

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Man who killed himself may not have connection to Ronni Chasen slaying

Beverly Hills police wanted to question Harold Martin Smith because a tipster called "America's Most Wanted" saying that the ex-convict had claimed involvement. But police say it's unclear if that's true.

By Harriet Ryan and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

December 4, 2010

She spent her days with the film industry's glamorous and powerful and owned an art-filled condominium in a posh Westwood high-rise. He was a small-time criminal and drug user who slept in halfway houses and rundown apartments in the part of Hollywood tourists rarely visit.

In the two days since ex-convict Harold Martin Smith committed suicide during a confrontation with detectives investigating the murder of Ronni Chasen, there has been intense speculation about the possible link between the movie publicist and the career criminal, with armchair sleuths and legal pundits spinning plots worthy of "Law & Order."

But on Friday the Beverly Hills Police Department, whose officers were seeking to question Smith when he shot himself, said it was possible there was no connection at all.

"At this time, it is unknown if this individual was involved in the Chasen homicide," department spokesman Lt. Tony Lee said in a statement.

He referred to Smith, 43, as a "person of interest" rather than a suspect and said undercover officers were following a tip from the Fox program "America's Most Wanted" when they approached him in the lobby of a gritty apartment building on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Lee declined further comment and the details of the incident, including whether Smith knew why police wanted to talk to him, were unclear. At the time of his death, there was a warrant for his arrest in connection with a Manhattan Beach misdemeanor charge and, according to neighbors, Smith had vowed to die rather than return to custody. Law enforcement sources said Smith did not comply with orders to raise his hands, instead backing up, pulling out a gun and shooting himself in the head.

John Walsh, the host of "America's Most Wanted," said a man phoned the show's tip hotline three days after a Nov. 20 program that included a segment on Chasen's death. The man told an operator that someone he knew was claiming involvement in the crime.

"He said, 'I think I know this guy. Someone has been bragging about it or talking about it and this is a dangerous guy and I'm afraid,' " Walsh said. He told an operator that he was too frightened to provide Smith's address.

"We begged the guy to call back," Walsh said. A week later, on Tuesday, he phoned again and said Smith was expected to visit the apartment building, where he had once lived, the next evening.

"We gave it to Beverly Hills right away and they rolled on it quite quickly," Walsh said.

Smith had been arrested seven times for crimes ranging from misdemeanor drug possession to felony robbery. The records suggest that 13 years ago Smith had some animus toward police. A note in the minutes of a 1997 proceeding stemming from an arrest for misdemeanor disturbing the peace and possession of drug paraphernalia reads, "Public safety hold. Threaten to kill police officer."

Smith's most serious crime, according to the records, was a 1998 robbery in Beverly Hills in which he was accused of stealing a Sony Walkman and other items from two women. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 11 years in state prison. He was released in 2007. In August 2009, Manhattan Beach police found him loitering outside a woman's home and charged him with misdemeanor prowling and marijuana possession.

He was sentenced to three years' probation and a month in county jail, but in September, after he failed to pay a $100 court fine, a judge in the Torrance courthouse revoked his probation and issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

Parole records obtained by The Times indicate that Smith had worked for a short time as a laborer after his release from prison but was unemployed earlier this year. He had recently been evicted from the Harvey Apartments. However, he spoke about an upcoming $10,000 windfall, one neighbor recalled.

Chasen was shot to death in her Mercedes on Nov. 16 as she drove home from a premiere party for the movie "Burlesque." Investigators initially described the case as wide-open. They have served multiple search warrants in the case but have refused to discuss the status of their investigation.

Walsh said he was "hoping and praying" ballistics tests would show Smith was involved in Chasen's death.

"Lots of people confess to crimes they didn't do for their 15 minutes of fame. I'm hoping this isn't just another nutcase," he said.

He declined to divulge any information about the tipster but said the man remains in telephone contact with the show.

"We talked to him today and he feels he did the right thing," Walsh said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ronni-chasen-20101204,0,1715595,print.story

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Police officer Henry Munoz rewards a white rat being trained to sniff out explosives.

