David Dean Smith, Michigan Man, Allegedly Spread HIV 'Possibly 100s Of People' To Kill Victims

A health alert warning residents of Michigan's Kent County that "possibly hundreds of people have been exposed to HIV" was issued Tuesday after the arrest of David Dean Smith, a 51-year-old HIV-positive man who told police he was on a mission to infect as many people as possible, MSNBC reports.

Smith allegedly told Grand Rapids police last week that over the past three years, he had engaged in unprotected sex with as many partners as he could -- a number he estimated to be in the "thousands" -- in an effort to infect them with HIV and kill them.

Police arrested Smith Friday on sexual offense charges and he is currently in Kent County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond with preliminary hearings scheduled for Jan. 4 and Jan. 9. When asked to comment on the case, Smith's attorney Richard E. Zambon told MSBNC that he is "concerned about his mental health" and is planning on "exploring all options" for defending Smith.

According to documents filed with Grand Rapids 61st District Court, Smith targeted Michigan residents as well as those living many states away, whom he contacted via Yahoo! Personals.

That was the method Smith used to contact one of the two victims that have already come forward. This woman agreed to be interviewed by Grand Rapids news station WOOD-TV on the condition of anonymity, telling reporters that she contracted HIV in 2008 and knew immediately that Smith was the person who had infected her.

Right before his arrest, she said, he allegedly sent her a text message that read "Turning myself into the law, my life is over. Take care. Always love you."

It's unclear why Smith chose to alert authorities of his behavior at this time, but court documents suggest he has a history of mental illness which includes a recent admission to Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services for threatening suicide. According to Michigan Live, hospital records say that Smith is "sexually aroused by causing pain to females."

How many people Smith directly infected over the past three years is difficult to determine, but the victim who spoke to WOOD-TV said Smith claimed to have had sex with as many as 3,000 people of both genders.

The Kent County Health Department is encouraging anyone who believes they may have been infected by Smith to come forward.
Anyone concerned that they may have been infected can call the Kent County Health Department Personal Health Services Clinic at 616.632.7171. All calls and HIV testing are confidential.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/30/david-dean-smith-michigan-hiv-grand-rapids_n_1177103.html

Iran Is Said to Sentence 2 Hikers to 8 Years in Jail

Two American hikers imprisoned in Iran for more than two years have been convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in jail, according to an unconfirmed news report on Iranian state television on Saturday.

The sentences, if confirmed, seemed unexpectedly severe coming not long after senior Iranian officials said that the men might be released soon, perhaps as a humanitarian gesture during the current holy month of Ramadan. Ali Akbar Salehi, the foreign minister, was quoted by local news media as saying he hoped the end of the trial on July 31 would lead to their freedom.

The two Americans, Shane M. Bauer and Joshua F. Fattal, both 29, have spent two years in a Tehran prison after being arrested near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan in July 2009. A third hiker, Sarah E. Shourd, was released on $500,000 bail in September 2010, and the latest report said her case remained open.

The Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, an official television channel, reported that Mr. Bauer and Mr. Fattal were sentenced to three years for entering Iran illegally and to five years for spying for the United States, a brief news report on the network’s Web site also said that they had 20 days to appeal.

The three Americans, all graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, who were either studying or traveling in the Middle East, say they made an innocent mistake in wandering over the unmarked border, crossing when a soldier of unknown nationality waved to them to approach. They were only then told they had crossed into Iran and were arrested, Ms. Shourd, who is Mr. Bauer’s fiancée, has said.

Iran has never publicly presented any evidence of their spying, and Mr. Bauer and Mr. Fattal have entered a plea of not guilty. Masoud Shafiei, their lawyer, said in a telephone interview that he had not been informed of the verdict and would seek confirmation on Sunday.

The television news channel is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, however, and it would not be unusual for the news to leak out in this manner. The network attributed the report to an unidentified informed source within the judiciary.

In Washington, the State Department said that it was seeking confirmation via the Swiss Embassy in Iran, which represents American interests there. “We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran’s Evin Prison for two years,” the statement said. “Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families.”

Ms. Shourd and the families of the two men declined to comment.

Mr. Shafiei said he had anticipated that the two might be convicted only of entering the country illegally and sentenced to time served. Speculation about the sentences, if confirmed, pointed to several issues.

First, Iran has said it seeks the freedom of about 10 Iranians it says are jailed in the United States. A heavy sentence, analysts said, would give the two Americans more weight as bargaining chips.

Another theory holds that the sentences could be a reaction to a recent letter to President Obama signed by 92 senators demanding that Washington seek sanctions against the Iranian Central Bank as a way to curb Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Finally, the case has attracted negative publicity for Iran, with all the attention focused on the distressed mothers of the two men.

If Tehran is still planning to make a “humanitarian gesture” in releasing them, then a harsher sentence would make the move appear all the more magnanimous, Iranian analysts said.

Neil MacFarquhar reported from New York, and Artin Afkhami from Washington. Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appeared in print on August 21, 2011, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Iran Is Said to Sentence 2 Hikers to 8 Years in Jail.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/world/middleeast/21hikers.html

Organic farmers sue Monsanto

Nearly 300,000 organic farmers are filing suit against corporate agriculture giant Monsanto, who have in recent years squashed independent organic farms from coast to coast.

270,000 organic farmers filed a lawsuit in March 30 in an attempt to keep a portion of the world’s food supply organic. The plaintiffs in the case are members of around 60 family farms, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations.

Led by the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the suit lashes out at Monsanto to keep their engineered Genuity® Roundup Ready® canola seed out of their farms. Organic agriculturalists say that corn, cotton, sugar beets and other crops of theirs have been contaminated by Monsanto‘s seed, and even though the contamination has been largely natural and unintended, Monsanto has been suing hundreds of farmers for infringing on their patent for incidentally using their product.

Not only are organic farmers trying to keep things — well, organic — but now many of them are being forced to throw in the towel as Monsanto unfortunately continues a successful war on the competition by suing indie growers that run organic farms. In recent years, Monsanto has acquired more than 20 of the biggest seed producers and sellers in the country, and The Street reports that they have instituted a policy whereas their customers are forced to use their bionengineered seeds — and purchase them each and every year — lest they want to be blacklisted forever.

The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into Monsanto’s “customer incentive programs” last year, and the Department of Justice has been probing into possible antirust violation relating to the blacklisting of customers since 2009.

As Monsanto buys out competitors and sues others, last year’s profits went up by 77 percent to $680 million.

US federal Judge Naomi Buchwald will be overseeing the case of Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto in a Manhattan court room.

Dan Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), said in a statement that the case comes down to “whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto’s transgenic seed or pollen should land on their property.”

“It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients.”

PUBAT has filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 270,000 plaintiffs. The foundation serves as a not-for-profit legal service organization that is affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Source: http://rt.com/usa/news/organic-monsanto-lawsuit-seed/

Amy Winehouse, 27, found dead at her London flat after suspected 'drug overdose'

By Sarah Bull
Last updated at 10:14 PM on 23rd July 2011

Troubled singer had a long battle with drink and drugs
London Ambulance Service found singer at 3.54pm but unable to revive her

She was 'beyond help' according to Sky sources

Autopsy could take place 'within next 24 hours'

Comes after Winehouse was booed off stage after shambolic Serbian show

Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home in London.

The Back To Black singer was found at the property by emergency services at 3.54pm, and it's believed Winehouse's death was due to a suspected drug overdose.


Winehouse was apparently 'beyond help' when paramedics arrived, according to Sky sources.

Sources have also claimed Winehouse's death was due to a drug overdose.



Passing: Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home this afternoon

The scene: Amy was pronounced dead this afternoon after emergency services arrived at her house in north London

Tragic: Winehouse's body is seen being removed from her home

Drama: Members of the press and local residents watch as Winehouse's body is taken to the van
WITHIN MINUTES 20M WERE TALKING TO EACH OTHER ON TWITTER ABOUT THE SINGER'S SUDDEN DEATH

Before it was announced on mainstream media the micro-blogging site was responding to the death of the singer and ‘Amy Winehouse’ quickly became one of Twitter’s 'trending' topics.

Trending refers to whichever names or terms are the most talked about at that particular moment. These are defined by the site as ‘most breaking’ topics.

Unlike topics which are discussed for a length of time, such as the phone hacking scandal, trending topics see huge numbers of Twitter users debating subjects as they happen.

Shortly after the confirmation of her death, Winehouse was mentioned in nearly 10 per cent of all tweets worldwide. As there are 200million users this equates to 20million people communicating with one another about her death.

Two ambulance crews arrived at the scene within five minutes and a paramedic on a bicycle also attended, according to a spokeswoman.

'Sadly the patient had died,' she added.

A death foretold: The rapid rise and tragic fall of Amy Winehouse, the deeply flawed soul prodigy
Outpouring of grief on Twitter over Amy Winehouse's sudden death
Read PAUL CONNOLLY'S tribute to Amy Winehouse here

A statement from Winehouse's U.S. record label read: 'We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer.


