POSTED: 5:14 pm EDT April 7, 2008 UPDATED: 11:04 pm EDT April 7, 2008
POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- Video was released late Monday afternoon showing a brutal beating at the hands of a gang of teenage girls. Their motivation for the attack was apparently so they could post the video on YouTube. The victim reported the attack after she was beaten so badly she had to be treated at the hospital. That's when the sheriff's office started looking into it and learned about the video.
The sheriff calls it shocking, saying he's never seen anything like it. It was a vicious attack all captured on home video inside a Polk County home.
When 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay arrived at her friend's house where she had been staying, six girls were waiting. Immediately, they started yelling and one girl began pummeling the victim.
On the video, the girls can be heard encouraging the fight in the background, even taunting Lindsay to fight back, all while one of them held the camera. The victim's family has said it was an elaborate plot to injure and embarrass Victoria Lindsay.
The 16-year-old suffered a concussion, eye injuries and several bruises. During the attack, two others were outside keeping watch according to the sheriff's office. In fact, the sheriff said, Lindsay was lured into the home for the sole purpose of capturing and posting the video on the Internet. According to the sheriff's office arrest affidavit, Lindsay told deputies they "were going to post the beating on MySpace and YouTube." Lindsay's parents couldn't believe their daughter had to endure the attack.
"That's my 'Tori, don't do that to my 'Tori," said the victim's mother.
Instead, it's the sheriff's office that ended up releasing it to the media and now all eight suspects accused of making it happen are charged with very serious crimes. All suspects face charges for false imprisonment and battery. Three of them were charged with kidnapping because, the sheriff's office said, they forced Lindsay into a car and drove her to another location after the beating.
The suspects were identified as 17-year-old Mercades Nichols, 17-year-old Brittini Hardcastle, 14-year-old April Cooper, 16-year-old Cara Murphy, 17-year-old Britney Mayes and 15-year-old Kayla Hassell. Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18, were identified by deputies as the lookouts. All six of the girls attend Mulberry High School, according to the sheriff's office arrest affidavit.
"They weren't really involved, i don't know. I'm just overwhelmed by all of it. I don't know why the girls have them involved," said Debbie Shumaker, Stephen's mother.
...................................................................................................................................... impossibility is a word found only in the dictionary of fools
Just where is all that global warming pollution coming from?
The Northeast pumps out an awful lot of carbon dioxide, but the Southeast, Midwest and Southern California are also responsible for voluminous pollution that billows out each day.
The precise sources of carbon dioxide have now been mapped, with 100 times more detail than was previously available, by Vulcan project researchers at Purdue University.
The high-resolution, interactive maps combine emissions data from power plants, factories and vehicles, and produces maps and movies that compare the relative contribution of pollution from various parts of the country on an hourly basis. One of the most striking things one sees when watching the animations is the day-night "breathing" cycle of our pollution, with a long exhale of pollution all day, followed by a sharp decline each night. Seasonal spikes – such as those when hot days prompt millions of Americans to turn up their air conditioners – are also evident.
The maps also highlight an important political reality: While states in the Northeast, upper Midwest and West have agreed to state-level compacts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the nation's pollution won't be significantly cut until the South joins in. Depending on the estimate, the U.S. is the world's biggest, or second-biggest (next to China) producer of greenhouse gas emissions; it produces 25% of the world's carbon dioxide pollution, the key ingredient in atmospheric change fueling global warming.
"Before now the only thing policy-makers could do was take a big blunt tool and bang the U.S. economy with it," said Kevin Gurney, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at Purdue University and leader of the project. "Now we have more quantifiable information about what is happening in neighborhoods, on roads and in industrial areas, and track the CO2 by the hour. This offers policy-makers something akin to a scalpel instead."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- God Bless America - God Bless Immigrants - God Bless Poor Misguided Souls Too Mr S.U.
Lots of things will be done about it. And it will be driven (and implemented in practice) by natural market forces rather than stern policy making from above. There will be new energy sources used, hydro-engines will be running cars and there will be great boom in the sectors of business participating as pioneers in this new trend.
