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  • 01/18/12--17:22: NYPD and Pentagon to place mobile scanners on the streets on NYC (chan 1146671)



    • NYPD and Pentagon place mobile scanners on the streets on NYC

    New York City’s war on freedom could be adding a new weapon to its arsenal, especially if NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly has his say.

    The head of the New York Police Department is working with the Pentagon to secure body scanners to be used throughout the Big Apple.

    If Kelly gets his wish, the city will be receiving a whole slew of Terahertz Imagining Detection scanners, a high-tech radiation detector that measures the energy that is emitted from a persons’ body. As CBS News reports, “It measures the energy radiating from a body up to 16 feet away, and can detect anything blocking it, like a gun.”

    What it can also do, however, is allow the NYPD to conduct illegal searches by means of scanning anyone walking the streets of New York. Any object on your person could be privy to the eyes of the detector, and any suspicious screens can prompt police officers to search someone on suspicion of having a gun, or anything else under their clothes.

    According to Commissioner Kelly, the scanners would only be used in “reasonably suspicious circumstances,” but what constitutes “suspicious” in the eyes of the NYPD could greatly differ from what the 8 million residents of the five boroughs have in mind.
    The American Civil Liberties Union has already questioned the NYPD over what they say is an unnecessary precaution that raises more issues than it solves.

    “It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU says to CBS.

    The scanners also raise the question of whether such searches would even be legal under the US Constitution. Under the Fourth Amendment, Americans are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. Does scoping out what’s on someone’s person fall under the same category as a hands-on frisk, though?

    To the NYPD, it might not matter. In the first quarter of 2011, more than 161,000 innocent New Yorkers were stopped and interrogated on the streets of the city. Figures released by the NYPD in May of last year revealed that of the over 180,000 stop-and-frisk encounters reported by the police department, 88 percent of them ended in neither an arrest nor a summons, leading many to assume that New York cops are already going above and beyond the law by searching seemingly anyone they chose. Additionally, of those 161,000-plus victims, around 84 percent were either black or Latino. At the time, the ACLU’s Lieberman wrote, “The NYPD is turning black and brown neighborhoods across New York City into Constitution-free zones.”

    Given the alarming statistics, many already feel that officers within the ranks of the NYPD are overzealous with their monitoring of New Yorkers, regularly stopping them for unknown suspicions that nearly nine-out-of-ten times prove false. With the installation of the Terahertz Imagining Detection scanners though, those invasive physical searches wouldn’t just be replaced with a touchless, more intrusive monitoring, but will only allow New Yorkers one more reason to fear walking the streets.

    “If they search you, you’re not giving consent, so they can do what they want, meaning they can use that as an excuse to search you for other means. I don’t think that’s constitutional at all,” New Yorker Devan Thomas tells CBS.

    “There are a lot of cameras already here, so as people walk they’re being filmed. And most of the time they don’t know it,” adds Jennifer Bailly.

    A lot is somewhat of an understatement. In Manhattan alone there are over 2,000 surveillance cameras, public and private, aimed at every passerby. That number is the same as the tally of both McDonalds and Starbucks on the island, combined, multiplied by a factor of eight.

    CBS News adds that the plan puts the NYPD in direct cooperation with the Department of Defense, who is working on testing the scanners to find a way to bring them to the streets. Such a joint effort opens up questions about other endeavors the Pentagon could have planned out with the NYPD in the past, and certainly doesn’t mark the first time that New York’s boys in blue have worked hand-in-hand with federal agencies. Last year a report surfaced linking the NYPD to the CIA, as documents became available showing a connection between the local police department and government spies installing secret agents into Muslim majority communities in New York.

    By using scanners such as the Terahertz Imagining detectors, however, New Yorkers will be forced to endure more than just an unknown number of eyes prying under their clothes. The consequences could be biologically catastrophic, with the scanning technique tied to problems with the human body’s ability to operate. According to MIT’s Technology Review, the THz waves used by the scanners “unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication.”
    http://rt.com/usa/news/nypd-scanners-new-york-115/


  • 01/19/12--09:06: Israel may have taken a step back from bombing Iran – but for how long? (chan 1146671)



    • Notice the headline: Israel plans to attack Iran with bombs, not Iran plans to attack Israel with the one nuke that they don't even have.

    Some key points to remember whenever you read somewhere that someone needs to "stop Iran:"

    Iran is allowed to posses nuclear technology based on internationally agreed upon treaties

    Dozens of intelligence agencies concluded in 2007 that there was no evidence that Iran had an active nuclear weapons program

    Under the The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the US and other nations who have signed on to the treaty are under obligation to assist other nations who are also part of the international treaty, including Iran, with developing their nuclear program

    Israel has chosen not to participate in the The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

    Israel has an unofficially declared nuclear, chemical and biological weapons stockpile

    Israel wants to bomb Iran, or have the US do it for them

    Powerful interests are already invested in a war with Iran and they just need the right excuse to sell it to the public

    There have been numerous unsuccessful plots over the years to stage fake terror events or provacatuer Iran into attacking US or British war ships

    ***

    When Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, said this week that his country was "very far off" from taking a decision about whether to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, may have allowed himself a moment of relief before boarding his flight to Tel Aviv on Thursday.

    Iran's claim on 8 January that it planned to start nuclear enrichment at its underground Fordow plant, near Qom, "in the near future" was seen as coming perilously close to one of Israel's "red lines". It was followed a few days later by the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, an operation widely attributed to the Mossad, Israel's fabled intelligence agency. Israel has maintained its usual omertà on the hit, with only Peres saying that "to the best of my knowledge" the country was not involved. Meanwhile, Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz has exacerbated tensions.

    This latest round of escalation comes only two months after intense speculation that Israel was gearing up for an imminent strike, with reports that Netanyahu was striving to persuade his divided cabinet to back such action. Some suggested that public sabre rattling was an attempt to persuade the international community to impose stiffer sanctions on Iran.

    And, indeed, Netanyahu gave an interview last weekend in which he suggested sanctions were working. "For the first time, I see Iran wobble," he told the Australian. Three days later, he said the opposite: sanctions were ineffective, he told an Israeli parliamentary committee. US officials are uncertain how to read Israel's intentions given such contradictory statements.