'Our prayers go out to Amy's family, friends and fans at this difficult time.'

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

'On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

'Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained.’

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a press conference this evening that no cause of death had yet been confirmed.

He said: 'I am aware of reports of a suspected drugs overdose, but I would like to reremphaise that no post-mortem has yet taken place and it would be inapproporaite to speculate on the cause of death.

'The death of any person is a sad time of friends and family especially for someone known nationally and internationally like Amy Winehouse. My sympathy extends not only to her family but also to her millions of fans across the world.'


A spokesman for the late singer said: 'Everyone involved with Amy is shocked and devastated.


'Our thoughts are with her family and friends. The family will issue a statement when ready.'


It has also been claimed on gossip website RadarOnline.com that Winehouse's autopsy could take place within the next 24 hours.

Last public appearance: Amy joined goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage during the iTunes festival on Wednesday night



Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month

A Scotland Yard spokesman is quoted by the website as saying: 'The postmortem has not been scheduled yet but it is unlikely to take place before tomorrow.

'In the case of a murder it can be done within hours but this is not the case so tomorrow or even Monday is more likely in these circumstances.'

Cutie pie: Amy looking adorable at the age of two
A section of the road where the singer lived remained cordoned off tonight. Journalists, local residents and fans gathered at the police tapes, while forensic officers were seen going in and out of the building.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she saw the singer's grief-stricken boyfriend, believed to be film director Reg Traviss, on the ground outside the house.

Two women then came 'speeding' up in a black Mercedes and walked in and out of the house crying. They said they believed the singer was at home last night.

Winehouse's father, Mitch, is understood to be returning to the UK from New York. He had been due to perform at the Blue Note jazz club in the city on Monday.


A message has been placed on the club's website, reading: 'We are very sad to report that the Mitch Winehouse performance on Monday July 25th is cancelled due to the unexpected death of his daughter, Amy Winehouse.

'Our condolences go out to Mitch and his family.' Mitch is now on his way back from New York.


Winehouse had been seen with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield earlier this week as the teenager took to the stage at the iTunes festival.

She refused to join in for Mama Said, but did support the 14-year-old with a few dance moves before urging the crowd to buy Dionne's new album Good For The Soul.

A source said: 'Amy staggered onstage and grabbed the mic to beg the crowd to buy her protege’s new album.'

Winehouse's appearance at the concert came after she cancelled her European tour following a disastrous performance in June when she stumbled onto the stage in Belgrade and gave an incoherent performance appearing very disorientated and removed from reality.



Unconfirmed: A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the cause of death has yet to be confirmed

Mourning: Floral tributes are left outside Amy's house as news breaks of her death

Heartfelt: One note from a local resident states how much the singer will be missed in her local community
Following the concert which saw fans enraged and the subsequent video that circulated to millions she cancelled the remaining dates of her European tour.


A statement released by the troubled singer's spokesperson at the time said that the singer would be given 'as long as it takes' to recover.

The statement read: 'Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances.

'Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.'




Family: Amy with her father Mitch, to whom she was incredibly close, and her mother Janis


Shambolic: Amy was booed off stage during a shambolic performance in Belgrade in June

AMY AND BLAKE: A TROUBLED ROMANCE

Amy married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami, Florida in 2007 but they were divorced two years later in September 2009.

From the beginning there relationship was fraught with difficulty as they struggled with addictions to crack cocaine and heroin. This led to numerous break-ups and ensuing make-ups.






Three months after they divorced speculation began to mount that they would one more marry. This was supported by the announcement on Facebook where they had both changed their relationship status to married.


But they never actually went ahead with it.
Fielder-Civil’s troubles continued and in June of this year was sentenced to 32 months in prison for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm.


Police caught the 29-year-old in a car in February with an altered number plate full of recently stolen possessions.


Winehouse had been working on her long-awaited new album, the follow-up to her 2006 breakthrough multi-million selling Back To Black, for the past three years.

The singer was born Amy Jade Winehouse on 14th September 1983 in Southgate, London.


Winehouse has had a troubled life which has included various stints in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.

The singer is thought to have been to rehab four times.


In an interview in 2008, her mother Janis said she would be unsurprised if her daughter died before her time.

She said: 'I've known for a long time that my daughter has problems.


'But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly.

'I've already come to terms with her dead. I've steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery.

'Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.

'I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She's on their path. It's like watching a car crash - this person throwing all these gifts away.'

In addition, there was a website set up called When Will Amy Winehouse Die?, with visitors asked to guess the date of death with the chance of winning an iPod Touch.

In an interview last October with Harper's Bazaar magazine, Amy was asked if she was happy.

She replied: 'I don't know what you mean. I've got a very nice boyfriend. He's very good to me.'

And, asked if she had any unfulfilled ambitions, Amy replied: 'Nope! If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.'


As well her battles with drugs and alcohol, Winehouse also had a troubled marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil, who she divorced in summer 2009.


Fielder-Civil and Winehouse married in 2007 in Miami.


The pair's relationship - heavily documented by the media - saw them appearing in public bloodied and bruised after fights.



Former love: Amy with her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil



Troubled: Amy battled drink and drug addictions during her short life


It is also alleged former music video producer Fielder-Civil was the one who introduced the Back to Black star to heroin and crack cocaine.

Amy's father Mitch previously spoke out about how his daughter stayed away from drugs prior to meeting her ex-husband.

In a previous interview last year he said: 'He's not entirely responsible, she's got to take a portion of the responsibility, but it's clear, it really kicked off when they got together.'

Most recently, Winehouse was romantically linked to film director Reg Traviss, who she dated for a few months last year.




Weight worries: Amy also caused concern with her shrinking frame, and looked gaunt back in 2008 (right)

And Mitch also gave the new man his seal of approval.

In an interview with STV's The Hour programme, he said: 'I'm happy she's got a new boyfriend. I'm happy that she's moving on with her life.'

He said Traviss was a 'very nice, normal bloke'. The pair split in January this year but quickly rekindled their relationship.

In March, Traviss said: 'We've been together nearly a year now and we're very happy. Amy's doing well, she's fine. She's healthy and happy.'

AMY WINEHOUSE - THE LATEST MEMBER OF THE '27 CLUB'

The singer's tragic death at the age of 27 puts her in a pantheon of famous musicians who have all died at the same age.


Amy follows now joins the notorious 27 Club, also known as Forever 27, which is a group of musicians who have all died at the age while struggling to cope with fame.








Club members: Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison are among those who died at the age of 27
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was the most recent victim and in 1994, pumped with heroin and valium, he turned a gun on himself.


Decades earlier Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones all died at 27.


Rolling Stone Jones drowned in a swimming pool in 1969; Hendrix choked to death in 1970 after mixing wine with sleeping pills and singer Janis Joplin suffered a suspected heroin overdose the same year.


Doors star Morrison died of heart failure in 1971.

Winehouse has also caused controversy with her weight over the past few years. After hitting the music industry as a curvy role model, Winehouse then shed an astonishing amount of weight, leading to her looking gaunt in 2008.

Amy had a hugely successful musical career with the release of her debut album Frank in 2003, and the record considered her breakthrough album - Back To Black in 2006.

The singer featured on the Sunday Times Rich List earlier this year with an estimated net worth of around £6million.

During her career, Winehouse won awards including five Grammy Awards, a Q Music Award for Best Album for Back To Black and a World Music Award in 2008 for World's Best Selling Pop/Rock Female Artist.



Finding love again: Amy is believed to have been dating film director Reg Traviss at the time of her death


Success: Amy performed via video link at the Grammy Awards in 2008 after winning five awards
AMY WINEHOUSE: A LIFE CUT DOWN IN ITS PRIME
by Adrian Thrills


The tragic loss of Amy Winehouse has robbed us of a young, if fatally troubled, life cut down in its prime. It has also cheated British music of a talent, at 27, whose best years surely still lay ahead.

As a homegrown singer, she was with without question the outstanding vocalist of her generation. Without Amy, there would have been no Adele, no Duffy and no Lady Gaga. She may have been an alumni of the Brit School, but Winehouse was also a British great.

In an era of manufactured stars and precision-tooled pop puppets, she was the real deal. For all her demons - and, sadly, sometimes because of them - she cut through pop's hyperbole. Her rawness and emotional honesty harked back to an era when the best singers were more believable. For a white girl raised in the North London suburbs, she had the sweet, sure touch of an Aretha Franklin or Etta James.


Tragic loss: Amy was a talented and much-loved singer and performer
Her talent was obvious from the off. The first time I saw her live was at the V Festival eight years ago. Tucked away at the bottom of the bill in one of the small tents, well away from the crowds gathering for headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers, she oozed class. Dressed in a Fifties-style frock, playing a white Fender guitar, she showed nervous glimpses of a talent that would later wow the world.

I was lucky enough to interview her twice. The first time came shortly before the release of debut album Frank in 2003. Having met her in a photographic studio in Soho around lunchtime, we relocated, at Amy's insistence, to her favourite local Italian cafe, where we enjoyed a lengthy chat over a large, non alcoholic lunch. She struck me then as a witty, intelligent young girl on the cusp of womanhood.