It's all still in future, though not so remote (already).
Federal employees charged millions of dollars for Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, lavish dinners and other questionable expenses to their government credit cards over a 15-month period, congressional auditors say.
Consumer Electronics What happened to $1.8 million worth of iPods, laptops and digital cameras purchased by dozens of government agencies in 2005 and 2006? Well, they're not really sure.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, examined spending controls across the federal government following reports of credit-card abuse at departments including Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure - either because they were not properly authorized or they had not been signed for by an independent third party as called for in federal rules to deter fraud.
For purchases over $2,500, nearly half - or 48 percent - were unauthorized or improperly received.
Out of a sample of purchases totaling $2.7 million, the government could not account for hundreds of laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras worth more than $1.8 million. In one case, the U.S. Army could not say what happened to computer items making up 16 server configurations, each of which cost nearly $100,000.
Agencies often could not provide the required paperwork to justify questionable purchases. Investigators also found that federal employees sometimes double-billed or improperly expensed lavish meals and Internet dating for many months without question from supervisors; the charges were often noticed only after auditors or whistle-blowers raised questions.
"Breakdowns in internal controls over the use of purchase cards leave the government highly vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse," investigators wrote, calling the governmentwide failure rate in enforcing controls "unacceptably high."
"This audit demonstrates that continued vigilance over purchase card use is necessary," the 57-page report stated.
The report calls for the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget, both of which help administer the government's credit-card program, to set guidance to improve accounting for purchased items, particularly Palm Pilots, iPods and other electronic equipment that could be easily stolen.
OMB and GSA were also urged to tighten controls over convenience checks, which are a part of the credit-card program, and to remind federal employees that they will be held responsible for any items if the purchases are later deemed improper.
In response, both OMB and GSA agreed with portions of the report. But GSA administrator Lurita Doan noted the vast majority of federal employees use their cards properly and that many oversight measures already are in place. She acknowledged there is room for improvement but added that by using purchase cards the federal government saves about $1.8 billion in administrative costs each year.
"We agree that no level of abuse or misuse is acceptable," Doan wrote.
The GAO study comes amid increasing scrutiny of purchase cards, which are used by 300,000 federal employees and are directly payable by the U.S. government.
The AP reported Sunday that VA employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image. Government auditors have been investigating these and similar charges, citing past spending abuses.
In Tuesday's report, investigators did not seek to determine the extent of fraud or waste at each agency. They cited numerous cases of questionable spending, which they said represented what could be found government-wide, including the VA.
"The purchase card is a useful tool for the government, and in no way are we suggesting it shouldn't continue to be used widely," said Gregory D. Kutz, GAO's managing director of forensic audits and special investigations, in a telephone interview. "However, I would say these cases once again show that lack of internal controls cost taxpayers millions of dollars and thus continued focus is needed on improving these controls."
Among the expenditures cited in the report:
An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA's inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower. The employee, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges, was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison and ordered to repay the money.
U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.
In the Internet dating case, a postmaster charged $1,100 over 15 months for two online services, including the Ashley Madison Agency. The expenses went unnoticed for more than a year even though he was under internal investigation for viewing ****ography on a government computer. The postmaster was eventually told to repay the Internet charges but faced no disciplinary action.
At the Pentagon, four employees purchased $77,700 in clothing and accessories at high-end clothing and sporting goods stores. The spending included more than $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and similar stores for tailor-made suits - $7,000 of which were purchased a week before Christmas. The credit-card holders said the items were for service members working at U.S. embassies with civilian attire. Pentagon rules allow purchases of civilian clothing when performing official duty, but generally only up to $860 per person.
Justice Department and FBI employees charged $11,000 at a Ritz Carlton hotel for coffee and "light" refreshments for 50 to 70 attendees for four days, averaging about $50 per person. Seventy percent of the total conference cost of $15,000 was for the food and beverages, while audiovisual and other support services totaled only about $4,000, or 30 percent of the charges. It was not clear what action, if any, that Justice took in light of the conference expenses, which GAO deemed excessive.
