Posing as officer to get sex

Man accused of posing as officer to get sex denies allegations

Amplify’d from www.inyork.com

Man accused of posing as officer to get sex denies allegations

James Cunningham Weaver, 26, of Manchester Township, is facing several charges, including impersonating a public official.

By TED CZECH Daily Record/Sunday News

York, PA - A man impersonating a police officer used a plastic badge, gun and handcuffs to try to coerce a masseuse into having sex in exchange for not arresting her Thursday in Manchester Township, police said. Northern York County Regional Police said James Cunningham Weaver, 26, arranged for the woman to come to his home Thursday and, when she arrived, told her he was a police officer. Weaver, of the of the first block of Williamstown Circle, Manchester Township, showed the 27-year-old woman a badge and tried to handcuff her, police said. He then "solicited sex in return for 'not pressing charges,'" according to a news release. The woman escaped the house, in the Lexington Woods complex, and called police, according to a news release. On Thursday, Northern York County Regional Police served a search warrant at Weaver's home, where they found the badge, gun and handcuffs. "Due to his cooperation with the investigation, we decided to file the charges instead of taking him into custody," Northern Regional Lt. David Lash said Tuesday. Lash said Weaver admitted to the woman's allegations and showed police where to find the badge, gun and handcuffs in his home. "I don't believe he made any statements as to why he acted as a police officer," Lash said. Weaver has been charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and impersonating a public official. A preliminary hearing has yet to be scheduled. Reached at

his home Tuesday, Weaver denied the allegations, saying that he got the woman's number from a co-worker and just wanted to "hang out" with her, and that he never tried to impersonate a police officer. "She made all this up," he said. Weaver said he was cooperative with police, "but I did not admit (anything) to them," he said. He said an officer showed him papers detailing the woman's allegations and "he asked me if I understood them, and I said yes . . . not if I agreed to what she was saying against me," Weaver said. * * * The woman, who lives in Prince George's County, Va., told police Weaver called her after reading about her massage service online, and the two agreed she would drive to his home the next afternoon to give him a massage, according to the news release. The woman traveled to Weaver's home, and the two went to an upstairs spare bedroom, according to the news release. Weaver reportedly pulled out a wallet, showed her a badge and identified himself as "York Police," according to the news release. Weaver allegedly told the woman that she had been caught in a police sting, and that the house was rented by police to carry out the operation. Weaver then pulled out a pair of handcuffs and grabbed the woman's left wrist, the release states. When the woman questioned the arrest, Weaver said, "We know what you girls do." When the woman asked to speak to Weaver's supervisor, he stepped back, pulled out a black cellphone and appeared to dial, police said. Weaver then appeared to be talking to another person who he indicated was his supervisor. Lash said he does not believe Weaver placed an actual call. While on the phone, Weaver said, "We have her. I think she might be cooperative," police said. Weaver then asked the woman if she wanted to talk about her arrest, saying, "You do me a favor and I'll do you a favor," according to the release. Weaver then reached behind the door of the room and picked up a fake black handgun, according to the news release. Lash said that he saw the plastic handgun and that it's a convincing replica. "She believed the handgun was real when it was displayed at her," he said. When the woman asked that Weaver show her identification, he said, "This is all the identification I need," police said. He pointed the gun at the woman and told her she could not leave, according to the release. The woman was able to push through the door and fled to her vehicle. She was not injured. * * * Weaver told a different story Tuesday, saying that he spoke with the woman several times on the phone, but never meant to get a massage or coerce her into having sex. And he said he never impersonated a police officer. "It wasn't that type of contact," he said, then added, "This was a mistake. It was a big mistake. I should have never called her." Once he let the woman inside his home, Weaver said, it became clear she was not there to "hang out." At one point, she demanded money, and then pulled out a can of pepper spray and threatened him with it, Weaver said. Weaver said he panicked and grabbed a BB gun that was nearby, telling the woman to leave or he was going to call the police. He said he did not intend to shoot the woman. "It was more of a scare tactic." As for the plastic badge and handcuffs, Weaver said they were part of a birthday present for a young family member and he never used them. "It's all one big misunderstanding, and I hope to resolve it as soon as possible," he said. Can you help? Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Northern York County Regional Police at 292-3647 or www.nycrpd.org. Read more at www.inyork.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.youtube.com