Full of joy: Amy performing at the start of her career back in 2004
She was full of the joys of life and understandably excited about her future.

Confident in her own abilities, she was gleefully irreverent. Whereas other singers, media-trained to within an inch of their lives, were masters in the art of diplomacy, she happily sounded off with little regard of the consequences.

Unconcerned about how her words might look in print, she dismissed her peers.

Dido and Norah Jones, huge at the time, were among her targets. They were ridiculed for being bland. She was savage, too, in her criticisms of Madonna.

She was naive, yes, but immensely likeable. A glowing review ensued.

Later, shortly before the release of second album Back To Black, I came face to face with a different Amy. Noticeably more slight than when we'd met three years previously, she turned up late in a coffee bar close to her North London home, but still turned heads with her long, raven black hair and striking eye-liner.

But, while some of that earlier youthful, sparkle had gone, she still struck me as a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. Perhaps more aware of her own flaws, she even retracted what she had said three years earlier about her fellow female stars. 'When I was promoting my first album I was very defensive, so I lashed out a lot,' she said. 'But I won't be saying anything negative about other singers now. They've got their job to do. I'm just happy to be doing my own thing.' More mature in many ways, she was ready to let her music do the talking.

And Back To Black did just that. Rooted in emotional turmoil, it will go down as one of the classic British albums. Even now, in an era where female pop rules the charts in the shape of Adele, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Gaga, nothing has come close to packing the sheer emotional punch of Back To Black. A departure from her jazzy debut, it was stark, simple and stunningly direct.




Musical stylings: Amy caused a stir with her first album Frank in 2004, and followed it with Back To Black in 2006

Musically, it was influenced heavily by Sixties girl groups such as The Shangri-Las and The Supremes. Lyrically, most notably on signature tune Rehab, it was clearly affected by the demons that were now troubling the singer. A far more commercial prospect than her eclectic debut, it went on to sell millions.

It won Grammys and Brits and established Amy as the pre-eminent soul girl of her age.

Despite her problems, the Amy I glimpsed during our brief encounters was different from her public persona. Nobody makes records as good and enduring as Frank and Back To Black without an intimate knowledge of the essential ingredients of great pop music. And Amy certainly had that in abundance.

For me, the most recent example of the way in which her talent truly touched people from all walks of life came in a conversation a few weeks ago with the great Tony Bennett, who sung with Amy on a track, Body And Soul, from his forthcoming duets album. As a singer who has worked with the best, from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, he had no doubt as to where Amy stood - she was one of the best. Remember her this way.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2018020/Amy-Winehouse-dead--Found-dead-London-flat.html

Drunk sex not rape, Court of Appeal rules

A COURT has scrapped the conviction of a man accused of raping a woman who had passed out drunk because he might have thought she wanted sex

This is despite evidence she had twice rejected his advances before falling unconscious.


The Court of Appeal set aside Tomas Getachew's rape conviction and ordered a fresh trial because jurors were not told to consider that he might have believed he had his alleged victim's consent.

One of the three appeal judges disagreed with the decision, which has stunned the woman.

Prosecutors are considering a High Court appeal.

Getachew, 28, was accused of raping the woman as they shared a mattress at a mutual friend's house in Melbourne in June 2007.

The County Court was told the woman, who was drunk on champagne and bourbon after a night out clubbing, had twice pushed him away before passing out.

She later woke to find him raping her, it was alleged.

Getachew allegedly told the victim he had pressed against her for warmth and later told a friend the woman had "pushed back" into him causing penetration.

The judge jailed Getachew for at least two years and nine months.

But the Court of Appeal has ruled there had been an oversight in the way the jury was told to deliberate.

Technically, a crime of rape can be proved only if the jury agrees that the accused knew the victim had not consented, or might not be consenting.

Justice Peter Buchanan and Justice Bernard Bongiorno said the judge had failed to properly explain this rule to the jury.

This meant the jury had not considered the possibility that Getachew might have thought the woman had been awake and, through her lack of resistance, consenting.

Justice Lasry agreed there had been problems with the instructions given to the jury, but said there had been no miscarriage of justice.

Not only had the victim rejected Getachew's overtures, the accused had declined to testify, which meant his belief in consent could not be established either way, Justice Lasry said.

Those close to the alleged victim, now in her late 20s, say she is upset.

"She is a courageous girl but this has hit her hard," said a friend.

A new trial means the victim would probably have to undergo another gruelling cross-examination.

Centres Against Sexual Assault convenor Carolyn Worth said: "These types of appeals would not encourage women to report rapes.

"Why would someone report when the spirit of the legislation is manipulated in this way?"

Getachew was set free on bail last week.

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/drunk-sex-not-rape-court-of-appeal-rules/story-e6freuzr-1226075251397

---

I find this news article really sad. If a woman says no a few times, whether or not she pushes into the man (cuddling) while asleep, he still knows she said no. THIS IS RAPE--NOT CONSENT. I have friends who have been raped like this. What a bad message the court is sending here... :(

Congressman Weiner admits online affairs

Representative Anthony Weiner on Monday tearfully admitted having a number of inappropriate relationships with women over the Internet, saying he was deeply ashamed but would not resign.

Weiner, a New York Democrat and leading liberal voice in the House of Representatives who was expected to run for mayor of New York City in 2013, admitted to inappropriate Internet and telephone conversations with six women but said none of them developed into a physical relationship.

"I'm deeply regretting what I have done and I'm not resigning," Weiner, who had been seen as a rising star among Democrats, told a news conference while wiping away tears as he apologized for his actions and for lying in the cover-up.

"I tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle," he said of an image sent over Twitter of a man in his underpants, which sparked the scandal more than a week ago.

"Once I realized I had posted it to Twitter, I panicked. I took it down and said that I had been hacked. I then continued to stick to that story, which was a hugely regrettable mistake," he said. "The picture was of me, and I sent it."

Calling his actions "very dumb" and "destructive," he stressed he did not have sex with any of the women.

Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The couple was married in a ceremony officiated by former President Bill Clinton.

"I love my wife very much and we have no intention of splitting up over this," he said.

Last week, Weiner denied tweeting a photo of a man's bulging boxer briefs to a 21-year-old female student in Washington state, insisting his account had been hacked.

FORGET ABOUT MAYOR?

Weiner said his affairs were conducted over several years on Twitter, Facebook, email and by phone with women he met online, primarily on Facebook. He said he sent the women explicit pictures of himself but broke no law, mostly used his home computer and never used his congressional mobile device.

"Certainly he can forget about mayor," said Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs, at Baruch College in New York, adding that while Weiner might weather the storm, he will likely face a tough challenge if he seeks re-election in 2012.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an ethics probe "to determine whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred." Weiner said in a statement, "I welcome and will fully cooperate with an investigation by the House Ethics Committee."

New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox called for his resignation, saying, "His actions are at best despicable and at worst illegal."

"To further a cover-up he stood by while encouraging others, including Congressional employees, to lie, slander and discredit the professional reputations of those who were telling the truth," Cox said. "His inappropriate behavior has irreparably damaged his ability to serve."

Former Senate Republican aide John Ullyot, a communication consultant at Hill & Knowlton in Washington, said Weiner, "lost a big chance to salvage some dignity by resigning promptly."

"Weiner's handling of this situation is an absolute disaster -- a textbook example of how not to act in a matter involving personal scandal," he said.

"By holding a news conference and answering 30 minutes worth of questions, Weiner opened up many more lines of inquiry than he resolved: the possibility of underage victims, use of office phones, questions of whether his wife was aware ..."

Earlier this year, two other members of Congress, both Republicans, stepped down amid scandal. John Ensign resigned from the Senate amid an ethics committee probe into his extramarital affair with a campaign aide. And Representative Chris Lee resigned after he posted a shirtless and flirty photo of himself online.

On Monday, more pictures of Weiner, this time of him from the waist up sitting at his desk naked, surfaced online.

On Monday he characterized his relationships with the women as "a frivolous thing" and admitted that the affairs were conducted both before and since he was married.

Weiner's denials and eventual admission was evocative of President Bill Clinton who in 1998 admitted to an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky after vigorous denials.

Unlike Clinton, who was accused of being evasive even after admitting his dalliance, Weiner took many questions from the press on Monday, answering them plainly as he choked back his emotions, pausing to sip water on several occasions.

Unusual revelations by politicians in the New York metro area are nothing new. Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned after frequenting prostitutes and former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who was married, tearfully resigned after it was revealed he had a homosexual affair with an aide.

Still Weiner being undone by his own actions while using social media tools such as Twitter which he was successfully using to bolster his personal political brand is certainly a modern twist.


Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-politics-weitre7555ya-20110606,0,6811144.story?track=rss

Jose Guerena Killed: Arizona Cops Shoot Former Marine In Botched Pot Raid

First Posted: 05/25/11 05:42 PM ET Updated: 05/26/11 12:25 PM ET

On May 5 at around 9:30 a.m., several teams of Pima County, Ariz., police officers from at least four different police agencies armed with SWAT gear and an armored personnel carrier raided at least four homes as part of what at the time was described as an investigation into alleged marijuana trafficking. One of those homes belonged to 26-year-old Jose Guerena and his wife, Vanessa Guerena. The couple's 4-year-old son was also in the house at the time. Their 6-year-old son was at school.

As the SWAT team forced its way into his home, Guerena, a former Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, armed himself with his AR-15 rifle and told his wife and son to hide in a closet. As the officers entered, Guerena confronted them from the far end of a long, dark hallway. The police opened fire, releasing more than 70 rounds in about 7 seconds, at least 60 of which struck Guerena. He was pronounced dead a little over an hour later.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department initially claimed (PDF) Guerena fired his weapon at the SWAT team. They now acknowledge that not only did he not fire, the safety on his gun was still activated when he was killed. Guerena had no prior criminal record, and the police found nothing illegal in his home. After ushering out his wife and son, the police refused to allow paramedics to access Guerena for more than hour, leaving the young father to bleed to death, alone, in his own home.

I can now report a number of new details that further call into question the police account of what happened that morning. But first some context:

The Pima County Sheriff's Office has now changed its story several times over the last few weeks. They have issued a press release (PDF) scolding the media and critics for questioning the legality of the raid, the department's account of what happened, and the department's ability to fairly investigate its own officers. They have obtained a court order sealing the search warrants and police affidavits that led to the raids, and they're now refusing any further comment on the case at all. When I contacted Public Information Officer Jason Ogan with some questions, he replied via email that the department won't be releasing any more information. On Saturday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told Arizona Daily Star columnist Josh Brodesky that he may never release the search warrants and police affidavits. Dupnik rose to national prominence earlier this year after claiming combative political rhetoric contributed to Jared Loughner killing six people and wounding 19 others, including Rep. Gabielle Giffords, last January.

The department's excuses for keeping all of this information under wraps make little sense. In his May 18 press release (PDF), for example, Ogan wrote, "The investigation that lead to the service of the search warrants on May 5 is a complicated one involving multiple people suspected of very serious crimes. Sometimes, law enforcement agencies must choose between the desire of the public to quickly know details, and the very real threat to innocent lives if those details are released prematurely." Dupnik used the same line of reasoning with Brodesky. "Those are the real sensitive parts of why we are having difficulty with trying to put information out publicly--because we don't want somebody getting killed," Dupnik said.

The problem with that explanation is that the search warrants and affidavits weren't sealed until four days after the raids were executed, right at about the time the troubling questions about Jose Guerena's death began to make national headlines. If revealing the details of this investigation -- which remember, was initially described by the Sheriff's Department as a marijuana investigation -- could endanger lives, why weren't the warrants and affidavits sealed from the start? It isn't difficult to understand why some would suspect a cover-up, or at least an attempt to suppress details until the department can come up with a narrative that mitigates the damage. In any case, it's awfully audacious for a police agency to scold the media for not trusting them and for "spreading misinformation" just days after revealing they themselves released bad information.

There are other reasons to doubt the excuse that releasing the search warrants would jeopardize public safety. The raids on the other homes carried out that same morning, all part of the same operation, resulted in no arrests and turned up little if any actual contraband. (When police find illegal substances after these raids -- especially raids that end badly -- they usually quickly release that information.)

Moreover, if this was all about breaking up a dangerous home invasion ring, where are the suspects, and where is the evidence? According to an advocate for the Guerena family I spoke with this week, the police also mistakenly raided another home near Guerena's the same morning, and have since replaced that home's front door. Again, the Pima County Sheriff's Department is refusing comment, so I can't verify this allegation with them. But police officials have admitted that even the Guerena warrant was only for his residence, not for Jose Guerena personally; his name doesn't appear anywhere on the warrants. The police also concede they weren't aware that there was a child in the home at the time of the raid. Given all of this, it seems reasonable to question just how thorough this investigation really was.

I've been reporting on the overuse of SWAT teams and military police tactics for about six years now. You begin to see patterns in how police agencies respond to high-profile incidents like this one. One near-universal tactic is to lock down information once the media begins to grow skeptical. Another, often undertaken simultaneously, is to unofficially leak information that's beneficial to the police department. They're doing both in Tucson.

Michael Storie, the attorney for the Arizona police union, is apparently handling the smear campaign portion of the strategy. Storie points out on the union's website that under his watch, no union police officer "has ever been convicted on charges relating to on-duty conduct." That may be a boastworthy claim when it comes to Storie's lawyering prowess. But it isn't exactly a testament to his trustworthiness. (Police critic William Grigg also points out that the boast isn't entirely true -- Storie represented a cop convicted of a sexual assault and kidnapping committed in 2005, despite Storie's best efforts to blame the victims.)

On Friday, Storie told the Arizona Daily Star that Guerena was "linked" to a "home-invasion crew," and that police found rifles, handguns, body armor, and a "portion of a law-enforcement uniform" in Guerena's house. "Everything they think they're going to find in there, they find," Storie said. "Put it together, and when you have drug rip-offs that occasionally happen where people disguise themselves as law enforcement officers, it all adds up."

I asked Chris Scileppi, the attorney representing Guerena's family, about the "portion of a law enforcement uniform" allegation. "They're trying to imply that he was dressing up as a police officer to force his way into private homes," Scileppi says. But when police serve a search warrant they leave behind a receipt what they've taken from the residence. According to Scileppi, the only item taken from Gurena's home that remotely fits that description was a U.S. Border Control cap -- which you can buy from any number of retail outlets, including Amazon.com.

About the guns and body armor Scileppi says, "Is it really that difficult to believe that a former Marine living in Arizona would have guns and body armor in his home? Nothing they found in the house is illegal to own in Arizona." In fact, Storie himself acknowledged in the Daily Star that had the SWAT team entered Guerena's home peacefully, they wouldn't have made an arrest.

And when you "put it together," to borrow his own terminology, Storie's comments thus far lead to a pretty astonishing conclusion: After violently breaking into Guerena's home, the police found exactly the evidence they were looking for -- yet none of that evidence merited an arrest. Storie is either shamelessly posturing, or he actually believes that the police are justified in violently forcing their way into a private home with their guns drawn, even if they have no expectation that they'll find any evidence of a crime.

At his press conference last week, Storie also defended the SWAT team's refusal to allow paramedics to access Guerena for more than hour. "They still don't know how many shooters are inside, how many guns are inside and they still have to assume that they will be ambushed if they walk in this house," Storie said.

This is absurd. The entire purpose of using SWAT teams, dynamic entry, and like paramilitary-style police tactics is to subdue dangerous suspects and secure the building within seconds. If it took more than an hour to secure the Guerenas' small home, this particular SWAT team was incompetent. By contrast, paramedics were tending to the wounded after the Jared Loughner shootings within 12 minutes, and that was a far more volatile crime scene.

Storie has offered up a number of other questionable allegations and explanations in recent days.

Last week, for example, Storie told the Daily Star that the investigation leading up to the raids was from the start about home invasions and "drug rip-offs" -- not just marijuana distribution, as the Sheriff's Department initially indicated. Storie also says the police vehicles ran their lights and sirens until they were parked in the Guerenas' driveway, and that a police officer knocked on the door and announced himself for a full 45 seconds before the SWAT team forced its way inside. He emphasized that the raid was "in no way" a "no-knock" operation.

Storie is laying groundwork for the argument that Guerena should have known that the men breaking into his home were police. That he still met them with his rifle meant he was intent on killing them, which of course would justify their rash of gunfire. For good measure, Storie added that just before they opened fire, several officers reported hearing Guerena say, "I've got something for you; I've gotten something for you guys."

There are a number of problems here, beginning with the lights, the sirens, and the knocking. If these warrants were, as Storie claims, for suspected dangerous, well-armed members of a home invasion ring, why would they give a violent suspect such ample warning that they're coming? Why wouldn't the police have sought and obtained a no-knock warrant? This is precisely the scenario for which no-knock entry is warranted -- to apprehend suspected dangerous people who may present an immediate threat to police and the public.

This week I also spoke with Ray Epps, a retired Marine sergeant from Mesa, Arizona and president of the Arizona chapter of Oath Keepers, the controversial organization of police and military personnel who have vowed not to enforce laws they believe are unconstitutional. After hearing about Guerena's death, Epps drove to Tucson to investigate.

"We spoke with several of the neighbors," Epps says. "And none of them -- none of them -- heard any sirens that morning. Every one of them told us they didn't hear anything, no knocking, no shouting, until the shooting started. They didn't hear anything until the shooting started." Scileppi, who is conducting his own investigation, wouldn't say if he had spoken to neighbors, but did say of the lights and sirens, "What we've found contradicts what they're saying." Epps added, "What I found disturbing is that none of the neighbors would give us their names. These people are terrified of the police, now. Another thing I found strange, they said the police didn't evacuate them until after the shooting."