On Colombian minefields, rats may become man's best friends Scientists train the critters to sniff out explosives. They do the job better, and more cheaply, than dogs. By Chris Kraul Los Angeles Times December 4, 2010 Reporting from Bogota, Colombia Rats may soon become heroic figures in this nation's struggle to detect and dispose of land mines. Early next year, anti-narcotics police will begin deploying squads of rats to sniff out land mines in remote areas of Colombia where leftist rebels and drug traffickers have planted hundreds of thousands of the deadly devices.

It's an unconventional initiative in a country that is second only to Afghanistan in the number of land mine victims.

Using a project in Tanzania as a model, Colombian scientists have taught rats to detect mines buried as deep as 3 feet. The rats are conditioned to search and burrow down for explosives in exchange for the reward of sugar.

The rebels, principally the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, planted the mines to defend encampments from soldiers and coca plantations from peasants hired to eradicate the crops. Coca is the base material of cocaine, which is a major source of revenue for the FARC.

Last year, 695 people were killed by mines in Colombia, 56 of them children.

Rats have the advantage over bomb-sniffing dogs of being so light that they do not detonate explosives, as canines sometimes do. And researchers have found that the rodents are more adept than dogs at sensing explosives when the materials have been masked with coffee grounds, feces, fish, mercury and other substances.

"The more I work with rats, the more I am amazed at what they can do," said Luisa Fernanda Mendez, a civilian behavioral veterinarian in charge of the rat-training project.

Like dogs, the rodents can be trained to obey commands such as "search," "stop" and "let's go." But rats, being less social than other creatures, are not as likely to be distracted by other animals in the countryside.

Using rats in place of dogs also makes sense from an economic standpoint, with seven rats costing about one-tenth what the police spend to maintain one bomb-sniffing dog, Mendez said. (Not to mention that not many people care whether a rat dies, Mendez said.)

After enthusing about rats' abilities, Mendez was asked about downsides. She said the main one is the revulsion they inspire in most people. So police have no plan to use them in airports, public buildings, checkpoints or meeting places, where the search for bombs involves human interaction. Dogs will keep those jobs.

"We see rats working just in minefields for the time being," Mendez said from her laboratory in north Bogota, where several kittens were running around. The cats were there so the rodents would lose their fear of them and become less prone to getting spooked when working in minefields.

Even as the numbers of land mine victims have declined in Colombia from the 1,183 killed or wounded in 2006, the toll on manual eradicators has soared as the mines have become harder to detect and rebels have planted them in greater quantities in and around coca crops.

The toll on eradicators, who for the most part are unemployed peasants or poor farmers, has risen so fast that the Colombian Campaign Against Mines, a civil society group based in Bogota, has called for the suspension of the teams.

Director Alvaro Jimenez said their use is a violation of a 1977 treaty signed in Ottawa that requires governments to do everything possible to keep civilians away from the risks of minefields

The Colombian government's hope is that the rats could make the operations safer.

Asked whether other creatures had been considered for the job, Mendez said rats were chosen over other "small mammals" because they can be bred easily and in large numbers in laboratories.

Furthermore, rats have a highly developed intelligence that has enabled them to survive despite "being the most preyed-upon animal in history," Mendez said.

"They even train their babies to perform their jobs, which saves us a lot of time," Mendez said. "Rats also concentrate better than other mammals to solve problems. They want their reward."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-colombia-rats-20101204,0,7210218.story

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From the New York Times

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Millions Bracing for Cutoff of Unemployment Aid

More than two million jobless Americans are entering the holiday season seized with varying levels of foreboding, worry or even panic over what lies ahead as they cope with the expected cutoff of their unemployment benefits.

Their economic fates are now connected on a taut string to skirmishing between Democrats and Republicans in Washington over whether to extend federal financing for unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.

Tuesday marked the expiration of a pair of federal programs that had extended unemployment benefits anywhere from 34 to 73 weeks on top of the 26 weeks already provided by the states.

The federal extensions have been customary in past recessions and their aftermath, but they have become ensnared lately in political jousting over the soaring budget deficit.

Some recipients have already received their final checks. If the impasse remains unresolved, others will see their payments lapse in the coming days or weeks, depending on how long they have been receiving benefits.

By the end of December, more than two million are set to lose their extended benefits, according to estimates by the National Employment Law Project, and about a million more by the end of January.