    But there does appear to be a real debate within Israel's political and defence establishment over the merits of military action, and one that does not necessarily run along left-right, dove-hawk lines.


  • 01/19/12--09:08: 10 year old child charged with murder in San Diego-area death (chan 1146671)



    • EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — A child was charged with murder and felony assault in the fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old boy, authorities said Wednesday.
    San Diego County district attorney's office spokesman Steve Walker declined to say if the defendant was the victim's 10-year-old neighbor who was taken into custody shortly after the stabbing. The neighbor is the only person who has been identified by homicide investigators as a suspect.

    A detention hearing was scheduled for Thursday in juvenile court.

    The 12-year-old died Monday, a little more than an hour after he was stabbed in the 10-year-old's driveway in a quiet, kid-friendly neighborhood in El Cajon, east of San Diego.

    The victim slept at the boy's home for two nights before he was attacked at the end of the holiday weekend, said Cody Vales, a close friend of both boys. He said they were "like best buddies."

    Vales, 16, said the 10-year-old appeared calmer since he began taking a new medication about three weeks ago, becoming "a new kid." He said the younger boy wasn't one to pick a fight but exploded when he felt provoked.

    Vales said the boy once punched him in the face for accidentally bumping his pelvis when they were jumping on a trampoline. The boy threw a tantrum when he spilled a cup of water inside his house and was asked to clean up.

    "If you pushed his buttons and cussed him out, he'd just lose it on you," Vales said.
    The 10-year-old liked to play football and practice Muay Thai boxing and jujitsu, Vales said. He was muscular and a little short for his age.

    The 10-year-old's adoptive mother, who lived with the boy and her father, was the only person who knew how to calm him, Vales said. She hugged him and reassured him that everything would be all right.

    "The nicest woman you'd ever meet," Vales said. "If it was anybody else, they wouldn't be able to put up with (him)."

    The victim's mother told U-T San Diego that she knew the 10-year-old and his mother well.

    "Please don't make it out that he was this terrible human being," Lisa Carter told the newspaper. "He's not some monster."

    The neighborhood in San Diego's foothills is one of modest, aging one-story homes on narrow, winding roads. The two boys played often with others at a playground clubhouse in the mobile home park where the victim lived. They sometimes pretended to be pirates.

    It is unusual for children so young to kill. Law enforcement agencies reported 11 homicides nationwide by children 12 and younger in 2010 — the same number as in 2009 and 2008, according to FBI data.

    James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology, law and public policy at Northeastern University in Boston, said that 1976 through 2010, 242 homicides were committed in the United States by children 10 and younger, according to his analysis of FBI statistics. Of those, 48 percent of victims were family, 20 percent were acquaintances and 8 percent were friends.

    Fox said there are typically no telltale signs to predict such acts of violence.
    "Overwhelmingly the most common element is just an argument," he said. "It's the same motivation why kids fight."

    California requires that children be at least 14 to be charged as adults, said Shaun Martin, a University of San Diego law professor. State law allows children to be detained until they turn 25 if tried and convicted as juveniles.

    http://news.yahoo.com/child-charged-murder-san-diego-area-death-005500719.html


  • 01/19/12--09:35: Ron Paul fights indefinite detention of Americans (chan 1146671)



    • Ron Paul took a day off from the campaign trail on Wednesday, not to pause from politics, but to urge his colleagues on Capitol Hill to overturn the provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows indefinite detention for Americans.

    The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or the NDAA, was inked by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, despite immense opposition from Americans who were concerned by vague language that could allow the commander-in-chief to use military forces to domestically police the United States. Under Section 1021 of the NDAA, any person, US citizen or not, can be held without trial by American armed forces if they are suspected of being engaged in hostilities against the country by al-Qaeda or associated forces.

    Opponents of the act — and there are many — have questioned the language of the specific section, as it could be written to allow the president to enforce the law to imprison anyone suspected of any crime that could be considered by the right person in office to be an act of terror. President Obama said that he would not abide by this rule, but despite a signing statement that his administration won’t act in that manner, it does not mean that the promise will be upheld.

    ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero called Obama’s approval of the legislation is "a blight on his legacy," insisting that “he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” and the Council on American-Islamic Relations called the bill an “ill-conceived and un-American legislation” that will “forever be seen as a stain on our nation’s history — one that will ultimately be viewed with embarrassment and shame.” Additionally, this week RT reported that noted journalist Chris Hedges has filed a lawsuit against the White House over the legislation, questioning the legality of the authorization and calling it “a catastrophic blow to civil liberties.”

    On Wednesday this week, however, Ron Paul spoke from Capitol Hill, not South Carolina where the rest of his Republican Party rivals were campaigning before the state’s primary scheduled for this weekend. While in Washington to vote against raising the debt ceiling, Congressman Ron Paul also used the opportunity to go after Obama for signing the NDAA and offered a proposal that, if passed, would strike Section 1031 off the Act.

    The move makes Paul not just the first frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination to speak out against the act, but the first congressman to openly offer a solution to the legislation since it was authorized into law.

    Paul began his address on Wednesday by noting that the National Defense Authorization Act was “quietly signed into law by the president on New Year’s Day,” sarcastically saluting it by adding, “and what a way to usher in a New Year.”
    “Section 1021 provides for the possibility of the US military acting as a kind of police force on US soil, apprehending terror suspects – including Americans — and whisking them off to an undisclosed location indefinitely,” said Paul.

    “No right to attorney, no right to trial, no day in court.”

    While GOP contender Mitt Romney said during a debate from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last week that he would have also authorized such legislation, Congressman Paul went over his time limit on stage in urging Americans to pay attention to the dangerous provisions included in the Act. In front of the debate crowd, Paul told the US not to lose faith in the country’s judicial system. From Washington only a week later, Congressman Paul asked his peers to think about America’s past once more, asking, “Have we not tried in civilian court and won convictions of hundreds of individuals for terrorist or related activities?” He added to his fellow legislature that this transformation away from a country founded on the ideals of the Constitution would soon lead America on the road to a place no one would wish it goes.

    “This is precisely the kind of egregious distortion of justice that Americans have always ridiculed in so many dictatorships overseas,” said Paul, comparing it to the gulag system of the Soviet Union.