If next-door neighbors didn't hear the sirens or police announcement at the door, it's plausible that Guerena, who was sleeping off the graveyard shift he'd worked the night before, didn't hear them either. Of course, the other possibility here is that the police are lying about the sirens and the announcement.

To buy what Storie is pitching, you would have to believe that Guerena -- the father of two young boys, who was working a night job to save money for a new home, who had no criminal record, who served two tours of duty in Iraq and was honorably discharged -- knowingly took on a team of armored, well-armed police officers, himself armed only with his rifle, and with his wife and young child still in the home. You'd also have to believe that the battle-tested former Marine forgot to turn off his weapon's safety before the shooting began.

The alternate explanation -- and I think the more plausible one -- is that Guerena thought the men breaking into his home were criminals, but held his fire until he was sure. (That's also the mark of someone well-trained in gun safety, and a stark contrast to the SWAT team, which despite never receiving hostile fire, unleashed a barrage of bullets that penetrated not only Jose Guerena but, according to sources I spoke with, also the walls of neighboring homes.)

If you're not actually a criminal and you wake up to the sound of armed men breaking into your home, your first thought isn't likely to be that you're being visited by the police. There may also have been something else on Guerena's mind: Last year, two of Vanessa Guerena's relatives were murdered by armed intruders. The intruders also shot the couple's children. What Guerena is alleged to have said -- "I've got something for you; I've gotten something for you guys" -- sounds damning if you assume he knew the men in his home were police, but there's nothing in that sentence indicating Guerena knew he was confronting cops. It also sounds like something a former soldier might shout out to intimidate armed intruders. And let's not forget, the same team of SWAT officers who reported hearing Guerena say those words also reported seeing a muzzle flash from Guerena's gun, which we now know couldn't have happened.

Storie also says police found a photo of Jesus Malverde in Guerena's home. Malverde is an iconic, probably mythical figure often described as the "narco saint". But as my former Reason magazine colleague Tim Cavanaugh points out, while it's true that Malverde has been embraced by drug traffickers, he is also revered by the poor, by immigrants, and by people who feel they've been wronged. "That Guerena had a picture of Jesus Malverde tells us two things," Cavanaugh writes. "He had a family to worry about and he shared the belief of most Americans that a supernatural being or beings can influence earthly circumstances."

When Daily Star columnist Josh Brodesky asked Sheriff Dupnik if Storie's chats with the press about the details of the Guerena raid were hindering the investigation, Dupnik said, simply, "No." So while Dupnik's department is refusing to officially release any information about the raid or surrounding investigation due to "the real threat to innocent lives," he has no problem with the police union lawyer disclosing details that smear Guerena to the benefit of Dupnik and his department.

Perhaps we will at some point see convincing evidence that Dupnik and Storie are right -- that Jose Guerena was in fact a drug dealer and violent criminal who dressed up like a cop to rob rival drug dealers and innocent citizens of Pima County. But at this point, all we have is a dead father and veteran, a violent series of raids that make little sense, and a police agency that over the last three weeks has put out incorrect information, insisted that it would be dangerous to release any further information, and, at the same time, allowed a police representative to release information favorable to the department.

The government of Pima County has killed one of its own citizens. This is the most serious, solemn, and severe action a local government can undertake. It demands complete transparency. The Pima County Sheriff's Department and other agencies involved in the raid ought to be doing anything and everything to make themselves accountable. Instead, they've shown arrogance, defiance, and obstinacy -- all wrapped in an appeal to public safety.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/jose-guerena-arizona-_n_867020.html?ncid=webmail

Flasher using cell phone text messages puts laws to test

Chances are, law enforcement will see more cases like that of Richard L. Roberts.

The Canton man has been charged with obscenity after allegedly sending lewd texts - words and photos - to random recipients.

You don't see many obscenity cases of any type. But here, it's the best applicable charge: state law doesn't directly address the electronic sending of unsolicited, prurient messages. And authorities expect the problem to only get worse.

Says Fulton County State's Attorney John Clark, "With the social network out there, you're going to find more stuff being pushed on people that they don't want."

Roberts 45, allegedly sent unsolicited texts between December through this month, police say. The exact number and scope is not yet known; information continues to come in. However, recipients - all adults, so far - live in Fulton County and Bartonville. Police say Roberts picked cell numbers at random.

The texts included photos Roberts took of his genitalia, says Canton Police Chief Dan Taylor. He declined to reveal the exact wording of the texts, which he described as "lewd."

"He was (in his wording) pretty much, 'What do you think of my photo?'" Taylor says.

Canton police received recipients' complaints, then worked with Fairview police, Bartonville police, the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, Fulton County State's Attorney's Office and the Illinois State Police. Roberts used a TracFone, so the calls were not traceable, Taylor says.

So, investigators posed as women and exchanged written texts with Roberts, seeking to meet him, Taylor says. Roberts allegedly agreed to such a meeting at a pre-arranged location in Bartonville. There, he was arrested Monday.

Since then, Taylor's office has fielded additional sexting complaints. Those tips are being investigated for any connection to Roberts.

Monday, during questioning with police, Roberts divulged an motive, Taylor says.

"He was getting self-gratification from it," Taylor alleged.

How might a random-sexting fetish develop? Vickie Lewis, a counselor with the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, works with people with sexual issues. She said someone with low self-esteem might seek gratification that way. Also, outgoing random, anonymous tests might suggest the sender could have impulse-control disorder. It involves two dynamics: control, because the recipient might not be able to stop getting the texts, and risk-taking, because the sender might get caught.

Prosecutor Clark alleges Roberts knew what he was doing - and should have known better.

"This is one of those cases when it's not an immature teenager prank," he says.

For this story, Roberts could not be reached for comment. Police don't know much about his background, such as occupation. His criminal history in Fulton County consists of 1983 felony conviction for indecent liberties with a child (120 days in jail and 30 months' probation), plus a 1991 traffic conviction for driving on a suspended license (fine and court supervision).

Chief Taylor, who has been on the Canton force in various capacities for 14 years, says obscenity is a rare charge. Usually, it's filed as a violation of a city obscenity ordinance, for offences like streaking though a public park.

But Taylor anticipates more sexting complaints to begin streaming into police stations.

"Technology is developing at a pace faster than the laws," Taylor says.

The state does prohibit phone harassment. But that's usually just a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

So prosecutor Clark opted for a charge of obscenity, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. A subsequent offense can be a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

Clark, who has served as state's attorney since 2004, says he never had filed an obscenity count before. It's a complex charge, mostly because of the convoluted definition of obscenity. In short, it is "prurient" material that "the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards" would find "offensive" and devoid of artistic and social value.

"We've charged him with what we can at this point," Clark says.

But other states seem at as lax a pace with Illinois. Their newer statutes largely aim at texts involving a child recipient.

Clark thinks state lawmakers should tighten the law to address an eventual spike in unsolicited sextings.

"The Legislature is slow to keep up with the times," he says.

Source: http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1078553898/Luciano-Cell-phone-texting-flasher-puts-laws-to-test

The NYPD needs to do a better job of destroying their Terrorism Prevention plans

This past Thursday night, I found this document sitting in the garbage can in front of the NYPD’s Manhattan South Task Force stationhouse on 42nd Street. And by sitting, I mean, it was the only piece of trash in the bottom of the can. (Don’t ask me why I look in garbage cans — just a habit.) But this document appears to be something pretty substantial. Yet, there it was, in pristine shape, with specific locations and deployment instructions for the NYPD’s Chemical Ordnance, Biological, Radiological Awareness (COBRA) taskforce to undertake should a vengeful Osama Bin Laden sympathizer decide to retaliate on Times Square.

“I’m appalled that all this money is being spent on counterterrorism and yet some knucklehead can leave a document lying around,” said one NYC official who works closely with the NYPD.

The NYPD should really find room in the budget for a paper shredder.









Source: http://animalnewyork.com/2011/05/the-nypd-needs-to-do-a-better-job-of-destroying-their-terrorism-prevention-plans/

Bin Laden's death leads to surge in cybercrimes, Internet scams

Security experts are warning Web-surfing consumers about a rise in cybercrime and scams related to Osama bin Laden's death.

Major news events are often accompanied by an uptick in cybercrime, as perpetrators seek to take advantage of Web searches for content such as pictures and videos.

"I suppose this was just inevitable," Dave Marcus, director of security research for McAfee Labs, wrote in a blog post. "The reported death of Osama Bin Laden is just too good a lure for cybercriminals and scammers to pass up."

Marcus said e-mails are circulating with links purporting to lead to photos of bin Laden's corpse. One message teases to a video showing bin Laden disproving his death by holding a newspaper with Monday's date. Clicking on the links generally opens files that install malware on the user's computer. In other cases, cybercriminals have poisoned Google Images results.

Facebook is also a fertile breeding ground for these scams, with malicious links being circulated on posts and messages within the social networking site. Researchers at Kaspersky Labs said they noticed scam ads on Facebook promising free merchandise in celebration of bin Laden's death. Users that click on the ads will be redirected multiple times, with each layer asking for more detailed personal information, Kaspersky Labs said.