While benefits have lapsed twice before in this downturn because of Congressional bickering -- the last time, in June and July, payments were interrupted for 51 days -- advocates for the unemployed are worried that if the issue is not resolved by the current lame-duck session of Congress, prospects in the next, with Republicans ascendant, are even slimmer.

That would mean a new reality facing legions of people across the country: a cutoff after six months of benefits for anyone out of work.

MICHAEL LUO

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In Washington, Partisan Gridlock

WASHINGTON — With jobless benefits starting to run out for up two million of the long-term unemployed, Senate Democrats this week repeatedly tried to bring up a bill that would prolong aid for a year, only to hear Republicans object and block the legislation. Democrats, in turn, rejected Republican counterproposals.

In both the Senate and House, Democrats are pressing the case for jobless aid on two fronts, arguing that it is both the moral and humanitarian thing to do — especially during the holiday season — and that it is also an effective policy mechanism to help stimulate the economy.

“Unemployment insurance, the economists tell us, returns $2 for every dollar that is put out there,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said in a floor speech on Thursday. “People need the money. They spend it immediately for necessities. It injects demand into the economy. It helps reduce the deficit.”

Republicans said they would be willing to extend benefits provided that Democrats agree to cut spending elsewhere to cover the cost, sparking indignation among Democrats who noted that the Republicans never insist on offsetting the revenue lost through tax cuts.

A deal to extend the aid is likely, but only as part of a wider agreement on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, and it is unclear how long that will take.

One exchange on the Senate floor, between Senators Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Scott P. Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, was emblematic of the debate.

“In my state of Rhode Island, people are in a very serious situation,” Mr. Reed said. “They are struggling to stay in their homes, to educate their children, to deal with the challenges of everyday life. They have worked hard and long all their lives, and now they are finding it difficult to get a job.”

Mr. Reed noted that Congress has always extended jobless benefits in times of high unemployment.

“We have always done it on an emergency basis because it truly is an emergency,” he said. “We have always determined that it was necessary to get the money to the people who could use it, who needed it desperately, and we should do that again.”

Moments later, when Mr. Reed asked for the Senate's unanimous agreement to consider his bill, Mr. Brown was waiting. “I object,” Mr. Brown said. “And I have a pay-for alternative on which I would like to speak.”

Mr. Brown proposed that money previously appropriated but not yet spent be redirected for the jobless aid. “The recent job numbers in Massachusetts reflect over 280,000 people unemployed in my state alone — over 8 percent of the Massachusetts work force. As the senator from Rhode Island mentioned — and I know Rhode Island well; I eat in Federal Hill regularly — the unemployment is much higher there.”

Mr. Brown noted that within just six and a half hours benefits would start to run out. “I don't want this to happen,” he said. “If we fail to act today, 60,000 Bay Staters will see their unemployment checks evaporate at the end of the week.”

Mr. Brown then asked unanimous consent for the Senate to take up his proposal. Mr. Reed, however, was waiting. “I object,” he said.

DAVID HERSZENHORN

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Lessons in Making Do With Less and Less

ORLANDO, Fla. — People used to living on little learn a lot of tricks to get by.

How long to ignore the notices before the power really gets shut off, for example. Or how many days past the freshness date stamped on a package of bologna is one day too many.

But the people walking into the Community Food and Outreach Center here have often run out of options. And now they may soon have to learn to be even poorer.

It is the responsibility of the center's staff to try to help them deal with this new level of doing without.

“We already turn off the AC and pretty much eat those dollar noodles with the seasoning packet,” said Jacynth Allen, who at 47 finds herself for the first time among the long-term unemployed.

Workers here are preparing to increase by about 30 percent the amount of food they have available, just one example of preparations occurring across the country as social service providers brace for what they expect to be a surge of people in need.

With the memory of the onslaught that occurred when unemployment benefits lapsed over the summer, the center is planning one of its most aggressive food drives ever, along with a campaign to drum up donations and volunteers, said Andrae Bailey, the executive director.

The organization is also planning to invite governmental agencies and other nonprofits to set up on campus to offer assistance.

“These families don't know how to navigate through an economic crisis,” he said. “Their support system is already depleted. They have nothing left to sell and no one left to ask. And now they are going to lose the $250 they use for housing and food.”