    “Is this really the kind of United States we want to create in the name of fighting terrorism?” asked the congressman from Texas.

    While Hedges attacked Obama in drafting his explanation of the lawsuit, Paul spoke from the Capitol that his own peers in Congress are just as responsible for crafting the NDAA and corrupting others lawmakers into signing it, even as they themselves openly acknowledged the dangers of the act.

    “Sadly, too many of my colleagues are too willing to undermine our Constitution to support such outrageous legislation,” said Paul. “One senator even said about American citizens picked up under this section of the NDAA, ‘When they say, “I want my lawyer,” you tell them, “Shut up. You don't get a lawyer.”’ Is this acceptable in someone one who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution?” he asked. The congressman in question was Senator Lindsay Graham, who did indeed have such vile words in encouraging others to sign the Act. “For those American citizens thinking about helping al-Qaeda, please know what will come your way: death; detention; prosecution,” explained Senator Graham while the Act was originally up for discussion.

    Sadly, prosecution could very well be the last step in an instance where an American is imprisoned under the NDAA. In Section 1031, citizens can indeed be held indefinitely, and as we’ve learned with the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that term of detainment could easily extend a decade, if not longer, without a trial ever being ordered. Over 170 prisoners are still held at Gitmo, including some that have been there without charge since the US began installing suspected war criminals there more than ten years ago. Under Section 1031, your neighbor, uncle or yourself could be the next person to don an orange jumpsuit and Ron Paul recognized how detrimental this is to American liberty.

    In his closing remarks Wednesday, Paul explained that he was without a doubt opposed to acts of terrorism. “I recognize how critical it is that we identify and apprehend those who are suspected of plotting attacks against Americans. But why do we have so little faith in our justice system?” he asked.

    Paul added that he wished to continue going after terrorists, but said, “let us not abandon what is so unique and special about our system of government in the process.”

    “I hope my colleagues will join my effort to overturn the shameful Section 1021,” concluded the congressman.
    http://rt.com/usa/news/ron-paul-ndaa-detention-209/


  • 01/19/12--16:31: The Chinese view of SOPA - "[Chinese] are ahead of the whole world, and the ‘American imperialists’ are racing to catch up.” (chan 1146671)



    • As members of Congress edge away from the Stop Online Piracy Act, leaders of the opposition can count among their most frequently used rhetorical tools a metaphor that has come to define this debate: SOPA = China.

    The legislation would impose a “chilling internet censorship regime here in the U.S. comparable in some ways to China’s ‘Great Firewall,’” Wired wrote. Sergey Brin—who led G-Day, Google’s withdrawal from mainland China—said that the bills would “put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world.” Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet-freedom expert who used to be journalist in Beijing, says they would impose a “censorship mechanism that is almost identical, technically, to the mechanism the Chinese use to censor their Internet.”

    So, how does it all look to the people who actually live with it? In China, the reaction to American protests has ranged from sympathy to gentle Schadenfreude, as Chinese Web users try to sort out whether they are being held up as victims or patsies or pirates. After several years in which American diplomats have inveighed against Internet censorship in China, the proposals have inspired a bit of snickering. “The Great Firewall turns out to be a visionary product; the American government is trying to copy us,” one commentator wrote. A Chinese message making the rounds on Thursday said: “At last, the planet is becoming unified: We are ahead of the whole world, and the ‘American imperialists’ are racing to catch up.”

    Fittingly, perhaps, the discussion has unfolded on Weibo, the Twitter-like micro-blogging site that has a team of censors on staff to trim posts with sensitive political content. That is the arrangement that opponents of the bill have suggested would be required of American sites if they are compelled to police their users’ content for copyright violations. On Weibo, joking about SOPA’s similarities to Chinese censorship was sensitive enough that some posts on the subject were almost certainly deleted (though it can be hard to know). But among those that survived, a commentator known as Dr. Zhang wrote: “I’ve come up with a perfect solution: You can come to China to download all your pirated media, and we’ll go to America to discuss politically sensitive subjects.”

    There are, needless to say, differences of degree. While Chinese sites censor references to Tiananmen Square, Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama and other third-rail political issues, the force comes not in the act of censorship, but in the instances when prosecutions follow: the Chinese woman sentenced to a year of reform through labor for retweeting a joke, or the student detained for forwarding what authorities called a “rumor” about the murder of eight village officials. (h/t Isaac Stone Fish at Foreign Policy.)

    After Chinese Web users got over the strangeness of hearing Americans debate the merits of screening the Web for objectionable content, they marvelled at the American response. Commentator Liu Qingyan wrote:
    We should learn something from the way these American Internet companies protested against SOPA and PIPA. A free and democratic society depends on every one of us caring about politics and fighting for our rights. We will not achieve it by avoiding talk about politics.

    There was little expectation that Chinese Web sites would ever band together to express their opposition to censorship: “Baidu, would you dare do something like this?” one asked.

    The most eloquent response to the controversy, perhaps, was one that nobody saw at all. Commentator Shi Han wrote about trying to post a comment to Tencent, the giant Chinese portal. “I’ve written a short article about SOPA. But when I tried to put it up, Tencent replied with a message: ‘Your content has not passed review.’”
    http://news.yahoo.com/the-chinese-view-of-sopa.html


  • 01/20/12--11:14: US army chief: Won't let Holocaust happen again (chan 1146671)



    • Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey visited Sunday the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.

    During his visit, Dempsey lit the memorial "Eternal Flame" torch and laid a wreath at the Yizkor tent. The US general stated that the US will work together with Israel to make sure that such atrocities never happen again.

    Dempsey also signed the Yad Vashem guest book, writing that his country is committed to the protection of Israel and will do everything to prevent such a human tragedy from reoccurring.

    Earlier, the general visited the IDF's headquarters in Tel Aviv, where he met with Gantz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

    Later on Sunday, Dempsey met with President Shimon Peres and told him that the United States is honored to have Israel as a partner. Peres noted that the struggle against Iran's nuclear program is not only Israel's and the United States' struggle – but an international struggle for the safety of all nations."