Gaddafi forces accused of torture

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Libyan's Being Tortured and Executed

Libyan Anti-Government Soldiers Are Reportedly Being Tortured and Executed in an Underground Prison in Muammar Gaddafi's Hometown of Sirte

Amplify’d from www.hapblog.com

Libyan Anti-Government Soldiers Are Reportedly Being Tortured and Executed in an Underground Prison in Muammar Gaddafi's Hometown of Sirte

"The Special Forces soldiers were killed by firing squad right in front of our eyes"

english.aljazeera

Libyan anti-government soldiers are reportedly being tortured and executed in an underground prison in Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte. This allegation comes from an escaped prisoner who says men were executed by firing squad. More and more stories are emerging of abuse and suffering at the hands of the Gaddafi forces. It has provoked people in Ajdabiya to call for NATO to increase their air strikes in the hope they could bring an end to the conflict. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Ajdabiya Read more at www.hapblog.com

 

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Transporting a Child for Sexual Purposes

Truman Man Sentenced for Transporting a Child for Sexual Purposes and Producing Child Pornography

Amplify’d from minneapolis.fbi.gov

Truman Man Sentenced for Transporting a Child for Sexual Purposes and Producing Child Pornography

Earlier today a 44-year-old over-the-road trucker from the small southern Minnesota town of Truman was sentenced in federal court in Minneapolis for taking a child on interstate trucking trips for the purpose of having sexual relations with her and producing pornography involving her. United States District Court Chief Judge Michael J. Davis sentenced Kenneth Leon Wilcox to 480 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of production of child pornography. Wilcox was indicted on June 15, 2010, and pleaded guilty on October 14, 2010.

In his plea agreement, Wilcox admitted that on October 20, 2007, he transported a then-14-year-old girl from Minnesota to Wisconsin and had sexual relations with her in the cab of his semi-truck. Wilcox also admitted that on that same date, he used an eight-millimeter video camera to film the girl engaging in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, Wilcox transported the girl and engaged in similar activities in West Virginia on December 2, 2007; Virginia on February 4, 2008; Maryland on March 11, 2008; and Ohio on March 30, 2008.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Truman Police Department, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, the Fairmont Police Department, the Jackson Police Department, the Cedar Rapids Police Department (Iowa), and the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office (Iowa). It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly A. Svendsen and Karen B. Schommer.

This case involved the trafficking of a human being. In fiscal year 2007, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, working with the various U.S. Attorneys around the country, initiated 183 investigations, charged 89 defendants in 32 cases, and obtained 103 human trafficking convictions, the majority of which were for sex trafficking. Between 2001 and 2007, 318 defendants were charged with violating statutes under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was enacted in 2000.

The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children. It recently submitted to Congress the first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. That strategy seeks to strengthens many of the weapons already used in the fight against the proliferation of technology-based sexual exploitation crimes involving children.

For example, the federal website established in 2006 as part of Project Safe Childhood, the initial national effort to address Internet-facilitated sex crimes against children, is being relaunched after being improved for better information sharing and crime reporting. The U.S. Marshals Service is launching an operation to locate and apprehend the 500 most dangerous, unregistered sex offenders in the country. And, the Justice Department is developing a national database that will allow federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to deconflict their cases.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood or the new National Strategy, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Read more at minneapolis.fbi.gov

 

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Traveling to Have Sex with an 11yo girl

Amplify’d from www.fbi.gov

Canadian Man Convicted of Traveling to Have Sex with an 11-Year-Old Girl and Possession of Child Pornography Defendant Caught in Undercover Operation