It is among the center's aisles of free bread and deeply discounted packaged food that the simple daily challenge of being newly poor shows itself. Trying to put together a meal when even a dime makes a difference is bewildering for someone who used to stroll down the aisle at the grocery store with only a casual interest in coupons.

How do you plan a menu around a random collection that might include a tube of anchovy paste, a can of mandarin orange slices and a slightly crushed box of Ritz crackers?

The relative value of the little things a household takes for granted — plastic garbage bags, toothpaste — must be weighed against an extra box of cereal or a package of off-brand cookies that might soften the situation, if only for a few bites.

Troy O'Dell, 42, rejected a dented family-size can of tomato soup the food bank had marked at $1.29. He knew he could get it at a grocery outlet for 89 cents.

Mr. O'Dell resents having to even think about the price of a can of soup. He's a dry waller who was never out of work until a couple of years ago. He figures he has one unemployment check left.

He says he will have to get even smarter about stretching his food bank supplies to feed him and his 14-year-old daughter.

The deer he shot a few days ago will help. With his last unemployment check, he plans to buy an $8 seasoning packet so he can make 40 pounds of venison jerky.

“That way, it'll last longer,” he said.

KIM SEVERSON

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Mounting Bills And Pessimism

FAIRBURN, Ga. — Frank Sanders can visualize how his tidy, green-shuttered mobile home will deteriorate if he does not regain unemployment benefits.

His living room furniture? It is scheduled to be repossessed. The kitchen? He is already stockpiling canned food donated by churches. The mobile home itself? By next month, he will have spent his last rent money, and then Mr. Sanders, a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his job as a welder last year, is bracing for the possibility of homelessness.

“We're running low on time,” said Mr. Sanders, a bulky former Air Force parachutist who lives with his disabled wife, Ruth, in this small Atlanta suburb. Their monthly income of $948 in Social Security benefits does not cover her medical expenses, let alone their car, phone, rent, food or electrical costs, he said. “The bills just keep piling up.”

Add to that grim outlook a new concern: This week is the first since Mr. Sanders lost his job in May 2009 that they will not receive $323 in government unemployment benefits. Unless Congress approves a measure extending federal assistance for the long-term unemployed, they will be among more than two million jobless Americans who will lose their benefits by the end of this month. So there is a special urgency to Mr. Sanders's daily trips around town in his Chevy Trailblazer, applying for jobs at fast-food restaurants, construction sites and retail stores. An artist by hobby, he also paints landscapes on common items — milk jugs, vinyl records, buzz saws — and sells them for $15.

Such hardship is humbling. Raised in a working-class family and employed all of his life until last year, Mr. Sanders went to a food bank for a donated Thanksgiving turkey. “I'm supposed to be the provider, I'm supposed to be taking care of the situation,” he said. “There I am begging for food.”

He lost his job at a factory that welds equipment for bulldozers in Lafayette, Ind., amid a companywide downsizing. His wife's daughter lives in Georgia, so they moved here this year, hoping he could find work as a carpenter or construction worker, but so far he has not received any offers. For “good luck,” he recently placed a large golden Buddha statue in his living room. But he admits that he is pessimistic. The state unemployment rate is 10 percent. Every evening, he watches C-Span, hoping for news that Congress has passed the extensions, and ends up yelling at the television.

“I'm wondering where the next dollar is going to come from, or the next meal,” he said. “When I'm not looking for work, my day is filled with a lot of pacing back and forth.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/04unemployed.html?_r=1&ref=us&pagewanted=print

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8 Urns in ‘Unknown' Grave at Arlington Spur Inquiry

WASHINGTON — The Army has opened a criminal investigation after the discovery of eight urns of cremated remains of soldiers in a grave marked “unknown” in Arlington National Cemetery, an Army official said this week.

Cemetery records showed that there was only one set of remains buried in the grave, said Kaitlin Horst, a spokeswoman for the cemetery. But in late October, when eight urns were found, cemetery officials “became aware of questionable practices,” and asked the Army to investigate.

The military has since identified three sets of remains, through tags in the urns that identified the morgues, said Christopher P. Grey, spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command . A forensic expert determined that a fourth urn's remains would not be identifiable. Ms. Horst said cemetery officials were in the process of notifying the families for the three sets of remains that Army officials had identified.