At the State Department, one credit-card holder bought $360 worth of women's lingerie at Seduccion Boutique for use during jungle training by trainees of a drug enforcement program in Ecuador. One State Department official later agreed that the charge was questionable and stated that he would not have approved the purchase had he known about it.
"Too many government employees have viewed purchase cards as their personal line of credit," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on investigations, which requested the GAO report. "When money that was intended to pay for critical infrastructure, education and homeland security is instead being spent on iPods, lingerie and socializing, we must immediately remedy the problem."
Your Tax Dollars At Work .. or Play American Exploitation at its Best
Federal employees charged millions of dollars for Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, lavish dinners and other questionable expenses to their government credit cards over a 15-month period, congressional auditors say.
Consumer Electronics What happened to $1.8 million worth of iPods, laptops and digital cameras purchased by dozens of government agencies in 2005 and 2006? Well, they're not really sure.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, examined spending controls across the federal government following reports of credit-card abuse at departments including Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure - either because they were not properly authorized or they had not been signed for by an independent third party as called for in federal rules to deter fraud.
For purchases over $2,500, nearly half - or 48 percent - were unauthorized or improperly received.
Out of a sample of purchases totaling $2.7 million, the government could not account for hundreds of laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras worth more than $1.8 million. In one case, the U.S. Army could not say what happened to computer items making up 16 server configurations, each of which cost nearly $100,000.
Agencies often could not provide the required paperwork to justify questionable purchases. Investigators also found that federal employees sometimes double-billed or improperly expensed lavish meals and Internet dating for many months without question from supervisors; the charges were often noticed only after auditors or whistle-blowers raised questions.
"Breakdowns in internal controls over the use of purchase cards leave the government highly vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse," investigators wrote, calling the governmentwide failure rate in enforcing controls "unacceptably high."
"This audit demonstrates that continued vigilance over purchase card use is necessary," the 57-page report stated.
The report calls for the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget, both of which help administer the government's credit-card program, to set guidance to improve accounting for purchased items, particularly Palm Pilots, iPods and other electronic equipment that could be easily stolen.
OMB and GSA were also urged to tighten controls over convenience checks, which are a part of the credit-card program, and to remind federal employees that they will be held responsible for any items if the purchases are later deemed improper.
In response, both OMB and GSA agreed with portions of the report. But GSA administrator Lurita Doan noted the vast majority of federal employees use their cards properly and that many oversight measures already are in place. She acknowledged there is room for improvement but added that by using purchase cards the federal government saves about $1.8 billion in administrative costs each year.
"We agree that no level of abuse or misuse is acceptable," Doan wrote.
The GAO study comes amid increasing scrutiny of purchase cards, which are used by 300,000 federal employees and are directly payable by the U.S. government.
The AP reported Sunday that VA employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image. Government auditors have been investigating these and similar charges, citing past spending abuses.
In Tuesday's report, investigators did not seek to determine the extent of fraud or waste at each agency. They cited numerous cases of questionable spending, which they said represented what could be found government-wide, including the VA.
"The purchase card is a useful tool for the government, and in no way are we suggesting it shouldn't continue to be used widely," said Gregory D. Kutz, GAO's managing director of forensic audits and special investigations, in a telephone interview. "However, I would say these cases once again show that lack of internal controls cost taxpayers millions of dollars and thus continued focus is needed on improving these controls."
Among the expenditures cited in the report:
An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA's inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower. The employee, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges, was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison and ordered to repay the money.
U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.
In the Internet dating case, a postmaster charged $1,100 over 15 months for two online services, including the Ashley Madison Agency. The expenses went unnoticed for more than a year even though he was under internal investigation for viewing ****ography on a government computer. The postmaster was eventually told to repay the Internet charges but faced no disciplinary action.
At the Pentagon, four employees purchased $77,700 in clothing and accessories at high-end clothing and sporting goods stores. The spending included more than $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and similar stores for tailor-made suits - $7,000 of which were purchased a week before Christmas. The credit-card holders said the items were for service members working at U.S. embassies with civilian attire. Pentagon rules allow purchases of civilian clothing when performing official duty, but generally only up to $860 per person.