ATLANTA—A jury in federal district court today returned a guilty verdict against BRIAN SCHUMAKER, 54, of Mississagua, Ontario, Canada, on charges of traveling across state lines to engage in sexual activity with a child under the age of 12, attempting to entice a child to engage in sexual activity, and possession of child pornography.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “This defendant, who has five daughters himself, came to our community with the intent of sexually exploiting an 11-year-old girl. Alert law enforcement involved in an undercover operation knew he was coming and arrested him. Now, after a four-day trial, a federal jury has convicted him on all charges. We will continue to investigate and prosecute those who choose to commit these types of crimes in this district, and commend the FBI and the Alpharetta Police Department for their fine work on the Safe Child Task Force.”

According to United States Attorney Yates and the evidence presented at trial: From July 3, 2007 until August 3, 2007, through a series of Internet chats, SCHUMAKER used the Internet to try to arrange a meeting with a child under the age of 12 for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. During the week of July 31, 2007, he traveled by car from Ontario, Canada to Atlanta to meet the child and attend a business conference at the Georgia World Congress Center. After SCHUMAKER’s arrest, law enforcement recovered child pornography from his laptop computer and phone device depicting the sexual abuse, rape, and molestation of very young children.

There was no actual child in this case. Instead, the online chats were part of a joint law enforcement undercover operation. SCHUMAKER communicated on the Internet with an undercover task force officer from the Alpharetta (Georgia) Police Department who was posing as an 11-year-old girl and her “mother.” On August 3, 2007, SCHUMAKER was arrested by FBI agents and Alpharetta officers at the location where he had arranged to meet the “mother.” Evidence introduced at trial showed that defendant boasted during chat sessions about having sex with girls as young as 12 years old in Canada. SCHUMAKER, a father of five girls, also expressed his desire to molest his own girls if he could hide the abuse from his wife.

SCHUMAKER could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.00. Sentencing has not been scheduled. In determining the actual sentence, the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by task force agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officers with the Alpharetta Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey A. Brown is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact Sally Q. Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan. Read more at www.fbi.gov

 

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Declassified FBI Memo

FBI & ABC News Knew OK City Bombing Done By Muslims

Amplify’d from www.debbieschlussel.com

Declassified FBI Memo: FBI & ABC News Knew OK City Bombing Done By Muslims

By Debbie Schlussel

Now we know.  After years of telling us otherwise, the FBI–in its own words, on its own previously classified memo–knew the the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was likely the work and planning of Islamic terrorists, not just Timothy McVeigh.

It’s important because it confirms the tireless, ridiculed scoops and hard work by Oklahoma City TV reporter and journalist, Jayna Davis, who for years made the case that the bombing was the work of Iraqi intelligence.  It’s also important because, for years, the CAIR Action Network and other Muslim groups constantly point to that bombing as evidence that major terrorist attacks on America are also committed by non-Muslim, American Christian White guys (even though McVeigh was basically an atheist).  Now, we know for sure that Davis was right, and, per usual, that the HAMAS financier, CAIR Action Network was lying.

A big story in the news today is that a senior ABC News reporter was a mole for the FBI, according to a just released classified FBI memo from the 1990s.  But the far more important revelation in the the memo is that it confirms that the FBI and ABC News believed the Oklahoma City bombing might be the work of Iraqi intelligence working for Saddam Hussein and that Saudi Arabia warned about this same fact.

As I noted recently, there was previously a lot of evidence that the Oklahoma City was the work of Islamic terrorists, including the presence of McVeigh associate and Iraqi agent Hussain Al-Hussaini, whom the FBI confirmed was seen with McVeigh throughout the planning of the attack, including when McVeigh rented the vehicle used in the bombing.  Most of this evidence was dug up and brought out by Ms. Davis, a then-Oklahoma City television reporter, whose book, “The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing,” is a must-read.