The military is searching for the identities of the remains in the last four urns, a formidable challenge without identifying tags, Mr. Grey said. The contents of the urns — ash and bone — are not usable for DNA identification, he said.

“There's not a lot to work with,” he said.

The investigation follows an official Army report on mismanagement of the cemetery by its former superintendent, John C. Metzler Jr., who was reprimanded in June for failing to properly oversee it. The report found gravesites improperly marked, discrepancies between cemetery maps and gravesites, and unmarked graves. That report followed a year of investigative articles on the cemetery by Salon.com.

In July, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said the number of graves at Arlington that could be unmarked or mislabeled on maps was as many as 6,600, The Associated Press reported.

Army and cemetery officials were inclined to view much of that failure as sloppy management, but October's discovery sent signals of a potentially deeper problem, Mr. Grey said.

“Eight sets of human remains in one location was very suspect,” he said. “You don't just take remains and bury them anywhere you want.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/04arlington.html?ref=us

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In a First for Obama, Nine Pardons Are Granted

WASHINGTON — For the first time since taking office nearly two years ago, President Obama exercised his clemency powers on Friday by granting pardons to nine people.

For the most part, the cases were for small-scale offenses committed many years ago. Six of the nine people had served only probation for their convictions.

“The president was moved by the strength of the applicants' postconviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions,” said Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman.

All nine had applied for pardons through the normal review process at the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which had recommended that the president grant clemency in each case, the department said.

By making his first clemency grants 682 days into his presidency, Mr. Obama narrowly avoided surpassing former President George W. Bush's record for the longest wait for a presidential pardon, according to data compiled by P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., and the editor of the Pardon Power blog. Mr. Bush issued his first set of pardons in late December of his second year as president.

Margaret Colgate Love, a former United States pardon attorney who now represents clemency seekers, said she was pleased the wait was over.

“I'm very glad he's gotten started, and I hope that he will look seriously at the hundreds of cases that are awaiting his consideration,” she said.

Samuel T. Morison, a former staff attorney in the pardon office who left recently after 13 years, said the small-scale nature of the first round of grants suggested that the Obama administration would continue the “conservative” approach under Mr. Bush.

“While I'm sure the grantees are all grateful, as they should be, this reflects the department's continuing program to reserve pardon only for old and minor offenses, as they did in the Bush administration, as opposed to anyone who can demonstrate genuine rehabilitation and/or need for relief,” Mr. Morison said.

Four cases involved cocaine-related offenses: Timothy James Gallagher of Navasota, Tex., who was sentenced to three years' probation in 1982; Roxane Kay Hettinger of Powder Springs, Ga., who was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years' probation in 1986; Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr. of Minot, N.D., who served 24 months in a military brig following a court-martial in 1994; and Floretta Leavy of Rockford, Ill., who was sentenced in 1984 to a year and a day in prison and three years on special parole.

None of the others pardoned Friday served any time for their convictions, according to a White House release.

They were: James Bernard Banks of Liberty, Utah, who was sentenced to two years' probation in 1972 for illegal possession of government property; Russell James Dixon of Clayton, Ga., who received two years' probation for a felony liquor law violation in 1960; Laurens Dorsey of Syracuse, N.Y., who was sentenced to five years' probation and restitution of $71,000 for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration in 1998; Ronald Lee Foster of Beaver Falls, Pa., who was sentenced to a year of probation and a $20 fine for mutilating coins in 1963; and Scoey Lathaniel Morris of Crosby, Tex., who was sentenced to three years' probation and restitution of $1,200 for passing counterfeit bills in 1999.

In October, Mr. Obama denied 605 petitions for a commuted sentence and 71 requests for a pardon. Late last month, he denied 552 commutation petitions and 60 pardon requests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/politics/04pardon.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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EDITORIAL

Facing Health Problems (and Bedbugs)

Allison Moultry needed many things in November 2009: surgery to treat a pulmonary artery aneurysm; a doctor to diagnose the lump in her breast; and help paying bills after her heart condition meant she could not do her job as a day care provider. She did not need bedbugs.