Experts at Websense said cybercriminals compromised the website of Sohaib Athar, the Pakistani information technology consultant living in Abbottabad who provided a real-time account of the U.S. operation via his Twitter feed. In a blog post, Websense said a malicious code was embedded into the site that installs malware on a computer. The malware installs fake software that looks like a security tool, and prompts users to enter their credit card information to purchase a premium version of this software.

Security experts said consumers should be careful searching for information on the Web, visiting only websites of credible news sources, and be wary of links in e-mails. Making sure anti-virus and firewall software is updated is also helpful, as these kinds of attacks are increasingly common.

"We believe the hackers laid the criminal groundwork in advance, waiting for the right news trigger," said Rony Moshkovich, malware researcher at PC Tools.

Source: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrkbus-bin-ladens-death-leads-to-surge-in-cybercrimes-internet-scams-20110503,0,101828.story

High school worker suspended after she's outed as a porn star

Samantha Ardente worked as an administrator in a Quebec secondary school. (Facebook)
LEVIS, Que. — A high school clerical worker who moonlights as a porn star had her cover blown when a student asked her for an autograph after he recognized her from a blue movie.

The woman, known by the stage name Samantha Ardente, has been suspended without pay while Etchemins High School near Quebec City decides whether the star of Serial Abusers 2 will keep her day job.

“It’s a first in our history,” school board spokeswoman Louise Boisvert told QMI Agency. “Even if she didn’t work directly with the students, we have to evaluate the impact that this story will have on her, on the students and on the staff.”

The administrative employee was recently confronted by a student who had seen one of her films. She refused his request for an autograph and told him to keep quiet about her double life. He instead told his friends and word eventually got back to the administration.

A teacher at the school says the news of the clerical worker's secret second job dropped like a bomb at the school of 1,400 students.

“What she did was inappropriate,” said the teacher, who refused to give his name. “But it’s not illegal, either. So we told the students that there’s no place for that (situation) here and we’ll see what happens next.”

The porn star will remain on suspension for two weeks while the school board decides her fate.

Meanwhile, the producer who hired Ardente told QMI Agency he had warned her about the potential risks to her reputation.

“She was very nervous,” said Nicolas Lafleur, owner of Pegas Productions. “She didn’t want to lose her job and I don’t think she told everyone, so it wasn’t easy for her.”

Lafleur has set up a Facebook page for Ardente where people have expressed their support.

Source: http://www.lfpress.com/news/canada/2011/03/24/17738816.html#/news/canada/2011/03/24/pf-17738816.html

Hacker in Iran obtains web certificates that would enable spoofing of Yahoo, Google & other top sites

In a fresh blow to the fundamental integrity of the internet, a hacker last week obtained legitimate web certificates that would have allowed him to impersonate some of the top sites on the internet, including the login pages used by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo e-mail customers.

The hacker, whose March 15 attack was traced to an IP address in Iran, compromised a partner account at the respected certificate authority Comodo Group, which he used to request eight SSL certificates for six domains: mail.google.com, www.google.com, login.yahoo.com, login.skype.com, addons.mozilla.org and login.live.com.

The certificates would have allowed the attacker to craft fake pages that would have been accepted by browsers as the legitimate websites. The certificates would have been most useful as part of an attack that redirected traffic intended for Skype, Google and Yahoo to a machine under the attacker’s control. Such an attack can range from small-scale Wi-Fi spoofing at a coffee shop all the way to global hijacking of internet routes.

At a minimum, the attacker would then be able to steal login credentials from anyone who entered a username and password into the fake page, or perform a “man in the middle” attack to eavesdrop on the user’s session.

Comodo CEO Melih Abdulhayoglu calls the breach the certificate authority’s version of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“Our own planes are being used against us in the C.A. [certificate authority] world,” Abdulhayoglu told Threat Level in an interview. “We have to up the bar and react to these new threat models. This untrusted DNS infrastructure cannot be what drives the internet going forward. If DNS was trusted, none of this would have been an issue.”

Comodo says the attacker was well prepared, and appeared to have a list of targets at the ready when he logged into the company’s system and began requesting certificates.

In addition to the bogus certificates, the attacker created a ninth certificate for a domain of his own under the name “Global Trustee,” according to Abdulhayoglu.

Abdulhayoglu says the attack has all the markings of a state-sponsored intrusion rather than a criminal attack.

“We deal with [cybercriminals] all day long,” he said. But “there are zero footprints of cybercriminals here.”

“If you look at all these domains, every single one of them are communications-related,” he continued. “My personal opinion is that someone is trying to read people’s e-mail communications. [But] the only way for this attack to work [on a large scale] is if you have access to the DNS infrastructure. The certificates on their own are no use, unless they have access to the DNS infrastructure itself, which a state would.”

Though he acknowledges that the attack could have originated anywhere, and been routed through Iranian servers as a proxy, he says Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime is the obvious suspect.

Out of the nine fraudulent certificates the hacker requested, only one — for Yahoo — was found to be active. Abdulhayoglu said Comodo tracked it, because the attackers had tried to test the certificate using a second Iranian IP address.

All of the fraudulent certificates have since been revoked, and Mozilla, Google and Microsoft have issued updates to their Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers to block any websites from using the fraudulent certificates.

Comodo came clean about the breach this week, after security researcher Jacob Appelbaum noticed the updates to Chrome and Firefox and began poking around. Mozilla persuaded Appelbaum to withhold public disclosure of the information until the situation with the certificates could be resolved, which he agreed to do.

Abdulhayoglu told Threat Level that his company first learned of the breach from the partner that was compromised.

The attacker had compromised the username and password of a registration authority, or R.A., in southern Europe that had been a Comodo Trusted Partner for five or six years, he said. Registration authorities are entities that are authorized to issue certificates after conducting a due-diligence check to determine that the person or entity seeking the certificate is legitimate.

“We have certain checks and balances that alerted the R.A. [about the breach], which brought it to our attention,” he said. “Within hours we were alerted to it, and within hours we revoked everything.”

It’s not the first time that the integrity of web certificates has come into question.

Security researcher Moxie Marlinspike showed in 2009 how a vulnerability in the way that web certificates are issued by authorities and authenticated by web browsers would allow an attacker to impersonate any trusted website with a legitimately issued certificate.

Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/comodo-compromise/

Outbreak at Playboy Mansion

Can the Playboy Mansion make you ill? Hugh Hefner's iconic bachelor pad is under investigation after more than 80 guests at a conference and party there became sick with a suspected strain of Legionnaires' disease.

Scores of attendees at the Domainfest conference in Santa Monica, held Feb. 1 to 3, came down with symptoms including fever, respiratory infections and violent headaches. Four Swedish guests were diagnosed with Legionellosis or pontiac fever -- a milder form of Legionnaires' caused by bacteria that thrives in warm air-conditioning systems.

Now some victims are blaming a fog machine which steamed up the conference finale party on Feb. 3. DNJournal.com editor Ron Jackson, whose wife, Diana, was stricken, said, "So far, the number [of victims] is around 80. Everybody says they became ill around 24 hours after the party.

Jackson said, "Four guys from Sweden were diagnosed with [Legionellosis], and they have the same symptoms as everyone else. I don't want to point the finger at the Playboy Mansion, but the disease lives in warm water, and people were engulfed in mist at that party." He's filed a report with the CDC.

New Yorker Elliot J. Silver, who runs Silver Internet Ventures, also fell prey to the bug. He said, "It is scary everyone came down with the same thing at the same time. It knocked me on my ass. A lot of people are blaming the Playboy Mansion on the blogs, but you can't be sure."

A rep for Domainfest said it was working with the LA County Health Department to investigate: "There were events every night, and we are giving them a list of all the venues. We have no idea what this is or where it came from. The mansion being to blame is, at the moment, pure speculation."

A Playboy rep claimed, "There is no truth in the rumor that anyone caught anything at the Playboy Mansion. Nor is there any evidence. None of the Playboy staff became ill, the deejay was in the middle of the fog and she didn't get ill. We have been contacted by the Health Department and the Playboy Mansion is cooperating fully with the investigation."

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/outbreak_at_playboy_mansion_0I8zi6kVnvCbDHE1F33TEJ

U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet

WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.

Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.

The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.

James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet policy group, said the proposal had “huge implications” and challenged “fundamental elements of the Internet revolution” — including its decentralized design.

“They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive, architecture of the Internet,” he said. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”

But law enforcement officials contend that imposing such a mandate is reasonable and necessary to prevent the erosion of their investigative powers.

“We’re talking about lawfully authorized intercepts,” said Valerie E. Caproni, general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We’re not talking expanding authority. We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”

Investigators have been concerned for years that changing communications technology could damage their ability to conduct surveillance. In recent months, officials from the F.B.I., the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the White House and other agencies have been meeting to develop a proposed solution.

There is not yet agreement on important elements, like how to word statutory language defining who counts as a communications service provider, according to several officials familiar with the deliberations.