So why did the FBI cover up the fact that the bombing was an Islamic terrorist operation? The usual–political correctness toward Muslims can be the only answer. More:

A once-classified FBI memo reveals that the bureau treated a senior ABC News journalist as a potential confidential informant in the 1990s, pumping the reporter to ascertain the source of a sensational but uncorroborated tip that the network had obtained during its early coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The journalist, whose name is not disclosed in the document labeled “secret,” not only cooperated but provided the identity of a confidential source, according to the FBI memo. . . .

The ABC employee was even assigned a number in the FBI’s informant database, indicating he or she was still being vetted for suitability as a snitch after providing “highly accurate and reliable information in the past” and then revealing information the network had obtained in the hours just after the 1995 terrorist attack by Timothy McVeigh.

The journalist “advised that a source within the Saudi Arabian Intelligence Service advised that the Oklahoma City bombing was sponsored by the Iraqi Special Services who contracted seven (7) former Afghani Freedom Fighters out of Pakistan,” an April 17, 1996 FBI memo states, recounting the then-ABC journalist’s interview with FBI agents a year earlier on the evening of the April 19, 1995 bombing. (The Iraqi connection, of course, never materialized.) . . .

The memo was recently discovered by Utah lawyer Jesse Trentadue, who has spent years researching the Oklahoma City case trying to prove a connection between the terrorist bombing and the death of his brother in an Oklahoma prison in the summer of 1995.

The root of the memo lies in Trentadue’s relationship with Terry Nichols, one of the defendants convicted in the 1995 terror attack, who is serving life in prison. Trentadue recently found the document — unredacted and still marked secret — in a box of documents gathered by Nichols’ defense attorneys.

The memo suggests the ABC journalist reached out to a counterterrorism agent in New York City on his or her own the night of the bombing, in part because the information acquired suggested that “there were two other bombing incidents planned” soon at government offices in Houston and Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, the memo says the ABC reporter’s source for the information was Vincent Cannistraro, an unreliable, vehemently anti-Israel former CIA counterterrorism chief, who was then on the Saudi payroll as a “consultant.” Still, his story jibes with what Jayna Davis discovered.

The political correctness of the 2000s and 2010s with regard to Muslims and terrorism had early roots in the 1990s. Why wasn’t Hussain Al-Hussaini more closely scrutinized? Why wasn’t he sent to rendition, instead of being allowed to roam free on American streets? Why wasn’t Timothy McVeigh offered a deal in order to turn in his Islamic compatriots? It’s pretty clear he couldn’t possibly have planned and carried out such a successful attack on his own.

We’ll likely never know the answers. But we’ll always know one thing for sure: the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies go out of their way to cover up for Islam and Muslims.

And Americans continue to go along like sheep and say nothing.

So, who was the FBI mole at ABC News?  Was it John Miller, now an official of the Obama Administration?  For years, Miller straddled back and forth between high profile jobs at the FBI and ABC News?  He’s one of the only American reporters to ever interview Osama Bin Laden on video and fancies himself something of an investigative journalist and terrorism expert.  He’s now Barack Obama’s Associate Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analytic Transformation and Technology.

Will ABC News’ “Deep Throat” come to light?  We’ll see. Read more at www.debbieschlussel.com

 

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Ustase in Kentucky?!

Amplify’d from continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com

Ustase in Kentucky?!