Justice Department and FBI employees charged $11,000 at a Ritz Carlton hotel for coffee and "light" refreshments for 50 to 70 attendees for four days, averaging about $50 per person. Seventy percent of the total conference cost of $15,000 was for the food and beverages, while audiovisual and other support services totaled only about $4,000, or 30 percent of the charges. It was not clear what action, if any, that Justice took in light of the conference expenses, which GAO deemed excessive.
At the State Department, one credit-card holder bought $360 worth of women's lingerie at Seduccion Boutique for use during jungle training by trainees of a drug enforcement program in Ecuador. One State Department official later agreed that the charge was questionable and stated that he would not have approved the purchase had he known about it.
"Too many government employees have viewed purchase cards as their personal line of credit," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on investigations, which requested the GAO report. "When money that was intended to pay for critical infrastructure, education and homeland security is instead being spent on iPods, lingerie and socializing, we must immediately remedy the problem."
Your Tax Dollars At Work .. or Play American Exploitation at its Best
After reading this article, how many folks are 'excited' about paying taxes owed next week? Certainly not I!!!!!! This is pathetic.
Good 4Jimmy! Carter is voice of reason, but Israel thoughts are "My Way or the Highway"
Carter Snubbed During Trip to Israel
By CALVIN WOODWARD,AP Posted: 2008-04-14 09:09:42
SDEROT, Israel (April 14)-- Former President Jimmy Carter deplored Palestinian militant attacks on Israel as a "despicable crime" as he toured a rocket-battered town on Monday.
Former President Jimmy Carter, center, visits a police station Monday in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, where remains of rockets, launched by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, are kept.
Carter met with police officials and with the mayor of Sderot, a southern town a mile from the Gaza Strip border. He was shown a house badly damaged by a rocket strike, and rusting piles of projectiles that had hit the town.
"I think it's a despicable crime for any deliberate effort to be made to kill innocent civilians, and my hope is there will be a cease-fire soon," Carter told reporters.
Carter brokered Israel's historic peace accord with Egypt in 1979, the first treaty it signed with an Arab country. But he has been unpopular in Israel since publishing a book two years ago drawing comparisons between Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza and apartheid in South Africa.
He further angered Israelis with his plans to hold talks in Syria this week with the leader of Hamas, the Islamic group that rules Gaza and is largely responsible for the rocket fire. Hamas has killed some 250 Israelis in suicide bombings and has been blacklisted by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization.
Sderot mayor Eli Moyal said he met with Carter to present Israel's side, even though he said he was "upset" about Carter's scheduled meeting with the Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal.
"I don't think he should meet with killers," Moyal said.
Carter has been snubbed so far by Israel's senior leadership, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He met Sunday with Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, who told him that meeting Mashaal was "a very big mistake," according to Peres spokeswoman Ayelet Frisch.
In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz published Monday, Carter said he intended to use the Mashaal meeting to press for the return of three Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. He said he would also try to get Hamas to accept a pan-Arab plan for peace with Israel.
"The most important single foreign policy goal in my life has been to bring peace to Israel, and peace and justice to Israel's neighbors. I have done everything I could in office and since I left office to do that," the paper quoted Carter as saying.
In Washington, Several State Department officials, including the secretary, Condoleezza Rice, criticized Carter's plans to talk in Syria this week with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and the group. Carter said he had not heard the objections directly, although a State Department spokesman said earlier that a senior official from the department had called the former president.
"President Carter is a private citizen. We respect his views," Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, said Sunday on ABC.
"The position of the government is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't negotiate with terrorists. We think that's a very important principle to maintain," Hadley said. "The State Department made clear we think it's not useful for people to be running to Hamas at this point and having meetings."
Carter demurred.
"I feel quite at ease in doing this," he told ABC. "I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process."
Although he said the meeting would not be a negotiation, he outlined distinct goals.
"I think that it's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians, maybe to get them to agree to a cease-fire — things of this kind," he said.