  • 01/22/12--11:10: American Dietetic Association Speeds up its Race for Monopoly (chan 1146671)



    • The ADA is starting 2012 on the attack by introducing bills in four states and preparing for more—trying to sew up a legally enforced national monopoly before opposition can mount. Action Alerts!

    As the Really Eat Right campaign notes, internal ADA documents reveal that the ADA is chiefly concerned not with consumer and patient interests, but with eliminating competition in the field of nutrition to allow RDs to operate more profitable and successful businesses. We recognize the ADA’s interest in promoting the profession of dietetics for its members. But the best way to help RDs is not to create a legally enforced monopoly. It is to provide them with the latest and best information in nutritional science. For instance, instead of providing a platform for Coca-Cola to instruct RDs that sugar is perfectly fine for children, they might invite esteemed medical professionals like Dr. Robert Lustig to instruct RDs in the serious health concerns over the consumption of sugar.

    The ADA receives about $1 million a year in payments from pharmaceutical companies, and allows pharmaceutical companies to market their controversial products at ADA events. At the 2007 ADA Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, GlaxoSmithKline was allowed to promote their first over-the-counter diet pill, Alli, even though the drug’s weight loss effectiveness is minimal and side effects such as hard-to-control bowel movements and anal discharge are common. The FDA has since issued warnings to Alli, noting the possibly of severe liver damage, and consumer groups are asking the FDA to remove Alli from the market.

    ADA also receives payments from Coca-Cola, Hershey, the National Dairy Council, Mars, PepsiCo, and others, though the organization won’t say exactly how much they receive from these candy and soft drink companies and industry associations. We have deep concerns about any organization having a monopoly on nutrition, but a junk-food-sponsored organization is even worse! The ADA already has a monopoly in many states and in many fields. Have you wondered why the food in hospitals is so poor and even a threat to people’s health? Yes, that is the result of ADA monopoly.

    Not only that, but the ADA encourages a conventional medical approach, which does nothing for chronic health problems. Nutritionists, on the other hand, and some excellent independent-thinking RDs (many of whom go on to get graduate degrees in nutrition) tend to take an integrative approach and concentrate on genuine prevention.

    Below we’ll outline the basics involved in each state bill. If you are a citizen of those states, please respond to the Action Alert for your state, or forward the alert to friends or family members who live in that state.

    Please take action today!

    http://www.anh-usa.org/american-dietetic-association-speeds-up-its-race-for-mono...


  • 01/24/12--06:45: 20 percent of Americans are mentally disturbed (chan 1146671)



    • Are there a lot of mentally ill Americans, or am I just crazy?

    If you find yourself asking that question, odds might be more in your favor that you’re suffering from some sort of mental illness than you might think. According to the results of a new government report, 46 million Americans — or about one-in-five — have been diagnosed with such a disorder during the last year.

    Taking into account all American adults, the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) puts the tally of Americans having a mental illness at around 20 percent, with young adults aged 18 through 25 even more likely to be diagnosed at a rate of 30 percent.

    "We all know people who have had a depression or an anxiety disorder, maybe something more serious like a bipolar disorder, but this is a pretty big number," Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies, says of the study.

    If you’ve been linked to a mental, behavioral or emotional problem based on the guidelines in the last publishing of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, you’ve made the cut of nearly 50 million other Americans in similar standing. The study adds that around 11.4 million adults are victims of “serious” mental illnesses — that is conditions that affect a person’s ability to normally function.

    Just because you haven't swallowed a pill or gone other routes doesn’t mean you’ve escaped the list, either. While 46 million Americans are diagnosed sufferers of mental illness, only around 38 percent have received proper treatment for their condition.
    "We know with the appropriate use of medication and with good treatment people can recover and go on to lead very healthy and productive lives," Delany adds, but for many, that route is one marred by obstacles. For much of America, treatment is simply not in the budget. Of those that say they have an “unmet need” for mental healthcare, two-out-of-five Americans say they couldn’t afford help.

    Such conditions could turn dire, adds the study, as 8.7 million Americans had suicidal thoughts during the last year. Of them, 2.5 million made plans to follow through and 1.1 million actually attempted the act.

    "There is a gap between the need and how many people reach treatment," Dr. Ihsan Salloum, director of the Addiction Psychiatry and Psychiatric Comorbidity Programs at the University of Miami School of Medicine, adds to US News & World Report. "Mental illness is a treatable problem, and the outcome is as good as any chronic medical problem."

    Unfortunately, it seems as if those that don’t get authorized treatment often try to take things into their own hands. Around one-fourth of those that suffer from mental illness are also abusers of narcotics. A separate study released last year by SAMHSA revealed that prescription opiod abuse increased by 111 percent between 2004 and 2008, with almost 2 million Americans admitting to abusing the class of drug ever year, which includes codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and others.
    http://rt.com/usa/news/disturbed-mental-illness-study-225/


  • 01/25/12--18:29: Man who was never convicted spent two years in solitary confinement and was forced to pull his own tooth was awarded $22 million. (chan 1146671)



    • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $22 million to a New Mexico man who was kept in solitary confinement for two years and forced to pull his own tooth after being arrested for drunken driving in Dona Ana County.

    Civil rights attorney Matt Coyte said the jury awarded Stephen Slevin, 58, the damages Tuesday after a six-day trial in Santa Fe.

    Jess Williams, spokesman for Dona Ana County, declined comment other than to say the county plans to appeal.

    "We have believe we have strong legal issues to raise with the appeal," he said.
    Slevin was arrested while driving through the southern New Mexico county in August 2005. He ended up in solitary confinement because he was suffering from depression and someone checked a box on a form indicating he was suicidal, Coyte said.

    Slevin was given some drugs for depression but never saw a mental health professional, Coyte said. He said his client wrote letters for months seeking help, but they were ignored.

    "By January 2006, his last letter goes out looking for help. Then he falls into this delirium. He was there for the next 20 months," Coyte said.

    Coyte said that in May 2007, Slevin was sent to a mental health facility in Las Vegas, N.M., for two weeks but then was returned to the Dona Ana County jail and solitary confinement.

    "He immediately decompensates," Coyte said. "He sends off another letter at this point asking for medical care. ... He is forced to pull his own tooth. He rocked it back and forth over a period of eight hours before he was able to pull it out of his mouth."
    Slevin was finally released in June 2007, Coyte said. He was never convicted.