Dark Past in Balkan War Intrudes on New Life By MALCOLM GAY Published: April 3, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/us/04hide.html?ref=todayspaper STANTON, Ky. — Nearly two decades after fleeing her native Croatia, the squat, hardworking woman known as Issabell Basic lived a quiet life in this small town, firing up her Jeep Cherokee each day for the 25-minute commute to her job making Hot Pockets. She doted on the dog she had bottle-fed as a puppy, was handy at sinking a fence post, and though neighbors never took to her stuffed grape leaves and cabbage, friends loved the cakes she baked each time a birthday rolled around. Emphysema kept her close to the series of homes she shared with Steve Loman and his wife, Lucy, whom she called “Sis.” The Lomans, in turn, describe Ms. Basic, 51, as a “big-hearted” person — the kind who would not buy something for herself without first picking up a gift for a friend, but who was also so scarred by the Bosnian conflict that she could not watch war movies and had severed all ties with her native land. But perhaps there was another reason for the break: the woman known here as Issabell is identified in court papers as Azra Basic, and prosecutors in Bosnia allege that in 1992 she was part of a vicious brigade of Croatian Army soldiers that tortured and killed ethnic Serbs at three detention camps in the early years of the Bosnian war. Victims and witnesses from the camps, quoted in court documents, say that while wearing a Croatian uniform, twin knives strapped to her belt and a boot, Ms. Basic carved crosses into prisoners’ foreheads. They accuse her of slitting one man’s throat and forcing others to drink from the dead man’s wound. One witness says Ms. Basic made him drink gasoline, then set fire to his hands and face. Others say she forced them to crawl — half-naked, a knotted rope in their mouths and a Croatian soldier on their back — across a floor littered with glass. Now, after nearly 20 years, the past 15 spent working odd jobs in New York and Kentucky, Ms. Basic faces extradition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she would stand trial in district court on charges of war crimes. One witness says Ms. Basic made him drink gasoline, then set fire to his hands and face. Others say she forced them to crawl — half-naked, a knotted rope in their mouths and a Croatian soldier on their back — across a floor littered with glass. Now, after nearly 20 years, the past 15 spent working odd jobs in New York and Kentucky, Ms. Basic faces extradition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she would stand trial in district court on charges of war crimes. “They’ve alleged that she is the woman that did these atrocities; we’re certainly going to contest that,” said Patrick Nash, who is representing Ms. Basic (pronounced BOSS-ich) in the extradition proceedings. Ms. Basic, who is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center in Lexington, declined an interview request through her lawyer. Though she was first charged in 1993, Ms. Basic was not located by Interpol until 2004. The Bosnian government registered a formal extradition request in 2007, but United States authorities asked for additional evidence before sending federal marshals to arrest her here last month. By that time, according to the Lomans, speaking publicly for the first time, Ms. Basic had been living with them for five years, most recently sleeping on a twin mattress in the living room of their rambling, three-bedroom home. Over coffee before work, trips to the store and nights spent in front of the TV, Ms. Basic confided the details of her old life to her new American “family.” “It wasn’t like it was a secret or anything, ” said Mr. Loman, a retired truck driver who was arrested at the house with Ms. Basic on an unrelated weapons charge. “The first man she killed, it made her sick,” Ms. Loman said. “She came face to face with him. And she had to kill him or be killed. She said it made her sick at her stomach, and then she said, after that it all went down pretty easy — after you kill your first.” The extradition complaint accuses Ms. Basic of causing only one death. The daughter of a ship’s captain, Ms. Basic told the Lomans that she and her young son had fled their home when the fighting broke out. She said her son had