The State Department says it advised Carter twice against meeting representatives of Hamas, which Washington considers a terrorist organization.
"I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace," Rice said Friday, after reports of the planned meeting surfaced.
Carter said he'd be meeting Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudi Arabians and others "who might have to play a crucial role in any future peace agreement that involves the Middle East."
Asked whether it was right to meet a group that has not renounced violence or recognized Israel, he said, "Well, you can't always get prerequisites adopted by other people before you even talk to them."
Pressure to drop the meeting has come from his own party. Democratic Reps. Artur Davis of Alabama, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California and Adam Smith of Washington state wrote a letter to Carter saying the meeting could confer legitimacy on a group that embraces violence.
"I've been meeting with Hamas leaders for years," Carter said.
The Carter Center said his "study mission" was taking him to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan this week.
Carter, a broker of the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his conflict mediation as president and since.
As president, Carter led the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. "That was a totally different experience in 1980, when the Soviet Union had brutally invaded and killed thousands and thousands of people," he said, rejecting the idea of boycotting the Beijing games to protest China's crackdown in Tibet. He did not address whether just the opening ceremonies should be boycotted.
By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 16, 8:42 PM ET
FRESNO, Calif. - A police officer shot and killed a high school student Wednesday after the teenager attacked the officer with a baseball bat on campus, authorities said.
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The officer fired after the 17-year-old boy at Roosevelt High School came up behind the officer and hit him in the head with the bat, according to Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.
The officer fell down dazed, and reached for the gun in his hip holster, but the clip fell out. As the student came at him a second time, the officer grabbed a handgun from his ankle holster and fired one or two rounds, Dyer said. The student reportedly died within a few minutes.
"The officer was fortunate that he was able to defend himself," the chief said.
The reason for the attack was not immediately known. Dyer said there was no history of run-ins between the student and the officer, who was employed by the police department as the school's resource officer.
The student was described as a longtime Fresno resident who recently transferred to the school.
The officer was released from a local hospital Wednesday afternoon after being treated for a two-inch gash on the right side of his head, police said. He will be placed on administrative leave while the department reviews his conduct, Dyer said.
The campus was locked down after the shooting. Students were allowed to leave as their parents arrived.
Dana Vasquez, a 14-year-old freshman, was on her way to physical education class when the situation erupted in an outdoor hallway between two classrooms.
"I just saw a bat swinging in the air and heard a gunshot and then I just started running," Vasquez said. She was visibly shaken when she left the school holding her mother's arm
...................................................................................................................................... impossibility is a word found only in the dictionary of fools
People nearly 900 miles away felt a magnitude-5.2 earthquake that shook southern Illinois early Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were no immediate reports of major damage after the predawn quake, which struck at 4:36 a.m. (5:36 a.m. ET).
However, some minor damage was seen in the region.
Debris fell on a sidewalk and shattered in Louisville, Kentucky, after part of a cornice fell off a brick building, according to footage from the city's CNN affiliate WHAS-TV.
The epicenter of the earthquake -- the strongest in the region in 40 years -- was about seven miles below ground and 38 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana, the USGS said. Map »
Nearly 10,000 people had sent reports of shaking to the USGS Web site by 9 a.m. ET.
People as far away as Niceville, Florida, 891 miles away, reported to the USGS Web site that they had felt the quake.
Reports also came in from such distant places as West Virginia, Alabama and Kansas.
"Pretty typically for these eastern-central U.S. earthquakes, they're felt over a very broad area," said Dave Applegate, USGS senior science adviser, adding that quakes in California tend to be more localized.
The Earth's crust is older and less fractured in the Midwest than in California, and the region's deep sediment "shakes a lot," Applegate said.
"Older crust, when you have an earthquake, it rings like a bell," he said.
The USGS said the largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- shook southern Illinois in 1968.
People as far away as southwest Michigan and northeast Georgia e-mailed CNN to say they felt Friday's tremor.
Air traffic was halted for an hour at Indianapolis International Airport while the control tower was evacuated, CNN affiliate WRTV-TV in the Indiana city reported.