    "He entered this facility with overt symptoms of mental depression," Coyte said. "But that's not the issue. ... He was stuck in a 6-foot-by-11-foot cell with a concrete bench for a bed. And he sat in that cell. We had documentary evidence that he didn't get out for anything — for recreation, a shower — for months at a time."
    http://news.yahoo.com/nm-man-pulled-own-tooth-jail-awarded-22m-224826036.html


  • 02/02/12--09:27: Southwest Turns Anxious Eye to Shrinking Lake Mead (chan 1146671)



    • In a dramatic reversal of fortune compared to last year, an unusually dry winter is causing the level of Lake Mead, Nevada, to decline, making water managers increasingly anxious about supplying water to the thirsty Southwest.
    The latest U.S. Drought Outlook shows continued dry conditions in the Southwest are likely for the rest of the winter.

    During the past three years, the level of Lake Mead has followed a boom and bust cycle, dropping to a record low in 2010 during an intense drought, then recovering during 2011 thanks to record mountain snowfall, and now dropping again in the midst of a dry winter.

    According to an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, water managers are forecasting the lake level to drop by about 13 feet due to the dry winter so far. As the newspaper reported:

    "In December, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was predicting a roughly 11-foot rise in Lake Mead over the next year. Now the bureau expects the nation's largest man-made reservoir to shed about 13 feet by January 2013.

    One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, which is enough water to supply two average valley homes for one year. At current consumption levels, the 2.45 million acre-foot reduction in Lake Mead's forecast since last month represents enough water to supply the entire Las Vegas Valley for a decade."

    During the past 11 years, a particularly dry and warm climate has lingered in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California, leading to reduced flow along the Colorado River. In fact, scientists have already shown that the stress on the water resources in the Southwest region is consistent with the effects of a warmer climate, and that increased emissions of heat-trapping gases are linked to recent changes in river flows and winter snow pack. Adding to the region's water challenges is the fact that cities that draw water from Lake Mead, such as Las Vegas, have grown in recent years and are further taxing the water supply.

    More at the link


  • 02/04/12--03:54: Seattle library lets man watch porn on computers despite complaints (chan 1146671)



    • A Seattle library is making news after refusing to remove a man who was watching pornographic videos on a library computer.

    “We’re a library, so we facilitate access to constitutionally protected information. We don’t tell people what they can view and check out,” Seattle Public Library spokeswoman Andra Addison told Seattle PI. ”Filters compromise freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. We’re not in the business of censoring information.”

    Seattle PI reports that when library patron Julie Howe saw the man, she asked him to move to another computer. He refused. When Howe asked the librarian to intervene, she also refused.

    “She could see the screen from the information desk where we were standing and was sympathetic, but said that the library doesn’t censor content,” Howe wrote in an email published Tuesday on the neighborhood blog, Lake City Live.

    “And they can’t be in the business of monitoring what their patrons are doing at any given computer.”

    However, in 2010 the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that libraries can do exactly that. The ruling came after the ACLU sued a rural library district that had attempted to filter porn from its computers.

    “A public library has traditionally and historically enjoyed broad discretion to select materials to add to its collection of printed materials for its patrons’ use,” the court wrote in its decision. “We conclude that the same discretion must be afforded a public library to choose what materials from millions of Internet sites it will add to its collection and make available to its patrons.”

    Howe says she respects, understands and agrees with the freedom of speech laws that protect the man’s right to view pornography, but nonetheless wishes there was a compromise for the library’s other patrons.

    “I have had extensive conversations with the library about this incident, as well as with the police and local representatives,” wrote Howe. “The man’s right to access constitutionally protected information is fully protected (which I’m not in argument with), but our right not to be inadvertent viewers is not.”

    Other library patrons have complained about similar incidents, including those involving young children who were exposed to pornographic images being viewed by other patrons.

    The dilemma was summed up by another library patron, Jessica Christensen, who told Seattle PI, “What I find ironic is that you can’t talk too loudly at the Seattle Public Libraries or you’ll be asked to keep it down so as not to distract the other patrons. You know, the patrons viewing pornography.”

    http://www.theinset.com/2012/02/seattle-library-lets-man-watch/


  • 02/05/12--02:38: Forbes Report: Miami is the most miserable U.S. city (chan 1146671)



    • Forbes magazine has named Miami the most miserable city in the United States by analyzing factors including crime and unemployment.

    The magazine said it considered factors including violent crime, unemployment rates, foreclosures, taxes, home prices, political corruption, commute times, weather and performance of local sports teams to determine Miami is the most miserable city in the United States.

    “While sports, commuting and weather can be considered trivial by many, they can be the determining factor in the level of misery for a significant number of people,” the magazine said.

    Miami was followed on the list by Detroit; Flint, Mich.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Sacramento; Chicago; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Toledo, Ohio; Rockford, Ill., and Warren, Mich.

    http://www.theinset.com/2012/02/forbes-report-miami-miserable/


  • 02/05/12--08:49: Marine's failed suicide attempt lands him jail sentence (chan 1146671)



    • In 2010, 37 active Marines in the US Military committed suicide. Had Pvt. Lazzaric T. Caldwell been successful in his attempt, he would’ve been number 38.
    Since discharged, Pvt. Caldwell has battled post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. In his latest battle, however, he’s fighting the Armed Forces.
    Pvt. Lazzaric T. Caldwell was stationed in Okinawa, Japan when he attempted suicide in 2010. Caldwell has survived thankfully and is still around, but so are his troubles. He is taking the Marines to court after the US Military sentenced him to 180 days in jail for his attempted suicide.

    Caldwell argues that the military should be trying to help servicemen who have been driven to suicide due to active duty, not punish them. Taking into account the US Armed Forces as a whole, Marine suicides are only but a fraction. In 2009, the figure of active-duty suicide extended to 309, and the number of attempts — more than 1,000 — exceeded the number of battlefield casualties that year.

    Although the Military insists that they are trying to bring that number down, Caldwell says sending their own men and women to jail for their actions isn’t the right way to do it.