But they want it to apply broadly, including to companies that operate from servers abroad, like Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry devices. In recent months, that company has come into conflict with the governments of Dubai and India over their inability to conduct surveillance of messages sent via its encrypted service.

In the United States, phone and broadband networks are already required to have interception capabilities, under a 1994 law called the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act. It aimed to ensure that government surveillance abilities would remain intact during the evolution from a copper-wire phone system to digital networks and cellphones.

Often, investigators can intercept communications at a switch operated by the network company. But sometimes — like when the target uses a service that encrypts messages between his computer and its servers — they must instead serve the order on a service provider to get unscrambled versions.

Like phone companies, communication service providers are subject to wiretap orders. But the 1994 law does not apply to them. While some maintain interception capacities, others wait until they are served with orders to try to develop them.

The F.B.I.’s operational technologies division spent $9.75 million last year helping communication companies — including some subject to the 1994 law that had difficulties — do so. And its 2010 budget included $9 million for a “Going Dark Program” to bolster its electronic surveillance capabilities.

Beyond such costs, Ms. Caproni said, F.B.I. efforts to help retrofit services have a major shortcoming: the process can delay their ability to wiretap a suspect for months.

Moreover, some services encrypt messages between users, so that even the provider cannot unscramble them.

There is no public data about how often court-approved surveillance is frustrated because of a service’s technical design.

But as an example, one official said, an investigation into a drug cartel earlier this year was stymied because smugglers used peer-to-peer software, which is difficult to intercept because it is not routed through a central hub. Agents eventually installed surveillance equipment in a suspect’s office, but that tactic was “risky,” the official said, and the delay “prevented the interception of pertinent communications.”

Moreover, according to several other officials, after the failed Times Square bombing in May, investigators discovered that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, had been communicating with a service that lacked prebuilt interception capacity. If he had aroused suspicion beforehand, there would have been a delay before he could have been wiretapped.

To counter such problems, officials are coalescing around several of the proposal’s likely requirements:

¶ Communications services that encrypt messages must have a way to unscramble them.

¶ Foreign-based providers that do business inside the United States must install a domestic office capable of performing intercepts.

¶ Developers of software that enables peer-to-peer communication must redesign their service to allow interception.

Providers that failed to comply would face fines or some other penalty. But the proposal is likely to direct companies to come up with their own way to meet the mandates. Writing any statute in “technologically neutral” terms would also help prevent it from becoming obsolete, officials said.

Even with such a law, some gaps could remain. It is not clear how it could compel compliance by overseas services that do no domestic business, or from a “freeware” application developed by volunteers.

In their battle with Research in Motion, countries like Dubai have sought leverage by threatening to block BlackBerry data from their networks. But Ms. Caproni said the F.B.I. did not support filtering the Internet in the United States.

Still, even a proposal that consists only of a legal mandate is likely to be controversial, said Michael A. Sussmann, a former Justice Department lawyer who advises communications providers.

“It would be an enormous change for newly covered companies,” he said. “Implementation would be a huge technology and security headache, and the investigative burden and costs will shift to providers.”

Several privacy and technology advocates argued that requiring interception capabilities would create holes that would inevitably be exploited by hackers.

Steven M. Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor, pointed to an episode in Greece: In 2005, it was discovered that hackers had taken advantage of a legally mandated wiretap function to spy on top officials’ phones, including the prime minister’s.

“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “If they start building in all these back doors, they will be exploited.”

Susan Landau, a Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study fellow and former Sun Microsystems engineer, argued that the proposal would raise costly impediments to innovation by small startups.

“Every engineer who is developing the wiretap system is an engineer who is not building in greater security, more features, or getting the product out faster,” she said.

Moreover, providers of services featuring user-to-user encryption are likely to object to watering it down. Similarly, in the late 1990s, encryption makers fought off a proposal to require them to include a back door enabling wiretapping, arguing it would cripple their products in the global market.

But law enforcement officials rejected such arguments. They said including an interception capability from the start was less likely to inadvertently create security holes than retrofitting it after receiving a wiretap order.

They also noted that critics predicted that the 1994 law would impede cellphone innovation, but that technology continued to improve. And their envisioned decryption mandate is modest, they contended, because service providers — not the government — would hold the key.

“No one should be promising their customers that they will thumb their nose at a U.S. court order,” Ms. Caproni said. “They can promise strong encryption. They just need to figure out how they can provide us plain text.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27wiretap.html

Photos released to protect threatened Amazonians

BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil has allowed the release of rare photographs of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe to bring attention to the plight of indigenous people who rights groups say are faced with possible annihilation.

The astonishing images, showing curious adults and children peering skyward with their faces dyed reddish-orange and toting bows, arrows and spears, were taken by Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI).

Rights group Survival International, which accompanied the government agency on the overflight near the Brazil-Peru border, said their baskets were full of papaya and manioc grown in a communal garden.

"Illegal loggers will destroy this indigenous people. It is essential that the Peruvian government stop them before it is too late," warned Survival's director Stephen Corry.

FUNAI has released similar photographs in the past and acknowledged that Peruvian loggers are sending some indigenous people fleeing across the border to less-affected rainforests in Brazil.

The coordinator of Brazil's Amazon Indian organization COIAB, Marcos Apurina, said he hoped the images would draw attention to the plight of the indigenous peoples and encourage their protection.

"It is necessary to reaffirm that these peoples exist, so we support the use of images that prove these facts. These peoples have had their most fundamental rights, particularly their right to life, ignored -- it is therefore crucial that we protect them," he said.

FUNAI says there are 67 tribes in Brazil that do not have sustained contact with the outside world. Some are often referred to as "uncontacted" tribes even though they have some kind of, albeit limited, contacts.

A year ago, rights groups sent a letter to then president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voicing concern that the very survival of indigenous groups was under threat.

Brazil's latest census counted more than 500,000 indigenous people among more than 190 million Brazilians. Millions in the country, however, have some indigenous ancestry.

Most indigenous people in the Americas descend from Asian people who crossed a land bridge from Siberia, an estimated 13,000-17,000 years ago. One notable exception: the indigenous people on Chile's Easter island, in the Pacific, are ethnic (Rapa Nui) Polynesians.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110201/sc_afp/brazilperunativerights_20110201110827

Text message blows up suicide bomber by accident

Vans of the Russian Emergencies Ministry wait outside Moscow's Domodedovo international
airport on January 24, 2011, shortly after a deadly explosion.

A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.

The unnamed woman, who is thought to be part of the same group that struck Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Monday, intended to detonate a suicide belt near Red Square on New Year's Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds.

Security sources believe a message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her at a safe house.

Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber's handler, who is usually watching their charge, sends the bomber a text message in order to set off his or her explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties.

The dead woman has not been identified, but her husband is apparently serving time in jail for being a member of a radical Islamist terror group.

Security sources believe the New Year's Eve bomber and the airport bombers may have been members of a suicide squad trained in Pakistan's al-Qaida strongholds which was sent to target the Russian capital's transport system.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with Monday's bombing, which left 35 people dead. Police are trying to identify the severed head of a male suicide bomber recovered from the scene.

Source: http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Text+message+blows+suicide+bomber+accident/4172966/story.html

Facebook to let advertisers republish user posts

Facebook to let advertisers republish users' check-ins as 'sponsored stories'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook users who check in to a store or click the "like" button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers.

Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.

Facebook says this lets advertisers promote word-of-mouth recommendations that people already made on the site. They play up things people do on the site that might get lost in the mass of links, photos, status updates and other content users share on the world's largest social network.

The new, promoted posts would keep the same privacy setting that the original posting had. So if you limit your check-ins to a specific group of friends, only these same friends would see the "Sponsored Story" version later.

The promoted content will appear on the right side of users' home pages, not in their main news feed. That's where regular ads, friend requests and other content are located.

Involving users in advertisements without their consent has been a thorny issue for Facebook. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in this case the company is making money off a person's name or likeness without their consent. He calls it "subtle and misleading" and says users should object.

Twitter already offers advertisers something similar, called "promoted tweets." These are Twitter posts paid for by advertisers to show up in search results and on top of popular topic lists on the site. But while Twitter's ads are written by the companies that pay for them, Facebook's sponsored stories are created by users.

Both represent an effort to make advertisements more akin to what people are already experiencing on the site instead of putting up virtual billboards that users might ignore or find tacky.

Online Video from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v10100328087082670

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Facebook-to-let-advertisers-apf-1912961417.html?x=0

Postal Service Eyes Closing Thousands of Post Offices

HOLMES MILL, Ky.—The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money.

Now, with the red ink showing no sign of stopping, the postal service is hoping to ramp up a cost-cutting program that is already eliciting yelps of pain around the country. Beginning in March, the agency will start the process of closing as many as 2,000 post offices, on top of the 491 it said it would close starting at the end of last year. In addition, it is reviewing another 16,000—half of the nation's existing post offices—that are operating at a deficit, and lobbying Congress to allow it to change the law so it can close the most unprofitable among them. The law currently allows the postal service to close post offices only for maintenance problems, lease expirations or other reasons that don't include profitability.