died of a heart ailment and that she was captured by Serbian fighters, after which she took up arms with the Croatian Army, which promised to feed her and give her cigarettes. Court records contained in the extradition request indicate that she married Nedzad Basic in 1994. She later recounted to Ms. Loman how the Red Cross had helped resettle the pair in the United States, after a bomb blast destroyed one of her kidneys and lodged shrapnel in her skull. Once in this country, she began reinventing herself. Ms. Basic changed her name to Issabell, moved from Rochester to Lexington, Ky., and became an American citizen. Court records indicate that she divorced her husband in 2005. Ms. Loman, who first met Ms. Basic while both were working at a Lexington-area nursing home, said that she often worked two jobs — in part to help support the men she dated — and that by the time she moved in with them, she had little contact with her previous life. “She’d tell everybody that my son was her nephew,” said Ms. Loman, 63, who once offered to contact Ms. Basic’s family. “She said: ‘Absolutely not. You’re my family.’ ” The United Nations estimates that 104,000 people died in the ethnic strife that gripped the Balkans in the early to mid-1990s after the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. The conflict, marked by ethnic cleansing, was the most brutal to occur on European soil since World War II and prompted the establishment of a special war crimes tribunal. But unlike many who have later been found guilty of war crimes, Ms. Basic did not hide her history entirely from her two closest friends. The revelations did not deter the Lomans from inviting Ms. Basic to come with them when they moved to Stanton, a 45-minute drive southeast of Lexington. Over time she divulged more details, including how she had once witnessed the extended gang rape of a teenage girl by Serbian fighters. The girl, Ms. Basic told them, died the next day. “One time they came up on these Serbs, and she recognized the man that had raped that young girl,” Ms. Loman said. A fellow soldier drew his rifle, but “she said: ‘No. Don’t shoot him. I want him,’ ” Ms. Loman said, adding that nightmares often caused her friend to moan loudly, awakening the rest of the house. “She got him, and she cut his penis off, and she said, ‘Now, you so-and-so, you’ll never rape anyone again.’ ” The episode is not mentioned in the extradition request, though some witnesses say that Ms. Basic threatened to “circumcise” them. Ms. Basic’s lawyer, Mr. Nash, declined to comment on the matter. “Anything she done, it was army connected,” said Ms. Loman, who said she believed that her friend was a fundamentally good person whom the horrors of war had forced to make impossible moral choices. The war toughened Ms. Basic, Ms. Loman said, but she was loyal and felt deeply for her friends, naming Ms. Loman in her will and buying carpet for a bedroom addition that would have allowed Ms. Basic her own room. “I have no doubt if someone wanted to shoot me, she’d take the bullet,” Ms. Loman said. The Lomans are not alone in this hill-country town of 3,000 when they say that what international courts deem war crimes are in fact rough justice. “I don’t think she’s guilty of anything but being a human being,” said Eli Vires, a neighbor. “They should just let her out of jail and be done with it.” The belief that Ms. Basic is being “railroaded” is bolstered here by her reputation as friendly and hardworking. Mr. Vires’s mother-in-law, Henrietta Kirchner, 88, said Ms. Basic had been very kind when attending her at an area nursing home. “I thought she was a very nice lady,” Ms. Kirchner said. But Amy King, who cooks pizza for the regulars at the Marathon gas station, said she was glad Ms. Basic was in custody. “I was always taught an eye for an eye, but this woman is whacked,” said Ms. King, who has never met Ms. Basic but who like so many others in town has followed the case closely. If convicted, Ms. Basic would most likely spend the rest of her life in prison. But if she is found not guilty, Ms. Loman said she would welcome her home. “She’s already been through hell once,” Ms. Loman said as she sifted through Issabell’s clothes and pictures. “Why put her through it again?” Read more at continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com