And buildings swayed in Chicago's Loop, The Associated Press reported.
"It shook our house where it woke me up," David Behm of Philo, Illinois, told the AP. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."
Radio talk-show host George Noory said he felt the quake in his St. Louis home.
"Everything shook," Noory said. "I thought the building was going to collapse." Video Watch as the talk-show host describes the early-morning shock »
Bonnie Lucas, who hosts a morning show at WHO-AM in Des Moines, told the AP she felt her chair move for five seconds.
The earthquake occurred in the Wabash Valley fault system, adjacent to the New Madrid Seismic Zone, Applegate said.
That zone, named for the town of New Madrid, Missouri, was the site of a series of huge tremors in 1811 and 1812
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- God Bless America - God Bless Immigrants - God Bless Poor Misguided Souls Too Mr S.U.
...................................................................................................................................... impossibility is a word found only in the dictionary of fools
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 23, 6:19 PM ET
MIAMI - Federal prosecutors stung twice by deadlocked juries said Wednesday they would make a third attempt to convict six men accused of scheming with al-Qaida to topple Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices in several cities.
The decision was announced at a hearing by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie, who also said most of the defendants soon will be able to post bail for the first time since their highly publicized June 2006 arrests.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard declared a mistrial last week in the second trial because jurors could not agree on any verdicts. The first trial in the "Liberty City Seven" case ended the same way in December, except that a seventh defendant was acquitted.
Gregorie said the violent nature of the threats allegedly made by purported ringleader Narseal Batiste — including a threat to "kill all the devils" — required yet another trial to "safeguard the community."
"The United States has decided it's necessary to proceed one more time," Gregorie said.
Prosecutors allege the defendants hoped to conduct terrorist attacks that would start a broader anti-government insurrection. Each of the men faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four terrorism-related conspiracy charges.
Batiste, 34, has denied terror ambitions and claimed he was only discussing fictional attacks with paid FBI informants in hopes of conning one of them out of $50,000.
Gregorie said agreements had been reached for four of the defendants to be released on bail, but only one was approved Wednesday: Naudimar Herrera, 24, who will be released within a few days on a $50,000 bond and will be required to wear an electronic monitor.
Lenard denied bail for defendant Patrick Abraham, 28, because he is in the U.S. illegally. The others had not filed bail motions as of Wednesday, and prosecutors have not agreed on bail for Batiste.
Lenard said she would likely schedule the third trial sometime in the fall. A key reason for the delay is that one defense attorney is withdrawing and time is needed for his replacement to become familiar with the case, the judge said.
The judge has barred defense attorneys and prosecutors from speaking with reporters about the case. Family members who packed the courtroom Wednesday also declined to comment.
Guy Lewis, a former U.S. attorney, said that despite the two mistrials, a third trial was almost a foregone conclusion given the high-profile nature of the case and the Bush administration's focus on terrorism since the 2001 attacks.
"This case falls within the No. 1 priority of the Justice Department. Agree or not, it's a terrorism prosecution," Lewis said.
The Bush administration had hailed the defendants' arrests as a prime example of the post-Sept. 11 strategy of preventing terrorism plots in the earliest possible stages. Yet there was no evidence the group ever acquired explosives or took concrete steps toward staging any attacks; they did have a handgun and a few machetes.
The backbone of the prosecution's case is hundreds of hours of FBI recordings of those conversations.
One key videotape depicts an al-Qaida loyalty oath administered to the group by one of the informants, who was posing as a terrorist network emissary known as Brother Mohammed.
Batiste testified that he wasn't serious about an alliance with al-Qaida and that the group's goal was to uplift the impoverished Liberty City neighborhood. The men adhered to a sect called the Moorish Science Temple, which blends elements of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and claims authority beyond the U.S. government's.
Authorities are seeking to deport to Haiti the man who was acquitted in the first trial, 33-year-old Lyglenson Lemorin. All the remaining defendants except Abraham are U.S. citizens.
...................................................................................................................................... impossibility is a word found only in the dictionary of fools