    "I thought it was unfair and I thought it was just kind of morally wrong to punish somebody for something of that nature," Caldwell tells The Associated Press. "Seeing the kind of state I was in, there should have been a way of getting help instead of just a punishment.”

    Navy Lt. Mike Hanzel is representing Caldwell as the discharged Marine attempts to fight that sentence and agrees that this is something that should be highlighted. As more servicemen attempt suicide, the Military should be digging for solutions, not dishing out sentences.

    "I think it definitely touches important issues which are affecting all the branches of the armed forces right now," Hanzel adds to the AP via email.

    "(I)f you succeed in committing suicide your service is treated honorably and your family receives full benefits," Hanzel says. "(I)f you are unsuccessful in a genuine suicide attempt, you can receive a federal conviction and get a bad-conduct discharge and jail time, which is what happened to Pvt Caldwell."

    Caldwell was not sentenced for his suicide attempt, per se. Instead, rather, he was brought to military tribunal with the charge of "intentional self-injury without intent to avoid service.” The government says this charge is in place to maintain discipline within the armed forces.

    Retired Army Judge Advocate Victor M. Hansen tells the AP that cases such as Caldwell rarely make it to court. "It happens but it doesn't happen a lot," he says.
    Despite the government’s insistence that the rule is good for the armed forces, the Marine Corps experienced a record number of suicide attempts in 2011. In the last year, a total of 175 active servicemen attempting to take their lives.
    http://rt.com/usa/news/suicide-attempt-caldwell-military-461/


  • 02/05/12--13:38: Egypt sends American workers to trial (chan 1146671)



    • CAIRO (AP) – Ignoring a U.S. threat to cut off aid, Egypt on Sunday referred 19 Americans and 24 other employees of nonprofit groups to trial before a criminal court on accusations they illegally used foreign funds to foment unrest in the country.

    Egypt’s military rulers had already deeply strained ties with Washington with their crackdown on U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights and accused of stirring up violence in the aftermath of the uprising a year ago that ousted Hosni Mubarak. The decision to send 43 workers from the various groups to trials marks a sharp escalation in the dispute.

    Egypt and the United States have been close allies for more than three decades, but the campaign against the organizations has angered Washington, and jeopardized the $1.5 billion in aid Egypt is set to receive from the U.S. this year.

    On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Egypt that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of American aid. The Egyptian minister, Mohammed Amr, responded Sunday by saying the government cannot interfere in the work of the judiciary.

    “We are doing our best to contain this but … we cannot actually exercise any influence on the investigating judges right now when it comes to the investigation,” Amr told reporters at a security conference in Munich, Germany. A few hours later, word of the referral to trials came.

    The Egyptian investigation into the work of nonprofit groups in the country is closely linked to the political turmoil that has engulfed the nation since the ouster of Mubarak, a close U.S. ally who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years.

    Egypt’s military rulers have been under fire by liberal and secular groups for bungling what was supposed to be a transition to democracy after Mubarak’s ouster. The ruling generals who took power after the uprising, led by a man who was Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years, have tried to deflect the criticism by claiming “foreign hands” are behind protests against their rule and frequently depict the protesters as receiving funds from abroad in a plot to destabilize the country.

    Those allegations have cost the youth activists that spearheaded Mubarak’s ouster support among a wider public that is sensitive to allegations of foreign meddling and which sees a conspiracy to destabilize Egypt in nearly every move by a foreign nation.

    Egypt has just been plunged into a new cycle of violence with 12 killed in four days of clashes. The clashes were sparked by anger at the authorities inability to prevent a riot after a soccer match last week left 74 people dead.

    International Cooperation Minister Faiza Aboul Naga, a remnant of the Mubarak regime who retained her post after his ouster, is leading the crackdown on nonprofit groups. On Sunday, she vowed to pursue the issue to the very end. The investigation into the funding issue, she claimed, has uncovered “plots aimed at striking at Egypt’s stability.”

    Egyptian security officials said that among the Americans sent to trial is Sam LaHood, the head of the Egypt office of the Washington-based International Republican Institute and the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Five Serbs, two Germans and three non-Egyptian Arab nationals are also targeted.

    Lahood’s group called the decision “politically motivated” and said it “reflects escalating attacks against international and Egyptian democracy organizations.” The IRI statement from Washington said the campaign was being carried out “in part by Mubarak-era holdovers.”

    All 43 have been banned from leaving the country. A date has yet to be set for the start of the trial.

    In Washington, the State Department criticized the move.

    “We have seen media reports that judicial officials in Egypt intend to forward a number of cases involving U.S.-funded (nonprofits) to the Cairo Criminal Court,” said State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “We are deeply concerned by these reports and are seeking clarification from the government of Egypt.”

    Sunday’s decision to refer the 43 to trial raises questions about the Egyptian military’s motive to allow the issue to escalate so much that the valuable $1.3 billion it gets annually be placed in jeopardy. Washington also is set to give Egypt $250 million in economic aid this year.

    The U.S. assistance has allowed the Egyptian military to replace its relatively antiquated Soviet-era weaponry with modern and sophisticated arms, ranging from fighter-bombers and transport aircraft to tanks and personnel carriers. The aid is closely but informally linked to Egypt’s continued adherence to its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Washington’s closest Middle East ally.

    Already, Egyptian authorities are preventing at least six Americans — including LaHood — and four Europeans from leaving the country, citing a probe opened last month when heavily armed security forces raided the offices of 17 pro-democracy and rights groups. Egyptian officials have defended the raid as part of a legitimate investigation into the groups’ work and funding.

    “The ruling military council is searching for scapegoats to cover up its successive failures, the disastrous ones, since it took power on Feb. 11 (2011),” said prominent rights activist Bahy Eddin Hassan. “It has managed to stain the reputation of everybody to come out at the only party to be trusted in the eyes of ordinary Egyptians.”

    Laws requiring local and foreign civil society groups to register with the government have long been a source of contention, with rights activists accusing authorities of using legal provisions to go after groups critical of their policies. Offenders can be sentenced to prison if convicted.

    Foreign civil society groups must receive permission to legally operate in Egypt by registering with the ministries of foreign affairs and international cooperation.

    Legally, the Social Solidarity Ministry must approve any foreign funds funneled to local or foreign civil society groups in Egypt.