 

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Radiation Is Another Blow to Fisherman

Amplify’d from www.cnsnews.com

Sea Radiation Is Another Blow to Japan's Fishermen

By Malcolm Foster, Ryan Nakashima, Associated Press

A chef serves fatty tuna and pickles rolls for customers at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo Tuesday, April 5, 2011. The government set its first radiation safety standards for fish Tuesday after Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant reported radioactive contamination in nearby seawater measuring at several million times the legal limit. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Tokyo (AP) - Fishermen who lost their homes and boats in Japan's tsunami now fear radioactive water gushing into the Pacific Ocean from a crippled nuclear plant could cost them their livelihoods.

The contaminated water raised concerns about the safety of seafood in the country that gave the world sushi, prompting the government to set limits for the first time on the amount of radiation permitted in fish.

Authorities insisted the radioactive water would dissipate and posed no immediate threat to sea creatures or people who might eat them. Most experts agreed.

Still, Japanese officials adopted the new standards as a precaution. And the mere suggestion that seafood from Japan could be at any risk stirred worries throughout the fishing industry.

"Even if the government says the fish is safe, people won't want to buy seafood from Fukushima," says Ichiro Yamagata, a fisherman who lived in the shadow of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. "We probably can't fish there for several years."

Fukushima is not a major fishing region, and no fishing is allowed in the direct vicinity of the plant. But experts estimate the coastal areas hit by the massive wave account for about a fifth of Japan's annual catch.

India announced Tuesday that it was halting food imports from Japan out of fear of radiation contamination. Few countries have gone so far, but India's three-month ban reflected the unease created by the nuclear crisis among consumers.

India said the ban would last three months or until the risk subsides. It planned to review the situation weekly.

Yamagata, whose home is within the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the plant, is staying in a Tokyo soccer stadium with his wife and about 140 other refugees. He expects his fishing days are over.

After the magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11, he ran outside and watched the second floor of his house collapse, then fled with his family when tsunami warnings sounded.

Since then, he hasn't been allowed to return to check on the 5-ton boat he used to troll for flounder. He assumes it's gone, too. The tsunami killed up to 25,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless as it swamped about 250 miles (400 kilometers) of the northeastern coast and knocked out power to the plant.

Workers there have been desperately trying to cool down overheated reactors, but the effort has required spraying large amounts of water and allowing it to gush out wherever it can escape, sometimes into the sea.

Radioactivity will continue spewing into the air and water until cooling systems are restored.

The new limits on radioactivity in fish were imposed after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced water tested near the plant Saturday contained levels of radioactive iodine 7.5 million times the legal limit. That level had dropped to 5 million two days later.

Past readings were lower, but they were also taken farther from the plant, so the new readings did not necessarily mean that contamination was getting worse.

Japan said some fish caught last week about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the plant would have exceeded the new limits, which may change as circumstances do.

The radiation standards for fish will be the same as for vegetables. After spinach and milk exceeded safety limits following the quake, health experts said people would still have to eat enormous quantities of tainted produce or dairy before getting even the amount of radiation contained in a CT scan.

Japan imports far more fish than it exports, but it sent the world $2.3 billion worth of seafood last year.

Some people were undaunted. At Sushizanmai, a sushi bar just outside Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market, customers were still eating Japan's famed raw fish delicacies Tuesday night.

But chef Seiichiro Ogawa said the fuss over radiation could hurt business. His restaurant is trying to get more fish from the western part of Japan, which has not been affected by the nuclear crisis.

"Japanese customers are especially sensitive to this kind of thing, so I'm worried they'll stop eating sushi," said Ogawa, who has already seen his business drop 50 percent after foreigners stopped visiting the city after the quake. "We need this nuclear problem to be resolved."

Back at the nuclear plant about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, there was a rare bit of good news Tuesday: Japan's nuclear safety agency said injections of coagulant seemed to be slowing the flow of highly contaminated water that was spilling directly into the ocean from a crack discovered over the weekend.

Previous attempts to find the leak using milky white bath salts failed, but TEPCO now believes it was able to trace the leak to an area somewhere below a cracked maintenance pit.

TEPCO also said this week it is purposely dumping more than 3 million gallons of low-level radioactive water into the sea to make room in a storage tank for more highly contaminated water that it needs to remove before workers can restore important cooling systems.

That announcement angered Fukushima's federation of fisheries groups, which sent the company a letter of protest.

"Our prefecture's fisherman have lost their lives, fishing boats, piers and buildings due to the Great Eastern Japan Disaster," federation chairman Tetsu Nozaki said in the letter. "This low-level contaminated water has raised fears among fishermen that they will never be able to fish in our prefecture's waters again, and we absolutely want you to stop."

TEPCO's reputation has taken a serious hit in the crisis. On Tuesday, its stock dropped 80 yen - the maximum daily limit, or 18 percent - to just 362 yen ($4.30), falling below its previous all-time closing low of 393 yen from December 1951. Since the quake, the share price has plunged 80 percent.