Ms. Moultry first noticed bites on the youngest of her three boys, Brenton. She showed Brenton's bites to a friend, who walked straight to Ms. Moultry's couch and lifted up the cushions. They were in the couch, beds, chairs and dressers. “I had to throw everything out,” Ms. Moultry said.

Her family was surviving on the limited income of her husband, Kerry Cunningham, a building superintendent, and on Social Security assistance for Brenton, who is disabled. Ms. Moultry managed to have her apartment exterminated and replace most of her furniture on a rent-to-own basis, but she needed help.

Brooklyn Community Services, one of seven beneficiary agencies of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, helped, drawing $234 from the fund to purchase a twin bed and box spring for Brenton. It also paid off arrears the family had accumulated during the ordeal: a $500 electric bill and $267 gas bill.

Ms. Moultry is now in treatment, covered by Medicaid, for both her heart condition and breast cancer. “At least my baby has a bed to sleep on,” she said. “That is a great relief.”

All donations made to The Times's Neediest Cases Fund go to one of seven charities: The Children's Aid Society; Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service; The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York; Catholic Charities, Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens; The Community Service Society of New York; The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies; and UJA-Federation of New York.

To help, please send a check to: The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, 4 Chase Metrotech Center, 7th Floor East, Lockbox 5193, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11245. You may also call (800) 381-0075 and use a credit card, or you may donate at: www.nycharities.org/neediest

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/opinion/04sat4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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Neo-Nazi guilty of grave vandalism

Desecrated nearly 70 Jewish tombs at suburban cemetery

December 4, 2010

BY DAN ROZEK

A neo-Nazi was convicted Friday of desecrating nearly 70 Jewish graves at a suburban cemetery with spray-painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti.

An official for Westlawn Cemetery found it appropriate that Mariusz Wdziekonski was convicted of the felony vandalism charges during Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights in the Jewish faith.

"Hopefully, we can expose with some light -- during the season of light -- the evils in which this defendant was engaged," said Marc Jacobs, president of Temple Sholom of Chicago, which owns the cemetery in Norridge Park Township.

A Cook County jury deliberated for barely two hours before convicting the 24-year-old Wdziekonski of vandalizing 67 headstones and memorials at the cemetery.

The Norridge man spray-painted swastikas, Nazi slogans and slurs -- including "Aryan power" and "white power" -- on the cemetery markers during a January 2008 vandalism spree.

Wdziekonski admitted being a neo-Nazi but denied that he vandalized the cemetery, saying he was working and visiting a friend around the time the graves were desecrated.

Cook County sheriff's police officers testified that Wdziekonski at first denied but ultimately admitted he vandalized the graves.

The five-man, seven-woman jury took "a couple" of test votes during its deliberations before convicting Wdziekonski, jury foreman Jesse Johnson said after the verdicts were announced.

Johnson said he was struck by Wdziekonski's lack of remorse over his actions.

"I think the main thing was that he was proud of what he did," Johnson said.

Prosecutors said they were pleased with the guilty verdicts.

"I'm really happy the jury saw him for who he was. It's good to see justice served," said Assistant State's Attorney Lauren Brown, who with Karan Baltazar prosecuted Wdziekonski.

Wdziekonski faces a possible three- to seven-year prison term when he is sentenced, but by law he would serve only half of whatever penalty is imposed upon him.

He likely will serve little or no additional time behind bars because he already has been jailed for nearly three years -- since his Jan. 31, 2008 arrest.

But the felony convictions mean Wdziekonski, a Polish immigrant who has been in the United States since 2004, ultimately could face deportation, authorities said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2943928,CST-NWS-nazi1204.article

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From CBS News

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14-Year-Old Alleged Hitman "El Ponchis" Arrested in Mexico

CUERNAVACA, Mexico (CBS/AP) -- A 14 year-old U.S. citizen suspected of being a hired hitman for a Mexican drug cartel was arrested today as he attempted to board a plane to travel back to the United States from Mexico.

Edgar Jimenez, nicknamed "El Ponchis" worked for the South Pacific Cartel since he was 11, according army officials who apprehended him.

Jimenez was captured with his 16-year -old sister who told reporters they planned to cross the border to San Diego, California to see their mother.

"I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me," the boy told reporters calmly when he was handed over to the federal prosecutor Friday morning, showing no remorse.