    Also Sunday, security officials said Mubarak, 83, would shortly be moved to a prison for the first time since his arrest last April. Mubarak has since his arrest been kept in custody in a hospital at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and later at an army’s medical facility east of Cairo.

    Mubarak is on trial on charges of complicity in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to step down.

    The officials also said that around 50 former regime insiders held at Tora would be dispersed to five different jails in the greater Cairo area within the next 48 hours. They include Mubarak’s two sons, businessman Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, two former prime ministers and the former speakers of parliament’s two chambers.

    The decision to move Mubarak and spread the regime officials appeared to be a concession by the military to pro-reform activists who complain that the ruling generals led by Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years were treating the ousted leader with reverence and turning a blind eye to former regime officials clustered in Tora to use supporters to undermine security.

    http://www.theinset.com/2012/02/egypt-sends-american-workers-trial/


  • 02/05/12--21:15: Obama says U.S. working ‘in lockstep’ with Israel on Iran (chan 1146671)



    • President Barack Obama on Sunday sought to reassure Americans over the threat posed by Iran, saying the United States was working “in lockstep” with Israel to bring Tehran to heel over its suspect nuclear program.

    Obama said the Islamic republic was “feeling the pinch” of ever tougher sanctions imposed by the international community, and dismissed concerns that Tehran could retaliate by striking US soil, saying such a strike was unlikely.

    “I’ve been very clear — we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region,” Obama said in a live pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC.

    “We have mobilized the international community, in a way that is unprecedented. They are feeling the pinch. They are feeling the pressure,” he said.

    “My number one priority continues to be the security of the United States. But also, the security of Israel. And we’re going to make sure that we work in lockstep, as we proceed to try to solve this — hopefully diplomatically.”

    When asked if he believed the Jewish state would launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear installations, Obama replied: “I don’t think Israel has made a decision.”

    Asked if Washington would be consulted first, he said he couldn’t go into specifics but added that the two allies had “closer intelligence and military consultations” than ever before.

    On whether Iran could possibly strike US targets in retaliation, Obama said: “We don’t see any evidence they have those intentions or capabilities.”

    He added: “Again, our goal is to resolve this diplomatically. That would be preferable. We’re not going to take options off the table, though.”

    The US president cautioned that “any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive. And has a big effect on us. It can affect oil prices.”

    Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was due in Washington on Monday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United States in early March, though a meeting between Netanyahu and Obama was not yet confirmed.

    Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for strictly peaceful purposes.

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/05/obama-says-u-s-working-in-lockstep-with-is...


  • 02/06/12--12:00: If You Are Anti War Please Share This! (chan 1146671)



    • If You Are Anti War Please Share This!

    If you are Anti War, if you believe that the U.S., Great Britain and France should stay out of Iran, that there should be NO Sanctions NO War! Please Share this! Think of all the children that we WILL save by ENDING WARS!

    http://freedividual.com/2012/02/06/if-you-are-anti-war-please-share-this/


  • 02/07/12--08:41: 'Kill All Jews, Annihilate Israel' is Zionist Propaganda For World War III (chan 1146671)



    • Ayatollah Khameini (left) has been cast in the role of Hitler in the Illuminati's spectacular new sequel, "World War Three." Once again the West rides to the rescue of Jews threatened with "annihilation."

    The ducks are lined up for another world war. As in previous world wars, Zionists are conscripting the United States. If Americans get suckered again, they deserve the consequences.

    The headline on Drudge.com was: "Ayatollah: Kill all Jews, annihilate Israel..." Americans are expected to rally to their defense, like a trained dog.

    Drudge links to an article on the NeoCon web site "World Net Daily." (Obviously Drudge is another Zionist asset.)

    The article, written by "a former CIA operative" says, "the Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people....The doctrine includes [preemptive strikes] wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide."

    The source of this sabre rattling is an article on a Farsi website by one "Alireza Forghani, a conservative analyst and a strategy specialist in Khamenei's camp."

    However, an Israeli website identifies Alireza Forghani as merely "an Iranian blogger:"

    "Alireza Forghani, a computer engineer, wrote in his essay that Tehran should exploit the West's dawdling over a strike on Iran to "wipe out Israel" by 2014 - that is, before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term runs out. The post was widely covered in the Iranian media on Saturday."

    So rather than a government spokesman, Forghani is really "a blogger," with a two year time horizon for a "preemptive attack."

    This is how the Zionists beat the drum for war.

    And what did Khamenei actually say?

    The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution said the regional uprisings will bring about decline and isolation for the Zionist regime and stressed:

    "One of the outcomes of these movements is decline and isolation for the Zionist regime, which is very important, because the Zionist regime is truly a cancerous tumor in the region and it must be, and will be, cut off."

    CONCLUSION

    "Zionism is but an incident of a far-reaching plan," leading American Zionist Louis Marshall, counsel for bankers Kuhn Loeb said in 1917. "It is merely a convenient peg on which to hang a powerful weapon."

    Zionism has been effective in conscripting the US into World War One and World War Two. Now, they are going for a hat trick.


  • 02/10/12--08:45: Deep Military Integration: Towards a North American Combined Military Force (chan 1146671)



    • The U.S. and Canada recently signed several bilateral agreements that will further strengthen continental security and defense cooperation. Deeper military integration between both countries is part of efforts to establish a North American security perimeter and better address common global threats. http://beyourownleader.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-canada-strengthening-security.htm...


  • 02/11/12--19:08: Medicaid counselor encouraged teen to get pregnant for dental coverage (chan 1146671)



    • DALLAS -- No one would say being a single mom is easy. Especially being a single, teenage mother.

    But the State of Texas appears to be encouraging teenage girls to become pregnant so they can receive free dental care under Medicaid.

    Our investigation last year found hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money spent for free braces on kids' teeth under Medicaid. That spurred a federal investigation, because cosmetic braces aren't supposed to be paid for under Medicaid.

    If that is an example of good intentions gone bad, Latricia Banks and her mom, Patricia Jones, may exemplify a good idea gone terribly wrong.

    For them, home is a tiny, wooden house in the shadow of Dallas' skyscrapers, which they share with Latricia's 82-year-old grandfather. It is a household held together with love, not money. Medical and dental care came mostly through Medicaid.