In what could be an effort to counter the bad publicity, Takashi Fujimoto, TEPCO's vice president, said it was offering 20 million yen ($240,000) in "apology money" to each town or city affected by the mandatory evacuation zone around the plant.

That's likely to be little comfort to fisherman Yamagata and his wife, Chiharu, who are angry with TEPCO over the situation.

"All we heard was that the plants were safe, safe, safe," she said. "I feel like they were hiding things from us. Now that radiation is seeping out, it's too late."

Ichiro Yamagata, who is 50, said he would like to return to his home and his job, but he sees no way that could happen. Nearly 17,000 boats have already been reported damaged in three hardest-hit prefectures, and that's just a partial tally.

Some fishing boats that left the harbor immediately after the quake got far enough out to sea that they were safe from the tsunami, Yamagata said, but others were swept away.

For now, the Yamagatas are passing their days at the soccer stadium, sleeping on mats in large rooms sectioned off with blue, knee-high dividers. They have no possessions - Ichiro Yamagata doesn't even have his driver's license - and only enough cash in the bank to last six months.

"After that, I'm going to have to find some kind of work," he said. "But fishermen can't be salarymen. I can only do simple jobs."

Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama and Noriko Kitano contributed to this report.

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Online With Terry Jeffrey: Editor of Nuclear Energy Encyclopedia Discusses Japan Events Right Now On CNSNews.com Actor and Activist Adrian Grenier: ‘We May Starve To Death,’ ‘Something May Get Us Before Climate Change’ Read more at www.cnsnews.com

 

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Wanted for Questioning

Amplify’d from www.citizenobserver.com

Wanted for Questioning

York City Police Department

Original Image

WANTED FOR QUESTIONING FOR AN  ALLEGED OFF-CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT  NEAR YORK COLLEGE. WHITE MALE, APPROX. 6’0 TALL, 250 LBS,  MUSCULAR BUILD, 24-30 YRS OLD EARRING IN CARTILAGE OF LEFT EAR   SUBMIT ANONYMOUS TIPS BY TEXTING: “YORKTIPS” AND YOUR MESSAGE TO 847411 (tip411) or “SUBMIT A TIP” on Facebook.com/YorkCityPD   Read more at www.citizenobserver.com

 

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White House: criticize us, your al-Qaeda

White House: People who criticize us are helping al-Qaeda

Amplify’d from www.prophesyagain.com

White House: People who criticize us are helping al-Qaeda

In a brief op-ed in USA Today, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan charges that critics who question the Obama administration's decision to grant Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are "serv[ing] the goals of al Qaeda."

"Too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points," Brennan writes. "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

Now, however, those critics are questioning whether Brennan is trying to score a few political points of his own. First, Brennan supports the administration's position, which most critics find absurd, that the initial 50-minute interrogation of Abdulmutallab -- all the Justice Department would allow before he was read his Miranda rights -- was somehow adequate. "Immediately after the failed Christmas Day attack," Brennan writes, "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was thoroughly interrogated and provided important information."

Second, Brennan writes that, "The most important breakthrough occurred after Abdulmutallab was read his rights…" What Brennan does not say is that that breakthrough reportedly occurred several weeks after Abdulmutallab was read his rights. In the intervening period, apparently, investigators got little out of the suspect.

Third, Brennan sets up a fairly obvious straw man when he writes that, "Cries to try terrorists only in military courts lack foundation." The argument over the treatment of Abdulmutallab is an argument specifically over the treatment of an al Qaeda soldier who was caught trying to blow up an airliner -- not whether terrorists should be tried only in military courts. As far as I know, the critics who believe the administration made a serious mistake with Abdulmutallab also believe that there are other cases -- involving financial or logistical support of terrorism, for example -- that are well suited to the civilian court system. Read more at www.prophesyagain.com

 

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