"El Ponchis" made grisly headlines in Mexico when reports of murders he allegedly committed surfaced.

The Mexican daily paper La Razon reported in November that he was allegedly paid $3,000 for each murder.

The attorney general for Morelos state said the two would turned over to state authorities, who handle crimes committed by minors in Mexico.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20024607-504083.html

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From Google News

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$5M to help curb drugs

State apportions federal aid to try to stop deaths caused by painkillers

The money will be distributed through 50 county alcohol, drug-addiction and mental-health services boards statewide and will be used to treat an estimated 3,000 people.

However, 20 counties - Franklin and others mostly in southeastern Ohio - will receive more money because they have the highest incidence of accidental drug deaths per capita in the state.

"Pain medication, when abused, ceases to treat pain and instead causes it," Gov. Ted Strickland said in a statement announcing the funding. "Too many lives have been lost and too many people have become lost chasing these pills. These additional resources will help counties serve Ohioans that have fallen victim to this devastating epidemic and take precautions to prevent additional instances of abuse."

Franklin County will receive about 10percent of the total amount, including an extra $20,000 because, on average, 12.5 people per capita die in the county each year of accidental drug overdoses.

Of the total, about $4.5million will be distributed through the usual formula for funding county agencies. The remaining $547,860 will be divided among the 20 counties with the highest drug-overdose death rates. In addition to Franklin, they are Adams, Athens, Brown, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Crawford, Fayette, Greene, Hardin, Hocking, Jackson, Jefferson, Montgomery, Preble, Ross, Scioto, Trumbull and Vinton.

Jackson County, for example, has an annual per-capita death rate of 22.5, the highest in the state, and will receive a total of $63,462.

"Most of us, if not all of us, know someone, or a loved one, touched by addiction," said Angela C. Dawson, director of the Ohio Department of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Services. "Our goal at all times must be to ensure services remain well-funded and accessible to all who need them and to help reduce the stigma that underlies the disease of addiction."

The $5 million comes from increased federal reimbursement for Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor. Congress granted a six-month extension of allocation of money, which was set to expire Dec. 31.

The allocation must be approved by the State Controlling Board; a vote is expected Dec. 13.

The federal funding follows work by the Ohio Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, formed by Strickland earlier this year. The task force issued its final report and recommendations Oct. 1.

Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, Ohio health director and a task force member, said an average of four Ohioans die each day from unintentional drug overdoses involving prescription drugs or opiates. "These funds will help prevent future overdoses by providing drug abusers with access to critical treatment services," he said.

The Ohio death rate from accidental drug poisoning increased more than 300 percent from 1999 to 2007. It is the leading cause of injury death in Ohio.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/04/5m-to-help-curb-drugs.html?sid=101

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Mitchell a longtime pedophile, his accusers say

By Stephen Hunt

The Salt Lake Tribune

Jurors heard evidence Friday that Brian David Mitchell — on trial for kidnapping and sexually assaulting the then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in 2002 — is a longtime pedophile with a history of using religion to justify his crimes.

LouRee Gayler testified she was between 12 and 14 years old when Mitchell, her stepfather, would show her pictures of nude women while they prayed alongside her mother, Wanda Barzee.

“I'd open, and then close, my eyes,” said Gayler, who testified Mitchell would lay the pictures on the bed, then nudge her to make her look. “I felt it was wrong.”

And when Mitchell came to her room to say good night, Gayler said, “He'd caress me way too much. His hugs were too long. He'd brush up against my breasts.” At other times he would kiss her on the lips, despite her requests to stop, or thrust his pelvis at her.

Mitchell and Barzee took no pains to hide their sexual relations from Gayler, and Barzee often discussed her sex life with the girl.

“Religion was used as an excuse for their behavior,” Gayler said. “They could treat anybody anyway they wanted and repent so they didn't have to answer to their wrong doings.”

Gayler, now in her 30s, also provided testimony supporting the prosecution claim that Mitchell is a master manipulator — not an insane religious zealot as his defense asserts.

“He'd play games … with the people closest to him — mind games to get more dominance,” Gayler testified. “Power was important to Brian. He could never get enough.”

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50803321-76/mitchell-gayler-friday-testified.html.csp

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