The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town.

The postal service argues that its network of some 32,000 brick-and-mortar post offices, many built in the horse-and-buggy days, is outmoded in an era when people are more mobile, often pay bills online and text or email rather than put pen to paper. It also wants post offices to be profitable to help it overcome record $8.5 billion in losses in fiscal year 2010.

A disproportionate number of the thousands of post offices under review are in rural or smaller suburban areas, though the postal service declined to provide any estimate on how many beyond those slated to begin closure in March might ultimately close or which ones are being targeted. "We want to make the smartest decisions possible with the smallest impact on communities," Dean Granholm, vice president for delivery and post office operations, said in an interview. He said the agency is identifying locations that are operating at a deficit and looking "for the opportunity to start the process of closing."

In addition to reducing employees—it has cut staffing by a third since 1999— the postal service has sought for years to deal with financial woes by raising rates or cutting services, such as a proposal to drop Saturday delivery. It has also talked in the past about closing a much smaller number of post offices. But while closures have been "on the table" in the past, this push is the agency's most serious yet, Mr. Granholm said, and is drawing widespread interest from a cost-cutting Congress. Still, shutting down post offices is often politically unpopular: elected officials in several communities have already written the Postal Regulatory Commission protesting planned closures.

Eighty-three specific post offices were approved for closing during the three months ending Nov. 15, more closings than in any quarter in the agency's history, according to the postal service. In addition, 408 post offices where service has been suspended for various reasons won't reopen amid the fiscal crisis, Mr. Granholm said.

Some of those suspensions are being contested by the Postal Regulatory Commission, independent from the postal service and reporting to Congress, which is investigating whether the postal service has been illegally using reasons such as lease expirations to close small, underused branches. The agency has denied wrongdoing.

While paring down is a common survival tactic for organizations these days, efforts by the postal service to do so routinely raise alarms because many citizens see post offices as an essential public service. Postal service dates to the founding fathers, with Benjamin Franklin serving as the first U.S. postmaster general and the Constitution explicitly authorizing Congress to establish post offices. Critics in Washington argue the postal service should reduce what they say is too much spending on employee benefits before resorting to closures.

As closure notices go up, citizens are rallying around their post offices in Millville, W.V., Hamilton, Tenn., Prairie City, S.D., and elsewhere, fearing not only a loss of convenience but a death knell for their small towns.

"It ain't right doing this to our community," says Delmer Clark, a 70-year-old retired coal miner in Eastern Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, in the no-stoplight town of Holmes Mill. The post office here is set to close next month after more than 100 years. About the size of a garage, it has long been a part of the town's identity, and the pending closing is fueling local suspicion that public officials don't care about them. The local school closed years ago and reliable cable, Internet and cellphone reception has yet to arrive, residents say. "When they close the post office, they probably won't even come up here anymore and clean the roads," says Mr. Clark.

"It will hurt us real bad," says Esther Sizemore, a 62-year-old retired school-bus driver. Not owning a computer, and aching from hip arthritis that makes driving significant distances difficult, Ms. Sizemore drives down the street to the post office to mail her handmade quilts, trade news with friends and pick up packages, since she does her shopping by catalog. She also feels her mail is safer using a post office box; mail thefts have been a problem in the area, says Deputy Winston Yeary, of the Harlan County Sheriff's Department.

The Holmes Mill post office is closing in a consolidation set to claim more than 30 small Kentucky post offices this year, according to local postal officials. It's in the red, costing the postal service $12,748 in fiscal year 2010, according to the agency.

Residents will still have home delivery, and can use the post office and maintain P.O. boxes in the next town, but some locals fear the drive: The 12-mile roundtrip is on a winding mountain road bordering a steep drop-off to the river and named "Coal Miner's Highway" for the coal trucks that take much of the road.

Some lawmakers say closing post offices is the wrong answer. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) says the agency should instead cut waste in its ranks. Although the postal service has cut its work force through attrition in recent years, it is still weighed down by overly generous employee benefits, she says.

Postal workers pay "significantly" lower premiums for their health and life insurance plans than other government employees because of union agreements, according to a September study sponsored by the Office of Inspector General. The report said the postal service could save $700 million this year alone by asking employees to pay more. The report, however, also said the postal service's contribution into employee benefits has started to decline, and that more reductions are planned as a result of recent union agreements.

"One of my frustrations is that the first approach the post office seems to take is to reduce service…when instead it needs to tackle a benefit structure that is too expensive, and it needs to look for ways to stay in business and deal with the digital age," says Sen. Collins.

Communities that lose post offices will still get deliveries, either at homes or at clusters of mailboxes set up in town, and there are multiple options for getting postal services, including stamps by mail, said Mr. Granholm of the postal service. Also, he says, many rural dwellers already travel to nearby cities for groceries and other services. "Why can't they go there for the post office?" he says.

Under U.S. law, mail delivery is a "basic and fundamental" government function meant to "bind the nation together" by providing service to "all communities" at a reasonable price. The nation's philosophy of universal postal service has resulted in stamp prices that are among the lowest in the industrial world and post offices from the far reaches of Alaska to easternmost Maine. Yet more than half lose money and "are located in areas where people no longer live, work or shop," U.S. Postmaster Patrick Donahoe testified to the Senate in December.

Legislation filed in Congress and supported by Mr. Donahoe would make it easier for the postal service to close the thousands of unprofitable post offices.

A bill introduced by Sen. Thomas Carper (D., Del.) would repeal wording in U.S. law that says "no small post office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit." Currently, the postal service must cite other reasons—in addition to finances—such as unsafe conditions or a retiring postmaster.

Mr. Carper says it isn't his intent to reduce access to service, and says the postal service could explore moving more postal counters into existing retail establishments, like banks or supermarkets. "Allowing the postal service the ability to close offices that fail to cover their costs is a huge step toward our future viability," Mr. Donahoe said.

While government owned, the postal service is an independent agency supported primarily by postage fees, though it's allowed to—and does—borrow from federal coffers. Mail traffic, particularly the more lucrative first-class mail, peaked in 2006 at 213 billion pieces, then fell 20% by 2010. The recession contributed to the drop. But a digital revolution is also at play, and with fewer people sending letters, mail volume could fall further to 150 billion pieces, an unprecedented decline, in the next 10 years, according to a September study sponsored by the Office of Inspector General.

Along with shifting consumer behavior, the agency is saddled with billions in unusually burdensome retiree health costs, the inspector general said. Historically, the postal service, which employs 532,800 workers, paid for retiree health benefits when they came due. But postal reform law passed by Congress in 2006 mandated the agency to plan ahead by pre-funding retiree health benefits at around $5 billion a year for 10 years starting in 2007. "No other federal agency or private sector companies have a similar burden," Mr. Donahoe testified.

Both Sens. Collins and Carper have introduced legislation addressing retiree-health funding.

The pre-funding obligation contributed heavily to recent record losses, and has forced the postal service to borrow from the federal government to meet shortfalls, he said. The agency now owes the U.S. Treasury $12 billion, and said it expects to max out its statutory $15 billion line of credit by the year's end.

In towns losing post offices, some citizens believe they are paying for mismanagement at the agency. "From what I understand, the upper crust in the post office gets plenty of money, but they can take away what we have," says Ruby VanDenBerg, who is 86, and lives in Prairie City, S.D., a ranching community of more than 100 farms. The post office officially closed on Dec. 30 after 102 years. Ms. VanDenBerg now drives 40 miles to a post office.

The Prairie City post office cost $19,000 a year after revenue, says the postal service, which blamed "safety deficiencies" for the closing. Residents say the problem was a faulty furnace, and say they offered to make repairs themselves but were ignored. They have appealed the closing with the Postal Regulatory Commission; their case is under review.

Prairie City postal clerks kept a pot of coffee brewing and posted birth and death notices. "That was the gathering place for people to come in the mornings, have a cup of coffee or a can of pop, and visit, but we don't have that no more," says Daniel Beckman, a recently widowed farmer. "All that's left in the town now is just a church; it's totally depressing."

The closing also crimped an informal local method for delivering medicine to isolated corners of the prairie, rural doctors and pharmacists wrote to the commission.

The area's only major hospital and pharmacy is in Hettinger, N.D., 40 miles away and over the state line from Prairie City. Before, when an elderly person or farmer in Prairie City quickly needed an antibiotic or other medication, a pharmacist in Hettinger would rush prescriptions to the Hettinger post office, catching the mail carrier who each day traveled from Hettinger to the Prairie City post office.

The closing eliminated that direct route, and now Prairie City mail is sorted and delivered on a rural route out of Bison, S.D., delaying the delivery of medicine from Hettinger by two or three days, says Dr. Brian Willoughby, of West River Health Services in Hettinger.

"When they cut these services, there are multiple spinoff consequences for these older people out there in the middle of nowhere, but the bureaucrats sort of forget about that," he says.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704881304576094000352599050.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStoriesyhoofront#printMode