    A little more than two years ago, Latricia's mom got a postcard in the mail, like many people in the neighborhood. Access Dental was offering to provide free braces for qualified children like Latricia, then 17 years old.

    Mother and daughter responded.

    Access Dental pulled one of Latricia's upper front teeth, the mother and daughter say, and put braces on remaining upper teeth. Latricia was left with a huge gap in her smile.

    But the job went unfinished, because the clinic said Latricia needed a dental implant, which is not covered under Medicaid.

    The clinic installed a false tooth, held in place by her braces.

    "On my right hand side, I have a tooth that's really fake," Latricia said. "It even moves."

    If her braces were ever removed, she would be left with an unsightly gap between her front teeth.

    Three months ago, Latricia turned 19. Her Medicaid counselor told her she was now too old to receive Medicaid Orthodontic treatment, unless she got pregnant.

    "Why do I have to have a baby just to get my teeth fixed?" Latricia said. "That's just not right."

    Latricia's mother asked the state to explain the pregnancy policy, in writing.

    They did.

    "Ms. Latricia Banks is now 19, and no longer eligible for Children's Medicaid," the Dallas office of the Texas Health and Human services wrote Mrs. Jones, in a letter. "If she becomes pregnant, she can apply for Adult Medicaid."

    Latricia's mother was infuriated.

    "What you're saying is telling my daughter to go get pregnant!" Jones said.

    Fifteen miles away in Carrollton, obstetrician Dr. Bill Montanaro has hundreds of teenage Medicaid patients. As an obstetrician, he both delivers babies and provides birth control under several state and federal programs.

    A couple of years ago, he began noticing that many of his pregnant teenagers also had braces on their teeth.

    "I thought, there's something seriously wrong with this picture," he said.

    He gradually realized that state policies might be encouraging emotionally immature girls to become pregnant when a 14-year-old girl came to his office.

    She'd already delivered one baby, and he'd implanted a birth control device under Medicaid. Then she lost her Medicaid coverage and came back to his office, offering to pay cash for him to remove it.

    "She said, 'I need to get back on Medicaid, because I want to get braces,'" the doctor said. "Her means to get back on Medicaid was to get pregnant again. ...And she said, 'My sister has [braces] too, and she's pregnant.'"

    "I'm thinking there's a pattern here," Montanaro said.

    Montanaro says pregnant teenagers receive expanded health care under state and federal programs, Medicaid among them. He estimates that at least five percent of his pregnant Medicaid patients have braces on their teeth.

    According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHS), the state provided braces for nearly 1,181 pregnant girls last year under Medicaid.

    At HHS headquarters in Austin, spokesperson Stephanie Goodman responded to WFAA questions in writing.

    Ms. Goodman said Medicaid Orthodontic coverage extends through age 20, not until age 19, as Patricia Jones had been told. Latricia's care would be finished under Medicaid expense. If care is begun before age 21, it is not possible to "age out" of the program. Pregnancy is irrelevant to orthodontic coverage.

    Further, Ms. Goodman wrote, "The line about Medicaid for pregnant women was inappropriate and should not have been included [in the letter to Patricia Jones.] I can understand why the family was offended and I apologize for the misunderstanding."

    Latricia Banks is still worried about her teeth, but a kindly dentist, not affiliated with Access Dental, has begun the process of putting an implant in her mouth for free. That should ultimately allow her orthodontic care to continue.

    She's started college at Navarro Junior College in Corsicana, where she plans to learn to become a dental hygienist.

    "I don't want anyone else to experience what happened to me," she said.


  • 02/13/12--18:15: Texas' first posthumous pardon (chan 1146671)



    • FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The first person in the United States to be exonerated posthumously on the basis of DNA evidence received a lasting tribute in his home state of Texas this week.

    State officials and the family of the late Tim Cole unveiled the first Texas historical marker dedicated to an exonerated convict, located in a Fort Worth cemetery a few feet from the grave where Cole was buried in 1999.

    Governor Rick Perry issued Texas' first posthumous pardon to Cole in 2010, over a decade after he died from complications from an asthma attack while serving time in prison for a rape he did not commit.

    "We finally have something visual that people can see to remember Tim," Cory Session, Cole's brother, told Reuters. "We are very pleased and grateful that Tim's life and legacy will not be forgotten."

    Post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated nearly 290 people in the United States since 1989, including 17 death row inmates, according the Innocence Project, which works to reverse wrongful convictions. It says that witness misidentification was a factor in nearly 75 percent of cases.

    Of the DNA exonerations nationwide, over 40 have been in Texas, more than in any other U.S. state.

    The Texas marker tells the story of how Cole was convicted in 1986 of raping a fellow student at Texas Tech University and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. An Army veteran, Cole served more than 13 years in prison, steadfastly insisting he did not commit the crime.

    He turned down a plea bargain before his trial and a parole opportunity because he refused to admit guilt.

    His family's continued efforts to clear his name were boosted by the Innocence Project of Texas, which received a letter in 2007 from an inmate confessing to the crime that Cole was convicted of committing.

    Preserved DNA evidence confirmed that Jerry Wayne Johnson - not Cole - committed the rape. The victim of the attack, Michele Mallin, had identified Cole as her attacker in a photo and physical lineup but later joined efforts to bring him justice, said Gary Udashen, president of the Innocence Project of Texas.

    The legal maneuvers to clear Cole's name were successful, and in 2009 he was cleared in court of the crime "to a 100 percent moral, legal and factual certainty," the marker reads.

    "Tim Cole's case is extremely significant and has made a real difference in the bringing justice to those falsely convicted in Texas," Udashen said.

    The case prompted passage of two laws, including the Tim Cole Compensation Act, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2009, which provides compensation to those wrongly imprisoned.

    The legislature also created the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions to help prevent future such convictions in Texas.

    The marker was the result of a two-year effort by Cole's family.

    "I was driving my daughter through another cemetery to visit a grave when we saw a historical marker," said Session, policy director for the Innocence Project. "I decided right then that's what I wanted for Tim." (Reporting By Marice Richter; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Cynthia Johnston)
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/12/convict-exonerated-after-death_n_127206...